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diff --git a/old/13112-8.txt b/old/13112-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11c83b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13112-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8685 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Speeches from the Dock, Part I, by Various + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Speeches from the Dock, Part I + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 4, 2004 [eBook #13112] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Martin Pettit, and Prooject Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 13112-h.htm or 13112-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13112/13112-h/13112-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13112/13112-h.zip) + + The spelling inconsistencies of the original have been retained + in this etext. + + + + + +SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I + +or, Protests of Irish Patriotism + +Speeches Delivered After Conviction, + +by + +THEOBALD WOLFE TONE +WILLIAM ORR +THE BROTHERS SHEARES +ROBERT EMMET +JOHN MARTIN (1848) +WILLIAM SMITH O'BRIEN +THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER +TERENCE BELLEW McMANUS +JOHN MITCHEL +THOMAS C. LUBY +JOHN O'LEARY +CHARLES J. KICKHAM +COLONEL THOMAS F. BURKE +CAPTAIN MACKAY + + + + + + "Freedom's battle, once begun,-- + Bequeath'd from bleeding sire to son,-- + Though baffled oft, is ever won." + + + + + +DUBLIN: + +A. M. SULLIVAN, ABBEY STREET. + +1868 + + + + +PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION + + +Little more than a year ago we commenced an undertaking never previously +attempted, yet long called for--the collection and publication, in a +complete form and at a low price, of the Speeches of Irish Patriots, +spoken from the dock or the scaffold. + +The extraordinary success which attended upon our effort was the best +proof that we had correctly appreciated the universal desire of the +Irish people to possess themselves of such a memorial of National +Protest--protest unbroken through generations of martyrs. + +The work was issued in weekly numbers, and reached a sale previously +unheard of in Irish literature. In a few months the whole issue was +exhausted, and for a long time past the demand for a Second Edition has +been pressed upon us from all sides. With that demand we now comply. + +The present issue of "Speeches from the Dock" has been carefully revised +and considerably improved. With it, as Part I. of a series, we have +bound, as its sequels, Parts II. and III.--each Part, however, complete +in itself--bringing the list of convict patriot orators down to the +latest sentenced in 1868. It may be that even here the sad array is not +to close, and that even yet another sequel may have to be issued, ere +the National Protest of which these Voices from the Dock are the +utterances, shall be terminated for ever. Even so, our faith will be all +unshaken in the inevitable triumph of the cause for which so many +martyrs have thus suffered; and we shall still await in Faith and Hope +the first strains of that Hymn of Deliverance which shall yet resound +through the valleys of Emancipated Ireland. + +90 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET, + +_November_, 1868. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +To the lovers of Ireland--to those who sympathize with her sufferings +and resent her wrongs, there can be few things more interesting than the +history of the struggles which sprang from devotion to her cause, and +were consecrated by the blood of her patriots. The efforts of the Irish +race to burst the fetters that foreign force and native dissensions +imposed on them, and elevate their country from bondage and degradation +to a place amongst free nations, fill a page in the world's history +which no lover of freedom can read without emotion, and which must +excite wonder, admiration, and regret in the mind of every man with whom +patriotism is not a reproach, and who can sympathize with a cause +ennobled by fidelity and sacrifice, and sanctified by the blood and +tears of a nation. "How hands so vile could conquer hearts so brave," is +the question which our National Poet supposes to arise in the mind of +the stranger, as he looks on the spectacle of Ireland in her decay; but +another question will suggest itself to those who study the history of +our country: it is, how a feeling so deeply rooted as the love of +independence is in the hearts of the Irish people--an aspiration so +warmly and so widely entertained--which has been clung to with so much +persistency--which has survived through centuries of persecution--for +which generations have arisen, and fought, and bled, and dashed +themselves against the power of England with a succession as unbroken as +that of the waves upon our shores--a cause so universally loved, so +deeply reverenced, and so unflinchingly supported by a brave and +intrepid race, should never have attained the blessing of success. A +more signal instance than that which Ireland can supply of the baffling +of a nation's hope, the prolonged frustration of a people's will, is not +on record; and few even of those who most condemn the errors and +weakness by which Irishmen themselves have retarded the national object, +will hesitate to say that they have given to mankind the noblest proof +they possess of the vitality of the principles of freedom, and the +indestructibility of national sentiment. + +It is for us, however, Irish of the Irish, that the history of the +struggle for Ireland's rights possesses most attractions. We live amidst +the scenes where the battles against the stranger were fought, and where +the men who waged them lived and died. The bones of the patriots who +laboured for Ireland, and of those who died for her, repose in the +graveyards around us; and we have still amongst us the inheritors of +their blood, their name, and their spirit. It was to make us free--to +render independent and prosperous the nation to, which we belong--that +the pike was lifted and the green flag raised; and it was in furtherance +of this object, on which the hearts of Irishmen are still set, that the +men whose names shine through the pages on which the story of Ireland's +struggles for national existence is written, suffered and died. To +follow out that mournful but absorbing story is not, however, the object +aimed at in the following pages. The history of Ireland is no longer a +sealed volume to the people; more than one author has told it truthfully +and well, and the list of books devoted to it is every day receiving +valuable accessions. Nor has it even been attempted, in this little +work, though trenching more closely on its subject, to trace the career +and sketch the lives of the men who fill the foremost places in the +ranks of Ireland's political martyrs. In the subjoined pages little more +will be found than a correct report of the addresses delivered, under +certain peculiar circumstances, by the group of Irishmen whose names are +given on the titlepage. A single public utterance from the lips of each +of these gentlemen is all that we have printed, though it would be easy +to supplement them in nearly every case by writings and speeches owning +a similar authorship, equally eloquent and equally patriotic. But the +speeches given here are associated with facts which give them peculiar +value and significance, and were spoken under circumstances which lend +to them a solemn interest and impressiveness which could not otherwise +be obtained. They reach us--these dock speeches, in which nobility of +purpose and chivalrous spirit is expressed--like voices from the tomb, +like messages from beyond the grave, brimful of lessons of dignity and +patriotism. We can see the men who spoke them standing before the +representatives of the government whose oppression had driven them to +revolt, when the solemn farce of trying them for a crime which posterity +will account a virtue had terminated, and when the verdict of "guilty" +had gladdened the hearts of their accusers. The circumstances under +which they spoke might well cause a bold man to falter. They were about +parting for ever from all that makes life dear to man; and, for some of +them, the sentence; which was to cut short the thread of their +existence, to consign them to a bloody and ignominious death, to leave +their bodies mutilated corpses, from which the rights of Christian +burial were to be withheld--which was to assign them the death of a dog, +and to follow them with persecuting hand into the valley of death--was +about to fall from the lips of the judges whom they addressed. Against +others a fate less repulsive, perhaps, to the feelings of humanity, but +certainly not more merciful, and hardly less painful and appalling, was +about to be decreed. Recent revelations have thrown some light on the +horrors endured by the Irish political prisoners who languish within the +prison pens of England; but it needs far more than a stray letter, a +half-stifled cry from the dungeon depths, to enable the public to +realize the misery, the wretchedness, and the degradation attached to +the condition to which England reduces her political convicts. Condemned +to associate with the vilest of the scoundrels bred by the immorality +and godlessness of England--exposed, without possibility of redress, to +the persecutions of brutal, coarse-minded men, accustomed to deal +only with ruffians than whom beasts are less ferocious and +unreclaimable--restricted to a course of discipline which blasts the +vigour of the body, and under whose influence reason herself totters +upon her throne--the Irish rebel against whom the doom of penal +servitude has been pronounced is condemned to the most hideous and +agonizing punishments to which men of their class could be exposed. It +was with such terrors staring them in the face that the men whose words +are recorded in this little work delivered their speeches from the dock. +It is surely something for us, their countrymen, to boast of, that +neither in their bearing nor in their words was there manifested the +slightest trace of weakness, the faintest exhibition of any feeling +which could show that their hearts were accessible to the terror which +their situation was so well calculated to inspire. No cheek grew pale, +no eyes lost their light--their tones were unbroken, and their manner +undaunted as ever, as these men uttered the words we purpose recording. +Their language tells of minds which persecution could not subdue, and +for which death itself possessed no sting; and the manner in which it +was expressed showed that, in their case, elevation of sentiment was +allied with unconquerable firmness and resolution. Never were lessons so +noble more boldly preached. It is in courts of justice, after all, +declares a great English authority, that the lessons of morality are +best taught; and in Ireland the truthfulness of the assertion is +established. But it is not from the bench or the jury-box that the words +have fallen in which the cause of morality and justice has been +vindicated; venality, passion, and prejudice have but too often swayed +the decisions of both; and it is to the dock we must turn when we seek +for honour, integrity, and patriotism. + +We owe it to the men who suffered so unflinchingly in the cause of our +country, and who have left us so precious a heritage in the speeches in +which they hurled a last defiance at their oppressors, that their names +should not be forgotten, or the recollection of their acts suffered to +grow cold. The noblest incentive to patriotism, as it is the highest +reward which this world can offer those who dare and suffer for +fatherland, is the gratitude, the sympathy, and the applause of the +people for whom they laboured. We owe it to the brave men whose +patriotism is attested in the addresses comprised in this volume, that +the memory of their noble deeds shall not pass away, and that their +names shall remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen. They +failed, it is true, to accomplish what they attempted, and the battle to +which they devoted themselves has yet to be won; but we know that they, +at least, did their part courageously and well; and, looking back now +upon the stormy scenes of their labours, and contrasting the effects of +their sacrifices with the cost at which they were made, the people of +Ireland are still prepared to accept the maxim that-- + + "Tis better to have fought and lost, + Than never to have fought at all." + +While such men can be found to suffer as they have suffered for Ireland, +the ultimate triumph of her aspirations cannot be doubted, nor can the +national faith be despaired of while it has martyrs so numerous and so +heroic. It is by example that the great lessons of patriotism can best +be conveyed; and if the national spirit burn brightly to-day in +Ireland--if the spirit of her children be still defiant and +unsubdued--if, at home and in the far West, the hearts of the Irish +people still throb with the emotions that prompted Emmet and Wolfe +Tone--if their eyes are still hot to see the independence of their +country, their arms still ready to strike, and their spirit ready to +sacrifice for the accomplishment of that object, we owe the result +largely to the men whose names are inscribed in this little work, and +whose memory it is intended to perpetuate. + +We have commenced our series with the speech of Theobald Wolfe Tone, and +our record stretches no further back than the memorable insurrection of +1798. If our object were to group together the Irishmen who are known +to have struggled for the independence of their country, and who +suffered for their attachment to her cause, we might go much farther +back into history, and indefinitely increase the bulk of this +publication. We fix the insurrection of '98 as the limit of our +collection, chiefly because it was at that time trials for high treason +in Ireland assumed the precise meaning and significance which they now +possess, and there is consequently, in the speeches which follow, such a +unity of purpose and sentiment as renders them especially suitable for +presentation in a single volume. Only seventy years have elapsed since +Wolfe Tone spoke to the question why sentence should not be pronounced +on him--only two-thirds of a century since Emmet vindicated the cause of +his country from the Green street dock, and already what a host of +imitators and disciples have they had! There is not a country in Europe, +there is not a nationality in the world, can produce such another +collection as that which we to-day lay before the people of Ireland. We +live under a government which claims to be just, liberal, and +constitutional, yet against no other government in Christendom have the +same number of protests been made within the same space of time. Not +Poland, not Hungary, not Venetia, can point to such an unbroken +succession of political martyrs. The pages of history contain nothing to +compare with the little volume we to-day place in the hands of our +countrymen; and we know of no more powerful and eloquent condemnation of +the system on which Ireland is governed, than that contained in the +simple fact that all those speeches were spoken, all those trials +carried-out, all those sentences decreed, within the lifetime of a +single generation. It is idle to think of subduing a people who make so +many sacrifices, and who are undaunted still; it is vain to think of +crushing a spirit which survives so much persecution. The executioner +and the gaoler, the gibbet, the block, and the dungeon, have done their +work in the crusade against Irish Nationality, and we know what the +result is to-day. The words of the last political convict whose name +appears in these pages are as uncompromising and as bold as those of the +first of his predecessors; and, studying the spirit which they have +exhibited, and marking the effect of their conduct on the bulk of their +countrymen, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that so much +persistent resolution and heroism must one day eventuate in success, and +that Ireland, the country for which so many brave men have suffered with +such unfaltering courage, is not destined to disprove the rule that-- + + "Freedom's battle once begun,-- + Bequeath'd from bleeding sire to son-- + Though baffled oft, is ever won." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THEOBALD WOLFE TONE. + + +No name is more intimately associated with the national movement of 1798 +than that of Theobald Wolfe Tone. He was its main-spring, its leading +spirit. Many men connected with it possessed, as he did, brilliant +talents, unfailing courage and determination, and an intense devotion to +the cause; but the order of his genius raised him above them all, and +marked him out from the first as the head and front of the patriot +party. He was one of the original founders of the Society of United +Irishmen, which was formed in Belfast in the year 1791. In its early +days this society was simply a sort of reform association, a legal and +constitutional body, having for its chief object the removal of the +frightful oppressions by which the Catholic people of Ireland were +tortured and disgraced; but in the troubled and portentous condition of +home and foreign politics, the society could not long retain this +character. The futility of seeking a redress of the national grievances +by parliamentary means was becoming apparent to every understanding. The +system of outrage and injustice towards the Catholics, unabating in its +severity, continued to exasperate the actual sufferers and to offend all +men of humane feelings and enlightened principles; and, at the same +time, the electric influence of the American War of Independence and the +French Revolution was operating powerfully in every heart, evoking there +the aspiration for Irish freedom, and inspiring a belief in its possible +attainment. In the midst of such exciting circumstances the society +could not continue to stand on its original basis. In the year 1794, +after a debate among the members, followed by the withdrawal of the more +moderate or timid among them from its ranks, it assumed the form and +character of a secret revolutionary organization; and Tone, Thomas Addis +Emmet, Samuel Neilson, Thomas Russell, James Napper Tandy, with a number +of other patriotic gentlemen in Belfast, Dublin, and other parts +of the country, soon found themselves in the full swing of an +insurrectionary movement, plotting and planning for the complete +overthrow of British power in Ireland. Thenceforward, for some time, the +organization went on rapidly extending through the province of Ulster, +in the first instance, and subsequently over most of the midland and +southern counties. + +[Illustration: THEOBALD WOLFE TONE. _From a Portrait by his +Daughter-in-law, Mrs. Sampson Tone._] + +Such was the state of affairs when, in the early part of 1794, an +emissary from the French government arrived in Ireland, to ascertain to +what extent the Irish people were likely to co-operate with France in a +war against England. This individual was the Rev. William Jackson, an +Irish Protestant clergyman, who had for some years been resident in +France, and had become thoroughly imbued with Democratic and Republican +principles. Unfortunately, he was not one of the most prudent of envoys. +He revealed his mission to an acquaintance of his, an English attorney, +named Cockayne, who repaid his confidence by betraying his secrets to +the government. Cockayne was immediately employed as a spy upon +Jackson's further proceedings, in which capacity he accompanied his +unsuspecting victim to Ireland, and acquired cognizance of most of his +negotiations. On the 28th of April; 1794, Jackson was arrested on a +charge of high treason. He was brought to speedy trial, was found +guilty, but was not sentenced, for, on the day on which the law's award +was to have been announced to him, he contrived, before entering the +court, to swallow a dose of poison, from the effects of which he expired +in the dock. Tone, with whom Jackson was known to have been in +confidential communication, was placed by those events in a very +critical position; owing, however, to some influence which had been made +with the government on his behalf, he was permitted to exile himself to +America. As he had entered into no engagement with the government +regarding his future line of conduct, he made his expatriation the means +of forwarding, in the most effective manner, the designs he had at +heart. He left Dublin for Philadelphia on the 20th of May, 1795. One of +his first acts, after arriving, was to present to the French Minister +there resident a memorial on the state of Ireland. During the remaining +months of the year letters from his old friends came pouring in on him, +describing the brightening prospects of the cause at home, and urging +him to proceed to the French capital and impress upon the Directory the +policy of despatching at once an expedition to ensure the success of the +Irish revolutionary movement. + +Tone was not the man to disregard such representations. He had at the +time a fair prospect of securing a comfortable independence in America, +but with the full concurrence of his heroic wife, who had accompanied +him across the Atlantic, he sacrificed those chances and resumed the +perilous duties of an Irish patriot. On the 1st of January, 1796, he +left New York for Paris to try what he could do as a diplomatist for the +cause of Ireland. Arrived at the French capital, he had his business +communicated to the Directory through the medium of an Irish gentleman, +named Madgett, and also by memorial, representing always that the +landing of a force of 20,000 men in Ireland, with a supply of arms for +the peasantry, would ensure the separation of Ireland from England. Not +satisfied with the slow progress he was thus achieving, he went on the +24th of February direct to the Luxemburg Palace, and sought and obtained +an interview with the War Minister, the celebrated Carnot, the +"organizer of victory." The Minister received him well, listened +attentively to his statements, discussed his project with him, and +appeared much impressed with the prospects it presented. The result was +that on the 16th of December in the same year, a splendid expedition +sailed from Brest for Ireland. It consisted of seventeen sail of the +line, thirteen frigates and fifteen transports, with some smaller craft, +and had on board 15,000 troops, with a large supply of arms for the +Irish patriots. Tone himself, who had received the rank of +Adjutant-General in the French service, was on board one of the vessels. +Had this force been disembarked on the shores of Ireland, it is hardly +possible to doubt that the separation of this country from England would +have been effected. But the expedition was unfortunate from the outset. +It was scattered on the voyage during a gale of wind, and the Admiral's +vessel, with Hoche, the Commander, on board, was separated from the +others. A portion of the expedition entered the magnificent Bay of +Bantry and waited there several days in expectation of being rejoined by +the vessel containing the Admiral and Commander; but they waited in +vain. Tone vehemently urged that a landing should be effected with the +forces then at hand--some 6,500 men--but the officers procrastinated, +time was lost, the wind which had been blowing from the east (that is +out the harbour) rose to a perfect hurricane, and on the 27th and 28th +of the month the vessels cut their cables and made the best of their way +for France. + +This was a terrible blow to the hopes of the Irish organizer. Rage and +sadness filled his heart by turns as the fierce storm blew his vessel +out of the bay and across the sea to the land which he had left under +such favourable auspices. But yet he did not resign himself to despair. +As the patient spider renews her web again and again after it has been +torn asunder, so did this indefatigable patriot set to work to repair +the misfortune that had occurred, and to build up another project of +assistance for his unfortunate country. His perseverance was not +unproductive of results. The Batavian or Dutch Republic, then in +alliance with France, took up the project that had failed in the Bay of +Bantry. In the month of July, 1797, they had assembled in the Texel an +expedition for the invasion of Ireland, nearly, if not quite, as +formidable in men and ships as that which had left Brest in the previous +year. Tone was on board the flag ship, even more joyous and hopeful than +he had been on the preceding occasion. But again, as if by some +extraordinary fatality, the weather interposed an obstacle to the +realization of the design. The vessels were ready for sea, the troops +were on board, nothing was wanted but a slant of wind to enable the +fleet to get out. But for five weeks it continued to blow steadily in +the adverse direction. The supplies ran low; the patience of the +officers, and of the government, became exhausted--the troops were +disembarked and the project abandoned! The second failure in a matter +of such weight and importance was a heavy blow to the heart of the brave +Tone. Elaborate and costly efforts like those which had ended so poorly, +he felt could not often be repeated; the drift of the war was cutting +out other work for the fleets and armies of France and her allies, and +the unwelcome conviction began to settle darkly on his mind that never +again would he see such a vision of hope for dear Ireland as that which +had shone before him on those two occasions, and vanished in doubt and +gloom. + +Yet there was no need to despair. Assurances reached Tone every day that +the defeat and humiliation of England was a settled resolve of the +French Government, one which they would never abandon. And for a time +everything seemed to favour the notion that a direct stroke at the heart +of England was intended. In the latter part of 1797 the Directory +ordered the formation of "The Army of England," the command of which was +given to General Buonaparte. Tone's heart again beat high with hope, for +now matters looked more promising than ever. He was in constant +communication with some of the chief officers of the expedition, and in +the month of December he had several interviews with Buonaparte himself, +which however he could hardly consider of a satisfactory nature. On the +20th of May, 1798, General Buonaparte embarked on board the fleet at +Toulon and sailed off--not for Ireland or England, but for Egypt. + +On the Irish leaders at home these repeated disappointments fell with +terrible effect. The condition of the country was daily growing more +critical. The government, now thoroughly roused and alarmed, and +persuaded that the time for "vigorous measures" had arrived, was +grappling with the conspiracy in all directions. Still those men would, +if they could, have got the people to possess their souls in patience +and wait for aid from abroad before unfurling the banner of +insurrection; for they were constant in their belief that without the +presence of a disciplined army on Irish soil to consolidate their +strength and direct it, a revolutionary effort of the Irish people +could end only in disaster. But the government had reasons of their own +for wishing to set an Irish rebellion afoot at this time, and they took +measures to precipitate the rising. The arrest of the delegates at the +house of Oliver Bond in Dublin, and the capture of Lord Edward +Fitzgerald contributed to this end; but these things the country might +have peacably endured if no more dreadful trial had been put upon it. +What could not be endured was the system of riot and outrage, and +murder, to which the unfortunate peasantry were then given over. Words +fail to describe its cruelty and its horrors. It was too much for human +nature to bear. On the 23rd of May, three days after Buonaparte had +sailed from Toulon for Alexandria, the Irish insurrection broke out. The +news of the occurrence created the most intense excitement among the +Irish refugees then in Paris. Tone rushed to and fro to the Directory +and to the generals, pleading for the despatch of some assistance to his +struggling countrymen. Various plans were suggested and taken into +consideration, but while time was being wasted in this way, the military +forces of the British Government were rapidly suppressing the +insurrection of the unarmed and undisciplined Irish peasantry. In this +condition of affairs a gallant but rash and indiscreet French officer, +General Humbert, resolved that he would commit the Directory to action, +by starting at once with a small force for the coast of Ireland. Towards +the middle of August, calling together the merchants and magistrates of +Rochelle, "he forced them to advance a small sum of money, and all that +he wanted, on military requisition; and embarking on board a few +frigates and transports with 1,000 men, 1,000 spare muskets, 1,000 +guineas, and a few pieces of artillery, he compelled the captains to set +sail for the most desperate attempt which is, perhaps, recorded in +history." Three Irishmen were on board the fleet--Matthew Tone, brother +to Theobald, Bartholomew Teeling, and Sullivan, an officer in the French +service, who was enthusiastically devoted to the Irish cause, and had +rendered much aid to his patriotic countrymen in France. Humbert landed +at Killala, routed with his little handful of men a large force of the +royal troops, and held his ground until General Lake, with 20,000 men +marched against him. After a resistance sufficient to maintain the +honour of the French arms, Humbert's little force surrendered as +prisoners of war. The Irish who had joined his standard were shown no +mercy. The peasantry were cruelly butchered. Of those who had +accompanied him from France, Sullivan, who was able to pass as a +Frenchman, escaped; Teeling and Matthew Tone were brought in irons to +Dublin, tried, and executed. The news of Humbert's expedition and the +temporary success that had attended it created much excitement in +France, and stirred up the Directory to attempt something for Ireland +more worthy of the fame and power of the French nation, and more in +keeping with their repeated promises to the leaders of the Irish +movement. But their fleet was at the time greatly reduced, and their +resources were in a state of disorganization. They mustered for the +expedition only one sail of the line and eight small frigates, commanded +by Commodore Bompart, conveying 5,000 men under the leadership of +General Hardy. On board the Admiral's vessel, which was named the Hoche, +was the heroic Theobald Wolfe Tone. He knew this expedition had no +chance of success, but he had all along declared, "that if the +government sent only a corporal's guard, he felt it his duty to go along +with them." The vessels sailed on the 20th of September, 1798; +it was not till the 11th October that they arrived off Lough +Swilly--simultaneously with an English squadron that had been on the +look out for them. The English ships were about equal in number to the +French, but were of a larger class, and carried a much heavier armament. +The French Admiral directed some of his smaller craft to endeavour to +escape by means of their light draught of water, and he counselled Tone +to transfer himself to that one of them which had the best chance of +getting away. The Frenchmen, he observed, would be made prisoners of +war, but for the Irish rebel a worse fate was reserved if he should fall +into the hand of his enemies. But to this suggestion the noble-hearted +Tone declined to accede. "Shall it be said," he replied, "that I fled +while the French were fighting the battles of my country." In a little +time the Hoche was surrounded by four sail of the line and one frigate, +who poured their shot into her upon all sides. During six hours she +maintained the unequal combat, fighting "till her masts and rigging were +cut away, her scuppers flowed with blood, her wounded filled the +cockpit, her shattered ribs yawned at each new stroke, and let in five +feet of water in the hold, her rudder was carried off, and she floated a +dismantled wreck on the water; her sails and cordage hung in shreds, nor +could she reply with a single gun from her dismounted batteries to the +unabating cannonade of the enemy." During the action Tone commanded one +of the batteries "and fought with the utmost desperation, as if he was +courting death." But, as often has happened in similiar cases, death +seemed to shun him, and he was reserved for a more tragic fate. + +The French officers who survived the action, and had been made prisoners +of war, were, some days subsequently, invited to breakfast with the Earl +of Cavan, who commanded in the district in which they had been landed. +Tone, who up to that time, had escaped recognition, was one of the +party, and sat undistinguished among them, until Sir George Hill, who +had been a fellow-student of his in Trinity College, entered the room +and accosted him by his name. This was done, not inadvertently, but with +the intention of betraying him. In a moment he was in the hands of a +party of military and police who were in waiting for him in the next +room. Seeing that they were about to put him in fetters, he complained +indignantly of the offering of such an insult to the uniform which he +wore, and the rank--that of Chef de Brigade--which he bore in the French +army. He cast off his regimentals, protesting that they should not be so +sullied, and then, offering his limbs to the irons, exclaimed--"For the +cause which I have embraced, I feel prouder to wear these chains, than +if I were decorated with the Star and Garter of England." He was hurried +off to Dublin, and though the ordinary tribunals were sitting at the +time, and the military tribunals could have no claim on him, as he had +never belonged to the English army, he was put on his trial before a +court-martial. This was absolutely an illegal proceeding, but his +enemies were impatient for his blood, and would not brook the chances +and the delays of the ordinary procedure of law. On the 10th of +November, 1798, his trial, if such it might be called, took place in one +of the Dublin barracks. He appeared before the Court "dressed," says the +_Dublin Magazine_ for November, 1798, "in the French uniform: a large +cocked hat, with broad gold lace and the tri-coloured cockade; a blue +uniform coat, with gold-embroidered collar and two large gold epaulets; +blue pantaloons, with gold-laced garters at the knees; and short boots, +bound at the tops with gold lace." In his bearing there was no trace of +excitement. "The firmness and cool serenity of his whole deportment," +writes his son, "gave to the awestruck assembly the measure of his +soul," The proceedings of the Court are detailed in the following +report, which we copy from the "Life of Tone," by his son, published at +Washington, U.S., in 1826:-- + + The members of the Court having been sworn, the Judge Advocate called + on the prisoner to plead guilty or not guilty to the charge of having + acted traitorously and hostilely against the King. Tone replied:-- + + "I mean not to give the court any useless trouble, and wish to spare + them the idle task of examining witnesses. I admit all the facts + alleged, and only request leave to read an address which I have + prepared for this occasion." + + Colonel DALY--"I must warn the prisoner that, in acknowledging those + _facts_, he admits, to his prejudice, that he has acted + _traitorously_ against his Majesty. Is such his intention?" + + TONE--"Stripping this charge of the technicality of its terms, it + means, I presume, by the word traitorously, that I have been found in + arms against the soldiers of the King in my native country. I admit + this accusation in its most extended sense, and request again to + explain to the court the reasons and motives of my conduct." + + The court then observed they would hear his address, provided he kept + himself within the bounds of moderation. + + Tone rose, and began in these words--"Mr. President and Gentlemen of + the Court-Martial, I mean not to give you the trouble of bringing + judicial proof to convict me legally of having acted in hostility to + the government of his Britannic Majesty in Ireland. I admit the fact. + From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great + Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation, and felt + convinced that, whilst it lasted, this country could never be free + nor happy. My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the + experience of every succeeding year, and the conclusions which I have + drawn from every fact before my eyes. In consequence, I was + determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could + move, in order to separate the two countries. That Ireland was not + able of herself to throw off the yoke, I knew; I therefore sought for + aid wherever it was to be found. In honourable poverty I rejected + offers which, to a man in my circumstances, might be considered + highly advantageous. I remained faithful to what I thought the cause + of my country, and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue + three millions of my countrymen from--" + + The President here interrupted the prisoner, observing that this + language was neither relevant to the charge, nor such as ought to be + delivered in a public court. + + A Member said it seemed calculated only to inflame the minds of a + certain description of people (the United Irishmen), many of whom + might be present, and that the court could not suffer it. + + The JUDGE ADVOCATE said--"If Mr. Tone meant this paper to be laid + before his Excellency in way of _extenuation_, it must have quite a + contrary effect, if the foregoing part was suffered to remain." The + President wound up by calling on the prisoner to hesitate before + proceeding further in the same strain. + + TONE then continued--"I believe there is nothing in what remains for + me to say which can give any offence; I mean to express my feelings + and gratitude towards the Catholic body, in whose cause I was + engaged." + + PRESIDENT--"That seems to have nothing to say to the charge against + you, to which you are only to speak. If you have anything to offer in + defence or extenuation of the charge, the court will hear you, but + they beg you will confine yourself to that subject." + + TONE--"I shall, then, confine myself to some points relative to my + connection with the French army. Attached to no party in the French + Republic--without interest, without money, without intrigue--the + openness and integrity of my views raised me to a high and + confidential rank in its armies. I obtained the confidence of the + Executive Directory, the approbation of my generals, and I will + venture to add, the esteem and affection of my brave comrades. When I + review these circumstances, I feel a secret and internal consolation + which no reverse of fortune, no sentence in the power of this court + to inflict, can deprive me of, or weaken in any degree. Under the + flag of the French Republic I originally engaged with a view to save + and liberate my own country. For that purpose I have encountered the + chances of war amongst strangers; for that purpose I repeatedly + braved the terrors of the ocean, covered, as I knew it to be, with + the triumphant fleets of that power which it was my glory and my + duty to oppose. I have sacrificed all my views in life; I have + courted poverty; I have left a beloved wife unprotected, and children + whom I adored fatherless. After such a sacrifice, in a cause which I + have always considered--conscientiously considered--as the cause of + justice and freedom, it is no great effort, at this day, to add the + sacrifice of my life. But I hear it said that this unfortunate + country has been a prey to all sorts of horrors. I sincerely lament + it. I beg, however, it may be remembered that I have been absent four + years from Ireland. To me these sufferings can never be attributed. I + designed by fair and open war to procure the separation of the two + countries. For open war I was prepared, but instead of that a system + of private assassination has taken place. I repeat, whilst I deplore + it, that it is not chargeable on me. Atrocities, it seems, have been + committed on both sides. I do not less deplore them. I detest them + from my heart; and to those who know my character and sentiments I + may safely appeal for the truth of this assertion; with them I need + no justification. In a case like this success is everything. Success, + in the eyes of the vulgar, fixes its merits. Washington succeeded, + and Kosciusko failed. After a combat nobly sustained--combat which + would have excited the respect and sympathy of a generous enemy--my + fate has been to become a prisoner, to the eternal disgrace of those + who gave the orders. I was brought here in irons like a felon. I + mention this for the sake of others; for me, I am indifferent to it. + I am aware of the fate which awaits me, and scorn equally the tone of + complaint and that of supplication. As to the connection between this + country and Great Britain, I repeat it--all that has been imputed to + me (words, writings, and actions), I here deliberately avow. I have + spoken and acted with reflection and on principle, and am ready to + meet the consequences. Whatever be the sentence of the court, I am + prepared for it. Its members will surely discharge their duty--I + shall take care not to be wanting in mine." + + The court having asked if he wished to make any further observation, + + TONE said--"I wish to offer a few words relative to one single + point--the mode of punishment. In France our _emigrees_, who stand + nearly in the same situation in which I now stand before you, are + condemned to be shot. I ask that the court shall adjudge me the death + of a soldier, and let me be shot by a platoon of grenadiers. I + request this indulgence rather in consideration of the uniform I + wear--the uniform of a Chef de Brigade in the French army--than from + any personal regard to myself. In order to evince my claim to this + favour, I beg that the court may take the trouble to peruse my + commission and letters of service in the French army. It will appear + from these papers that I have not received them as a mask to cover + me, but that I have been long and _bona fide_ an officer in the + French service." + + JUDGE ADVOCATE--"You must feel that the papers you allude to will + serve as undeniable proof against you." + + TONE--"Oh, I know they will. I have already admitted the facts, and + I now admit the papers as full proof of conviction." + + [The papers were then examined; they consisted of a brevet of Chef de + Brigade from the Directory, signed by the Minister of War, of a + letter of service granting to him the rank of Adjutant-General, and + of a passport.] + + General LOFTUS--"In these papers you are designated as serving in the + army of England." + + TONE--"I did serve in that army, when it was commanded by Buonaparte, + by Dessaix, and by Kilmaine, who is, as I am, an Irishman; but I have + also served elsewhere." + + The Court requested if he had anything further to observe. + + He said that nothing more occurred to him, except that the sooner his + Excellency's approbation of the sentence was obtained the better. + +This is Tone's speech, as reported in the public prints at that time, +but the recently-published "Correspondence" of Lord Cornwallis--Lord +Lieutenant in those days--supplies a portion of the address which was +never before published, the Court having forbade the reading of it at +the trial. The passage contains a noble outburst of gratitude towards +the Catholics of Ireland. Tone himself, as every reader is aware, was a +Protestant, and there can have been no reason for its suppression except +the consideration that it was calculated to still more endear the +prisoner to the hearts of his countrymen. We now reprint it, and thus +place it for the first time before the people for whom it was written:-- + + "I have laboured to create a people in Ireland by raising three + millions of my countrymen to the rank of citizens. I have laboured to + abolish the infernal spirit of religious persecution, by uniting the + Catholics and Dissenters. To the former I owe more than ever can be + repaid. The services I was so fortunate as to render them they + rewarded munificently; but they did more: when the public cry was + raised against me--when the friends of my youth swarmed off and left + me alone--the Catholics did not desert me; they had the virtue even + to sacrifice their own interests to a rigid principle of honour; they + refused, though strongly urged, to disgrace a man who, whatever his + conduct towards the government might have been, had faithfully and + conscientiously discharged his duty towards them; and in so doing, + though it was in my own case, I will say they showed an instance of + public, virtue of which I know not whether there exists another + example." + +The sad sequel of those proceedings is soon told. The request of the +prisoner to receive a military execution was refused by the Viceroy, +Lord Cornwallis, and Tone was sentenced to die "the death of a traitor" +within forty-eight hours from the time of his conviction. But +he--influenced, it must be confessed, by a totally mistaken feeling of +pride, and yielding to a weakness which every Christian heart should be +able to conquer--resolved that, rather than allow his enemies to have +the satisfaction of dangling his body from a gibbet, he would become his +own executioner. On the night of the 11th of November he contrived, +while lying unobserved in his cell, to open a vein in his neck with a +penknife. No intelligence of this fact had reached the public when, on +the morning of the 12th, the intrepid and eloquent advocate, John +Philpot Curran, made a motion in the Court of King's Bench for a writ of +_Habeas Corpus_, to withdraw the prisoner from the custody of the +military authorities, and transfer him to the charge of the civil power. +The motion was granted immediately, Mr. Curran pleading that, if delay +were made, the prisoner might be executed before the order of the Court +could be presented. A messenger was at once despatched from the court to +the barrack with the writ. He returned to say that the officers in +charge of the prisoner would obey only their military superiors. The +Chief Justice issued his commands peremptorily:--"Mr. Sheriff, take the +body of Tone into custody--take the Provost Marshal and Major Sandys +into custody,--and show the order of the Court to General Craig." The +Sheriff sped away, and soon returned with the news that Tone had wounded +himself on the previous evening, and could not be removed. The Chief +Justice then ordered a rule suspending the execution. For the space of +seven days afterwards did the unfortunate gentleman endure the agonies +of approaching death; on the 19th of November, 1798, he expired. No more +touching reference to his last moments could be given than the following +pathetic and noble words traced by a filial hand, and published in the +memoir from which we have already quoted:--"Stretched on his bloody +pallet in a dungeon, the first apostle of Irish union and most +illustrious martyr of Irish independence counted each lingering hour +during the last seven days and nights of his slow and silent agony. No +one was allowed to approach him. Far from his adored family, and from +all those friends whom he loved so dearly, the only forms which flitted +before his eyes were those of the grim jailor and his rough +attendants--the only sounds which fell on his dying ear the heavy tread +of the sentry. He retained, however, the calmness of his soul and the +possession of his faculties to the last. And the consciousness of dying +for his country, and in the cause of justice and liberty, illumined like +a bright halo his later moments and kept up his fortitude to the end. +There is no situation under which those feelings will not support the +soul of a patriot." + +Tone was born in Stafford-street, Dublin, on the 20th of June, 1764. His +father was a coachmaker who carried on a thriving business; his +grandfather was a comfortable farmer who held land near Naas, county +Kildare. In February, 1781, Tone entered Trinity College, Dublin; in +January, 1787, he entered his name as a law student on the books of the +Middle Temple, London, and in 1789 he was called to the bar. His mortal +remains repose in Bodenstown churchyard, county Kildare, whither parties +of patriotic young men from the metropolis and the surrounding districts +often proceed to lay a green wreath on his grave. His spirit lives, and +will live for ever, in the hearts of his countrymen. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +WILLIAM ORR. + + +Twelve months before Wolfe Tone expired in his prison cell, one of the +bravest of his associates paid with his life the penalty of his +attachment to the cause of Irish independence. In the subject of this +sketch, the United Irishmen found their first martyr; and time has left +no darker blot on the administration of English rule than the execution +of the high-spirited Irishman whose body swung from the gallows of +Carrickfergus on the 14th of October, 1797. + +William Orr was the son of a farmer and bleach-green proprietor, of +Ferranshane, in the county of Antrim. The family were in comfortable +circumstances, and young Orr received a good education, which he +afterwards turned to account in the service of his country. We know +little of his early history, but we find him, on growing up to manhood, +an active member of the society of United Irishmen, and remarkable for +his popularity amongst his countrymen in the north. His appearance, not +less than his principles and declarations, was calculated to captivate +the peasantry amongst whom he lived; he stood six feet two inches in +height, was a perfect model of symmetry, strength, and gracefulness, and +the expression of his countenance was open, frank, and manly. He was +always neatly and respectably dressed--a prominent feature in his attire +being a green necktie, which he wore even in his last confinement. + +One of, the first blows aimed by the government against the United +Irishmen was the passing of the Act of Parliament (36 George III.), +which constituted the administration of their oath a capital felony. +This piece of legislation, repugnant in itself to the dictates of reason +and justice, was intended as no idle threat; a victim was looked for to +suffer under its provisions, and William Orr, the champion of the +northern Presbyterian patriots, was doomed to serve the emergency. + +He was arraigned, tried, and convicted at Carrickfergus on a charge of +having administered the United Irishman's oath to a soldier named +Wheatly. The whole history of the operations of the British law courts +in Ireland contains nothing more infamous than the record of that trial. +We now know, as a matter of fact, that the man who tendered the oath to +Wheatly was William M'Keever, a well-known member of the society, who +subsequently made his escape to America. But this was not a case, such +as sometimes happens, of circumstantial evidence pointing to a wrong +conclusion. The only evidence against Orr was the unsupported testimony +of the soldier Wheatly; and after hearing Curran's defence of the +prisoner there could be no possible doubt of his innocence. But Orr was +a doomed man--the government had decreed his death before hand; and in +this case, as in every other, the bloodthirsty agents of the crown did +not look in vain for Irishmen to co-operate with them in their infamy. + +At six o'clock in the evening the jury retired to consider their +verdict. The scene that followed in the jury room is described in the +sworn affidavits of some of its participators. The jury were supplied +with supper by the crown officials; a liberal supply of intoxicating +beverages, wines, brandy, &c., being included in the refreshments. In +their sober state several of the jury-men--amongst them Alexander +Thompson, of Cushendall, the foreman--had refused to agree to a verdict +of guilty. It was otherwise, however, when the decanters had been +emptied, and when threats of violence were added to the bewildering +effects of the potations in which they indulged. Thompson was threatened +by his more unscrupulous companions with being wrecked, beaten, and "not +left with sixpence in the world," and similar means were used against +the few who refused with him to return a verdict of guilty. At six in +the morning, the jury, not a man of whom by this time was sober, +returned into court with a verdict of guilty, recommending the prisoner +at the same time in the strongest manner to mercy. Next day Orr was +placed at the bar, and sentenced to death by Lord Yelverton, who, it is +recorded, at the conclusion of his address burst into tears. A motion +was made, by Curran in arrest of judgment, chiefly on the grounds of the +drunkenness of the jury but the judges refused to entertain the +objection. The following is the speech delivered by William Orr after +the verdict of the jury had been announced:-- + + "My friends and fellow-countrymen--In the thirty-first year of my + life I have been sentenced to die upon the gallows, and this sentence + has been in pursuance of a verdict of twelve men, who should have + been indifferently and impartially chosen. How far they have been so, + I leave to that country from which they have been chosen to + determine; and how far they have discharged their duty, I leave to + their God and to themselves. They have, in pronouncing their verdict, + thought proper to recommend me as an object of humane mercy. In + return, I pray to God, if they have erred, to have mercy upon them. + The judge who condemned me humanely shed tears in uttering my + sentence. But whether he did wisely in so highly commending the + wretched informer, who swore away my life, I leave to his own cool + reflection, solemnly assuring him and all the world, with my dying + breath, that that informer was foresworn. + + "The law under which I suffer is surely a severe one--may the makers + and promoters of it be justified in the integrity of their motives, + and the purity of their own lives! By that law I am stamped a felon, + but my heart disdains the imputation. + + "My comfortable lot, and industrious course of life, best refute the + charge of being an adventurer for plunder; but if to have loved my + country--to have known its wrongs--to have felt the injuries of the + persecuted Catholics, and to have united with them and all other + religious persuasions in the most orderly and least sanguinary means + of procuring redress--if those be felonies, I am a felon, but not + otherwise. Had my counsel (for whose honorable exertions I am + indebted) prevailed in their motions to have me tried for high + treason, rather than under the insurrection law, I should have been, + entitled to a full defence, and my actions have been better + vindicated; but that was refused, and I must now submit to what has + passed. + + "To the generous protection of my country I leave a beloved wife, who + has been constant and true to me, and whose grief for my fate has + already nearly occasioned her death. I have five living children, who + have been my delight. May they love their country as I have done, and + die for it if needful. + + "Lastly, a false and ungenerous publication having appeared in a + newspaper, stating certain alleged confessions of guilt on my part, + and thus striking at my reputation, which is clearer to me than life. + I take this solemn method of contradicting the calumny. I was applied + to by the high-sheriff, and the Rev. William Bristow, sovereign of + Belfast, to make a confession of guilt, who used entreaties to that + effect; this I peremptorily refused. If I thought myself guilty, I + would freely confess it, but, on the contrary, I glory in my + innocence. + + "I trust that all my virtuous countrymen will bear me in their kind + remembrance, and continue true and faithful to each other as I have + been to all of them. With this last wish of my heart--nothing + doubting of the success of that cause for which I suffer, and hoping + for God's merciful forgiveness of such offences as my frail nature + may have at any time betrayed me into--I die in peace and charity + with all mankind." + +Hardly had sentence of death been passed on William Orr, when +compunction seemed to seize on those who had aided in securing that +result. The witness Wheatly, who subsequently became insane, and is +believed to have died by his own hand, made an affidavit before a +magistrate acknowledging that he had sworn falsely against Orr. Two of +the jury made depositions setting forth that they had been induced to +join in the verdict of guilty while under the influence of drink; two +others swore that they had been terrified into the same course by +threats of violence. + +These depositions were laid before the viceroy, but Lord Camden, the +then Lord Lieutenant, was deaf to all appeals. Well might Orr exclaim +within his dungeon that the government "had laid down a system having +for its object murder and devastation." The prey was in the toils of the +hunters, on whom all appeals of justice and humanity were wasted. + +Orr was hung, as we have said, in the town of Carrickfergus on the 14th +of October, 1797. It is related that the inhabitants of the town, to +express their sympathy with the patriot about being murdered by law, and +to mark their abhorrence of the conduct of the government towards him, +quitted the town _en masse_ on the day of his execution. + +His fate excited the deepest indignation throughout the country; it was +commented on in words of fire by the national writers of the period, and +through many an after year the watchword and rallying cry of the United +Irishmen was-- + + "REMEMBER ORR." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +HENRY AND JOHN SHEARES. + + +Among the many distinguished Irishmen who acted prominent parts in the +stormy events of 1798, and whose names come down to us hallowed by the +sufferings and sacrifices inseparable in those dark days from the lot of +an Irish patriot, there are few whose fate excited more sympathy, more +loved in life, more honored in death than the brothers John and Henry +Sheares. Even in the days of Emmet and Wolfe Tone, of Russell and +Fitzgerald, when men of education, talent, and social standing were not +few in the national ranks, the Sheareses were hailed as valuable +accessions to the cause, and were recognised by the United Irishmen as +heaven-destined leaders for the people. It is a touching story, the +history of their patriotic exertions, their betrayal, trial, and +execution; but it is by studying such scenes in our history that +Irishmen can learn to estimate the sacrifices which were made in bygone +days for Ireland, and attach a proper value to the memory of the +patriots who made them. + +Henry and John Sheares were sons of John Sheares, a banker in Cork, who +sat in the Irish Parliament for the borough of Clonakilty. The father +appears to have been a kindly-disposed, liberal-minded man, and numerous +stories are told of his unostentatious charity and benevolence. Henry, +the elder of the two sons, was born in 1753, and was educated in Trinity +College, Dublin. After leaving college he purchased a commission in the +51st Regiment of foot, but the duties of a military officer were ill +suited to his temperament and disposition, and the young soldier soon +resigned his commission to pursue the more congenial occupation of law +student. He was called to the bar in 1790; his brother John, his junior +by three years, who had adopted the same profession, obtained the rank +of barrister-at-law two years previously. The brothers differed from +each other widely in character and disposition. Henry was gentle in +manners, modest and unassuming, but firmly attached to his principles, +and unswerving in his fidelity to the cause which he adopted; John was +bold, impetuous, and energetic, ready to plan and to dare, fertile of +resources, quick of resolve, and prompt of execution. To John the elder +brother looked for guidance and example, and his gentle nature was ever +ruled by the more fiery and impulsive spirit of his younger brother. On +the death of the father Henry Sheares came in for property to the value +of £1,200 per annum, which his rather improvident habits soon diminished +by one-half. Both brothers, however, obtained large practice at their +profession, and continued in affluent circumstances up to the day of +their arrest. + +In 1792 the two brothers visited Paris, and this excursion seems to have +formed the turning point of their lives and fortunes. The French +Revolution was in full swing, and in the society of Roland, Brissot, and +other Republican leaders, the young Irishmen imbibed the love of +freedom, and impatience of tyranny and oppression, which they clung to +so faithfully, and which distinguished them so remarkably during the +remainder of their lives. On returning to Ireland in January, 1793, the +brothers joined the ranks of the United Irishmen. John at once became a +prominent member of the society, and his signature appears to several of +the spirited and eloquent addresses by which the Dublin branch sought +from time to time to arouse the ardour and stimulate the exertions of +their compatriots. The society of United Irishmen looked for nothing +more at this period than a thorough measure of parliamentary reform, +household suffrage being the leading feature in their programme; but +when the tyranny of the government drove the leaguers into more violent +and dangerous courses, when republican government and separation from +England were inscribed on the banners of the society instead of +electoral reform, and when the selfish and the wavering had shrunk +aside, the Sheareses still remained true to the United Irishmen, and +seemed to grow more zealous and energetic in the cause of their country +according as the mists of perplexity and danger gathered around it. + +To follow out the history of the Sheareses connection with the United +Irishmen would be foreign to our intention and to the scope of this +work. The limits of our space oblige us to pass over the ground at a +rapid pace, and we shall dismiss the period of the Sheareses' lives +comprised in the years between 1793 and 1798, by saying that during that +period, while practising their profession with success, they devoted +themselves with all the earnestness of their nature to the furtherance +of the objects of the United Irishmen. In March, 1798, the affairs of +the organization became critical; the arrest of the Directory at Oliver +Bond's deprived the party of its best and most trusted leaders, besides +placing in the hands of the government a mass of information relative to +the plans and resources of the conspirators. To fill the gap thus +caused, John Sheares was soon appointed a member of the Directory, and +he threw himself into the work with all the ardour and energy of his +nature. The fortunes of the society had assumed a desperate phase when +John Sheares became its ruling spirit. Tone was in France, O'Connor was +in England, Russell, Emmet, and Fitzgerald were in prison. But Sheares +was not disheartened; he directed all his efforts towards bringing about +the insurrection for which his countrymen had so long been preparing, +and the 23rd of May, 1798, was fixed on by him for the outbreak. He was +after visiting Wexford and Kildare, and making arrangements in those +counties for the rising, and was on the verge of starting for Cork on a +similar mission, when the hand of treachery cut short his career, and +the gates of Kilmainham prison opened to receive him. + +Amongst all the human monsters who filled the ranks of the government +informers in that dark and troubled period, not one appears to merit a +deeper measure of infamy than Captain Warnesford Armstrong, the +entrapper and betrayer of the Sheareses. Having obtained an introduction +to John, he represented himself as a zealous and hard-working member of +the organization, and soon wormed himself completely into the confidence +of his victims. He paid daily visits to the house of the Sheareses in +Baggot-street, chatted with their families, and fondled the children of +Henry Sheares upon his knee. We have it on his own testimony that each +interview with the men whose confidence he was sharing was followed by a +visit to the Castle. We need not go through the sickening details of +this vile story of treachery and fraud. On the 21st of May the Sheareses +were arrested and lodged in prison, and on the 12th of the following +month Armstrong appeared against them in the witness-box. The trial was +continued through the night--Toler, of infamous memory, who had been +created Attorney-General expressly for the occasion, refusing Curran's +request for an adjournment; and it was eight o'clock in the morning of +the 13th when the jury, who had been but seventeen minutes absent, +returned into court with a verdict of guilty against both prisoners. + +After a few hours' adjournment the court re-assembled to pass sentence. +It was then that John Sheares, speaking in a firm tone, addressed the +court as follows:-- + + "My Lords--I wish to offer a few words before sentence is pronounced, + because there is a weight pressing on my heart much greater than that + of the sentence which is to come from the court. There has been, my + lords, a weight pressing on my mind from the first moment I heard the + indictment read upon which I was tried; but that weight has been more + peculiarly pressing upon my heart when I found the accusation in the + indictment enforced and supported upon the trial. That weight would + be left insupportable if it were not for this opportunity of + discharging it; I shall feel it to be insupportable since a verdict + of my country has stamped that evidence as well founded. Do not + think, my lords, that I am about to make a declaration against the + verdict of the jury or the persons concerned with the trial; I am + only about to call to your recollection a part of the charge at which + my soul shudders, and if I had no opportunity of renouncing it before + your lordships and this auditory, no courage would be sufficient to + support me. The accusation of which I speak, while I linger here yet + a minute, is that of holding out to the people of Ireland a direction + to give no quarter to the troops fighting for its defence! My lords, + let me say thus, that if there be any acquaintances in this crowded + court--I do not say my intimate friends, but acquaintances--who do + not know what I say is truth, I shall be reputed the wretch which I + am not; I say if any acquaintance of mine can believe that _I_ could + utter a recommendation of giving no quarter to a yielding and + unoffending foe, it is not the death which I am about to suffer that + I deserve--no punishment could be adequate to such a crime. My lords, + I can not only acquit my soul of such an intention, but I declare, in + the presence of that God before whom I must shortly appear, that the + favourite doctrine of my heart was, _that no human being should + suffer death but when absolute necessity required it_. My lords, I + feel a consolation in making this declaration, which nothing else + could afford me, because it is not only a justification of myself, + but where I am sealing my life with that breath which cannot be + suspected of falsehood, what I say may make some impression upon the + minds of men not holding the same doctrine. I declare to God I know + of no crime but assassination which can eclipse or equal that of + which I am accused. I discern no shade of guilt between that and + taking away the life of a foe, by putting a bayonet to his heart when + he is yielding and surrendering. I do request the bench to believe + that of me--I do request my country to believe that of me--I am sure + God will think that of me. Now, my lords, I have no favour to ask of + the court; my country has decided I am guilty, and the law says I + shall suffer--it sees that I am ready to suffer. But, my lords, I + have a favour to request of the court that does not relate to myself. + My lords, I have a brother whom I have even loved dearer than myself, + but it is not from any affection for him alone that I am induced to + make the request. He is a man, and therefore I would hope prepared to + die if he stood as I do--though I do not stand unconnected; but he + stands more dearly connected. In short, my lords, to spare your + feelings and I my own, I do not pray that that _I_ should not die, + but that the husband, the father, the son--all comprised in one + person--holding these relations dearer in life to him than any other + man I know--for such a man I do not pray a pardon, for that is not in + the power of the court, but I pray a respite for such time as the + court in its humanity and discretion shall think proper. You have + heard, my lords, that his private affairs require arrangement. When I + address myself to your lordships, it is with the knowledge you will + have of all the sons of our aged mother being gone. Two have perished + in the service of the King--one very recently. I only request that, + disposing of me with what swiftness either the public mind or justice + requires, a respite may be given to my brother, that the family may + acquire strength to bear it all. That is all I wish; I shall remember + it to my last breath, and I shall offer up my prayers for you to that + Being who has endued us all with the sensibility to feel. That is all + I ask. I have nothing more to say." + +It was four o'clock, p.m., when the judge proceeded to pass sentence, +and the following morning was appointed for the double execution. At +mid-day on Saturday, July 14th, the hapless men were removed to the room +adjoining the place of execution, where they exchanged a last embrace. +They were then pinioned, the black caps put over their brows, and +holding each other by the hand, they tottered out on the platform. The +elder brother was somewhat moved by the terrors of his situation, but +the younger bore his fate with unflinching firmness. They were launched +together into eternity--the same moment saw them dangling lifeless +corpses before the prison walls. They had lived in affectionate unity, +inspired by the same motives, labouring for the same cause, and death +did not dissolve the tie. "They died hand in hand, like true brothers." + +When the hangman's hideous office was completed, the bodies were taken +down, and the executioner, in accordance with the barbarous custom of +the time, proceeded to sever the heads from the bodies. It is said, +however, that only on the body of Henry Sheares was that horrible act +performed. While the arrangements for the execution were in progress, +Sir Jonah Barrington had been making intercession with Lord Clare on +their behalf, and beseeching at least a respite. His lordship declared +that the life of John Sheares could not be spared, but said that Henry +might possibly have something to say which would induce the government +to commute his sentence; he furnished Sir Jonah with an order to delay +the execution one hour, and told him to communicate with Henry Sheares +on the subject. "I hastened," writes Sir Jonah, "to Newgate, and arrived +at the very moment that the executioner was holding up the head of my +old college friend, and saying, 'Here is the head of a traitor.'" The +fact of this order having been issued by the government, may have so far +interrupted the bloody work on the scaffold as to save the remains of +the younger Sheares from mutilation. The bodies of the patriots were +interred on the night of the execution in the vaults of St. Michan's +church, where, enclosed in oaken coffins, marked in the usual manner +with the names and ages of the deceased, they still repose. Many a pious +visit has since been paid to those dim chambers--many a heart, filled +with love and pity, has throbbed above those coffin lids--many a tear +has dropped upon them. But it is not a feeling of grief alone that is +inspired by the memory of those martyrs to freedom; hope, courage, +constancy, are the lessons taught by their lives, and the patriotic +spirit that ruled their career is still awake and active in Ireland. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +ROBERT EMMET. + + +In all Irish history there is no name which touches the Irish heart like +that of Robert Emmet. We read, in that eventful record, of men who laid +down their lives for Ireland amid the roar and crash of battle, of +others who perished by the headsman's axe or the halter of the hangman, +of others whose eyes were closed for ever in the gloom of English +dungeons, and of many whose hearts broke amid the sorrows of involuntary +exile; of men, too, who in the great warfare of mind rendered to the +Irish cause services no less memorable and glorious. They are neither +forgotten nor unhonoured. The warrior figure of Hugh O'Neill is a +familiar vision to Irishmen; Sarsfield expiring on the foreign +battle-field with that infinitely pathetic and noble utterance on his +lips--"Would that this were for Ireland"--is a cherished remembrance, +and that last cry of a patriotic spirit dwells for ever about our +hearts; Grattan battling against a corrupt and venal faction, first to +win and then to defend the independence of his country, astonishing +friends and foes alike by the dazzling splendour of his eloquence; and +O'Connell on the hill-sides pleading for the restoration of Ireland's +rights, and rousing his countrymen to a struggle for them, are pictures +of which we are proud--memories that will live in song and story while +the Irish race has a distinct existence in the world. But in the +character of Robert Emmet there was such a rare combination of admirable +qualities, and in his history there are so many of the elements of +romance, that the man stands before our mental vision as a peculiarly +noble and loveable being, with claims upon our sympathies that are +absolutely without a parallel. He had youth, talent, social position, a +fair share of fortune, and bright prospects for the future on his side +when he embarked in the service of a cause that had but recently been +sunk in defeat and ruin. Courage, genius, enthusiasm were his, high +hopes and strong affections, all based upon and sweetened by a nature +utterly free from guile. He was an orator and a poet; in the one art he +had already achieved distinction, in the other he was certain to take a +high place, if he should make that an object of his ambition. He was a +true patriot, true soldier, and true lover. If the story of his +political life is full of melancholy interest, and calculated to awaken +profound emotions of reverence for his memory, the story of his +affections is not less touching. Truly, "there's not a line but hath +been wept upon." So it is, that of all the heroic men who risked and +lost everything for Ireland, none is so frequently remembered, none is +thought of so tenderly as Robert Emmet. Poetry has cast a halo of light +upon the name of the youthful martyr, and some of the sweetest strains +of Irish music are consecrated to his memory. + +[Illustration: ROBERT EMMET.] + +Robert Emmet was born on the 4th of March, 1778. He was the third son of +Doctor Robert Emmet, a well-known and highly respectable physician of +Dublin. Thomas Addis Emmet, already mentioned in these pages, the +associate of Tone, the Sheareses, and other members of the United Irish +organization, was an elder brother of Robert, and his senior by some +sixteen years. Just about the period when the United Irishmen were +forming themselves into a secret revolutionary society, young Emmet was +sent to receive his education in Trinity College. There the bent of the +lad's political opinions was soon detected; but among his fellow +students he found many, and amongst them older heads than his own, who +not only shared his views, but went beyond them in the direction of +liberal and democratic principles. In the Historical Society--composed +of the _alumni_ of the college, and on whose books at this time were +many names that subsequently became famous--those kindred spirits made +for themselves many opportunities of giving expression to their +sentiments, and showing that their hearts beat in unison with the great +movement for human freedom which was then agitating the world. To their +debates Emmet brought the aid of a fine intellect and a fluent +utterance, and he soon became the orator of the patriot party. + +So great was the effect created by his fervid eloquence and his +admirable reasoning, that the heads of the college thought it prudent on +several occasions to send one of the ablest of their body to take part +in the proceedings, and assist in refuting the argumentation of the +"young Jacobin." And to such extremities did matters proceed at last +that Emmet, with several of his political friends, was expelled the +college, others less obnoxious to the authorities were subjected to a +severe reprimand, and the society, thus terrorised and weakened, soon +ceased to exist. Our national poet, Thomas Moore, the fellow-student and +intimate friend of young Emmet, witnessed many of those displays of his +abilities, and in his "Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald," speaks +of him in terms of the highest admiration. "Were I," he says, "to number +the men among all I have ever known who appeared to me to combine in the +greatest degree pure moral worth with intellectual power, I should, +among the highest of the few, place Robert Emmet." "He was," writes the +same authority, "wholly free from the follies and frailties of +youth--though how capable he was of the most devoted passion events +afterwards proved." Of his oratory, he says, "I have heard little since +that appeared to me of a loftier, or what is a far more rare quality in +Irish eloquence, purer character." And the appearance of this greatly +gifted youth, he thus describes: "Simple in all his habits, and with a +repose of look and manner indicating but little movement within, it was +only when the spring was touched that set his feelings, and through them +his intellect in motion, that he at all rose above the level of ordinary +men. No two individuals indeed could be much more unlike to each other +than was the same youth to himself before rising to speak and after; the +brow that had appeared inanimate and almost drooping, at once elevating +itself to all the consciousness of power, and the whole countenance and +figure of the speaker assuming a change as of one suddenly inspired." + +The expulsion of Emmet from the college occurred in the month of +February, 1798. On the 12th of the following month his brother, Thomas +Addis Emmet, was arrested. The manner in which this noble-hearted +gentleman took the oath of the United Irish Society, in the year of +1795, is so remarkable that we cannot omit mention of it here. His +services as a lawyer having been engaged in the defence of some persons +who stood charged with having sworn in members to the United Irish +organization--the crime for which William Orr was subsequently tried and +executed--he, in the course of the proceedings, took up the oath and +read it with remarkable deliberation and solemnity. Then, taking into +his hand the prayer book that lay on the table for the swearing of +witnesses, and looking to the bench and around the court, he said +aloud-- + +"My Lords--Here, in the presence of this legal court, this crowded +auditory--in the presence of the Being that sees and witnesses, and +directs this judicial tribunal--here, my lords, I, myself, in the +presence of God, declare I take this oath." + +The terms of the oath at this time were, in fact, perfectly +constitutional, having reference simply to attainment of a due +representation of the Irish nation in parliament--still, the oath was +that of a society declared to be illegal, and the administration of it +had been made a capital offence. The boldness of the advocate in thus +administering it to himself in open court appeared to paralyse the minds +of the judges. They took no notice of the act, and what was even more +remarkable, the prisoners, who were convicted, received a lenient +sentence. + +But to return to Robert Emmet--the events of 1798, as might be supposed, +had a powerful effect on the feelings of the enthusiastic young patriot, +and he was not free of active participation with the leaders of the +movement in Dublin. He was, of course, an object of suspicion to the +government, and it appears marvellous that they did not immediately take +him into their safe keeping under the provisions of the _Habeas Corpus_ +Suspension Act. Ere long, however, he found that prudence would counsel +his concealment, or his disappearance from the country, and he took his +departure for the Continent, where he met with a whole host of the Irish +refugees; and, in 1802, was joined by his brother and others of the +political prisoners who had been released from the confinement to +which--in violation of a distinct agreement between them and the +government--they had been subjected in Fort George, in Scotland. Their +sufferings had not broken their spirit. There was hope still, they +thought, for Ireland; great opportunities were about to dawn upon that +often defeated, but still unconquerable nation, and they applied +themselves to the task of preparing the Irish people to take advantage +of them. + +At home the condition of affairs was not such as to discourage them. The +people had not lost heart; the fighting spirit was still rife amongst +them. The rebellion had been trampled out, but it had been sustained +mainly by a county or two, and it had served to show that a general +uprising of the people would be sufficient to sweep every vestige of +British power from the land. Then they had in their favour the +exasperation against the government which was caused by that most +infamous transaction, the passage of the Act of Union. But they found +their chief encouragement in the imminence of another war between France +and England. Once more the United Irishmen put themselves into +communication with Buonaparte, then First Consul, and again they +received flattering promises of assistance. Robert Emmet obtained an +interview with that great man, and learned from him that it was his +settled purpose on the breaking out of hostilities, which could not long +be deferred, to effect an invasion of England. Full of high hopes, Emmet +returned to Dublin in October, 1802; and as he was now in very heart of +a movement for another insurrection, he took every precaution to avoid +discovery. He passed under feigned names, and moved about as little as +possible. He gathered together the remnants of the United Irish +organization, and with some money of his own, added to considerable sums +supplied to him by a Mr. Long, a merchant, residing at No. 4 +Crow-street, and other sympathisers, he commenced the collection of an +armament and military stores for his followers. In the month of May, +1803, the expected war between France and England broke out. This event +of course raised still higher his hopes, and gave a great stimulus to +his exertions. To and fro he went from one to another of the depots +which he had established for the manufacture and storage of arms in +various parts of the city, cheering, directing, and assisting his men at +their work. Pikes were got ready by the thousand, and ingeniously stowed +away until they should be wanted; rockets, hand-grenades, and other +deadly missiles were carefully prepared; but an accidental explosion, +which occurred on the 16th of July, in one of these manufactories +situate in Patrick-street, was very near leading to the discovery of the +entire business, and had the effect of precipitating the outbreak. The +government at this time had undoubtedly got on the scent of the +movement, and the leaders considered that no time was to be lost in +bringing matters to a crisis. Emmet now took up his abode in the +Marshalsea-lane depot, snatching his few hours of sleep "on a mattress, +surrounded by all the implements of death." There he made a final +arrangement of his plans, and communicated his instructions to his +subordinates, fixing the 23rd of July as the date for the rising. + +The history of that unfortunate attempt need not here be written. +Suffice it to say that the arrangements miscarried in nearly every +particular. The men in the numbers calculated upon did not assemble at +the appointed time or in the appointed places, and the whole force that +turned out in Thomas-street for the attack on the Castle did not number +a hundred insurgents. They were joined by a riotous and noisy rabble; +and their unfortunate leader soon perceived that his following was, as +had previously been said of the king's troops, "formidable to every one +but the enemy." They had not proceeded far on their way when a carriage, +in which were Lord Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, his +daughter, and his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Wolfe, drove into the street. The +vehicle was stopped, and the Chief Justice was immediately piked by a +man in the crowd whose son he had some time previously condemned to +execution. The clergyman also was pulled out of the carriage and put to +death. To the lady no violence was offered, and Emmet himself, who had +heard of the deplorable tragedy, rushing from the head of his party, +bore her in his arms to an adjoining house. No attack on the Castle took +place; the insurgent party scattered and melted away even before the +appearance of military on the scene, and in little more than an hour +from the time of his setting out on his desperate enterprise, Robert +Emmet was a defeated and ruined man, a fugitive, with the whole host of +British spies and bloodhounds employed to hunt him to the death. + +Yet he might have foiled them and got clear out of the country if his +personal safety was all on earth he cared for. But in that noble heart +of his there was one passion co-existent with his love of Ireland, and +not unworthy of the companionship, which forbade his immediate flight. +With all that intensity of affection of which a nature so pure and so +ardent as his was capable, he loved a being in every way worthy of +him--a lady so gentle, and good, and fair, that even to a less poetic +imagination than his own, she might seem to be a fitting personification +of his beloved Erin; and by her he was loved and trusted in return. Who +is it that has not heard her name?--who has not mourned over the story +of Sarah Curran! In the ruin that had fallen on the hopes and fortunes +of the patriot chief, the happiness of this amiable lady was involved. +He would not leave without an interview with her--no! though a thousand +deaths should be the penalty. The delay was fatal to his chances of +escape. For more than a month he remained in concealment, protected by +the fidelity of friends, many of whom belonged to the humbler walks of +life, and one of whom in particular--the heroic Anne Devlin, from whom +neither proffered bribes nor cruel tortures could extort a single hint +as to his place of abode--should ever be held in grateful remembrance by +Irishmen. At length on the 25th of August, the ill-fated young +gentleman was arrested in the house of a Mrs. Palmer, at Harold's-cross. +On the 19th of September he was put on his trial in the court-house, +Green-street, charged with high treason. He entered on no defence, +beyond making a few remarks in the course of the proceedings with a view +to the moral and political justification of his conduct. The jury, +without leaving their box, returned a verdict of guilty against him; +after which, having been asked in due form why sentence of death should +not be pronounced upon him, he delivered this memorable speech, every +line of which is known and dear to the hearts of the Irish race:-- + + "MY LORDS--I am asked what have I to say why sentence of death should + not be pronounced on me, according to law. I have nothing to say that + can alter your predetermination, nor that it will become me to say, + with any view to the mitigation of that sentence which you are to + pronounce, and I must abide by. But I have that to say which + interests me more than life, and which you have laboured to destroy. + I have much to say why my reputation should be rescued from the load + of false accusation and calumny which has been cast upon it, I do not + imagine that, seated where you are, your mind can be so free from + prejudice as to receive the least impression from what I am going to + utter. I have no hopes that I can anchor my character in the breast + of a court constituted and trammelled as this is. I only wish, and + that is the utmost that I expect, that your lordships may suffer it + to float down your memories untainted by the foul breath of + prejudice, until it finds some more hospitable harbour to shelter it + from the storms by which it is buffetted. Was I only to suffer death, + after being adjudged guilty by your tribunal, I should bow in + silence, and meet the fate that awaits me without a murmur; but the + sentence of the law which delivers my body to the executioner will, + through the ministry of the law, labour in its own vindication, to + consign my character to obloquy; for there must be guilt somewhere, + whether in the sentence of the court, or in the catastrophe, time + must determine. A man in my situation has not only to encounter the + difficulties of fortune, and the force of power over minds which it + has corrupted or subjugated, but the difficulties of established + prejudice. The man dies, but his memory lives. That mine may not + perish, that it may live in the respect of my countrymen, I seize + upon this opportunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges + alleged against me. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly + port--when my shade shall have joined the bands of those martyred + heroes who have shed their blood on the scaffold and in the field in + the defence of their country and of virtue, this is my hope--I wish + that my memory and name may animate those who survive me, while I + look down with complacency on the destruction of that perfidious + government which upholds its domination by blasphemy of the Most + High--which displays its power over man, as over the beasts of the + forest--which sets man upon his brother, and lifts his hand, in the + name of God, against the throat of his fellow who believes or doubts + a little more or a little less than the government standard--a + government which is steeled to barbarity by the cries of the orphans, + and the tears of the widows it has made." + + [Here Lord Norbury interrupted Mr. Emmet, saying--"that the mean and + wicked enthusiasts who felt as he did, were not equal to the + accomplishment of their wild designs."] + + "I appeal to the immaculate God--I swear by the Throne of Heaven, + before which I must shortly appear--by the blood of the murdered + patriots who have gone before me--that my conduct has been, through + all this peril, and through all my purposes, governed only by the + conviction which I have uttered, and by no other view than that of + the emancipation of my country from the superinhuman oppression under + which she has so long and too patiently travailed; and I confidently + hope that, wild and chimerical as it may appear, there is still union + and strength in Ireland to accomplish this noblest of enterprises. Of + this I speak with confidence, of intimate knowledge, and with the + consolation that appertains to that confidence. Think not, my lords, + I say this for the petty gratification of giving you a transitory + uneasiness. A man who never yet raised his voice to assert a lie, + will not hazard his character with posterity, by asserting a + falsehood on a subject so important to his country, and on an + occasion like this. Yes, my lords, a man who does not wish to have + his epitaph written until his country is liberated, will not leave a + weapon in the power of envy, or a pretence to impeach the probity + which he means to preserve, even in the grave, to which tyranny + consigns him." + + [Here he was again interrupted by the court] + + "Again I say, that what I have spoken was not intended for your + lordship, whose situation I commisserate rather than envy--my + expressions were for my countrymen. If there is a true Irishman + present, let my last words cheer him in the hour of his affliction." + + [Here he was again interrupted. Lord Norbury said he did not sit + there to hear treason.] + + "I have always understood it to be the duty of a judge, when a + prisoner has been convicted, to pronounce the sentence of the law. I + have also understood that judges sometimes think it their duty to + hear with patience, and to speak with humanity; to exhort the victim + of the laws, and to offer, with tender benignity, their opinions of + the motives by which he was actuated in the crime of which he was + adjudged guilty. That a judge has thought it his duty so to have + done, I have no doubt; but where is the boasted freedom of your + institutions--where is the vaunted impartiality, clemency, and + mildness of your courts of justice if an unfortunate prisoner, whom + your policy, and not justice, is about to deliver into the hands of + the executioner, is not suffered to explain his motives sincerely and + truly, and to vindicate the principles by which he was actuated? My + lords, it may be a part of the system of angry justice to bow a man's + mind by humiliation to the purposed, ignominy of the scaffold; but + worse to me than the purposed shame, or the scaffold's terrors, would + be the shame of such foul and unfounded imputations as have been laid + against me in this court. You, my lord, are a judge; I am the + supposed culprit. I am a man; you are a man also. By a revolution of + power we might change places, though we never could change + characters. If I stand at the bar of this court, and dare not + vindicate my character, what a farce is your justice! If I stand at + this bar and dare not vindicate my character, how dare you calumniate + it. Does the sentence of death, which your unhallowed policy inflicts + on my body, condemn my tongue to silence and my reputation to + reproach? Your executioner may abridge the period of my existence; + but while I exist I shall not forbear to vindicate my character and + motives from your aspersions; and, as a man, to whom fame is dearer + than life, I will make the last use of that life in doing justice to + that reputation which is to live after me, and which is the only + legacy I can leave to those I honor and love, and for whom I am proud + to perish. As men, my lords, we must appear on the great day at one + common tribunal; and it will then remain for the Searcher of all + hearts to show a collective universe, who was engaged in the most + virtuous actions, or swayed by the purest motives--my country's + oppressor, or"----- + + [Here he was interrupted, and told to listen to the sentence of the + law]. + + "My lords, will a dying man be denied the legal privilege of + exculpating himself in the eyes of the community from an undeserved + reproach, thrown upon him during his trial, by charging him with + ambition, and attempting to cast away for a paltry consideration the + liberties of his country? Why did your lordships insult me? Or + rather, why insult justice, in demanding of me why sentence of death + should not be pronounced against me? I know, my lords, that form + prescribes that you should ask the question. The form also presents + the right of answering. This, no doubt, may be dispensed with, and so + might the whole ceremony of the trial, since sentence was already + pronounced at the Castle before the jury were empanelled. Your + lordships are but the priests of the oracle, and I insist on the + whole of the forms." + + [Here Mr. Emmet paused, and the court desired him to proceed.] + + "I am charged with being an emissary of France. An emissary of + France! and for what end? It is alleged that I wished to sell the + independence of my country; and for what end? Was this the object of + my ambition? And is this the mode by which a tribunal of justice + reconciles contradiction? No; I am no emissary; and my ambition was + to hold a place among the deliverers of my country, not in power nor + in profit, but in the glory of the achievement. Sell my country's + independence to France! and for what? Was it a change of masters? No, + but for my ambition. Oh, my country, was it personal ambition that + could influence me? Had it been the soul of my actions, could I not, + by my education and fortune, by the rank and consideration of my + family, have placed myself amongst the proudest of your oppressor. My + Country was my Idol. To it I sacrificed every selfish, every + endearing sentiment; and for it I now offer up myself, O God! No, my + lords; I acted as an Irishman, determined on delivering my country + from the yoke of a foreign and unrelenting tyranny, and the more + galling yoke of a domestic faction, which is its joint partner and + perpetrator in the patricide, from the ignominy existing with an + exterior of splendour and a conscious depravity. It was the wish of + my heart to extricate my country from this doubly rivetted + despotism--I wished to place her independence beyond the reach of any + power on earth. I wished to exalt her to that proud station in the + world. Connection with France was, indeed, intended, but only as far + as mutual interest would sanction or require. Were the French to + assume any authority inconsistent with the purest independence, it + would be signal for their destruction. We sought their aid--and we + sought it as we had assurance we should obtain it--as auxiliaries in + war, and allies in peace. Were the French to come as invaders or + enemies, uninvited by the wishes of the people, I should oppose them + to the utmost of my strength. Yes! my countrymen, I should advise you + to meet them upon the beach with a sword in one hand, and a torch in + the other. I would meet them with all the destructive fury of war. I + would animate my countrymen to immolate them in their boats, before + they had contaminated the soil of my country. If they succeeded in + landing, and if forced to retire before superior discipline, I would + dispute every inch of ground, burn every blade of grass, and the last + entrenchment of liberty should be my grave. What I could not do + myself, if I should fall, I should leave as a last charge to my + countrymen to accomplish; because I should feel conscious that life, + any more than death, is unprofitable when a foreign nation holds my + country in subjection. But it was not as an enemy that the succours + of France were to land. I looked, indeed, for the assistance of + France; but I wished to prove to France and to the world that + Irishmen deserved to be assisted--that they were indignant at + slavery, and ready to assert the independence and liberty of their + country; I wished to procure for my country the guarantee which + Washington procured for America--to procure an aid which, by its + example, would be as important as its valour; disciplined, gallant, + pregnant with science and experience; that of a people who would + perceive the good, and polish the rough points of our character. They + would come to us as strangers, and leave us as friends, after sharing + in our perils and elevating our destiny. These were my objects; not + to receive new taskmasters, but to expel old tyrants. It was for + these ends I sought aid from France; because France, even as an + enemy, could not be more implacable than the enemy already in the + bosom of my country." + + [Here he was interrupted by the court.] + + "I have been charged with that importance in the emancipation of my + country, as to be consided the key-stone of the combination of + Irishmen; or, as your lordship expressed it, 'the life and blood of + the conspiracy.' You do me honour over much; you have given to the + subaltern all the credit of a superior. There are men engaged in this + conspiracy who are not only superior to me, but even to your own + conceptions of yourself, my lord--men before the splendour of whose + genius and virtues I should bow with respectful deference, and who + would think themselves disgraced by shaking your blood-stained hand." + + [Here he was interrupted.] + + "What, my lord, shall you tell me, on the passage to the scaffold, + which that tyranny (of which you are only the intermediary + executioner) has erected for my murder, that I am accountable for all + the blood that has and will be shed in this struggle of the oppressed + against the oppressor--shall you tell me this, and must I be so very + a slave as not to repel it? I do not fear to approach the Omnipotent + Judge to answer for the conduct of my whole life; and am I to be + appalled and falsified by a mere remnant of mortality here? By you, + too, although if it were possible to collect all the innocent blood + that you have shed in your unhallowed ministry in one great reservoir + your lordship might swim in it." + + [Here the judge interfered.] + + "Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dishonor; let no + man attaint my memory, by believing that I could have engaged in any + cause but that of my country's liberty and independence; or that I + could have become the pliant minion of power, in the oppression and + misery of my country. The proclamation of the Provisional Government + speaks for our views; no inference can be tortured from it to + countenance barbarity or debasement at home, or subjection, + humiliation, or treachery from abroad. I would not have submitted to + a foreign oppressor, for the same reason that I would resist the + foreign and domestic oppressor. In the dignity of freedom, I would + have fought upon the threshold of my country, and its enemy should + enter only by passing over my lifeless corpse. And am I, who lived + but for my country, and who have subjected myself to the dangers of + the jealous and watchful oppressor, and the bondage of the grave, + only to give my countrymen their rights, and my country her + independence, am I to be loaded with calumny, and not suffered to + resent it? No; God forbid!" + + Here Lord Norbury told Mr. Emmet that his sentiments and language + disgraced his family and his education, but more particularly his + father, Dr. Emmet, who was a man, if alive, that would not + countenance such opinions. To which Mr. Emmet replied:-- + + "If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the concerns + and cares of those who were dear to them in this transitory life, + oh! ever dear and venerated shade of my departed father, look down + with scrutiny upon the conduct of your suffering son, and see if I + have, even for a moment, deviated from those principles of morality + and patriotism which it was your care to instil into my youthful + mind, and for which I am now about to offer up my life. My lords, you + are impatient for the sacrifice. The blood which you seek is not + congealed by the artificial terrors which surround your victim--it + circulates warmly and unruffled through the channels which God + created for noble purposes, but which you are now bent to destroy, + for purposes so grievous that they cry to heaven. Be yet patient! I + have but a few more words to say--I am going to my cold and silent + grave--my lamp of life is nearly extinguished--my race is run--the + grave opens to receive me, and I sink into its bosom. I have but one + request to ask at my departure from this world, it is--THE CHARITY OF + ITS SILENCE. Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my + motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance + asperse them. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace; and my + tomb remain uninscribed, and my memory in oblivion, until other times + and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes + her place among the nations of the earth, _then_ and _not till then_, + let my epitaph be written. I have done." + +This affecting address was spoken--as we learn from the painstaking and +generous biographer of the United Irishmen, Dr, Madden--"in so loud a +voice as to be distinctly heard at the outer doors of the court-house; +and yet, though he spoke in a loud tone, there was nothing boisterous in +his manner; his accents and cadence of voice, on the contrary, were +exquisitely modulated. His action was very remarkable, its greater or +lesser vehemence corresponded with the rise and fall of his voice. He is +described as moving about the dock, as he warmed in his address, with +rapid, but not ungraceful motions--now in front of the railing before +the bench, then retiring, as if his body, as well as his mind, were +spelling beyond the measure of its chains. His action was not confined +to his hands; he seemed to have acquired a swaying motion of the body +when he spoke in public, which was peculiar to him, but there was no +affectation in it." + +At ten o'clock, p.m., on the day of his trial, the barbarous sentence of +the law--the same that we have so recently heard passed on prisoners +standing in that same dock, accused of the same offence against the +rulers of this country--was passed on Robert Emmet. Only a few hours +were given him in which to withdraw his thoughts from the things of this +world and fix them on the next. He was hurried away, at midnight, from +Newgate to Kilmainham jail, passing through Thomas-street, the scene of +his attempted insurrection. Hardly had the prison van driven through, +when workmen arrived and commenced the erection of the gibbet from which +his body was to be suspended. About the hour of noon, on the 20th of +September, he mounted the scaffold with a firm and composed demeanour; a +minute or two more and the lifeless remains of one of the most gifted of +God's creatures hung from the cross beams--strangled by the enemies of +his country--cut off in the bloom of youth, in the prime of his physical +and intellectual powers, because he had loved his own land, hated her +oppressors, and striven to give freedom to his people. But not yet was +English vengeance satisfied. While the body was yet warm it was cut down +from the gibbet, the neck placed across a block on the scaffold, and the +head severed from the body. Then the executioner held it up before the +horrified and sorrowing crowd that stood outside the lines of soldiery, +proclaiming to them--"This is the head of a traitor!" A traitor! It was +a false proclamation. No traitor was he, but a true and noble gentleman. +No traitor, but a most faithful heart to all that was worthy of love and +honour. No traitor, but a martyr for Ireland. The people who stood +agonized before his scaffold, tears streaming from their eyes, and their +hearts bursting with suppressed emotion, knew that for them and for +Ireland he had offered up his young life. And when the deed was +finished, and the mutilated body had been taken away, and the armed +guards had marched from the fatal spot, old people and young moved up to +it to dip their handkerchiefs in the blood of the martyr, that they +might then treasure up the relics for ever. Well has his memory been +cherished in the Irish heart from that day to the present time. Six +years ago a procession of Irishmen, fifteen thousand strong, hearing +another rebel to his grave, passed by the scene of that execution, every +man of whom reverently uncovered his head as he reached the hallowed +spot. A few months ago, a banner borne in another Irish insurrection +displayed the inscription-- + +"REMEMBER EMMET." + +Far away "beyond the Atlantic foam," and "by the long wash of +Australasian seas," societies are in existence bearing his name, and +having for their object to cherish his memory and perpetuate his +principles. And wherever on the habitable globe a few members of the +scattered Irish race are to be found, there are hearts that are thrilled +by even the faintest allusion to the uninscribed grave-stone and the +unwritten epitaph. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THOMAS RUSSELL. + + +When Emmet was dead, and the plan to which he devoted his fortune, his +talents, and his life, had sunk in failure, the cause of Irish +independence appeared finally lost, and the cry, more than once repeated +in after times, that "now, indeed, the last bolt of Irish disaffection +has been sped, and that there would never again be an Irish rebellion," +rung loudly from the exulting enemies of Ireland. The hearts of the +people seemed broken by the weight of the misfortunes and calamities +that overwhelmed them. The hopes which had brightened their stormy path, +and enabled them to endure the oppression to which they were subjected +by expectations of a glorious change, flickered no longer amidst the +darkness. The efforts of the insurgents were everywhere drowned in +blood; the hideous memories of '98 were brought up anew; full of bitter +thoughts, exasperated, humiliated, and despondent, the people brooded +over their wretched fate, and sullenly submitted to the reign of terror +which was inaugurated amongst them. Little had the Irish patriots to +look forward to in that dark hour of suffering and disappointment. A +nightmare of blood and violence weighed down the spirits of the people; +a stupor appeared to have fallen on the nation; and though time might be +trusted to arouse them from the trance, they had suffered another loss, +not so easily repaired, in the death and dispersion of their leaders. +Where now should they find the Moses to lead them from the land of +captivity? Tone, Fitzgerald, Emmet, Bond, M'Cracken, the Sheareses--all +were dead. M'Nevin, Neilson, and O'Connor were in exile. Heavily and +relentlessly the arm of vengeance had fallen on them one by one; but the +list was not even then completed. There was yet another victim to fall +before the altar of liberty, and the sacrifice which commenced with Orr +did not conclude until Thomas Russell had perished on the gallows of +Downpatrick. + +The importance of the part which Thomas Russell fills in the history of +the United Irishmen, the worth of his character, the purity and nobility +of his sentiments, and the spirit of uncompromising patriotism displayed +in his last address, would render unpardonable the omission of his name +from such a work as this. "I mean to make my trial," said Russell, "and +the last of my life, if it is to close now, as serviceable to the cause +of liberty as I can," and he kept his word. To-day, we try in some +slight way to requite that fidelity which endured unto death, by +rescuing Thomas Russell's name from oblivion, and recalling his services +and virtues to the recollection of his countrymen. + +He was born at Betsborough, Dunnahane, in the parish of Kilshanick, +county Cork, on the 21st November, 1767. His father was an officer in +the British army, who had fought against the Irish Brigade in the +memorable battle of Fontenoy, and who died in a high situation in the +Royal Hospital at Kilmainham. Thomas, the youngest of his three sons, +was educated for the Protestant Church; but his inclinations sought a +different field of action, and at the age of fifteen he left for India +as a volunteer, where he served with his brother, Ambrose, whose +gallantry in battle called down commendation from the English king. +Thomas Russell quitted India after five years' service, and his return +is ascribed to the disgust and indignation which filled him on +witnessing the extortions, the cruelties, the usurpations, and +brutalities, which were carried out and sanctioned by the government +under which he served. He left Ireland burdened with few fixed political +principles and little knowledge of the world; he returned a full grown +man, imbued with the opinions which he never afterwards abandoned. He +was then, we are told, a model of manly beauty, one of those favoured +individuals whom we cannot pass in the street without being guilty of +the rudeness of staring in the face while passing, and turning round to +look at the receding figure. Though more than six feet high, his +majestic stature was scarcely observed, owing to the exquisite symmetry +of his form. Martial in his gait and demeanour, his appearance was not +altogether that of a soldier. His dark and steady eye, compressed lip, +and some what haughty bearing, were occasionally strongly indicative of +the camp; but in general the classic contour of his finely formed head, +the expression of sweetness that characterised his smile, and the +benevolence that beamed in his fine countenance, seemed to mark him out +as one that was destined to be the ornament, grace, and blessing of +private life. His manners were those of the finished gentleman, combined +with that native grace which nothing but superiority of intellect can +give; he was naturally reserved and retiring in disposition, and his +private life was distinguished by eminent purity and an unostentatious +devotion to the precepts of religion. + +Such was Thomas Russell when he made the acquaintance of Theobald Wolfe +Tone in Dublin. There is no doubt that the views and opinions of Tone +made a profound impression on young Russell; it is equally certain, on +the other hand, that Tone learned to love and esteem his new friend, +whose sentiments were so much in accordance with his own. Throughout +Tone's journal we find constant references to Thomas Russell, whom he +always places with Thomas Addis Emmet at the head of his list of +friends. Early in 1791 Russell proceeded to Belfast to join the 64th +Regiment, in which he had obtained a commission; before leaving Dublin +he appears to have become a member of the Society of United Irishmen, +and in Belfast he soon won the friendship and shared the councils of the +patriotic men who were labouring for Ireland in that city. + +While in Belfast, Russell fell into pecuniary embarrassments. His +generous and confiding nature induced him to go bail for a false friend, +and he found himself one morning obliged to meet a claim for £200, which +he had no means of discharging except by the sale of his commission. +Russell sold out and retired to Dungannon, where he lived for some time +on the residue of the money thus obtained, and during this period he was +appointed a Justice of the Peace for the county of Tyrone. After a short +experience of "Justices' justice" in the North, he retired from the +bench through motives alike creditable to his head and heart. "I cannot +reconcile it to my conscience," he exclaimed one day, "to sit on a bench +where the practice exists of inquiring what religion a person is before +investigating the charge against him." Russell returned, after taking +this step, to Belfast, where he was appointed to a situation in the +public library of the town, and where he became a regular contributor to +the organ of the Ulster patriots, the _Northern Star_. + +In 1796 he was appointed by the United Irishmen to the supreme military +command in the county Down, a post for which his military experience not +less than his personal influence fitted him, but his political career +was soon afterwards interrupted by his arrest on the 26th of September, +1796. Russell was removed to Dublin, and lodged in Newgate Prison; his +arrest filled the great heart of Tone, who was then toiling for his +country in France, with sorrow and dismay. "It is impossible," he says +in his journal, "to conceive the effect this misfortune has on my mind. +If we are not in Ireland in time to extricate him he is lost, for the +government will move heaven and earth to ensure his condemnation. Good +God!" he adds, "if Russell and Neilson fall, where shall I find two +others to replace them?" During the eventful months that intervened +between the date of his arrest and the 19th of March, 1799, poor Russell +remained chafing his imprisoned soul, filled with patriotic passion and +emotion, in his prison cell in Kilmainham. On the latter date, when the +majority of his associates were dead, and their followers scattered and +disheartened, he was transferred to Fort George in Scotland, where he +spent three years more in captivity. The government had no specific +charge against him, but they feared his influence and distrusted his +intentions, and they determined to keep him a prisoner while a chance +remained of his exerting his power against them. No better illustration +of Russell's character and principles could be afforded than that +supplied in the following extract from one of the letters written by him +during his incarceration in Fort George:--"To the people of Ireland," he +writes, addressing an Irish friend and sympathiser, "I am responsible +for my actions; amidst the uncertainties of life this may be my +valedictory letter; what has occasioned the failure of the cause is +useless to speculate on--Providence orders all things for the best. _I +am sure the people will never abandon the cause; I am equally sure it +will succeed_. I trust men will see," he adds, referring to the infidel +views then unhappily prevalent, "that the only true basis of liberty is +morality, and the only stable basis of morality is religion." + +In 1802 the government, failing to establish any distinct charge against +Russell, set him at liberty, and he at once repaired to Paris, where he +met Robert Emmet, who was then preparing to renew the effort of +Fitzgerald and Wolfe Tone. Time had not changed, nor suffering damped, +the patriotic impulses of Thomas Russell; he entered heartily into the +plans of young Emmet, and when the latter left for Ireland in November, +1802, to prosecute his hazardous enterprise, it was with the full +understanding that Russell would stand by his side in the post of +danger, and with him perish or succeed. In accordance with this +arrangement, Russell followed Robert Emmet to Dublin, where he arrived +so skilfully disguised that even his own family failed to recognise +him. Emmet's plans for the outbreak in Dublin were matured when Russell, +with a trusty companion, was despatched northwards to summon the Ulster +men to action. Buoyant in spirit, and filled with high expectation, he +entered on his mission, but he returned to Dublin a week later prostrate +in spirit and with a broken heart. One of his first acts on arriving in +Belfast was to issue a proclamation, in which, as "General-in-Chief of +the Northern District," he summoned the people of Ulster to action. + +The North, however, refused to act. It was the old, old story. Belfast +resolved on waiting "to see what the South would do," and the South +waited for Belfast. Disgusted and disappointed, Russell quitted the +Northern capital and proceeded to Antrim, where at least he thought he +might expect to find cordial co-operation; but fresh disappointments +awaited him, and with a load of misery at his heart, such as he had +never felt before, Russell returned to Dublin, where he lived in +seclusion, until arrested by Major Sirr and his myrmidons on the 9th of +September, 1803. A reward of £1,500 had been offered for his +apprehension. We learn on good authority that the ruffianly town-major, +on arresting him, seized the unfortunate patriot rudely by the +neck-cloth, whereupon, Russell, a far more powerful man than his +assailant, flung him aside, and drawing a pistol, exclaimed--"I will not +be treated with indignity." Sirr parleyed for a while; a file of +soldiers was meanwhile summoned to his aid, and Russell was borne off in +irons a prisoner to the Castle. While undergoing this second captivity a +bold attempt was made by his friends to effect his liberation by bribing +one of the gaolers; the plot, however, broke down, and Russell never +breathed the air of freedom again. While awaiting his trial--that trial +which he knew could have but one termination, the death of a +felon--Russell addressed a letter to one of his friends outside, in +which the following noble passage, the fittest epitaph to be engraved on +his tombstone, occurs:--"I mean to make my trial," he writes, "and the +last of my life, if it is to close now, as serviceable to the cause of +liberty as I can. _I trust my countrymen will ever adhere to it:_ I know +it will soon prosper. When the country is free," he adds--that it would +be free he never learned to doubt--"I beg they may lay my remains with +my father in a private manner, and pay the few debts I owe. I have only +to beg of my countrymen to remember that the cause of liberty is the +cause of virtue, _which I trust they will never abandon_. May God bless +and prosper them, and when power comes into their hands I entreat them +to use it with moderation. May God and the Saviour bless them all." + +Russell was taken to Downpatrick, escorted by a strong force of cavalry, +where he was lodged in the governor's rooms, preparatory to being tried +in that town by a Special Commission. While in prison in Downpatrick he +addressed a letter to Miss M'Cracken, a sister of Henry Joy M'Cracken, +one of the insurgent leaders of 1798, in which he speaks as follows: +"Humanly speaking, I expect to be found guilty and immediately executed. +As this may be my last letter, I shall only say that I did my best for +my country and for mankind. I have no wish to die, but far from +regretting its loss in such a cause, had I a thousand lives I would +willingly risk or lose them in it. Be assured, liberty will in the midst +of those storms be established, and God will wipe the tears from all +eyes." + +The sad anticipations expressed by Russell were but too fully borne out. +There was short shrift in those days for Irishmen accused of treason, +and the verdict of guilty, which he looked forward to with so much +resignation, was delivered before the last rays of the sun which rose on +the morning of the trial had faded in the gloaming. It was sworn that he +had attended treasonable meetings and distributed green uniforms; that +he asked those who attended them, "if they did not desire to get rid of +the Sassanaghs;" that he spoke of 30,000 stands of arms from France, but +said if France should fail them, "forks, spades, shovels, and pickaxes" +would serve that purpose. It was useless to struggle against such +testimony, palpably false and distorted as it was in some parts, and +Russell decided on cutting short the proceedings. "I shall not trouble +my lawyers," he said, "to make any statement in my case. There are but +three possible modes of defence--firstly, by calling witnesses to prove +the innocence of my conduct; secondly, by calling them to impeach the +credit of opposite witnesses, or by proving an _alibi_. As I can resort +to none of those modes of defence without involving others, I consider +myself precluded from any." Previous to the Judge's charge, the prisoner +asked--"If it was not permitted to persons in his situation to say a few +words, as he wished to give his valedictory advice to his countrymen in +as concise a manner as possible, being well convinced how speedy the +transition was from that vestibule of the grave to the scaffold." He was +told in reply, "that he would have an opportunity of expressing +himself," and when the time did come, Russell advanced to the front of +the dock, and spoke in a clear, firm tone of voice, as follows:-- + + "Before I address myself to this audience, I return my sincere thanks + to my learned counsel for the exertions they have made, in which they + displayed so much talent. I return my thanks to the gentlemen on the + part of the crown, for the accommodation and indulgence I have + received during my confinement. I return my thanks to the gentlemen + of the jury, for the patient investigation they have afforded my + case; and I return my thanks to the court, for the attention and + politeness they have shown me during my trial. As to my political + sentiments, I shall, in as brief a manner as possible (for I do not + wish to engross the time of the court), say a few words. I look back + to the last thirteen years of my life, the period with which I have + interfered with the transactions of Ireland, with entire + satisfaction; though for my share in them I am now about to die--the + gentlemen of the jury having, by their verdict, put the seal of truth + on the evidence against me. Whether, at this time, and the country + being situated as it is, it be safe to inflict the punishment of + death upon me for the offence I am charged with, I leave to the + gentlemen who conduct the prosecution. My death, perhaps, may be + useful in deterring others from following my example. It may serve, + on the other hand, as a memorial to others, and on trying occasions + it may inspire them with courage. I can now say, as far as my + judgment enabled me, I acted for the good of my country and of the + world. It may be presumptuous for me to deliver my opinions here as + a statesman, but as the government have singled me out as a leader, + and given me the appellation of 'General,' I am in some degree + entitled to do so. To me it is plain that all things are verging + towards a change, when all shall be of one opinion. In ancient times, + we read of great empires having their rise and their fall, and yet do + the old governments proceed as if all were immutable. From the time I + could observe and reflect, I perceived that there were two kinds of + laws--the laws of the State and the laws of God--frequently clashing + with each other; by the latter kind, I have always endeavoured to + regulate my conduct; but that laws of the former kind do exist in + Ireland I believe no one who hears me can deny. That such laws have + existed in former times many and various examples clearly evince. The + Saviour of the world suffered by the Roman laws--by the same laws His + Apostles were put to the torture, and deprived of their lives in His + cause. By my conduct I do not consider that I have incurred any moral + guilt. I have committed no moral evil. I do not want the many and + bright examples of those gone before me; but did I want this + encouragement, the recent example of a youthful hero--a martyr in the + cause of liberty--who has just died for his country, would inspire + me. I have descended into the vale of manhood. I have learned to + estimate the reality and delusions of this world; _he_ was surrounded + by everything which could endear this world to him--in the bloom of + youth, with fond attachments, and with all the fascinating charms of + health and innocence; to his death I look back even in this moment + with rapture. I have travelled much, and seen various parts of the + world, and I think the Irish are the most virtuous nation on the face + of the earth--they are a good and brave people, and had I a thousand + lives I would yield them in their service. If it be the will of God + that I suffer for that with which I stand charged, I am perfectly + resigned to His holy will and dispensation. I do not wish to trespass + much more on the time of those that hear me, and did I do so an + indisposition which has seized on me since I came into court would + prevent my purpose. Before I depart from this for a better world I + wish to address myself to the landed aristocracy of this country. The + word 'aristocracy' I do not mean to use as an insulting epithet, but + in the common sense of the expression. + + "Perhaps, as my voice may now be considered as a voice crying from + the grave, what I now say may have some weight. I see around me many, + who during the last years of my life have disseminated principles for + which I am now to die. Those gentlemen, who have all the wealth and + the power of the country in their hands, I strongly advise, and + earnestly exhort, to pay attention to the poor--by the poor I mean + the labouring class of the community, their tenantry and dependents. + I advise them for their good to look into their grievances, to + sympathize in their distress, and to spread comfort and happiness + around their dwellings. It might be that they may not hold their + power long, but at all events to attend to the wants and distresses + of the poor is their truest interest. If they hold their power, they + will thus have friends around them; if they lose it, their fall will + be gentle, and I am sure unless they act thus they can never be + happy. I shall now appeal to the right honourable gentleman in whose + hands the lives of the other prisoners are, and entreat that he will + rest satisfied with my death, and let that atone for those errors + into which I may have been supposed to have deluded others. I trust + the gentleman will restore them to their families and friends. If he + shall do so, I can assure him that the breeze which conveys to him + the prayers and blessings of their wives and children will be more + grateful than that which may be tainted with the stench of putrid + corpses, or carrying with it the cries of the widow and the orphan. + Standing as I do in the presence of God and of man, I entreat him to + let my life atone for the faults of all, and that my blood alone may + flow. + + "If I am then to die, I have therefore two requests to make. The + first is, that as I have been engaged in a work possibly of some + advantage to the world, I may be indulged with three days for its + completion; secondly, that as there are those ties which even death + cannot sever, and as there are those who may have some regard for + what will remain of me after death, I request that my remains, + disfigured as they will be, may be delivered after the execution of + the sentence to those dear friends, that they may be conveyed to the + ground where my parents are laid, and where those faithful few may + have a consecrated spot over which they may be permitted to grieve. I + have now to declare, when about to pass into the presence of Almighty + God, that I feel no enmity in my mind to any being, none to those who + have borne testimony against me, and none to the jury who have + pronounced the verdict of my death." + +The last request of Russell was refused, and he was executed twelve +hours after the conclusion of the trial. At noon, on the 21st of +October, 1803, he was borne pinioned to the place of execution. Eleven +regiments of soldiers were concentrated in the town to overawe the +people and defeat any attempt at rescue; yet even with this force at +their back, the authorities were far from feeling secure. The interval +between the trial and execution was so short that no preparation could +be made for the erection of a scaffold, except the placing of some +barrels under the gateway of the main entrance to the prison, with +planks placed upon them as a platform, and others sloping up from the +ground, by which it was ascended. On the ground hard by, were placed a +sack of sawdust, an axe, a block, and a knife. After ascending the +scaffold, Russell gazed forward through the archway--towards the +people, whose white faces could be seen glistening outside, and again +expressed his forgiveness of his persecutors. His manner, we are told, +was perfectly calm, and he died without a struggle. + +A purer soul, a more blameless spirit, than Thomas Russell, never sunk +on the battle-field of freedom. Fixed in principles, and resolute in +danger, he was nevertheless gentle, courteous, unobstrusive, and humane; +with all the modesty and unaffectedness of childhood, he united the zeal +of a martyr and the courage of a hero. To the cause of his country he +devoted all his energies and all his will; and when he failed to render +it prosperous in life, he illumined it by his devotion and steadfastness +in death. The noble speech given above, and the passages from his +letters which we have quoted, are sufficient in themselves to show how +chivalrous was the spirit, how noble the motives of Thomas Russell. The +predictions which he uttered with so much confidence have not indeed +been fulfilled, and the success which he looked forward to so hopefully +has never been won. But his advice, so often repeated in his letters, is +still adhered to; his countrymen have not yet learned to abandon the +cause in which he suffered, and they still cherish the conviction which +he so touchingly expressed--"that liberty will, in the midst of these +storms be established, and that God will yet wipe off the tears of the +Irish nation." + +Russell rests in the churchyard of the Protestant church of Downpatrick. +A plain slab marks the spot where he is laid, and there is on it this +single line-- + +"THE GRAVE OF RUSSELL." + + + * * * * * + + +We have now closed our reference to the portion of Irish history +comprised within the years 1798 and 1803, and as far as concerns the men +who suffered for Ireland in those disastrous days our "Speeches from the +Dock" are concluded. We leave behind us the struggle of 1798 and the men +who organized it; we turn from the records of a period reeking with the +gore of Ireland's truest sons, and echoing with the cries and curses of +the innocent and oppressed; we pass without notice the butcheries and +outrages that filled the land, while our countrymen were being sabred +into submission; and we leave behind us, too, the short-lived +insurrection of 1803, and the chivalrous young patriot who perished with +it. We turn to more recent events, less appalling in their general +aspect, but not less important in their consequences, or less +interesting to the present generation, and take up the next link in the +unbroken chain of protests against British rule in Ireland with the +lives and the fortunes of the patriots of 1848. How faithfully the +principles of freedom have been handed down--how nobly the men of our +own times have imitated the patriots of the past--how thoroughly the +sentiments expressed from the Green-street dock nineteen years ago +coincide with the declarations of Tone, of Emmet, and of Russell--our +readers will shortly have an opportunity of judging. They will see how +all the sufferings and all the calamities that darkened the path of the +martyrs of '98 were insufficient to deter others, as gifted, as earnest, +and as chivalrous as they, from following in their footsteps; and how +unquenchable and unending, as the altar light of the fire-worshipper, +the generous glow of patriotic enthusiasm was transmitted through +generations, unaffected by the torrents of blood in which it was sought +to extinguish it. + +The events of our own generation--the acts of contemporary patriots--now +claim our attention; but we are reluctant as yet to turn over the page, +and drop the curtain on the scenes with which we have hitherto been +dealing, and which we feel we have inadequately described. We have +spoken of the men whose speeches from the dock are on record, but we +still linger over the history of the events in which they shared, and of +the men who were associated with them in their endeavours. The patriots +whose careers we have glanced at are but a few out of the number of +Irishmen who suffered during the same period, and in the same cause, and +whose actions recommend them to the admiration and esteem of posterity. +Confining ourselves strictly to those whose speeches after conviction +have reached us, the list could not well be extended; but there are many +who acted as brave a part, and whose memories are inseparable from the +history of the period. We should have desired to speak, were the scope +of our labours more extended, of the brave Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the +gallant and the true, who sacrificed his position, his prospects, and +his life, for the good old cause, and whose arrest and death contributed +more largely, perhaps, than any other cause that could be assigned to +the failure of the insurrection of 1798. Descended from an old and noble +family, possessing in a remarkable degree all the attributes and +embellishments of a popular leader, young and spirited, eloquent and +wealthy, ardent, generous, and brave, of good address, and fine physical +proportions, it is not surprising that Lord Edward Fitzgerald became the +idol of the patriot party, and was appointed by them to a leading +position in the organization. Lord Edward Fitzgerald was born in +October, 1763; being the fifth son of James Duke of Leinster, the +twentieth Earl of Kildare. He grew up to manhood, as a recent writer has +observed, when the drums of the Volunteers were pealing their marches of +victory; and under the stirring events of the period his soul burst +through the shackles that had long bound down the Irish aristocracy in +servile dependence. In his early years he served in the American War of +Independence on the side of despotism and oppression--a circumstance +which in after years caused him poignant sorrow. He joined the United +Irishmen, about the time that Thomas Addis Emmet entered their ranks, +and the young nobleman threw himself into the movement with all the +ardour and energy of his nature. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of +the National forces in the south, and laboured with indefatigable zeal +in perfecting the plans for the outbreak on the 23rd of May. The story +of his arrest and capture is too well known to need repetition. +Treachery dogged the steps of the young patriot, and after lying for +some weeks in concealment, he was arrested on the 19th day of May, 1798, +two months after his associates in the direction of the movement had +been arrested at Oliver Bond's. His gallant struggle with his captors, +fighting like a lion at bay, against the miscreants who assailed him; +his assassination, his imprisonment, and his death, are events to which +the minds of the Irish nationalists perpetually recur, and which, +celebrated in song and story, are told with sympathising regret wherever +a group of Irish blood are gathered around the hearth-stone. His genius, +his talents, and his influence, his unswerving attachment to his +country, and his melancholy end, cast an air of romance around his +history; and the last ray of gratitude must fade from the Irish heart +before the name of the martyred patriot, who sleeps in the vaults of St. +Werburgh, will be forgotten in the land of his birth. + +In less than a fortnight after Lord Edward expired in Newgate another +Irish rebel, distinguished by his talents, his fidelity, and his +position, expiated with his life the crime of "loving his country above +his king." It is hard to mention Thomas Russell and ignore Henry Joy +M'Cracken--it is hard to speak of the Insurrection of '98 and forget the +gallant young Irishman who commanded at the battle of Antrim, and who +perished a few weeks subsequently, in the bloom of his manhood, on the +scaffold in Belfast. Henry Joy M'Cracken was one of the first members of +the Society of United Irishmen, and he was one of the best. He was +arrested, owing to private information received by the government, on +the 10th of October, 1796--three weeks after Russell, his friend and +confidant, was flung into prison--and lodged in Newgate Jail, where he +remained until the 8th of September in the following year. He was then +liberated on bail, and immediately, on regaining his liberty, returned +to Belfast, still bent on accomplishing at all hazards the liberation of +his country. Previous to the outbreak in May, '98, he had frequent +interviews with the patriot leaders in Dublin, and M'Cracken was +appointed to the command of the insurgent forces in Antrim. Filled with +impatience and patriotic ardour, he heard of the stirring events that +followed the arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; he concentrated all his +energies in preparing the Northern patriots for action, but +circumstances delayed the outbreak in that quarter, and it was not until +the 6th of June, 1798, that M'Cracken had perfected his arrangements for +taking the field, and issued the following brief proclamation, "dated +the first year of liberty, 6th June, 1798," addressed to the Army of +Ulster:-- + +"To-morrow we march on Antrim. Drive the garrison of Randalstown before +you, and hasten to form a junction with your Commander-in-Chief." + +Twenty-one thousand insurgents were to have rallied at the call of +M'Cracken, out not more than seven thousand responded to the summons. +Even this number, however, would have been sufficient to strike a +successful blow, which would have filled the hearts of the gallant +Wexford men, then in arms, with exultation, and effected incalculable +results on the fate of Ireland, had not the curse of the Irish cause, +treachery and betrayal, again come to the aid of its enemies. Hardly had +the plans for the attack on Antrim been perfected, when the secrets of +the conspirators were revealed to General Nugent, who commanded the +British troops in the North, and the defeat of the insurgents was thus +secured. M'Cracken's forces marched to the attack on Antrim with great +regularity, chorusing the "Marseillaise Hymn" as they charged through +the town. Their success at first seemed complete, but the English +general, acting on the information which had treacherously been supplied +him, had taken effective means to disconcert and defeat them. Suddenly, +and as it seemed, in the flush of victory, the insurgents found +themselves exposed to a galling fire from a force posted at either end +of the town; a gallant resistance was offered, but it was vain. The +insurgents fled from the fatal spot, leaving 500 of their dead and dying +behind them, and at nightfall Henry Joy M'Cracken found himself a +fugitive and a ruined man. For some weeks he managed to baffle the +bloodhounds on his track, but he was ultimately arrested and tried by +court-martial in Belfast, on the 17th July, 1798. On the evening of the +same day he was executed. We have it on the best authority that he bore +his fate with calmness, resolution, and resignation. It is not his fault +that a "Speech from the Dock" under his name is not amongst our present +collection. He had actually prepared one, but his brutal judges would +not listen to the patriot's exculpation. He was hung, amidst the sobs +and tears of the populace, in front of the Old Market place of Belfast, +and his remains were interred in the graveyard now covered by St. +George's Protestant church. + +Later still in the same year two gallant young officers of Irish blood, +shared the fate of Russell and M'Cracken. They sailed with Humbert from +Rochelle; they fought at Castlebar and Ballinamuck; and when the swords +of their French allies were sheathed, they passed into the power of +their foes. Matthew Tone was one of them; the other was Bartholomew +Teeling. The latter filled the rank of Etat-major in the French army; +and a letter from his commanding officer, General Humbert, was read at +his trial, in which the highest praise was given to the young officer +for the humane exertions which he made throughout his last brief +campaign in the interest of mercy. "His hand," he said, "was ever raised +to stay the useless effusion of blood, and his protection was afforded +to the prostrate and defenceless." But his military judges paid little +heed to those extenuating circumstances, and Teeling was condemned to +die on the day of his trial. He perished on the 24th September, 1798, +being then in his twenty-fourth year. He marched with a proud step to +the place of execution on Arbour Hill, Dublin, and he died, as a soldier +might, with unshaken firmness and unquailing mien. No lettered slab +marks the place of his interment; and his bones remain in unhallowed and +unconsecrated ground. Hardly had his headless body ceased to palpitate, +when it was flung into a hole at the rere of the Royal Barracks. A few +days later the same unhonoured spot received the mortal remains of +Matthew Tone. "He had a more enthusiastic nature than any of us," writes +his brother, Theobald Wolfe Tone, "and was a sincere Republican, capable +of sacrificing everything for his principles." His execution was +conducted with infamous cruelty and brutality, and the life-blood was +still gushing from his body when it was flung into "the Croppy's Hole." +"The day will come," says Dr. Madden, "when that desecrated spot will be +hallowed ground--consecrated by religion--trod lightly by pensive +patriotism--and decorated by funeral trophies in honour of the dead +whose bones lie there in graves that are now neglected and unhonoured." + +There are others of the patriot leaders who died in exile, far away from +the land for which they suffered, and whose graves were dug on alien +shores by the heedless hands of the stranger. This was the fate of Addis +Emmet, of Neilson, and of M'Nevin. In Ireland they were foremost and +most trusted amongst the gifted and brilliant throng that directed the +labours and shaped the purposes of the United Irishmen. They survived +the reign of terror that swallowed up the majority of their compatriots, +and, when milder councils began to prevail, they were permitted to go +forth from the dungeon which confined them into banishment. The vision +of Irish freedom was not permitted to dawn upon them in life; from +beyond the sandy slopes washed by the Western Atlantic they watched the +fortunes of the old land with hopeless but enduring love. Their talents, +their virtues, and their patriotism were not unappreciated by the people +amongst whom they spent their closing years of life. In the busiest +thoroughfare of the greatest city of America there towers over the heads +of the by-passers the monument of marble which grateful hands have +raised to the memory of Addis Emmet. In the centre of Western +civilization, the home of republican liberty, the stranger reads in +glowing words, of the virtues and the fame of the brother of Robert +Emmet, sculptured on the noble pillar erected in Broadway, New York, to +his memory. Nor was he the only one of his party to whom such an honour +was accorded. A stone-throw from the spot where the Emmet monument +stands, a memorial not less commanding in its proportions and +appearance, was erected to William James M'Nevin; and the American +citizen, as he passes through the spacious streets of that city which +the genius of liberty has rendered prosperous and great, gazes proudly +on those stately monuments, which tell him that the devotion to freedom +which England punished and proscribed found in his own land the +recognition which it merited from the gallant and the free. + +[Footnote: The inscriptions on the Emmet monument are in three +languages--Irish, Latin, and English. The Irish inscription consists of +the following lines:-- + + Do mhiannaich se ardmath + Cum tir a breith + Do thug se clu a's fuair se moladh + An deig a bais. + +The following is the English inscription: + + _In Memory of_ + THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, + + Who exemplified in his conduct, + And adorned by his integrity. + The policy and principles of the + UNITED IRISHMEN-- + + "To forward a brotherhood of affection, + A community of rights, an identity of interests, and a union of power + Among Irishmen of every religious persuasion, + As the only means of Ireland's chief good, + An impartial and adequate representation + IN AN IRISH PARLIAMENT." + + For this (mysterious fate of virtue) exiled from his native land, + In America, the land of Freedom, + He found a second country, + Which paid his love by reverencing his genius. + Learned in our laws, and in the laws of Europe, + In the literature of our times, and in that of antiquity, + All knowledge seemed subject to his use. + An orator of the first order, clear, copious, fervid, + Alike powerful to kindle the imagination, touch the affections, + And sway the reason and will. + Simple in his tastes, unassuming in his manners, + Frank, generous, kind-hearted, and honourable, + His private life was beautiful, + As his public course was brilliant. + Anxious to perpetuate + The name and example of such a man, + Alike illustrious by his genius, his virtues, and his fate; + Consecrated to their affections by his sacrifices, his perils, + And the deeper calamities of his kindred, + IN A JUST AND HOLY CAUSE; + His sympathising countrymen + Erected this Monument and Cenotaph.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +JOHN MITCHEL + + +Subsequent to the melancholy tragedy of 1803, a period of indescribable +depression was experienced in Ireland. Defeat, disaster, ruin, had +fallen upon the national cause; the power on whose friendly aid so much +reliance had been placed was humbled, and England stood before the world +in the full blaze of triumph and glory. Her fleet was undisputed +mistress of the ocean, having swept it of all hostile shipping, and left +to the enemy little more than the small craft that sheltered in narrow +creeks and under the guns of well-defended harbours. Her army, if not +numerically large, had proved its valour on many a well-fought field, +and shown that it knew how to bring victory to light upon its standards; +and, what was not less a matter of wonder to others, and of pride to +herself, the abundance of her wealth and the extent of her resources +were shown to be without a parallel in the world. Napoleon was an exile +on the rock of St. Helena; the "Holy Alliance"--as the European, +sovereigns blasphemously designated themselves--were lording it over the +souls and bodies of men by "right divine;" the free and noble principles +in which the French Revolution had its origin were now sunk out of +sight, covered with the infamy of the Reign of Terror and the +responsibility of the series of desolating wars which had followed it, +and no man dared to speak for them. Those were dark days for Ireland. +Her parliament was gone, and in the blighting shade of the provincialism +to which she was reduced, genius and courage seemed to have died out +from the land. Thousands of her bravest and most devoted children had +perished in her cause--some on the scaffold, and others on the field of +battle--and many whose presence at home would have been invaluable to +her were obliged to seek safety in exile. So Erin, the crownless Queen, +sat in the dust with fetters on her limbs, her broken sword fallen from +her hand, and with mournful memories lying heavy on her heart. The +feelings of disappointment and grief then rankling in every Irish +breast are well mirrored in that plaintive song of our national poet, +which open with these tristful lines:--- + + "'Tis gone, and for ever, the light we saw breaking, + Like heaven's first dawn o'er the sleep of the dead, + When man, from the slumber of ages awaking, + Looked upward and blessed the pure ray ere it fled. + 'Tis gone, and the gleams it has left of its burning + But deepen the long night of bondage and mourning, + That dark o'er the kingdoms of earth is returning, + And darkest of all, hapless Erin, o'er thee." + +[Illustration: WILLIAM S. O'BRIEN. JOHN MITCHEL. JOHN MARTIN.] + +In this gloomy condition of affairs there was nothing for Irish +patriotism to do except to seek for the removal, by constitutional +means, of some of the cruel grievances that pressed on the people. +Emancipation of the Catholics from the large remainder of the penal laws +that still degraded and despoiled them was one of the baits held out by +Mr. Pitt when playing his cards for the Union; but not long had the +Irish parliament been numbered with the things that were, when it became +evident that the minister was in no hurry to fulfil his engagement, and +it was found necessary to take some steps for keeping him to his +promise. Committees were formed, meetings were held, speeches were made, +resolutions were adopted, and all the machinery of parliamentary +endeavour was put in motion. The leaders of the Catholic cause in this +case, like those of the national cause in the preceding years, were +liberal-minded Protestant gentlemen; but as time wore on, a young +barrister from Kerry, one of the old race and the old faith, took a +decided lead amongst them, and soon became its recognised champion, the +elect of the nation, the "man of the people." Daniel O'Connell stood +forth, with the whole mass of his Catholic countrymen at his back, to +wage within the lines of the constitution this battle for Ireland. He +fought it resolutely and skilfully; the people supported him with an +unanimity and an enthusiasm that were wonderful; their spirit rose and +strengthened to that degree that the probability of another civil war +began to loom up in the near future--inquiries instituted by the +government resulted in the discovery that the Catholics serving in the +army, and who constituted at least a third of its strength, were in full +sympathy with their countrymen on this question, and could not be +depended on to act against them--the ministry recognised the critical +condition of affairs, saw that there was danger in delay, yielded to the +popular demand--and Catholic Emancipation was won. + +The details of that brilliant episode of Irish history cannot be told +within the limits of this work, but some of its consequences concern us +very nearly. The triumph of the constitutional struggle for Catholic +Emancipation confirmed O'Connell in the resolution he had previously +formed, to promote an agitation for a Repeal of the Union, and +encouraged him to lay the proposal before his countrymen. The forces +that had wrung the one measure of justice from an unwilling parliament +were competent, he declared, to obtain the other. He soon succeeded in +impressing his own belief on the minds of his countrymen, whose +confidence in his wisdom and his powers was unbounded. The whole country +responded to his call, and soon "the Liberator," as the emancipated +Irish Catholics loved to call him, found himself at the head of a +political organization which in its mode of action, its extent, and its +ardour was "unique in the history of the world." Every city and great +town in Ireland had its branch of the Repeal Association--every village +had its Repeal reading-room, all deriving hope and life, and taking +direction from the head-quarters in Dublin, where the great Tribune +himself "thundered and lightened" at the weekly meetings. All Ireland +echoed with his words. Newspapers, attaining thereby to a circulation +never before approached in Ireland, carried them from one extremity of +the land to the other--educating, cheering, and inspiring the hearts of +the long downtrodden people. Nothing like this had ever occurred before. +The eloquence of the patriot orators of the Irish parliament had not +been brought home to the masses of the population; and the United +Irishmen could only speak to them secretly, in whispers. But here were +addresses glowing, and bold, and tender, brimful of native humour, +scathing in their sarcasms, terrible in their denunciations, ineffably +beautiful in their pathos--addresses that recalled the most glorious as +well as the saddest memories of Irish history, and presented brilliant +vistas of the future--addresses that touched to its fullest and most +delicious vibration every chord of the Irish heart--here they were being +sped over the land in an unfailing and ever welcome supply. The peasant +read them to his family by the fireside when his hard day's work was +done, and the fisherman, as he steered his boat homeward, reckoned as +not the least of his anticipated pleasures, the reading of the last +report from Conciliation Hall. And it was not the humbler classes only +who acknowledged the influence of the Repeal oratory, sympathised with +the movement, and enrolled themselves in the ranks. The priesthood +almost to a man, were members of the Association and propagandists of +its principles; the professional classes were largely represented in it; +of merchants and traders it could count up a long roll; and many of the +landed gentry, even though they held her Majesty's Commission of the +Peace, were amongst its most prominent supporters. In short, the Repeal +Association represented the Irish nation, and its voice was the voice of +the people. The "Monster Meetings" of the year 1843 put this fact beyond +the region of doubt or question. As popular demonstrations they were +wonderful in their numbers, their order, and their enthusiasm. +O'Connell, elated by their success, fancied that his victory was as good +as won. He knew that things could not continue to go on as they were +going--either the government or the Repeal Association should give way, +and he believed the government would yield. For, the Association, he +assured his countrymen, was safe within the limits of the law, and not a +hostile hand could be laid upon it without violating the constitution. +His countrymen had nothing to do but obey the law and support the +Association, and a Repeal of the Union within a few months was, he said, +inevitable. In all this he had allowed his own heart to deceive him; +and his mistake was clearly shown, when in October, 1843, the +government, by proclamation and a display of military force, prevented +the intended monster meeting at Clontarf. It was still more fully +established in the early part of the following year, when he, with a +number of his political associates, was brought to trial for treasonable +and seditious practices, found guilty, and sentenced to twelve months' +imprisonment. The subsequent reversal of the verdict by the House of +Lords, was a legal triumph for O'Connell; but nevertheless, his prestige +had suffered by the occurrence, and his policy had begun to pall upon +the minds of the people. + +After his release the business of the Association went on as before, +only there was less of confidence and of defiance in the speeches of the +Liberator, and there were no more monster meetings. He was now more +emphatic than ever in his advocacy of moral force principles, and his +condemnation of all warlike hints and allusions. The weight of age--he +was then more than seventy years--was pressing on his once buoyant +spirit; his prison experience had damped his courage; and he was haunted +night and day by a conviction--terrible to his mind--that there was +growing up under the wing of the Association, a party that would teach +the people to look to an armed struggle as the only sure means of +obtaining the freedom of their country. The writings of the +_Nation_--then a new light in the literature and politics of +Ireland--had a ring in them that was unpleasant to his ears, a sound as +of clashing steel and the explosion of gunpowder. In the articles of +that journal much honour was given to men who had striven for Irish +freedom by other methods than those in favour at Conciliation Hall; and +the songs and ballads which it was giving to the youth of Ireland--who +received them with delight, treasuring every line "as if an angel +spoke"--were bright with the spirit of battle, and taught any doctrine +except the sinfulness of fighting for liberty. The Liberator grew +fearful of that organ and of the men by whom it was conducted. He +distrusted that quiet-faced, thoughtful, and laborious young man, whom +they so loved and reverenced--the founder, the soul, and the centre of +their party. To the keen glance of the aged leader it appeared that for +all that placid brow, those calm grey eyes and softly curving lip of +his, the man had no horror of blood-spilling in a righteous cause, and +was capable not only of deliberately inciting his countrymen to rise in +arms against English rule, but also of taking a foremost place in the +struggle. And little less to be dreaded than Thomas Davis, was his +friend and _collaborateur_, Charles Gavan Duffy, whose sharp and active +intellect and resolute spirit were not in the least likely to allow the +national cause to rest for ever on the peaceful platform of Conciliation +Hall. Death removed Davis early from the scene; but in John Mitchel, who +had taken his place, there was no gain to the party of moral force. Then +there was that other young firebrand--that dapper, well-built, +well-dressed, curled and scented young gentleman from the _Urbs +Intacta_--whose wondrous eloquence, with the glow of its thought, the +brilliancy and richness of its imagery, and the sweetness of its +cadences, charmed and swayed all hearts--adding immensely to the dangers +of the situation. O'Brien, too, staid and unimpulsive as was his +character, deliberate and circumspect as were his habits, was evidently +inclined to give the weight of his name and influence to this "advanced" +party. And there were many less prominent, but scarcely less able men +giving them the aid of their great talents in the press and on the +platform--not only men, but women too. Some of the most inspiriting of +the strains that were inducing the youth of the country to familiarize +themselves with steel blades and rifle barrels proceeded from the pens +of those fair and gifted beings. Day after day, as this party sickened +of the stale platitudes, and timid counsels, and crooked policy of the +Hall, O'Connell, his son John, and other leading members of the +Association, insisted more and more strongly on their doctrine of moral +force, and indulged in the wildest and most absurd denunciations of the +principle of armed resistance to tyranny. "The liberty of the world," +exclaimed O'Connell, "is not worth the shedding of one drop of human +blood." Notwithstanding the profound disgust which the utterance of such +sentiments caused to the bolder spirits in the Association, they would +have continued within its fold, if those debasing principles had not +been actually formulated into a series of resolutions and proposed for +the acceptance of the Society. Then they rose against the ignoble +doctrine which would blot the fair fame of all who ever fought for +liberty in Ireland or elsewhere, and rank the noblest men the world ever +saw in the category of fools and criminals. Meagher, in a brilliant +oration, protested against the resolutions, and showed why he would not +"abhor and stigmatize the sword." Mr. John O'Connell interrupted and +interfered with the speaker. It was plain that freedom of speech was to +be had no longer on the platform of the Association, and that men of +spirit had no longer any business there--Meagher took up his hat and +left the Hall, and amongst the crowd that accompanied, him, went William +Smith O'Brien, Thomas Devin Reilly, Charles Gavan Duffy, and John +Mitchel. + +After this disruption, which occurred on the 28th of July, 1846, came +the formation of the "Irish Confederation" by the seceders. In the +proceedings of the new Society Mr. Mitchel took a more prominent part +than he had taken in the business of the Repeal Association. And he +continued to write in his own terse and forcible style in the _Nation_. +But his mind travelled too fast in the direction of war for either the +journal or the society with which he was connected. The desperate +condition of the country, now a prey to all the horrors of famine, for +the awfully fatal effects of which the government was clearly +responsible--the disorganization and decay of the Repeal party, +consequent on the death of O'Connell--the introduction of Arms' Acts and +other coercive measures by the government, and the growing ardour of the +Confederate Clubs, were to him as signs and tokens unmistakable that +there was no time to be lost in bringing matters to a crisis in which +the people should hold their own by force of arms. Most of his political +associates viewed the situation with more patience; but Mr. Mitchel was +resolved that even if he stood alone, he would speak out his opinions to +the people. In the latter part of December, 1847, he withdrew from the +_Nation_. On the 5th of February, 1848, at the close of a debate, which +had lasted two days, on the merits of his policy of immediate resistance +to the collection of rates, rents, and taxes, and the division on which +was unfavourable to him, he, with a number of friends and sympathisers +withdraw from the Confederation. Seven days afterwards, he issued the +first number of a newspaper, bearing the significant title of _The +United Irishman_, and having for its motto the following aphorism, +quoted from Theobald Wolfe Tone: "Our independence must be had at all +hazards. If the men of property will not support us, they must fall; we +can support ourselves by the aid of that numerous and respectable class +of the community, the men of no property." + +The _Nation_ had been regarded as rather an outspoken journal, and not +particularly well affected to the rulers of the country. But it was +mildness, and gentleness, and loyalty itself compared to the new-comer +in the field of journalism. The sudden uprising of a most portentous +comet sweeping close to this planet of ours could hardly create more +unfeigned astonishment in the minds of people in general than did the +appearance of this wonderful newspaper, brimful of open and avowed +sedition, crammed with incitements to insurrection, and with diligently +prepared instructions for the destruction of her Majesty's troops, +barracks, stores, and magazines. Men rubbed their eyes, as they read its +articles and correspondence, scarcely believing that any man in his +sober senses would venture, in any part of the Queen's dominions, to put +such things in print. But there were the articles and the letters, +nevertheless, on fair paper and in good type, published in a duly +registered newspaper bearing the impressed stamp of the Customs--a sign +to all men that the proprietor was bound in heavy sureties to the +government against the publication of "libel, blasphemy, or +sedition"!--couched, moreover, in a style of language possessing such +grace and force, such delicacy of finish, and yet such marvellous +strength, rich with so much of quiet humour, and bristling with such +rasping sarcasm and penetrating invective, that they were read as an +intellectual luxury even by men who regarded as utterly wild and wicked +the sentiments they conveyed. The first editorial utterance in this +journal consisted of a letter from Mr. Mitchel to the Viceroy, in which +that functionary was addressed as "The Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, +Englishman, calling himself her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant-General and +General Governor of Ireland." The purport of the document was to +declare, above board, the aims and objects of the _United Irishman_, a +journal with which, wrote Mr. Mitchel, "your lordship and your +lordship's masters and servants are to have more to do than may be +agreeable either to you or me." That that purpose was to resume the +struggle which had been waged by Tone and Emmet, or, as Mr. Mitchel put +it, "the Holy War, to sweep this island clear of the English name and +nation." "We differ," he said, "from the illustrious conspirators of +'98, not in principle--no, not an _iota_--but, as I shall presently show +you, materially as to the mode of action." And the difference was to +consist in this--that whereas the revolutionary organization in +Ninety-Eight was a secret one, which was ruined by spies and informers, +that of Forty-Eight was to be an open one, concerning which informers +could tell nothing that its promoters would not willingly proclaim from +the house-tops. "If you desire," he wrote, "to have a Castle detective +employed about the _United Irishman_ office in Trinity-street, I shall +make no objection, provided the man be sober and honest. If Sir George +Grey or Sir William Somerville would like to read our correspondence, we +make him welcome for the present--only let the letters be forwarded +without losing a post." Of the fact that he would speedily be called to +account for his conduct in one of her Majesty's courts of law, the +writer of this defiant language was perfectly cognizant; but he declared +that the inevitable prosecution would be his opportunity of achieving a +victory over the government. "For be it known to you," he wrote, "that +in such a case you shall either publicly, boldly, notoriously _pack a +jury_, or else see the accused rebel walk a free man out of the court of +Queen's Bench--which will be a victory only less than the rout of your +lordship's red-coats in the open field." In case of his defeat, other +men would take up the cause, and maintain it until at last England would +have to fall back on her old system of courts-martial, and triangles, +and free quarters, and Irishmen would find that there was no help for +them "in franchises, in votings, in spoutings, in shoutings, and toasts +drank with enthusiasm--nor in anything in this world, save the +_extensor_ and _contractor_ muscles of their right arms, in +these and in the goodness of God above." The conclusion of this +extraordinary address to her Majesty's representative was in the +following terms:-- + + "In plain English, my Lord Earl, the deep and irreconcilable + disaffection of this people to all British laws, lawgivers, and law + administrators shall find a voice. That holy Hatred of foreign + dominion which nerved our noble predecessors fifty years ago for the + dungeon, the field, or the gallows (though of late years it has worn + a vile nisi prius gown, and snivelled somewhat in courts of law and + on spouting platforms) still lives, thank God! and glows as fierce + and hot as ever. To educate that holy Hatred, to make it know itself, + and avow itself, and, at last, fill itself full, I hereby devote the + columns of the _United Irishman_." + +After this address to the Lord Lieutenant, Mr. Mitchel took to +addressing the farming classes, and it is really a study to observe the +exquisite precision, the clearness, and the force of the language he +employed to convey his ideas to them. In his second letter he supposes +the case of a farmer who has the entire produce of his land in his +haggard, in the shape of six stacks of corn; he shows that three of +these ought, in all honour and conscience, be sufficient for the +landlord and the government to seize upon, leaving the other three to +support the family of the man whose labour had produced them. But what +are the facts?--the landlord and the government sweep _all_ away, and +the peasant and his family starve by the ditch sides. As an illustration +of this condition of things, he quotes from a southern paper an account +of an inquest held on the body of a man named Boland, and on the bodies +of his two daughters, who, as the verdict declared, had "died of cold +and starvation," although occupants of a farm of over twenty acres in +extent. On this melancholy case the comment of the editor of the _United +Irishman_ was as follows:-- + + "Now what became of poor Boland's twenty acres of crop? Part of it + went to Gibraltar, to victual the garrison; part to South Africa, to + provision the robber army; part went to Spain, to pay for the + landlord's wine; part to London, to pay the interest of his honour's + mortgage to the Jews. The English ate some of it; the Chinese had + their share; the Jews and the Gentiles divided it amongst them--and + there was _none_ for Boland." + +As to the manner in which the condition and fate of poor Boland were to +be avoided, abundant instructions were given in every number. The +anti-tithe movement was quoted as a model to begin with; but, of course, +that was to be improved upon. The idea that the people would not +venture on such desperate movements, and had grown enamoured of the +Peace policy and of "Patience and Perseverance," Mr. Mitchel refused to +entertain for a moment:-- + + "I will not believe that Irishmen are so degraded and utterly lost as + this. The Earth is awakening from sleep; a flash of electric fire is + passing through the dumb millions. Democracy is girding himself once + more like a strong man to run a race; and slumbering nations are + arising in their might, and 'shaking their invincible locks.' Oh! my + countrymen, look up, look up! Arise from the death-dust where you + have long been lying, and let this light visit your eyes also, and + touch your souls. Let your ears drink in the blessed words, 'Liberty! + Fraternity! Equality!' which are soon to ring from pole to pole! + Clear steel will, ere long, dawn upon you in your desolate darkness; + and the rolling thunder of the People's cannon will drive before it + many a heavy cloud that has long hidden from you the face of heaven. + Pray for that day; and preserve life and health that you may worthily + meet it. Above all, let the man amongst you who has no gun sell his + garment and buy one." + +So Mr. Mitchel went on for some weeks, preaching in earnest and exciting +language the necessity of preparation for an immediate grapple with "the +enemy." In the midst of his labours came the startling news of another +revolution in France, Louis Philippe in full flight, and the +proclamation of a Republic. Yet a few days more and the Berliners had +risen and triumphed, only stopping short of chasing their king away +because he conceded all they were pleased to require of him; then came +insurrection in Sicily, insurrection in Lombardy, insurrection in Milan, +insurrection in Hungary--in short, the revolutionary movement became +general throughout Europe, and thrones and principalities were tumbling +and tottering in all directions. Loud was the complaint in the _United +Irishman_ because Dublin was remaining tranquil. It was evident, +however, that the people and their leaders were feeling the +revolutionary impulse, and that matters were fast hurrying towards an +outbreak. John Mitchel knew that a crisis was at hand, and devoted all +his energies to making the best use of the short time that his newspaper +had to live. His writing became fiercer, more condensed, and more +powerful than ever. Lord Clarendon was now addressed as "Her Majesty's +Executioner General and General Butcher of Ireland," and instructions +for street warfare and all sorts of operations suitable for an insurgent +populace occupied a larger space than ever in his paper. But the +government were now resolved to close with their bold and clever enemy. +On Tuesday, the 21st of March, 1848, Messrs. O'Brien, Meagher, and +Mitchel were arrested, the former for seditious speeches, uttered at a +meeting of the Confederation held on the 15th of that month, the latter +for three seditious articles published in the _United Irishman_. All +were released on bail, and when the trials came on, in the month of May, +disagreements of the jury took place in the cases of O'Brien and +Meagher. But before the trial of Mr. Mitchel could be proceeded with, he +was arrested on a fresh charge of "treason-felony"--a new crime, which +had been manufactured by Act of Parliament a few weeks before. He was, +therefore, fast in the toils, and with but little chance of escape. +Little concern did this give the brave-hearted patriot, who only hoped +and prayed that at last the time had come when his countrymen would +launch out upon the resolute course of action which he had so earnestly +recommended to them. From his cell in Newgate, on the 16th of May, he +addressed to them one of his most exciting letters, of which the +following are the concluding passages:-- + + "For me, I abide my fate joyfully; for I know that, whatever betide + me, my work is nearly done. Yes; Moral Force and 'Patience and + Perseverance' are scattered to the wild winds of heaven. The music my + countrymen now love best to hear is the rattle of arms and the ring + of the rifle. As I sit here and write in my lonely cell, I hear, just + dying away, the measured tramp of ten thousand marching men--my + gallant confederates, unarmed and silent, but with hearts like bended + bow, waiting till _the time_ comes. They have marched past my prison + windows, to let me know there are ten thousand fighting men in + Dublin--'felons' in heart and soul. + + "I thank God for it. The game is afoot at last. The liberty of + Ireland may come sooner or later, by peaceful negotiation or bloody + conflict--but it is _sure_; and wherever between the poles I may + chance to be, I will hear the crash of the downfall of the + thrice-accursed British Empire." + +On Monday, May 22nd, 1848, the trial of Mr. Mitchel commenced in the +Commission Court, Green-street, before Baron Lefroy. He was eloquently +defended by the veteran lawyer and uncompromising patriot, Robert +Holmes, the brother-in-law of Robert Emmet. The mere law of the case was +strong against the prisoner, but Mr. Holmes endeavoured to raise the +minds of the jury to the moral view of the case, upon which English +juries have often acted regardless of the letter of the Act of +Parliament. With a jury of Irishmen impartially chosen it would have +been a good defence, but the Castle had made sure of their men in this +case. At five o'clock on the evening of the 26th, the case went to the +jury, who, after an absence of two hours, returned into court with a +verdict of "Guilty." + +That verdict was a surprise to no one. On the day the jury was +empanelled, the prisoner and every one else knew what it was to be. It +was now his turn to have a word to say for himself, and he spoke, as was +his wont, in plain terms, answering thus the question that had been put +to him:-- + + "I have to say that I have been found guilty by a packed jury--by the + jury of a partizan sheriff--by a jury not empanelled even according + to the law of England. I have been found guilty by a packed jury + obtained by a juggle--a jury not empanelled by a sheriff but by a + juggler." + +This was touching the high sheriff on a tender place, and he immediately +called out for the protection of the court. Whereupon Baron Lefroy +interposed, and did gravely and deliberately, as is the manner of +judges, declare that the imputation which had just been made on the +character of that excellent official, the high sheriff, was most +"unwarranted and unfounded." He adduced, however, no reason in support +of that declaration--not a shadow of proof that the conduct of the +aforesaid official was fair or honest--but proceeded to say that the +jury had found the prisoner guilty on evidence supplied by his own +writings, some of which his lordship, with a proper expression of horror +on his countenance, proceeded to read from his notes. In one of the +prisoner's publications, he said, there appeared the following passage +"There is now growing on the soil of Ireland a wealth of grain, and +roots, and cattle, far more than enough to sustain in life and comfort +all the inhabitants of the island. That wealth must not leave us another +year, not until every grain of it is fought for in every stage, from the +tying of the sheaf to the loading of the ship; and the effort necessary +to that simple act of self-preservation will at one and the same blow +prostrate British dominion and landlordism together." In reference to +this piece of writing, and many others of a similar nature, his lordship +remarked that no effort had been made to show that the prisoner was not +responsible for them; it was only contended that they involved no moral +guilt. But the law was to be vindicated; and it now became his duty to +pronounce the sentence of the court, which was--that the prisoner be +transported beyond the seas for a term of fourteen years. The severity +of the sentence occasioned general surprise; a general suspiration and +low murmur were heard through the court. Then there was stillness as of +death, in the midst of which the tones of John Mitchel's voice rang out +clearly, as he said:-- + + "The law has now done its part, and the Queen of England, her crown + and government in Ireland are now secure, pursuant to act of + parliament. I have done my part also. Three months ago I promised + Lord Clarendon, and his government in this country, that I would + provoke him into his courts of justice, as places of this kind are + called, and that I would force him publicly and notoriously to pack a + jury against me to convict me, or else that I would walk a free man + out of this court, and provoke him to a contest in another field. My + lord, I knew I was setting my life on that cast, but I knew that in + either event the victory should be with me, and it is with me. + Neither the jury, nor the judges, nor any other man in this court + presumes to imagine that it is a criminal who stands in this dock." + +Here there were murmurs of applause, which caused the criers to call out +for "Silence!" and the police to look fiercely on the people around +them. Mr. Mitchel resumed:-- + + "I have shown what the law is made of in Ireland. I have shown that + her Majesty's government sustains itself in Ireland by packed juries, + by partizan judges, by perjured sheriffs." + +Baron Lefroy interposed. The court could not sit there to hear the +prisoner arraign the jurors, the sheriffs, the courts, and the tenure by +which Englands holds this country. Again the prisoner spoke:-- + + "I have acted all through this business, from the first, under a + strong sense of duty. I do not repent anything that I have done, and + I believe that the course which I have opened is only commenced. The + Roman who saw his hand burning to ashes before the tyrant, promised + that three hundred should follow out his enterprise. Can I not + promise for one, for two, for three, aye for hundreds?" + +As he uttered these words, Mr. Mitchel looked proudly into the faces of +the friends near him, and around the court. His words and his glance +were immediately responded to by an outburst of passionate voices from +all parts of the building, exclaiming--"For me! for me! promise for me, +Mitchel! and for me!" And then came a clapping of hands and a stamping +of feet, that sounded loud and sharp as a discharge of musketry, +followed by a shout like a peal of thunder. John Martin, Thomas Francis +Meagher, and Devin Reilly, with other gentlemen who stood close by the +dock, reached over it to grasp the hand of the new made felon. The +aspect of affairs looked alarming for a moment. The policemen laid +violent hands on the persons near them and pulled them about. Mr. +Meagher and Mr. Doheny were taken into custody. Baron Lefroy, in a high +state of excitement, cried out--"Officer! remove Mr. Mitchel!" and then, +with his brother judges, retired hurriedly from the bench. The turnkeys +who stood in the dock with Mr. Mitchel motioned to him that he was to +move; he took a step or two down the little stairs under the flooring of +the court-house, and his friends saw him no more. + +He was led through the passages that communicated with the adjoining +prison, and ushered into a dark and narrow cell, in which, however, his +detention was of but a few hours' duration: At four o'clock in the +evening of that day--May 27th, 1848--the prison van, escorted by a large +force of mounted police and dragoons, with drawn sabres, drove up to the +prison gate. It was opened, and forth walked John Mitchel--_in fetters_. +A heavy chain was attached to his right leg by a shackle at the ankle; +the other end was to have been attached to the left leg, but as the +jailors had not time to effect the connexion when the order came for the +removal of the prisoner, they bade him take it in his hand, and it was +in this plight, with a festoon of iron from his hand to his foot, he +passed from the prison into the street--repeating mayhap to his own +heart, the words uttered by Wolfe Tone in circumstances not +dissimilar:--"For the cause which I have embraced, I feel prouder to +wear these chains, than if I were decorated with the star and garter of +England." Four or five police inspectors assisted him to step into the +van, the door was closed after him, the word was given to the escort, +and off went the cavalcade at a thundering pace to the North-wall, where +a government steamer, the "Shearwater," was lying with her steam up in +readiness to receive him. He clambered the side-ladder of the steamer +with some assistance; on reaching the deck, the chains tripped him and +he fell forward. Scarcely was he on his feet again, when the paddles of +the steamer were beating; the water, and the vessel was moving from the +shores of that "Isle of Destiny," which he loved so well, and a sight of +which has never since gladdened the eyes of John Mitchel. + +The history of Mr. Mitchel's subsequent career, which has been an +eventful one, does not rightly fall within the scope of this work. +Suffice it to say that on June the 1st, 1848, he was placed on board the +"Scourge" man-of-war, which then sailed off for Bermuda. There Mr. +Mitchel was retained on board a penal ship, or "hulk," until April 22nd, +1849, when he was transferred to the ship "Neptune," on her way from +England to the Cape of Good Hope, whither she was taking a batch of +British convicts. Those convicts the colonists at the Cape refused to +receive into their country, and a long struggle ensued between them and +the commander of the "Neptune," who wished to deposit his cargo +according to instructions. The colonists were willing to make an +exception in the case of Mr. Mitchel, but the naval officer could not +think of making any compromise in the matter. The end of the contest was +that the vessel, with her cargo of convicts on board, sailed on February +19th, 1850, for Van Dieman's Land, where she arrived on April 7th of the +same year. In consideration of the hardships they had undergone by +reason of their detention at the Cape, the government granted a +conditional pardon to all the criminal convicts on their arrival at +Hobart Town. It set them free on the condition that they should not +return to the "United Kingdom." Mr. Mitchel and the other political +convicts were less mercifully treated. It was not until the year 1854 +that a similar amount of freedom was given to these gentlemen. Some +months previous to the arrival of Mr. Mitchel at Hobart Town, his +friends William Smith O'Brien, John Martin, Thomas F. Meagher, Kevin +Izod O'Doherty, Terence Bellew MacManus, and Patrick O'Donoghue, had +reached the same place, there to serve out the various terms of +transportation to which they had been sentenced. All except Mr. O'Brien, +who had refused to enter into these arrangements, were at that time on +parole--living, however, in separate and limited districts, and no two +of them nearer than thirty or forty miles. On his landing from the +"Neptune," Mr. Mitchel, in consideration of the delicate state of his +health, was allowed to reside with Mr. Martin in the Bothwell district. + +In the summer of the year 1853, a number of Irish gentlemen in America, +took measures to effect the release of one or more of the Irish patriots +from Van Dieman's Land, and Mr. P.J. Smyth sailed from New York on that +patriotic mission. Arrived in Van Dieman's Land, the authorities, who +seemed to have suspition of his business, placed him under arrest, from +which he was released after three days' detention. The friends soon +managed to meet and come to an understanding as to their plan of future +operations, in conformity with which, Mr. Mitchel penned the following +letter to the governor of the island:-- + + "Bothwell, 8th June, 1853. + + "SIR--I hereby resign the 'comparative liberty,' called + 'ticket-of-leave,' and revoke my parole of honour. I shall forthwith + present myself before the police magistrate of Bothwell, at his + police office, show him this letter, and offer myself to be taken + into custody. I am, sir, your obedient servant, + + "JOHN MITCHEL." + +On the next day, June the 9th, Mr. Mitchel and Mr. Smyth went to the +police office, saw the magistrate with his attending constables; handed +him the letter, waited until he had read its contents, addressed to him +a verbal statement to the same effect, and while he appeared to be +paralyzed with astonishment, and uncertain what to do, touched their +hats to him and left the office. Chase after them was vain, as they had +mounted a pair of fleet steeds after leaving the presence of his +worship; but it was not until six weeks afterwards that they were able +to get shipping and leave the island. On the 12th of October, 1853, Mr. +Mitchel was landed safe in California--to the intense delight of his +countrymen throughout the American States, who celebrated the event by +many joyful banquets. + +Since then, Mr. Mitchel has occupied himself mainly with the press. He +started the _Citizen_ in New York, and subsequently, at Knoxville, +Tennessee, the _Southern Citizen_. As editor of the _Richmond Examiner_ +during the American civil war, he ably supported the Southern cause, to +which he gave a still stronger pledge of his attachment in the services +and the lives of two of his brave sons. One of these gentlemen, Mr. +William Mitchel, was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; the other, +Captain John Mitchel, who had been placed in command of the important +position of Fort Sumter, was shot on the parapet of that work, on July +19th, 1864. Shortly after the close of the war, Mr. John Mitchel was +taken prisoner by the Federal government; but after undergoing an +imprisonment of some months his release was ordered by President +Johnson, acting on the solicitation of a large and influential +deputation of Irishmen. In the latter part of the year 1867, turning to +the press again, he started the _Irish Citizen_ at New York, and in that +journal, at the date of this writing, he continues to wield his +trenchant pen on behalf of the Irish cause. To that cause, through all +the lapse of time, and change of scene, and vicissitude of fortune which +he has known, his heart has remained for ever true. He has suffered much +for it; that he may live to see it triumphant is a prayer which finds an +echo in the hearts of all his fellow-countrymen. + +We have written of Mr. Mitchel only in reference to his political +career; but we can, without trenching in any degree on the domain of +private life, supply some additional and authentic details which will be +of interest to Irish readers. The distinguished subject of our memoir +was born at Camnish, near Dungiven, in the county of Derry, on the 3rd +of November, 1815. His father was the Rev. John Mitchel, at that time +Presbyterian Minister of Dungiven, and a good patriot, too, having +been--as we learn from a statement casually made by Mr. Mitchel in +Conciliation Hall--one of the United Irishmen of 1798. The maiden name +of his mother, who also came of a Presbyterian and county Derry family, +was Mary Haslitt. At Newry, whither the Rev. Mr. Mitchel removed in the +year 1823, and where he continued to reside till his death in 1843, +young John Mitchel was sent to the school of Dr. David Henderson, from +which he entered Trinity College, Dublin, about the year 1830 or 1831. +He did not reside within the college, but kept his terms by coming up +from the country to attend the quarterly examinations. Though he did not +distinguish himself in his college course, and had paid no more +attention to the books prescribed for his studies than seemed necessary +for passing his examinations respectably, John Mitchel was known to his +intimate friends to be a fine scholar and possessed of rare ability. +While still a college student, he was bound apprentice to a solicitor in +Newry. Before the completion of his apprenticeship, in the year 1835, he +married Jane Verner, a young lady of remarkable beauty, and only sixteen +years of age at the time, a daughter of Captain James Verner. Not long +after his marriage he entered into partnership in his profession, and in +conformity with the arrangements agreed upon, went to reside at +Banbridge, a town ten miles north of Newry, where he continued to +practice as a solicitor until the death of Thomas Davis in 1845. He had +been an occasional contributor to the _Nation_ almost from the date of +its foundation; its editors recognised at once his splendid literary +powers, and when the "Library of Ireland" was projected, pressed him to +write one of the volumes, suggesting as his subject the Life of Hugh +O'Neill. How ably he fulfilled the task is known to his countrymen, who +rightly regard the volume as one of the most valuable of the whole +series. When death removed the amiable and gifted Thomas Davis from the +scene of his labours, Mr. Duffy invited John Mitchel, as the man most +worthy of all in Ireland, to take his place. Mr. Mitchel regarded the +invitation as the call of his country. He gave up his professional +business in Banbridge, removed with his wife and family to Dublin, and +there throwing himself heart and soul into the cause, fought it out +boldly and impetuously until the day when, bound in British chains, "the +enemy" bore him off from Ireland. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +JOHN MARTIN. + + +When the law had consummated its crime, and the doom of the felon was +pronounced against John Mitchel, there stood in the group that pressed +round him in the dock and echoed back the assurances which he flung as a +last defiance at his foes, a thoughtful, delicate looking, but resolute +young Irishman, whose voice perhaps was not the loudest of those that +spoke there, but whose heart throbbed responsively to his words, and for +whom the final message of the unconquerable rebel possessed a meaning +and significance that gave it the force of a special revelation. +"Promise for me, Mitchel," they cried out, but he had no need to join in +that request; he had no need to intimate to Mr. Mitchel his willingness +to follow out the enterprise which that fearless patriot had so boldly +commenced. On the previous day, sitting with the prisoner in his gloomy +cell, John Martin of Loughorne had decided on the course which he would +take in the event of the suppression of the _United Irishman_ and the +transportation of its editor. He would start a successor to that +journal, and take the place of his dear friend at the post of danger. It +was a noble resolve, deliberately taken, and resolutely and faithfully +was it carried out. None can read the history of that act of daring, and +of the life of sacrifice by which it has been followed, and not agree +with us that while the memories of Tone, of Emmet, and of Russell, are +cherished in Ireland, the name of John Martin ought not be forgotten. + +A few days subsequent to that memorable scene in Greenstreet +court-house, John Martin quitted his comfortable home and the green +slopes of Loughorne, separated himself from the friends he loved and +the relatives who idolized him, and entered on the stormy career of a +national leader and journalist, at a time when to advocate the +principles of nationality was to incur the ferocious hostility of a +government whose thirst for vengeance was only whetted by the +transportation of John Mitchel. He knew the danger he was braving; he +knew that the path on which he entered led down to suffering and ruin; +he stood in the gap from which Mitchel had been hurled, with a full +consciousness of the perils of the situation; but unflinchingly and +unhesitatingly as the martyr goes to his death, he threw himself into +the thinning ranks of the patriot leaders; and when the event that he +anticipated arrived, and the prison gates opened to receive him--then, +too, in the midst of indignities and privations--he displayed an +imperturbable firmness and contempt for physical suffering, that showed +how powerless persecution is to subdue the spirit that self-conscious +righteousness sustains. + +His history previous to the conviction of his friend and school-fellow, +John Mitchel, if it includes no events of public importance, possesses +for us all the interest that attaches to the early life of a good and +remarkable man. John Martin was born at Loughorne, in the lordship of +Newry, Co. Down, on the 8th of September, 1812; being the eldest son of +Samuel Martin and Jane Harshaw, both natives of that neighbourhood, and +members of Presbyterian families settled there for many generations. +About the time of his birth, his father purchased the fee-simple of the +large farm which he had previously rented, and two of his uncles having +made similar investments, the family became proprietors of the townland +on which they lived. Mr. Samuel Martin, who died in 1831, divided his +attention between the management of the linen business--a branch of +industry in which the family had partly occupied themselves for some +generations--and the care of his land. His family consisted of nine +children, of whom John Martin--the subject of our sketch--was the second +born. The principles of his family, if they could not be said to possess +the hue of nationality, were at least liberal and tolerant. In '98, the +Martins of Loughorne, were stern opponents of the United Irishmen; but +in '82, his father and uncles were enrolled amongst the volunteers, and +the Act of Union was opposed by them as a national calamity. It was from +his good mother, however, a lady of refined taste and remarkable mental +culture, that young John derived his inclination for literary pursuits, +and learned the maxims of justice and equality that swayed him through +life. He speedily discarded the prejudices against Catholic +Emancipation, which were not altogether unknown amongst his family, and +which even found some favour with himself in the unreflecting days of +boyhood. The natural tendency of his mind, however, was as true to the +principles of justice as the needle to the pole, and the quiet rebuke +that one day fell from his uncle--"What! John, would you not give your +Catholic fellow-countrymen the same rights that you enjoy yourself?" +having set him a thinking for the first time on the subject, he soon +formed opinions more in consonance with liberality and fair play. + +When about twelve years of age, young Martin was sent to the school of +Dr. Henderson at Newry, where he first became acquainted with John +Mitchel, then attending the same seminary as a day scholar. We next find +John Martin an extern student of Trinity College, and a year after the +death of his father he took out his degree in Arts. He was now twenty +years old, and up to this time had suffered much from a constitutional +affection, being subject from infancy to fits of spasmodic asthma. +Strange to say, the disease which troubled him at frequently recurring +intervals at home, seldom attacked him when away from Loughorne, and +partly for the purpose of escaping it, he took up his residence in +Dublin in 1833, and devoted himself to the study of medicine. He never +meditated earning his living by the profession, but he longed for the +opportunity of assuaging the sufferings of the afflicted poor. The air +of the dissecting-room, however, was too much for Martin's delicate +nervous organization; the kindly encouragement of his fellow-students +failed to induce him to breathe its fetid atmosphere a second time, and +he was forced to content himself with a theoretical knowledge of the +profession. By diligent study and with the assistance of lectures, +anatomical plates, &c., he managed to conquer the difficulty; and he had +obtained nearly all the certificates necessary for taking out a medical +degree, when he was recalled in 1835 to Loughorne, by the death of his +uncle John, whose house and lands he inherited. + +During the four years following he lived at Loughorne, discharging the +duties of a resident country gentleman as they are seldom performed in +Ireland, and endearing himself to all classes, but particularly to the +poor, by his gentle disposition, purity of mind, and benevolence of +heart. In him the afflicted and the poverty-stricken ever found a +sympathising friend, and if none of the rewards which the ruling faction +were ready to shower on the Irishman of his position who looked to the +Castle for inspiration, fell to his share, he enjoyed a recompense more +precious in the prayers and the blessings of the poor. The steps of his +door were crowded with the patients who flocked to him for advice, and +for whom he prescribed gratuitously--not without some reluctance, +however, arising from distrust of his own abilities and an unwillingness +to interfere with the practice of the regular profession. But the +diffidence with which he regarded his own efforts was not shared by the +people of the district. Their faith in his professional skill was +unbounded, and perhaps the confidence which they felt in his power, +contributed in some measure to the success that attended his practice. + +In 1839 Mr. Martin sailed from Bristol to New York, and travelled thence +to the extreme west of Upper Canada to visit a relative who had settled +there. On that occasion he was absent from Ireland nearly twelve months, +and during his stay in America he made some tours in Canada and the +Northern States, visiting the Falls, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, +New York, Washington, Pittsburg, and Cleveland. In 1841 he made a brief +continental tour, and visited the chief points of attraction along the +Rhine. During this time Mr. Martin's political ideas became developed +and expanded, and though like Smith O'Brien, he at first withheld his +sympathies from the Repeal agitation, in a short time he became +impressed with the justice of the national demand for independence. His +retiring disposition kept him from appearing very prominently before the +public; but the value of his adhesion to the Repeal Association was felt +to be great by those who knew his uprightness, his disinterestedness, +and his ability. + +When the suicidal policy of O'Connell drove the Confederates from +Conciliation Hall, John Martin was not a silent spectator of the crisis, +and in consequence of the manly sentiments he expressed with reference +to the treatment to which the Young Ireland party had been subjected, he +ceased to be a member of the Association. There was another cause too +for his secession. A standing taunt in the mouth of the English press +was that O'Connell pocketed the peoples' money and took care to let +nobody know what he did with it. To put an end to this reproach Mr. +Martin asked that the accounts of the Association should be published. +"Publish the accounts!" shrieked the well-paid gang that marred the +influence and traded in the politics of O'Connell: "Monstrous!" and they +silenced the troublesome purist by suppressing his letters and expelling +him from the Association. In the ranks of the Confederates, however, +Martin found more congenial society; amongst them he found men as +earnest, as sincere, and as single-minded as himself, and by them the +full worth of his character was soon appreciated. He frequently attended +their meetings, and he it was who filled the chair during the prolonged +debates that ended with the temporary withdrawal of Mitchel from the +Confederation. When the _United Irishman_ was started he became a +contributor to its columns, and he continued to write in its pages up to +the date of its suppression, and the conviction of its editor and +proprietor. + +There were many noble and excellent qualities which the friends of John +Martin knew him to possess. Rectitude of principle, abhorrence of +injustice and intolerance, deep love of country, the purity and +earnestness of a saint, allied with the kindliness and inoffensiveness +of childhood; amiability and disinterestedness, together with a perfect +abnegation of self, and total freedom from the vanity which affected a +few of his compatriots--these they gave him credit for, but they were +totally unprepared for the lion-like courage, the boldness, and the +promptitude displayed by him, when the government, by the conviction of +Mitchel, flung down the gauntlet to the people of Ireland. Hastily +settling up his worldly accounts in the North, he returned to Dublin to +stake his fortune and his life in the cause which he had promised to +serve. The _United Irishman_ was gone, but Martin had undertaken that +its place in Irish Journalism should not be vacant; and a few weeks +after the office in Trinity-street was sacked he reoccupied the violated +and empty rooms, and issued there-from the first number of the _Irish +Felon_. There was no halting place in Irish Journalism then. The +_Nation_ had already flung peace and conciliation and "balmy +forgiveness" to the winds, and advocated the creed of the sword. The +scandalous means used to procure a verdict of guilty against Mitchel +tore to tatters the last rag of the constitution in Ireland. It was idle +to dictate observance of the law which the government themselves were +engaged in violating, and the _Nation_ was not the journal to brook the +tyranny of the authorities. With a spirit that cannot be too highly +praised, it called for the overthrow of the government that had sent +Mitchel in chains into banishment, and summoned the people of Ireland to +prepare to assert their rights by the only means now left them--the +bullet and the pike. And the eyes of men whose hearts were "weary +waiting for the fray," began to glisten as they read the burning words +of poetry and prose in which the _Nation_ preached the gospel of +liberty. It was to take its side by that journal, and to rival it in the +boldness of its language and the spirit of its arguments, that the +_Irish Felon_ was established; and it executed its mission well. "I do +not love political agitation for its own sake," exclaimed Martin, in +his opening address in the first number. "At best I regard it as a +necessary evil; and if I were not convinced that my countrymen are +determined on vindicating their rights, and that they really intend to +free themselves, I would at once withdraw from the struggle and leave my +native land for ever. I could not live in Ireland and derive my means of +life as a member of the Irish community, without feeling a citizen's +responsibilities in Irish public affairs. Those responsibilities involve +the guilt of national robbery and murder--of a system which arrays the +classes of our people against each other's prosperity and very lives, +like beasts of prey, or rather like famishing sailors on a wreck--of the +debasement and moral ruin of a people endowed by God with surpassing +resources for the attainment of human happiness and human dignity. I +cannot be loyal to a system of meanness, terror, and corruption, +although it usurp the title and assume the form of a 'government.' So +long as such a 'government' presumes to injure and insult me, and those +in whose prosperity I am involved, I must offer to it all the resistance +in my power. But if I despaired of successful resistance, I would +certainly remove myself from under such a 'government's' actual +authority; that I do not exile myself is a proof that I hope to witness +the overthrow, and assist in the overthrow, of the most abominable +tyranny the world now groans under--the British Imperial system. To gain +permission for the Irish people to care for their own lives, their own +happiness and dignity--to abolish the political conditions which compel +the classes of our people to hate and to murder each other, and which +compel the Irish people to hate the very name of the English--to end the +reign of fraud, perjury, corruption, and 'government' butchery, and to +make, law, order, and peace possible in Ireland, the _Irish Felon_ takes +its place amongst the combatants in the holy war now waging in this +island against foreign tyranny. In conducting it my weapons shall +be--_the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me +God_!" Such "open and avowed treason" as this could not long continue +to be published. Before the third number the _Felon_ saw the light, a +warrant for Mr. Martin's arrest was in the hands of the detectives, and +its fifth was its last. On Saturday, July 8th, Mr. Martin surrendered +himself into custody, having kept out of the way for a few days to +prevent his being tried, under the "gagging act," at the Commission +sitting when the warrant was issued, and which adjourned until +August--the time fixed for the insurrection--in the interim. On the same +day, Duffy, Williams, and O'Doherty were arrested. Martin was imprisoned +in Newgate, but he continued to write from within his cell for the +_Felon_, and its last number, published on July 22nd, contains a +spirited letter signed with his initials, which formed portion of the +indictment against him on his trial. In this letter, Martin calls on his +countrymen in impassioned words to "stand to their arms!" "Let them +menace you," he writes from his dungeon, "with the hulks or the gibbet +for daring to speak or write your love to Ireland. Let them threaten to +mow you down with grape shot, as they massacred your kindred with famine +and plague. Spurn their brutal 'Acts of Parliament'--trample upon their +lying proclamations--fear them not!" + +On Tuesday, August 15th, John Martin's trial commenced in Green-street +court-house, the indictment being for treason-felony. "Several of his +tenantry," writes the Special Correspondent of the London _Morning +Herald,_ "came up to town to be present at his trial, and, as they +hoped, at his escape, for they could not bring themselves to believe +that a man so amiable, so gentle, and so pious, as they had long known +him, could be"--this is the Englishman's way of putting it--"an inciter +to bloodshed. It is really melancholy," added the writer, "to hear the +poor people of the neighbourhood of Loughorne speak of their benefactor. +He was ever ready to administer medicine and advice gratuitously to his +poor neighbours and all who sought his assistance; and according to the +reports I have received, he did an incalculable amount of good in his +way. As a landlord he was beloved by his tenantry for his kindness and +liberality, while from his suavity of manner and excellent qualities, he +was a great favourite with the gentry around him." + +At eight o'clock, p.m., on Thursday, August 17th, the jury came into +court with a verdict of guilty against the prisoner, recommending him to +mercy on the grounds that the letter on which he was convicted was +written from the prison, and penned under exciting circumstances. On the +following day, Mr. Martin was brought up to receive sentence, and +asked--after the usual form--whether he had anything to say against the +sentence being pronounced? The papers of the time state that he appeared +perfectly unmoved by the painful position in which he was placed--that +he looked round the courthouse in a calm, composed, dignified manner, +and then spoke the following reply in clear unfaltering tones:-- + + "My lords--I have no imputation to cast upon the bench, neither have + I anything to charge the jury with, of unfairness towards me. I think + the judges desired to do their duty honestly as upright judges and + men; and that the twelve men who were put into the box, as I believe, + not to try, but to convict me, voted honestly, according to their + prejudices. I have no personal enmity against the sheriff, + sub-sheriff, or any of the gentlemen connected with the arrangement + of the jury-panel--nor against the Attorney-General, nor any other + person engaged in the proceedings called my trial; _but, my lords, I + consider that I have not been yet tried_. There have been certain + formalities carried on here for three days regarding me, ending in a + verdict of guilty: _but I have not been put upon my country_, as the + constitution said to exist in Ireland requires. Twelve of my + countrymen, 'indifferently chosen,' have not been put into that + jury-box to try me, but twelve men who, I believe, have been selected + by the parties who represent the crown, for the purpose of convicting + and not of trying me. I believe they were put into that box because + the parties conducting the prosecution knew their political + sentiments were hostile to mine, and because the matter at issue here + is a political question--a matter of opinion, and not a matter of + fact. I have nothing more to say as to the trial, except to repeat + that, having watched the conduct of the judges, I consider them + upright and honest men. I have this to add, that as to the charge I + make with respect to the constitution of the panel and the selection + of the jury, I have no legal evidence of the truth of my statement, + but there is no one who has a moral doubt of it. Every person knows + that what I have stated is the fact; and I would represent to the + judges, most respectfully, that they, as upright and honourable men + and judges, and as citizens, ought to see that the administration of + justice in this country is above suspicion. I have nothing more to + say with regard to the trial; but I would be thankful to the court + for permission to say a few words in vindication of my character and + motives after sentence is passed." + + Baron Pennefather--"No; we will not hear anything from you after + sentence." + + Chief Baron--"We cannot hear anything from you after sentence has + been pronounced." + + Mr. Martin--"Then, my lords, permit me to say that, admitting the + narrow and confined constitutional doctrines which I have heard + preached in this court to be right, _I am not guilty of the charge + according to this act_. I did not intend to devise or levy war + against the Queen or to depose the Queen. In the article of mine on + which the jury framed their verdict of guilty, which was written in + prison, and published in the last number of my paper, what I desired + to do was this--to advise and encourage my countrymen to keep their + arms, because that is their inalienable right, which no act of + parliament, no proclamation, can take away from them. It is, I + repeat, their inalienable right. I advised them to keep their arms; + and further, I advised them to use their arms in their own defence, + against all assailants--even assailants that might come to attack + them, unconstitutionally and improperly using the Queen's name as + their sanction. My object in all my proceedings has been simply to + assist in establishing the national independence of Ireland, for the + benefit of all the people of Ireland--noblemen, clergymen, judges, + professional men--in fact, all Irishmen. I have sought that object: + first, because I thought it was our right--because I think national + independence is the right of the people of this country; and + secondly, I admit that, being a man who loved retirement, I never + would have engaged in politics did I not think it was necessary to do + all in my power to make an end of the horrible scenes that this + country presents--the pauperism, starvation, and crime, and vice, and + hatred of all classes against each other. I thought there should be + an end to that horrible system, which, while it lasted, gave me no + peace of mind; for I could not enjoy anything in my native country so + long as I saw my countrymen forced to be vicious--forced to hate each + other--and degraded to the level of paupers and brutes. That is the + reason I engaged in politics. I acknowledge, as the Solicitor-General + has said, that I was but a weak assailant of the English power. I am + not a good writer, and I am no orator. I had only two weeks' + experience in conducting a newspaper until I was put into jail; but I + am satisfied to direct the attention of my countrymen to everything I + have written and said, and to rest my character on a fair and candid + examination of what I have put forward as my opinions. I shall say + nothing in vindication of my motives but this--that every fair and + honest man, no matter how prejudiced he may be, if he calmly + considers what I have written and said, will be satisfied that my + motives were pure and honourable. I have nothing more to say." + +Then the judge proceeded to pass sentence. In the course of his remarks +he referred to the recommendation to mercy which came from the jury, +whereupon Mr. Martin broke in. "I beg your lordship's pardon," he said, +"I cannot condescend to accept 'mercy,' where I believe I have been +morally right; I want justice--not mercy." But he looked for it in vain. + +"Transportation for ten years beyond the seas" is spoken by the lips of +the judge, and the burlesque of justice is at an end. Mr. Martin heard +the sentence with perfect composure and self-possession, though the +faces of his brothers and friends standing by, showe signs of the +deepest emotion. "Remove the prisoner," were the next words uttered, and +then John Martin, the pure-minded, the high-souled, and the good, was +borne off to the convict's cell in Newgate. + +Amongst the friends who clustered round the dock in which the patriot +leader stood, and watched the progress of his trial with beating hearts, +was Mr. James Martin, one of the prisoner's brothers. During the three +long weary days occupied by the trial, his post had been by his +brother's side listening to the proceedings with the anxiety and +solicitude which a brother alone can feel, and revealing by every line +of his countenance the absorbing interest with which he regarded the +issue. The verdict of the jury fell upon him with the bewildering shock +of an avalanche. He was stunned, stupified, amazed; he could hardly +believe that he had heard the fatal words aright, and that "guilty" had +been the verdict returned. _He_ guilty! he whose life was studded by +good deeds as stars stud the wintry sky; _he_ guilty, whose kindly heart +had always a throb for the suffering and the unfortunate, whose hand was +ever extended to shield the oppressed, to succour the friendless, and to +shelter the homeless and the needy; _he_ "inspired by the devil," whose +career had been devoted to an attempt to redress the sufferings of his +fellow-countrymen, and whose sole object in life seemed to be to +abridge the sufferings of the Irish people, to plant the doctrines of +peace and good-will in every heart, and to make Ireland the home of +harmony and concord, by rendering her prosperous and free. It was a lie, +a calumny, a brutal fabrication! It was more than his sense of justice +could endure, it was more than his hot Northern blood could tolerate. +Beckoning a friend, he rushed with him into the street, and drove direct +to the residence of Mr. Waterhouse, the foreman of the jury. The latter +had barely returned from court, when he was waited upon by Mr. Martin, +who indignantly charged him with having bullied the jury into recording +a verdict of guilty--an accusation which current report made against +him--and challenged the astonished juryman to mortal combat. Mr. +Waterhouse was horror-struck by the proposal, to which he gasped out in +response, a threat to call in the police. He never heard of anything so +terribly audacious. He, a loyal Castle tradesman, who had "well and +truly" tried the case according to the recognised acceptance of the +words, and who had "true deliverance made" after the fashion in favour +with the crown; he whose "perspicuity, wisdom, impartiality," &c., had +been appealed to and belauded so often by the Attorney-General, to be +challenged to a hostile meeting, which might end, by leaving a bullet +lodged in his invaluable body. The bare idea of it fairly took his +breath away, and with the terrible vision of pistols and bloodshed +before his mind, he rushed to the police office and had his indignant +visitor arrested. On entering the Green-street courthouse next day, Mr. +Waterhouse told his woeful story to the judge. The judge was appalled by +the disclosure; Mr. Martin was brought before him and sentenced to a +month's imprisonment, besides being bound over to keep the peace towards +Mr. Waterhouse and everyone else for a period of seven years. + +A short time after Mr. John Martin's conviction, he and Kevin Izod +O'Doherty were shipped off to Van Diemen's Land on board the +"Elphinstone," where they arrived in the month of November, 1849. +O'Brien, Meagher, MacManus, and O'Donoghue had arrived at the same +destination a few days before. Mr. Martin resided in the district +assigned to him until the year 1854, when a pardon, on the condition of +their not returning to Ireland or Great Britain was granted to himself, +O'Brien, and O'Doherty, the only political prisoners in the country at +that time--MacManus, Meagher, O'Donoghue, and Mitchel having previously +escaped. Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Martin sailed together in the "Norna" from +Melbourne for Ceylon, at which port they parted, Mr. O'Brien turning +northward to Madras, while Mr. Martin came on _via_ Aden, Cairo, +Alexandria, Malta, and Marseilles to Paris, where he arrived about the +end of October, 1854. In June, 1856, the government made the pardon of +Messrs. Martin, O'Brien, and O'Doherty, unconditional, and Mr. Martin +then hastened to pay a visit to his family from whom he had been +separated during eight years. After a stay of a few months he went back +to Paris, intending to reside abroad during the remainder of his life, +because he could not voluntarily live under English rule in Ireland. But +the death of a near and dear member of his family, in October, 1858, +imposed on him duties which he could only discharge by residence in his +own home, and compelled him to terminate his exile. Living since then in +his own land he has taken care to renew and continue his protest against +the domination of England in Ireland. In January, 1864, acting on the +suggestion of many well-known nationalists, he established in Dublin a +Repeal Association called "The National League." The peculiar condition +of Irish politics at the time was unfavourable to any large extension of +the society; but notwithstanding this circumstance the League by its +meetings and its publications rendered good service to the cause of +Irish freedom. Mr. Martin has seen many who once were loud and earnest +in their professions of patriotism lose heart and grow cold in the +service of their country, but he does not weary of the good work. +Patiently and zealously he still continues to labour in the national +cause; his mission is not ended yet; and with a constancy which lapse of +years and change of scene have not affected, he still clings to the +hope of Ireland's regeneration, and with voice and pen supports the +principles of patriotism for which he suffered. The debt that Ireland +owes to him will not easily be acquitted, and if the bulk of his +co-religionists are no longer to be found within the national camp, we +can almost forgive them their shortcomings, when we remember that, +within our own generation, the Presbyterians of Ulster have given to +Ireland two such men as John Martin and John Mitchel. + +Mr. Martin's name will re-appear farther on in another portion of this +work, for the occasion of which we have here treated was not the only +one on which his patriotic words and actions brought upon him the +attention of "the authorities," and subjected him to the troubles of a +state prosecution. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +W.S. O'BRIEN. + + +Loudly across the dark flowing tide of the Liffey, rolled the cheers of +welcome and rejoicing that burst from Conciliation Hall on that +memorable day in January, '44, when William Smith O'Brien first stood +beneath its roof, and presided over a meeting of Repealers. Many a time +had the walls of that historic building given back the cheers of the +thousands who gathered there to revel in the promises of the Liberator; +many a time had they vibrated to the enthusiasm of the Irishmen who met +there to celebrate the progress of the movement which was to give +freedom and prosperity to Ireland; but not even in those days of monster +meetings and popular demonstrations had a warmer glow of satisfaction +flushed the face of O'Connell, than when the descendant of the Munster +Kings took his place amongst the Dublin Repealers. "I find it +impossible," exclaimed the great Tribune, "to give adequate expression +to the delight with which I hail Mr. O'Brien's presence in the +Association. He now occupies his natural position--the position which +centuries ago was occupied by his ancestor, Brian Boru. Whatever may +become of _me_, it is a consolation to remember that Ireland will not be +without a friend such as William Smith O'Brien, who combining all the +modern endowments of a highly-cultured mind, with intellectual gifts of +the highest order, nervous eloquence, untiring energy, fervid love of +country, and every other high qualification of a popular leader, is now +where his friends would ever wish to see him--at the head of the Irish +people." Six weeks before, a banquet had been given in Limerick to +celebrate O'Brien's adhesion to the national cause, and on this +occasion, too, O'Connell bore generous testimony to the value and +importance of his accession. "His presence," said the Emancipator, in +proposing Mr. O'Brien's health, "cannot prevent me here from expressing +on behalf of the universal people of Ireland, their admiration and +delight at his conversion to their cause. Receive the benefactor of +Ireland, as such a benefactor should be received. It is certain that our +country will never be deserted as long as she has William Smith O'Brien +as one of her leaders." + +[Illustration: KEVIN I. O'DOHERTY. THOMAS F. MEAGHER. TERENCE B. +McMANUS] + +There was much to account for the tumult of rejoicing which hailed Smith +O'Brien's entry within the ranks of the popular party. His lineage, his +position, his influence, his stainless character, his abilities, and his +worth, combined to fit him for the place which O'Connell assigned him, +and to rally round him the affection and allegiance of the Irish people. +No monarch in the world could trace his descent from a longer line of +illustrious men; beside the roll of ancestry to which he could point, +the oldest of European dynasties were things of a day. When the towering +Pyramids that overlook the Nile were still new; before the Homeric +ballads had yet been chanted in the streets of an Eastern city; before +the foundations of the Parthenon were laid on the Acropolis; before the +wandering sons of Æneas found a home in the valley of the Tiber, the +chieftains of his house enjoyed the conqueror's fame, and his ancestors +swayed the sceptre of Erie. Nor was he unworthy of the name and the fame +of the O'Briens of Kincora. Clear sighted and discerning; deeply endowed +with calm sagacity and penetrating observance; pure minded, eloquent, +talented and chivalrous; he comprised within his nature the truest +elements of the patriot, the scholar, and the statesman. Unfaltering +attachment to the principles of justice, unswerving obedience to the +dictates of honour, unalterable loyalty to rectitude and duty; these +were the characteristics that distinguished him; and these were the +qualities that cast their redeeming light round his failings and his +errors, and wrung from the bitterest of his foes the tribute due to +suffering worth. If nobility of soul, if earnestness of heart and +singleness of purpose, if unflinching and self-sacrificing patriotism, +allied to zeal, courage, and ability, could have redeemed the Irish +cause, it would not be left to us to mourn for it to-day; and instead of +the melancholy story we have now to relate, it might he given to us to +chronicle the regeneration of the Irish nation. + +William Smith O'Brien was born, at Dromoland, County Clare, on the 17th +of October, 1803. He was the second son of Sir Edward O'Brien, and on +the death of his kinsman, the last Marquis of Thomond, his eldest +brother became Baron of Inchiquin. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity +College, Cambridge; but his English education, however much it might +have coloured his views during boyhood, did not seriously affect his +innate love of justice, or warp the patriotic feelings which were +developed in his earliest years. The associations into which he was +cast, the tone of the society in which he moved, the politics of his +family, and the modern traditions of his house, combined to throw him +into the ranks of the people's enemies; and that these influences were +not altogether barren of results is proved by the fact that O'Brien +entered Parliament in 1826 as an Anti-Repealer, and exerted himself to +prevent the return of O'Connell at the memorable election for Clare. But +O'Brien was no factious opponent of the national interests; even while +he acted thus, he had the welfare of his country sincerely at heart; he +steered according to his lights, and when time and experience showed the +falseness of his views, he did not hesitate to renounce them. To this +period of his political career Mr. O'Brien often adverted in after life, +with the frankness and candour that distinguished him. "When the +proposal to seek for a Repeal of the Act of Union was first seriously +entertained," said O'Brien, "I used all the influence I possessed to +discountenance the attempt. I did not consider that the circumstances +and prospects of Ireland then justified the agitation of this question. +Catholic Emancipation had been recently achieved, and I sincerely +believed that from that epoch a new course of policy would be adopted +towards Ireland. I persuaded myself that thenceforth the statesmen of +Great Britain would spare no effort to repair the evils produced by +centuries of misgovernment--that the Catholic and Protestant would be +admitted to share on equal terms in all the advantages resulting from +our constitutional form of government--that all traces of an ascendancy +of race or creed would be effaced--that the institutions of Ireland +would be gradually moulded so as to harmonise with the opinions of its +inhabitants, and that in regard of political rights, legislation for +both kingdoms would be based upon the principle of perfect equality." + +Fourteen years had elapsed from the date of Catholic Emancipation, when +O'Brien startled the aristocrats of Ireland by renouncing his allegiance +to their party, and throwing himself heart and soul into the vanguard of +the people. He told his reasons for the change in bold convincing words. +He had seen that his expectations of justice were false and delusive. +"The feelings of the Irish nation," he said, "have been exasperated by +every species of irritation and insult; every proposal tending to +develop the sources of our industry--to raise the character and improve +the condition of our population, has been discountenanced, distorted, or +rejected. Ireland, instead of taking its place as an integral portion of +the great empire, which the valour of her sons has contributed to win, +has been treated as a dependent tributary province; and at this moment, +after forty-three years of nominal union, the affections of the two +nations are so entirely alienated from each other, that England trusts +for the maintenance of their connection, not to the attachment of the +Irish people, but to the bayonets which menace our bosoms, and the +cannon which she has planted in all our strongholds." + +The prospects of the Repeal movement were not at their brightest when +O'Brien entered Conciliation Hall. In England, and in Ireland too, the +influence of O'Connell was on the wane, and with the dispersion of the +multitudes that flocked on that Sunday morning in October, 1843, to +listen to the Liberator on the plains of Clontarf, the peaceful policy +which he advocated received its death blow. Over O'Connell himself, and +some of the most outspoken of his associates, a State prosecution was +impending; and the arm of the government was already stretched out to +crush the agitation whose object they detested, and whose strength they +had begun to fear. The accession of O'Brien, however, the prestige of +his name, and the influence of his example, was expected to do much +towards reviving the drooping fortunes of the Association. Nor was the +anticipation illusory. From the day on which O'Brien became a Repealer, +down to the date of the secession, the strongest prop of the +Conciliation Hall was his presence and support; he failed indeed to +counteract the corrupt influences that gnawed at the vitals of the +Association and ultimately destroyed it; but while he remained within +its ranks, the redeeming influence of his genius, his patriotism, and +his worth, preserved it from the extinction towards which it was +hastening. + +At an early date the penetrating mind of O'Brien detected the existence +of the evil which was afterwards to transform Conciliation Hall into a +market for place hunters. "I apprehend," said he, in a remarkable speech +delivered in January, '46, "more danger to Repeal from the subtle +influence of a Whig administration, than from the coercive measures of +the Tories." And he was right. Day by day, the subtle influence which he +dreaded did its blighting work; and the success of those who sought the +destruction of the Repeal Association through the machinery of bribes +and places was already apparent, when on the 27th of July, 1846, +O'Brien, accompanied by Mitchel, Meagher, Duffy, and others arose in +sorrow and indignation, and quitted the Conciliation Hall for ever. + +Six months later the Irish Confederation held its first meeting in the +Round Room of the Rotundo. Meagher, Mitchel, Doheny, O'Brien, O'Gorman, +Martin, and McGee were amongst the speakers; and amidst the ringing +cheers of the densely thronged meeting, the establishment was decreed of +the Irish Confederation, for the purpose--as the resolution +declared--"of protecting our national interests, and obtaining the +Legislative Independence of Ireland by the force of opinion, by the +combination of all classes of Irishmen, and by the exercise of all the +political, social, and moral influence within our reach." It will be +seen that the means by which the Confederates proposed to gain their +object, did not differ materially from the programme of the Repeal +Association. But there was this distinction. Against place-hunting, and +everything savouring of trafficking with the government, the +Confederates resolutely set their faces; and in the next place, while +prescribing to themselves nothing but peaceful and legal means for the +accomplishment of their object, they scouted the ridiculous doctrine, +that "liberty was not worth the shedding of a single drop of blood," and +that circumstances might arise under which resort to the arbitration of +the sword would be righteous and justifiable. In time, however, the +Confederates took up a bolder and more dangerous position. As early as +May, 1846, Lord John Russell spoke of the men who wrote in the pages of +the _Nation_, and who subsequently became the leaders of the +Confederation, "as a party looking to disturbance as its means, and +having separation from England as its object." The description was false +at the time, but before two years had elapsed its application became +more accurate. A few men there were like Mitchel, who from the birth of +the Confederation, and perhaps before it, abandoned all expectation of +redress through the medium of Constitutional agitation; but it was not +until the flames of revolution had wrapped the nations of the Continent +in their fiery folds--until the barricades were up in every capital from +Madrid to Vienna--and until the students' song of freedom was mingled +with the paean of victory on many a field of death--that the hearts of +the Irish Confederates caught the flame, and that revolution, and +revolution alone, became the goal of their endeavours. When Mitchel +withdrew from the Confederation in March, 1848, the principles of +constitutional action were still in the ascendancy; when he rejoined it +a month later, the cry "to the registries," was superseded by fiery +appeals summoning the people to arms. In the first week of April, the +doctrine which John Mitchel had long been propounding, found expression +in the leading columns of the _Nation_:--"Ireland's necessity," said +Duffy, "demands the desperate remedy of revolution." A few weeks later, +the same declaration was made in the very citadel of the enemy's power. +It was O'Brien who spoke, and his audience was the British House of +Commons. With Messrs. Meagher and Hollywood, he had visited Paris to +present an address of congratulation on behalf of the Irish people to +the Republican government; and on taking his seat in the House of +Commons after his return, he found himself charged by the Ministers of +the Crown, with having gone to solicit armed intervention from France on +behalf of the disaffected people of Ireland. O'Brien replied in a speech +such as never was heard before or since within the walls of the House of +Commons. In the midst of indescribable excitement and consternation, he +proceeded to declare in calm deliberative accents--"that if he was to be +arraigned as a criminal, he would gladly endure the most ignominious +death that could be inflicted on him rather than witness the sufferings +and indignities he had seen inflicted by the British legislature on his +countrymen. If it is treason," he exclaimed, "to profess disloyalty to +this House and to the government of Ireland, by the parliament of Great +Britain--if that be treason, I avow it. Nay, more, I say it shall be the +study of my life to overthrow the dominion of this Parliament over +Ireland." The yells and shouts with which these announcements were +received shook the building in which he stood, and obliged him to remain +silent for several moments after the delivery of each sentence; but when +the uproar began to subside, the ringing tones of O'Brien rose again +upon the air, and with the stoicism of a martyr, and the imperturable +courage of a hero, he proceeded. "Irish Freedom," he said, "must be won +by Irish courage. Every statesman in the civilized globe looks upon +Ireland as you look upon Poland, and upon your connection as entirely +analogous to that of Russia with Poland. I am here to-night to tell you, +that if you refuse our claims to legislative independence, you will have +to encounter during the present year, the chance of a Republic in +Ireland." + +O'Brien returned to Ireland more endeared than ever to the hearts of +his countrymen. And now the game was fairly afoot. Government and people +viewed each other with steady and defiant glare, and girded up their +loins for the struggle. On the one side the Confederate clubs were +organized with earnestness and vigour, and the spirit of the people +awakened by a succession of stirring and glowing appeals. "What if we +fail?" asked the _Nation_; and it answered the question by declaring +unsuccessful resistance under the circumstances preferable to a +degrading submission. "What if we _don't_ fail?" was its next inquiry, +and the answer was well calculated to arouse the patriots of Ireland to +action. On the other hand the authorities were not idle. Arm's Bills, +Coercion Acts, and prosecutions followed each other in quick succession. +Mitchel was arrested, convicted, and sent to Bermuda. Duffy, Martin, +Meagher, Doheny, O'Doherty, and M'Gee were arrested--all of whom, except +Duffy and Martin, were shortly afterwards liberated. Duffy's trial was +fixed for August, and this was the time appointed by the Confederates +for the outbreak of the insurrection. There were some who advocated a +more prompt mode of action. At a meeting of the Confederates held on +July 19th, after the greater portion of the country had been proclaimed, +it was warmly debated whether an immediate appeal to arms should not be +counselled. O'Brien and Dillon advocated delay; the harvest had not yet +been reaped in; the clubs were not sufficiently organized throughout the +country, and the people might easily conceal their arms until the hour +arrived for striking a decisive blow. Against this policy a few of the +more impetuous members protested. "You will wait," exclaimed Joe +Brennan, "until you get arms from heaven, and angels to pull the +triggers." But his advice was disregarded; and the meeting broke up with +the understanding that with the first glance of the harvest sun, the +fires of insurrection were to blaze upon the hill tops of Ireland, and +that meanwhile organization and preparation were to engross +the attention of the leaders. On Friday, July 21st, a war +directory--consisting of Dillon, Reilly, O'Gorman, Meagher, and Father +Kenyon was appointed; and on the following morning O'Gorman started for +Limerick, Doheny for Cashel, and O'Brien for Wexford, to prepare the +people for the outbreak. + +It was war to the knife, and every one knew it. The forces of the +government in Ireland were hourly increased in Dublin--every available +and commanding position was occupied and fortified. "In the Bank of +Ireland," says one who watched the progress of affairs with attentive +gaze, "soldiers as well as cashiers were ready to settle up accounts. +The young artists of the Royal Hibernian Academy and Royal Dublin +Society had to quit their easels to make way for the garrison. The +squares of old Trinity College resounded with the tramp of daily +reviews; the Custom House at last received some occupation by being +turned into a camp. The Linen Hall, the Rotundo, Holmes' Hotel, +Alborough House, Dycer's Stables, in Stephen's-green--every institution, +literary, artistic, and commercial, was confiscated to powder and +pipe-clay. The barracks were provisioned as if for a siege; cavalry +horses were shod with plates of steel, to prevent their being injured +and thrown into disorder by broken bottles, iron spikes, or the like; +and the infantry were occupied in familiarizing themselves with the art +of fusilading footpaths and thoroughfares. Arms were taken from the +people, and the houses of loyal families stocked with the implements of +war." + +But the national leaders had calculated on the preparations of the +government; they knew the full measure of its military power, and were +not afraid to face it; but there was one blow which they had not +foreseen, and which came on them with the shock of a thunderbolt. On the +very morning that O'Brien left for Wexford, the news reached Dublin that +a warrant had been issued for his arrest, and that the suspension of the +_Habeas Corpus_ Act was resolved on by the government. "It appears +strangely unaccountable to me," was Meagher's reflection in after years, +"that whilst a consideration of our position, our project, and our +resources was taking place; whilst the stormy future on which we were +entering formed the subject of the most anxious conjecture, and the +danger of it fell like wintry shadows around us; it seems strangely +unaccountable to me that not an eye was turned to the facilities for the +counteraction of our designs which the government had at their disposal; +that not a word was uttered in anticipation of that bold astounding +measure--the suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act--the announcement of +which broke upon us so suddenly. The overlooking of it was a fatal +inadvertance. Owing to it we were routed without a struggle, and were +led into captivity without glory. We suffer not for a rebellion, but a +blunder." + +The few of the Confederate leaders at large in Dublin at the +time--Duffy, Martin, Williams, and O'Doherty were in Newgate--held a +hurried council, and their plans were speedily formed. They were to join +Smith O'Brien at once, and commence the insurrection in Kilkenny. On the +night of Saturday, July 22nd, M'Gee left for Scotland to prepare the +Irishmen of Glasgow for action; and Meagher, Dillon, Reilly, M'Manus, +O'Donoghue, and Leyne started southwards to place themselves in +communication with O'Brien. A week later the last of the national papers +was suppressed, and the _Nation_ went down, sword in hand as a warrior +might fall, with the words of defiance upon its lips, and a prayer for +the good old cause floating upwards with its latest breath. + +O'Brien was in bed, when Meagher and Dillon arrived at Balinkeele where +he was stopping. The news of the suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act, +and of the plans formed by the Confederates were speedily communicated +to him. O'Brien manifested no surprise at the intelligence. He quietly +remarked that the time for action had arrived; and that every Irishman +was now justified in taking up arms against the government; dressed +himself, and set out without losing an hour to inaugurate his hazardous +enterprise at Enniscorthy. As the train drove along, the three friends +occupied themselves with the important question where should they begin +the outbreak. Wexford was mentioned, but the number of Confederates +enrolled there were few, and the people were totally unprepared for a +sudden appeal to arms; New Ross and Waterford were ruled against, +because of the effectual assistance the gunboats stationed in the river +could render the garrison of those towns. Against Kilkenny none of those +objections applied; and the more they discussed the subject the more +convinced did they become that the most fitting cradle for the infant +genius of Irish liberty was the ancient "city of the Confederates." +"Perfectly safe from all war steamers, gunboats, and floating batteries; +standing on the frontiers of the three best fighting counties in +Ireland--Waterford, Wexford, and Tipperary--the peasantry of which could +find no difficulty in pouring to its relief; possessing from three to +five thousand Confederates, most of whom were understood to be armed; +the most of the streets being narrow, and presenting on this account the +greatest facilities for the erection of barricades; the barracks lying +outside the town, and the line of communication between the powerful +portions of the latter and the former being intercepted by the old +bridge over the Nore, which might be easily defended, or, at the most, +very speedily demolished; no place," says Meagher, "appeared to us to be +better adapted for the first scene of the revolution." + +Towards Kilkenny they therefore took their way, haranguing the people in +soul-stirring addresses as they proceeded. At Enniscorthy and at +Graigue-na-mana their appeals were responded to with fervent enthusiasm; +they called on the people to form themselves into organized bodies, and +prepare to co-operate with the insurgents who were shortly to unfurl +their banner beneath the shadow of St. Canice's; and the crowds who hung +on their words vowed their determination to do so. But in Kilkenny, as +in every town they visited, the patriot leaders found the greatest +disinclination to take the initiative in the holy war. There as +elsewhere the people felt no unwillingness to fight; but they knew they +were ill prepared for such an emergency, and fancied the first blow +might be struck more effectively elsewhere. "Who will draw the first +blood?" asked Finton Lalor in the last number of the _Felon_; and the +question was a pertinent one; there was a decided reluctance to draw it. +It is far from our intention to cast the slightest reflection on the +spirit or courage of the nationalists of 1848. We know that it was no +selfish regard for their own safety made the leaders in Wexford, +Kilkenny, and elsewhere, shrink from counselling an immediate outbreak +in their localities; the people, as well as the men who led them, looked +forward to the rising of the harvest moon, and the cutting of their +crops, as the precursors of the herald that was to summon them to aims. +Their state of organization was lamentably deficient; anticipating a +month of quiet preparation, they had neglected to procure arms up to the +date of O'Brien's arrival, and a few weeks would at least be required to +complete their arrangements. In Kilkenny, for instance, not one in every +eight of the clubmen possessed a musket, and even their supply of pikes +was miserably small. But they were ready to do all that in them lay; and +when O'Brien, Dillon, and Meagher quitted Kilkenny on Monday, July 24th, +they went in pursuance of an arrangement which was to bring them back to +the city of the Nore before the lapse of a week. They were to drive into +Tipperary, visit Carrick, Clonmel, and Cashel, and summon the people of +those towns to arms. Then, after the lapse of a few days, they were to +return at the head of their followers to Kilkenny, call out the clubs, +barricade the streets, and from the Council Chambers of the Corporation +issue the first Revolutionary Edict to the country. They hoped that a +week later the signal fires of insurrection would be blazing from every +hill-top in Ireland; and that the sunlight of freedom, for which so many +generations of patriots had yearned, would soon flood glebe and town, +the heather-clad mountains, and pleasant vales of Innisfail. _Diis +aliter visum_; the vision that glittered before their longing eyes +melted away with the smoke of the first insurgent shot; and instead of +the laurel of the conqueror they were decked with the martyr's palm. + +On arriving in Callan the travellers were received with every +demonstration of sympathy and welcome. The streets were blocked with +masses of men that congregated to listen to their words. A large +procession, headed by the temperance band, escorted them through the +town, and a bonfire was lit in the centre of the main street. They told +the people to provide themselves at once with arms, as in a few days +they would be asked to march with the insurgent forces on Kilkenny--an +announcement that was received with deafening applause. After a few +hours' delay the three compatriots quitted Callan, and pursued their +road to Carrick-on-Suir, where they arrived on the some evening and +received a most enthusiastic reception. They addressed the excited +multitude in impassioned words, promised to lead them to battle before +many days, and called on them to practice patience and prudence in the +interval. On the following day they quitted Carrick, and took their way +to Mullinahone, where the people gathered in thousands to receive them. +The number of men who assembled to meet them was between three and four +thousand, of whom about three hundred were armed with guns, pistols, old +swords, and pitchforks. The gathering was reviewed and drilled by the +Confederates; and O'Brien, who wore a plaid scarf across his shoulders, +and carried a pistol in his breast pocket, told them that Ireland would +have a government of her own before many weeks. + +On the evening of Tuesday, July 25th, the Confederate leaders arrived in +Mullinahone, where they slept. On the following morning they addressed +the people, who flocked into the town on hearing of their arrival. And +here it was that O'Brien himself dealt the death blow of the movement. +The peasantry, who came from their distant homes to meet him, were left +the whole day long without food or shelter. O'Brien himself gave what +money he had to buy them bread; but he told them in future they should +provide for themselves, as he could allow no one's property to be +interfered with. Hungry and exhausted, the men who listened to him +returned at night to their homes; they were sensible enough to perceive +that insurrection within the lines laid down by their leaders was +impossible; the news that they were expected to fight on empty stomachs +was spread amongst the people, and from that day forward the number of +O'Brien's followers dwindled away. + +On July 26th, O'Brien and his party first visited the village of +Ballingarry, where he was joined by M'Manus, Doheny, Devin Reilly, and +other prominent members of the Confederation. They took a survey of the +village and its neighbourhood; addressed the crowd from the piers of the +chapel gate, and slept in the house of one of the village shopkeepers. +Next day they returned to Mullinahone and thence to Killenaule, where +they were received with every demonstration of welcome and rejoicing. +Bouquets fell in showers upon O'Brien; addresses were read, and the +fullest and warmest co-operation was freely promised by the excited +crowds that congregated in the streets. + +The exact position which the Confederates had now assumed towards the +Crown and government, is deserving of a moment's attention. Up to the +last they carefully distinguished between resisting the acts of the +government and disputing the sovereignty of the queen. They regarded the +suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act as unconstitutional in itself; and +when O'Brien told her Majesty's Ministers in the House of Commons, that +it was they who were the traitors to the country, the Queen, and the +Constitution, he did but express the opinions that underlay the whole +policy of the Confederation. Even the passing of the _Habeas Corpus_ +Suspension Act was not quite sufficient to exhaust their patience; in +order to fill the measure of the government's transgressions and justify +a resort to arms against them, it was necessary in the opinion of +O'Brien and his associates, that the authorities should attempt to carry +into operation the iniquitious law they had passed; the arrest of +O'Brien was to be the signal for insurrection; meanwhile, they were +satisfied with organizing their forces for the fray, and preparing for +offering an effective resistance to the execution of the warrant, +whenever it should make its appearance. It was therefore that when at +Killenaule, a small party of dragoons rode up to the town they were +suffered to proceed unmolested; at the first notice of their coming, the +people rushed to the streets and hastily threw up a barricade to +intercept them. Dillon commanded at the barricade; beside him stood +Patrick O'Donoghue, and a young man whose career as a revolutionist, was +destined to extend far beyond the scenes in which he was then sharing; +and whose name was one day to become first a terror to the government of +England, and afterwards a by-word and a reproach amongst his countrymen. +O'Donoghue and Stephens were both armed, and when the officer commanding +the dragoons rode up to the barricade and demanded a passage, Stephens +promptly covered him with his rifle, when his attention was arrested by +a command from Dillon to ground his arms. The officer pledged his honour +that he did not come with the object of arresting O'Brien; the barricade +was taken down; and the dragoons passed scatheless through the town. +Another opportunity had been lost, and the hearts of the most resolute +of O'Brien's colleagues sunk lower than ever. + +On Friday, O'Brien and his followers returned to Ballingarry, where they +held a council on the prospects of the movement. It was clear that the +case was a desperate one, that the chance of successful resistance was +inevitably lost, and that nothing now awaited them--should they persist +in their enterprise--but ruin and death. Only a couple of hundred men, +wretchedly armed or not armed at all, adhered to their failing fortunes; +and throughout the rest of the country the disaffected gave no sign. But +O'Brien was unmovable; he would do his duty by his country, let the +country answer for its duty towards him. + +The collision came at last. On Saturday morning, July 29th, the +constabulary of Thurles, Kilkenny, Cashel, and Callan received orders to +march on the village of Ballingarry, for the purpose of arresting Smith +O'Brien. On the previous day the government had issued a proclamation, +declaring him guilty of treasonable practices, by appearing in arms +against the Queen, and offering a reward of £500 for his apprehension; +on the same day, £300 was offered for the arrest of Meagher, Dillon, +and Doheny. Fired with the ambition of capturing the rebel party with +his own forces, and winning for himself a deathless fame, Sub-Inspector +Trant marched out in hot haste from Callan, at the head of forty-six +policemen, and directed his steps towards Ballingarry, where it was +known to him that O'Brien was still stopping. Between twelve and one +o'clock they arrived at Farrenrory, within three miles of the village of +Ballingary. On arriving at this point the police found that effective +measures had been adopted to dispute their further progress. Across the +road before them a barricade had been thrown up, and behind it was +arrayed a body of men, numbering from three to four hundred. Fearing to +face the insurgent forces, the police turned off to the right, and +rushed towards a slate house which they saw in the distance. The people +saw the object of the movement, and at once gave chase; but the police +had the advantage of a long start, and they succeeded in reaching the +house and barring the door by which they entered, before their pursuers +came up. + +The die was cast, and the struggle so long watched for, and sighed for, +had come at last. But it came not as it had been depicted by the tribune +and poet; the vision that had flashed its radiancy before the eager eyes +that hungered for the redemption of Ireland, differed sadly from the +miserable reality. The serried ranks of glittering steel, the files of +gallant pikemen, the armed columns of stalwart peasants, pouring through +gap and river course, the glimmering camp fires quivering through the +mist, the waving banners, and the flashing swords--where were they now? +Where were the thousands of matchless mould, the men of strength and +spirit, whose footfalls woke the echoes one month before in a hundred +towns as they marched to the meetings at which they swore to strike down +the oppressor? Only a few months had passed since two thousand +determined men had passed in review before O'Brien at Cork; scarcely six +weeks since, similar sights were witnessed from the city of the Shannon +to the winding reaches of the Boyne. Everywhere there were strength, +and numbers, and resolution; where were they now in the supreme hour of +the country's agony? A thousand times it had been sworn by tens of +thousands of Irishmen, that the tocsin of battle would find them +clustered round the good old flag to conquer or die beneath its shadow. +And now, the hour had come, the flag of insurrection so often invoked +was raised; but the patriot that raised it was left defenceless: _he_ at +least kept his word, but the promises on which he relied had broken like +dissolving ice beneath his feet. + +Around O'Brien there clustered on that miserable noontide, about four +hundred human beings--a weak, hungry, and emaciated looking throng for +the most part; their half naked forms, browned by the sun, and hardened +by the winter winds--a motley gathering; amongst whom there were scores +of fasting men, and hundreds through whose wretched dwellings the, wind +and rain found free ingress. They were poor, they were weak, they were +ignorant, they were unarmed! but there was one, thing at least which +they possessed--that quality which Heaven bestowed on the Irish race, to +gild and redeem their misfortunes. Of courage and resolution they had +plenty: they understood little of the causes which led to the outbreak +in which they participated; of Smith O'Brien or his associates few of +them had heard up to their appearance at Ballingarry; but they knew that +it was against the forces of the British government and on behalf of +Ireland's independence they were called on to fight, and in this cause +they were ready to shed their blood. Such was the party whom O'Brien +gazed upon with a troubled mind on that eventful day. Even the attached +companions who had so far attended him were no longer by his side; +M'Manus, O'Donoghue, and Stephens were still there; but Meagher, Dillon, +Doheny and O'Gorman had left at break of day to raise the standard of +insurrection in other quarters. Of the men around him not more than +twenty possessed firearms, about twice that number were armed with pikes +and pitchforks; the remainder had but their naked hands and the stones +they could gather by the wayside. + +On the other side were forty-seven disciplined men splendidly armed, +and ensconced moreover in a building possessing for the purpose of the +hour the strength of a fortress. It stood on the brow of a hill +overlooking the country in every direction; it consisted of two storeys +with four windows in each, in front and rere; each gable being also +pierced by a pair of windows. There were six little children in the +house when the police entered it. Their mother, the Widow M'Cormick +arrived on the spot immediately after the police had taken possession of +her domicile, and addressing O'Brien she besought him to save her little +ones from danger. On O'Brien's chivalrous nature the appeal was not +wasted. Heedless of the danger to which he exposed himself he walked up +to the window of the house. Standing at the open window with his breast +within an inch of the bayonets of the two policemen who were on the +inside, he called on them to give up their arms, and avoid a useless +effusion of blood. "We are all Irishmen, boys" he said, "I only want +your arms and I'll protect your lives." The reply was a murderous volley +poured on the gathering outside. Some half drunken person in the crowd +it appears had flung a stone at one of the windows, and the police +needed no further provocation. The fire was returned by the insurgents, +and O'Brien seeing that his efforts to preserve peace were futile, +quitted the window and rejoined his companions. For nearly two hours the +firing continued; the police well sheltered from the possibility of +injury fired in all about 220 rounds, killing two men and wounding a +number of others, amongst them James Stephens who was shot in the thigh. +Long before an equal number of shots were fired from without, the +ammunition of the insurgents was exhausted, and they could only reply to +the thick falling bullets with the stones which the women present +gathered for them in their aprons. It was clear that the house could not +be stormed in this way; and M'Manus, with half-a-dozen resolute +companions, rolled a cartload of hay up to the kitchen door with the +intention of setting fire to it and burning down the house. But O'Brien +would not permit it; there were children in the house, and their +innocent lives should not be sacrificed. In vain did M'Manus entreat him +for permission to fire his pistol into the hay and kindle the ready +flames, O'Brien was inexorable; and the first and last battle of the +insurrection was lost and won. The Rev. Mr. Fitzgerald, the priest of +the parish, and his curate, Father Maher now appeared on the spot, and +naturally used their influence to terminate the hopeless struggle, a +large force of constabulary from Cashel soon after were seen +approaching, and the people, who now saw the absolute uselessness of +further resistance broke away to the hills. The game was up; the banner +of Irish independence had again sunk to the dust; and O'Brien, who had +acted throughout with preternatural coolness, and whose face gave no +more indications of emotion than if it had been chiseled in marble, +turned from the scene with a broken heart. For a length of time he +resisted the entreaties of his friends and refused to leave the spot; at +last their solicitations prevailed, and mounting a horse taken from one +of the police he rode away. + +From that fatal day down to the night of Saturday, August 5th, the +police sought vainly for O'Brien. He slept in the peasant's hut on the +mountain and he shared his scanty fare; a price which might well dazzle +the senses of his poverty-stricken entertainers was on his head, and +they knew it; over hill-side and valley swarmed the host of spies, +detectives, and policemen placed on his track; but no hand was raised to +clutch the tempting bribe, no voice whispered the information for which +the government preferred its gold. Amongst those too who took part in +the affray at Ballingarry, and who subsequently were cast in shoals into +prison, there were many from whom the government sought to extract +information. Bribes and promises of pardon were held up before their +eyes, menaces were freely resorted to, but amongst them the government +sought vainly for an informer. Many, of them died in captivity or in +exile; their homes were broken up; their wives and children left +destitute and friendless; but the words that would give them liberty +and wealth, and terminate the sufferings of themselves and their +families were never spoken. Had O'Brien chosen to escape from the +country like Doheny, O'Gorman, Dillon and other of his friends, it is +probable he might have done so. He resolved however on facing the +consequence of his acts and sharing the fate of the Irish rebel to the +bitter end. + +The rain fell cold and drearily in the deserted streets of Thurles on +the night which saw the arrest of William Smith O'Brien. Away over the +shadowy mountains in the distance, the swimming vapours cast their +shroud, wrapping in their chilling folds the homes of the +hunger-stricken prostrate race that sat by their fireless hearths. The +autumn gale swept over the desolate land as if moaning at the ruin and +misery that cursed it, and wailing the dirge of the high hopes and +ardent purposes that a few short weeks before had gladdened the hearts +of its people. Calmly and deliberately with folded arms O'Brien walked +through the streets, and entered the Thurles Railway Station. He wore a +black hat, a blue boat cloak, in which he was rather tightly muffled, +and a light plaid trousers; in his hand he carried a large black stick. +He walked to the ticket office and paid his fare to Limerick; then +wrapping himself up in his cloak and folding his arms, again he walked +slowly along the platform awaiting the arrival of the train. He had +resolved on surrendering himself for trial, but he wished to pay one +last visit to his home and family. That gratification however was denied +him, he was recognised by an Englishman named Hulme, a railway guard; in +an instant he was surrounded by police and detectives, and torn of with +brutal violence to gaol. That same night an express train flashed +northwards through the fog and mist bearing O'Brien a prisoner to +Dublin. In the carriage in which he was placed sat General M'Donald, a +Sub-Inspector of Constabulary and four policemen. On entering the train +a pistol was placed at O'Brien's head, and he was commanded not to speak +on peril of his life. Disregarding the injunction, he turned to M'Donald +and asked him why he was so scandalously used. The General "had a duty +to perform," and "his orders should be obeyed." "I have played the game +and lost," said O'Brien, "and I am ready to pay the penalty of having +failed; I hope that those who accompanied me may be dealt with in +clemency; I care not what happens to myself." + +On Thursday, September 28th, he was arraigned before a Special +Commission on a charge of high treason at Clonmel. The trial lasted ten +days, and ended in a verdict of guilty. It excited unprecedented +interest throughout the country, and there are many of its incidents +deserving of permanent record. Amongst the witnesses brought forward by +the crown was John O'Donnell, a comfortable farmer, who resided near +Ballingarry. "I won't be sworn," he said on coming on the table, "or +give evidence under any circumstances. You may bring me out and put a +file of soldiers before me, and plant twenty bullets in my breast, but +while I have a heart there I will never swear for you." He expiated his +patriotism by a long imprisonment. Nor was this a solitary instance of +heroism; Richard Shea, a fine looking young peasant, on being handed the +book declared that "he would not swear against such a gentleman," and he +too was carried off to pass years within a British dungeon. But their +sacrifices were unavailing; of evidence there was plenty against +O'Brien; the police were overflowing with it, and the eloquence and +ability of Whiteside were powerless to save him from a verdict of +guilty. + +The papers of the time are full of remarks on the firmness and +self-possession displayed by O'Brien throughout the trial. Even the +announcement of the verdict failed to disturb his composure, and when +the usual question was asked he replied with calmness and deliberation: + + "My lords, it is not my intention to enter into any vindication of my + conduct, however much I might have desired to avail myself of this + opportunity of so doing. I am perfectly satisfied with the + consciousness that I have performed my duty to my country--that I + have done only that which, in my opinion, it was the duty of every + Irishman to have done; and I am now prepared to abide the + consequences of having performed my duty to my native land. Proceed + with your sentence." + +A deep murmur, followed by a burst of applause filled the court as the +noble patriot ceased speaking. Stepping back a pace, and folding his +arms on his breast, O'Brien looked fixedly at the judge, and awaited the +sentence of the court. Amidst the deepest sensation, Chief Justice +Blackburne proceeded to discharge his task. O'Brien was sentenced to be +hanged, beheaded, and quartered. "During the delivery of the sentence," +says a writer of the period, "the most profound agitation pervaded in +the court; as it drew towards the close, the excitement became more +marked and intense; but when the last barbarous provisions of the +sentence were pronounced, the public feeling could only manifest itself +by stifled sobs and broken murmurs of sympathy for the heroic man, who, +alone, was unmoved during this awful scene, whose lips alone did not +quiver, whose hand alone did not tremble, but whose heart beat with the +calm pulsation of conscious guiltlessness and unsullied honour." + +Nine months later (July 29th, 1849), the brig "Swift" sailed from +Kingstown harbour, bearing O'Brien, Meagher, M'Manus, and O'Donoghue +into exile. In the month of November the vessel reached Hobart Town, +where "tickets of leave" were offered to those gentlemen on condition of +their residing each one within a certain district marked out for him, +and giving their parole to make no attempt at escape while in possession +of the ticket. Messrs. Meagher, M'Manus, and O'Donoghue accepted these +terms; Mr. O'Brien refused them, and was consequently sent to an island +off the coast called Maria Island, where he was placed in strict custody +and treated with great severity. The news of the indignities and the +sufferings to which he was subjected, outraged the feelings of the Irish +people in the neighbouring country, and ere long his sympathisers in +Tasmania laid a plan for his escape. They hired a vessel to lie off the +coast on a particular day, and send a boat on shore to take off the +prisoner, who had been informed of the plot, and had arranged to be in +waiting for his deliverers. This design would unquestionably have +succeeded but for the treachery of the captain of the ship, who, before +sailing to the appointed spot, had given the government information of +the intended escape and the manner of it. What occurred on the arrival +of the vessel we shall relate in the words of Mr. Mitchel, who tells the +story in his "Jail Journal" as he heard it from Mr. O'Brien himself: + +"At last as he wandered on the shore and had almost given up all hope of +the schooner, the schooner hove in sight. To give time for her approach +he walked into the woods for a space, that he might not alarm his +guardian constable by his attention to her movements. Again he sauntered +down towards the point with apparent carelessness, but with a beating +heart. San Francisco was to be his first destination; and beyond that +golden gate lay the great world, and home, and children, and an +honourable life. The boat was coming, manned by three men; and he +stepped proudly and resolutely to meet them on the shore. To be sure +there was, somewhere behind him, one miserable constable with his +miserable musket, but he had no doubt of being able to dispose of that +difficulty with the aid of his allies, the boatmen. The boat could not +get quite close to the beach, because they had to run her into a kind of +cove where the water was calm and unencumbered with large tangled weeds. +O'Brien, when he reached the beach, plunged into the water to prevent +delay, and struggled through the thick matted seaweed to the boat. The +water was deeper than he expected, and when he came to the boat he +needed the aid of the boatmen to climb over the gunwale. Instead of +giving him this aid the rascals allowed him to flounder there, and kept +looking to the shore, where the constable had by this time appeared with +his musket. The moment he showed himself, the three boatmen cried out +together, 'We surrender!' and invited him on board; where he instantly +took up a hatchet--no doubt provided by the ship for that purpose, and +stove the boat. O'Brien saw he was betrayed, and on being ordered to +move along with the constable and boatmen towards the station, he +refused to stir--hoping, in fact, by his resistance, to provoke the +constable to shoot him. However, the three boatmen seized on him, and +lifted him up from the ground, and carried him wherever the constable +ordered. His custody was thereafter made more rigorous, and he was +shortly after removed from Maria Island to Port Arthur station." + +To this brief narrative the following "note" is appended in the work +from which we have just quoted:-- + +"Ellis, the captain of the schooner, was some months after seized at San +Francisco by Mr. M'Manus and others, brought by night out of his ship, +and carried into the country to undergo his trial under a tree, +whereupon, if found guilty, he was destined to swing. M'Manus set out +his indictment; and it proves how much Judge Lynch's method of +administering justice in those early days of California excelled +anything we know of law or justice in Ireland--that Ellis, for want of +sufficient and satisfactory evidence then producible, was acquitted by +that midnight court, under that convenient and tempting tree." + +Port Arthur station, to which Mr. O'Brien was removed from Maria Island, +was a place of punishment for convicts who, while serving out their +terms of transportation, had committed fresh offences against the law. +After a detention there for some time, Mr. O'Brien, whose health was +rapidly sinking under the rigours of his confinement, was induced, by +letters, from his political friends to accept the ticket-of-leave and +avail of the comparative liberty which they enjoyed. The government, on +his acceptance of their terms, placed him first in the district of New +Norfolk, and subsequently in that of Avoca, where he remained until the +conditional pardon, already mentioned in these columns, was granted in +1854. He then left Australia, went on to Madras, where he made a stay of +about a month; from thence he went to Paris and on to Brussels, where he +was joined by his wife and children. He next made a tour in Greece, and +was in that country when the unconditional pardon, which permitted him +to return to his native land, was granted in the month of May, 1856, +immediately after the close of the Crimean war. On Tuesday, July 8th, +1856, Mr. O'Brien stood once more upon his native soil after an exile of +eight years. The news of his arrival was joyfully received by his +fellow-countrymen, who welcomed him with every mark of respect and +affection whenever he appeared among them. Thence-forward Mr. O'Brien +took no active part in Irish politics, but he frequently offered advice +and suggestions to his countrymen through the medium of letters and +addresses in the _Nation_. In February, 1859, Mr. O'Brien made a voyage +to America, and during the ensuing months travelled through a great +portion of that country. After his return to Ireland he delivered, in +November, 1859, an interesting series of lectures on his tour, in the. +Mechanics' Institute, Dublin. On July 1st, 1863, he lectured in the +Rotundo, Dublin, for the benefit of a fund which was being raised for +the relief of the wounded and destitute patriots of the Polish +insurrection. In the early part of the year, 1864, the health of the +illustrious patriot began rapidly to fail, and he was taken by his +friends to England for a change of air. But the weight of many years of +care and suffering was on him, and its effects could not be undone. On +the 16th of June, 1864. at Bangor, the noble-hearted patriot breathed +his last. His family had the honoured remains brought to Ireland for +interment in the old burial-ground of his fathers. On Thursday morning +at an early hour they reached Dublin on board the "Cambria" steamer. It +was known that his family wished that no public demonstration should be +made at his funeral, but the feelings of the citizens who desired to pay +a tribute of respect to his memory could not be repressed. In the grey +hours of the morning the people in thousands assembled on the quays to +await the arrival of the remains, and two steamers, which had been +chartered for the purpose, proceeded, with large numbers on board, some +distance into the harbour to meet the approaching vessel. All along the +way, from the North Wall to the Kings-bridge railway station, the hearse +bearing the patriot's body was accompanied by the procession of +mourners, numbering about 15,000 men. At various stages of the journey +similar scenes were witnessed. But the end was soon reached. In the +churchyard of Rathronan, Co. Limerick, they laid him to rest. The green +grass grows freshly around the vault in which he sleeps, and has long +filled up the foot-prints of the multitude who broke the silence of that +lonely spot by their sobs on the day he was buried; the winter gales +will come and go, and touched by the breath of spring, the wild flowers +will blossom there through succeeding years; but never again will a +purer spirit, a nobler mind, a patriot more brave, more chivalrous, or +more true, give his heart to the cause of Ireland, than the +silvered-haired, care-burthened gentleman whom they bore from Cahirmoyle +to his grave on the 24th day of June, 1864. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER. + + +Early in 1846, when the Repeal Association was still powerful and great, +and ere yet the country had ceased to throb to the magic of O'Connell's +voice, there rose one day from amongst those who crowded the platform of +Conciliation Hall, a well-featured, gracefully-built, dark-eyed young +gentleman, towards whom the faces of the assembly turned in curiosity, +and whose accents when he spoke, were those of a stranger to the +audience. Few of them had heard of his name; not one of them--if the +chairman, William Smith O'Brien be excepted--had the faintest idea of +the talents and capacities he possessed, and which were one day to +enrapture and electrify his countrymen. He addressed the meeting on one +of the passing topics of the day; something in his manner savouring of +affectation, something in the semi-Saxon lisp that struggled through his +low-toned utterances, something in the total lack of suitable gesture, +gave his listeners at the outset an unfavourable impression of the young +speaker. He was boyish, and some did not scruple to hint conceited; he +had too much of the fine gentleman about his appearance, and too little +of the native brogue and stirring declamation to which his listeners +had been accustomed. The new man is a failure, was the first idea that +suggested itself to the audience: but he was not; and when he resumed +his seat he had conquered all prejudices, and wrung the cheers of +admiration from the meeting. Warming with his subject, and casting off +the restraints that hampered his utterances at first, he poured forth a +strain of genuine eloquence, vivified by the happiest allusions, and +enriched by imagery and quotations as beautiful as they were +appropriate, which startled the meeting from its indifference, and won +for the young speaker the enthusiastic applause of his audience. O'Brien +complimented him warmly on his success, and thus it was that the orator +of Young Ireland made his debut on the political platform. + +Meagher was not quite twenty-three years of age when his voice was first +heard in Conciliation Hall. He was born in Waterford of an old Catholic +family, which through good and ill had adhered to the national faith and +the national cause; his school-boy days were passed partly at +Clongowes-wood College, and partly under the superintendence of the +Jesuit Fathers at Stoneyhurst in Lancashire. His early years gave few +indications of the splendid wealth of genius that slumbered within his +breast. He took little interest in his classical or mathematical +studies; but he was an ardent student of English literature, and his +compositions in poetry and prose invariably carried away the prize. He +found his father filling the Civic Chair in Waterford, when he returned +from Stoneyhurst to his native city. O'Connell was in the plenitude of +his power; and from end to end of the land, the people were shaken by +mighty thoughts and grand aspirations; with buoyant and unfaltering +tread the nation seemed advancing towards the goal of Freedom, and the +manhood of Ireland seemed kindling at the flame which glowed before the +altar of Liberty. Into the national movement young Meagher threw himself +with the warmth and enthusiasm of his nature. At the early age of twenty +we find him presiding over a meeting of Repealers in his native city, +called to express sympathy with the State Prisoners of '43, and he +thence-forward became a diligent student of contemporary politics. He +became known as an occasional speaker at local gatherings; but it was +not until the event we have described that Meagher was fairly launched +in the troubled tide of politics, and that his lot was cast for good or +evil, with the leaders of the national party. + +Up to the date of secession Meagher was a frequent speaker at the +meetings of the Repeal Association. Day by day his reputation as a +speaker extended, until at length he grew to be recognised as the orator +of the party, and the knowledge that he was expected to speak was +sufficient to crowd Conciliation Hall to overflowing. When the influence +of the _Nation_ party began to be felt, and signs of disunion appeared +on the horizon, O'Connell made a vigorous effort to detach Meagher from +the side of Mitchel, Duffy, and O'Brien. "These young Irelanders," he +said, "will lead you into danger." "They may lead me into danger," +replied Meagher, "but certainly not into dishonour." + +Against the trafficking with the Whigs, which subsequently laid the +Repeal Association in the dust, and shipwrecked a movement which might +have ended in the disinthralment of Ireland, Meagher protested in words +of prophetic warning. "The suspicion is abroad," he said, "that the +national cause will be sacrificed to Whig supremacy, and that the +people, who are now striding on to freedom, will be purchased back into +factious vassalage. The Whigs calculate upon your apostacy, the +Conservatives predict it." The place beggars, who looked to the Whigs +for position and wealth, murmured as they heard their treachery laid +bare and their designs dissected in the impassioned appeals by which +Meagher sought to recall them to the path of patriotism and duty. It was +necessary for their ends that the bold denouncer of corruption, and the +men who acted with him, should be driven from the association; and to +effect that object O'Connell was hounded on to the step which ended in +the secession. The "peace resolutions" were introduced, and Meagher +found himself called on to subscribe to a doctrine which his soul +abhorred--that the use of arms was at all times unjustifiable and +immoral. The Lord Mayor was in the chair, and O'Brien, John O'Connell. +Denis Reilly, Tom Steele, and John Mitchel had spoken, when Meagher rose +to address the assembly. The speech he delivered on that occasion, for +brilliancy and lyrical grandeur has never been surpassed. It won for him +a reception far transcending that of Shiel or O'Connell as an orator; +and it gave to him the title by which he was afterwards so often +referred to--"Meagher of the Sword." He commenced by expressing his +sense of gratitude, and his attachment to O'Connell, "My lord," he +said:-- + + "I am not ungrateful to the man who struck the fetters off my limbs + while I was yet a child, and by whose influence my father, the first + Catholic that did so for two hundred years, sat for the last two + years in the civic chair of my native city. But, my lord," he + continued, "the same God who gave to that great man the power to + strike down one odious ascendency in this country, and who enabled + him to institute in this land the laws of religious equality--the + same God gave to me a mind that is my own, a mind that has not been + mortgaged to the opinion of any man or set of men, a mind that I was + to use and not surrender." + +Having thus vindicated freedom of opinion, the speaker went on to +disclaim for himself the opinion that the Association ought to deviate +from the strict path of legality. But he refused to accept the +resolutions; because he said "there are times when arms alone will +suffice, and when political ameliorations call for 'a drop of blood,' +and for many thousand drops of blood." Then breaking forth into a strain +of impassioned and dazzling oratory he proceeded:-- + + "The soldier is proof against an argument--but he is not proof + against a bullet. The man that will listen to reason--let him be + reasoned with. But it is the weaponed arm of the patriot that can + alone prevail against battalioned despotism. + + "Then, my lord, I do not condemn the use of arms as immoral, nor do I + conceive it profane to say that the King of Heaven--the Lord of + Hosts! the God of Battles!--bestows his benediction upon those who + unsheath the sword in the hour of a nation's peril. From that evening + on which, in the valley of Bethulia, he nerved the arm of the Jewish + girl to smite the drunken tyrant in his tent, down to this our day, + in which he has blessed the insurgent chivalry of the Belgian priest, + His Almighty hand hath ever been stretched forth from His throne of + Light to consecrate the flag of freedom--to bless the patriot's + sword! Be it in the defence, or be it in the assertion of a people's + liberty, I hail the sword as a sacred weapon; and if, my lord, it had + sometimes taken the shape of the serpent, and reddened the shroud of + the oppressor with too deep a dye, like the anointed rod of the High + Priest, it has at other times, and as often, blossomed into celestial + flowers to deck the freeman's brow. + + "Abhor the sword--stigmatize the sword? No, my lord, for in the + passes of the Tyrol it cut to pieces the banner of the Bavarian, and, + through those cragged passes, struck a path to fame for the peasant + insurrectionists of Inspruck! Abhor the sword--stigmatize the sword? + No, my lord, for at its blow a giant nation started from the waters + of the Atlantic, and by its redeeming magic, and in the quivering of + its crimsoned light the crippled colony sprang into the attitude of a + proud Republic--prosperous, limitless, and invincible! Abhor the + sword--stigmatize the sword? No, my lord, for it swept the Dutch + marauders out of the fine old towns of Belgium--scourged them back to + their own phlegmatic swamps--and knocked their flag and sceptre, + their laws and bayonets, into the sluggish waters of the Scheldt. + + "My lord, I learned that it was the right of a nation to govern + itself, not in this hall, but on the ramparts of Antwerp; I learned + the first article of a nation's creed upon those ramparts, where + freedom was justly estimated, and where the possession of the + precious gift was purchased by the effusion of generous blood. My + lord, I honor the Belgians for their courage and their daring, and I + will not stigmatize the means by which they obtained a citizen-king, + a chamber of Deputies." + +It was all he was permitted to say. With flushed face and excited +gesture John O'Connell rose, and declared he could not sit and listen to +the expression of such sentiments. Either Mr. Meagher or he should leave +the Association; O'Brien interceded to obtain a hearing for his young +friend, and protested against Mr. O'Connell's attempts to silence him. +But the appeal was wasted, O'Brien left the hall in disgust, and with +him Meagher, Duffy, Reilly, and Mitchel quitted it for ever. + +Meagher's subsequent career in Ireland is soon told. He was a regular +attendant at the meetings of the Confederation, of which he was one of +the founders, and the fame of his eloquence, his manly appearance, and +the charms of his youthful frankness contributed immensely towards the +growth of the new organization. He always acted with O'Brien, whom he +loved in his inmost soul, but he was respected and admired by every +section of nationalists, the Mitchelites, the Duffyites, and we might +even say the O'Connellites. When the country began to feel the influence +of the whirlwind of revolution which swept over the continent, +overturning thrones and wrecking constitutions as if they were built of +cardboard, Meagher shared the wild impulse of the hour, and played +boldly for insurrection and separation. He was one of the three +gentlemen appointed to present the address from Ireland to the French +Republican government in 1848; and in the speech delivered by him at the +crowded meeting in the Dublin Music Hall before his departure, he +counselled his countrymen to send a deputation to the Queen, asking her +to convene the Irish parliament in the Irish capital. "If the claim be +rejected," said Meagher, "if the throne stand as a barrier between the +Irish people and the supreme right--then loyalty will be a crime, and +obedience to the executive will be treason to the country. Depute your +worthiest citizens to approach the throne, and before that throne let +the will of the Irish people be uttered with dignity and decision. If +nothing comes of this," he added, "if the constitution opens to us no +path to freedom, if the Union be maintained in spite of, the will of the +Irish people, if the government of Ireland insist on being a government +of dragoons and bombadiers, of detectives and light infantry, then," he +exclaimed in the midst of tumultuous cheering, "up with the barricades, +and invoke the God of Battles!" + +While the Republican spirit was in full glow in Ireland, Meagher +astonished his friends by rushing down to Waterford and offering himself +as a candidate for the post left vacant in parliament by the resignation +of O'Connell. By this time the Confederates had begun to despair of a +parliamentary policy, and they marvelled much to see their young orator +rush to the hustings, and throw himself into the confusion and turmoil +of an election contest. _Que le diable allait il faire dans cette +galere_ muttered his Dublin friends. Was not the time for hustings +orations, and parliamentary agitation over now? Meagher, however, +conceived, and perhaps wisely, that he could still do some good for his +country in the House of Commons. He issued a noble address to the +electors of his native city, in which he asked for their support on the +most patriotic grounds. "I shall not meddle," he said, "with English +affairs. I shall take no part in the strife of parties--all factions are +alike to me. I shall go to the House of Commons to insist on the rights +of this country to be held, governed, and defended by its own citizens, +and by them alone. Whilst I live I shall never rest satisfied until the +kingdom of Ireland has won a parliament, an army, and a navy of her +own." Mitchel strongly disapproved of his conduct. "If Mr. Meagher were +in parliament," said the _United Irishman_, "men's eyes would be +attracted thither once more; some hope of 'justice' might again revive +in this too easily deluded people." The proper men to send to parliament +were according to Mitchel, "old placemen, pensioners, five pound +Conciliation Hall Repealers." "We have no wish to dictate," concluded +Mitchel in an article on the subject, full of the lurking satire and +quiet humour that leavened his writings, "but if the electors of +Waterford have any confidence in us, we shall only say that we are for +Costello!" + +"Costello" was defeated, however, but so was Meagher. The Young Ireland +champion was stigmatized as a Tory by the Whigs, and as a rebel by the +Tories; if _the people_, as Mitchel remarks had any power he would have +been elected by an overwhelming majority, but the people had no votes, +and Sir Henry Winston Barren was returned. Meagher went back to Dublin +almost a convert to Mitchel's views, leaving Whig, Tory, and West Briton +to exult over his discomfiture. + +We have already seen what Meagher did when the guage of battle was +thrown down, and when "the day all hearts to weigh" was imagined to have +arrived, we have seen how he accompanied O'Brien in his expedition from +Wexford to Kilkenny, and thence to Tipperary; and how on the morning of +July 29th, 1848, he left O'Brien at Ballingarry, little dreaming of the +tragedy which was to make that day memorable, and expecting to be able +to bring reinforcements to his leader from other quarters before the +crisis came. He failed however in his effort to spread the flames of +insurrection. The chilling news of O'Brien's defeat--distorted and +exaggerated by hostile tongues--was before him everywhere, and even the +most resolute of his sympathisers had sense enough to see that their +opportunity--if it existed at all--had passed away. On the 12th day of +August, 1848, Meagher was arrested on the road between Clonoulty and +Holycross, in Tipperary. He was walking along in company with Patrick +O'Donoghue and Maurice R. Leyne, two of his intimate friends and +fellow-outlaws, when a party of police passed them by. Neither of the +three was disguised, but Meagher and Leyne wore frieze overcoats, which +somewhat altered their usual appearance. After a short time the police +returned; Meagher and his companions gave their real names on being +interrogated, and they were at once arrested and taken in triumph to +Thurles. The three friends bore their ill fortune with what their +captors must have considered provoking nonchalance. Meagher smoked a +cigar on the way to the station, and the trio chatted as gaily as if +they were walking in safety on the free soil of America, instead of +being helpless prisoners on their way to captivity and exile. + +Meagher stood in the dock at Clonmel a week after O'Brien had quitted it +a convict. He was defended by Mr. Whiteside and Isaac Butt, whose +magnificent speech in his defence was perhaps the most brilliant display +of forensic eloquence ever heard Within the court in which he stood. Of +course the jury was packed (only 18 Catholics were named on a jury-panel +of 300), and of course the crown carried its point. On the close of the +sixth day of the trial, the jury returned into court with a verdict of +"guilty," recommending the prisoner to mercy on the ground of his youth. + +Two days later he was brought back to the dock to receive sentence. He +was dressed in his usual style, appeared in excellent health, and bore +himself--we are told--throughout the trying ordeal, with fortitude and +manly dignity. He spoke as follows:-- + + "My lords, it is my intention to say a few words only. I desire that + the last act of a proceeding which has occupied so much of the public + time, should be of short duration. Nor have I the indelicate wish to + close the dreary ceremony of a state prosecution with a vain display + of words. Did I fear that hereafter, when I shall be no more, the + country I tried to serve would speak ill of me, I might, indeed, + avail myself of this solemn moment to vindicate my sentiments and my + conduct. But I have no such fear. The country will judge of those + sentiments and that conduct in a light far different from that in + which the jury by whom I have been convicted have viewed them, and by + the country the sentence which you, my lords, are about to pronounce, + will be remembered only as the severe and solemn attestation of my + rectitude and truth. Whatever be the language in which that sentence + be spoken, I know that my fate will meet with sympathy, and that my + memory will be honoured. In speaking thus, accuse me not, my lords, + of an indecorus presumption in the efforts I have made in a just and + noble cause. I ascribe no main importance, nor do I claim for those + efforts any high reward. But it so happens, and it will ever happen + so, that they who have lived to serve their country--no matter how + weak their efforts may have been--are sure to receive the thanks and + blessings of its people. With my countrymen I leave my memory, my + sentiments, my acts, proudly feeling that they require no vindication + from me this day. A jury of my countrymen, it is true, have found me + guilty of the crime of which I stood indicted. For this I entertain + not the slightest feeling of resentment towards them. Influenced as + they must have been by the charge of the Lord Chief Justice, they + could perhaps have found no other verdict. What of that charge? Any + strong observations on it I feel sincerely would ill-befit the + solemnity of this scene; but I would earnestly beseech of you, my + lord--you who preside on that bench--when the passions and the + prejudices of this hour have passed away, to appeal to your own + conscience, and ask of it, was your charge what it ought to have + been, impartial and indifferent between the subject and the crown? My + lords, you may deem this language unbecoming in me, and perhaps it + may seal my fate; but I am here to speak the truth, whatever it may + cost--I am here to regret nothing I have ever done, to regret nothing + I have ever said--I am here to crave with no lying lip the life I + consecrate to the liberty of my country. Far from it. Even + here--here, where the thief, the libertine, the murderer, have left + their foot-prints in the dust--here, on this spot, where the shadows + of death surround me, and from which I see my early grave in an + unanointed soil open to receive me--even here, encircled by these + terrors, that hope which first beckoned me to the perilous sea on + which I have been wrecked, still consoles, animates, and enraptures + me. No; I do not despair of my poor old country--her peace, her + liberty, her glory. For that country I can do no more than bid her + hope. To lift this island up--to make her a benefactor to humanity, + instead of being, as she is now, the meanest beggar in the world--to + restore to her her native powers and her ancient constitution--this + has been my ambition, and this ambition has been my crime. Judged by + the law of England, I know this crime entails upon me the penalty of + death; but the history of Ireland explains that crime and justifies + it. Judged by that history, I am no criminal, you (addressing Mr. + M'Manus) are no criminal, you (addressing Mr. O'Donoghue) are no + criminal, and we deserve no punishment; judged by that history, the + treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt, has been + sanctified as a duty, and will be enobled as a sacrifice. With these + sentiments I await the sentence of the court. I have done what I felt + to be my duty. I have spoken now, as I did on every other occasion + during my short life, what I felt to be the truth. I now bid farewell + to the country of my birth--of my passions--of my death; a country + whose misfortunes have invoked my sympathies--whose factions I sought + to quell--whose intelligence I prompted to a lofty aim--whose freedom + has been my fatal dream. To that country I now offer as a pledge of + the love I bore her, and of the sincerity with which I thought and + spoke, and struggled for her freedom, the life of a young heart; and + with that life, the hopes, the honours, the endearments of a happy, a + prosperous, and honourable home. Proceed, then, my lords, with that + sentence which the law directs--I am prepared to hear it--I trust I + am prepared to meet its execution. I shall go, I think, with a light + heart before a higher tribunal--a tribunal where a Judge of infinite + goodness, as well as of infinite justice, will preside, and where, my + lords, many many of the judgments of this, world will be reversed." + +There is little more for us to add. Meagher arrived with O'Brien, +O'Donoghue, and M'Manus in Van Dieman's Land in October, 1849, and +escaped to America in 1852. He started the _Irish News_ in New York, +which he enriched by personal recollections of the stirring scenes in +which he participated; but his career as a journalist closed abruptly +with the outbreak of the war of Secession, when he raised a Zouave +Company to join Corcoran's 69th Regiment, with which he fought gallantly +at Bull's Run. Every one remembers how the gallantry of the Irish +regiment in which Meagher served, saved the Federal forces from +annihilation on that field of disaster. Subsequently he raised and +commanded the Irish Brigade, which won imperishable laurels throughout +the hard-fought campaigns that ended with the capture of Richmond. When +Mr. Johnson became President of the United States, he appointed Meagher +to the position of Governor of Montana Territory, in the far West, a +post which he held until his death. + +His end was sad and sudden. One dark wild night in July, 1867, a +gentleman suddenly disappeared from the deck of the steamer on which he +was standing, and fell into the great Missouri, where it winds its +course by the hills of Montana. The accident was too sudden for availing +assistance. A sudden slip, a splash, a faint cry, a brief struggle, and +all was over; the hungry waters closed over him, and the rapid rolling +current swept away his lifeless corpse. The finished scholar, the genial +friend, the matchless orator, the ardent patriot was no more. Thomas +Francis Meagher was dead. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +KEVIN IZOD O'DOHERTY. + + +Another bold, clever, and resolute opponent of British rule in Ireland +was torn from the ranks of the popular leaders on the day that Kevin +Izod O'Doherty was arrested. Amongst the cluster of talented and able +men who led the Young Ireland phalanx, he was distinguished for his +spirit and his mental accomplishments; amongst the organizers of the +party his ready words, manly address, and ceaseless activity gave him a +prominent position; amongst its journalists he was conspicuous for +fearlessness, frankness, and ability. Over the surging waves of the +excitement and agitation that convulsed the country during the period +which ended with the affray at Ballingarry, and through the haze which +time has cast over the attempted revolution of '48, his figure looms up +in bold proportions, suggestive of mental capacity, fortitude of soul, +and tenacity of purpose. For him, as for many of his brilliant +associates, the paths of patriotism led down to proscription and pain; +but O'Doherty fulminating the thunderbolts of the _Tribune,_ or sowing +the seeds of patriotism amongst the students of Dublin, was not one whit +more self-possessed or undaunted than when standing a convict in the +Greenstreet dock, he awaited the sentence of the court. + +Kevin Izod O'Doherty was born of respectable Catholic parents in Dublin, +in June, 1824. He received a liberal education, by which he profited +extensively, showing even in his school-days strong evidences of natural +ability, and talents, of more than average degree. He directed his +attention to the medical profession on completing his education, and was +in the full tide of lectures and hospital attendance when the +development of the national sentiment that pervaded the year '48 drew +him into the vortex of public life. He became a hard working and +enthusiastic member of the Young Ireland party, and was one of the +founders of the Students' and Polytechnic Clubs, which were regarded by +the leaders in Dublin as the _elite_ of the national force in the +capital. When Mitchel was struck down and his paper suppressed, +O'Doherty was one of those who resolved that the political guidance +which the _United Irishman_ was meant to afford, should not be wanting +to the people. In conjunction with Richard Dalton Williams--"Shamrock" +of the _Nation_--he established the _Irish Tribune_, the first number of +which saw the light on the 10th of June, 1848. There could be no mistake +about the objects of the _Tribune_, or the motives of its founders in +establishing it. The British government could ill afford to endure the +attacks on their exactions and usurpations thundered forth weekly in its +articles. Its career was cut short by the mailed hand of authority at +its fifth number, and on the 10th of July, '48, Kevin Izod O'Doherty was +an inmate of Newgate prison. + +[Illustration: CHARLES J. KICKHAM. JOHN O'LEARY. THOMAS CLARK LUBEY.] + +On the 10th of August he was placed at the bar of Green-street +court-house, and arraigned on a charge of treason-felony, and a vigorous +effort was made by the crown to convict him. The attempt, however, was a +failure; the jury-panel had not been juggled as effectively as usual, +and a disagreement of the jury was the consequence. The crown, however, +had no idea of relaxing its grasp of its victim; after John Martin's +conviction O'Doherty was put forward again, and a new jury selected to +try him. Again were the government defeated; the second jury like the +first refused to agree to a verdict of guilty, and were discharged +without convicting the prisoner. A third time was O'Doherty arraigned, +and this time the relentless hatred of his persecutors was gratified by +a verdict of guilty. The speech delivered by Mr. O'Doherty after +conviction was as follows:-- + + "My lords--I did hope, I confess, that upon being placed in this dock + for the third time, after two juries of my fellow-citizens had + refused to find a verdict against me, that while my prosecutors would + have been scrupulous in their care in attempting to uphold their law, + they would not have violated the very spirit of justice." + + Judge Crampton.--"I have a great difficulty in preventing you from + making any observations that may occur to you to be of service; but + if you mean to cast imputations of obloquy upon the law officers of + the crown, the court cannot permit that." + + Mr. O'Doherty--"I only wish to mention a matter of fact. The + Attorney-General stated that there were only three Roman Catholics + set aside on my jury." + + Judge Crampton again interposed, and requested the prisoner not to + pursue this line of observation. + + Mr. O'Doherty.--"I would feel much obliged if your lordship would + permit me to mention a few more words with reference to my motives + throughout this affair. + + "I had but one object and purpose in view. I did feel deeply for the + sufferings and privations endured by my fellow-countrymen. I did wish + by all means, consistent with a manly and honourable resistance to + assist in putting an end to that suffering. It is very true, and I + will confess it, that I desired an open resistance of the people to + that government, which, in my opinion entailed these sufferings upon + them. I have used the words open and honourable resistance, in order + that I might refer to one of the articles brought in evidence against + me, in which the writer suggests such things as flinging burning + hoops on the soldiery. My lords, these are no sentiments of mine. I + did not write that article. I did not see it, or know of it until I + read it when published in the paper. But I did not bring the writer + of it here on the table. Why? I knew that if I were to do so, it + would be only handing him over at the court-house doors to what one + of the witnesses has very properly called the fangs of the + Attorney-General. With respect to myself I have no fears. I trust I + will be enabled to bear my sentence with all the forbearance due to + what I believe to be the opinion of twelve conscientious enemies to + me, and I will bear with due patience the wrath of the government + whose mouthpiece they were; but I will never cease to deplore the + destiny that gave me birth in this unhappy country, and compelled me, + as an Irishman, to receive at your hands a felon's doom, for + discharging what I conceived--and what I still conceive to be my + duty. I shall only add, that the fact is, that instead of three Roman + Catholic jurors being set aside by the Attorney-General, there were + thirteen; I hold in my hand a list of their names, and out of the + twelve jurors he permitted to be sworn there was not one Roman + Catholic." + +Mr. O'Doherty was sentenced to transportation for ten years. He sailed +for Van Dieman's Land in the same ship that bore John Martin into exile. +In the course of time he, like Martin and O'Brien, was set at liberty on +condition of his residing anywhere out of "the United Kingdom." He came +on to Paris, and there resumed his medical studies. He paid, however, +one secret and hurried visit to Ireland. He came to wed and bear away +with him, to share his fortune in other lands, a woman in every way +worthy of him--one whose genius and talents, like his own, had been +freely given to the cause of Ireland, and whose heart had long been his +in the bonds of a most tender attachment. "Eva," one of the fair +poetesses of the _Nation_, was the plighted wife of O'Doherty. Terrible +must have been the shock to her gentle nature when her patriot lover was +borne off a convict, and shipped for England's penal settlements in the +far southern seas. She believed, however, they would meet again, and she +knew that neither time nor distance could chill the ardour of their +mutual affection. The volumes of the _Nation_ published during his +captivity contain many exquisite lyrics from her pen mourning for the +absent one, with others expressive of unchanging affection, and the most +intense faith in the truth of her distant lover. "The course of true +love" in this case ended happily. O'Doherty, as we have stated, managed +to slip across from Paris to Ireland, and returned with "Eva" his bride. +In 1856 the pardons granted to the exiles above named was made +unconditional, and in the following year O'Doherty returned to Ireland, +where he took out his degrees with great _eclat_; he then commenced the +practice of medicine and surgery in Dublin, and soon came to be ranked +amongst the most distinguished and successful members of his profession. +After remaining some years in Ireland, Mr. O'Doherty sailed far away +seawards once again, and took up his abode under the light of the +Southern Cross. He settled in a rising colony of Australia, where he +still lives, surrounded by troops of friends, and enjoying the position +to which his talents and his high character entitle him. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +TERENCE BELLEW M'MANUS. + + +The excitement caused by the startling events of which this country was +the scene in the summer of 1848 extended far beyond the shores of +Ireland. Away beyond the Atlantic the news from Ireland was watched for +with glistening eyes by the exiles who dwelt by the shores of Manhattan +or in the backwoods of Canada. Amongst the Irish colony in England the +agitation was still greater. Dwelling in the hearts of the monster towns +of England, the glow of the furnace lighting up their swarthy faces; +toiling on the canals, on the railways, in the steamboats; filling the +factories, plying their brawny hands where the hardest work was to be +done; hewers of wood, and drawers of water; living in the midst of the +English, yet separated from them by all the marks of a distinctive +nationality, by antagonistic feelings, by clashing interests, by jarring +creeds; such was the position of the men who carried the faith, the +traditions, the politics, and the purpose of Ireland into the heart of +the enemy's country. With their countrymen at home they were united by +the warmest ties of sympathy and affection. In London, in Manchester, in +Birmingham, in Leeds, Confederate Clubs were established, and active +measures taken for co-operating with the Young Ireland leaders in +whatever course they might think proper to adopt. In Liverpool those +clubs were organized on the most extensive scale; thousands of Irishmen +attended their weekly meetings, and speeches rivalling those delivered +at the Rotundo and at the Music Hall in fervour and earnestness were +spoken from their platforms. Amongst the Irishmen who figured +prominently at these gatherings there was one to whom the Irish in +Liverpool looked up with peculiar confidence and pride. He was young, he +was accomplished, he was wealthy, he filled a highly respectable +position in society; his name was connected by everyone with probity and +honour; and, above all, he was a nationalist, unselfish, enthusiastic, +and ardent. The Irishmen of Liverpool will not need to be told that we +speak of Terence Bellew M'Manus. + +The agitation of 1848 found M'Manus in good business as a shipping +agent, his income being estimated by his Liverpool friends at ten or +twelve hundred a year. His patriotism was of too genuine a nature to be +merged in his commercial success, and M'Manus readily abandoned his +prospects and his position when his country seemed to require the +sacrifice. Instantly on discovering that the government were about to +suspend the _Habeas Corpus_ Act in Ireland, he took the steamer for +Dublin, bringing with him the green and gold uniform which he owned in +virtue of being a general of the '82 Club. In the same steamer came two +detectives sent specially to secure his arrest in Dublin. M'Manus drove +from the quay, where he landed, to the _Felon_ Office. He discovered +that all the Confederate leaders out of prison had gone southwards on +hostile thoughts intent; and M'Manus resolved on joining them without a +moment's hesitation. Having managed to give the detectives the slip, he +journeyed southwards to Tipperary and joined O'Brien's party at +Killenaule. He shared the fortunes of the insurgent leaders until the +dispersion at Ballingarry, where he fought with conspicuous bravery and +determination. He was the first to arrive before the house in which the +police took refuge, and the last to leave it. The Rev. Mr. Fitzgerald, +P.P., an eye witness, gives an interesting account of M'Manus' conduct +during the attack on the Widow M'Cormack's house. He says:-- + + "With about a dozen men more determined than the rest, was M'Manus, + who indeed throughout the whole day showed more courage and + resolution than anyone else. With a musket in his hand, and in the + face of the enemy, he reconnoitered the place, and observed every + accessible approach to the house, and with a few colliers, under + cover of a cart-load of hay, which they pushed on before them, came + up to the postern-door of the kitchen. Here with his own hand he + fired several pistol-shots, to make it ignite, but from the state of + the weather, which was damp and heavy, and from the constant + down-pour of rain on the previous day, this attempt proved quite + unsuccessful. With men so expert at the use of the pickaxe, and so + large a supply of blasting powder at the collieries, he could have + quickly undermined the house, or blown it up; but the circumstance of + so many children being shut in with the police, and the certainty + that, if they persevered, all would be involved in the same ruin, + compelled him and his associates to desist from their purpose." + +When it became useless to offer further resistance, M'Manus retired with +the peasantry to the hills, and dwelt with them for several days. Having +shaved off his whiskers, and made some other changes in his appearance, +he succeeded in running the gauntlet though the host of spies and +detectives on his trail, and he was actually on board a large vessel on +the point of sailing for America from Cork harbour when arrested by the +police. His discovery was purely accidental; the police boarded the +vessel in chase of an absconding defaulter, but while prosecuting the +search one of the constables who had seen M'Manus occasionally in +Liverpool recognised him. At first he gave his name as O'Donnell, said +he was an Irish-American returning westward, after visiting his friends +in the old land. His answers, however, were not sufficiently consistent +to dissipate the constable's suspicion. He was brought ashore and taken +handcuffed before a magistrate, whereupon he avowed his name, and boldly +added that, he did not regret any act he had done, and would cheerfully +go through it again. + +On the 10th of October, 1848, he was brought to trial for high treason +in Clonmel. He viewed the whole proceedings with calm indifference, and +when the verdict of guilty was brought in he heard the announcement with +unaltered mien. A fortnight later he was brought up to receive sentence; +Meagher and O'Donoghue had been convicted in the interim, and the three +confederates stood side by side in the dock to hear the doom of the +traitor pronounced against them. M'Manus was the first to speak in reply +to the usual formality, and his address was as follows:-- + + "My lords--I trust I am enough of a Christian and enough of a man to + understand the awful responsibility of the question which has been + put to me. Standing upon my native soil--standing in an Irish court + of justice, and before the Irish nation--I have much to say why the + sentence of death, or the sentence of the law, should not be passed + upon me. But upon entering into this court I placed my life--and what + is of more importance to me, my honour--in the hands of two + advocates, and if I had ten thousand lives and ten thousand honours, + I should be content to place them all in the watchful and glorious + genius of the one, and the patient zeal and talent of the other. I + am, therefore, content, and with regard to that I have nothing to + say. But I have a word to say, which no advocate, however anxious + and devoted he may be, can utter for me. I say, whatever part I may + have taken in the straggle for my country's independence, whatever + part I may have acted in my short career, I stand before you, my + lords, with a free heart and a light conscience, to abide the issue + of your sentence. And now, my lords, this is, perhaps, the fittest + time to put a sentence upon record, which is this--that standing in + this dock, and called to ascend the scaffold--it may be to-morrow--it + may be now--it may be never--whatever the result may be, I wish to + put this on record, that in the part I have taken I was not actuated + by enmity towards Englishmen--for among them I have passed some of + the happiest days of my life, and the most prosperous; and in no part + which I have taken was I actuated by enmity towards Englishmen + individually, whatever I may have felt of the injustice of English + rule in this island; I therefore say, that it is not because I loved + England less, but because I loved Ireland more, that I now stand + before you." + +In 1851, M'Manus escaped from captivity in Van Dieman's Land, and he +soon after settled in California where he died. His funeral was the +greatest ever witnessed upon earth. From the shores of the Pacific +thousands of miles away, across continents and oceans they brought him, +and laid his ashes to rest in the land of his birth. On the 10th day of +November, 1861, that wonderful funeral passed through the streets of +Dublin to Glasnevin, and those who saw the gathering that followed his +coffin to the grave, the thousands of stalwart men that marched in +solemn order behind his bier will never forget the sight. A silent slab +unlettered and unmarked shows the spot where his remains were interred; +no storied urn or animated bust, no marble column or commemorative +tablet has been consecrated to his memory, but the history of his life +is graven in the hearts of his countrymen, and he enjoys in their +affectionate remembrance, a monument more enduring than human hands +could build him. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THOMAS CLARKE LUBY. + + +Looking along the course of Irish history, it is easy to point out +certain periods in which England could have found an opportunity for +making terms with the Irish nation, healing some of the old wounds and +mitigating in some degree the burning sense of wrong and the desire of +vengeance that rankled in the hearts of the Irish race. There were lulls +in the struggle, intervals of gloomy calm, occasions when the heart of +Ireland might have been touched by generous deeds, and when the offer of +the olive branch, or even a few of its leaves, would have had a blessed +effect. But England never availed of them--never for an instant sought +to turn them to good account. She preferred when Ireland was defeated, +prostrate, and forlorn, to taunt her with her failure, scoff at her +sufferings, and add to her afflictions. Such was her conduct during the +mournful time that followed on the attempted insurrection of 1848. + +It was an appaling time, in whose death-laden atmosphere political +action was impossible. The famine had made of the country one huge +graveyard. A silence fell upon the land, lately so clamorous for her +rights, so hopeful, and so defiant. The Repeal organization spoke no +more; the tramp of the Confederate Clubs was no longer heard in the +streets; O'Connell was dead; the Young Ireland leaders were fugitives or +prisoners; and the people were almost bewildered by a sense of their +great calamity. Then, if England had stooped to raise her fallen foe, +offered her some kindly treatment, and spoken some gracious words, the +bitterness of the old quarrel might have been in some degree assuaged, +even though its cause should not be entirely obliterated. But England +did not choose to take that politic and Christian course. She found it +much pleasanter to chuckle over the discomfiture of the Irish patriots, +to ridicule the failure of their peaceable agitation, to sneer at their +poor effort in arms, to nickname, and misrepresent, and libel the +brave-hearted gentleman who led that unlucky endeavour; and above all to +felicitate herself on the reduction that had taken place in the Irish +population. That--from her point of view--was the glorious part of the +whole affair. The Irish were "gone with a vengeance!"--not all of them, +but a goodly proportion, and others were going off every day. Emigrant +ships clustered in the chief ports, and many sought their living +freights in those capacious harbours along the Atlantic coast which +nature seemed to have shaped for the accommodation of a great commerce, +but where the visit of any craft larger than a fishing smack was a rare +event. The flaming placards of the various shipping-lines were posted in +every town in Ireland,--on the chapel-gates, and the shutters of closed +shops, and the doors of tenantless houses; and there appeared to be in +progress a regular breaking up of the Irish nation. This, to the English +mind, was positively delightful. For here was the Irish question being +settled at last, by the simple process of the transference of the Irish +people to the bottom of the deep sea, or else to the continent of +America--nearly the same thing as far as England was concerned, for in +neither place--as it seemed to her--could they ever more trouble her +peace, or have any claim on those fruits of the Irish soil which were +needed for the stomachs of Englishmen. There they could no longer pester +her with petitions for Tenant Right, or demands for a Repeal of the +Union. English farmers, and drovers, and labourers, loyal to the English +government, and yielding no sort of allegiance to the Pope, would cross +the Channel and take possession of the deserted island, which would +thenceforth be England's in such a sense as it never was before. O +magnificent consummation! O most brilliant prospect, in the eyes of +English statesmen! They saw their way clear, they understood their game; +it was to lighten in no degree the pressure which they maintained upon +the lives of the Irish people, to do nothing that could tend to render +existence tolerable to them in Ireland, or check the rush of emigration. +Acting in conformity with this shallow and false estimate of the +situation, they allowed to drift away unused the time which wise +statesmen would have employed in the effectuation of conciliatory and +tranquilising measures, and applied themselves simply to the crushing +out from the Irish mind of every hope of improved legislation, and the +defeat of every effort to obtain it. Thus when the people--waking up +from the stupefaction that followed on the most tragic period of the +famine--began to breathe the breath of political life again, and, +perceiving the danger that menaced the existence of the peasant classes, +set on foot an agitation to procure a reform of the land-laws, the +government resolutely opposed the project; defeated the bills which the +friends of the tenantry brought into parliament; and took steps, which +proved only too successful, for the break up of the organization by +which the movement was conducted. And then, when Frederick Lucas was +dead, and Mr. Duffy had gone into exile, and the patriot priests were +debarred from taking part in politics, and Messrs. John Sadlier and +William Keogh were bought over by bribes of place and pay, the +government appeared to think that Irish patriotism had fought in its +last ditch, and received its final defeat. + +But they were mistaken. The old cause that had survived so many +disasters was not dead yet. While the efforts of the Tenant Righters in +Ireland were being foiled, and their party was being scattered, a couple +of Irishmen, temporarily resident in Paris, fugitive because of their +connexion with the events of '48, were laying the foundations of a +movement more profoundly dangerous to England, than any of those with +which she had grappled since the days of Wolfe Tone and Lord Edward +Fitzgerald. Those men were John O'Mahony and James Stephens. + +Since then their names have been much heard of, and the organization of +which they were the originators has played an important part in Irish +history. But at the period of which we are now writing, the general +public knew nothing of O'Mahony or of Stephens beyond the fact that they +were alleged to have taken some part in the recent insurrectionary +demonstrations. Stephens, who was then a very young lad, had been +present at the Ballingarry attack, and had been severely wounded by the +fire of the police. He managed to crawl away from the spot to a ditch +side, where he was lost sight of. A report of his death was put into +circulation, and a loyal journal published in Kilkenny--the native town +of the young rebel, who in this instance played his first trick on the +government--referred to his supposed decease in terms which showed that +the rule _de mortuis nil nisi bonum_ found acceptance with the editor. +The following are the words of the obituary notice which appeared in the +_Kilkenny Moderator_ on or about the 19th of August, 1848:-- + + "Poor James Stephens, who followed Smith O'Brien to the field, has + died of the wound which he received at Ballingarry whilst acting as + aide-de-camp to the insurgent leader. Mr. Stephens was a very + amiable, and apart from politics, most inoffensive young man, + possessed of a great deal of talent, and we believe he was a most + excellent son and brother. His untimely and melancholy fate will be + much regretted by a numerous circle of friends." + +It is said that his family very prudently fostered this delusion by +going into mourning for the loss of young James--the suggestion of which +clever ruse probably came from the dear boy himself. A short time +afterwards he managed to escape, disguised as a lady's maid, to France. +As one may gather from the paragraph above quoted, the family were much +respected in the locality. Mr. Stephens, father of the future C.O.I.R., +was clerk in the establishment of a respectable auctioneer and +bookseller in Kilkenny. He gave his children a good education, and sent +young James to a Catholic seminary with a view to his being taught and +trained for the priesthood. But circumstances prevented the realization +of this design, and before any line of business could be marked out for +young Stephens, the political events above referred to took place and +shaped his future career. + +John O'Mahony was a different stamp of man. He belonged to the class +known as gentlemen-farmers, and of that class he was one of the most +respected. His family owned a considerable tract of land in the southern +part of the County of Tipperary, of which they had been occupants for +many generations. He was well educated, of studious habits, and +thoroughly imbued with patriotic feeling, which came to him as a +hereditary possession. When the Young Ireland leaders were electrifying +the country by their spirited appeals to the patriotism and bravery of +the Irish race, and the population in all the chief centres of +intelligence were crystalizing into semi-military organizations, +O'Mahony was not apathetic or inactive. One of the strongest of the +Confederate clubs--which were thick sown in the contiguous districts of +the Counties of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary--was under his +presidency; and when in July, 1848, the leaders of the movement +scattered themselves over the country for the purpose of ascertaining +the degree of support they would receive if they should decide on +unfurling the green banner, his report of the state of affairs in his +district was one of their most cheering encouragements. + +A few days afterwards the outbreak under O'Brien occurred at +Ballingarry. The failure of that attempt, and the irresolute manner in +which it was conducted, had disheartened the country, but the idea of +allowing the struggle to rest at that point was not universally +entertained by the leaders of the clubs; and John O'Mahony was one of +those who resolved that another attempt should be made to rally the +people to the insurrectionary standard. He acted up to his resolution. +On the night of the 12th of September there were signal-fires on the +slopes of Slievenamon and the Comeragh mountains, and the district +between Carrick-on-Suir and Callan was in a state of perturbation. Next +day the alarm was spread in all directions. The gentry of the disturbed +districts rushed into the nearest towns for protection; police from the +outlying barracks were called in to reinforce the threatened stations, +and troops were hastily summoned from Dublin and the neighbouring +garrisons. Meanwhile parties of the insurgents began to move about. One +proceeded to the police station at the Slate-quarries, and finding it +deserted--the policemen having retired on Piltown--burned it to the +ground. Another attempted the destruction of Grany bridge, to delay the +advance of the soldiery. A third proceeded to attack the Glenbower +station. The defenders of the barracks were in a rather critical +position when another party of police, on their way from the +Nine-Mile-House station to Carrick, came upon the spot, and the combined +force speedily put their half-armed assailants to flight, with a loss to +the latter of one man severely wounded and one killed. An attack was +made on the barrack at Portlaw, but with a like result; two men were +stricken dead by the bullets of the police. The people soon afterwards +scattered to their homes, and the soldiery and police had nothing to do +but hunt up for the leaders and other parties implicated in the +movement. John O'Mahony narrowly escaped capture on three or four +occasions. He lingered in the country, however, until after the +conviction of the state prisoners at Clonmel, when it became clear to +him that the cause was lost for a time; and he then took his way to +Paris, whither several of his fellow outlaws, for whose arrest the +government had offered large rewards, had gone before him. + +In that famous centre of intellect and of intrigue, the focus of +political thought, the fountain-head of great ideas, John O'Mahony and +James Stephens pondered long over the defeat that had come upon the +Irish cause, and in their ponderings bethought them that the reason of +the failure which they deplored was to be found in the want of that +quiet, earnest, secret preparation, by means of which the Continental +revolutionists were able to produce from time to time such volcanic +effects in European politics, and cause the most firmly-rooted dynasties +to tremble for their positions. The system of secret conspiracy--that +ancient system, "old as the universe, yet not outworn"--a system not +unknown in Ireland from the days of the Attacots to those of the +Whiteboys--the system of Sir Phelim O'Neill and of Theobald Wolfe +Tone--that system, as developed, refined, and elaborated by the most +subtle intellects of modern times, those two men proposed to propagate +among the Irish race at home and abroad. They divided the labour between +them. O'Mahony took the United States of America for his field of +action, and Stephens took the Old Country. + +It was in the year 1858 that the first symptoms indicative of the work +to which James Stephens had set himself made their appearance in the +extreme south-west of Ireland. Whispers went about that some of the +young men of Kenmare, Bantry, and Skibbereen were enrolled in a secret +sworn organization, and were in the habit of meeting for the purpose of +training and drilling. Indeed the members of the new society took little +pains to conceal its existence; they seemed rather to find a pride in +the knowledge which their neighbours had of the fact, and relied for +their legal safety on certain precautions adopted in the manner of their +initiation as members. When informed firstly by well known nationalists +in a private manner, and subsequently by public remonstrances addressed +to them by Catholic clergymen and the national journals, that the +government were on their track, they refused to believe it; but ere long +they suffered grievously for their incredulity and want of prudence. In +the early days of December, 1858, the swoop of the government was made +on the members of the "Phoenix Society" in Cork and Kerry, and arrests +followed shortly after in other parts of the country. The trials in the +south commenced at Tralee in March, 1859, when a conviction was obtained +against a man named Daniel O'Sullivan, and he was sentenced to penal +servitude for ten years. The remaining cases were adjourned to the next +assizes, and when they came on in July, 1859, the prisoners put in a +plea of guilty, and were set at liberty on the understanding that if +their future conduct should not be satisfactory to the authorities, they +would be called up for sentence. Amongst the Cork prisoners who took +this course was Jeremiah O'Donovan (Rossa), whose name has since then +been made familiar to the public. + +Those events were generally supposed to have extinguished the Phoenix +conspiracy. And many of Ireland's most sincere friends hoped that such +was the case. Recognising fully the peculiar powers which a secret +society can bring to bear against the government, they still felt a +profound conviction that the risks, or rather the certain cost of +liberty and life involved in such a mode of procedure, formed more than +a counterpoise for the advantages which it presented. They were +consequently earnest and emphatic in their endeavours to dissuade their +countrymen from treading in the dangerous paths in which their steps +were dogged by the spy and the informer. The Catholic clergy were +especially zealous in their condemnation of secret revolutionary +societies, urged thereto by a sense of their duty as priests and +patriots. But there were men connected with the movement both in America +and Ireland, who were resolved to persevere in their design of extending +the organization among the Irish people, despite of any amount of +opposition from any quarter whatsoever. In pursuit of that object they +were not over scrupulous as to the means they employed; they did not +hesitate to violate many an honourable principle, and to wrong many an +honest man; nor did they exhibit a fair share of common prudence in +dealing with the difficulties of their position; but unexpected +circumstances arose to favour their propagandism, and it went ahead +despite of all their mistakes and of every obstacle. One of those +circumstances was the outbreak of the civil war in America, which took +place in April, 1861. That event seemed to the leaders of the Irish +revolutionary organization, now known as the Fenian Brotherhood, to be +one of the most fortunate for their purposes that could have happened. +It inspired the whole population of America with military ardour, it +opened up a splendid school in which the Irish section of the people +could acquire a knowledge of the art of war, which was exactly what was +needed to give real efficacy to their endeavours for the overthrow of +British dominion in Ireland. Besides, there appeared to be a strong +probability that the line of action in favour of the Southern States +which England, notwithstanding her proclamation of neutrality, had +adopted from an early stage of the conflict, would speedily involve her +in a war with the Federal government. These things constituted a +prospect dazzling to the eyes of the Irishmen who had "gone with a +vengeance." Their hearts bounded with joy at the opportunities that +appeared to be opening on them. At last the time was near, they +believed, when the accumulated hate of seven centuries would burst upon +the power of England, not in the shape of an undisciplined peasantry +armed with pikes, and scythes, and pitchforks, as in 1798--not in the +shape of a half famished and empty-handed crowd, led to battle by +orators and poets, as in 1848, but in the shape of an army, bristling +with sharp steel, and flanked with thunderous cannon--an army skilled in +the modern science of war, directed by true military genius, and +inspired by that burning valour which in all times was one of the +qualities of the Irish race. Influenced by such hopes and feelings, the +Irish of the Northern States poured by thousands into the Federal ranks, +and formed themselves into regiments that were at the same time so many +Fenian circles. In the Southern army, too, there were many Irishmen who +were not less determined to give to their native land the benefit of +their military experience, as soon as the troubles of their adopted +country should be brought to an end. Fenianism, with that glow of light +upon it, spread like a prairie-fire through the States. The ranks of the +organization swelled rapidly, and money contributions poured like a tide +into its treasury. The impulse was felt also by the society in Ireland. +It received a rapid development, and soon began to put on a bold front +towards the government, and a still more belligerent one towards all +Irishmen who, while claiming the character of patriots, declined to take +part in the Fenian movement or recommend it to their countrymen. In +November, 1863, the brotherhood started the _Irish People_ newspaper in +Dublin, for the double purpose of propagating their doctrines and +increasing the revenues of the society. James Stephens was the author of +this most unfortunate project. The men whom he selected for working it +out were Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary, and Charles Joseph Kickham. + +From the date of its establishment up to the mouth of September, 1865--a +period of nearly two years--the _Irish People_ occupied itself in +preaching what its editors regarded as the cardinal doctrines of the +society, which were:--That constitutional agitation for the redress of +Ireland's grievances was worse than useless; that every man taking part +in such agitation was either a fool or a knave; that in political +affairs clergymen should be held of no more account than laymen; and +that the only hope for Ireland lay in an armed uprising of the people. +These doctrines were not quite new; not one of them was absolutely true; +but they were undoubtedly held by many thousands of Irishmen, and the +Fenian society took care to secure for the journal in which they were +advocated, a large circulation. The office of the _Irish People_ soon +came to be regarded as, what it really was, the head quarters of the +Fenian organization in Ireland. To it the choice spirits of the party +resorted for counsel and direction; thither the provincial organisers +directed their steps whenever they visited Dublin; into it poured weekly +from all parts of the country an immense mass of correspondence, which +the editors, instead of destroying after it had passed through their +hands, foolishly allowed to accumulate upon their shelves, though every +word of it was fraught with peril to the lives and liberties of their +friends. In their private residences also they were incautious enough to +keep numerous documents of a most compromising character. There is but +one way of accounting for their conduct in this matter. They may have +supposed that the legal proceedings against them, which they knew were +certain to take place at one time or another, would be conducted in the +semi-constitutional fashion which was adopted towards the national +journals in 1848. If the staff of the _Irish People_ had received a +single day's notice that they were about to be made amenable to the law, +it is possible that they would have their houses and their office +immediately cleared of those documents which afterwards consigned so +many of their countrymen to the horrors of penal servitude. But they saw +no reason to suppose that the swoop was about to be made on them. On the +fifteenth day of September, 1865, there were no perceptible indications +that the authorities were any more on the alert in reference to Fenian +affairs then they had been during the past twelve months. It was Friday; +the _Irish People_ had been printed for the next day's sale, large +batches of the paper had been sent off to the agents in town and +country, the editors and publishing clerks had gone home to rest after +their week's labours--when suddenly, at about half-past nine o'clock in +the evening, a strong force of police broke into the office, seized the +books, manuscripts, papers, and forms of type, and bore them off to the +Castle yard. At the same time arrests of the chief Fenian leaders were +being made in various parts of the city. The news created intense +excitement in all circles of society, and more especially amongst the +Fenians themselves, who had never dreamed of a government _coup_ so +sudden, so lawless, and so effective. The government had now thrown off +the mask of apathy and impassiveness which it had worn so long, and it +commenced to lay its strong hand upon its foes. Amongst the men who +filled the prison cells on that miserable autumn evening were John +O'Leary, Thomas Clarke Luby, and Jeremiah O'Donovan (Rossa). Before the +crown was ready to proceed with their trial, the third editor of the +paper, Charles J. Kickham, was added to their company, having been +arrested with James Stephens, Edward Duffy, and Hugh Brophy, on the 11th +November, at Fairfield House, near Dublin. + +On Monday, November 27th, 1865, the state trials commenced before a +Special Commission in the Courthouse, Green-street--the scene of so many +a previous grapple between British law and the spirit of Irish +patriotism. Mr. Justice Keogh and Mr. Justice Fitzgerald were the +presiding judges. There was a long list of prisoners to be tried. James +Stephens might have been honoured with the first place amongst them, +were it not that two days previously, to the unspeakable horror and +surprise of the government and all its friends, he had effected his +escape, or rather, we might say, obtained, by the aid of friendly hands, +his release from Richmond prison. In his regretted absence, the crown +commenced their proceedings by placing Thomas Clarke Luby in the dock to +answer to a charge of treason-felony. + +He stood up to the bar, between the jailors that clustered about him, a +quiet-faced, pale, and somewhat sad-looking man, apparently of about +forty years of age. A glance around the court-house showed him but few +friendly faces--for, owing to the terrors felt by the judges, the crown +prosecutors and other officials of the law, who dreaded the desperate +resolves of armed conspirators, few were admitted into the building +except policemen, detectives, and servants of the crown in one capacity +or another. In one of the galleries, however, he recognised his +wife--daughter of J. De Jean Fraser, one of the sweetest poets of the +'48 period--with the wife of his fellow-prisoner, O'Donovan Rossa, and +the sister of John O'Leary. A brief smile of greeting passed between the +party, and then all thoughts were concentrated on the stern business of +the day. + +There was no chance of escape for Thomas Clarke Luby or for his +associates. The crown had a plethora of evidence against them, acquired +during the months and years when they appeared to be all but totally +ignorant of the existence of the conspiracy. They had the evidence of +the approver, Nagle, who had been an employè of the _Irish People_ +office and a confidential agent of James Stephens up to the night of the +arrests, but who during the previous eighteen months had been betraying +every secret of theirs to the government. They had the evidence of a +whole army of detectives; but more crushing and fatal than all, they had +that which was supplied by the immense store of documents captured at +the _Irish People_ office and the houses of some of the chief members of +the conspiracy. Of all those papers the most important was one found at +the residence of Mr. Luby, in which James Stephens, being at the time +about to visit America delegated his powers over the organization in +Ireland, England, and Scotland to Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary, and +Charles J. Kickham. This, which was referred to during the trials as the +"executive document," was worded as follows:-- + + "I hereby empower Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary and Charles J. + Kickham a committee of organization, or executive, with the same + supreme control over the home organization, England, Ireland, and + Scotland, as that exercised by myself. I further empower them to + appoint a committee of military inspection, and a committee of appeal + and judgment, the functions of which committee will be made known to + every member of them. Trusting to the patriotism and abilities of the + executive, I fully endorse their actions beforehand. I call on every + man in our ranks to support and be guided by them in all that + concerns the military brotherhood. + + "J. STEPHENS." + +Not all the legal ingenuity and forensic eloquence of their talented +counsel, Mr. Butt, could avail to save the men who, by the preservation +of such documents as the foregoing, had fastened the fetters on their +own limbs. The trial of Mr. Luby concluded on the fourth day of the +proceedings--Friday, December 1st 1865--with a verdict of guilty. The +prisoner heard the announcement with composure, and then, in response to +the question usual in such cases, addressed the court as follows:-- + + "Well, my lords and gentlemen, I don't think any person present here + is surprised at the verdict found against me. I have been prepared + for this verdict ever since I was arrested, although I thought it my + duty to fight the British government inch by inch. I felt I was sure + to be found guilty, since the advisers of the Crown took what the + Attorney-General was pleased the other day to call the 'merciful + course.' I thought I might have a fair chance of escaping, so long as + the capital charge was impending over me; but when they resolved on + trying me under the Treason-Felony Act, I felt that I had not the + smallest chance. I am somewhat embarrassed at the present moment as + to what I should say under the circumstances. There are a great many + things that I would wish to say; but knowing that there are other + persons in the same situation with myself, and that I might allow + myself to say something injudicious, which would peril their cases, I + feel that my tongue is to a great degree tied. Nothwithstanding, + there are two or three points upon which I would say a few words. I + have nothing to say to Judge Keogh's charge to the jury. He did not + take up any of the topics that had been introduced to prejudice the + case against me; for instance, he did not take this accusation of an + intention to assassinate, attributed to my fellow-prisoners and + myself. The Solicitor-General in his reply to Mr. Butt, referred to + those topics. Mr. Barry was the first person who advanced those + charges. I thought they were partially given up by the + Attorney-General in his opening statement, at least they were put + forward to you in a very modified form; but the learned + Solicitor-General, in his very virulent speech, put forward those + charges in a most aggravated manner. He sought even to exaggerate + upon Mr. Barry's original statement. Now, with respect to those + charges--in justice to my character--I must say that in this court, + there is not a man more incapable of anything like massacre or + assassination than I am. I really believe that the gentlemen who have + shown so much ability in persecuting me, in the bottom of their + hearts believe me incapable of an act of assassination or massacre. I + don't see that there is the smallest amount of evidence to show that + I ever entertained the notion of a massacre of landlords and priests. + I forget whether the advisers of the crown said I intended the + massacre of the Protestant clergymen. Some of the writers of our + enlightened press said that I did. Now, with respect to the charge of + assassinating the landlords, the only thing that gives even the + shadow of a colour to that charge is the letter signed--alleged to be + signed--by Mr. O'Keefe. Now, assuming--but by no means admitting, of + course--that the letter was written by Mr. O'Keefe, let me make a + statement about it. I know the facts that I am about to state are of + no practical utility to me now, at least with respect to the judges. + I know it is of no practical utility to me, because I cannot give + evidence on my own behalf, but it may be of practical utility to + others with whom I wish to stand well. I believe my words will carry + conviction--and carry much more conviction than any words of the + legal advisers of the crown can--to more than 300,000 of the Irish + race in Ireland, England, and America. Well, I deny absolutely, that + I ever entertained any idea of assassinating the landlords, and the + letter of Mr. O'Keefe--assuming it to be his letter--is the only + evidence on the subject. My acquaintance with Mr. O'Keefe was of the + slightest nature. I did not even know of his existence when the + _Irish People_ was started. He came, after that paper was established + a few months, to the office, and offered some articles--some were + rejected, some we inserted, and I call the attention of the legal + advisers of the Crown to this fact, that amongst the papers which + they got, those that were Mr. O'Keefe's articles had many paragraphs + scored out; in fact we put in no article of his without a great deal + of what is technically called 'cutting down.' Now, that letter of his + to me was simply a private document. It contained the mere private + views of the writer; and I pledge this to the court as a man of + honour--and I believe in spite of the position in which I stand, + amongst my countrymen I am believed to be a man of honour, and that + if my life depended on it, I would not speak falsely about the + thing--when I read that letter, and the first to whom I gave it was + my wife, I remember we read it with fits of laughter at its + ridiculous ideas. My wife at the moment said--'Had I not better burn + the letter?' 'Oh no,' I said, looking upon it as a most ridiculous + thing, and never dreaming for a moment that such a document would + ever turn up against me, and produce the unpleasant consequences it + has produced--mean the imputation of assassination and massacre, + which has given me a great deal more trouble than anything else in + this case. That disposes--as far as I can at present dispose of + it--of the charge of wishing to assassinate the landlords. As to the + charge of desiring to assassinate the priests, I deny it as being the + most monstrous thing in the world. Why, surely, every one who read + the articles in the paper would see that the plain doctrine laid + down there was--to reverence the priests so long as they confined + themselves to their sacerdotal functions; but when the priest + descended to the arena of politics he became no more than any other + man, and would just be regarded as any other man. If he was a man of + ability and honesty, of course he would get the respect that such men + get in politics--if he was not a man of ability there would be no + more thought of him than of a shoemaker or any one else. This is the + teaching of the _Irish People_ with regard to the priests. I believe + the _Irish People_ has done a great deal of good, even amongst those + who do not believe in its revolutionary doctrines. I believe the + revolutionary doctrines of the _Irish People_ are good. I believe + nothing can ever save Ireland except independence; and I believe that + all other attempts to ameliorate the condition of Ireland are mere + temporary expedients and make shifts----" + + Mr. Justice Keogh--"I am very reluctant to interrupt you, Mr. Luby." + + Mr. Luby--"Very well, my lord, I will leave that. I believe in this + way the _Irish People_ has done an immensity of good. It taught the + people not to give up their right of private judgment in temporal + matters to the clergy; that while they reverenced the clergy upon the + altar, they should not give up their consciences in secular matters + to the clergy. I believe that is good. Others may differ from me. No + set of men I believe ever set themselves earnestly to any work, but + they did good in some shape or form." + + Judge Keogh--"I am most reluctant, Mr. Luby, to interrupt you, but do + you think you should pursue this!" + + Mr. Luby--"Very well, I will not. I think that disposes of those + things. I don't care to say much about myself. It would be rather + beneath me. Perhaps some persons who know me would say I should not + have touched upon the assassination charge at all--that in fact I + have rather shown weakness in attaching so much importance to it. + But, with regard to the entire course of my life, and whether it be a + mistaken course or not will be for every man's individual judgment to + decide--this I know, that no man ever loved Ireland more than I have + done--no man has ever given up his whole being to Ireland to the + extent I have done. From the time I came to what has been called the + years of discretion, my entire thought has been devoted to Ireland. I + believed the course I pursued was right; others may take a different + view. I believe the majority of my countrymen this minute, if, + instead of my being tried before a petty jury, who, I suppose, are + bound to find according to British law--if my guilt or innocence was + to be tried by the higher standard of eternal right, and the case was + put to all my countrymen--I believe this moment the majority of my + countrymen would pronounce that I am not a criminal, but that I have + deserved well of my country. When the proceedings of this trial go + forth into the world, people will say the cause of Ireland is not to + be despaired of, that Ireland is not yet a lost country--that as long + as there are men in any country prepared to expose themselves to + every difficulty and danger in its service, prepared to brave + captivity, even death itself if need be, that country cannot be + lost. With these words I conclude." + +On the conclusion of this address, Judge Keogh proceeded to pass +sentence on the prisoner. The prisoner's speech, he said, was in every +way creditable to him; but the bench could not avoid coming to the +conclusion that, with the exception of James Stephens, he was the person +most deeply implicated in the conspiracy. The sentence of the court was +that he be kept in penal servitude for a term of twenty years. Mr. Luby +heard the words without any apparent emotion--gave one sad farewell +glance to his wife and friends, and stepping down the little stairs from +the dock, made way for the next prisoner. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +JOHN O'LEARY. + + +While the jury in the case of Thomas Clarke Luby were absent from the +court deliberating on and framing their verdict, John O'Leary was put +forward to the bar. + +He stepped boldly to the front, with a flash of fire in his dark eyes, +and a scowl on his features, looking hatred and defiance on judges, +lawyers, jurymen, and all the rest of them. All eyes were fixed on him, +for he was one of those persons whose exterior attracts attention and +indicates a character above the common. He was tall, slightly built, and +of gentlemanly deportment; every feature of his thin angular face gave +token of great intellectual energy and determination, and its pallid hue +was rendered almost death-like by contrast with his long black hair and +flowing moustache and beard. Easy it was to see that when the government +placed John O'Leary in the dock they had caged a proud spirit, and an +able and resolute enemy. He had come of a patriot stock, and from a part +of Ireland where rebels to English rule were never either few or +faint-hearted. He was born in the town of Tipperary, of parents whose +circumstances were comfortable, and who, at the time of their decease, +left him in possession of property worth a couple of hundred pounds per +annum. He was educated for the medical profession in the Queen's +College, Cork, spent some time in France, and subsequently visited +America, where he made the acquaintance of the chief organisers of the +Fenian movement, by whom he was regarded as a most valuable acquisition +to the ranks of the brotherhood. After his return to Ireland he +continued to render the Fenian cause such services as lay in his power, +and when James Stephens, who knew his courage and ability, invited him +to take the post of chief editor of the Fenian organ which he was about +to establish in Dublin, O'Leary readily obeyed the call, and accepted +the dangerous position. In the columns of the _Irish People_ he laboured +hard to defend and extend the principles of the Fenian organization +until the date of his arrest and the suppression of the paper. + +The trial lasted from Friday, the 1st, up to Wednesday, the 6th of +December, when it was closed with a verdict of guilty and a sentence of +twenty years' penal servitude--Mr. Justice Fitzgerald remarking that no +distinction in the degree of criminality could be discovered between the +case of the prisoner and that of the previous convict. The following is +the address delivered by O'Leary, who appeared to labour under much +excitement, when asked in the usual terms if he had any reason to show +why sentence should not be passed upon him:-- + + "I was not wholly unprepared for this verdict, because I felt that + the government which could so safely pack the bench could not fail to + make sure of its verdict." + + Mr. Justice Fitzgerald--"We are willing to hear anything in reason + from you, but we cannot allow language of that kind to be used." + + Mr. O'Leary--"My friend Mr. Luby did not wish to touch on this matter + from a natural fear lest he should do any harm to the other political + prisoners; but there can be but little fear of that now, for a jury + has been found to convict me of this conspiracy upon the evidence. + Mr. Luby admitted that he was technically guilty according to British + law; but I say that it is only by the most torturing interpretation + that these men could make out their case against me. With reference + to this conspiracy there has been much misapprehension in Ireland, + and serious misapprehension. Mr. Justice Keogh said in his charge + against Mr. Luby that men would be always found ready for money, or + for some other motive, to place themselves at the disposal of the + government; but I think the men who have been generally bought in + this way, and who certainly made the best of the bargain, were + agitators and not rebels. I have to say one word in reference to the + foul charge upon which that miserable man, Barry, has made me + responsible." + + Mr. Justice Fitzgerald--"We cannot allow that tone of observation." + + Mr. O'Leary continued--"That man has charged me--I need not defend + myself or my friends from the charge. I shall merely denounce the + moral assassin. Mr. Justice Keogh the other day spoke of revolutions, + and administered a lecture to Mr. Luby. He spoke of cattle being + driven away, and of houses being burned down, that men would be + killed, and so on. I would like to know if all that does not apply to + war as well as to revolution? One word more, and I shall have done. I + have been found guilty of treason or treason-felony. Treason is a + foul crime. The poet Dante consigned traitors to, I believe, the + ninth circle of hell; but what kind of traitors? Traitors against + king, against country, against friends and benefactors. England is + not my country; I have betrayed no friend, no benefactor. Sidney and + Emmet were legal traitors, Jeffreys was a loyal man, and so was + Norbury. I leave the matter there." + +One hour after the utterance of these words John O'Leary, dressed in +convict garb, his hair clipped, and his beard shaved off, was the +occupant of a cell in Mountjoy prison, commencing his long term of +suffering in expiation of the crime of having sought to obtain +self-government for his native land. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +JEREMIAH O'DONOVAN (ROSSA). + + +In one of the preceding pages we have mentioned the fact that at the +Cork Summer Assizes of 1859, a conviction was recorded against Jeremiah +O'Donovan (Rossa) for his complicity in the Phoenix conspiracy, and he +was then released on the understanding that if he should be found +engaging in similar practices, the crown would bring him up for +judgment. It is characteristic of the man that with this conviction +hanging like a mill-stone about his neck, he did not hesitate to take an +active and an open part with the promoters of the Fenian movement. He +travelled through various parts of Ireland in furtherance of the objects +of the society; he visited America on the same mission, and when the +_Irish People_ was started he took the position of business manager in +that foredoomed establishment. + +He was brought into the dock immediately after John O'Leary had been +taken from it; but on representing that certain documents which he had +not then at hand were necessary for his defence, he obtained a +postponement of his trial for a few days. When he was again brought up +for trial he intimated to the court that he meant to conduct his own +defence. And he entered upon it immediately. He cross-examined the +informers in fierce fashion, he badgered the detectives, he questioned +the police, he debated with the crown lawyers, he argued with the +judges, he fought with the crown side all round. But it was when the +last of the witnesses had gone off the table that he set to the work in +good earnest. He took up the various publications that had been put in +evidence against him, and claimed his legal right to read them all +through. One of them was the file of the _Irish People_ for the whole +term of its existence! Horror sat upon the faces of judges, jurymen, +sheriffs, lawyers, turnkeys, and all, when the prisoner gravely informed +them that as a compromise he would not insist upon reading the +advertisements! The bench were unable to deny that the prisoner was +entitled to read, if not the entire, at any rate a great portion of the +volume, and O'Donovan then applied himself to the task, selecting his +readings more especially from those articles in which the political +career of Mr. Justice Keogh was made the subject of animadversion. Right +on he read, his lordship striving to look as composed and indifferent as +possible, while every word of the bitter satire and fierce invective +written against him by Luby and O'Leary was being launched at his heart. +When articles of that class were exhausted, the prisoner turned to the +most treasonable and seditious documents he could find, and commenced +the reading of them, but the judges interposed; he claimed to be allowed +to read a certain article--Judge Keogh objected--he proposed to read +another--that was objected to also--he commenced to read another--he was +stopped--he tried another--again Judge Keogh was down on him--then +another--and he fared no better. So the fight went on throughout the +live-long day, till the usual hour of adjournment had come and gone, and +the prisoner himself was feeling parched, and weary, and exhausted. +Observing that the lights were being now renewed, and that their +lordships appeared satisfied to sit out the night, he anxiously inquired +if the proceedings were not to be adjourned till morning. "Proceed, +sir," was the stern reply of the judge, who knew that the physical +powers of the prisoner could not hold out much longer. "A regular +Norbury," gasped O'Donovan. "It's like a '98 trial." "You had better +proceed, sir, with propriety," exclaimed the judge. "When do you propose +stopping, my lord?" again inquired the prisoner. "Proceed, sir," was the +reiterated reply. O'Donovan could stand it no longer. He had been +reading and speaking for eight hours and a half. With one final protest +against the arrangement by which Judge Keogh was sent to try the cases +of men who had written and published such articles against him, he sat +down, exclaiming that, "English law might now take its course." + +Next day the jury handed down their verdict of guilty. The +Attorney-General then addressed the court, and referred to the previous +conviction against the prisoner. O'Donovan was asked, what he had to say +in reference to that part of the case? and his reply was that "the +government might add as much as they pleased to the term of his sentence +on that account, if it was any satisfaction to them." And when the like +question was put to him regarding the present charge, he said:-- + + "With the fact that the government seized papers connected with my + defence and examined them--with the fact that they packed the + jury--with the fact that the government stated they would + convict--with the fact that they sent Judge Keogh, a second Morbury, + to try me--with these facts before me, it would be useless to say + anything." + +Judge Keogh proceeded to pass sentence. "The prisoner," he said, "had +entertained those criminal designs since the year 1859;" whereupon +O'Donovan broke in with the remark that he was "an Irishman since he was +born." The judge said, "he would not waste words by trying to bring him +to a sense of his guilt;" O'Donovan's reply was--"It would be useless +for you to try it." The judge told him his sentence was, that he be kept +in penal servitude for the term of his natural life. "All right, my +lord," exclaimed the unconquerable rebel, and with a smile to the +sympathising group around him, he walked with a light step from the +dock. + +The court was then adjourned to the 5th of January. 1866; and next day +the judges set off for Cork city, to dispose of the Fenian prisoners +there awaiting trial. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +BRYAN DILLON, JOHN LYNCH, AND OTHERS. + + +On Wednesday, December 16th, the trial of O'Donovan (Rossa) was brought +to a conclusion in Dublin. Next morning, away went judges, crown +lawyers, spies, detectives, and informers for the good city of Cork, +where another batch of men accused of conspiring against British rule in +Ireland--"the old crime of their race"--were awaiting the pronouncement +of British law upon their several cases. Cork city in these days was +known to be one of the _foci_ of disaffection; perhaps it was its chief +stronghold. The Metropolis may have given an absolutely larger number of +members to the Fenian organization, but in proportion to the number of +its population the Southern city was far more deeply involved in the +movement. In Dublin, the seat of British rule in Ireland, many +influences which are but faintly represented in other parts of the +country, are present and active to repress the national ardour of the +people. Those influences are scarcely felt in the city of Saint Finbar. +Not in Ireland is there a town in which the national sentiment is +stronger or more widely diffused than in Cork. The citizens are a +warm-hearted, quick-witted and high-spirited race, gifted with fine +moral qualities, and profoundly attached to the national faith in +religion and politics. Merchants, traders, professional men, +shopkeepers, artizans, and all, are comparatively free from the spells +of Dublin Castle, and the result is visible in their conduct. The crown +looks dubiously and anxiously upon a Cork jury; the patriot, when any +work for Ireland is in hand, looks hopefully to the Cork people. The +leaders of the Fenian movement thoroughly understood these facts, and +devoted much of their time and attention to the propagation of their +society among men so well inclined to welcome it. Their labours, if +labours they could be called, were rewarded with a great measure of +success. The young men of Cork turned into the organization by hundreds. +There was no denying the fact; every one knew it; evidences of it were +to be seen on all sides. The hope that was filling their hearts revealed +itself in a thousand ways: in their marchings, their meetings, their +songs, their music. The loyal party in the neighbourhood grew alarmed, +and the government shared their apprehensions. At the time of which we +write, the opinion of the local magistracy and that of the authorities +at Dublin Castle was that Cork was a full-charged mine of "treason." + +Thither was the Commission now sped, to carry terror, if the "strong arm +of the law" could do it, into the hearts of those conspirators "against +the royal name, style, and dignity" of her Majesty Queen Victoria. As no +one in the Castle could say to what desperate expedients those people +might have recourse, it was thought advisable to take extraordinary +precautions to ensure the safety of the train which carried those +important personages, her Majesty's judges, lawyers, witnesses and +informers, through the Munster counties and on to the city by the Lee. +"Never before" writes the special correspondent of the _Nation_, "had +such a sight been witnessed on an Irish railway as that presented on +Thursday along the line between Dublin and Cork. Armed sentries paced +each mile of the railway; the platforms of the various stations through +which the trains passed were lined with bodies of constabulary, and the +bridges and viaducts on the way were guarded by a force of military, +whose crimson coats and bright accoutrements stood out in bold relief +from the dark ground on which they were stationed, against the grey +December sky. As a further measure of precaution a pilot engine steamed +in advance of the train in which their lordships sat, one carriage of +which was filled with armed police. And so, in some such manner as Grant +or Sheridan might have journeyed along the Petersburgh and Lynchburg +railway while the flag of the Confederacy floated in Richmond, the two +judges travelled down in safety to the head-quarters of Fenianism in +Munster." + +Immediately on their arrival in Cork, the judges proceeded to the +court-house and formally opened the business of the Commission. Next day +Charles Underwood O'Connell and John M'Afferty were placed in the dock. +These two men belonged to a class which formed the hope of the Fenian +organization, and which the government regarded as one of the most +dangerous elements of the conspiracy. They were Irish-American soldiers, +trained to war, and inured to the hardships of campaigning in the great +struggle which had but recently closed in America. They were a sample of +the thousands of Irishmen who had acquired in that practical school the +military knowledge which they knew was needed for the efficient +direction of an insurrectionary movement in Ireland, and, who were now +burning for the time and opportunity to turn that knowledge to account. +It was known that many of these men were, as quietly and secretly as +might be, dropping into Queenstown as steamer after steamer arrived from +the Land of the West, and were moving about through the Southern +counties, inspiriting the hearts of the Brotherhood by their presence +and their promises, and imparting to them as much military instruction +as was possible under the circumstances. To hunt down these "foreign +emissaries" as the crown lawyers and the loyal prints were pleased to +call them, and to deter others from following in their footsteps, was +naturally a great object with the government, and when they placed +Charles Underwood O'Connell and John M'Afferty in the dock they felt +they had made a good beginning. And these were representative men in +their way. "It was a strange fate," says the writer from whom we have +already quoted, "which had brought these men together in a felon's dock. +They had been born in different lands--they had been reared thousands of +miles apart--and they had fought and won distinction under different +flags, and on opposing sides in the American war. M'Afferty, born of +Irish parents in Ohio, won his spurs in the Confederate army. O'Connell, +who emigrated from Cork little more than two years ago, after the ruin +of his family by a cruel act of confiscation and eviction, fought under +the Stars and Stripes, and, like M'Afferty, obtained a captain's +commission as the reward of his services. Had they crossed each others +path two years ago they would probably have fought _a la mort_, but the +old traditions which linger in spite of every circumstance in the hearts +of Irishmen were strong in both, and the cause of Ireland united them, +only alas, that they might each of them pay the cost of their honest, if +imprudent enthusiasm, by sharing the same prison in Ireland, and falling +within the grasp of the government which they looked on as the oppressor +of their fatherland." + +M'Afferty however was not fated to suffer on that occasion. Proof of his +foreign birth having been adduced, the court held that his arrest on +board the steamer in Queenstown harbour, when he had committed no overt +act evidencing a treasonable intent, was illegal, and his trial was +abandoned. The trial of Underwood O'Connell was then postponed for a few +days, and two men reputed to be "centres" of the organization in Cork, +were brought to the bar. + +They were Bryan Dillon and John Lynch. Physically, they presented a +contrast to the firm-built and wiry soldiers who had just quitted the +dock. Dillon was afflicted with curvature of the spine, the result of +an accident in early life, and his companion was far gone in that +blighting and fatal disease, consumption. But though they were not men +for the toils of campaigning, for the mountain march, and the bivouac, +and the thundering charge of battle, they had hearts full of enthusiasm +for the cause in which they were engaged, and heads that could think, +and plot, and plan, for its advancement. + +We need not here go through the sad details of their trials. Our purpose +is to bring before our readers the courage and the constancy of the +martyrs to the cause of Irish nationality, and to record the words in +which they gave expression to the patriotic sentiments that inspired +them. It is, however, to be recollected that many of the accused at +these commissions--men as earnest, as honest, and as devoted to the +cause of their country as any that ever lived--made no such addresses +from the dock as we can include in this volume. All men are not orators, +and it will often occur that one who has been tried for life and liberty +in a British court of law, on the evidence of spies and informers, will +have much to press upon his mind, and many things more directly relevant +to the trial than any profession of political faith would be, to say +when called upon to show reason why sentence should not be passed upon +him. The evidence adduced in these cases is usually a compound of truth +and falsehood. Some of the untruths sworn to are simply blunders, +resulting from the confused impressions and the defective memory of the +witnesses, others are deliberate inventions, made, sworn to, backed up, +and persevered in for the purpose of insuring a successful result for +the prosecution. Naturally the first impulse of the accused, when he is +allowed to speak for himself, is to refer to these murderous falsehoods; +and in the excitement and trouble of those critical moments, it is all +that some men can venture to do. Such criticisms of the prosecution are +often valuable to the prisoner from a moral point of view, but rarely +have they any influence upon the result of the trial. All things +considered, it must be allowed that they act best who do not forget to +speak the words of patriotism, according to the measure of their +abilities, before the judge's fiat has sealed their lips, and the hand +of British law has swept them away to the dungeon or the scaffold. + +"Guilty" was the verdict returned by the jury against Bryan Dillon and +John Lynch. The evidence against them indeed was strong, but its chief +strength lay in the swearing of an approver named Warner, a callous and +unscrupulous wretch, from whose mind the idea of conscience seemed to +have perished utterly. If there was any check upon the testimony of this +depraved creature, it existed only in some prudential instinct, +suggesting to him that even in such cases as these a witness might +possibly overdo his work, and perhaps in a caution or two given him in a +private and confidential manner by some of the managers of the +prosecution. Warner's evidence in this case was conclusive to the minds +of all who chose to believe it; and therefore it was that those +prisoners had not long been occupants of the dock when the question was +put to them what they had to say why sentence should not be passed on +them. In reply Bryan Dillon said:-- + + "My lords, I never was for one minute in Warner's company. What + Warner swore about me was totally untrue. I never was at a meeting at + Geary's house. The existence of the Fenian organization has been + proved sufficiently to your lordships. I was a centre in that + organization; but it does not follow that I had to take the chair at + any meeting, as it was a military organization. I do not want to + conceal anything. Warner had no connexion with me whatever. With + respect to the observation of the Attorney-General, which pained me + very much, that it was intended to seize property, it does not follow + because of my social station that I intended to seize the property of + others. My belief in the ultimate independence of Ireland is as fixed + as my religious belief--" + +At this point he was interrupted by Judge Keogh, who declared he could +not listen to words that were, in fact, a repetition of the prisoner's +offence. But it was only words of this kind that Bryan Dillon cared to +say at the time; and as the privilege of offering some remarks in +defence of his political opinions--a privilege accorded to all prisoners +in trials for treason and treason-felony up to that time--had been +denied to him, he chose to say no more. And then the judge pronounced +the penalty of his offending, which was, penal servitude for a term of +ten years. + +John Lynch's turn to speak came next. Interrogated in the usual form, he +stood forward, raised his feeble frame to its full height, and with a +proud, grave smile upon his pallid features, he thus addressed the +court:-- + + "I will say a very few words, my lords. I know it would be only a + waste of public time if I entered into any explanations of my + political opinions--opinions which I know are shared by the vast + majority of my fellow-countrymen. Standing here as I do will be to + them the surest proof of my sincerity and honesty. With reference to + the statement of Warner, all I have to say is, and I say it honestly + and solemnly, that I never attended a meeting at Geary's, that I + never exercised with a rifle there, that I never learned the use of + the rifle, nor did any of the other things he swore to. With respect + to my opinions on British rule in this country--" + + Mr. Justice Keogh--"We can't hear that." + + The Prisoner--"All I have to say is, that I was not at Geary's house + for four or five months before my arrest, so that Warner's statement + is untrue. If, having served my country honestly and sincerely be + treason, I am not ashamed of it. I am now prepared to receive any + punishment British law can inflict on me." + +The punishment decreed to this pure-minded and brave-spirited patriot +was ten years of penal servitude. But to him it was practically a +sentence of death. The rigours and horrors of prison life were more than +his failing constitution could long endure; and but a few months from +the date of his conviction elapsed when his countrymen were pained by +the intelligence that the faithful-hearted John Lynch filled a nameless +grave in an English prison-yard. He died in the hospital of Woking +prison on the 2nd day of June, 1866. + +When Bryan Dillon and John Lynch were removed from the dock (Tuesday, +December 19th), two men named Jeremiah Donovan and John Duggan were put +forward, the former charged with having been a centre in the Fenian +organization, and the latter with having sworn some soldiers into the +society. Both were found guilty. Donovan made no remarks when called +upon for what he had to say. Duggan contradicted the evidence of the +witnesses on several points, and said:-- + + "I do not state those things in order to change the sentence I am + about to receive. I know your lordships' minds are made up on that. I + state this merely to show what kind of tools the British government + employ to procure those convictions. I have only to say, and I appeal + to any intelligent man for his opinion, that the manner in which the + jury list was made out for these trials clearly shows that in this + country political trials are a mere mockery." + +At this point the judge cut short the prisoner's address, and the two +men were sentenced, Donovan to five years and Duggan to ten years of +penal servitude. + +The trial of Underwood O'Connell was then proceeded with. It concluded +on December 21st, with a verdict of guilty. In response to the question +which was then addressed to him he spoke at considerable length, +detailing the manner of his arrest, complaining of the horrible +indignities to which he had been subjected in prison, and asserting that +he had not received a fair and impartial trial. He spoke amidst a +running fire of interruptions from the court, and when he came to refer +to his political opinions his discourse was peremptorily suppressed. +"The sentiments and hopes that animate me," he said, "are well known." +"Really we will not hear those observations," interposed Mr. Justice +Keogh. "It has been brought forward here," said the prisoner, "that I +held a commission in the 99th regiment--in Colonel O'Mahony's regiment. +Proud as I am of having held a commission in the United States service, +I am equally proud of holding command under a man--." Here his speech +was stopped by the judges, and Mr. Justice Keogh proceeded to pass +sentence. In the course of his address his lordship made the following +observations:-- + + "You, it appears, went to America; you entered yourself in the + American army, thus violating, to a certain extent, your allegiance + as a British subject. But that is not the offence you are charged + with here to-day. You say you swore allegiance to the American + Republic, but no man by so doing can relieve himself from his + allegiance to the British Crown. From the moment a man is born in + this country he owes allegiance, he is a subject." + +Hearing these words, and remembering the great outcry that was being +made by the friends of the government against the Irish-American Fenians +on the ground that they were "foreigners," the prisoner interposed the +apt remark on his lordship's legal theory:-- + + "If that is so, why am I charged with bringing over foreigners--John + O'Mahony is no foreigner?" + +To that remark Judge Keogh did not choose to make any reply. It +overturned him completely. Nothing could better exhibit the absurdity of +railing against those Irishmen as "foreigners" in one breath, and in the +next declaring their allegiance to the British Crown perpetual and +inalienable. His lordship may have winced as the point was so quickly +and neatly brought home to him; but at all events he went on with his +address and informed the prisoner that his punishment was to be ten +years of penal servitude. Upon which, the comment of the prisoner as he +quitted the dock, was that he hoped there would be an exchange of +prisoners before that time. + +In quick succession four men named Casey, Began, Hayes, and Barry, were +tried, convicted, and sentenced. Each in turn impugned the evidence of +the informer Warner, protested against the constitution of the juries, +and attempted to say a few words declaratory of their devotion to the +cause of Ireland. But the judges were quick to suppress every attempt of +this kind, and only a few fragments of sentences are on record to +indicate the thoughts to which these soldiers of liberty would have +given expression if the opportunity had not been denied to them. + +John Kennealy was the next occupant of the dock. He was a young man of +high personal character, and of great intelligence, and was a most +useful member of the organization, his calling--that of commercial +traveller--enabling him to act as agent and missionary of the Society +without attracting to himself the suspicion which would be aroused by +the movements of other men. In his case also the verdict was given in +the one fatal word. And when asked what he had to say for himself, his +reply was in these few forcible and dignified sentences:-- + + "My lord, it is scarcely necessary for me to say anything. I am sure + from the charge of your lordship, the jury could find no other + verdict than has been found. The verdict against me has been found by + the means by which political convictions have always been found in + this country. As to the informer, Warner, I have only to say that + directly or indirectly I never was in the same room with him, nor had + he any means of knowing my political opinions. As to my connexion + with Mr. Luby, I am proud of that connexion. I neither regret it, nor + anything else I have done, politically or otherwise." + +On the conclusion of this trial, on Saturday, January 2nd, 1866, two +other cases were postponed without option of bail; some other persons +were allowed to stand out on sureties, and we read that "John McAfferty +and William Mackay, being aliens, were admitted to bail on their own +recognizance, and Judge Keogh said that if they left the country they +would not be required up for trial when called." We read also, in the +newspapers of that time, that "The prisoners McAfferty and Mackay when +leaving the courts were followed by large crowds who cheered them loudly +through the streets." + +The Cork Commission was then formally closed, and next day the judges +set off to resume in Dublin the work of trying Irish conspirators +against the rule of England over their native land. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHARLES JOSEPH KICKHAM. + + +In the year 1825, in the village of Mullinahone, County. Tipperary, +Charles J. Kickham first saw the light. His father, John Kickham, was +proprietor of the chief drapery establishment in that place, and was +held in high esteem by the whole country round about for his integrity, +intelligence, and patriotic spirit. During the boyhood of young Kickham +the Repeal agitation was at its height, and he soon became thoroughly +versed in its arguments, and inspired by its principles, which he often +heard discussed in his father's shop and by his hearth, and amongst all +his friends and acquaintances. Like all the young people of the time, +and a great many of the old ones, his sympathies went with the Young +Ireland party at the time of their withdrawal from the Repeal ranks. In +1848 he was the leading spirit of the Confederation Club at Mullinahone, +which he was mainly instrumental in founding; and after the _fiasco_ at +Ballingarry he was obliged to conceal himself for some time, in +consequence of the part he had taken in rousing the people of his native +village to action. When the excitement of that period had subsided, he +again appeared in his father's house, resumed his accustomed sports of +fishing and fowling, and devoted much of his time to literary pursuits, +for which he had great natural capacity, and towards which he was all +the more inclined because of the blight put upon his social powers by an +unfortunate accident which occurred to him when about the age of +thirteen years. He had brought a flask of powder near the fire, and was +engaged either in the operation of drying it or casting some grains into +the coals for amusement, when the whole quantity exploded. The shock and +the injuries he sustained nearly proved fatal to him; when he recovered, +it was with his hearing nearly quite destroyed, and his sight +permanently impaired. But Kickham had the poet's soul within him, and it +was his compensation for the losses he had sustained. He could still +hold communion with nature and with his own mind, and could give to the +national cause the service of a bold heart and a finely-cultivated +intellect. Subsequent to the decadence of the '48 movement he wrote a +good deal in prose and verse, and contributed gratuitously to various +national publications. His intimate acquaintance with the character and +habits of the peasantry gave a great charm to his stories and sketches +of rural life; and his poems were always marked by grace, simplicity, +and tenderness. Many of them have attained a large degree of popularity +amongst his countrymen in Ireland and elsewhere, and taken a permanent +place in the poetic literature of the Irish race. Amongst these, his +ballads entitled "Patrick Sheehan," "Rory of the Hill," and "The Irish +Peasant Girl" are deserving of special mention. To these remarks it +remains to be added that as regards personal character, Charles J. +Kickham was one of the most amiable of men. He was generous and kindly +by nature, and was a pious member of the Catholic Church, to which his +family had given priests and nuns. + +Such was the man whom the myrmidons of the law placed in the dock of +Green-street court-house, when on January 5th, 1866, after the return of +the judges from Cork, the Commission was re-opened in Dublin. His +appearance was somewhat peculiar. He was a tall, strong, rough-bearded +man, with that strained expression of face which is often worn by people +of dim sight. Around his neck he wore an india-rubber tube, or ear +trumpet, through which any words that were necessary to be addressed to +him were shouted into his ear by some of his friends, or by his +solicitor. His trial did not occupy much time, for on the refusal of the +crown lawyers and judges to produce the convict Thomas Clarke Luby, whom +he conceived to be a material witness for his defence, he directed his +lawyers to abandon the case, and contented himself with reading to the +court some remarks on the evidence which had been offered against him. +The chief feature in this address was his denial of all knowledge of the +"executive document." He had never seen or heard of it until it turned +up in connexion with those trials. Referring to one of the articles with +the authorship of which he was charged, he said he wondered how any +Irishman, taking into consideration what had occurred in Ireland during +the last eighty-four years, could hesitate to say to the enemy--"Give us +our country to ourselves and let us see what we can do with it." +Alluding to a report that the government contemplated making some +concession to the claims of the Catholic bishops, he remarked that +concessions to Ireland had always been a result of Fenianism in one +shape or another, and that he believed the present manifestation of the +national spirit would have weight, as former ones had, with the rulers +of the country. As regards the landed class in Ireland, the _Irish +People_, he contended, had said nothing more than was said by Thomas +Davis, whose works every one admired. That eminent Irishman, afflicted +and stung to the heart by witnessing the system of depopulation which +was going on throughout the country, had written these words:-- + + "God of Justice, I sighed, send your Spirit down + On those lords so cruel and proud, + And soften their hearts, and relax their frown, + Or else, I cried aloud, + Vouchsafe Thy strength to the peasant's hand + To drive them at length from out the land." + +He had not gone farther than the writer of these lines, and now, he +said, they might send him to a felon's doom if they liked. + +And they did send him to it. Judge Keogh, before passing sentence, asked +him if he had any further remarks to make in reference to his case. Mr. +Kickham briefly replied:-- + + "I believe, my lords, I have said enough already. I will only add + that I am convicted for doing nothing but my duty. I have endeavoured + to serve Ireland, and now I am prepared to suffer for Ireland." + +Then the judge, with many expressions of sympathy for the prisoner, and +many compliments in reference to his intellectual attainments, sentenced +him to kept in penal servitude for fourteen years. His solicitor, Mr. +John Lawless, announced the fact to him through his ear trumpet. Charles +J. Kickham bowed to the judges, and with an expression of perfect +tranquility on his features, went into captivity. + +[Illustration: GENERAL THOMAS F. BURKE.] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +GENERAL THOMAS F. BURKE. + + +The year of grace, 1867, dawned upon a cloudy and troublous period in +Irish politics. There was danger brewing throughout the land; under the +crust of society the long confined lava of Fenianism effervesced and +glowed. There were strange rumours in the air; strange sounds were heard +at the death of night on the hill-sides and in the meadows; and through +the dim moonlight masses of men were seen in secluded spots moving in +regular bodies and practising military evolutions. From castle and +mansion and country seat the spectre of alarm glided to and fro, +whispering with bloodless lips of coming convulsions and slaughter, of +the opening of the crater of revolution, and of a war against property +and class. Symptoms of danger were everywhere seen and felt; the spirit +of disaffection had not been crushed; it rode on the night wind and +glistened against the rising sun; it filled rath and fort and crumbling +ruin with mysterious sounds; it was seen in the brightening eyes and the +bold demeanour of the peasantry; in the signals passing amongst the +people; in their secret gatherings and closely guarded conclaves. For +years and years Fenianism had been threatening, boasting, and promising, +and now the fury of the storm, long pent-up, was about to burst forth +over the land--the hour for action was at hand. + +Between the conviction of Luby, O'Leary, and Kickham, and the period at +which we are now arrived, many changes of importance had taken place in +the Fenian organization. In America, the society had been +revolutionized--it had found new leaders, new principles, new plans of +action; it had passed through the ordeal of war, and held its ground +amidst flashing swords and the smoke of battle; it had survived the +shocks of division, disappointment, and failure; treachery, incapacity +and open hostility had failed to shatter it; and it grew apace in +strength, influence, and resources. At home Fenianism, while losing +little in numerical strength, had declined in effectiveness, in +prestige, in discipline, and in organization. Its leaders had been swept +into the prisons, and though men perhaps as resolute stepped forward to +fill the vacant places, there was a loss in point of capacity and +intelligence, and to the keen observer it became apparent that the +Fenian Society in Ireland had attained to the zenith of its power on the +day that the _Irish People_ office was sacked by the police. Never again +did the prospects of Fenianism, whatever they might then have been, look +equally bright; and when the brotherhood at length sprang to action, +they fought with a sword already broken to the hilt, and under +circumstances the most ominous and inauspicious. + +The recent history of the Fenian movement is so thoroughly understood +that anything like a detailed account of its changes and progress is, in +these pages, unnecessary. We shall only say that when James Stephens +arrived in America in May, 1866, after escaping from Richmond Prison, he +found the society in the States split up into two opposing parties +between whom a violent quarrel was raging. John O'Mahony had been +deposed from his position of "Head Centre" by an all but unanimous vote +of the Senate, or governing body of the association, who charged him and +his officials with a reckless and corrupt expenditure of the society's +funds, and these in turn charged the Senate party with the crime of +breaking up the organization for mere personal and party purposes. A +large section of the society still adhered to O'Mahony, in consideration +of his past services in their cause; but the greater portion of it, and +nearly all its oldest, best-known and most trusted leaders gave their +allegiance to the Senate and to its elected President, William R. +Roberts, an Irish merchant of large means, of talent and energy, of high +character and unquestionable devotion to the cause of his country. Many +friends of the brotherhood hoped that James Stephens would seek to heal +the breach between these parties, but the course he took was not +calculated to effect that purpose. He denounced the "senators" in the +most extravagant terms, and invited both branches of the organization to +unite under himself as supreme and irresponsible leader and governor of +the entire movement. The O'Mahony section did not answer very heartily +to this invitation; the Senate party indignantly rejected it, and +commenced to occupy themselves with preparations for an immediate +grapple with British power in Canada. Those men were thoroughly in +earnest, and the fact became plain to every intelligence, when in the +latter part of May, 1866, the Fenian contingents from the various States +of the Union began to concentrate on the Canadian border. On the morning +of the 1st of June some hundreds of them crossed the Niagara river, and +took possession of the village of Fort Erie on the Canadian side. They +were soon confronted with detachments of the volunteer force which had +been collected to resist the invasion, and at Limestone Ridge they were +met by the "Queen's Own" regiment of volunteers from Toronto, under the +command of Colonel Booker. A smart battle ensued, the result of which +was that the "Queen's Own" were utterly routed by the Irish under +Colonel John O'Neill, and forced to run in wild confusion for a town +some miles distant, Colonel Booker on his charger leading the way and +distancing all competitors. Had the Irish been allowed to follow up this +victory it is not unlikely that they would have swept Canada clear of +the British forces, and then, according to their programme, made that +country their base of operations against British power in Ireland. But +the American government interfered and put an effectual stopper on their +progress; they seized the arms of the Irish soldiers on the frontier, +they sent up large parties of the States soldiery to prevent the +crossing of hostile parties into British territory, and stationed +war-vessels in the river for the same purpose. Reinforcements being thus +cut off from them, the victors of Limestone Ridge found themselves under +the necessity of re-crossing the river to the American shore, which they +did on the night of the 2nd of June, bringing with them the flags and +other trophies which they had captured from the royal troops. + +The first brush between the Fenian forces and the Queen's troops +inspired the former with high hopes, and with great confidence in their +capacity to humble "the English red below the Irish green," if only they +could start on any thing like fair terms. But now that the American +government had forbidden the fight in Canada, what was to be done? James +Stephens answered that question. He would have a fight in Ireland--the +right place, he contended, in which to fight _for_ Ireland. The home +organization was subject to his control and would spring to arms at his +bidding. He would not only bid them fight, but would lead them to +battle, and that at no distant day. The few remaining months of 1866 +would not pass away without witnessing the commencement of the struggle. +So he said, and so he swore in the most solemn manner at various public +meetings which he had called for the purpose of obtaining funds +wherewith to carry on the conflict. The prudence of thus publishing the +date which he had fixed for the outbreak of the insurrection was very +generally questioned, but however great might be his error in this +respect, many believed that he would endeavour to make good his words. +The British government believed it, and prepared for the threatened +rising by hurrying troops and munitions of war across to Ireland, and +putting the various forts and barracks in a state of thorough defence. +As the last days and nights of 1866 wore away, both the government and +the people expected every moment to hear the first crash of the +struggle. But it came not. The year 3867 came in and still all was +quiet. What had become of James Stephens? The astonished and irate +Fenians of New York investigated the matter, and found that he was +peacefully and very privately living at lodgings in some part of that +city, afraid to face the wrath of the men whom he had so egregiously +deceived. We need not describe the outburst of rage and indignation +which followed on the discovery; suffice it to say that the once popular +and powerful Fenian leader soon found it prudent to quit the United +States and take up his abode in a part of the world where there were no +Fenian circles and no settlements of the swarming Irish race. + +Amongst the men who had rallied round James Stephens in America there +were many whose honesty was untainted, and who had responded to his call +with the full intention of committing themselves, without regard to +consequences, to the struggle which he promised to initiate. They +believed his representations respecting the prospects of an insurrection +in Ireland, and they pledged themselves to fight by his side and perish, +if necessary, in the good old cause, in defence of which their fathers +had bled. They scorned to violate their engagements; they spurned the +idea of shrinking from the difficulty they had pledged themselves to +face, and resolved that come what may the reproach of cowardice and bad +faith should never be uttered against them. Accordingly, in January, +'67, they began to fend in scattered parties at Queenstown, and spread +themselves through the country, taking every precaution to escape the +suspicion of the police. They set to work diligently and energetically +to organize an insurrectionary outbreak; they found innumerable +difficulties in their path; they found the people almost wholly unarmed; +they found the wisest of the Fenian leaders opposed to an immediate +outbreak, but still they persevered. How ably they performed their work +there is plenty of evidence to show, and if the Irish outbreak of '67 +was short-lived and easily suppressed, it was far from contemptible in +the pre-concert and organization which it evidenced. + +One hitch did occur in the accomplishment of their designs. On +Wednesday, February 13th, the exciting news was flashed throughout the +land that the Fenians had broken into insurrection at Kerry. The news +was true. The night of the 12th of February had been fixed for a +simultaneous rising of the Fenians in Ireland; but the outbreak had been +subsequently postponed, and emissaries were despatched to all parts of +the country with the intelligence of the change of date. The change of +date was everywhere learned in time to prevent premature action except +at Cahirciveen, in the west of Kerry, where the members of the +Brotherhood, acting upon the orders received, unearthed their arms, and +gaily proceeded towards Killarney to form a junction with the insurgents +whom they imagined had converged from various parts of the county in +that town. Before many hours had elapsed they discovered their +mistake--they heard before arriving at Killarney that they were the only +representatives of the Irish Republic that had appeared in the field, +and turning to the mountains they broke up and disappeared. + +Short-lived as was their escapade, it filled the heart of England with +alarm. In hot haste the _Habeas Corpus_ Suspension Act, which had been +permitted to lapse a month before, was re-enacted; the arrests and +police raids was renewed, and from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear +the gaols were filled with political prisoners. Still the +Irish-Americans worked on; some of them were swept off to prison, but +the greater number of them managed to escape detection, and spite of the +vigilance of the authorities, and the extraordinary power possessed by +the government and its officials, they managed to carry on the business +of the organization, to mature their plans, and to perfect their +arrangements for the fray. + +We do not propose to write here a detailed account of the last of the +outbreaks which, since the Anglo-Norman invasion, have periodically +convulsed our country. The time is not yet come when the whole history +of that extraordinary movement can be revealed, and such of its facts, +as are now available for publication, are fresh in the minds of our +readers. On the night of the 5th of March, the Fenian bands took the +field in Dublin, Louth, Tipperary, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Clare. +They were, in all cases, wretchedly armed, their plans had been betrayed +by unprincipled associates, and ruin tracked their venture from the +outset. They were everywhere confronted by well-armed, disciplined men, +and their reckless courage could not pluck success for the maze of +adverse circumstances that surrounded them. The elements, too, +befriended England as they had often done before. Hardly had the +insurgents left their homes when the clear March weather gave place to +the hail and snow of mid-winter. The howling storm, edged by the frost +and hail, swept over mountain and valley, rendering life in the open air +all but impossible to man. The weather in itself would have been +sufficient to dispose of the Fenian insurgents. Jaded and exhausted they +returned to their homes, and twenty-four hours after the flag of revolt +had been unfurled the Fenian insurrection was at an end. + +Amongst the Irish officers who left America to share in the expected +battle for Irish rights, a conspicuous place must be assigned Thomas F. +Burke. He was born at Fethard, county Tipperary, on the 10th of +December, 1840, and twelve years later sailed away towards the setting +sun, his parents having resolved on seeking a home in the far West. In +New York, young Burke attended the seminary established by the late +Archbishop Hughes, where he received an excellent education, after which +he was brought up to his father's trade--that of house painter. For many +years he worked steadily at his trade, contributing largely to the +support of his family. The outbreak of the war, however, acted in the +same manner on Burke's temperament as on thousands of his +fellow-countrymen. He threw aside his peaceful avocation and joined the +Confederate army. He served under General Patrick Cleburne, who died in +his arms, and he fought side by side with the son of another +distinguished exile, John Mitchel. When the war had closed, he returned +a Brevet-General, northwards, with a shattered limb and an impaired +constitution. In June, 1865, he joined the Wolfe Tone Circle of the +Fenian Brotherhood in New York, and was appointed soon afterwards to act +as organizer in the Brotherhood for the district of Manhattan. He filled +this post with great satisfaction to his associates, and continued to +labour energetically in this capacity until his departure for Ireland, +at the close of 1866. + +Tipperary was assigned to Burke as the scene of his revolutionary +labours in Ireland. He arrived in Clonmel early in February, where he +was arrested on suspicion, but was immediately discharged--his worn +appearance and physical infirmity giving strong corroboration of his +assertion, that he had come to Ireland for the benefit of his health. On +the night of the insurrection he placed himself at the head of the +Fenian party that assembled in the neighbourhood of Tipperary, but he +quickly saw the folly of attempting a revolution with the scanty band of +unarmed men that rallied round him. On the evening of the 6th his +followers were attacked by a detachment of soldiers at Ballyhurst Fort, +about three miles from Tipperary; Burke saw the uselessness of +resistance, and advised his followers to disperse--an injunction which +they appear to have obeyed. Burke himself was thrown from his horse and +captured. He was conveyed to the jail of Tipperary, and was brought to +trial in the Greenstreet court-house, in Dublin, on the 24th of April +following. He was convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death in +the usual form. The following speech delivered by him after conviction +is well worthy of a place in the Irish heart:-- + + "My lords--It is not my intention to occupy much of your time in + answering the question--what I have to say why sentence should not be + passed upon me? But I may, with your permission, review a little of + the evidence that has been brought against me. The first evidence + that I would speak of is that of Sub-Inspector Kelly, who had a + conversation with me in Clonmel. He states that he asked me either + how was my friend, or what about my friend, Mr. Stephens, and + that I made answer and said, that he was the most idolised man that + ever had been, or that ever would be in America. Here, standing on + the brink of my grave, and in the presence of the Almighty and + ever-living God, I brand that as being the foulest perjury that ever + man gave utterance to. In any conversation that occurred the name of + Stephens was not mentioned. I shall pass from that, and then touch on + the evidence of Brett. He states that I assisted in distributing the + bread to the parties in the fort, and that I stood with him in the + waggon or cart. This is also false. I was not in the fort at the + time; I was not there when the bread was distributed. I came in + afterwards. Both of these assertions have been made and submitted to + the men in whose hands my life rested, as evidence made on oath by + these men--made solely and purely for the purpose of giving my body + to an untimely grave. There are many points, my lords, that have been + sworn to here to prove my complicity in a great many acts it has been + alleged I took part in. It is not my desire now, my lords, to give + utterance to one word against the verdict which has been pronounced + upon me. But fully conscious of my honour as a man, which has never + been impugned, fully conscious that I can go into my grave with a + name and character unsullied, I can only say that these parties, + actuated by a desire either of their own aggrandisement, or to save + their paltry miserable lives, have pandered to the appetite, if I may + so speak, of justice, and my life shall pay the forfeit. Fully + convinced and satisfied of the righteousness of my every act in + connection with the late revolutionary movement in Ireland, I have + nothing to recall--nothing that I would not do again, nothing for + which I should feel the blush of shame mantling my brow; my conduct + and career, both here as a private citizen, and in America--if you + like--as a soldier, are before you; and even in this, my hour of + trial, I feel the consciousness of having lived an honest man, and I + will die proudly, believing that if I have given my life to give + freedom and liberty to the land of my birth, I have done only that + which every Irishman and every man whose soul throbs with a feeling + of liberty should do. I, my lords, shall scarcely--I feel I should + not at all--mention the name of Massey. I feel I should not pollute + my lips with the name of that traitor, whose illegitimacy has been + proved here--a man whose name even is not known, and who, I deny + point blank, ever wore the star of a colonel in the Confederate army. + Him I shall let rest. I shall pass him, wishing him, in the words of + the poet:-- + + "'May the grass wither from his feet; + The woods deny him shelter; earth a home; + The dust a grave; the sun his light: + And heaven its God!' + + "Let Massey remember from this day forth that he carries with him, as + my able and eloquent counsel (Mr. Dowse) has stated, a serpent that + will gnaw his conscience, will carry about him in his breast a living + hell from which he can never be separated. I, my lords, have no + desire for the name of a martyr; I seek not the death of a martyr; + but if it is the will of the Almighty and Omnipotent God that my + devotion for the land of my birth shall be tested on the scaffold, I + am willing there to die in defence of the right of men to free + government--the right of an oppressed people to throw off the yoke of + thraldom. I am an Irishman by birth, an American by adoption; by + nature a lover of freedom--an enemy to the power that holds my native + land in the bonds of tyranny. It has so often been admitted that the + oppressed have a right to throw off the yoke of oppression, even by + English statesmen, that I do not deem it necessary to advert to the + fact in a British court of justice. Ireland's children are not, never + were, and never will be, willing or submissive slaves; and so long as + England's flag covers one inch of Irish soil, just so long will they + believe it to be a divine right to conspire, imagine, and devise + means to hurl it from power, and to erect in its stead the God-like + structure of self-government. I shall now, my lords, before I go any + further, perform one important duty to my learned, talented, and + eloquent counsel. I offer them that which is poor enough, the thanks, + the sincere and heartfelt thanks of an honest man. I offer them, too, + in the name of America, the thanks of the Irish people. I know that I + am here without a relative--without a friend--in fact, 3,000 miles + away from my family. But I know that I am not forgotten there. The + great and generous Irish heart of America to-day feels for me--to-day + sympathises with and does not forget the man who is willing to tread + the scaffold--aye, defiantly--proudly, conscious of no wrong--in + defence of American principles--in defence of liberty. To Messrs. + Butt, Dowse, O'Loghlen, and all the counsel for the prisoners, for + some of whom I believe Mr. Curran will appear, and my very able + solicitor, Mr. Lawless, I return individually and collectively, my + sincere and heartfelt thanks. + + "I shall now, my lords, as no doubt you will suggest to me, think of + the propriety of turning my attention to the world beyond the grave. + I shall now look only to that home where sorrows are at an end, where + joy is eternal. I shall hope and pray that freedom may vet dawn on + this poor down-trodden country. It is my hope, it is my prayer, and + the last words that I shall utter will be a prayer to God for + forgiveness, and a prayer for poor old Ireland. Now, my lords; in + relation to the other man, Corridon, I will make a few remarks. + Perhaps before I go to Corridon, I should say much has been spoken on + that table of Colonel Kelly, and of the meetings held at his lodgings + in London. I desire to state, I never knew where Colonel Kelly's + lodgings were. I never knew where he lived in London, till I heard + the informer, Massey, announce it on the table. I never attended a + meeting at Colonel Kelly's; and the hundred other statements that + have been made about him. I now solemnly declare on my honour as a + man--as a dying man--these statements have been totally unfounded and + false from beginning to end. In relation to the small paper that was + introduced here, and brought against me as evidence, as having been + found on my person in connexion with that oath, I desire to say that + that paper was not found on my person. I knew no person whose name + was on that paper. O'Beirne, of Dublin, or those other delegates you + heard of, I never saw or met. That paper has been put in there for + some purpose. I can swear positively it is not in my handwriting. I + can also swear I never saw it; yet it is used as evidence against me. + Is this justice? Is this right? Is this manly? I am willing if I have + transgressed the laws to suffer the penalty, but I object to this + system of trumping up a case to take away the life of a human being. + True, I ask for no mercy. I feel that, with my present emaciated + frame and somewhat shattered constitution, it is bettor that my life + should be brought to an end than that I should drag out a miserable + existence in the prison dens of Portland. Thus it is, my lords, I + accept the verdict. Of course my acceptance of it is unnecessary, but + I am satisfied with it. And now I shall close. True it is there are + many feelings that actuate me at this moment. In fact, these few + disconnected remarks can give no idea of what I desire to state to + the court. I have ties to bind me to life and society as strong as + any man in this court can have. I have a family I love as much as any + man in this court loves his family. But I can remember the blessing I + received from an aged mother's lips as I left her the last time. She, + speaking as the Spartan mother did, said--'Go, my boy, return either + with your shield or upon it.' This reconciles me--this gives me + heart. I submit to my doom; and I hope that God will forgive me my + past sins. I hope also, that inasmuch as He has for seven hundred + years preserved Ireland, notwithstanding all the tyranny to which she + has been subjected, as a separate and distinct nationality, He will + also assist her to retrieve her fallen fortunes--to rise in her + beauty and majesty, the Sister of Columbia, the peer of any nation in + the world." + +General Burke, as our readers are well aware, was not executed. The +government shrank from carrying out the barbarous sentence of the law, +and his punishment was changed to the still more painful, if less +appalling fate, of penal servitude for life. Of General Burke's private +character we have said little; but our readers will be able to +understand it from the subjoined brief extracts from two of his letters. +On the very night previous to his trial he wrote to his mother from +Kilmainham Prison:-- + + ... "On last Easter Sunday I partook of Holy Communion at a late + mass, I calculated the difference of time between this longitude and + yours, for I knew that you and my dear sisters were partaking of the + sacrament at early mass on that day, as was your wont, and I felt + that our souls were in communion together." + +We conclude with the following letter from General Burke, which has +never before been published, and which we are sure will be of deep +interest to our readers. It is addressed to the reverend gentleman who +had been his father confessor in Clonmel:-- + + "KILMAINHAM GOAL, + + "_4th, Month of Mary._ + + "DEAR REV. FATHER, + + " ... I am perfectly calm and resigned, with my thoughts firmly + centered with hope in the goodness and mercy of that kind Redeemer, + whose precious blood was shed for my salvation; as also in the + mediation and intercession of His Blessed Mother, who is my Star of + Hope and Consolation. I know, dear father, I need not ask you to be + remembered in your prayers, for I feel that in your supplication to + the Throne of Mercy I have not been forgotten.... I have only one + thought which causes me much sorrow, and that is that my good and + loving mother will break down under the weight of her affliction, + and, oh, God, I who loved her more than the life which animates the + hand that writes to be the cause of it! This thought unmans and + prostrates me. I wrote to her at the commencement of my trial, and + told her how I thought it would terminate, and spoke a long and last + farewell. I have not written since; it would break my heart to + attempt it; but I would ask you as an especial favour that you would + write to her and tell her I am happy and reconciled to the will of + God who has given me this opportunity of saving my immortal soul. I + hope to hear from you before I leave this world." + + "Good-bye, father, and that God may bless you in your ministry is the + prayer of an obedient child of the church." + + "THOMAS F. BURKE." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CAPTAIN JOHN M'AFFERTY. + + +It is not Irish-born men alone whose souls are filled with a chivalrous +love for Ireland, and a stern hatred of her oppressor. There are amongst +the ranks of her patriots none more generous, more resolute, or more +active in her cause than the children born of Irish parents in various +parts of the world. In London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, +Glasgow, and all the large towns of Great Britain, throughout the United +States, and in the British colonies, many of the best known and most +thorough-going "Irishmen" are men whose place of birth was not beneath +the Irish skies, and amongst them are some who never saw the shores of +the Green Isle. One of these men was Captain John M'Afferty. He was born +of Irish parents in the State of Ohio, in the year 1838, and at their +knees he heard of the rights and wrongs of Ireland, learned to +sympathise with the sufferings of that country, and to regard the +achievement of its freedom as a task in which he was bound to bear a +part. He grew up to be a man of adventurous and daring habits, better +fitted for the camp than for the ordinary ways of peaceful life; and +when the civil war broke out he soon found his place in one of those +regiments of the Confederacy whose special duty lay in the +accomplishment of the most hazardous enterprises. He belonged to the +celebrated troop of Morgan's guerillas, whose dashing feats of valour so +often filled the Federal forces with astonishment and alarm. In the +latter part of 1865 he crossed over to this country to assist in leading +the insurrection which was then being prepared by the Fenian +organization. He was arrested, as already stated in these pages, on +board the steamer at Queenstown before he had set foot on Irish soil; +when brought to trial at Cork, in the month of December, the lawyers +discovered that being an alien, and having committed no overt act of +treason within the Queen's dominions, there was no case against him, and +he was consequently discharged. He then went back to America, took an +active part in some Fenian meetings, made a speech at one of them which +was held at Jones's Wood, and when the report of the proceedings +appeared in print, he, with a sense of grim humour, posted a copy +containing his oration to the governor of Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. In +the latter part of 1866, when James Stephens was promising to bring off +immediately the long-threatened insurrection, M'Afferty again crossed +the ocean, and landed in England. There he was mainly instrumental in +planning and organizing that extraordinary movement, the raid on +Chester, which took place on Monday, 11th of February, 1867. It is now +confessed, even by the British authorities themselves, that but for the +timely intimation of the design given by the informer Corridon, +M'Afferty and his party would probably have succeeded in capturing the +old Castle, and seizing the large store of arms therein contained. +Finding their movements anticipated, the Fenian party left Chester as +quietly as they had come, and the next that was heard of M'Afferty was +his arrest, and that of his friend and companion John Flood, on the 23rd +of February, in the harbour of Dublin, after they had got into a small +boat from out of the collier "New Draper," which had just arrived from +Whitehaven. M'Afferty was placed in the dock of Green-street +court-house for trial on Wednesday, May 1st, while the jury were absent +considering their verdict in the case of Burke and Doran. On Monday, May +the 6th, he was declared guilty by the jury. On that day week a Court of +Appeal, consisting of ten of the Irish judges, sat to consider some +legal points raised by Mr. Butt in the course of the trial, the most +important of which was the question whether the prisoner, who had been +in custody since February 23rd, could be held legally responsible for +the events of the Fenian rising which occurred on the night of the 5th +of March. Their lordships gave an almost unanimous judgment against the +prisoner on Saturday, May 18th, and on the Monday following he was +brought up for sentence, on which occasion, in response to the usual +question, he spoke as follows:-- + + "My lords--I have nothing to say that can, at this advanced stage of + the trial, ward off that sentence of death, for I might as well hurl + my complaint (if I had one) at the orange trees of the sunny south, + or the tall pine trees of the bleak north, as now to speak to the + question why sentence of death should not be passed upon me according + to the law of the land; but I do protest loudly against the injustice + of that sentence. I have been brought to trial upon a charge of high + treason against the government of Great Britain, and guilt has been + brought home to me upon the evidence of one witness, and that witness + a perjured informer. I deny distinctly that there have been two + witnesses to prove the overt act of treason against me. I deny + distinctly that you have brought two independent witnesses to two + overt acts. There is but one witness to prove the overt act of + treason against me. I grant that there has been a cloud of + circumstantial evidence to show my connection (if I may please to use + that word) with the Irish people in their attempt for Irish + independence, and I claim that as an American and as an alien, I have + a reason and a right to sympathise with the Irish people or any other + people who may please to revolt against that form of government by + which they believe they are governed tyrannically. England + sympathised with America. She not only sympathised, but she gave her + support to both parties; but who ever heard of an Englishman having + been arrested by the United States government for having given his + support to the Confederate States of America and placed on his trial + for high treason against the government? No such case ever has been. + I do not deny that I have sympathised with the Irish people--I love + Ireland--I love the Irish people. And, if I were free to-morrow, and + the Irish people were to take the field for independence, my sympathy + would be with them; I would join them if they had any prospect + whatever of independence, but I would not give my sanction to the + useless effusion of blood, however done; and I state distinctly that + I had nothing whatever to do, directly or indirectly, with the + movement that took place in the county of Dublin. I make that + statement on the brink of my grave. Again, I claim that I have a + right to be discharged of the charge against me by the language of + the law by which I have been tried. That law states that you must + have two independent witnesses to prove the overt act against the + prisoner. That is the only complaint I have to make, and I make that + aloud. I find no fault with the jury, no complaint against the + judges. I have been tried and found guilty. I am perfectly satisfied + that I will go to my grave. I will go to my grave like a gentleman + and a Christian, although I regret that I should be cut off at this + stage of my life--still many an noble Irishman fell in defence of the + rights of my southern clime. I do not wish to make any flowery speech + to win sympathy in the court of justice. Without any further remarks + I will now accept the sentence of the court." + +Mr. Justice Fitzgerald then in the "solemn tone of voice" adopted on +such occasions proceeded to pass sentence in the usual form, fixing the +12th day of June as the date on which the execution should take place. + +The prisoner heard the sentence without giving the slightest symptoms of +emotion, and then spoke as follows:-- + + "I will accept my sentence as becomes a gentleman and a Christian. I + have but one request to ask of the tribunal, and that is that after + the execution of the sentence my remains shall be turned over to Mr. + Lawless to be by him interred in consecrated ground as quietly as he + possibly can. I have now, previous to leaving the dock, once more to + return my grateful and sincere thanks to Mr. Butt, the star of the + Irish bar, for his able and devoted defence on behalf of me and my + friends. Mr. Butt, I thank you. I also return the same token of + esteem to Mr. Dowse, for the kind and feeling manner in which he + alluded to the scenes in my former life. Those kind allusions recall + to my mind many moments--some bright, beautiful, and glorious--and + yet some sad recollections arise of generous hopes that floated o'er + me, and now sink beyond the grave. Mr. Butt, please convey to Mr. + Dowse my grateful and sincere thanks. Mr. Lawless, I also return you + my thanks for your many acts of kindness--I can do no more." + +He was not executed however. The commutation of Burke's sentence +necessitated the like course in all the other capital cases, and +M'Afferty's doom was changed to penal servitude for life. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +EDWARD DUFFY. + + +On the day following that on which M'Afferty's sentence was pronounced, +the trial of three men, named John Flood, Edward Duffy, and John Cody +was brought to a conclusion. When they were asked what they had to say +why sentence should not be passed on them, Cody denied with all possible +earnestness the charge of being president of an assassination committee, +which had been brought against him. Flood--a young man of remarkably +handsome exterior--declared that the evidence adduced against himself +was untrue in many particulars. He alluded to the Attorney-General's +having spoken of him as "that wretched man, Flood." "My lords," said he, +"if to love my country more than my life makes me a wretched man, then I +am a very wretched man indeed." Edward Duffy, it might be supposed by +anyone looking at his emaciated frame, wasted by consumption, and with +the seal of death plainly set on his brow, would not be able to offer +any remarks to the court; but he roused himself to the effort. The +noble-hearted young fellow had been previously in the clutches of the +government for the same offence. He was arrested with James Stephens and +others at Fairfield House, in November, 1865, but after a brief +imprisonment was released in consideration of the state of his health, +which seemed such as would not leave him many days to live. But, few or +many, Duffy could not do otherwise than devote them to the cause he had +at heart. He was re-arrested at Boyle on the 11th of March, and this +time the government took care they would not quit their hold of him. The +following is the speech which, by a great physical effort, he delivered +from the dock, his dark eyes brightening, and his pallid features +lighting up with the glow of an earnest and lofty enthusiasm while he +spoke:-- + + "The Attorney-General has made a wanton attack on me, but I leave my + countrymen to judge between us. There is no political act of mine + that I in the least regret. I have laboured earnestly and sincerely + in my country's cause, and I have been actuated throughout by a + strong sense of duty. I believe that a man's duty to his country is + part of his duty to God, for it is He who implants the feeling of + patriotism in the human breast. He, the great searcher of hearts, + knows that I have been actuated by no mean or paltry ambition--that I + have never worked for any selfish end. For the late outbreak I am not + responsible; I did all in my power to prevent it, for I knew that, + circumstanced as we then were, it would be a failure. It has been + stated in the course of those trials that Stephens was for peace. + This is a mistake. It may be well that it should not go + uncontradicted. It is but too well known in Ireland that he sent + numbers of men over here to fight, promising to be with them when the + time would come. The time did come, but not Mr. Stephens. He remained + in France to visit the Paris Exhibition. It may be a very pleasant + sight, but I would not be in his place now. He is a lost man--lost to + honour, lost to country. There are a few things I would wish to say + relative to the evidence given against me at my trial, but I would + ask your lordships to give me permission to say them after sentence. + I have a reason for asking to be allowed to say them after sentence + has been passed." + + The Chief Justice--"That is not the usual practice. Not being tried + for life, it is doubtful to me whether you have a right to speak at + all. What you are asked to say is why sentence should not be passed + upon you, and whatever you have to say you must say now." + + "Then, if I must say it now I declare it before my God that what + Kelly swore against me on the table is not true. I saw him in + Ennisgroven, but that I ever spoke to him on any political subject I + declare to heaven I never did. I knew him from a child in that little + town, herding with the lowest and vilest. Is it to be supposed I'd + put my liberty into the hands of such a character? I never did it. + The next witness is Corridon. He swore that at the meeting he + referred to I gave him directions to go to Kerry to find O'Connor, + and put himself in communication with him. I declare to my God every + word of that is false. Whether O'Connor was in the country or whether + he had made his escape, I know just as little as your lordships; and + I never heard of the Kerry rising until I saw it in the public + papers. As to my giving the American officers money that night, + before my God, on the verge of my grave, where my sentence will send + me, I say that also is false. As to the writing that the policeman + swore to in that book, and which is not a prayer-book, but the + 'Imitation of Christ,' given to me by a lady to whom I served my + time, what was written in that book was written by another young man + in her employment. That is his writing not mine. It is the writing + of a young man in the house, and I never wrote a line of it." + + The Lord Chief Justice--"It was not sworn to be in your handwriting." + + "Yes, my lord, it was. The policeman swore it was in my + hand-writing." + + The Lord Chief Justice--"That is a mistake. It was said to be like + yours." + + "The dream of my life has been that I might be fighting for Ireland. + The jury have doomed me to a more painful, but not less glorious + death. I now bid farewell to my friends and all who are dear to me. + + "'There is a world where souls are free, + Where tyrants taint not nature's bliss; + If death that bright world's opening be, + Oh, who would live a slave in this.' + + "I am proud to be thought worthy of suffering for my country; when I + am lying in my lonely cell I will not forget Ireland, and my last + prayer will be that the God of liberty may give her strength to shake + off her chains." + +John Flood and Edward Duffy were then sentenced each to fifteen years of +penal servitude, and Cody to penal servitude for life. + +Edward Duffy's term of suffering did not last long. A merciful +Providence gave his noble spirit release from its earthly tenement +before one year from the date of his sentence had passed away. On the +21st of May, 1867, his trial concluded; on the 17th of January, 1868, +the patriot lay dead in his cell in Millbank Prison, London. The +government permitted his friends to remove his remains to Ireland for +interment; and they now rest in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, where +friendly hands oft renew the flowers on his grave, and many a heartfelt +prayer is uttered that God would give the patriot's soul eternal rest, +and "let perpetual light shine unto him." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +STEPHEN JOSEPH MEANY. + + +The connexion of Stephen Joseph Meany with Irish politics dates back to +1848, when he underwent an imprisonment of some months in Carrickfergus +Castle, under the provisions of the _Habeas Corpus_ Suspension Act. He +had been a writer on one of the national newspapers of that period, and +was previously a reporter for a Dublin daily paper. He joined the Fenian +movement in America, and was one of the "Senators" in O'Mahony's +organization. In December, 1866, he crossed over to England, and in the +following month he was arrested in London, and was brought in custody +across to Ireland. His trial took place in Dublin on the 16th of +February, 1867, when the legality of the mode of his arrest was denied +by his counsel, and as it was a very doubtful question, the point was +reserved to be considered by a Court of Appeal. This tribunal sat on May +the 13th, 1867, and on May the 18th, their decision confirming the +conviction was pronounced. It was not until the 21st of the following +month, at the Commission of Oyer and Terminer that he was brought up for +sentence. He then delivered the following able address to show "why +sentence should not be passed on him":-- + + "My lords--There are many reasons I could offer why sentence should + not--could not--be pronounced upon me according to law, if seven + months of absolute solitary imprisonment, and the almost total disuse + of speech during that period, had left me energy enough, or even + language sufficient to address the court. But yielding obedience to a + suggestion coming from a quarter which I am bound to respect, as well + indeed as in accordance with my own feelings, I avoid everything like + speech-making for outside effect. Besides, the learned counsel who so + ably represented me in the Court of Appeal, and the eminent judges + who in that court gave judgment for me, have exhausted all that could + be said on the law of the case. Of their arguments and opinions your + lordships have judicial knowledge. I need not say that both in + interest as in conviction I am in agreement with the constitutional + principles laid down by the minority of the judges in that court, and + I have sufficient respect for the dignity of the court--sufficient + regard to what is due to myself--to concede fully and frankly to the + majority a conscientious view of a novel and, it may be, a difficult + question. + + "But I do not ask too much in asking that before your lordships + proceed to pass any sentence you will consider the manner in which + the court was divided on that question--to bear in mind that the + minority declaring against the legality and the validity of the + conviction was composed of some of the ablest and most experienced + judges of the Irish bench or any bench--to bear in mind that one of + these learned judges who had presided at the Commission Court was one + of the most emphatic in the Court of Criminal Appeal in declaring + against my liability to be tried; and moreover--and he ought to + know--that there was not a particle of evidence to sustain the cause + set up at the last moment, and relied upon by the crown, that I was + an 'accessory before the fact' to that famous Dublin overt act, for + which, as an afterthought of the crown, I was in fact tried. And I + ask you further to bear in mind that the affirmance of the conviction + was not had on fixed principles of law--for the question was + unprecedented--but on a speculative view of a suppositious case, and + I must say a strained application of an already over-strained and + dangerous doctrine--the doctrine of constructive criminality--the + doctrine of making a man at a distance of three thousand miles or + more, legally responsible for the words and acts of others whom he + had never seen, and of whom he had never heard, under the fiction, or + the 'supposition,' that he was a co-conspirator. The word + 'supposition' is not mine, my lords; it is the word put forward + descriptive of the point by the learned judges presiding at my trial; + for I find in the case prepared by these judges for the Court of + Criminal Appeal the following paragraph:-- + + "'Sufficient evidence was given on the part of the crown of acts of + members of the said association in Ireland not named in the + indictment in promotion of the several objects aforesaid, and done + within the county of the city of Dublin, to sustain some of the overt + acts charged in the indictment supposing them to be the acts of the + defendant himself.' + + "Fortified by such facts--with a court so divided, and with opinions + so expressed--I submit that, neither according to act of parliament, + nor in conformity with the practice at common law, nor in any way in + pursuance of the principles of that apocryphal abstraction, that + magnificent myth--the British constitution--am I amenable to the + sentence of this court--or any court in this country. True, I am in + the toils, and it may be vain to discuss how I was brought into them. + True, my long and dreary imprisonment--shut away from all converse or + association with humanity, in a cell twelve feet by six--the + humiliations of prison discipline--the hardships of prison fare--the + handcuffs, and the heartburnings--this court and its surroundings of + power and authority--all these are 'hard practical facts,' which no + amount of indignant protests can negative--no denunciation of the + wrong refine away; and it may be, as I have said, worse than + useless--vain and absurd--to question the right where might is + predominant. But the invitation just extended to me by the officer of + the court means, if it means anything--if it be not like the rest, a + solemn mockery--that there still is left to me the poor privilege of + complaint. And I do complain. I complain that law and justice have + been alike violated in my regard--I complain that the much belauded + attribute 'British fair play' has been for me a nullity--I complain + that the pleasant fiction described in the books as 'personal + freedom' has had a most unpleasant illustration in my person--and I + furthermore and particularly complain that by the design and + contrivance of what are called 'the authorities,' I have been brought + to this country, not for trial but for condemnation--not for justice + but for judgment. + + "I will not tire the patience of the court, or exhaust my own + strength, by going over the history of this painful case--the + kidnapping in London on the mere belief of a police-constable that I + was a Fenian in New York--the illegal transportation to Ireland--the + committal for trial on a specific charge, whilst a special messenger + was despatched to New York to hunt up informers to justify the + illegality and the outrage, and to get a foundation for any charge. I + will not dwell on the 'conspicuous absence' of fair play, in the + crown at the trial having closed their cases without any reference to + the Dublin transaction, but, as an afterthought, suggested by their + discovered failure, giving in evidence the facts and circumstances of + that case, and thus succeeding in making the jury convict me for an + offence with which up to that moment the crown did not intend to + charge me. I will not say what I think of the mockery of putting me + on trial in the Commission Court in Dublin for alleged words and acts + in New York, and though the evidence was without notice, and the + alleged overt acts without date, taunting me with not proving an + _alibi_, and sending that important ingredient to a jury already ripe + for a conviction. Prove an _alibi_ to-day in respect of meetings held + in Clinton Hall, New York, the allegations relating to which only + came to my knowledge yesterday! I will not refer with any bitter + feeling to the fact that whilst the validity of the conviction so + obtained was still pending in the Court of Criminal Appeal, the Right + Hon. and Noble the Chief Secretary for Ireland declared in the House + of Commons that 'that conviction was the most important one at the + Commission'--thus prejudicing my case, I will not say willingly; but + the observation was, at least, inopportune, and for me unfortunate. + + "I will not speak my feeling on the fact that in the arguments in the + case in the Court for Reserved Cases, the Right Hon. the + Attorney-General appealed to the passions--if such can exist in + judges--and not to the judgment of the court, for I gather from the + judgment of Mr. Justice O'Hagan, that the right hon. gentleman made + an earnest appeal 'that such crimes' as mine 'should not be allowed + to go unpunished'.--forgetful, I will not say designedly forgetful, + that he was addressing the judges of the land, in the highest court + of the land, on matters of law, and not speaking to a pliant Dublin + jury on a treason trial in the court-house of Green-street. + + "Before I proceed further, my lords, there is a matter which, as + simply personal to myself I should not mind, but which as involving + high interests to the community, and serious consequences to + individuals, demand a special notice. I allude to the system of + manufacturing informers. I want to know, if the court can inform me, + by what right a responsible officer of the crown entered my solitary + cell at Kilmainham prison on Monday last--unbidden and + unexpected--uninvited and undesired. I want to know what + justification there was for his coming to insult me in my solitude + and in my sorrow--ostensibly informing me that I was to be brought up + for sentence on Thursday, but in the same breath adroitly putting to + me the question if I knew any of the men recently arrested near + Dungarvan, and now in the prison of Kilmainham. Coming thus, with a + detective dexterity, carrying in one hand a threat of sentence and + punishment--in the other as a counterpoise and, I suppose an + alternative, a temptation to treachery. Did he suppose that seven + months of imprisonment had so broken my spirit, as well as my health, + that I would be an easy prey to his blandishments? Did he dream that + the prospect of liberty which newspaper rumour and semi-official + information held out to me was too dear to be forfeited for a + trilling forfeiture of honour? Did he believe that by an act of + secret turpitude I would open my prison doors only to close them the + faster on others who may or may not have been my friends--or did he + imagine he had found in me a Massey to be moulded and manipulated + into the service of the crown, or a Corridon to have cowardice and + cupidity made the incentives to his baseness. I only wonder how the + interview ended as it did; but I knew I was a prisoner, and + self-respect preserved my patience and secured his safety. Great, my + lords, as have been my humiliation in prison, hard and heart-breaking + as have been the ordeals through which I have passed since the 1st of + December last, there was no incident or event of that period fraught + with more pain on the one hand, or more suggestiveness on the other, + than this sly and secret attempt at improvising an informer. I can + forget the pain in view of the suggestiveness; and unpleasant as is + my position here to-day, I am almost glad of the opportunity which + may end in putting some check to the spy system in prisons. How many + men have been won from honour and honesty by the stealthy visit to + the cell is more of course than I can say--how many have had their + weakness acted upon, or their wickness fanned into flame by which + means I have no opportunity of knowing--in how many frailty and folly + may have blossomed into falsehood it is for those concerned to + estimate. There is one thing, however, certain--operating in this way + is more degrading to the tempter than to the tempted; and the + government owes it to itself to put an end to a course of tactics + pursued in its name, which in the results can only bring its + humiliation--the public are bound in self-protection to protect the + prisoner from the prowling visits of a too zealous official. + + "I pass over all these things, my lords, and I ask your attention to + the character of the evidence on which alone my conviction was + obtained. The evidence of a special, subsidized spy, and of an + infamous and ingrate informer. + + "In all ages, and amongst all peoples, the spy has been held in + marked abhorrence. In the amnesties of war there is for him alone no + quarter; in the estimate of social life no toleration; his + self-abasement excites contempt, not compassion; his patrons despise + while they encourage; and they who stoop to enlist the services + shrink with disgust from the moral leprosy covering the servitor. Of + such was the witness put forward to corroborate the informer, and + still not corroborating him. Of such was that phenomenon, a police + spy, who declared himself an unwilling witness for the crown! There + was no reason why in my regard he should be unwilling--he knew me not + previously. I have no desire to speak harshly of Inspector Doyle; he + said in presence of the Crown Solicitor, and was not contradicted, + that he was compelled by threats to ascend the witness table; he may + have had cogent reasons for his reluctance in his own conscience. God + will judge him. + + "But how shall I speak of the informer, Mr. John Devany? What + language should be employed in describing the character of one who + adds to the guilt of perfidy to his associates the crime of perjury + to his God?--the man who eating of your bread, sharing your + confidence, and holding, as it were, your very purse-strings, all the + time meditates your overthrow and pursues it to its accomplishment? + How paint the wretch who, under pretence of agreement in your + opinions, worms himself into your secrets only to betray them; and + who, upon the same altar with you, pledges his faith and fealty to + the same principles, and then sells faith, and fealty, and + principles, and you alike, for the unhallowed Judas guerdon? Of such, + on his own confession was that distinguished upholder of the British + crown and government, Mr. Devany. With an affrontery that did not + falter, and knew not how to blush, he detailed his own participation + in the acts for which he was prosecuting me as a participator. And is + the evidence of a man like that--a conviction obtained upon such + evidence--any warrant for a sentence depriving me of all that make + life desirable or enjoyable? + + "He was first spy for the crown--in the pay of the crown, under the + control of the crown, and think you he had any other object than to + do the behests of the crown? + + "He was next the traitor spy, who had taken that one fatal step, from + which in this life there is no retrogression--that one plunge in + infamy from which there is no receding--that one treachery for which + there is no earthly forgiveness; and, think you, he hesitated about a + prejury more or less to secure present pay and future patronage? Here + was one to whom existence offers now no prospect save in making his + perfidy a profession, and think you he was deterred by conscience + from recommending himself to his patrons? Think you that when at a + distance of three thousand miles from the scenes he professed to + describe, he could lie with impunity and invent without detection, he + was particular to a shade in doing his part of a most filthy bargain? + It is needless to describe a wretch of that kind--his own actions + speak his character. It were superfluous to curse him, his whole + existence will be a living, a continuing curse. No necessity to use + the burning words of the poet and say:-- + + "'May life's unblessed cup for him + Be drugged with treacheries to the brim.' + + "Every sentiment in his regard of the country he has dishonoured, and + the people he has humbled, will be one of horror and hate. Every sigh + sent up from the hearts he has crushed and the homes he has made + desolate, will be mingled with execrations on the name of the + informer. Every heart-throb in the prison cells of this land where + his victims count time by corroding his thought--every grief that + finds utterance from these victims in the quarries of Portland will + go up to heaven freighted with curses on the Nagles, the Devanys, the + Masseys, the Gillespies, the Corridons, and the whole host of + mercenary miscreants, who, faithless to their friends and recreant to + their professions, have, paraphrasing the words of Moore, taken their + perfidy to heaven seeking to make accomplice of their God--wretches + who have embalmed their memories in imperishable infamy, and given + their accursed names to an inglorious immortality. Nor will I + speculate on their career in the future. We have it on the best + existing authority that a distinguished informer of antiquity seized + with remorse, threw away his blood-money, 'went forth and hanged + himself.' We know that in times within the memory of living men a + government actually set the edifying and praiseworthy example of + hanging an informer when they had no further use of his valuable + services--thus _dropping_ his acquaintance with effect. I have no + wish for such a fate to any of the informers who have cropped out so + luxuriantly in these latter days--a long life and a troubled + conscience would, perhaps, be their correct punishment--though + certainly there would be a consistent compensation--a poetic + justice--in a termination so exalted to a career so brilliant. + + "I leave these fellows and turn for a moment to their victims. And, I + would here, without any reference to my own case, earnestly implore + that sympathy with political sufferers should not be merely + telescopic in its character, 'distance lending enchantment to the + view;' and that when your statesmen sentimentalize upon, and your + journalists denounce far-away tyrannies--the horrors of Neapolitan + dungeons--the abridgement of personal freedom in Continental + countries--the exercise of arbitrary power by irresponsible authority + in other lands--they would turn their eyes homeward, and examine the + treatment and the sufferings of their own political prisoners. I + would, in all sincerity, suggest that humane and well-meaning men, + who exert themselves for the remission of the death-penalty as a + mercy, would rather implore that the doors of solitary and silent + captivity should be remitted to the more merciful doom of an + immediate relief from suffering by immediate execution--the + opportunity of an immediate appeal from man's cruelty to God's + justice. I speak strongly on this point because I feel it deeply. I + speak not without example. At the Commission at which I was tried + there was tried also and sentenced a young man named Stowell. I well + remember that raw and dreary morning, the 12th March, when handcuffed + to Stowell I was sent from Kilmainham Prison to the County Gaol of + Kildare. I well remember our traversing, so handcuffed, from the town + of Sailing to the town of Naas, ancle deep in snow and mud, and I + recall now with pain our sad foreboding of that morning. These in + part have been fulfilled. Sunday after Sunday I saw poor Stowell at + chapel in Naas Gaol drooping and dying. One such Sunday--the 12th + May--passed and I saw him no more. On Wednesday, the 15th, he was, as + they say, _mercifully_ released from prison, but the fiat of mercy + had previously gone forth from a higher power--the political convict + simply reached his own home to die, with loving eyes watching by his + death-bed. On Sunday, the 19th May, he was consigned to another + prison home in Glasnevin Cemetery. May God have mercy on his + soul--may God forgive his persecutors--may God give peace and + patience to those who are doomed to follow. + + "Pardon this digression, my lords, I could not avoid it. Returning to + the question, why sentence should not be pronounced upon me, I would + ask your lordships' attention to the fact showing, even in the + estimate of the crown, the case is not one for sentence. + + "On the morning of my trial, and before the trial, terms were offered + to me by the crown. The direct proposition was made through my + solicitor, through the learned counsel who so ably defended me, + through the Governor of Kilmainham Prison--by all three--that if I + pleaded guilty to the indictment, I should get off with six months' + imprisonment. Knowing the pliancy of Dublin juries in political + cases, the offer was, doubtless, a tempting one. Valuing liberty, it + was almost resistless--in view of a possible penal servitude--but + having regard to principle, I spurned the compromise. I then gave + unhesitatingly, as I would now give, the answer, that not for a + reduction of the punishment to six hours would I surrender + faith--that I need never look, and could never look, wife or + children, friends or family, in the face if capable of such a selfish + cowardice. I could not to save myself imperil the safety of others--I + could not plead guilty to an indictment in which six others were + distinctly charged by name as co-conspirators with me--one of those + six since tried, convicted, and sentenced to death--I could not + consent to obtain my own pardon at their expense--furnish the crown + with a case in point for future convictions, and become, even though + indirectly, worthy to rank with that brazen battalion of venal + vagabonds, who have made the Holy Gospel of God the medium of barter + for their unholy gain, and obtained access to the inmost heart of + their selected victim only to coin its throbbing into the traitor's + gold and traffic on its very life-blood. + + "Had I been charged simply with my own words and deeds I would have + no hesitation in making acknowledgement. I have nothing to repent + and nothing to conceal--nothing to retract and nothing to + countermand; but in the language of the learned Lord Chief Baron in + this case, I could not admit 'the preposterous idea of thinking by + deputy' any more than I could plead guilty to an indictment which + charge others with crime. Further, my lords, I could not acknowledge + culpability for the acts and words of others at a distance of three + thousand miles--others whom I had never seen, of whom I had never + heard, and with whom I never had had communication. I could not admit + that the demoniac atrocities, described as Fenian principles by the + constabulary-spy Talbot, ever had my sanction or approval or the + sanction or approval of any man in America. + + "If, my lords, six months' imprisonment was the admeasurement of the + law officers of the crown as an adequate punishment for my alleged + offence--assuming that the court had jurisdiction to try and + punish--then, am I now entitled to my discharge independent of all + other grounds of discharge, for I have gone through seven months of + an imprisonment which could not be excelled by demon ingenuity in + horror and in hardship--in solitude, in silence and in suspense. Your + lordships will not only render further litigation necessary by + passing sentence for the perhaps high crime--but still the untried + crime--of refusing to yield obedience to the crown's proposition for + my self-abasement. You will not, I am sure, visit upon my rejection + of Mr. Anderson's delicate overture--you will not surely permit the + events occurring, unhappily occurring, since my trial to influence + your judgments. And do not, I implore you, accept as a truth, + influencing that judgement, Talbot's definition of the objects of + Feminism. Hear what Devany, the American informer, describes them to + be. 'The members,' he says, 'were _pledged by word of honour_ to + promote love and harmony amongst all classes of Irishmen and to + labour for the independence of Ireland.' Talbot says that in Ireland + 'the members are _bound by oath_ to seize the property of the + country and murder all opposed to them.' Can any two principles be + more distinct from each other? Could there be a conspiracy for a + common object by such antagonistic means? To murder all opposed to + your principles may be an effectual way of producing unanimity, but + the quality of love and harmony engendered by such a patent process, + would be extremely equivocal. Mr. Talbot, for the purposes of his + evidence, must have borrowed a leaf from the History of the French + Revolution, and adopted as singularly telling and appropriate for + effect the saying attributed to Robespiere: 'Let us cut everybody's + throat but our own, and then we are sure to be masters.' + + "No one in America, I venture to affirm, ever heard of such designs + in connexion with the Fenian Brotherhood. No one in America would + countenance such designs. Revolutionists are not ruffians or + rapparees. A judge from the bench at Cork, and a noble lord in his + place in parliament, bore testimony to that fact, in reference to the + late movement; and I ask you, my lords--I would ask the country from + this court--for the sake of the character of your countrymen--to + believe Devany's interpretation of Fenianism--tainted traitor though + he be--rather than believe that the kindly instincts of Irishmen, at + home and abroad--their generous impulses--their tender + sensibilities--all their human affections, in a word--could + degenerate into the attributes of the assassin, as stated by that + hog-in-armour, that crime-creating Constable Talbot. + + "Taking other ground, my lords, I object to any sentence upon me. I + stand at this bar a declared citizen of the United States of America, + entitled to the protection of such citizenship; and I protest against + the right to pass any sentence in any British court for acts done, or + words spoken, or alleged to be done or spoken, on American soil, + within the shades of the American flag, and under the sanction of + American institutions. I protest against the assumption that would in + this country limit the right of thought, or control the liberty of + speech in an assemblage of American citizens in an American city. The + United States will, doubtless, respect and protect her neutrality + laws and observe the comity of nations, whatever they may mean in + practice, but I protest against the monstrous fiction--the + transparent fraud--that would seek in ninety years after the + evacuation of New York by the British to bring the people of New York + within the vision and venue of a British jury--that in ninety years + after the last British bayonet had glistened in an American sunlight, + after the last keel of the last of the English fleet ploughed its + last furrow in the Hudson or the Delaware--after ninety years of + republican independence--would seek to restore that city of New York + and its institutions to the dominion of the crown and government of + Great Britain. This is the meaning of it, and disguise it as you may, + so will it be interpreted beyond the Atlantic. Not that the people of + America care one jot whether S.J. Meany were hanged, drawn, and + quartered to-morrow, but that there is a great principle involved. + Personally, I am of no consequence; politically, I represent in this + court the adopted citizen of America--for, as the _New York Herald_, + referring to this case, observed, if the acts done in my regard are + justifiable, there is nothing to prevent the extension of the same + justice to any other adopted citizen of the States visiting Great + Britain. It is, therefore, in the injustice of the case the influence + lies, and not in the importance of the individual. + + "Law is called 'the perfection of reason.' Is there not danger of its + being regarded as the very climax of absurdity if fictions of this + kind can be turned into realities on the mere caprice of power. As a + distinguished English journalist has suggested in reference to the + case, 'though the law may doubtless be satisfied by the majority in + the Court of Appeal, yet common sense and common law would be widely + antagonistic if sentence were to follow a judgment so obtained.' + + "On all grounds then I submit, in conclusion, this is not a case for + sentence. Waving for the purpose the international objection, and + appealing to British practice itself, I say it is not a fair case for + sentence. The professed policy of that practice has ever been to give + the benefit of doubt to the prisoner. Judges in their charges to + juries have ever theorized on this principle, and surely judges + themselves will not refuse to give practical effect to the theory. If + ever there was a case which more than another was suggestive of + doubt, it is surely one in which so many judges have pronounced + against the legality of the trial and the validity of the conviction + on which you are about to pass sentence. Each of these judges, be it + remembered, held competent in his individuality to administer the + criminal law of the country--each of whom, in fact, in his + individuality does so administer it unchallenged and unquestioned. + + "A sentence under such circumstances, be it for a long period or a + short would be wanting in the element of moral effect--the effect of + example--which could alone give it value, and which is professedly + the aim of all legal punishment. A sentence under such circumstances + would be far from reassuring to the public mind as to the + 'certainties' of the law, and would fail to commend the approval or + win the respect of any man 'within the realm or without.' While to + the prisoner, to the sufferer in chief, it would only bring the + bitter, and certainly not the repentant feeling that he suffered in + the wrong--that he was the victim of an injustice based on an + inference which not even the tyrant's plea of necessity can + sustain--namely, that at a particular time he was at a distance of + three thousand miles from the place where he then actually stood in + bodily presence, and that at that distance he actually thought the + thoughts and acted the acts of men unknown to him even by name. It + will bring to the prisoner, I repeat, the feeling--the bitter + feeling--that he was condemned on an unindicted charge pressed + suddenly into the service, and for a constructive crime which some of + the best authorities in the law have declared not to be a crime + cognizable in any of your courts. + + "Let the crown put forward any supposition they please--indulge in + what special pleadings they will--sugar over the bitter pill of + constructive conspiracy as they can--to this complexion must come the + triangular injustice of this case--the illegal and unconstitutional + kidnapping in England--the unfair and invalid trial and conviction in + Ireland for the alleged offence in another hemisphere and under + mother sovereignty. My lords, I have done." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CAPTAIN JOHN M'CLURE. + + +Captain John M'Clure, like Captain M'Afferty, was an American born, but +of Irish parentage. He was born at Dobb's Ferry, twenty-two miles from +New York, on July 17th, 1846, and he was therefore a mere youth when, +serving with distinguished gallantry in the Federal ranks, he attained +the rank of captain. He took part in the Fenian rising of the 5th March, +and was prominently concerned in the attack and capture of Knockadoon +coast-guard station. He and his companion, Edward Kelly, were captured +by a military party at Kilclooney Wood, on March 31st, after a smart +skirmish, in which their compatriot the heroic and saintly Peter +Crowley lost his life. His trial took place before the Special +Commission at Cork, on May 22nd and 23rd, 1807. The following are the +spirited and eloquent terms in which he addressed the court previous to +sentence being pronounced on him:-- + + "My lords--In answer to the question as to why the sentence of the + court should not now be passed upon me, I would desire to make a few + remarks in relation to my late exertions in behalf of the suffering + people of this country, in aiding them in their earnest endeavours to + attain the independence of their native land. Although not born upon + the soil of Ireland, my parents were, and from history, and + tradition, and fireside relations, I became conversant with the + country's history from my earliest childhood, and as the human race + will ever possess these God-like qualities which inspire mankind with + sympathy for the suffering, a desire to aid poor Ireland to rise from + her moral degradation took possession of me. I do not now wish to say + to what I assign the failure of that enterprise with which are + associated my well-meant acts for this persecuted land. I feel fully + satisfied of the righteousness of my every act in connexion with the + late revolutionary movement in this country, being actuated by a holy + desire to assist in the emancipation of an enslaved and generous + people. I derive more pleasure from having done the act than from any + other event that has occurred to me during my eventful but youthful + life. I wish it to be distinctly understood here, standing as I do + perhaps on the brink of an early grave, that I am no fillibuster or + freebooter, and that I had no personal object or inclination to gain + anything in coming to this country. I came solely through love of + Ireland and sympathy for her people. If I have forfeited my life. I + am ready to abide the issue. If my exertions on behalf of a + distressed people be a crime, I am willing to pay the penalty, + knowing, as I do, that what I have done was in behalf of a people + whose cause is just--a people who will appreciate and honour a man, + although he may not be a countryman of their own--still a man who is + willing to suffer in defence of that divine, that American + principle--the right of self-government. I would wish to tender to my + learned and eloquent counsel, Mr. Heron and Mr. Waters, and to my + solicitor, Mr. Collins, my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the able + manner in which they have conducted my defence. And now, my lords, I + trust I will meet in a becoming manner the penalty which it is now + the duty of your lordship to pronounce upon me. I have nothing more + to say." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +EDWARD KELLY. + + +On the same occasion the prisoner Edward Kelly delivered the following +soul-stirring address:-- + + "My lords--The novelty of my situation will plead for any want of + fluency on my part; and I beg your lordships' indulgence if I am + unnecessarily tedious. I have to thank the gentlemen of the jury for + their recommendation, which I know was well meant; but knowing, as I + do, what that mercy will be, I heartily wish that recommendation will + not be received. Why should I feel regret? What is death? The act of + passing from this life into the next. I trust that God will pardon me + my sins, and that I will have no cause to fear entering into the + presence of the ever-living and Most Merciful Father. I don't + recollect in my life ever having done anything with a deliberately + bad intention. In my late conduct I do not see anything for regret. + Why then, I say, should I feel regret? I leave the dread of death to + such wretches as Corridon and Massey--Corridon, a name once so + suggestive of sweetness and peace, now the representative of a + loathsome monster. If there be anything that can sink that man, + Corridon, lower in the scales of degradation, it is--" + + The Chief Justice--"We cannot listen to any imputation on persons who + were examined as witnesses. Strictly speaking, you are only to say + why sentence of death should not be passed upon you; at the same time + we are very unwilling to hold a very strict hand, but we cannot allow + imputations to be made on third persons, witnesses or others, who + have come forward in this trial." + + Prisoner--"Well, my lord, I will answer as well as I can the question + put to me. The Irish people through every generation ever since + England has obtained a footing in Ireland, have protested against the + occupation of our native soil by the English. Surely that is answer + enough why sentence of death should not be passed upon me. In the + part I have taken in the late insurrection, I feel conscious that I + was doing right. Next to serving his Creator, I believe it is a man's + solemn duty to serve his country. [Here the prisoner paused to + suppress his emotion, which rendered his utterance very feeble, and + continued]--my lords, I have nothing more to say, except to quote the + words of the sacred psalmist, in which you will understand that I + speak of my country as he speaks of his:--'If I forget thee, O + Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten, let my tongue cleave to my + jaws if I do not remember thee: if I make not Jerusalem the beginning + of my joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of + Jerusalem: who say, raze, raze it, even to the foundation thereof. O + daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed be he who shall repay thee + thy payment which thou hast paid us.' In conclusion, my lords, I + wish to give my thanks to my attorney, Mr. Collins, for his untiring + exertions, and also to my counsel, Mr. Heron, for his able defence, + and to Mr. Waters." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CAPTAIN WILLIAM MACKAY. + + +In the evidence adduced at the Cork Summer Assizes of 1867, on the +trials of persons charged with participation in the Fenian rising of +March 5th, the name of Captain Mackay frequently turned up. The captain, +it would appear, was a person of influence and importance in the +insurrectionary army. He had taken part in many councils of the Fenian +leaders, he was trusted implicitly by his political friends, and much +deference was paid to his opinion. But more than all this, he had taken +the field on the night of the rising, led his men gallantly to the +attack of Ballyknockane police barrack, and, to the-great horror of all +loyal subjects, committed the enormous offence of capturing it. This, +and the similar successes achieved by Lennon at Stepaside and +Glencullen, county Wicklow, were some of the incidents of the attempted +rebellion which most annoyed the government, who well knew the influence +which such events, occurring at the outset of a revolutionary movement, +are apt to exercise on the popular mind. Captain Mackay, therefore, was +badly "wanted" by the authorities after the Fenian rising; there was any +money to be given for information concerning the whereabouts of Captain +Mackay, but it came not. Every loyal-minded policeman in Cork county, +and in all the other Irish counties, and every detective, and every spy, +and every traitor in the pay of the government, kept a sharp look out +for the audacious Captain Mackay, who had compelled the garrison of one +of her Majesty's police barracks to surrender to him, and hand him up +their arms in the quietest and most polite manner imaginable; but they +saw him not, or if they saw, they did not recognise him. + +So month after month rolled on, and no trace of Captain Mackay could be +had. The vigilant guardians and servants of English law in Ireland, then +began to think he must have managed to get clear out of the country, and +rather expected that the next thing they would hear of him would be that +he was organizing and lecturing amongst the Irish enemies of England in +the United States. There, however, they were quite mistaken, as they +soon found out to their very great vexation and alarm. + +On the 27th day of December, 1867, there was strange news in Cork, and +strange news all over the country, for the telegraph wires spread it in +every direction. The news was that on the previous evening a party of +Fenians had entered the Martello tower at Foaty, on the north side of +the Cork river, made prisoners of the gunners who were in charge, and +had then taken possession of, and borne away all the arms and ammunition +they could find in the place! Startling news this was undoubtedly. Loyal +men stopped each other in the streets, and asked if anything like it had +ever been heard of. They wanted to know if things were not coming to a +pretty pass, and did not hesitate to say they would feel greatly obliged +to anyone who could answer for them the question "What next?" For this +sack of the Martello tower was not the first successful raid for arms +which the Fenians had made in that neighbourhood. About a month +before--on the night of November 28th--they had contrived to get into +the shop of Mr. Richardson, gunmaker, Patrick-street, and abstract from +the premises no fewer than 120 revolvers and eight Snider rifles, +accomplishing the feat so skilfully, that no trace either of the weapons +or the depredators had since been discovered. This was what might be +called a smart stroke of work, but it shrunk into insignificance +compared with the audacious act of plundering one of her Majesty's +fortified stations. + +The details of the affair, which were soon known, were received by the +public with mingled feelings of amusement and amazement. The Fenian +party, it was learned, had got into the tower by the usual means of +entrance--a step-ladder, reaching to the door, which is situate at some +height from the ground. One party of the invaders remained in the +apartment just inside the entrance door, while another numbering five +persons, proceeded to an inner room, where they found two of the +gunners, with their families, just in the act of sitting down to tea. In +an instant revolvers were placed at the heads of the men, who were told +not to stir on peril of their lives. At the same time assurances were +given to them, and to the affrighted women, that if they only kept quiet +and complied with the demands of the party no harm whatever should befal +them. The garrison saw that resistance was useless, and promptly acceded +to those terms. The invaders then asked for and got the keys of the +magazine, which they handed out to their friends, who forthwith set to +work to remove the ammunition which they found stored in the vaults. +They seized about 300 lbs. of gunpowder, made up in 8 lb. cartridges, a +quantity of fuses, and other military stores, and then proceeded to +search the entire building for arms. Of these, however, they found very +little--nothing more than the rifles and sword bayonets of the two or +three men who constituted the garrison, a circumstance which seemed to +occasion them much disappointment. They were particularly earnest and +pressing in their inquiries for hand-grenades, a species of missile +which they had supposed was always kept "in stock" in such places. They +could scarcely believe that there were none to be had. Some charges of +grape-shot which they laid hands on might be, they thought, the sort of +weapon they were in quest of, and they proceeded to dissect and analyse +one of them. Grape-shot, we may explain to the unlearned in these +matters, is "an assemblage, in the form of a cylindrical column, of nine +balls resting on a circular plate, through which passes a pin serving as +an axis. The balls are contained in a strong canvas bag, and are bound +together on the exterior of the latter by a cord disposed about the +column in the manner of a net." This was not the sort of thing the +Fenian party wanted; grape-shot could be of no use to them, for the +Fenian organization, to its great sorrow, was possessed of no artillery; +they resolved, therefore, to leave those ingeniously-constructed +packages behind them, and to retire with the more serviceable spoils +they had gathered. While the search was proceeding, the Fenian sentries, +with revolvers ready in their hands, stood guard over the gunners, and +prevented anyone--young or old--from quitting the room. They spoke +kindly to all however, chatted with the women, and won the affectionate +regards of the youngsters by distributing money among them. One of these +strange visitors became so familiar as to tell one of the women that if +she wished to know who he was, his name was Captain Mac--a piece of +information which did not strike her at the time as being of any +peculiar value. When the party had got their booty safely removed from +the building, this chivalrous captain and his four assistant sentries +prepared to leave; they cautioned the gunners, of whom there were three +at this time in the building--one having entered while the search was +proceeding--against quitting the fort till morning, stating that men +would be on the watch outside to shoot them if they should attempt it. +So much being said and done, they bade a polite good evening to her +Majesty's gunners and their interesting families, and withdrew. + +The heroic garrison did not venture out immediately after they had been +relieved of the presence of the Fenian party; but finding that a few +charges of powder were still stowed away in a corner of the fort, they +hurried with them to the top of the building and commenced to blaze away +from the big gun which was there _in situ_. This performance they meant +as a signal of distress; but though the sounds were heard and the +flashes seen far and wide, no one divined the object of what appeared to +be nothing more than an oddly-timed bit of artillery practice. Next +morning the whole story was in every one's mouth. Vast was the amusement +which it afforded to the Corkonians generally, and many were the +encomiums which they passed on the dashing Irish-Americans and smart +youths of Cork's own town who had accomplished so daring and clever a +feat. Proportionally great was the irritation felt by the sprinkling of +loyalists and by the paid servants of the crown in that quarter. One +hope at all events the latter party had, that the leader in the +adventure would soon be "in the hands of justice," and one comforting +assurance, that never again would the Fenians be able to replenish their +armoury in so easy and so unlawful a manner. + +Four days afterwards there was another "sensation" in Cork. The Fenian +collectors of arms had made another haul! And this time their mode of +action surpassed all their previous performances in coolness and daring. +At nine o'clock in the morning, on the 30th of December, eight men, who +had assumed no disguise, suddenly entered the shop of Mr. Henry Allport, +gunmaker, of Patrick-street, and producing revolvers from their pockets, +covered him and his two assistants, telling then at the same time that +if they ventured to stir, or raise any outcry, they were dead men. While +the shopmen remained thus bound to silence, five of the party proceeded +to collect all the rifles and revolvers in the establishment, and place +them in a canvas sack which had been brought for the purpose. This sack, +into which a few guns and seventy-two splendid revolvers of the newest +construction had been put, was then carried off by two men, who, having +transferred the contents to the safe-keeping of some confederates, +returned with it very quickly to receive and bear away a large quantity +of revolver cartridges which had been found in the shop. This second +"loot" having been effected, the guards who stood over Mr. Allport and +his men, lowered their weapons, and after cautioning all three not to +dare to follow them, quitted the shop in a leisurely manner, and +disappeared down one of the by-streets. As soon as he was able to +collect his scattered wits, Mr. Allport rushed to the nearest police +station, and gave information of what had occurred. The police hastened +to the scene of this daring exploit, but of course "the birds were +flown," and no one could say whither. + +Needless to say how this occurrence intensified the perplexity and the +rage of the government party in all parts of the country. There was +surely some fierce swearing in Dublin Castle on the day that news +arrived, and perhaps many a passionate query blurted out as to whether +police, detectives, magistrates, and all in that southern district were +not secretly in league with the rebels. In fact, a surmise actually got +into the papers that the proprietors of the gunshops knew more about the +disappearance of the arms, and were less aggrieved by the "seizure" than +they cared to acknowledge. However this might be, the popular party +enjoyed the whole thing immensely, laughed over it heartily, and +expressed in strong terms their admiration of the skill and daring +displayed by the operators. The following squib, which appeared in the +_Nation_ at the time, over the initials "T.D.S.," affords an indication +of the feelings excited among Irish nationalists by those extraordinary +occurrences:-- + + THE CORK MEN AND NEW YORK MEN + + Oh, the gallant Cork men, + Mixed with New York men, + I'm sure their equals they can't be found, + For persevering + In deeds of daring, + They set men staring the world around. + No spies can match them, + No sentries watch them, + No specials catch them or mar their play, + While the clever Cork men + And cute New York men + Work new surprises by night and day. + + Sedate and steady, + Calm, quick, and ready, + They boldly enter, and make no din. + Where'er such trifles + As Snider rifles + And bright six-shooters are stored within. + The Queen's round towers + Can't baulk their powers, + Off go the weapons by sea and shore, + To where the Cork men + And smart New York men + Are daily piling their precious store. + + John Bull, in wonder, + With voice like thunder, + Declares such plunder he roust dislike, + They next may rowl in + And sack Haulbowline, + Or on a sudden run off with Spike. + His peace is vanished, + His joys are banished, + And gay or happy no more he'll be, + Until those Cork men + And wild New York men + Are sunk together beneath the sea. + + Oh, bold New York men + And daring Cork men, + We own your pleasures should all grow dim, + On thus discerning + And plainly learning + That your amusement gives pain to _him_. + Yet, from the nation, + This salutation + Leaps forth, and echoes with thunderous sound-- + "Here's to all Cork men, + Likewise New York men, + Who stand for Ireland, the world around!" + +But Captain Mackay, skilful and "lucky" as he was, was trapped at last. + +On the evening of the 7th of February, 1868, he walked into the grocery +and spirit shop of Mr. Cronin in Market-street--not to drink whiskey or +anything of that sort, for he was a man of strictly temperate habits, +and he well knew that of all men those who are engaged in the dangerous +game of conspiracy and revolution can least afford to partake of drinks +that may unloose their tongues and let their wits run wild. He called +for a glass of lemonade, and recognising some persons who were in the +shop at the time, he commenced a conversation with them. + +Only a few minutes from the time of his entrance had elapsed when a +party of police, wearing a disguise over their uniforms, rushed into the +shop, and commanded the door to be shut. + +The men inside attempted to separate and escape, but they were +instantly grappled by the police. One of the force seized Captain Mackay +by the collar, and a vigorous struggle between them at once commenced. +The policeman was much the larger man of the two, but the Fenian Captain +was wiry and muscular, and proved quite a match for him. They fell, and +rose, and fell, and rose again, the policeman undermost sometimes, and +at other times the Fenian Captain. They struggled for nearly twenty +minutes. + +"Dead or alive, I'll take you," said the policeman, as he drew his +revolver from his pocket. + +"I have but one life, to lose, and if it goes, so be it," replied Mackay +drawing a weapon of the same kind. + +In another instant there was a clash as of striking steel, and a +discharge of one of the weapons. + +"Good God! I'm shot!" exclaimed Constable Casey from, the end of the +room, and he fell upon the floor. + +Captain Mackay's revolver had gone off in the struggle, and the ball had +struck the constable in the leg, inflicting on him a serious wound. + +By this time several parties of police had arrived in the street and +stationed themselves so as to prevent the formation of a crowd and deter +the people from any attempt at rescue. A reinforcement having turned +into the house in which the struggle was going on, Captain Mackay and +others who had been in his company were made prisoners, and marched off +in custody. + +Some days afterwards, the wounded constable, who had refused to submit +to amputation of the wounded limb, died in hospital. + +On the 10th of March, 1868, at the Cork Assizes, Judge O'Hagan +presiding, Captain Mackay was put on his trial for murder. The evidence +established a probability that the discharge of the prisoner's revolver +was not intended or effected by him, but was a consequence of its having +been struck by the revolver of the policeman who was struggling with +him. The verdict of the jury therefore was one of acquittal. + +But then came the other charge against him, the charge of +treason-felony, for his connexion with the Fenian Brotherhood, and his +part in the recent "rising." For this he was put on trial on the 20th +day of March. He was ably defended by Mr. Heron, Q.C.; but the evidence +against him was conclusive. To say nothing of the testimony of the +informers, which should never for a moment be regarded as trustworthy, +there was the evidence and the identification supplied by the gunners of +the Martello tower and their wives, and the policemen of Ballyknockane +station and the wife of one of them. This evidence while establishing +the fact that the prisoner had been concerned in the levying of war +against the crown, established also the fact that he was a man as +chivalrous and gentle as he was valorous and daring. Some of the +incidents proved to have occurred during the attack which was made, +under his leadership, on the police barrack, are worthy of special +mention in any sketch, however brief, of the life and adventures of this +remarkable man. After he, at the head of his party, had demanded the +surrender of the barrack in the name of the Irish Republic, the police +fired, and the fire was returned. Then the insurgents broke in the door +and set fire to the lower part of the barrack. Still the police held +out. "Surrender!" cried the insurgents; "_You want to commit suicide, +but we don't want to commit murder._" One of the policemen then cried +out that a little girl, his daughter, was inside, and asked if the +attacking party would allow her to be passed out? Of course they would, +gladly; and the little girl was taken out of the window with all +tenderness, and given up to her mother who had chanced to be outside the +barrack when the attack commenced. At this time a Catholic clergyman, +the Rev. Mr. Neville, came on the spot. He asked the insurgent leader +whether, if the police surrendered, any harm would be done to them? +"Here is my revolver," said Captain Mackay, "let the contents of it be +put through me if one of them should be injured." Well did Mr. Heron in +his able speech, referring to these facts, say, "Though they were rebels +who acted that heroic part, who could say their hearts, were not +animated with the courage of Leonidas, and the chivalry of Bayard." + +On the second day of the trial the jury brought in their verdict, +declaring the prisoner guilty, but at the same time recommending him to +the merciful consideration of the court, because of the humanity which +he had displayed towards the men whom he had in his power. The finding +took no one by surprise, and did not seem to trouble the prisoner in the +faintest degree. During the former trial some shades of anxiety might +have been detected on his features; the charge of "murder" was grievous +to him, but when that was happily disposed of, the world seemed to +brighten before him, and he took his treason-felony trial cheerily. He +knew what the verdict on the evidence would be, and he was conscious +that the penalty to be imposed on him would be no trivial one; he felt +that it was hard to part from faithful comrades, and dear friends, and, +above all, from the young wife whom he had married only a few short +months before; but then it was in Ireland's cause he was about to +suffer, and for that he could endure all. + +And yet, Ireland was not his native land. He was born in Cincinnatti, +Ohio, in the year 1841. But his parents, who were natives of +Castle-Lyons, near Fermoy, in the County Cork, were true children of +Erin, and they taught their son to love, even as they did themselves, +that green isle far away, from which a hard fate had compelled them to +roam. Patriotism, indeed, was hereditary in the family. The +great-grandfather of our hero suffered death for his fidelity to the +cause of Ireland in the memorable year 1798; and a still-more remarkable +fact is that Captain Mackay--or William Francis Lomasney, to call him by +his real name--in leaving America for Ireland in 1865 to take part in +the contemplated rising, merely took the place which his father wished +and intended to occupy. The young man induced him, to remain at home, +and claimed for himself the post of danger. Well may that patriotic +father be proud of such a son. + +When called upon for such remarks as he might have to offer on his own +behalf, Captain Mackay, without any of the airs of a practised speaker, +but yet with a manner that somehow touched every heart and visibly +affected the humane and upright judge who sat on the bench, delivered +the following address:-- + + "My lord--What I said last evening I think calls for a little + explanation. I then said I was fully satisfied with the verdict--that + it was a fair and just one. I say so still, but I wish to state that + I consider it only so in accordance with British law, and that it is + not in accordance with my ideas of right and justice. I feel that + with the strong evidence there was against me, according to British + law, the jury could not, as conscientious men, do otherwise. I feel + that. I thank them again for their recommendation to mercy, which, I + have no doubt, was prompted by a good intention towards me, and a + desire to mitigate what they considered would he a long and painful + imprisonment. Still, I will say, with all respect, that I feel the + utmost indifference to it. I do so for this reason--I am now in that + position that I must rely entirely upon the goodness of God, and I + feel confident that He will so dispose events that I will not remain + a prisoner so long as your lordship may be pleased to decree. The + jury having now found me guilty, it only remains for your lordship to + give effect to their verdict. The eloquence, the ability, the clear + reasoning, and the really splendid arguments of my counsel failed, as + I knew they would, to affect the jury. I feel, therefore, that with + my poor talents it would be utterly vain and useless for me to + attempt to stay the sentence which it now becomes your lordship's + duty to pronounce. I believe, my lord, from what I have seen of your + lordship, and what I have heard of you, it will be to you a painful + duty to inflict that sentence upon me. To one clinging so much to the + world and its joys--to its fond ties and pleasant associations, as I + naturally do, retirement into banishment is seldom--very + seldom--welcome. Of that, however, I do not complain. But to any man + whose heart glows with the warmest impulses and the most intense love + of freedom; strongly attached to kind friends, affectionate parents, + loving brother and sisters, and a devotedly fond and loving wife, the + contemplation of a long period of imprisonment must appear most + terrible and appalling. To me, however, viewing it from a purely + personal point of view, and considering the cause for which I am + about to suffer, far from being dismayed--far from its discouraging + me--it proves to me rather a source of joy and comfort. True, it is a + position not to be sought--not to be looked for--it is one which, for + many, very many reasons there is no occasion for me now to explain, + maybe thought to involve disgrace or discredit. But, so far from + viewing it in that light, I do not shrink from it, but accept it + readily, feeling proud and glad that it affords me an opportunity of + proving the sincerity of those soul-elevating principles of freedom + which a good old patriotic father instilled into my mind from my + earliest years, and which I still entertain with a strong love, whose + fervour and intensity are second only to the sacred homage which we + owe to God. If, having lost that freedom, I am to be deprived of all + those blessings--those glad and joyous years I should have spent + amongst loving friends--I shall not complain, I shall not murmur, but + with calm resignation and cheerful expectation, I shall joyfully + submit to God's blessed will, feeling confident that He will open the + strongly locked and barred doors of British prisons. Till that glad + time arrives, it is consolation and reward enough for me to know that + I have the fervent prayers, the sympathy and loving blessings of + Ireland's truly noble and generous people, and far easier, more + soothing and more comforting to me will it be to go back to my + cheerless cell, than it would be to live in slavish ease and + luxury--a witness to the cruel sufferings and terrible miseries of + this down-trodden people. Condemn me, then, my lord--condemn me to a + felon's doom. To-night I will sleep in a prison cell; to-morrow I + will wear a convict's dress; but to me it will be a far nobler garb + than the richest dress of slavery. Coward slaves they lie who think + the countless sufferings and degradation of prison life disgraces a + man. I feel otherwise. It is as impossible to subdue the soul + animated with freedom as it will be for England to crush the resolute + will of this nation, determined as it is to be free, or perish in the + attempt. According to British law, those acts proved against + me--fairly proved against me I acknowledge--maybe crimes, but + morally, in the eyes of freemen and the sight of God, they are more + ennobling than disgraceful. Shame is only a connexion with guilt. It + is surely not a crime to obey God's law, or to assist our fellow-men + to acquire those God-given rights which no men--no nation--can justly + deprive them of. If love of freedom and a desire to extend its + unspeakable blessings to all God's creatures, irrespective of race, + creed, or colour, be a crime--if devotion to Ireland, and love of its + faithful, its honest, its kindly people be a crime, then I say I + proudly and gladly acknowledge my guilt. If it is a disgrace, all I + can say is I glory in such shame and dishonour; and, with all respect + for the court, I hold in thorough and utmost contempt the worst + punishment that can be inflicted upon me, so far as it is intended to + deprive me of this feeling, and degrade me in the eyes of my + fellow-men. Oh, no, it is impossible, my lord; the freeman's soul can + never be dismayed. England will most miserably fail if she expects by + force and oppression to crush out--to stamp out, as the _Times_ + exclaimed--this glorious longing for national life and independence + which now fills the breasts of millions of Irishmen, and which only + requires a little patience and the opportunity to effect its purpose. + Much has been said on these trials, on the objects and intentions of + Fenianism. I feel confidently, my lord, as to my own motives. I shall + not be guilty of the egotism to say whether they are pure or + otherwise. I shall leave that to others to judge. I am not qualified + to judge that myself; but I know in my soul that the motives which + prompted me were pure, patriotic, and unselfish. I know the motives + that actuate the most active members of the Fenian organization; and + I know that very few persons, except such contemptible wretches as + Corridon, have profited by their connexion with Fenianism. My best + friends lost all they ever possessed by it. Talbot and Corridon, I + believe, have sworn on previous trials that it was the intention of + the Fenians to have divided the lands of Ireland amongst themselves + in the event of success. Though an humble member of the organization, + I have the honour and satisfaction of being acquainted with the great + majority of the leaders of Fenianism on both sides of the Atlantic, + and I never knew one of them to have exhibited a desire other than to + have the proud satisfaction of freeing Ireland, which was the only + reward they ever yearned for--the only object that ever animated + them. As to myself, I can truly say that I entered into this movement + without any idea of personal aggrandisement. When, in 1865, I bade my + loving friends and parents good-bye in America, and came to Ireland, + I was fully satisfied with the thought that I was coming to assist in + the liberation of an enslaved nation; and I knew that the greatest + sacrifices must be endured on our parts before the country could be + raised to that proud position which is so beautifully described by + the national poet as-- + + "'Great, glorious, and free, + First flower of the earth, first gem of the sea.' + + "Well, it was with that only wish, and that only desire I came to + Ireland, feeling that to realize it were to an honest man a greater + reward than all the honours and riches and power this world could + bestow. I cannot boast of learning, my lord; I have not had much + opportunity of cultivating those talents with which Providence may + have blessed me. Still I have read sufficient of the world's history + to know that no people ever acquired their liberty without enormous + sacrifices--without losing, always, I may say, some of the purest, + bravest, and best of their children. Liberty, if worth possessing, is + surely worth struggling and fighting for, and in this struggle--of + which, although the crown-lawyers and the government of England think + they have seen the end, but of which I tell them they have not yet + seen the commencement--I feel that enormous sacrifices must be made. + Therefore, my lord, looking straight before me now, I say I was + determined and was quite ready to sacrifice my life if necessary to + acquire that liberty; and I am not now going to be so mean-spirited, + so cowardly, or so contemptible as to shrink from my portion of the + general suffering. I am ready, then, for the sentence of the court, + satisfied that I have acted right, confident that I have committed no + wrong, outrage, or crime whatever, and that I have cast no disgrace + upon my parents, my friends, upon my devoted wife, or upon myself. I + am, with God's assistance, ready to meet my fate. I rest in the calm + resignation of a man whose only ambition through life has been to + benefit and free, not to injure, his fellow-men; and whose only + desire this moment is to obtain their prayers and blessings. With the + approval of my own conscience, above all hoping for the forgiveness + of God for anything I may have done to displease Him, and relying + upon His self-sustaining grace to enable me to bear any punishment, + no matter how severe, so long as it is for glorious old Ireland. I + had intended, my lord, to refer to my notes which I took at the + trial; but I feel that was so ably done by my counsel, it would be a + mere waste of time for me to do so, but I just wish to make an + explanation. Sir C. O'Loghlen made a statement--unintentionally I am + sure it was on his part--which may or may not affect me. He said I + sent a memorial to the Lord Lieutenant praying to be released from + custody. I wish to say I sent no such thing. The facts of the matter + are these:--I was liberated in this court because in reality the + crown could not make out a case against me at the time; and as I + could, at the same time, be kept in prison until the next assizes, I, + on consultation with my friends and with my fellow-captive, Captain + M'Afferty, consented, as soon as I should receive a remittance from + my friends in America, to return there. On these conditions I was set + at liberty, understanding, at the same time, that if found in the + country by next assizes I would be brought up for trial. I did not + want to give annoyance, and I said I would go to America. I honestly + intended to do so then--not, however, as giving up my principles, but + because I saw there was no hope of an immediate rising in Ireland. + While agreeing to those conditions, I went to Dublin, and there met + M'Afferty, and it was on that occasion I made the acquaintance of + Corridon. I met him purely accidentally. He afterwards stated that he + saw me in Liverpool, but he did not see me there. I went over with an + object, and while there I was arrested by anticipation, before the + _Habeas Corpus_ Act was really suspended. I defy the government to + prove I had any connexion with Fenianism from the time I was released + from Cork jail until February, 1867. I was afterwards removed to + Mountjoy prison, and, while there, Mr. West came to me and said he + understood I was an American citizen, and asked why I did not make + that known. I said I had a double reason--first, because I expected + the crown would see they had broken their pledge with me in having + been so soon arrested; and also that I expected my government would + make a general demand for all its citizens. By Mr. West's desire I + put that statement in writing; and I do not think that there is a + word in it that can be construed into a memorial to the Lord + Lieutenant. One of the directors of the prison came to me and asked + me was I content to comply with the former conditions, and I said I + was. I was liberated upon those conditions, and complied with them; + but there was no condition whatever named that I was never to return + to Ireland nor to fight for Irish independence. At that time I would + sooner have remained in prison than enter into any such compact. Now, + with reference to Corridon's information. He states he met me in + Liverpool after the rising, and I stated to him that somebody 'sold + the pass' upon us--to use the Irish phrase. Now, it is a strange + thing, my lord, that he got some information that was true, and I + really was in Liverpool, but not with the informer. The fact is, the + month previous to that I knew, and so did M'Afferty, that Corridon + had sold us. We left instructions at Liverpool to have him watched; + but owing to circumstances, it is needless now to refer to, that was + not attended to, and he came afterwards to Ireland and passed as a + Fenian, and the parties here, not knowing he had betrayed them, still + believed in him. But I knew very well that Corridon had betrayed that + Chester affair, and so did Captain M'Afferty; and if I had met him at + that time in Liverpool I don't think it would be him I would inform + of our plans. I only want to show, my lord, how easily an informer + can concoct a scene. I never in my life attended that meeting that + Corridon swore to. All his depositions with respect to me is false. I + did meet him twice in Dublin, but not on the occasions he states. I + wish to show how an informer can concoct a story that it will be + entirely out of the power of the prisoner to contradict. With + reference to the witness Curtin, whom I asked to have produced--and + the crown did produce all the witnesses I asked for--your lordship + seemed to be under the impression that I did not produce him because + he might not be able to say I was not in his house that night. Now, + the fact is that, as my attorney learned the moment Mr. Curtin was + brought to town, he knew nothing whatever about the circumstance, as + he was not in his own tavern that night at all. That was why I did + not produce the evidence. But I solemnly declare I never was in + Curtin's public-house in my life till last summer, when I went in + with a friend on two or three occasions, and then for the first time. + That must have been in June or July, after the trials were over in + Dublin. So that everything Corridon said in connection with my being + there that night was absolutely false. I solemnly declare I was never + there till some time last summer, when I went in under the + circumstances I have stated. In conclusion, my lord, though it may + not be exactly in accordance with the rules of the court, I wish to + return your lordship my most sincere thanks for your fair and + impartial conduct during this trial. If there was anything that was + not impartial in it at all, I consider it was only in my favour, and + not in favour of the crown. This I consider is the duty of a judge, + and what every judge should do--because the prisoner is always on the + weak side, and cannot say many things he would wish, while the crown, + on the other hand, have all the power and influence that the law and + a full exchequer can give them. I must also return my sincere and + heartfelt thanks to my able and distinguished counsel, who spoke so + eloquently in my favour. As for Mr. Collins, I feel I can never + sufficiently thank him. He served me on my trial at a great sacrifice + of time and money, with noble zeal and devotion, such as might be + more readily expected from a friend than a solicitor. There are many + more I would like to thank individually, but as this may not be the + proper time and place to do so, I can only thank all my friends from + the bottom of my heart. I may mention the name at least of Mr. Joyce, + who, in the jail, showed a great deal of kind feeling and attention. + And now, my lord, as I have already stated, I am ready for my + sentence I feel rather out of place in this dock [the prisoner here + smiled gently]. It is a place a man is very seldom placed in, and + even if he is a good speaker he might be put out by the circumstance + of having to utter his remarks from this place. But speaking at all + is not my _forte_; and there are such emotions filling my breast at + this moment that I may be pardoned for not saying all I would wish. + My heart is filled with thoughts of kind friends--near at hand and + far away--of father and mother, brothers and sisters, and my dear + wife. Thoughts of these fill my breast at this moment, and check my + utterance. But I will say to them that I am firmly convinced I will + yet live to see, and that God will be graciously pleased in His own + good time to order, the prosperity and freedom of this glorious + country. I would only repeat the powerful, touching, and simple words + of Michael Larkin, the martyr of Manchester, who, in parting from his + friends, said, 'God be with you, Irishmen and Irishwomen,' and the + burning words of my old friend Edward O'Mara Condon, which are now + known throughout Ireland and the world, 'God save Ireland!' And I, + too, would say, 'God be with you, Irishmen and women; God save you; + God bless Ireland; and God grant me strength to bear my task for + Ireland as becomes a man. Farewell!' [A sound of some females sobbing + was here heard in the gallery. Several ladies in court, too, visibly + yielded to emotion at this point. Perceiving this the prisoner + continued:--] My lord, if I display any emotion at this moment, I + trust it will not be construed into anything resembling a feeling of + despair, for no such feeling animates me. I feel, as I have already + said, confidence in God. I feel that I will not be long in + imprisonment; therefore I am just as ready to meet my fate now as I + was six weeks ago, or as I was six months ago. I feel confident that + there is a glorious future in store for Ireland, and that, with a + little patience, a little organization, and a full trust in God on + the part of the Irish people, they will be enabled to obtain it at no + distant date." + +During the concluding passages of this address many persons sobbed and +wept in various parts of the court. At its close the learned judge in +language that was really gentle, considerate, and even complimentary +towards the prisoner, and in a voice shaken by sincere emotion, declared +the sentence which he felt it to be his duty to impose. It was penal +servitude for a term of twelve years. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I*** + + +******* This file should be named 13112-8.txt or 13112-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13112 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Speeches from the Dock, Part I</p> +<p>Author: Various</p> +<p>Release Date: August 4, 2004 [eBook #13112]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Martin Pettit,<br /> + and Prooject Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h4> +<p> </p> +<h5>Transcriber's note: The spelling inconsistencies of the original have +been retained in this etext.</h5> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<h2><b>SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I</b></h2> + +<h3>OR</h3> + +<h2><b>PROTESTS OF IRISH PATRIOTISM.</b></h2> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2>Speeches Delivered After Conviction,</h2> + +<h3>by</h3> + +<h4>THEOBALD WOLFE TONE</h4> +<h4>WILLIAM ORR</h4> +<h4>THE BROTHERS SHEARES</h4> +<h4>ROBERT EMMET</h4> +<h4>JOHN MARTIN (1848)</h4> +<h4>WILLIAM SMITH O'BRIEN</h4> +<h4>THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER</h4> +<h4>TERENCE BELLEW McMANUS</h4> +<h4>JOHN MITCHEL</h4> +<h4>THOMAS C. LUBY</h4> +<h4>JOHN O'LEARY</h4> +<h4>CHARLES J. KICKHAM</h4> +<h4>COLONEL THOMAS F. BURKE</h4> +<h4>CAPTAIN MACKAY</h4> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="centerdiv"> +<p class='poem'><span>"Freedom's battle, once begun,—</span> +<span>Bequeath'd from bleeding sire to son,—</span> +<span>Though baffled oft, is ever won."</span> +</p> +</div> +<p> </p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>DUBLIN: </h3> + +<h3>A.M. SULLIVAN, ABBEY STREET. </h3> + +<h3>1868.</h3> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + <p><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE</a><br /> + + <a href="#SPEECHES_FROM_THE_DOCK">INTRODUCTORY</a><br /> + + <a href="#THEOBALD_WOLFE_TONE">THEOBALD WOLFE TONE.</a><br /> + + <a href="#WILLIAM_ORR">WILLIAM ORR.</a><br /> + + <a href="#HENRY_AND_JOHN_SHEARES">HENRY AND JOHN SHEARES.</a><br /> + + <a href="#ROBERT_EMMET">ROBERT EMMET.</a><br /> + + <a href="#THOMAS_RUSSELL">THOMAS RUSSELL.</a><br /> + + <a href="#JOHN_MITCHEL">JOHN MITCHEL.</a><br /> + + <a href="#JOHN_MARTIN">JOHN MARTIN.</a><br /> + + <a href="#WS_OBRIEN">W.S. O'BRIEN.</a><br /> + + <a href="#THOMAS_FRANCIS_MEAGHER">THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.</a><br /> + + <a href="#KEVIN_IZOD_ODOHERTY">KEVIN IZOD O'DOHERTY.</a><br /> + + <a href="#TERENCE_BELLEW_MMANUS">TERENCE BELLEW M'MANUS.</a><br /> + + <a href="#THOMAS_CLARKE_LUBY">THOMAS CLARKE LUBY.</a><br /> + + <a href="#JOHN_OLEARY">JOHN O'LEARY.</a><br /> + + <a href="#JEREMIAH_ODONOVAN_ROSSA">JEREMIAH O'DONOVAN (ROSSA).</a><br /> + + <a href="#BRYAN_DILLON_JOHN_LYNCH_AND_OTHERS">BRYAN DILLON, JOHN LYNCH, AND OTHERS.</a><br /> + + <a href="#CHARLES_JOSEPH_KICKHAM">CHARLES JOSEPH KICKHAM.</a><br /> + + <a href="#GENERAL_THOMAS_F_BURKE">GENERAL THOMAS F. BURKE.</a><br /> + + <a href="#CAPTAIN_JOHN_MAFFERTY">CAPTAIN JOHN M'AFFERTY.</a><br /> + + <a href="#EDWARD_DUFFY">EDWARD DUFFY.</a><br /> + + <a href="#STEPHEN_JOSEPH_MEANY">STEPHEN JOSEPH MEANY.</a><br /> + + <a href="#CAPTAIN_JOHN_MCLURE">CAPTAIN JOHN M'CLURE.</a><br /> + + <a href="#EDWARD_KELLY">EDWARD KELLY.</a><br /> + + <a href="#CAPTAIN_WILLIAM_MACKAY">CAPTAIN WILLIAM MACKAY.</a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<h2><a name='PREFACE'></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<h2>TO SECOND EDITION</h2> + +<p>Little more than a year ago we commenced an undertaking never previously +attempted, yet long called for—the collection and publication, in a +complete form and at a low price, of the Speeches of Irish Patriots, +spoken from the dock or the scaffold.</p> + +<p>The extraordinary success which attended upon our effort was the best +proof that we had correctly appreciated the universal desire of the +Irish people to possess themselves of such a memorial of National +Protest—protest unbroken through generations of martyrs.</p> + +<p>The work was issued in weekly numbers, and reached a sale previously +unheard of in Irish literature. In a few months the whole issue was +exhausted, and for a long time past the demand for a Second Edition has +been pressed upon us from all sides. With that demand we now comply.</p> + +<p>The present issue of "Speeches from the Dock" has been carefully revised +and considerably improved. With it, as Part I. of a series, we have +bound, as its sequels, Parts II. and III.—each Part, however, complete +in itself—bringing the list of convict patriot orators down to the +latest sentenced in 1868. It may be that even here the sad array is not +to close, and that even yet another sequel may have to be issued, ere +the National Protest of which these Voices from the Dock are the +utterances, shall be terminated for ever. Even so, our faith will be all +unshaken in the inevitable triumph of the cause for which so many +martyrs have thus suffered; and we shall still await in Faith and Hope +the first strains of that Hymn of Deliverance which shall yet resound +through the valleys of Emancipated Ireland.</p> + +<p>90 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET, </p> + +<p><i>November</i>, 1868.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='SPEECHES_FROM_THE_DOCK'></a>INTRODUCTORY</h2> + +<p>To the lovers of Ireland—to those who sympathize with her sufferings +and resent her wrongs, there can be few things more interesting than the +history of the struggles which sprang from devotion to her cause, and +were consecrated by the blood of her patriots. The efforts of the Irish +race to burst the fetters that foreign force and native dissensions +imposed on them, and elevate their country from bondage and degradation +to a place amongst free nations, fill a page in the world's history +which no lover of freedom can read without emotion, and which must +excite wonder, admiration, and regret in the mind of every man with whom +patriotism is not a reproach, and who can sympathize with a cause +ennobled by fidelity and sacrifice, and sanctified by the blood and +tears of a nation. "How hands so vile could conquer hearts so brave," is +the question which our National Poet supposes to arise in the mind of +the stranger, as he looks on the spectacle of Ireland in her decay; but +another question will suggest itself to those who study the history of +our country: it is, how a feeling so deeply rooted as the love of +independence is in the hearts of the Irish people—an aspiration so +warmly and so widely entertained—which has been clung to with so much +persistency—which has survived through centuries of persecution—for +which generations have arisen, and fought, and bled, and dashed +themselves against the power of England with a succession as unbroken as +that of the waves upon our shores—a cause so universally loved, so +deeply reverenced, and so unflinchingly supported by a brave and +intrepid race, should never have attained the blessing of success. A +more signal instance than that which Ireland can supply of the baffling +of a nation's hope, the prolonged frustration of a people's will, is not +on record; and few even of those who most condemn the errors and +weakness by which Irishmen themselves have retarded the national object, +will hesitate to say that they have given to mankind the noblest proof +they possess of the vitality of the principles of freedom, and the +indestructibility of national sentiment.</p> + +<p>It is for us, however, Irish of the Irish, that the history of the +struggle for Ireland's rights possesses most attractions. We live amidst +the scenes where the battles against the stranger were fought, and where +the men who waged them lived and died. The bones of the patriots who +laboured for Ireland, and of those who died for her, repose in the +graveyards around us; and we have still amongst us the inheritors of +their blood, their name, and their spirit. It was to make us free—to +render independent and prosperous the nation to, which we belong—that +the pike was lifted and the green flag raised; and it was in furtherance +of this object, on which the hearts of Irishmen are still set, that the +men whose names shine through the pages on which the story of Ireland's +struggles for national existence is written, suffered and died. To +follow out that mournful but absorbing story is not, however, the object +aimed at in the following pages. The history of Ireland is no longer a +sealed volume to the people; more than one author has told it truthfully +and well, and the list of books devoted to it is every day receiving +valuable accessions. Nor has it even been attempted, in this little +work, though trenching more closely on its subject, to trace the career +and sketch the lives of the men who fill the foremost places in the +ranks of Ireland's political martyrs. In the subjoined pages little more +will be found than a correct report of the addresses delivered, under +certain peculiar circumstances, by the group of Irishmen whose names are +given on the titlepage. A single public utterance from the lips of each +of these gentlemen is all that we have printed, though it would be easy +to supplement them in nearly every case by writings and speeches owning +a similar authorship, equally eloquent and equally patriotic. But the +speeches given here are associated with facts which give them peculiar +value and significance, and were spoken under circumstances which lend +to them a solemn interest and impressiveness which could not otherwise +be obtained. They reach us—these dock speeches, in which nobility of +purpose and chivalrous spirit is expressed—like voices from the tomb, +like messages from beyond the grave, brimful of lessons of dignity and +patriotism. We can see the men who spoke them standing before the +representatives of the government whose oppression had driven them to +revolt, when the solemn farce of trying them for a crime which posterity +will account a virtue had terminated, and when the verdict of "guilty" +had gladdened the hearts of their accusers. The circumstances under +which they spoke might well cause a bold man to falter. They were about +parting for ever from all that makes life dear to man; and, for some of +them, the sentence; which was to cut short the thread of their +existence, to consign them to a bloody and ignominious death, to leave +their bodies mutilated corpses, from which the rights of Christian +burial were to be withheld—which was to assign them the death of a dog, +and to follow them with persecuting hand into the valley of death—was +about to fall from the lips of the judges whom they addressed. Against +others a fate less repulsive, perhaps, to the feelings of humanity, but +certainly not more merciful, and hardly less painful and appalling, was +about to be decreed. Recent revelations have thrown some light on the +horrors endured by the Irish political prisoners who languish within the +prison pens of England; but it needs far more than a stray letter, a +half-stifled cry from the dungeon depths, to enable the public to +realize the misery, the wretchedness, and the degradation attached to +the condition to which England reduces her political convicts. Condemned +to associate with the vilest of the scoundrels bred by the immorality +and godlessness of England—exposed, without possibility of redress, to +the persecutions of brutal, coarse-minded men, accustomed to deal only +with ruffians than whom beasts are less ferocious and +unreclaimable—restricted to a course of discipline which blasts the +vigour of the body, and under whose influence reason herself totters +upon her throne—the Irish rebel against whom the doom of penal +servitude has been pronounced is condemned to the most hideous and +agonizing punishments to which men of their class could be exposed. It +was with such terrors staring them in the face that the men whose words +are recorded in this little work delivered their speeches from the dock. +It is surely something for us, their countrymen, to boast of, that +neither in their bearing nor in their words was there manifested the +slightest trace of weakness, the faintest exhibition of any feeling +which could show that their hearts were accessible to the terror which +their situation was so well calculated to inspire. No cheek grew pale, +no eyes lost their light—their tones were unbroken, and their manner +undaunted as ever, as these men uttered the words we purpose recording. +Their language tells of minds which persecution could not subdue, and +for which death itself possessed no sting; and the manner in which it +was expressed showed that, in their case, elevation of sentiment was +allied with unconquerable firmness and resolution. Never were lessons so +noble more boldly preached. It is in courts of justice, after all, +declares a great English authority, that the lessons of morality are +best taught; and in Ireland the truthfulness of the assertion is +established. But it is not from the bench or the jury-box that the words +have fallen in which the cause of morality and justice has been +vindicated; venality, passion, and prejudice have but too often swayed +the decisions of both; and it is to the dock we must turn when we seek +for honour, integrity, and patriotism.</p> + +<p>We owe it to the men who suffered so unflinchingly in the cause of our +country, and who have left us so precious a heritage in the speeches in +which they hurled a last defiance at their oppressors, that their names +should not be forgotten, or the recollection of their acts suffered to +grow cold. The noblest incentive to patriotism, as it is the highest +reward which this world can offer those who dare and suffer for +fatherland, is the gratitude, the sympathy, and the applause of the +people for whom they laboured. We owe it to the brave men whose +patriotism is attested in the addresses comprised in this volume, that +the memory of their noble deeds shall not pass away, and that their +names shall remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen. They +failed, it is true, to accomplish what they attempted, and the battle to +which they devoted themselves has yet to be won; but we know that they, +at least, did their part courageously and well; and, looking back now +upon the stormy scenes of their labours, and contrasting the effects of +their sacrifices with the cost at which they were made, the people of +Ireland are still prepared to accept the maxim that—</p> + +<div class="centerdiv"> +<p class='poem'><span>"Tis better to have fought and lost,</span> +<span>Than never to have fought at all."</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>While such men can be found to suffer as they have suffered for Ireland, +the ultimate triumph of her aspirations cannot be doubted, nor can the +national faith be despaired of while it has martyrs so numerous and so +heroic. It is by example that the great lessons of patriotism can best +be conveyed; and if the national spirit burn brightly to-day in +Ireland—if the spirit of her children be still defiant and +unsubdued—if, at home and in the far West, the hearts of the Irish +people still throb with the emotions that prompted Emmet and Wolfe +Tone—if their eyes are still hot to see the independence of their +country, their arms still ready to strike, and their spirit ready to +sacrifice for the accomplishment of that object, we owe the result +largely to the men whose names are inscribed in this little work, and +whose memory it is intended to perpetuate.</p> + +<p>We have commenced our series with the speech of Theobald Wolfe Tone, and +our record stretches no further back than the memorable insurrection of +1798. If our object were to group together the Irishmen who are known +to have struggled for the independence of their country, and who +suffered for their attachment to her cause, we might go much farther +back into history, and indefinitely increase the bulk of this +publication. We fix the insurrection of '98 as the limit of our +collection, chiefly because it was at that time trials for high treason +in Ireland assumed the precise meaning and significance which they now +possess, and there is consequently, in the speeches which follow, such a +unity of purpose and sentiment as renders them especially suitable for +presentation in a single volume. Only seventy years have elapsed since +Wolfe Tone spoke to the question why sentence should not be pronounced +on him—only two-thirds of a century since Emmet vindicated the cause of +his country from the Green street dock, and already what a host of +imitators and disciples have they had! There is not a country in Europe, +there is not a nationality in the world, can produce such another +collection as that which we to-day lay before the people of Ireland. We +live under a government which claims to be just, liberal, and +constitutional, yet against no other government in Christendom have the +same number of protests been made within the same space of time. Not +Poland, not Hungary, not Venetia, can point to such an unbroken +succession of political martyrs. The pages of history contain nothing to +compare with the little volume we to-day place in the hands of our +countrymen; and we know of no more powerful and eloquent condemnation of +the system on which Ireland is governed, than that contained in the +simple fact that all those speeches were spoken, all those trials +carried-out, all those sentences decreed, within the lifetime of a +single generation. It is idle to think of subduing a people who make so +many sacrifices, and who are undaunted still; it is vain to think of +crushing a spirit which survives so much persecution. The executioner +and the gaoler, the gibbet, the block, and the dungeon, have done their +work in the crusade against Irish Nationality, and we know what the +result is to-day. The words of the last political convict whose name +appears in these pages are as uncompromising and as bold as those of the +first of his predecessors; and, studying the spirit which they have +exhibited, and marking the effect of their conduct on the bulk of their +countrymen, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that so much +persistent resolution and heroism must one day eventuate in success, and +that Ireland, the country for which so many brave men have suffered with +such unfaltering courage, is not destined to disprove the rule that—</p> + +<div class="centerdiv"> +<p class='poem'><span>"Freedom's battle once begun,—</span> +<span>Bequeath'd from bleeding sire to son—</span> +<span>Though baffled oft, is ever won."</span> +</p> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='THEOBALD_WOLFE_TONE'></a>THEOBALD WOLFE TONE.</h2> + +<p class="center"><img src="images/image01.png" style="width: 350px; height: 545px; border: 0" alt="THEOBALD WOLFE TONE. From a Portrait by his +Daughter-in-law, Mrs. Sampson Tone." /></p> + +<p>No name is more intimately associated with the national movement of 1798 +than that of Theobald Wolfe Tone. He was its main-spring, its leading +spirit. Many men connected with it possessed, as he did, brilliant +talents, unfailing courage and determination, and an intense devotion to +the cause; but the order of his genius raised him above them all, and +marked him out from the first as the head and front of the patriot +party. He was one of the original founders of the Society of United +Irishmen, which was formed in Belfast in the year 1791. In its early +days this society was simply a sort of reform association, a legal and +constitutional body, having for its chief object the removal of the +frightful oppressions by which the Catholic people of Ireland were +tortured and disgraced; but in the troubled and portentous condition of +home and foreign politics, the society could not long retain this +character. The futility of seeking a redress of the national grievances +by parliamentary means was becoming apparent to every understanding. The +system of outrage and injustice towards the Catholics, unabating in its +severity, continued to exasperate the actual sufferers and to offend all +men of humane feelings and enlightened principles; and, at the same +time, the electric influence of the American War of Independence and the +French Revolution was operating powerfully in every heart, evoking there +the aspiration for Irish freedom, and inspiring a belief in its possible +attainment. In the midst of such exciting circumstances the society +could not continue to stand on its original basis. In the year 1794, +after a debate among the members, followed by the withdrawal of the more +moderate or timid among them from its ranks, it assumed the form and +character of a secret revolutionary organization; and Tone, Thomas Addis +Emmet, Samuel Neilson, Thomas Russell, James Napper Tandy, with a number +of other patriotic gentlemen in Belfast, Dublin, and other parts of the +country, soon found themselves in the full swing of an +insurrectionary movement, plotting and planning for the complete +overthrow of British power in Ireland. Thenceforward, for some time, the +organization went on rapidly extending through the province of Ulster, +in the first instance, and subsequently over most of the midland and +southern counties.</p> + +<p>Such was the state of affairs when, in the early part of 1794, an +emissary from the French government arrived in Ireland, to ascertain to +what extent the Irish people were likely to co-operate with France in a +war against England. This individual was the Rev. William Jackson, an +Irish Protestant clergyman, who had for some years been resident in +France, and had become thoroughly imbued with Democratic and Republican +principles. Unfortunately, he was not one of the most prudent of envoys. +He revealed his mission to an acquaintance of his, an English attorney, +named Cockayne, who repaid his confidence by betraying his secrets to +the government. Cockayne was immediately employed as a spy upon +Jackson's further proceedings, in which capacity he accompanied his +unsuspecting victim to Ireland, and acquired cognizance of most of his +negotiations. On the 28th of April; 1794, Jackson was arrested on a +charge of high treason. He was brought to speedy trial, was found +guilty, but was not sentenced, for, on the day on which the law's award +was to have been announced to him, he contrived, before entering the +court, to swallow a dose of poison, from the effects of which he expired +in the dock. Tone, with whom Jackson was known to have been in +confidential communication, was placed by those events in a very +critical position; owing, however, to some influence which had been made +with the government on his behalf, he was permitted to exile himself to +America. As he had entered into no engagement with the government +regarding his future line of conduct, he made his expatriation the means +of forwarding, in the most effective manner, the designs he had at +heart. He left Dublin for Philadelphia on the 20th of May, 1795. One of +his first acts, after arriving, was to present to the French Minister +there resident a memorial on the state of Ireland. During the remaining +months of the year letters from his old friends came pouring in on him, +describing the brightening prospects of the cause at home, and urging +him to proceed to the French capital and impress upon the Directory the +policy of despatching at once an expedition to ensure the success of the +Irish revolutionary movement.</p> + +<p>Tone was not the man to disregard such representations. He had at the +time a fair prospect of securing a comfortable independence in America, +but with the full concurrence of his heroic wife, who had accompanied +him across the Atlantic, he sacrificed those chances and resumed the +perilous duties of an Irish patriot. On the 1st of January, 1796, he +left New York for Paris to try what he could do as a diplomatist for the +cause of Ireland. Arrived at the French capital, he had his business +communicated to the Directory through the medium of an Irish gentleman, +named Madgett, and also by memorial, representing always that the +landing of a force of 20,000 men in Ireland, with a supply of arms for +the peasantry, would ensure the separation of Ireland from England. Not +satisfied with the slow progress he was thus achieving, he went on the +24th of February direct to the Luxemburg Palace, and sought and obtained +an interview with the War Minister, the celebrated Carnot, the +"organizer of victory." The Minister received him well, listened +attentively to his statements, discussed his project with him, and +appeared much impressed with the prospects it presented. The result was +that on the 16th of December in the same year, a splendid expedition +sailed from Brest for Ireland. It consisted of seventeen sail of the +line, thirteen frigates and fifteen transports, with some smaller craft, +and had on board 15,000 troops, with a large supply of arms for the +Irish patriots. Tone himself, who had received the rank of +Adjutant-General in the French service, was on board one of the vessels. +Had this force been disembarked on the shores of Ireland, it is hardly +possible to doubt that the separation of this country from England would +have been effected. But the expedition was unfortunate from the outset. +It was scattered on the voyage during a gale of wind, and the Admiral's +vessel, with Hoche, the Commander, on board, was separated from the +others. A portion of the expedition entered the magnificent Bay of +Bantry and waited there several days in expectation of being rejoined by +the vessel containing the Admiral and Commander; but they waited in +vain. Tone vehemently urged that a landing should be effected with the +forces then at hand—some 6,500 men—but the officers procrastinated, +time was lost, the wind which had been blowing from the east (that is +out the harbour) rose to a perfect hurricane, and on the 27th and 28th +of the month the vessels cut their cables and made the best of their way +for France.</p> + +<p>This was a terrible blow to the hopes of the Irish organizer. Rage and +sadness filled his heart by turns as the fierce storm blew his vessel +out of the bay and across the sea to the land which he had left under +such favourable auspices. But yet he did not resign himself to despair. +As the patient spider renews her web again and again after it has been +torn asunder, so did this indefatigable patriot set to work to repair +the misfortune that had occurred, and to build up another project of +assistance for his unfortunate country. His perseverance was not +unproductive of results. The Batavian or Dutch Republic, then in +alliance with France, took up the project that had failed in the Bay of +Bantry. In the month of July, 1797, they had assembled in the Texel an +expedition for the invasion of Ireland, nearly, if not quite, as +formidable in men and ships as that which had left Brest in the previous +year. Tone was on board the flag ship, even more joyous and hopeful than +he had been on the preceding occasion. But again, as if by some +extraordinary fatality, the weather interposed an obstacle to the +realization of the design. The vessels were ready for sea, the troops +were on board, nothing was wanted but a slant of wind to enable the +fleet to get out. But for five weeks it continued to blow steadily in +the adverse direction. The supplies ran low; the patience of the +officers, and of the government, became exhausted—the troops were +disembarked and the project abandoned! The second failure in a matter +of such weight and importance was a heavy blow to the heart of the brave +Tone. Elaborate and costly efforts like those which had ended so poorly, +he felt could not often be repeated; the drift of the war was cutting +out other work for the fleets and armies of France and her allies, and +the unwelcome conviction began to settle darkly on his mind that never +again would he see such a vision of hope for dear Ireland as that which +had shone before him on those two occasions, and vanished in doubt and +gloom.</p> + +<p>Yet there was no need to despair. Assurances reached Tone every day that +the defeat and humiliation of England was a settled resolve of the +French Government, one which they would never abandon. And for a time +everything seemed to favour the notion that a direct stroke at the heart +of England was intended. In the latter part of 1797 the Directory +ordered the formation of "The Army of England," the command of which was +given to General Buonaparte. Tone's heart again beat high with hope, for +now matters looked more promising than ever. He was in constant +communication with some of the chief officers of the expedition, and in +the month of December he had several interviews with Buonaparte himself, +which however he could hardly consider of a satisfactory nature. On the +20th of May, 1798, General Buonaparte embarked on board the fleet at +Toulon and sailed off—not for Ireland or England, but for Egypt.</p> + +<p>On the Irish leaders at home these repeated disappointments fell with +terrible effect. The condition of the country was daily growing more +critical. The government, now thoroughly roused and alarmed, and +persuaded that the time for "vigorous measures" had arrived, was +grappling with the conspiracy in all directions. Still those men would, +if they could, have got the people to possess their souls in patience +and wait for aid from abroad before unfurling the banner of +insurrection; for they were constant in their belief that without the +presence of a disciplined army on Irish soil to consolidate their +strength and direct it, a revolutionary effort of the Irish people +could end only in disaster. But the government had reasons of their own +for wishing to set an Irish rebellion afoot at this time, and they took +measures to precipitate the rising. The arrest of the delegates at the +house of Oliver Bond in Dublin, and the capture of Lord Edward +Fitzgerald contributed to this end; but these things the country might +have peacably endured if no more dreadful trial had been put upon it. +What could not be endured was the system of riot and outrage, and +murder, to which the unfortunate peasantry were then given over. Words +fail to describe its cruelty and its horrors. It was too much for human +nature to bear. On the 23rd of May, three days after Buonaparte had +sailed from Toulon for Alexandria, the Irish insurrection broke out. The +news of the occurrence created the most intense excitement among the +Irish refugees then in Paris. Tone rushed to and fro to the Directory +and to the generals, pleading for the despatch of some assistance to his +struggling countrymen. Various plans were suggested and taken into +consideration, but while time was being wasted in this way, the military +forces of the British Government were rapidly suppressing the +insurrection of the unarmed and undisciplined Irish peasantry. In this +condition of affairs a gallant but rash and indiscreet French officer, +General Humbert, resolved that he would commit the Directory to action, +by starting at once with a small force for the coast of Ireland. Towards +the middle of August, calling together the merchants and magistrates of +Rochelle, "he forced them to advance a small sum of money, and all that +he wanted, on military requisition; and embarking on board a few +frigates and transports with 1,000 men, 1,000 spare muskets, 1,000 +guineas, and a few pieces of artillery, he compelled the captains to set +sail for the most desperate attempt which is, perhaps, recorded in +history." Three Irishmen were on board the fleet—Matthew Tone, brother +to Theobald, Bartholomew Teeling, and Sullivan, an officer in the French +service, who was enthusiastically devoted to the Irish cause, and had +rendered much aid to his patriotic countrymen in France. Humbert landed +at Killala, routed with his little handful of men a large force of the +royal troops, and held his ground until General Lake, with 20,000 men +marched against him. After a resistance sufficient to maintain the +honour of the French arms, Humbert's little force surrendered as +prisoners of war. The Irish who had joined his standard were shown no +mercy. The peasantry were cruelly butchered. Of those who had +accompanied him from France, Sullivan, who was able to pass as a +Frenchman, escaped; Teeling and Matthew Tone were brought in irons to +Dublin, tried, and executed. The news of Humbert's expedition and the +temporary success that had attended it created much excitement in +France, and stirred up the Directory to attempt something for Ireland +more worthy of the fame and power of the French nation, and more in +keeping with their repeated promises to the leaders of the Irish +movement. But their fleet was at the time greatly reduced, and their +resources were in a state of disorganization. They mustered for the +expedition only one sail of the line and eight small frigates, commanded +by Commodore Bompart, conveying 5,000 men under the leadership of +General Hardy. On board the Admiral's vessel, which was named the Hoche, +was the heroic Theobald Wolfe Tone. He knew this expedition had no +chance of success, but he had all along declared, "that if the +government sent only a corporal's guard, he felt it his duty to go along +with them." The vessels sailed on the 20th of September, 1798; it was +not till the 11th October that they arrived off Lough +Swilly—simultaneously with an English squadron that had been on the +look out for them. The English ships were about equal in number to the +French, but were of a larger class, and carried a much heavier armament. +The French Admiral directed some of his smaller craft to endeavour to +escape by means of their light draught of water, and he counselled Tone +to transfer himself to that one of them which had the best chance of +getting away. The Frenchmen, he observed, would be made prisoners of +war, but for the Irish rebel a worse fate was reserved if he should fall +into the hand of his enemies. But to this suggestion the noble-hearted +Tone declined to accede. "Shall it be said," he replied, "that I fled +while the French were fighting the battles of my country." In a little +time the Hoche was surrounded by four sail of the line and one frigate, +who poured their shot into her upon all sides. During six hours she +maintained the unequal combat, fighting "till her masts and rigging were +cut away, her scuppers flowed with blood, her wounded filled the +cockpit, her shattered ribs yawned at each new stroke, and let in five +feet of water in the hold, her rudder was carried off, and she floated a +dismantled wreck on the water; her sails and cordage hung in shreds, nor +could she reply with a single gun from her dismounted batteries to the +unabating cannonade of the enemy." During the action Tone commanded one +of the batteries "and fought with the utmost desperation, as if he was +courting death." But, as often has happened in similiar cases, death +seemed to shun him, and he was reserved for a more tragic fate.</p> + +<p>The French officers who survived the action, and had been made prisoners +of war, were, some days subsequently, invited to breakfast with the Earl +of Cavan, who commanded in the district in which they had been landed. +Tone, who up to that time, had escaped recognition, was one of the +party, and sat undistinguished among them, until Sir George Hill, who +had been a fellow-student of his in Trinity College, entered the room +and accosted him by his name. This was done, not inadvertently, but with +the intention of betraying him. In a moment he was in the hands of a +party of military and police who were in waiting for him in the next +room. Seeing that they were about to put him in fetters, he complained +indignantly of the offering of such an insult to the uniform which he +wore, and the rank—that of Chef de Brigade—which he bore in the French +army. He cast off his regimentals, protesting that they should not be so +sullied, and then, offering his limbs to the irons, exclaimed—"For the +cause which I have embraced, I feel prouder to wear these chains, than +if I were decorated with the Star and Garter of England." He was hurried +off to Dublin, and though the ordinary tribunals were sitting at the +time, and the military tribunals could have no claim on him, as he had +never belonged to the English army, he was put on his trial before a +court-martial. This was absolutely an illegal proceeding, but his +enemies were impatient for his blood, and would not brook the chances +and the delays of the ordinary procedure of law. On the 10th of +November, 1798, his trial, if such it might be called, took place in one +of the Dublin barracks. He appeared before the Court "dressed," says the +<i>Dublin Magazine</i> for November, 1798, "in the French uniform: a large +cocked hat, with broad gold lace and the tri-coloured cockade; a blue +uniform coat, with gold-embroidered collar and two large gold epaulets; +blue pantaloons, with gold-laced garters at the knees; and short boots, +bound at the tops with gold lace." In his bearing there was no trace of +excitement. "The firmness and cool serenity of his whole deportment," +writes his son, "gave to the awestruck assembly the measure of his +soul," The proceedings of the Court are detailed in the following +report, which we copy from the "Life of Tone," by his son, published at +Washington, U.S., in 1826:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>The members of the Court having been sworn, the Judge Advocate called + on the prisoner to plead guilty or not guilty to the charge of having + acted traitorously and hostilely against the King. Tone replied:—</p> + +<p> "I mean not to give the court any useless trouble, and wish to spare + them the idle task of examining witnesses. I admit all the facts + alleged, and only request leave to read an address which I have + prepared for this occasion."</p> + +<p> Colonel DALY—"I must warn the prisoner that, in acknowledging those + <i>facts</i>, he admits, to his prejudice, that he has acted + <i>traitorously</i> against his Majesty. Is such his intention?"</p> + +<p> TONE—"Stripping this charge of the technicality of its terms, it + means, I presume, by the word traitorously, that I have been found in + arms against the soldiers of the King in my native country. I admit + this accusation in its most extended sense, and request again to + explain to the court the reasons and motives of my conduct."</p> + +<p> The court then observed they would hear his address, provided he kept + himself within the bounds of moderation.</p> + +<p> Tone rose, and began in these words—"Mr. President and Gentlemen of + the Court-Martial, I mean not to give you the trouble of bringing + judicial proof to convict me legally of having acted in hostility to + the government of his Britannic Majesty in Ireland. I admit the fact. + From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great + Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation, and felt + convinced that, whilst it lasted, this country could never be free + nor happy. My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the + experience of every succeeding year, and the conclusions which I have + drawn from every fact before my eyes. In consequence, I was + determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could + move, in order to separate the two countries. That Ireland was not + able of herself to throw off the yoke, I knew; I therefore sought for + aid wherever it was to be found. In honourable poverty I rejected + offers which, to a man in my circumstances, might be considered + highly advantageous. I remained faithful to what I thought the cause + of my country, and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue + three millions of my countrymen from—"</p> + +<p> The President here interrupted the prisoner, observing that this + language was neither relevant to the charge, nor such as ought to be + delivered in a public court.</p> + +<p> A Member said it seemed calculated only to inflame the minds of a + certain description of people (the United Irishmen), many of whom + might be present, and that the court could not suffer it.</p> + +<p> The JUDGE ADVOCATE said—"If Mr. Tone meant this paper to be laid + before his Excellency in way of <i>extenuation</i>, it must have quite a + contrary effect, if the foregoing part was suffered to remain." The + President wound up by calling on the prisoner to hesitate before + proceeding further in the same strain.</p> + +<p> TONE then continued—"I believe there is nothing in what remains for + me to say which can give any offence; I mean to express my feelings + and gratitude towards the Catholic body, in whose cause I was + engaged."</p> + +<p> PRESIDENT—"That seems to have nothing to say to the charge against + you, to which you are only to speak. If you have anything to offer in + defence or extenuation of the charge, the court will hear you, but + they beg you will confine yourself to that subject."</p> + +<p> TONE—"I shall, then, confine myself to some points relative to my + connection with the French army. Attached to no party in the French + Republic—without interest, without money, without intrigue—the + openness and integrity of my views raised me to a high and + confidential rank in its armies. I obtained the confidence of the + Executive Directory, the approbation of my generals, and I will + venture to add, the esteem and affection of my brave comrades. When I + review these circumstances, I feel a secret and internal consolation + which no reverse of fortune, no sentence in the power of this court + to inflict, can deprive me of, or weaken in any degree. Under the + flag of the French Republic I originally engaged with a view to save + and liberate my own country. For that purpose I have encountered the + chances of war amongst strangers; for that purpose I repeatedly + braved the terrors of the ocean, covered, as I knew it to be, with + the triumphant fleets of that power which it was my glory and my + duty to oppose. I have sacrificed all my views in life; I have + courted poverty; I have left a beloved wife unprotected, and children + whom I adored fatherless. After such a sacrifice, in a cause which I + have always considered—conscientiously considered—as the cause of + justice and freedom, it is no great effort, at this day, to add the + sacrifice of my life. But I hear it said that this unfortunate + country has been a prey to all sorts of horrors. I sincerely lament + it. I beg, however, it may be remembered that I have been absent four + years from Ireland. To me these sufferings can never be attributed. I + designed by fair and open war to procure the separation of the two + countries. For open war I was prepared, but instead of that a system + of private assassination has taken place. I repeat, whilst I deplore + it, that it is not chargeable on me. Atrocities, it seems, have been + committed on both sides. I do not less deplore them. I detest them + from my heart; and to those who know my character and sentiments I + may safely appeal for the truth of this assertion; with them I need + no justification. In a case like this success is everything. Success, + in the eyes of the vulgar, fixes its merits. Washington succeeded, + and Kosciusko failed. After a combat nobly sustained—combat which + would have excited the respect and sympathy of a generous enemy—my + fate has been to become a prisoner, to the eternal disgrace of those + who gave the orders. I was brought here in irons like a felon. I + mention this for the sake of others; for me, I am indifferent to it. + I am aware of the fate which awaits me, and scorn equally the tone of + complaint and that of supplication. As to the connection between this + country and Great Britain, I repeat it—all that has been imputed to + me (words, writings, and actions), I here deliberately avow. I have + spoken and acted with reflection and on principle, and am ready to + meet the consequences. Whatever be the sentence of the court, I am + prepared for it. Its members will surely discharge their duty—I + shall take care not to be wanting in mine."</p> + +<p> The court having asked if he wished to make any further observation,</p> + +<p> TONE said—"I wish to offer a few words relative to one single + point—the mode of punishment. In France our <i>emigrees</i>, who stand + nearly in the same situation in which I now stand before you, are + condemned to be shot. I ask that the court shall adjudge me the death + of a soldier, and let me be shot by a platoon of grenadiers. I + request this indulgence rather in consideration of the uniform I + wear—the uniform of a Chef de Brigade in the French army—than from + any personal regard to myself. In order to evince my claim to this + favour, I beg that the court may take the trouble to peruse my + commission and letters of service in the French army. It will appear + from these papers that I have not received them as a mask to cover + me, but that I have been long and <i>bona fide</i> an officer in the + French service."</p> + +<p> JUDGE ADVOCATE—"You must feel that the papers you allude to will + serve as undeniable proof against you."</p> + +<p> TONE—"Oh, I know they will. I have already admitted the facts, and + I now admit the papers as full proof of conviction."</p> + +<p> [The papers were then examined; they consisted of a brevet of Chef de + Brigade from the Directory, signed by the Minister of War, of a + letter of service granting to him the rank of Adjutant-General, and + of a passport.]</p> + +<p> General LOFTUS—"In these papers you are designated as serving in the + army of England."</p> + +<p> TONE—"I did serve in that army, when it was commanded by Buonaparte, + by Dessaix, and by Kilmaine, who is, as I am, an Irishman; but I have + also served elsewhere."</p> + +<p> The Court requested if he had anything further to observe.</p> + +<p> He said that nothing more occurred to him, except that the sooner his + Excellency's approbation of the sentence was obtained the better.</p></div> + +<p>This is Tone's speech, as reported in the public prints at that time, +but the recently-published "Correspondence" of Lord Cornwallis—Lord +Lieutenant in those days—supplies a portion of the address which was +never before published, the Court having forbade the reading of it at +the trial. The passage contains a noble outburst of gratitude towards +the Catholics of Ireland. Tone himself, as every reader is aware, was a +Protestant, and there can have been no reason for its suppression except +the consideration that it was calculated to still more endear the +prisoner to the hearts of his countrymen. We now reprint it, and thus +place it for the first time before the people for whom it was written:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I have laboured to create a people in Ireland by raising three + millions of my countrymen to the rank of citizens. I have laboured to + abolish the infernal spirit of religious persecution, by uniting the + Catholics and Dissenters. To the former I owe more than ever can be + repaid. The services I was so fortunate as to render them they + rewarded munificently; but they did more: when the public cry was + raised against me—when the friends of my youth swarmed off and left + me alone—the Catholics did not desert me; they had the virtue even + to sacrifice their own interests to a rigid principle of honour; they + refused, though strongly urged, to disgrace a man who, whatever his + conduct towards the government might have been, had faithfully and + conscientiously discharged his duty towards them; and in so doing, + though it was in my own case, I will say they showed an instance of + public, virtue of which I know not whether there exists another + example."</p></div> + +<p>The sad sequel of those proceedings is soon told. The request of the +prisoner to receive a military execution was refused by the Viceroy, +Lord Cornwallis, and Tone was sentenced to die "the death of a traitor" +within forty-eight hours from the time of his conviction. But +he—influenced, it must be confessed, by a totally mistaken feeling of +pride, and yielding to a weakness which every Christian heart should be +able to conquer—resolved that, rather than allow his enemies to have +the satisfaction of dangling his body from a gibbet, he would become his +own executioner. On the night of the 11th of November he contrived, +while lying unobserved in his cell, to open a vein in his neck with a +penknife. No intelligence of this fact had reached the public when, on +the morning of the 12th, the intrepid and eloquent advocate, John +Philpot Curran, made a motion in the Court of King's Bench for a writ of +<i>Habeas Corpus</i>, to withdraw the prisoner from the custody of the +military authorities, and transfer him to the charge of the civil power. +The motion was granted immediately, Mr. Curran pleading that, if delay +were made, the prisoner might be executed before the order of the Court +could be presented. A messenger was at once despatched from the court to +the barrack with the writ. He returned to say that the officers in +charge of the prisoner would obey only their military superiors. The +Chief Justice issued his commands peremptorily:—"Mr. Sheriff, take the +body of Tone into custody—take the Provost Marshal and Major Sandys +into custody,—and show the order of the Court to General Craig." The +Sheriff sped away, and soon returned with the news that Tone had wounded +himself on the previous evening, and could not be removed. The Chief +Justice then ordered a rule suspending the execution. For the space of +seven days afterwards did the unfortunate gentleman endure the agonies +of approaching death; on the 19th of November, 1798, he expired. No more +touching reference to his last moments could be given than the following +pathetic and noble words traced by a filial hand, and published in the +memoir from which we have already quoted:—"Stretched on his bloody +pallet in a dungeon, the first apostle of Irish union and most +illustrious martyr of Irish independence counted each lingering hour +during the last seven days and nights of his slow and silent agony. No +one was allowed to approach him. Far from his adored family, and from +all those friends whom he loved so dearly, the only forms which flitted +before his eyes were those of the grim jailor and his rough +attendants—the only sounds which fell on his dying ear the heavy tread +of the sentry. He retained, however, the calmness of his soul and the +possession of his faculties to the last. And the consciousness of dying +for his country, and in the cause of justice and liberty, illumined like +a bright halo his later moments and kept up his fortitude to the end. +There is no situation under which those feelings will not support the +soul of a patriot."</p> + +<p>Tone was born in Stafford-street, Dublin, on the 20th of June, 1764. His +father was a coachmaker who carried on a thriving business; his +grandfather was a comfortable farmer who held land near Naas, county +Kildare. In February, 1781, Tone entered Trinity College, Dublin; in +January, 1787, he entered his name as a law student on the books of the +Middle Temple, London, and in 1789 he was called to the bar. His mortal +remains repose in Bodenstown churchyard, county Kildare, whither parties +of patriotic young men from the metropolis and the surrounding districts +often proceed to lay a green wreath on his grave. His spirit lives, and +will live for ever, in the hearts of his countrymen.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='WILLIAM_ORR'></a>WILLIAM ORR.</h2> + +<p>Twelve months before Wolfe Tone expired in his prison cell, one of the +bravest of his associates paid with his life the penalty of his +attachment to the cause of Irish independence. In the subject of this +sketch, the United Irishmen found their first martyr; and time has left +no darker blot on the administration of English rule than the execution +of the high-spirited Irishman whose body swung from the gallows of +Carrickfergus on the 14th of October, 1797.</p> + +<p>William Orr was the son of a farmer and bleach-green proprietor, of +Ferranshane, in the county of Antrim. The family were in comfortable +circumstances, and young Orr received a good education, which he +afterwards turned to account in the service of his country. We know +little of his early history, but we find him, on growing up to manhood, +an active member of the society of United Irishmen, and remarkable for +his popularity amongst his countrymen in the north. His appearance, not +less than his principles and declarations, was calculated to captivate +the peasantry amongst whom he lived; he stood six feet two inches in +height, was a perfect model of symmetry, strength, and gracefulness, and +the expression of his countenance was open, frank, and manly. He was +always neatly and respectably dressed—a prominent feature in his attire +being a green necktie, which he wore even in his last confinement.</p> + +<p>One of, the first blows aimed by the government against the United +Irishmen was the passing of the Act of Parliament (36 George III.), +which constituted the administration of their oath a capital felony. +This piece of legislation, repugnant in itself to the dictates of reason +and justice, was intended as no idle threat; a victim was looked for to +suffer under its provisions, and William Orr, the champion of the +northern Presbyterian patriots, was doomed to serve the emergency.</p> + +<p>He was arraigned, tried, and convicted at Carrickfergus on a charge of +having administered the United Irishman's oath to a soldier named +Wheatly. The whole history of the operations of the British law courts +in Ireland contains nothing more infamous than the record of that trial. +We now know, as a matter of fact, that the man who tendered the oath to +Wheatly was William M'Keever, a well-known member of the society, who +subsequently made his escape to America. But this was not a case, such +as sometimes happens, of circumstantial evidence pointing to a wrong +conclusion. The only evidence against Orr was the unsupported testimony +of the soldier Wheatly; and after hearing Curran's defence of the +prisoner there could be no possible doubt of his innocence. But Orr was +a doomed man—the government had decreed his death before hand; and in +this case, as in every other, the bloodthirsty agents of the crown did +not look in vain for Irishmen to co-operate with them in their infamy.</p> + +<p>At six o'clock in the evening the jury retired to consider their +verdict. The scene that followed in the jury room is described in the +sworn affidavits of some of its participators. The jury were supplied +with supper by the crown officials; a liberal supply of intoxicating +beverages, wines, brandy, &c., being included in the refreshments. In +their sober state several of the jury-men—amongst them Alexander +Thompson, of Cushendall, the foreman—had refused to agree to a verdict +of guilty. It was otherwise, however, when the decanters had been +emptied, and when threats of violence were added to the bewildering +effects of the potations in which they indulged. Thompson was threatened +by his more unscrupulous companions with being wrecked, beaten, and "not +left with sixpence in the world," and similar means were used against +the few who refused with him to return a verdict of guilty. At six in +the morning, the jury, not a man of whom by this time was sober, +returned into court with a verdict of guilty, recommending the prisoner +at the same time in the strongest manner to mercy. Next day Orr was +placed at the bar, and sentenced to death by Lord Yelverton, who, it is +recorded, at the conclusion of his address burst into tears. A motion +was made, by Curran in arrest of judgment, chiefly on the grounds of the +drunkenness of the jury but the judges refused to entertain the +objection. The following is the speech delivered by William Orr after +the verdict of the jury had been announced:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My friends and fellow-countrymen—In the thirty-first year of my + life I have been sentenced to die upon the gallows, and this sentence + has been in pursuance of a verdict of twelve men, who should have + been indifferently and impartially chosen. How far they have been so, + I leave to that country from which they have been chosen to + determine; and how far they have discharged their duty, I leave to + their God and to themselves. They have, in pronouncing their verdict, + thought proper to recommend me as an object of humane mercy. In + return, I pray to God, if they have erred, to have mercy upon them. + The judge who condemned me humanely shed tears in uttering my + sentence. But whether he did wisely in so highly commending the + wretched informer, who swore away my life, I leave to his own cool + reflection, solemnly assuring him and all the world, with my dying + breath, that that informer was foresworn.</p> + +<p> "The law under which I suffer is surely a severe one—may the makers + and promoters of it be justified in the integrity of their motives, + and the purity of their own lives! By that law I am stamped a felon, + but my heart disdains the imputation.</p> + +<p> "My comfortable lot, and industrious course of life, best refute the + charge of being an adventurer for plunder; but if to have loved my + country—to have known its wrongs—to have felt the injuries of the + persecuted Catholics, and to have united with them and all other + religious persuasions in the most orderly and least sanguinary means + of procuring redress—if those be felonies, I am a felon, but not + otherwise. Had my counsel (for whose honorable exertions I am + indebted) prevailed in their motions to have me tried for high + treason, rather than under the insurrection law, I should have been, + entitled to a full defence, and my actions have been better + vindicated; but that was refused, and I must now submit to what has + passed.</p> + +<p> "To the generous protection of my country I leave a beloved wife, who + has been constant and true to me, and whose grief for my fate has + already nearly occasioned her death. I have five living children, who + have been my delight. May they love their country as I have done, and + die for it if needful.</p> + +<p> "Lastly, a false and ungenerous publication having appeared in a + newspaper, stating certain alleged confessions of guilt on my part, + and thus striking at my reputation, which is clearer to me than life. + I take this solemn method of contradicting the calumny. I was applied + to by the high-sheriff, and the Rev. William Bristow, sovereign of + Belfast, to make a confession of guilt, who used entreaties to that + effect; this I peremptorily refused. If I thought myself guilty, I + would freely confess it, but, on the contrary, I glory in my + innocence.</p> + +<p> "I trust that all my virtuous countrymen will bear me in their kind + remembrance, and continue true and faithful to each other as I have + been to all of them. With this last wish of my heart—nothing + doubting of the success of that cause for which I suffer, and hoping + for God's merciful forgiveness of such offences as my frail nature + may have at any time betrayed me into—I die in peace and charity + with all mankind."</p></div> + +<p>Hardly had sentence of death been passed on William Orr, when +compunction seemed to seize on those who had aided in securing that +result. The witness Wheatly, who subsequently became insane, and is +believed to have died by his own hand, made an affidavit before a +magistrate acknowledging that he had sworn falsely against Orr. Two of +the jury made depositions setting forth that they had been induced to +join in the verdict of guilty while under the influence of drink; two +others swore that they had been terrified into the same course by +threats of violence.</p> + +<p>These depositions were laid before the viceroy, but Lord Camden, the +then Lord Lieutenant, was deaf to all appeals. Well might Orr exclaim +within his dungeon that the government "had laid down a system having +for its object murder and devastation." The prey was in the toils of the +hunters, on whom all appeals of justice and humanity were wasted.</p> + +<p>Orr was hung, as we have said, in the town of Carrickfergus on the 14th +of October, 1797. It is related that the inhabitants of the town, to +express their sympathy with the patriot about being murdered by law, and +to mark their abhorrence of the conduct of the government towards him, +quitted the town <i>en masse</i> on the day of his execution.</p> + +<p>His fate excited the deepest indignation throughout the country; it was +commented on in words of fire by the national writers of the period, and +through many an after year the watchword and rallying cry of the United +Irishmen was—</p> + +<p class='center'>"REMEMBER ORR."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='HENRY_AND_JOHN_SHEARES'></a>HENRY AND JOHN SHEARES.</h2> + +<p>Among the many distinguished Irishmen who acted prominent parts in the +stormy events of 1798, and whose names come down to us hallowed by the +sufferings and sacrifices inseparable in those dark days from the lot of +an Irish patriot, there are few whose fate excited more sympathy, more +loved in life, more honored in death than the brothers John and Henry +Sheares. Even in the days of Emmet and Wolfe Tone, of Russell and +Fitzgerald, when men of education, talent, and social standing were not +few in the national ranks, the Sheareses were hailed as valuable +accessions to the cause, and were recognised by the United Irishmen as +heaven-destined leaders for the people. It is a touching story, the +history of their patriotic exertions, their betrayal, trial, and +execution; but it is by studying such scenes in our history that +Irishmen can learn to estimate the sacrifices which were made in bygone +days for Ireland, and attach a proper value to the memory of the +patriots who made them.</p> + +<p>Henry and John Sheares were sons of John Sheares, a banker in Cork, who +sat in the Irish Parliament for the borough of Clonakilty. The father +appears to have been a kindly-disposed, liberal-minded man, and numerous +stories are told of his unostentatious charity and benevolence. Henry, +the elder of the two sons, was born in 1753, and was educated in Trinity +College, Dublin. After leaving college he purchased a commission in the +51st Regiment of foot, but the duties of a military officer were ill +suited to his temperament and disposition, and the young soldier soon +resigned his commission to pursue the more congenial occupation of law +student. He was called to the bar in 1790; his brother John, his junior +by three years, who had adopted the same profession, obtained the rank +of barrister-at-law two years previously. The brothers differed from +each other widely in character and disposition. Henry was gentle in +manners, modest and unassuming, but firmly attached to his principles, +and unswerving in his fidelity to the cause which he adopted; John was +bold, impetuous, and energetic, ready to plan and to dare, fertile of +resources, quick of resolve, and prompt of execution. To John the elder +brother looked for guidance and example, and his gentle nature was ever +ruled by the more fiery and impulsive spirit of his younger brother. On +the death of the father Henry Sheares came in for property to the value +of £1,200 per annum, which his rather improvident habits soon diminished +by one-half. Both brothers, however, obtained large practice at their +profession, and continued in affluent circumstances up to the day of +their arrest.</p> + +<p>In 1792 the two brothers visited Paris, and this excursion seems to have +formed the turning point of their lives and fortunes. The French +Revolution was in full swing, and in the society of Roland, Brissot, and +other Republican leaders, the young Irishmen imbibed the love of +freedom, and impatience of tyranny and oppression, which they clung to +so faithfully, and which distinguished them so remarkably during the +remainder of their lives. On returning to Ireland in January, 1793, the +brothers joined the ranks of the United Irishmen. John at once became a +prominent member of the society, and his signature appears to several of +the spirited and eloquent addresses by which the Dublin branch sought +from time to time to arouse the ardour and stimulate the exertions of +their compatriots. The society of United Irishmen looked for nothing +more at this period than a thorough measure of parliamentary reform, +household suffrage being the leading feature in their programme; but +when the tyranny of the government drove the leaguers into more violent +and dangerous courses, when republican government and separation from +England were inscribed on the banners of the society instead of +electoral reform, and when the selfish and the wavering had shrunk +aside, the Sheareses still remained true to the United Irishmen, and +seemed to grow more zealous and energetic in the cause of their country +according as the mists of perplexity and danger gathered around it.</p> + +<p>To follow out the history of the Sheareses connection with the United +Irishmen would be foreign to our intention and to the scope of this +work. The limits of our space oblige us to pass over the ground at a +rapid pace, and we shall dismiss the period of the Sheareses' lives +comprised in the years between 1793 and 1798, by saying that during that +period, while practising their profession with success, they devoted +themselves with all the earnestness of their nature to the furtherance +of the objects of the United Irishmen. In March, 1798, the affairs of +the organization became critical; the arrest of the Directory at Oliver +Bond's deprived the party of its best and most trusted leaders, besides +placing in the hands of the government a mass of information relative to +the plans and resources of the conspirators. To fill the gap thus +caused, John Sheares was soon appointed a member of the Directory, and +he threw himself into the work with all the ardour and energy of his +nature. The fortunes of the society had assumed a desperate phase when +John Sheares became its ruling spirit. Tone was in France, O'Connor was +in England, Russell, Emmet, and Fitzgerald were in prison. But Sheares +was not disheartened; he directed all his efforts towards bringing about +the insurrection for which his countrymen had so long been preparing, +and the 23rd of May, 1798, was fixed on by him for the outbreak. He was +after visiting Wexford and Kildare, and making arrangements in those +counties for the rising, and was on the verge of starting for Cork on a +similar mission, when the hand of treachery cut short his career, and +the gates of Kilmainham prison opened to receive him.</p> + +<p>Amongst all the human monsters who filled the ranks of the government +informers in that dark and troubled period, not one appears to merit a +deeper measure of infamy than Captain Warnesford Armstrong, the +entrapper and betrayer of the Sheareses. Having obtained an introduction +to John, he represented himself as a zealous and hard-working member of +the organization, and soon wormed himself completely into the confidence +of his victims. He paid daily visits to the house of the Sheareses in +Baggot-street, chatted with their families, and fondled the children of +Henry Sheares upon his knee. We have it on his own testimony that each +interview with the men whose confidence he was sharing was followed by a +visit to the Castle. We need not go through the sickening details of +this vile story of treachery and fraud. On the 21st of May the Sheareses +were arrested and lodged in prison, and on the 12th of the following +month Armstrong appeared against them in the witness-box. The trial was +continued through the night—Toler, of infamous memory, who had been +created Attorney-General expressly for the occasion, refusing Curran's +request for an adjournment; and it was eight o'clock in the morning of +the 13th when the jury, who had been but seventeen minutes absent, +returned into court with a verdict of guilty against both prisoners.</p> + +<p>After a few hours' adjournment the court re-assembled to pass sentence. +It was then that John Sheares, speaking in a firm tone, addressed the +court as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My Lords—I wish to offer a few words before sentence is pronounced, + because there is a weight pressing on my heart much greater than that + of the sentence which is to come from the court. There has been, my + lords, a weight pressing on my mind from the first moment I heard the + indictment read upon which I was tried; but that weight has been more + peculiarly pressing upon my heart when I found the accusation in the + indictment enforced and supported upon the trial. That weight would + be left insupportable if it were not for this opportunity of + discharging it; I shall feel it to be insupportable since a verdict + of my country has stamped that evidence as well founded. Do not + think, my lords, that I am about to make a declaration against the + verdict of the jury or the persons concerned with the trial; I am + only about to call to your recollection a part of the charge at which + my soul shudders, and if I had no opportunity of renouncing it before + your lordships and this auditory, no courage would be sufficient to + support me. The accusation of which I speak, while I linger here yet + a minute, is that of holding out to the people of Ireland a direction + to give no quarter to the troops fighting for its defence! My lords, + let me say thus, that if there be any acquaintances in this crowded + court—I do not say my intimate friends, but acquaintances—who do + not know what I say is truth, I shall be reputed the wretch which I + am not; I say if any acquaintance of mine can believe that <i>I</i> could + utter a recommendation of giving no quarter to a yielding and + unoffending foe, it is not the death which I am about to suffer that + I deserve—no punishment could be adequate to such a crime. My lords, + I can not only acquit my soul of such an intention, but I declare, in + the presence of that God before whom I must shortly appear, that the + favourite doctrine of my heart was, <i>that no human being should + suffer death but when absolute necessity required it</i>. My lords, I + feel a consolation in making this declaration, which nothing else + could afford me, because it is not only a justification of myself, + but where I am sealing my life with that breath which cannot be + suspected of falsehood, what I say may make some impression upon the + minds of men not holding the same doctrine. I declare to God I know + of no crime but assassination which can eclipse or equal that of + which I am accused. I discern no shade of guilt between that and + taking away the life of a foe, by putting a bayonet to his heart when + he is yielding and surrendering. I do request the bench to believe + that of me—I do request my country to believe that of me—I am sure + God will think that of me. Now, my lords, I have no favour to ask of + the court; my country has decided I am guilty, and the law says I + shall suffer—it sees that I am ready to suffer. But, my lords, I + have a favour to request of the court that does not relate to myself. + My lords, I have a brother whom I have even loved dearer than myself, + but it is not from any affection for him alone that I am induced to + make the request. He is a man, and therefore I would hope prepared to + die if he stood as I do—though I do not stand unconnected; but he + stands more dearly connected. In short, my lords, to spare your + feelings and I my own, I do not pray that that <i>I</i> should not die, + but that the husband, the father, the son—all comprised in one + person—holding these relations dearer in life to him than any other + man I know—for such a man I do not pray a pardon, for that is not in + the power of the court, but I pray a respite for such time as the + court in its humanity and discretion shall think proper. You have + heard, my lords, that his private affairs require arrangement. When I + address myself to your lordships, it is with the knowledge you will + have of all the sons of our aged mother being gone. Two have perished + in the service of the King—one very recently. I only request that, + disposing of me with what swiftness either the public mind or justice + requires, a respite may be given to my brother, that the family may + acquire strength to bear it all. That is all I wish; I shall remember + it to my last breath, and I shall offer up my prayers for you to that + Being who has endued us all with the sensibility to feel. That is all + I ask. I have nothing more to say."</p></div> + +<p>It was four o'clock, p.m., when the judge proceeded to pass sentence, +and the following morning was appointed for the double execution. At +mid-day on Saturday, July 14th, the hapless men were removed to the room +adjoining the place of execution, where they exchanged a last embrace. +They were then pinioned, the black caps put over their brows, and +holding each other by the hand, they tottered out on the platform. The +elder brother was somewhat moved by the terrors of his situation, but +the younger bore his fate with unflinching firmness. They were launched +together into eternity—the same moment saw them dangling lifeless +corpses before the prison walls. They had lived in affectionate unity, +inspired by the same motives, labouring for the same cause, and death +did not dissolve the tie. "They died hand in hand, like true brothers."</p> + +<p>When the hangman's hideous office was completed, the bodies were taken +down, and the executioner, in accordance with the barbarous custom of +the time, proceeded to sever the heads from the bodies. It is said, +however, that only on the body of Henry Sheares was that horrible act +performed. While the arrangements for the execution were in progress, +Sir Jonah Barrington had been making intercession with Lord Clare on +their behalf, and beseeching at least a respite. His lordship declared +that the life of John Sheares could not be spared, but said that Henry +might possibly have something to say which would induce the government +to commute his sentence; he furnished Sir Jonah with an order to delay +the execution one hour, and told him to communicate with Henry Sheares +on the subject. "I hastened," writes Sir Jonah, "to Newgate, and arrived +at the very moment that the executioner was holding up the head of my +old college friend, and saying, 'Here is the head of a traitor.'" The +fact of this order having been issued by the government, may have so far +interrupted the bloody work on the scaffold as to save the remains of +the younger Sheares from mutilation. The bodies of the patriots were +interred on the night of the execution in the vaults of St. Michan's +church, where, enclosed in oaken coffins, marked in the usual manner +with the names and ages of the deceased, they still repose. Many a pious +visit has since been paid to those dim chambers—many a heart, filled +with love and pity, has throbbed above those coffin lids—many a tear +has dropped upon them. But it is not a feeling of grief alone that is +inspired by the memory of those martyrs to freedom; hope, courage, +constancy, are the lessons taught by their lives, and the patriotic +spirit that ruled their career is still awake and active in Ireland.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='ROBERT_EMMET'></a>ROBERT EMMET.</h2> + +<p class='center'><img src="images/image02.png" style="width: 350px; height: 516px; border: 0" alt="ROBERT EMMET." /></p> + +<p>In all Irish history there is no name which touches the Irish heart like +that of Robert Emmet. We read, in that eventful record, of men who laid +down their lives for Ireland amid the roar and crash of battle, of +others who perished by the headsman's axe or the halter of the hangman, +of others whose eyes were closed for ever in the gloom of English +dungeons, and of many whose hearts broke amid the sorrows of involuntary +exile; of men, too, who in the great warfare of mind rendered to the +Irish cause services no less memorable and glorious. They are neither +forgotten nor unhonoured. The warrior figure of Hugh O'Neill is a +familiar vision to Irishmen; Sarsfield expiring on the foreign +battle-field with that infinitely pathetic and noble utterance on his +lips—"Would that this were for Ireland"—is a cherished remembrance, +and that last cry of a patriotic spirit dwells for ever about our +hearts; Grattan battling against a corrupt and venal faction, first to +win and then to defend the independence of his country, astonishing +friends and foes alike by the dazzling splendour of his eloquence; and +O'Connell on the hill-sides pleading for the restoration of Ireland's +rights, and rousing his countrymen to a struggle for them, are pictures +of which we are proud—memories that will live in song and story while +the Irish race has a distinct existence in the world. But in the +character of Robert Emmet there was such a rare combination of admirable +qualities, and in his history there are so many of the elements of +romance, that the man stands before our mental vision as a peculiarly +noble and loveable being, with claims upon our sympathies that are +absolutely without a parallel. He had youth, talent, social position, a +fair share of fortune, and bright prospects for the future on his side +when he embarked in the service of a cause that had but recently been +sunk in defeat and ruin. Courage, genius, enthusiasm were his, high +hopes and strong affections, all based upon and sweetened by a nature +utterly free from guile. He was an orator and a poet; in the one art he +had already achieved distinction, in the other he was certain to take a +high place, if he should make that an object of his ambition. He was a +true patriot, true soldier, and true lover. If the story of his +political life is full of melancholy interest, and calculated to awaken +profound emotions of reverence for his memory, the story of his +affections is not less touching. Truly, "there's not a line but hath +been wept upon." So it is, that of all the heroic men who risked and +lost everything for Ireland, none is so frequently remembered, none is +thought of so tenderly as Robert Emmet. Poetry has cast a halo of light +upon the name of the youthful martyr, and some of the sweetest strains +of Irish music are consecrated to his memory.</p> + + +<p>Robert Emmet was born on the 4th of March, 1778. He was the third son of +Doctor Robert Emmet, a well-known and highly respectable physician of +Dublin. Thomas Addis Emmet, already mentioned in these pages, the +associate of Tone, the Sheareses, and other members of the United Irish +organization, was an elder brother of Robert, and his senior by some +sixteen years. Just about the period when the United Irishmen were +forming themselves into a secret revolutionary society, young Emmet was +sent to receive his education in Trinity College. There the bent of the +lad's political opinions was soon detected; but among his fellow +students he found many, and amongst them older heads than his own, who +not only shared his views, but went beyond them in the direction of +liberal and democratic principles. In the Historical Society—composed +of the <i>alumni</i> of the college, and on whose books at this time were +many names that subsequently became famous—those kindred spirits made +for themselves many opportunities of giving expression to their +sentiments, and showing that their hearts beat in unison with the great +movement for human freedom which was then agitating the world. To their +debates Emmet brought the aid of a fine intellect and a fluent +utterance, and he soon became the orator of the patriot party.</p> + +<p>So great was the effect created by his fervid eloquence and his +admirable reasoning, that the heads of the college thought it prudent on +several occasions to send one of the ablest of their body to take part +in the proceedings, and assist in refuting the argumentation of the +"young Jacobin." And to such extremities did matters proceed at last +that Emmet, with several of his political friends, was expelled the +college, others less obnoxious to the authorities were subjected to a +severe reprimand, and the society, thus terrorised and weakened, soon +ceased to exist. Our national poet, Thomas Moore, the fellow-student and +intimate friend of young Emmet, witnessed many of those displays of his +abilities, and in his "Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald," speaks +of him in terms of the highest admiration. "Were I," he says, "to number +the men among all I have ever known who appeared to me to combine in the +greatest degree pure moral worth with intellectual power, I should, +among the highest of the few, place Robert Emmet." "He was," writes the +same authority, "wholly free from the follies and frailties of +youth—though how capable he was of the most devoted passion events +afterwards proved." Of his oratory, he says, "I have heard little since +that appeared to me of a loftier, or what is a far more rare quality in +Irish eloquence, purer character." And the appearance of this greatly +gifted youth, he thus describes: "Simple in all his habits, and with a +repose of look and manner indicating but little movement within, it was +only when the spring was touched that set his feelings, and through them +his intellect in motion, that he at all rose above the level of ordinary +men. No two individuals indeed could be much more unlike to each other +than was the same youth to himself before rising to speak and after; the +brow that had appeared inanimate and almost drooping, at once elevating +itself to all the consciousness of power, and the whole countenance and +figure of the speaker assuming a change as of one suddenly inspired."</p> + +<p>The expulsion of Emmet from the college occurred in the month of +February, 1798. On the 12th of the following month his brother, Thomas +Addis Emmet, was arrested. The manner in which this noble-hearted +gentleman took the oath of the United Irish Society, in the year of +1795, is so remarkable that we cannot omit mention of it here. His +services as a lawyer having been engaged in the defence of some persons +who stood charged with having sworn in members to the United Irish +organization—the crime for which William Orr was subsequently tried and +executed—he, in the course of the proceedings, took up the oath and +read it with remarkable deliberation and solemnity. Then, taking into +his hand the prayer book that lay on the table for the swearing of +witnesses, and looking to the bench and around the court, he said +aloud—</p> + +<p>"My Lords—Here, in the presence of this legal court, this crowded +auditory—in the presence of the Being that sees and witnesses, and +directs this judicial tribunal—here, my lords, I, myself, in the +presence of God, declare I take this oath."</p> + +<p>The terms of the oath at this time were, in fact, perfectly +constitutional, having reference simply to attainment of a due +representation of the Irish nation in parliament—still, the oath was +that of a society declared to be illegal, and the administration of it +had been made a capital offence. The boldness of the advocate in thus +administering it to himself in open court appeared to paralyse the minds +of the judges. They took no notice of the act, and what was even more +remarkable, the prisoners, who were convicted, received a lenient +sentence.</p> + +<p>But to return to Robert Emmet—the events of 1798, as might be supposed, +had a powerful effect on the feelings of the enthusiastic young patriot, +and he was not free of active participation with the leaders of the +movement in Dublin. He was, of course, an object of suspicion to the +government, and it appears marvellous that they did not immediately take +him into their safe keeping under the provisions of the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> +Suspension Act. Ere long, however, he found that prudence would counsel +his concealment, or his disappearance from the country, and he took his +departure for the Continent, where he met with a whole host of the Irish +refugees; and, in 1802, was joined by his brother and others of the +political prisoners who had been released from the confinement to +which—in violation of a distinct agreement between them and the +government—they had been subjected in Fort George, in Scotland. Their +sufferings had not broken their spirit. There was hope still, they +thought, for Ireland; great opportunities were about to dawn upon that +often defeated, but still unconquerable nation, and they applied +themselves to the task of preparing the Irish people to take advantage +of them.</p> + +<p>At home the condition of affairs was not such as to discourage them. The +people had not lost heart; the fighting spirit was still rife amongst +them. The rebellion had been trampled out, but it had been sustained +mainly by a county or two, and it had served to show that a general +uprising of the people would be sufficient to sweep every vestige of +British power from the land. Then they had in their favour the +exasperation against the government which was caused by that most +infamous transaction, the passage of the Act of Union. But they found +their chief encouragement in the imminence of another war between France +and England. Once more the United Irishmen put themselves into +communication with Buonaparte, then First Consul, and again they +received flattering promises of assistance. Robert Emmet obtained an +interview with that great man, and learned from him that it was his +settled purpose on the breaking out of hostilities, which could not long +be deferred, to effect an invasion of England. Full of high hopes, Emmet +returned to Dublin in October, 1802; and as he was now in very heart of +a movement for another insurrection, he took every precaution to avoid +discovery. He passed under feigned names, and moved about as little as +possible. He gathered together the remnants of the United Irish +organization, and with some money of his own, added to considerable sums +supplied to him by a Mr. Long, a merchant, residing at No. 4 +Crow-street, and other sympathisers, he commenced the collection of an +armament and military stores for his followers. In the month of May, +1803, the expected war between France and England broke out. This event +of course raised still higher his hopes, and gave a great stimulus to +his exertions. To and fro he went from one to another of the depots +which he had established for the manufacture and storage of arms in +various parts of the city, cheering, directing, and assisting his men at +their work. Pikes were got ready by the thousand, and ingeniously stowed +away until they should be wanted; rockets, hand-grenades, and other +deadly missiles were carefully prepared; but an accidental explosion, +which occurred on the 16th of July, in one of these manufactories +situate in Patrick-street, was very near leading to the discovery of the +entire business, and had the effect of precipitating the outbreak. The +government at this time had undoubtedly got on the scent of the +movement, and the leaders considered that no time was to be lost in +bringing matters to a crisis. Emmet now took up his abode in the +Marshalsea-lane depot, snatching his few hours of sleep "on a mattress, +surrounded by all the implements of death." There he made a final +arrangement of his plans, and communicated his instructions to his +subordinates, fixing the 23rd of July as the date for the rising.</p> + +<p>The history of that unfortunate attempt need not here be written. +Suffice it to say that the arrangements miscarried in nearly every +particular. The men in the numbers calculated upon did not assemble at +the appointed time or in the appointed places, and the whole force that +turned out in Thomas-street for the attack on the Castle did not number +a hundred insurgents. They were joined by a riotous and noisy rabble; +and their unfortunate leader soon perceived that his following was, as +had previously been said of the king's troops, "formidable to every one +but the enemy." They had not proceeded far on their way when a carriage, +in which were Lord Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, his +daughter, and his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Wolfe, drove into the street. The +vehicle was stopped, and the Chief Justice was immediately piked by a +man in the crowd whose son he had some time previously condemned to +execution. The clergyman also was pulled out of the carriage and put to +death. To the lady no violence was offered, and Emmet himself, who had +heard of the deplorable tragedy, rushing from the head of his party, +bore her in his arms to an adjoining house. No attack on the Castle took +place; the insurgent party scattered and melted away even before the +appearance of military on the scene, and in little more than an hour +from the time of his setting out on his desperate enterprise, Robert +Emmet was a defeated and ruined man, a fugitive, with the whole host of +British spies and bloodhounds employed to hunt him to the death.</p> + +<p>Yet he might have foiled them and got clear out of the country if his +personal safety was all on earth he cared for. But in that noble heart +of his there was one passion co-existent with his love of Ireland, and +not unworthy of the companionship, which forbade his immediate flight. +With all that intensity of affection of which a nature so pure and so +ardent as his was capable, he loved a being in every way worthy of +him—a lady so gentle, and good, and fair, that even to a less poetic +imagination than his own, she might seem to be a fitting personification +of his beloved Erin; and by her he was loved and trusted in return. Who +is it that has not heard her name?—who has not mourned over the story +of Sarah Curran! In the ruin that had fallen on the hopes and fortunes +of the patriot chief, the happiness of this amiable lady was involved. +He would not leave without an interview with her—no! though a thousand +deaths should be the penalty. The delay was fatal to his chances of +escape. For more than a month he remained in concealment, protected by +the fidelity of friends, many of whom belonged to the humbler walks of +life, and one of whom in particular—the heroic Anne Devlin, from whom +neither proffered bribes nor cruel tortures could extort a single hint +as to his place of abode—should ever be held in grateful remembrance by +Irishmen. At length on the 25th of August, the ill-fated young +gentleman was arrested in the house of a Mrs. Palmer, at Harold's-cross. +On the 19th of September he was put on his trial in the court-house, +Green-street, charged with high treason. He entered on no defence, +beyond making a few remarks in the course of the proceedings with a view +to the moral and political justification of his conduct. The jury, +without leaving their box, returned a verdict of guilty against him; +after which, having been asked in due form why sentence of death should +not be pronounced upon him, he delivered this memorable speech, every +line of which is known and dear to the hearts of the Irish race:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"MY LORDS—I am asked what have I to say why sentence of death should + not be pronounced on me, according to law. I have nothing to say that + can alter your predetermination, nor that it will become me to say, + with any view to the mitigation of that sentence which you are to + pronounce, and I must abide by. But I have that to say which + interests me more than life, and which you have laboured to destroy. + I have much to say why my reputation should be rescued from the load + of false accusation and calumny which has been cast upon it, I do not + imagine that, seated where you are, your mind can be so free from + prejudice as to receive the least impression from what I am going to + utter. I have no hopes that I can anchor my character in the breast + of a court constituted and trammelled as this is. I only wish, and + that is the utmost that I expect, that your lordships may suffer it + to float down your memories untainted by the foul breath of + prejudice, until it finds some more hospitable harbour to shelter it + from the storms by which it is buffetted. Was I only to suffer death, + after being adjudged guilty by your tribunal, I should bow in + silence, and meet the fate that awaits me without a murmur; but the + sentence of the law which delivers my body to the executioner will, + through the ministry of the law, labour in its own vindication, to + consign my character to obloquy; for there must be guilt somewhere, + whether in the sentence of the court, or in the catastrophe, time + must determine. A man in my situation has not only to encounter the + difficulties of fortune, and the force of power over minds which it + has corrupted or subjugated, but the difficulties of established + prejudice. The man dies, but his memory lives. That mine may not + perish, that it may live in the respect of my countrymen, I seize + upon this opportunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges + alleged against me. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly + port—when my shade shall have joined the bands of those martyred + heroes who have shed their blood on the scaffold and in the field in + the defence of their country and of virtue, this is my hope—I wish + that my memory and name may animate those who survive me, while I + look down with complacency on the destruction of that perfidious + government which upholds its domination by blasphemy of the Most + High—which displays its power over man, as over the beasts of the + forest—which sets man upon his brother, and lifts his hand, in the + name of God, against the throat of his fellow who believes or doubts + a little more or a little less than the government standard—a + government which is steeled to barbarity by the cries of the orphans, + and the tears of the widows it has made."</p> + +<p> [Here Lord Norbury interrupted Mr. Emmet, saying—"that the mean and + wicked enthusiasts who felt as he did, were not equal to the + accomplishment of their wild designs."]</p> + +<p> "I appeal to the immaculate God—I swear by the Throne of Heaven, + before which I must shortly appear—by the blood of the murdered + patriots who have gone before me—that my conduct has been, through + all this peril, and through all my purposes, governed only by the + conviction which I have uttered, and by no other view than that of + the emancipation of my country from the superinhuman oppression under + which she has so long and too patiently travailed; and I confidently + hope that, wild and chimerical as it may appear, there is still union + and strength in Ireland to accomplish this noblest of enterprises. Of + this I speak with confidence, of intimate knowledge, and with the + consolation that appertains to that confidence. Think not, my lords, + I say this for the petty gratification of giving you a transitory + uneasiness. A man who never yet raised his voice to assert a lie, + will not hazard his character with posterity, by asserting a + falsehood on a subject so important to his country, and on an + occasion like this. Yes, my lords, a man who does not wish to have + his epitaph written until his country is liberated, will not leave a + weapon in the power of envy, or a pretence to impeach the probity + which he means to preserve, even in the grave, to which tyranny + consigns him."</p> + +<p> [Here he was again interrupted by the court]</p> + +<p> "Again I say, that what I have spoken was not intended for your + lordship, whose situation I commisserate rather than envy—my + expressions were for my countrymen. If there is a true Irishman + present, let my last words cheer him in the hour of his affliction."</p> + +<p> [Here he was again interrupted. Lord Norbury said he did not sit + there to hear treason.]</p> + +<p> "I have always understood it to be the duty of a judge, when a + prisoner has been convicted, to pronounce the sentence of the law. I + have also understood that judges sometimes think it their duty to + hear with patience, and to speak with humanity; to exhort the victim + of the laws, and to offer, with tender benignity, their opinions of + the motives by which he was actuated in the crime of which he was + adjudged guilty. That a judge has thought it his duty so to have + done, I have no doubt; but where is the boasted freedom of your + institutions—where is the vaunted impartiality, clemency, and + mildness of your courts of justice if an unfortunate prisoner, whom + your policy, and not justice, is about to deliver into the hands of + the executioner, is not suffered to explain his motives sincerely and + truly, and to vindicate the principles by which he was actuated? My + lords, it may be a part of the system of angry justice to bow a man's + mind by humiliation to the purposed, ignominy of the scaffold; but + worse to me than the purposed shame, or the scaffold's terrors, would + be the shame of such foul and unfounded imputations as have been laid + against me in this court. You, my lord, are a judge; I am the + supposed culprit. I am a man; you are a man also. By a revolution of + power we might change places, though we never could change + characters. If I stand at the bar of this court, and dare not + vindicate my character, what a farce is your justice! If I stand at + this bar and dare not vindicate my character, how dare you calumniate + it. Does the sentence of death, which your unhallowed policy inflicts + on my body, condemn my tongue to silence and my reputation to + reproach? Your executioner may abridge the period of my existence; + but while I exist I shall not forbear to vindicate my character and + motives from your aspersions; and, as a man, to whom fame is dearer + than life, I will make the last use of that life in doing justice to + that reputation which is to live after me, and which is the only + legacy I can leave to those I honor and love, and for whom I am proud + to perish. As men, my lords, we must appear on the great day at one + common tribunal; and it will then remain for the Searcher of all + hearts to show a collective universe, who was engaged in the most + virtuous actions, or swayed by the purest motives—my country's + oppressor, or"——</p> + +<p> [Here he was interrupted, and told to listen to the sentence of the + law].</p> + +<p> "My lords, will a dying man be denied the legal privilege of + exculpating himself in the eyes of the community from an undeserved + reproach, thrown upon him during his trial, by charging him with + ambition, and attempting to cast away for a paltry consideration the + liberties of his country? Why did your lordships insult me? Or + rather, why insult justice, in demanding of me why sentence of death + should not be pronounced against me? I know, my lords, that form + prescribes that you should ask the question. The form also presents + the right of answering. This, no doubt, may be dispensed with, and so + might the whole ceremony of the trial, since sentence was already + pronounced at the Castle before the jury were empanelled. Your + lordships are but the priests of the oracle, and I insist on the + whole of the forms."</p> + +<p> [Here Mr. Emmet paused, and the court desired him to proceed.]</p> + +<p> "I am charged with being an emissary of France. An emissary of + France! and for what end? It is alleged that I wished to sell the + independence of my country; and for what end? Was this the object of + my ambition? And is this the mode by which a tribunal of justice + reconciles contradiction? No; I am no emissary; and my ambition was + to hold a place among the deliverers of my country, not in power nor + in profit, but in the glory of the achievement. Sell my country's + independence to France! and for what? Was it a change of masters? No, + but for my ambition. Oh, my country, was it personal ambition that + could influence me? Had it been the soul of my actions, could I not, + by my education and fortune, by the rank and consideration of my + family, have placed myself amongst the proudest of your oppressor. My + Country was my Idol. To it I sacrificed every selfish, every + endearing sentiment; and for it I now offer up myself, O God! No, my + lords; I acted as an Irishman, determined on delivering my country + from the yoke of a foreign and unrelenting tyranny, and the more + galling yoke of a domestic faction, which is its joint partner and + perpetrator in the patricide, from the ignominy existing with an + exterior of splendour and a conscious depravity. It was the wish of + my heart to extricate my country from this doubly rivetted + despotism—I wished to place her independence beyond the reach of any + power on earth. I wished to exalt her to that proud station in the + world. Connection with France was, indeed, intended, but only as far + as mutual interest would sanction or require. Were the French to + assume any authority inconsistent with the purest independence, it + would be signal for their destruction. We sought their aid—and we + sought it as we had assurance we should obtain it—as auxiliaries in + war, and allies in peace. Were the French to come as invaders or + enemies, uninvited by the wishes of the people, I should oppose them + to the utmost of my strength. Yes! my countrymen, I should advise you + to meet them upon the beach with a sword in one hand, and a torch in + the other. I would meet them with all the destructive fury of war. I + would animate my countrymen to immolate them in their boats, before + they had contaminated the soil of my country. If they succeeded in + landing, and if forced to retire before superior discipline, I would + dispute every inch of ground, burn every blade of grass, and the last + entrenchment of liberty should be my grave. What I could not do + myself, if I should fall, I should leave as a last charge to my + countrymen to accomplish; because I should feel conscious that life, + any more than death, is unprofitable when a foreign nation holds my + country in subjection. But it was not as an enemy that the succours + of France were to land. I looked, indeed, for the assistance of + France; but I wished to prove to France and to the world that + Irishmen deserved to be assisted—that they were indignant at + slavery, and ready to assert the independence and liberty of their + country; I wished to procure for my country the guarantee which + Washington procured for America—to procure an aid which, by its + example, would be as important as its valour; disciplined, gallant, + pregnant with science and experience; that of a people who would + perceive the good, and polish the rough points of our character. They + would come to us as strangers, and leave us as friends, after sharing + in our perils and elevating our destiny. These were my objects; not + to receive new taskmasters, but to expel old tyrants. It was for + these ends I sought aid from France; because France, even as an + enemy, could not be more implacable than the enemy already in the + bosom of my country."</p> + +<p> [Here he was interrupted by the court.]</p> + +<p> "I have been charged with that importance in the emancipation of my + country, as to be consided the key-stone of the combination of + Irishmen; or, as your lordship expressed it, 'the life and blood of + the conspiracy.' You do me honour over much; you have given to the + subaltern all the credit of a superior. There are men engaged in this + conspiracy who are not only superior to me, but even to your own + conceptions of yourself, my lord—men before the splendour of whose + genius and virtues I should bow with respectful deference, and who + would think themselves disgraced by shaking your blood-stained hand."</p> + +<p> [Here he was interrupted.]</p> + +<p> "What, my lord, shall you tell me, on the passage to the scaffold, + which that tyranny (of which you are only the intermediary + executioner) has erected for my murder, that I am accountable for all + the blood that has and will be shed in this struggle of the oppressed + against the oppressor—shall you tell me this, and must I be so very + a slave as not to repel it? I do not fear to approach the Omnipotent + Judge to answer for the conduct of my whole life; and am I to be + appalled and falsified by a mere remnant of mortality here? By you, + too, although if it were possible to collect all the innocent blood + that you have shed in your unhallowed ministry in one great reservoir + your lordship might swim in it."</p> + +<p> [Here the judge interfered.]</p> + +<p> "Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dishonor; let no + man attaint my memory, by believing that I could have engaged in any + cause but that of my country's liberty and independence; or that I + could have become the pliant minion of power, in the oppression and + misery of my country. The proclamation of the Provisional Government + speaks for our views; no inference can be tortured from it to + countenance barbarity or debasement at home, or subjection, + humiliation, or treachery from abroad. I would not have submitted to + a foreign oppressor, for the same reason that I would resist the + foreign and domestic oppressor. In the dignity of freedom, I would + have fought upon the threshold of my country, and its enemy should + enter only by passing over my lifeless corpse. And am I, who lived + but for my country, and who have subjected myself to the dangers of + the jealous and watchful oppressor, and the bondage of the grave, + only to give my countrymen their rights, and my country her + independence, am I to be loaded with calumny, and not suffered to + resent it? No; God forbid!"</p> + +<p> Here Lord Norbury told Mr. Emmet that his sentiments and language + disgraced his family and his education, but more particularly his + father, Dr. Emmet, who was a man, if alive, that would not + countenance such opinions. To which Mr. Emmet replied:—</p> + +<p> "If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the concerns + and cares of those who were dear to them in this transitory life, + oh! ever dear and venerated shade of my departed father, look down + with scrutiny upon the conduct of your suffering son, and see if I + have, even for a moment, deviated from those principles of morality + and patriotism which it was your care to instil into my youthful + mind, and for which I am now about to offer up my life. My lords, you + are impatient for the sacrifice. The blood which you seek is not + congealed by the artificial terrors which surround your victim—it + circulates warmly and unruffled through the channels which God + created for noble purposes, but which you are now bent to destroy, + for purposes so grievous that they cry to heaven. Be yet patient! I + have but a few more words to say—I am going to my cold and silent + grave—my lamp of life is nearly extinguished—my race is run—the + grave opens to receive me, and I sink into its bosom. I have but one + request to ask at my departure from this world, it is—THE CHARITY OF + ITS SILENCE. Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my + motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance + asperse them. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace; and my + tomb remain uninscribed, and my memory in oblivion, until other times + and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes + her place among the nations of the earth, <i>then</i> and <i>not till then</i>, + let my epitaph be written. I have done."</p></div> + +<p>This affecting address was spoken—as we learn from the painstaking and +generous biographer of the United Irishmen, Dr, Madden—"in so loud a +voice as to be distinctly heard at the outer doors of the court-house; +and yet, though he spoke in a loud tone, there was nothing boisterous in +his manner; his accents and cadence of voice, on the contrary, were +exquisitely modulated. His action was very remarkable, its greater or +lesser vehemence corresponded with the rise and fall of his voice. He is +described as moving about the dock, as he warmed in his address, with +rapid, but not ungraceful motions—now in front of the railing before +the bench, then retiring, as if his body, as well as his mind, were +spelling beyond the measure of its chains. His action was not confined +to his hands; he seemed to have acquired a swaying motion of the body +when he spoke in public, which was peculiar to him, but there was no +affectation in it."</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock, p.m., on the day of his trial, the barbarous sentence of +the law—the same that we have so recently heard passed on prisoners +standing in that same dock, accused of the same offence against the +rulers of this country—was passed on Robert Emmet. Only a few hours +were given him in which to withdraw his thoughts from the things of this +world and fix them on the next. He was hurried away, at midnight, from +Newgate to Kilmainham jail, passing through Thomas-street, the scene of +his attempted insurrection. Hardly had the prison van driven through, +when workmen arrived and commenced the erection of the gibbet from which +his body was to be suspended. About the hour of noon, on the 20th of +September, he mounted the scaffold with a firm and composed demeanour; a +minute or two more and the lifeless remains of one of the most gifted of +God's creatures hung from the cross beams—strangled by the enemies of +his country—cut off in the bloom of youth, in the prime of his physical +and intellectual powers, because he had loved his own land, hated her +oppressors, and striven to give freedom to his people. But not yet was +English vengeance satisfied. While the body was yet warm it was cut down +from the gibbet, the neck placed across a block on the scaffold, and the +head severed from the body. Then the executioner held it up before the +horrified and sorrowing crowd that stood outside the lines of soldiery, +proclaiming to them—"This is the head of a traitor!" A traitor! It was +a false proclamation. No traitor was he, but a true and noble gentleman. +No traitor, but a most faithful heart to all that was worthy of love and +honour. No traitor, but a martyr for Ireland. The people who stood +agonized before his scaffold, tears streaming from their eyes, and their +hearts bursting with suppressed emotion, knew that for them and for +Ireland he had offered up his young life. And when the deed was +finished, and the mutilated body had been taken away, and the armed +guards had marched from the fatal spot, old people and young moved up to +it to dip their handkerchiefs in the blood of the martyr, that they +might then treasure up the relics for ever. Well has his memory been +cherished in the Irish heart from that day to the present time. Six +years ago a procession of Irishmen, fifteen thousand strong, hearing +another rebel to his grave, passed by the scene of that execution, every +man of whom reverently uncovered his head as he reached the hallowed +spot. A few months ago, a banner borne in another Irish insurrection +displayed the inscription—</p> + +<p class='center'>"REMEMBER EMMET."</p> + +<p>Far away "beyond the Atlantic foam," and "by the long wash of +Australasian seas," societies are in existence bearing his name, and +having for their object to cherish his memory and perpetuate his +principles. And wherever on the habitable globe a few members of the +scattered Irish race are to be found, there are hearts that are thrilled +by even the faintest allusion to the uninscribed grave-stone and the +unwritten epitaph.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='THOMAS_RUSSELL'></a>THOMAS RUSSELL.</h2> + +<p>When Emmet was dead, and the plan to which he devoted his fortune, his +talents, and his life, had sunk in failure, the cause of Irish +independence appeared finally lost, and the cry, more than once repeated +in after times, that "now, indeed, the last bolt of Irish disaffection +has been sped, and that there would never again be an Irish rebellion," +rung loudly from the exulting enemies of Ireland. The hearts of the +people seemed broken by the weight of the misfortunes and calamities +that overwhelmed them. The hopes which had brightened their stormy path, +and enabled them to endure the oppression to which they were subjected +by expectations of a glorious change, flickered no longer amidst the +darkness. The efforts of the insurgents were everywhere drowned in +blood; the hideous memories of '98 were brought up anew; full of bitter +thoughts, exasperated, humiliated, and despondent, the people brooded +over their wretched fate, and sullenly submitted to the reign of terror +which was inaugurated amongst them. Little had the Irish patriots to +look forward to in that dark hour of suffering and disappointment. A +nightmare of blood and violence weighed down the spirits of the people; +a stupor appeared to have fallen on the nation; and though time might be +trusted to arouse them from the trance, they had suffered another loss, +not so easily repaired, in the death and dispersion of their leaders. +Where now should they find the Moses to lead them from the land of +captivity? Tone, Fitzgerald, Emmet, Bond, M'Cracken, the Sheareses—all +were dead. M'Nevin, Neilson, and O'Connor were in exile. Heavily and +relentlessly the arm of vengeance had fallen on them one by one; but the +list was not even then completed. There was yet another victim to fall +before the altar of liberty, and the sacrifice which commenced with Orr +did not conclude until Thomas Russell had perished on the gallows of +Downpatrick.</p> + +<p>The importance of the part which Thomas Russell fills in the history of +the United Irishmen, the worth of his character, the purity and nobility +of his sentiments, and the spirit of uncompromising patriotism displayed +in his last address, would render unpardonable the omission of his name +from such a work as this. "I mean to make my trial," said Russell, "and +the last of my life, if it is to close now, as serviceable to the cause +of liberty as I can," and he kept his word. To-day, we try in some +slight way to requite that fidelity which endured unto death, by +rescuing Thomas Russell's name from oblivion, and recalling his services +and virtues to the recollection of his countrymen.</p> + +<p>He was born at Betsborough, Dunnahane, in the parish of Kilshanick, +county Cork, on the 21st November, 1767. His father was an officer in +the British army, who had fought against the Irish Brigade in the +memorable battle of Fontenoy, and who died in a high situation in the +Royal Hospital at Kilmainham. Thomas, the youngest of his three sons, +was educated for the Protestant Church; but his inclinations sought a +different field of action, and at the age of fifteen he left for India +as a volunteer, where he served with his brother, Ambrose, whose +gallantry in battle called down commendation from the English king. +Thomas Russell quitted India after five years' service, and his return +is ascribed to the disgust and indignation which filled him on +witnessing the extortions, the cruelties, the usurpations, and +brutalities, which were carried out and sanctioned by the government +under which he served. He left Ireland burdened with few fixed political +principles and little knowledge of the world; he returned a full grown +man, imbued with the opinions which he never afterwards abandoned. He +was then, we are told, a model of manly beauty, one of those favoured +individuals whom we cannot pass in the street without being guilty of +the rudeness of staring in the face while passing, and turning round to +look at the receding figure. Though more than six feet high, his +majestic stature was scarcely observed, owing to the exquisite symmetry +of his form. Martial in his gait and demeanour, his appearance was not +altogether that of a soldier. His dark and steady eye, compressed lip, +and some what haughty bearing, were occasionally strongly indicative of +the camp; but in general the classic contour of his finely formed head, +the expression of sweetness that characterised his smile, and the +benevolence that beamed in his fine countenance, seemed to mark him out +as one that was destined to be the ornament, grace, and blessing of +private life. His manners were those of the finished gentleman, combined +with that native grace which nothing but superiority of intellect can +give; he was naturally reserved and retiring in disposition, and his +private life was distinguished by eminent purity and an unostentatious +devotion to the precepts of religion.</p> + +<p>Such was Thomas Russell when he made the acquaintance of Theobald Wolfe +Tone in Dublin. There is no doubt that the views and opinions of Tone +made a profound impression on young Russell; it is equally certain, on +the other hand, that Tone learned to love and esteem his new friend, +whose sentiments were so much in accordance with his own. Throughout +Tone's journal we find constant references to Thomas Russell, whom he +always places with Thomas Addis Emmet at the head of his list of +friends. Early in 1791 Russell proceeded to Belfast to join the 64th +Regiment, in which he had obtained a commission; before leaving Dublin +he appears to have become a member of the Society of United Irishmen, +and in Belfast he soon won the friendship and shared the councils of the +patriotic men who were labouring for Ireland in that city.</p> + +<p>While in Belfast, Russell fell into pecuniary embarrassments. His +generous and confiding nature induced him to go bail for a false friend, +and he found himself one morning obliged to meet a claim for £200, which +he had no means of discharging except by the sale of his commission. +Russell sold out and retired to Dungannon, where he lived for some time +on the residue of the money thus obtained, and during this period he was +appointed a Justice of the Peace for the county of Tyrone. After a short +experience of "Justices' justice" in the North, he retired from the +bench through motives alike creditable to his head and heart. "I cannot +reconcile it to my conscience," he exclaimed one day, "to sit on a bench +where the practice exists of inquiring what religion a person is before +investigating the charge against him." Russell returned, after taking +this step, to Belfast, where he was appointed to a situation in the +public library of the town, and where he became a regular contributor to +the organ of the Ulster patriots, the <i>Northern Star</i>.</p> + +<p>In 1796 he was appointed by the United Irishmen to the supreme military +command in the county Down, a post for which his military experience not +less than his personal influence fitted him, but his political career +was soon afterwards interrupted by his arrest on the 26th of September, +1796. Russell was removed to Dublin, and lodged in Newgate Prison; his +arrest filled the great heart of Tone, who was then toiling for his +country in France, with sorrow and dismay. "It is impossible," he says +in his journal, "to conceive the effect this misfortune has on my mind. +If we are not in Ireland in time to extricate him he is lost, for the +government will move heaven and earth to ensure his condemnation. Good +God!" he adds, "if Russell and Neilson fall, where shall I find two +others to replace them?" During the eventful months that intervened +between the date of his arrest and the 19th of March, 1799, poor Russell +remained chafing his imprisoned soul, filled with patriotic passion and +emotion, in his prison cell in Kilmainham. On the latter date, when the +majority of his associates were dead, and their followers scattered and +disheartened, he was transferred to Fort George in Scotland, where he +spent three years more in captivity. The government had no specific +charge against him, but they feared his influence and distrusted his +intentions, and they determined to keep him a prisoner while a chance +remained of his exerting his power against them. No better illustration +of Russell's character and principles could be afforded than that +supplied in the following extract from one of the letters written by him +during his incarceration in Fort George:—"To the people of Ireland," he +writes, addressing an Irish friend and sympathiser, "I am responsible +for my actions; amidst the uncertainties of life this may be my +valedictory letter; what has occasioned the failure of the cause is +useless to speculate on—Providence orders all things for the best. <i>I +am sure the people will never abandon the cause; I am equally sure it +will succeed</i>. I trust men will see," he adds, referring to the infidel +views then unhappily prevalent, "that the only true basis of liberty is +morality, and the only stable basis of morality is religion."</p> + +<p>In 1802 the government, failing to establish any distinct charge against +Russell, set him at liberty, and he at once repaired to Paris, where he +met Robert Emmet, who was then preparing to renew the effort of +Fitzgerald and Wolfe Tone. Time had not changed, nor suffering damped, +the patriotic impulses of Thomas Russell; he entered heartily into the +plans of young Emmet, and when the latter left for Ireland in November, +1802, to prosecute his hazardous enterprise, it was with the full +understanding that Russell would stand by his side in the post of +danger, and with him perish or succeed. In accordance with this +arrangement, Russell followed Robert Emmet to Dublin, where he arrived +so skilfully disguised that even his own family failed to recognise +him. Emmet's plans for the outbreak in Dublin were matured when Russell, +with a trusty companion, was despatched northwards to summon the Ulster +men to action. Buoyant in spirit, and filled with high expectation, he +entered on his mission, but he returned to Dublin a week later prostrate +in spirit and with a broken heart. One of his first acts on arriving in +Belfast was to issue a proclamation, in which, as "General-in-Chief of +the Northern District," he summoned the people of Ulster to action.</p> + +<p>The North, however, refused to act. It was the old, old story. Belfast +resolved on waiting "to see what the South would do," and the South +waited for Belfast. Disgusted and disappointed, Russell quitted the +Northern capital and proceeded to Antrim, where at least he thought he +might expect to find cordial co-operation; but fresh disappointments +awaited him, and with a load of misery at his heart, such as he had +never felt before, Russell returned to Dublin, where he lived in +seclusion, until arrested by Major Sirr and his myrmidons on the 9th of +September, 1803. A reward of £1,500 had been offered for his +apprehension. We learn on good authority that the ruffianly town-major, +on arresting him, seized the unfortunate patriot rudely by the +neck-cloth, whereupon, Russell, a far more powerful man than his +assailant, flung him aside, and drawing a pistol, exclaimed—"I will not +be treated with indignity." Sirr parleyed for a while; a file of +soldiers was meanwhile summoned to his aid, and Russell was borne off in +irons a prisoner to the Castle. While undergoing this second captivity a +bold attempt was made by his friends to effect his liberation by bribing +one of the gaolers; the plot, however, broke down, and Russell never +breathed the air of freedom again. While awaiting his trial—that trial +which he knew could have but one termination, the death of a +felon—Russell addressed a letter to one of his friends outside, in +which the following noble passage, the fittest epitaph to be engraved on +his tombstone, occurs:—"I mean to make my trial," he writes, "and the +last of my life, if it is to close now, as serviceable to the cause of +liberty as I can. <i>I trust my countrymen will ever adhere to it:</i> I know +it will soon prosper. When the country is free," he adds—that it would +be free he never learned to doubt—"I beg they may lay my remains with +my father in a private manner, and pay the few debts I owe. I have only +to beg of my countrymen to remember that the cause of liberty is the +cause of virtue, <i>which I trust they will never abandon</i>. May God bless +and prosper them, and when power comes into their hands I entreat them +to use it with moderation. May God and the Saviour bless them all."</p> + +<p>Russell was taken to Downpatrick, escorted by a strong force of cavalry, +where he was lodged in the governor's rooms, preparatory to being tried +in that town by a Special Commission. While in prison in Downpatrick he +addressed a letter to Miss M'Cracken, a sister of Henry Joy M'Cracken, +one of the insurgent leaders of 1798, in which he speaks as follows: +"Humanly speaking, I expect to be found guilty and immediately executed. +As this may be my last letter, I shall only say that I did my best for +my country and for mankind. I have no wish to die, but far from +regretting its loss in such a cause, had I a thousand lives I would +willingly risk or lose them in it. Be assured, liberty will in the midst +of those storms be established, and God will wipe the tears from all +eyes."</p> + +<p>The sad anticipations expressed by Russell were but too fully borne out. +There was short shrift in those days for Irishmen accused of treason, +and the verdict of guilty, which he looked forward to with so much +resignation, was delivered before the last rays of the sun which rose on +the morning of the trial had faded in the gloaming. It was sworn that he +had attended treasonable meetings and distributed green uniforms; that +he asked those who attended them, "if they did not desire to get rid of +the Sassanaghs;" that he spoke of 30,000 stands of arms from France, but +said if France should fail them, "forks, spades, shovels, and pickaxes" +would serve that purpose. It was useless to struggle against such +testimony, palpably false and distorted as it was in some parts, and +Russell decided on cutting short the proceedings. "I shall not trouble +my lawyers," he said, "to make any statement in my case. There are but +three possible modes of defence—firstly, by calling witnesses to prove +the innocence of my conduct; secondly, by calling them to impeach the +credit of opposite witnesses, or by proving an <i>alibi</i>. As I can resort +to none of those modes of defence without involving others, I consider +myself precluded from any." Previous to the Judge's charge, the prisoner +asked—"If it was not permitted to persons in his situation to say a few +words, as he wished to give his valedictory advice to his countrymen in +as concise a manner as possible, being well convinced how speedy the +transition was from that vestibule of the grave to the scaffold." He was +told in reply, "that he would have an opportunity of expressing +himself," and when the time did come, Russell advanced to the front of +the dock, and spoke in a clear, firm tone of voice, as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"Before I address myself to this audience, I return + my sincere thanks + to my learned counsel for the exertions they have made, in which they + displayed so much talent. I return my thanks to the gentlemen on the + part of the crown, for the accommodation and indulgence I have + received during my confinement. I return my thanks to the gentlemen + of the jury, for the patient investigation they have afforded my + case; and I return my thanks to the court, for the attention and + politeness they have shown me during my trial. As to my political + sentiments, I shall, in as brief a manner as possible (for I do not + wish to engross the time of the court), say a few words. I look back + to the last thirteen years of my life, the period with which I have + interfered with the transactions of Ireland, with entire + satisfaction; though for my share in them I am now about to die—the + gentlemen of the jury having, by their verdict, put the seal of truth + on the evidence against me. Whether, at this time, and the country + being situated as it is, it be safe to inflict the punishment of + death upon me for the offence I am charged with, I leave to the + gentlemen who conduct the prosecution. My death, perhaps, may be + useful in deterring others from following my example. It may serve, + on the other hand, as a memorial to others, and on trying occasions + it may inspire them with courage. I can now say, as far as my + judgment enabled me, I acted for the good of my country and of the + world. It may be presumptuous for me to deliver my opinions here as + a statesman, but as the government have singled me out as a leader, + and given me the appellation of 'General,' I am in some degree + entitled to do so. To me it is plain that all things are verging + towards a change, when all shall be of one opinion. In ancient times, + we read of great empires having their rise and their fall, and yet do + the old governments proceed as if all were immutable. From the time I + could observe and reflect, I perceived that there were two kinds of + laws—the laws of the State and the laws of God—frequently clashing + with each other; by the latter kind, I have always endeavoured to + regulate my conduct; but that laws of the former kind do exist in + Ireland I believe no one who hears me can deny. That such laws have + existed in former times many and various examples clearly evince. The + Saviour of the world suffered by the Roman laws—by the same laws His + Apostles were put to the torture, and deprived of their lives in His + cause. By my conduct I do not consider that I have incurred any moral + guilt. I have committed no moral evil. I do not want the many and + bright examples of those gone before me; but did I want this + encouragement, the recent example of a youthful hero—a martyr in the + cause of liberty—who has just died for his country, would inspire + me. I have descended into the vale of manhood. I have learned to + estimate the reality and delusions of this world; <i>he</i> was surrounded + by everything which could endear this world to him—in the bloom of + youth, with fond attachments, and with all the fascinating charms of + health and innocence; to his death I look back even in this moment + with rapture. I have travelled much, and seen various parts of the + world, and I think the Irish are the most virtuous nation on the face + of the earth—they are a good and brave people, and had I a thousand + lives I would yield them in their service. If it be the will of God + that I suffer for that with which I stand charged, I am perfectly + resigned to His holy will and dispensation. I do not wish to trespass + much more on the time of those that hear me, and did I do so an + indisposition which has seized on me since I came into court would + prevent my purpose. Before I depart from this for a better world I + wish to address myself to the landed aristocracy of this country. The + word 'aristocracy' I do not mean to use as an insulting epithet, but + in the common sense of the expression.</p> + +<p> "Perhaps, as my voice may now be considered as a voice crying from + the grave, what I now say may have some weight. I see around me many, + who during the last years of my life have disseminated principles for + which I am now to die. Those gentlemen, who have all the wealth and + the power of the country in their hands, I strongly advise, and + earnestly exhort, to pay attention to the poor—by the poor I mean + the labouring class of the community, their tenantry and dependents. + I advise them for their good to look into their grievances, to + sympathize in their distress, and to spread comfort and happiness + around their dwellings. It might be that they may not hold their + power long, but at all events to attend to the wants and distresses + of the poor is their truest interest. If they hold their power, they + will thus have friends around them; if they lose it, their fall will + be gentle, and I am sure unless they act thus they can never be + happy. I shall now appeal to the right honourable gentleman in whose + hands the lives of the other prisoners are, and entreat that he will + rest satisfied with my death, and let that atone for those errors + into which I may have been supposed to have deluded others. I trust + the gentleman will restore them to their families and friends. If he + shall do so, I can assure him that the breeze which conveys to him + the prayers and blessings of their wives and children will be more + grateful than that which may be tainted with the stench of putrid + corpses, or carrying with it the cries of the widow and the orphan. + Standing as I do in the presence of God and of man, I entreat him to + let my life atone for the faults of all, and that my blood alone may + flow.</p> + +<p> "If I am then to die, I have therefore two requests to make. The + first is, that as I have been engaged in a work possibly of some + advantage to the world, I may be indulged with three days for its + completion; secondly, that as there are those ties which even death + cannot sever, and as there are those who may have some regard for + what will remain of me after death, I request that my remains, + disfigured as they will be, may be delivered after the execution of + the sentence to those dear friends, that they may be conveyed to the + ground where my parents are laid, and where those faithful few may + have a consecrated spot over which they may be permitted to grieve. I + have now to declare, when about to pass into the presence of Almighty + God, that I feel no enmity in my mind to any being, none to those who + have borne testimony against me, and none to the jury who have + pronounced the verdict of my death."</p></div> + +<p>The last request of Russell was refused, and he was executed twelve +hours after the conclusion of the trial. At noon, on the 21st of +October, 1803, he was borne pinioned to the place of execution. Eleven +regiments of soldiers were concentrated in the town to overawe the +people and defeat any attempt at rescue; yet even with this force at +their back, the authorities were far from feeling secure. The interval +between the trial and execution was so short that no preparation could +be made for the erection of a scaffold, except the placing of some +barrels under the gateway of the main entrance to the prison, with +planks placed upon them as a platform, and others sloping up from the +ground, by which it was ascended. On the ground hard by, were placed a +sack of sawdust, an axe, a block, and a knife. After ascending the +scaffold, Russell gazed forward through the archway—towards the +people, whose white faces could be seen glistening outside, and again +expressed his forgiveness of his persecutors. His manner, we are told, +was perfectly calm, and he died without a struggle.</p> + +<p>A purer soul, a more blameless spirit, than Thomas Russell, never sunk +on the battle-field of freedom. Fixed in principles, and resolute in +danger, he was nevertheless gentle, courteous, unobstrusive, and humane; +with all the modesty and unaffectedness of childhood, he united the zeal +of a martyr and the courage of a hero. To the cause of his country he +devoted all his energies and all his will; and when he failed to render +it prosperous in life, he illumined it by his devotion and steadfastness +in death. The noble speech given above, and the passages from his +letters which we have quoted, are sufficient in themselves to show how +chivalrous was the spirit, how noble the motives of Thomas Russell. The +predictions which he uttered with so much confidence have not indeed +been fulfilled, and the success which he looked forward to so hopefully +has never been won. But his advice, so often repeated in his letters, is +still adhered to; his countrymen have not yet learned to abandon the +cause in which he suffered, and they still cherish the conviction which +he so touchingly expressed—"that liberty will, in the midst of these +storms be established, and that God will yet wipe off the tears of the +Irish nation."</p> + +<p>Russell rests in the churchyard of the Protestant church of Downpatrick. +A plain slab marks the spot where he is laid, and there is on it this +single line—</p> + +<p class="center">"THE GRAVE OF RUSSELL."</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>We have now closed our reference to the portion of Irish history +comprised within the years 1798 and 1803, and as far as concerns the men +who suffered for Ireland in those disastrous days our "Speeches from the +Dock" are concluded. We leave behind us the struggle of 1798 and the men +who organized it; we turn from the records of a period reeking with the +gore of Ireland's truest sons, and echoing with the cries and curses of +the innocent and oppressed; we pass without notice the butcheries and +outrages that filled the land, while our countrymen were being sabred +into submission; and we leave behind us, too, the short-lived +insurrection of 1803, and the chivalrous young patriot who perished with +it. We turn to more recent events, less appalling in their general +aspect, but not less important in their consequences, or less +interesting to the present generation, and take up the next link in the +unbroken chain of protests against British rule in Ireland with the +lives and the fortunes of the patriots of 1848. How faithfully the +principles of freedom have been handed down—how nobly the men of our +own times have imitated the patriots of the past—how thoroughly the +sentiments expressed from the Green-street dock nineteen years ago +coincide with the declarations of Tone, of Emmet, and of Russell—our +readers will shortly have an opportunity of judging. They will see how +all the sufferings and all the calamities that darkened the path of the +martyrs of '98 were insufficient to deter others, as gifted, as earnest, +and as chivalrous as they, from following in their footsteps; and how +unquenchable and unending, as the altar light of the fire-worshipper, +the generous glow of patriotic enthusiasm was transmitted through +generations, unaffected by the torrents of blood in which it was sought +to extinguish it.</p> + +<p>The events of our own generation—the acts of contemporary patriots—now +claim our attention; but we are reluctant as yet to turn over the page, +and drop the curtain on the scenes with which we have hitherto been +dealing, and which we feel we have inadequately described. We have +spoken of the men whose speeches from the dock are on record, but we +still linger over the history of the events in which they shared, and of +the men who were associated with them in their endeavours. The patriots +whose careers we have glanced at are but a few out of the number of +Irishmen who suffered during the same period, and in the same cause, and +whose actions recommend them to the admiration and esteem of posterity. +Confining ourselves strictly to those whose speeches after conviction +have reached us, the list could not well be extended; but there are many +who acted as brave a part, and whose memories are inseparable from the +history of the period. We should have desired to speak, were the scope +of our labours more extended, of the brave Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the +gallant and the true, who sacrificed his position, his prospects, and +his life, for the good old cause, and whose arrest and death contributed +more largely, perhaps, than any other cause that could be assigned to +the failure of the insurrection of 1798. Descended from an old and noble +family, possessing in a remarkable degree all the attributes and +embellishments of a popular leader, young and spirited, eloquent and +wealthy, ardent, generous, and brave, of good address, and fine physical +proportions, it is not surprising that Lord Edward Fitzgerald became the +idol of the patriot party, and was appointed by them to a leading +position in the organization. Lord Edward Fitzgerald was born in +October, 1763; being the fifth son of James Duke of Leinster, the +twentieth Earl of Kildare. He grew up to manhood, as a recent writer has +observed, when the drums of the Volunteers were pealing their marches of +victory; and under the stirring events of the period his soul burst +through the shackles that had long bound down the Irish aristocracy in +servile dependence. In his early years he served in the American War of +Independence on the side of despotism and oppression—a circumstance +which in after years caused him poignant sorrow. He joined the United +Irishmen, about the time that Thomas Addis Emmet entered their ranks, +and the young nobleman threw himself into the movement with all the +ardour and energy of his nature. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of +the National forces in the south, and laboured with indefatigable zeal +in perfecting the plans for the outbreak on the 23rd of May. The story +of his arrest and capture is too well known to need repetition. +Treachery dogged the steps of the young patriot, and after lying for +some weeks in concealment, he was arrested on the 19th day of May, 1798, +two months after his associates in the direction of the movement had +been arrested at Oliver Bond's. His gallant struggle with his captors, +fighting like a lion at bay, against the miscreants who assailed him; +his assassination, his imprisonment, and his death, are events to which +the minds of the Irish nationalists perpetually recur, and which, +celebrated in song and story, are told with sympathising regret wherever +a group of Irish blood are gathered around the hearth-stone. His genius, +his talents, and his influence, his unswerving attachment to his +country, and his melancholy end, cast an air of romance around his +history; and the last ray of gratitude must fade from the Irish heart +before the name of the martyred patriot, who sleeps in the vaults of St. +Werburgh, will be forgotten in the land of his birth.</p> + +<p>In less than a fortnight after Lord Edward expired in Newgate another +Irish rebel, distinguished by his talents, his fidelity, and his +position, expiated with his life the crime of "loving his country above +his king." It is hard to mention Thomas Russell and ignore Henry Joy +M'Cracken—it is hard to speak of the Insurrection of '98 and forget the +gallant young Irishman who commanded at the battle of Antrim, and who +perished a few weeks subsequently, in the bloom of his manhood, on the +scaffold in Belfast. Henry Joy M'Cracken was one of the first members of +the Society of United Irishmen, and he was one of the best. He was +arrested, owing to private information received by the government, on +the 10th of October, 1796—three weeks after Russell, his friend and +confidant, was flung into prison—and lodged in Newgate Jail, where he +remained until the 8th of September in the following year. He was then +liberated on bail, and immediately, on regaining his liberty, returned +to Belfast, still bent on accomplishing at all hazards the liberation of +his country. Previous to the outbreak in May, '98, he had frequent +interviews with the patriot leaders in Dublin, and M'Cracken was +appointed to the command of the insurgent forces in Antrim. Filled with +impatience and patriotic ardour, he heard of the stirring events that +followed the arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; he concentrated all his +energies in preparing the Northern patriots for action, but +circumstances delayed the outbreak in that quarter, and it was not until +the 6th of June, 1798, that M'Cracken had perfected his arrangements for +taking the field, and issued the following brief proclamation, "dated +the first year of liberty, 6th June, 1798," addressed to the Army of +Ulster:—</p> + +<p>"To-morrow we march on Antrim. Drive the garrison of Randalstown before +you, and hasten to form a junction with your Commander-in-Chief."</p> + +<p>Twenty-one thousand insurgents were to have rallied at the call of +M'Cracken, out not more than seven thousand responded to the summons. +Even this number, however, would have been sufficient to strike a +successful blow, which would have filled the hearts of the gallant +Wexford men, then in arms, with exultation, and effected incalculable +results on the fate of Ireland, had not the curse of the Irish cause, +treachery and betrayal, again come to the aid of its enemies. Hardly had +the plans for the attack on Antrim been perfected, when the secrets of +the conspirators were revealed to General Nugent, who commanded the +British troops in the North, and the defeat of the insurgents was thus +secured. M'Cracken's forces marched to the attack on Antrim with great +regularity, chorusing the "Marseillaise Hymn" as they charged through +the town. Their success at first seemed complete, but the English +general, acting on the information which had treacherously been supplied +him, had taken effective means to disconcert and defeat them. Suddenly, +and as it seemed, in the flush of victory, the insurgents found +themselves exposed to a galling fire from a force posted at either end +of the town; a gallant resistance was offered, but it was vain. The +insurgents fled from the fatal spot, leaving 500 of their dead and dying +behind them, and at nightfall Henry Joy M'Cracken found himself a +fugitive and a ruined man. For some weeks he managed to baffle the +bloodhounds on his track, but he was ultimately arrested and tried by +court-martial in Belfast, on the 17th July, 1798. On the evening of the +same day he was executed. We have it on the best authority that he bore +his fate with calmness, resolution, and resignation. It is not his fault +that a "Speech from the Dock" under his name is not amongst our present +collection. He had actually prepared one, but his brutal judges would +not listen to the patriot's exculpation. He was hung, amidst the sobs +and tears of the populace, in front of the Old Market place of Belfast, +and his remains were interred in the graveyard now covered by St. +George's Protestant church.</p> + +<p>Later still in the same year two gallant young officers of Irish blood, +shared the fate of Russell and M'Cracken. They sailed with Humbert from +Rochelle; they fought at Castlebar and Ballinamuck; and when the swords +of their French allies were sheathed, they passed into the power of +their foes. Matthew Tone was one of them; the other was Bartholomew +Teeling. The latter filled the rank of Etat-major in the French army; +and a letter from his commanding officer, General Humbert, was read at +his trial, in which the highest praise was given to the young officer +for the humane exertions which he made throughout his last brief +campaign in the interest of mercy. "His hand," he said, "was ever raised +to stay the useless effusion of blood, and his protection was afforded +to the prostrate and defenceless." But his military judges paid little +heed to those extenuating circumstances, and Teeling was condemned to +die on the day of his trial. He perished on the 24th September, 1798, +being then in his twenty-fourth year. He marched with a proud step to +the place of execution on Arbour Hill, Dublin, and he died, as a soldier +might, with unshaken firmness and unquailing mien. No lettered slab +marks the place of his interment; and his bones remain in unhallowed and +unconsecrated ground. Hardly had his headless body ceased to palpitate, +when it was flung into a hole at the rere of the Royal Barracks. A few +days later the same unhonoured spot received the mortal remains of +Matthew Tone. "He had a more enthusiastic nature than any of us," writes +his brother, Theobald Wolfe Tone, "and was a sincere Republican, capable +of sacrificing everything for his principles." His execution was +conducted with infamous cruelty and brutality, and the life-blood was +still gushing from his body when it was flung into "the Croppy's Hole." +"The day will come," says Dr. Madden, "when that desecrated spot will be +hallowed ground—consecrated by religion—trod lightly by pensive +patriotism—and decorated by funeral trophies in honour of the dead +whose bones lie there in graves that are now neglected and unhonoured."</p> + +<p>There are others of the patriot leaders who died in exile, far away from +the land for which they suffered, and whose graves were dug on alien +shores by the heedless hands of the stranger. This was the fate of Addis +Emmet, of Neilson, and of M'Nevin. In Ireland they were foremost and +most trusted amongst the gifted and brilliant throng that directed the +labours and shaped the purposes of the United Irishmen. They survived +the reign of terror that swallowed up the majority of their compatriots, +and, when milder councils began to prevail, they were permitted to go +forth from the dungeon which confined them into banishment. The vision +of Irish freedom was not permitted to dawn upon them in life; from +beyond the sandy slopes washed by the Western Atlantic they watched the +fortunes of the old land with hopeless but enduring love. Their talents, +their virtues, and their patriotism were not unappreciated by the people +amongst whom they spent their closing years of life. In the busiest +thoroughfare of the greatest city of America there towers over the heads +of the by-passers the monument of marble which grateful hands have +raised to the memory of Addis Emmet. In the centre of Western +civilization, the home of republican liberty, the stranger reads in +glowing words, of the virtues and the fame of the brother of Robert +Emmet, sculptured on the noble pillar erected in Broadway, New York, to +his memory. Nor was he the only one of his party to whom such an honour +was accorded. A stone-throw from the spot where the Emmet monument +stands, a memorial not less commanding in its proportions and +appearance, was erected to William James M'Nevin; and the American +citizen, as he passes through the spacious streets of that city which +the genius of liberty has rendered prosperous and great, gazes proudly +on those stately monuments, which tell him that the devotion to freedom +which England punished and proscribed found in his own land the +recognition which it merited from the gallant and the free.</p> + +<p>[Footnote: The inscriptions on the Emmet monument are in three +languages—Irish, Latin, and English. The Irish inscription consists of +the following lines:—</p> + +<p class='center'>Do mhiannaich se ardmath<br /> +Cum tir a breith<br /> +Do thug se clu a's fuair se moladh<br /> +An deig a bais.</p> + +<p>The following is the English inscription:</p> + +<p class='center'><i>In Memory of</i><br /> +THOMAS ADDIS EMMET,<br /> +Who exemplified in his conduct,<br /> +And adorned by his integrity.<br /> +The policy and principles of the<br /> +UNITED IRISHMEN—<br /> +"To forward a brotherhood of affection,<br /> +A community of rights, an identity of interests, and a union of power<br /> +Among Irishmen of every religious persuasion,<br /> +As the only means of Ireland's chief good,<br /> +An impartial and adequate representation<br /> +IN AN IRISH PARLIAMENT."<br /> +For this (mysterious fate of virtue) exiled from his native land,<br /> +In America, the land of Freedom,<br /> +He found a second country,<br /> +Which paid his love by reverencing his genius.<br /> +Learned in our laws, and in the laws of Europe,<br /> +In the literature of our times, and in that of antiquity,<br /> +All knowledge seemed subject to his use.<br /> +An orator of the first order, clear, copious, fervid,<br /> +Alike powerful to kindle the imagination, touch the affections,<br /> +And sway the reason and will.<br /> +Simple in his tastes, unassuming in his manners,<br /> +Frank, generous, kind-hearted, and honourable,<br /> +His private life was beautiful,<br /> +As his public course was brilliant.<br /> +Anxious to perpetuate<br /> +The name and example of such a man,<br /> +Alike illustrious by his genius, his virtues, and his fate;<br /> +Consecrated to their affections by his sacrifices, his perils,<br /> +And the deeper calamities of his kindred,<br /> +IN A JUST AND HOLY CAUSE;<br /> +His sympathising countrymen<br /> +Erected this Monument and Cenotaph.] +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='JOHN_MITCHEL'></a>JOHN MITCHEL</h2> + +<p class='center'><img src="images/image03.png" style="width: 350px; height: 487px; border: 0" alt="WILLIAM S. O'BRIEN. JOHN MITCHEL. JOHN MARTIN." /></p> + +<p>Subsequent to the melancholy tragedy of 1803, a period of indescribable +depression was experienced in Ireland. Defeat, disaster, ruin, had +fallen upon the national cause; the power on whose friendly aid so much +reliance had been placed was humbled, and England stood before the world +in the full blaze of triumph and glory. Her fleet was undisputed +mistress of the ocean, having swept it of all hostile shipping, and left +to the enemy little more than the small craft that sheltered in narrow +creeks and under the guns of well-defended harbours. Her army, if not +numerically large, had proved its valour on many a well-fought field, +and shown that it knew how to bring victory to light upon its standards; +and, what was not less a matter of wonder to others, and of pride to +herself, the abundance of her wealth and the extent of her resources +were shown to be without a parallel in the world. Napoleon was an exile +on the rock of St. Helena; the "Holy Alliance"—as the European, +sovereigns blasphemously designated themselves—were lording it over the +souls and bodies of men by "right divine;" the free and noble principles +in which the French Revolution had its origin were now sunk out of +sight, covered with the infamy of the Reign of Terror and the +responsibility of the series of desolating wars which had followed it, +and no man dared to speak for them. Those were dark days for Ireland. +Her parliament was gone, and in the blighting shade of the provincialism +to which she was reduced, genius and courage seemed to have died out +from the land. Thousands of her bravest and most devoted children had +perished in her cause—some on the scaffold, and others on the field of +battle—and many whose presence at home would have been invaluable to +her were obliged to seek safety in exile. So Erin, the crownless Queen, +sat in the dust with fetters on her limbs, her broken sword fallen from +her hand, and with mournful memories lying heavy on her heart. The +feelings of disappointment and grief then rankling in every Irish +breast are well mirrored in that plaintive song of our national poet, +which open with these tristful lines:—</p> + + +<div class="centerdiv2"> +<p class='poem'><span>"'Tis gone, and for ever, the light we saw breaking,</span> +<span class='i2'>Like heaven's first dawn o'er the sleep of the dead,</span> +<span>When man, from the slumber of ages awaking,</span> +<span class='i2'>Looked upward and blessed the pure ray ere it fled.</span> +<span>'Tis gone, and the gleams it has left of its burning</span> +<span class='i2'>But deepen the long night of bondage and mourning,</span> +<span>That dark o'er the kingdoms of earth is returning,</span> +<span class='i2'>And darkest of all, hapless Erin, o'er thee."</span> +</p> +</div> + + +<p>In this gloomy condition of affairs there was nothing for Irish +patriotism to do except to seek for the removal, by constitutional +means, of some of the cruel grievances that pressed on the people. +Emancipation of the Catholics from the large remainder of the penal laws +that still degraded and despoiled them was one of the baits held out by +Mr. Pitt when playing his cards for the Union; but not long had the +Irish parliament been numbered with the things that were, when it became +evident that the minister was in no hurry to fulfil his engagement, and +it was found necessary to take some steps for keeping him to his +promise. Committees were formed, meetings were held, speeches were made, +resolutions were adopted, and all the machinery of parliamentary +endeavour was put in motion. The leaders of the Catholic cause in this +case, like those of the national cause in the preceding years, were +liberal-minded Protestant gentlemen; but as time wore on, a young +barrister from Kerry, one of the old race and the old faith, took a +decided lead amongst them, and soon became its recognised champion, the +elect of the nation, the "man of the people." Daniel O'Connell stood +forth, with the whole mass of his Catholic countrymen at his back, to +wage within the lines of the constitution this battle for Ireland. He +fought it resolutely and skilfully; the people supported him with an +unanimity and an enthusiasm that were wonderful; their spirit rose and +strengthened to that degree that the probability of another civil war +began to loom up in the near future—inquiries instituted by the +government resulted in the discovery that the Catholics serving in the +army, and who constituted at least a third of its strength, were in full +sympathy with their countrymen on this question, and could not be +depended on to act against them—the ministry recognised the critical +condition of affairs, saw that there was danger in delay, yielded to the +popular demand—and Catholic Emancipation was won.</p> + +<p>The details of that brilliant episode of Irish history cannot be told +within the limits of this work, but some of its consequences concern us +very nearly. The triumph of the constitutional struggle for Catholic +Emancipation confirmed O'Connell in the resolution he had previously +formed, to promote an agitation for a Repeal of the Union, and +encouraged him to lay the proposal before his countrymen. The forces +that had wrung the one measure of justice from an unwilling parliament +were competent, he declared, to obtain the other. He soon succeeded in +impressing his own belief on the minds of his countrymen, whose +confidence in his wisdom and his powers was unbounded. The whole country +responded to his call, and soon "the Liberator," as the emancipated +Irish Catholics loved to call him, found himself at the head of a +political organization which in its mode of action, its extent, and its +ardour was "unique in the history of the world." Every city and great +town in Ireland had its branch of the Repeal Association—every village +had its Repeal reading-room, all deriving hope and life, and taking +direction from the head-quarters in Dublin, where the great Tribune +himself "thundered and lightened" at the weekly meetings. All Ireland +echoed with his words. Newspapers, attaining thereby to a circulation +never before approached in Ireland, carried them from one extremity of +the land to the other—educating, cheering, and inspiring the hearts of +the long downtrodden people. Nothing like this had ever occurred before. +The eloquence of the patriot orators of the Irish parliament had not +been brought home to the masses of the population; and the United +Irishmen could only speak to them secretly, in whispers. But here were +addresses glowing, and bold, and tender, brimful of native humour, +scathing in their sarcasms, terrible in their denunciations, ineffably +beautiful in their pathos—addresses that recalled the most glorious as +well as the saddest memories of Irish history, and presented brilliant +vistas of the future—addresses that touched to its fullest and most +delicious vibration every chord of the Irish heart—here they were being +sped over the land in an unfailing and ever welcome supply. The peasant +read them to his family by the fireside when his hard day's work was +done, and the fisherman, as he steered his boat homeward, reckoned as +not the least of his anticipated pleasures, the reading of the last +report from Conciliation Hall. And it was not the humbler classes only +who acknowledged the influence of the Repeal oratory, sympathised with +the movement, and enrolled themselves in the ranks. The priesthood +almost to a man, were members of the Association and propagandists of +its principles; the professional classes were largely represented in it; +of merchants and traders it could count up a long roll; and many of the +landed gentry, even though they held her Majesty's Commission of the +Peace, were amongst its most prominent supporters. In short, the Repeal +Association represented the Irish nation, and its voice was the voice of +the people. The "Monster Meetings" of the year 1843 put this fact beyond +the region of doubt or question. As popular demonstrations they were +wonderful in their numbers, their order, and their enthusiasm. +O'Connell, elated by their success, fancied that his victory was as good +as won. He knew that things could not continue to go on as they were +going—either the government or the Repeal Association should give way, +and he believed the government would yield. For, the Association, he +assured his countrymen, was safe within the limits of the law, and not a +hostile hand could be laid upon it without violating the constitution. +His countrymen had nothing to do but obey the law and support the +Association, and a Repeal of the Union within a few months was, he said, +inevitable. In all this he had allowed his own heart to deceive him; +and his mistake was clearly shown, when in October, 1843, the +government, by proclamation and a display of military force, prevented +the intended monster meeting at Clontarf. It was still more fully +established in the early part of the following year, when he, with a +number of his political associates, was brought to trial for treasonable +and seditious practices, found guilty, and sentenced to twelve months' +imprisonment. The subsequent reversal of the verdict by the House of +Lords, was a legal triumph for O'Connell; but nevertheless, his prestige +had suffered by the occurrence, and his policy had begun to pall upon +the minds of the people.</p> + +<p>After his release the business of the Association went on as before, +only there was less of confidence and of defiance in the speeches of the +Liberator, and there were no more monster meetings. He was now more +emphatic than ever in his advocacy of moral force principles, and his +condemnation of all warlike hints and allusions. The weight of age—he +was then more than seventy years—was pressing on his once buoyant +spirit; his prison experience had damped his courage; and he was haunted +night and day by a conviction—terrible to his mind—that there was +growing up under the wing of the Association, a party that would teach +the people to look to an armed struggle as the only sure means of +obtaining the freedom of their country. The writings of the +<i>Nation</i>—then a new light in the literature and politics of +Ireland—had a ring in them that was unpleasant to his ears, a sound as +of clashing steel and the explosion of gunpowder. In the articles of +that journal much honour was given to men who had striven for Irish +freedom by other methods than those in favour at Conciliation Hall; and +the songs and ballads which it was giving to the youth of Ireland—who +received them with delight, treasuring every line "as if an angel +spoke"—were bright with the spirit of battle, and taught any doctrine +except the sinfulness of fighting for liberty. The Liberator grew +fearful of that organ and of the men by whom it was conducted. He +distrusted that quiet-faced, thoughtful, and laborious young man, whom +they so loved and reverenced—the founder, the soul, and the centre of +their party. To the keen glance of the aged leader it appeared that for +all that placid brow, those calm grey eyes and softly curving lip of +his, the man had no horror of blood-spilling in a righteous cause, and +was capable not only of deliberately inciting his countrymen to rise in +arms against English rule, but also of taking a foremost place in the +struggle. And little less to be dreaded than Thomas Davis, was his +friend and <i>collaborateur</i>, Charles Gavan Duffy, whose sharp and active +intellect and resolute spirit were not in the least likely to allow the +national cause to rest for ever on the peaceful platform of Conciliation +Hall. Death removed Davis early from the scene; but in John Mitchel, who +had taken his place, there was no gain to the party of moral force. Then +there was that other young firebrand—that dapper, well-built, +well-dressed, curled and scented young gentleman from the <i>Urbs +Intacta</i>—whose wondrous eloquence, with the glow of its thought, the +brilliancy and richness of its imagery, and the sweetness of its +cadences, charmed and swayed all hearts—adding immensely to the dangers +of the situation. O'Brien, too, staid and unimpulsive as was his +character, deliberate and circumspect as were his habits, was evidently +inclined to give the weight of his name and influence to this "advanced" +party. And there were many less prominent, but scarcely less able men +giving them the aid of their great talents in the press and on the +platform—not only men, but women too. Some of the most inspiriting of +the strains that were inducing the youth of the country to familiarize +themselves with steel blades and rifle barrels proceeded from the pens +of those fair and gifted beings. Day after day, as this party sickened +of the stale platitudes, and timid counsels, and crooked policy of the +Hall, O'Connell, his son John, and other leading members of the +Association, insisted more and more strongly on their doctrine of moral +force, and indulged in the wildest and most absurd denunciations of the +principle of armed resistance to tyranny. "The liberty of the world," +exclaimed O'Connell, "is not worth the shedding of one drop of human +blood." Notwithstanding the profound disgust which the utterance of such +sentiments caused to the bolder spirits in the Association, they would +have continued within its fold, if those debasing principles had not +been actually formulated into a series of resolutions and proposed for +the acceptance of the Society. Then they rose against the ignoble +doctrine which would blot the fair fame of all who ever fought for +liberty in Ireland or elsewhere, and rank the noblest men the world ever +saw in the category of fools and criminals. Meagher, in a brilliant +oration, protested against the resolutions, and showed why he would not +"abhor and stigmatize the sword." Mr. John O'Connell interrupted and +interfered with the speaker. It was plain that freedom of speech was to +be had no longer on the platform of the Association, and that men of +spirit had no longer any business there—Meagher took up his hat and +left the Hall, and amongst the crowd that accompanied, him, went William +Smith O'Brien, Thomas Devin Reilly, Charles Gavan Duffy, and John +Mitchel.</p> + +<p>After this disruption, which occurred on the 28th of July, 1846, came +the formation of the "Irish Confederation" by the seceders. In the +proceedings of the new Society Mr. Mitchel took a more prominent part +than he had taken in the business of the Repeal Association. And he +continued to write in his own terse and forcible style in the <i>Nation</i>. +But his mind travelled too fast in the direction of war for either the +journal or the society with which he was connected. The desperate +condition of the country, now a prey to all the horrors of famine, for +the awfully fatal effects of which the government was clearly +responsible—the disorganization and decay of the Repeal party, +consequent on the death of O'Connell—the introduction of Arms' Acts and +other coercive measures by the government, and the growing ardour of the +Confederate Clubs, were to him as signs and tokens unmistakable that +there was no time to be lost in bringing matters to a crisis in which +the people should hold their own by force of arms. Most of his political +associates viewed the situation with more patience; but Mr. Mitchel was +resolved that even if he stood alone, he would speak out his opinions to +the people. In the latter part of December, 1847, he withdrew from the +<i>Nation</i>. On the 5th of February, 1848, at the close of a debate, which +had lasted two days, on the merits of his policy of immediate resistance +to the collection of rates, rents, and taxes, and the division on which +was unfavourable to him, he, with a number of friends and sympathisers +withdraw from the Confederation. Seven days afterwards, he issued the +first number of a newspaper, bearing the significant title of <i>The +United Irishman</i>, and having for its motto the following aphorism, +quoted from Theobald Wolfe Tone: "Our independence must be had at all +hazards. If the men of property will not support us, they must fall; we +can support ourselves by the aid of that numerous and respectable class +of the community, the men of no property."</p> + +<p>The <i>Nation</i> had been regarded as rather an outspoken journal, and not +particularly well affected to the rulers of the country. But it was +mildness, and gentleness, and loyalty itself compared to the new-comer +in the field of journalism. The sudden uprising of a most portentous +comet sweeping close to this planet of ours could hardly create more +unfeigned astonishment in the minds of people in general than did the +appearance of this wonderful newspaper, brimful of open and avowed +sedition, crammed with incitements to insurrection, and with diligently +prepared instructions for the destruction of her Majesty's troops, +barracks, stores, and magazines. Men rubbed their eyes, as they read its +articles and correspondence, scarcely believing that any man in his +sober senses would venture, in any part of the Queen's dominions, to put +such things in print. But there were the articles and the letters, +nevertheless, on fair paper and in good type, published in a duly +registered newspaper bearing the impressed stamp of the Customs—a sign +to all men that the proprietor was bound in heavy sureties to the +government against the publication of "libel, blasphemy, or +sedition"!—couched, moreover, in a style of language possessing such +grace and force, such delicacy of finish, and yet such marvellous +strength, rich with so much of quiet humour, and bristling with such +rasping sarcasm and penetrating invective, that they were read as an +intellectual luxury even by men who regarded as utterly wild and wicked +the sentiments they conveyed. The first editorial utterance in this +journal consisted of a letter from Mr. Mitchel to the Viceroy, in which +that functionary was addressed as "The Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, +Englishman, calling himself her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant-General and +General Governor of Ireland." The purport of the document was to +declare, above board, the aims and objects of the <i>United Irishman</i>, a +journal with which, wrote Mr. Mitchel, "your lordship and your +lordship's masters and servants are to have more to do than may be +agreeable either to you or me." That that purpose was to resume the +struggle which had been waged by Tone and Emmet, or, as Mr. Mitchel put +it, "the Holy War, to sweep this island clear of the English name and +nation." "We differ," he said, "from the illustrious conspirators of +'98, not in principle—no, not an <i>iota</i>—but, as I shall presently show +you, materially as to the mode of action." And the difference was to +consist in this—that whereas the revolutionary organization in +Ninety-Eight was a secret one, which was ruined by spies and informers, +that of Forty-Eight was to be an open one, concerning which informers +could tell nothing that its promoters would not willingly proclaim from +the house-tops. "If you desire," he wrote, "to have a Castle detective +employed about the <i>United Irishman</i> office in Trinity-street, I shall +make no objection, provided the man be sober and honest. If Sir George +Grey or Sir William Somerville would like to read our correspondence, we +make him welcome for the present—only let the letters be forwarded +without losing a post." Of the fact that he would speedily be called to +account for his conduct in one of her Majesty's courts of law, the +writer of this defiant language was perfectly cognizant; but he declared +that the inevitable prosecution would be his opportunity of achieving a +victory over the government. "For be it known to you," he wrote, "that +in such a case you shall either publicly, boldly, notoriously <i>pack a +jury</i>, or else see the accused rebel walk a free man out of the court of +Queen's Bench—which will be a victory only less than the rout of your +lordship's red-coats in the open field." In case of his defeat, other +men would take up the cause, and maintain it until at last England would +have to fall back on her old system of courts-martial, and triangles, +and free quarters, and Irishmen would find that there was no help for +them "in franchises, in votings, in spoutings, in shoutings, and toasts +drank with enthusiasm—nor in anything in this world, save the +<i>extensor</i> and <i>contractor</i> muscles of their right arms, in +these and in the goodness of God above." The conclusion of this +extraordinary address to her Majesty's representative was in the +following terms:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"In plain English, my Lord Earl, the deep and irreconcilable + disaffection of this people to all British laws, lawgivers, and law + administrators shall find a voice. That holy Hatred of foreign + dominion which nerved our noble predecessors fifty years ago for the + dungeon, the field, or the gallows (though of late years it has worn + a vile nisi prius gown, and snivelled somewhat in courts of law and + on spouting platforms) still lives, thank God! and glows as fierce + and hot as ever. To educate that holy Hatred, to make it know itself, + and avow itself, and, at last, fill itself full, I hereby devote the + columns of the <i>United Irishman</i>."</p></div> + +<p>After this address to the Lord Lieutenant, Mr. Mitchel took to +addressing the farming classes, and it is really a study to observe the +exquisite precision, the clearness, and the force of the language he +employed to convey his ideas to them. In his second letter he supposes +the case of a farmer who has the entire produce of his land in his +haggard, in the shape of six stacks of corn; he shows that three of +these ought, in all honour and conscience, be sufficient for the +landlord and the government to seize upon, leaving the other three to +support the family of the man whose labour had produced them. But what +are the facts?—the landlord and the government sweep <i>all</i> away, and +the peasant and his family starve by the ditch sides. As an illustration +of this condition of things, he quotes from a southern paper an account +of an inquest held on the body of a man named Boland, and on the bodies +of his two daughters, who, as the verdict declared, had "died of cold +and starvation," although occupants of a farm of over twenty acres in +extent. On this melancholy case the comment of the editor of the <i>United +Irishman</i> was as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"Now what became of poor Boland's twenty acres of crop? Part of it + went to Gibraltar, to victual the garrison; part to South Africa, to + provision the robber army; part went to Spain, to pay for the + landlord's wine; part to London, to pay the interest of his honour's + mortgage to the Jews. The English ate some of it; the Chinese had + their share; the Jews and the Gentiles divided it amongst them—and + there was <i>none</i> for Boland."</p></div> + +<p>As to the manner in which the condition and fate of poor Boland were to +be avoided, abundant instructions were given in every number. The +anti-tithe movement was quoted as a model to begin with; but, of course, +that was to be improved upon. The idea that the people would not +venture on such desperate movements, and had grown enamoured of the +Peace policy and of "Patience and Perseverance," Mr. Mitchel refused to +entertain for a moment:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I will not believe that Irishmen are so degraded and utterly lost as + this. The Earth is awakening from sleep; a flash of electric fire is + passing through the dumb millions. Democracy is girding himself once + more like a strong man to run a race; and slumbering nations are + arising in their might, and 'shaking their invincible locks.' Oh! my + countrymen, look up, look up! Arise from the death-dust where you + have long been lying, and let this light visit your eyes also, and + touch your souls. Let your ears drink in the blessed words, 'Liberty! + Fraternity! Equality!' which are soon to ring from pole to pole! + Clear steel will, ere long, dawn upon you in your desolate darkness; + and the rolling thunder of the People's cannon will drive before it + many a heavy cloud that has long hidden from you the face of heaven. + Pray for that day; and preserve life and health that you may worthily + meet it. Above all, let the man amongst you who has no gun sell his + garment and buy one."</p></div> + +<p>So Mr. Mitchel went on for some weeks, preaching in earnest and exciting +language the necessity of preparation for an immediate grapple with "the +enemy." In the midst of his labours came the startling news of another +revolution in France, Louis Philippe in full flight, and the +proclamation of a Republic. Yet a few days more and the Berliners had +risen and triumphed, only stopping short of chasing their king away +because he conceded all they were pleased to require of him; then came +insurrection in Sicily, insurrection in Lombardy, insurrection in Milan, +insurrection in Hungary—in short, the revolutionary movement became +general throughout Europe, and thrones and principalities were tumbling +and tottering in all directions. Loud was the complaint in the <i>United +Irishman</i> because Dublin was remaining tranquil. It was evident, +however, that the people and their leaders were feeling the +revolutionary impulse, and that matters were fast hurrying towards an +outbreak. John Mitchel knew that a crisis was at hand, and devoted all +his energies to making the best use of the short time that his newspaper +had to live. His writing became fiercer, more condensed, and more +powerful than ever. Lord Clarendon was now addressed as "Her Majesty's +Executioner General and General Butcher of Ireland," and instructions +for street warfare and all sorts of operations suitable for an insurgent +populace occupied a larger space than ever in his paper. But the +government were now resolved to close with their bold and clever enemy. +On Tuesday, the 21st of March, 1848, Messrs. O'Brien, Meagher, and +Mitchel were arrested, the former for seditious speeches, uttered at a +meeting of the Confederation held on the 15th of that month, the latter +for three seditious articles published in the <i>United Irishman</i>. All +were released on bail, and when the trials came on, in the month of May, +disagreements of the jury took place in the cases of O'Brien and +Meagher. But before the trial of Mr. Mitchel could be proceeded with, he +was arrested on a fresh charge of "treason-felony"—a new crime, which +had been manufactured by Act of Parliament a few weeks before. He was, +therefore, fast in the toils, and with but little chance of escape. +Little concern did this give the brave-hearted patriot, who only hoped +and prayed that at last the time had come when his countrymen would +launch out upon the resolute course of action which he had so earnestly +recommended to them. From his cell in Newgate, on the 16th of May, he +addressed to them one of his most exciting letters, of which the +following are the concluding passages:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"For me, I abide my fate joyfully; for I know that, whatever betide + me, my work is nearly done. Yes; Moral Force and 'Patience and + Perseverance' are scattered to the wild winds of heaven. The music my + countrymen now love best to hear is the rattle of arms and the ring + of the rifle. As I sit here and write in my lonely cell, I hear, just + dying away, the measured tramp of ten thousand marching men—my + gallant confederates, unarmed and silent, but with hearts like bended + bow, waiting till <i>the time</i> comes. They have marched past my prison + windows, to let me know there are ten thousand fighting men in + Dublin—'felons' in heart and soul.</p> + +<p> "I thank God for it. The game is afoot at last. The liberty of + Ireland may come sooner or later, by peaceful negotiation or bloody + conflict—but it is <i>sure</i>; and wherever between the poles I may + chance to be, I will hear the crash of the downfall of the + thrice-accursed British Empire."</p></div> + +<p>On Monday, May 22nd, 1848, the trial of Mr. Mitchel commenced in the +Commission Court, Green-street, before Baron Lefroy. He was eloquently +defended by the veteran lawyer and uncompromising patriot, Robert +Holmes, the brother-in-law of Robert Emmet. The mere law of the case was +strong against the prisoner, but Mr. Holmes endeavoured to raise the +minds of the jury to the moral view of the case, upon which English +juries have often acted regardless of the letter of the Act of +Parliament. With a jury of Irishmen impartially chosen it would have +been a good defence, but the Castle had made sure of their men in this +case. At five o'clock on the evening of the 26th, the case went to the +jury, who, after an absence of two hours, returned into court with a +verdict of "Guilty."</p> + +<p>That verdict was a surprise to no one. On the day the jury was +empanelled, the prisoner and every one else knew what it was to be. It +was now his turn to have a word to say for himself, and he spoke, as was +his wont, in plain terms, answering thus the question that had been put +to him:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I have to say that I have been found guilty by a packed jury—by the + jury of a partizan sheriff—by a jury not empanelled even according + to the law of England. I have been found guilty by a packed jury + obtained by a juggle—a jury not empanelled by a sheriff but by a + juggler."</p></div> + +<p>This was touching the high sheriff on a tender place, and he immediately +called out for the protection of the court. Whereupon Baron Lefroy +interposed, and did gravely and deliberately, as is the manner of +judges, declare that the imputation which had just been made on the +character of that excellent official, the high sheriff, was most +"unwarranted and unfounded." He adduced, however, no reason in support +of that declaration—not a shadow of proof that the conduct of the +aforesaid official was fair or honest—but proceeded to say that the +jury had found the prisoner guilty on evidence supplied by his own +writings, some of which his lordship, with a proper expression of horror +on his countenance, proceeded to read from his notes. In one of the +prisoner's publications, he said, there appeared the following passage +"There is now growing on the soil of Ireland a wealth of grain, and +roots, and cattle, far more than enough to sustain in life and comfort +all the inhabitants of the island. That wealth must not leave us another +year, not until every grain of it is fought for in every stage, from the +tying of the sheaf to the loading of the ship; and the effort necessary +to that simple act of self-preservation will at one and the same blow +prostrate British dominion and landlordism together." In reference to +this piece of writing, and many others of a similar nature, his lordship +remarked that no effort had been made to show that the prisoner was not +responsible for them; it was only contended that they involved no moral +guilt. But the law was to be vindicated; and it now became his duty to +pronounce the sentence of the court, which was—that the prisoner be +transported beyond the seas for a term of fourteen years. The severity +of the sentence occasioned general surprise; a general suspiration and +low murmur were heard through the court. Then there was stillness as of +death, in the midst of which the tones of John Mitchel's voice rang out +clearly, as he said:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"The law has now done its part, and the Queen of England, her crown + and government in Ireland are now secure, pursuant to act of + parliament. I have done my part also. Three months ago I promised + Lord Clarendon, and his government in this country, that I would + provoke him into his courts of justice, as places of this kind are + called, and that I would force him publicly and notoriously to pack a + jury against me to convict me, or else that I would walk a free man + out of this court, and provoke him to a contest in another field. My + lord, I knew I was setting my life on that cast, but I knew that in + either event the victory should be with me, and it is with me. + Neither the jury, nor the judges, nor any other man in this court + presumes to imagine that it is a criminal who stands in this dock."</p></div> + +<p>Here there were murmurs of applause, which caused the criers to call out +for "Silence!" and the police to look fiercely on the people around +them. Mr. Mitchel resumed:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I have shown what the law is made of in Ireland. I have shown that + her Majesty's government sustains itself in Ireland by packed juries, + by partizan judges, by perjured sheriffs."</p></div> + +<p>Baron Lefroy interposed. The court could not sit there to hear the +prisoner arraign the jurors, the sheriffs, the courts, and the tenure by +which Englands holds this country. Again the prisoner spoke:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I have acted all through this business, from the first, under a + strong sense of duty. I do not repent anything that I have done, and + I believe that the course which I have opened is only commenced. The + Roman who saw his hand burning to ashes before the tyrant, promised + that three hundred should follow out his enterprise. Can I not + promise for one, for two, for three, aye for hundreds?"</p></div> + +<p>As he uttered these words, Mr. Mitchel looked proudly into the faces of +the friends near him, and around the court. His words and his glance +were immediately responded to by an outburst of passionate voices from +all parts of the building, exclaiming—"For me! for me! promise for me, +Mitchel! and for me!" And then came a clapping of hands and a stamping +of feet, that sounded loud and sharp as a discharge of musketry, +followed by a shout like a peal of thunder. John Martin, Thomas Francis +Meagher, and Devin Reilly, with other gentlemen who stood close by the +dock, reached over it to grasp the hand of the new made felon. The +aspect of affairs looked alarming for a moment. The policemen laid +violent hands on the persons near them and pulled them about. Mr. +Meagher and Mr. Doheny were taken into custody. Baron Lefroy, in a high +state of excitement, cried out—"Officer! remove Mr. Mitchel!" and then, +with his brother judges, retired hurriedly from the bench. The turnkeys +who stood in the dock with Mr. Mitchel motioned to him that he was to +move; he took a step or two down the little stairs under the flooring of +the court-house, and his friends saw him no more.</p> + +<p>He was led through the passages that communicated with the adjoining +prison, and ushered into a dark and narrow cell, in which, however, his +detention was of but a few hours' duration: At four o'clock in the +evening of that day—May 27th, 1848—the prison van, escorted by a large +force of mounted police and dragoons, with drawn sabres, drove up to the +prison gate. It was opened, and forth walked John Mitchel—<i>in fetters</i>. +A heavy chain was attached to his right leg by a shackle at the ankle; +the other end was to have been attached to the left leg, but as the +jailors had not time to effect the connexion when the order came for the +removal of the prisoner, they bade him take it in his hand, and it was +in this plight, with a festoon of iron from his hand to his foot, he +passed from the prison into the street—repeating mayhap to his own +heart, the words uttered by Wolfe Tone in circumstances not +dissimilar:—"For the cause which I have embraced, I feel prouder to +wear these chains, than if I were decorated with the star and garter of +England." Four or five police inspectors assisted him to step into the +van, the door was closed after him, the word was given to the escort, +and off went the cavalcade at a thundering pace to the North-wall, where +a government steamer, the "Shearwater," was lying with her steam up in +readiness to receive him. He clambered the side-ladder of the steamer +with some assistance; on reaching the deck, the chains tripped him and +he fell forward. Scarcely was he on his feet again, when the paddles of +the steamer were beating; the water, and the vessel was moving from the +shores of that "Isle of Destiny," which he loved so well, and a sight of +which has never since gladdened the eyes of John Mitchel.</p> + +<p>The history of Mr. Mitchel's subsequent career, which has been an +eventful one, does not rightly fall within the scope of this work. +Suffice it to say that on June the 1st, 1848, he was placed on board the +"Scourge" man-of-war, which then sailed off for Bermuda. There Mr. +Mitchel was retained on board a penal ship, or "hulk," until April 22nd, +1849, when he was transferred to the ship "Neptune," on her way from +England to the Cape of Good Hope, whither she was taking a batch of +British convicts. Those convicts the colonists at the Cape refused to +receive into their country, and a long struggle ensued between them and +the commander of the "Neptune," who wished to deposit his cargo +according to instructions. The colonists were willing to make an +exception in the case of Mr. Mitchel, but the naval officer could not +think of making any compromise in the matter. The end of the contest was +that the vessel, with her cargo of convicts on board, sailed on February +19th, 1850, for Van Dieman's Land, where she arrived on April 7th of the +same year. In consideration of the hardships they had undergone by +reason of their detention at the Cape, the government granted a +conditional pardon to all the criminal convicts on their arrival at +Hobart Town. It set them free on the condition that they should not +return to the "United Kingdom." Mr. Mitchel and the other political +convicts were less mercifully treated. It was not until the year 1854 +that a similar amount of freedom was given to these gentlemen. Some +months previous to the arrival of Mr. Mitchel at Hobart Town, his +friends William Smith O'Brien, John Martin, Thomas F. Meagher, Kevin +Izod O'Doherty, Terence Bellew MacManus, and Patrick O'Donoghue, had +reached the same place, there to serve out the various terms of +transportation to which they had been sentenced. All except Mr. O'Brien, +who had refused to enter into these arrangements, were at that time on +parole—living, however, in separate and limited districts, and no two +of them nearer than thirty or forty miles. On his landing from the +"Neptune," Mr. Mitchel, in consideration of the delicate state of his +health, was allowed to reside with Mr. Martin in the Bothwell district.</p> + +<p>In the summer of the year 1853, a number of Irish gentlemen in America, +took measures to effect the release of one or more of the Irish patriots +from Van Dieman's Land, and Mr. P.J. Smyth sailed from New York on that +patriotic mission. Arrived in Van Dieman's Land, the authorities, who +seemed to have suspition of his business, placed him under arrest, from +which he was released after three days' detention. The friends soon +managed to meet and come to an understanding as to their plan of future +operations, in conformity with which, Mr. Mitchel penned the following +letter to the governor of the island:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"Bothwell, 8th June, 1853.</p> + +<p> "SIR—I hereby resign the 'comparative liberty,' called + 'ticket-of-leave,' and revoke my parole of honour. I shall forthwith + present myself before the police magistrate of Bothwell, at his + police office, show him this letter, and offer myself to be taken + into custody. I am, sir, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p> "JOHN MITCHEL."</p></div> + +<p>On the next day, June the 9th, Mr. Mitchel and Mr. Smyth went to the +police office, saw the magistrate with his attending constables; handed +him the letter, waited until he had read its contents, addressed to him +a verbal statement to the same effect, and while he appeared to be +paralyzed with astonishment, and uncertain what to do, touched their +hats to him and left the office. Chase after them was vain, as they had +mounted a pair of fleet steeds after leaving the presence of his +worship; but it was not until six weeks afterwards that they were able +to get shipping and leave the island. On the 12th of October, 1853, Mr. +Mitchel was landed safe in California—to the intense delight of his +countrymen throughout the American States, who celebrated the event by +many joyful banquets.</p> + +<p>Since then, Mr. Mitchel has occupied himself mainly with the press. He +started the <i>Citizen</i> in New York, and subsequently, at Knoxville, +Tennessee, the <i>Southern Citizen</i>. As editor of the <i>Richmond Examiner</i> +during the American civil war, he ably supported the Southern cause, to +which he gave a still stronger pledge of his attachment in the services +and the lives of two of his brave sons. One of these gentlemen, Mr. +William Mitchel, was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; the other, +Captain John Mitchel, who had been placed in command of the important +position of Fort Sumter, was shot on the parapet of that work, on July +19th, 1864. Shortly after the close of the war, Mr. John Mitchel was +taken prisoner by the Federal government; but after undergoing an +imprisonment of some months his release was ordered by President +Johnson, acting on the solicitation of a large and influential +deputation of Irishmen. In the latter part of the year 1867, turning to +the press again, he started the <i>Irish Citizen</i> at New York, and in that +journal, at the date of this writing, he continues to wield his +trenchant pen on behalf of the Irish cause. To that cause, through all +the lapse of time, and change of scene, and vicissitude of fortune which +he has known, his heart has remained for ever true. He has suffered much +for it; that he may live to see it triumphant is a prayer which finds an +echo in the hearts of all his fellow-countrymen.</p> + +<p>We have written of Mr. Mitchel only in reference to his political +career; but we can, without trenching in any degree on the domain of +private life, supply some additional and authentic details which will be +of interest to Irish readers. The distinguished subject of our memoir +was born at Camnish, near Dungiven, in the county of Derry, on the 3rd +of November, 1815. His father was the Rev. John Mitchel, at that time +Presbyterian Minister of Dungiven, and a good patriot, too, having +been—as we learn from a statement casually made by Mr. Mitchel in +Conciliation Hall—one of the United Irishmen of 1798. The maiden name +of his mother, who also came of a Presbyterian and county Derry family, +was Mary Haslitt. At Newry, whither the Rev. Mr. Mitchel removed in the +year 1823, and where he continued to reside till his death in 1843, +young John Mitchel was sent to the school of Dr. David Henderson, from +which he entered Trinity College, Dublin, about the year 1830 or 1831. +He did not reside within the college, but kept his terms by coming up +from the country to attend the quarterly examinations. Though he did not +distinguish himself in his college course, and had paid no more +attention to the books prescribed for his studies than seemed necessary +for passing his examinations respectably, John Mitchel was known to his +intimate friends to be a fine scholar and possessed of rare ability. +While still a college student, he was bound apprentice to a solicitor in +Newry. Before the completion of his apprenticeship, in the year 1835, he +married Jane Verner, a young lady of remarkable beauty, and only sixteen +years of age at the time, a daughter of Captain James Verner. Not long +after his marriage he entered into partnership in his profession, and in +conformity with the arrangements agreed upon, went to reside at +Banbridge, a town ten miles north of Newry, where he continued to +practice as a solicitor until the death of Thomas Davis in 1845. He had +been an occasional contributor to the <i>Nation</i> almost from the date of +its foundation; its editors recognised at once his splendid literary +powers, and when the "Library of Ireland" was projected, pressed him to +write one of the volumes, suggesting as his subject the Life of Hugh +O'Neill. How ably he fulfilled the task is known to his countrymen, who +rightly regard the volume as one of the most valuable of the whole +series. When death removed the amiable and gifted Thomas Davis from the +scene of his labours, Mr. Duffy invited John Mitchel, as the man most +worthy of all in Ireland, to take his place. Mr. Mitchel regarded the +invitation as the call of his country. He gave up his professional +business in Banbridge, removed with his wife and family to Dublin, and +there throwing himself heart and soul into the cause, fought it out +boldly and impetuously until the day when, bound in British chains, "the +enemy" bore him off from Ireland.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='JOHN_MARTIN'></a>JOHN MARTIN.</h2> + +<p>When the law had consummated its crime, and the doom of the felon was +pronounced against John Mitchel, there stood in the group that pressed +round him in the dock and echoed back the assurances which he flung as a +last defiance at his foes, a thoughtful, delicate looking, but resolute +young Irishman, whose voice perhaps was not the loudest of those that +spoke there, but whose heart throbbed responsively to his words, and for +whom the final message of the unconquerable rebel possessed a meaning +and significance that gave it the force of a special revelation. +"Promise for me, Mitchel," they cried out, but he had no need to join in +that request; he had no need to intimate to Mr. Mitchel his willingness +to follow out the enterprise which that fearless patriot had so boldly +commenced. On the previous day, sitting with the prisoner in his gloomy +cell, John Martin of Loughorne had decided on the course which he would +take in the event of the suppression of the <i>United Irishman</i> and the +transportation of its editor. He would start a successor to that +journal, and take the place of his dear friend at the post of danger. It +was a noble resolve, deliberately taken, and resolutely and faithfully +was it carried out. None can read the history of that act of daring, and +of the life of sacrifice by which it has been followed, and not agree +with us that while the memories of Tone, of Emmet, and of Russell, are +cherished in Ireland, the name of John Martin ought not be forgotten.</p> + +<p>A few days subsequent to that memorable scene in Greenstreet +court-house, John Martin quitted his comfortable home and the green +slopes of Loughorne, separated himself from the friends he loved and +the relatives who idolized him, and entered on the stormy career of a +national leader and journalist, at a time when to advocate the +principles of nationality was to incur the ferocious hostility of a +government whose thirst for vengeance was only whetted by the +transportation of John Mitchel. He knew the danger he was braving; he +knew that the path on which he entered led down to suffering and ruin; +he stood in the gap from which Mitchel had been hurled, with a full +consciousness of the perils of the situation; but unflinchingly and +unhesitatingly as the martyr goes to his death, he threw himself into +the thinning ranks of the patriot leaders; and when the event that he +anticipated arrived, and the prison gates opened to receive him—then, +too, in the midst of indignities and privations—he displayed an +imperturbable firmness and contempt for physical suffering, that showed +how powerless persecution is to subdue the spirit that self-conscious +righteousness sustains.</p> + +<p>His history previous to the conviction of his friend and school-fellow, +John Mitchel, if it includes no events of public importance, possesses +for us all the interest that attaches to the early life of a good and +remarkable man. John Martin was born at Loughorne, in the lordship of +Newry, Co. Down, on the 8th of September, 1812; being the eldest son of +Samuel Martin and Jane Harshaw, both natives of that neighbourhood, and +members of Presbyterian families settled there for many generations. +About the time of his birth, his father purchased the fee-simple of the +large farm which he had previously rented, and two of his uncles having +made similar investments, the family became proprietors of the townland +on which they lived. Mr. Samuel Martin, who died in 1831, divided his +attention between the management of the linen business—a branch of +industry in which the family had partly occupied themselves for some +generations—and the care of his land. His family consisted of nine +children, of whom John Martin—the subject of our sketch—was the second +born. The principles of his family, if they could not be said to possess +the hue of nationality, were at least liberal and tolerant. In '98, the +Martins of Loughorne, were stern opponents of the United Irishmen; but +in '82, his father and uncles were enrolled amongst the volunteers, and +the Act of Union was opposed by them as a national calamity. It was from +his good mother, however, a lady of refined taste and remarkable mental +culture, that young John derived his inclination for literary pursuits, +and learned the maxims of justice and equality that swayed him through +life. He speedily discarded the prejudices against Catholic +Emancipation, which were not altogether unknown amongst his family, and +which even found some favour with himself in the unreflecting days of +boyhood. The natural tendency of his mind, however, was as true to the +principles of justice as the needle to the pole, and the quiet rebuke +that one day fell from his uncle—"What! John, would you not give your +Catholic fellow-countrymen the same rights that you enjoy yourself?" +having set him a thinking for the first time on the subject, he soon +formed opinions more in consonance with liberality and fair play.</p> + +<p>When about twelve years of age, young Martin was sent to the school of +Dr. Henderson at Newry, where he first became acquainted with John +Mitchel, then attending the same seminary as a day scholar. We next find +John Martin an extern student of Trinity College, and a year after the +death of his father he took out his degree in Arts. He was now twenty +years old, and up to this time had suffered much from a constitutional +affection, being subject from infancy to fits of spasmodic asthma. +Strange to say, the disease which troubled him at frequently recurring +intervals at home, seldom attacked him when away from Loughorne, and +partly for the purpose of escaping it, he took up his residence in +Dublin in 1833, and devoted himself to the study of medicine. He never +meditated earning his living by the profession, but he longed for the +opportunity of assuaging the sufferings of the afflicted poor. The air +of the dissecting-room, however, was too much for Martin's delicate +nervous organization; the kindly encouragement of his fellow-students +failed to induce him to breathe its fetid atmosphere a second time, and +he was forced to content himself with a theoretical knowledge of the +profession. By diligent study and with the assistance of lectures, +anatomical plates, &c., he managed to conquer the difficulty; and he had +obtained nearly all the certificates necessary for taking out a medical +degree, when he was recalled in 1835 to Loughorne, by the death of his +uncle John, whose house and lands he inherited.</p> + +<p>During the four years following he lived at Loughorne, discharging the +duties of a resident country gentleman as they are seldom performed in +Ireland, and endearing himself to all classes, but particularly to the +poor, by his gentle disposition, purity of mind, and benevolence of +heart. In him the afflicted and the poverty-stricken ever found a +sympathising friend, and if none of the rewards which the ruling faction +were ready to shower on the Irishman of his position who looked to the +Castle for inspiration, fell to his share, he enjoyed a recompense more +precious in the prayers and the blessings of the poor. The steps of his +door were crowded with the patients who flocked to him for advice, and +for whom he prescribed gratuitously—not without some reluctance, +however, arising from distrust of his own abilities and an unwillingness +to interfere with the practice of the regular profession. But the +diffidence with which he regarded his own efforts was not shared by the +people of the district. Their faith in his professional skill was +unbounded, and perhaps the confidence which they felt in his power, +contributed in some measure to the success that attended his practice.</p> + +<p>In 1839 Mr. Martin sailed from Bristol to New York, and travelled thence +to the extreme west of Upper Canada to visit a relative who had settled +there. On that occasion he was absent from Ireland nearly twelve months, +and during his stay in America he made some tours in Canada and the +Northern States, visiting the Falls, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, +New York, Washington, Pittsburg, and Cleveland. In 1841 he made a brief +continental tour, and visited the chief points of attraction along the +Rhine. During this time Mr. Martin's political ideas became developed +and expanded, and though like Smith O'Brien, he at first withheld his +sympathies from the Repeal agitation, in a short time he became +impressed with the justice of the national demand for independence. His +retiring disposition kept him from appearing very prominently before the +public; but the value of his adhesion to the Repeal Association was felt +to be great by those who knew his uprightness, his disinterestedness, +and his ability.</p> + +<p>When the suicidal policy of O'Connell drove the Confederates from +Conciliation Hall, John Martin was not a silent spectator of the crisis, +and in consequence of the manly sentiments he expressed with reference +to the treatment to which the Young Ireland party had been subjected, he +ceased to be a member of the Association. There was another cause too +for his secession. A standing taunt in the mouth of the English press +was that O'Connell pocketed the peoples' money and took care to let +nobody know what he did with it. To put an end to this reproach Mr. +Martin asked that the accounts of the Association should be published. +"Publish the accounts!" shrieked the well-paid gang that marred the +influence and traded in the politics of O'Connell: "Monstrous!" and they +silenced the troublesome purist by suppressing his letters and expelling +him from the Association. In the ranks of the Confederates, however, +Martin found more congenial society; amongst them he found men as +earnest, as sincere, and as single-minded as himself, and by them the +full worth of his character was soon appreciated. He frequently attended +their meetings, and he it was who filled the chair during the prolonged +debates that ended with the temporary withdrawal of Mitchel from the +Confederation. When the <i>United Irishman</i> was started he became a +contributor to its columns, and he continued to write in its pages up to +the date of its suppression, and the conviction of its editor and +proprietor.</p> + +<p>There were many noble and excellent qualities which the friends of John +Martin knew him to possess. Rectitude of principle, abhorrence of +injustice and intolerance, deep love of country, the purity and +earnestness of a saint, allied with the kindliness and inoffensiveness +of childhood; amiability and disinterestedness, together with a perfect +abnegation of self, and total freedom from the vanity which affected a +few of his compatriots—these they gave him credit for, but they were +totally unprepared for the lion-like courage, the boldness, and the +promptitude displayed by him, when the government, by the conviction of +Mitchel, flung down the gauntlet to the people of Ireland. Hastily +settling up his worldly accounts in the North, he returned to Dublin to +stake his fortune and his life in the cause which he had promised to +serve. The <i>United Irishman</i> was gone, but Martin had undertaken that +its place in Irish Journalism should not be vacant; and a few weeks +after the office in Trinity-street was sacked he reoccupied the violated +and empty rooms, and issued there-from the first number of the <i>Irish +Felon</i>. There was no halting place in Irish Journalism then. The +<i>Nation</i> had already flung peace and conciliation and "balmy +forgiveness" to the winds, and advocated the creed of the sword. The +scandalous means used to procure a verdict of guilty against Mitchel +tore to tatters the last rag of the constitution in Ireland. It was idle +to dictate observance of the law which the government themselves were +engaged in violating, and the <i>Nation</i> was not the journal to brook the +tyranny of the authorities. With a spirit that cannot be too highly +praised, it called for the overthrow of the government that had sent +Mitchel in chains into banishment, and summoned the people of Ireland to +prepare to assert their rights by the only means now left them—the +bullet and the pike. And the eyes of men whose hearts were "weary +waiting for the fray," began to glisten as they read the burning words +of poetry and prose in which the <i>Nation</i> preached the gospel of +liberty. It was to take its side by that journal, and to rival it in the +boldness of its language and the spirit of its arguments, that the +<i>Irish Felon</i> was established; and it executed its mission well. "I do +not love political agitation for its own sake," exclaimed Martin, in +his opening address in the first number. "At best I regard it as a +necessary evil; and if I were not convinced that my countrymen are +determined on vindicating their rights, and that they really intend to +free themselves, I would at once withdraw from the struggle and leave my +native land for ever. I could not live in Ireland and derive my means of +life as a member of the Irish community, without feeling a citizen's +responsibilities in Irish public affairs. Those responsibilities involve +the guilt of national robbery and murder—of a system which arrays the +classes of our people against each other's prosperity and very lives, +like beasts of prey, or rather like famishing sailors on a wreck—of the +debasement and moral ruin of a people endowed by God with surpassing +resources for the attainment of human happiness and human dignity. I +cannot be loyal to a system of meanness, terror, and corruption, +although it usurp the title and assume the form of a 'government.' So +long as such a 'government' presumes to injure and insult me, and those +in whose prosperity I am involved, I must offer to it all the resistance +in my power. But if I despaired of successful resistance, I would +certainly remove myself from under such a 'government's' actual +authority; that I do not exile myself is a proof that I hope to witness +the overthrow, and assist in the overthrow, of the most abominable +tyranny the world now groans under—the British Imperial system. To gain +permission for the Irish people to care for their own lives, their own +happiness and dignity—to abolish the political conditions which compel +the classes of our people to hate and to murder each other, and which +compel the Irish people to hate the very name of the English—to end the +reign of fraud, perjury, corruption, and 'government' butchery, and to +make, law, order, and peace possible in Ireland, the <i>Irish Felon</i> takes +its place amongst the combatants in the holy war now waging in this +island against foreign tyranny. In conducting it my weapons shall +be—<i>the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me +God</i>!" Such "open and avowed treason" as this could not long continue +to be published. Before the third number the <i>Felon</i> saw the light, a +warrant for Mr. Martin's arrest was in the hands of the detectives, and +its fifth was its last. On Saturday, July 8th, Mr. Martin surrendered +himself into custody, having kept out of the way for a few days to +prevent his being tried, under the "gagging act," at the Commission +sitting when the warrant was issued, and which adjourned until +August—the time fixed for the insurrection—in the interim. On the same +day, Duffy, Williams, and O'Doherty were arrested. Martin was imprisoned +in Newgate, but he continued to write from within his cell for the +<i>Felon</i>, and its last number, published on July 22nd, contains a +spirited letter signed with his initials, which formed portion of the +indictment against him on his trial. In this letter, Martin calls on his +countrymen in impassioned words to "stand to their arms!" "Let them +menace you," he writes from his dungeon, "with the hulks or the gibbet +for daring to speak or write your love to Ireland. Let them threaten to +mow you down with grape shot, as they massacred your kindred with famine +and plague. Spurn their brutal 'Acts of Parliament'—trample upon their +lying proclamations—fear them not!"</p> + +<p>On Tuesday, August 15th, John Martin's trial commenced in Green-street +court-house, the indictment being for treason-felony. "Several of his +tenantry," writes the Special Correspondent of the London <i>Morning +Herald,</i> "came up to town to be present at his trial, and, as they +hoped, at his escape, for they could not bring themselves to believe +that a man so amiable, so gentle, and so pious, as they had long known +him, could be"—this is the Englishman's way of putting it—"an inciter +to bloodshed. It is really melancholy," added the writer, "to hear the +poor people of the neighbourhood of Loughorne speak of their benefactor. +He was ever ready to administer medicine and advice gratuitously to his +poor neighbours and all who sought his assistance; and according to the +reports I have received, he did an incalculable amount of good in his +way. As a landlord he was beloved by his tenantry for his kindness and +liberality, while from his suavity of manner and excellent qualities, he +was a great favourite with the gentry around him."</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock, p.m., on Thursday, August 17th, the jury came into +court with a verdict of guilty against the prisoner, recommending him to +mercy on the grounds that the letter on which he was convicted was +written from the prison, and penned under exciting circumstances. On the +following day, Mr. Martin was brought up to receive sentence, and +asked—after the usual form—whether he had anything to say against the +sentence being pronounced? The papers of the time state that he appeared +perfectly unmoved by the painful position in which he was placed—that +he looked round the courthouse in a calm, composed, dignified manner, +and then spoke the following reply in clear unfaltering tones:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords—I have no imputation to cast upon the bench, neither have + I anything to charge the jury with, of unfairness towards me. I think + the judges desired to do their duty honestly as upright judges and + men; and that the twelve men who were put into the box, as I believe, + not to try, but to convict me, voted honestly, according to their + prejudices. I have no personal enmity against the sheriff, + sub-sheriff, or any of the gentlemen connected with the arrangement + of the jury-panel—nor against the Attorney-General, nor any other + person engaged in the proceedings called my trial; <i>but, my lords, I + consider that I have not been yet tried</i>. There have been certain + formalities carried on here for three days regarding me, ending in a + verdict of guilty: <i>but I have not been put upon my country</i>, as the + constitution said to exist in Ireland requires. Twelve of my + countrymen, 'indifferently chosen,' have not been put into that + jury-box to try me, but twelve men who, I believe, have been selected + by the parties who represent the crown, for the purpose of convicting + and not of trying me. I believe they were put into that box because + the parties conducting the prosecution knew their political + sentiments were hostile to mine, and because the matter at issue here + is a political question—a matter of opinion, and not a matter of + fact. I have nothing more to say as to the trial, except to repeat + that, having watched the conduct of the judges, I consider them + upright and honest men. I have this to add, that as to the charge I + make with respect to the constitution of the panel and the selection + of the jury, I have no legal evidence of the truth of my statement, + but there is no one who has a moral doubt of it. Every person knows + that what I have stated is the fact; and I would represent to the + judges, most respectfully, that they, as upright and honourable men + and judges, and as citizens, ought to see that the administration of + justice in this country is above suspicion. I have nothing more to + say with regard to the trial; but I would be thankful to the court + for permission to say a few words in vindication of my character and + motives after sentence is passed."</p> + +<p> Baron Pennefather—"No; we will not hear anything from you after + sentence."</p> + +<p> Chief Baron—"We cannot hear anything from you after sentence has + been pronounced."</p> + +<p> Mr. Martin—"Then, my lords, permit me to say that, admitting the + narrow and confined constitutional doctrines which I have heard + preached in this court to be right, <i>I am not guilty of the charge + according to this act</i>. I did not intend to devise or levy war + against the Queen or to depose the Queen. In the article of mine on + which the jury framed their verdict of guilty, which was written in + prison, and published in the last number of my paper, what I desired + to do was this—to advise and encourage my countrymen to keep their + arms, because that is their inalienable right, which no act of + parliament, no proclamation, can take away from them. It is, I + repeat, their inalienable right. I advised them to keep their arms; + and further, I advised them to use their arms in their own defence, + against all assailants—even assailants that might come to attack + them, unconstitutionally and improperly using the Queen's name as + their sanction. My object in all my proceedings has been simply to + assist in establishing the national independence of Ireland, for the + benefit of all the people of Ireland—noblemen, clergymen, judges, + professional men—in fact, all Irishmen. I have sought that object: + first, because I thought it was our right—because I think national + independence is the right of the people of this country; and + secondly, I admit that, being a man who loved retirement, I never + would have engaged in politics did I not think it was necessary to do + all in my power to make an end of the horrible scenes that this + country presents—the pauperism, starvation, and crime, and vice, and + hatred of all classes against each other. I thought there should be + an end to that horrible system, which, while it lasted, gave me no + peace of mind; for I could not enjoy anything in my native country so + long as I saw my countrymen forced to be vicious—forced to hate each + other—and degraded to the level of paupers and brutes. That is the + reason I engaged in politics. I acknowledge, as the Solicitor-General + has said, that I was but a weak assailant of the English power. I am + not a good writer, and I am no orator. I had only two weeks' + experience in conducting a newspaper until I was put into jail; but I + am satisfied to direct the attention of my countrymen to everything I + have written and said, and to rest my character on a fair and candid + examination of what I have put forward as my opinions. I shall say + nothing in vindication of my motives but this—that every fair and + honest man, no matter how prejudiced he may be, if he calmly + considers what I have written and said, will be satisfied that my + motives were pure and honourable. I have nothing more to say."</p></div> + +<p>Then the judge proceeded to pass sentence. In the course of his remarks +he referred to the recommendation to mercy which came from the jury, +whereupon Mr. Martin broke in. "I beg your lordship's pardon," he said, +"I cannot condescend to accept 'mercy,' where I believe I have been +morally right; I want justice—not mercy." But he looked for it in vain.</p> + +<p>"Transportation for ten years beyond the seas" is spoken by the lips of +the judge, and the burlesque of justice is at an end. Mr. Martin heard +the sentence with perfect composure and self-possession, though the +faces of his brothers and friends standing by, showe signs of the +deepest emotion. "Remove the prisoner," were the next words uttered, and +then John Martin, the pure-minded, the high-souled, and the good, was +borne off to the convict's cell in Newgate.</p> + +<p>Amongst the friends who clustered round the dock in which the patriot +leader stood, and watched the progress of his trial with beating hearts, +was Mr. James Martin, one of the prisoner's brothers. During the three +long weary days occupied by the trial, his post had been by his +brother's side listening to the proceedings with the anxiety and +solicitude which a brother alone can feel, and revealing by every line +of his countenance the absorbing interest with which he regarded the +issue. The verdict of the jury fell upon him with the bewildering shock +of an avalanche. He was stunned, stupified, amazed; he could hardly +believe that he had heard the fatal words aright, and that "guilty" had +been the verdict returned. <i>He</i> guilty! he whose life was studded by +good deeds as stars stud the wintry sky; <i>he</i> guilty, whose kindly heart +had always a throb for the suffering and the unfortunate, whose hand was +ever extended to shield the oppressed, to succour the friendless, and to +shelter the homeless and the needy; <i>he</i> "inspired by the devil," whose +career had been devoted to an attempt to redress the sufferings of his +fellow-countrymen, and whose sole object in life seemed to be to +abridge the sufferings of the Irish people, to plant the doctrines of +peace and good-will in every heart, and to make Ireland the home of +harmony and concord, by rendering her prosperous and free. It was a lie, +a calumny, a brutal fabrication! It was more than his sense of justice +could endure, it was more than his hot Northern blood could tolerate. +Beckoning a friend, he rushed with him into the street, and drove direct +to the residence of Mr. Waterhouse, the foreman of the jury. The latter +had barely returned from court, when he was waited upon by Mr. Martin, +who indignantly charged him with having bullied the jury into recording +a verdict of guilty—an accusation which current report made against +him—and challenged the astonished juryman to mortal combat. Mr. +Waterhouse was horror-struck by the proposal, to which he gasped out in +response, a threat to call in the police. He never heard of anything so +terribly audacious. He, a loyal Castle tradesman, who had "well and +truly" tried the case according to the recognised acceptance of the +words, and who had "true deliverance made" after the fashion in favour +with the crown; he whose "perspicuity, wisdom, impartiality," &c., had +been appealed to and belauded so often by the Attorney-General, to be +challenged to a hostile meeting, which might end, by leaving a bullet +lodged in his invaluable body. The bare idea of it fairly took his +breath away, and with the terrible vision of pistols and bloodshed +before his mind, he rushed to the police office and had his indignant +visitor arrested. On entering the Green-street courthouse next day, Mr. +Waterhouse told his woeful story to the judge. The judge was appalled by +the disclosure; Mr. Martin was brought before him and sentenced to a +month's imprisonment, besides being bound over to keep the peace towards +Mr. Waterhouse and everyone else for a period of seven years.</p> + +<p>A short time after Mr. John Martin's conviction, he and Kevin Izod +O'Doherty were shipped off to Van Diemen's Land on board the +"Elphinstone," where they arrived in the month of November, 1849. +O'Brien, Meagher, MacManus, and O'Donoghue had arrived at the same +destination a few days before. Mr. Martin resided in the district +assigned to him until the year 1854, when a pardon, on the condition of +their not returning to Ireland or Great Britain was granted to himself, +O'Brien, and O'Doherty, the only political prisoners in the country at +that time—MacManus, Meagher, O'Donoghue, and Mitchel having previously +escaped. Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Martin sailed together in the "Norna" from +Melbourne for Ceylon, at which port they parted, Mr. O'Brien turning +northward to Madras, while Mr. Martin came on <i>via</i> Aden, Cairo, +Alexandria, Malta, and Marseilles to Paris, where he arrived about the +end of October, 1854. In June, 1856, the government made the pardon of +Messrs. Martin, O'Brien, and O'Doherty, unconditional, and Mr. Martin +then hastened to pay a visit to his family from whom he had been +separated during eight years. After a stay of a few months he went back +to Paris, intending to reside abroad during the remainder of his life, +because he could not voluntarily live under English rule in Ireland. But +the death of a near and dear member of his family, in October, 1858, +imposed on him duties which he could only discharge by residence in his +own home, and compelled him to terminate his exile. Living since then in +his own land he has taken care to renew and continue his protest against +the domination of England in Ireland. In January, 1864, acting on the +suggestion of many well-known nationalists, he established in Dublin a +Repeal Association called "The National League." The peculiar condition +of Irish politics at the time was unfavourable to any large extension of +the society; but notwithstanding this circumstance the League by its +meetings and its publications rendered good service to the cause of +Irish freedom. Mr. Martin has seen many who once were loud and earnest +in their professions of patriotism lose heart and grow cold in the +service of their country, but he does not weary of the good work. +Patiently and zealously he still continues to labour in the national +cause; his mission is not ended yet; and with a constancy which lapse of +years and change of scene have not affected, he still clings to the +hope of Ireland's regeneration, and with voice and pen supports the +principles of patriotism for which he suffered. The debt that Ireland +owes to him will not easily be acquitted, and if the bulk of his +co-religionists are no longer to be found within the national camp, we +can almost forgive them their shortcomings, when we remember that, +within our own generation, the Presbyterians of Ulster have given to +Ireland two such men as John Martin and John Mitchel.</p> + +<p>Mr. Martin's name will re-appear farther on in another portion of this +work, for the occasion of which we have here treated was not the only +one on which his patriotic words and actions brought upon him the +attention of "the authorities," and subjected him to the troubles of a +state prosecution. </p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='WS_OBRIEN'></a>W.S. O'BRIEN.</h2> + +<p>Loudly across the dark flowing tide of the Liffey, rolled the cheers of +welcome and rejoicing that burst from Conciliation Hall on that +memorable day in January, '44, when William Smith O'Brien first stood +beneath its roof, and presided over a meeting of Repealers. Many a time +had the walls of that historic building given back the cheers of the +thousands who gathered there to revel in the promises of the Liberator; +many a time had they vibrated to the enthusiasm of the Irishmen who met +there to celebrate the progress of the movement which was to give +freedom and prosperity to Ireland; but not even in those days of monster +meetings and popular demonstrations had a warmer glow of satisfaction +flushed the face of O'Connell, than when the descendant of the Munster +Kings took his place amongst the Dublin Repealers. "I find it +impossible," exclaimed the great Tribune, "to give adequate expression +to the delight with which I hail Mr. O'Brien's presence in the +Association. He now occupies his natural position—the position which +centuries ago was occupied by his ancestor, Brian Boru. Whatever may +become of <i>me</i>, it is a consolation to remember that Ireland will not be +without a friend such as William Smith O'Brien, who combining all the +modern endowments of a highly-cultured mind, with intellectual gifts of +the highest order, nervous eloquence, untiring energy, fervid love of +country, and every other high qualification of a popular leader, is now +where his friends would ever wish to see him—at the head of the Irish +people." Six weeks before, a banquet had been given in Limerick to +celebrate O'Brien's adhesion to the national cause, and on this +occasion, too, O'Connell bore generous testimony to the value and +importance of his accession. "His presence," said the Emancipator, in +proposing Mr. O'Brien's health, "cannot prevent me here from expressing +on behalf of the universal people of Ireland, their admiration and +delight at his conversion to their cause. Receive the benefactor of +Ireland, as such a benefactor should be received. It is certain that our +country will never be deserted as long as she has William Smith O'Brien +as one of her leaders."</p> + +<p>There was much to account for the tumult of rejoicing which hailed Smith +O'Brien's entry within the ranks of the popular party. His lineage, his +position, his influence, his stainless character, his abilities, and his +worth, combined to fit him for the place which O'Connell assigned him, +and to rally round him the affection and allegiance of the Irish people. +No monarch in the world could trace his descent from a longer line of +illustrious men; beside the roll of ancestry to which he could point, +the oldest of European dynasties were things of a day. When the towering +Pyramids that overlook the Nile were still new; before the Homeric +ballads had yet been chanted in the streets of an Eastern city; before +the foundations of the Parthenon were laid on the Acropolis; before the +wandering sons of Æneas found a home in the valley of the Tiber, the +chieftains of his house enjoyed the conqueror's fame, and his ancestors +swayed the sceptre of Erie. Nor was he unworthy of the name and the fame +of the O'Briens of Kincora. Clear sighted and discerning; deeply endowed +with calm sagacity and penetrating observance; pure minded, eloquent, +talented and chivalrous; he comprised within his nature the truest +elements of the patriot, the scholar, and the statesman. Unfaltering +attachment to the principles of justice, unswerving obedience to the +dictates of honour, unalterable loyalty to rectitude and duty; these +were the characteristics that distinguished him; and these were the +qualities that cast their redeeming light round his failings and his +errors, and wrung from the bitterest of his foes the tribute due to +suffering worth. If nobility of soul, if earnestness of heart and +singleness of purpose, if unflinching and self-sacrificing patriotism, +allied to zeal, courage, and ability, could have redeemed the Irish +cause, it would not be left to us to mourn for it to-day; and instead of +the melancholy story we have now to relate, it might he given to us to +chronicle the regeneration of the Irish nation.</p> + +<p>William Smith O'Brien was born, at Dromoland, County Clare, on the 17th +of October, 1803. He was the second son of Sir Edward O'Brien, and on +the death of his kinsman, the last Marquis of Thomond, his eldest +brother became Baron of Inchiquin. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity +College, Cambridge; but his English education, however much it might +have coloured his views during boyhood, did not seriously affect his +innate love of justice, or warp the patriotic feelings which were +developed in his earliest years. The associations into which he was +cast, the tone of the society in which he moved, the politics of his +family, and the modern traditions of his house, combined to throw him +into the ranks of the people's enemies; and that these influences were +not altogether barren of results is proved by the fact that O'Brien +entered Parliament in 1826 as an Anti-Repealer, and exerted himself to +prevent the return of O'Connell at the memorable election for Clare. But +O'Brien was no factious opponent of the national interests; even while +he acted thus, he had the welfare of his country sincerely at heart; he +steered according to his lights, and when time and experience showed the +falseness of his views, he did not hesitate to renounce them. To this +period of his political career Mr. O'Brien often adverted in after life, +with the frankness and candour that distinguished him. "When the +proposal to seek for a Repeal of the Act of Union was first seriously +entertained," said O'Brien, "I used all the influence I possessed to +discountenance the attempt. I did not consider that the circumstances +and prospects of Ireland then justified the agitation of this question. +Catholic Emancipation had been recently achieved, and I sincerely +believed that from that epoch a new course of policy would be adopted +towards Ireland. I persuaded myself that thenceforth the statesmen of +Great Britain would spare no effort to repair the evils produced by +centuries of misgovernment—that the Catholic and Protestant would be +admitted to share on equal terms in all the advantages resulting from +our constitutional form of government—that all traces of an ascendancy +of race or creed would be effaced—that the institutions of Ireland +would be gradually moulded so as to harmonise with the opinions of its +inhabitants, and that in regard of political rights, legislation for +both kingdoms would be based upon the principle of perfect equality."</p> + +<p>Fourteen years had elapsed from the date of Catholic Emancipation, when +O'Brien startled the aristocrats of Ireland by renouncing his allegiance +to their party, and throwing himself heart and soul into the vanguard of +the people. He told his reasons for the change in bold convincing words. +He had seen that his expectations of justice were false and delusive. +"The feelings of the Irish nation," he said, "have been exasperated by +every species of irritation and insult; every proposal tending to +develop the sources of our industry—to raise the character and improve +the condition of our population, has been discountenanced, distorted, or +rejected. Ireland, instead of taking its place as an integral portion of +the great empire, which the valour of her sons has contributed to win, +has been treated as a dependent tributary province; and at this moment, +after forty-three years of nominal union, the affections of the two +nations are so entirely alienated from each other, that England trusts +for the maintenance of their connection, not to the attachment of the +Irish people, but to the bayonets which menace our bosoms, and the +cannon which she has planted in all our strongholds."</p> + +<p>The prospects of the Repeal movement were not at their brightest when +O'Brien entered Conciliation Hall. In England, and in Ireland too, the +influence of O'Connell was on the wane, and with the dispersion of the +multitudes that flocked on that Sunday morning in October, 1843, to +listen to the Liberator on the plains of Clontarf, the peaceful policy +which he advocated received its death blow. Over O'Connell himself, and +some of the most outspoken of his associates, a State prosecution was +impending; and the arm of the government was already stretched out to +crush the agitation whose object they detested, and whose strength they +had begun to fear. The accession of O'Brien, however, the prestige of +his name, and the influence of his example, was expected to do much +towards reviving the drooping fortunes of the Association. Nor was the +anticipation illusory. From the day on which O'Brien became a Repealer, +down to the date of the secession, the strongest prop of the +Conciliation Hall was his presence and support; he failed indeed to +counteract the corrupt influences that gnawed at the vitals of the +Association and ultimately destroyed it; but while he remained within +its ranks, the redeeming influence of his genius, his patriotism, and +his worth, preserved it from the extinction towards which it was +hastening.</p> + +<p>At an early date the penetrating mind of O'Brien detected the existence +of the evil which was afterwards to transform Conciliation Hall into a +market for place hunters. "I apprehend," said he, in a remarkable speech +delivered in January, '46, "more danger to Repeal from the subtle +influence of a Whig administration, than from the coercive measures of +the Tories." And he was right. Day by day, the subtle influence which he +dreaded did its blighting work; and the success of those who sought the +destruction of the Repeal Association through the machinery of bribes +and places was already apparent, when on the 27th of July, 1846, +O'Brien, accompanied by Mitchel, Meagher, Duffy, and others arose in +sorrow and indignation, and quitted the Conciliation Hall for ever.</p> + +<p>Six months later the Irish Confederation held its first meeting in the +Round Room of the Rotundo. Meagher, Mitchel, Doheny, O'Brien, O'Gorman, +Martin, and McGee were amongst the speakers; and amidst the ringing +cheers of the densely thronged meeting, the establishment was decreed of +the Irish Confederation, for the purpose—as the resolution +declared—"of protecting our national interests, and obtaining the +Legislative Independence of Ireland by the force of opinion, by the +combination of all classes of Irishmen, and by the exercise of all the +political, social, and moral influence within our reach." It will be +seen that the means by which the Confederates proposed to gain their +object, did not differ materially from the programme of the Repeal +Association. But there was this distinction. Against place-hunting, and +everything savouring of trafficking with the government, the +Confederates resolutely set their faces; and in the next place, while +prescribing to themselves nothing but peaceful and legal means for the +accomplishment of their object, they scouted the ridiculous doctrine, +that "liberty was not worth the shedding of a single drop of blood," and +that circumstances might arise under which resort to the arbitration of +the sword would be righteous and justifiable. In time, however, the +Confederates took up a bolder and more dangerous position. As early as +May, 1846, Lord John Russell spoke of the men who wrote in the pages of +the <i>Nation</i>, and who subsequently became the leaders of the +Confederation, "as a party looking to disturbance as its means, and +having separation from England as its object." The description was false +at the time, but before two years had elapsed its application became +more accurate. A few men there were like Mitchel, who from the birth of +the Confederation, and perhaps before it, abandoned all expectation of +redress through the medium of Constitutional agitation; but it was not +until the flames of revolution had wrapped the nations of the Continent +in their fiery folds—until the barricades were up in every capital from +Madrid to Vienna—and until the students' song of freedom was mingled +with the paean of victory on many a field of death—that the hearts of +the Irish Confederates caught the flame, and that revolution, and +revolution alone, became the goal of their endeavours. When Mitchel +withdrew from the Confederation in March, 1848, the principles of +constitutional action were still in the ascendancy; when he rejoined it +a month later, the cry "to the registries," was superseded by fiery +appeals summoning the people to arms. In the first week of April, the +doctrine which John Mitchel had long been propounding, found expression +in the leading columns of the <i>Nation</i>:—"Ireland's necessity," said +Duffy, "demands the desperate remedy of revolution." A few weeks later, +the same declaration was made in the very citadel of the enemy's power. +It was O'Brien who spoke, and his audience was the British House of +Commons. With Messrs. Meagher and Hollywood, he had visited Paris to +present an address of congratulation on behalf of the Irish people to +the Republican government; and on taking his seat in the House of +Commons after his return, he found himself charged by the Ministers of +the Crown, with having gone to solicit armed intervention from France on +behalf of the disaffected people of Ireland. O'Brien replied in a speech +such as never was heard before or since within the walls of the House of +Commons. In the midst of indescribable excitement and consternation, he +proceeded to declare in calm deliberative accents—"that if he was to be +arraigned as a criminal, he would gladly endure the most ignominious +death that could be inflicted on him rather than witness the sufferings +and indignities he had seen inflicted by the British legislature on his +countrymen. If it is treason," he exclaimed, "to profess disloyalty to +this House and to the government of Ireland, by the parliament of Great +Britain—if that be treason, I avow it. Nay, more, I say it shall be the +study of my life to overthrow the dominion of this Parliament over +Ireland." The yells and shouts with which these announcements were +received shook the building in which he stood, and obliged him to remain +silent for several moments after the delivery of each sentence; but when +the uproar began to subside, the ringing tones of O'Brien rose again +upon the air, and with the stoicism of a martyr, and the imperturable +courage of a hero, he proceeded. "Irish Freedom," he said, "must be won +by Irish courage. Every statesman in the civilized globe looks upon +Ireland as you look upon Poland, and upon your connection as entirely +analogous to that of Russia with Poland. I am here to-night to tell you, +that if you refuse our claims to legislative independence, you will have +to encounter during the present year, the chance of a Republic in +Ireland."</p> + +<p>O'Brien returned to Ireland more endeared than ever to the hearts of +his countrymen. And now the game was fairly afoot. Government and people +viewed each other with steady and defiant glare, and girded up their +loins for the struggle. On the one side the Confederate clubs were +organized with earnestness and vigour, and the spirit of the people +awakened by a succession of stirring and glowing appeals. "What if we +fail?" asked the <i>Nation</i>; and it answered the question by declaring +unsuccessful resistance under the circumstances preferable to a +degrading submission. "What if we <i>don't</i> fail?" was its next inquiry, +and the answer was well calculated to arouse the patriots of Ireland to +action. On the other hand the authorities were not idle. Arm's Bills, +Coercion Acts, and prosecutions followed each other in quick succession. +Mitchel was arrested, convicted, and sent to Bermuda. Duffy, Martin, +Meagher, Doheny, O'Doherty, and M'Gee were arrested—all of whom, except +Duffy and Martin, were shortly afterwards liberated. Duffy's trial was +fixed for August, and this was the time appointed by the Confederates +for the outbreak of the insurrection. There were some who advocated a +more prompt mode of action. At a meeting of the Confederates held on +July 19th, after the greater portion of the country had been proclaimed, +it was warmly debated whether an immediate appeal to arms should not be +counselled. O'Brien and Dillon advocated delay; the harvest had not yet +been reaped in; the clubs were not sufficiently organized throughout the +country, and the people might easily conceal their arms until the hour +arrived for striking a decisive blow. Against this policy a few of the +more impetuous members protested. "You will wait," exclaimed Joe +Brennan, "until you get arms from heaven, and angels to pull the +triggers." But his advice was disregarded; and the meeting broke up with +the understanding that with the first glance of the harvest sun, the +fires of insurrection were to blaze upon the hill tops of Ireland, and +that meanwhile organization and preparation were to engross the +attention of the leaders. On Friday, July 21st, a war +directory—consisting of Dillon, Reilly, O'Gorman, Meagher, and Father +Kenyon was appointed; and on the following morning O'Gorman started for +Limerick, Doheny for Cashel, and O'Brien for Wexford, to prepare the +people for the outbreak.</p> + +<p>It was war to the knife, and every one knew it. The forces of the +government in Ireland were hourly increased in Dublin—every available +and commanding position was occupied and fortified. "In the Bank of +Ireland," says one who watched the progress of affairs with attentive +gaze, "soldiers as well as cashiers were ready to settle up accounts. +The young artists of the Royal Hibernian Academy and Royal Dublin +Society had to quit their easels to make way for the garrison. The +squares of old Trinity College resounded with the tramp of daily +reviews; the Custom House at last received some occupation by being +turned into a camp. The Linen Hall, the Rotundo, Holmes' Hotel, +Alborough House, Dycer's Stables, in Stephen's-green—every institution, +literary, artistic, and commercial, was confiscated to powder and +pipe-clay. The barracks were provisioned as if for a siege; cavalry +horses were shod with plates of steel, to prevent their being injured +and thrown into disorder by broken bottles, iron spikes, or the like; +and the infantry were occupied in familiarizing themselves with the art +of fusilading footpaths and thoroughfares. Arms were taken from the +people, and the houses of loyal families stocked with the implements of +war."</p> + +<p>But the national leaders had calculated on the preparations of the +government; they knew the full measure of its military power, and were +not afraid to face it; but there was one blow which they had not +foreseen, and which came on them with the shock of a thunderbolt. On the +very morning that O'Brien left for Wexford, the news reached Dublin that +a warrant had been issued for his arrest, and that the suspension of the +<i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act was resolved on by the government. "It appears +strangely unaccountable to me," was Meagher's reflection in after years, +"that whilst a consideration of our position, our project, and our +resources was taking place; whilst the stormy future on which we were +entering formed the subject of the most anxious conjecture, and the +danger of it fell like wintry shadows around us; it seems strangely +unaccountable to me that not an eye was turned to the facilities for the +counteraction of our designs which the government had at their disposal; +that not a word was uttered in anticipation of that bold astounding +measure—the suspension of the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act—the announcement of +which broke upon us so suddenly. The overlooking of it was a fatal +inadvertance. Owing to it we were routed without a struggle, and were +led into captivity without glory. We suffer not for a rebellion, but a +blunder."</p> + +<p>The few of the Confederate leaders at large in Dublin at the +time—Duffy, Martin, Williams, and O'Doherty were in Newgate—held a +hurried council, and their plans were speedily formed. They were to join +Smith O'Brien at once, and commence the insurrection in Kilkenny. On the +night of Saturday, July 22nd, M'Gee left for Scotland to prepare the +Irishmen of Glasgow for action; and Meagher, Dillon, Reilly, M'Manus, +O'Donoghue, and Leyne started southwards to place themselves in +communication with O'Brien. A week later the last of the national papers +was suppressed, and the <i>Nation</i> went down, sword in hand as a warrior +might fall, with the words of defiance upon its lips, and a prayer for +the good old cause floating upwards with its latest breath.</p> + +<p>O'Brien was in bed, when Meagher and Dillon arrived at Balinkeele where +he was stopping. The news of the suspension of the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act, +and of the plans formed by the Confederates were speedily communicated +to him. O'Brien manifested no surprise at the intelligence. He quietly +remarked that the time for action had arrived; and that every Irishman +was now justified in taking up arms against the government; dressed +himself, and set out without losing an hour to inaugurate his hazardous +enterprise at Enniscorthy. As the train drove along, the three friends +occupied themselves with the important question where should they begin +the outbreak. Wexford was mentioned, but the number of Confederates +enrolled there were few, and the people were totally unprepared for a +sudden appeal to arms; New Ross and Waterford were ruled against, +because of the effectual assistance the gunboats stationed in the river +could render the garrison of those towns. Against Kilkenny none of those +objections applied; and the more they discussed the subject the more +convinced did they become that the most fitting cradle for the infant +genius of Irish liberty was the ancient "city of the Confederates." +"Perfectly safe from all war steamers, gunboats, and floating batteries; +standing on the frontiers of the three best fighting counties in +Ireland—Waterford, Wexford, and Tipperary—the peasantry of which could +find no difficulty in pouring to its relief; possessing from three to +five thousand Confederates, most of whom were understood to be armed; +the most of the streets being narrow, and presenting on this account the +greatest facilities for the erection of barricades; the barracks lying +outside the town, and the line of communication between the powerful +portions of the latter and the former being intercepted by the old +bridge over the Nore, which might be easily defended, or, at the most, +very speedily demolished; no place," says Meagher, "appeared to us to be +better adapted for the first scene of the revolution."</p> + +<p>Towards Kilkenny they therefore took their way, haranguing the people in +soul-stirring addresses as they proceeded. At Enniscorthy and at +Graigue-na-mana their appeals were responded to with fervent enthusiasm; +they called on the people to form themselves into organized bodies, and +prepare to co-operate with the insurgents who were shortly to unfurl +their banner beneath the shadow of St. Canice's; and the crowds who hung +on their words vowed their determination to do so. But in Kilkenny, as +in every town they visited, the patriot leaders found the greatest +disinclination to take the initiative in the holy war. There as +elsewhere the people felt no unwillingness to fight; but they knew they +were ill prepared for such an emergency, and fancied the first blow +might be struck more effectively elsewhere. "Who will draw the first +blood?" asked Finton Lalor in the last number of the <i>Felon</i>; and the +question was a pertinent one; there was a decided reluctance to draw it. +It is far from our intention to cast the slightest reflection on the +spirit or courage of the nationalists of 1848. We know that it was no +selfish regard for their own safety made the leaders in Wexford, +Kilkenny, and elsewhere, shrink from counselling an immediate outbreak +in their localities; the people, as well as the men who led them, looked +forward to the rising of the harvest moon, and the cutting of their +crops, as the precursors of the herald that was to summon them to aims. +Their state of organization was lamentably deficient; anticipating a +month of quiet preparation, they had neglected to procure arms up to the +date of O'Brien's arrival, and a few weeks would at least be required to +complete their arrangements. In Kilkenny, for instance, not one in every +eight of the clubmen possessed a musket, and even their supply of pikes +was miserably small. But they were ready to do all that in them lay; and +when O'Brien, Dillon, and Meagher quitted Kilkenny on Monday, July 24th, +they went in pursuance of an arrangement which was to bring them back to +the city of the Nore before the lapse of a week. They were to drive into +Tipperary, visit Carrick, Clonmel, and Cashel, and summon the people of +those towns to arms. Then, after the lapse of a few days, they were to +return at the head of their followers to Kilkenny, call out the clubs, +barricade the streets, and from the Council Chambers of the Corporation +issue the first Revolutionary Edict to the country. They hoped that a +week later the signal fires of insurrection would be blazing from every +hill-top in Ireland; and that the sunlight of freedom, for which so many +generations of patriots had yearned, would soon flood glebe and town, +the heather-clad mountains, and pleasant vales of Innisfail. <i>Diis +aliter visum</i>; the vision that glittered before their longing eyes +melted away with the smoke of the first insurgent shot; and instead of +the laurel of the conqueror they were decked with the martyr's palm.</p> + +<p>On arriving in Callan the travellers were received with every +demonstration of sympathy and welcome. The streets were blocked with +masses of men that congregated to listen to their words. A large +procession, headed by the temperance band, escorted them through the +town, and a bonfire was lit in the centre of the main street. They told +the people to provide themselves at once with arms, as in a few days +they would be asked to march with the insurgent forces on Kilkenny—an +announcement that was received with deafening applause. After a few +hours' delay the three compatriots quitted Callan, and pursued their +road to Carrick-on-Suir, where they arrived on the some evening and +received a most enthusiastic reception. They addressed the excited +multitude in impassioned words, promised to lead them to battle before +many days, and called on them to practice patience and prudence in the +interval. On the following day they quitted Carrick, and took their way +to Mullinahone, where the people gathered in thousands to receive them. +The number of men who assembled to meet them was between three and four +thousand, of whom about three hundred were armed with guns, pistols, old +swords, and pitchforks. The gathering was reviewed and drilled by the +Confederates; and O'Brien, who wore a plaid scarf across his shoulders, +and carried a pistol in his breast pocket, told them that Ireland would +have a government of her own before many weeks.</p> + +<p>On the evening of Tuesday, July 25th, the Confederate leaders arrived in +Mullinahone, where they slept. On the following morning they addressed +the people, who flocked into the town on hearing of their arrival. And +here it was that O'Brien himself dealt the death blow of the movement. +The peasantry, who came from their distant homes to meet him, were left +the whole day long without food or shelter. O'Brien himself gave what +money he had to buy them bread; but he told them in future they should +provide for themselves, as he could allow no one's property to be +interfered with. Hungry and exhausted, the men who listened to him +returned at night to their homes; they were sensible enough to perceive +that insurrection within the lines laid down by their leaders was +impossible; the news that they were expected to fight on empty stomachs +was spread amongst the people, and from that day forward the number of +O'Brien's followers dwindled away.</p> + +<p>On July 26th, O'Brien and his party first visited the village of +Ballingarry, where he was joined by M'Manus, Doheny, Devin Reilly, and +other prominent members of the Confederation. They took a survey of the +village and its neighbourhood; addressed the crowd from the piers of the +chapel gate, and slept in the house of one of the village shopkeepers. +Next day they returned to Mullinahone and thence to Killenaule, where +they were received with every demonstration of welcome and rejoicing. +Bouquets fell in showers upon O'Brien; addresses were read, and the +fullest and warmest co-operation was freely promised by the excited +crowds that congregated in the streets.</p> + +<p>The exact position which the Confederates had now assumed towards the +Crown and government, is deserving of a moment's attention. Up to the +last they carefully distinguished between resisting the acts of the +government and disputing the sovereignty of the queen. They regarded the +suspension of the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act as unconstitutional in itself; and +when O'Brien told her Majesty's Ministers in the House of Commons, that +it was they who were the traitors to the country, the Queen, and the +Constitution, he did but express the opinions that underlay the whole +policy of the Confederation. Even the passing of the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> +Suspension Act was not quite sufficient to exhaust their patience; in +order to fill the measure of the government's transgressions and justify +a resort to arms against them, it was necessary in the opinion of +O'Brien and his associates, that the authorities should attempt to carry +into operation the iniquitious law they had passed; the arrest of +O'Brien was to be the signal for insurrection; meanwhile, they were +satisfied with organizing their forces for the fray, and preparing for +offering an effective resistance to the execution of the warrant, +whenever it should make its appearance. It was therefore that when at +Killenaule, a small party of dragoons rode up to the town they were +suffered to proceed unmolested; at the first notice of their coming, the +people rushed to the streets and hastily threw up a barricade to +intercept them. Dillon commanded at the barricade; beside him stood +Patrick O'Donoghue, and a young man whose career as a revolutionist, was +destined to extend far beyond the scenes in which he was then sharing; +and whose name was one day to become first a terror to the government of +England, and afterwards a by-word and a reproach amongst his countrymen. +O'Donoghue and Stephens were both armed, and when the officer commanding +the dragoons rode up to the barricade and demanded a passage, Stephens +promptly covered him with his rifle, when his attention was arrested by +a command from Dillon to ground his arms. The officer pledged his honour +that he did not come with the object of arresting O'Brien; the barricade +was taken down; and the dragoons passed scatheless through the town. +Another opportunity had been lost, and the hearts of the most resolute +of O'Brien's colleagues sunk lower than ever.</p> + +<p>On Friday, O'Brien and his followers returned to Ballingarry, where they +held a council on the prospects of the movement. It was clear that the +case was a desperate one, that the chance of successful resistance was +inevitably lost, and that nothing now awaited them—should they persist +in their enterprise—but ruin and death. Only a couple of hundred men, +wretchedly armed or not armed at all, adhered to their failing fortunes; +and throughout the rest of the country the disaffected gave no sign. But +O'Brien was unmovable; he would do his duty by his country, let the +country answer for its duty towards him.</p> + +<p>The collision came at last. On Saturday morning, July 29th, the +constabulary of Thurles, Kilkenny, Cashel, and Callan received orders to +march on the village of Ballingarry, for the purpose of arresting Smith +O'Brien. On the previous day the government had issued a proclamation, +declaring him guilty of treasonable practices, by appearing in arms +against the Queen, and offering a reward of £500 for his apprehension; +on the same day, £300 was offered for the arrest of Meagher, Dillon, +and Doheny. Fired with the ambition of capturing the rebel party with +his own forces, and winning for himself a deathless fame, Sub-Inspector +Trant marched out in hot haste from Callan, at the head of forty-six +policemen, and directed his steps towards Ballingarry, where it was +known to him that O'Brien was still stopping. Between twelve and one +o'clock they arrived at Farrenrory, within three miles of the village of +Ballingary. On arriving at this point the police found that effective +measures had been adopted to dispute their further progress. Across the +road before them a barricade had been thrown up, and behind it was +arrayed a body of men, numbering from three to four hundred. Fearing to +face the insurgent forces, the police turned off to the right, and +rushed towards a slate house which they saw in the distance. The people +saw the object of the movement, and at once gave chase; but the police +had the advantage of a long start, and they succeeded in reaching the +house and barring the door by which they entered, before their pursuers +came up.</p> + +<p>The die was cast, and the struggle so long watched for, and sighed for, +had come at last. But it came not as it had been depicted by the tribune +and poet; the vision that had flashed its radiancy before the eager eyes +that hungered for the redemption of Ireland, differed sadly from the +miserable reality. The serried ranks of glittering steel, the files of +gallant pikemen, the armed columns of stalwart peasants, pouring through +gap and river course, the glimmering camp fires quivering through the +mist, the waving banners, and the flashing swords—where were they now? +Where were the thousands of matchless mould, the men of strength and +spirit, whose footfalls woke the echoes one month before in a hundred +towns as they marched to the meetings at which they swore to strike down +the oppressor? Only a few months had passed since two thousand +determined men had passed in review before O'Brien at Cork; scarcely six +weeks since, similar sights were witnessed from the city of the Shannon +to the winding reaches of the Boyne. Everywhere there were strength, +and numbers, and resolution; where were they now in the supreme hour of +the country's agony? A thousand times it had been sworn by tens of +thousands of Irishmen, that the tocsin of battle would find them +clustered round the good old flag to conquer or die beneath its shadow. +And now, the hour had come, the flag of insurrection so often invoked +was raised; but the patriot that raised it was left defenceless: <i>he</i> at +least kept his word, but the promises on which he relied had broken like +dissolving ice beneath his feet.</p> + +<p>Around O'Brien there clustered on that miserable noontide, about four +hundred human beings—a weak, hungry, and emaciated looking throng for +the most part; their half naked forms, browned by the sun, and hardened +by the winter winds—a motley gathering; amongst whom there were scores +of fasting men, and hundreds through whose wretched dwellings the, wind +and rain found free ingress. They were poor, they were weak, they were +ignorant, they were unarmed! but there was one, thing at least which +they possessed—that quality which Heaven bestowed on the Irish race, to +gild and redeem their misfortunes. Of courage and resolution they had +plenty: they understood little of the causes which led to the outbreak +in which they participated; of Smith O'Brien or his associates few of +them had heard up to their appearance at Ballingarry; but they knew that +it was against the forces of the British government and on behalf of +Ireland's independence they were called on to fight, and in this cause +they were ready to shed their blood. Such was the party whom O'Brien +gazed upon with a troubled mind on that eventful day. Even the attached +companions who had so far attended him were no longer by his side; +M'Manus, O'Donoghue, and Stephens were still there; but Meagher, Dillon, +Doheny and O'Gorman had left at break of day to raise the standard of +insurrection in other quarters. Of the men around him not more than +twenty possessed firearms, about twice that number were armed with pikes +and pitchforks; the remainder had but their naked hands and the stones +they could gather by the wayside.</p> + +<p>On the other side were forty-seven disciplined men splendidly armed, +and ensconced moreover in a building possessing for the purpose of the +hour the strength of a fortress. It stood on the brow of a hill +overlooking the country in every direction; it consisted of two storeys +with four windows in each, in front and rere; each gable being also +pierced by a pair of windows. There were six little children in the +house when the police entered it. Their mother, the Widow M'Cormick +arrived on the spot immediately after the police had taken possession of +her domicile, and addressing O'Brien she besought him to save her little +ones from danger. On O'Brien's chivalrous nature the appeal was not +wasted. Heedless of the danger to which he exposed himself he walked up +to the window of the house. Standing at the open window with his breast +within an inch of the bayonets of the two policemen who were on the +inside, he called on them to give up their arms, and avoid a useless +effusion of blood. "We are all Irishmen, boys" he said, "I only want +your arms and I'll protect your lives." The reply was a murderous volley +poured on the gathering outside. Some half drunken person in the crowd +it appears had flung a stone at one of the windows, and the police +needed no further provocation. The fire was returned by the insurgents, +and O'Brien seeing that his efforts to preserve peace were futile, +quitted the window and rejoined his companions. For nearly two hours the +firing continued; the police well sheltered from the possibility of +injury fired in all about 220 rounds, killing two men and wounding a +number of others, amongst them James Stephens who was shot in the thigh. +Long before an equal number of shots were fired from without, the +ammunition of the insurgents was exhausted, and they could only reply to +the thick falling bullets with the stones which the women present +gathered for them in their aprons. It was clear that the house could not +be stormed in this way; and M'Manus, with half-a-dozen resolute +companions, rolled a cartload of hay up to the kitchen door with the +intention of setting fire to it and burning down the house. But O'Brien +would not permit it; there were children in the house, and their +innocent lives should not be sacrificed. In vain did M'Manus entreat him +for permission to fire his pistol into the hay and kindle the ready +flames, O'Brien was inexorable; and the first and last battle of the +insurrection was lost and won. The Rev. Mr. Fitzgerald, the priest of +the parish, and his curate, Father Maher now appeared on the spot, and +naturally used their influence to terminate the hopeless struggle, a +large force of constabulary from Cashel soon after were seen +approaching, and the people, who now saw the absolute uselessness of +further resistance broke away to the hills. The game was up; the banner +of Irish independence had again sunk to the dust; and O'Brien, who had +acted throughout with preternatural coolness, and whose face gave no +more indications of emotion than if it had been chiseled in marble, +turned from the scene with a broken heart. For a length of time he +resisted the entreaties of his friends and refused to leave the spot; at +last their solicitations prevailed, and mounting a horse taken from one +of the police he rode away.</p> + +<p>From that fatal day down to the night of Saturday, August 5th, the +police sought vainly for O'Brien. He slept in the peasant's hut on the +mountain and he shared his scanty fare; a price which might well dazzle +the senses of his poverty-stricken entertainers was on his head, and +they knew it; over hill-side and valley swarmed the host of spies, +detectives, and policemen placed on his track; but no hand was raised to +clutch the tempting bribe, no voice whispered the information for which +the government preferred its gold. Amongst those too who took part in +the affray at Ballingarry, and who subsequently were cast in shoals into +prison, there were many from whom the government sought to extract +information. Bribes and promises of pardon were held up before their +eyes, menaces were freely resorted to, but amongst them the government +sought vainly for an informer. Many, of them died in captivity or in +exile; their homes were broken up; their wives and children left +destitute and friendless; but the words that would give them liberty +and wealth, and terminate the sufferings of themselves and their +families were never spoken. Had O'Brien chosen to escape from the +country like Doheny, O'Gorman, Dillon and other of his friends, it is +probable he might have done so. He resolved however on facing the +consequence of his acts and sharing the fate of the Irish rebel to the +bitter end.</p> + +<p>The rain fell cold and drearily in the deserted streets of Thurles on +the night which saw the arrest of William Smith O'Brien. Away over the +shadowy mountains in the distance, the swimming vapours cast their +shroud, wrapping in their chilling folds the homes of the +hunger-stricken prostrate race that sat by their fireless hearths. The +autumn gale swept over the desolate land as if moaning at the ruin and +misery that cursed it, and wailing the dirge of the high hopes and +ardent purposes that a few short weeks before had gladdened the hearts +of its people. Calmly and deliberately with folded arms O'Brien walked +through the streets, and entered the Thurles Railway Station. He wore a +black hat, a blue boat cloak, in which he was rather tightly muffled, +and a light plaid trousers; in his hand he carried a large black stick. +He walked to the ticket office and paid his fare to Limerick; then +wrapping himself up in his cloak and folding his arms, again he walked +slowly along the platform awaiting the arrival of the train. He had +resolved on surrendering himself for trial, but he wished to pay one +last visit to his home and family. That gratification however was denied +him, he was recognised by an Englishman named Hulme, a railway guard; in +an instant he was surrounded by police and detectives, and torn of with +brutal violence to gaol. That same night an express train flashed +northwards through the fog and mist bearing O'Brien a prisoner to +Dublin. In the carriage in which he was placed sat General M'Donald, a +Sub-Inspector of Constabulary and four policemen. On entering the train +a pistol was placed at O'Brien's head, and he was commanded not to speak +on peril of his life. Disregarding the injunction, he turned to M'Donald +and asked him why he was so scandalously used. The General "had a duty +to perform," and "his orders should be obeyed." "I have played the game +and lost," said O'Brien, "and I am ready to pay the penalty of having +failed; I hope that those who accompanied me may be dealt with in +clemency; I care not what happens to myself."</p> + +<p>On Thursday, September 28th, he was arraigned before a Special +Commission on a charge of high treason at Clonmel. The trial lasted ten +days, and ended in a verdict of guilty. It excited unprecedented +interest throughout the country, and there are many of its incidents +deserving of permanent record. Amongst the witnesses brought forward by +the crown was John O'Donnell, a comfortable farmer, who resided near +Ballingarry. "I won't be sworn," he said on coming on the table, "or +give evidence under any circumstances. You may bring me out and put a +file of soldiers before me, and plant twenty bullets in my breast, but +while I have a heart there I will never swear for you." He expiated his +patriotism by a long imprisonment. Nor was this a solitary instance of +heroism; Richard Shea, a fine looking young peasant, on being handed the +book declared that "he would not swear against such a gentleman," and he +too was carried off to pass years within a British dungeon. But their +sacrifices were unavailing; of evidence there was plenty against +O'Brien; the police were overflowing with it, and the eloquence and +ability of Whiteside were powerless to save him from a verdict of +guilty.</p> + +<p>The papers of the time are full of remarks on the firmness and +self-possession displayed by O'Brien throughout the trial. Even the +announcement of the verdict failed to disturb his composure, and when +the usual question was asked he replied with calmness and deliberation:</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords, it is not my intention to enter into any vindication of my + conduct, however much I might have desired to avail myself of this + opportunity of so doing. I am perfectly satisfied with the + consciousness that I have performed my duty to my country—that I + have done only that which, in my opinion, it was the duty of every + Irishman to have done; and I am now prepared to abide the + consequences of having performed my duty to my native land. Proceed + with your sentence."</p></div> + +<p>A deep murmur, followed by a burst of applause filled the court as the +noble patriot ceased speaking. Stepping back a pace, and folding his +arms on his breast, O'Brien looked fixedly at the judge, and awaited the +sentence of the court. Amidst the deepest sensation, Chief Justice +Blackburne proceeded to discharge his task. O'Brien was sentenced to be +hanged, beheaded, and quartered. "During the delivery of the sentence," +says a writer of the period, "the most profound agitation pervaded in +the court; as it drew towards the close, the excitement became more +marked and intense; but when the last barbarous provisions of the +sentence were pronounced, the public feeling could only manifest itself +by stifled sobs and broken murmurs of sympathy for the heroic man, who, +alone, was unmoved during this awful scene, whose lips alone did not +quiver, whose hand alone did not tremble, but whose heart beat with the +calm pulsation of conscious guiltlessness and unsullied honour."</p> + +<p>Nine months later (July 29th, 1849), the brig "Swift" sailed from +Kingstown harbour, bearing O'Brien, Meagher, M'Manus, and O'Donoghue +into exile. In the month of November the vessel reached Hobart Town, +where "tickets of leave" were offered to those gentlemen on condition of +their residing each one within a certain district marked out for him, +and giving their parole to make no attempt at escape while in possession +of the ticket. Messrs. Meagher, M'Manus, and O'Donoghue accepted these +terms; Mr. O'Brien refused them, and was consequently sent to an island +off the coast called Maria Island, where he was placed in strict custody +and treated with great severity. The news of the indignities and the +sufferings to which he was subjected, outraged the feelings of the Irish +people in the neighbouring country, and ere long his sympathisers in +Tasmania laid a plan for his escape. They hired a vessel to lie off the +coast on a particular day, and send a boat on shore to take off the +prisoner, who had been informed of the plot, and had arranged to be in +waiting for his deliverers. This design would unquestionably have +succeeded but for the treachery of the captain of the ship, who, before +sailing to the appointed spot, had given the government information of +the intended escape and the manner of it. What occurred on the arrival +of the vessel we shall relate in the words of Mr. Mitchel, who tells the +story in his "Jail Journal" as he heard it from Mr. O'Brien himself:</p> + +<p>"At last as he wandered on the shore and had almost given up all hope of +the schooner, the schooner hove in sight. To give time for her approach +he walked into the woods for a space, that he might not alarm his +guardian constable by his attention to her movements. Again he sauntered +down towards the point with apparent carelessness, but with a beating +heart. San Francisco was to be his first destination; and beyond that +golden gate lay the great world, and home, and children, and an +honourable life. The boat was coming, manned by three men; and he +stepped proudly and resolutely to meet them on the shore. To be sure +there was, somewhere behind him, one miserable constable with his +miserable musket, but he had no doubt of being able to dispose of that +difficulty with the aid of his allies, the boatmen. The boat could not +get quite close to the beach, because they had to run her into a kind of +cove where the water was calm and unencumbered with large tangled weeds. +O'Brien, when he reached the beach, plunged into the water to prevent +delay, and struggled through the thick matted seaweed to the boat. The +water was deeper than he expected, and when he came to the boat he +needed the aid of the boatmen to climb over the gunwale. Instead of +giving him this aid the rascals allowed him to flounder there, and kept +looking to the shore, where the constable had by this time appeared with +his musket. The moment he showed himself, the three boatmen cried out +together, 'We surrender!' and invited him on board; where he instantly +took up a hatchet—no doubt provided by the ship for that purpose, and +stove the boat. O'Brien saw he was betrayed, and on being ordered to +move along with the constable and boatmen towards the station, he +refused to stir—hoping, in fact, by his resistance, to provoke the +constable to shoot him. However, the three boatmen seized on him, and +lifted him up from the ground, and carried him wherever the constable +ordered. His custody was thereafter made more rigorous, and he was +shortly after removed from Maria Island to Port Arthur station."</p> + +<p>To this brief narrative the following "note" is appended in the work +from which we have just quoted:—</p> + +<p>"Ellis, the captain of the schooner, was some months after seized at San +Francisco by Mr. M'Manus and others, brought by night out of his ship, +and carried into the country to undergo his trial under a tree, +whereupon, if found guilty, he was destined to swing. M'Manus set out +his indictment; and it proves how much Judge Lynch's method of +administering justice in those early days of California excelled +anything we know of law or justice in Ireland—that Ellis, for want of +sufficient and satisfactory evidence then producible, was acquitted by +that midnight court, under that convenient and tempting tree."</p> + +<p>Port Arthur station, to which Mr. O'Brien was removed from Maria Island, +was a place of punishment for convicts who, while serving out their +terms of transportation, had committed fresh offences against the law. +After a detention there for some time, Mr. O'Brien, whose health was +rapidly sinking under the rigours of his confinement, was induced, by +letters, from his political friends to accept the ticket-of-leave and +avail of the comparative liberty which they enjoyed. The government, on +his acceptance of their terms, placed him first in the district of New +Norfolk, and subsequently in that of Avoca, where he remained until the +conditional pardon, already mentioned in these columns, was granted in +1854. He then left Australia, went on to Madras, where he made a stay of +about a month; from thence he went to Paris and on to Brussels, where he +was joined by his wife and children. He next made a tour in Greece, and +was in that country when the unconditional pardon, which permitted him +to return to his native land, was granted in the month of May, 1856, +immediately after the close of the Crimean war. On Tuesday, July 8th, +1856, Mr. O'Brien stood once more upon his native soil after an exile of +eight years. The news of his arrival was joyfully received by his +fellow-countrymen, who welcomed him with every mark of respect and +affection whenever he appeared among them. Thence-forward Mr. O'Brien +took no active part in Irish politics, but he frequently offered advice +and suggestions to his countrymen through the medium of letters and +addresses in the <i>Nation</i>. In February, 1859, Mr. O'Brien made a voyage +to America, and during the ensuing months travelled through a great +portion of that country. After his return to Ireland he delivered, in +November, 1859, an interesting series of lectures on his tour, in the. +Mechanics' Institute, Dublin. On July 1st, 1863, he lectured in the +Rotundo, Dublin, for the benefit of a fund which was being raised for +the relief of the wounded and destitute patriots of the Polish +insurrection. In the early part of the year, 1864, the health of the +illustrious patriot began rapidly to fail, and he was taken by his +friends to England for a change of air. But the weight of many years of +care and suffering was on him, and its effects could not be undone. On +the 16th of June, 1864. at Bangor, the noble-hearted patriot breathed +his last. His family had the honoured remains brought to Ireland for +interment in the old burial-ground of his fathers. On Thursday morning +at an early hour they reached Dublin on board the "Cambria" steamer. It +was known that his family wished that no public demonstration should be +made at his funeral, but the feelings of the citizens who desired to pay +a tribute of respect to his memory could not be repressed. In the grey +hours of the morning the people in thousands assembled on the quays to +await the arrival of the remains, and two steamers, which had been +chartered for the purpose, proceeded, with large numbers on board, some +distance into the harbour to meet the approaching vessel. All along the +way, from the North Wall to the Kings-bridge railway station, the hearse +bearing the patriot's body was accompanied by the procession of +mourners, numbering about 15,000 men. At various stages of the journey +similar scenes were witnessed. But the end was soon reached. In the +churchyard of Rathronan, Co. Limerick, they laid him to rest. The green +grass grows freshly around the vault in which he sleeps, and has long +filled up the foot-prints of the multitude who broke the silence of that +lonely spot by their sobs on the day he was buried; the winter gales +will come and go, and touched by the breath of spring, the wild flowers +will blossom there through succeeding years; but never again will a +purer spirit, a nobler mind, a patriot more brave, more chivalrous, or +more true, give his heart to the cause of Ireland, than the +silvered-haired, care-burthened gentleman whom they bore from Cahirmoyle +to his grave on the 24th day of June, 1864.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='THOMAS_FRANCIS_MEAGHER'></a>THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.</h2> + +<p class='center'><img src="images/image04.png" style="width: 350px; height: 501px; border: 0" alt="KEVIN I. O'DOHERTY. THOMAS F. MEAGHER. TERENCE B. +McMANUS" /></p> + +<p>Early in 1846, when the Repeal Association was still powerful and great, +and ere yet the country had ceased to throb to the magic of O'Connell's +voice, there rose one day from amongst those who crowded the platform of +Conciliation Hall, a well-featured, gracefully-built, dark-eyed young +gentleman, towards whom the faces of the assembly turned in curiosity, +and whose accents when he spoke, were those of a stranger to the +audience. Few of them had heard of his name; not one of them—if the +chairman, William Smith O'Brien be excepted—had the faintest idea of +the talents and capacities he possessed, and which were one day to +enrapture and electrify his countrymen. He addressed the meeting on one +of the passing topics of the day; something in his manner savouring of +affectation, something in the semi-Saxon lisp that struggled through his +low-toned utterances, something in the total lack of suitable gesture, +gave his listeners at the outset an unfavourable impression of the young +speaker. He was boyish, and some did not scruple to hint conceited; he +had too much of the fine gentleman about his appearance, and too little +of the native brogue and stirring declamation to which his listeners +had been accustomed. The new man is a failure, was the first idea that +suggested itself to the audience: but he was not; and when he resumed +his seat he had conquered all prejudices, and wrung the cheers of +admiration from the meeting. Warming with his subject, and casting off +the restraints that hampered his utterances at first, he poured forth a +strain of genuine eloquence, vivified by the happiest allusions, and +enriched by imagery and quotations as beautiful as they were +appropriate, which startled the meeting from its indifference, and won +for the young speaker the enthusiastic applause of his audience. O'Brien +complimented him warmly on his success, and thus it was that the orator +of Young Ireland made his debut on the political platform.</p> + +<p>Meagher was not quite twenty-three years of age when his voice was first +heard in Conciliation Hall. He was born in Waterford of an old Catholic +family, which through good and ill had adhered to the national faith and +the national cause; his school-boy days were passed partly at +Clongowes-wood College, and partly under the superintendence of the +Jesuit Fathers at Stoneyhurst in Lancashire. His early years gave few +indications of the splendid wealth of genius that slumbered within his +breast. He took little interest in his classical or mathematical +studies; but he was an ardent student of English literature, and his +compositions in poetry and prose invariably carried away the prize. He +found his father filling the Civic Chair in Waterford, when he returned +from Stoneyhurst to his native city. O'Connell was in the plenitude of +his power; and from end to end of the land, the people were shaken by +mighty thoughts and grand aspirations; with buoyant and unfaltering +tread the nation seemed advancing towards the goal of Freedom, and the +manhood of Ireland seemed kindling at the flame which glowed before the +altar of Liberty. Into the national movement young Meagher threw himself +with the warmth and enthusiasm of his nature. At the early age of twenty +we find him presiding over a meeting of Repealers in his native city, +called to express sympathy with the State Prisoners of '43, and he +thence-forward became a diligent student of contemporary politics. He +became known as an occasional speaker at local gatherings; but it was +not until the event we have described that Meagher was fairly launched +in the troubled tide of politics, and that his lot was cast for good or +evil, with the leaders of the national party.</p> + +<p>Up to the date of secession Meagher was a frequent speaker at the +meetings of the Repeal Association. Day by day his reputation as a +speaker extended, until at length he grew to be recognised as the orator +of the party, and the knowledge that he was expected to speak was +sufficient to crowd Conciliation Hall to overflowing. When the influence +of the <i>Nation</i> party began to be felt, and signs of disunion appeared +on the horizon, O'Connell made a vigorous effort to detach Meagher from +the side of Mitchel, Duffy, and O'Brien. "These young Irelanders," he +said, "will lead you into danger." "They may lead me into danger," +replied Meagher, "but certainly not into dishonour."</p> + +<p>Against the trafficking with the Whigs, which subsequently laid the +Repeal Association in the dust, and shipwrecked a movement which might +have ended in the disinthralment of Ireland, Meagher protested in words +of prophetic warning. "The suspicion is abroad," he said, "that the +national cause will be sacrificed to Whig supremacy, and that the +people, who are now striding on to freedom, will be purchased back into +factious vassalage. The Whigs calculate upon your apostacy, the +Conservatives predict it." The place beggars, who looked to the Whigs +for position and wealth, murmured as they heard their treachery laid +bare and their designs dissected in the impassioned appeals by which +Meagher sought to recall them to the path of patriotism and duty. It was +necessary for their ends that the bold denouncer of corruption, and the +men who acted with him, should be driven from the association; and to +effect that object O'Connell was hounded on to the step which ended in +the secession. The "peace resolutions" were introduced, and Meagher +found himself called on to subscribe to a doctrine which his soul +abhorred—that the use of arms was at all times unjustifiable and +immoral. The Lord Mayor was in the chair, and O'Brien, John O'Connell. +Denis Reilly, Tom Steele, and John Mitchel had spoken, when Meagher rose +to address the assembly. The speech he delivered on that occasion, for +brilliancy and lyrical grandeur has never been surpassed. It won for him +a reception far transcending that of Shiel or O'Connell as an orator; +and it gave to him the title by which he was afterwards so often +referred to—"Meagher of the Sword." He commenced by expressing his +sense of gratitude, and his attachment to O'Connell, "My lord," he +said:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I am not ungrateful to the man who struck the fetters off my limbs + while I was yet a child, and by whose influence my father, the first + Catholic that did so for two hundred years, sat for the last two + years in the civic chair of my native city. But, my lord," he + continued, "the same God who gave to that great man the power to + strike down one odious ascendency in this country, and who enabled + him to institute in this land the laws of religious equality—the + same God gave to me a mind that is my own, a mind that has not been + mortgaged to the opinion of any man or set of men, a mind that I was + to use and not surrender."</p></div> + +<p>Having thus vindicated freedom of opinion, the speaker went on to +disclaim for himself the opinion that the Association ought to deviate +from the strict path of legality. But he refused to accept the +resolutions; because he said "there are times when arms alone will +suffice, and when political ameliorations call for 'a drop of blood,' +and for many thousand drops of blood." Then breaking forth into a strain +of impassioned and dazzling oratory he proceeded:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"The soldier is proof against an argument—but he is not proof + against a bullet. The man that will listen to reason—let him be + reasoned with. But it is the weaponed arm of the patriot that can + alone prevail against battalioned despotism.</p> + +<p> "Then, my lord, I do not condemn the use of arms as immoral, nor do I + conceive it profane to say that the King of Heaven—the Lord of + Hosts! the God of Battles!—bestows his benediction upon those who + unsheath the sword in the hour of a nation's peril. From that evening + on which, in the valley of Bethulia, he nerved the arm of the Jewish + girl to smite the drunken tyrant in his tent, down to this our day, + in which he has blessed the insurgent chivalry of the Belgian priest, + His Almighty hand hath ever been stretched forth from His throne of + Light to consecrate the flag of freedom—to bless the patriot's + sword! Be it in the defence, or be it in the assertion of a people's + liberty, I hail the sword as a sacred weapon; and if, my lord, it had + sometimes taken the shape of the serpent, and reddened the shroud of + the oppressor with too deep a dye, like the anointed rod of the High + Priest, it has at other times, and as often, blossomed into celestial + flowers to deck the freeman's brow.</p> + +<p> "Abhor the sword—stigmatize the sword? No, my lord, for in the + passes of the Tyrol it cut to pieces the banner of the Bavarian, and, + through those cragged passes, struck a path to fame for the peasant + insurrectionists of Inspruck! Abhor the sword—stigmatize the sword? + No, my lord, for at its blow a giant nation started from the waters + of the Atlantic, and by its redeeming magic, and in the quivering of + its crimsoned light the crippled colony sprang into the attitude of a + proud Republic—prosperous, limitless, and invincible! Abhor the + sword—stigmatize the sword? No, my lord, for it swept the Dutch + marauders out of the fine old towns of Belgium—scourged them back to + their own phlegmatic swamps—and knocked their flag and sceptre, + their laws and bayonets, into the sluggish waters of the Scheldt.</p> + +<p> "My lord, I learned that it was the right of a nation to govern + itself, not in this hall, but on the ramparts of Antwerp; I learned + the first article of a nation's creed upon those ramparts, where + freedom was justly estimated, and where the possession of the + precious gift was purchased by the effusion of generous blood. My + lord, I honor the Belgians for their courage and their daring, and I + will not stigmatize the means by which they obtained a citizen-king, + a chamber of Deputies."</p></div> + +<p>It was all he was permitted to say. With flushed face and excited +gesture John O'Connell rose, and declared he could not sit and listen to +the expression of such sentiments. Either Mr. Meagher or he should leave +the Association; O'Brien interceded to obtain a hearing for his young +friend, and protested against Mr. O'Connell's attempts to silence him. +But the appeal was wasted, O'Brien left the hall in disgust, and with +him Meagher, Duffy, Reilly, and Mitchel quitted it for ever.</p> + +<p>Meagher's subsequent career in Ireland is soon told. He was a regular +attendant at the meetings of the Confederation, of which he was one of +the founders, and the fame of his eloquence, his manly appearance, and +the charms of his youthful frankness contributed immensely towards the +growth of the new organization. He always acted with O'Brien, whom he +loved in his inmost soul, but he was respected and admired by every +section of nationalists, the Mitchelites, the Duffyites, and we might +even say the O'Connellites. When the country began to feel the influence +of the whirlwind of revolution which swept over the continent, +overturning thrones and wrecking constitutions as if they were built of +cardboard, Meagher shared the wild impulse of the hour, and played +boldly for insurrection and separation. He was one of the three +gentlemen appointed to present the address from Ireland to the French +Republican government in 1848; and in the speech delivered by him at the +crowded meeting in the Dublin Music Hall before his departure, he +counselled his countrymen to send a deputation to the Queen, asking her +to convene the Irish parliament in the Irish capital. "If the claim be +rejected," said Meagher, "if the throne stand as a barrier between the +Irish people and the supreme right—then loyalty will be a crime, and +obedience to the executive will be treason to the country. Depute your +worthiest citizens to approach the throne, and before that throne let +the will of the Irish people be uttered with dignity and decision. If +nothing comes of this," he added, "if the constitution opens to us no +path to freedom, if the Union be maintained in spite of, the will of the +Irish people, if the government of Ireland insist on being a government +of dragoons and bombadiers, of detectives and light infantry, then," he +exclaimed in the midst of tumultuous cheering, "up with the barricades, +and invoke the God of Battles!"</p> + +<p>While the Republican spirit was in full glow in Ireland, Meagher +astonished his friends by rushing down to Waterford and offering himself +as a candidate for the post left vacant in parliament by the resignation +of O'Connell. By this time the Confederates had begun to despair of a +parliamentary policy, and they marvelled much to see their young orator +rush to the hustings, and throw himself into the confusion and turmoil +of an election contest. <i>Que le diable allait il faire dans cette +galere</i> muttered his Dublin friends. Was not the time for hustings +orations, and parliamentary agitation over now? Meagher, however, +conceived, and perhaps wisely, that he could still do some good for his +country in the House of Commons. He issued a noble address to the +electors of his native city, in which he asked for their support on the +most patriotic grounds. "I shall not meddle," he said, "with English +affairs. I shall take no part in the strife of parties—all factions are +alike to me. I shall go to the House of Commons to insist on the rights +of this country to be held, governed, and defended by its own citizens, +and by them alone. Whilst I live I shall never rest satisfied until the +kingdom of Ireland has won a parliament, an army, and a navy of her +own." Mitchel strongly disapproved of his conduct. "If Mr. Meagher were +in parliament," said the <i>United Irishman</i>, "men's eyes would be +attracted thither once more; some hope of 'justice' might again revive +in this too easily deluded people." The proper men to send to parliament +were according to Mitchel, "old placemen, pensioners, five pound +Conciliation Hall Repealers." "We have no wish to dictate," concluded +Mitchel in an article on the subject, full of the lurking satire and +quiet humour that leavened his writings, "but if the electors of +Waterford have any confidence in us, we shall only say that we are for +Costello!"</p> + +<p>"Costello" was defeated, however, but so was Meagher. The Young Ireland +champion was stigmatized as a Tory by the Whigs, and as a rebel by the +Tories; if <i>the people</i>, as Mitchel remarks had any power he would have +been elected by an overwhelming majority, but the people had no votes, +and Sir Henry Winston Barren was returned. Meagher went back to Dublin +almost a convert to Mitchel's views, leaving Whig, Tory, and West Briton +to exult over his discomfiture.</p> + +<p>We have already seen what Meagher did when the guage of battle was +thrown down, and when "the day all hearts to weigh" was imagined to have +arrived, we have seen how he accompanied O'Brien in his expedition from +Wexford to Kilkenny, and thence to Tipperary; and how on the morning of +July 29th, 1848, he left O'Brien at Ballingarry, little dreaming of the +tragedy which was to make that day memorable, and expecting to be able +to bring reinforcements to his leader from other quarters before the +crisis came. He failed however in his effort to spread the flames of +insurrection. The chilling news of O'Brien's defeat—distorted and +exaggerated by hostile tongues—was before him everywhere, and even the +most resolute of his sympathisers had sense enough to see that their +opportunity—if it existed at all—had passed away. On the 12th day of +August, 1848, Meagher was arrested on the road between Clonoulty and +Holycross, in Tipperary. He was walking along in company with Patrick +O'Donoghue and Maurice R. Leyne, two of his intimate friends and +fellow-outlaws, when a party of police passed them by. Neither of the +three was disguised, but Meagher and Leyne wore frieze overcoats, which +somewhat altered their usual appearance. After a short time the police +returned; Meagher and his companions gave their real names on being +interrogated, and they were at once arrested and taken in triumph to +Thurles. The three friends bore their ill fortune with what their +captors must have considered provoking nonchalance. Meagher smoked a +cigar on the way to the station, and the trio chatted as gaily as if +they were walking in safety on the free soil of America, instead of +being helpless prisoners on their way to captivity and exile.</p> + +<p>Meagher stood in the dock at Clonmel a week after O'Brien had quitted it +a convict. He was defended by Mr. Whiteside and Isaac Butt, whose +magnificent speech in his defence was perhaps the most brilliant display +of forensic eloquence ever heard Within the court in which he stood. Of +course the jury was packed (only 18 Catholics were named on a jury-panel +of 300), and of course the crown carried its point. On the close of the +sixth day of the trial, the jury returned into court with a verdict of +"guilty," recommending the prisoner to mercy on the ground of his youth.</p> + +<p>Two days later he was brought back to the dock to receive sentence. He +was dressed in his usual style, appeared in excellent health, and bore +himself—we are told—throughout the trying ordeal, with fortitude and +manly dignity. He spoke as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords, it is my intention to say a few words only. I desire that + the last act of a proceeding which has occupied so much of the public + time, should be of short duration. Nor have I the indelicate wish to + close the dreary ceremony of a state prosecution with a vain display + of words. Did I fear that hereafter, when I shall be no more, the + country I tried to serve would speak ill of me, I might, indeed, + avail myself of this solemn moment to vindicate my sentiments and my + conduct. But I have no such fear. The country will judge of those + sentiments and that conduct in a light far different from that in + which the jury by whom I have been convicted have viewed them, and by + the country the sentence which you, my lords, are about to pronounce, + will be remembered only as the severe and solemn attestation of my + rectitude and truth. Whatever be the language in which that sentence + be spoken, I know that my fate will meet with sympathy, and that my + memory will be honoured. In speaking thus, accuse me not, my lords, + of an indecorus presumption in the efforts I have made in a just and + noble cause. I ascribe no main importance, nor do I claim for those + efforts any high reward. But it so happens, and it will ever happen + so, that they who have lived to serve their country—no matter how + weak their efforts may have been—are sure to receive the thanks and + blessings of its people. With my countrymen I leave my memory, my + sentiments, my acts, proudly feeling that they require no vindication + from me this day. A jury of my countrymen, it is true, have found me + guilty of the crime of which I stood indicted. For this I entertain + not the slightest feeling of resentment towards them. Influenced as + they must have been by the charge of the Lord Chief Justice, they + could perhaps have found no other verdict. What of that charge? Any + strong observations on it I feel sincerely would ill-befit the + solemnity of this scene; but I would earnestly beseech of you, my + lord—you who preside on that bench—when the passions and the + prejudices of this hour have passed away, to appeal to your own + conscience, and ask of it, was your charge what it ought to have + been, impartial and indifferent between the subject and the crown? My + lords, you may deem this language unbecoming in me, and perhaps it + may seal my fate; but I am here to speak the truth, whatever it may + cost—I am here to regret nothing I have ever done, to regret nothing + I have ever said—I am here to crave with no lying lip the life I + consecrate to the liberty of my country. Far from it. Even + here—here, where the thief, the libertine, the murderer, have left + their foot-prints in the dust—here, on this spot, where the shadows + of death surround me, and from which I see my early grave in an + unanointed soil open to receive me—even here, encircled by these + terrors, that hope which first beckoned me to the perilous sea on + which I have been wrecked, still consoles, animates, and enraptures + me. No; I do not despair of my poor old country—her peace, her + liberty, her glory. For that country I can do no more than bid her + hope. To lift this island up—to make her a benefactor to humanity, + instead of being, as she is now, the meanest beggar in the world—to + restore to her her native powers and her ancient constitution—this + has been my ambition, and this ambition has been my crime. Judged by + the law of England, I know this crime entails upon me the penalty of + death; but the history of Ireland explains that crime and justifies + it. Judged by that history, I am no criminal, you (addressing Mr. + M'Manus) are no criminal, you (addressing Mr. O'Donoghue) are no + criminal, and we deserve no punishment; judged by that history, the + treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt, has been + sanctified as a duty, and will be enobled as a sacrifice. With these + sentiments I await the sentence of the court. I have done what I felt + to be my duty. I have spoken now, as I did on every other occasion + during my short life, what I felt to be the truth. I now bid farewell + to the country of my birth—of my passions—of my death; a country + whose misfortunes have invoked my sympathies—whose factions I sought + to quell—whose intelligence I prompted to a lofty aim—whose freedom + has been my fatal dream. To that country I now offer as a pledge of + the love I bore her, and of the sincerity with which I thought and + spoke, and struggled for her freedom, the life of a young heart; and + with that life, the hopes, the honours, the endearments of a happy, a + prosperous, and honourable home. Proceed, then, my lords, with that + sentence which the law directs—I am prepared to hear it—I trust I + am prepared to meet its execution. I shall go, I think, with a light + heart before a higher tribunal—a tribunal where a Judge of infinite + goodness, as well as of infinite justice, will preside, and where, my + lords, many many of the judgments of this, world will be reversed."</p></div> + +<p>There is little more for us to add. Meagher arrived with O'Brien, +O'Donoghue, and M'Manus in Van Dieman's Land in October, 1849, and +escaped to America in 1852. He started the <i>Irish News</i> in New York, +which he enriched by personal recollections of the stirring scenes in +which he participated; but his career as a journalist closed abruptly +with the outbreak of the war of Secession, when he raised a Zouave +Company to join Corcoran's 69th Regiment, with which he fought gallantly +at Bull's Run. Every one remembers how the gallantry of the Irish +regiment in which Meagher served, saved the Federal forces from +annihilation on that field of disaster. Subsequently he raised and +commanded the Irish Brigade, which won imperishable laurels throughout +the hard-fought campaigns that ended with the capture of Richmond. When +Mr. Johnson became President of the United States, he appointed Meagher +to the position of Governor of Montana Territory, in the far West, a +post which he held until his death.</p> + +<p>His end was sad and sudden. One dark wild night in July, 1867, a +gentleman suddenly disappeared from the deck of the steamer on which he +was standing, and fell into the great Missouri, where it winds its +course by the hills of Montana. The accident was too sudden for availing +assistance. A sudden slip, a splash, a faint cry, a brief struggle, and +all was over; the hungry waters closed over him, and the rapid rolling +current swept away his lifeless corpse. The finished scholar, the genial +friend, the matchless orator, the ardent patriot was no more. Thomas +Francis Meagher was dead. </p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='KEVIN_IZOD_ODOHERTY'></a>KEVIN IZOD O'DOHERTY.</h2> + +<p>Another bold, clever, and resolute opponent of British rule in Ireland +was torn from the ranks of the popular leaders on the day that Kevin +Izod O'Doherty was arrested. Amongst the cluster of talented and able +men who led the Young Ireland phalanx, he was distinguished for his +spirit and his mental accomplishments; amongst the organizers of the +party his ready words, manly address, and ceaseless activity gave him a +prominent position; amongst its journalists he was conspicuous for +fearlessness, frankness, and ability. Over the surging waves of the +excitement and agitation that convulsed the country during the period +which ended with the affray at Ballingarry, and through the haze which +time has cast over the attempted revolution of '48, his figure looms up +in bold proportions, suggestive of mental capacity, fortitude of soul, +and tenacity of purpose. For him, as for many of his brilliant +associates, the paths of patriotism led down to proscription and pain; +but O'Doherty fulminating the thunderbolts of the <i>Tribune,</i> or sowing +the seeds of patriotism amongst the students of Dublin, was not one whit +more self-possessed or undaunted than when standing a convict in the +Greenstreet dock, he awaited the sentence of the court.</p> + +<p>Kevin Izod O'Doherty was born of respectable Catholic parents in Dublin, +in June, 1824. He received a liberal education, by which he profited +extensively, showing even in his school-days strong evidences of natural +ability, and talents, of more than average degree. He directed his +attention to the medical profession on completing his education, and was +in the full tide of lectures and hospital attendance when the +development of the national sentiment that pervaded the year '48 drew +him into the vortex of public life. He became a hard working and +enthusiastic member of the Young Ireland party, and was one of the +founders of the Students' and Polytechnic Clubs, which were regarded by +the leaders in Dublin as the <i>elite</i> of the national force in the +capital. When Mitchel was struck down and his paper suppressed, +O'Doherty was one of those who resolved that the political guidance +which the <i>United Irishman</i> was meant to afford, should not be wanting +to the people. In conjunction with Richard Dalton Williams—"Shamrock" +of the <i>Nation</i>—he established the <i>Irish Tribune</i>, the first number of +which saw the light on the 10th of June, 1848. There could be no mistake +about the objects of the <i>Tribune</i>, or the motives of its founders in +establishing it. The British government could ill afford to endure the +attacks on their exactions and usurpations thundered forth weekly in its +articles. Its career was cut short by the mailed hand of authority at +its fifth number, and on the 10th of July, '48, Kevin Izod O'Doherty was +an inmate of Newgate prison.</p> + +<p>On the 10th of August he was placed at the bar of Green-street +court-house, and arraigned on a charge of treason-felony, and a vigorous +effort was made by the crown to convict him. The attempt, however, was a +failure; the jury-panel had not been juggled as effectively as usual, +and a disagreement of the jury was the consequence. The crown, however, +had no idea of relaxing its grasp of its victim; after John Martin's +conviction O'Doherty was put forward again, and a new jury selected to +try him. Again were the government defeated; the second jury like the +first refused to agree to a verdict of guilty, and were discharged +without convicting the prisoner. A third time was O'Doherty arraigned, +and this time the relentless hatred of his persecutors was gratified by +a verdict of guilty. The speech delivered by Mr. O'Doherty after +conviction was as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords—I did hope, I confess, that upon being placed in this dock + for the third time, after two juries of my fellow-citizens had + refused to find a verdict against me, that while my prosecutors would + have been scrupulous in their care in attempting to uphold their law, + they would not have violated the very spirit of justice."</p> + +<p> Judge Crampton.—"I have a great difficulty in preventing you from + making any observations that may occur to you to be of service; but + if you mean to cast imputations of obloquy upon the law officers of + the crown, the court cannot permit that."</p> + +<p> Mr. O'Doherty—"I only wish to mention a matter of fact. The + Attorney-General stated that there were only three Roman Catholics + set aside on my jury."</p> + +<p> Judge Crampton again interposed, and requested the prisoner not to + pursue this line of observation.</p> + +<p> Mr. O'Doherty.—"I would feel much obliged if your lordship would + permit me to mention a few more words with reference to my motives + throughout this affair.</p> + +<p> "I had but one object and purpose in view. I did feel deeply for the + sufferings and privations endured by my fellow-countrymen. I did wish + by all means, consistent with a manly and honourable resistance to + assist in putting an end to that suffering. It is very true, and I + will confess it, that I desired an open resistance of the people to + that government, which, in my opinion entailed these sufferings upon + them. I have used the words open and honourable resistance, in order + that I might refer to one of the articles brought in evidence against + me, in which the writer suggests such things as flinging burning + hoops on the soldiery. My lords, these are no sentiments of mine. I + did not write that article. I did not see it, or know of it until I + read it when published in the paper. But I did not bring the writer + of it here on the table. Why? I knew that if I were to do so, it + would be only handing him over at the court-house doors to what one + of the witnesses has very properly called the fangs of the + Attorney-General. With respect to myself I have no fears. I trust I + will be enabled to bear my sentence with all the forbearance due to + what I believe to be the opinion of twelve conscientious enemies to + me, and I will bear with due patience the wrath of the government + whose mouthpiece they were; but I will never cease to deplore the + destiny that gave me birth in this unhappy country, and compelled me, + as an Irishman, to receive at your hands a felon's doom, for + discharging what I conceived—and what I still conceive to be my + duty. I shall only add, that the fact is, that instead of three Roman + Catholic jurors being set aside by the Attorney-General, there were + thirteen; I hold in my hand a list of their names, and out of the + twelve jurors he permitted to be sworn there was not one Roman + Catholic."</p></div> + +<p>Mr. O'Doherty was sentenced to transportation for ten years. He sailed +for Van Dieman's Land in the same ship that bore John Martin into exile. +In the course of time he, like Martin and O'Brien, was set at liberty on +condition of his residing anywhere out of "the United Kingdom." He came +on to Paris, and there resumed his medical studies. He paid, however, +one secret and hurried visit to Ireland. He came to wed and bear away +with him, to share his fortune in other lands, a woman in every way +worthy of him—one whose genius and talents, like his own, had been +freely given to the cause of Ireland, and whose heart had long been his +in the bonds of a most tender attachment. "Eva," one of the fair +poetesses of the <i>Nation</i>, was the plighted wife of O'Doherty. Terrible +must have been the shock to her gentle nature when her patriot lover was +borne off a convict, and shipped for England's penal settlements in the +far southern seas. She believed, however, they would meet again, and she +knew that neither time nor distance could chill the ardour of their +mutual affection. The volumes of the <i>Nation</i> published during his +captivity contain many exquisite lyrics from her pen mourning for the +absent one, with others expressive of unchanging affection, and the most +intense faith in the truth of her distant lover. "The course of true +love" in this case ended happily. O'Doherty, as we have stated, managed +to slip across from Paris to Ireland, and returned with "Eva" his bride. +In 1856 the pardons granted to the exiles above named was made +unconditional, and in the following year O'Doherty returned to Ireland, +where he took out his degrees with great <i>eclat</i>; he then commenced the +practice of medicine and surgery in Dublin, and soon came to be ranked +amongst the most distinguished and successful members of his profession. +After remaining some years in Ireland, Mr. O'Doherty sailed far away +seawards once again, and took up his abode under the light of the +Southern Cross. He settled in a rising colony of Australia, where he +still lives, surrounded by troops of friends, and enjoying the position +to which his talents and his high character entitle him.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='TERENCE_BELLEW_MMANUS'></a>TERENCE BELLEW M'MANUS.</h2> + +<p>The excitement caused by the startling events of which this country was +the scene in the summer of 1848 extended far beyond the shores of +Ireland. Away beyond the Atlantic the news from Ireland was watched for +with glistening eyes by the exiles who dwelt by the shores of Manhattan +or in the backwoods of Canada. Amongst the Irish colony in England the +agitation was still greater. Dwelling in the hearts of the monster towns +of England, the glow of the furnace lighting up their swarthy faces; +toiling on the canals, on the railways, in the steamboats; filling the +factories, plying their brawny hands where the hardest work was to be +done; hewers of wood, and drawers of water; living in the midst of the +English, yet separated from them by all the marks of a distinctive +nationality, by antagonistic feelings, by clashing interests, by jarring +creeds; such was the position of the men who carried the faith, the +traditions, the politics, and the purpose of Ireland into the heart of +the enemy's country. With their countrymen at home they were united by +the warmest ties of sympathy and affection. In London, in Manchester, in +Birmingham, in Leeds, Confederate Clubs were established, and active +measures taken for co-operating with the Young Ireland leaders in +whatever course they might think proper to adopt. In Liverpool those +clubs were organized on the most extensive scale; thousands of Irishmen +attended their weekly meetings, and speeches rivalling those delivered +at the Rotundo and at the Music Hall in fervour and earnestness were +spoken from their platforms. Amongst the Irishmen who figured +prominently at these gatherings there was one to whom the Irish in +Liverpool looked up with peculiar confidence and pride. He was young, he +was accomplished, he was wealthy, he filled a highly respectable +position in society; his name was connected by everyone with probity and +honour; and, above all, he was a nationalist, unselfish, enthusiastic, +and ardent. The Irishmen of Liverpool will not need to be told that we +speak of Terence Bellew M'Manus.</p> + +<p>The agitation of 1848 found M'Manus in good business as a shipping +agent, his income being estimated by his Liverpool friends at ten or +twelve hundred a year. His patriotism was of too genuine a nature to be +merged in his commercial success, and M'Manus readily abandoned his +prospects and his position when his country seemed to require the +sacrifice. Instantly on discovering that the government were about to +suspend the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act in Ireland, he took the steamer for +Dublin, bringing with him the green and gold uniform which he owned in +virtue of being a general of the '82 Club. In the same steamer came two +detectives sent specially to secure his arrest in Dublin. M'Manus drove +from the quay, where he landed, to the <i>Felon</i> Office. He discovered +that all the Confederate leaders out of prison had gone southwards on +hostile thoughts intent; and M'Manus resolved on joining them without a +moment's hesitation. Having managed to give the detectives the slip, he +journeyed southwards to Tipperary and joined O'Brien's party at +Killenaule. He shared the fortunes of the insurgent leaders until the +dispersion at Ballingarry, where he fought with conspicuous bravery and +determination. He was the first to arrive before the house in which the +police took refuge, and the last to leave it. The Rev. Mr. Fitzgerald, +P.P., an eye witness, gives an interesting account of M'Manus' conduct +during the attack on the Widow M'Cormack's house. He says:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"With about a dozen men more determined than the rest, was M'Manus, + who indeed throughout the whole day showed more courage and + resolution than anyone else. With a musket in his hand, and in the + face of the enemy, he reconnoitered the place, and observed every + accessible approach to the house, and with a few colliers, under + cover of a cart-load of hay, which they pushed on before them, came + up to the postern-door of the kitchen. Here with his own hand he + fired several pistol-shots, to make it ignite, but from the state of + the weather, which was damp and heavy, and from the constant + down-pour of rain on the previous day, this attempt proved quite + unsuccessful. With men so expert at the use of the pickaxe, and so + large a supply of blasting powder at the collieries, he could have + quickly undermined the house, or blown it up; but the circumstance of + so many children being shut in with the police, and the certainty + that, if they persevered, all would be involved in the same ruin, + compelled him and his associates to desist from their purpose."</p></div> + +<p>When it became useless to offer further resistance, M'Manus retired with +the peasantry to the hills, and dwelt with them for several days. Having +shaved off his whiskers, and made some other changes in his appearance, +he succeeded in running the gauntlet though the host of spies and +detectives on his trail, and he was actually on board a large vessel on +the point of sailing for America from Cork harbour when arrested by the +police. His discovery was purely accidental; the police boarded the +vessel in chase of an absconding defaulter, but while prosecuting the +search one of the constables who had seen M'Manus occasionally in +Liverpool recognised him. At first he gave his name as O'Donnell, said +he was an Irish-American returning westward, after visiting his friends +in the old land. His answers, however, were not sufficiently consistent +to dissipate the constable's suspicion. He was brought ashore and taken +handcuffed before a magistrate, whereupon he avowed his name, and boldly +added that, he did not regret any act he had done, and would cheerfully +go through it again.</p> + +<p>On the 10th of October, 1848, he was brought to trial for high treason +in Clonmel. He viewed the whole proceedings with calm indifference, and +when the verdict of guilty was brought in he heard the announcement with +unaltered mien. A fortnight later he was brought up to receive sentence; +Meagher and O'Donoghue had been convicted in the interim, and the three +confederates stood side by side in the dock to hear the doom of the +traitor pronounced against them. M'Manus was the first to speak in reply +to the usual formality, and his address was as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords—I trust I am enough of a Christian and enough of a man to + understand the awful responsibility of the question which has been + put to me. Standing upon my native soil—standing in an Irish court + of justice, and before the Irish nation—I have much to say why the + sentence of death, or the sentence of the law, should not be passed + upon me. But upon entering into this court I placed my life—and what + is of more importance to me, my honour—in the hands of two + advocates, and if I had ten thousand lives and ten thousand honours, + I should be content to place them all in the watchful and glorious + genius of the one, and the patient zeal and talent of the other. I + am, therefore, content, and with regard to that I have nothing to + say. But I have a word to say, which no advocate, however anxious + and devoted he may be, can utter for me. I say, whatever part I may + have taken in the straggle for my country's independence, whatever + part I may have acted in my short career, I stand before you, my + lords, with a free heart and a light conscience, to abide the issue + of your sentence. And now, my lords, this is, perhaps, the fittest + time to put a sentence upon record, which is this—that standing in + this dock, and called to ascend the scaffold—it may be to-morrow—it + may be now—it may be never—whatever the result may be, I wish to + put this on record, that in the part I have taken I was not actuated + by enmity towards Englishmen—for among them I have passed some of + the happiest days of my life, and the most prosperous; and in no part + which I have taken was I actuated by enmity towards Englishmen + individually, whatever I may have felt of the injustice of English + rule in this island; I therefore say, that it is not because I loved + England less, but because I loved Ireland more, that I now stand + before you."</p></div> + +<p>In 1851, M'Manus escaped from captivity in Van Dieman's Land, and he +soon after settled in California where he died. His funeral was the +greatest ever witnessed upon earth. From the shores of the Pacific +thousands of miles away, across continents and oceans they brought him, +and laid his ashes to rest in the land of his birth. On the 10th day of +November, 1861, that wonderful funeral passed through the streets of +Dublin to Glasnevin, and those who saw the gathering that followed his +coffin to the grave, the thousands of stalwart men that marched in +solemn order behind his bier will never forget the sight. A silent slab +unlettered and unmarked shows the spot where his remains were interred; +no storied urn or animated bust, no marble column or commemorative +tablet has been consecrated to his memory, but the history of his life +is graven in the hearts of his countrymen, and he enjoys in their +affectionate remembrance, a monument more enduring than human hands +could build him.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='THOMAS_CLARKE_LUBY'></a>THOMAS CLARKE LUBY.</h2> + +<p class='center'><img src="images/image05.png" style="width: 350px; height: 504px; border: 0" alt="CHARLES J. KICKHAM. JOHN O'LEARY. THOMAS CLARK LUBEY." /></p> + +<p>Looking along the course of Irish history, it is easy to point out +certain periods in which England could have found an opportunity for +making terms with the Irish nation, healing some of the old wounds and +mitigating in some degree the burning sense of wrong and the desire of +vengeance that rankled in the hearts of the Irish race. There were lulls +in the struggle, intervals of gloomy calm, occasions when the heart of +Ireland might have been touched by generous deeds, and when the offer of +the olive branch, or even a few of its leaves, would have had a blessed +effect. But England never availed of them—never for an instant sought +to turn them to good account. She preferred when Ireland was defeated, +prostrate, and forlorn, to taunt her with her failure, scoff at her +sufferings, and add to her afflictions. Such was her conduct during the +mournful time that followed on the attempted insurrection of 1848.</p> + +<p>It was an appaling time, in whose death-laden atmosphere political +action was impossible. The famine had made of the country one huge +graveyard. A silence fell upon the land, lately so clamorous for her +rights, so hopeful, and so defiant. The Repeal organization spoke no +more; the tramp of the Confederate Clubs was no longer heard in the +streets; O'Connell was dead; the Young Ireland leaders were fugitives or +prisoners; and the people were almost bewildered by a sense of their +great calamity. Then, if England had stooped to raise her fallen foe, +offered her some kindly treatment, and spoken some gracious words, the +bitterness of the old quarrel might have been in some degree assuaged, +even though its cause should not be entirely obliterated. But England +did not choose to take that politic and Christian course. She found it +much pleasanter to chuckle over the discomfiture of the Irish patriots, +to ridicule the failure of their peaceable agitation, to sneer at their +poor effort in arms, to nickname, and misrepresent, and libel the +brave-hearted gentleman who led that unlucky endeavour; and above all to +felicitate herself on the reduction that had taken place in the Irish +population. That—from her point of view—was the glorious part of the +whole affair. The Irish were "gone with a vengeance!"—not all of them, +but a goodly proportion, and others were going off every day. Emigrant +ships clustered in the chief ports, and many sought their living +freights in those capacious harbours along the Atlantic coast which +nature seemed to have shaped for the accommodation of a great commerce, +but where the visit of any craft larger than a fishing smack was a rare +event. The flaming placards of the various shipping-lines were posted in +every town in Ireland,—on the chapel-gates, and the shutters of closed +shops, and the doors of tenantless houses; and there appeared to be in +progress a regular breaking up of the Irish nation. This, to the English +mind, was positively delightful. For here was the Irish question being +settled at last, by the simple process of the transference of the Irish +people to the bottom of the deep sea, or else to the continent of +America—nearly the same thing as far as England was concerned, for in +neither place—as it seemed to her—could they ever more trouble her +peace, or have any claim on those fruits of the Irish soil which were +needed for the stomachs of Englishmen. There they could no longer pester +her with petitions for Tenant Right, or demands for a Repeal of the +Union. English farmers, and drovers, and labourers, loyal to the English +government, and yielding no sort of allegiance to the Pope, would cross +the Channel and take possession of the deserted island, which would +thenceforth be England's in such a sense as it never was before. O +magnificent consummation! O most brilliant prospect, in the eyes of +English statesmen! They saw their way clear, they understood their game; +it was to lighten in no degree the pressure which they maintained upon +the lives of the Irish people, to do nothing that could tend to render +existence tolerable to them in Ireland, or check the rush of emigration. +Acting in conformity with this shallow and false estimate of the +situation, they allowed to drift away unused the time which wise +statesmen would have employed in the effectuation of conciliatory and +tranquilising measures, and applied themselves simply to the crushing +out from the Irish mind of every hope of improved legislation, and the +defeat of every effort to obtain it. Thus when the people—waking up +from the stupefaction that followed on the most tragic period of the +famine—began to breathe the breath of political life again, and, +perceiving the danger that menaced the existence of the peasant classes, +set on foot an agitation to procure a reform of the land-laws, the +government resolutely opposed the project; defeated the bills which the +friends of the tenantry brought into parliament; and took steps, which +proved only too successful, for the break up of the organization by +which the movement was conducted. And then, when Frederick Lucas was +dead, and Mr. Duffy had gone into exile, and the patriot priests were +debarred from taking part in politics, and Messrs. John Sadlier and +William Keogh were bought over by bribes of place and pay, the +government appeared to think that Irish patriotism had fought in its +last ditch, and received its final defeat.</p> + +<p>But they were mistaken. The old cause that had survived so many +disasters was not dead yet. While the efforts of the Tenant Righters in +Ireland were being foiled, and their party was being scattered, a couple +of Irishmen, temporarily resident in Paris, fugitive because of their +connexion with the events of '48, were laying the foundations of a +movement more profoundly dangerous to England, than any of those with +which she had grappled since the days of Wolfe Tone and Lord Edward +Fitzgerald. Those men were John O'Mahony and James Stephens.</p> + +<p>Since then their names have been much heard of, and the organization of +which they were the originators has played an important part in Irish +history. But at the period of which we are now writing, the general +public knew nothing of O'Mahony or of Stephens beyond the fact that they +were alleged to have taken some part in the recent insurrectionary +demonstrations. Stephens, who was then a very young lad, had been +present at the Ballingarry attack, and had been severely wounded by the +fire of the police. He managed to crawl away from the spot to a ditch +side, where he was lost sight of. A report of his death was put into +circulation, and a loyal journal published in Kilkenny—the native town +of the young rebel, who in this instance played his first trick on the +government—referred to his supposed decease in terms which showed that +the rule <i>de mortuis nil nisi bonum</i> found acceptance with the editor. +The following are the words of the obituary notice which appeared in the +<i>Kilkenny Moderator</i> on or about the 19th of August, 1848:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"Poor James Stephens, who followed Smith O'Brien to the field, has + died of the wound which he received at Ballingarry whilst acting as + aide-de-camp to the insurgent leader. Mr. Stephens was a very + amiable, and apart from politics, most inoffensive young man, + possessed of a great deal of talent, and we believe he was a most + excellent son and brother. His untimely and melancholy fate will be + much regretted by a numerous circle of friends."</p></div> + +<p>It is said that his family very prudently fostered this delusion by +going into mourning for the loss of young James—the suggestion of which +clever ruse probably came from the dear boy himself. A short time +afterwards he managed to escape, disguised as a lady's maid, to France. +As one may gather from the paragraph above quoted, the family were much +respected in the locality. Mr. Stephens, father of the future C.O.I.R., +was clerk in the establishment of a respectable auctioneer and +bookseller in Kilkenny. He gave his children a good education, and sent +young James to a Catholic seminary with a view to his being taught and +trained for the priesthood. But circumstances prevented the realization +of this design, and before any line of business could be marked out for +young Stephens, the political events above referred to took place and +shaped his future career.</p> + +<p>John O'Mahony was a different stamp of man. He belonged to the class +known as gentlemen-farmers, and of that class he was one of the most +respected. His family owned a considerable tract of land in the southern +part of the County of Tipperary, of which they had been occupants for +many generations. He was well educated, of studious habits, and +thoroughly imbued with patriotic feeling, which came to him as a +hereditary possession. When the Young Ireland leaders were electrifying +the country by their spirited appeals to the patriotism and bravery of +the Irish race, and the population in all the chief centres of +intelligence were crystalizing into semi-military organizations, +O'Mahony was not apathetic or inactive. One of the strongest of the +Confederate clubs—which were thick sown in the contiguous districts of +the Counties of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary—was under his +presidency; and when in July, 1848, the leaders of the movement +scattered themselves over the country for the purpose of ascertaining +the degree of support they would receive if they should decide on +unfurling the green banner, his report of the state of affairs in his +district was one of their most cheering encouragements.</p> + +<p>A few days afterwards the outbreak under O'Brien occurred at +Ballingarry. The failure of that attempt, and the irresolute manner in +which it was conducted, had disheartened the country, but the idea of +allowing the struggle to rest at that point was not universally +entertained by the leaders of the clubs; and John O'Mahony was one of +those who resolved that another attempt should be made to rally the +people to the insurrectionary standard. He acted up to his resolution. +On the night of the 12th of September there were signal-fires on the +slopes of Slievenamon and the Comeragh mountains, and the district +between Carrick-on-Suir and Callan was in a state of perturbation. Next +day the alarm was spread in all directions. The gentry of the disturbed +districts rushed into the nearest towns for protection; police from the +outlying barracks were called in to reinforce the threatened stations, +and troops were hastily summoned from Dublin and the neighbouring +garrisons. Meanwhile parties of the insurgents began to move about. One +proceeded to the police station at the Slate-quarries, and finding it +deserted—the policemen having retired on Piltown—burned it to the +ground. Another attempted the destruction of Grany bridge, to delay the +advance of the soldiery. A third proceeded to attack the Glenbower +station. The defenders of the barracks were in a rather critical +position when another party of police, on their way from the +Nine-Mile-House station to Carrick, came upon the spot, and the combined +force speedily put their half-armed assailants to flight, with a loss to +the latter of one man severely wounded and one killed. An attack was +made on the barrack at Portlaw, but with a like result; two men were +stricken dead by the bullets of the police. The people soon afterwards +scattered to their homes, and the soldiery and police had nothing to do +but hunt up for the leaders and other parties implicated in the +movement. John O'Mahony narrowly escaped capture on three or four +occasions. He lingered in the country, however, until after the +conviction of the state prisoners at Clonmel, when it became clear to +him that the cause was lost for a time; and he then took his way to +Paris, whither several of his fellow outlaws, for whose arrest the +government had offered large rewards, had gone before him.</p> + +<p>In that famous centre of intellect and of intrigue, the focus of +political thought, the fountain-head of great ideas, John O'Mahony and +James Stephens pondered long over the defeat that had come upon the +Irish cause, and in their ponderings bethought them that the reason of +the failure which they deplored was to be found in the want of that +quiet, earnest, secret preparation, by means of which the Continental +revolutionists were able to produce from time to time such volcanic +effects in European politics, and cause the most firmly-rooted dynasties +to tremble for their positions. The system of secret conspiracy—that +ancient system, "old as the universe, yet not outworn"—a system not +unknown in Ireland from the days of the Attacots to those of the +Whiteboys—the system of Sir Phelim O'Neill and of Theobald Wolfe +Tone—that system, as developed, refined, and elaborated by the most +subtle intellects of modern times, those two men proposed to propagate +among the Irish race at home and abroad. They divided the labour between +them. O'Mahony took the United States of America for his field of +action, and Stephens took the Old Country.</p> + +<p>It was in the year 1858 that the first symptoms indicative of the work +to which James Stephens had set himself made their appearance in the +extreme south-west of Ireland. Whispers went about that some of the +young men of Kenmare, Bantry, and Skibbereen were enrolled in a secret +sworn organization, and were in the habit of meeting for the purpose of +training and drilling. Indeed the members of the new society took little +pains to conceal its existence; they seemed rather to find a pride in +the knowledge which their neighbours had of the fact, and relied for +their legal safety on certain precautions adopted in the manner of their +initiation as members. When informed firstly by well known nationalists +in a private manner, and subsequently by public remonstrances addressed +to them by Catholic clergymen and the national journals, that the +government were on their track, they refused to believe it; but ere long +they suffered grievously for their incredulity and want of prudence. In +the early days of December, 1858, the swoop of the government was made +on the members of the "Phoenix Society" in Cork and Kerry, and arrests +followed shortly after in other parts of the country. The trials in the +south commenced at Tralee in March, 1859, when a conviction was obtained +against a man named Daniel O'Sullivan, and he was sentenced to penal +servitude for ten years. The remaining cases were adjourned to the next +assizes, and when they came on in July, 1859, the prisoners put in a +plea of guilty, and were set at liberty on the understanding that if +their future conduct should not be satisfactory to the authorities, they +would be called up for sentence. Amongst the Cork prisoners who took +this course was Jeremiah O'Donovan (Rossa), whose name has since then +been made familiar to the public.</p> + +<p>Those events were generally supposed to have extinguished the Phoenix +conspiracy. And many of Ireland's most sincere friends hoped that such +was the case. Recognising fully the peculiar powers which a secret +society can bring to bear against the government, they still felt a +profound conviction that the risks, or rather the certain cost of +liberty and life involved in such a mode of procedure, formed more than +a counterpoise for the advantages which it presented. They were +consequently earnest and emphatic in their endeavours to dissuade their +countrymen from treading in the dangerous paths in which their steps +were dogged by the spy and the informer. The Catholic clergy were +especially zealous in their condemnation of secret revolutionary +societies, urged thereto by a sense of their duty as priests and +patriots. But there were men connected with the movement both in America +and Ireland, who were resolved to persevere in their design of extending +the organization among the Irish people, despite of any amount of +opposition from any quarter whatsoever. In pursuit of that object they +were not over scrupulous as to the means they employed; they did not +hesitate to violate many an honourable principle, and to wrong many an +honest man; nor did they exhibit a fair share of common prudence in +dealing with the difficulties of their position; but unexpected +circumstances arose to favour their propagandism, and it went ahead +despite of all their mistakes and of every obstacle. One of those +circumstances was the outbreak of the civil war in America, which took +place in April, 1861. That event seemed to the leaders of the Irish +revolutionary organization, now known as the Fenian Brotherhood, to be +one of the most fortunate for their purposes that could have happened. +It inspired the whole population of America with military ardour, it +opened up a splendid school in which the Irish section of the people +could acquire a knowledge of the art of war, which was exactly what was +needed to give real efficacy to their endeavours for the overthrow of +British dominion in Ireland. Besides, there appeared to be a strong +probability that the line of action in favour of the Southern States +which England, notwithstanding her proclamation of neutrality, had +adopted from an early stage of the conflict, would speedily involve her +in a war with the Federal government. These things constituted a +prospect dazzling to the eyes of the Irishmen who had "gone with a +vengeance." Their hearts bounded with joy at the opportunities that +appeared to be opening on them. At last the time was near, they +believed, when the accumulated hate of seven centuries would burst upon +the power of England, not in the shape of an undisciplined peasantry +armed with pikes, and scythes, and pitchforks, as in 1798—not in the +shape of a half famished and empty-handed crowd, led to battle by +orators and poets, as in 1848, but in the shape of an army, bristling +with sharp steel, and flanked with thunderous cannon—an army skilled in +the modern science of war, directed by true military genius, and +inspired by that burning valour which in all times was one of the +qualities of the Irish race. Influenced by such hopes and feelings, the +Irish of the Northern States poured by thousands into the Federal ranks, +and formed themselves into regiments that were at the same time so many +Fenian circles. In the Southern army, too, there were many Irishmen who +were not less determined to give to their native land the benefit of +their military experience, as soon as the troubles of their adopted +country should be brought to an end. Fenianism, with that glow of light +upon it, spread like a prairie-fire through the States. The ranks of the +organization swelled rapidly, and money contributions poured like a tide +into its treasury. The impulse was felt also by the society in Ireland. +It received a rapid development, and soon began to put on a bold front +towards the government, and a still more belligerent one towards all +Irishmen who, while claiming the character of patriots, declined to take +part in the Fenian movement or recommend it to their countrymen. In +November, 1863, the brotherhood started the <i>Irish People</i> newspaper in +Dublin, for the double purpose of propagating their doctrines and +increasing the revenues of the society. James Stephens was the author of +this most unfortunate project. The men whom he selected for working it +out were Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary, and Charles Joseph Kickham.</p> + +<p>From the date of its establishment up to the mouth of September, 1865—a +period of nearly two years—the <i>Irish People</i> occupied itself in +preaching what its editors regarded as the cardinal doctrines of the +society, which were:—That constitutional agitation for the redress of +Ireland's grievances was worse than useless; that every man taking part +in such agitation was either a fool or a knave; that in political +affairs clergymen should be held of no more account than laymen; and +that the only hope for Ireland lay in an armed uprising of the people. +These doctrines were not quite new; not one of them was absolutely true; +but they were undoubtedly held by many thousands of Irishmen, and the +Fenian society took care to secure for the journal in which they were +advocated, a large circulation. The office of the <i>Irish People</i> soon +came to be regarded as, what it really was, the head quarters of the +Fenian organization in Ireland. To it the choice spirits of the party +resorted for counsel and direction; thither the provincial organisers +directed their steps whenever they visited Dublin; into it poured weekly +from all parts of the country an immense mass of correspondence, which +the editors, instead of destroying after it had passed through their +hands, foolishly allowed to accumulate upon their shelves, though every +word of it was fraught with peril to the lives and liberties of their +friends. In their private residences also they were incautious enough to +keep numerous documents of a most compromising character. There is but +one way of accounting for their conduct in this matter. They may have +supposed that the legal proceedings against them, which they knew were +certain to take place at one time or another, would be conducted in the +semi-constitutional fashion which was adopted towards the national +journals in 1848. If the staff of the <i>Irish People</i> had received a +single day's notice that they were about to be made amenable to the law, +it is possible that they would have their houses and their office +immediately cleared of those documents which afterwards consigned so +many of their countrymen to the horrors of penal servitude. But they saw +no reason to suppose that the swoop was about to be made on them. On the +fifteenth day of September, 1865, there were no perceptible indications +that the authorities were any more on the alert in reference to Fenian +affairs then they had been during the past twelve months. It was Friday; +the <i>Irish People</i> had been printed for the next day's sale, large +batches of the paper had been sent off to the agents in town and +country, the editors and publishing clerks had gone home to rest after +their week's labours—when suddenly, at about half-past nine o'clock in +the evening, a strong force of police broke into the office, seized the +books, manuscripts, papers, and forms of type, and bore them off to the +Castle yard. At the same time arrests of the chief Fenian leaders were +being made in various parts of the city. The news created intense +excitement in all circles of society, and more especially amongst the +Fenians themselves, who had never dreamed of a government <i>coup</i> so +sudden, so lawless, and so effective. The government had now thrown off +the mask of apathy and impassiveness which it had worn so long, and it +commenced to lay its strong hand upon its foes. Amongst the men who +filled the prison cells on that miserable autumn evening were John +O'Leary, Thomas Clarke Luby, and Jeremiah O'Donovan (Rossa). Before the +crown was ready to proceed with their trial, the third editor of the +paper, Charles J. Kickham, was added to their company, having been +arrested with James Stephens, Edward Duffy, and Hugh Brophy, on the 11th +November, at Fairfield House, near Dublin.</p> + +<p>On Monday, November 27th, 1865, the state trials commenced before a +Special Commission in the Courthouse, Green-street—the scene of so many +a previous grapple between British law and the spirit of Irish +patriotism. Mr. Justice Keogh and Mr. Justice Fitzgerald were the +presiding judges. There was a long list of prisoners to be tried. James +Stephens might have been honoured with the first place amongst them, +were it not that two days previously, to the unspeakable horror and +surprise of the government and all its friends, he had effected his +escape, or rather, we might say, obtained, by the aid of friendly hands, +his release from Richmond prison. In his regretted absence, the crown +commenced their proceedings by placing Thomas Clarke Luby in the dock to +answer to a charge of treason-felony.</p> + +<p>He stood up to the bar, between the jailors that clustered about him, a +quiet-faced, pale, and somewhat sad-looking man, apparently of about +forty years of age. A glance around the court-house showed him but few +friendly faces—for, owing to the terrors felt by the judges, the crown +prosecutors and other officials of the law, who dreaded the desperate +resolves of armed conspirators, few were admitted into the building +except policemen, detectives, and servants of the crown in one capacity +or another. In one of the galleries, however, he recognised his +wife—daughter of J. De Jean Fraser, one of the sweetest poets of the +'48 period—with the wife of his fellow-prisoner, O'Donovan Rossa, and +the sister of John O'Leary. A brief smile of greeting passed between the +party, and then all thoughts were concentrated on the stern business of +the day.</p> + +<p>There was no chance of escape for Thomas Clarke Luby or for his +associates. The crown had a plethora of evidence against them, acquired +during the months and years when they appeared to be all but totally +ignorant of the existence of the conspiracy. They had the evidence of +the approver, Nagle, who had been an employè of the <i>Irish People</i> +office and a confidential agent of James Stephens up to the night of the +arrests, but who during the previous eighteen months had been betraying +every secret of theirs to the government. They had the evidence of a +whole army of detectives; but more crushing and fatal than all, they had +that which was supplied by the immense store of documents captured at +the <i>Irish People</i> office and the houses of some of the chief members of +the conspiracy. Of all those papers the most important was one found at +the residence of Mr. Luby, in which James Stephens, being at the time +about to visit America delegated his powers over the organization in +Ireland, England, and Scotland to Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary, and +Charles J. Kickham. This, which was referred to during the trials as the +"executive document," was worded as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I hereby empower Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary and Charles J. + Kickham a committee of organization, or executive, with the same + supreme control over the home organization, England, Ireland, and + Scotland, as that exercised by myself. I further empower them to + appoint a committee of military inspection, and a committee of appeal + and judgment, the functions of which committee will be made known to + every member of them. Trusting to the patriotism and abilities of the + executive, I fully endorse their actions beforehand. I call on every + man in our ranks to support and be guided by them in all that + concerns the military brotherhood.</p> + +<p> "J. STEPHENS."</p></div> + +<p>Not all the legal ingenuity and forensic eloquence of their talented +counsel, Mr. Butt, could avail to save the men who, by the preservation +of such documents as the foregoing, had fastened the fetters on their +own limbs. The trial of Mr. Luby concluded on the fourth day of the +proceedings—Friday, December 1st 1865—with a verdict of guilty. The +prisoner heard the announcement with composure, and then, in response to +the question usual in such cases, addressed the court as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"Well, my lords and gentlemen, I don't think any person present here + is surprised at the verdict found against me. I have been prepared + for this verdict ever since I was arrested, although I thought it my + duty to fight the British government inch by inch. I felt I was sure + to be found guilty, since the advisers of the Crown took what the + Attorney-General was pleased the other day to call the 'merciful + course.' I thought I might have a fair chance of escaping, so long as + the capital charge was impending over me; but when they resolved on + trying me under the Treason-Felony Act, I felt that I had not the + smallest chance. I am somewhat embarrassed at the present moment as + to what I should say under the circumstances. There are a great many + things that I would wish to say; but knowing that there are other + persons in the same situation with myself, and that I might allow + myself to say something injudicious, which would peril their cases, I + feel that my tongue is to a great degree tied. Nothwithstanding, + there are two or three points upon which I would say a few words. I + have nothing to say to Judge Keogh's charge to the jury. He did not + take up any of the topics that had been introduced to prejudice the + case against me; for instance, he did not take this accusation of an + intention to assassinate, attributed to my fellow-prisoners and + myself. The Solicitor-General in his reply to Mr. Butt, referred to + those topics. Mr. Barry was the first person who advanced those + charges. I thought they were partially given up by the + Attorney-General in his opening statement, at least they were put + forward to you in a very modified form; but the learned + Solicitor-General, in his very virulent speech, put forward those + charges in a most aggravated manner. He sought even to exaggerate + upon Mr. Barry's original statement. Now, with respect to those + charges—in justice to my character—I must say that in this court, + there is not a man more incapable of anything like massacre or + assassination than I am. I really believe that the gentlemen who have + shown so much ability in persecuting me, in the bottom of their + hearts believe me incapable of an act of assassination or massacre. I + don't see that there is the smallest amount of evidence to show that + I ever entertained the notion of a massacre of landlords and priests. + I forget whether the advisers of the crown said I intended the + massacre of the Protestant clergymen. Some of the writers of our + enlightened press said that I did. Now, with respect to the charge of + assassinating the landlords, the only thing that gives even the + shadow of a colour to that charge is the letter signed—alleged to be + signed—by Mr. O'Keefe. Now, assuming—but by no means admitting, of + course—that the letter was written by Mr. O'Keefe, let me make a + statement about it. I know the facts that I am about to state are of + no practical utility to me now, at least with respect to the judges. + I know it is of no practical utility to me, because I cannot give + evidence on my own behalf, but it may be of practical utility to + others with whom I wish to stand well. I believe my words will carry + conviction—and carry much more conviction than any words of the + legal advisers of the crown can—to more than 300,000 of the Irish + race in Ireland, England, and America. Well, I deny absolutely, that + I ever entertained any idea of assassinating the landlords, and the + letter of Mr. O'Keefe—assuming it to be his letter—is the only + evidence on the subject. My acquaintance with Mr. O'Keefe was of the + slightest nature. I did not even know of his existence when the + <i>Irish People</i> was started. He came, after that paper was established + a few months, to the office, and offered some articles—some were + rejected, some we inserted, and I call the attention of the legal + advisers of the Crown to this fact, that amongst the papers which + they got, those that were Mr. O'Keefe's articles had many paragraphs + scored out; in fact we put in no article of his without a great deal + of what is technically called 'cutting down.' Now, that letter of his + to me was simply a private document. It contained the mere private + views of the writer; and I pledge this to the court as a man of + honour—and I believe in spite of the position in which I stand, + amongst my countrymen I am believed to be a man of honour, and that + if my life depended on it, I would not speak falsely about the + thing—when I read that letter, and the first to whom I gave it was + my wife, I remember we read it with fits of laughter at its + ridiculous ideas. My wife at the moment said—'Had I not better burn + the letter?' 'Oh no,' I said, looking upon it as a most ridiculous + thing, and never dreaming for a moment that such a document would + ever turn up against me, and produce the unpleasant consequences it + has produced—mean the imputation of assassination and massacre, + which has given me a great deal more trouble than anything else in + this case. That disposes—as far as I can at present dispose of + it—of the charge of wishing to assassinate the landlords. As to the + charge of desiring to assassinate the priests, I deny it as being the + most monstrous thing in the world. Why, surely, every one who read + the articles in the paper would see that the plain doctrine laid + down there was—to reverence the priests so long as they confined + themselves to their sacerdotal functions; but when the priest + descended to the arena of politics he became no more than any other + man, and would just be regarded as any other man. If he was a man of + ability and honesty, of course he would get the respect that such men + get in politics—if he was not a man of ability there would be no + more thought of him than of a shoemaker or any one else. This is the + teaching of the <i>Irish People</i> with regard to the priests. I believe + the <i>Irish People</i> has done a great deal of good, even amongst those + who do not believe in its revolutionary doctrines. I believe the + revolutionary doctrines of the <i>Irish People</i> are good. I believe + nothing can ever save Ireland except independence; and I believe that + all other attempts to ameliorate the condition of Ireland are mere + temporary expedients and make shifts——"</p> + +<p> Mr. Justice Keogh—"I am very reluctant to interrupt you, Mr. Luby."</p> + +<p> Mr. Luby—"Very well, my lord, I will leave that. I believe in this + way the <i>Irish People</i> has done an immensity of good. It taught the + people not to give up their right of private judgment in temporal + matters to the clergy; that while they reverenced the clergy upon the + altar, they should not give up their consciences in secular matters + to the clergy. I believe that is good. Others may differ from me. No + set of men I believe ever set themselves earnestly to any work, but + they did good in some shape or form."</p> + +<p> Judge Keogh—"I am most reluctant, Mr. Luby, to interrupt you, but do + you think you should pursue this!"</p> + +<p> Mr. Luby—"Very well, I will not. I think that disposes of those + things. I don't care to say much about myself. It would be rather + beneath me. Perhaps some persons who know me would say I should not + have touched upon the assassination charge at all—that in fact I + have rather shown weakness in attaching so much importance to it. + But, with regard to the entire course of my life, and whether it be a + mistaken course or not will be for every man's individual judgment to + decide—this I know, that no man ever loved Ireland more than I have + done—no man has ever given up his whole being to Ireland to the + extent I have done. From the time I came to what has been called the + years of discretion, my entire thought has been devoted to Ireland. I + believed the course I pursued was right; others may take a different + view. I believe the majority of my countrymen this minute, if, + instead of my being tried before a petty jury, who, I suppose, are + bound to find according to British law—if my guilt or innocence was + to be tried by the higher standard of eternal right, and the case was + put to all my countrymen—I believe this moment the majority of my + countrymen would pronounce that I am not a criminal, but that I have + deserved well of my country. When the proceedings of this trial go + forth into the world, people will say the cause of Ireland is not to + be despaired of, that Ireland is not yet a lost country—that as long + as there are men in any country prepared to expose themselves to + every difficulty and danger in its service, prepared to brave + captivity, even death itself if need be, that country cannot be + lost. With these words I conclude."</p></div> + +<p>On the conclusion of this address, Judge Keogh proceeded to pass +sentence on the prisoner. The prisoner's speech, he said, was in every +way creditable to him; but the bench could not avoid coming to the +conclusion that, with the exception of James Stephens, he was the person +most deeply implicated in the conspiracy. The sentence of the court was +that he be kept in penal servitude for a term of twenty years. Mr. Luby +heard the words without any apparent emotion—gave one sad farewell +glance to his wife and friends, and stepping down the little stairs from +the dock, made way for the next prisoner.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='JOHN_OLEARY'></a>JOHN O'LEARY.</h2> + +<p>While the jury in the case of Thomas Clarke Luby were absent from the +court deliberating on and framing their verdict, John O'Leary was put +forward to the bar.</p> + +<p>He stepped boldly to the front, with a flash of fire in his dark eyes, +and a scowl on his features, looking hatred and defiance on judges, +lawyers, jurymen, and all the rest of them. All eyes were fixed on him, +for he was one of those persons whose exterior attracts attention and +indicates a character above the common. He was tall, slightly built, and +of gentlemanly deportment; every feature of his thin angular face gave +token of great intellectual energy and determination, and its pallid hue +was rendered almost death-like by contrast with his long black hair and +flowing moustache and beard. Easy it was to see that when the government +placed John O'Leary in the dock they had caged a proud spirit, and an +able and resolute enemy. He had come of a patriot stock, and from a part +of Ireland where rebels to English rule were never either few or +faint-hearted. He was born in the town of Tipperary, of parents whose +circumstances were comfortable, and who, at the time of their decease, +left him in possession of property worth a couple of hundred pounds per +annum. He was educated for the medical profession in the Queen's +College, Cork, spent some time in France, and subsequently visited +America, where he made the acquaintance of the chief organisers of the +Fenian movement, by whom he was regarded as a most valuable acquisition +to the ranks of the brotherhood. After his return to Ireland he +continued to render the Fenian cause such services as lay in his power, +and when James Stephens, who knew his courage and ability, invited him +to take the post of chief editor of the Fenian organ which he was about +to establish in Dublin, O'Leary readily obeyed the call, and accepted +the dangerous position. In the columns of the <i>Irish People</i> he laboured +hard to defend and extend the principles of the Fenian organization +until the date of his arrest and the suppression of the paper.</p> + +<p>The trial lasted from Friday, the 1st, up to Wednesday, the 6th of +December, when it was closed with a verdict of guilty and a sentence of +twenty years' penal servitude—Mr. Justice Fitzgerald remarking that no +distinction in the degree of criminality could be discovered between the +case of the prisoner and that of the previous convict. The following is +the address delivered by O'Leary, who appeared to labour under much +excitement, when asked in the usual terms if he had any reason to show +why sentence should not be passed upon him:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I was not wholly unprepared for this verdict, because I felt that + the government which could so safely pack the bench could not fail to + make sure of its verdict."</p> + +<p> Mr. Justice Fitzgerald—"We are willing to hear anything in reason + from you, but we cannot allow language of that kind to be used."</p> + +<p> Mr. O'Leary—"My friend Mr. Luby did not wish to touch on this matter + from a natural fear lest he should do any harm to the other political + prisoners; but there can be but little fear of that now, for a jury + has been found to convict me of this conspiracy upon the evidence. + Mr. Luby admitted that he was technically guilty according to British + law; but I say that it is only by the most torturing interpretation + that these men could make out their case against me. With reference + to this conspiracy there has been much misapprehension in Ireland, + and serious misapprehension. Mr. Justice Keogh said in his charge + against Mr. Luby that men would be always found ready for money, or + for some other motive, to place themselves at the disposal of the + government; but I think the men who have been generally bought in + this way, and who certainly made the best of the bargain, were + agitators and not rebels. I have to say one word in reference to the + foul charge upon which that miserable man, Barry, has made me + responsible."</p> + +<p> Mr. Justice Fitzgerald—"We cannot allow that tone of observation."</p> + +<p> Mr. O'Leary continued—"That man has charged me—I need not defend + myself or my friends from the charge. I shall merely denounce the + moral assassin. Mr. Justice Keogh the other day spoke of revolutions, + and administered a lecture to Mr. Luby. He spoke of cattle being + driven away, and of houses being burned down, that men would be + killed, and so on. I would like to know if all that does not apply to + war as well as to revolution? One word more, and I shall have done. I + have been found guilty of treason or treason-felony. Treason is a + foul crime. The poet Dante consigned traitors to, I believe, the + ninth circle of hell; but what kind of traitors? Traitors against + king, against country, against friends and benefactors. England is + not my country; I have betrayed no friend, no benefactor. Sidney and + Emmet were legal traitors, Jeffreys was a loyal man, and so was + Norbury. I leave the matter there."</p></div> + +<p>One hour after the utterance of these words John O'Leary, dressed in +convict garb, his hair clipped, and his beard shaved off, was the +occupant of a cell in Mountjoy prison, commencing his long term of +suffering in expiation of the crime of having sought to obtain +self-government for his native land.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='JEREMIAH_ODONOVAN_ROSSA'></a>JEREMIAH O'DONOVAN (ROSSA).</h2> + +<p>In one of the preceding pages we have mentioned the fact that at the +Cork Summer Assizes of 1859, a conviction was recorded against Jeremiah +O'Donovan (Rossa) for his complicity in the Phoenix conspiracy, and he +was then released on the understanding that if he should be found +engaging in similar practices, the crown would bring him up for +judgment. It is characteristic of the man that with this conviction +hanging like a mill-stone about his neck, he did not hesitate to take an +active and an open part with the promoters of the Fenian movement. He +travelled through various parts of Ireland in furtherance of the objects +of the society; he visited America on the same mission, and when the +<i>Irish People</i> was started he took the position of business manager in +that foredoomed establishment.</p> + +<p>He was brought into the dock immediately after John O'Leary had been +taken from it; but on representing that certain documents which he had +not then at hand were necessary for his defence, he obtained a +postponement of his trial for a few days. When he was again brought up +for trial he intimated to the court that he meant to conduct his own +defence. And he entered upon it immediately. He cross-examined the +informers in fierce fashion, he badgered the detectives, he questioned +the police, he debated with the crown lawyers, he argued with the +judges, he fought with the crown side all round. But it was when the +last of the witnesses had gone off the table that he set to the work in +good earnest. He took up the various publications that had been put in +evidence against him, and claimed his legal right to read them all +through. One of them was the file of the <i>Irish People</i> for the whole +term of its existence! Horror sat upon the faces of judges, jurymen, +sheriffs, lawyers, turnkeys, and all, when the prisoner gravely informed +them that as a compromise he would not insist upon reading the +advertisements! The bench were unable to deny that the prisoner was +entitled to read, if not the entire, at any rate a great portion of the +volume, and O'Donovan then applied himself to the task, selecting his +readings more especially from those articles in which the political +career of Mr. Justice Keogh was made the subject of animadversion. Right +on he read, his lordship striving to look as composed and indifferent as +possible, while every word of the bitter satire and fierce invective +written against him by Luby and O'Leary was being launched at his heart. +When articles of that class were exhausted, the prisoner turned to the +most treasonable and seditious documents he could find, and commenced +the reading of them, but the judges interposed; he claimed to be allowed +to read a certain article—Judge Keogh objected—he proposed to read +another—that was objected to also—he commenced to read another—he was +stopped—he tried another—again Judge Keogh was down on him—then +another—and he fared no better. So the fight went on throughout the +live-long day, till the usual hour of adjournment had come and gone, and +the prisoner himself was feeling parched, and weary, and exhausted. +Observing that the lights were being now renewed, and that their +lordships appeared satisfied to sit out the night, he anxiously inquired +if the proceedings were not to be adjourned till morning. "Proceed, +sir," was the stern reply of the judge, who knew that the physical +powers of the prisoner could not hold out much longer. "A regular +Norbury," gasped O'Donovan. "It's like a '98 trial." "You had better +proceed, sir, with propriety," exclaimed the judge. "When do you propose +stopping, my lord?" again inquired the prisoner. "Proceed, sir," was the +reiterated reply. O'Donovan could stand it no longer. He had been +reading and speaking for eight hours and a half. With one final protest +against the arrangement by which Judge Keogh was sent to try the cases +of men who had written and published such articles against him, he sat +down, exclaiming that, "English law might now take its course."</p> + +<p>Next day the jury handed down their verdict of guilty. The +Attorney-General then addressed the court, and referred to the previous +conviction against the prisoner. O'Donovan was asked, what he had to say +in reference to that part of the case? and his reply was that "the +government might add as much as they pleased to the term of his sentence +on that account, if it was any satisfaction to them." And when the like +question was put to him regarding the present charge, he said:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"With the fact that the government seized papers connected with my + defence and examined them—with the fact that they packed the + jury—with the fact that the government stated they would + convict—with the fact that they sent Judge Keogh, a second Morbury, + to try me—with these facts before me, it would be useless to say + anything."</p></div> + +<p>Judge Keogh proceeded to pass sentence. "The prisoner," he said, "had +entertained those criminal designs since the year 1859;" whereupon +O'Donovan broke in with the remark that he was "an Irishman since he was +born." The judge said, "he would not waste words by trying to bring him +to a sense of his guilt;" O'Donovan's reply was—"It would be useless +for you to try it." The judge told him his sentence was, that he be kept +in penal servitude for the term of his natural life. "All right, my +lord," exclaimed the unconquerable rebel, and with a smile to the +sympathising group around him, he walked with a light step from the +dock.</p> + +<p>The court was then adjourned to the 5th of January. 1866; and next day +the judges set off for Cork city, to dispose of the Fenian prisoners +there awaiting trial.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='BRYAN_DILLON_JOHN_LYNCH_AND_OTHERS'></a>BRYAN DILLON, JOHN LYNCH, AND OTHERS.</h2> + +<p>On Wednesday, December 16th, the trial of O'Donovan (Rossa) was brought +to a conclusion in Dublin. Next morning, away went judges, crown +lawyers, spies, detectives, and informers for the good city of Cork, +where another batch of men accused of conspiring against British rule in +Ireland—"the old crime of their race"—were awaiting the pronouncement +of British law upon their several cases. Cork city in these days was +known to be one of the <i>foci</i> of disaffection; perhaps it was its chief +stronghold. The Metropolis may have given an absolutely larger number of +members to the Fenian organization, but in proportion to the number of +its population the Southern city was far more deeply involved in the +movement. In Dublin, the seat of British rule in Ireland, many +influences which are but faintly represented in other parts of the +country, are present and active to repress the national ardour of the +people. Those influences are scarcely felt in the city of Saint Finbar. +Not in Ireland is there a town in which the national sentiment is +stronger or more widely diffused than in Cork. The citizens are a +warm-hearted, quick-witted and high-spirited race, gifted with fine +moral qualities, and profoundly attached to the national faith in +religion and politics. Merchants, traders, professional men, +shopkeepers, artizans, and all, are comparatively free from the spells +of Dublin Castle, and the result is visible in their conduct. The crown +looks dubiously and anxiously upon a Cork jury; the patriot, when any +work for Ireland is in hand, looks hopefully to the Cork people. The +leaders of the Fenian movement thoroughly understood these facts, and +devoted much of their time and attention to the propagation of their +society among men so well inclined to welcome it. Their labours, if +labours they could be called, were rewarded with a great measure of +success. The young men of Cork turned into the organization by hundreds. +There was no denying the fact; every one knew it; evidences of it were +to be seen on all sides. The hope that was filling their hearts revealed +itself in a thousand ways: in their marchings, their meetings, their +songs, their music. The loyal party in the neighbourhood grew alarmed, +and the government shared their apprehensions. At the time of which we +write, the opinion of the local magistracy and that of the authorities +at Dublin Castle was that Cork was a full-charged mine of "treason."</p> + +<p>Thither was the Commission now sped, to carry terror, if the "strong arm +of the law" could do it, into the hearts of those conspirators "against +the royal name, style, and dignity" of her Majesty Queen Victoria. As no +one in the Castle could say to what desperate expedients those people +might have recourse, it was thought advisable to take extraordinary +precautions to ensure the safety of the train which carried those +important personages, her Majesty's judges, lawyers, witnesses and +informers, through the Munster counties and on to the city by the Lee. +"Never before" writes the special correspondent of the <i>Nation</i>, "had +such a sight been witnessed on an Irish railway as that presented on +Thursday along the line between Dublin and Cork. Armed sentries paced +each mile of the railway; the platforms of the various stations through +which the trains passed were lined with bodies of constabulary, and the +bridges and viaducts on the way were guarded by a force of military, +whose crimson coats and bright accoutrements stood out in bold relief +from the dark ground on which they were stationed, against the grey +December sky. As a further measure of precaution a pilot engine steamed +in advance of the train in which their lordships sat, one carriage of +which was filled with armed police. And so, in some such manner as Grant +or Sheridan might have journeyed along the Petersburgh and Lynchburg +railway while the flag of the Confederacy floated in Richmond, the two +judges travelled down in safety to the head-quarters of Fenianism in +Munster."</p> + +<p>Immediately on their arrival in Cork, the judges proceeded to the +court-house and formally opened the business of the Commission. Next day +Charles Underwood O'Connell and John M'Afferty were placed in the dock. +These two men belonged to a class which formed the hope of the Fenian +organization, and which the government regarded as one of the most +dangerous elements of the conspiracy. They were Irish-American soldiers, +trained to war, and inured to the hardships of campaigning in the great +struggle which had but recently closed in America. They were a sample of +the thousands of Irishmen who had acquired in that practical school the +military knowledge which they knew was needed for the efficient +direction of an insurrectionary movement in Ireland, and, who were now +burning for the time and opportunity to turn that knowledge to account. +It was known that many of these men were, as quietly and secretly as +might be, dropping into Queenstown as steamer after steamer arrived from +the Land of the West, and were moving about through the Southern +counties, inspiriting the hearts of the Brotherhood by their presence +and their promises, and imparting to them as much military instruction +as was possible under the circumstances. To hunt down these "foreign +emissaries" as the crown lawyers and the loyal prints were pleased to +call them, and to deter others from following in their footsteps, was +naturally a great object with the government, and when they placed +Charles Underwood O'Connell and John M'Afferty in the dock they felt +they had made a good beginning. And these were representative men in +their way. "It was a strange fate," says the writer from whom we have +already quoted, "which had brought these men together in a felon's dock. +They had been born in different lands—they had been reared thousands of +miles apart—and they had fought and won distinction under different +flags, and on opposing sides in the American war. M'Afferty, born of +Irish parents in Ohio, won his spurs in the Confederate army. O'Connell, +who emigrated from Cork little more than two years ago, after the ruin +of his family by a cruel act of confiscation and eviction, fought under +the Stars and Stripes, and, like M'Afferty, obtained a captain's +commission as the reward of his services. Had they crossed each others +path two years ago they would probably have fought <i>a la mort</i>, but the +old traditions which linger in spite of every circumstance in the hearts +of Irishmen were strong in both, and the cause of Ireland united them, +only alas, that they might each of them pay the cost of their honest, if +imprudent enthusiasm, by sharing the same prison in Ireland, and falling +within the grasp of the government which they looked on as the oppressor +of their fatherland."</p> + +<p>M'Afferty however was not fated to suffer on that occasion. Proof of his +foreign birth having been adduced, the court held that his arrest on +board the steamer in Queenstown harbour, when he had committed no overt +act evidencing a treasonable intent, was illegal, and his trial was +abandoned. The trial of Underwood O'Connell was then postponed for a few +days, and two men reputed to be "centres" of the organization in Cork, +were brought to the bar.</p> + +<p>They were Bryan Dillon and John Lynch. Physically, they presented a +contrast to the firm-built and wiry soldiers who had just quitted the +dock. Dillon was afflicted with curvature of the spine, the result of +an accident in early life, and his companion was far gone in that +blighting and fatal disease, consumption. But though they were not men +for the toils of campaigning, for the mountain march, and the bivouac, +and the thundering charge of battle, they had hearts full of enthusiasm +for the cause in which they were engaged, and heads that could think, +and plot, and plan, for its advancement.</p> + +<p>We need not here go through the sad details of their trials. Our purpose +is to bring before our readers the courage and the constancy of the +martyrs to the cause of Irish nationality, and to record the words in +which they gave expression to the patriotic sentiments that inspired +them. It is, however, to be recollected that many of the accused at +these commissions—men as earnest, as honest, and as devoted to the +cause of their country as any that ever lived—made no such addresses +from the dock as we can include in this volume. All men are not orators, +and it will often occur that one who has been tried for life and liberty +in a British court of law, on the evidence of spies and informers, will +have much to press upon his mind, and many things more directly relevant +to the trial than any profession of political faith would be, to say +when called upon to show reason why sentence should not be passed upon +him. The evidence adduced in these cases is usually a compound of truth +and falsehood. Some of the untruths sworn to are simply blunders, +resulting from the confused impressions and the defective memory of the +witnesses, others are deliberate inventions, made, sworn to, backed up, +and persevered in for the purpose of insuring a successful result for +the prosecution. Naturally the first impulse of the accused, when he is +allowed to speak for himself, is to refer to these murderous falsehoods; +and in the excitement and trouble of those critical moments, it is all +that some men can venture to do. Such criticisms of the prosecution are +often valuable to the prisoner from a moral point of view, but rarely +have they any influence upon the result of the trial. All things +considered, it must be allowed that they act best who do not forget to +speak the words of patriotism, according to the measure of their +abilities, before the judge's fiat has sealed their lips, and the hand +of British law has swept them away to the dungeon or the scaffold.</p> + +<p>"Guilty" was the verdict returned by the jury against Bryan Dillon and +John Lynch. The evidence against them indeed was strong, but its chief +strength lay in the swearing of an approver named Warner, a callous and +unscrupulous wretch, from whose mind the idea of conscience seemed to +have perished utterly. If there was any check upon the testimony of this +depraved creature, it existed only in some prudential instinct, +suggesting to him that even in such cases as these a witness might +possibly overdo his work, and perhaps in a caution or two given him in a +private and confidential manner by some of the managers of the +prosecution. Warner's evidence in this case was conclusive to the minds +of all who chose to believe it; and therefore it was that those +prisoners had not long been occupants of the dock when the question was +put to them what they had to say why sentence should not be passed on +them. In reply Bryan Dillon said:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords, I never was for one minute in Warner's company. What + Warner swore about me was totally untrue. I never was at a meeting at + Geary's house. The existence of the Fenian organization has been + proved sufficiently to your lordships. I was a centre in that + organization; but it does not follow that I had to take the chair at + any meeting, as it was a military organization. I do not want to + conceal anything. Warner had no connexion with me whatever. With + respect to the observation of the Attorney-General, which pained me + very much, that it was intended to seize property, it does not follow + because of my social station that I intended to seize the property of + others. My belief in the ultimate independence of Ireland is as fixed + as my religious belief—"</p></div> + +<p>At this point he was interrupted by Judge Keogh, who declared he could +not listen to words that were, in fact, a repetition of the prisoner's +offence. But it was only words of this kind that Bryan Dillon cared to +say at the time; and as the privilege of offering some remarks in +defence of his political opinions—a privilege accorded to all prisoners +in trials for treason and treason-felony up to that time—had been +denied to him, he chose to say no more. And then the judge pronounced +the penalty of his offending, which was, penal servitude for a term of +ten years.</p> + +<p>John Lynch's turn to speak came next. Interrogated in the usual form, he +stood forward, raised his feeble frame to its full height, and with a +proud, grave smile upon his pallid features, he thus addressed the +court:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I will say a very few words, my lords. I know it would be only a + waste of public time if I entered into any explanations of my + political opinions—opinions which I know are shared by the vast + majority of my fellow-countrymen. Standing here as I do will be to + them the surest proof of my sincerity and honesty. With reference to + the statement of Warner, all I have to say is, and I say it honestly + and solemnly, that I never attended a meeting at Geary's, that I + never exercised with a rifle there, that I never learned the use of + the rifle, nor did any of the other things he swore to. With respect + to my opinions on British rule in this country—"</p> + +<p> Mr. Justice Keogh—"We can't hear that."</p> + +<p> The Prisoner—"All I have to say is, that I was not at Geary's house + for four or five months before my arrest, so that Warner's statement + is untrue. If, having served my country honestly and sincerely be + treason, I am not ashamed of it. I am now prepared to receive any + punishment British law can inflict on me."</p></div> + +<p>The punishment decreed to this pure-minded and brave-spirited patriot +was ten years of penal servitude. But to him it was practically a +sentence of death. The rigours and horrors of prison life were more than +his failing constitution could long endure; and but a few months from +the date of his conviction elapsed when his countrymen were pained by +the intelligence that the faithful-hearted John Lynch filled a nameless +grave in an English prison-yard. He died in the hospital of Woking +prison on the 2nd day of June, 1866.</p> + +<p>When Bryan Dillon and John Lynch were removed from the dock (Tuesday, +December 19th), two men named Jeremiah Donovan and John Duggan were put +forward, the former charged with having been a centre in the Fenian +organization, and the latter with having sworn some soldiers into the +society. Both were found guilty. Donovan made no remarks when called +upon for what he had to say. Duggan contradicted the evidence of the +witnesses on several points, and said:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I do not state those things in order to change the sentence I am + about to receive. I know your lordships' minds are made up on that. I + state this merely to show what kind of tools the British government + employ to procure those convictions. I have only to say, and I appeal + to any intelligent man for his opinion, that the manner in which the + jury list was made out for these trials clearly shows that in this + country political trials are a mere mockery."</p></div> + +<p>At this point the judge cut short the prisoner's address, and the two +men were sentenced, Donovan to five years and Duggan to ten years of +penal servitude.</p> + +<p>The trial of Underwood O'Connell was then proceeded with. It concluded +on December 21st, with a verdict of guilty. In response to the question +which was then addressed to him he spoke at considerable length, +detailing the manner of his arrest, complaining of the horrible +indignities to which he had been subjected in prison, and asserting that +he had not received a fair and impartial trial. He spoke amidst a +running fire of interruptions from the court, and when he came to refer +to his political opinions his discourse was peremptorily suppressed. +"The sentiments and hopes that animate me," he said, "are well known." +"Really we will not hear those observations," interposed Mr. Justice +Keogh. "It has been brought forward here," said the prisoner, "that I +held a commission in the 99th regiment—in Colonel O'Mahony's regiment. +Proud as I am of having held a commission in the United States service, +I am equally proud of holding command under a man—." Here his speech +was stopped by the judges, and Mr. Justice Keogh proceeded to pass +sentence. In the course of his address his lordship made the following +observations:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"You, it appears, went to America; you entered yourself in the + American army, thus violating, to a certain extent, your allegiance + as a British subject. But that is not the offence you are charged + with here to-day. You say you swore allegiance to the American + Republic, but no man by so doing can relieve himself from his + allegiance to the British Crown. From the moment a man is born in + this country he owes allegiance, he is a subject."</p></div> + +<p>Hearing these words, and remembering the great outcry that was being +made by the friends of the government against the Irish-American Fenians +on the ground that they were "foreigners," the prisoner interposed the +apt remark on his lordship's legal theory:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"If that is so, why am I charged with bringing over foreigners—John + O'Mahony is no foreigner?"</p></div> + +<p>To that remark Judge Keogh did not choose to make any reply. It +overturned him completely. Nothing could better exhibit the absurdity of +railing against those Irishmen as "foreigners" in one breath, and in the +next declaring their allegiance to the British Crown perpetual and +inalienable. His lordship may have winced as the point was so quickly +and neatly brought home to him; but at all events he went on with his +address and informed the prisoner that his punishment was to be ten +years of penal servitude. Upon which, the comment of the prisoner as he +quitted the dock, was that he hoped there would be an exchange of +prisoners before that time.</p> + +<p>In quick succession four men named Casey, Began, Hayes, and Barry, were +tried, convicted, and sentenced. Each in turn impugned the evidence of +the informer Warner, protested against the constitution of the juries, +and attempted to say a few words declaratory of their devotion to the +cause of Ireland. But the judges were quick to suppress every attempt of +this kind, and only a few fragments of sentences are on record to +indicate the thoughts to which these soldiers of liberty would have +given expression if the opportunity had not been denied to them.</p> + +<p>John Kennealy was the next occupant of the dock. He was a young man of +high personal character, and of great intelligence, and was a most +useful member of the organization, his calling—that of commercial +traveller—enabling him to act as agent and missionary of the Society +without attracting to himself the suspicion which would be aroused by +the movements of other men. In his case also the verdict was given in +the one fatal word. And when asked what he had to say for himself, his +reply was in these few forcible and dignified sentences:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lord, it is scarcely necessary for me to say anything. I am sure + from the charge of your lordship, the jury could find no other + verdict than has been found. The verdict against me has been found by + the means by which political convictions have always been found in + this country. As to the informer, Warner, I have only to say that + directly or indirectly I never was in the same room with him, nor had + he any means of knowing my political opinions. As to my connexion + with Mr. Luby, I am proud of that connexion. I neither regret it, nor + anything else I have done, politically or otherwise."</p></div> + +<p>On the conclusion of this trial, on Saturday, January 2nd, 1866, two +other cases were postponed without option of bail; some other persons +were allowed to stand out on sureties, and we read that "John McAfferty +and William Mackay, being aliens, were admitted to bail on their own +recognizance, and Judge Keogh said that if they left the country they +would not be required up for trial when called." We read also, in the +newspapers of that time, that "The prisoners McAfferty and Mackay when +leaving the courts were followed by large crowds who cheered them loudly +through the streets."</p> + +<p>The Cork Commission was then formally closed, and next day the judges +set off to resume in Dublin the work of trying Irish conspirators +against the rule of England over their native land.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='CHARLES_JOSEPH_KICKHAM'></a>CHARLES JOSEPH KICKHAM.</h2> + +<p>In the year 1825, in the village of Mullinahone, County. Tipperary, +Charles J. Kickham first saw the light. His father, John Kickham, was +proprietor of the chief drapery establishment in that place, and was +held in high esteem by the whole country round about for his integrity, +intelligence, and patriotic spirit. During the boyhood of young Kickham +the Repeal agitation was at its height, and he soon became thoroughly +versed in its arguments, and inspired by its principles, which he often +heard discussed in his father's shop and by his hearth, and amongst all +his friends and acquaintances. Like all the young people of the time, +and a great many of the old ones, his sympathies went with the Young +Ireland party at the time of their withdrawal from the Repeal ranks. In +1848 he was the leading spirit of the Confederation Club at Mullinahone, +which he was mainly instrumental in founding; and after the <i>fiasco</i> at +Ballingarry he was obliged to conceal himself for some time, in +consequence of the part he had taken in rousing the people of his native +village to action. When the excitement of that period had subsided, he +again appeared in his father's house, resumed his accustomed sports of +fishing and fowling, and devoted much of his time to literary pursuits, +for which he had great natural capacity, and towards which he was all +the more inclined because of the blight put upon his social powers by an +unfortunate accident which occurred to him when about the age of +thirteen years. He had brought a flask of powder near the fire, and was +engaged either in the operation of drying it or casting some grains into +the coals for amusement, when the whole quantity exploded. The shock and +the injuries he sustained nearly proved fatal to him; when he recovered, +it was with his hearing nearly quite destroyed, and his sight +permanently impaired. But Kickham had the poet's soul within him, and it +was his compensation for the losses he had sustained. He could still +hold communion with nature and with his own mind, and could give to the +national cause the service of a bold heart and a finely-cultivated +intellect. Subsequent to the decadence of the '48 movement he wrote a +good deal in prose and verse, and contributed gratuitously to various +national publications. His intimate acquaintance with the character and +habits of the peasantry gave a great charm to his stories and sketches +of rural life; and his poems were always marked by grace, simplicity, +and tenderness. Many of them have attained a large degree of popularity +amongst his countrymen in Ireland and elsewhere, and taken a permanent +place in the poetic literature of the Irish race. Amongst these, his +ballads entitled "Patrick Sheehan," "Rory of the Hill," and "The Irish +Peasant Girl" are deserving of special mention. To these remarks it +remains to be added that as regards personal character, Charles J. +Kickham was one of the most amiable of men. He was generous and kindly +by nature, and was a pious member of the Catholic Church, to which his +family had given priests and nuns.</p> + +<p>Such was the man whom the myrmidons of the law placed in the dock of +Green-street court-house, when on January 5th, 1866, after the return of +the judges from Cork, the Commission was re-opened in Dublin. His +appearance was somewhat peculiar. He was a tall, strong, rough-bearded +man, with that strained expression of face which is often worn by people +of dim sight. Around his neck he wore an india-rubber tube, or ear +trumpet, through which any words that were necessary to be addressed to +him were shouted into his ear by some of his friends, or by his +solicitor. His trial did not occupy much time, for on the refusal of the +crown lawyers and judges to produce the convict Thomas Clarke Luby, whom +he conceived to be a material witness for his defence, he directed his +lawyers to abandon the case, and contented himself with reading to the +court some remarks on the evidence which had been offered against him. +The chief feature in this address was his denial of all knowledge of the +"executive document." He had never seen or heard of it until it turned +up in connexion with those trials. Referring to one of the articles with +the authorship of which he was charged, he said he wondered how any +Irishman, taking into consideration what had occurred in Ireland during +the last eighty-four years, could hesitate to say to the enemy—"Give us +our country to ourselves and let us see what we can do with it." +Alluding to a report that the government contemplated making some +concession to the claims of the Catholic bishops, he remarked that +concessions to Ireland had always been a result of Fenianism in one +shape or another, and that he believed the present manifestation of the +national spirit would have weight, as former ones had, with the rulers +of the country. As regards the landed class in Ireland, the <i>Irish +People</i>, he contended, had said nothing more than was said by Thomas +Davis, whose works every one admired. That eminent Irishman, afflicted +and stung to the heart by witnessing the system of depopulation which +was going on throughout the country, had written these words:—</p> + +<div class="centerdiv2"> +<p class='poem'><span>"God of Justice, I sighed, send your Spirit down</span> +<span class='i2'>On those lords so cruel and proud,</span> +<span>And soften their hearts, and relax their frown,</span> +<span class='i2'>Or else, I cried aloud,</span> +<span>Vouchsafe Thy strength to the peasant's hand</span> +<span class='i2'>To drive them at length from out the land."</span> +</p> +</div> + +<p>He had not gone farther than the writer of these lines, and now, he +said, they might send him to a felon's doom if they liked.</p> + + +<p>And they did send him to it. Judge Keogh, before passing sentence, asked +him if he had any further remarks to make in reference to his case. Mr. +Kickham briefly replied:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I believe, my lords, I have said enough already. I will only add + that I am convicted for doing nothing but my duty. I have endeavoured + to serve Ireland, and now I am prepared to suffer for Ireland."</p></div> + +<p>Then the judge, with many expressions of sympathy for the prisoner, and +many compliments in reference to his intellectual attainments, sentenced +him to kept in penal servitude for fourteen years. His solicitor, Mr. +John Lawless, announced the fact to him through his ear trumpet. Charles +J. Kickham bowed to the judges, and with an expression of perfect +tranquility on his features, went into captivity. </p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='GENERAL_THOMAS_F_BURKE'></a>GENERAL THOMAS F. BURKE.</h2> + +<p class='center'><img src="images/image06.png" style="width: 350px; height: 479px; border: 0" alt="GENERAL THOMAS F. BURKE." /></p> + +<p>The year of grace, 1867, dawned upon a cloudy and troublous period in +Irish politics. There was danger brewing throughout the land; under the +crust of society the long confined lava of Fenianism effervesced and +glowed. There were strange rumours in the air; strange sounds were heard +at the death of night on the hill-sides and in the meadows; and through +the dim moonlight masses of men were seen in secluded spots moving in +regular bodies and practising military evolutions. From castle and +mansion and country seat the spectre of alarm glided to and fro, +whispering with bloodless lips of coming convulsions and slaughter, of +the opening of the crater of revolution, and of a war against property +and class. Symptoms of danger were everywhere seen and felt; the spirit +of disaffection had not been crushed; it rode on the night wind and +glistened against the rising sun; it filled rath and fort and crumbling +ruin with mysterious sounds; it was seen in the brightening eyes and the +bold demeanour of the peasantry; in the signals passing amongst the +people; in their secret gatherings and closely guarded conclaves. For +years and years Fenianism had been threatening, boasting, and promising, +and now the fury of the storm, long pent-up, was about to burst forth +over the land—the hour for action was at hand.</p> + +<p>Between the conviction of Luby, O'Leary, and Kickham, and the period at +which we are now arrived, many changes of importance had taken place in +the Fenian organization. In America, the society had been +revolutionized—it had found new leaders, new principles, new plans of +action; it had passed through the ordeal of war, and held its ground +amidst flashing swords and the smoke of battle; it had survived the +shocks of division, disappointment, and failure; treachery, incapacity +and open hostility had failed to shatter it; and it grew apace in +strength, influence, and resources. At home Fenianism, while losing +little in numerical strength, had declined in effectiveness, in +prestige, in discipline, and in organization. Its leaders had been swept +into the prisons, and though men perhaps as resolute stepped forward to +fill the vacant places, there was a loss in point of capacity and +intelligence, and to the keen observer it became apparent that the +Fenian Society in Ireland had attained to the zenith of its power on the +day that the <i>Irish People</i> office was sacked by the police. Never again +did the prospects of Fenianism, whatever they might then have been, look +equally bright; and when the brotherhood at length sprang to action, +they fought with a sword already broken to the hilt, and under +circumstances the most ominous and inauspicious.</p> + +<p>The recent history of the Fenian movement is so thoroughly understood +that anything like a detailed account of its changes and progress is, in +these pages, unnecessary. We shall only say that when James Stephens +arrived in America in May, 1866, after escaping from Richmond Prison, he +found the society in the States split up into two opposing parties +between whom a violent quarrel was raging. John O'Mahony had been +deposed from his position of "Head Centre" by an all but unanimous vote +of the Senate, or governing body of the association, who charged him and +his officials with a reckless and corrupt expenditure of the society's +funds, and these in turn charged the Senate party with the crime of +breaking up the organization for mere personal and party purposes. A +large section of the society still adhered to O'Mahony, in consideration +of his past services in their cause; but the greater portion of it, and +nearly all its oldest, best-known and most trusted leaders gave their +allegiance to the Senate and to its elected President, William R. +Roberts, an Irish merchant of large means, of talent and energy, of high +character and unquestionable devotion to the cause of his country. Many +friends of the brotherhood hoped that James Stephens would seek to heal +the breach between these parties, but the course he took was not +calculated to effect that purpose. He denounced the "senators" in the +most extravagant terms, and invited both branches of the organization to +unite under himself as supreme and irresponsible leader and governor of +the entire movement. The O'Mahony section did not answer very heartily +to this invitation; the Senate party indignantly rejected it, and +commenced to occupy themselves with preparations for an immediate +grapple with British power in Canada. Those men were thoroughly in +earnest, and the fact became plain to every intelligence, when in the +latter part of May, 1866, the Fenian contingents from the various States +of the Union began to concentrate on the Canadian border. On the morning +of the 1st of June some hundreds of them crossed the Niagara river, and +took possession of the village of Fort Erie on the Canadian side. They +were soon confronted with detachments of the volunteer force which had +been collected to resist the invasion, and at Limestone Ridge they were +met by the "Queen's Own" regiment of volunteers from Toronto, under the +command of Colonel Booker. A smart battle ensued, the result of which +was that the "Queen's Own" were utterly routed by the Irish under +Colonel John O'Neill, and forced to run in wild confusion for a town +some miles distant, Colonel Booker on his charger leading the way and +distancing all competitors. Had the Irish been allowed to follow up this +victory it is not unlikely that they would have swept Canada clear of +the British forces, and then, according to their programme, made that +country their base of operations against British power in Ireland. But +the American government interfered and put an effectual stopper on their +progress; they seized the arms of the Irish soldiers on the frontier, +they sent up large parties of the States soldiery to prevent the +crossing of hostile parties into British territory, and stationed +war-vessels in the river for the same purpose. Reinforcements being thus +cut off from them, the victors of Limestone Ridge found themselves under +the necessity of re-crossing the river to the American shore, which they +did on the night of the 2nd of June, bringing with them the flags and +other trophies which they had captured from the royal troops.</p> + +<p>The first brush between the Fenian forces and the Queen's troops +inspired the former with high hopes, and with great confidence in their +capacity to humble "the English red below the Irish green," if only they +could start on any thing like fair terms. But now that the American +government had forbidden the fight in Canada, what was to be done? James +Stephens answered that question. He would have a fight in Ireland—the +right place, he contended, in which to fight <i>for</i> Ireland. The home +organization was subject to his control and would spring to arms at his +bidding. He would not only bid them fight, but would lead them to +battle, and that at no distant day. The few remaining months of 1866 +would not pass away without witnessing the commencement of the struggle. +So he said, and so he swore in the most solemn manner at various public +meetings which he had called for the purpose of obtaining funds +wherewith to carry on the conflict. The prudence of thus publishing the +date which he had fixed for the outbreak of the insurrection was very +generally questioned, but however great might be his error in this +respect, many believed that he would endeavour to make good his words. +The British government believed it, and prepared for the threatened +rising by hurrying troops and munitions of war across to Ireland, and +putting the various forts and barracks in a state of thorough defence. +As the last days and nights of 1866 wore away, both the government and +the people expected every moment to hear the first crash of the +struggle. But it came not. The year 3867 came in and still all was +quiet. What had become of James Stephens? The astonished and irate +Fenians of New York investigated the matter, and found that he was +peacefully and very privately living at lodgings in some part of that +city, afraid to face the wrath of the men whom he had so egregiously +deceived. We need not describe the outburst of rage and indignation +which followed on the discovery; suffice it to say that the once popular +and powerful Fenian leader soon found it prudent to quit the United +States and take up his abode in a part of the world where there were no +Fenian circles and no settlements of the swarming Irish race.</p> + +<p>Amongst the men who had rallied round James Stephens in America there +were many whose honesty was untainted, and who had responded to his call +with the full intention of committing themselves, without regard to +consequences, to the struggle which he promised to initiate. They +believed his representations respecting the prospects of an insurrection +in Ireland, and they pledged themselves to fight by his side and perish, +if necessary, in the good old cause, in defence of which their fathers +had bled. They scorned to violate their engagements; they spurned the +idea of shrinking from the difficulty they had pledged themselves to +face, and resolved that come what may the reproach of cowardice and bad +faith should never be uttered against them. Accordingly, in January, +'67, they began to fend in scattered parties at Queenstown, and spread +themselves through the country, taking every precaution to escape the +suspicion of the police. They set to work diligently and energetically +to organize an insurrectionary outbreak; they found innumerable +difficulties in their path; they found the people almost wholly unarmed; +they found the wisest of the Fenian leaders opposed to an immediate +outbreak, but still they persevered. How ably they performed their work +there is plenty of evidence to show, and if the Irish outbreak of '67 +was short-lived and easily suppressed, it was far from contemptible in +the pre-concert and organization which it evidenced.</p> + +<p>One hitch did occur in the accomplishment of their designs. On +Wednesday, February 13th, the exciting news was flashed throughout the +land that the Fenians had broken into insurrection at Kerry. The news +was true. The night of the 12th of February had been fixed for a +simultaneous rising of the Fenians in Ireland; but the outbreak had been +subsequently postponed, and emissaries were despatched to all parts of +the country with the intelligence of the change of date. The change of +date was everywhere learned in time to prevent premature action except +at Cahirciveen, in the west of Kerry, where the members of the +Brotherhood, acting upon the orders received, unearthed their arms, and +gaily proceeded towards Killarney to form a junction with the insurgents +whom they imagined had converged from various parts of the county in +that town. Before many hours had elapsed they discovered their +mistake—they heard before arriving at Killarney that they were the only +representatives of the Irish Republic that had appeared in the field, +and turning to the mountains they broke up and disappeared.</p> + +<p>Short-lived as was their escapade, it filled the heart of England with +alarm. In hot haste the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Suspension Act, which had been +permitted to lapse a month before, was re-enacted; the arrests and +police raids was renewed, and from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear +the gaols were filled with political prisoners. Still the +Irish-Americans worked on; some of them were swept off to prison, but +the greater number of them managed to escape detection, and spite of the +vigilance of the authorities, and the extraordinary power possessed by +the government and its officials, they managed to carry on the business +of the organization, to mature their plans, and to perfect their +arrangements for the fray.</p> + +<p>We do not propose to write here a detailed account of the last of the +outbreaks which, since the Anglo-Norman invasion, have periodically +convulsed our country. The time is not yet come when the whole history +of that extraordinary movement can be revealed, and such of its facts, +as are now available for publication, are fresh in the minds of our +readers. On the night of the 5th of March, the Fenian bands took the +field in Dublin, Louth, Tipperary, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Clare. +They were, in all cases, wretchedly armed, their plans had been betrayed +by unprincipled associates, and ruin tracked their venture from the +outset. They were everywhere confronted by well-armed, disciplined men, +and their reckless courage could not pluck success for the maze of +adverse circumstances that surrounded them. The elements, too, +befriended England as they had often done before. Hardly had the +insurgents left their homes when the clear March weather gave place to +the hail and snow of mid-winter. The howling storm, edged by the frost +and hail, swept over mountain and valley, rendering life in the open air +all but impossible to man. The weather in itself would have been +sufficient to dispose of the Fenian insurgents. Jaded and exhausted they +returned to their homes, and twenty-four hours after the flag of revolt +had been unfurled the Fenian insurrection was at an end.</p> + +<p>Amongst the Irish officers who left America to share in the expected +battle for Irish rights, a conspicuous place must be assigned Thomas F. +Burke. He was born at Fethard, county Tipperary, on the 10th of +December, 1840, and twelve years later sailed away towards the setting +sun, his parents having resolved on seeking a home in the far West. In +New York, young Burke attended the seminary established by the late +Archbishop Hughes, where he received an excellent education, after which +he was brought up to his father's trade—that of house painter. For many +years he worked steadily at his trade, contributing largely to the +support of his family. The outbreak of the war, however, acted in the +same manner on Burke's temperament as on thousands of his +fellow-countrymen. He threw aside his peaceful avocation and joined the +Confederate army. He served under General Patrick Cleburne, who died in +his arms, and he fought side by side with the son of another +distinguished exile, John Mitchel. When the war had closed, he returned +a Brevet-General, northwards, with a shattered limb and an impaired +constitution. In June, 1865, he joined the Wolfe Tone Circle of the +Fenian Brotherhood in New York, and was appointed soon afterwards to act +as organizer in the Brotherhood for the district of Manhattan. He filled +this post with great satisfaction to his associates, and continued to +labour energetically in this capacity until his departure for Ireland, +at the close of 1866.</p> + +<p>Tipperary was assigned to Burke as the scene of his revolutionary +labours in Ireland. He arrived in Clonmel early in February, where he +was arrested on suspicion, but was immediately discharged—his worn +appearance and physical infirmity giving strong corroboration of his +assertion, that he had come to Ireland for the benefit of his health. On +the night of the insurrection he placed himself at the head of the +Fenian party that assembled in the neighbourhood of Tipperary, but he +quickly saw the folly of attempting a revolution with the scanty band of +unarmed men that rallied round him. On the evening of the 6th his +followers were attacked by a detachment of soldiers at Ballyhurst Fort, +about three miles from Tipperary; Burke saw the uselessness of +resistance, and advised his followers to disperse—an injunction which +they appear to have obeyed. Burke himself was thrown from his horse and +captured. He was conveyed to the jail of Tipperary, and was brought to +trial in the Greenstreet court-house, in Dublin, on the 24th of April +following. He was convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death in +the usual form. The following speech delivered by him after conviction +is well worthy of a place in the Irish heart:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords—It is not my intention to occupy much of your time in + answering the question—what I have to say why sentence should not be + passed upon me? But I may, with your permission, review a little of + the evidence that has been brought against me. The first evidence + that I would speak of is that of Sub-Inspector Kelly, who had a + conversation with me in Clonmel. He states that he asked me either + how was my friend, or what about my friend, Mr. Stephens, and + that I made answer and said, that he was the most idolised man that + ever had been, or that ever would be in America. Here, standing on + the brink of my grave, and in the presence of the Almighty and + ever-living God, I brand that as being the foulest perjury that ever + man gave utterance to. In any conversation that occurred the name of + Stephens was not mentioned. I shall pass from that, and then touch on + the evidence of Brett. He states that I assisted in distributing the + bread to the parties in the fort, and that I stood with him in the + waggon or cart. This is also false. I was not in the fort at the + time; I was not there when the bread was distributed. I came in + afterwards. Both of these assertions have been made and submitted to + the men in whose hands my life rested, as evidence made on oath by + these men—made solely and purely for the purpose of giving my body + to an untimely grave. There are many points, my lords, that have been + sworn to here to prove my complicity in a great many acts it has been + alleged I took part in. It is not my desire now, my lords, to give + utterance to one word against the verdict which has been pronounced + upon me. But fully conscious of my honour as a man, which has never + been impugned, fully conscious that I can go into my grave with a + name and character unsullied, I can only say that these parties, + actuated by a desire either of their own aggrandisement, or to save + their paltry miserable lives, have pandered to the appetite, if I may + so speak, of justice, and my life shall pay the forfeit. Fully + convinced and satisfied of the righteousness of my every act in + connection with the late revolutionary movement in Ireland, I have + nothing to recall—nothing that I would not do again, nothing for + which I should feel the blush of shame mantling my brow; my conduct + and career, both here as a private citizen, and in America—if you + like—as a soldier, are before you; and even in this, my hour of + trial, I feel the consciousness of having lived an honest man, and I + will die proudly, believing that if I have given my life to give + freedom and liberty to the land of my birth, I have done only that + which every Irishman and every man whose soul throbs with a feeling + of liberty should do. I, my lords, shall scarcely—I feel I should + not at all—mention the name of Massey. I feel I should not pollute + my lips with the name of that traitor, whose illegitimacy has been + proved here—a man whose name even is not known, and who, I deny + point blank, ever wore the star of a colonel in the Confederate army. + Him I shall let rest. I shall pass him, wishing him, in the words of + the poet:—</p> + +<div class="centerdiv"> +<p>"'May the grass wither from his feet;<br /> +The woods deny him shelter; earth a home;<br /> +The dust a grave; the sun his light:<br /> + And heaven its God!'</p> +</div> + +<p> "Let Massey remember from this day forth that he carries with him, as + my able and eloquent counsel (Mr. Dowse) has stated, a serpent that + will gnaw his conscience, will carry about him in his breast a living + hell from which he can never be separated. I, my lords, have no + desire for the name of a martyr; I seek not the death of a martyr; + but if it is the will of the Almighty and Omnipotent God that my + devotion for the land of my birth shall be tested on the scaffold, I + am willing there to die in defence of the right of men to free + government—the right of an oppressed people to throw off the yoke of + thraldom. I am an Irishman by birth, an American by adoption; by + nature a lover of freedom—an enemy to the power that holds my native + land in the bonds of tyranny. It has so often been admitted that the + oppressed have a right to throw off the yoke of oppression, even by + English statesmen, that I do not deem it necessary to advert to the + fact in a British court of justice. Ireland's children are not, never + were, and never will be, willing or submissive slaves; and so long as + England's flag covers one inch of Irish soil, just so long will they + believe it to be a divine right to conspire, imagine, and devise + means to hurl it from power, and to erect in its stead the God-like + structure of self-government. I shall now, my lords, before I go any + further, perform one important duty to my learned, talented, and + eloquent counsel. I offer them that which is poor enough, the thanks, + the sincere and heartfelt thanks of an honest man. I offer them, too, + in the name of America, the thanks of the Irish people. I know that I + am here without a relative—without a friend—in fact, 3,000 miles + away from my family. But I know that I am not forgotten there. The + great and generous Irish heart of America to-day feels for me—to-day + sympathises with and does not forget the man who is willing to tread + the scaffold—aye, defiantly—proudly, conscious of no wrong—in + defence of American principles—in defence of liberty. To Messrs. + Butt, Dowse, O'Loghlen, and all the counsel for the prisoners, for + some of whom I believe Mr. Curran will appear, and my very able + solicitor, Mr. Lawless, I return individually and collectively, my + sincere and heartfelt thanks.</p> + +<p> "I shall now, my lords, as no doubt you will suggest to me, think of + the propriety of turning my attention to the world beyond the grave. + I shall now look only to that home where sorrows are at an end, where + joy is eternal. I shall hope and pray that freedom may vet dawn on + this poor down-trodden country. It is my hope, it is my prayer, and + the last words that I shall utter will be a prayer to God for + forgiveness, and a prayer for poor old Ireland. Now, my lords; in + relation to the other man, Corridon, I will make a few remarks. + Perhaps before I go to Corridon, I should say much has been spoken on + that table of Colonel Kelly, and of the meetings held at his lodgings + in London. I desire to state, I never knew where Colonel Kelly's + lodgings were. I never knew where he lived in London, till I heard + the informer, Massey, announce it on the table. I never attended a + meeting at Colonel Kelly's; and the hundred other statements that + have been made about him. I now solemnly declare on my honour as a + man—as a dying man—these statements have been totally unfounded and + false from beginning to end. In relation to the small paper that was + introduced here, and brought against me as evidence, as having been + found on my person in connexion with that oath, I desire to say that + that paper was not found on my person. I knew no person whose name + was on that paper. O'Beirne, of Dublin, or those other delegates you + heard of, I never saw or met. That paper has been put in there for + some purpose. I can swear positively it is not in my handwriting. I + can also swear I never saw it; yet it is used as evidence against me. + Is this justice? Is this right? Is this manly? I am willing if I have + transgressed the laws to suffer the penalty, but I object to this + system of trumping up a case to take away the life of a human being. + True, I ask for no mercy. I feel that, with my present emaciated + frame and somewhat shattered constitution, it is bettor that my life + should be brought to an end than that I should drag out a miserable + existence in the prison dens of Portland. Thus it is, my lords, I + accept the verdict. Of course my acceptance of it is unnecessary, but + I am satisfied with it. And now I shall close. True it is there are + many feelings that actuate me at this moment. In fact, these few + disconnected remarks can give no idea of what I desire to state to + the court. I have ties to bind me to life and society as strong as + any man in this court can have. I have a family I love as much as any + man in this court loves his family. But I can remember the blessing I + received from an aged mother's lips as I left her the last time. She, + speaking as the Spartan mother did, said—'Go, my boy, return either + with your shield or upon it.' This reconciles me—this gives me + heart. I submit to my doom; and I hope that God will forgive me my + past sins. I hope also, that inasmuch as He has for seven hundred + years preserved Ireland, notwithstanding all the tyranny to which she + has been subjected, as a separate and distinct nationality, He will + also assist her to retrieve her fallen fortunes—to rise in her + beauty and majesty, the Sister of Columbia, the peer of any nation in + the world."</p></div> + +<p>General Burke, as our readers are well aware, was not executed. The +government shrank from carrying out the barbarous sentence of the law, +and his punishment was changed to the still more painful, if less +appalling fate, of penal servitude for life. Of General Burke's private +character we have said little; but our readers will be able to +understand it from the subjoined brief extracts from two of his letters. +On the very night previous to his trial he wrote to his mother from +Kilmainham Prison:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>... "On last Easter Sunday I partook of Holy Communion at a late + mass, I calculated the difference of time between this longitude and + yours, for I knew that you and my dear sisters were partaking of the + sacrament at early mass on that day, as was your wont, and I felt + that our souls were in communion together."</p></div> + +<p>We conclude with the following letter from General Burke, which has +never before been published, and which we are sure will be of deep +interest to our readers. It is addressed to the reverend gentleman who +had been his father confessor in Clonmel:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"KILMAINHAM GOAL,</p> + +<p> "<i>4th, Month of Mary.</i></p> + +<p> "DEAR REV. FATHER,</p> + +<p> " ... I am perfectly calm and resigned, with my thoughts firmly + centered with hope in the goodness and mercy of that kind Redeemer, + whose precious blood was shed for my salvation; as also in the + mediation and intercession of His Blessed Mother, who is my Star of + Hope and Consolation. I know, dear father, I need not ask you to be + remembered in your prayers, for I feel that in your supplication to + the Throne of Mercy I have not been forgotten.... I have only one + thought which causes me much sorrow, and that is that my good and + loving mother will break down under the weight of her affliction, + and, oh, God, I who loved her more than the life which animates the + hand that writes to be the cause of it! This thought unmans and + prostrates me. I wrote to her at the commencement of my trial, and + told her how I thought it would terminate, and spoke a long and last + farewell. I have not written since; it would break my heart to + attempt it; but I would ask you as an especial favour that you would + write to her and tell her I am happy and reconciled to the will of + God who has given me this opportunity of saving my immortal soul. I + hope to hear from you before I leave this world."</p> + +<p> "Good-bye, father, and that God may bless you in your ministry is the + prayer of an obedient child of the church."</p> + +<p> "THOMAS F. BURKE."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='CAPTAIN_JOHN_MAFFERTY'></a>CAPTAIN JOHN M'AFFERTY.</h2> + +<p>It is not Irish-born men alone whose souls are filled with a chivalrous +love for Ireland, and a stern hatred of her oppressor. There are amongst +the ranks of her patriots none more generous, more resolute, or more +active in her cause than the children born of Irish parents in various +parts of the world. In London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, +Glasgow, and all the large towns of Great Britain, throughout the United +States, and in the British colonies, many of the best known and most +thorough-going "Irishmen" are men whose place of birth was not beneath +the Irish skies, and amongst them are some who never saw the shores of +the Green Isle. One of these men was Captain John M'Afferty. He was born +of Irish parents in the State of Ohio, in the year 1838, and at their +knees he heard of the rights and wrongs of Ireland, learned to +sympathise with the sufferings of that country, and to regard the +achievement of its freedom as a task in which he was bound to bear a +part. He grew up to be a man of adventurous and daring habits, better +fitted for the camp than for the ordinary ways of peaceful life; and +when the civil war broke out he soon found his place in one of those +regiments of the Confederacy whose special duty lay in the +accomplishment of the most hazardous enterprises. He belonged to the +celebrated troop of Morgan's guerillas, whose dashing feats of valour so +often filled the Federal forces with astonishment and alarm. In the +latter part of 1865 he crossed over to this country to assist in leading +the insurrection which was then being prepared by the Fenian +organization. He was arrested, as already stated in these pages, on +board the steamer at Queenstown before he had set foot on Irish soil; +when brought to trial at Cork, in the month of December, the lawyers +discovered that being an alien, and having committed no overt act of +treason within the Queen's dominions, there was no case against him, and +he was consequently discharged. He then went back to America, took an +active part in some Fenian meetings, made a speech at one of them which +was held at Jones's Wood, and when the report of the proceedings +appeared in print, he, with a sense of grim humour, posted a copy +containing his oration to the governor of Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. In +the latter part of 1866, when James Stephens was promising to bring off +immediately the long-threatened insurrection, M'Afferty again crossed +the ocean, and landed in England. There he was mainly instrumental in +planning and organizing that extraordinary movement, the raid on +Chester, which took place on Monday, 11th of February, 1867. It is now +confessed, even by the British authorities themselves, that but for the +timely intimation of the design given by the informer Corridon, +M'Afferty and his party would probably have succeeded in capturing the +old Castle, and seizing the large store of arms therein contained. +Finding their movements anticipated, the Fenian party left Chester as +quietly as they had come, and the next that was heard of M'Afferty was +his arrest, and that of his friend and companion John Flood, on the 23rd +of February, in the harbour of Dublin, after they had got into a small +boat from out of the collier "New Draper," which had just arrived from +Whitehaven. M'Afferty was placed in the dock of Green-street +court-house for trial on Wednesday, May 1st, while the jury were absent +considering their verdict in the case of Burke and Doran. On Monday, May +the 6th, he was declared guilty by the jury. On that day week a Court of +Appeal, consisting of ten of the Irish judges, sat to consider some +legal points raised by Mr. Butt in the course of the trial, the most +important of which was the question whether the prisoner, who had been +in custody since February 23rd, could be held legally responsible for +the events of the Fenian rising which occurred on the night of the 5th +of March. Their lordships gave an almost unanimous judgment against the +prisoner on Saturday, May 18th, and on the Monday following he was +brought up for sentence, on which occasion, in response to the usual +question, he spoke as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords—I have nothing to say that can, at this advanced stage of + the trial, ward off that sentence of death, for I might as well hurl + my complaint (if I had one) at the orange trees of the sunny south, + or the tall pine trees of the bleak north, as now to speak to the + question why sentence of death should not be passed upon me according + to the law of the land; but I do protest loudly against the injustice + of that sentence. I have been brought to trial upon a charge of high + treason against the government of Great Britain, and guilt has been + brought home to me upon the evidence of one witness, and that witness + a perjured informer. I deny distinctly that there have been two + witnesses to prove the overt act of treason against me. I deny + distinctly that you have brought two independent witnesses to two + overt acts. There is but one witness to prove the overt act of + treason against me. I grant that there has been a cloud of + circumstantial evidence to show my connection (if I may please to use + that word) with the Irish people in their attempt for Irish + independence, and I claim that as an American and as an alien, I have + a reason and a right to sympathise with the Irish people or any other + people who may please to revolt against that form of government by + which they believe they are governed tyrannically. England + sympathised with America. She not only sympathised, but she gave her + support to both parties; but who ever heard of an Englishman having + been arrested by the United States government for having given his + support to the Confederate States of America and placed on his trial + for high treason against the government? No such case ever has been. + I do not deny that I have sympathised with the Irish people—I love + Ireland—I love the Irish people. And, if I were free to-morrow, and + the Irish people were to take the field for independence, my sympathy + would be with them; I would join them if they had any prospect + whatever of independence, but I would not give my sanction to the + useless effusion of blood, however done; and I state distinctly that + I had nothing whatever to do, directly or indirectly, with the + movement that took place in the county of Dublin. I make that + statement on the brink of my grave. Again, I claim that I have a + right to be discharged of the charge against me by the language of + the law by which I have been tried. That law states that you must + have two independent witnesses to prove the overt act against the + prisoner. That is the only complaint I have to make, and I make that + aloud. I find no fault with the jury, no complaint against the + judges. I have been tried and found guilty. I am perfectly satisfied + that I will go to my grave. I will go to my grave like a gentleman + and a Christian, although I regret that I should be cut off at this + stage of my life—still many an noble Irishman fell in defence of the + rights of my southern clime. I do not wish to make any flowery speech + to win sympathy in the court of justice. Without any further remarks + I will now accept the sentence of the court."</p></div> + +<p>Mr. Justice Fitzgerald then in the "solemn tone of voice" adopted on +such occasions proceeded to pass sentence in the usual form, fixing the +12th day of June as the date on which the execution should take place.</p> + +<p>The prisoner heard the sentence without giving the slightest symptoms of +emotion, and then spoke as follows:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"I will accept my sentence as becomes a gentleman and a Christian. I + have but one request to ask of the tribunal, and that is that after + the execution of the sentence my remains shall be turned over to Mr. + Lawless to be by him interred in consecrated ground as quietly as he + possibly can. I have now, previous to leaving the dock, once more to + return my grateful and sincere thanks to Mr. Butt, the star of the + Irish bar, for his able and devoted defence on behalf of me and my + friends. Mr. Butt, I thank you. I also return the same token of + esteem to Mr. Dowse, for the kind and feeling manner in which he + alluded to the scenes in my former life. Those kind allusions recall + to my mind many moments—some bright, beautiful, and glorious—and + yet some sad recollections arise of generous hopes that floated o'er + me, and now sink beyond the grave. Mr. Butt, please convey to Mr. + Dowse my grateful and sincere thanks. Mr. Lawless, I also return you + my thanks for your many acts of kindness—I can do no more."</p></div> + +<p>He was not executed however. The commutation of Burke's sentence +necessitated the like course in all the other capital cases, and +M'Afferty's doom was changed to penal servitude for life.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='EDWARD_DUFFY'></a>EDWARD DUFFY.</h2> + +<p>On the day following that on which M'Afferty's sentence was pronounced, +the trial of three men, named John Flood, Edward Duffy, and John Cody +was brought to a conclusion. When they were asked what they had to say +why sentence should not be passed on them, Cody denied with all possible +earnestness the charge of being president of an assassination committee, +which had been brought against him. Flood—a young man of remarkably +handsome exterior—declared that the evidence adduced against himself +was untrue in many particulars. He alluded to the Attorney-General's +having spoken of him as "that wretched man, Flood." "My lords," said he, +"if to love my country more than my life makes me a wretched man, then I +am a very wretched man indeed." Edward Duffy, it might be supposed by +anyone looking at his emaciated frame, wasted by consumption, and with +the seal of death plainly set on his brow, would not be able to offer +any remarks to the court; but he roused himself to the effort. The +noble-hearted young fellow had been previously in the clutches of the +government for the same offence. He was arrested with James Stephens and +others at Fairfield House, in November, 1865, but after a brief +imprisonment was released in consideration of the state of his health, +which seemed such as would not leave him many days to live. But, few or +many, Duffy could not do otherwise than devote them to the cause he had +at heart. He was re-arrested at Boyle on the 11th of March, and this +time the government took care they would not quit their hold of him. The +following is the speech which, by a great physical effort, he delivered +from the dock, his dark eyes brightening, and his pallid features +lighting up with the glow of an earnest and lofty enthusiasm while he +spoke:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"The Attorney-General has made a wanton attack on me, but I leave my + countrymen to judge between us. There is no political act of mine + that I in the least regret. I have laboured earnestly and sincerely + in my country's cause, and I have been actuated throughout by a + strong sense of duty. I believe that a man's duty to his country is + part of his duty to God, for it is He who implants the feeling of + patriotism in the human breast. He, the great searcher of hearts, + knows that I have been actuated by no mean or paltry ambition—that I + have never worked for any selfish end. For the late outbreak I am not + responsible; I did all in my power to prevent it, for I knew that, + circumstanced as we then were, it would be a failure. It has been + stated in the course of those trials that Stephens was for peace. + This is a mistake. It may be well that it should not go + uncontradicted. It is but too well known in Ireland that he sent + numbers of men over here to fight, promising to be with them when the + time would come. The time did come, but not Mr. Stephens. He remained + in France to visit the Paris Exhibition. It may be a very pleasant + sight, but I would not be in his place now. He is a lost man—lost to + honour, lost to country. There are a few things I would wish to say + relative to the evidence given against me at my trial, but I would + ask your lordships to give me permission to say them after sentence. + I have a reason for asking to be allowed to say them after sentence + has been passed."</p> + +<p> The Chief Justice—"That is not the usual practice. Not being tried + for life, it is doubtful to me whether you have a right to speak at + all. What you are asked to say is why sentence should not be passed + upon you, and whatever you have to say you must say now."</p> + +<p> "Then, if I must say it now I declare it before my God that what + Kelly swore against me on the table is not true. I saw him in + Ennisgroven, but that I ever spoke to him on any political subject I + declare to heaven I never did. I knew him from a child in that little + town, herding with the lowest and vilest. Is it to be supposed I'd + put my liberty into the hands of such a character? I never did it. + The next witness is Corridon. He swore that at the meeting he + referred to I gave him directions to go to Kerry to find O'Connor, + and put himself in communication with him. I declare to my God every + word of that is false. Whether O'Connor was in the country or whether + he had made his escape, I know just as little as your lordships; and + I never heard of the Kerry rising until I saw it in the public + papers. As to my giving the American officers money that night, + before my God, on the verge of my grave, where my sentence will send + me, I say that also is false. As to the writing that the policeman + swore to in that book, and which is not a prayer-book, but the + 'Imitation of Christ,' given to me by a lady to whom I served my + time, what was written in that book was written by another young man + in her employment. That is his writing not mine. It is the writing + of a young man in the house, and I never wrote a line of it."</p> + +<p> The Lord Chief Justice—"It was not sworn to be in your handwriting."</p> + +<p> "Yes, my lord, it was. The policeman swore it was in my + hand-writing."</p> + +<p> The Lord Chief Justice—"That is a mistake. It was said to be like + yours."</p> + +<p> "The dream of my life has been that I might be fighting for Ireland. + The jury have doomed me to a more painful, but not less glorious + death. I now bid farewell to my friends and all who are dear to me.</p> + +<div class="centerdiv"> +<p class='poem'><span>"'There is a world where souls are free,</span> +<span class='i2'>Where tyrants taint not nature's bliss;</span> +<span>If death that bright world's opening be,</span> +<span class='i2'>Oh, who would live a slave in this.'</span></p> +</div> + +<p> "I am proud to be thought worthy of suffering for my country; when I + am lying in my lonely cell I will not forget Ireland, and my last + prayer will be that the God of liberty may give her strength to shake + off her chains."</p></div> + +<p>John Flood and Edward Duffy were then sentenced each to fifteen years of +penal servitude, and Cody to penal servitude for life.</p> + +<p>Edward Duffy's term of suffering did not last long. A merciful +Providence gave his noble spirit release from its earthly tenement +before one year from the date of his sentence had passed away. On the +21st of May, 1867, his trial concluded; on the 17th of January, 1868, +the patriot lay dead in his cell in Millbank Prison, London. The +government permitted his friends to remove his remains to Ireland for +interment; and they now rest in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, where +friendly hands oft renew the flowers on his grave, and many a heartfelt +prayer is uttered that God would give the patriot's soul eternal rest, +and "let perpetual light shine unto him."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='STEPHEN_JOSEPH_MEANY'></a>STEPHEN JOSEPH MEANY.</h2> + +<p>The connexion of Stephen Joseph Meany with Irish politics dates back to +1848, when he underwent an imprisonment of some months in Carrickfergus +Castle, under the provisions of the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Suspension Act. He +had been a writer on one of the national newspapers of that period, and +was previously a reporter for a Dublin daily paper. He joined the Fenian +movement in America, and was one of the "Senators" in O'Mahony's +organization. In December, 1866, he crossed over to England, and in the +following month he was arrested in London, and was brought in custody +across to Ireland. His trial took place in Dublin on the 16th of +February, 1867, when the legality of the mode of his arrest was denied +by his counsel, and as it was a very doubtful question, the point was +reserved to be considered by a Court of Appeal. This tribunal sat on May +the 13th, 1867, and on May the 18th, their decision confirming the +conviction was pronounced. It was not until the 21st of the following +month, at the Commission of Oyer and Terminer that he was brought up for +sentence. He then delivered the following able address to show "why +sentence should not be passed on him":—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords—There are many reasons I could offer why sentence should + not—could not—be pronounced upon me according to law, if seven + months of absolute solitary imprisonment, and the almost total disuse + of speech during that period, had left me energy enough, or even + language sufficient to address the court. But yielding obedience to a + suggestion coming from a quarter which I am bound to respect, as well + indeed as in accordance with my own feelings, I avoid everything like + speech-making for outside effect. Besides, the learned counsel who so + ably represented me in the Court of Appeal, and the eminent judges + who in that court gave judgment for me, have exhausted all that could + be said on the law of the case. Of their arguments and opinions your + lordships have judicial knowledge. I need not say that both in + interest as in conviction I am in agreement with the constitutional + principles laid down by the minority of the judges in that court, and + I have sufficient respect for the dignity of the court—sufficient + regard to what is due to myself—to concede fully and frankly to the + majority a conscientious view of a novel and, it may be, a difficult + question.</p> + +<p> "But I do not ask too much in asking that before your lordships + proceed to pass any sentence you will consider the manner in which + the court was divided on that question—to bear in mind that the + minority declaring against the legality and the validity of the + conviction was composed of some of the ablest and most experienced + judges of the Irish bench or any bench—to bear in mind that one of + these learned judges who had presided at the Commission Court was one + of the most emphatic in the Court of Criminal Appeal in declaring + against my liability to be tried; and moreover—and he ought to + know—that there was not a particle of evidence to sustain the cause + set up at the last moment, and relied upon by the crown, that I was + an 'accessory before the fact' to that famous Dublin overt act, for + which, as an afterthought of the crown, I was in fact tried. And I + ask you further to bear in mind that the affirmance of the conviction + was not had on fixed principles of law—for the question was + unprecedented—but on a speculative view of a suppositious case, and + I must say a strained application of an already over-strained and + dangerous doctrine—the doctrine of constructive criminality—the + doctrine of making a man at a distance of three thousand miles or + more, legally responsible for the words and acts of others whom he + had never seen, and of whom he had never heard, under the fiction, or + the 'supposition,' that he was a co-conspirator. The word + 'supposition' is not mine, my lords; it is the word put forward + descriptive of the point by the learned judges presiding at my trial; + for I find in the case prepared by these judges for the Court of + Criminal Appeal the following paragraph:—</p> + +<p> "'Sufficient evidence was given on the part of the crown of acts of + members of the said association in Ireland not named in the + indictment in promotion of the several objects aforesaid, and done + within the county of the city of Dublin, to sustain some of the overt + acts charged in the indictment supposing them to be the acts of the + defendant himself.'</p> + +<p> "Fortified by such facts—with a court so divided, and with opinions + so expressed—I submit that, neither according to act of parliament, + nor in conformity with the practice at common law, nor in any way in + pursuance of the principles of that apocryphal abstraction, that + magnificent myth—the British constitution—am I amenable to the + sentence of this court—or any court in this country. True, I am in + the toils, and it may be vain to discuss how I was brought into them. + True, my long and dreary imprisonment—shut away from all converse or + association with humanity, in a cell twelve feet by six—the + humiliations of prison discipline—the hardships of prison fare—the + handcuffs, and the heartburnings—this court and its surroundings of + power and authority—all these are 'hard practical facts,' which no + amount of indignant protests can negative—no denunciation of the + wrong refine away; and it may be, as I have said, worse than + useless—vain and absurd—to question the right where might is + predominant. But the invitation just extended to me by the officer of + the court means, if it means anything—if it be not like the rest, a + solemn mockery—that there still is left to me the poor privilege of + complaint. And I do complain. I complain that law and justice have + been alike violated in my regard—I complain that the much belauded + attribute 'British fair play' has been for me a nullity—I complain + that the pleasant fiction described in the books as 'personal + freedom' has had a most unpleasant illustration in my person—and I + furthermore and particularly complain that by the design and + contrivance of what are called 'the authorities,' I have been brought + to this country, not for trial but for condemnation—not for justice + but for judgment.</p> + +<p> "I will not tire the patience of the court, or exhaust my own + strength, by going over the history of this painful case—the + kidnapping in London on the mere belief of a police-constable that I + was a Fenian in New York—the illegal transportation to Ireland—the + committal for trial on a specific charge, whilst a special messenger + was despatched to New York to hunt up informers to justify the + illegality and the outrage, and to get a foundation for any charge. I + will not dwell on the 'conspicuous absence' of fair play, in the + crown at the trial having closed their cases without any reference to + the Dublin transaction, but, as an afterthought, suggested by their + discovered failure, giving in evidence the facts and circumstances of + that case, and thus succeeding in making the jury convict me for an + offence with which up to that moment the crown did not intend to + charge me. I will not say what I think of the mockery of putting me + on trial in the Commission Court in Dublin for alleged words and acts + in New York, and though the evidence was without notice, and the + alleged overt acts without date, taunting me with not proving an + <i>alibi</i>, and sending that important ingredient to a jury already ripe + for a conviction. Prove an <i>alibi</i> to-day in respect of meetings held + in Clinton Hall, New York, the allegations relating to which only + came to my knowledge yesterday! I will not refer with any bitter + feeling to the fact that whilst the validity of the conviction so + obtained was still pending in the Court of Criminal Appeal, the Right + Hon. and Noble the Chief Secretary for Ireland declared in the House + of Commons that 'that conviction was the most important one at the + Commission'—thus prejudicing my case, I will not say willingly; but + the observation was, at least, inopportune, and for me unfortunate.</p> + +<p> "I will not speak my feeling on the fact that in the arguments in the + case in the Court for Reserved Cases, the Right Hon. the + Attorney-General appealed to the passions—if such can exist in + judges—and not to the judgment of the court, for I gather from the + judgment of Mr. Justice O'Hagan, that the right hon. gentleman made + an earnest appeal 'that such crimes' as mine 'should not be allowed + to go unpunished'.—forgetful, I will not say designedly forgetful, + that he was addressing the judges of the land, in the highest court + of the land, on matters of law, and not speaking to a pliant Dublin + jury on a treason trial in the court-house of Green-street.</p> + +<p> "Before I proceed further, my lords, there is a matter which, as + simply personal to myself I should not mind, but which as involving + high interests to the community, and serious consequences to + individuals, demand a special notice. I allude to the system of + manufacturing informers. I want to know, if the court can inform me, + by what right a responsible officer of the crown entered my solitary + cell at Kilmainham prison on Monday last—unbidden and + unexpected—uninvited and undesired. I want to know what + justification there was for his coming to insult me in my solitude + and in my sorrow—ostensibly informing me that I was to be brought up + for sentence on Thursday, but in the same breath adroitly putting to + me the question if I knew any of the men recently arrested near + Dungarvan, and now in the prison of Kilmainham. Coming thus, with a + detective dexterity, carrying in one hand a threat of sentence and + punishment—in the other as a counterpoise and, I suppose an + alternative, a temptation to treachery. Did he suppose that seven + months of imprisonment had so broken my spirit, as well as my health, + that I would be an easy prey to his blandishments? Did he dream that + the prospect of liberty which newspaper rumour and semi-official + information held out to me was too dear to be forfeited for a + trilling forfeiture of honour? Did he believe that by an act of + secret turpitude I would open my prison doors only to close them the + faster on others who may or may not have been my friends—or did he + imagine he had found in me a Massey to be moulded and manipulated + into the service of the crown, or a Corridon to have cowardice and + cupidity made the incentives to his baseness. I only wonder how the + interview ended as it did; but I knew I was a prisoner, and + self-respect preserved my patience and secured his safety. Great, my + lords, as have been my humiliation in prison, hard and heart-breaking + as have been the ordeals through which I have passed since the 1st of + December last, there was no incident or event of that period fraught + with more pain on the one hand, or more suggestiveness on the other, + than this sly and secret attempt at improvising an informer. I can + forget the pain in view of the suggestiveness; and unpleasant as is + my position here to-day, I am almost glad of the opportunity which + may end in putting some check to the spy system in prisons. How many + men have been won from honour and honesty by the stealthy visit to + the cell is more of course than I can say—how many have had their + weakness acted upon, or their wickness fanned into flame by which + means I have no opportunity of knowing—in how many frailty and folly + may have blossomed into falsehood it is for those concerned to + estimate. There is one thing, however, certain—operating in this way + is more degrading to the tempter than to the tempted; and the + government owes it to itself to put an end to a course of tactics + pursued in its name, which in the results can only bring its + humiliation—the public are bound in self-protection to protect the + prisoner from the prowling visits of a too zealous official.</p> + +<p> "I pass over all these things, my lords, and I ask your attention to + the character of the evidence on which alone my conviction was + obtained. The evidence of a special, subsidized spy, and of an + infamous and ingrate informer.</p> + +<p> "In all ages, and amongst all peoples, the spy has been held in + marked abhorrence. In the amnesties of war there is for him alone no + quarter; in the estimate of social life no toleration; his + self-abasement excites contempt, not compassion; his patrons despise + while they encourage; and they who stoop to enlist the services + shrink with disgust from the moral leprosy covering the servitor. Of + such was the witness put forward to corroborate the informer, and + still not corroborating him. Of such was that phenomenon, a police + spy, who declared himself an unwilling witness for the crown! There + was no reason why in my regard he should be unwilling—he knew me not + previously. I have no desire to speak harshly of Inspector Doyle; he + said in presence of the Crown Solicitor, and was not contradicted, + that he was compelled by threats to ascend the witness table; he may + have had cogent reasons for his reluctance in his own conscience. God + will judge him.</p> + +<p> "But how shall I speak of the informer, Mr. John Devany? What + language should be employed in describing the character of one who + adds to the guilt of perfidy to his associates the crime of perjury + to his God?—the man who eating of your bread, sharing your + confidence, and holding, as it were, your very purse-strings, all the + time meditates your overthrow and pursues it to its accomplishment? + How paint the wretch who, under pretence of agreement in your + opinions, worms himself into your secrets only to betray them; and + who, upon the same altar with you, pledges his faith and fealty to + the same principles, and then sells faith, and fealty, and + principles, and you alike, for the unhallowed Judas guerdon? Of such, + on his own confession was that distinguished upholder of the British + crown and government, Mr. Devany. With an affrontery that did not + falter, and knew not how to blush, he detailed his own participation + in the acts for which he was prosecuting me as a participator. And is + the evidence of a man like that—a conviction obtained upon such + evidence—any warrant for a sentence depriving me of all that make + life desirable or enjoyable?</p> + +<p> "He was first spy for the crown—in the pay of the crown, under the + control of the crown, and think you he had any other object than to + do the behests of the crown?</p> + +<p> "He was next the traitor spy, who had taken that one fatal step, from + which in this life there is no retrogression—that one plunge in + infamy from which there is no receding—that one treachery for which + there is no earthly forgiveness; and, think you, he hesitated about a + prejury more or less to secure present pay and future patronage? Here + was one to whom existence offers now no prospect save in making his + perfidy a profession, and think you he was deterred by conscience + from recommending himself to his patrons? Think you that when at a + distance of three thousand miles from the scenes he professed to + describe, he could lie with impunity and invent without detection, he + was particular to a shade in doing his part of a most filthy bargain? + It is needless to describe a wretch of that kind—his own actions + speak his character. It were superfluous to curse him, his whole + existence will be a living, a continuing curse. No necessity to use + the burning words of the poet and say:—</p> + +<div class="centerdiv"> +<p class='poem'><span>"'May life's unblessed cup for him</span> + <span>Be drugged with treacheries to the brim.'</span></p> +</div> + +<p> "Every sentiment in his regard of the country he has dishonoured, and + the people he has humbled, will be one of horror and hate. Every sigh + sent up from the hearts he has crushed and the homes he has made + desolate, will be mingled with execrations on the name of the + informer. Every heart-throb in the prison cells of this land where + his victims count time by corroding his thought—every grief that + finds utterance from these victims in the quarries of Portland will + go up to heaven freighted with curses on the Nagles, the Devanys, the + Masseys, the Gillespies, the Corridons, and the whole host of + mercenary miscreants, who, faithless to their friends and recreant to + their professions, have, paraphrasing the words of Moore, taken their + perfidy to heaven seeking to make accomplice of their God—wretches + who have embalmed their memories in imperishable infamy, and given + their accursed names to an inglorious immortality. Nor will I + speculate on their career in the future. We have it on the best + existing authority that a distinguished informer of antiquity seized + with remorse, threw away his blood-money, 'went forth and hanged + himself.' We know that in times within the memory of living men a + government actually set the edifying and praiseworthy example of + hanging an informer when they had no further use of his valuable + services—thus <i>dropping</i> his acquaintance with effect. I have no + wish for such a fate to any of the informers who have cropped out so + luxuriantly in these latter days—a long life and a troubled + conscience would, perhaps, be their correct punishment—though + certainly there would be a consistent compensation—a poetic + justice—in a termination so exalted to a career so brilliant.</p> + +<p> "I leave these fellows and turn for a moment to their victims. And, I + would here, without any reference to my own case, earnestly implore + that sympathy with political sufferers should not be merely + telescopic in its character, 'distance lending enchantment to the + view;' and that when your statesmen sentimentalize upon, and your + journalists denounce far-away tyrannies—the horrors of Neapolitan + dungeons—the abridgement of personal freedom in Continental + countries—the exercise of arbitrary power by irresponsible authority + in other lands—they would turn their eyes homeward, and examine the + treatment and the sufferings of their own political prisoners. I + would, in all sincerity, suggest that humane and well-meaning men, + who exert themselves for the remission of the death-penalty as a + mercy, would rather implore that the doors of solitary and silent + captivity should be remitted to the more merciful doom of an + immediate relief from suffering by immediate execution—the + opportunity of an immediate appeal from man's cruelty to God's + justice. I speak strongly on this point because I feel it deeply. I + speak not without example. At the Commission at which I was tried + there was tried also and sentenced a young man named Stowell. I well + remember that raw and dreary morning, the 12th March, when handcuffed + to Stowell I was sent from Kilmainham Prison to the County Gaol of + Kildare. I well remember our traversing, so handcuffed, from the town + of Sailing to the town of Naas, ancle deep in snow and mud, and I + recall now with pain our sad foreboding of that morning. These in + part have been fulfilled. Sunday after Sunday I saw poor Stowell at + chapel in Naas Gaol drooping and dying. One such Sunday—the 12th + May—passed and I saw him no more. On Wednesday, the 15th, he was, as + they say, <i>mercifully</i> released from prison, but the fiat of mercy + had previously gone forth from a higher power—the political convict + simply reached his own home to die, with loving eyes watching by his + death-bed. On Sunday, the 19th May, he was consigned to another + prison home in Glasnevin Cemetery. May God have mercy on his + soul—may God forgive his persecutors—may God give peace and + patience to those who are doomed to follow.</p> + +<p> "Pardon this digression, my lords, I could not avoid it. Returning to + the question, why sentence should not be pronounced upon me, I would + ask your lordships' attention to the fact showing, even in the + estimate of the crown, the case is not one for sentence.</p> + +<p> "On the morning of my trial, and before the trial, terms were offered + to me by the crown. The direct proposition was made through my + solicitor, through the learned counsel who so ably defended me, + through the Governor of Kilmainham Prison—by all three—that if I + pleaded guilty to the indictment, I should get off with six months' + imprisonment. Knowing the pliancy of Dublin juries in political + cases, the offer was, doubtless, a tempting one. Valuing liberty, it + was almost resistless—in view of a possible penal servitude—but + having regard to principle, I spurned the compromise. I then gave + unhesitatingly, as I would now give, the answer, that not for a + reduction of the punishment to six hours would I surrender + faith—that I need never look, and could never look, wife or + children, friends or family, in the face if capable of such a selfish + cowardice. I could not to save myself imperil the safety of others—I + could not plead guilty to an indictment in which six others were + distinctly charged by name as co-conspirators with me—one of those + six since tried, convicted, and sentenced to death—I could not + consent to obtain my own pardon at their expense—furnish the crown + with a case in point for future convictions, and become, even though + indirectly, worthy to rank with that brazen battalion of venal + vagabonds, who have made the Holy Gospel of God the medium of barter + for their unholy gain, and obtained access to the inmost heart of + their selected victim only to coin its throbbing into the traitor's + gold and traffic on its very life-blood.</p> + +<p> "Had I been charged simply with my own words and deeds I would have + no hesitation in making acknowledgement. I have nothing to repent + and nothing to conceal—nothing to retract and nothing to + countermand; but in the language of the learned Lord Chief Baron in + this case, I could not admit 'the preposterous idea of thinking by + deputy' any more than I could plead guilty to an indictment which + charge others with crime. Further, my lords, I could not acknowledge + culpability for the acts and words of others at a distance of three + thousand miles—others whom I had never seen, of whom I had never + heard, and with whom I never had had communication. I could not admit + that the demoniac atrocities, described as Fenian principles by the + constabulary-spy Talbot, ever had my sanction or approval or the + sanction or approval of any man in America.</p> + +<p> "If, my lords, six months' imprisonment was the admeasurement of the + law officers of the crown as an adequate punishment for my alleged + offence—assuming that the court had jurisdiction to try and + punish—then, am I now entitled to my discharge independent of all + other grounds of discharge, for I have gone through seven months of + an imprisonment which could not be excelled by demon ingenuity in + horror and in hardship—in solitude, in silence and in suspense. Your + lordships will not only render further litigation necessary by + passing sentence for the perhaps high crime—but still the untried + crime—of refusing to yield obedience to the crown's proposition for + my self-abasement. You will not, I am sure, visit upon my rejection + of Mr. Anderson's delicate overture—you will not surely permit the + events occurring, unhappily occurring, since my trial to influence + your judgments. And do not, I implore you, accept as a truth, + influencing that judgement, Talbot's definition of the objects of + Feminism. Hear what Devany, the American informer, describes them to + be. 'The members,' he says, 'were <i>pledged by word of honour</i> to + promote love and harmony amongst all classes of Irishmen and to + labour for the independence of Ireland.' Talbot says that in Ireland + 'the members are <i>bound by oath</i> to seize the property of the + country and murder all opposed to them.' Can any two principles be + more distinct from each other? Could there be a conspiracy for a + common object by such antagonistic means? To murder all opposed to + your principles may be an effectual way of producing unanimity, but + the quality of love and harmony engendered by such a patent process, + would be extremely equivocal. Mr. Talbot, for the purposes of his + evidence, must have borrowed a leaf from the History of the French + Revolution, and adopted as singularly telling and appropriate for + effect the saying attributed to Robespiere: 'Let us cut everybody's + throat but our own, and then we are sure to be masters.'</p> + +<p> "No one in America, I venture to affirm, ever heard of such designs + in connexion with the Fenian Brotherhood. No one in America would + countenance such designs. Revolutionists are not ruffians or + rapparees. A judge from the bench at Cork, and a noble lord in his + place in parliament, bore testimony to that fact, in reference to the + late movement; and I ask you, my lords—I would ask the country from + this court—for the sake of the character of your countrymen—to + believe Devany's interpretation of Fenianism—tainted traitor though + he be—rather than believe that the kindly instincts of Irishmen, at + home and abroad—their generous impulses—their tender + sensibilities—all their human affections, in a word—could + degenerate into the attributes of the assassin, as stated by that + hog-in-armour, that crime-creating Constable Talbot.</p> + +<p> "Taking other ground, my lords, I object to any sentence upon me. I + stand at this bar a declared citizen of the United States of America, + entitled to the protection of such citizenship; and I protest against + the right to pass any sentence in any British court for acts done, or + words spoken, or alleged to be done or spoken, on American soil, + within the shades of the American flag, and under the sanction of + American institutions. I protest against the assumption that would in + this country limit the right of thought, or control the liberty of + speech in an assemblage of American citizens in an American city. The + United States will, doubtless, respect and protect her neutrality + laws and observe the comity of nations, whatever they may mean in + practice, but I protest against the monstrous fiction—the + transparent fraud—that would seek in ninety years after the + evacuation of New York by the British to bring the people of New York + within the vision and venue of a British jury—that in ninety years + after the last British bayonet had glistened in an American sunlight, + after the last keel of the last of the English fleet ploughed its + last furrow in the Hudson or the Delaware—after ninety years of + republican independence—would seek to restore that city of New York + and its institutions to the dominion of the crown and government of + Great Britain. This is the meaning of it, and disguise it as you may, + so will it be interpreted beyond the Atlantic. Not that the people of + America care one jot whether S.J. Meany were hanged, drawn, and + quartered to-morrow, but that there is a great principle involved. + Personally, I am of no consequence; politically, I represent in this + court the adopted citizen of America—for, as the <i>New York Herald</i>, + referring to this case, observed, if the acts done in my regard are + justifiable, there is nothing to prevent the extension of the same + justice to any other adopted citizen of the States visiting Great + Britain. It is, therefore, in the injustice of the case the influence + lies, and not in the importance of the individual.</p> + +<p> "Law is called 'the perfection of reason.' Is there not danger of its + being regarded as the very climax of absurdity if fictions of this + kind can be turned into realities on the mere caprice of power. As a + distinguished English journalist has suggested in reference to the + case, 'though the law may doubtless be satisfied by the majority in + the Court of Appeal, yet common sense and common law would be widely + antagonistic if sentence were to follow a judgment so obtained.'</p> + +<p> "On all grounds then I submit, in conclusion, this is not a case for + sentence. Waving for the purpose the international objection, and + appealing to British practice itself, I say it is not a fair case for + sentence. The professed policy of that practice has ever been to give + the benefit of doubt to the prisoner. Judges in their charges to + juries have ever theorized on this principle, and surely judges + themselves will not refuse to give practical effect to the theory. If + ever there was a case which more than another was suggestive of + doubt, it is surely one in which so many judges have pronounced + against the legality of the trial and the validity of the conviction + on which you are about to pass sentence. Each of these judges, be it + remembered, held competent in his individuality to administer the + criminal law of the country—each of whom, in fact, in his + individuality does so administer it unchallenged and unquestioned.</p> + +<p> "A sentence under such circumstances, be it for a long period or a + short would be wanting in the element of moral effect—the effect of + example—which could alone give it value, and which is professedly + the aim of all legal punishment. A sentence under such circumstances + would be far from reassuring to the public mind as to the + 'certainties' of the law, and would fail to commend the approval or + win the respect of any man 'within the realm or without.' While to + the prisoner, to the sufferer in chief, it would only bring the + bitter, and certainly not the repentant feeling that he suffered in + the wrong—that he was the victim of an injustice based on an + inference which not even the tyrant's plea of necessity can + sustain—namely, that at a particular time he was at a distance of + three thousand miles from the place where he then actually stood in + bodily presence, and that at that distance he actually thought the + thoughts and acted the acts of men unknown to him even by name. It + will bring to the prisoner, I repeat, the feeling—the bitter + feeling—that he was condemned on an unindicted charge pressed + suddenly into the service, and for a constructive crime which some of + the best authorities in the law have declared not to be a crime + cognizable in any of your courts.</p> + +<p> "Let the crown put forward any supposition they please—indulge in + what special pleadings they will—sugar over the bitter pill of + constructive conspiracy as they can—to this complexion must come the + triangular injustice of this case—the illegal and unconstitutional + kidnapping in England—the unfair and invalid trial and conviction in + Ireland for the alleged offence in another hemisphere and under + mother sovereignty. My lords, I have done."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='CAPTAIN_JOHN_MCLURE'></a>CAPTAIN JOHN M'CLURE.</h2> + +<p>Captain John M'Clure, like Captain M'Afferty, was an American born, but +of Irish parentage. He was born at Dobb's Ferry, twenty-two miles from +New York, on July 17th, 1846, and he was therefore a mere youth when, +serving with distinguished gallantry in the Federal ranks, he attained +the rank of captain. He took part in the Fenian rising of the 5th March, +and was prominently concerned in the attack and capture of Knockadoon +coast-guard station. He and his companion, Edward Kelly, were captured +by a military party at Kilclooney Wood, on March 31st, after a smart +skirmish, in which their compatriot the heroic and saintly Peter +Crowley lost his life. His trial took place before the Special +Commission at Cork, on May 22nd and 23rd, 1807. The following are the +spirited and eloquent terms in which he addressed the court previous to +sentence being pronounced on him:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords—In answer to the question as to why the sentence of the + court should not now be passed upon me, I would desire to make a few + remarks in relation to my late exertions in behalf of the suffering + people of this country, in aiding them in their earnest endeavours to + attain the independence of their native land. Although not born upon + the soil of Ireland, my parents were, and from history, and + tradition, and fireside relations, I became conversant with the + country's history from my earliest childhood, and as the human race + will ever possess these God-like qualities which inspire mankind with + sympathy for the suffering, a desire to aid poor Ireland to rise from + her moral degradation took possession of me. I do not now wish to say + to what I assign the failure of that enterprise with which are + associated my well-meant acts for this persecuted land. I feel fully + satisfied of the righteousness of my every act in connexion with the + late revolutionary movement in this country, being actuated by a holy + desire to assist in the emancipation of an enslaved and generous + people. I derive more pleasure from having done the act than from any + other event that has occurred to me during my eventful but youthful + life. I wish it to be distinctly understood here, standing as I do + perhaps on the brink of an early grave, that I am no fillibuster or + freebooter, and that I had no personal object or inclination to gain + anything in coming to this country. I came solely through love of + Ireland and sympathy for her people. If I have forfeited my life. I + am ready to abide the issue. If my exertions on behalf of a + distressed people be a crime, I am willing to pay the penalty, + knowing, as I do, that what I have done was in behalf of a people + whose cause is just—a people who will appreciate and honour a man, + although he may not be a countryman of their own—still a man who is + willing to suffer in defence of that divine, that American + principle—the right of self-government. I would wish to tender to my + learned and eloquent counsel, Mr. Heron and Mr. Waters, and to my + solicitor, Mr. Collins, my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the able + manner in which they have conducted my defence. And now, my lords, I + trust I will meet in a becoming manner the penalty which it is now + the duty of your lordship to pronounce upon me. I have nothing more + to say."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='EDWARD_KELLY'></a>EDWARD KELLY.</h2> + +<p>On the same occasion the prisoner Edward Kelly delivered the following +soul-stirring address:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lords—The novelty of my situation will plead for any want of + fluency on my part; and I beg your lordships' indulgence if I am + unnecessarily tedious. I have to thank the gentlemen of the jury for + their recommendation, which I know was well meant; but knowing, as I + do, what that mercy will be, I heartily wish that recommendation will + not be received. Why should I feel regret? What is death? The act of + passing from this life into the next. I trust that God will pardon me + my sins, and that I will have no cause to fear entering into the + presence of the ever-living and Most Merciful Father. I don't + recollect in my life ever having done anything with a deliberately + bad intention. In my late conduct I do not see anything for regret. + Why then, I say, should I feel regret? I leave the dread of death to + such wretches as Corridon and Massey—Corridon, a name once so + suggestive of sweetness and peace, now the representative of a + loathsome monster. If there be anything that can sink that man, + Corridon, lower in the scales of degradation, it is—"</p> + +<p> The Chief Justice—"We cannot listen to any imputation on persons who + were examined as witnesses. Strictly speaking, you are only to say + why sentence of death should not be passed upon you; at the same time + we are very unwilling to hold a very strict hand, but we cannot allow + imputations to be made on third persons, witnesses or others, who + have come forward in this trial."</p> + +<p> Prisoner—"Well, my lord, I will answer as well as I can the question + put to me. The Irish people through every generation ever since + England has obtained a footing in Ireland, have protested against the + occupation of our native soil by the English. Surely that is answer + enough why sentence of death should not be passed upon me. In the + part I have taken in the late insurrection, I feel conscious that I + was doing right. Next to serving his Creator, I believe it is a man's + solemn duty to serve his country. [Here the prisoner paused to + suppress his emotion, which rendered his utterance very feeble, and + continued]—my lords, I have nothing more to say, except to quote the + words of the sacred psalmist, in which you will understand that I + speak of my country as he speaks of his:—'If I forget thee, O + Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten, let my tongue cleave to my + jaws if I do not remember thee: if I make not Jerusalem the beginning + of my joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of + Jerusalem: who say, raze, raze it, even to the foundation thereof. O + daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed be he who shall repay thee + thy payment which thou hast paid us.' In conclusion, my lords, I + wish to give my thanks to my attorney, Mr. Collins, for his untiring + exertions, and also to my counsel, Mr. Heron, for his able defence, + and to Mr. Waters."</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><a name='CAPTAIN_WILLIAM_MACKAY'></a>CAPTAIN WILLIAM MACKAY.</h2> + +<p>In the evidence adduced at the Cork Summer Assizes of 1867, on the +trials of persons charged with participation in the Fenian rising of +March 5th, the name of Captain Mackay frequently turned up. The captain, +it would appear, was a person of influence and importance in the +insurrectionary army. He had taken part in many councils of the Fenian +leaders, he was trusted implicitly by his political friends, and much +deference was paid to his opinion. But more than all this, he had taken +the field on the night of the rising, led his men gallantly to the +attack of Ballyknockane police barrack, and, to the-great horror of all +loyal subjects, committed the enormous offence of capturing it. This, +and the similar successes achieved by Lennon at Stepaside and +Glencullen, county Wicklow, were some of the incidents of the attempted +rebellion which most annoyed the government, who well knew the influence +which such events, occurring at the outset of a revolutionary movement, +are apt to exercise on the popular mind. Captain Mackay, therefore, was +badly "wanted" by the authorities after the Fenian rising; there was any +money to be given for information concerning the whereabouts of Captain +Mackay, but it came not. Every loyal-minded policeman in Cork county, +and in all the other Irish counties, and every detective, and every spy, +and every traitor in the pay of the government, kept a sharp look out +for the audacious Captain Mackay, who had compelled the garrison of one +of her Majesty's police barracks to surrender to him, and hand him up +their arms in the quietest and most polite manner imaginable; but they +saw him not, or if they saw, they did not recognise him.</p> + +<p>So month after month rolled on, and no trace of Captain Mackay could be +had. The vigilant guardians and servants of English law in Ireland, then +began to think he must have managed to get clear out of the country, and +rather expected that the next thing they would hear of him would be that +he was organizing and lecturing amongst the Irish enemies of England in +the United States. There, however, they were quite mistaken, as they +soon found out to their very great vexation and alarm.</p> + +<p>On the 27th day of December, 1867, there was strange news in Cork, and +strange news all over the country, for the telegraph wires spread it in +every direction. The news was that on the previous evening a party of +Fenians had entered the Martello tower at Foaty, on the north side of +the Cork river, made prisoners of the gunners who were in charge, and +had then taken possession of, and borne away all the arms and ammunition +they could find in the place! Startling news this was undoubtedly. Loyal +men stopped each other in the streets, and asked if anything like it had +ever been heard of. They wanted to know if things were not coming to a +pretty pass, and did not hesitate to say they would feel greatly obliged +to anyone who could answer for them the question "What next?" For this +sack of the Martello tower was not the first successful raid for arms +which the Fenians had made in that neighbourhood. About a month +before—on the night of November 28th—they had contrived to get into +the shop of Mr. Richardson, gunmaker, Patrick-street, and abstract from +the premises no fewer than 120 revolvers and eight Snider rifles, +accomplishing the feat so skilfully, that no trace either of the weapons +or the depredators had since been discovered. This was what might be +called a smart stroke of work, but it shrunk into insignificance +compared with the audacious act of plundering one of her Majesty's +fortified stations.</p> + +<p>The details of the affair, which were soon known, were received by the +public with mingled feelings of amusement and amazement. The Fenian +party, it was learned, had got into the tower by the usual means of +entrance—a step-ladder, reaching to the door, which is situate at some +height from the ground. One party of the invaders remained in the +apartment just inside the entrance door, while another numbering five +persons, proceeded to an inner room, where they found two of the +gunners, with their families, just in the act of sitting down to tea. In +an instant revolvers were placed at the heads of the men, who were told +not to stir on peril of their lives. At the same time assurances were +given to them, and to the affrighted women, that if they only kept quiet +and complied with the demands of the party no harm whatever should befal +them. The garrison saw that resistance was useless, and promptly acceded +to those terms. The invaders then asked for and got the keys of the +magazine, which they handed out to their friends, who forthwith set to +work to remove the ammunition which they found stored in the vaults. +They seized about 300 lbs. of gunpowder, made up in 8 lb. cartridges, a +quantity of fuses, and other military stores, and then proceeded to +search the entire building for arms. Of these, however, they found very +little—nothing more than the rifles and sword bayonets of the two or +three men who constituted the garrison, a circumstance which seemed to +occasion them much disappointment. They were particularly earnest and +pressing in their inquiries for hand-grenades, a species of missile +which they had supposed was always kept "in stock" in such places. They +could scarcely believe that there were none to be had. Some charges of +grape-shot which they laid hands on might be, they thought, the sort of +weapon they were in quest of, and they proceeded to dissect and analyse +one of them. Grape-shot, we may explain to the unlearned in these +matters, is "an assemblage, in the form of a cylindrical column, of nine +balls resting on a circular plate, through which passes a pin serving as +an axis. The balls are contained in a strong canvas bag, and are bound +together on the exterior of the latter by a cord disposed about the +column in the manner of a net." This was not the sort of thing the +Fenian party wanted; grape-shot could be of no use to them, for the +Fenian organization, to its great sorrow, was possessed of no artillery; +they resolved, therefore, to leave those ingeniously-constructed +packages behind them, and to retire with the more serviceable spoils +they had gathered. While the search was proceeding, the Fenian sentries, +with revolvers ready in their hands, stood guard over the gunners, and +prevented anyone—young or old—from quitting the room. They spoke +kindly to all however, chatted with the women, and won the affectionate +regards of the youngsters by distributing money among them. One of these +strange visitors became so familiar as to tell one of the women that if +she wished to know who he was, his name was Captain Mac—a piece of +information which did not strike her at the time as being of any +peculiar value. When the party had got their booty safely removed from +the building, this chivalrous captain and his four assistant sentries +prepared to leave; they cautioned the gunners, of whom there were three +at this time in the building—one having entered while the search was +proceeding—against quitting the fort till morning, stating that men +would be on the watch outside to shoot them if they should attempt it. +So much being said and done, they bade a polite good evening to her +Majesty's gunners and their interesting families, and withdrew.</p> + +<p>The heroic garrison did not venture out immediately after they had been +relieved of the presence of the Fenian party; but finding that a few +charges of powder were still stowed away in a corner of the fort, they +hurried with them to the top of the building and commenced to blaze away +from the big gun which was there <i>in situ</i>. This performance they meant +as a signal of distress; but though the sounds were heard and the +flashes seen far and wide, no one divined the object of what appeared to +be nothing more than an oddly-timed bit of artillery practice. Next +morning the whole story was in every one's mouth. Vast was the amusement +which it afforded to the Corkonians generally, and many were the +encomiums which they passed on the dashing Irish-Americans and smart +youths of Cork's own town who had accomplished so daring and clever a +feat. Proportionally great was the irritation felt by the sprinkling of +loyalists and by the paid servants of the crown in that quarter. One +hope at all events the latter party had, that the leader in the +adventure would soon be "in the hands of justice," and one comforting +assurance, that never again would the Fenians be able to replenish their +armoury in so easy and so unlawful a manner.</p> + +<p>Four days afterwards there was another "sensation" in Cork. The Fenian +collectors of arms had made another haul! And this time their mode of +action surpassed all their previous performances in coolness and daring. +At nine o'clock in the morning, on the 30th of December, eight men, who +had assumed no disguise, suddenly entered the shop of Mr. Henry Allport, +gunmaker, of Patrick-street, and producing revolvers from their pockets, +covered him and his two assistants, telling then at the same time that +if they ventured to stir, or raise any outcry, they were dead men. While +the shopmen remained thus bound to silence, five of the party proceeded +to collect all the rifles and revolvers in the establishment, and place +them in a canvas sack which had been brought for the purpose. This sack, +into which a few guns and seventy-two splendid revolvers of the newest +construction had been put, was then carried off by two men, who, having +transferred the contents to the safe-keeping of some confederates, +returned with it very quickly to receive and bear away a large quantity +of revolver cartridges which had been found in the shop. This second +"loot" having been effected, the guards who stood over Mr. Allport and +his men, lowered their weapons, and after cautioning all three not to +dare to follow them, quitted the shop in a leisurely manner, and +disappeared down one of the by-streets. As soon as he was able to +collect his scattered wits, Mr. Allport rushed to the nearest police +station, and gave information of what had occurred. The police hastened +to the scene of this daring exploit, but of course "the birds were +flown," and no one could say whither.</p> + +<p>Needless to say how this occurrence intensified the perplexity and the +rage of the government party in all parts of the country. There was +surely some fierce swearing in Dublin Castle on the day that news +arrived, and perhaps many a passionate query blurted out as to whether +police, detectives, magistrates, and all in that southern district were +not secretly in league with the rebels. In fact, a surmise actually got +into the papers that the proprietors of the gunshops knew more about the +disappearance of the arms, and were less aggrieved by the "seizure" than +they cared to acknowledge. However this might be, the popular party +enjoyed the whole thing immensely, laughed over it heartily, and +expressed in strong terms their admiration of the skill and daring +displayed by the operators. The following squib, which appeared in the +<i>Nation</i> at the time, over the initials "T.D.S.," affords an indication +of the feelings excited among Irish nationalists by those extraordinary +occurrences:—</p> + +<div class="centerdiv2"> +<p class='poem'><span class='i2'>THE CORK MEN AND NEW YORK MEN</span></p> +<p class='poem'><span class='i3'>Oh, the gallant Cork men,</span> +<span class='i3'>Mixed with New York men,</span> +<span>I'm sure their equals they can't be found,</span> +<span class='i3'>For persevering</span> +<span class='i3'>In deeds of daring,</span> +<span>They set men staring the world around.</span> +<span class='i3'>No spies can match them,</span> +<span class='i3'>No sentries watch them,</span> +<span>No specials catch them or mar their play,</span> +<span class='i3'>While the clever Cork men</span> +<span class='i3'>And cute New York men</span> +<span>Work new surprises by night and day.</span></p> +<p class='poem'> +<span class='i3'>Sedate and steady,</span> +<span class='i3'>Calm, quick, and ready,</span> +<span>They boldly enter, and make no din.</span> +<span class='i3'>Where'er such trifles</span> +<span class='i3'>As Snider rifles</span> +<span>And bright six-shooters are stored within.</span> +<span class='i3'>The Queen's round towers</span> +<span class='i3'>Can't baulk their powers,</span> +<span>Off go the weapons by sea and shore,</span> +<span class='i3'>To where the Cork men</span> +<span class='i3'>And smart New York men</span> +<span>Are daily piling their precious store.</span></p> +<p class='poem'> +<span class='i3'>John Bull, in wonder,</span> +<span class='i3'>With voice like thunder,</span> +<span>Declares such plunder he roust dislike,</span> +<span class='i3'>They next may rowl in</span> +<span class='i3'>And sack Haulbowline,</span> +<span>Or on a sudden run off with Spike.</span> +<span class='i3'>His peace is vanished,</span> +<span class='i3'>His joys are banished,</span> +<span>And gay or happy no more he'll be,</span> +<span class='i3'>Until those Cork men</span> +<span class='i3'>And wild New York men</span> +<span>Are sunk together beneath the sea.</span></p> +<p class='poem'> +<span class='i3'>Oh, bold New York men</span> +<span class='i3'>And daring Cork men,</span> +<span>We own your pleasures should all grow dim,</span> +<span class='i3'>On thus discerning</span> +<span class='i3'>And plainly learning</span> +<span>That your amusement gives pain to <i>him</i>.</span> +<span class='i3'>Yet, from the nation,</span> +<span class='i3'>This salutation</span> +<span>Leaps forth, and echoes with thunderous sound—</span> +<span class='i3'>"Here's to all Cork men,</span> +<span class='i3'>Likewise New York men,</span> +<span>Who stand for Ireland, the world around!"</span></p> +</div> + +<p>But Captain Mackay, skilful and "lucky" as he was, was trapped at last.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the 7th of February, 1868, he walked into the grocery +and spirit shop of Mr. Cronin in Market-street—not to drink whiskey or +anything of that sort, for he was a man of strictly temperate habits, +and he well knew that of all men those who are engaged in the dangerous +game of conspiracy and revolution can least afford to partake of drinks +that may unloose their tongues and let their wits run wild. He called +for a glass of lemonade, and recognising some persons who were in the +shop at the time, he commenced a conversation with them.</p> + +<p>Only a few minutes from the time of his entrance had elapsed when a +party of police, wearing a disguise over their uniforms, rushed into the +shop, and commanded the door to be shut.</p> + +<p>The men inside attempted to separate and escape, but they were +instantly grappled by the police. One of the force seized Captain Mackay +by the collar, and a vigorous struggle between them at once commenced. +The policeman was much the larger man of the two, but the Fenian Captain +was wiry and muscular, and proved quite a match for him. They fell, and +rose, and fell, and rose again, the policeman undermost sometimes, and +at other times the Fenian Captain. They struggled for nearly twenty +minutes.</p> + +<p>"Dead or alive, I'll take you," said the policeman, as he drew his +revolver from his pocket.</p> + +<p>"I have but one life, to lose, and if it goes, so be it," replied Mackay +drawing a weapon of the same kind.</p> + +<p>In another instant there was a clash as of striking steel, and a +discharge of one of the weapons.</p> + +<p>"Good God! I'm shot!" exclaimed Constable Casey from, the end of the +room, and he fell upon the floor.</p> + +<p>Captain Mackay's revolver had gone off in the struggle, and the ball had +struck the constable in the leg, inflicting on him a serious wound.</p> + +<p>By this time several parties of police had arrived in the street and +stationed themselves so as to prevent the formation of a crowd and deter +the people from any attempt at rescue. A reinforcement having turned +into the house in which the struggle was going on, Captain Mackay and +others who had been in his company were made prisoners, and marched off +in custody.</p> + +<p>Some days afterwards, the wounded constable, who had refused to submit +to amputation of the wounded limb, died in hospital.</p> + +<p>On the 10th of March, 1868, at the Cork Assizes, Judge O'Hagan +presiding, Captain Mackay was put on his trial for murder. The evidence +established a probability that the discharge of the prisoner's revolver +was not intended or effected by him, but was a consequence of its having +been struck by the revolver of the policeman who was struggling with +him. The verdict of the jury therefore was one of acquittal.</p> + +<p>But then came the other charge against him, the charge of +treason-felony, for his connexion with the Fenian Brotherhood, and his +part in the recent "rising." For this he was put on trial on the 20th +day of March. He was ably defended by Mr. Heron, Q.C.; but the evidence +against him was conclusive. To say nothing of the testimony of the +informers, which should never for a moment be regarded as trustworthy, +there was the evidence and the identification supplied by the gunners of +the Martello tower and their wives, and the policemen of Ballyknockane +station and the wife of one of them. This evidence while establishing +the fact that the prisoner had been concerned in the levying of war +against the crown, established also the fact that he was a man as +chivalrous and gentle as he was valorous and daring. Some of the +incidents proved to have occurred during the attack which was made, +under his leadership, on the police barrack, are worthy of special +mention in any sketch, however brief, of the life and adventures of this +remarkable man. After he, at the head of his party, had demanded the +surrender of the barrack in the name of the Irish Republic, the police +fired, and the fire was returned. Then the insurgents broke in the door +and set fire to the lower part of the barrack. Still the police held +out. "Surrender!" cried the insurgents; "<i>You want to commit suicide, +but we don't want to commit murder.</i>" One of the policemen then cried +out that a little girl, his daughter, was inside, and asked if the +attacking party would allow her to be passed out? Of course they would, +gladly; and the little girl was taken out of the window with all +tenderness, and given up to her mother who had chanced to be outside the +barrack when the attack commenced. At this time a Catholic clergyman, +the Rev. Mr. Neville, came on the spot. He asked the insurgent leader +whether, if the police surrendered, any harm would be done to them? +"Here is my revolver," said Captain Mackay, "let the contents of it be +put through me if one of them should be injured." Well did Mr. Heron in +his able speech, referring to these facts, say, "Though they were rebels +who acted that heroic part, who could say their hearts, were not +animated with the courage of Leonidas, and the chivalry of Bayard."</p> + +<p>On the second day of the trial the jury brought in their verdict, +declaring the prisoner guilty, but at the same time recommending him to +the merciful consideration of the court, because of the humanity which +he had displayed towards the men whom he had in his power. The finding +took no one by surprise, and did not seem to trouble the prisoner in the +faintest degree. During the former trial some shades of anxiety might +have been detected on his features; the charge of "murder" was grievous +to him, but when that was happily disposed of, the world seemed to +brighten before him, and he took his treason-felony trial cheerily. He +knew what the verdict on the evidence would be, and he was conscious +that the penalty to be imposed on him would be no trivial one; he felt +that it was hard to part from faithful comrades, and dear friends, and, +above all, from the young wife whom he had married only a few short +months before; but then it was in Ireland's cause he was about to +suffer, and for that he could endure all.</p> + +<p>And yet, Ireland was not his native land. He was born in Cincinnatti, +Ohio, in the year 1841. But his parents, who were natives of +Castle-Lyons, near Fermoy, in the County Cork, were true children of +Erin, and they taught their son to love, even as they did themselves, +that green isle far away, from which a hard fate had compelled them to +roam. Patriotism, indeed, was hereditary in the family. The +great-grandfather of our hero suffered death for his fidelity to the +cause of Ireland in the memorable year 1798; and a still-more remarkable +fact is that Captain Mackay—or William Francis Lomasney, to call him by +his real name—in leaving America for Ireland in 1865 to take part in +the contemplated rising, merely took the place which his father wished +and intended to occupy. The young man induced him, to remain at home, +and claimed for himself the post of danger. Well may that patriotic +father be proud of such a son.</p> + +<p>When called upon for such remarks as he might have to offer on his own +behalf, Captain Mackay, without any of the airs of a practised speaker, +but yet with a manner that somehow touched every heart and visibly +affected the humane and upright judge who sat on the bench, delivered +the following address:—</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"My lord—What I said last evening I think calls for a little + explanation. I then said I was fully satisfied with the verdict—that + it was a fair and just one. I say so still, but I wish to state that + I consider it only so in accordance with British law, and that it is + not in accordance with my ideas of right and justice. I feel that + with the strong evidence there was against me, according to British + law, the jury could not, as conscientious men, do otherwise. I feel + that. I thank them again for their recommendation to mercy, which, I + have no doubt, was prompted by a good intention towards me, and a + desire to mitigate what they considered would he a long and painful + imprisonment. Still, I will say, with all respect, that I feel the + utmost indifference to it. I do so for this reason—I am now in that + position that I must rely entirely upon the goodness of God, and I + feel confident that He will so dispose events that I will not remain + a prisoner so long as your lordship may be pleased to decree. The + jury having now found me guilty, it only remains for your lordship to + give effect to their verdict. The eloquence, the ability, the clear + reasoning, and the really splendid arguments of my counsel failed, as + I knew they would, to affect the jury. I feel, therefore, that with + my poor talents it would be utterly vain and useless for me to + attempt to stay the sentence which it now becomes your lordship's + duty to pronounce. I believe, my lord, from what I have seen of your + lordship, and what I have heard of you, it will be to you a painful + duty to inflict that sentence upon me. To one clinging so much to the + world and its joys—to its fond ties and pleasant associations, as I + naturally do, retirement into banishment is seldom—very + seldom—welcome. Of that, however, I do not complain. But to any man + whose heart glows with the warmest impulses and the most intense love + of freedom; strongly attached to kind friends, affectionate parents, + loving brother and sisters, and a devotedly fond and loving wife, the + contemplation of a long period of imprisonment must appear most + terrible and appalling. To me, however, viewing it from a purely + personal point of view, and considering the cause for which I am + about to suffer, far from being dismayed—far from its discouraging + me—it proves to me rather a source of joy and comfort. True, it is a + position not to be sought—not to be looked for—it is one which, for + many, very many reasons there is no occasion for me now to explain, + maybe thought to involve disgrace or discredit. But, so far from + viewing it in that light, I do not shrink from it, but accept it + readily, feeling proud and glad that it affords me an opportunity of + proving the sincerity of those soul-elevating principles of freedom + which a good old patriotic father instilled into my mind from my + earliest years, and which I still entertain with a strong love, whose + fervour and intensity are second only to the sacred homage which we + owe to God. If, having lost that freedom, I am to be deprived of all + those blessings—those glad and joyous years I should have spent + amongst loving friends—I shall not complain, I shall not murmur, but + with calm resignation and cheerful expectation, I shall joyfully + submit to God's blessed will, feeling confident that He will open the + strongly locked and barred doors of British prisons. Till that glad + time arrives, it is consolation and reward enough for me to know that + I have the fervent prayers, the sympathy and loving blessings of + Ireland's truly noble and generous people, and far easier, more + soothing and more comforting to me will it be to go back to my + cheerless cell, than it would be to live in slavish ease and + luxury—a witness to the cruel sufferings and terrible miseries of + this down-trodden people. Condemn me, then, my lord—condemn me to a + felon's doom. To-night I will sleep in a prison cell; to-morrow I + will wear a convict's dress; but to me it will be a far nobler garb + than the richest dress of slavery. Coward slaves they lie who think + the countless sufferings and degradation of prison life disgraces a + man. I feel otherwise. It is as impossible to subdue the soul + animated with freedom as it will be for England to crush the resolute + will of this nation, determined as it is to be free, or perish in the + attempt. According to British law, those acts proved against + me—fairly proved against me I acknowledge—maybe crimes, but + morally, in the eyes of freemen and the sight of God, they are more + ennobling than disgraceful. Shame is only a connexion with guilt. It + is surely not a crime to obey God's law, or to assist our fellow-men + to acquire those God-given rights which no men—no nation—can justly + deprive them of. If love of freedom and a desire to extend its + unspeakable blessings to all God's creatures, irrespective of race, + creed, or colour, be a crime—if devotion to Ireland, and love of its + faithful, its honest, its kindly people be a crime, then I say I + proudly and gladly acknowledge my guilt. If it is a disgrace, all I + can say is I glory in such shame and dishonour; and, with all respect + for the court, I hold in thorough and utmost contempt the worst + punishment that can be inflicted upon me, so far as it is intended to + deprive me of this feeling, and degrade me in the eyes of my + fellow-men. Oh, no, it is impossible, my lord; the freeman's soul can + never be dismayed. England will most miserably fail if she expects by + force and oppression to crush out—to stamp out, as the <i>Times</i> + exclaimed—this glorious longing for national life and independence + which now fills the breasts of millions of Irishmen, and which only + requires a little patience and the opportunity to effect its purpose. + Much has been said on these trials, on the objects and intentions of + Fenianism. I feel confidently, my lord, as to my own motives. I shall + not be guilty of the egotism to say whether they are pure or + otherwise. I shall leave that to others to judge. I am not qualified + to judge that myself; but I know in my soul that the motives which + prompted me were pure, patriotic, and unselfish. I know the motives + that actuate the most active members of the Fenian organization; and + I know that very few persons, except such contemptible wretches as + Corridon, have profited by their connexion with Fenianism. My best + friends lost all they ever possessed by it. Talbot and Corridon, I + believe, have sworn on previous trials that it was the intention of + the Fenians to have divided the lands of Ireland amongst themselves + in the event of success. Though an humble member of the organization, + I have the honour and satisfaction of being acquainted with the great + majority of the leaders of Fenianism on both sides of the Atlantic, + and I never knew one of them to have exhibited a desire other than to + have the proud satisfaction of freeing Ireland, which was the only + reward they ever yearned for—the only object that ever animated + them. As to myself, I can truly say that I entered into this movement + without any idea of personal aggrandisement. When, in 1865, I bade my + loving friends and parents good-bye in America, and came to Ireland, + I was fully satisfied with the thought that I was coming to assist in + the liberation of an enslaved nation; and I knew that the greatest + sacrifices must be endured on our parts before the country could be + raised to that proud position which is so beautifully described by + the national poet as—</p> + +<p class='center'>"'Great, glorious, and free,<br /> + First flower of the earth, first gem of the sea.'</p> + +<p> "Well, it was with that only wish, and that only desire I came to + Ireland, feeling that to realize it were to an honest man a greater + reward than all the honours and riches and power this world could + bestow. I cannot boast of learning, my lord; I have not had much + opportunity of cultivating those talents with which Providence may + have blessed me. Still I have read sufficient of the world's history + to know that no people ever acquired their liberty without enormous + sacrifices—without losing, always, I may say, some of the purest, + bravest, and best of their children. Liberty, if worth possessing, is + surely worth struggling and fighting for, and in this struggle—of + which, although the crown-lawyers and the government of England think + they have seen the end, but of which I tell them they have not yet + seen the commencement—I feel that enormous sacrifices must be made. + Therefore, my lord, looking straight before me now, I say I was + determined and was quite ready to sacrifice my life if necessary to + acquire that liberty; and I am not now going to be so mean-spirited, + so cowardly, or so contemptible as to shrink from my portion of the + general suffering. I am ready, then, for the sentence of the court, + satisfied that I have acted right, confident that I have committed no + wrong, outrage, or crime whatever, and that I have cast no disgrace + upon my parents, my friends, upon my devoted wife, or upon myself. I + am, with God's assistance, ready to meet my fate. I rest in the calm + resignation of a man whose only ambition through life has been to + benefit and free, not to injure, his fellow-men; and whose only + desire this moment is to obtain their prayers and blessings. With the + approval of my own conscience, above all hoping for the forgiveness + of God for anything I may have done to displease Him, and relying + upon His self-sustaining grace to enable me to bear any punishment, + no matter how severe, so long as it is for glorious old Ireland. I + had intended, my lord, to refer to my notes which I took at the + trial; but I feel that was so ably done by my counsel, it would be a + mere waste of time for me to do so, but I just wish to make an + explanation. Sir C. O'Loghlen made a statement—unintentionally I am + sure it was on his part—which may or may not affect me. He said I + sent a memorial to the Lord Lieutenant praying to be released from + custody. I wish to say I sent no such thing. The facts of the matter + are these:—I was liberated in this court because in reality the + crown could not make out a case against me at the time; and as I + could, at the same time, be kept in prison until the next assizes, I, + on consultation with my friends and with my fellow-captive, Captain + M'Afferty, consented, as soon as I should receive a remittance from + my friends in America, to return there. On these conditions I was set + at liberty, understanding, at the same time, that if found in the + country by next assizes I would be brought up for trial. I did not + want to give annoyance, and I said I would go to America. I honestly + intended to do so then—not, however, as giving up my principles, but + because I saw there was no hope of an immediate rising in Ireland. + While agreeing to those conditions, I went to Dublin, and there met + M'Afferty, and it was on that occasion I made the acquaintance of + Corridon. I met him purely accidentally. He afterwards stated that he + saw me in Liverpool, but he did not see me there. I went over with an + object, and while there I was arrested by anticipation, before the + <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act was really suspended. I defy the government to + prove I had any connexion with Fenianism from the time I was released + from Cork jail until February, 1867. I was afterwards removed to + Mountjoy prison, and, while there, Mr. West came to me and said he + understood I was an American citizen, and asked why I did not make + that known. I said I had a double reason—first, because I expected + the crown would see they had broken their pledge with me in having + been so soon arrested; and also that I expected my government would + make a general demand for all its citizens. By Mr. West's desire I + put that statement in writing; and I do not think that there is a + word in it that can be construed into a memorial to the Lord + Lieutenant. One of the directors of the prison came to me and asked + me was I content to comply with the former conditions, and I said I + was. I was liberated upon those conditions, and complied with them; + but there was no condition whatever named that I was never to return + to Ireland nor to fight for Irish independence. At that time I would + sooner have remained in prison than enter into any such compact. Now, + with reference to Corridon's information. He states he met me in + Liverpool after the rising, and I stated to him that somebody 'sold + the pass' upon us—to use the Irish phrase. Now, it is a strange + thing, my lord, that he got some information that was true, and I + really was in Liverpool, but not with the informer. The fact is, the + month previous to that I knew, and so did M'Afferty, that Corridon + had sold us. We left instructions at Liverpool to have him watched; + but owing to circumstances, it is needless now to refer to, that was + not attended to, and he came afterwards to Ireland and passed as a + Fenian, and the parties here, not knowing he had betrayed them, still + believed in him. But I knew very well that Corridon had betrayed that + Chester affair, and so did Captain M'Afferty; and if I had met him at + that time in Liverpool I don't think it would be him I would inform + of our plans. I only want to show, my lord, how easily an informer + can concoct a scene. I never in my life attended that meeting that + Corridon swore to. All his depositions with respect to me is false. I + did meet him twice in Dublin, but not on the occasions he states. I + wish to show how an informer can concoct a story that it will be + entirely out of the power of the prisoner to contradict. With + reference to the witness Curtin, whom I asked to have produced—and + the crown did produce all the witnesses I asked for—your lordship + seemed to be under the impression that I did not produce him because + he might not be able to say I was not in his house that night. Now, + the fact is that, as my attorney learned the moment Mr. Curtin was + brought to town, he knew nothing whatever about the circumstance, as + he was not in his own tavern that night at all. That was why I did + not produce the evidence. But I solemnly declare I never was in + Curtin's public-house in my life till last summer, when I went in + with a friend on two or three occasions, and then for the first time. + That must have been in June or July, after the trials were over in + Dublin. So that everything Corridon said in connection with my being + there that night was absolutely false. I solemnly declare I was never + there till some time last summer, when I went in under the + circumstances I have stated. In conclusion, my lord, though it may + not be exactly in accordance with the rules of the court, I wish to + return your lordship my most sincere thanks for your fair and + impartial conduct during this trial. If there was anything that was + not impartial in it at all, I consider it was only in my favour, and + not in favour of the crown. This I consider is the duty of a judge, + and what every judge should do—because the prisoner is always on the + weak side, and cannot say many things he would wish, while the crown, + on the other hand, have all the power and influence that the law and + a full exchequer can give them. I must also return my sincere and + heartfelt thanks to my able and distinguished counsel, who spoke so + eloquently in my favour. As for Mr. Collins, I feel I can never + sufficiently thank him. He served me on my trial at a great sacrifice + of time and money, with noble zeal and devotion, such as might be + more readily expected from a friend than a solicitor. There are many + more I would like to thank individually, but as this may not be the + proper time and place to do so, I can only thank all my friends from + the bottom of my heart. I may mention the name at least of Mr. Joyce, + who, in the jail, showed a great deal of kind feeling and attention. + And now, my lord, as I have already stated, I am ready for my + sentence I feel rather out of place in this dock [the prisoner here + smiled gently]. It is a place a man is very seldom placed in, and + even if he is a good speaker he might be put out by the circumstance + of having to utter his remarks from this place. But speaking at all + is not my <i>forte</i>; and there are such emotions filling my breast at + this moment that I may be pardoned for not saying all I would wish. + My heart is filled with thoughts of kind friends—near at hand and + far away—of father and mother, brothers and sisters, and my dear + wife. Thoughts of these fill my breast at this moment, and check my + utterance. But I will say to them that I am firmly convinced I will + yet live to see, and that God will be graciously pleased in His own + good time to order, the prosperity and freedom of this glorious + country. I would only repeat the powerful, touching, and simple words + of Michael Larkin, the martyr of Manchester, who, in parting from his + friends, said, 'God be with you, Irishmen and Irishwomen,' and the + burning words of my old friend Edward O'Mara Condon, which are now + known throughout Ireland and the world, 'God save Ireland!' And I, + too, would say, 'God be with you, Irishmen and women; God save you; + God bless Ireland; and God grant me strength to bear my task for + Ireland as becomes a man. Farewell!' [A sound of some females sobbing + was here heard in the gallery. Several ladies in court, too, visibly + yielded to emotion at this point. Perceiving this the prisoner + continued:—] My lord, if I display any emotion at this moment, I + trust it will not be construed into anything resembling a feeling of + despair, for no such feeling animates me. I feel, as I have already + said, confidence in God. I feel that I will not be long in + imprisonment; therefore I am just as ready to meet my fate now as I + was six weeks ago, or as I was six months ago. I feel confident that + there is a glorious future in store for Ireland, and that, with a + little patience, a little organization, and a full trust in God on + the part of the Irish people, they will be enabled to obtain it at no + distant date."</p></div> + +<p>During the concluding passages of this address many persons sobbed and +wept in various parts of the court. At its close the learned judge in +language that was really gentle, considerate, and even complimentary +towards the prisoner, and in a voice shaken by sincere emotion, declared +the sentence which he felt it to be his duty to impose. It was penal +servitude for a term of twelve years. </p> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 13112-h.txt or 13112-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13112">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13112</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Speeches from the Dock, Part I + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 4, 2004 [eBook #13112] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Martin Pettit, and Prooject Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 13112-h.htm or 13112-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13112/13112-h/13112-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13112/13112-h.zip) + + The spelling inconsistencies of the original have been retained + in this etext. + + + + + +SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I + +or, Protests of Irish Patriotism + +Speeches Delivered After Conviction, + +by + +THEOBALD WOLFE TONE +WILLIAM ORR +THE BROTHERS SHEARES +ROBERT EMMET +JOHN MARTIN (1848) +WILLIAM SMITH O'BRIEN +THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER +TERENCE BELLEW McMANUS +JOHN MITCHEL +THOMAS C. LUBY +JOHN O'LEARY +CHARLES J. KICKHAM +COLONEL THOMAS F. BURKE +CAPTAIN MACKAY + + + + + + "Freedom's battle, once begun,-- + Bequeath'd from bleeding sire to son,-- + Though baffled oft, is ever won." + + + + + +DUBLIN: + +A. M. SULLIVAN, ABBEY STREET. + +1868 + + + + +PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION + + +Little more than a year ago we commenced an undertaking never previously +attempted, yet long called for--the collection and publication, in a +complete form and at a low price, of the Speeches of Irish Patriots, +spoken from the dock or the scaffold. + +The extraordinary success which attended upon our effort was the best +proof that we had correctly appreciated the universal desire of the +Irish people to possess themselves of such a memorial of National +Protest--protest unbroken through generations of martyrs. + +The work was issued in weekly numbers, and reached a sale previously +unheard of in Irish literature. In a few months the whole issue was +exhausted, and for a long time past the demand for a Second Edition has +been pressed upon us from all sides. With that demand we now comply. + +The present issue of "Speeches from the Dock" has been carefully revised +and considerably improved. With it, as Part I. of a series, we have +bound, as its sequels, Parts II. and III.--each Part, however, complete +in itself--bringing the list of convict patriot orators down to the +latest sentenced in 1868. It may be that even here the sad array is not +to close, and that even yet another sequel may have to be issued, ere +the National Protest of which these Voices from the Dock are the +utterances, shall be terminated for ever. Even so, our faith will be all +unshaken in the inevitable triumph of the cause for which so many +martyrs have thus suffered; and we shall still await in Faith and Hope +the first strains of that Hymn of Deliverance which shall yet resound +through the valleys of Emancipated Ireland. + +90 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET, + +_November_, 1868. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +To the lovers of Ireland--to those who sympathize with her sufferings +and resent her wrongs, there can be few things more interesting than the +history of the struggles which sprang from devotion to her cause, and +were consecrated by the blood of her patriots. The efforts of the Irish +race to burst the fetters that foreign force and native dissensions +imposed on them, and elevate their country from bondage and degradation +to a place amongst free nations, fill a page in the world's history +which no lover of freedom can read without emotion, and which must +excite wonder, admiration, and regret in the mind of every man with whom +patriotism is not a reproach, and who can sympathize with a cause +ennobled by fidelity and sacrifice, and sanctified by the blood and +tears of a nation. "How hands so vile could conquer hearts so brave," is +the question which our National Poet supposes to arise in the mind of +the stranger, as he looks on the spectacle of Ireland in her decay; but +another question will suggest itself to those who study the history of +our country: it is, how a feeling so deeply rooted as the love of +independence is in the hearts of the Irish people--an aspiration so +warmly and so widely entertained--which has been clung to with so much +persistency--which has survived through centuries of persecution--for +which generations have arisen, and fought, and bled, and dashed +themselves against the power of England with a succession as unbroken as +that of the waves upon our shores--a cause so universally loved, so +deeply reverenced, and so unflinchingly supported by a brave and +intrepid race, should never have attained the blessing of success. A +more signal instance than that which Ireland can supply of the baffling +of a nation's hope, the prolonged frustration of a people's will, is not +on record; and few even of those who most condemn the errors and +weakness by which Irishmen themselves have retarded the national object, +will hesitate to say that they have given to mankind the noblest proof +they possess of the vitality of the principles of freedom, and the +indestructibility of national sentiment. + +It is for us, however, Irish of the Irish, that the history of the +struggle for Ireland's rights possesses most attractions. We live amidst +the scenes where the battles against the stranger were fought, and where +the men who waged them lived and died. The bones of the patriots who +laboured for Ireland, and of those who died for her, repose in the +graveyards around us; and we have still amongst us the inheritors of +their blood, their name, and their spirit. It was to make us free--to +render independent and prosperous the nation to, which we belong--that +the pike was lifted and the green flag raised; and it was in furtherance +of this object, on which the hearts of Irishmen are still set, that the +men whose names shine through the pages on which the story of Ireland's +struggles for national existence is written, suffered and died. To +follow out that mournful but absorbing story is not, however, the object +aimed at in the following pages. The history of Ireland is no longer a +sealed volume to the people; more than one author has told it truthfully +and well, and the list of books devoted to it is every day receiving +valuable accessions. Nor has it even been attempted, in this little +work, though trenching more closely on its subject, to trace the career +and sketch the lives of the men who fill the foremost places in the +ranks of Ireland's political martyrs. In the subjoined pages little more +will be found than a correct report of the addresses delivered, under +certain peculiar circumstances, by the group of Irishmen whose names are +given on the titlepage. A single public utterance from the lips of each +of these gentlemen is all that we have printed, though it would be easy +to supplement them in nearly every case by writings and speeches owning +a similar authorship, equally eloquent and equally patriotic. But the +speeches given here are associated with facts which give them peculiar +value and significance, and were spoken under circumstances which lend +to them a solemn interest and impressiveness which could not otherwise +be obtained. They reach us--these dock speeches, in which nobility of +purpose and chivalrous spirit is expressed--like voices from the tomb, +like messages from beyond the grave, brimful of lessons of dignity and +patriotism. We can see the men who spoke them standing before the +representatives of the government whose oppression had driven them to +revolt, when the solemn farce of trying them for a crime which posterity +will account a virtue had terminated, and when the verdict of "guilty" +had gladdened the hearts of their accusers. The circumstances under +which they spoke might well cause a bold man to falter. They were about +parting for ever from all that makes life dear to man; and, for some of +them, the sentence; which was to cut short the thread of their +existence, to consign them to a bloody and ignominious death, to leave +their bodies mutilated corpses, from which the rights of Christian +burial were to be withheld--which was to assign them the death of a dog, +and to follow them with persecuting hand into the valley of death--was +about to fall from the lips of the judges whom they addressed. Against +others a fate less repulsive, perhaps, to the feelings of humanity, but +certainly not more merciful, and hardly less painful and appalling, was +about to be decreed. Recent revelations have thrown some light on the +horrors endured by the Irish political prisoners who languish within the +prison pens of England; but it needs far more than a stray letter, a +half-stifled cry from the dungeon depths, to enable the public to +realize the misery, the wretchedness, and the degradation attached to +the condition to which England reduces her political convicts. Condemned +to associate with the vilest of the scoundrels bred by the immorality +and godlessness of England--exposed, without possibility of redress, to +the persecutions of brutal, coarse-minded men, accustomed to deal +only with ruffians than whom beasts are less ferocious and +unreclaimable--restricted to a course of discipline which blasts the +vigour of the body, and under whose influence reason herself totters +upon her throne--the Irish rebel against whom the doom of penal +servitude has been pronounced is condemned to the most hideous and +agonizing punishments to which men of their class could be exposed. It +was with such terrors staring them in the face that the men whose words +are recorded in this little work delivered their speeches from the dock. +It is surely something for us, their countrymen, to boast of, that +neither in their bearing nor in their words was there manifested the +slightest trace of weakness, the faintest exhibition of any feeling +which could show that their hearts were accessible to the terror which +their situation was so well calculated to inspire. No cheek grew pale, +no eyes lost their light--their tones were unbroken, and their manner +undaunted as ever, as these men uttered the words we purpose recording. +Their language tells of minds which persecution could not subdue, and +for which death itself possessed no sting; and the manner in which it +was expressed showed that, in their case, elevation of sentiment was +allied with unconquerable firmness and resolution. Never were lessons so +noble more boldly preached. It is in courts of justice, after all, +declares a great English authority, that the lessons of morality are +best taught; and in Ireland the truthfulness of the assertion is +established. But it is not from the bench or the jury-box that the words +have fallen in which the cause of morality and justice has been +vindicated; venality, passion, and prejudice have but too often swayed +the decisions of both; and it is to the dock we must turn when we seek +for honour, integrity, and patriotism. + +We owe it to the men who suffered so unflinchingly in the cause of our +country, and who have left us so precious a heritage in the speeches in +which they hurled a last defiance at their oppressors, that their names +should not be forgotten, or the recollection of their acts suffered to +grow cold. The noblest incentive to patriotism, as it is the highest +reward which this world can offer those who dare and suffer for +fatherland, is the gratitude, the sympathy, and the applause of the +people for whom they laboured. We owe it to the brave men whose +patriotism is attested in the addresses comprised in this volume, that +the memory of their noble deeds shall not pass away, and that their +names shall remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen. They +failed, it is true, to accomplish what they attempted, and the battle to +which they devoted themselves has yet to be won; but we know that they, +at least, did their part courageously and well; and, looking back now +upon the stormy scenes of their labours, and contrasting the effects of +their sacrifices with the cost at which they were made, the people of +Ireland are still prepared to accept the maxim that-- + + "Tis better to have fought and lost, + Than never to have fought at all." + +While such men can be found to suffer as they have suffered for Ireland, +the ultimate triumph of her aspirations cannot be doubted, nor can the +national faith be despaired of while it has martyrs so numerous and so +heroic. It is by example that the great lessons of patriotism can best +be conveyed; and if the national spirit burn brightly to-day in +Ireland--if the spirit of her children be still defiant and +unsubdued--if, at home and in the far West, the hearts of the Irish +people still throb with the emotions that prompted Emmet and Wolfe +Tone--if their eyes are still hot to see the independence of their +country, their arms still ready to strike, and their spirit ready to +sacrifice for the accomplishment of that object, we owe the result +largely to the men whose names are inscribed in this little work, and +whose memory it is intended to perpetuate. + +We have commenced our series with the speech of Theobald Wolfe Tone, and +our record stretches no further back than the memorable insurrection of +1798. If our object were to group together the Irishmen who are known +to have struggled for the independence of their country, and who +suffered for their attachment to her cause, we might go much farther +back into history, and indefinitely increase the bulk of this +publication. We fix the insurrection of '98 as the limit of our +collection, chiefly because it was at that time trials for high treason +in Ireland assumed the precise meaning and significance which they now +possess, and there is consequently, in the speeches which follow, such a +unity of purpose and sentiment as renders them especially suitable for +presentation in a single volume. Only seventy years have elapsed since +Wolfe Tone spoke to the question why sentence should not be pronounced +on him--only two-thirds of a century since Emmet vindicated the cause of +his country from the Green street dock, and already what a host of +imitators and disciples have they had! There is not a country in Europe, +there is not a nationality in the world, can produce such another +collection as that which we to-day lay before the people of Ireland. We +live under a government which claims to be just, liberal, and +constitutional, yet against no other government in Christendom have the +same number of protests been made within the same space of time. Not +Poland, not Hungary, not Venetia, can point to such an unbroken +succession of political martyrs. The pages of history contain nothing to +compare with the little volume we to-day place in the hands of our +countrymen; and we know of no more powerful and eloquent condemnation of +the system on which Ireland is governed, than that contained in the +simple fact that all those speeches were spoken, all those trials +carried-out, all those sentences decreed, within the lifetime of a +single generation. It is idle to think of subduing a people who make so +many sacrifices, and who are undaunted still; it is vain to think of +crushing a spirit which survives so much persecution. The executioner +and the gaoler, the gibbet, the block, and the dungeon, have done their +work in the crusade against Irish Nationality, and we know what the +result is to-day. The words of the last political convict whose name +appears in these pages are as uncompromising and as bold as those of the +first of his predecessors; and, studying the spirit which they have +exhibited, and marking the effect of their conduct on the bulk of their +countrymen, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that so much +persistent resolution and heroism must one day eventuate in success, and +that Ireland, the country for which so many brave men have suffered with +such unfaltering courage, is not destined to disprove the rule that-- + + "Freedom's battle once begun,-- + Bequeath'd from bleeding sire to son-- + Though baffled oft, is ever won." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THEOBALD WOLFE TONE. + + +No name is more intimately associated with the national movement of 1798 +than that of Theobald Wolfe Tone. He was its main-spring, its leading +spirit. Many men connected with it possessed, as he did, brilliant +talents, unfailing courage and determination, and an intense devotion to +the cause; but the order of his genius raised him above them all, and +marked him out from the first as the head and front of the patriot +party. He was one of the original founders of the Society of United +Irishmen, which was formed in Belfast in the year 1791. In its early +days this society was simply a sort of reform association, a legal and +constitutional body, having for its chief object the removal of the +frightful oppressions by which the Catholic people of Ireland were +tortured and disgraced; but in the troubled and portentous condition of +home and foreign politics, the society could not long retain this +character. The futility of seeking a redress of the national grievances +by parliamentary means was becoming apparent to every understanding. The +system of outrage and injustice towards the Catholics, unabating in its +severity, continued to exasperate the actual sufferers and to offend all +men of humane feelings and enlightened principles; and, at the same +time, the electric influence of the American War of Independence and the +French Revolution was operating powerfully in every heart, evoking there +the aspiration for Irish freedom, and inspiring a belief in its possible +attainment. In the midst of such exciting circumstances the society +could not continue to stand on its original basis. In the year 1794, +after a debate among the members, followed by the withdrawal of the more +moderate or timid among them from its ranks, it assumed the form and +character of a secret revolutionary organization; and Tone, Thomas Addis +Emmet, Samuel Neilson, Thomas Russell, James Napper Tandy, with a number +of other patriotic gentlemen in Belfast, Dublin, and other parts +of the country, soon found themselves in the full swing of an +insurrectionary movement, plotting and planning for the complete +overthrow of British power in Ireland. Thenceforward, for some time, the +organization went on rapidly extending through the province of Ulster, +in the first instance, and subsequently over most of the midland and +southern counties. + +[Illustration: THEOBALD WOLFE TONE. _From a Portrait by his +Daughter-in-law, Mrs. Sampson Tone._] + +Such was the state of affairs when, in the early part of 1794, an +emissary from the French government arrived in Ireland, to ascertain to +what extent the Irish people were likely to co-operate with France in a +war against England. This individual was the Rev. William Jackson, an +Irish Protestant clergyman, who had for some years been resident in +France, and had become thoroughly imbued with Democratic and Republican +principles. Unfortunately, he was not one of the most prudent of envoys. +He revealed his mission to an acquaintance of his, an English attorney, +named Cockayne, who repaid his confidence by betraying his secrets to +the government. Cockayne was immediately employed as a spy upon +Jackson's further proceedings, in which capacity he accompanied his +unsuspecting victim to Ireland, and acquired cognizance of most of his +negotiations. On the 28th of April; 1794, Jackson was arrested on a +charge of high treason. He was brought to speedy trial, was found +guilty, but was not sentenced, for, on the day on which the law's award +was to have been announced to him, he contrived, before entering the +court, to swallow a dose of poison, from the effects of which he expired +in the dock. Tone, with whom Jackson was known to have been in +confidential communication, was placed by those events in a very +critical position; owing, however, to some influence which had been made +with the government on his behalf, he was permitted to exile himself to +America. As he had entered into no engagement with the government +regarding his future line of conduct, he made his expatriation the means +of forwarding, in the most effective manner, the designs he had at +heart. He left Dublin for Philadelphia on the 20th of May, 1795. One of +his first acts, after arriving, was to present to the French Minister +there resident a memorial on the state of Ireland. During the remaining +months of the year letters from his old friends came pouring in on him, +describing the brightening prospects of the cause at home, and urging +him to proceed to the French capital and impress upon the Directory the +policy of despatching at once an expedition to ensure the success of the +Irish revolutionary movement. + +Tone was not the man to disregard such representations. He had at the +time a fair prospect of securing a comfortable independence in America, +but with the full concurrence of his heroic wife, who had accompanied +him across the Atlantic, he sacrificed those chances and resumed the +perilous duties of an Irish patriot. On the 1st of January, 1796, he +left New York for Paris to try what he could do as a diplomatist for the +cause of Ireland. Arrived at the French capital, he had his business +communicated to the Directory through the medium of an Irish gentleman, +named Madgett, and also by memorial, representing always that the +landing of a force of 20,000 men in Ireland, with a supply of arms for +the peasantry, would ensure the separation of Ireland from England. Not +satisfied with the slow progress he was thus achieving, he went on the +24th of February direct to the Luxemburg Palace, and sought and obtained +an interview with the War Minister, the celebrated Carnot, the +"organizer of victory." The Minister received him well, listened +attentively to his statements, discussed his project with him, and +appeared much impressed with the prospects it presented. The result was +that on the 16th of December in the same year, a splendid expedition +sailed from Brest for Ireland. It consisted of seventeen sail of the +line, thirteen frigates and fifteen transports, with some smaller craft, +and had on board 15,000 troops, with a large supply of arms for the +Irish patriots. Tone himself, who had received the rank of +Adjutant-General in the French service, was on board one of the vessels. +Had this force been disembarked on the shores of Ireland, it is hardly +possible to doubt that the separation of this country from England would +have been effected. But the expedition was unfortunate from the outset. +It was scattered on the voyage during a gale of wind, and the Admiral's +vessel, with Hoche, the Commander, on board, was separated from the +others. A portion of the expedition entered the magnificent Bay of +Bantry and waited there several days in expectation of being rejoined by +the vessel containing the Admiral and Commander; but they waited in +vain. Tone vehemently urged that a landing should be effected with the +forces then at hand--some 6,500 men--but the officers procrastinated, +time was lost, the wind which had been blowing from the east (that is +out the harbour) rose to a perfect hurricane, and on the 27th and 28th +of the month the vessels cut their cables and made the best of their way +for France. + +This was a terrible blow to the hopes of the Irish organizer. Rage and +sadness filled his heart by turns as the fierce storm blew his vessel +out of the bay and across the sea to the land which he had left under +such favourable auspices. But yet he did not resign himself to despair. +As the patient spider renews her web again and again after it has been +torn asunder, so did this indefatigable patriot set to work to repair +the misfortune that had occurred, and to build up another project of +assistance for his unfortunate country. His perseverance was not +unproductive of results. The Batavian or Dutch Republic, then in +alliance with France, took up the project that had failed in the Bay of +Bantry. In the month of July, 1797, they had assembled in the Texel an +expedition for the invasion of Ireland, nearly, if not quite, as +formidable in men and ships as that which had left Brest in the previous +year. Tone was on board the flag ship, even more joyous and hopeful than +he had been on the preceding occasion. But again, as if by some +extraordinary fatality, the weather interposed an obstacle to the +realization of the design. The vessels were ready for sea, the troops +were on board, nothing was wanted but a slant of wind to enable the +fleet to get out. But for five weeks it continued to blow steadily in +the adverse direction. The supplies ran low; the patience of the +officers, and of the government, became exhausted--the troops were +disembarked and the project abandoned! The second failure in a matter +of such weight and importance was a heavy blow to the heart of the brave +Tone. Elaborate and costly efforts like those which had ended so poorly, +he felt could not often be repeated; the drift of the war was cutting +out other work for the fleets and armies of France and her allies, and +the unwelcome conviction began to settle darkly on his mind that never +again would he see such a vision of hope for dear Ireland as that which +had shone before him on those two occasions, and vanished in doubt and +gloom. + +Yet there was no need to despair. Assurances reached Tone every day that +the defeat and humiliation of England was a settled resolve of the +French Government, one which they would never abandon. And for a time +everything seemed to favour the notion that a direct stroke at the heart +of England was intended. In the latter part of 1797 the Directory +ordered the formation of "The Army of England," the command of which was +given to General Buonaparte. Tone's heart again beat high with hope, for +now matters looked more promising than ever. He was in constant +communication with some of the chief officers of the expedition, and in +the month of December he had several interviews with Buonaparte himself, +which however he could hardly consider of a satisfactory nature. On the +20th of May, 1798, General Buonaparte embarked on board the fleet at +Toulon and sailed off--not for Ireland or England, but for Egypt. + +On the Irish leaders at home these repeated disappointments fell with +terrible effect. The condition of the country was daily growing more +critical. The government, now thoroughly roused and alarmed, and +persuaded that the time for "vigorous measures" had arrived, was +grappling with the conspiracy in all directions. Still those men would, +if they could, have got the people to possess their souls in patience +and wait for aid from abroad before unfurling the banner of +insurrection; for they were constant in their belief that without the +presence of a disciplined army on Irish soil to consolidate their +strength and direct it, a revolutionary effort of the Irish people +could end only in disaster. But the government had reasons of their own +for wishing to set an Irish rebellion afoot at this time, and they took +measures to precipitate the rising. The arrest of the delegates at the +house of Oliver Bond in Dublin, and the capture of Lord Edward +Fitzgerald contributed to this end; but these things the country might +have peacably endured if no more dreadful trial had been put upon it. +What could not be endured was the system of riot and outrage, and +murder, to which the unfortunate peasantry were then given over. Words +fail to describe its cruelty and its horrors. It was too much for human +nature to bear. On the 23rd of May, three days after Buonaparte had +sailed from Toulon for Alexandria, the Irish insurrection broke out. The +news of the occurrence created the most intense excitement among the +Irish refugees then in Paris. Tone rushed to and fro to the Directory +and to the generals, pleading for the despatch of some assistance to his +struggling countrymen. Various plans were suggested and taken into +consideration, but while time was being wasted in this way, the military +forces of the British Government were rapidly suppressing the +insurrection of the unarmed and undisciplined Irish peasantry. In this +condition of affairs a gallant but rash and indiscreet French officer, +General Humbert, resolved that he would commit the Directory to action, +by starting at once with a small force for the coast of Ireland. Towards +the middle of August, calling together the merchants and magistrates of +Rochelle, "he forced them to advance a small sum of money, and all that +he wanted, on military requisition; and embarking on board a few +frigates and transports with 1,000 men, 1,000 spare muskets, 1,000 +guineas, and a few pieces of artillery, he compelled the captains to set +sail for the most desperate attempt which is, perhaps, recorded in +history." Three Irishmen were on board the fleet--Matthew Tone, brother +to Theobald, Bartholomew Teeling, and Sullivan, an officer in the French +service, who was enthusiastically devoted to the Irish cause, and had +rendered much aid to his patriotic countrymen in France. Humbert landed +at Killala, routed with his little handful of men a large force of the +royal troops, and held his ground until General Lake, with 20,000 men +marched against him. After a resistance sufficient to maintain the +honour of the French arms, Humbert's little force surrendered as +prisoners of war. The Irish who had joined his standard were shown no +mercy. The peasantry were cruelly butchered. Of those who had +accompanied him from France, Sullivan, who was able to pass as a +Frenchman, escaped; Teeling and Matthew Tone were brought in irons to +Dublin, tried, and executed. The news of Humbert's expedition and the +temporary success that had attended it created much excitement in +France, and stirred up the Directory to attempt something for Ireland +more worthy of the fame and power of the French nation, and more in +keeping with their repeated promises to the leaders of the Irish +movement. But their fleet was at the time greatly reduced, and their +resources were in a state of disorganization. They mustered for the +expedition only one sail of the line and eight small frigates, commanded +by Commodore Bompart, conveying 5,000 men under the leadership of +General Hardy. On board the Admiral's vessel, which was named the Hoche, +was the heroic Theobald Wolfe Tone. He knew this expedition had no +chance of success, but he had all along declared, "that if the +government sent only a corporal's guard, he felt it his duty to go along +with them." The vessels sailed on the 20th of September, 1798; +it was not till the 11th October that they arrived off Lough +Swilly--simultaneously with an English squadron that had been on the +look out for them. The English ships were about equal in number to the +French, but were of a larger class, and carried a much heavier armament. +The French Admiral directed some of his smaller craft to endeavour to +escape by means of their light draught of water, and he counselled Tone +to transfer himself to that one of them which had the best chance of +getting away. The Frenchmen, he observed, would be made prisoners of +war, but for the Irish rebel a worse fate was reserved if he should fall +into the hand of his enemies. But to this suggestion the noble-hearted +Tone declined to accede. "Shall it be said," he replied, "that I fled +while the French were fighting the battles of my country." In a little +time the Hoche was surrounded by four sail of the line and one frigate, +who poured their shot into her upon all sides. During six hours she +maintained the unequal combat, fighting "till her masts and rigging were +cut away, her scuppers flowed with blood, her wounded filled the +cockpit, her shattered ribs yawned at each new stroke, and let in five +feet of water in the hold, her rudder was carried off, and she floated a +dismantled wreck on the water; her sails and cordage hung in shreds, nor +could she reply with a single gun from her dismounted batteries to the +unabating cannonade of the enemy." During the action Tone commanded one +of the batteries "and fought with the utmost desperation, as if he was +courting death." But, as often has happened in similiar cases, death +seemed to shun him, and he was reserved for a more tragic fate. + +The French officers who survived the action, and had been made prisoners +of war, were, some days subsequently, invited to breakfast with the Earl +of Cavan, who commanded in the district in which they had been landed. +Tone, who up to that time, had escaped recognition, was one of the +party, and sat undistinguished among them, until Sir George Hill, who +had been a fellow-student of his in Trinity College, entered the room +and accosted him by his name. This was done, not inadvertently, but with +the intention of betraying him. In a moment he was in the hands of a +party of military and police who were in waiting for him in the next +room. Seeing that they were about to put him in fetters, he complained +indignantly of the offering of such an insult to the uniform which he +wore, and the rank--that of Chef de Brigade--which he bore in the French +army. He cast off his regimentals, protesting that they should not be so +sullied, and then, offering his limbs to the irons, exclaimed--"For the +cause which I have embraced, I feel prouder to wear these chains, than +if I were decorated with the Star and Garter of England." He was hurried +off to Dublin, and though the ordinary tribunals were sitting at the +time, and the military tribunals could have no claim on him, as he had +never belonged to the English army, he was put on his trial before a +court-martial. This was absolutely an illegal proceeding, but his +enemies were impatient for his blood, and would not brook the chances +and the delays of the ordinary procedure of law. On the 10th of +November, 1798, his trial, if such it might be called, took place in one +of the Dublin barracks. He appeared before the Court "dressed," says the +_Dublin Magazine_ for November, 1798, "in the French uniform: a large +cocked hat, with broad gold lace and the tri-coloured cockade; a blue +uniform coat, with gold-embroidered collar and two large gold epaulets; +blue pantaloons, with gold-laced garters at the knees; and short boots, +bound at the tops with gold lace." In his bearing there was no trace of +excitement. "The firmness and cool serenity of his whole deportment," +writes his son, "gave to the awestruck assembly the measure of his +soul," The proceedings of the Court are detailed in the following +report, which we copy from the "Life of Tone," by his son, published at +Washington, U.S., in 1826:-- + + The members of the Court having been sworn, the Judge Advocate called + on the prisoner to plead guilty or not guilty to the charge of having + acted traitorously and hostilely against the King. Tone replied:-- + + "I mean not to give the court any useless trouble, and wish to spare + them the idle task of examining witnesses. I admit all the facts + alleged, and only request leave to read an address which I have + prepared for this occasion." + + Colonel DALY--"I must warn the prisoner that, in acknowledging those + _facts_, he admits, to his prejudice, that he has acted + _traitorously_ against his Majesty. Is such his intention?" + + TONE--"Stripping this charge of the technicality of its terms, it + means, I presume, by the word traitorously, that I have been found in + arms against the soldiers of the King in my native country. I admit + this accusation in its most extended sense, and request again to + explain to the court the reasons and motives of my conduct." + + The court then observed they would hear his address, provided he kept + himself within the bounds of moderation. + + Tone rose, and began in these words--"Mr. President and Gentlemen of + the Court-Martial, I mean not to give you the trouble of bringing + judicial proof to convict me legally of having acted in hostility to + the government of his Britannic Majesty in Ireland. I admit the fact. + From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great + Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation, and felt + convinced that, whilst it lasted, this country could never be free + nor happy. My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the + experience of every succeeding year, and the conclusions which I have + drawn from every fact before my eyes. In consequence, I was + determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could + move, in order to separate the two countries. That Ireland was not + able of herself to throw off the yoke, I knew; I therefore sought for + aid wherever it was to be found. In honourable poverty I rejected + offers which, to a man in my circumstances, might be considered + highly advantageous. I remained faithful to what I thought the cause + of my country, and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue + three millions of my countrymen from--" + + The President here interrupted the prisoner, observing that this + language was neither relevant to the charge, nor such as ought to be + delivered in a public court. + + A Member said it seemed calculated only to inflame the minds of a + certain description of people (the United Irishmen), many of whom + might be present, and that the court could not suffer it. + + The JUDGE ADVOCATE said--"If Mr. Tone meant this paper to be laid + before his Excellency in way of _extenuation_, it must have quite a + contrary effect, if the foregoing part was suffered to remain." The + President wound up by calling on the prisoner to hesitate before + proceeding further in the same strain. + + TONE then continued--"I believe there is nothing in what remains for + me to say which can give any offence; I mean to express my feelings + and gratitude towards the Catholic body, in whose cause I was + engaged." + + PRESIDENT--"That seems to have nothing to say to the charge against + you, to which you are only to speak. If you have anything to offer in + defence or extenuation of the charge, the court will hear you, but + they beg you will confine yourself to that subject." + + TONE--"I shall, then, confine myself to some points relative to my + connection with the French army. Attached to no party in the French + Republic--without interest, without money, without intrigue--the + openness and integrity of my views raised me to a high and + confidential rank in its armies. I obtained the confidence of the + Executive Directory, the approbation of my generals, and I will + venture to add, the esteem and affection of my brave comrades. When I + review these circumstances, I feel a secret and internal consolation + which no reverse of fortune, no sentence in the power of this court + to inflict, can deprive me of, or weaken in any degree. Under the + flag of the French Republic I originally engaged with a view to save + and liberate my own country. For that purpose I have encountered the + chances of war amongst strangers; for that purpose I repeatedly + braved the terrors of the ocean, covered, as I knew it to be, with + the triumphant fleets of that power which it was my glory and my + duty to oppose. I have sacrificed all my views in life; I have + courted poverty; I have left a beloved wife unprotected, and children + whom I adored fatherless. After such a sacrifice, in a cause which I + have always considered--conscientiously considered--as the cause of + justice and freedom, it is no great effort, at this day, to add the + sacrifice of my life. But I hear it said that this unfortunate + country has been a prey to all sorts of horrors. I sincerely lament + it. I beg, however, it may be remembered that I have been absent four + years from Ireland. To me these sufferings can never be attributed. I + designed by fair and open war to procure the separation of the two + countries. For open war I was prepared, but instead of that a system + of private assassination has taken place. I repeat, whilst I deplore + it, that it is not chargeable on me. Atrocities, it seems, have been + committed on both sides. I do not less deplore them. I detest them + from my heart; and to those who know my character and sentiments I + may safely appeal for the truth of this assertion; with them I need + no justification. In a case like this success is everything. Success, + in the eyes of the vulgar, fixes its merits. Washington succeeded, + and Kosciusko failed. After a combat nobly sustained--combat which + would have excited the respect and sympathy of a generous enemy--my + fate has been to become a prisoner, to the eternal disgrace of those + who gave the orders. I was brought here in irons like a felon. I + mention this for the sake of others; for me, I am indifferent to it. + I am aware of the fate which awaits me, and scorn equally the tone of + complaint and that of supplication. As to the connection between this + country and Great Britain, I repeat it--all that has been imputed to + me (words, writings, and actions), I here deliberately avow. I have + spoken and acted with reflection and on principle, and am ready to + meet the consequences. Whatever be the sentence of the court, I am + prepared for it. Its members will surely discharge their duty--I + shall take care not to be wanting in mine." + + The court having asked if he wished to make any further observation, + + TONE said--"I wish to offer a few words relative to one single + point--the mode of punishment. In France our _emigrees_, who stand + nearly in the same situation in which I now stand before you, are + condemned to be shot. I ask that the court shall adjudge me the death + of a soldier, and let me be shot by a platoon of grenadiers. I + request this indulgence rather in consideration of the uniform I + wear--the uniform of a Chef de Brigade in the French army--than from + any personal regard to myself. In order to evince my claim to this + favour, I beg that the court may take the trouble to peruse my + commission and letters of service in the French army. It will appear + from these papers that I have not received them as a mask to cover + me, but that I have been long and _bona fide_ an officer in the + French service." + + JUDGE ADVOCATE--"You must feel that the papers you allude to will + serve as undeniable proof against you." + + TONE--"Oh, I know they will. I have already admitted the facts, and + I now admit the papers as full proof of conviction." + + [The papers were then examined; they consisted of a brevet of Chef de + Brigade from the Directory, signed by the Minister of War, of a + letter of service granting to him the rank of Adjutant-General, and + of a passport.] + + General LOFTUS--"In these papers you are designated as serving in the + army of England." + + TONE--"I did serve in that army, when it was commanded by Buonaparte, + by Dessaix, and by Kilmaine, who is, as I am, an Irishman; but I have + also served elsewhere." + + The Court requested if he had anything further to observe. + + He said that nothing more occurred to him, except that the sooner his + Excellency's approbation of the sentence was obtained the better. + +This is Tone's speech, as reported in the public prints at that time, +but the recently-published "Correspondence" of Lord Cornwallis--Lord +Lieutenant in those days--supplies a portion of the address which was +never before published, the Court having forbade the reading of it at +the trial. The passage contains a noble outburst of gratitude towards +the Catholics of Ireland. Tone himself, as every reader is aware, was a +Protestant, and there can have been no reason for its suppression except +the consideration that it was calculated to still more endear the +prisoner to the hearts of his countrymen. We now reprint it, and thus +place it for the first time before the people for whom it was written:-- + + "I have laboured to create a people in Ireland by raising three + millions of my countrymen to the rank of citizens. I have laboured to + abolish the infernal spirit of religious persecution, by uniting the + Catholics and Dissenters. To the former I owe more than ever can be + repaid. The services I was so fortunate as to render them they + rewarded munificently; but they did more: when the public cry was + raised against me--when the friends of my youth swarmed off and left + me alone--the Catholics did not desert me; they had the virtue even + to sacrifice their own interests to a rigid principle of honour; they + refused, though strongly urged, to disgrace a man who, whatever his + conduct towards the government might have been, had faithfully and + conscientiously discharged his duty towards them; and in so doing, + though it was in my own case, I will say they showed an instance of + public, virtue of which I know not whether there exists another + example." + +The sad sequel of those proceedings is soon told. The request of the +prisoner to receive a military execution was refused by the Viceroy, +Lord Cornwallis, and Tone was sentenced to die "the death of a traitor" +within forty-eight hours from the time of his conviction. But +he--influenced, it must be confessed, by a totally mistaken feeling of +pride, and yielding to a weakness which every Christian heart should be +able to conquer--resolved that, rather than allow his enemies to have +the satisfaction of dangling his body from a gibbet, he would become his +own executioner. On the night of the 11th of November he contrived, +while lying unobserved in his cell, to open a vein in his neck with a +penknife. No intelligence of this fact had reached the public when, on +the morning of the 12th, the intrepid and eloquent advocate, John +Philpot Curran, made a motion in the Court of King's Bench for a writ of +_Habeas Corpus_, to withdraw the prisoner from the custody of the +military authorities, and transfer him to the charge of the civil power. +The motion was granted immediately, Mr. Curran pleading that, if delay +were made, the prisoner might be executed before the order of the Court +could be presented. A messenger was at once despatched from the court to +the barrack with the writ. He returned to say that the officers in +charge of the prisoner would obey only their military superiors. The +Chief Justice issued his commands peremptorily:--"Mr. Sheriff, take the +body of Tone into custody--take the Provost Marshal and Major Sandys +into custody,--and show the order of the Court to General Craig." The +Sheriff sped away, and soon returned with the news that Tone had wounded +himself on the previous evening, and could not be removed. The Chief +Justice then ordered a rule suspending the execution. For the space of +seven days afterwards did the unfortunate gentleman endure the agonies +of approaching death; on the 19th of November, 1798, he expired. No more +touching reference to his last moments could be given than the following +pathetic and noble words traced by a filial hand, and published in the +memoir from which we have already quoted:--"Stretched on his bloody +pallet in a dungeon, the first apostle of Irish union and most +illustrious martyr of Irish independence counted each lingering hour +during the last seven days and nights of his slow and silent agony. No +one was allowed to approach him. Far from his adored family, and from +all those friends whom he loved so dearly, the only forms which flitted +before his eyes were those of the grim jailor and his rough +attendants--the only sounds which fell on his dying ear the heavy tread +of the sentry. He retained, however, the calmness of his soul and the +possession of his faculties to the last. And the consciousness of dying +for his country, and in the cause of justice and liberty, illumined like +a bright halo his later moments and kept up his fortitude to the end. +There is no situation under which those feelings will not support the +soul of a patriot." + +Tone was born in Stafford-street, Dublin, on the 20th of June, 1764. His +father was a coachmaker who carried on a thriving business; his +grandfather was a comfortable farmer who held land near Naas, county +Kildare. In February, 1781, Tone entered Trinity College, Dublin; in +January, 1787, he entered his name as a law student on the books of the +Middle Temple, London, and in 1789 he was called to the bar. His mortal +remains repose in Bodenstown churchyard, county Kildare, whither parties +of patriotic young men from the metropolis and the surrounding districts +often proceed to lay a green wreath on his grave. His spirit lives, and +will live for ever, in the hearts of his countrymen. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +WILLIAM ORR. + + +Twelve months before Wolfe Tone expired in his prison cell, one of the +bravest of his associates paid with his life the penalty of his +attachment to the cause of Irish independence. In the subject of this +sketch, the United Irishmen found their first martyr; and time has left +no darker blot on the administration of English rule than the execution +of the high-spirited Irishman whose body swung from the gallows of +Carrickfergus on the 14th of October, 1797. + +William Orr was the son of a farmer and bleach-green proprietor, of +Ferranshane, in the county of Antrim. The family were in comfortable +circumstances, and young Orr received a good education, which he +afterwards turned to account in the service of his country. We know +little of his early history, but we find him, on growing up to manhood, +an active member of the society of United Irishmen, and remarkable for +his popularity amongst his countrymen in the north. His appearance, not +less than his principles and declarations, was calculated to captivate +the peasantry amongst whom he lived; he stood six feet two inches in +height, was a perfect model of symmetry, strength, and gracefulness, and +the expression of his countenance was open, frank, and manly. He was +always neatly and respectably dressed--a prominent feature in his attire +being a green necktie, which he wore even in his last confinement. + +One of, the first blows aimed by the government against the United +Irishmen was the passing of the Act of Parliament (36 George III.), +which constituted the administration of their oath a capital felony. +This piece of legislation, repugnant in itself to the dictates of reason +and justice, was intended as no idle threat; a victim was looked for to +suffer under its provisions, and William Orr, the champion of the +northern Presbyterian patriots, was doomed to serve the emergency. + +He was arraigned, tried, and convicted at Carrickfergus on a charge of +having administered the United Irishman's oath to a soldier named +Wheatly. The whole history of the operations of the British law courts +in Ireland contains nothing more infamous than the record of that trial. +We now know, as a matter of fact, that the man who tendered the oath to +Wheatly was William M'Keever, a well-known member of the society, who +subsequently made his escape to America. But this was not a case, such +as sometimes happens, of circumstantial evidence pointing to a wrong +conclusion. The only evidence against Orr was the unsupported testimony +of the soldier Wheatly; and after hearing Curran's defence of the +prisoner there could be no possible doubt of his innocence. But Orr was +a doomed man--the government had decreed his death before hand; and in +this case, as in every other, the bloodthirsty agents of the crown did +not look in vain for Irishmen to co-operate with them in their infamy. + +At six o'clock in the evening the jury retired to consider their +verdict. The scene that followed in the jury room is described in the +sworn affidavits of some of its participators. The jury were supplied +with supper by the crown officials; a liberal supply of intoxicating +beverages, wines, brandy, &c., being included in the refreshments. In +their sober state several of the jury-men--amongst them Alexander +Thompson, of Cushendall, the foreman--had refused to agree to a verdict +of guilty. It was otherwise, however, when the decanters had been +emptied, and when threats of violence were added to the bewildering +effects of the potations in which they indulged. Thompson was threatened +by his more unscrupulous companions with being wrecked, beaten, and "not +left with sixpence in the world," and similar means were used against +the few who refused with him to return a verdict of guilty. At six in +the morning, the jury, not a man of whom by this time was sober, +returned into court with a verdict of guilty, recommending the prisoner +at the same time in the strongest manner to mercy. Next day Orr was +placed at the bar, and sentenced to death by Lord Yelverton, who, it is +recorded, at the conclusion of his address burst into tears. A motion +was made, by Curran in arrest of judgment, chiefly on the grounds of the +drunkenness of the jury but the judges refused to entertain the +objection. The following is the speech delivered by William Orr after +the verdict of the jury had been announced:-- + + "My friends and fellow-countrymen--In the thirty-first year of my + life I have been sentenced to die upon the gallows, and this sentence + has been in pursuance of a verdict of twelve men, who should have + been indifferently and impartially chosen. How far they have been so, + I leave to that country from which they have been chosen to + determine; and how far they have discharged their duty, I leave to + their God and to themselves. They have, in pronouncing their verdict, + thought proper to recommend me as an object of humane mercy. In + return, I pray to God, if they have erred, to have mercy upon them. + The judge who condemned me humanely shed tears in uttering my + sentence. But whether he did wisely in so highly commending the + wretched informer, who swore away my life, I leave to his own cool + reflection, solemnly assuring him and all the world, with my dying + breath, that that informer was foresworn. + + "The law under which I suffer is surely a severe one--may the makers + and promoters of it be justified in the integrity of their motives, + and the purity of their own lives! By that law I am stamped a felon, + but my heart disdains the imputation. + + "My comfortable lot, and industrious course of life, best refute the + charge of being an adventurer for plunder; but if to have loved my + country--to have known its wrongs--to have felt the injuries of the + persecuted Catholics, and to have united with them and all other + religious persuasions in the most orderly and least sanguinary means + of procuring redress--if those be felonies, I am a felon, but not + otherwise. Had my counsel (for whose honorable exertions I am + indebted) prevailed in their motions to have me tried for high + treason, rather than under the insurrection law, I should have been, + entitled to a full defence, and my actions have been better + vindicated; but that was refused, and I must now submit to what has + passed. + + "To the generous protection of my country I leave a beloved wife, who + has been constant and true to me, and whose grief for my fate has + already nearly occasioned her death. I have five living children, who + have been my delight. May they love their country as I have done, and + die for it if needful. + + "Lastly, a false and ungenerous publication having appeared in a + newspaper, stating certain alleged confessions of guilt on my part, + and thus striking at my reputation, which is clearer to me than life. + I take this solemn method of contradicting the calumny. I was applied + to by the high-sheriff, and the Rev. William Bristow, sovereign of + Belfast, to make a confession of guilt, who used entreaties to that + effect; this I peremptorily refused. If I thought myself guilty, I + would freely confess it, but, on the contrary, I glory in my + innocence. + + "I trust that all my virtuous countrymen will bear me in their kind + remembrance, and continue true and faithful to each other as I have + been to all of them. With this last wish of my heart--nothing + doubting of the success of that cause for which I suffer, and hoping + for God's merciful forgiveness of such offences as my frail nature + may have at any time betrayed me into--I die in peace and charity + with all mankind." + +Hardly had sentence of death been passed on William Orr, when +compunction seemed to seize on those who had aided in securing that +result. The witness Wheatly, who subsequently became insane, and is +believed to have died by his own hand, made an affidavit before a +magistrate acknowledging that he had sworn falsely against Orr. Two of +the jury made depositions setting forth that they had been induced to +join in the verdict of guilty while under the influence of drink; two +others swore that they had been terrified into the same course by +threats of violence. + +These depositions were laid before the viceroy, but Lord Camden, the +then Lord Lieutenant, was deaf to all appeals. Well might Orr exclaim +within his dungeon that the government "had laid down a system having +for its object murder and devastation." The prey was in the toils of the +hunters, on whom all appeals of justice and humanity were wasted. + +Orr was hung, as we have said, in the town of Carrickfergus on the 14th +of October, 1797. It is related that the inhabitants of the town, to +express their sympathy with the patriot about being murdered by law, and +to mark their abhorrence of the conduct of the government towards him, +quitted the town _en masse_ on the day of his execution. + +His fate excited the deepest indignation throughout the country; it was +commented on in words of fire by the national writers of the period, and +through many an after year the watchword and rallying cry of the United +Irishmen was-- + + "REMEMBER ORR." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +HENRY AND JOHN SHEARES. + + +Among the many distinguished Irishmen who acted prominent parts in the +stormy events of 1798, and whose names come down to us hallowed by the +sufferings and sacrifices inseparable in those dark days from the lot of +an Irish patriot, there are few whose fate excited more sympathy, more +loved in life, more honored in death than the brothers John and Henry +Sheares. Even in the days of Emmet and Wolfe Tone, of Russell and +Fitzgerald, when men of education, talent, and social standing were not +few in the national ranks, the Sheareses were hailed as valuable +accessions to the cause, and were recognised by the United Irishmen as +heaven-destined leaders for the people. It is a touching story, the +history of their patriotic exertions, their betrayal, trial, and +execution; but it is by studying such scenes in our history that +Irishmen can learn to estimate the sacrifices which were made in bygone +days for Ireland, and attach a proper value to the memory of the +patriots who made them. + +Henry and John Sheares were sons of John Sheares, a banker in Cork, who +sat in the Irish Parliament for the borough of Clonakilty. The father +appears to have been a kindly-disposed, liberal-minded man, and numerous +stories are told of his unostentatious charity and benevolence. Henry, +the elder of the two sons, was born in 1753, and was educated in Trinity +College, Dublin. After leaving college he purchased a commission in the +51st Regiment of foot, but the duties of a military officer were ill +suited to his temperament and disposition, and the young soldier soon +resigned his commission to pursue the more congenial occupation of law +student. He was called to the bar in 1790; his brother John, his junior +by three years, who had adopted the same profession, obtained the rank +of barrister-at-law two years previously. The brothers differed from +each other widely in character and disposition. Henry was gentle in +manners, modest and unassuming, but firmly attached to his principles, +and unswerving in his fidelity to the cause which he adopted; John was +bold, impetuous, and energetic, ready to plan and to dare, fertile of +resources, quick of resolve, and prompt of execution. To John the elder +brother looked for guidance and example, and his gentle nature was ever +ruled by the more fiery and impulsive spirit of his younger brother. On +the death of the father Henry Sheares came in for property to the value +of L1,200 per annum, which his rather improvident habits soon diminished +by one-half. Both brothers, however, obtained large practice at their +profession, and continued in affluent circumstances up to the day of +their arrest. + +In 1792 the two brothers visited Paris, and this excursion seems to have +formed the turning point of their lives and fortunes. The French +Revolution was in full swing, and in the society of Roland, Brissot, and +other Republican leaders, the young Irishmen imbibed the love of +freedom, and impatience of tyranny and oppression, which they clung to +so faithfully, and which distinguished them so remarkably during the +remainder of their lives. On returning to Ireland in January, 1793, the +brothers joined the ranks of the United Irishmen. John at once became a +prominent member of the society, and his signature appears to several of +the spirited and eloquent addresses by which the Dublin branch sought +from time to time to arouse the ardour and stimulate the exertions of +their compatriots. The society of United Irishmen looked for nothing +more at this period than a thorough measure of parliamentary reform, +household suffrage being the leading feature in their programme; but +when the tyranny of the government drove the leaguers into more violent +and dangerous courses, when republican government and separation from +England were inscribed on the banners of the society instead of +electoral reform, and when the selfish and the wavering had shrunk +aside, the Sheareses still remained true to the United Irishmen, and +seemed to grow more zealous and energetic in the cause of their country +according as the mists of perplexity and danger gathered around it. + +To follow out the history of the Sheareses connection with the United +Irishmen would be foreign to our intention and to the scope of this +work. The limits of our space oblige us to pass over the ground at a +rapid pace, and we shall dismiss the period of the Sheareses' lives +comprised in the years between 1793 and 1798, by saying that during that +period, while practising their profession with success, they devoted +themselves with all the earnestness of their nature to the furtherance +of the objects of the United Irishmen. In March, 1798, the affairs of +the organization became critical; the arrest of the Directory at Oliver +Bond's deprived the party of its best and most trusted leaders, besides +placing in the hands of the government a mass of information relative to +the plans and resources of the conspirators. To fill the gap thus +caused, John Sheares was soon appointed a member of the Directory, and +he threw himself into the work with all the ardour and energy of his +nature. The fortunes of the society had assumed a desperate phase when +John Sheares became its ruling spirit. Tone was in France, O'Connor was +in England, Russell, Emmet, and Fitzgerald were in prison. But Sheares +was not disheartened; he directed all his efforts towards bringing about +the insurrection for which his countrymen had so long been preparing, +and the 23rd of May, 1798, was fixed on by him for the outbreak. He was +after visiting Wexford and Kildare, and making arrangements in those +counties for the rising, and was on the verge of starting for Cork on a +similar mission, when the hand of treachery cut short his career, and +the gates of Kilmainham prison opened to receive him. + +Amongst all the human monsters who filled the ranks of the government +informers in that dark and troubled period, not one appears to merit a +deeper measure of infamy than Captain Warnesford Armstrong, the +entrapper and betrayer of the Sheareses. Having obtained an introduction +to John, he represented himself as a zealous and hard-working member of +the organization, and soon wormed himself completely into the confidence +of his victims. He paid daily visits to the house of the Sheareses in +Baggot-street, chatted with their families, and fondled the children of +Henry Sheares upon his knee. We have it on his own testimony that each +interview with the men whose confidence he was sharing was followed by a +visit to the Castle. We need not go through the sickening details of +this vile story of treachery and fraud. On the 21st of May the Sheareses +were arrested and lodged in prison, and on the 12th of the following +month Armstrong appeared against them in the witness-box. The trial was +continued through the night--Toler, of infamous memory, who had been +created Attorney-General expressly for the occasion, refusing Curran's +request for an adjournment; and it was eight o'clock in the morning of +the 13th when the jury, who had been but seventeen minutes absent, +returned into court with a verdict of guilty against both prisoners. + +After a few hours' adjournment the court re-assembled to pass sentence. +It was then that John Sheares, speaking in a firm tone, addressed the +court as follows:-- + + "My Lords--I wish to offer a few words before sentence is pronounced, + because there is a weight pressing on my heart much greater than that + of the sentence which is to come from the court. There has been, my + lords, a weight pressing on my mind from the first moment I heard the + indictment read upon which I was tried; but that weight has been more + peculiarly pressing upon my heart when I found the accusation in the + indictment enforced and supported upon the trial. That weight would + be left insupportable if it were not for this opportunity of + discharging it; I shall feel it to be insupportable since a verdict + of my country has stamped that evidence as well founded. Do not + think, my lords, that I am about to make a declaration against the + verdict of the jury or the persons concerned with the trial; I am + only about to call to your recollection a part of the charge at which + my soul shudders, and if I had no opportunity of renouncing it before + your lordships and this auditory, no courage would be sufficient to + support me. The accusation of which I speak, while I linger here yet + a minute, is that of holding out to the people of Ireland a direction + to give no quarter to the troops fighting for its defence! My lords, + let me say thus, that if there be any acquaintances in this crowded + court--I do not say my intimate friends, but acquaintances--who do + not know what I say is truth, I shall be reputed the wretch which I + am not; I say if any acquaintance of mine can believe that _I_ could + utter a recommendation of giving no quarter to a yielding and + unoffending foe, it is not the death which I am about to suffer that + I deserve--no punishment could be adequate to such a crime. My lords, + I can not only acquit my soul of such an intention, but I declare, in + the presence of that God before whom I must shortly appear, that the + favourite doctrine of my heart was, _that no human being should + suffer death but when absolute necessity required it_. My lords, I + feel a consolation in making this declaration, which nothing else + could afford me, because it is not only a justification of myself, + but where I am sealing my life with that breath which cannot be + suspected of falsehood, what I say may make some impression upon the + minds of men not holding the same doctrine. I declare to God I know + of no crime but assassination which can eclipse or equal that of + which I am accused. I discern no shade of guilt between that and + taking away the life of a foe, by putting a bayonet to his heart when + he is yielding and surrendering. I do request the bench to believe + that of me--I do request my country to believe that of me--I am sure + God will think that of me. Now, my lords, I have no favour to ask of + the court; my country has decided I am guilty, and the law says I + shall suffer--it sees that I am ready to suffer. But, my lords, I + have a favour to request of the court that does not relate to myself. + My lords, I have a brother whom I have even loved dearer than myself, + but it is not from any affection for him alone that I am induced to + make the request. He is a man, and therefore I would hope prepared to + die if he stood as I do--though I do not stand unconnected; but he + stands more dearly connected. In short, my lords, to spare your + feelings and I my own, I do not pray that that _I_ should not die, + but that the husband, the father, the son--all comprised in one + person--holding these relations dearer in life to him than any other + man I know--for such a man I do not pray a pardon, for that is not in + the power of the court, but I pray a respite for such time as the + court in its humanity and discretion shall think proper. You have + heard, my lords, that his private affairs require arrangement. When I + address myself to your lordships, it is with the knowledge you will + have of all the sons of our aged mother being gone. Two have perished + in the service of the King--one very recently. I only request that, + disposing of me with what swiftness either the public mind or justice + requires, a respite may be given to my brother, that the family may + acquire strength to bear it all. That is all I wish; I shall remember + it to my last breath, and I shall offer up my prayers for you to that + Being who has endued us all with the sensibility to feel. That is all + I ask. I have nothing more to say." + +It was four o'clock, p.m., when the judge proceeded to pass sentence, +and the following morning was appointed for the double execution. At +mid-day on Saturday, July 14th, the hapless men were removed to the room +adjoining the place of execution, where they exchanged a last embrace. +They were then pinioned, the black caps put over their brows, and +holding each other by the hand, they tottered out on the platform. The +elder brother was somewhat moved by the terrors of his situation, but +the younger bore his fate with unflinching firmness. They were launched +together into eternity--the same moment saw them dangling lifeless +corpses before the prison walls. They had lived in affectionate unity, +inspired by the same motives, labouring for the same cause, and death +did not dissolve the tie. "They died hand in hand, like true brothers." + +When the hangman's hideous office was completed, the bodies were taken +down, and the executioner, in accordance with the barbarous custom of +the time, proceeded to sever the heads from the bodies. It is said, +however, that only on the body of Henry Sheares was that horrible act +performed. While the arrangements for the execution were in progress, +Sir Jonah Barrington had been making intercession with Lord Clare on +their behalf, and beseeching at least a respite. His lordship declared +that the life of John Sheares could not be spared, but said that Henry +might possibly have something to say which would induce the government +to commute his sentence; he furnished Sir Jonah with an order to delay +the execution one hour, and told him to communicate with Henry Sheares +on the subject. "I hastened," writes Sir Jonah, "to Newgate, and arrived +at the very moment that the executioner was holding up the head of my +old college friend, and saying, 'Here is the head of a traitor.'" The +fact of this order having been issued by the government, may have so far +interrupted the bloody work on the scaffold as to save the remains of +the younger Sheares from mutilation. The bodies of the patriots were +interred on the night of the execution in the vaults of St. Michan's +church, where, enclosed in oaken coffins, marked in the usual manner +with the names and ages of the deceased, they still repose. Many a pious +visit has since been paid to those dim chambers--many a heart, filled +with love and pity, has throbbed above those coffin lids--many a tear +has dropped upon them. But it is not a feeling of grief alone that is +inspired by the memory of those martyrs to freedom; hope, courage, +constancy, are the lessons taught by their lives, and the patriotic +spirit that ruled their career is still awake and active in Ireland. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +ROBERT EMMET. + + +In all Irish history there is no name which touches the Irish heart like +that of Robert Emmet. We read, in that eventful record, of men who laid +down their lives for Ireland amid the roar and crash of battle, of +others who perished by the headsman's axe or the halter of the hangman, +of others whose eyes were closed for ever in the gloom of English +dungeons, and of many whose hearts broke amid the sorrows of involuntary +exile; of men, too, who in the great warfare of mind rendered to the +Irish cause services no less memorable and glorious. They are neither +forgotten nor unhonoured. The warrior figure of Hugh O'Neill is a +familiar vision to Irishmen; Sarsfield expiring on the foreign +battle-field with that infinitely pathetic and noble utterance on his +lips--"Would that this were for Ireland"--is a cherished remembrance, +and that last cry of a patriotic spirit dwells for ever about our +hearts; Grattan battling against a corrupt and venal faction, first to +win and then to defend the independence of his country, astonishing +friends and foes alike by the dazzling splendour of his eloquence; and +O'Connell on the hill-sides pleading for the restoration of Ireland's +rights, and rousing his countrymen to a struggle for them, are pictures +of which we are proud--memories that will live in song and story while +the Irish race has a distinct existence in the world. But in the +character of Robert Emmet there was such a rare combination of admirable +qualities, and in his history there are so many of the elements of +romance, that the man stands before our mental vision as a peculiarly +noble and loveable being, with claims upon our sympathies that are +absolutely without a parallel. He had youth, talent, social position, a +fair share of fortune, and bright prospects for the future on his side +when he embarked in the service of a cause that had but recently been +sunk in defeat and ruin. Courage, genius, enthusiasm were his, high +hopes and strong affections, all based upon and sweetened by a nature +utterly free from guile. He was an orator and a poet; in the one art he +had already achieved distinction, in the other he was certain to take a +high place, if he should make that an object of his ambition. He was a +true patriot, true soldier, and true lover. If the story of his +political life is full of melancholy interest, and calculated to awaken +profound emotions of reverence for his memory, the story of his +affections is not less touching. Truly, "there's not a line but hath +been wept upon." So it is, that of all the heroic men who risked and +lost everything for Ireland, none is so frequently remembered, none is +thought of so tenderly as Robert Emmet. Poetry has cast a halo of light +upon the name of the youthful martyr, and some of the sweetest strains +of Irish music are consecrated to his memory. + +[Illustration: ROBERT EMMET.] + +Robert Emmet was born on the 4th of March, 1778. He was the third son of +Doctor Robert Emmet, a well-known and highly respectable physician of +Dublin. Thomas Addis Emmet, already mentioned in these pages, the +associate of Tone, the Sheareses, and other members of the United Irish +organization, was an elder brother of Robert, and his senior by some +sixteen years. Just about the period when the United Irishmen were +forming themselves into a secret revolutionary society, young Emmet was +sent to receive his education in Trinity College. There the bent of the +lad's political opinions was soon detected; but among his fellow +students he found many, and amongst them older heads than his own, who +not only shared his views, but went beyond them in the direction of +liberal and democratic principles. In the Historical Society--composed +of the _alumni_ of the college, and on whose books at this time were +many names that subsequently became famous--those kindred spirits made +for themselves many opportunities of giving expression to their +sentiments, and showing that their hearts beat in unison with the great +movement for human freedom which was then agitating the world. To their +debates Emmet brought the aid of a fine intellect and a fluent +utterance, and he soon became the orator of the patriot party. + +So great was the effect created by his fervid eloquence and his +admirable reasoning, that the heads of the college thought it prudent on +several occasions to send one of the ablest of their body to take part +in the proceedings, and assist in refuting the argumentation of the +"young Jacobin." And to such extremities did matters proceed at last +that Emmet, with several of his political friends, was expelled the +college, others less obnoxious to the authorities were subjected to a +severe reprimand, and the society, thus terrorised and weakened, soon +ceased to exist. Our national poet, Thomas Moore, the fellow-student and +intimate friend of young Emmet, witnessed many of those displays of his +abilities, and in his "Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald," speaks +of him in terms of the highest admiration. "Were I," he says, "to number +the men among all I have ever known who appeared to me to combine in the +greatest degree pure moral worth with intellectual power, I should, +among the highest of the few, place Robert Emmet." "He was," writes the +same authority, "wholly free from the follies and frailties of +youth--though how capable he was of the most devoted passion events +afterwards proved." Of his oratory, he says, "I have heard little since +that appeared to me of a loftier, or what is a far more rare quality in +Irish eloquence, purer character." And the appearance of this greatly +gifted youth, he thus describes: "Simple in all his habits, and with a +repose of look and manner indicating but little movement within, it was +only when the spring was touched that set his feelings, and through them +his intellect in motion, that he at all rose above the level of ordinary +men. No two individuals indeed could be much more unlike to each other +than was the same youth to himself before rising to speak and after; the +brow that had appeared inanimate and almost drooping, at once elevating +itself to all the consciousness of power, and the whole countenance and +figure of the speaker assuming a change as of one suddenly inspired." + +The expulsion of Emmet from the college occurred in the month of +February, 1798. On the 12th of the following month his brother, Thomas +Addis Emmet, was arrested. The manner in which this noble-hearted +gentleman took the oath of the United Irish Society, in the year of +1795, is so remarkable that we cannot omit mention of it here. His +services as a lawyer having been engaged in the defence of some persons +who stood charged with having sworn in members to the United Irish +organization--the crime for which William Orr was subsequently tried and +executed--he, in the course of the proceedings, took up the oath and +read it with remarkable deliberation and solemnity. Then, taking into +his hand the prayer book that lay on the table for the swearing of +witnesses, and looking to the bench and around the court, he said +aloud-- + +"My Lords--Here, in the presence of this legal court, this crowded +auditory--in the presence of the Being that sees and witnesses, and +directs this judicial tribunal--here, my lords, I, myself, in the +presence of God, declare I take this oath." + +The terms of the oath at this time were, in fact, perfectly +constitutional, having reference simply to attainment of a due +representation of the Irish nation in parliament--still, the oath was +that of a society declared to be illegal, and the administration of it +had been made a capital offence. The boldness of the advocate in thus +administering it to himself in open court appeared to paralyse the minds +of the judges. They took no notice of the act, and what was even more +remarkable, the prisoners, who were convicted, received a lenient +sentence. + +But to return to Robert Emmet--the events of 1798, as might be supposed, +had a powerful effect on the feelings of the enthusiastic young patriot, +and he was not free of active participation with the leaders of the +movement in Dublin. He was, of course, an object of suspicion to the +government, and it appears marvellous that they did not immediately take +him into their safe keeping under the provisions of the _Habeas Corpus_ +Suspension Act. Ere long, however, he found that prudence would counsel +his concealment, or his disappearance from the country, and he took his +departure for the Continent, where he met with a whole host of the Irish +refugees; and, in 1802, was joined by his brother and others of the +political prisoners who had been released from the confinement to +which--in violation of a distinct agreement between them and the +government--they had been subjected in Fort George, in Scotland. Their +sufferings had not broken their spirit. There was hope still, they +thought, for Ireland; great opportunities were about to dawn upon that +often defeated, but still unconquerable nation, and they applied +themselves to the task of preparing the Irish people to take advantage +of them. + +At home the condition of affairs was not such as to discourage them. The +people had not lost heart; the fighting spirit was still rife amongst +them. The rebellion had been trampled out, but it had been sustained +mainly by a county or two, and it had served to show that a general +uprising of the people would be sufficient to sweep every vestige of +British power from the land. Then they had in their favour the +exasperation against the government which was caused by that most +infamous transaction, the passage of the Act of Union. But they found +their chief encouragement in the imminence of another war between France +and England. Once more the United Irishmen put themselves into +communication with Buonaparte, then First Consul, and again they +received flattering promises of assistance. Robert Emmet obtained an +interview with that great man, and learned from him that it was his +settled purpose on the breaking out of hostilities, which could not long +be deferred, to effect an invasion of England. Full of high hopes, Emmet +returned to Dublin in October, 1802; and as he was now in very heart of +a movement for another insurrection, he took every precaution to avoid +discovery. He passed under feigned names, and moved about as little as +possible. He gathered together the remnants of the United Irish +organization, and with some money of his own, added to considerable sums +supplied to him by a Mr. Long, a merchant, residing at No. 4 +Crow-street, and other sympathisers, he commenced the collection of an +armament and military stores for his followers. In the month of May, +1803, the expected war between France and England broke out. This event +of course raised still higher his hopes, and gave a great stimulus to +his exertions. To and fro he went from one to another of the depots +which he had established for the manufacture and storage of arms in +various parts of the city, cheering, directing, and assisting his men at +their work. Pikes were got ready by the thousand, and ingeniously stowed +away until they should be wanted; rockets, hand-grenades, and other +deadly missiles were carefully prepared; but an accidental explosion, +which occurred on the 16th of July, in one of these manufactories +situate in Patrick-street, was very near leading to the discovery of the +entire business, and had the effect of precipitating the outbreak. The +government at this time had undoubtedly got on the scent of the +movement, and the leaders considered that no time was to be lost in +bringing matters to a crisis. Emmet now took up his abode in the +Marshalsea-lane depot, snatching his few hours of sleep "on a mattress, +surrounded by all the implements of death." There he made a final +arrangement of his plans, and communicated his instructions to his +subordinates, fixing the 23rd of July as the date for the rising. + +The history of that unfortunate attempt need not here be written. +Suffice it to say that the arrangements miscarried in nearly every +particular. The men in the numbers calculated upon did not assemble at +the appointed time or in the appointed places, and the whole force that +turned out in Thomas-street for the attack on the Castle did not number +a hundred insurgents. They were joined by a riotous and noisy rabble; +and their unfortunate leader soon perceived that his following was, as +had previously been said of the king's troops, "formidable to every one +but the enemy." They had not proceeded far on their way when a carriage, +in which were Lord Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, his +daughter, and his nephew, the Rev. Mr. Wolfe, drove into the street. The +vehicle was stopped, and the Chief Justice was immediately piked by a +man in the crowd whose son he had some time previously condemned to +execution. The clergyman also was pulled out of the carriage and put to +death. To the lady no violence was offered, and Emmet himself, who had +heard of the deplorable tragedy, rushing from the head of his party, +bore her in his arms to an adjoining house. No attack on the Castle took +place; the insurgent party scattered and melted away even before the +appearance of military on the scene, and in little more than an hour +from the time of his setting out on his desperate enterprise, Robert +Emmet was a defeated and ruined man, a fugitive, with the whole host of +British spies and bloodhounds employed to hunt him to the death. + +Yet he might have foiled them and got clear out of the country if his +personal safety was all on earth he cared for. But in that noble heart +of his there was one passion co-existent with his love of Ireland, and +not unworthy of the companionship, which forbade his immediate flight. +With all that intensity of affection of which a nature so pure and so +ardent as his was capable, he loved a being in every way worthy of +him--a lady so gentle, and good, and fair, that even to a less poetic +imagination than his own, she might seem to be a fitting personification +of his beloved Erin; and by her he was loved and trusted in return. Who +is it that has not heard her name?--who has not mourned over the story +of Sarah Curran! In the ruin that had fallen on the hopes and fortunes +of the patriot chief, the happiness of this amiable lady was involved. +He would not leave without an interview with her--no! though a thousand +deaths should be the penalty. The delay was fatal to his chances of +escape. For more than a month he remained in concealment, protected by +the fidelity of friends, many of whom belonged to the humbler walks of +life, and one of whom in particular--the heroic Anne Devlin, from whom +neither proffered bribes nor cruel tortures could extort a single hint +as to his place of abode--should ever be held in grateful remembrance by +Irishmen. At length on the 25th of August, the ill-fated young +gentleman was arrested in the house of a Mrs. Palmer, at Harold's-cross. +On the 19th of September he was put on his trial in the court-house, +Green-street, charged with high treason. He entered on no defence, +beyond making a few remarks in the course of the proceedings with a view +to the moral and political justification of his conduct. The jury, +without leaving their box, returned a verdict of guilty against him; +after which, having been asked in due form why sentence of death should +not be pronounced upon him, he delivered this memorable speech, every +line of which is known and dear to the hearts of the Irish race:-- + + "MY LORDS--I am asked what have I to say why sentence of death should + not be pronounced on me, according to law. I have nothing to say that + can alter your predetermination, nor that it will become me to say, + with any view to the mitigation of that sentence which you are to + pronounce, and I must abide by. But I have that to say which + interests me more than life, and which you have laboured to destroy. + I have much to say why my reputation should be rescued from the load + of false accusation and calumny which has been cast upon it, I do not + imagine that, seated where you are, your mind can be so free from + prejudice as to receive the least impression from what I am going to + utter. I have no hopes that I can anchor my character in the breast + of a court constituted and trammelled as this is. I only wish, and + that is the utmost that I expect, that your lordships may suffer it + to float down your memories untainted by the foul breath of + prejudice, until it finds some more hospitable harbour to shelter it + from the storms by which it is buffetted. Was I only to suffer death, + after being adjudged guilty by your tribunal, I should bow in + silence, and meet the fate that awaits me without a murmur; but the + sentence of the law which delivers my body to the executioner will, + through the ministry of the law, labour in its own vindication, to + consign my character to obloquy; for there must be guilt somewhere, + whether in the sentence of the court, or in the catastrophe, time + must determine. A man in my situation has not only to encounter the + difficulties of fortune, and the force of power over minds which it + has corrupted or subjugated, but the difficulties of established + prejudice. The man dies, but his memory lives. That mine may not + perish, that it may live in the respect of my countrymen, I seize + upon this opportunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges + alleged against me. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly + port--when my shade shall have joined the bands of those martyred + heroes who have shed their blood on the scaffold and in the field in + the defence of their country and of virtue, this is my hope--I wish + that my memory and name may animate those who survive me, while I + look down with complacency on the destruction of that perfidious + government which upholds its domination by blasphemy of the Most + High--which displays its power over man, as over the beasts of the + forest--which sets man upon his brother, and lifts his hand, in the + name of God, against the throat of his fellow who believes or doubts + a little more or a little less than the government standard--a + government which is steeled to barbarity by the cries of the orphans, + and the tears of the widows it has made." + + [Here Lord Norbury interrupted Mr. Emmet, saying--"that the mean and + wicked enthusiasts who felt as he did, were not equal to the + accomplishment of their wild designs."] + + "I appeal to the immaculate God--I swear by the Throne of Heaven, + before which I must shortly appear--by the blood of the murdered + patriots who have gone before me--that my conduct has been, through + all this peril, and through all my purposes, governed only by the + conviction which I have uttered, and by no other view than that of + the emancipation of my country from the superinhuman oppression under + which she has so long and too patiently travailed; and I confidently + hope that, wild and chimerical as it may appear, there is still union + and strength in Ireland to accomplish this noblest of enterprises. Of + this I speak with confidence, of intimate knowledge, and with the + consolation that appertains to that confidence. Think not, my lords, + I say this for the petty gratification of giving you a transitory + uneasiness. A man who never yet raised his voice to assert a lie, + will not hazard his character with posterity, by asserting a + falsehood on a subject so important to his country, and on an + occasion like this. Yes, my lords, a man who does not wish to have + his epitaph written until his country is liberated, will not leave a + weapon in the power of envy, or a pretence to impeach the probity + which he means to preserve, even in the grave, to which tyranny + consigns him." + + [Here he was again interrupted by the court] + + "Again I say, that what I have spoken was not intended for your + lordship, whose situation I commisserate rather than envy--my + expressions were for my countrymen. If there is a true Irishman + present, let my last words cheer him in the hour of his affliction." + + [Here he was again interrupted. Lord Norbury said he did not sit + there to hear treason.] + + "I have always understood it to be the duty of a judge, when a + prisoner has been convicted, to pronounce the sentence of the law. I + have also understood that judges sometimes think it their duty to + hear with patience, and to speak with humanity; to exhort the victim + of the laws, and to offer, with tender benignity, their opinions of + the motives by which he was actuated in the crime of which he was + adjudged guilty. That a judge has thought it his duty so to have + done, I have no doubt; but where is the boasted freedom of your + institutions--where is the vaunted impartiality, clemency, and + mildness of your courts of justice if an unfortunate prisoner, whom + your policy, and not justice, is about to deliver into the hands of + the executioner, is not suffered to explain his motives sincerely and + truly, and to vindicate the principles by which he was actuated? My + lords, it may be a part of the system of angry justice to bow a man's + mind by humiliation to the purposed, ignominy of the scaffold; but + worse to me than the purposed shame, or the scaffold's terrors, would + be the shame of such foul and unfounded imputations as have been laid + against me in this court. You, my lord, are a judge; I am the + supposed culprit. I am a man; you are a man also. By a revolution of + power we might change places, though we never could change + characters. If I stand at the bar of this court, and dare not + vindicate my character, what a farce is your justice! If I stand at + this bar and dare not vindicate my character, how dare you calumniate + it. Does the sentence of death, which your unhallowed policy inflicts + on my body, condemn my tongue to silence and my reputation to + reproach? Your executioner may abridge the period of my existence; + but while I exist I shall not forbear to vindicate my character and + motives from your aspersions; and, as a man, to whom fame is dearer + than life, I will make the last use of that life in doing justice to + that reputation which is to live after me, and which is the only + legacy I can leave to those I honor and love, and for whom I am proud + to perish. As men, my lords, we must appear on the great day at one + common tribunal; and it will then remain for the Searcher of all + hearts to show a collective universe, who was engaged in the most + virtuous actions, or swayed by the purest motives--my country's + oppressor, or"----- + + [Here he was interrupted, and told to listen to the sentence of the + law]. + + "My lords, will a dying man be denied the legal privilege of + exculpating himself in the eyes of the community from an undeserved + reproach, thrown upon him during his trial, by charging him with + ambition, and attempting to cast away for a paltry consideration the + liberties of his country? Why did your lordships insult me? Or + rather, why insult justice, in demanding of me why sentence of death + should not be pronounced against me? I know, my lords, that form + prescribes that you should ask the question. The form also presents + the right of answering. This, no doubt, may be dispensed with, and so + might the whole ceremony of the trial, since sentence was already + pronounced at the Castle before the jury were empanelled. Your + lordships are but the priests of the oracle, and I insist on the + whole of the forms." + + [Here Mr. Emmet paused, and the court desired him to proceed.] + + "I am charged with being an emissary of France. An emissary of + France! and for what end? It is alleged that I wished to sell the + independence of my country; and for what end? Was this the object of + my ambition? And is this the mode by which a tribunal of justice + reconciles contradiction? No; I am no emissary; and my ambition was + to hold a place among the deliverers of my country, not in power nor + in profit, but in the glory of the achievement. Sell my country's + independence to France! and for what? Was it a change of masters? No, + but for my ambition. Oh, my country, was it personal ambition that + could influence me? Had it been the soul of my actions, could I not, + by my education and fortune, by the rank and consideration of my + family, have placed myself amongst the proudest of your oppressor. My + Country was my Idol. To it I sacrificed every selfish, every + endearing sentiment; and for it I now offer up myself, O God! No, my + lords; I acted as an Irishman, determined on delivering my country + from the yoke of a foreign and unrelenting tyranny, and the more + galling yoke of a domestic faction, which is its joint partner and + perpetrator in the patricide, from the ignominy existing with an + exterior of splendour and a conscious depravity. It was the wish of + my heart to extricate my country from this doubly rivetted + despotism--I wished to place her independence beyond the reach of any + power on earth. I wished to exalt her to that proud station in the + world. Connection with France was, indeed, intended, but only as far + as mutual interest would sanction or require. Were the French to + assume any authority inconsistent with the purest independence, it + would be signal for their destruction. We sought their aid--and we + sought it as we had assurance we should obtain it--as auxiliaries in + war, and allies in peace. Were the French to come as invaders or + enemies, uninvited by the wishes of the people, I should oppose them + to the utmost of my strength. Yes! my countrymen, I should advise you + to meet them upon the beach with a sword in one hand, and a torch in + the other. I would meet them with all the destructive fury of war. I + would animate my countrymen to immolate them in their boats, before + they had contaminated the soil of my country. If they succeeded in + landing, and if forced to retire before superior discipline, I would + dispute every inch of ground, burn every blade of grass, and the last + entrenchment of liberty should be my grave. What I could not do + myself, if I should fall, I should leave as a last charge to my + countrymen to accomplish; because I should feel conscious that life, + any more than death, is unprofitable when a foreign nation holds my + country in subjection. But it was not as an enemy that the succours + of France were to land. I looked, indeed, for the assistance of + France; but I wished to prove to France and to the world that + Irishmen deserved to be assisted--that they were indignant at + slavery, and ready to assert the independence and liberty of their + country; I wished to procure for my country the guarantee which + Washington procured for America--to procure an aid which, by its + example, would be as important as its valour; disciplined, gallant, + pregnant with science and experience; that of a people who would + perceive the good, and polish the rough points of our character. They + would come to us as strangers, and leave us as friends, after sharing + in our perils and elevating our destiny. These were my objects; not + to receive new taskmasters, but to expel old tyrants. It was for + these ends I sought aid from France; because France, even as an + enemy, could not be more implacable than the enemy already in the + bosom of my country." + + [Here he was interrupted by the court.] + + "I have been charged with that importance in the emancipation of my + country, as to be consided the key-stone of the combination of + Irishmen; or, as your lordship expressed it, 'the life and blood of + the conspiracy.' You do me honour over much; you have given to the + subaltern all the credit of a superior. There are men engaged in this + conspiracy who are not only superior to me, but even to your own + conceptions of yourself, my lord--men before the splendour of whose + genius and virtues I should bow with respectful deference, and who + would think themselves disgraced by shaking your blood-stained hand." + + [Here he was interrupted.] + + "What, my lord, shall you tell me, on the passage to the scaffold, + which that tyranny (of which you are only the intermediary + executioner) has erected for my murder, that I am accountable for all + the blood that has and will be shed in this struggle of the oppressed + against the oppressor--shall you tell me this, and must I be so very + a slave as not to repel it? I do not fear to approach the Omnipotent + Judge to answer for the conduct of my whole life; and am I to be + appalled and falsified by a mere remnant of mortality here? By you, + too, although if it were possible to collect all the innocent blood + that you have shed in your unhallowed ministry in one great reservoir + your lordship might swim in it." + + [Here the judge interfered.] + + "Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dishonor; let no + man attaint my memory, by believing that I could have engaged in any + cause but that of my country's liberty and independence; or that I + could have become the pliant minion of power, in the oppression and + misery of my country. The proclamation of the Provisional Government + speaks for our views; no inference can be tortured from it to + countenance barbarity or debasement at home, or subjection, + humiliation, or treachery from abroad. I would not have submitted to + a foreign oppressor, for the same reason that I would resist the + foreign and domestic oppressor. In the dignity of freedom, I would + have fought upon the threshold of my country, and its enemy should + enter only by passing over my lifeless corpse. And am I, who lived + but for my country, and who have subjected myself to the dangers of + the jealous and watchful oppressor, and the bondage of the grave, + only to give my countrymen their rights, and my country her + independence, am I to be loaded with calumny, and not suffered to + resent it? No; God forbid!" + + Here Lord Norbury told Mr. Emmet that his sentiments and language + disgraced his family and his education, but more particularly his + father, Dr. Emmet, who was a man, if alive, that would not + countenance such opinions. To which Mr. Emmet replied:-- + + "If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the concerns + and cares of those who were dear to them in this transitory life, + oh! ever dear and venerated shade of my departed father, look down + with scrutiny upon the conduct of your suffering son, and see if I + have, even for a moment, deviated from those principles of morality + and patriotism which it was your care to instil into my youthful + mind, and for which I am now about to offer up my life. My lords, you + are impatient for the sacrifice. The blood which you seek is not + congealed by the artificial terrors which surround your victim--it + circulates warmly and unruffled through the channels which God + created for noble purposes, but which you are now bent to destroy, + for purposes so grievous that they cry to heaven. Be yet patient! I + have but a few more words to say--I am going to my cold and silent + grave--my lamp of life is nearly extinguished--my race is run--the + grave opens to receive me, and I sink into its bosom. I have but one + request to ask at my departure from this world, it is--THE CHARITY OF + ITS SILENCE. Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my + motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance + asperse them. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace; and my + tomb remain uninscribed, and my memory in oblivion, until other times + and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes + her place among the nations of the earth, _then_ and _not till then_, + let my epitaph be written. I have done." + +This affecting address was spoken--as we learn from the painstaking and +generous biographer of the United Irishmen, Dr, Madden--"in so loud a +voice as to be distinctly heard at the outer doors of the court-house; +and yet, though he spoke in a loud tone, there was nothing boisterous in +his manner; his accents and cadence of voice, on the contrary, were +exquisitely modulated. His action was very remarkable, its greater or +lesser vehemence corresponded with the rise and fall of his voice. He is +described as moving about the dock, as he warmed in his address, with +rapid, but not ungraceful motions--now in front of the railing before +the bench, then retiring, as if his body, as well as his mind, were +spelling beyond the measure of its chains. His action was not confined +to his hands; he seemed to have acquired a swaying motion of the body +when he spoke in public, which was peculiar to him, but there was no +affectation in it." + +At ten o'clock, p.m., on the day of his trial, the barbarous sentence of +the law--the same that we have so recently heard passed on prisoners +standing in that same dock, accused of the same offence against the +rulers of this country--was passed on Robert Emmet. Only a few hours +were given him in which to withdraw his thoughts from the things of this +world and fix them on the next. He was hurried away, at midnight, from +Newgate to Kilmainham jail, passing through Thomas-street, the scene of +his attempted insurrection. Hardly had the prison van driven through, +when workmen arrived and commenced the erection of the gibbet from which +his body was to be suspended. About the hour of noon, on the 20th of +September, he mounted the scaffold with a firm and composed demeanour; a +minute or two more and the lifeless remains of one of the most gifted of +God's creatures hung from the cross beams--strangled by the enemies of +his country--cut off in the bloom of youth, in the prime of his physical +and intellectual powers, because he had loved his own land, hated her +oppressors, and striven to give freedom to his people. But not yet was +English vengeance satisfied. While the body was yet warm it was cut down +from the gibbet, the neck placed across a block on the scaffold, and the +head severed from the body. Then the executioner held it up before the +horrified and sorrowing crowd that stood outside the lines of soldiery, +proclaiming to them--"This is the head of a traitor!" A traitor! It was +a false proclamation. No traitor was he, but a true and noble gentleman. +No traitor, but a most faithful heart to all that was worthy of love and +honour. No traitor, but a martyr for Ireland. The people who stood +agonized before his scaffold, tears streaming from their eyes, and their +hearts bursting with suppressed emotion, knew that for them and for +Ireland he had offered up his young life. And when the deed was +finished, and the mutilated body had been taken away, and the armed +guards had marched from the fatal spot, old people and young moved up to +it to dip their handkerchiefs in the blood of the martyr, that they +might then treasure up the relics for ever. Well has his memory been +cherished in the Irish heart from that day to the present time. Six +years ago a procession of Irishmen, fifteen thousand strong, hearing +another rebel to his grave, passed by the scene of that execution, every +man of whom reverently uncovered his head as he reached the hallowed +spot. A few months ago, a banner borne in another Irish insurrection +displayed the inscription-- + +"REMEMBER EMMET." + +Far away "beyond the Atlantic foam," and "by the long wash of +Australasian seas," societies are in existence bearing his name, and +having for their object to cherish his memory and perpetuate his +principles. And wherever on the habitable globe a few members of the +scattered Irish race are to be found, there are hearts that are thrilled +by even the faintest allusion to the uninscribed grave-stone and the +unwritten epitaph. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THOMAS RUSSELL. + + +When Emmet was dead, and the plan to which he devoted his fortune, his +talents, and his life, had sunk in failure, the cause of Irish +independence appeared finally lost, and the cry, more than once repeated +in after times, that "now, indeed, the last bolt of Irish disaffection +has been sped, and that there would never again be an Irish rebellion," +rung loudly from the exulting enemies of Ireland. The hearts of the +people seemed broken by the weight of the misfortunes and calamities +that overwhelmed them. The hopes which had brightened their stormy path, +and enabled them to endure the oppression to which they were subjected +by expectations of a glorious change, flickered no longer amidst the +darkness. The efforts of the insurgents were everywhere drowned in +blood; the hideous memories of '98 were brought up anew; full of bitter +thoughts, exasperated, humiliated, and despondent, the people brooded +over their wretched fate, and sullenly submitted to the reign of terror +which was inaugurated amongst them. Little had the Irish patriots to +look forward to in that dark hour of suffering and disappointment. A +nightmare of blood and violence weighed down the spirits of the people; +a stupor appeared to have fallen on the nation; and though time might be +trusted to arouse them from the trance, they had suffered another loss, +not so easily repaired, in the death and dispersion of their leaders. +Where now should they find the Moses to lead them from the land of +captivity? Tone, Fitzgerald, Emmet, Bond, M'Cracken, the Sheareses--all +were dead. M'Nevin, Neilson, and O'Connor were in exile. Heavily and +relentlessly the arm of vengeance had fallen on them one by one; but the +list was not even then completed. There was yet another victim to fall +before the altar of liberty, and the sacrifice which commenced with Orr +did not conclude until Thomas Russell had perished on the gallows of +Downpatrick. + +The importance of the part which Thomas Russell fills in the history of +the United Irishmen, the worth of his character, the purity and nobility +of his sentiments, and the spirit of uncompromising patriotism displayed +in his last address, would render unpardonable the omission of his name +from such a work as this. "I mean to make my trial," said Russell, "and +the last of my life, if it is to close now, as serviceable to the cause +of liberty as I can," and he kept his word. To-day, we try in some +slight way to requite that fidelity which endured unto death, by +rescuing Thomas Russell's name from oblivion, and recalling his services +and virtues to the recollection of his countrymen. + +He was born at Betsborough, Dunnahane, in the parish of Kilshanick, +county Cork, on the 21st November, 1767. His father was an officer in +the British army, who had fought against the Irish Brigade in the +memorable battle of Fontenoy, and who died in a high situation in the +Royal Hospital at Kilmainham. Thomas, the youngest of his three sons, +was educated for the Protestant Church; but his inclinations sought a +different field of action, and at the age of fifteen he left for India +as a volunteer, where he served with his brother, Ambrose, whose +gallantry in battle called down commendation from the English king. +Thomas Russell quitted India after five years' service, and his return +is ascribed to the disgust and indignation which filled him on +witnessing the extortions, the cruelties, the usurpations, and +brutalities, which were carried out and sanctioned by the government +under which he served. He left Ireland burdened with few fixed political +principles and little knowledge of the world; he returned a full grown +man, imbued with the opinions which he never afterwards abandoned. He +was then, we are told, a model of manly beauty, one of those favoured +individuals whom we cannot pass in the street without being guilty of +the rudeness of staring in the face while passing, and turning round to +look at the receding figure. Though more than six feet high, his +majestic stature was scarcely observed, owing to the exquisite symmetry +of his form. Martial in his gait and demeanour, his appearance was not +altogether that of a soldier. His dark and steady eye, compressed lip, +and some what haughty bearing, were occasionally strongly indicative of +the camp; but in general the classic contour of his finely formed head, +the expression of sweetness that characterised his smile, and the +benevolence that beamed in his fine countenance, seemed to mark him out +as one that was destined to be the ornament, grace, and blessing of +private life. His manners were those of the finished gentleman, combined +with that native grace which nothing but superiority of intellect can +give; he was naturally reserved and retiring in disposition, and his +private life was distinguished by eminent purity and an unostentatious +devotion to the precepts of religion. + +Such was Thomas Russell when he made the acquaintance of Theobald Wolfe +Tone in Dublin. There is no doubt that the views and opinions of Tone +made a profound impression on young Russell; it is equally certain, on +the other hand, that Tone learned to love and esteem his new friend, +whose sentiments were so much in accordance with his own. Throughout +Tone's journal we find constant references to Thomas Russell, whom he +always places with Thomas Addis Emmet at the head of his list of +friends. Early in 1791 Russell proceeded to Belfast to join the 64th +Regiment, in which he had obtained a commission; before leaving Dublin +he appears to have become a member of the Society of United Irishmen, +and in Belfast he soon won the friendship and shared the councils of the +patriotic men who were labouring for Ireland in that city. + +While in Belfast, Russell fell into pecuniary embarrassments. His +generous and confiding nature induced him to go bail for a false friend, +and he found himself one morning obliged to meet a claim for L200, which +he had no means of discharging except by the sale of his commission. +Russell sold out and retired to Dungannon, where he lived for some time +on the residue of the money thus obtained, and during this period he was +appointed a Justice of the Peace for the county of Tyrone. After a short +experience of "Justices' justice" in the North, he retired from the +bench through motives alike creditable to his head and heart. "I cannot +reconcile it to my conscience," he exclaimed one day, "to sit on a bench +where the practice exists of inquiring what religion a person is before +investigating the charge against him." Russell returned, after taking +this step, to Belfast, where he was appointed to a situation in the +public library of the town, and where he became a regular contributor to +the organ of the Ulster patriots, the _Northern Star_. + +In 1796 he was appointed by the United Irishmen to the supreme military +command in the county Down, a post for which his military experience not +less than his personal influence fitted him, but his political career +was soon afterwards interrupted by his arrest on the 26th of September, +1796. Russell was removed to Dublin, and lodged in Newgate Prison; his +arrest filled the great heart of Tone, who was then toiling for his +country in France, with sorrow and dismay. "It is impossible," he says +in his journal, "to conceive the effect this misfortune has on my mind. +If we are not in Ireland in time to extricate him he is lost, for the +government will move heaven and earth to ensure his condemnation. Good +God!" he adds, "if Russell and Neilson fall, where shall I find two +others to replace them?" During the eventful months that intervened +between the date of his arrest and the 19th of March, 1799, poor Russell +remained chafing his imprisoned soul, filled with patriotic passion and +emotion, in his prison cell in Kilmainham. On the latter date, when the +majority of his associates were dead, and their followers scattered and +disheartened, he was transferred to Fort George in Scotland, where he +spent three years more in captivity. The government had no specific +charge against him, but they feared his influence and distrusted his +intentions, and they determined to keep him a prisoner while a chance +remained of his exerting his power against them. No better illustration +of Russell's character and principles could be afforded than that +supplied in the following extract from one of the letters written by him +during his incarceration in Fort George:--"To the people of Ireland," he +writes, addressing an Irish friend and sympathiser, "I am responsible +for my actions; amidst the uncertainties of life this may be my +valedictory letter; what has occasioned the failure of the cause is +useless to speculate on--Providence orders all things for the best. _I +am sure the people will never abandon the cause; I am equally sure it +will succeed_. I trust men will see," he adds, referring to the infidel +views then unhappily prevalent, "that the only true basis of liberty is +morality, and the only stable basis of morality is religion." + +In 1802 the government, failing to establish any distinct charge against +Russell, set him at liberty, and he at once repaired to Paris, where he +met Robert Emmet, who was then preparing to renew the effort of +Fitzgerald and Wolfe Tone. Time had not changed, nor suffering damped, +the patriotic impulses of Thomas Russell; he entered heartily into the +plans of young Emmet, and when the latter left for Ireland in November, +1802, to prosecute his hazardous enterprise, it was with the full +understanding that Russell would stand by his side in the post of +danger, and with him perish or succeed. In accordance with this +arrangement, Russell followed Robert Emmet to Dublin, where he arrived +so skilfully disguised that even his own family failed to recognise +him. Emmet's plans for the outbreak in Dublin were matured when Russell, +with a trusty companion, was despatched northwards to summon the Ulster +men to action. Buoyant in spirit, and filled with high expectation, he +entered on his mission, but he returned to Dublin a week later prostrate +in spirit and with a broken heart. One of his first acts on arriving in +Belfast was to issue a proclamation, in which, as "General-in-Chief of +the Northern District," he summoned the people of Ulster to action. + +The North, however, refused to act. It was the old, old story. Belfast +resolved on waiting "to see what the South would do," and the South +waited for Belfast. Disgusted and disappointed, Russell quitted the +Northern capital and proceeded to Antrim, where at least he thought he +might expect to find cordial co-operation; but fresh disappointments +awaited him, and with a load of misery at his heart, such as he had +never felt before, Russell returned to Dublin, where he lived in +seclusion, until arrested by Major Sirr and his myrmidons on the 9th of +September, 1803. A reward of L1,500 had been offered for his +apprehension. We learn on good authority that the ruffianly town-major, +on arresting him, seized the unfortunate patriot rudely by the +neck-cloth, whereupon, Russell, a far more powerful man than his +assailant, flung him aside, and drawing a pistol, exclaimed--"I will not +be treated with indignity." Sirr parleyed for a while; a file of +soldiers was meanwhile summoned to his aid, and Russell was borne off in +irons a prisoner to the Castle. While undergoing this second captivity a +bold attempt was made by his friends to effect his liberation by bribing +one of the gaolers; the plot, however, broke down, and Russell never +breathed the air of freedom again. While awaiting his trial--that trial +which he knew could have but one termination, the death of a +felon--Russell addressed a letter to one of his friends outside, in +which the following noble passage, the fittest epitaph to be engraved on +his tombstone, occurs:--"I mean to make my trial," he writes, "and the +last of my life, if it is to close now, as serviceable to the cause of +liberty as I can. _I trust my countrymen will ever adhere to it:_ I know +it will soon prosper. When the country is free," he adds--that it would +be free he never learned to doubt--"I beg they may lay my remains with +my father in a private manner, and pay the few debts I owe. I have only +to beg of my countrymen to remember that the cause of liberty is the +cause of virtue, _which I trust they will never abandon_. May God bless +and prosper them, and when power comes into their hands I entreat them +to use it with moderation. May God and the Saviour bless them all." + +Russell was taken to Downpatrick, escorted by a strong force of cavalry, +where he was lodged in the governor's rooms, preparatory to being tried +in that town by a Special Commission. While in prison in Downpatrick he +addressed a letter to Miss M'Cracken, a sister of Henry Joy M'Cracken, +one of the insurgent leaders of 1798, in which he speaks as follows: +"Humanly speaking, I expect to be found guilty and immediately executed. +As this may be my last letter, I shall only say that I did my best for +my country and for mankind. I have no wish to die, but far from +regretting its loss in such a cause, had I a thousand lives I would +willingly risk or lose them in it. Be assured, liberty will in the midst +of those storms be established, and God will wipe the tears from all +eyes." + +The sad anticipations expressed by Russell were but too fully borne out. +There was short shrift in those days for Irishmen accused of treason, +and the verdict of guilty, which he looked forward to with so much +resignation, was delivered before the last rays of the sun which rose on +the morning of the trial had faded in the gloaming. It was sworn that he +had attended treasonable meetings and distributed green uniforms; that +he asked those who attended them, "if they did not desire to get rid of +the Sassanaghs;" that he spoke of 30,000 stands of arms from France, but +said if France should fail them, "forks, spades, shovels, and pickaxes" +would serve that purpose. It was useless to struggle against such +testimony, palpably false and distorted as it was in some parts, and +Russell decided on cutting short the proceedings. "I shall not trouble +my lawyers," he said, "to make any statement in my case. There are but +three possible modes of defence--firstly, by calling witnesses to prove +the innocence of my conduct; secondly, by calling them to impeach the +credit of opposite witnesses, or by proving an _alibi_. As I can resort +to none of those modes of defence without involving others, I consider +myself precluded from any." Previous to the Judge's charge, the prisoner +asked--"If it was not permitted to persons in his situation to say a few +words, as he wished to give his valedictory advice to his countrymen in +as concise a manner as possible, being well convinced how speedy the +transition was from that vestibule of the grave to the scaffold." He was +told in reply, "that he would have an opportunity of expressing +himself," and when the time did come, Russell advanced to the front of +the dock, and spoke in a clear, firm tone of voice, as follows:-- + + "Before I address myself to this audience, I return my sincere thanks + to my learned counsel for the exertions they have made, in which they + displayed so much talent. I return my thanks to the gentlemen on the + part of the crown, for the accommodation and indulgence I have + received during my confinement. I return my thanks to the gentlemen + of the jury, for the patient investigation they have afforded my + case; and I return my thanks to the court, for the attention and + politeness they have shown me during my trial. As to my political + sentiments, I shall, in as brief a manner as possible (for I do not + wish to engross the time of the court), say a few words. I look back + to the last thirteen years of my life, the period with which I have + interfered with the transactions of Ireland, with entire + satisfaction; though for my share in them I am now about to die--the + gentlemen of the jury having, by their verdict, put the seal of truth + on the evidence against me. Whether, at this time, and the country + being situated as it is, it be safe to inflict the punishment of + death upon me for the offence I am charged with, I leave to the + gentlemen who conduct the prosecution. My death, perhaps, may be + useful in deterring others from following my example. It may serve, + on the other hand, as a memorial to others, and on trying occasions + it may inspire them with courage. I can now say, as far as my + judgment enabled me, I acted for the good of my country and of the + world. It may be presumptuous for me to deliver my opinions here as + a statesman, but as the government have singled me out as a leader, + and given me the appellation of 'General,' I am in some degree + entitled to do so. To me it is plain that all things are verging + towards a change, when all shall be of one opinion. In ancient times, + we read of great empires having their rise and their fall, and yet do + the old governments proceed as if all were immutable. From the time I + could observe and reflect, I perceived that there were two kinds of + laws--the laws of the State and the laws of God--frequently clashing + with each other; by the latter kind, I have always endeavoured to + regulate my conduct; but that laws of the former kind do exist in + Ireland I believe no one who hears me can deny. That such laws have + existed in former times many and various examples clearly evince. The + Saviour of the world suffered by the Roman laws--by the same laws His + Apostles were put to the torture, and deprived of their lives in His + cause. By my conduct I do not consider that I have incurred any moral + guilt. I have committed no moral evil. I do not want the many and + bright examples of those gone before me; but did I want this + encouragement, the recent example of a youthful hero--a martyr in the + cause of liberty--who has just died for his country, would inspire + me. I have descended into the vale of manhood. I have learned to + estimate the reality and delusions of this world; _he_ was surrounded + by everything which could endear this world to him--in the bloom of + youth, with fond attachments, and with all the fascinating charms of + health and innocence; to his death I look back even in this moment + with rapture. I have travelled much, and seen various parts of the + world, and I think the Irish are the most virtuous nation on the face + of the earth--they are a good and brave people, and had I a thousand + lives I would yield them in their service. If it be the will of God + that I suffer for that with which I stand charged, I am perfectly + resigned to His holy will and dispensation. I do not wish to trespass + much more on the time of those that hear me, and did I do so an + indisposition which has seized on me since I came into court would + prevent my purpose. Before I depart from this for a better world I + wish to address myself to the landed aristocracy of this country. The + word 'aristocracy' I do not mean to use as an insulting epithet, but + in the common sense of the expression. + + "Perhaps, as my voice may now be considered as a voice crying from + the grave, what I now say may have some weight. I see around me many, + who during the last years of my life have disseminated principles for + which I am now to die. Those gentlemen, who have all the wealth and + the power of the country in their hands, I strongly advise, and + earnestly exhort, to pay attention to the poor--by the poor I mean + the labouring class of the community, their tenantry and dependents. + I advise them for their good to look into their grievances, to + sympathize in their distress, and to spread comfort and happiness + around their dwellings. It might be that they may not hold their + power long, but at all events to attend to the wants and distresses + of the poor is their truest interest. If they hold their power, they + will thus have friends around them; if they lose it, their fall will + be gentle, and I am sure unless they act thus they can never be + happy. I shall now appeal to the right honourable gentleman in whose + hands the lives of the other prisoners are, and entreat that he will + rest satisfied with my death, and let that atone for those errors + into which I may have been supposed to have deluded others. I trust + the gentleman will restore them to their families and friends. If he + shall do so, I can assure him that the breeze which conveys to him + the prayers and blessings of their wives and children will be more + grateful than that which may be tainted with the stench of putrid + corpses, or carrying with it the cries of the widow and the orphan. + Standing as I do in the presence of God and of man, I entreat him to + let my life atone for the faults of all, and that my blood alone may + flow. + + "If I am then to die, I have therefore two requests to make. The + first is, that as I have been engaged in a work possibly of some + advantage to the world, I may be indulged with three days for its + completion; secondly, that as there are those ties which even death + cannot sever, and as there are those who may have some regard for + what will remain of me after death, I request that my remains, + disfigured as they will be, may be delivered after the execution of + the sentence to those dear friends, that they may be conveyed to the + ground where my parents are laid, and where those faithful few may + have a consecrated spot over which they may be permitted to grieve. I + have now to declare, when about to pass into the presence of Almighty + God, that I feel no enmity in my mind to any being, none to those who + have borne testimony against me, and none to the jury who have + pronounced the verdict of my death." + +The last request of Russell was refused, and he was executed twelve +hours after the conclusion of the trial. At noon, on the 21st of +October, 1803, he was borne pinioned to the place of execution. Eleven +regiments of soldiers were concentrated in the town to overawe the +people and defeat any attempt at rescue; yet even with this force at +their back, the authorities were far from feeling secure. The interval +between the trial and execution was so short that no preparation could +be made for the erection of a scaffold, except the placing of some +barrels under the gateway of the main entrance to the prison, with +planks placed upon them as a platform, and others sloping up from the +ground, by which it was ascended. On the ground hard by, were placed a +sack of sawdust, an axe, a block, and a knife. After ascending the +scaffold, Russell gazed forward through the archway--towards the +people, whose white faces could be seen glistening outside, and again +expressed his forgiveness of his persecutors. His manner, we are told, +was perfectly calm, and he died without a struggle. + +A purer soul, a more blameless spirit, than Thomas Russell, never sunk +on the battle-field of freedom. Fixed in principles, and resolute in +danger, he was nevertheless gentle, courteous, unobstrusive, and humane; +with all the modesty and unaffectedness of childhood, he united the zeal +of a martyr and the courage of a hero. To the cause of his country he +devoted all his energies and all his will; and when he failed to render +it prosperous in life, he illumined it by his devotion and steadfastness +in death. The noble speech given above, and the passages from his +letters which we have quoted, are sufficient in themselves to show how +chivalrous was the spirit, how noble the motives of Thomas Russell. The +predictions which he uttered with so much confidence have not indeed +been fulfilled, and the success which he looked forward to so hopefully +has never been won. But his advice, so often repeated in his letters, is +still adhered to; his countrymen have not yet learned to abandon the +cause in which he suffered, and they still cherish the conviction which +he so touchingly expressed--"that liberty will, in the midst of these +storms be established, and that God will yet wipe off the tears of the +Irish nation." + +Russell rests in the churchyard of the Protestant church of Downpatrick. +A plain slab marks the spot where he is laid, and there is on it this +single line-- + +"THE GRAVE OF RUSSELL." + + + * * * * * + + +We have now closed our reference to the portion of Irish history +comprised within the years 1798 and 1803, and as far as concerns the men +who suffered for Ireland in those disastrous days our "Speeches from the +Dock" are concluded. We leave behind us the struggle of 1798 and the men +who organized it; we turn from the records of a period reeking with the +gore of Ireland's truest sons, and echoing with the cries and curses of +the innocent and oppressed; we pass without notice the butcheries and +outrages that filled the land, while our countrymen were being sabred +into submission; and we leave behind us, too, the short-lived +insurrection of 1803, and the chivalrous young patriot who perished with +it. We turn to more recent events, less appalling in their general +aspect, but not less important in their consequences, or less +interesting to the present generation, and take up the next link in the +unbroken chain of protests against British rule in Ireland with the +lives and the fortunes of the patriots of 1848. How faithfully the +principles of freedom have been handed down--how nobly the men of our +own times have imitated the patriots of the past--how thoroughly the +sentiments expressed from the Green-street dock nineteen years ago +coincide with the declarations of Tone, of Emmet, and of Russell--our +readers will shortly have an opportunity of judging. They will see how +all the sufferings and all the calamities that darkened the path of the +martyrs of '98 were insufficient to deter others, as gifted, as earnest, +and as chivalrous as they, from following in their footsteps; and how +unquenchable and unending, as the altar light of the fire-worshipper, +the generous glow of patriotic enthusiasm was transmitted through +generations, unaffected by the torrents of blood in which it was sought +to extinguish it. + +The events of our own generation--the acts of contemporary patriots--now +claim our attention; but we are reluctant as yet to turn over the page, +and drop the curtain on the scenes with which we have hitherto been +dealing, and which we feel we have inadequately described. We have +spoken of the men whose speeches from the dock are on record, but we +still linger over the history of the events in which they shared, and of +the men who were associated with them in their endeavours. The patriots +whose careers we have glanced at are but a few out of the number of +Irishmen who suffered during the same period, and in the same cause, and +whose actions recommend them to the admiration and esteem of posterity. +Confining ourselves strictly to those whose speeches after conviction +have reached us, the list could not well be extended; but there are many +who acted as brave a part, and whose memories are inseparable from the +history of the period. We should have desired to speak, were the scope +of our labours more extended, of the brave Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the +gallant and the true, who sacrificed his position, his prospects, and +his life, for the good old cause, and whose arrest and death contributed +more largely, perhaps, than any other cause that could be assigned to +the failure of the insurrection of 1798. Descended from an old and noble +family, possessing in a remarkable degree all the attributes and +embellishments of a popular leader, young and spirited, eloquent and +wealthy, ardent, generous, and brave, of good address, and fine physical +proportions, it is not surprising that Lord Edward Fitzgerald became the +idol of the patriot party, and was appointed by them to a leading +position in the organization. Lord Edward Fitzgerald was born in +October, 1763; being the fifth son of James Duke of Leinster, the +twentieth Earl of Kildare. He grew up to manhood, as a recent writer has +observed, when the drums of the Volunteers were pealing their marches of +victory; and under the stirring events of the period his soul burst +through the shackles that had long bound down the Irish aristocracy in +servile dependence. In his early years he served in the American War of +Independence on the side of despotism and oppression--a circumstance +which in after years caused him poignant sorrow. He joined the United +Irishmen, about the time that Thomas Addis Emmet entered their ranks, +and the young nobleman threw himself into the movement with all the +ardour and energy of his nature. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of +the National forces in the south, and laboured with indefatigable zeal +in perfecting the plans for the outbreak on the 23rd of May. The story +of his arrest and capture is too well known to need repetition. +Treachery dogged the steps of the young patriot, and after lying for +some weeks in concealment, he was arrested on the 19th day of May, 1798, +two months after his associates in the direction of the movement had +been arrested at Oliver Bond's. His gallant struggle with his captors, +fighting like a lion at bay, against the miscreants who assailed him; +his assassination, his imprisonment, and his death, are events to which +the minds of the Irish nationalists perpetually recur, and which, +celebrated in song and story, are told with sympathising regret wherever +a group of Irish blood are gathered around the hearth-stone. His genius, +his talents, and his influence, his unswerving attachment to his +country, and his melancholy end, cast an air of romance around his +history; and the last ray of gratitude must fade from the Irish heart +before the name of the martyred patriot, who sleeps in the vaults of St. +Werburgh, will be forgotten in the land of his birth. + +In less than a fortnight after Lord Edward expired in Newgate another +Irish rebel, distinguished by his talents, his fidelity, and his +position, expiated with his life the crime of "loving his country above +his king." It is hard to mention Thomas Russell and ignore Henry Joy +M'Cracken--it is hard to speak of the Insurrection of '98 and forget the +gallant young Irishman who commanded at the battle of Antrim, and who +perished a few weeks subsequently, in the bloom of his manhood, on the +scaffold in Belfast. Henry Joy M'Cracken was one of the first members of +the Society of United Irishmen, and he was one of the best. He was +arrested, owing to private information received by the government, on +the 10th of October, 1796--three weeks after Russell, his friend and +confidant, was flung into prison--and lodged in Newgate Jail, where he +remained until the 8th of September in the following year. He was then +liberated on bail, and immediately, on regaining his liberty, returned +to Belfast, still bent on accomplishing at all hazards the liberation of +his country. Previous to the outbreak in May, '98, he had frequent +interviews with the patriot leaders in Dublin, and M'Cracken was +appointed to the command of the insurgent forces in Antrim. Filled with +impatience and patriotic ardour, he heard of the stirring events that +followed the arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; he concentrated all his +energies in preparing the Northern patriots for action, but +circumstances delayed the outbreak in that quarter, and it was not until +the 6th of June, 1798, that M'Cracken had perfected his arrangements for +taking the field, and issued the following brief proclamation, "dated +the first year of liberty, 6th June, 1798," addressed to the Army of +Ulster:-- + +"To-morrow we march on Antrim. Drive the garrison of Randalstown before +you, and hasten to form a junction with your Commander-in-Chief." + +Twenty-one thousand insurgents were to have rallied at the call of +M'Cracken, out not more than seven thousand responded to the summons. +Even this number, however, would have been sufficient to strike a +successful blow, which would have filled the hearts of the gallant +Wexford men, then in arms, with exultation, and effected incalculable +results on the fate of Ireland, had not the curse of the Irish cause, +treachery and betrayal, again come to the aid of its enemies. Hardly had +the plans for the attack on Antrim been perfected, when the secrets of +the conspirators were revealed to General Nugent, who commanded the +British troops in the North, and the defeat of the insurgents was thus +secured. M'Cracken's forces marched to the attack on Antrim with great +regularity, chorusing the "Marseillaise Hymn" as they charged through +the town. Their success at first seemed complete, but the English +general, acting on the information which had treacherously been supplied +him, had taken effective means to disconcert and defeat them. Suddenly, +and as it seemed, in the flush of victory, the insurgents found +themselves exposed to a galling fire from a force posted at either end +of the town; a gallant resistance was offered, but it was vain. The +insurgents fled from the fatal spot, leaving 500 of their dead and dying +behind them, and at nightfall Henry Joy M'Cracken found himself a +fugitive and a ruined man. For some weeks he managed to baffle the +bloodhounds on his track, but he was ultimately arrested and tried by +court-martial in Belfast, on the 17th July, 1798. On the evening of the +same day he was executed. We have it on the best authority that he bore +his fate with calmness, resolution, and resignation. It is not his fault +that a "Speech from the Dock" under his name is not amongst our present +collection. He had actually prepared one, but his brutal judges would +not listen to the patriot's exculpation. He was hung, amidst the sobs +and tears of the populace, in front of the Old Market place of Belfast, +and his remains were interred in the graveyard now covered by St. +George's Protestant church. + +Later still in the same year two gallant young officers of Irish blood, +shared the fate of Russell and M'Cracken. They sailed with Humbert from +Rochelle; they fought at Castlebar and Ballinamuck; and when the swords +of their French allies were sheathed, they passed into the power of +their foes. Matthew Tone was one of them; the other was Bartholomew +Teeling. The latter filled the rank of Etat-major in the French army; +and a letter from his commanding officer, General Humbert, was read at +his trial, in which the highest praise was given to the young officer +for the humane exertions which he made throughout his last brief +campaign in the interest of mercy. "His hand," he said, "was ever raised +to stay the useless effusion of blood, and his protection was afforded +to the prostrate and defenceless." But his military judges paid little +heed to those extenuating circumstances, and Teeling was condemned to +die on the day of his trial. He perished on the 24th September, 1798, +being then in his twenty-fourth year. He marched with a proud step to +the place of execution on Arbour Hill, Dublin, and he died, as a soldier +might, with unshaken firmness and unquailing mien. No lettered slab +marks the place of his interment; and his bones remain in unhallowed and +unconsecrated ground. Hardly had his headless body ceased to palpitate, +when it was flung into a hole at the rere of the Royal Barracks. A few +days later the same unhonoured spot received the mortal remains of +Matthew Tone. "He had a more enthusiastic nature than any of us," writes +his brother, Theobald Wolfe Tone, "and was a sincere Republican, capable +of sacrificing everything for his principles." His execution was +conducted with infamous cruelty and brutality, and the life-blood was +still gushing from his body when it was flung into "the Croppy's Hole." +"The day will come," says Dr. Madden, "when that desecrated spot will be +hallowed ground--consecrated by religion--trod lightly by pensive +patriotism--and decorated by funeral trophies in honour of the dead +whose bones lie there in graves that are now neglected and unhonoured." + +There are others of the patriot leaders who died in exile, far away from +the land for which they suffered, and whose graves were dug on alien +shores by the heedless hands of the stranger. This was the fate of Addis +Emmet, of Neilson, and of M'Nevin. In Ireland they were foremost and +most trusted amongst the gifted and brilliant throng that directed the +labours and shaped the purposes of the United Irishmen. They survived +the reign of terror that swallowed up the majority of their compatriots, +and, when milder councils began to prevail, they were permitted to go +forth from the dungeon which confined them into banishment. The vision +of Irish freedom was not permitted to dawn upon them in life; from +beyond the sandy slopes washed by the Western Atlantic they watched the +fortunes of the old land with hopeless but enduring love. Their talents, +their virtues, and their patriotism were not unappreciated by the people +amongst whom they spent their closing years of life. In the busiest +thoroughfare of the greatest city of America there towers over the heads +of the by-passers the monument of marble which grateful hands have +raised to the memory of Addis Emmet. In the centre of Western +civilization, the home of republican liberty, the stranger reads in +glowing words, of the virtues and the fame of the brother of Robert +Emmet, sculptured on the noble pillar erected in Broadway, New York, to +his memory. Nor was he the only one of his party to whom such an honour +was accorded. A stone-throw from the spot where the Emmet monument +stands, a memorial not less commanding in its proportions and +appearance, was erected to William James M'Nevin; and the American +citizen, as he passes through the spacious streets of that city which +the genius of liberty has rendered prosperous and great, gazes proudly +on those stately monuments, which tell him that the devotion to freedom +which England punished and proscribed found in his own land the +recognition which it merited from the gallant and the free. + +[Footnote: The inscriptions on the Emmet monument are in three +languages--Irish, Latin, and English. The Irish inscription consists of +the following lines:-- + + Do mhiannaich se ardmath + Cum tir a breith + Do thug se clu a's fuair se moladh + An deig a bais. + +The following is the English inscription: + + _In Memory of_ + THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, + + Who exemplified in his conduct, + And adorned by his integrity. + The policy and principles of the + UNITED IRISHMEN-- + + "To forward a brotherhood of affection, + A community of rights, an identity of interests, and a union of power + Among Irishmen of every religious persuasion, + As the only means of Ireland's chief good, + An impartial and adequate representation + IN AN IRISH PARLIAMENT." + + For this (mysterious fate of virtue) exiled from his native land, + In America, the land of Freedom, + He found a second country, + Which paid his love by reverencing his genius. + Learned in our laws, and in the laws of Europe, + In the literature of our times, and in that of antiquity, + All knowledge seemed subject to his use. + An orator of the first order, clear, copious, fervid, + Alike powerful to kindle the imagination, touch the affections, + And sway the reason and will. + Simple in his tastes, unassuming in his manners, + Frank, generous, kind-hearted, and honourable, + His private life was beautiful, + As his public course was brilliant. + Anxious to perpetuate + The name and example of such a man, + Alike illustrious by his genius, his virtues, and his fate; + Consecrated to their affections by his sacrifices, his perils, + And the deeper calamities of his kindred, + IN A JUST AND HOLY CAUSE; + His sympathising countrymen + Erected this Monument and Cenotaph.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +JOHN MITCHEL + + +Subsequent to the melancholy tragedy of 1803, a period of indescribable +depression was experienced in Ireland. Defeat, disaster, ruin, had +fallen upon the national cause; the power on whose friendly aid so much +reliance had been placed was humbled, and England stood before the world +in the full blaze of triumph and glory. Her fleet was undisputed +mistress of the ocean, having swept it of all hostile shipping, and left +to the enemy little more than the small craft that sheltered in narrow +creeks and under the guns of well-defended harbours. Her army, if not +numerically large, had proved its valour on many a well-fought field, +and shown that it knew how to bring victory to light upon its standards; +and, what was not less a matter of wonder to others, and of pride to +herself, the abundance of her wealth and the extent of her resources +were shown to be without a parallel in the world. Napoleon was an exile +on the rock of St. Helena; the "Holy Alliance"--as the European, +sovereigns blasphemously designated themselves--were lording it over the +souls and bodies of men by "right divine;" the free and noble principles +in which the French Revolution had its origin were now sunk out of +sight, covered with the infamy of the Reign of Terror and the +responsibility of the series of desolating wars which had followed it, +and no man dared to speak for them. Those were dark days for Ireland. +Her parliament was gone, and in the blighting shade of the provincialism +to which she was reduced, genius and courage seemed to have died out +from the land. Thousands of her bravest and most devoted children had +perished in her cause--some on the scaffold, and others on the field of +battle--and many whose presence at home would have been invaluable to +her were obliged to seek safety in exile. So Erin, the crownless Queen, +sat in the dust with fetters on her limbs, her broken sword fallen from +her hand, and with mournful memories lying heavy on her heart. The +feelings of disappointment and grief then rankling in every Irish +breast are well mirrored in that plaintive song of our national poet, +which open with these tristful lines:--- + + "'Tis gone, and for ever, the light we saw breaking, + Like heaven's first dawn o'er the sleep of the dead, + When man, from the slumber of ages awaking, + Looked upward and blessed the pure ray ere it fled. + 'Tis gone, and the gleams it has left of its burning + But deepen the long night of bondage and mourning, + That dark o'er the kingdoms of earth is returning, + And darkest of all, hapless Erin, o'er thee." + +[Illustration: WILLIAM S. O'BRIEN. JOHN MITCHEL. JOHN MARTIN.] + +In this gloomy condition of affairs there was nothing for Irish +patriotism to do except to seek for the removal, by constitutional +means, of some of the cruel grievances that pressed on the people. +Emancipation of the Catholics from the large remainder of the penal laws +that still degraded and despoiled them was one of the baits held out by +Mr. Pitt when playing his cards for the Union; but not long had the +Irish parliament been numbered with the things that were, when it became +evident that the minister was in no hurry to fulfil his engagement, and +it was found necessary to take some steps for keeping him to his +promise. Committees were formed, meetings were held, speeches were made, +resolutions were adopted, and all the machinery of parliamentary +endeavour was put in motion. The leaders of the Catholic cause in this +case, like those of the national cause in the preceding years, were +liberal-minded Protestant gentlemen; but as time wore on, a young +barrister from Kerry, one of the old race and the old faith, took a +decided lead amongst them, and soon became its recognised champion, the +elect of the nation, the "man of the people." Daniel O'Connell stood +forth, with the whole mass of his Catholic countrymen at his back, to +wage within the lines of the constitution this battle for Ireland. He +fought it resolutely and skilfully; the people supported him with an +unanimity and an enthusiasm that were wonderful; their spirit rose and +strengthened to that degree that the probability of another civil war +began to loom up in the near future--inquiries instituted by the +government resulted in the discovery that the Catholics serving in the +army, and who constituted at least a third of its strength, were in full +sympathy with their countrymen on this question, and could not be +depended on to act against them--the ministry recognised the critical +condition of affairs, saw that there was danger in delay, yielded to the +popular demand--and Catholic Emancipation was won. + +The details of that brilliant episode of Irish history cannot be told +within the limits of this work, but some of its consequences concern us +very nearly. The triumph of the constitutional struggle for Catholic +Emancipation confirmed O'Connell in the resolution he had previously +formed, to promote an agitation for a Repeal of the Union, and +encouraged him to lay the proposal before his countrymen. The forces +that had wrung the one measure of justice from an unwilling parliament +were competent, he declared, to obtain the other. He soon succeeded in +impressing his own belief on the minds of his countrymen, whose +confidence in his wisdom and his powers was unbounded. The whole country +responded to his call, and soon "the Liberator," as the emancipated +Irish Catholics loved to call him, found himself at the head of a +political organization which in its mode of action, its extent, and its +ardour was "unique in the history of the world." Every city and great +town in Ireland had its branch of the Repeal Association--every village +had its Repeal reading-room, all deriving hope and life, and taking +direction from the head-quarters in Dublin, where the great Tribune +himself "thundered and lightened" at the weekly meetings. All Ireland +echoed with his words. Newspapers, attaining thereby to a circulation +never before approached in Ireland, carried them from one extremity of +the land to the other--educating, cheering, and inspiring the hearts of +the long downtrodden people. Nothing like this had ever occurred before. +The eloquence of the patriot orators of the Irish parliament had not +been brought home to the masses of the population; and the United +Irishmen could only speak to them secretly, in whispers. But here were +addresses glowing, and bold, and tender, brimful of native humour, +scathing in their sarcasms, terrible in their denunciations, ineffably +beautiful in their pathos--addresses that recalled the most glorious as +well as the saddest memories of Irish history, and presented brilliant +vistas of the future--addresses that touched to its fullest and most +delicious vibration every chord of the Irish heart--here they were being +sped over the land in an unfailing and ever welcome supply. The peasant +read them to his family by the fireside when his hard day's work was +done, and the fisherman, as he steered his boat homeward, reckoned as +not the least of his anticipated pleasures, the reading of the last +report from Conciliation Hall. And it was not the humbler classes only +who acknowledged the influence of the Repeal oratory, sympathised with +the movement, and enrolled themselves in the ranks. The priesthood +almost to a man, were members of the Association and propagandists of +its principles; the professional classes were largely represented in it; +of merchants and traders it could count up a long roll; and many of the +landed gentry, even though they held her Majesty's Commission of the +Peace, were amongst its most prominent supporters. In short, the Repeal +Association represented the Irish nation, and its voice was the voice of +the people. The "Monster Meetings" of the year 1843 put this fact beyond +the region of doubt or question. As popular demonstrations they were +wonderful in their numbers, their order, and their enthusiasm. +O'Connell, elated by their success, fancied that his victory was as good +as won. He knew that things could not continue to go on as they were +going--either the government or the Repeal Association should give way, +and he believed the government would yield. For, the Association, he +assured his countrymen, was safe within the limits of the law, and not a +hostile hand could be laid upon it without violating the constitution. +His countrymen had nothing to do but obey the law and support the +Association, and a Repeal of the Union within a few months was, he said, +inevitable. In all this he had allowed his own heart to deceive him; +and his mistake was clearly shown, when in October, 1843, the +government, by proclamation and a display of military force, prevented +the intended monster meeting at Clontarf. It was still more fully +established in the early part of the following year, when he, with a +number of his political associates, was brought to trial for treasonable +and seditious practices, found guilty, and sentenced to twelve months' +imprisonment. The subsequent reversal of the verdict by the House of +Lords, was a legal triumph for O'Connell; but nevertheless, his prestige +had suffered by the occurrence, and his policy had begun to pall upon +the minds of the people. + +After his release the business of the Association went on as before, +only there was less of confidence and of defiance in the speeches of the +Liberator, and there were no more monster meetings. He was now more +emphatic than ever in his advocacy of moral force principles, and his +condemnation of all warlike hints and allusions. The weight of age--he +was then more than seventy years--was pressing on his once buoyant +spirit; his prison experience had damped his courage; and he was haunted +night and day by a conviction--terrible to his mind--that there was +growing up under the wing of the Association, a party that would teach +the people to look to an armed struggle as the only sure means of +obtaining the freedom of their country. The writings of the +_Nation_--then a new light in the literature and politics of +Ireland--had a ring in them that was unpleasant to his ears, a sound as +of clashing steel and the explosion of gunpowder. In the articles of +that journal much honour was given to men who had striven for Irish +freedom by other methods than those in favour at Conciliation Hall; and +the songs and ballads which it was giving to the youth of Ireland--who +received them with delight, treasuring every line "as if an angel +spoke"--were bright with the spirit of battle, and taught any doctrine +except the sinfulness of fighting for liberty. The Liberator grew +fearful of that organ and of the men by whom it was conducted. He +distrusted that quiet-faced, thoughtful, and laborious young man, whom +they so loved and reverenced--the founder, the soul, and the centre of +their party. To the keen glance of the aged leader it appeared that for +all that placid brow, those calm grey eyes and softly curving lip of +his, the man had no horror of blood-spilling in a righteous cause, and +was capable not only of deliberately inciting his countrymen to rise in +arms against English rule, but also of taking a foremost place in the +struggle. And little less to be dreaded than Thomas Davis, was his +friend and _collaborateur_, Charles Gavan Duffy, whose sharp and active +intellect and resolute spirit were not in the least likely to allow the +national cause to rest for ever on the peaceful platform of Conciliation +Hall. Death removed Davis early from the scene; but in John Mitchel, who +had taken his place, there was no gain to the party of moral force. Then +there was that other young firebrand--that dapper, well-built, +well-dressed, curled and scented young gentleman from the _Urbs +Intacta_--whose wondrous eloquence, with the glow of its thought, the +brilliancy and richness of its imagery, and the sweetness of its +cadences, charmed and swayed all hearts--adding immensely to the dangers +of the situation. O'Brien, too, staid and unimpulsive as was his +character, deliberate and circumspect as were his habits, was evidently +inclined to give the weight of his name and influence to this "advanced" +party. And there were many less prominent, but scarcely less able men +giving them the aid of their great talents in the press and on the +platform--not only men, but women too. Some of the most inspiriting of +the strains that were inducing the youth of the country to familiarize +themselves with steel blades and rifle barrels proceeded from the pens +of those fair and gifted beings. Day after day, as this party sickened +of the stale platitudes, and timid counsels, and crooked policy of the +Hall, O'Connell, his son John, and other leading members of the +Association, insisted more and more strongly on their doctrine of moral +force, and indulged in the wildest and most absurd denunciations of the +principle of armed resistance to tyranny. "The liberty of the world," +exclaimed O'Connell, "is not worth the shedding of one drop of human +blood." Notwithstanding the profound disgust which the utterance of such +sentiments caused to the bolder spirits in the Association, they would +have continued within its fold, if those debasing principles had not +been actually formulated into a series of resolutions and proposed for +the acceptance of the Society. Then they rose against the ignoble +doctrine which would blot the fair fame of all who ever fought for +liberty in Ireland or elsewhere, and rank the noblest men the world ever +saw in the category of fools and criminals. Meagher, in a brilliant +oration, protested against the resolutions, and showed why he would not +"abhor and stigmatize the sword." Mr. John O'Connell interrupted and +interfered with the speaker. It was plain that freedom of speech was to +be had no longer on the platform of the Association, and that men of +spirit had no longer any business there--Meagher took up his hat and +left the Hall, and amongst the crowd that accompanied, him, went William +Smith O'Brien, Thomas Devin Reilly, Charles Gavan Duffy, and John +Mitchel. + +After this disruption, which occurred on the 28th of July, 1846, came +the formation of the "Irish Confederation" by the seceders. In the +proceedings of the new Society Mr. Mitchel took a more prominent part +than he had taken in the business of the Repeal Association. And he +continued to write in his own terse and forcible style in the _Nation_. +But his mind travelled too fast in the direction of war for either the +journal or the society with which he was connected. The desperate +condition of the country, now a prey to all the horrors of famine, for +the awfully fatal effects of which the government was clearly +responsible--the disorganization and decay of the Repeal party, +consequent on the death of O'Connell--the introduction of Arms' Acts and +other coercive measures by the government, and the growing ardour of the +Confederate Clubs, were to him as signs and tokens unmistakable that +there was no time to be lost in bringing matters to a crisis in which +the people should hold their own by force of arms. Most of his political +associates viewed the situation with more patience; but Mr. Mitchel was +resolved that even if he stood alone, he would speak out his opinions to +the people. In the latter part of December, 1847, he withdrew from the +_Nation_. On the 5th of February, 1848, at the close of a debate, which +had lasted two days, on the merits of his policy of immediate resistance +to the collection of rates, rents, and taxes, and the division on which +was unfavourable to him, he, with a number of friends and sympathisers +withdraw from the Confederation. Seven days afterwards, he issued the +first number of a newspaper, bearing the significant title of _The +United Irishman_, and having for its motto the following aphorism, +quoted from Theobald Wolfe Tone: "Our independence must be had at all +hazards. If the men of property will not support us, they must fall; we +can support ourselves by the aid of that numerous and respectable class +of the community, the men of no property." + +The _Nation_ had been regarded as rather an outspoken journal, and not +particularly well affected to the rulers of the country. But it was +mildness, and gentleness, and loyalty itself compared to the new-comer +in the field of journalism. The sudden uprising of a most portentous +comet sweeping close to this planet of ours could hardly create more +unfeigned astonishment in the minds of people in general than did the +appearance of this wonderful newspaper, brimful of open and avowed +sedition, crammed with incitements to insurrection, and with diligently +prepared instructions for the destruction of her Majesty's troops, +barracks, stores, and magazines. Men rubbed their eyes, as they read its +articles and correspondence, scarcely believing that any man in his +sober senses would venture, in any part of the Queen's dominions, to put +such things in print. But there were the articles and the letters, +nevertheless, on fair paper and in good type, published in a duly +registered newspaper bearing the impressed stamp of the Customs--a sign +to all men that the proprietor was bound in heavy sureties to the +government against the publication of "libel, blasphemy, or +sedition"!--couched, moreover, in a style of language possessing such +grace and force, such delicacy of finish, and yet such marvellous +strength, rich with so much of quiet humour, and bristling with such +rasping sarcasm and penetrating invective, that they were read as an +intellectual luxury even by men who regarded as utterly wild and wicked +the sentiments they conveyed. The first editorial utterance in this +journal consisted of a letter from Mr. Mitchel to the Viceroy, in which +that functionary was addressed as "The Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, +Englishman, calling himself her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant-General and +General Governor of Ireland." The purport of the document was to +declare, above board, the aims and objects of the _United Irishman_, a +journal with which, wrote Mr. Mitchel, "your lordship and your +lordship's masters and servants are to have more to do than may be +agreeable either to you or me." That that purpose was to resume the +struggle which had been waged by Tone and Emmet, or, as Mr. Mitchel put +it, "the Holy War, to sweep this island clear of the English name and +nation." "We differ," he said, "from the illustrious conspirators of +'98, not in principle--no, not an _iota_--but, as I shall presently show +you, materially as to the mode of action." And the difference was to +consist in this--that whereas the revolutionary organization in +Ninety-Eight was a secret one, which was ruined by spies and informers, +that of Forty-Eight was to be an open one, concerning which informers +could tell nothing that its promoters would not willingly proclaim from +the house-tops. "If you desire," he wrote, "to have a Castle detective +employed about the _United Irishman_ office in Trinity-street, I shall +make no objection, provided the man be sober and honest. If Sir George +Grey or Sir William Somerville would like to read our correspondence, we +make him welcome for the present--only let the letters be forwarded +without losing a post." Of the fact that he would speedily be called to +account for his conduct in one of her Majesty's courts of law, the +writer of this defiant language was perfectly cognizant; but he declared +that the inevitable prosecution would be his opportunity of achieving a +victory over the government. "For be it known to you," he wrote, "that +in such a case you shall either publicly, boldly, notoriously _pack a +jury_, or else see the accused rebel walk a free man out of the court of +Queen's Bench--which will be a victory only less than the rout of your +lordship's red-coats in the open field." In case of his defeat, other +men would take up the cause, and maintain it until at last England would +have to fall back on her old system of courts-martial, and triangles, +and free quarters, and Irishmen would find that there was no help for +them "in franchises, in votings, in spoutings, in shoutings, and toasts +drank with enthusiasm--nor in anything in this world, save the +_extensor_ and _contractor_ muscles of their right arms, in +these and in the goodness of God above." The conclusion of this +extraordinary address to her Majesty's representative was in the +following terms:-- + + "In plain English, my Lord Earl, the deep and irreconcilable + disaffection of this people to all British laws, lawgivers, and law + administrators shall find a voice. That holy Hatred of foreign + dominion which nerved our noble predecessors fifty years ago for the + dungeon, the field, or the gallows (though of late years it has worn + a vile nisi prius gown, and snivelled somewhat in courts of law and + on spouting platforms) still lives, thank God! and glows as fierce + and hot as ever. To educate that holy Hatred, to make it know itself, + and avow itself, and, at last, fill itself full, I hereby devote the + columns of the _United Irishman_." + +After this address to the Lord Lieutenant, Mr. Mitchel took to +addressing the farming classes, and it is really a study to observe the +exquisite precision, the clearness, and the force of the language he +employed to convey his ideas to them. In his second letter he supposes +the case of a farmer who has the entire produce of his land in his +haggard, in the shape of six stacks of corn; he shows that three of +these ought, in all honour and conscience, be sufficient for the +landlord and the government to seize upon, leaving the other three to +support the family of the man whose labour had produced them. But what +are the facts?--the landlord and the government sweep _all_ away, and +the peasant and his family starve by the ditch sides. As an illustration +of this condition of things, he quotes from a southern paper an account +of an inquest held on the body of a man named Boland, and on the bodies +of his two daughters, who, as the verdict declared, had "died of cold +and starvation," although occupants of a farm of over twenty acres in +extent. On this melancholy case the comment of the editor of the _United +Irishman_ was as follows:-- + + "Now what became of poor Boland's twenty acres of crop? Part of it + went to Gibraltar, to victual the garrison; part to South Africa, to + provision the robber army; part went to Spain, to pay for the + landlord's wine; part to London, to pay the interest of his honour's + mortgage to the Jews. The English ate some of it; the Chinese had + their share; the Jews and the Gentiles divided it amongst them--and + there was _none_ for Boland." + +As to the manner in which the condition and fate of poor Boland were to +be avoided, abundant instructions were given in every number. The +anti-tithe movement was quoted as a model to begin with; but, of course, +that was to be improved upon. The idea that the people would not +venture on such desperate movements, and had grown enamoured of the +Peace policy and of "Patience and Perseverance," Mr. Mitchel refused to +entertain for a moment:-- + + "I will not believe that Irishmen are so degraded and utterly lost as + this. The Earth is awakening from sleep; a flash of electric fire is + passing through the dumb millions. Democracy is girding himself once + more like a strong man to run a race; and slumbering nations are + arising in their might, and 'shaking their invincible locks.' Oh! my + countrymen, look up, look up! Arise from the death-dust where you + have long been lying, and let this light visit your eyes also, and + touch your souls. Let your ears drink in the blessed words, 'Liberty! + Fraternity! Equality!' which are soon to ring from pole to pole! + Clear steel will, ere long, dawn upon you in your desolate darkness; + and the rolling thunder of the People's cannon will drive before it + many a heavy cloud that has long hidden from you the face of heaven. + Pray for that day; and preserve life and health that you may worthily + meet it. Above all, let the man amongst you who has no gun sell his + garment and buy one." + +So Mr. Mitchel went on for some weeks, preaching in earnest and exciting +language the necessity of preparation for an immediate grapple with "the +enemy." In the midst of his labours came the startling news of another +revolution in France, Louis Philippe in full flight, and the +proclamation of a Republic. Yet a few days more and the Berliners had +risen and triumphed, only stopping short of chasing their king away +because he conceded all they were pleased to require of him; then came +insurrection in Sicily, insurrection in Lombardy, insurrection in Milan, +insurrection in Hungary--in short, the revolutionary movement became +general throughout Europe, and thrones and principalities were tumbling +and tottering in all directions. Loud was the complaint in the _United +Irishman_ because Dublin was remaining tranquil. It was evident, +however, that the people and their leaders were feeling the +revolutionary impulse, and that matters were fast hurrying towards an +outbreak. John Mitchel knew that a crisis was at hand, and devoted all +his energies to making the best use of the short time that his newspaper +had to live. His writing became fiercer, more condensed, and more +powerful than ever. Lord Clarendon was now addressed as "Her Majesty's +Executioner General and General Butcher of Ireland," and instructions +for street warfare and all sorts of operations suitable for an insurgent +populace occupied a larger space than ever in his paper. But the +government were now resolved to close with their bold and clever enemy. +On Tuesday, the 21st of March, 1848, Messrs. O'Brien, Meagher, and +Mitchel were arrested, the former for seditious speeches, uttered at a +meeting of the Confederation held on the 15th of that month, the latter +for three seditious articles published in the _United Irishman_. All +were released on bail, and when the trials came on, in the month of May, +disagreements of the jury took place in the cases of O'Brien and +Meagher. But before the trial of Mr. Mitchel could be proceeded with, he +was arrested on a fresh charge of "treason-felony"--a new crime, which +had been manufactured by Act of Parliament a few weeks before. He was, +therefore, fast in the toils, and with but little chance of escape. +Little concern did this give the brave-hearted patriot, who only hoped +and prayed that at last the time had come when his countrymen would +launch out upon the resolute course of action which he had so earnestly +recommended to them. From his cell in Newgate, on the 16th of May, he +addressed to them one of his most exciting letters, of which the +following are the concluding passages:-- + + "For me, I abide my fate joyfully; for I know that, whatever betide + me, my work is nearly done. Yes; Moral Force and 'Patience and + Perseverance' are scattered to the wild winds of heaven. The music my + countrymen now love best to hear is the rattle of arms and the ring + of the rifle. As I sit here and write in my lonely cell, I hear, just + dying away, the measured tramp of ten thousand marching men--my + gallant confederates, unarmed and silent, but with hearts like bended + bow, waiting till _the time_ comes. They have marched past my prison + windows, to let me know there are ten thousand fighting men in + Dublin--'felons' in heart and soul. + + "I thank God for it. The game is afoot at last. The liberty of + Ireland may come sooner or later, by peaceful negotiation or bloody + conflict--but it is _sure_; and wherever between the poles I may + chance to be, I will hear the crash of the downfall of the + thrice-accursed British Empire." + +On Monday, May 22nd, 1848, the trial of Mr. Mitchel commenced in the +Commission Court, Green-street, before Baron Lefroy. He was eloquently +defended by the veteran lawyer and uncompromising patriot, Robert +Holmes, the brother-in-law of Robert Emmet. The mere law of the case was +strong against the prisoner, but Mr. Holmes endeavoured to raise the +minds of the jury to the moral view of the case, upon which English +juries have often acted regardless of the letter of the Act of +Parliament. With a jury of Irishmen impartially chosen it would have +been a good defence, but the Castle had made sure of their men in this +case. At five o'clock on the evening of the 26th, the case went to the +jury, who, after an absence of two hours, returned into court with a +verdict of "Guilty." + +That verdict was a surprise to no one. On the day the jury was +empanelled, the prisoner and every one else knew what it was to be. It +was now his turn to have a word to say for himself, and he spoke, as was +his wont, in plain terms, answering thus the question that had been put +to him:-- + + "I have to say that I have been found guilty by a packed jury--by the + jury of a partizan sheriff--by a jury not empanelled even according + to the law of England. I have been found guilty by a packed jury + obtained by a juggle--a jury not empanelled by a sheriff but by a + juggler." + +This was touching the high sheriff on a tender place, and he immediately +called out for the protection of the court. Whereupon Baron Lefroy +interposed, and did gravely and deliberately, as is the manner of +judges, declare that the imputation which had just been made on the +character of that excellent official, the high sheriff, was most +"unwarranted and unfounded." He adduced, however, no reason in support +of that declaration--not a shadow of proof that the conduct of the +aforesaid official was fair or honest--but proceeded to say that the +jury had found the prisoner guilty on evidence supplied by his own +writings, some of which his lordship, with a proper expression of horror +on his countenance, proceeded to read from his notes. In one of the +prisoner's publications, he said, there appeared the following passage +"There is now growing on the soil of Ireland a wealth of grain, and +roots, and cattle, far more than enough to sustain in life and comfort +all the inhabitants of the island. That wealth must not leave us another +year, not until every grain of it is fought for in every stage, from the +tying of the sheaf to the loading of the ship; and the effort necessary +to that simple act of self-preservation will at one and the same blow +prostrate British dominion and landlordism together." In reference to +this piece of writing, and many others of a similar nature, his lordship +remarked that no effort had been made to show that the prisoner was not +responsible for them; it was only contended that they involved no moral +guilt. But the law was to be vindicated; and it now became his duty to +pronounce the sentence of the court, which was--that the prisoner be +transported beyond the seas for a term of fourteen years. The severity +of the sentence occasioned general surprise; a general suspiration and +low murmur were heard through the court. Then there was stillness as of +death, in the midst of which the tones of John Mitchel's voice rang out +clearly, as he said:-- + + "The law has now done its part, and the Queen of England, her crown + and government in Ireland are now secure, pursuant to act of + parliament. I have done my part also. Three months ago I promised + Lord Clarendon, and his government in this country, that I would + provoke him into his courts of justice, as places of this kind are + called, and that I would force him publicly and notoriously to pack a + jury against me to convict me, or else that I would walk a free man + out of this court, and provoke him to a contest in another field. My + lord, I knew I was setting my life on that cast, but I knew that in + either event the victory should be with me, and it is with me. + Neither the jury, nor the judges, nor any other man in this court + presumes to imagine that it is a criminal who stands in this dock." + +Here there were murmurs of applause, which caused the criers to call out +for "Silence!" and the police to look fiercely on the people around +them. Mr. Mitchel resumed:-- + + "I have shown what the law is made of in Ireland. I have shown that + her Majesty's government sustains itself in Ireland by packed juries, + by partizan judges, by perjured sheriffs." + +Baron Lefroy interposed. The court could not sit there to hear the +prisoner arraign the jurors, the sheriffs, the courts, and the tenure by +which Englands holds this country. Again the prisoner spoke:-- + + "I have acted all through this business, from the first, under a + strong sense of duty. I do not repent anything that I have done, and + I believe that the course which I have opened is only commenced. The + Roman who saw his hand burning to ashes before the tyrant, promised + that three hundred should follow out his enterprise. Can I not + promise for one, for two, for three, aye for hundreds?" + +As he uttered these words, Mr. Mitchel looked proudly into the faces of +the friends near him, and around the court. His words and his glance +were immediately responded to by an outburst of passionate voices from +all parts of the building, exclaiming--"For me! for me! promise for me, +Mitchel! and for me!" And then came a clapping of hands and a stamping +of feet, that sounded loud and sharp as a discharge of musketry, +followed by a shout like a peal of thunder. John Martin, Thomas Francis +Meagher, and Devin Reilly, with other gentlemen who stood close by the +dock, reached over it to grasp the hand of the new made felon. The +aspect of affairs looked alarming for a moment. The policemen laid +violent hands on the persons near them and pulled them about. Mr. +Meagher and Mr. Doheny were taken into custody. Baron Lefroy, in a high +state of excitement, cried out--"Officer! remove Mr. Mitchel!" and then, +with his brother judges, retired hurriedly from the bench. The turnkeys +who stood in the dock with Mr. Mitchel motioned to him that he was to +move; he took a step or two down the little stairs under the flooring of +the court-house, and his friends saw him no more. + +He was led through the passages that communicated with the adjoining +prison, and ushered into a dark and narrow cell, in which, however, his +detention was of but a few hours' duration: At four o'clock in the +evening of that day--May 27th, 1848--the prison van, escorted by a large +force of mounted police and dragoons, with drawn sabres, drove up to the +prison gate. It was opened, and forth walked John Mitchel--_in fetters_. +A heavy chain was attached to his right leg by a shackle at the ankle; +the other end was to have been attached to the left leg, but as the +jailors had not time to effect the connexion when the order came for the +removal of the prisoner, they bade him take it in his hand, and it was +in this plight, with a festoon of iron from his hand to his foot, he +passed from the prison into the street--repeating mayhap to his own +heart, the words uttered by Wolfe Tone in circumstances not +dissimilar:--"For the cause which I have embraced, I feel prouder to +wear these chains, than if I were decorated with the star and garter of +England." Four or five police inspectors assisted him to step into the +van, the door was closed after him, the word was given to the escort, +and off went the cavalcade at a thundering pace to the North-wall, where +a government steamer, the "Shearwater," was lying with her steam up in +readiness to receive him. He clambered the side-ladder of the steamer +with some assistance; on reaching the deck, the chains tripped him and +he fell forward. Scarcely was he on his feet again, when the paddles of +the steamer were beating; the water, and the vessel was moving from the +shores of that "Isle of Destiny," which he loved so well, and a sight of +which has never since gladdened the eyes of John Mitchel. + +The history of Mr. Mitchel's subsequent career, which has been an +eventful one, does not rightly fall within the scope of this work. +Suffice it to say that on June the 1st, 1848, he was placed on board the +"Scourge" man-of-war, which then sailed off for Bermuda. There Mr. +Mitchel was retained on board a penal ship, or "hulk," until April 22nd, +1849, when he was transferred to the ship "Neptune," on her way from +England to the Cape of Good Hope, whither she was taking a batch of +British convicts. Those convicts the colonists at the Cape refused to +receive into their country, and a long struggle ensued between them and +the commander of the "Neptune," who wished to deposit his cargo +according to instructions. The colonists were willing to make an +exception in the case of Mr. Mitchel, but the naval officer could not +think of making any compromise in the matter. The end of the contest was +that the vessel, with her cargo of convicts on board, sailed on February +19th, 1850, for Van Dieman's Land, where she arrived on April 7th of the +same year. In consideration of the hardships they had undergone by +reason of their detention at the Cape, the government granted a +conditional pardon to all the criminal convicts on their arrival at +Hobart Town. It set them free on the condition that they should not +return to the "United Kingdom." Mr. Mitchel and the other political +convicts were less mercifully treated. It was not until the year 1854 +that a similar amount of freedom was given to these gentlemen. Some +months previous to the arrival of Mr. Mitchel at Hobart Town, his +friends William Smith O'Brien, John Martin, Thomas F. Meagher, Kevin +Izod O'Doherty, Terence Bellew MacManus, and Patrick O'Donoghue, had +reached the same place, there to serve out the various terms of +transportation to which they had been sentenced. All except Mr. O'Brien, +who had refused to enter into these arrangements, were at that time on +parole--living, however, in separate and limited districts, and no two +of them nearer than thirty or forty miles. On his landing from the +"Neptune," Mr. Mitchel, in consideration of the delicate state of his +health, was allowed to reside with Mr. Martin in the Bothwell district. + +In the summer of the year 1853, a number of Irish gentlemen in America, +took measures to effect the release of one or more of the Irish patriots +from Van Dieman's Land, and Mr. P.J. Smyth sailed from New York on that +patriotic mission. Arrived in Van Dieman's Land, the authorities, who +seemed to have suspition of his business, placed him under arrest, from +which he was released after three days' detention. The friends soon +managed to meet and come to an understanding as to their plan of future +operations, in conformity with which, Mr. Mitchel penned the following +letter to the governor of the island:-- + + "Bothwell, 8th June, 1853. + + "SIR--I hereby resign the 'comparative liberty,' called + 'ticket-of-leave,' and revoke my parole of honour. I shall forthwith + present myself before the police magistrate of Bothwell, at his + police office, show him this letter, and offer myself to be taken + into custody. I am, sir, your obedient servant, + + "JOHN MITCHEL." + +On the next day, June the 9th, Mr. Mitchel and Mr. Smyth went to the +police office, saw the magistrate with his attending constables; handed +him the letter, waited until he had read its contents, addressed to him +a verbal statement to the same effect, and while he appeared to be +paralyzed with astonishment, and uncertain what to do, touched their +hats to him and left the office. Chase after them was vain, as they had +mounted a pair of fleet steeds after leaving the presence of his +worship; but it was not until six weeks afterwards that they were able +to get shipping and leave the island. On the 12th of October, 1853, Mr. +Mitchel was landed safe in California--to the intense delight of his +countrymen throughout the American States, who celebrated the event by +many joyful banquets. + +Since then, Mr. Mitchel has occupied himself mainly with the press. He +started the _Citizen_ in New York, and subsequently, at Knoxville, +Tennessee, the _Southern Citizen_. As editor of the _Richmond Examiner_ +during the American civil war, he ably supported the Southern cause, to +which he gave a still stronger pledge of his attachment in the services +and the lives of two of his brave sons. One of these gentlemen, Mr. +William Mitchel, was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; the other, +Captain John Mitchel, who had been placed in command of the important +position of Fort Sumter, was shot on the parapet of that work, on July +19th, 1864. Shortly after the close of the war, Mr. John Mitchel was +taken prisoner by the Federal government; but after undergoing an +imprisonment of some months his release was ordered by President +Johnson, acting on the solicitation of a large and influential +deputation of Irishmen. In the latter part of the year 1867, turning to +the press again, he started the _Irish Citizen_ at New York, and in that +journal, at the date of this writing, he continues to wield his +trenchant pen on behalf of the Irish cause. To that cause, through all +the lapse of time, and change of scene, and vicissitude of fortune which +he has known, his heart has remained for ever true. He has suffered much +for it; that he may live to see it triumphant is a prayer which finds an +echo in the hearts of all his fellow-countrymen. + +We have written of Mr. Mitchel only in reference to his political +career; but we can, without trenching in any degree on the domain of +private life, supply some additional and authentic details which will be +of interest to Irish readers. The distinguished subject of our memoir +was born at Camnish, near Dungiven, in the county of Derry, on the 3rd +of November, 1815. His father was the Rev. John Mitchel, at that time +Presbyterian Minister of Dungiven, and a good patriot, too, having +been--as we learn from a statement casually made by Mr. Mitchel in +Conciliation Hall--one of the United Irishmen of 1798. The maiden name +of his mother, who also came of a Presbyterian and county Derry family, +was Mary Haslitt. At Newry, whither the Rev. Mr. Mitchel removed in the +year 1823, and where he continued to reside till his death in 1843, +young John Mitchel was sent to the school of Dr. David Henderson, from +which he entered Trinity College, Dublin, about the year 1830 or 1831. +He did not reside within the college, but kept his terms by coming up +from the country to attend the quarterly examinations. Though he did not +distinguish himself in his college course, and had paid no more +attention to the books prescribed for his studies than seemed necessary +for passing his examinations respectably, John Mitchel was known to his +intimate friends to be a fine scholar and possessed of rare ability. +While still a college student, he was bound apprentice to a solicitor in +Newry. Before the completion of his apprenticeship, in the year 1835, he +married Jane Verner, a young lady of remarkable beauty, and only sixteen +years of age at the time, a daughter of Captain James Verner. Not long +after his marriage he entered into partnership in his profession, and in +conformity with the arrangements agreed upon, went to reside at +Banbridge, a town ten miles north of Newry, where he continued to +practice as a solicitor until the death of Thomas Davis in 1845. He had +been an occasional contributor to the _Nation_ almost from the date of +its foundation; its editors recognised at once his splendid literary +powers, and when the "Library of Ireland" was projected, pressed him to +write one of the volumes, suggesting as his subject the Life of Hugh +O'Neill. How ably he fulfilled the task is known to his countrymen, who +rightly regard the volume as one of the most valuable of the whole +series. When death removed the amiable and gifted Thomas Davis from the +scene of his labours, Mr. Duffy invited John Mitchel, as the man most +worthy of all in Ireland, to take his place. Mr. Mitchel regarded the +invitation as the call of his country. He gave up his professional +business in Banbridge, removed with his wife and family to Dublin, and +there throwing himself heart and soul into the cause, fought it out +boldly and impetuously until the day when, bound in British chains, "the +enemy" bore him off from Ireland. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +JOHN MARTIN. + + +When the law had consummated its crime, and the doom of the felon was +pronounced against John Mitchel, there stood in the group that pressed +round him in the dock and echoed back the assurances which he flung as a +last defiance at his foes, a thoughtful, delicate looking, but resolute +young Irishman, whose voice perhaps was not the loudest of those that +spoke there, but whose heart throbbed responsively to his words, and for +whom the final message of the unconquerable rebel possessed a meaning +and significance that gave it the force of a special revelation. +"Promise for me, Mitchel," they cried out, but he had no need to join in +that request; he had no need to intimate to Mr. Mitchel his willingness +to follow out the enterprise which that fearless patriot had so boldly +commenced. On the previous day, sitting with the prisoner in his gloomy +cell, John Martin of Loughorne had decided on the course which he would +take in the event of the suppression of the _United Irishman_ and the +transportation of its editor. He would start a successor to that +journal, and take the place of his dear friend at the post of danger. It +was a noble resolve, deliberately taken, and resolutely and faithfully +was it carried out. None can read the history of that act of daring, and +of the life of sacrifice by which it has been followed, and not agree +with us that while the memories of Tone, of Emmet, and of Russell, are +cherished in Ireland, the name of John Martin ought not be forgotten. + +A few days subsequent to that memorable scene in Greenstreet +court-house, John Martin quitted his comfortable home and the green +slopes of Loughorne, separated himself from the friends he loved and +the relatives who idolized him, and entered on the stormy career of a +national leader and journalist, at a time when to advocate the +principles of nationality was to incur the ferocious hostility of a +government whose thirst for vengeance was only whetted by the +transportation of John Mitchel. He knew the danger he was braving; he +knew that the path on which he entered led down to suffering and ruin; +he stood in the gap from which Mitchel had been hurled, with a full +consciousness of the perils of the situation; but unflinchingly and +unhesitatingly as the martyr goes to his death, he threw himself into +the thinning ranks of the patriot leaders; and when the event that he +anticipated arrived, and the prison gates opened to receive him--then, +too, in the midst of indignities and privations--he displayed an +imperturbable firmness and contempt for physical suffering, that showed +how powerless persecution is to subdue the spirit that self-conscious +righteousness sustains. + +His history previous to the conviction of his friend and school-fellow, +John Mitchel, if it includes no events of public importance, possesses +for us all the interest that attaches to the early life of a good and +remarkable man. John Martin was born at Loughorne, in the lordship of +Newry, Co. Down, on the 8th of September, 1812; being the eldest son of +Samuel Martin and Jane Harshaw, both natives of that neighbourhood, and +members of Presbyterian families settled there for many generations. +About the time of his birth, his father purchased the fee-simple of the +large farm which he had previously rented, and two of his uncles having +made similar investments, the family became proprietors of the townland +on which they lived. Mr. Samuel Martin, who died in 1831, divided his +attention between the management of the linen business--a branch of +industry in which the family had partly occupied themselves for some +generations--and the care of his land. His family consisted of nine +children, of whom John Martin--the subject of our sketch--was the second +born. The principles of his family, if they could not be said to possess +the hue of nationality, were at least liberal and tolerant. In '98, the +Martins of Loughorne, were stern opponents of the United Irishmen; but +in '82, his father and uncles were enrolled amongst the volunteers, and +the Act of Union was opposed by them as a national calamity. It was from +his good mother, however, a lady of refined taste and remarkable mental +culture, that young John derived his inclination for literary pursuits, +and learned the maxims of justice and equality that swayed him through +life. He speedily discarded the prejudices against Catholic +Emancipation, which were not altogether unknown amongst his family, and +which even found some favour with himself in the unreflecting days of +boyhood. The natural tendency of his mind, however, was as true to the +principles of justice as the needle to the pole, and the quiet rebuke +that one day fell from his uncle--"What! John, would you not give your +Catholic fellow-countrymen the same rights that you enjoy yourself?" +having set him a thinking for the first time on the subject, he soon +formed opinions more in consonance with liberality and fair play. + +When about twelve years of age, young Martin was sent to the school of +Dr. Henderson at Newry, where he first became acquainted with John +Mitchel, then attending the same seminary as a day scholar. We next find +John Martin an extern student of Trinity College, and a year after the +death of his father he took out his degree in Arts. He was now twenty +years old, and up to this time had suffered much from a constitutional +affection, being subject from infancy to fits of spasmodic asthma. +Strange to say, the disease which troubled him at frequently recurring +intervals at home, seldom attacked him when away from Loughorne, and +partly for the purpose of escaping it, he took up his residence in +Dublin in 1833, and devoted himself to the study of medicine. He never +meditated earning his living by the profession, but he longed for the +opportunity of assuaging the sufferings of the afflicted poor. The air +of the dissecting-room, however, was too much for Martin's delicate +nervous organization; the kindly encouragement of his fellow-students +failed to induce him to breathe its fetid atmosphere a second time, and +he was forced to content himself with a theoretical knowledge of the +profession. By diligent study and with the assistance of lectures, +anatomical plates, &c., he managed to conquer the difficulty; and he had +obtained nearly all the certificates necessary for taking out a medical +degree, when he was recalled in 1835 to Loughorne, by the death of his +uncle John, whose house and lands he inherited. + +During the four years following he lived at Loughorne, discharging the +duties of a resident country gentleman as they are seldom performed in +Ireland, and endearing himself to all classes, but particularly to the +poor, by his gentle disposition, purity of mind, and benevolence of +heart. In him the afflicted and the poverty-stricken ever found a +sympathising friend, and if none of the rewards which the ruling faction +were ready to shower on the Irishman of his position who looked to the +Castle for inspiration, fell to his share, he enjoyed a recompense more +precious in the prayers and the blessings of the poor. The steps of his +door were crowded with the patients who flocked to him for advice, and +for whom he prescribed gratuitously--not without some reluctance, +however, arising from distrust of his own abilities and an unwillingness +to interfere with the practice of the regular profession. But the +diffidence with which he regarded his own efforts was not shared by the +people of the district. Their faith in his professional skill was +unbounded, and perhaps the confidence which they felt in his power, +contributed in some measure to the success that attended his practice. + +In 1839 Mr. Martin sailed from Bristol to New York, and travelled thence +to the extreme west of Upper Canada to visit a relative who had settled +there. On that occasion he was absent from Ireland nearly twelve months, +and during his stay in America he made some tours in Canada and the +Northern States, visiting the Falls, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, +New York, Washington, Pittsburg, and Cleveland. In 1841 he made a brief +continental tour, and visited the chief points of attraction along the +Rhine. During this time Mr. Martin's political ideas became developed +and expanded, and though like Smith O'Brien, he at first withheld his +sympathies from the Repeal agitation, in a short time he became +impressed with the justice of the national demand for independence. His +retiring disposition kept him from appearing very prominently before the +public; but the value of his adhesion to the Repeal Association was felt +to be great by those who knew his uprightness, his disinterestedness, +and his ability. + +When the suicidal policy of O'Connell drove the Confederates from +Conciliation Hall, John Martin was not a silent spectator of the crisis, +and in consequence of the manly sentiments he expressed with reference +to the treatment to which the Young Ireland party had been subjected, he +ceased to be a member of the Association. There was another cause too +for his secession. A standing taunt in the mouth of the English press +was that O'Connell pocketed the peoples' money and took care to let +nobody know what he did with it. To put an end to this reproach Mr. +Martin asked that the accounts of the Association should be published. +"Publish the accounts!" shrieked the well-paid gang that marred the +influence and traded in the politics of O'Connell: "Monstrous!" and they +silenced the troublesome purist by suppressing his letters and expelling +him from the Association. In the ranks of the Confederates, however, +Martin found more congenial society; amongst them he found men as +earnest, as sincere, and as single-minded as himself, and by them the +full worth of his character was soon appreciated. He frequently attended +their meetings, and he it was who filled the chair during the prolonged +debates that ended with the temporary withdrawal of Mitchel from the +Confederation. When the _United Irishman_ was started he became a +contributor to its columns, and he continued to write in its pages up to +the date of its suppression, and the conviction of its editor and +proprietor. + +There were many noble and excellent qualities which the friends of John +Martin knew him to possess. Rectitude of principle, abhorrence of +injustice and intolerance, deep love of country, the purity and +earnestness of a saint, allied with the kindliness and inoffensiveness +of childhood; amiability and disinterestedness, together with a perfect +abnegation of self, and total freedom from the vanity which affected a +few of his compatriots--these they gave him credit for, but they were +totally unprepared for the lion-like courage, the boldness, and the +promptitude displayed by him, when the government, by the conviction of +Mitchel, flung down the gauntlet to the people of Ireland. Hastily +settling up his worldly accounts in the North, he returned to Dublin to +stake his fortune and his life in the cause which he had promised to +serve. The _United Irishman_ was gone, but Martin had undertaken that +its place in Irish Journalism should not be vacant; and a few weeks +after the office in Trinity-street was sacked he reoccupied the violated +and empty rooms, and issued there-from the first number of the _Irish +Felon_. There was no halting place in Irish Journalism then. The +_Nation_ had already flung peace and conciliation and "balmy +forgiveness" to the winds, and advocated the creed of the sword. The +scandalous means used to procure a verdict of guilty against Mitchel +tore to tatters the last rag of the constitution in Ireland. It was idle +to dictate observance of the law which the government themselves were +engaged in violating, and the _Nation_ was not the journal to brook the +tyranny of the authorities. With a spirit that cannot be too highly +praised, it called for the overthrow of the government that had sent +Mitchel in chains into banishment, and summoned the people of Ireland to +prepare to assert their rights by the only means now left them--the +bullet and the pike. And the eyes of men whose hearts were "weary +waiting for the fray," began to glisten as they read the burning words +of poetry and prose in which the _Nation_ preached the gospel of +liberty. It was to take its side by that journal, and to rival it in the +boldness of its language and the spirit of its arguments, that the +_Irish Felon_ was established; and it executed its mission well. "I do +not love political agitation for its own sake," exclaimed Martin, in +his opening address in the first number. "At best I regard it as a +necessary evil; and if I were not convinced that my countrymen are +determined on vindicating their rights, and that they really intend to +free themselves, I would at once withdraw from the struggle and leave my +native land for ever. I could not live in Ireland and derive my means of +life as a member of the Irish community, without feeling a citizen's +responsibilities in Irish public affairs. Those responsibilities involve +the guilt of national robbery and murder--of a system which arrays the +classes of our people against each other's prosperity and very lives, +like beasts of prey, or rather like famishing sailors on a wreck--of the +debasement and moral ruin of a people endowed by God with surpassing +resources for the attainment of human happiness and human dignity. I +cannot be loyal to a system of meanness, terror, and corruption, +although it usurp the title and assume the form of a 'government.' So +long as such a 'government' presumes to injure and insult me, and those +in whose prosperity I am involved, I must offer to it all the resistance +in my power. But if I despaired of successful resistance, I would +certainly remove myself from under such a 'government's' actual +authority; that I do not exile myself is a proof that I hope to witness +the overthrow, and assist in the overthrow, of the most abominable +tyranny the world now groans under--the British Imperial system. To gain +permission for the Irish people to care for their own lives, their own +happiness and dignity--to abolish the political conditions which compel +the classes of our people to hate and to murder each other, and which +compel the Irish people to hate the very name of the English--to end the +reign of fraud, perjury, corruption, and 'government' butchery, and to +make, law, order, and peace possible in Ireland, the _Irish Felon_ takes +its place amongst the combatants in the holy war now waging in this +island against foreign tyranny. In conducting it my weapons shall +be--_the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me +God_!" Such "open and avowed treason" as this could not long continue +to be published. Before the third number the _Felon_ saw the light, a +warrant for Mr. Martin's arrest was in the hands of the detectives, and +its fifth was its last. On Saturday, July 8th, Mr. Martin surrendered +himself into custody, having kept out of the way for a few days to +prevent his being tried, under the "gagging act," at the Commission +sitting when the warrant was issued, and which adjourned until +August--the time fixed for the insurrection--in the interim. On the same +day, Duffy, Williams, and O'Doherty were arrested. Martin was imprisoned +in Newgate, but he continued to write from within his cell for the +_Felon_, and its last number, published on July 22nd, contains a +spirited letter signed with his initials, which formed portion of the +indictment against him on his trial. In this letter, Martin calls on his +countrymen in impassioned words to "stand to their arms!" "Let them +menace you," he writes from his dungeon, "with the hulks or the gibbet +for daring to speak or write your love to Ireland. Let them threaten to +mow you down with grape shot, as they massacred your kindred with famine +and plague. Spurn their brutal 'Acts of Parliament'--trample upon their +lying proclamations--fear them not!" + +On Tuesday, August 15th, John Martin's trial commenced in Green-street +court-house, the indictment being for treason-felony. "Several of his +tenantry," writes the Special Correspondent of the London _Morning +Herald,_ "came up to town to be present at his trial, and, as they +hoped, at his escape, for they could not bring themselves to believe +that a man so amiable, so gentle, and so pious, as they had long known +him, could be"--this is the Englishman's way of putting it--"an inciter +to bloodshed. It is really melancholy," added the writer, "to hear the +poor people of the neighbourhood of Loughorne speak of their benefactor. +He was ever ready to administer medicine and advice gratuitously to his +poor neighbours and all who sought his assistance; and according to the +reports I have received, he did an incalculable amount of good in his +way. As a landlord he was beloved by his tenantry for his kindness and +liberality, while from his suavity of manner and excellent qualities, he +was a great favourite with the gentry around him." + +At eight o'clock, p.m., on Thursday, August 17th, the jury came into +court with a verdict of guilty against the prisoner, recommending him to +mercy on the grounds that the letter on which he was convicted was +written from the prison, and penned under exciting circumstances. On the +following day, Mr. Martin was brought up to receive sentence, and +asked--after the usual form--whether he had anything to say against the +sentence being pronounced? The papers of the time state that he appeared +perfectly unmoved by the painful position in which he was placed--that +he looked round the courthouse in a calm, composed, dignified manner, +and then spoke the following reply in clear unfaltering tones:-- + + "My lords--I have no imputation to cast upon the bench, neither have + I anything to charge the jury with, of unfairness towards me. I think + the judges desired to do their duty honestly as upright judges and + men; and that the twelve men who were put into the box, as I believe, + not to try, but to convict me, voted honestly, according to their + prejudices. I have no personal enmity against the sheriff, + sub-sheriff, or any of the gentlemen connected with the arrangement + of the jury-panel--nor against the Attorney-General, nor any other + person engaged in the proceedings called my trial; _but, my lords, I + consider that I have not been yet tried_. There have been certain + formalities carried on here for three days regarding me, ending in a + verdict of guilty: _but I have not been put upon my country_, as the + constitution said to exist in Ireland requires. Twelve of my + countrymen, 'indifferently chosen,' have not been put into that + jury-box to try me, but twelve men who, I believe, have been selected + by the parties who represent the crown, for the purpose of convicting + and not of trying me. I believe they were put into that box because + the parties conducting the prosecution knew their political + sentiments were hostile to mine, and because the matter at issue here + is a political question--a matter of opinion, and not a matter of + fact. I have nothing more to say as to the trial, except to repeat + that, having watched the conduct of the judges, I consider them + upright and honest men. I have this to add, that as to the charge I + make with respect to the constitution of the panel and the selection + of the jury, I have no legal evidence of the truth of my statement, + but there is no one who has a moral doubt of it. Every person knows + that what I have stated is the fact; and I would represent to the + judges, most respectfully, that they, as upright and honourable men + and judges, and as citizens, ought to see that the administration of + justice in this country is above suspicion. I have nothing more to + say with regard to the trial; but I would be thankful to the court + for permission to say a few words in vindication of my character and + motives after sentence is passed." + + Baron Pennefather--"No; we will not hear anything from you after + sentence." + + Chief Baron--"We cannot hear anything from you after sentence has + been pronounced." + + Mr. Martin--"Then, my lords, permit me to say that, admitting the + narrow and confined constitutional doctrines which I have heard + preached in this court to be right, _I am not guilty of the charge + according to this act_. I did not intend to devise or levy war + against the Queen or to depose the Queen. In the article of mine on + which the jury framed their verdict of guilty, which was written in + prison, and published in the last number of my paper, what I desired + to do was this--to advise and encourage my countrymen to keep their + arms, because that is their inalienable right, which no act of + parliament, no proclamation, can take away from them. It is, I + repeat, their inalienable right. I advised them to keep their arms; + and further, I advised them to use their arms in their own defence, + against all assailants--even assailants that might come to attack + them, unconstitutionally and improperly using the Queen's name as + their sanction. My object in all my proceedings has been simply to + assist in establishing the national independence of Ireland, for the + benefit of all the people of Ireland--noblemen, clergymen, judges, + professional men--in fact, all Irishmen. I have sought that object: + first, because I thought it was our right--because I think national + independence is the right of the people of this country; and + secondly, I admit that, being a man who loved retirement, I never + would have engaged in politics did I not think it was necessary to do + all in my power to make an end of the horrible scenes that this + country presents--the pauperism, starvation, and crime, and vice, and + hatred of all classes against each other. I thought there should be + an end to that horrible system, which, while it lasted, gave me no + peace of mind; for I could not enjoy anything in my native country so + long as I saw my countrymen forced to be vicious--forced to hate each + other--and degraded to the level of paupers and brutes. That is the + reason I engaged in politics. I acknowledge, as the Solicitor-General + has said, that I was but a weak assailant of the English power. I am + not a good writer, and I am no orator. I had only two weeks' + experience in conducting a newspaper until I was put into jail; but I + am satisfied to direct the attention of my countrymen to everything I + have written and said, and to rest my character on a fair and candid + examination of what I have put forward as my opinions. I shall say + nothing in vindication of my motives but this--that every fair and + honest man, no matter how prejudiced he may be, if he calmly + considers what I have written and said, will be satisfied that my + motives were pure and honourable. I have nothing more to say." + +Then the judge proceeded to pass sentence. In the course of his remarks +he referred to the recommendation to mercy which came from the jury, +whereupon Mr. Martin broke in. "I beg your lordship's pardon," he said, +"I cannot condescend to accept 'mercy,' where I believe I have been +morally right; I want justice--not mercy." But he looked for it in vain. + +"Transportation for ten years beyond the seas" is spoken by the lips of +the judge, and the burlesque of justice is at an end. Mr. Martin heard +the sentence with perfect composure and self-possession, though the +faces of his brothers and friends standing by, showe signs of the +deepest emotion. "Remove the prisoner," were the next words uttered, and +then John Martin, the pure-minded, the high-souled, and the good, was +borne off to the convict's cell in Newgate. + +Amongst the friends who clustered round the dock in which the patriot +leader stood, and watched the progress of his trial with beating hearts, +was Mr. James Martin, one of the prisoner's brothers. During the three +long weary days occupied by the trial, his post had been by his +brother's side listening to the proceedings with the anxiety and +solicitude which a brother alone can feel, and revealing by every line +of his countenance the absorbing interest with which he regarded the +issue. The verdict of the jury fell upon him with the bewildering shock +of an avalanche. He was stunned, stupified, amazed; he could hardly +believe that he had heard the fatal words aright, and that "guilty" had +been the verdict returned. _He_ guilty! he whose life was studded by +good deeds as stars stud the wintry sky; _he_ guilty, whose kindly heart +had always a throb for the suffering and the unfortunate, whose hand was +ever extended to shield the oppressed, to succour the friendless, and to +shelter the homeless and the needy; _he_ "inspired by the devil," whose +career had been devoted to an attempt to redress the sufferings of his +fellow-countrymen, and whose sole object in life seemed to be to +abridge the sufferings of the Irish people, to plant the doctrines of +peace and good-will in every heart, and to make Ireland the home of +harmony and concord, by rendering her prosperous and free. It was a lie, +a calumny, a brutal fabrication! It was more than his sense of justice +could endure, it was more than his hot Northern blood could tolerate. +Beckoning a friend, he rushed with him into the street, and drove direct +to the residence of Mr. Waterhouse, the foreman of the jury. The latter +had barely returned from court, when he was waited upon by Mr. Martin, +who indignantly charged him with having bullied the jury into recording +a verdict of guilty--an accusation which current report made against +him--and challenged the astonished juryman to mortal combat. Mr. +Waterhouse was horror-struck by the proposal, to which he gasped out in +response, a threat to call in the police. He never heard of anything so +terribly audacious. He, a loyal Castle tradesman, who had "well and +truly" tried the case according to the recognised acceptance of the +words, and who had "true deliverance made" after the fashion in favour +with the crown; he whose "perspicuity, wisdom, impartiality," &c., had +been appealed to and belauded so often by the Attorney-General, to be +challenged to a hostile meeting, which might end, by leaving a bullet +lodged in his invaluable body. The bare idea of it fairly took his +breath away, and with the terrible vision of pistols and bloodshed +before his mind, he rushed to the police office and had his indignant +visitor arrested. On entering the Green-street courthouse next day, Mr. +Waterhouse told his woeful story to the judge. The judge was appalled by +the disclosure; Mr. Martin was brought before him and sentenced to a +month's imprisonment, besides being bound over to keep the peace towards +Mr. Waterhouse and everyone else for a period of seven years. + +A short time after Mr. John Martin's conviction, he and Kevin Izod +O'Doherty were shipped off to Van Diemen's Land on board the +"Elphinstone," where they arrived in the month of November, 1849. +O'Brien, Meagher, MacManus, and O'Donoghue had arrived at the same +destination a few days before. Mr. Martin resided in the district +assigned to him until the year 1854, when a pardon, on the condition of +their not returning to Ireland or Great Britain was granted to himself, +O'Brien, and O'Doherty, the only political prisoners in the country at +that time--MacManus, Meagher, O'Donoghue, and Mitchel having previously +escaped. Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Martin sailed together in the "Norna" from +Melbourne for Ceylon, at which port they parted, Mr. O'Brien turning +northward to Madras, while Mr. Martin came on _via_ Aden, Cairo, +Alexandria, Malta, and Marseilles to Paris, where he arrived about the +end of October, 1854. In June, 1856, the government made the pardon of +Messrs. Martin, O'Brien, and O'Doherty, unconditional, and Mr. Martin +then hastened to pay a visit to his family from whom he had been +separated during eight years. After a stay of a few months he went back +to Paris, intending to reside abroad during the remainder of his life, +because he could not voluntarily live under English rule in Ireland. But +the death of a near and dear member of his family, in October, 1858, +imposed on him duties which he could only discharge by residence in his +own home, and compelled him to terminate his exile. Living since then in +his own land he has taken care to renew and continue his protest against +the domination of England in Ireland. In January, 1864, acting on the +suggestion of many well-known nationalists, he established in Dublin a +Repeal Association called "The National League." The peculiar condition +of Irish politics at the time was unfavourable to any large extension of +the society; but notwithstanding this circumstance the League by its +meetings and its publications rendered good service to the cause of +Irish freedom. Mr. Martin has seen many who once were loud and earnest +in their professions of patriotism lose heart and grow cold in the +service of their country, but he does not weary of the good work. +Patiently and zealously he still continues to labour in the national +cause; his mission is not ended yet; and with a constancy which lapse of +years and change of scene have not affected, he still clings to the +hope of Ireland's regeneration, and with voice and pen supports the +principles of patriotism for which he suffered. The debt that Ireland +owes to him will not easily be acquitted, and if the bulk of his +co-religionists are no longer to be found within the national camp, we +can almost forgive them their shortcomings, when we remember that, +within our own generation, the Presbyterians of Ulster have given to +Ireland two such men as John Martin and John Mitchel. + +Mr. Martin's name will re-appear farther on in another portion of this +work, for the occasion of which we have here treated was not the only +one on which his patriotic words and actions brought upon him the +attention of "the authorities," and subjected him to the troubles of a +state prosecution. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +W.S. O'BRIEN. + + +Loudly across the dark flowing tide of the Liffey, rolled the cheers of +welcome and rejoicing that burst from Conciliation Hall on that +memorable day in January, '44, when William Smith O'Brien first stood +beneath its roof, and presided over a meeting of Repealers. Many a time +had the walls of that historic building given back the cheers of the +thousands who gathered there to revel in the promises of the Liberator; +many a time had they vibrated to the enthusiasm of the Irishmen who met +there to celebrate the progress of the movement which was to give +freedom and prosperity to Ireland; but not even in those days of monster +meetings and popular demonstrations had a warmer glow of satisfaction +flushed the face of O'Connell, than when the descendant of the Munster +Kings took his place amongst the Dublin Repealers. "I find it +impossible," exclaimed the great Tribune, "to give adequate expression +to the delight with which I hail Mr. O'Brien's presence in the +Association. He now occupies his natural position--the position which +centuries ago was occupied by his ancestor, Brian Boru. Whatever may +become of _me_, it is a consolation to remember that Ireland will not be +without a friend such as William Smith O'Brien, who combining all the +modern endowments of a highly-cultured mind, with intellectual gifts of +the highest order, nervous eloquence, untiring energy, fervid love of +country, and every other high qualification of a popular leader, is now +where his friends would ever wish to see him--at the head of the Irish +people." Six weeks before, a banquet had been given in Limerick to +celebrate O'Brien's adhesion to the national cause, and on this +occasion, too, O'Connell bore generous testimony to the value and +importance of his accession. "His presence," said the Emancipator, in +proposing Mr. O'Brien's health, "cannot prevent me here from expressing +on behalf of the universal people of Ireland, their admiration and +delight at his conversion to their cause. Receive the benefactor of +Ireland, as such a benefactor should be received. It is certain that our +country will never be deserted as long as she has William Smith O'Brien +as one of her leaders." + +[Illustration: KEVIN I. O'DOHERTY. THOMAS F. MEAGHER. TERENCE B. +McMANUS] + +There was much to account for the tumult of rejoicing which hailed Smith +O'Brien's entry within the ranks of the popular party. His lineage, his +position, his influence, his stainless character, his abilities, and his +worth, combined to fit him for the place which O'Connell assigned him, +and to rally round him the affection and allegiance of the Irish people. +No monarch in the world could trace his descent from a longer line of +illustrious men; beside the roll of ancestry to which he could point, +the oldest of European dynasties were things of a day. When the towering +Pyramids that overlook the Nile were still new; before the Homeric +ballads had yet been chanted in the streets of an Eastern city; before +the foundations of the Parthenon were laid on the Acropolis; before the +wandering sons of AEneas found a home in the valley of the Tiber, the +chieftains of his house enjoyed the conqueror's fame, and his ancestors +swayed the sceptre of Erie. Nor was he unworthy of the name and the fame +of the O'Briens of Kincora. Clear sighted and discerning; deeply endowed +with calm sagacity and penetrating observance; pure minded, eloquent, +talented and chivalrous; he comprised within his nature the truest +elements of the patriot, the scholar, and the statesman. Unfaltering +attachment to the principles of justice, unswerving obedience to the +dictates of honour, unalterable loyalty to rectitude and duty; these +were the characteristics that distinguished him; and these were the +qualities that cast their redeeming light round his failings and his +errors, and wrung from the bitterest of his foes the tribute due to +suffering worth. If nobility of soul, if earnestness of heart and +singleness of purpose, if unflinching and self-sacrificing patriotism, +allied to zeal, courage, and ability, could have redeemed the Irish +cause, it would not be left to us to mourn for it to-day; and instead of +the melancholy story we have now to relate, it might he given to us to +chronicle the regeneration of the Irish nation. + +William Smith O'Brien was born, at Dromoland, County Clare, on the 17th +of October, 1803. He was the second son of Sir Edward O'Brien, and on +the death of his kinsman, the last Marquis of Thomond, his eldest +brother became Baron of Inchiquin. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity +College, Cambridge; but his English education, however much it might +have coloured his views during boyhood, did not seriously affect his +innate love of justice, or warp the patriotic feelings which were +developed in his earliest years. The associations into which he was +cast, the tone of the society in which he moved, the politics of his +family, and the modern traditions of his house, combined to throw him +into the ranks of the people's enemies; and that these influences were +not altogether barren of results is proved by the fact that O'Brien +entered Parliament in 1826 as an Anti-Repealer, and exerted himself to +prevent the return of O'Connell at the memorable election for Clare. But +O'Brien was no factious opponent of the national interests; even while +he acted thus, he had the welfare of his country sincerely at heart; he +steered according to his lights, and when time and experience showed the +falseness of his views, he did not hesitate to renounce them. To this +period of his political career Mr. O'Brien often adverted in after life, +with the frankness and candour that distinguished him. "When the +proposal to seek for a Repeal of the Act of Union was first seriously +entertained," said O'Brien, "I used all the influence I possessed to +discountenance the attempt. I did not consider that the circumstances +and prospects of Ireland then justified the agitation of this question. +Catholic Emancipation had been recently achieved, and I sincerely +believed that from that epoch a new course of policy would be adopted +towards Ireland. I persuaded myself that thenceforth the statesmen of +Great Britain would spare no effort to repair the evils produced by +centuries of misgovernment--that the Catholic and Protestant would be +admitted to share on equal terms in all the advantages resulting from +our constitutional form of government--that all traces of an ascendancy +of race or creed would be effaced--that the institutions of Ireland +would be gradually moulded so as to harmonise with the opinions of its +inhabitants, and that in regard of political rights, legislation for +both kingdoms would be based upon the principle of perfect equality." + +Fourteen years had elapsed from the date of Catholic Emancipation, when +O'Brien startled the aristocrats of Ireland by renouncing his allegiance +to their party, and throwing himself heart and soul into the vanguard of +the people. He told his reasons for the change in bold convincing words. +He had seen that his expectations of justice were false and delusive. +"The feelings of the Irish nation," he said, "have been exasperated by +every species of irritation and insult; every proposal tending to +develop the sources of our industry--to raise the character and improve +the condition of our population, has been discountenanced, distorted, or +rejected. Ireland, instead of taking its place as an integral portion of +the great empire, which the valour of her sons has contributed to win, +has been treated as a dependent tributary province; and at this moment, +after forty-three years of nominal union, the affections of the two +nations are so entirely alienated from each other, that England trusts +for the maintenance of their connection, not to the attachment of the +Irish people, but to the bayonets which menace our bosoms, and the +cannon which she has planted in all our strongholds." + +The prospects of the Repeal movement were not at their brightest when +O'Brien entered Conciliation Hall. In England, and in Ireland too, the +influence of O'Connell was on the wane, and with the dispersion of the +multitudes that flocked on that Sunday morning in October, 1843, to +listen to the Liberator on the plains of Clontarf, the peaceful policy +which he advocated received its death blow. Over O'Connell himself, and +some of the most outspoken of his associates, a State prosecution was +impending; and the arm of the government was already stretched out to +crush the agitation whose object they detested, and whose strength they +had begun to fear. The accession of O'Brien, however, the prestige of +his name, and the influence of his example, was expected to do much +towards reviving the drooping fortunes of the Association. Nor was the +anticipation illusory. From the day on which O'Brien became a Repealer, +down to the date of the secession, the strongest prop of the +Conciliation Hall was his presence and support; he failed indeed to +counteract the corrupt influences that gnawed at the vitals of the +Association and ultimately destroyed it; but while he remained within +its ranks, the redeeming influence of his genius, his patriotism, and +his worth, preserved it from the extinction towards which it was +hastening. + +At an early date the penetrating mind of O'Brien detected the existence +of the evil which was afterwards to transform Conciliation Hall into a +market for place hunters. "I apprehend," said he, in a remarkable speech +delivered in January, '46, "more danger to Repeal from the subtle +influence of a Whig administration, than from the coercive measures of +the Tories." And he was right. Day by day, the subtle influence which he +dreaded did its blighting work; and the success of those who sought the +destruction of the Repeal Association through the machinery of bribes +and places was already apparent, when on the 27th of July, 1846, +O'Brien, accompanied by Mitchel, Meagher, Duffy, and others arose in +sorrow and indignation, and quitted the Conciliation Hall for ever. + +Six months later the Irish Confederation held its first meeting in the +Round Room of the Rotundo. Meagher, Mitchel, Doheny, O'Brien, O'Gorman, +Martin, and McGee were amongst the speakers; and amidst the ringing +cheers of the densely thronged meeting, the establishment was decreed of +the Irish Confederation, for the purpose--as the resolution +declared--"of protecting our national interests, and obtaining the +Legislative Independence of Ireland by the force of opinion, by the +combination of all classes of Irishmen, and by the exercise of all the +political, social, and moral influence within our reach." It will be +seen that the means by which the Confederates proposed to gain their +object, did not differ materially from the programme of the Repeal +Association. But there was this distinction. Against place-hunting, and +everything savouring of trafficking with the government, the +Confederates resolutely set their faces; and in the next place, while +prescribing to themselves nothing but peaceful and legal means for the +accomplishment of their object, they scouted the ridiculous doctrine, +that "liberty was not worth the shedding of a single drop of blood," and +that circumstances might arise under which resort to the arbitration of +the sword would be righteous and justifiable. In time, however, the +Confederates took up a bolder and more dangerous position. As early as +May, 1846, Lord John Russell spoke of the men who wrote in the pages of +the _Nation_, and who subsequently became the leaders of the +Confederation, "as a party looking to disturbance as its means, and +having separation from England as its object." The description was false +at the time, but before two years had elapsed its application became +more accurate. A few men there were like Mitchel, who from the birth of +the Confederation, and perhaps before it, abandoned all expectation of +redress through the medium of Constitutional agitation; but it was not +until the flames of revolution had wrapped the nations of the Continent +in their fiery folds--until the barricades were up in every capital from +Madrid to Vienna--and until the students' song of freedom was mingled +with the paean of victory on many a field of death--that the hearts of +the Irish Confederates caught the flame, and that revolution, and +revolution alone, became the goal of their endeavours. When Mitchel +withdrew from the Confederation in March, 1848, the principles of +constitutional action were still in the ascendancy; when he rejoined it +a month later, the cry "to the registries," was superseded by fiery +appeals summoning the people to arms. In the first week of April, the +doctrine which John Mitchel had long been propounding, found expression +in the leading columns of the _Nation_:--"Ireland's necessity," said +Duffy, "demands the desperate remedy of revolution." A few weeks later, +the same declaration was made in the very citadel of the enemy's power. +It was O'Brien who spoke, and his audience was the British House of +Commons. With Messrs. Meagher and Hollywood, he had visited Paris to +present an address of congratulation on behalf of the Irish people to +the Republican government; and on taking his seat in the House of +Commons after his return, he found himself charged by the Ministers of +the Crown, with having gone to solicit armed intervention from France on +behalf of the disaffected people of Ireland. O'Brien replied in a speech +such as never was heard before or since within the walls of the House of +Commons. In the midst of indescribable excitement and consternation, he +proceeded to declare in calm deliberative accents--"that if he was to be +arraigned as a criminal, he would gladly endure the most ignominious +death that could be inflicted on him rather than witness the sufferings +and indignities he had seen inflicted by the British legislature on his +countrymen. If it is treason," he exclaimed, "to profess disloyalty to +this House and to the government of Ireland, by the parliament of Great +Britain--if that be treason, I avow it. Nay, more, I say it shall be the +study of my life to overthrow the dominion of this Parliament over +Ireland." The yells and shouts with which these announcements were +received shook the building in which he stood, and obliged him to remain +silent for several moments after the delivery of each sentence; but when +the uproar began to subside, the ringing tones of O'Brien rose again +upon the air, and with the stoicism of a martyr, and the imperturable +courage of a hero, he proceeded. "Irish Freedom," he said, "must be won +by Irish courage. Every statesman in the civilized globe looks upon +Ireland as you look upon Poland, and upon your connection as entirely +analogous to that of Russia with Poland. I am here to-night to tell you, +that if you refuse our claims to legislative independence, you will have +to encounter during the present year, the chance of a Republic in +Ireland." + +O'Brien returned to Ireland more endeared than ever to the hearts of +his countrymen. And now the game was fairly afoot. Government and people +viewed each other with steady and defiant glare, and girded up their +loins for the struggle. On the one side the Confederate clubs were +organized with earnestness and vigour, and the spirit of the people +awakened by a succession of stirring and glowing appeals. "What if we +fail?" asked the _Nation_; and it answered the question by declaring +unsuccessful resistance under the circumstances preferable to a +degrading submission. "What if we _don't_ fail?" was its next inquiry, +and the answer was well calculated to arouse the patriots of Ireland to +action. On the other hand the authorities were not idle. Arm's Bills, +Coercion Acts, and prosecutions followed each other in quick succession. +Mitchel was arrested, convicted, and sent to Bermuda. Duffy, Martin, +Meagher, Doheny, O'Doherty, and M'Gee were arrested--all of whom, except +Duffy and Martin, were shortly afterwards liberated. Duffy's trial was +fixed for August, and this was the time appointed by the Confederates +for the outbreak of the insurrection. There were some who advocated a +more prompt mode of action. At a meeting of the Confederates held on +July 19th, after the greater portion of the country had been proclaimed, +it was warmly debated whether an immediate appeal to arms should not be +counselled. O'Brien and Dillon advocated delay; the harvest had not yet +been reaped in; the clubs were not sufficiently organized throughout the +country, and the people might easily conceal their arms until the hour +arrived for striking a decisive blow. Against this policy a few of the +more impetuous members protested. "You will wait," exclaimed Joe +Brennan, "until you get arms from heaven, and angels to pull the +triggers." But his advice was disregarded; and the meeting broke up with +the understanding that with the first glance of the harvest sun, the +fires of insurrection were to blaze upon the hill tops of Ireland, and +that meanwhile organization and preparation were to engross +the attention of the leaders. On Friday, July 21st, a war +directory--consisting of Dillon, Reilly, O'Gorman, Meagher, and Father +Kenyon was appointed; and on the following morning O'Gorman started for +Limerick, Doheny for Cashel, and O'Brien for Wexford, to prepare the +people for the outbreak. + +It was war to the knife, and every one knew it. The forces of the +government in Ireland were hourly increased in Dublin--every available +and commanding position was occupied and fortified. "In the Bank of +Ireland," says one who watched the progress of affairs with attentive +gaze, "soldiers as well as cashiers were ready to settle up accounts. +The young artists of the Royal Hibernian Academy and Royal Dublin +Society had to quit their easels to make way for the garrison. The +squares of old Trinity College resounded with the tramp of daily +reviews; the Custom House at last received some occupation by being +turned into a camp. The Linen Hall, the Rotundo, Holmes' Hotel, +Alborough House, Dycer's Stables, in Stephen's-green--every institution, +literary, artistic, and commercial, was confiscated to powder and +pipe-clay. The barracks were provisioned as if for a siege; cavalry +horses were shod with plates of steel, to prevent their being injured +and thrown into disorder by broken bottles, iron spikes, or the like; +and the infantry were occupied in familiarizing themselves with the art +of fusilading footpaths and thoroughfares. Arms were taken from the +people, and the houses of loyal families stocked with the implements of +war." + +But the national leaders had calculated on the preparations of the +government; they knew the full measure of its military power, and were +not afraid to face it; but there was one blow which they had not +foreseen, and which came on them with the shock of a thunderbolt. On the +very morning that O'Brien left for Wexford, the news reached Dublin that +a warrant had been issued for his arrest, and that the suspension of the +_Habeas Corpus_ Act was resolved on by the government. "It appears +strangely unaccountable to me," was Meagher's reflection in after years, +"that whilst a consideration of our position, our project, and our +resources was taking place; whilst the stormy future on which we were +entering formed the subject of the most anxious conjecture, and the +danger of it fell like wintry shadows around us; it seems strangely +unaccountable to me that not an eye was turned to the facilities for the +counteraction of our designs which the government had at their disposal; +that not a word was uttered in anticipation of that bold astounding +measure--the suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act--the announcement of +which broke upon us so suddenly. The overlooking of it was a fatal +inadvertance. Owing to it we were routed without a struggle, and were +led into captivity without glory. We suffer not for a rebellion, but a +blunder." + +The few of the Confederate leaders at large in Dublin at the +time--Duffy, Martin, Williams, and O'Doherty were in Newgate--held a +hurried council, and their plans were speedily formed. They were to join +Smith O'Brien at once, and commence the insurrection in Kilkenny. On the +night of Saturday, July 22nd, M'Gee left for Scotland to prepare the +Irishmen of Glasgow for action; and Meagher, Dillon, Reilly, M'Manus, +O'Donoghue, and Leyne started southwards to place themselves in +communication with O'Brien. A week later the last of the national papers +was suppressed, and the _Nation_ went down, sword in hand as a warrior +might fall, with the words of defiance upon its lips, and a prayer for +the good old cause floating upwards with its latest breath. + +O'Brien was in bed, when Meagher and Dillon arrived at Balinkeele where +he was stopping. The news of the suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act, +and of the plans formed by the Confederates were speedily communicated +to him. O'Brien manifested no surprise at the intelligence. He quietly +remarked that the time for action had arrived; and that every Irishman +was now justified in taking up arms against the government; dressed +himself, and set out without losing an hour to inaugurate his hazardous +enterprise at Enniscorthy. As the train drove along, the three friends +occupied themselves with the important question where should they begin +the outbreak. Wexford was mentioned, but the number of Confederates +enrolled there were few, and the people were totally unprepared for a +sudden appeal to arms; New Ross and Waterford were ruled against, +because of the effectual assistance the gunboats stationed in the river +could render the garrison of those towns. Against Kilkenny none of those +objections applied; and the more they discussed the subject the more +convinced did they become that the most fitting cradle for the infant +genius of Irish liberty was the ancient "city of the Confederates." +"Perfectly safe from all war steamers, gunboats, and floating batteries; +standing on the frontiers of the three best fighting counties in +Ireland--Waterford, Wexford, and Tipperary--the peasantry of which could +find no difficulty in pouring to its relief; possessing from three to +five thousand Confederates, most of whom were understood to be armed; +the most of the streets being narrow, and presenting on this account the +greatest facilities for the erection of barricades; the barracks lying +outside the town, and the line of communication between the powerful +portions of the latter and the former being intercepted by the old +bridge over the Nore, which might be easily defended, or, at the most, +very speedily demolished; no place," says Meagher, "appeared to us to be +better adapted for the first scene of the revolution." + +Towards Kilkenny they therefore took their way, haranguing the people in +soul-stirring addresses as they proceeded. At Enniscorthy and at +Graigue-na-mana their appeals were responded to with fervent enthusiasm; +they called on the people to form themselves into organized bodies, and +prepare to co-operate with the insurgents who were shortly to unfurl +their banner beneath the shadow of St. Canice's; and the crowds who hung +on their words vowed their determination to do so. But in Kilkenny, as +in every town they visited, the patriot leaders found the greatest +disinclination to take the initiative in the holy war. There as +elsewhere the people felt no unwillingness to fight; but they knew they +were ill prepared for such an emergency, and fancied the first blow +might be struck more effectively elsewhere. "Who will draw the first +blood?" asked Finton Lalor in the last number of the _Felon_; and the +question was a pertinent one; there was a decided reluctance to draw it. +It is far from our intention to cast the slightest reflection on the +spirit or courage of the nationalists of 1848. We know that it was no +selfish regard for their own safety made the leaders in Wexford, +Kilkenny, and elsewhere, shrink from counselling an immediate outbreak +in their localities; the people, as well as the men who led them, looked +forward to the rising of the harvest moon, and the cutting of their +crops, as the precursors of the herald that was to summon them to aims. +Their state of organization was lamentably deficient; anticipating a +month of quiet preparation, they had neglected to procure arms up to the +date of O'Brien's arrival, and a few weeks would at least be required to +complete their arrangements. In Kilkenny, for instance, not one in every +eight of the clubmen possessed a musket, and even their supply of pikes +was miserably small. But they were ready to do all that in them lay; and +when O'Brien, Dillon, and Meagher quitted Kilkenny on Monday, July 24th, +they went in pursuance of an arrangement which was to bring them back to +the city of the Nore before the lapse of a week. They were to drive into +Tipperary, visit Carrick, Clonmel, and Cashel, and summon the people of +those towns to arms. Then, after the lapse of a few days, they were to +return at the head of their followers to Kilkenny, call out the clubs, +barricade the streets, and from the Council Chambers of the Corporation +issue the first Revolutionary Edict to the country. They hoped that a +week later the signal fires of insurrection would be blazing from every +hill-top in Ireland; and that the sunlight of freedom, for which so many +generations of patriots had yearned, would soon flood glebe and town, +the heather-clad mountains, and pleasant vales of Innisfail. _Diis +aliter visum_; the vision that glittered before their longing eyes +melted away with the smoke of the first insurgent shot; and instead of +the laurel of the conqueror they were decked with the martyr's palm. + +On arriving in Callan the travellers were received with every +demonstration of sympathy and welcome. The streets were blocked with +masses of men that congregated to listen to their words. A large +procession, headed by the temperance band, escorted them through the +town, and a bonfire was lit in the centre of the main street. They told +the people to provide themselves at once with arms, as in a few days +they would be asked to march with the insurgent forces on Kilkenny--an +announcement that was received with deafening applause. After a few +hours' delay the three compatriots quitted Callan, and pursued their +road to Carrick-on-Suir, where they arrived on the some evening and +received a most enthusiastic reception. They addressed the excited +multitude in impassioned words, promised to lead them to battle before +many days, and called on them to practice patience and prudence in the +interval. On the following day they quitted Carrick, and took their way +to Mullinahone, where the people gathered in thousands to receive them. +The number of men who assembled to meet them was between three and four +thousand, of whom about three hundred were armed with guns, pistols, old +swords, and pitchforks. The gathering was reviewed and drilled by the +Confederates; and O'Brien, who wore a plaid scarf across his shoulders, +and carried a pistol in his breast pocket, told them that Ireland would +have a government of her own before many weeks. + +On the evening of Tuesday, July 25th, the Confederate leaders arrived in +Mullinahone, where they slept. On the following morning they addressed +the people, who flocked into the town on hearing of their arrival. And +here it was that O'Brien himself dealt the death blow of the movement. +The peasantry, who came from their distant homes to meet him, were left +the whole day long without food or shelter. O'Brien himself gave what +money he had to buy them bread; but he told them in future they should +provide for themselves, as he could allow no one's property to be +interfered with. Hungry and exhausted, the men who listened to him +returned at night to their homes; they were sensible enough to perceive +that insurrection within the lines laid down by their leaders was +impossible; the news that they were expected to fight on empty stomachs +was spread amongst the people, and from that day forward the number of +O'Brien's followers dwindled away. + +On July 26th, O'Brien and his party first visited the village of +Ballingarry, where he was joined by M'Manus, Doheny, Devin Reilly, and +other prominent members of the Confederation. They took a survey of the +village and its neighbourhood; addressed the crowd from the piers of the +chapel gate, and slept in the house of one of the village shopkeepers. +Next day they returned to Mullinahone and thence to Killenaule, where +they were received with every demonstration of welcome and rejoicing. +Bouquets fell in showers upon O'Brien; addresses were read, and the +fullest and warmest co-operation was freely promised by the excited +crowds that congregated in the streets. + +The exact position which the Confederates had now assumed towards the +Crown and government, is deserving of a moment's attention. Up to the +last they carefully distinguished between resisting the acts of the +government and disputing the sovereignty of the queen. They regarded the +suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act as unconstitutional in itself; and +when O'Brien told her Majesty's Ministers in the House of Commons, that +it was they who were the traitors to the country, the Queen, and the +Constitution, he did but express the opinions that underlay the whole +policy of the Confederation. Even the passing of the _Habeas Corpus_ +Suspension Act was not quite sufficient to exhaust their patience; in +order to fill the measure of the government's transgressions and justify +a resort to arms against them, it was necessary in the opinion of +O'Brien and his associates, that the authorities should attempt to carry +into operation the iniquitious law they had passed; the arrest of +O'Brien was to be the signal for insurrection; meanwhile, they were +satisfied with organizing their forces for the fray, and preparing for +offering an effective resistance to the execution of the warrant, +whenever it should make its appearance. It was therefore that when at +Killenaule, a small party of dragoons rode up to the town they were +suffered to proceed unmolested; at the first notice of their coming, the +people rushed to the streets and hastily threw up a barricade to +intercept them. Dillon commanded at the barricade; beside him stood +Patrick O'Donoghue, and a young man whose career as a revolutionist, was +destined to extend far beyond the scenes in which he was then sharing; +and whose name was one day to become first a terror to the government of +England, and afterwards a by-word and a reproach amongst his countrymen. +O'Donoghue and Stephens were both armed, and when the officer commanding +the dragoons rode up to the barricade and demanded a passage, Stephens +promptly covered him with his rifle, when his attention was arrested by +a command from Dillon to ground his arms. The officer pledged his honour +that he did not come with the object of arresting O'Brien; the barricade +was taken down; and the dragoons passed scatheless through the town. +Another opportunity had been lost, and the hearts of the most resolute +of O'Brien's colleagues sunk lower than ever. + +On Friday, O'Brien and his followers returned to Ballingarry, where they +held a council on the prospects of the movement. It was clear that the +case was a desperate one, that the chance of successful resistance was +inevitably lost, and that nothing now awaited them--should they persist +in their enterprise--but ruin and death. Only a couple of hundred men, +wretchedly armed or not armed at all, adhered to their failing fortunes; +and throughout the rest of the country the disaffected gave no sign. But +O'Brien was unmovable; he would do his duty by his country, let the +country answer for its duty towards him. + +The collision came at last. On Saturday morning, July 29th, the +constabulary of Thurles, Kilkenny, Cashel, and Callan received orders to +march on the village of Ballingarry, for the purpose of arresting Smith +O'Brien. On the previous day the government had issued a proclamation, +declaring him guilty of treasonable practices, by appearing in arms +against the Queen, and offering a reward of L500 for his apprehension; +on the same day, L300 was offered for the arrest of Meagher, Dillon, +and Doheny. Fired with the ambition of capturing the rebel party with +his own forces, and winning for himself a deathless fame, Sub-Inspector +Trant marched out in hot haste from Callan, at the head of forty-six +policemen, and directed his steps towards Ballingarry, where it was +known to him that O'Brien was still stopping. Between twelve and one +o'clock they arrived at Farrenrory, within three miles of the village of +Ballingary. On arriving at this point the police found that effective +measures had been adopted to dispute their further progress. Across the +road before them a barricade had been thrown up, and behind it was +arrayed a body of men, numbering from three to four hundred. Fearing to +face the insurgent forces, the police turned off to the right, and +rushed towards a slate house which they saw in the distance. The people +saw the object of the movement, and at once gave chase; but the police +had the advantage of a long start, and they succeeded in reaching the +house and barring the door by which they entered, before their pursuers +came up. + +The die was cast, and the struggle so long watched for, and sighed for, +had come at last. But it came not as it had been depicted by the tribune +and poet; the vision that had flashed its radiancy before the eager eyes +that hungered for the redemption of Ireland, differed sadly from the +miserable reality. The serried ranks of glittering steel, the files of +gallant pikemen, the armed columns of stalwart peasants, pouring through +gap and river course, the glimmering camp fires quivering through the +mist, the waving banners, and the flashing swords--where were they now? +Where were the thousands of matchless mould, the men of strength and +spirit, whose footfalls woke the echoes one month before in a hundred +towns as they marched to the meetings at which they swore to strike down +the oppressor? Only a few months had passed since two thousand +determined men had passed in review before O'Brien at Cork; scarcely six +weeks since, similar sights were witnessed from the city of the Shannon +to the winding reaches of the Boyne. Everywhere there were strength, +and numbers, and resolution; where were they now in the supreme hour of +the country's agony? A thousand times it had been sworn by tens of +thousands of Irishmen, that the tocsin of battle would find them +clustered round the good old flag to conquer or die beneath its shadow. +And now, the hour had come, the flag of insurrection so often invoked +was raised; but the patriot that raised it was left defenceless: _he_ at +least kept his word, but the promises on which he relied had broken like +dissolving ice beneath his feet. + +Around O'Brien there clustered on that miserable noontide, about four +hundred human beings--a weak, hungry, and emaciated looking throng for +the most part; their half naked forms, browned by the sun, and hardened +by the winter winds--a motley gathering; amongst whom there were scores +of fasting men, and hundreds through whose wretched dwellings the, wind +and rain found free ingress. They were poor, they were weak, they were +ignorant, they were unarmed! but there was one, thing at least which +they possessed--that quality which Heaven bestowed on the Irish race, to +gild and redeem their misfortunes. Of courage and resolution they had +plenty: they understood little of the causes which led to the outbreak +in which they participated; of Smith O'Brien or his associates few of +them had heard up to their appearance at Ballingarry; but they knew that +it was against the forces of the British government and on behalf of +Ireland's independence they were called on to fight, and in this cause +they were ready to shed their blood. Such was the party whom O'Brien +gazed upon with a troubled mind on that eventful day. Even the attached +companions who had so far attended him were no longer by his side; +M'Manus, O'Donoghue, and Stephens were still there; but Meagher, Dillon, +Doheny and O'Gorman had left at break of day to raise the standard of +insurrection in other quarters. Of the men around him not more than +twenty possessed firearms, about twice that number were armed with pikes +and pitchforks; the remainder had but their naked hands and the stones +they could gather by the wayside. + +On the other side were forty-seven disciplined men splendidly armed, +and ensconced moreover in a building possessing for the purpose of the +hour the strength of a fortress. It stood on the brow of a hill +overlooking the country in every direction; it consisted of two storeys +with four windows in each, in front and rere; each gable being also +pierced by a pair of windows. There were six little children in the +house when the police entered it. Their mother, the Widow M'Cormick +arrived on the spot immediately after the police had taken possession of +her domicile, and addressing O'Brien she besought him to save her little +ones from danger. On O'Brien's chivalrous nature the appeal was not +wasted. Heedless of the danger to which he exposed himself he walked up +to the window of the house. Standing at the open window with his breast +within an inch of the bayonets of the two policemen who were on the +inside, he called on them to give up their arms, and avoid a useless +effusion of blood. "We are all Irishmen, boys" he said, "I only want +your arms and I'll protect your lives." The reply was a murderous volley +poured on the gathering outside. Some half drunken person in the crowd +it appears had flung a stone at one of the windows, and the police +needed no further provocation. The fire was returned by the insurgents, +and O'Brien seeing that his efforts to preserve peace were futile, +quitted the window and rejoined his companions. For nearly two hours the +firing continued; the police well sheltered from the possibility of +injury fired in all about 220 rounds, killing two men and wounding a +number of others, amongst them James Stephens who was shot in the thigh. +Long before an equal number of shots were fired from without, the +ammunition of the insurgents was exhausted, and they could only reply to +the thick falling bullets with the stones which the women present +gathered for them in their aprons. It was clear that the house could not +be stormed in this way; and M'Manus, with half-a-dozen resolute +companions, rolled a cartload of hay up to the kitchen door with the +intention of setting fire to it and burning down the house. But O'Brien +would not permit it; there were children in the house, and their +innocent lives should not be sacrificed. In vain did M'Manus entreat him +for permission to fire his pistol into the hay and kindle the ready +flames, O'Brien was inexorable; and the first and last battle of the +insurrection was lost and won. The Rev. Mr. Fitzgerald, the priest of +the parish, and his curate, Father Maher now appeared on the spot, and +naturally used their influence to terminate the hopeless struggle, a +large force of constabulary from Cashel soon after were seen +approaching, and the people, who now saw the absolute uselessness of +further resistance broke away to the hills. The game was up; the banner +of Irish independence had again sunk to the dust; and O'Brien, who had +acted throughout with preternatural coolness, and whose face gave no +more indications of emotion than if it had been chiseled in marble, +turned from the scene with a broken heart. For a length of time he +resisted the entreaties of his friends and refused to leave the spot; at +last their solicitations prevailed, and mounting a horse taken from one +of the police he rode away. + +From that fatal day down to the night of Saturday, August 5th, the +police sought vainly for O'Brien. He slept in the peasant's hut on the +mountain and he shared his scanty fare; a price which might well dazzle +the senses of his poverty-stricken entertainers was on his head, and +they knew it; over hill-side and valley swarmed the host of spies, +detectives, and policemen placed on his track; but no hand was raised to +clutch the tempting bribe, no voice whispered the information for which +the government preferred its gold. Amongst those too who took part in +the affray at Ballingarry, and who subsequently were cast in shoals into +prison, there were many from whom the government sought to extract +information. Bribes and promises of pardon were held up before their +eyes, menaces were freely resorted to, but amongst them the government +sought vainly for an informer. Many, of them died in captivity or in +exile; their homes were broken up; their wives and children left +destitute and friendless; but the words that would give them liberty +and wealth, and terminate the sufferings of themselves and their +families were never spoken. Had O'Brien chosen to escape from the +country like Doheny, O'Gorman, Dillon and other of his friends, it is +probable he might have done so. He resolved however on facing the +consequence of his acts and sharing the fate of the Irish rebel to the +bitter end. + +The rain fell cold and drearily in the deserted streets of Thurles on +the night which saw the arrest of William Smith O'Brien. Away over the +shadowy mountains in the distance, the swimming vapours cast their +shroud, wrapping in their chilling folds the homes of the +hunger-stricken prostrate race that sat by their fireless hearths. The +autumn gale swept over the desolate land as if moaning at the ruin and +misery that cursed it, and wailing the dirge of the high hopes and +ardent purposes that a few short weeks before had gladdened the hearts +of its people. Calmly and deliberately with folded arms O'Brien walked +through the streets, and entered the Thurles Railway Station. He wore a +black hat, a blue boat cloak, in which he was rather tightly muffled, +and a light plaid trousers; in his hand he carried a large black stick. +He walked to the ticket office and paid his fare to Limerick; then +wrapping himself up in his cloak and folding his arms, again he walked +slowly along the platform awaiting the arrival of the train. He had +resolved on surrendering himself for trial, but he wished to pay one +last visit to his home and family. That gratification however was denied +him, he was recognised by an Englishman named Hulme, a railway guard; in +an instant he was surrounded by police and detectives, and torn of with +brutal violence to gaol. That same night an express train flashed +northwards through the fog and mist bearing O'Brien a prisoner to +Dublin. In the carriage in which he was placed sat General M'Donald, a +Sub-Inspector of Constabulary and four policemen. On entering the train +a pistol was placed at O'Brien's head, and he was commanded not to speak +on peril of his life. Disregarding the injunction, he turned to M'Donald +and asked him why he was so scandalously used. The General "had a duty +to perform," and "his orders should be obeyed." "I have played the game +and lost," said O'Brien, "and I am ready to pay the penalty of having +failed; I hope that those who accompanied me may be dealt with in +clemency; I care not what happens to myself." + +On Thursday, September 28th, he was arraigned before a Special +Commission on a charge of high treason at Clonmel. The trial lasted ten +days, and ended in a verdict of guilty. It excited unprecedented +interest throughout the country, and there are many of its incidents +deserving of permanent record. Amongst the witnesses brought forward by +the crown was John O'Donnell, a comfortable farmer, who resided near +Ballingarry. "I won't be sworn," he said on coming on the table, "or +give evidence under any circumstances. You may bring me out and put a +file of soldiers before me, and plant twenty bullets in my breast, but +while I have a heart there I will never swear for you." He expiated his +patriotism by a long imprisonment. Nor was this a solitary instance of +heroism; Richard Shea, a fine looking young peasant, on being handed the +book declared that "he would not swear against such a gentleman," and he +too was carried off to pass years within a British dungeon. But their +sacrifices were unavailing; of evidence there was plenty against +O'Brien; the police were overflowing with it, and the eloquence and +ability of Whiteside were powerless to save him from a verdict of +guilty. + +The papers of the time are full of remarks on the firmness and +self-possession displayed by O'Brien throughout the trial. Even the +announcement of the verdict failed to disturb his composure, and when +the usual question was asked he replied with calmness and deliberation: + + "My lords, it is not my intention to enter into any vindication of my + conduct, however much I might have desired to avail myself of this + opportunity of so doing. I am perfectly satisfied with the + consciousness that I have performed my duty to my country--that I + have done only that which, in my opinion, it was the duty of every + Irishman to have done; and I am now prepared to abide the + consequences of having performed my duty to my native land. Proceed + with your sentence." + +A deep murmur, followed by a burst of applause filled the court as the +noble patriot ceased speaking. Stepping back a pace, and folding his +arms on his breast, O'Brien looked fixedly at the judge, and awaited the +sentence of the court. Amidst the deepest sensation, Chief Justice +Blackburne proceeded to discharge his task. O'Brien was sentenced to be +hanged, beheaded, and quartered. "During the delivery of the sentence," +says a writer of the period, "the most profound agitation pervaded in +the court; as it drew towards the close, the excitement became more +marked and intense; but when the last barbarous provisions of the +sentence were pronounced, the public feeling could only manifest itself +by stifled sobs and broken murmurs of sympathy for the heroic man, who, +alone, was unmoved during this awful scene, whose lips alone did not +quiver, whose hand alone did not tremble, but whose heart beat with the +calm pulsation of conscious guiltlessness and unsullied honour." + +Nine months later (July 29th, 1849), the brig "Swift" sailed from +Kingstown harbour, bearing O'Brien, Meagher, M'Manus, and O'Donoghue +into exile. In the month of November the vessel reached Hobart Town, +where "tickets of leave" were offered to those gentlemen on condition of +their residing each one within a certain district marked out for him, +and giving their parole to make no attempt at escape while in possession +of the ticket. Messrs. Meagher, M'Manus, and O'Donoghue accepted these +terms; Mr. O'Brien refused them, and was consequently sent to an island +off the coast called Maria Island, where he was placed in strict custody +and treated with great severity. The news of the indignities and the +sufferings to which he was subjected, outraged the feelings of the Irish +people in the neighbouring country, and ere long his sympathisers in +Tasmania laid a plan for his escape. They hired a vessel to lie off the +coast on a particular day, and send a boat on shore to take off the +prisoner, who had been informed of the plot, and had arranged to be in +waiting for his deliverers. This design would unquestionably have +succeeded but for the treachery of the captain of the ship, who, before +sailing to the appointed spot, had given the government information of +the intended escape and the manner of it. What occurred on the arrival +of the vessel we shall relate in the words of Mr. Mitchel, who tells the +story in his "Jail Journal" as he heard it from Mr. O'Brien himself: + +"At last as he wandered on the shore and had almost given up all hope of +the schooner, the schooner hove in sight. To give time for her approach +he walked into the woods for a space, that he might not alarm his +guardian constable by his attention to her movements. Again he sauntered +down towards the point with apparent carelessness, but with a beating +heart. San Francisco was to be his first destination; and beyond that +golden gate lay the great world, and home, and children, and an +honourable life. The boat was coming, manned by three men; and he +stepped proudly and resolutely to meet them on the shore. To be sure +there was, somewhere behind him, one miserable constable with his +miserable musket, but he had no doubt of being able to dispose of that +difficulty with the aid of his allies, the boatmen. The boat could not +get quite close to the beach, because they had to run her into a kind of +cove where the water was calm and unencumbered with large tangled weeds. +O'Brien, when he reached the beach, plunged into the water to prevent +delay, and struggled through the thick matted seaweed to the boat. The +water was deeper than he expected, and when he came to the boat he +needed the aid of the boatmen to climb over the gunwale. Instead of +giving him this aid the rascals allowed him to flounder there, and kept +looking to the shore, where the constable had by this time appeared with +his musket. The moment he showed himself, the three boatmen cried out +together, 'We surrender!' and invited him on board; where he instantly +took up a hatchet--no doubt provided by the ship for that purpose, and +stove the boat. O'Brien saw he was betrayed, and on being ordered to +move along with the constable and boatmen towards the station, he +refused to stir--hoping, in fact, by his resistance, to provoke the +constable to shoot him. However, the three boatmen seized on him, and +lifted him up from the ground, and carried him wherever the constable +ordered. His custody was thereafter made more rigorous, and he was +shortly after removed from Maria Island to Port Arthur station." + +To this brief narrative the following "note" is appended in the work +from which we have just quoted:-- + +"Ellis, the captain of the schooner, was some months after seized at San +Francisco by Mr. M'Manus and others, brought by night out of his ship, +and carried into the country to undergo his trial under a tree, +whereupon, if found guilty, he was destined to swing. M'Manus set out +his indictment; and it proves how much Judge Lynch's method of +administering justice in those early days of California excelled +anything we know of law or justice in Ireland--that Ellis, for want of +sufficient and satisfactory evidence then producible, was acquitted by +that midnight court, under that convenient and tempting tree." + +Port Arthur station, to which Mr. O'Brien was removed from Maria Island, +was a place of punishment for convicts who, while serving out their +terms of transportation, had committed fresh offences against the law. +After a detention there for some time, Mr. O'Brien, whose health was +rapidly sinking under the rigours of his confinement, was induced, by +letters, from his political friends to accept the ticket-of-leave and +avail of the comparative liberty which they enjoyed. The government, on +his acceptance of their terms, placed him first in the district of New +Norfolk, and subsequently in that of Avoca, where he remained until the +conditional pardon, already mentioned in these columns, was granted in +1854. He then left Australia, went on to Madras, where he made a stay of +about a month; from thence he went to Paris and on to Brussels, where he +was joined by his wife and children. He next made a tour in Greece, and +was in that country when the unconditional pardon, which permitted him +to return to his native land, was granted in the month of May, 1856, +immediately after the close of the Crimean war. On Tuesday, July 8th, +1856, Mr. O'Brien stood once more upon his native soil after an exile of +eight years. The news of his arrival was joyfully received by his +fellow-countrymen, who welcomed him with every mark of respect and +affection whenever he appeared among them. Thence-forward Mr. O'Brien +took no active part in Irish politics, but he frequently offered advice +and suggestions to his countrymen through the medium of letters and +addresses in the _Nation_. In February, 1859, Mr. O'Brien made a voyage +to America, and during the ensuing months travelled through a great +portion of that country. After his return to Ireland he delivered, in +November, 1859, an interesting series of lectures on his tour, in the. +Mechanics' Institute, Dublin. On July 1st, 1863, he lectured in the +Rotundo, Dublin, for the benefit of a fund which was being raised for +the relief of the wounded and destitute patriots of the Polish +insurrection. In the early part of the year, 1864, the health of the +illustrious patriot began rapidly to fail, and he was taken by his +friends to England for a change of air. But the weight of many years of +care and suffering was on him, and its effects could not be undone. On +the 16th of June, 1864. at Bangor, the noble-hearted patriot breathed +his last. His family had the honoured remains brought to Ireland for +interment in the old burial-ground of his fathers. On Thursday morning +at an early hour they reached Dublin on board the "Cambria" steamer. It +was known that his family wished that no public demonstration should be +made at his funeral, but the feelings of the citizens who desired to pay +a tribute of respect to his memory could not be repressed. In the grey +hours of the morning the people in thousands assembled on the quays to +await the arrival of the remains, and two steamers, which had been +chartered for the purpose, proceeded, with large numbers on board, some +distance into the harbour to meet the approaching vessel. All along the +way, from the North Wall to the Kings-bridge railway station, the hearse +bearing the patriot's body was accompanied by the procession of +mourners, numbering about 15,000 men. At various stages of the journey +similar scenes were witnessed. But the end was soon reached. In the +churchyard of Rathronan, Co. Limerick, they laid him to rest. The green +grass grows freshly around the vault in which he sleeps, and has long +filled up the foot-prints of the multitude who broke the silence of that +lonely spot by their sobs on the day he was buried; the winter gales +will come and go, and touched by the breath of spring, the wild flowers +will blossom there through succeeding years; but never again will a +purer spirit, a nobler mind, a patriot more brave, more chivalrous, or +more true, give his heart to the cause of Ireland, than the +silvered-haired, care-burthened gentleman whom they bore from Cahirmoyle +to his grave on the 24th day of June, 1864. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER. + + +Early in 1846, when the Repeal Association was still powerful and great, +and ere yet the country had ceased to throb to the magic of O'Connell's +voice, there rose one day from amongst those who crowded the platform of +Conciliation Hall, a well-featured, gracefully-built, dark-eyed young +gentleman, towards whom the faces of the assembly turned in curiosity, +and whose accents when he spoke, were those of a stranger to the +audience. Few of them had heard of his name; not one of them--if the +chairman, William Smith O'Brien be excepted--had the faintest idea of +the talents and capacities he possessed, and which were one day to +enrapture and electrify his countrymen. He addressed the meeting on one +of the passing topics of the day; something in his manner savouring of +affectation, something in the semi-Saxon lisp that struggled through his +low-toned utterances, something in the total lack of suitable gesture, +gave his listeners at the outset an unfavourable impression of the young +speaker. He was boyish, and some did not scruple to hint conceited; he +had too much of the fine gentleman about his appearance, and too little +of the native brogue and stirring declamation to which his listeners +had been accustomed. The new man is a failure, was the first idea that +suggested itself to the audience: but he was not; and when he resumed +his seat he had conquered all prejudices, and wrung the cheers of +admiration from the meeting. Warming with his subject, and casting off +the restraints that hampered his utterances at first, he poured forth a +strain of genuine eloquence, vivified by the happiest allusions, and +enriched by imagery and quotations as beautiful as they were +appropriate, which startled the meeting from its indifference, and won +for the young speaker the enthusiastic applause of his audience. O'Brien +complimented him warmly on his success, and thus it was that the orator +of Young Ireland made his debut on the political platform. + +Meagher was not quite twenty-three years of age when his voice was first +heard in Conciliation Hall. He was born in Waterford of an old Catholic +family, which through good and ill had adhered to the national faith and +the national cause; his school-boy days were passed partly at +Clongowes-wood College, and partly under the superintendence of the +Jesuit Fathers at Stoneyhurst in Lancashire. His early years gave few +indications of the splendid wealth of genius that slumbered within his +breast. He took little interest in his classical or mathematical +studies; but he was an ardent student of English literature, and his +compositions in poetry and prose invariably carried away the prize. He +found his father filling the Civic Chair in Waterford, when he returned +from Stoneyhurst to his native city. O'Connell was in the plenitude of +his power; and from end to end of the land, the people were shaken by +mighty thoughts and grand aspirations; with buoyant and unfaltering +tread the nation seemed advancing towards the goal of Freedom, and the +manhood of Ireland seemed kindling at the flame which glowed before the +altar of Liberty. Into the national movement young Meagher threw himself +with the warmth and enthusiasm of his nature. At the early age of twenty +we find him presiding over a meeting of Repealers in his native city, +called to express sympathy with the State Prisoners of '43, and he +thence-forward became a diligent student of contemporary politics. He +became known as an occasional speaker at local gatherings; but it was +not until the event we have described that Meagher was fairly launched +in the troubled tide of politics, and that his lot was cast for good or +evil, with the leaders of the national party. + +Up to the date of secession Meagher was a frequent speaker at the +meetings of the Repeal Association. Day by day his reputation as a +speaker extended, until at length he grew to be recognised as the orator +of the party, and the knowledge that he was expected to speak was +sufficient to crowd Conciliation Hall to overflowing. When the influence +of the _Nation_ party began to be felt, and signs of disunion appeared +on the horizon, O'Connell made a vigorous effort to detach Meagher from +the side of Mitchel, Duffy, and O'Brien. "These young Irelanders," he +said, "will lead you into danger." "They may lead me into danger," +replied Meagher, "but certainly not into dishonour." + +Against the trafficking with the Whigs, which subsequently laid the +Repeal Association in the dust, and shipwrecked a movement which might +have ended in the disinthralment of Ireland, Meagher protested in words +of prophetic warning. "The suspicion is abroad," he said, "that the +national cause will be sacrificed to Whig supremacy, and that the +people, who are now striding on to freedom, will be purchased back into +factious vassalage. The Whigs calculate upon your apostacy, the +Conservatives predict it." The place beggars, who looked to the Whigs +for position and wealth, murmured as they heard their treachery laid +bare and their designs dissected in the impassioned appeals by which +Meagher sought to recall them to the path of patriotism and duty. It was +necessary for their ends that the bold denouncer of corruption, and the +men who acted with him, should be driven from the association; and to +effect that object O'Connell was hounded on to the step which ended in +the secession. The "peace resolutions" were introduced, and Meagher +found himself called on to subscribe to a doctrine which his soul +abhorred--that the use of arms was at all times unjustifiable and +immoral. The Lord Mayor was in the chair, and O'Brien, John O'Connell. +Denis Reilly, Tom Steele, and John Mitchel had spoken, when Meagher rose +to address the assembly. The speech he delivered on that occasion, for +brilliancy and lyrical grandeur has never been surpassed. It won for him +a reception far transcending that of Shiel or O'Connell as an orator; +and it gave to him the title by which he was afterwards so often +referred to--"Meagher of the Sword." He commenced by expressing his +sense of gratitude, and his attachment to O'Connell, "My lord," he +said:-- + + "I am not ungrateful to the man who struck the fetters off my limbs + while I was yet a child, and by whose influence my father, the first + Catholic that did so for two hundred years, sat for the last two + years in the civic chair of my native city. But, my lord," he + continued, "the same God who gave to that great man the power to + strike down one odious ascendency in this country, and who enabled + him to institute in this land the laws of religious equality--the + same God gave to me a mind that is my own, a mind that has not been + mortgaged to the opinion of any man or set of men, a mind that I was + to use and not surrender." + +Having thus vindicated freedom of opinion, the speaker went on to +disclaim for himself the opinion that the Association ought to deviate +from the strict path of legality. But he refused to accept the +resolutions; because he said "there are times when arms alone will +suffice, and when political ameliorations call for 'a drop of blood,' +and for many thousand drops of blood." Then breaking forth into a strain +of impassioned and dazzling oratory he proceeded:-- + + "The soldier is proof against an argument--but he is not proof + against a bullet. The man that will listen to reason--let him be + reasoned with. But it is the weaponed arm of the patriot that can + alone prevail against battalioned despotism. + + "Then, my lord, I do not condemn the use of arms as immoral, nor do I + conceive it profane to say that the King of Heaven--the Lord of + Hosts! the God of Battles!--bestows his benediction upon those who + unsheath the sword in the hour of a nation's peril. From that evening + on which, in the valley of Bethulia, he nerved the arm of the Jewish + girl to smite the drunken tyrant in his tent, down to this our day, + in which he has blessed the insurgent chivalry of the Belgian priest, + His Almighty hand hath ever been stretched forth from His throne of + Light to consecrate the flag of freedom--to bless the patriot's + sword! Be it in the defence, or be it in the assertion of a people's + liberty, I hail the sword as a sacred weapon; and if, my lord, it had + sometimes taken the shape of the serpent, and reddened the shroud of + the oppressor with too deep a dye, like the anointed rod of the High + Priest, it has at other times, and as often, blossomed into celestial + flowers to deck the freeman's brow. + + "Abhor the sword--stigmatize the sword? No, my lord, for in the + passes of the Tyrol it cut to pieces the banner of the Bavarian, and, + through those cragged passes, struck a path to fame for the peasant + insurrectionists of Inspruck! Abhor the sword--stigmatize the sword? + No, my lord, for at its blow a giant nation started from the waters + of the Atlantic, and by its redeeming magic, and in the quivering of + its crimsoned light the crippled colony sprang into the attitude of a + proud Republic--prosperous, limitless, and invincible! Abhor the + sword--stigmatize the sword? No, my lord, for it swept the Dutch + marauders out of the fine old towns of Belgium--scourged them back to + their own phlegmatic swamps--and knocked their flag and sceptre, + their laws and bayonets, into the sluggish waters of the Scheldt. + + "My lord, I learned that it was the right of a nation to govern + itself, not in this hall, but on the ramparts of Antwerp; I learned + the first article of a nation's creed upon those ramparts, where + freedom was justly estimated, and where the possession of the + precious gift was purchased by the effusion of generous blood. My + lord, I honor the Belgians for their courage and their daring, and I + will not stigmatize the means by which they obtained a citizen-king, + a chamber of Deputies." + +It was all he was permitted to say. With flushed face and excited +gesture John O'Connell rose, and declared he could not sit and listen to +the expression of such sentiments. Either Mr. Meagher or he should leave +the Association; O'Brien interceded to obtain a hearing for his young +friend, and protested against Mr. O'Connell's attempts to silence him. +But the appeal was wasted, O'Brien left the hall in disgust, and with +him Meagher, Duffy, Reilly, and Mitchel quitted it for ever. + +Meagher's subsequent career in Ireland is soon told. He was a regular +attendant at the meetings of the Confederation, of which he was one of +the founders, and the fame of his eloquence, his manly appearance, and +the charms of his youthful frankness contributed immensely towards the +growth of the new organization. He always acted with O'Brien, whom he +loved in his inmost soul, but he was respected and admired by every +section of nationalists, the Mitchelites, the Duffyites, and we might +even say the O'Connellites. When the country began to feel the influence +of the whirlwind of revolution which swept over the continent, +overturning thrones and wrecking constitutions as if they were built of +cardboard, Meagher shared the wild impulse of the hour, and played +boldly for insurrection and separation. He was one of the three +gentlemen appointed to present the address from Ireland to the French +Republican government in 1848; and in the speech delivered by him at the +crowded meeting in the Dublin Music Hall before his departure, he +counselled his countrymen to send a deputation to the Queen, asking her +to convene the Irish parliament in the Irish capital. "If the claim be +rejected," said Meagher, "if the throne stand as a barrier between the +Irish people and the supreme right--then loyalty will be a crime, and +obedience to the executive will be treason to the country. Depute your +worthiest citizens to approach the throne, and before that throne let +the will of the Irish people be uttered with dignity and decision. If +nothing comes of this," he added, "if the constitution opens to us no +path to freedom, if the Union be maintained in spite of, the will of the +Irish people, if the government of Ireland insist on being a government +of dragoons and bombadiers, of detectives and light infantry, then," he +exclaimed in the midst of tumultuous cheering, "up with the barricades, +and invoke the God of Battles!" + +While the Republican spirit was in full glow in Ireland, Meagher +astonished his friends by rushing down to Waterford and offering himself +as a candidate for the post left vacant in parliament by the resignation +of O'Connell. By this time the Confederates had begun to despair of a +parliamentary policy, and they marvelled much to see their young orator +rush to the hustings, and throw himself into the confusion and turmoil +of an election contest. _Que le diable allait il faire dans cette +galere_ muttered his Dublin friends. Was not the time for hustings +orations, and parliamentary agitation over now? Meagher, however, +conceived, and perhaps wisely, that he could still do some good for his +country in the House of Commons. He issued a noble address to the +electors of his native city, in which he asked for their support on the +most patriotic grounds. "I shall not meddle," he said, "with English +affairs. I shall take no part in the strife of parties--all factions are +alike to me. I shall go to the House of Commons to insist on the rights +of this country to be held, governed, and defended by its own citizens, +and by them alone. Whilst I live I shall never rest satisfied until the +kingdom of Ireland has won a parliament, an army, and a navy of her +own." Mitchel strongly disapproved of his conduct. "If Mr. Meagher were +in parliament," said the _United Irishman_, "men's eyes would be +attracted thither once more; some hope of 'justice' might again revive +in this too easily deluded people." The proper men to send to parliament +were according to Mitchel, "old placemen, pensioners, five pound +Conciliation Hall Repealers." "We have no wish to dictate," concluded +Mitchel in an article on the subject, full of the lurking satire and +quiet humour that leavened his writings, "but if the electors of +Waterford have any confidence in us, we shall only say that we are for +Costello!" + +"Costello" was defeated, however, but so was Meagher. The Young Ireland +champion was stigmatized as a Tory by the Whigs, and as a rebel by the +Tories; if _the people_, as Mitchel remarks had any power he would have +been elected by an overwhelming majority, but the people had no votes, +and Sir Henry Winston Barren was returned. Meagher went back to Dublin +almost a convert to Mitchel's views, leaving Whig, Tory, and West Briton +to exult over his discomfiture. + +We have already seen what Meagher did when the guage of battle was +thrown down, and when "the day all hearts to weigh" was imagined to have +arrived, we have seen how he accompanied O'Brien in his expedition from +Wexford to Kilkenny, and thence to Tipperary; and how on the morning of +July 29th, 1848, he left O'Brien at Ballingarry, little dreaming of the +tragedy which was to make that day memorable, and expecting to be able +to bring reinforcements to his leader from other quarters before the +crisis came. He failed however in his effort to spread the flames of +insurrection. The chilling news of O'Brien's defeat--distorted and +exaggerated by hostile tongues--was before him everywhere, and even the +most resolute of his sympathisers had sense enough to see that their +opportunity--if it existed at all--had passed away. On the 12th day of +August, 1848, Meagher was arrested on the road between Clonoulty and +Holycross, in Tipperary. He was walking along in company with Patrick +O'Donoghue and Maurice R. Leyne, two of his intimate friends and +fellow-outlaws, when a party of police passed them by. Neither of the +three was disguised, but Meagher and Leyne wore frieze overcoats, which +somewhat altered their usual appearance. After a short time the police +returned; Meagher and his companions gave their real names on being +interrogated, and they were at once arrested and taken in triumph to +Thurles. The three friends bore their ill fortune with what their +captors must have considered provoking nonchalance. Meagher smoked a +cigar on the way to the station, and the trio chatted as gaily as if +they were walking in safety on the free soil of America, instead of +being helpless prisoners on their way to captivity and exile. + +Meagher stood in the dock at Clonmel a week after O'Brien had quitted it +a convict. He was defended by Mr. Whiteside and Isaac Butt, whose +magnificent speech in his defence was perhaps the most brilliant display +of forensic eloquence ever heard Within the court in which he stood. Of +course the jury was packed (only 18 Catholics were named on a jury-panel +of 300), and of course the crown carried its point. On the close of the +sixth day of the trial, the jury returned into court with a verdict of +"guilty," recommending the prisoner to mercy on the ground of his youth. + +Two days later he was brought back to the dock to receive sentence. He +was dressed in his usual style, appeared in excellent health, and bore +himself--we are told--throughout the trying ordeal, with fortitude and +manly dignity. He spoke as follows:-- + + "My lords, it is my intention to say a few words only. I desire that + the last act of a proceeding which has occupied so much of the public + time, should be of short duration. Nor have I the indelicate wish to + close the dreary ceremony of a state prosecution with a vain display + of words. Did I fear that hereafter, when I shall be no more, the + country I tried to serve would speak ill of me, I might, indeed, + avail myself of this solemn moment to vindicate my sentiments and my + conduct. But I have no such fear. The country will judge of those + sentiments and that conduct in a light far different from that in + which the jury by whom I have been convicted have viewed them, and by + the country the sentence which you, my lords, are about to pronounce, + will be remembered only as the severe and solemn attestation of my + rectitude and truth. Whatever be the language in which that sentence + be spoken, I know that my fate will meet with sympathy, and that my + memory will be honoured. In speaking thus, accuse me not, my lords, + of an indecorus presumption in the efforts I have made in a just and + noble cause. I ascribe no main importance, nor do I claim for those + efforts any high reward. But it so happens, and it will ever happen + so, that they who have lived to serve their country--no matter how + weak their efforts may have been--are sure to receive the thanks and + blessings of its people. With my countrymen I leave my memory, my + sentiments, my acts, proudly feeling that they require no vindication + from me this day. A jury of my countrymen, it is true, have found me + guilty of the crime of which I stood indicted. For this I entertain + not the slightest feeling of resentment towards them. Influenced as + they must have been by the charge of the Lord Chief Justice, they + could perhaps have found no other verdict. What of that charge? Any + strong observations on it I feel sincerely would ill-befit the + solemnity of this scene; but I would earnestly beseech of you, my + lord--you who preside on that bench--when the passions and the + prejudices of this hour have passed away, to appeal to your own + conscience, and ask of it, was your charge what it ought to have + been, impartial and indifferent between the subject and the crown? My + lords, you may deem this language unbecoming in me, and perhaps it + may seal my fate; but I am here to speak the truth, whatever it may + cost--I am here to regret nothing I have ever done, to regret nothing + I have ever said--I am here to crave with no lying lip the life I + consecrate to the liberty of my country. Far from it. Even + here--here, where the thief, the libertine, the murderer, have left + their foot-prints in the dust--here, on this spot, where the shadows + of death surround me, and from which I see my early grave in an + unanointed soil open to receive me--even here, encircled by these + terrors, that hope which first beckoned me to the perilous sea on + which I have been wrecked, still consoles, animates, and enraptures + me. No; I do not despair of my poor old country--her peace, her + liberty, her glory. For that country I can do no more than bid her + hope. To lift this island up--to make her a benefactor to humanity, + instead of being, as she is now, the meanest beggar in the world--to + restore to her her native powers and her ancient constitution--this + has been my ambition, and this ambition has been my crime. Judged by + the law of England, I know this crime entails upon me the penalty of + death; but the history of Ireland explains that crime and justifies + it. Judged by that history, I am no criminal, you (addressing Mr. + M'Manus) are no criminal, you (addressing Mr. O'Donoghue) are no + criminal, and we deserve no punishment; judged by that history, the + treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt, has been + sanctified as a duty, and will be enobled as a sacrifice. With these + sentiments I await the sentence of the court. I have done what I felt + to be my duty. I have spoken now, as I did on every other occasion + during my short life, what I felt to be the truth. I now bid farewell + to the country of my birth--of my passions--of my death; a country + whose misfortunes have invoked my sympathies--whose factions I sought + to quell--whose intelligence I prompted to a lofty aim--whose freedom + has been my fatal dream. To that country I now offer as a pledge of + the love I bore her, and of the sincerity with which I thought and + spoke, and struggled for her freedom, the life of a young heart; and + with that life, the hopes, the honours, the endearments of a happy, a + prosperous, and honourable home. Proceed, then, my lords, with that + sentence which the law directs--I am prepared to hear it--I trust I + am prepared to meet its execution. I shall go, I think, with a light + heart before a higher tribunal--a tribunal where a Judge of infinite + goodness, as well as of infinite justice, will preside, and where, my + lords, many many of the judgments of this, world will be reversed." + +There is little more for us to add. Meagher arrived with O'Brien, +O'Donoghue, and M'Manus in Van Dieman's Land in October, 1849, and +escaped to America in 1852. He started the _Irish News_ in New York, +which he enriched by personal recollections of the stirring scenes in +which he participated; but his career as a journalist closed abruptly +with the outbreak of the war of Secession, when he raised a Zouave +Company to join Corcoran's 69th Regiment, with which he fought gallantly +at Bull's Run. Every one remembers how the gallantry of the Irish +regiment in which Meagher served, saved the Federal forces from +annihilation on that field of disaster. Subsequently he raised and +commanded the Irish Brigade, which won imperishable laurels throughout +the hard-fought campaigns that ended with the capture of Richmond. When +Mr. Johnson became President of the United States, he appointed Meagher +to the position of Governor of Montana Territory, in the far West, a +post which he held until his death. + +His end was sad and sudden. One dark wild night in July, 1867, a +gentleman suddenly disappeared from the deck of the steamer on which he +was standing, and fell into the great Missouri, where it winds its +course by the hills of Montana. The accident was too sudden for availing +assistance. A sudden slip, a splash, a faint cry, a brief struggle, and +all was over; the hungry waters closed over him, and the rapid rolling +current swept away his lifeless corpse. The finished scholar, the genial +friend, the matchless orator, the ardent patriot was no more. Thomas +Francis Meagher was dead. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +KEVIN IZOD O'DOHERTY. + + +Another bold, clever, and resolute opponent of British rule in Ireland +was torn from the ranks of the popular leaders on the day that Kevin +Izod O'Doherty was arrested. Amongst the cluster of talented and able +men who led the Young Ireland phalanx, he was distinguished for his +spirit and his mental accomplishments; amongst the organizers of the +party his ready words, manly address, and ceaseless activity gave him a +prominent position; amongst its journalists he was conspicuous for +fearlessness, frankness, and ability. Over the surging waves of the +excitement and agitation that convulsed the country during the period +which ended with the affray at Ballingarry, and through the haze which +time has cast over the attempted revolution of '48, his figure looms up +in bold proportions, suggestive of mental capacity, fortitude of soul, +and tenacity of purpose. For him, as for many of his brilliant +associates, the paths of patriotism led down to proscription and pain; +but O'Doherty fulminating the thunderbolts of the _Tribune,_ or sowing +the seeds of patriotism amongst the students of Dublin, was not one whit +more self-possessed or undaunted than when standing a convict in the +Greenstreet dock, he awaited the sentence of the court. + +Kevin Izod O'Doherty was born of respectable Catholic parents in Dublin, +in June, 1824. He received a liberal education, by which he profited +extensively, showing even in his school-days strong evidences of natural +ability, and talents, of more than average degree. He directed his +attention to the medical profession on completing his education, and was +in the full tide of lectures and hospital attendance when the +development of the national sentiment that pervaded the year '48 drew +him into the vortex of public life. He became a hard working and +enthusiastic member of the Young Ireland party, and was one of the +founders of the Students' and Polytechnic Clubs, which were regarded by +the leaders in Dublin as the _elite_ of the national force in the +capital. When Mitchel was struck down and his paper suppressed, +O'Doherty was one of those who resolved that the political guidance +which the _United Irishman_ was meant to afford, should not be wanting +to the people. In conjunction with Richard Dalton Williams--"Shamrock" +of the _Nation_--he established the _Irish Tribune_, the first number of +which saw the light on the 10th of June, 1848. There could be no mistake +about the objects of the _Tribune_, or the motives of its founders in +establishing it. The British government could ill afford to endure the +attacks on their exactions and usurpations thundered forth weekly in its +articles. Its career was cut short by the mailed hand of authority at +its fifth number, and on the 10th of July, '48, Kevin Izod O'Doherty was +an inmate of Newgate prison. + +[Illustration: CHARLES J. KICKHAM. JOHN O'LEARY. THOMAS CLARK LUBEY.] + +On the 10th of August he was placed at the bar of Green-street +court-house, and arraigned on a charge of treason-felony, and a vigorous +effort was made by the crown to convict him. The attempt, however, was a +failure; the jury-panel had not been juggled as effectively as usual, +and a disagreement of the jury was the consequence. The crown, however, +had no idea of relaxing its grasp of its victim; after John Martin's +conviction O'Doherty was put forward again, and a new jury selected to +try him. Again were the government defeated; the second jury like the +first refused to agree to a verdict of guilty, and were discharged +without convicting the prisoner. A third time was O'Doherty arraigned, +and this time the relentless hatred of his persecutors was gratified by +a verdict of guilty. The speech delivered by Mr. O'Doherty after +conviction was as follows:-- + + "My lords--I did hope, I confess, that upon being placed in this dock + for the third time, after two juries of my fellow-citizens had + refused to find a verdict against me, that while my prosecutors would + have been scrupulous in their care in attempting to uphold their law, + they would not have violated the very spirit of justice." + + Judge Crampton.--"I have a great difficulty in preventing you from + making any observations that may occur to you to be of service; but + if you mean to cast imputations of obloquy upon the law officers of + the crown, the court cannot permit that." + + Mr. O'Doherty--"I only wish to mention a matter of fact. The + Attorney-General stated that there were only three Roman Catholics + set aside on my jury." + + Judge Crampton again interposed, and requested the prisoner not to + pursue this line of observation. + + Mr. O'Doherty.--"I would feel much obliged if your lordship would + permit me to mention a few more words with reference to my motives + throughout this affair. + + "I had but one object and purpose in view. I did feel deeply for the + sufferings and privations endured by my fellow-countrymen. I did wish + by all means, consistent with a manly and honourable resistance to + assist in putting an end to that suffering. It is very true, and I + will confess it, that I desired an open resistance of the people to + that government, which, in my opinion entailed these sufferings upon + them. I have used the words open and honourable resistance, in order + that I might refer to one of the articles brought in evidence against + me, in which the writer suggests such things as flinging burning + hoops on the soldiery. My lords, these are no sentiments of mine. I + did not write that article. I did not see it, or know of it until I + read it when published in the paper. But I did not bring the writer + of it here on the table. Why? I knew that if I were to do so, it + would be only handing him over at the court-house doors to what one + of the witnesses has very properly called the fangs of the + Attorney-General. With respect to myself I have no fears. I trust I + will be enabled to bear my sentence with all the forbearance due to + what I believe to be the opinion of twelve conscientious enemies to + me, and I will bear with due patience the wrath of the government + whose mouthpiece they were; but I will never cease to deplore the + destiny that gave me birth in this unhappy country, and compelled me, + as an Irishman, to receive at your hands a felon's doom, for + discharging what I conceived--and what I still conceive to be my + duty. I shall only add, that the fact is, that instead of three Roman + Catholic jurors being set aside by the Attorney-General, there were + thirteen; I hold in my hand a list of their names, and out of the + twelve jurors he permitted to be sworn there was not one Roman + Catholic." + +Mr. O'Doherty was sentenced to transportation for ten years. He sailed +for Van Dieman's Land in the same ship that bore John Martin into exile. +In the course of time he, like Martin and O'Brien, was set at liberty on +condition of his residing anywhere out of "the United Kingdom." He came +on to Paris, and there resumed his medical studies. He paid, however, +one secret and hurried visit to Ireland. He came to wed and bear away +with him, to share his fortune in other lands, a woman in every way +worthy of him--one whose genius and talents, like his own, had been +freely given to the cause of Ireland, and whose heart had long been his +in the bonds of a most tender attachment. "Eva," one of the fair +poetesses of the _Nation_, was the plighted wife of O'Doherty. Terrible +must have been the shock to her gentle nature when her patriot lover was +borne off a convict, and shipped for England's penal settlements in the +far southern seas. She believed, however, they would meet again, and she +knew that neither time nor distance could chill the ardour of their +mutual affection. The volumes of the _Nation_ published during his +captivity contain many exquisite lyrics from her pen mourning for the +absent one, with others expressive of unchanging affection, and the most +intense faith in the truth of her distant lover. "The course of true +love" in this case ended happily. O'Doherty, as we have stated, managed +to slip across from Paris to Ireland, and returned with "Eva" his bride. +In 1856 the pardons granted to the exiles above named was made +unconditional, and in the following year O'Doherty returned to Ireland, +where he took out his degrees with great _eclat_; he then commenced the +practice of medicine and surgery in Dublin, and soon came to be ranked +amongst the most distinguished and successful members of his profession. +After remaining some years in Ireland, Mr. O'Doherty sailed far away +seawards once again, and took up his abode under the light of the +Southern Cross. He settled in a rising colony of Australia, where he +still lives, surrounded by troops of friends, and enjoying the position +to which his talents and his high character entitle him. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +TERENCE BELLEW M'MANUS. + + +The excitement caused by the startling events of which this country was +the scene in the summer of 1848 extended far beyond the shores of +Ireland. Away beyond the Atlantic the news from Ireland was watched for +with glistening eyes by the exiles who dwelt by the shores of Manhattan +or in the backwoods of Canada. Amongst the Irish colony in England the +agitation was still greater. Dwelling in the hearts of the monster towns +of England, the glow of the furnace lighting up their swarthy faces; +toiling on the canals, on the railways, in the steamboats; filling the +factories, plying their brawny hands where the hardest work was to be +done; hewers of wood, and drawers of water; living in the midst of the +English, yet separated from them by all the marks of a distinctive +nationality, by antagonistic feelings, by clashing interests, by jarring +creeds; such was the position of the men who carried the faith, the +traditions, the politics, and the purpose of Ireland into the heart of +the enemy's country. With their countrymen at home they were united by +the warmest ties of sympathy and affection. In London, in Manchester, in +Birmingham, in Leeds, Confederate Clubs were established, and active +measures taken for co-operating with the Young Ireland leaders in +whatever course they might think proper to adopt. In Liverpool those +clubs were organized on the most extensive scale; thousands of Irishmen +attended their weekly meetings, and speeches rivalling those delivered +at the Rotundo and at the Music Hall in fervour and earnestness were +spoken from their platforms. Amongst the Irishmen who figured +prominently at these gatherings there was one to whom the Irish in +Liverpool looked up with peculiar confidence and pride. He was young, he +was accomplished, he was wealthy, he filled a highly respectable +position in society; his name was connected by everyone with probity and +honour; and, above all, he was a nationalist, unselfish, enthusiastic, +and ardent. The Irishmen of Liverpool will not need to be told that we +speak of Terence Bellew M'Manus. + +The agitation of 1848 found M'Manus in good business as a shipping +agent, his income being estimated by his Liverpool friends at ten or +twelve hundred a year. His patriotism was of too genuine a nature to be +merged in his commercial success, and M'Manus readily abandoned his +prospects and his position when his country seemed to require the +sacrifice. Instantly on discovering that the government were about to +suspend the _Habeas Corpus_ Act in Ireland, he took the steamer for +Dublin, bringing with him the green and gold uniform which he owned in +virtue of being a general of the '82 Club. In the same steamer came two +detectives sent specially to secure his arrest in Dublin. M'Manus drove +from the quay, where he landed, to the _Felon_ Office. He discovered +that all the Confederate leaders out of prison had gone southwards on +hostile thoughts intent; and M'Manus resolved on joining them without a +moment's hesitation. Having managed to give the detectives the slip, he +journeyed southwards to Tipperary and joined O'Brien's party at +Killenaule. He shared the fortunes of the insurgent leaders until the +dispersion at Ballingarry, where he fought with conspicuous bravery and +determination. He was the first to arrive before the house in which the +police took refuge, and the last to leave it. The Rev. Mr. Fitzgerald, +P.P., an eye witness, gives an interesting account of M'Manus' conduct +during the attack on the Widow M'Cormack's house. He says:-- + + "With about a dozen men more determined than the rest, was M'Manus, + who indeed throughout the whole day showed more courage and + resolution than anyone else. With a musket in his hand, and in the + face of the enemy, he reconnoitered the place, and observed every + accessible approach to the house, and with a few colliers, under + cover of a cart-load of hay, which they pushed on before them, came + up to the postern-door of the kitchen. Here with his own hand he + fired several pistol-shots, to make it ignite, but from the state of + the weather, which was damp and heavy, and from the constant + down-pour of rain on the previous day, this attempt proved quite + unsuccessful. With men so expert at the use of the pickaxe, and so + large a supply of blasting powder at the collieries, he could have + quickly undermined the house, or blown it up; but the circumstance of + so many children being shut in with the police, and the certainty + that, if they persevered, all would be involved in the same ruin, + compelled him and his associates to desist from their purpose." + +When it became useless to offer further resistance, M'Manus retired with +the peasantry to the hills, and dwelt with them for several days. Having +shaved off his whiskers, and made some other changes in his appearance, +he succeeded in running the gauntlet though the host of spies and +detectives on his trail, and he was actually on board a large vessel on +the point of sailing for America from Cork harbour when arrested by the +police. His discovery was purely accidental; the police boarded the +vessel in chase of an absconding defaulter, but while prosecuting the +search one of the constables who had seen M'Manus occasionally in +Liverpool recognised him. At first he gave his name as O'Donnell, said +he was an Irish-American returning westward, after visiting his friends +in the old land. His answers, however, were not sufficiently consistent +to dissipate the constable's suspicion. He was brought ashore and taken +handcuffed before a magistrate, whereupon he avowed his name, and boldly +added that, he did not regret any act he had done, and would cheerfully +go through it again. + +On the 10th of October, 1848, he was brought to trial for high treason +in Clonmel. He viewed the whole proceedings with calm indifference, and +when the verdict of guilty was brought in he heard the announcement with +unaltered mien. A fortnight later he was brought up to receive sentence; +Meagher and O'Donoghue had been convicted in the interim, and the three +confederates stood side by side in the dock to hear the doom of the +traitor pronounced against them. M'Manus was the first to speak in reply +to the usual formality, and his address was as follows:-- + + "My lords--I trust I am enough of a Christian and enough of a man to + understand the awful responsibility of the question which has been + put to me. Standing upon my native soil--standing in an Irish court + of justice, and before the Irish nation--I have much to say why the + sentence of death, or the sentence of the law, should not be passed + upon me. But upon entering into this court I placed my life--and what + is of more importance to me, my honour--in the hands of two + advocates, and if I had ten thousand lives and ten thousand honours, + I should be content to place them all in the watchful and glorious + genius of the one, and the patient zeal and talent of the other. I + am, therefore, content, and with regard to that I have nothing to + say. But I have a word to say, which no advocate, however anxious + and devoted he may be, can utter for me. I say, whatever part I may + have taken in the straggle for my country's independence, whatever + part I may have acted in my short career, I stand before you, my + lords, with a free heart and a light conscience, to abide the issue + of your sentence. And now, my lords, this is, perhaps, the fittest + time to put a sentence upon record, which is this--that standing in + this dock, and called to ascend the scaffold--it may be to-morrow--it + may be now--it may be never--whatever the result may be, I wish to + put this on record, that in the part I have taken I was not actuated + by enmity towards Englishmen--for among them I have passed some of + the happiest days of my life, and the most prosperous; and in no part + which I have taken was I actuated by enmity towards Englishmen + individually, whatever I may have felt of the injustice of English + rule in this island; I therefore say, that it is not because I loved + England less, but because I loved Ireland more, that I now stand + before you." + +In 1851, M'Manus escaped from captivity in Van Dieman's Land, and he +soon after settled in California where he died. His funeral was the +greatest ever witnessed upon earth. From the shores of the Pacific +thousands of miles away, across continents and oceans they brought him, +and laid his ashes to rest in the land of his birth. On the 10th day of +November, 1861, that wonderful funeral passed through the streets of +Dublin to Glasnevin, and those who saw the gathering that followed his +coffin to the grave, the thousands of stalwart men that marched in +solemn order behind his bier will never forget the sight. A silent slab +unlettered and unmarked shows the spot where his remains were interred; +no storied urn or animated bust, no marble column or commemorative +tablet has been consecrated to his memory, but the history of his life +is graven in the hearts of his countrymen, and he enjoys in their +affectionate remembrance, a monument more enduring than human hands +could build him. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +THOMAS CLARKE LUBY. + + +Looking along the course of Irish history, it is easy to point out +certain periods in which England could have found an opportunity for +making terms with the Irish nation, healing some of the old wounds and +mitigating in some degree the burning sense of wrong and the desire of +vengeance that rankled in the hearts of the Irish race. There were lulls +in the struggle, intervals of gloomy calm, occasions when the heart of +Ireland might have been touched by generous deeds, and when the offer of +the olive branch, or even a few of its leaves, would have had a blessed +effect. But England never availed of them--never for an instant sought +to turn them to good account. She preferred when Ireland was defeated, +prostrate, and forlorn, to taunt her with her failure, scoff at her +sufferings, and add to her afflictions. Such was her conduct during the +mournful time that followed on the attempted insurrection of 1848. + +It was an appaling time, in whose death-laden atmosphere political +action was impossible. The famine had made of the country one huge +graveyard. A silence fell upon the land, lately so clamorous for her +rights, so hopeful, and so defiant. The Repeal organization spoke no +more; the tramp of the Confederate Clubs was no longer heard in the +streets; O'Connell was dead; the Young Ireland leaders were fugitives or +prisoners; and the people were almost bewildered by a sense of their +great calamity. Then, if England had stooped to raise her fallen foe, +offered her some kindly treatment, and spoken some gracious words, the +bitterness of the old quarrel might have been in some degree assuaged, +even though its cause should not be entirely obliterated. But England +did not choose to take that politic and Christian course. She found it +much pleasanter to chuckle over the discomfiture of the Irish patriots, +to ridicule the failure of their peaceable agitation, to sneer at their +poor effort in arms, to nickname, and misrepresent, and libel the +brave-hearted gentleman who led that unlucky endeavour; and above all to +felicitate herself on the reduction that had taken place in the Irish +population. That--from her point of view--was the glorious part of the +whole affair. The Irish were "gone with a vengeance!"--not all of them, +but a goodly proportion, and others were going off every day. Emigrant +ships clustered in the chief ports, and many sought their living +freights in those capacious harbours along the Atlantic coast which +nature seemed to have shaped for the accommodation of a great commerce, +but where the visit of any craft larger than a fishing smack was a rare +event. The flaming placards of the various shipping-lines were posted in +every town in Ireland,--on the chapel-gates, and the shutters of closed +shops, and the doors of tenantless houses; and there appeared to be in +progress a regular breaking up of the Irish nation. This, to the English +mind, was positively delightful. For here was the Irish question being +settled at last, by the simple process of the transference of the Irish +people to the bottom of the deep sea, or else to the continent of +America--nearly the same thing as far as England was concerned, for in +neither place--as it seemed to her--could they ever more trouble her +peace, or have any claim on those fruits of the Irish soil which were +needed for the stomachs of Englishmen. There they could no longer pester +her with petitions for Tenant Right, or demands for a Repeal of the +Union. English farmers, and drovers, and labourers, loyal to the English +government, and yielding no sort of allegiance to the Pope, would cross +the Channel and take possession of the deserted island, which would +thenceforth be England's in such a sense as it never was before. O +magnificent consummation! O most brilliant prospect, in the eyes of +English statesmen! They saw their way clear, they understood their game; +it was to lighten in no degree the pressure which they maintained upon +the lives of the Irish people, to do nothing that could tend to render +existence tolerable to them in Ireland, or check the rush of emigration. +Acting in conformity with this shallow and false estimate of the +situation, they allowed to drift away unused the time which wise +statesmen would have employed in the effectuation of conciliatory and +tranquilising measures, and applied themselves simply to the crushing +out from the Irish mind of every hope of improved legislation, and the +defeat of every effort to obtain it. Thus when the people--waking up +from the stupefaction that followed on the most tragic period of the +famine--began to breathe the breath of political life again, and, +perceiving the danger that menaced the existence of the peasant classes, +set on foot an agitation to procure a reform of the land-laws, the +government resolutely opposed the project; defeated the bills which the +friends of the tenantry brought into parliament; and took steps, which +proved only too successful, for the break up of the organization by +which the movement was conducted. And then, when Frederick Lucas was +dead, and Mr. Duffy had gone into exile, and the patriot priests were +debarred from taking part in politics, and Messrs. John Sadlier and +William Keogh were bought over by bribes of place and pay, the +government appeared to think that Irish patriotism had fought in its +last ditch, and received its final defeat. + +But they were mistaken. The old cause that had survived so many +disasters was not dead yet. While the efforts of the Tenant Righters in +Ireland were being foiled, and their party was being scattered, a couple +of Irishmen, temporarily resident in Paris, fugitive because of their +connexion with the events of '48, were laying the foundations of a +movement more profoundly dangerous to England, than any of those with +which she had grappled since the days of Wolfe Tone and Lord Edward +Fitzgerald. Those men were John O'Mahony and James Stephens. + +Since then their names have been much heard of, and the organization of +which they were the originators has played an important part in Irish +history. But at the period of which we are now writing, the general +public knew nothing of O'Mahony or of Stephens beyond the fact that they +were alleged to have taken some part in the recent insurrectionary +demonstrations. Stephens, who was then a very young lad, had been +present at the Ballingarry attack, and had been severely wounded by the +fire of the police. He managed to crawl away from the spot to a ditch +side, where he was lost sight of. A report of his death was put into +circulation, and a loyal journal published in Kilkenny--the native town +of the young rebel, who in this instance played his first trick on the +government--referred to his supposed decease in terms which showed that +the rule _de mortuis nil nisi bonum_ found acceptance with the editor. +The following are the words of the obituary notice which appeared in the +_Kilkenny Moderator_ on or about the 19th of August, 1848:-- + + "Poor James Stephens, who followed Smith O'Brien to the field, has + died of the wound which he received at Ballingarry whilst acting as + aide-de-camp to the insurgent leader. Mr. Stephens was a very + amiable, and apart from politics, most inoffensive young man, + possessed of a great deal of talent, and we believe he was a most + excellent son and brother. His untimely and melancholy fate will be + much regretted by a numerous circle of friends." + +It is said that his family very prudently fostered this delusion by +going into mourning for the loss of young James--the suggestion of which +clever ruse probably came from the dear boy himself. A short time +afterwards he managed to escape, disguised as a lady's maid, to France. +As one may gather from the paragraph above quoted, the family were much +respected in the locality. Mr. Stephens, father of the future C.O.I.R., +was clerk in the establishment of a respectable auctioneer and +bookseller in Kilkenny. He gave his children a good education, and sent +young James to a Catholic seminary with a view to his being taught and +trained for the priesthood. But circumstances prevented the realization +of this design, and before any line of business could be marked out for +young Stephens, the political events above referred to took place and +shaped his future career. + +John O'Mahony was a different stamp of man. He belonged to the class +known as gentlemen-farmers, and of that class he was one of the most +respected. His family owned a considerable tract of land in the southern +part of the County of Tipperary, of which they had been occupants for +many generations. He was well educated, of studious habits, and +thoroughly imbued with patriotic feeling, which came to him as a +hereditary possession. When the Young Ireland leaders were electrifying +the country by their spirited appeals to the patriotism and bravery of +the Irish race, and the population in all the chief centres of +intelligence were crystalizing into semi-military organizations, +O'Mahony was not apathetic or inactive. One of the strongest of the +Confederate clubs--which were thick sown in the contiguous districts of +the Counties of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary--was under his +presidency; and when in July, 1848, the leaders of the movement +scattered themselves over the country for the purpose of ascertaining +the degree of support they would receive if they should decide on +unfurling the green banner, his report of the state of affairs in his +district was one of their most cheering encouragements. + +A few days afterwards the outbreak under O'Brien occurred at +Ballingarry. The failure of that attempt, and the irresolute manner in +which it was conducted, had disheartened the country, but the idea of +allowing the struggle to rest at that point was not universally +entertained by the leaders of the clubs; and John O'Mahony was one of +those who resolved that another attempt should be made to rally the +people to the insurrectionary standard. He acted up to his resolution. +On the night of the 12th of September there were signal-fires on the +slopes of Slievenamon and the Comeragh mountains, and the district +between Carrick-on-Suir and Callan was in a state of perturbation. Next +day the alarm was spread in all directions. The gentry of the disturbed +districts rushed into the nearest towns for protection; police from the +outlying barracks were called in to reinforce the threatened stations, +and troops were hastily summoned from Dublin and the neighbouring +garrisons. Meanwhile parties of the insurgents began to move about. One +proceeded to the police station at the Slate-quarries, and finding it +deserted--the policemen having retired on Piltown--burned it to the +ground. Another attempted the destruction of Grany bridge, to delay the +advance of the soldiery. A third proceeded to attack the Glenbower +station. The defenders of the barracks were in a rather critical +position when another party of police, on their way from the +Nine-Mile-House station to Carrick, came upon the spot, and the combined +force speedily put their half-armed assailants to flight, with a loss to +the latter of one man severely wounded and one killed. An attack was +made on the barrack at Portlaw, but with a like result; two men were +stricken dead by the bullets of the police. The people soon afterwards +scattered to their homes, and the soldiery and police had nothing to do +but hunt up for the leaders and other parties implicated in the +movement. John O'Mahony narrowly escaped capture on three or four +occasions. He lingered in the country, however, until after the +conviction of the state prisoners at Clonmel, when it became clear to +him that the cause was lost for a time; and he then took his way to +Paris, whither several of his fellow outlaws, for whose arrest the +government had offered large rewards, had gone before him. + +In that famous centre of intellect and of intrigue, the focus of +political thought, the fountain-head of great ideas, John O'Mahony and +James Stephens pondered long over the defeat that had come upon the +Irish cause, and in their ponderings bethought them that the reason of +the failure which they deplored was to be found in the want of that +quiet, earnest, secret preparation, by means of which the Continental +revolutionists were able to produce from time to time such volcanic +effects in European politics, and cause the most firmly-rooted dynasties +to tremble for their positions. The system of secret conspiracy--that +ancient system, "old as the universe, yet not outworn"--a system not +unknown in Ireland from the days of the Attacots to those of the +Whiteboys--the system of Sir Phelim O'Neill and of Theobald Wolfe +Tone--that system, as developed, refined, and elaborated by the most +subtle intellects of modern times, those two men proposed to propagate +among the Irish race at home and abroad. They divided the labour between +them. O'Mahony took the United States of America for his field of +action, and Stephens took the Old Country. + +It was in the year 1858 that the first symptoms indicative of the work +to which James Stephens had set himself made their appearance in the +extreme south-west of Ireland. Whispers went about that some of the +young men of Kenmare, Bantry, and Skibbereen were enrolled in a secret +sworn organization, and were in the habit of meeting for the purpose of +training and drilling. Indeed the members of the new society took little +pains to conceal its existence; they seemed rather to find a pride in +the knowledge which their neighbours had of the fact, and relied for +their legal safety on certain precautions adopted in the manner of their +initiation as members. When informed firstly by well known nationalists +in a private manner, and subsequently by public remonstrances addressed +to them by Catholic clergymen and the national journals, that the +government were on their track, they refused to believe it; but ere long +they suffered grievously for their incredulity and want of prudence. In +the early days of December, 1858, the swoop of the government was made +on the members of the "Phoenix Society" in Cork and Kerry, and arrests +followed shortly after in other parts of the country. The trials in the +south commenced at Tralee in March, 1859, when a conviction was obtained +against a man named Daniel O'Sullivan, and he was sentenced to penal +servitude for ten years. The remaining cases were adjourned to the next +assizes, and when they came on in July, 1859, the prisoners put in a +plea of guilty, and were set at liberty on the understanding that if +their future conduct should not be satisfactory to the authorities, they +would be called up for sentence. Amongst the Cork prisoners who took +this course was Jeremiah O'Donovan (Rossa), whose name has since then +been made familiar to the public. + +Those events were generally supposed to have extinguished the Phoenix +conspiracy. And many of Ireland's most sincere friends hoped that such +was the case. Recognising fully the peculiar powers which a secret +society can bring to bear against the government, they still felt a +profound conviction that the risks, or rather the certain cost of +liberty and life involved in such a mode of procedure, formed more than +a counterpoise for the advantages which it presented. They were +consequently earnest and emphatic in their endeavours to dissuade their +countrymen from treading in the dangerous paths in which their steps +were dogged by the spy and the informer. The Catholic clergy were +especially zealous in their condemnation of secret revolutionary +societies, urged thereto by a sense of their duty as priests and +patriots. But there were men connected with the movement both in America +and Ireland, who were resolved to persevere in their design of extending +the organization among the Irish people, despite of any amount of +opposition from any quarter whatsoever. In pursuit of that object they +were not over scrupulous as to the means they employed; they did not +hesitate to violate many an honourable principle, and to wrong many an +honest man; nor did they exhibit a fair share of common prudence in +dealing with the difficulties of their position; but unexpected +circumstances arose to favour their propagandism, and it went ahead +despite of all their mistakes and of every obstacle. One of those +circumstances was the outbreak of the civil war in America, which took +place in April, 1861. That event seemed to the leaders of the Irish +revolutionary organization, now known as the Fenian Brotherhood, to be +one of the most fortunate for their purposes that could have happened. +It inspired the whole population of America with military ardour, it +opened up a splendid school in which the Irish section of the people +could acquire a knowledge of the art of war, which was exactly what was +needed to give real efficacy to their endeavours for the overthrow of +British dominion in Ireland. Besides, there appeared to be a strong +probability that the line of action in favour of the Southern States +which England, notwithstanding her proclamation of neutrality, had +adopted from an early stage of the conflict, would speedily involve her +in a war with the Federal government. These things constituted a +prospect dazzling to the eyes of the Irishmen who had "gone with a +vengeance." Their hearts bounded with joy at the opportunities that +appeared to be opening on them. At last the time was near, they +believed, when the accumulated hate of seven centuries would burst upon +the power of England, not in the shape of an undisciplined peasantry +armed with pikes, and scythes, and pitchforks, as in 1798--not in the +shape of a half famished and empty-handed crowd, led to battle by +orators and poets, as in 1848, but in the shape of an army, bristling +with sharp steel, and flanked with thunderous cannon--an army skilled in +the modern science of war, directed by true military genius, and +inspired by that burning valour which in all times was one of the +qualities of the Irish race. Influenced by such hopes and feelings, the +Irish of the Northern States poured by thousands into the Federal ranks, +and formed themselves into regiments that were at the same time so many +Fenian circles. In the Southern army, too, there were many Irishmen who +were not less determined to give to their native land the benefit of +their military experience, as soon as the troubles of their adopted +country should be brought to an end. Fenianism, with that glow of light +upon it, spread like a prairie-fire through the States. The ranks of the +organization swelled rapidly, and money contributions poured like a tide +into its treasury. The impulse was felt also by the society in Ireland. +It received a rapid development, and soon began to put on a bold front +towards the government, and a still more belligerent one towards all +Irishmen who, while claiming the character of patriots, declined to take +part in the Fenian movement or recommend it to their countrymen. In +November, 1863, the brotherhood started the _Irish People_ newspaper in +Dublin, for the double purpose of propagating their doctrines and +increasing the revenues of the society. James Stephens was the author of +this most unfortunate project. The men whom he selected for working it +out were Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary, and Charles Joseph Kickham. + +From the date of its establishment up to the mouth of September, 1865--a +period of nearly two years--the _Irish People_ occupied itself in +preaching what its editors regarded as the cardinal doctrines of the +society, which were:--That constitutional agitation for the redress of +Ireland's grievances was worse than useless; that every man taking part +in such agitation was either a fool or a knave; that in political +affairs clergymen should be held of no more account than laymen; and +that the only hope for Ireland lay in an armed uprising of the people. +These doctrines were not quite new; not one of them was absolutely true; +but they were undoubtedly held by many thousands of Irishmen, and the +Fenian society took care to secure for the journal in which they were +advocated, a large circulation. The office of the _Irish People_ soon +came to be regarded as, what it really was, the head quarters of the +Fenian organization in Ireland. To it the choice spirits of the party +resorted for counsel and direction; thither the provincial organisers +directed their steps whenever they visited Dublin; into it poured weekly +from all parts of the country an immense mass of correspondence, which +the editors, instead of destroying after it had passed through their +hands, foolishly allowed to accumulate upon their shelves, though every +word of it was fraught with peril to the lives and liberties of their +friends. In their private residences also they were incautious enough to +keep numerous documents of a most compromising character. There is but +one way of accounting for their conduct in this matter. They may have +supposed that the legal proceedings against them, which they knew were +certain to take place at one time or another, would be conducted in the +semi-constitutional fashion which was adopted towards the national +journals in 1848. If the staff of the _Irish People_ had received a +single day's notice that they were about to be made amenable to the law, +it is possible that they would have their houses and their office +immediately cleared of those documents which afterwards consigned so +many of their countrymen to the horrors of penal servitude. But they saw +no reason to suppose that the swoop was about to be made on them. On the +fifteenth day of September, 1865, there were no perceptible indications +that the authorities were any more on the alert in reference to Fenian +affairs then they had been during the past twelve months. It was Friday; +the _Irish People_ had been printed for the next day's sale, large +batches of the paper had been sent off to the agents in town and +country, the editors and publishing clerks had gone home to rest after +their week's labours--when suddenly, at about half-past nine o'clock in +the evening, a strong force of police broke into the office, seized the +books, manuscripts, papers, and forms of type, and bore them off to the +Castle yard. At the same time arrests of the chief Fenian leaders were +being made in various parts of the city. The news created intense +excitement in all circles of society, and more especially amongst the +Fenians themselves, who had never dreamed of a government _coup_ so +sudden, so lawless, and so effective. The government had now thrown off +the mask of apathy and impassiveness which it had worn so long, and it +commenced to lay its strong hand upon its foes. Amongst the men who +filled the prison cells on that miserable autumn evening were John +O'Leary, Thomas Clarke Luby, and Jeremiah O'Donovan (Rossa). Before the +crown was ready to proceed with their trial, the third editor of the +paper, Charles J. Kickham, was added to their company, having been +arrested with James Stephens, Edward Duffy, and Hugh Brophy, on the 11th +November, at Fairfield House, near Dublin. + +On Monday, November 27th, 1865, the state trials commenced before a +Special Commission in the Courthouse, Green-street--the scene of so many +a previous grapple between British law and the spirit of Irish +patriotism. Mr. Justice Keogh and Mr. Justice Fitzgerald were the +presiding judges. There was a long list of prisoners to be tried. James +Stephens might have been honoured with the first place amongst them, +were it not that two days previously, to the unspeakable horror and +surprise of the government and all its friends, he had effected his +escape, or rather, we might say, obtained, by the aid of friendly hands, +his release from Richmond prison. In his regretted absence, the crown +commenced their proceedings by placing Thomas Clarke Luby in the dock to +answer to a charge of treason-felony. + +He stood up to the bar, between the jailors that clustered about him, a +quiet-faced, pale, and somewhat sad-looking man, apparently of about +forty years of age. A glance around the court-house showed him but few +friendly faces--for, owing to the terrors felt by the judges, the crown +prosecutors and other officials of the law, who dreaded the desperate +resolves of armed conspirators, few were admitted into the building +except policemen, detectives, and servants of the crown in one capacity +or another. In one of the galleries, however, he recognised his +wife--daughter of J. De Jean Fraser, one of the sweetest poets of the +'48 period--with the wife of his fellow-prisoner, O'Donovan Rossa, and +the sister of John O'Leary. A brief smile of greeting passed between the +party, and then all thoughts were concentrated on the stern business of +the day. + +There was no chance of escape for Thomas Clarke Luby or for his +associates. The crown had a plethora of evidence against them, acquired +during the months and years when they appeared to be all but totally +ignorant of the existence of the conspiracy. They had the evidence of +the approver, Nagle, who had been an employe of the _Irish People_ +office and a confidential agent of James Stephens up to the night of the +arrests, but who during the previous eighteen months had been betraying +every secret of theirs to the government. They had the evidence of a +whole army of detectives; but more crushing and fatal than all, they had +that which was supplied by the immense store of documents captured at +the _Irish People_ office and the houses of some of the chief members of +the conspiracy. Of all those papers the most important was one found at +the residence of Mr. Luby, in which James Stephens, being at the time +about to visit America delegated his powers over the organization in +Ireland, England, and Scotland to Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary, and +Charles J. Kickham. This, which was referred to during the trials as the +"executive document," was worded as follows:-- + + "I hereby empower Thomas Clarke Luby, John O'Leary and Charles J. + Kickham a committee of organization, or executive, with the same + supreme control over the home organization, England, Ireland, and + Scotland, as that exercised by myself. I further empower them to + appoint a committee of military inspection, and a committee of appeal + and judgment, the functions of which committee will be made known to + every member of them. Trusting to the patriotism and abilities of the + executive, I fully endorse their actions beforehand. I call on every + man in our ranks to support and be guided by them in all that + concerns the military brotherhood. + + "J. STEPHENS." + +Not all the legal ingenuity and forensic eloquence of their talented +counsel, Mr. Butt, could avail to save the men who, by the preservation +of such documents as the foregoing, had fastened the fetters on their +own limbs. The trial of Mr. Luby concluded on the fourth day of the +proceedings--Friday, December 1st 1865--with a verdict of guilty. The +prisoner heard the announcement with composure, and then, in response to +the question usual in such cases, addressed the court as follows:-- + + "Well, my lords and gentlemen, I don't think any person present here + is surprised at the verdict found against me. I have been prepared + for this verdict ever since I was arrested, although I thought it my + duty to fight the British government inch by inch. I felt I was sure + to be found guilty, since the advisers of the Crown took what the + Attorney-General was pleased the other day to call the 'merciful + course.' I thought I might have a fair chance of escaping, so long as + the capital charge was impending over me; but when they resolved on + trying me under the Treason-Felony Act, I felt that I had not the + smallest chance. I am somewhat embarrassed at the present moment as + to what I should say under the circumstances. There are a great many + things that I would wish to say; but knowing that there are other + persons in the same situation with myself, and that I might allow + myself to say something injudicious, which would peril their cases, I + feel that my tongue is to a great degree tied. Nothwithstanding, + there are two or three points upon which I would say a few words. I + have nothing to say to Judge Keogh's charge to the jury. He did not + take up any of the topics that had been introduced to prejudice the + case against me; for instance, he did not take this accusation of an + intention to assassinate, attributed to my fellow-prisoners and + myself. The Solicitor-General in his reply to Mr. Butt, referred to + those topics. Mr. Barry was the first person who advanced those + charges. I thought they were partially given up by the + Attorney-General in his opening statement, at least they were put + forward to you in a very modified form; but the learned + Solicitor-General, in his very virulent speech, put forward those + charges in a most aggravated manner. He sought even to exaggerate + upon Mr. Barry's original statement. Now, with respect to those + charges--in justice to my character--I must say that in this court, + there is not a man more incapable of anything like massacre or + assassination than I am. I really believe that the gentlemen who have + shown so much ability in persecuting me, in the bottom of their + hearts believe me incapable of an act of assassination or massacre. I + don't see that there is the smallest amount of evidence to show that + I ever entertained the notion of a massacre of landlords and priests. + I forget whether the advisers of the crown said I intended the + massacre of the Protestant clergymen. Some of the writers of our + enlightened press said that I did. Now, with respect to the charge of + assassinating the landlords, the only thing that gives even the + shadow of a colour to that charge is the letter signed--alleged to be + signed--by Mr. O'Keefe. Now, assuming--but by no means admitting, of + course--that the letter was written by Mr. O'Keefe, let me make a + statement about it. I know the facts that I am about to state are of + no practical utility to me now, at least with respect to the judges. + I know it is of no practical utility to me, because I cannot give + evidence on my own behalf, but it may be of practical utility to + others with whom I wish to stand well. I believe my words will carry + conviction--and carry much more conviction than any words of the + legal advisers of the crown can--to more than 300,000 of the Irish + race in Ireland, England, and America. Well, I deny absolutely, that + I ever entertained any idea of assassinating the landlords, and the + letter of Mr. O'Keefe--assuming it to be his letter--is the only + evidence on the subject. My acquaintance with Mr. O'Keefe was of the + slightest nature. I did not even know of his existence when the + _Irish People_ was started. He came, after that paper was established + a few months, to the office, and offered some articles--some were + rejected, some we inserted, and I call the attention of the legal + advisers of the Crown to this fact, that amongst the papers which + they got, those that were Mr. O'Keefe's articles had many paragraphs + scored out; in fact we put in no article of his without a great deal + of what is technically called 'cutting down.' Now, that letter of his + to me was simply a private document. It contained the mere private + views of the writer; and I pledge this to the court as a man of + honour--and I believe in spite of the position in which I stand, + amongst my countrymen I am believed to be a man of honour, and that + if my life depended on it, I would not speak falsely about the + thing--when I read that letter, and the first to whom I gave it was + my wife, I remember we read it with fits of laughter at its + ridiculous ideas. My wife at the moment said--'Had I not better burn + the letter?' 'Oh no,' I said, looking upon it as a most ridiculous + thing, and never dreaming for a moment that such a document would + ever turn up against me, and produce the unpleasant consequences it + has produced--mean the imputation of assassination and massacre, + which has given me a great deal more trouble than anything else in + this case. That disposes--as far as I can at present dispose of + it--of the charge of wishing to assassinate the landlords. As to the + charge of desiring to assassinate the priests, I deny it as being the + most monstrous thing in the world. Why, surely, every one who read + the articles in the paper would see that the plain doctrine laid + down there was--to reverence the priests so long as they confined + themselves to their sacerdotal functions; but when the priest + descended to the arena of politics he became no more than any other + man, and would just be regarded as any other man. If he was a man of + ability and honesty, of course he would get the respect that such men + get in politics--if he was not a man of ability there would be no + more thought of him than of a shoemaker or any one else. This is the + teaching of the _Irish People_ with regard to the priests. I believe + the _Irish People_ has done a great deal of good, even amongst those + who do not believe in its revolutionary doctrines. I believe the + revolutionary doctrines of the _Irish People_ are good. I believe + nothing can ever save Ireland except independence; and I believe that + all other attempts to ameliorate the condition of Ireland are mere + temporary expedients and make shifts----" + + Mr. Justice Keogh--"I am very reluctant to interrupt you, Mr. Luby." + + Mr. Luby--"Very well, my lord, I will leave that. I believe in this + way the _Irish People_ has done an immensity of good. It taught the + people not to give up their right of private judgment in temporal + matters to the clergy; that while they reverenced the clergy upon the + altar, they should not give up their consciences in secular matters + to the clergy. I believe that is good. Others may differ from me. No + set of men I believe ever set themselves earnestly to any work, but + they did good in some shape or form." + + Judge Keogh--"I am most reluctant, Mr. Luby, to interrupt you, but do + you think you should pursue this!" + + Mr. Luby--"Very well, I will not. I think that disposes of those + things. I don't care to say much about myself. It would be rather + beneath me. Perhaps some persons who know me would say I should not + have touched upon the assassination charge at all--that in fact I + have rather shown weakness in attaching so much importance to it. + But, with regard to the entire course of my life, and whether it be a + mistaken course or not will be for every man's individual judgment to + decide--this I know, that no man ever loved Ireland more than I have + done--no man has ever given up his whole being to Ireland to the + extent I have done. From the time I came to what has been called the + years of discretion, my entire thought has been devoted to Ireland. I + believed the course I pursued was right; others may take a different + view. I believe the majority of my countrymen this minute, if, + instead of my being tried before a petty jury, who, I suppose, are + bound to find according to British law--if my guilt or innocence was + to be tried by the higher standard of eternal right, and the case was + put to all my countrymen--I believe this moment the majority of my + countrymen would pronounce that I am not a criminal, but that I have + deserved well of my country. When the proceedings of this trial go + forth into the world, people will say the cause of Ireland is not to + be despaired of, that Ireland is not yet a lost country--that as long + as there are men in any country prepared to expose themselves to + every difficulty and danger in its service, prepared to brave + captivity, even death itself if need be, that country cannot be + lost. With these words I conclude." + +On the conclusion of this address, Judge Keogh proceeded to pass +sentence on the prisoner. The prisoner's speech, he said, was in every +way creditable to him; but the bench could not avoid coming to the +conclusion that, with the exception of James Stephens, he was the person +most deeply implicated in the conspiracy. The sentence of the court was +that he be kept in penal servitude for a term of twenty years. Mr. Luby +heard the words without any apparent emotion--gave one sad farewell +glance to his wife and friends, and stepping down the little stairs from +the dock, made way for the next prisoner. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +JOHN O'LEARY. + + +While the jury in the case of Thomas Clarke Luby were absent from the +court deliberating on and framing their verdict, John O'Leary was put +forward to the bar. + +He stepped boldly to the front, with a flash of fire in his dark eyes, +and a scowl on his features, looking hatred and defiance on judges, +lawyers, jurymen, and all the rest of them. All eyes were fixed on him, +for he was one of those persons whose exterior attracts attention and +indicates a character above the common. He was tall, slightly built, and +of gentlemanly deportment; every feature of his thin angular face gave +token of great intellectual energy and determination, and its pallid hue +was rendered almost death-like by contrast with his long black hair and +flowing moustache and beard. Easy it was to see that when the government +placed John O'Leary in the dock they had caged a proud spirit, and an +able and resolute enemy. He had come of a patriot stock, and from a part +of Ireland where rebels to English rule were never either few or +faint-hearted. He was born in the town of Tipperary, of parents whose +circumstances were comfortable, and who, at the time of their decease, +left him in possession of property worth a couple of hundred pounds per +annum. He was educated for the medical profession in the Queen's +College, Cork, spent some time in France, and subsequently visited +America, where he made the acquaintance of the chief organisers of the +Fenian movement, by whom he was regarded as a most valuable acquisition +to the ranks of the brotherhood. After his return to Ireland he +continued to render the Fenian cause such services as lay in his power, +and when James Stephens, who knew his courage and ability, invited him +to take the post of chief editor of the Fenian organ which he was about +to establish in Dublin, O'Leary readily obeyed the call, and accepted +the dangerous position. In the columns of the _Irish People_ he laboured +hard to defend and extend the principles of the Fenian organization +until the date of his arrest and the suppression of the paper. + +The trial lasted from Friday, the 1st, up to Wednesday, the 6th of +December, when it was closed with a verdict of guilty and a sentence of +twenty years' penal servitude--Mr. Justice Fitzgerald remarking that no +distinction in the degree of criminality could be discovered between the +case of the prisoner and that of the previous convict. The following is +the address delivered by O'Leary, who appeared to labour under much +excitement, when asked in the usual terms if he had any reason to show +why sentence should not be passed upon him:-- + + "I was not wholly unprepared for this verdict, because I felt that + the government which could so safely pack the bench could not fail to + make sure of its verdict." + + Mr. Justice Fitzgerald--"We are willing to hear anything in reason + from you, but we cannot allow language of that kind to be used." + + Mr. O'Leary--"My friend Mr. Luby did not wish to touch on this matter + from a natural fear lest he should do any harm to the other political + prisoners; but there can be but little fear of that now, for a jury + has been found to convict me of this conspiracy upon the evidence. + Mr. Luby admitted that he was technically guilty according to British + law; but I say that it is only by the most torturing interpretation + that these men could make out their case against me. With reference + to this conspiracy there has been much misapprehension in Ireland, + and serious misapprehension. Mr. Justice Keogh said in his charge + against Mr. Luby that men would be always found ready for money, or + for some other motive, to place themselves at the disposal of the + government; but I think the men who have been generally bought in + this way, and who certainly made the best of the bargain, were + agitators and not rebels. I have to say one word in reference to the + foul charge upon which that miserable man, Barry, has made me + responsible." + + Mr. Justice Fitzgerald--"We cannot allow that tone of observation." + + Mr. O'Leary continued--"That man has charged me--I need not defend + myself or my friends from the charge. I shall merely denounce the + moral assassin. Mr. Justice Keogh the other day spoke of revolutions, + and administered a lecture to Mr. Luby. He spoke of cattle being + driven away, and of houses being burned down, that men would be + killed, and so on. I would like to know if all that does not apply to + war as well as to revolution? One word more, and I shall have done. I + have been found guilty of treason or treason-felony. Treason is a + foul crime. The poet Dante consigned traitors to, I believe, the + ninth circle of hell; but what kind of traitors? Traitors against + king, against country, against friends and benefactors. England is + not my country; I have betrayed no friend, no benefactor. Sidney and + Emmet were legal traitors, Jeffreys was a loyal man, and so was + Norbury. I leave the matter there." + +One hour after the utterance of these words John O'Leary, dressed in +convict garb, his hair clipped, and his beard shaved off, was the +occupant of a cell in Mountjoy prison, commencing his long term of +suffering in expiation of the crime of having sought to obtain +self-government for his native land. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +JEREMIAH O'DONOVAN (ROSSA). + + +In one of the preceding pages we have mentioned the fact that at the +Cork Summer Assizes of 1859, a conviction was recorded against Jeremiah +O'Donovan (Rossa) for his complicity in the Phoenix conspiracy, and he +was then released on the understanding that if he should be found +engaging in similar practices, the crown would bring him up for +judgment. It is characteristic of the man that with this conviction +hanging like a mill-stone about his neck, he did not hesitate to take an +active and an open part with the promoters of the Fenian movement. He +travelled through various parts of Ireland in furtherance of the objects +of the society; he visited America on the same mission, and when the +_Irish People_ was started he took the position of business manager in +that foredoomed establishment. + +He was brought into the dock immediately after John O'Leary had been +taken from it; but on representing that certain documents which he had +not then at hand were necessary for his defence, he obtained a +postponement of his trial for a few days. When he was again brought up +for trial he intimated to the court that he meant to conduct his own +defence. And he entered upon it immediately. He cross-examined the +informers in fierce fashion, he badgered the detectives, he questioned +the police, he debated with the crown lawyers, he argued with the +judges, he fought with the crown side all round. But it was when the +last of the witnesses had gone off the table that he set to the work in +good earnest. He took up the various publications that had been put in +evidence against him, and claimed his legal right to read them all +through. One of them was the file of the _Irish People_ for the whole +term of its existence! Horror sat upon the faces of judges, jurymen, +sheriffs, lawyers, turnkeys, and all, when the prisoner gravely informed +them that as a compromise he would not insist upon reading the +advertisements! The bench were unable to deny that the prisoner was +entitled to read, if not the entire, at any rate a great portion of the +volume, and O'Donovan then applied himself to the task, selecting his +readings more especially from those articles in which the political +career of Mr. Justice Keogh was made the subject of animadversion. Right +on he read, his lordship striving to look as composed and indifferent as +possible, while every word of the bitter satire and fierce invective +written against him by Luby and O'Leary was being launched at his heart. +When articles of that class were exhausted, the prisoner turned to the +most treasonable and seditious documents he could find, and commenced +the reading of them, but the judges interposed; he claimed to be allowed +to read a certain article--Judge Keogh objected--he proposed to read +another--that was objected to also--he commenced to read another--he was +stopped--he tried another--again Judge Keogh was down on him--then +another--and he fared no better. So the fight went on throughout the +live-long day, till the usual hour of adjournment had come and gone, and +the prisoner himself was feeling parched, and weary, and exhausted. +Observing that the lights were being now renewed, and that their +lordships appeared satisfied to sit out the night, he anxiously inquired +if the proceedings were not to be adjourned till morning. "Proceed, +sir," was the stern reply of the judge, who knew that the physical +powers of the prisoner could not hold out much longer. "A regular +Norbury," gasped O'Donovan. "It's like a '98 trial." "You had better +proceed, sir, with propriety," exclaimed the judge. "When do you propose +stopping, my lord?" again inquired the prisoner. "Proceed, sir," was the +reiterated reply. O'Donovan could stand it no longer. He had been +reading and speaking for eight hours and a half. With one final protest +against the arrangement by which Judge Keogh was sent to try the cases +of men who had written and published such articles against him, he sat +down, exclaiming that, "English law might now take its course." + +Next day the jury handed down their verdict of guilty. The +Attorney-General then addressed the court, and referred to the previous +conviction against the prisoner. O'Donovan was asked, what he had to say +in reference to that part of the case? and his reply was that "the +government might add as much as they pleased to the term of his sentence +on that account, if it was any satisfaction to them." And when the like +question was put to him regarding the present charge, he said:-- + + "With the fact that the government seized papers connected with my + defence and examined them--with the fact that they packed the + jury--with the fact that the government stated they would + convict--with the fact that they sent Judge Keogh, a second Morbury, + to try me--with these facts before me, it would be useless to say + anything." + +Judge Keogh proceeded to pass sentence. "The prisoner," he said, "had +entertained those criminal designs since the year 1859;" whereupon +O'Donovan broke in with the remark that he was "an Irishman since he was +born." The judge said, "he would not waste words by trying to bring him +to a sense of his guilt;" O'Donovan's reply was--"It would be useless +for you to try it." The judge told him his sentence was, that he be kept +in penal servitude for the term of his natural life. "All right, my +lord," exclaimed the unconquerable rebel, and with a smile to the +sympathising group around him, he walked with a light step from the +dock. + +The court was then adjourned to the 5th of January. 1866; and next day +the judges set off for Cork city, to dispose of the Fenian prisoners +there awaiting trial. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +BRYAN DILLON, JOHN LYNCH, AND OTHERS. + + +On Wednesday, December 16th, the trial of O'Donovan (Rossa) was brought +to a conclusion in Dublin. Next morning, away went judges, crown +lawyers, spies, detectives, and informers for the good city of Cork, +where another batch of men accused of conspiring against British rule in +Ireland--"the old crime of their race"--were awaiting the pronouncement +of British law upon their several cases. Cork city in these days was +known to be one of the _foci_ of disaffection; perhaps it was its chief +stronghold. The Metropolis may have given an absolutely larger number of +members to the Fenian organization, but in proportion to the number of +its population the Southern city was far more deeply involved in the +movement. In Dublin, the seat of British rule in Ireland, many +influences which are but faintly represented in other parts of the +country, are present and active to repress the national ardour of the +people. Those influences are scarcely felt in the city of Saint Finbar. +Not in Ireland is there a town in which the national sentiment is +stronger or more widely diffused than in Cork. The citizens are a +warm-hearted, quick-witted and high-spirited race, gifted with fine +moral qualities, and profoundly attached to the national faith in +religion and politics. Merchants, traders, professional men, +shopkeepers, artizans, and all, are comparatively free from the spells +of Dublin Castle, and the result is visible in their conduct. The crown +looks dubiously and anxiously upon a Cork jury; the patriot, when any +work for Ireland is in hand, looks hopefully to the Cork people. The +leaders of the Fenian movement thoroughly understood these facts, and +devoted much of their time and attention to the propagation of their +society among men so well inclined to welcome it. Their labours, if +labours they could be called, were rewarded with a great measure of +success. The young men of Cork turned into the organization by hundreds. +There was no denying the fact; every one knew it; evidences of it were +to be seen on all sides. The hope that was filling their hearts revealed +itself in a thousand ways: in their marchings, their meetings, their +songs, their music. The loyal party in the neighbourhood grew alarmed, +and the government shared their apprehensions. At the time of which we +write, the opinion of the local magistracy and that of the authorities +at Dublin Castle was that Cork was a full-charged mine of "treason." + +Thither was the Commission now sped, to carry terror, if the "strong arm +of the law" could do it, into the hearts of those conspirators "against +the royal name, style, and dignity" of her Majesty Queen Victoria. As no +one in the Castle could say to what desperate expedients those people +might have recourse, it was thought advisable to take extraordinary +precautions to ensure the safety of the train which carried those +important personages, her Majesty's judges, lawyers, witnesses and +informers, through the Munster counties and on to the city by the Lee. +"Never before" writes the special correspondent of the _Nation_, "had +such a sight been witnessed on an Irish railway as that presented on +Thursday along the line between Dublin and Cork. Armed sentries paced +each mile of the railway; the platforms of the various stations through +which the trains passed were lined with bodies of constabulary, and the +bridges and viaducts on the way were guarded by a force of military, +whose crimson coats and bright accoutrements stood out in bold relief +from the dark ground on which they were stationed, against the grey +December sky. As a further measure of precaution a pilot engine steamed +in advance of the train in which their lordships sat, one carriage of +which was filled with armed police. And so, in some such manner as Grant +or Sheridan might have journeyed along the Petersburgh and Lynchburg +railway while the flag of the Confederacy floated in Richmond, the two +judges travelled down in safety to the head-quarters of Fenianism in +Munster." + +Immediately on their arrival in Cork, the judges proceeded to the +court-house and formally opened the business of the Commission. Next day +Charles Underwood O'Connell and John M'Afferty were placed in the dock. +These two men belonged to a class which formed the hope of the Fenian +organization, and which the government regarded as one of the most +dangerous elements of the conspiracy. They were Irish-American soldiers, +trained to war, and inured to the hardships of campaigning in the great +struggle which had but recently closed in America. They were a sample of +the thousands of Irishmen who had acquired in that practical school the +military knowledge which they knew was needed for the efficient +direction of an insurrectionary movement in Ireland, and, who were now +burning for the time and opportunity to turn that knowledge to account. +It was known that many of these men were, as quietly and secretly as +might be, dropping into Queenstown as steamer after steamer arrived from +the Land of the West, and were moving about through the Southern +counties, inspiriting the hearts of the Brotherhood by their presence +and their promises, and imparting to them as much military instruction +as was possible under the circumstances. To hunt down these "foreign +emissaries" as the crown lawyers and the loyal prints were pleased to +call them, and to deter others from following in their footsteps, was +naturally a great object with the government, and when they placed +Charles Underwood O'Connell and John M'Afferty in the dock they felt +they had made a good beginning. And these were representative men in +their way. "It was a strange fate," says the writer from whom we have +already quoted, "which had brought these men together in a felon's dock. +They had been born in different lands--they had been reared thousands of +miles apart--and they had fought and won distinction under different +flags, and on opposing sides in the American war. M'Afferty, born of +Irish parents in Ohio, won his spurs in the Confederate army. O'Connell, +who emigrated from Cork little more than two years ago, after the ruin +of his family by a cruel act of confiscation and eviction, fought under +the Stars and Stripes, and, like M'Afferty, obtained a captain's +commission as the reward of his services. Had they crossed each others +path two years ago they would probably have fought _a la mort_, but the +old traditions which linger in spite of every circumstance in the hearts +of Irishmen were strong in both, and the cause of Ireland united them, +only alas, that they might each of them pay the cost of their honest, if +imprudent enthusiasm, by sharing the same prison in Ireland, and falling +within the grasp of the government which they looked on as the oppressor +of their fatherland." + +M'Afferty however was not fated to suffer on that occasion. Proof of his +foreign birth having been adduced, the court held that his arrest on +board the steamer in Queenstown harbour, when he had committed no overt +act evidencing a treasonable intent, was illegal, and his trial was +abandoned. The trial of Underwood O'Connell was then postponed for a few +days, and two men reputed to be "centres" of the organization in Cork, +were brought to the bar. + +They were Bryan Dillon and John Lynch. Physically, they presented a +contrast to the firm-built and wiry soldiers who had just quitted the +dock. Dillon was afflicted with curvature of the spine, the result of +an accident in early life, and his companion was far gone in that +blighting and fatal disease, consumption. But though they were not men +for the toils of campaigning, for the mountain march, and the bivouac, +and the thundering charge of battle, they had hearts full of enthusiasm +for the cause in which they were engaged, and heads that could think, +and plot, and plan, for its advancement. + +We need not here go through the sad details of their trials. Our purpose +is to bring before our readers the courage and the constancy of the +martyrs to the cause of Irish nationality, and to record the words in +which they gave expression to the patriotic sentiments that inspired +them. It is, however, to be recollected that many of the accused at +these commissions--men as earnest, as honest, and as devoted to the +cause of their country as any that ever lived--made no such addresses +from the dock as we can include in this volume. All men are not orators, +and it will often occur that one who has been tried for life and liberty +in a British court of law, on the evidence of spies and informers, will +have much to press upon his mind, and many things more directly relevant +to the trial than any profession of political faith would be, to say +when called upon to show reason why sentence should not be passed upon +him. The evidence adduced in these cases is usually a compound of truth +and falsehood. Some of the untruths sworn to are simply blunders, +resulting from the confused impressions and the defective memory of the +witnesses, others are deliberate inventions, made, sworn to, backed up, +and persevered in for the purpose of insuring a successful result for +the prosecution. Naturally the first impulse of the accused, when he is +allowed to speak for himself, is to refer to these murderous falsehoods; +and in the excitement and trouble of those critical moments, it is all +that some men can venture to do. Such criticisms of the prosecution are +often valuable to the prisoner from a moral point of view, but rarely +have they any influence upon the result of the trial. All things +considered, it must be allowed that they act best who do not forget to +speak the words of patriotism, according to the measure of their +abilities, before the judge's fiat has sealed their lips, and the hand +of British law has swept them away to the dungeon or the scaffold. + +"Guilty" was the verdict returned by the jury against Bryan Dillon and +John Lynch. The evidence against them indeed was strong, but its chief +strength lay in the swearing of an approver named Warner, a callous and +unscrupulous wretch, from whose mind the idea of conscience seemed to +have perished utterly. If there was any check upon the testimony of this +depraved creature, it existed only in some prudential instinct, +suggesting to him that even in such cases as these a witness might +possibly overdo his work, and perhaps in a caution or two given him in a +private and confidential manner by some of the managers of the +prosecution. Warner's evidence in this case was conclusive to the minds +of all who chose to believe it; and therefore it was that those +prisoners had not long been occupants of the dock when the question was +put to them what they had to say why sentence should not be passed on +them. In reply Bryan Dillon said:-- + + "My lords, I never was for one minute in Warner's company. What + Warner swore about me was totally untrue. I never was at a meeting at + Geary's house. The existence of the Fenian organization has been + proved sufficiently to your lordships. I was a centre in that + organization; but it does not follow that I had to take the chair at + any meeting, as it was a military organization. I do not want to + conceal anything. Warner had no connexion with me whatever. With + respect to the observation of the Attorney-General, which pained me + very much, that it was intended to seize property, it does not follow + because of my social station that I intended to seize the property of + others. My belief in the ultimate independence of Ireland is as fixed + as my religious belief--" + +At this point he was interrupted by Judge Keogh, who declared he could +not listen to words that were, in fact, a repetition of the prisoner's +offence. But it was only words of this kind that Bryan Dillon cared to +say at the time; and as the privilege of offering some remarks in +defence of his political opinions--a privilege accorded to all prisoners +in trials for treason and treason-felony up to that time--had been +denied to him, he chose to say no more. And then the judge pronounced +the penalty of his offending, which was, penal servitude for a term of +ten years. + +John Lynch's turn to speak came next. Interrogated in the usual form, he +stood forward, raised his feeble frame to its full height, and with a +proud, grave smile upon his pallid features, he thus addressed the +court:-- + + "I will say a very few words, my lords. I know it would be only a + waste of public time if I entered into any explanations of my + political opinions--opinions which I know are shared by the vast + majority of my fellow-countrymen. Standing here as I do will be to + them the surest proof of my sincerity and honesty. With reference to + the statement of Warner, all I have to say is, and I say it honestly + and solemnly, that I never attended a meeting at Geary's, that I + never exercised with a rifle there, that I never learned the use of + the rifle, nor did any of the other things he swore to. With respect + to my opinions on British rule in this country--" + + Mr. Justice Keogh--"We can't hear that." + + The Prisoner--"All I have to say is, that I was not at Geary's house + for four or five months before my arrest, so that Warner's statement + is untrue. If, having served my country honestly and sincerely be + treason, I am not ashamed of it. I am now prepared to receive any + punishment British law can inflict on me." + +The punishment decreed to this pure-minded and brave-spirited patriot +was ten years of penal servitude. But to him it was practically a +sentence of death. The rigours and horrors of prison life were more than +his failing constitution could long endure; and but a few months from +the date of his conviction elapsed when his countrymen were pained by +the intelligence that the faithful-hearted John Lynch filled a nameless +grave in an English prison-yard. He died in the hospital of Woking +prison on the 2nd day of June, 1866. + +When Bryan Dillon and John Lynch were removed from the dock (Tuesday, +December 19th), two men named Jeremiah Donovan and John Duggan were put +forward, the former charged with having been a centre in the Fenian +organization, and the latter with having sworn some soldiers into the +society. Both were found guilty. Donovan made no remarks when called +upon for what he had to say. Duggan contradicted the evidence of the +witnesses on several points, and said:-- + + "I do not state those things in order to change the sentence I am + about to receive. I know your lordships' minds are made up on that. I + state this merely to show what kind of tools the British government + employ to procure those convictions. I have only to say, and I appeal + to any intelligent man for his opinion, that the manner in which the + jury list was made out for these trials clearly shows that in this + country political trials are a mere mockery." + +At this point the judge cut short the prisoner's address, and the two +men were sentenced, Donovan to five years and Duggan to ten years of +penal servitude. + +The trial of Underwood O'Connell was then proceeded with. It concluded +on December 21st, with a verdict of guilty. In response to the question +which was then addressed to him he spoke at considerable length, +detailing the manner of his arrest, complaining of the horrible +indignities to which he had been subjected in prison, and asserting that +he had not received a fair and impartial trial. He spoke amidst a +running fire of interruptions from the court, and when he came to refer +to his political opinions his discourse was peremptorily suppressed. +"The sentiments and hopes that animate me," he said, "are well known." +"Really we will not hear those observations," interposed Mr. Justice +Keogh. "It has been brought forward here," said the prisoner, "that I +held a commission in the 99th regiment--in Colonel O'Mahony's regiment. +Proud as I am of having held a commission in the United States service, +I am equally proud of holding command under a man--." Here his speech +was stopped by the judges, and Mr. Justice Keogh proceeded to pass +sentence. In the course of his address his lordship made the following +observations:-- + + "You, it appears, went to America; you entered yourself in the + American army, thus violating, to a certain extent, your allegiance + as a British subject. But that is not the offence you are charged + with here to-day. You say you swore allegiance to the American + Republic, but no man by so doing can relieve himself from his + allegiance to the British Crown. From the moment a man is born in + this country he owes allegiance, he is a subject." + +Hearing these words, and remembering the great outcry that was being +made by the friends of the government against the Irish-American Fenians +on the ground that they were "foreigners," the prisoner interposed the +apt remark on his lordship's legal theory:-- + + "If that is so, why am I charged with bringing over foreigners--John + O'Mahony is no foreigner?" + +To that remark Judge Keogh did not choose to make any reply. It +overturned him completely. Nothing could better exhibit the absurdity of +railing against those Irishmen as "foreigners" in one breath, and in the +next declaring their allegiance to the British Crown perpetual and +inalienable. His lordship may have winced as the point was so quickly +and neatly brought home to him; but at all events he went on with his +address and informed the prisoner that his punishment was to be ten +years of penal servitude. Upon which, the comment of the prisoner as he +quitted the dock, was that he hoped there would be an exchange of +prisoners before that time. + +In quick succession four men named Casey, Began, Hayes, and Barry, were +tried, convicted, and sentenced. Each in turn impugned the evidence of +the informer Warner, protested against the constitution of the juries, +and attempted to say a few words declaratory of their devotion to the +cause of Ireland. But the judges were quick to suppress every attempt of +this kind, and only a few fragments of sentences are on record to +indicate the thoughts to which these soldiers of liberty would have +given expression if the opportunity had not been denied to them. + +John Kennealy was the next occupant of the dock. He was a young man of +high personal character, and of great intelligence, and was a most +useful member of the organization, his calling--that of commercial +traveller--enabling him to act as agent and missionary of the Society +without attracting to himself the suspicion which would be aroused by +the movements of other men. In his case also the verdict was given in +the one fatal word. And when asked what he had to say for himself, his +reply was in these few forcible and dignified sentences:-- + + "My lord, it is scarcely necessary for me to say anything. I am sure + from the charge of your lordship, the jury could find no other + verdict than has been found. The verdict against me has been found by + the means by which political convictions have always been found in + this country. As to the informer, Warner, I have only to say that + directly or indirectly I never was in the same room with him, nor had + he any means of knowing my political opinions. As to my connexion + with Mr. Luby, I am proud of that connexion. I neither regret it, nor + anything else I have done, politically or otherwise." + +On the conclusion of this trial, on Saturday, January 2nd, 1866, two +other cases were postponed without option of bail; some other persons +were allowed to stand out on sureties, and we read that "John McAfferty +and William Mackay, being aliens, were admitted to bail on their own +recognizance, and Judge Keogh said that if they left the country they +would not be required up for trial when called." We read also, in the +newspapers of that time, that "The prisoners McAfferty and Mackay when +leaving the courts were followed by large crowds who cheered them loudly +through the streets." + +The Cork Commission was then formally closed, and next day the judges +set off to resume in Dublin the work of trying Irish conspirators +against the rule of England over their native land. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHARLES JOSEPH KICKHAM. + + +In the year 1825, in the village of Mullinahone, County. Tipperary, +Charles J. Kickham first saw the light. His father, John Kickham, was +proprietor of the chief drapery establishment in that place, and was +held in high esteem by the whole country round about for his integrity, +intelligence, and patriotic spirit. During the boyhood of young Kickham +the Repeal agitation was at its height, and he soon became thoroughly +versed in its arguments, and inspired by its principles, which he often +heard discussed in his father's shop and by his hearth, and amongst all +his friends and acquaintances. Like all the young people of the time, +and a great many of the old ones, his sympathies went with the Young +Ireland party at the time of their withdrawal from the Repeal ranks. In +1848 he was the leading spirit of the Confederation Club at Mullinahone, +which he was mainly instrumental in founding; and after the _fiasco_ at +Ballingarry he was obliged to conceal himself for some time, in +consequence of the part he had taken in rousing the people of his native +village to action. When the excitement of that period had subsided, he +again appeared in his father's house, resumed his accustomed sports of +fishing and fowling, and devoted much of his time to literary pursuits, +for which he had great natural capacity, and towards which he was all +the more inclined because of the blight put upon his social powers by an +unfortunate accident which occurred to him when about the age of +thirteen years. He had brought a flask of powder near the fire, and was +engaged either in the operation of drying it or casting some grains into +the coals for amusement, when the whole quantity exploded. The shock and +the injuries he sustained nearly proved fatal to him; when he recovered, +it was with his hearing nearly quite destroyed, and his sight +permanently impaired. But Kickham had the poet's soul within him, and it +was his compensation for the losses he had sustained. He could still +hold communion with nature and with his own mind, and could give to the +national cause the service of a bold heart and a finely-cultivated +intellect. Subsequent to the decadence of the '48 movement he wrote a +good deal in prose and verse, and contributed gratuitously to various +national publications. His intimate acquaintance with the character and +habits of the peasantry gave a great charm to his stories and sketches +of rural life; and his poems were always marked by grace, simplicity, +and tenderness. Many of them have attained a large degree of popularity +amongst his countrymen in Ireland and elsewhere, and taken a permanent +place in the poetic literature of the Irish race. Amongst these, his +ballads entitled "Patrick Sheehan," "Rory of the Hill," and "The Irish +Peasant Girl" are deserving of special mention. To these remarks it +remains to be added that as regards personal character, Charles J. +Kickham was one of the most amiable of men. He was generous and kindly +by nature, and was a pious member of the Catholic Church, to which his +family had given priests and nuns. + +Such was the man whom the myrmidons of the law placed in the dock of +Green-street court-house, when on January 5th, 1866, after the return of +the judges from Cork, the Commission was re-opened in Dublin. His +appearance was somewhat peculiar. He was a tall, strong, rough-bearded +man, with that strained expression of face which is often worn by people +of dim sight. Around his neck he wore an india-rubber tube, or ear +trumpet, through which any words that were necessary to be addressed to +him were shouted into his ear by some of his friends, or by his +solicitor. His trial did not occupy much time, for on the refusal of the +crown lawyers and judges to produce the convict Thomas Clarke Luby, whom +he conceived to be a material witness for his defence, he directed his +lawyers to abandon the case, and contented himself with reading to the +court some remarks on the evidence which had been offered against him. +The chief feature in this address was his denial of all knowledge of the +"executive document." He had never seen or heard of it until it turned +up in connexion with those trials. Referring to one of the articles with +the authorship of which he was charged, he said he wondered how any +Irishman, taking into consideration what had occurred in Ireland during +the last eighty-four years, could hesitate to say to the enemy--"Give us +our country to ourselves and let us see what we can do with it." +Alluding to a report that the government contemplated making some +concession to the claims of the Catholic bishops, he remarked that +concessions to Ireland had always been a result of Fenianism in one +shape or another, and that he believed the present manifestation of the +national spirit would have weight, as former ones had, with the rulers +of the country. As regards the landed class in Ireland, the _Irish +People_, he contended, had said nothing more than was said by Thomas +Davis, whose works every one admired. That eminent Irishman, afflicted +and stung to the heart by witnessing the system of depopulation which +was going on throughout the country, had written these words:-- + + "God of Justice, I sighed, send your Spirit down + On those lords so cruel and proud, + And soften their hearts, and relax their frown, + Or else, I cried aloud, + Vouchsafe Thy strength to the peasant's hand + To drive them at length from out the land." + +He had not gone farther than the writer of these lines, and now, he +said, they might send him to a felon's doom if they liked. + +And they did send him to it. Judge Keogh, before passing sentence, asked +him if he had any further remarks to make in reference to his case. Mr. +Kickham briefly replied:-- + + "I believe, my lords, I have said enough already. I will only add + that I am convicted for doing nothing but my duty. I have endeavoured + to serve Ireland, and now I am prepared to suffer for Ireland." + +Then the judge, with many expressions of sympathy for the prisoner, and +many compliments in reference to his intellectual attainments, sentenced +him to kept in penal servitude for fourteen years. His solicitor, Mr. +John Lawless, announced the fact to him through his ear trumpet. Charles +J. Kickham bowed to the judges, and with an expression of perfect +tranquility on his features, went into captivity. + +[Illustration: GENERAL THOMAS F. BURKE.] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +GENERAL THOMAS F. BURKE. + + +The year of grace, 1867, dawned upon a cloudy and troublous period in +Irish politics. There was danger brewing throughout the land; under the +crust of society the long confined lava of Fenianism effervesced and +glowed. There were strange rumours in the air; strange sounds were heard +at the death of night on the hill-sides and in the meadows; and through +the dim moonlight masses of men were seen in secluded spots moving in +regular bodies and practising military evolutions. From castle and +mansion and country seat the spectre of alarm glided to and fro, +whispering with bloodless lips of coming convulsions and slaughter, of +the opening of the crater of revolution, and of a war against property +and class. Symptoms of danger were everywhere seen and felt; the spirit +of disaffection had not been crushed; it rode on the night wind and +glistened against the rising sun; it filled rath and fort and crumbling +ruin with mysterious sounds; it was seen in the brightening eyes and the +bold demeanour of the peasantry; in the signals passing amongst the +people; in their secret gatherings and closely guarded conclaves. For +years and years Fenianism had been threatening, boasting, and promising, +and now the fury of the storm, long pent-up, was about to burst forth +over the land--the hour for action was at hand. + +Between the conviction of Luby, O'Leary, and Kickham, and the period at +which we are now arrived, many changes of importance had taken place in +the Fenian organization. In America, the society had been +revolutionized--it had found new leaders, new principles, new plans of +action; it had passed through the ordeal of war, and held its ground +amidst flashing swords and the smoke of battle; it had survived the +shocks of division, disappointment, and failure; treachery, incapacity +and open hostility had failed to shatter it; and it grew apace in +strength, influence, and resources. At home Fenianism, while losing +little in numerical strength, had declined in effectiveness, in +prestige, in discipline, and in organization. Its leaders had been swept +into the prisons, and though men perhaps as resolute stepped forward to +fill the vacant places, there was a loss in point of capacity and +intelligence, and to the keen observer it became apparent that the +Fenian Society in Ireland had attained to the zenith of its power on the +day that the _Irish People_ office was sacked by the police. Never again +did the prospects of Fenianism, whatever they might then have been, look +equally bright; and when the brotherhood at length sprang to action, +they fought with a sword already broken to the hilt, and under +circumstances the most ominous and inauspicious. + +The recent history of the Fenian movement is so thoroughly understood +that anything like a detailed account of its changes and progress is, in +these pages, unnecessary. We shall only say that when James Stephens +arrived in America in May, 1866, after escaping from Richmond Prison, he +found the society in the States split up into two opposing parties +between whom a violent quarrel was raging. John O'Mahony had been +deposed from his position of "Head Centre" by an all but unanimous vote +of the Senate, or governing body of the association, who charged him and +his officials with a reckless and corrupt expenditure of the society's +funds, and these in turn charged the Senate party with the crime of +breaking up the organization for mere personal and party purposes. A +large section of the society still adhered to O'Mahony, in consideration +of his past services in their cause; but the greater portion of it, and +nearly all its oldest, best-known and most trusted leaders gave their +allegiance to the Senate and to its elected President, William R. +Roberts, an Irish merchant of large means, of talent and energy, of high +character and unquestionable devotion to the cause of his country. Many +friends of the brotherhood hoped that James Stephens would seek to heal +the breach between these parties, but the course he took was not +calculated to effect that purpose. He denounced the "senators" in the +most extravagant terms, and invited both branches of the organization to +unite under himself as supreme and irresponsible leader and governor of +the entire movement. The O'Mahony section did not answer very heartily +to this invitation; the Senate party indignantly rejected it, and +commenced to occupy themselves with preparations for an immediate +grapple with British power in Canada. Those men were thoroughly in +earnest, and the fact became plain to every intelligence, when in the +latter part of May, 1866, the Fenian contingents from the various States +of the Union began to concentrate on the Canadian border. On the morning +of the 1st of June some hundreds of them crossed the Niagara river, and +took possession of the village of Fort Erie on the Canadian side. They +were soon confronted with detachments of the volunteer force which had +been collected to resist the invasion, and at Limestone Ridge they were +met by the "Queen's Own" regiment of volunteers from Toronto, under the +command of Colonel Booker. A smart battle ensued, the result of which +was that the "Queen's Own" were utterly routed by the Irish under +Colonel John O'Neill, and forced to run in wild confusion for a town +some miles distant, Colonel Booker on his charger leading the way and +distancing all competitors. Had the Irish been allowed to follow up this +victory it is not unlikely that they would have swept Canada clear of +the British forces, and then, according to their programme, made that +country their base of operations against British power in Ireland. But +the American government interfered and put an effectual stopper on their +progress; they seized the arms of the Irish soldiers on the frontier, +they sent up large parties of the States soldiery to prevent the +crossing of hostile parties into British territory, and stationed +war-vessels in the river for the same purpose. Reinforcements being thus +cut off from them, the victors of Limestone Ridge found themselves under +the necessity of re-crossing the river to the American shore, which they +did on the night of the 2nd of June, bringing with them the flags and +other trophies which they had captured from the royal troops. + +The first brush between the Fenian forces and the Queen's troops +inspired the former with high hopes, and with great confidence in their +capacity to humble "the English red below the Irish green," if only they +could start on any thing like fair terms. But now that the American +government had forbidden the fight in Canada, what was to be done? James +Stephens answered that question. He would have a fight in Ireland--the +right place, he contended, in which to fight _for_ Ireland. The home +organization was subject to his control and would spring to arms at his +bidding. He would not only bid them fight, but would lead them to +battle, and that at no distant day. The few remaining months of 1866 +would not pass away without witnessing the commencement of the struggle. +So he said, and so he swore in the most solemn manner at various public +meetings which he had called for the purpose of obtaining funds +wherewith to carry on the conflict. The prudence of thus publishing the +date which he had fixed for the outbreak of the insurrection was very +generally questioned, but however great might be his error in this +respect, many believed that he would endeavour to make good his words. +The British government believed it, and prepared for the threatened +rising by hurrying troops and munitions of war across to Ireland, and +putting the various forts and barracks in a state of thorough defence. +As the last days and nights of 1866 wore away, both the government and +the people expected every moment to hear the first crash of the +struggle. But it came not. The year 3867 came in and still all was +quiet. What had become of James Stephens? The astonished and irate +Fenians of New York investigated the matter, and found that he was +peacefully and very privately living at lodgings in some part of that +city, afraid to face the wrath of the men whom he had so egregiously +deceived. We need not describe the outburst of rage and indignation +which followed on the discovery; suffice it to say that the once popular +and powerful Fenian leader soon found it prudent to quit the United +States and take up his abode in a part of the world where there were no +Fenian circles and no settlements of the swarming Irish race. + +Amongst the men who had rallied round James Stephens in America there +were many whose honesty was untainted, and who had responded to his call +with the full intention of committing themselves, without regard to +consequences, to the struggle which he promised to initiate. They +believed his representations respecting the prospects of an insurrection +in Ireland, and they pledged themselves to fight by his side and perish, +if necessary, in the good old cause, in defence of which their fathers +had bled. They scorned to violate their engagements; they spurned the +idea of shrinking from the difficulty they had pledged themselves to +face, and resolved that come what may the reproach of cowardice and bad +faith should never be uttered against them. Accordingly, in January, +'67, they began to fend in scattered parties at Queenstown, and spread +themselves through the country, taking every precaution to escape the +suspicion of the police. They set to work diligently and energetically +to organize an insurrectionary outbreak; they found innumerable +difficulties in their path; they found the people almost wholly unarmed; +they found the wisest of the Fenian leaders opposed to an immediate +outbreak, but still they persevered. How ably they performed their work +there is plenty of evidence to show, and if the Irish outbreak of '67 +was short-lived and easily suppressed, it was far from contemptible in +the pre-concert and organization which it evidenced. + +One hitch did occur in the accomplishment of their designs. On +Wednesday, February 13th, the exciting news was flashed throughout the +land that the Fenians had broken into insurrection at Kerry. The news +was true. The night of the 12th of February had been fixed for a +simultaneous rising of the Fenians in Ireland; but the outbreak had been +subsequently postponed, and emissaries were despatched to all parts of +the country with the intelligence of the change of date. The change of +date was everywhere learned in time to prevent premature action except +at Cahirciveen, in the west of Kerry, where the members of the +Brotherhood, acting upon the orders received, unearthed their arms, and +gaily proceeded towards Killarney to form a junction with the insurgents +whom they imagined had converged from various parts of the county in +that town. Before many hours had elapsed they discovered their +mistake--they heard before arriving at Killarney that they were the only +representatives of the Irish Republic that had appeared in the field, +and turning to the mountains they broke up and disappeared. + +Short-lived as was their escapade, it filled the heart of England with +alarm. In hot haste the _Habeas Corpus_ Suspension Act, which had been +permitted to lapse a month before, was re-enacted; the arrests and +police raids was renewed, and from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear +the gaols were filled with political prisoners. Still the +Irish-Americans worked on; some of them were swept off to prison, but +the greater number of them managed to escape detection, and spite of the +vigilance of the authorities, and the extraordinary power possessed by +the government and its officials, they managed to carry on the business +of the organization, to mature their plans, and to perfect their +arrangements for the fray. + +We do not propose to write here a detailed account of the last of the +outbreaks which, since the Anglo-Norman invasion, have periodically +convulsed our country. The time is not yet come when the whole history +of that extraordinary movement can be revealed, and such of its facts, +as are now available for publication, are fresh in the minds of our +readers. On the night of the 5th of March, the Fenian bands took the +field in Dublin, Louth, Tipperary, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Clare. +They were, in all cases, wretchedly armed, their plans had been betrayed +by unprincipled associates, and ruin tracked their venture from the +outset. They were everywhere confronted by well-armed, disciplined men, +and their reckless courage could not pluck success for the maze of +adverse circumstances that surrounded them. The elements, too, +befriended England as they had often done before. Hardly had the +insurgents left their homes when the clear March weather gave place to +the hail and snow of mid-winter. The howling storm, edged by the frost +and hail, swept over mountain and valley, rendering life in the open air +all but impossible to man. The weather in itself would have been +sufficient to dispose of the Fenian insurgents. Jaded and exhausted they +returned to their homes, and twenty-four hours after the flag of revolt +had been unfurled the Fenian insurrection was at an end. + +Amongst the Irish officers who left America to share in the expected +battle for Irish rights, a conspicuous place must be assigned Thomas F. +Burke. He was born at Fethard, county Tipperary, on the 10th of +December, 1840, and twelve years later sailed away towards the setting +sun, his parents having resolved on seeking a home in the far West. In +New York, young Burke attended the seminary established by the late +Archbishop Hughes, where he received an excellent education, after which +he was brought up to his father's trade--that of house painter. For many +years he worked steadily at his trade, contributing largely to the +support of his family. The outbreak of the war, however, acted in the +same manner on Burke's temperament as on thousands of his +fellow-countrymen. He threw aside his peaceful avocation and joined the +Confederate army. He served under General Patrick Cleburne, who died in +his arms, and he fought side by side with the son of another +distinguished exile, John Mitchel. When the war had closed, he returned +a Brevet-General, northwards, with a shattered limb and an impaired +constitution. In June, 1865, he joined the Wolfe Tone Circle of the +Fenian Brotherhood in New York, and was appointed soon afterwards to act +as organizer in the Brotherhood for the district of Manhattan. He filled +this post with great satisfaction to his associates, and continued to +labour energetically in this capacity until his departure for Ireland, +at the close of 1866. + +Tipperary was assigned to Burke as the scene of his revolutionary +labours in Ireland. He arrived in Clonmel early in February, where he +was arrested on suspicion, but was immediately discharged--his worn +appearance and physical infirmity giving strong corroboration of his +assertion, that he had come to Ireland for the benefit of his health. On +the night of the insurrection he placed himself at the head of the +Fenian party that assembled in the neighbourhood of Tipperary, but he +quickly saw the folly of attempting a revolution with the scanty band of +unarmed men that rallied round him. On the evening of the 6th his +followers were attacked by a detachment of soldiers at Ballyhurst Fort, +about three miles from Tipperary; Burke saw the uselessness of +resistance, and advised his followers to disperse--an injunction which +they appear to have obeyed. Burke himself was thrown from his horse and +captured. He was conveyed to the jail of Tipperary, and was brought to +trial in the Greenstreet court-house, in Dublin, on the 24th of April +following. He was convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death in +the usual form. The following speech delivered by him after conviction +is well worthy of a place in the Irish heart:-- + + "My lords--It is not my intention to occupy much of your time in + answering the question--what I have to say why sentence should not be + passed upon me? But I may, with your permission, review a little of + the evidence that has been brought against me. The first evidence + that I would speak of is that of Sub-Inspector Kelly, who had a + conversation with me in Clonmel. He states that he asked me either + how was my friend, or what about my friend, Mr. Stephens, and + that I made answer and said, that he was the most idolised man that + ever had been, or that ever would be in America. Here, standing on + the brink of my grave, and in the presence of the Almighty and + ever-living God, I brand that as being the foulest perjury that ever + man gave utterance to. In any conversation that occurred the name of + Stephens was not mentioned. I shall pass from that, and then touch on + the evidence of Brett. He states that I assisted in distributing the + bread to the parties in the fort, and that I stood with him in the + waggon or cart. This is also false. I was not in the fort at the + time; I was not there when the bread was distributed. I came in + afterwards. Both of these assertions have been made and submitted to + the men in whose hands my life rested, as evidence made on oath by + these men--made solely and purely for the purpose of giving my body + to an untimely grave. There are many points, my lords, that have been + sworn to here to prove my complicity in a great many acts it has been + alleged I took part in. It is not my desire now, my lords, to give + utterance to one word against the verdict which has been pronounced + upon me. But fully conscious of my honour as a man, which has never + been impugned, fully conscious that I can go into my grave with a + name and character unsullied, I can only say that these parties, + actuated by a desire either of their own aggrandisement, or to save + their paltry miserable lives, have pandered to the appetite, if I may + so speak, of justice, and my life shall pay the forfeit. Fully + convinced and satisfied of the righteousness of my every act in + connection with the late revolutionary movement in Ireland, I have + nothing to recall--nothing that I would not do again, nothing for + which I should feel the blush of shame mantling my brow; my conduct + and career, both here as a private citizen, and in America--if you + like--as a soldier, are before you; and even in this, my hour of + trial, I feel the consciousness of having lived an honest man, and I + will die proudly, believing that if I have given my life to give + freedom and liberty to the land of my birth, I have done only that + which every Irishman and every man whose soul throbs with a feeling + of liberty should do. I, my lords, shall scarcely--I feel I should + not at all--mention the name of Massey. I feel I should not pollute + my lips with the name of that traitor, whose illegitimacy has been + proved here--a man whose name even is not known, and who, I deny + point blank, ever wore the star of a colonel in the Confederate army. + Him I shall let rest. I shall pass him, wishing him, in the words of + the poet:-- + + "'May the grass wither from his feet; + The woods deny him shelter; earth a home; + The dust a grave; the sun his light: + And heaven its God!' + + "Let Massey remember from this day forth that he carries with him, as + my able and eloquent counsel (Mr. Dowse) has stated, a serpent that + will gnaw his conscience, will carry about him in his breast a living + hell from which he can never be separated. I, my lords, have no + desire for the name of a martyr; I seek not the death of a martyr; + but if it is the will of the Almighty and Omnipotent God that my + devotion for the land of my birth shall be tested on the scaffold, I + am willing there to die in defence of the right of men to free + government--the right of an oppressed people to throw off the yoke of + thraldom. I am an Irishman by birth, an American by adoption; by + nature a lover of freedom--an enemy to the power that holds my native + land in the bonds of tyranny. It has so often been admitted that the + oppressed have a right to throw off the yoke of oppression, even by + English statesmen, that I do not deem it necessary to advert to the + fact in a British court of justice. Ireland's children are not, never + were, and never will be, willing or submissive slaves; and so long as + England's flag covers one inch of Irish soil, just so long will they + believe it to be a divine right to conspire, imagine, and devise + means to hurl it from power, and to erect in its stead the God-like + structure of self-government. I shall now, my lords, before I go any + further, perform one important duty to my learned, talented, and + eloquent counsel. I offer them that which is poor enough, the thanks, + the sincere and heartfelt thanks of an honest man. I offer them, too, + in the name of America, the thanks of the Irish people. I know that I + am here without a relative--without a friend--in fact, 3,000 miles + away from my family. But I know that I am not forgotten there. The + great and generous Irish heart of America to-day feels for me--to-day + sympathises with and does not forget the man who is willing to tread + the scaffold--aye, defiantly--proudly, conscious of no wrong--in + defence of American principles--in defence of liberty. To Messrs. + Butt, Dowse, O'Loghlen, and all the counsel for the prisoners, for + some of whom I believe Mr. Curran will appear, and my very able + solicitor, Mr. Lawless, I return individually and collectively, my + sincere and heartfelt thanks. + + "I shall now, my lords, as no doubt you will suggest to me, think of + the propriety of turning my attention to the world beyond the grave. + I shall now look only to that home where sorrows are at an end, where + joy is eternal. I shall hope and pray that freedom may vet dawn on + this poor down-trodden country. It is my hope, it is my prayer, and + the last words that I shall utter will be a prayer to God for + forgiveness, and a prayer for poor old Ireland. Now, my lords; in + relation to the other man, Corridon, I will make a few remarks. + Perhaps before I go to Corridon, I should say much has been spoken on + that table of Colonel Kelly, and of the meetings held at his lodgings + in London. I desire to state, I never knew where Colonel Kelly's + lodgings were. I never knew where he lived in London, till I heard + the informer, Massey, announce it on the table. I never attended a + meeting at Colonel Kelly's; and the hundred other statements that + have been made about him. I now solemnly declare on my honour as a + man--as a dying man--these statements have been totally unfounded and + false from beginning to end. In relation to the small paper that was + introduced here, and brought against me as evidence, as having been + found on my person in connexion with that oath, I desire to say that + that paper was not found on my person. I knew no person whose name + was on that paper. O'Beirne, of Dublin, or those other delegates you + heard of, I never saw or met. That paper has been put in there for + some purpose. I can swear positively it is not in my handwriting. I + can also swear I never saw it; yet it is used as evidence against me. + Is this justice? Is this right? Is this manly? I am willing if I have + transgressed the laws to suffer the penalty, but I object to this + system of trumping up a case to take away the life of a human being. + True, I ask for no mercy. I feel that, with my present emaciated + frame and somewhat shattered constitution, it is bettor that my life + should be brought to an end than that I should drag out a miserable + existence in the prison dens of Portland. Thus it is, my lords, I + accept the verdict. Of course my acceptance of it is unnecessary, but + I am satisfied with it. And now I shall close. True it is there are + many feelings that actuate me at this moment. In fact, these few + disconnected remarks can give no idea of what I desire to state to + the court. I have ties to bind me to life and society as strong as + any man in this court can have. I have a family I love as much as any + man in this court loves his family. But I can remember the blessing I + received from an aged mother's lips as I left her the last time. She, + speaking as the Spartan mother did, said--'Go, my boy, return either + with your shield or upon it.' This reconciles me--this gives me + heart. I submit to my doom; and I hope that God will forgive me my + past sins. I hope also, that inasmuch as He has for seven hundred + years preserved Ireland, notwithstanding all the tyranny to which she + has been subjected, as a separate and distinct nationality, He will + also assist her to retrieve her fallen fortunes--to rise in her + beauty and majesty, the Sister of Columbia, the peer of any nation in + the world." + +General Burke, as our readers are well aware, was not executed. The +government shrank from carrying out the barbarous sentence of the law, +and his punishment was changed to the still more painful, if less +appalling fate, of penal servitude for life. Of General Burke's private +character we have said little; but our readers will be able to +understand it from the subjoined brief extracts from two of his letters. +On the very night previous to his trial he wrote to his mother from +Kilmainham Prison:-- + + ... "On last Easter Sunday I partook of Holy Communion at a late + mass, I calculated the difference of time between this longitude and + yours, for I knew that you and my dear sisters were partaking of the + sacrament at early mass on that day, as was your wont, and I felt + that our souls were in communion together." + +We conclude with the following letter from General Burke, which has +never before been published, and which we are sure will be of deep +interest to our readers. It is addressed to the reverend gentleman who +had been his father confessor in Clonmel:-- + + "KILMAINHAM GOAL, + + "_4th, Month of Mary._ + + "DEAR REV. FATHER, + + " ... I am perfectly calm and resigned, with my thoughts firmly + centered with hope in the goodness and mercy of that kind Redeemer, + whose precious blood was shed for my salvation; as also in the + mediation and intercession of His Blessed Mother, who is my Star of + Hope and Consolation. I know, dear father, I need not ask you to be + remembered in your prayers, for I feel that in your supplication to + the Throne of Mercy I have not been forgotten.... I have only one + thought which causes me much sorrow, and that is that my good and + loving mother will break down under the weight of her affliction, + and, oh, God, I who loved her more than the life which animates the + hand that writes to be the cause of it! This thought unmans and + prostrates me. I wrote to her at the commencement of my trial, and + told her how I thought it would terminate, and spoke a long and last + farewell. I have not written since; it would break my heart to + attempt it; but I would ask you as an especial favour that you would + write to her and tell her I am happy and reconciled to the will of + God who has given me this opportunity of saving my immortal soul. I + hope to hear from you before I leave this world." + + "Good-bye, father, and that God may bless you in your ministry is the + prayer of an obedient child of the church." + + "THOMAS F. BURKE." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CAPTAIN JOHN M'AFFERTY. + + +It is not Irish-born men alone whose souls are filled with a chivalrous +love for Ireland, and a stern hatred of her oppressor. There are amongst +the ranks of her patriots none more generous, more resolute, or more +active in her cause than the children born of Irish parents in various +parts of the world. In London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, +Glasgow, and all the large towns of Great Britain, throughout the United +States, and in the British colonies, many of the best known and most +thorough-going "Irishmen" are men whose place of birth was not beneath +the Irish skies, and amongst them are some who never saw the shores of +the Green Isle. One of these men was Captain John M'Afferty. He was born +of Irish parents in the State of Ohio, in the year 1838, and at their +knees he heard of the rights and wrongs of Ireland, learned to +sympathise with the sufferings of that country, and to regard the +achievement of its freedom as a task in which he was bound to bear a +part. He grew up to be a man of adventurous and daring habits, better +fitted for the camp than for the ordinary ways of peaceful life; and +when the civil war broke out he soon found his place in one of those +regiments of the Confederacy whose special duty lay in the +accomplishment of the most hazardous enterprises. He belonged to the +celebrated troop of Morgan's guerillas, whose dashing feats of valour so +often filled the Federal forces with astonishment and alarm. In the +latter part of 1865 he crossed over to this country to assist in leading +the insurrection which was then being prepared by the Fenian +organization. He was arrested, as already stated in these pages, on +board the steamer at Queenstown before he had set foot on Irish soil; +when brought to trial at Cork, in the month of December, the lawyers +discovered that being an alien, and having committed no overt act of +treason within the Queen's dominions, there was no case against him, and +he was consequently discharged. He then went back to America, took an +active part in some Fenian meetings, made a speech at one of them which +was held at Jones's Wood, and when the report of the proceedings +appeared in print, he, with a sense of grim humour, posted a copy +containing his oration to the governor of Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. In +the latter part of 1866, when James Stephens was promising to bring off +immediately the long-threatened insurrection, M'Afferty again crossed +the ocean, and landed in England. There he was mainly instrumental in +planning and organizing that extraordinary movement, the raid on +Chester, which took place on Monday, 11th of February, 1867. It is now +confessed, even by the British authorities themselves, that but for the +timely intimation of the design given by the informer Corridon, +M'Afferty and his party would probably have succeeded in capturing the +old Castle, and seizing the large store of arms therein contained. +Finding their movements anticipated, the Fenian party left Chester as +quietly as they had come, and the next that was heard of M'Afferty was +his arrest, and that of his friend and companion John Flood, on the 23rd +of February, in the harbour of Dublin, after they had got into a small +boat from out of the collier "New Draper," which had just arrived from +Whitehaven. M'Afferty was placed in the dock of Green-street +court-house for trial on Wednesday, May 1st, while the jury were absent +considering their verdict in the case of Burke and Doran. On Monday, May +the 6th, he was declared guilty by the jury. On that day week a Court of +Appeal, consisting of ten of the Irish judges, sat to consider some +legal points raised by Mr. Butt in the course of the trial, the most +important of which was the question whether the prisoner, who had been +in custody since February 23rd, could be held legally responsible for +the events of the Fenian rising which occurred on the night of the 5th +of March. Their lordships gave an almost unanimous judgment against the +prisoner on Saturday, May 18th, and on the Monday following he was +brought up for sentence, on which occasion, in response to the usual +question, he spoke as follows:-- + + "My lords--I have nothing to say that can, at this advanced stage of + the trial, ward off that sentence of death, for I might as well hurl + my complaint (if I had one) at the orange trees of the sunny south, + or the tall pine trees of the bleak north, as now to speak to the + question why sentence of death should not be passed upon me according + to the law of the land; but I do protest loudly against the injustice + of that sentence. I have been brought to trial upon a charge of high + treason against the government of Great Britain, and guilt has been + brought home to me upon the evidence of one witness, and that witness + a perjured informer. I deny distinctly that there have been two + witnesses to prove the overt act of treason against me. I deny + distinctly that you have brought two independent witnesses to two + overt acts. There is but one witness to prove the overt act of + treason against me. I grant that there has been a cloud of + circumstantial evidence to show my connection (if I may please to use + that word) with the Irish people in their attempt for Irish + independence, and I claim that as an American and as an alien, I have + a reason and a right to sympathise with the Irish people or any other + people who may please to revolt against that form of government by + which they believe they are governed tyrannically. England + sympathised with America. She not only sympathised, but she gave her + support to both parties; but who ever heard of an Englishman having + been arrested by the United States government for having given his + support to the Confederate States of America and placed on his trial + for high treason against the government? No such case ever has been. + I do not deny that I have sympathised with the Irish people--I love + Ireland--I love the Irish people. And, if I were free to-morrow, and + the Irish people were to take the field for independence, my sympathy + would be with them; I would join them if they had any prospect + whatever of independence, but I would not give my sanction to the + useless effusion of blood, however done; and I state distinctly that + I had nothing whatever to do, directly or indirectly, with the + movement that took place in the county of Dublin. I make that + statement on the brink of my grave. Again, I claim that I have a + right to be discharged of the charge against me by the language of + the law by which I have been tried. That law states that you must + have two independent witnesses to prove the overt act against the + prisoner. That is the only complaint I have to make, and I make that + aloud. I find no fault with the jury, no complaint against the + judges. I have been tried and found guilty. I am perfectly satisfied + that I will go to my grave. I will go to my grave like a gentleman + and a Christian, although I regret that I should be cut off at this + stage of my life--still many an noble Irishman fell in defence of the + rights of my southern clime. I do not wish to make any flowery speech + to win sympathy in the court of justice. Without any further remarks + I will now accept the sentence of the court." + +Mr. Justice Fitzgerald then in the "solemn tone of voice" adopted on +such occasions proceeded to pass sentence in the usual form, fixing the +12th day of June as the date on which the execution should take place. + +The prisoner heard the sentence without giving the slightest symptoms of +emotion, and then spoke as follows:-- + + "I will accept my sentence as becomes a gentleman and a Christian. I + have but one request to ask of the tribunal, and that is that after + the execution of the sentence my remains shall be turned over to Mr. + Lawless to be by him interred in consecrated ground as quietly as he + possibly can. I have now, previous to leaving the dock, once more to + return my grateful and sincere thanks to Mr. Butt, the star of the + Irish bar, for his able and devoted defence on behalf of me and my + friends. Mr. Butt, I thank you. I also return the same token of + esteem to Mr. Dowse, for the kind and feeling manner in which he + alluded to the scenes in my former life. Those kind allusions recall + to my mind many moments--some bright, beautiful, and glorious--and + yet some sad recollections arise of generous hopes that floated o'er + me, and now sink beyond the grave. Mr. Butt, please convey to Mr. + Dowse my grateful and sincere thanks. Mr. Lawless, I also return you + my thanks for your many acts of kindness--I can do no more." + +He was not executed however. The commutation of Burke's sentence +necessitated the like course in all the other capital cases, and +M'Afferty's doom was changed to penal servitude for life. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +EDWARD DUFFY. + + +On the day following that on which M'Afferty's sentence was pronounced, +the trial of three men, named John Flood, Edward Duffy, and John Cody +was brought to a conclusion. When they were asked what they had to say +why sentence should not be passed on them, Cody denied with all possible +earnestness the charge of being president of an assassination committee, +which had been brought against him. Flood--a young man of remarkably +handsome exterior--declared that the evidence adduced against himself +was untrue in many particulars. He alluded to the Attorney-General's +having spoken of him as "that wretched man, Flood." "My lords," said he, +"if to love my country more than my life makes me a wretched man, then I +am a very wretched man indeed." Edward Duffy, it might be supposed by +anyone looking at his emaciated frame, wasted by consumption, and with +the seal of death plainly set on his brow, would not be able to offer +any remarks to the court; but he roused himself to the effort. The +noble-hearted young fellow had been previously in the clutches of the +government for the same offence. He was arrested with James Stephens and +others at Fairfield House, in November, 1865, but after a brief +imprisonment was released in consideration of the state of his health, +which seemed such as would not leave him many days to live. But, few or +many, Duffy could not do otherwise than devote them to the cause he had +at heart. He was re-arrested at Boyle on the 11th of March, and this +time the government took care they would not quit their hold of him. The +following is the speech which, by a great physical effort, he delivered +from the dock, his dark eyes brightening, and his pallid features +lighting up with the glow of an earnest and lofty enthusiasm while he +spoke:-- + + "The Attorney-General has made a wanton attack on me, but I leave my + countrymen to judge between us. There is no political act of mine + that I in the least regret. I have laboured earnestly and sincerely + in my country's cause, and I have been actuated throughout by a + strong sense of duty. I believe that a man's duty to his country is + part of his duty to God, for it is He who implants the feeling of + patriotism in the human breast. He, the great searcher of hearts, + knows that I have been actuated by no mean or paltry ambition--that I + have never worked for any selfish end. For the late outbreak I am not + responsible; I did all in my power to prevent it, for I knew that, + circumstanced as we then were, it would be a failure. It has been + stated in the course of those trials that Stephens was for peace. + This is a mistake. It may be well that it should not go + uncontradicted. It is but too well known in Ireland that he sent + numbers of men over here to fight, promising to be with them when the + time would come. The time did come, but not Mr. Stephens. He remained + in France to visit the Paris Exhibition. It may be a very pleasant + sight, but I would not be in his place now. He is a lost man--lost to + honour, lost to country. There are a few things I would wish to say + relative to the evidence given against me at my trial, but I would + ask your lordships to give me permission to say them after sentence. + I have a reason for asking to be allowed to say them after sentence + has been passed." + + The Chief Justice--"That is not the usual practice. Not being tried + for life, it is doubtful to me whether you have a right to speak at + all. What you are asked to say is why sentence should not be passed + upon you, and whatever you have to say you must say now." + + "Then, if I must say it now I declare it before my God that what + Kelly swore against me on the table is not true. I saw him in + Ennisgroven, but that I ever spoke to him on any political subject I + declare to heaven I never did. I knew him from a child in that little + town, herding with the lowest and vilest. Is it to be supposed I'd + put my liberty into the hands of such a character? I never did it. + The next witness is Corridon. He swore that at the meeting he + referred to I gave him directions to go to Kerry to find O'Connor, + and put himself in communication with him. I declare to my God every + word of that is false. Whether O'Connor was in the country or whether + he had made his escape, I know just as little as your lordships; and + I never heard of the Kerry rising until I saw it in the public + papers. As to my giving the American officers money that night, + before my God, on the verge of my grave, where my sentence will send + me, I say that also is false. As to the writing that the policeman + swore to in that book, and which is not a prayer-book, but the + 'Imitation of Christ,' given to me by a lady to whom I served my + time, what was written in that book was written by another young man + in her employment. That is his writing not mine. It is the writing + of a young man in the house, and I never wrote a line of it." + + The Lord Chief Justice--"It was not sworn to be in your handwriting." + + "Yes, my lord, it was. The policeman swore it was in my + hand-writing." + + The Lord Chief Justice--"That is a mistake. It was said to be like + yours." + + "The dream of my life has been that I might be fighting for Ireland. + The jury have doomed me to a more painful, but not less glorious + death. I now bid farewell to my friends and all who are dear to me. + + "'There is a world where souls are free, + Where tyrants taint not nature's bliss; + If death that bright world's opening be, + Oh, who would live a slave in this.' + + "I am proud to be thought worthy of suffering for my country; when I + am lying in my lonely cell I will not forget Ireland, and my last + prayer will be that the God of liberty may give her strength to shake + off her chains." + +John Flood and Edward Duffy were then sentenced each to fifteen years of +penal servitude, and Cody to penal servitude for life. + +Edward Duffy's term of suffering did not last long. A merciful +Providence gave his noble spirit release from its earthly tenement +before one year from the date of his sentence had passed away. On the +21st of May, 1867, his trial concluded; on the 17th of January, 1868, +the patriot lay dead in his cell in Millbank Prison, London. The +government permitted his friends to remove his remains to Ireland for +interment; and they now rest in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, where +friendly hands oft renew the flowers on his grave, and many a heartfelt +prayer is uttered that God would give the patriot's soul eternal rest, +and "let perpetual light shine unto him." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +STEPHEN JOSEPH MEANY. + + +The connexion of Stephen Joseph Meany with Irish politics dates back to +1848, when he underwent an imprisonment of some months in Carrickfergus +Castle, under the provisions of the _Habeas Corpus_ Suspension Act. He +had been a writer on one of the national newspapers of that period, and +was previously a reporter for a Dublin daily paper. He joined the Fenian +movement in America, and was one of the "Senators" in O'Mahony's +organization. In December, 1866, he crossed over to England, and in the +following month he was arrested in London, and was brought in custody +across to Ireland. His trial took place in Dublin on the 16th of +February, 1867, when the legality of the mode of his arrest was denied +by his counsel, and as it was a very doubtful question, the point was +reserved to be considered by a Court of Appeal. This tribunal sat on May +the 13th, 1867, and on May the 18th, their decision confirming the +conviction was pronounced. It was not until the 21st of the following +month, at the Commission of Oyer and Terminer that he was brought up for +sentence. He then delivered the following able address to show "why +sentence should not be passed on him":-- + + "My lords--There are many reasons I could offer why sentence should + not--could not--be pronounced upon me according to law, if seven + months of absolute solitary imprisonment, and the almost total disuse + of speech during that period, had left me energy enough, or even + language sufficient to address the court. But yielding obedience to a + suggestion coming from a quarter which I am bound to respect, as well + indeed as in accordance with my own feelings, I avoid everything like + speech-making for outside effect. Besides, the learned counsel who so + ably represented me in the Court of Appeal, and the eminent judges + who in that court gave judgment for me, have exhausted all that could + be said on the law of the case. Of their arguments and opinions your + lordships have judicial knowledge. I need not say that both in + interest as in conviction I am in agreement with the constitutional + principles laid down by the minority of the judges in that court, and + I have sufficient respect for the dignity of the court--sufficient + regard to what is due to myself--to concede fully and frankly to the + majority a conscientious view of a novel and, it may be, a difficult + question. + + "But I do not ask too much in asking that before your lordships + proceed to pass any sentence you will consider the manner in which + the court was divided on that question--to bear in mind that the + minority declaring against the legality and the validity of the + conviction was composed of some of the ablest and most experienced + judges of the Irish bench or any bench--to bear in mind that one of + these learned judges who had presided at the Commission Court was one + of the most emphatic in the Court of Criminal Appeal in declaring + against my liability to be tried; and moreover--and he ought to + know--that there was not a particle of evidence to sustain the cause + set up at the last moment, and relied upon by the crown, that I was + an 'accessory before the fact' to that famous Dublin overt act, for + which, as an afterthought of the crown, I was in fact tried. And I + ask you further to bear in mind that the affirmance of the conviction + was not had on fixed principles of law--for the question was + unprecedented--but on a speculative view of a suppositious case, and + I must say a strained application of an already over-strained and + dangerous doctrine--the doctrine of constructive criminality--the + doctrine of making a man at a distance of three thousand miles or + more, legally responsible for the words and acts of others whom he + had never seen, and of whom he had never heard, under the fiction, or + the 'supposition,' that he was a co-conspirator. The word + 'supposition' is not mine, my lords; it is the word put forward + descriptive of the point by the learned judges presiding at my trial; + for I find in the case prepared by these judges for the Court of + Criminal Appeal the following paragraph:-- + + "'Sufficient evidence was given on the part of the crown of acts of + members of the said association in Ireland not named in the + indictment in promotion of the several objects aforesaid, and done + within the county of the city of Dublin, to sustain some of the overt + acts charged in the indictment supposing them to be the acts of the + defendant himself.' + + "Fortified by such facts--with a court so divided, and with opinions + so expressed--I submit that, neither according to act of parliament, + nor in conformity with the practice at common law, nor in any way in + pursuance of the principles of that apocryphal abstraction, that + magnificent myth--the British constitution--am I amenable to the + sentence of this court--or any court in this country. True, I am in + the toils, and it may be vain to discuss how I was brought into them. + True, my long and dreary imprisonment--shut away from all converse or + association with humanity, in a cell twelve feet by six--the + humiliations of prison discipline--the hardships of prison fare--the + handcuffs, and the heartburnings--this court and its surroundings of + power and authority--all these are 'hard practical facts,' which no + amount of indignant protests can negative--no denunciation of the + wrong refine away; and it may be, as I have said, worse than + useless--vain and absurd--to question the right where might is + predominant. But the invitation just extended to me by the officer of + the court means, if it means anything--if it be not like the rest, a + solemn mockery--that there still is left to me the poor privilege of + complaint. And I do complain. I complain that law and justice have + been alike violated in my regard--I complain that the much belauded + attribute 'British fair play' has been for me a nullity--I complain + that the pleasant fiction described in the books as 'personal + freedom' has had a most unpleasant illustration in my person--and I + furthermore and particularly complain that by the design and + contrivance of what are called 'the authorities,' I have been brought + to this country, not for trial but for condemnation--not for justice + but for judgment. + + "I will not tire the patience of the court, or exhaust my own + strength, by going over the history of this painful case--the + kidnapping in London on the mere belief of a police-constable that I + was a Fenian in New York--the illegal transportation to Ireland--the + committal for trial on a specific charge, whilst a special messenger + was despatched to New York to hunt up informers to justify the + illegality and the outrage, and to get a foundation for any charge. I + will not dwell on the 'conspicuous absence' of fair play, in the + crown at the trial having closed their cases without any reference to + the Dublin transaction, but, as an afterthought, suggested by their + discovered failure, giving in evidence the facts and circumstances of + that case, and thus succeeding in making the jury convict me for an + offence with which up to that moment the crown did not intend to + charge me. I will not say what I think of the mockery of putting me + on trial in the Commission Court in Dublin for alleged words and acts + in New York, and though the evidence was without notice, and the + alleged overt acts without date, taunting me with not proving an + _alibi_, and sending that important ingredient to a jury already ripe + for a conviction. Prove an _alibi_ to-day in respect of meetings held + in Clinton Hall, New York, the allegations relating to which only + came to my knowledge yesterday! I will not refer with any bitter + feeling to the fact that whilst the validity of the conviction so + obtained was still pending in the Court of Criminal Appeal, the Right + Hon. and Noble the Chief Secretary for Ireland declared in the House + of Commons that 'that conviction was the most important one at the + Commission'--thus prejudicing my case, I will not say willingly; but + the observation was, at least, inopportune, and for me unfortunate. + + "I will not speak my feeling on the fact that in the arguments in the + case in the Court for Reserved Cases, the Right Hon. the + Attorney-General appealed to the passions--if such can exist in + judges--and not to the judgment of the court, for I gather from the + judgment of Mr. Justice O'Hagan, that the right hon. gentleman made + an earnest appeal 'that such crimes' as mine 'should not be allowed + to go unpunished'.--forgetful, I will not say designedly forgetful, + that he was addressing the judges of the land, in the highest court + of the land, on matters of law, and not speaking to a pliant Dublin + jury on a treason trial in the court-house of Green-street. + + "Before I proceed further, my lords, there is a matter which, as + simply personal to myself I should not mind, but which as involving + high interests to the community, and serious consequences to + individuals, demand a special notice. I allude to the system of + manufacturing informers. I want to know, if the court can inform me, + by what right a responsible officer of the crown entered my solitary + cell at Kilmainham prison on Monday last--unbidden and + unexpected--uninvited and undesired. I want to know what + justification there was for his coming to insult me in my solitude + and in my sorrow--ostensibly informing me that I was to be brought up + for sentence on Thursday, but in the same breath adroitly putting to + me the question if I knew any of the men recently arrested near + Dungarvan, and now in the prison of Kilmainham. Coming thus, with a + detective dexterity, carrying in one hand a threat of sentence and + punishment--in the other as a counterpoise and, I suppose an + alternative, a temptation to treachery. Did he suppose that seven + months of imprisonment had so broken my spirit, as well as my health, + that I would be an easy prey to his blandishments? Did he dream that + the prospect of liberty which newspaper rumour and semi-official + information held out to me was too dear to be forfeited for a + trilling forfeiture of honour? Did he believe that by an act of + secret turpitude I would open my prison doors only to close them the + faster on others who may or may not have been my friends--or did he + imagine he had found in me a Massey to be moulded and manipulated + into the service of the crown, or a Corridon to have cowardice and + cupidity made the incentives to his baseness. I only wonder how the + interview ended as it did; but I knew I was a prisoner, and + self-respect preserved my patience and secured his safety. Great, my + lords, as have been my humiliation in prison, hard and heart-breaking + as have been the ordeals through which I have passed since the 1st of + December last, there was no incident or event of that period fraught + with more pain on the one hand, or more suggestiveness on the other, + than this sly and secret attempt at improvising an informer. I can + forget the pain in view of the suggestiveness; and unpleasant as is + my position here to-day, I am almost glad of the opportunity which + may end in putting some check to the spy system in prisons. How many + men have been won from honour and honesty by the stealthy visit to + the cell is more of course than I can say--how many have had their + weakness acted upon, or their wickness fanned into flame by which + means I have no opportunity of knowing--in how many frailty and folly + may have blossomed into falsehood it is for those concerned to + estimate. There is one thing, however, certain--operating in this way + is more degrading to the tempter than to the tempted; and the + government owes it to itself to put an end to a course of tactics + pursued in its name, which in the results can only bring its + humiliation--the public are bound in self-protection to protect the + prisoner from the prowling visits of a too zealous official. + + "I pass over all these things, my lords, and I ask your attention to + the character of the evidence on which alone my conviction was + obtained. The evidence of a special, subsidized spy, and of an + infamous and ingrate informer. + + "In all ages, and amongst all peoples, the spy has been held in + marked abhorrence. In the amnesties of war there is for him alone no + quarter; in the estimate of social life no toleration; his + self-abasement excites contempt, not compassion; his patrons despise + while they encourage; and they who stoop to enlist the services + shrink with disgust from the moral leprosy covering the servitor. Of + such was the witness put forward to corroborate the informer, and + still not corroborating him. Of such was that phenomenon, a police + spy, who declared himself an unwilling witness for the crown! There + was no reason why in my regard he should be unwilling--he knew me not + previously. I have no desire to speak harshly of Inspector Doyle; he + said in presence of the Crown Solicitor, and was not contradicted, + that he was compelled by threats to ascend the witness table; he may + have had cogent reasons for his reluctance in his own conscience. God + will judge him. + + "But how shall I speak of the informer, Mr. John Devany? What + language should be employed in describing the character of one who + adds to the guilt of perfidy to his associates the crime of perjury + to his God?--the man who eating of your bread, sharing your + confidence, and holding, as it were, your very purse-strings, all the + time meditates your overthrow and pursues it to its accomplishment? + How paint the wretch who, under pretence of agreement in your + opinions, worms himself into your secrets only to betray them; and + who, upon the same altar with you, pledges his faith and fealty to + the same principles, and then sells faith, and fealty, and + principles, and you alike, for the unhallowed Judas guerdon? Of such, + on his own confession was that distinguished upholder of the British + crown and government, Mr. Devany. With an affrontery that did not + falter, and knew not how to blush, he detailed his own participation + in the acts for which he was prosecuting me as a participator. And is + the evidence of a man like that--a conviction obtained upon such + evidence--any warrant for a sentence depriving me of all that make + life desirable or enjoyable? + + "He was first spy for the crown--in the pay of the crown, under the + control of the crown, and think you he had any other object than to + do the behests of the crown? + + "He was next the traitor spy, who had taken that one fatal step, from + which in this life there is no retrogression--that one plunge in + infamy from which there is no receding--that one treachery for which + there is no earthly forgiveness; and, think you, he hesitated about a + prejury more or less to secure present pay and future patronage? Here + was one to whom existence offers now no prospect save in making his + perfidy a profession, and think you he was deterred by conscience + from recommending himself to his patrons? Think you that when at a + distance of three thousand miles from the scenes he professed to + describe, he could lie with impunity and invent without detection, he + was particular to a shade in doing his part of a most filthy bargain? + It is needless to describe a wretch of that kind--his own actions + speak his character. It were superfluous to curse him, his whole + existence will be a living, a continuing curse. No necessity to use + the burning words of the poet and say:-- + + "'May life's unblessed cup for him + Be drugged with treacheries to the brim.' + + "Every sentiment in his regard of the country he has dishonoured, and + the people he has humbled, will be one of horror and hate. Every sigh + sent up from the hearts he has crushed and the homes he has made + desolate, will be mingled with execrations on the name of the + informer. Every heart-throb in the prison cells of this land where + his victims count time by corroding his thought--every grief that + finds utterance from these victims in the quarries of Portland will + go up to heaven freighted with curses on the Nagles, the Devanys, the + Masseys, the Gillespies, the Corridons, and the whole host of + mercenary miscreants, who, faithless to their friends and recreant to + their professions, have, paraphrasing the words of Moore, taken their + perfidy to heaven seeking to make accomplice of their God--wretches + who have embalmed their memories in imperishable infamy, and given + their accursed names to an inglorious immortality. Nor will I + speculate on their career in the future. We have it on the best + existing authority that a distinguished informer of antiquity seized + with remorse, threw away his blood-money, 'went forth and hanged + himself.' We know that in times within the memory of living men a + government actually set the edifying and praiseworthy example of + hanging an informer when they had no further use of his valuable + services--thus _dropping_ his acquaintance with effect. I have no + wish for such a fate to any of the informers who have cropped out so + luxuriantly in these latter days--a long life and a troubled + conscience would, perhaps, be their correct punishment--though + certainly there would be a consistent compensation--a poetic + justice--in a termination so exalted to a career so brilliant. + + "I leave these fellows and turn for a moment to their victims. And, I + would here, without any reference to my own case, earnestly implore + that sympathy with political sufferers should not be merely + telescopic in its character, 'distance lending enchantment to the + view;' and that when your statesmen sentimentalize upon, and your + journalists denounce far-away tyrannies--the horrors of Neapolitan + dungeons--the abridgement of personal freedom in Continental + countries--the exercise of arbitrary power by irresponsible authority + in other lands--they would turn their eyes homeward, and examine the + treatment and the sufferings of their own political prisoners. I + would, in all sincerity, suggest that humane and well-meaning men, + who exert themselves for the remission of the death-penalty as a + mercy, would rather implore that the doors of solitary and silent + captivity should be remitted to the more merciful doom of an + immediate relief from suffering by immediate execution--the + opportunity of an immediate appeal from man's cruelty to God's + justice. I speak strongly on this point because I feel it deeply. I + speak not without example. At the Commission at which I was tried + there was tried also and sentenced a young man named Stowell. I well + remember that raw and dreary morning, the 12th March, when handcuffed + to Stowell I was sent from Kilmainham Prison to the County Gaol of + Kildare. I well remember our traversing, so handcuffed, from the town + of Sailing to the town of Naas, ancle deep in snow and mud, and I + recall now with pain our sad foreboding of that morning. These in + part have been fulfilled. Sunday after Sunday I saw poor Stowell at + chapel in Naas Gaol drooping and dying. One such Sunday--the 12th + May--passed and I saw him no more. On Wednesday, the 15th, he was, as + they say, _mercifully_ released from prison, but the fiat of mercy + had previously gone forth from a higher power--the political convict + simply reached his own home to die, with loving eyes watching by his + death-bed. On Sunday, the 19th May, he was consigned to another + prison home in Glasnevin Cemetery. May God have mercy on his + soul--may God forgive his persecutors--may God give peace and + patience to those who are doomed to follow. + + "Pardon this digression, my lords, I could not avoid it. Returning to + the question, why sentence should not be pronounced upon me, I would + ask your lordships' attention to the fact showing, even in the + estimate of the crown, the case is not one for sentence. + + "On the morning of my trial, and before the trial, terms were offered + to me by the crown. The direct proposition was made through my + solicitor, through the learned counsel who so ably defended me, + through the Governor of Kilmainham Prison--by all three--that if I + pleaded guilty to the indictment, I should get off with six months' + imprisonment. Knowing the pliancy of Dublin juries in political + cases, the offer was, doubtless, a tempting one. Valuing liberty, it + was almost resistless--in view of a possible penal servitude--but + having regard to principle, I spurned the compromise. I then gave + unhesitatingly, as I would now give, the answer, that not for a + reduction of the punishment to six hours would I surrender + faith--that I need never look, and could never look, wife or + children, friends or family, in the face if capable of such a selfish + cowardice. I could not to save myself imperil the safety of others--I + could not plead guilty to an indictment in which six others were + distinctly charged by name as co-conspirators with me--one of those + six since tried, convicted, and sentenced to death--I could not + consent to obtain my own pardon at their expense--furnish the crown + with a case in point for future convictions, and become, even though + indirectly, worthy to rank with that brazen battalion of venal + vagabonds, who have made the Holy Gospel of God the medium of barter + for their unholy gain, and obtained access to the inmost heart of + their selected victim only to coin its throbbing into the traitor's + gold and traffic on its very life-blood. + + "Had I been charged simply with my own words and deeds I would have + no hesitation in making acknowledgement. I have nothing to repent + and nothing to conceal--nothing to retract and nothing to + countermand; but in the language of the learned Lord Chief Baron in + this case, I could not admit 'the preposterous idea of thinking by + deputy' any more than I could plead guilty to an indictment which + charge others with crime. Further, my lords, I could not acknowledge + culpability for the acts and words of others at a distance of three + thousand miles--others whom I had never seen, of whom I had never + heard, and with whom I never had had communication. I could not admit + that the demoniac atrocities, described as Fenian principles by the + constabulary-spy Talbot, ever had my sanction or approval or the + sanction or approval of any man in America. + + "If, my lords, six months' imprisonment was the admeasurement of the + law officers of the crown as an adequate punishment for my alleged + offence--assuming that the court had jurisdiction to try and + punish--then, am I now entitled to my discharge independent of all + other grounds of discharge, for I have gone through seven months of + an imprisonment which could not be excelled by demon ingenuity in + horror and in hardship--in solitude, in silence and in suspense. Your + lordships will not only render further litigation necessary by + passing sentence for the perhaps high crime--but still the untried + crime--of refusing to yield obedience to the crown's proposition for + my self-abasement. You will not, I am sure, visit upon my rejection + of Mr. Anderson's delicate overture--you will not surely permit the + events occurring, unhappily occurring, since my trial to influence + your judgments. And do not, I implore you, accept as a truth, + influencing that judgement, Talbot's definition of the objects of + Feminism. Hear what Devany, the American informer, describes them to + be. 'The members,' he says, 'were _pledged by word of honour_ to + promote love and harmony amongst all classes of Irishmen and to + labour for the independence of Ireland.' Talbot says that in Ireland + 'the members are _bound by oath_ to seize the property of the + country and murder all opposed to them.' Can any two principles be + more distinct from each other? Could there be a conspiracy for a + common object by such antagonistic means? To murder all opposed to + your principles may be an effectual way of producing unanimity, but + the quality of love and harmony engendered by such a patent process, + would be extremely equivocal. Mr. Talbot, for the purposes of his + evidence, must have borrowed a leaf from the History of the French + Revolution, and adopted as singularly telling and appropriate for + effect the saying attributed to Robespiere: 'Let us cut everybody's + throat but our own, and then we are sure to be masters.' + + "No one in America, I venture to affirm, ever heard of such designs + in connexion with the Fenian Brotherhood. No one in America would + countenance such designs. Revolutionists are not ruffians or + rapparees. A judge from the bench at Cork, and a noble lord in his + place in parliament, bore testimony to that fact, in reference to the + late movement; and I ask you, my lords--I would ask the country from + this court--for the sake of the character of your countrymen--to + believe Devany's interpretation of Fenianism--tainted traitor though + he be--rather than believe that the kindly instincts of Irishmen, at + home and abroad--their generous impulses--their tender + sensibilities--all their human affections, in a word--could + degenerate into the attributes of the assassin, as stated by that + hog-in-armour, that crime-creating Constable Talbot. + + "Taking other ground, my lords, I object to any sentence upon me. I + stand at this bar a declared citizen of the United States of America, + entitled to the protection of such citizenship; and I protest against + the right to pass any sentence in any British court for acts done, or + words spoken, or alleged to be done or spoken, on American soil, + within the shades of the American flag, and under the sanction of + American institutions. I protest against the assumption that would in + this country limit the right of thought, or control the liberty of + speech in an assemblage of American citizens in an American city. The + United States will, doubtless, respect and protect her neutrality + laws and observe the comity of nations, whatever they may mean in + practice, but I protest against the monstrous fiction--the + transparent fraud--that would seek in ninety years after the + evacuation of New York by the British to bring the people of New York + within the vision and venue of a British jury--that in ninety years + after the last British bayonet had glistened in an American sunlight, + after the last keel of the last of the English fleet ploughed its + last furrow in the Hudson or the Delaware--after ninety years of + republican independence--would seek to restore that city of New York + and its institutions to the dominion of the crown and government of + Great Britain. This is the meaning of it, and disguise it as you may, + so will it be interpreted beyond the Atlantic. Not that the people of + America care one jot whether S.J. Meany were hanged, drawn, and + quartered to-morrow, but that there is a great principle involved. + Personally, I am of no consequence; politically, I represent in this + court the adopted citizen of America--for, as the _New York Herald_, + referring to this case, observed, if the acts done in my regard are + justifiable, there is nothing to prevent the extension of the same + justice to any other adopted citizen of the States visiting Great + Britain. It is, therefore, in the injustice of the case the influence + lies, and not in the importance of the individual. + + "Law is called 'the perfection of reason.' Is there not danger of its + being regarded as the very climax of absurdity if fictions of this + kind can be turned into realities on the mere caprice of power. As a + distinguished English journalist has suggested in reference to the + case, 'though the law may doubtless be satisfied by the majority in + the Court of Appeal, yet common sense and common law would be widely + antagonistic if sentence were to follow a judgment so obtained.' + + "On all grounds then I submit, in conclusion, this is not a case for + sentence. Waving for the purpose the international objection, and + appealing to British practice itself, I say it is not a fair case for + sentence. The professed policy of that practice has ever been to give + the benefit of doubt to the prisoner. Judges in their charges to + juries have ever theorized on this principle, and surely judges + themselves will not refuse to give practical effect to the theory. If + ever there was a case which more than another was suggestive of + doubt, it is surely one in which so many judges have pronounced + against the legality of the trial and the validity of the conviction + on which you are about to pass sentence. Each of these judges, be it + remembered, held competent in his individuality to administer the + criminal law of the country--each of whom, in fact, in his + individuality does so administer it unchallenged and unquestioned. + + "A sentence under such circumstances, be it for a long period or a + short would be wanting in the element of moral effect--the effect of + example--which could alone give it value, and which is professedly + the aim of all legal punishment. A sentence under such circumstances + would be far from reassuring to the public mind as to the + 'certainties' of the law, and would fail to commend the approval or + win the respect of any man 'within the realm or without.' While to + the prisoner, to the sufferer in chief, it would only bring the + bitter, and certainly not the repentant feeling that he suffered in + the wrong--that he was the victim of an injustice based on an + inference which not even the tyrant's plea of necessity can + sustain--namely, that at a particular time he was at a distance of + three thousand miles from the place where he then actually stood in + bodily presence, and that at that distance he actually thought the + thoughts and acted the acts of men unknown to him even by name. It + will bring to the prisoner, I repeat, the feeling--the bitter + feeling--that he was condemned on an unindicted charge pressed + suddenly into the service, and for a constructive crime which some of + the best authorities in the law have declared not to be a crime + cognizable in any of your courts. + + "Let the crown put forward any supposition they please--indulge in + what special pleadings they will--sugar over the bitter pill of + constructive conspiracy as they can--to this complexion must come the + triangular injustice of this case--the illegal and unconstitutional + kidnapping in England--the unfair and invalid trial and conviction in + Ireland for the alleged offence in another hemisphere and under + mother sovereignty. My lords, I have done." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CAPTAIN JOHN M'CLURE. + + +Captain John M'Clure, like Captain M'Afferty, was an American born, but +of Irish parentage. He was born at Dobb's Ferry, twenty-two miles from +New York, on July 17th, 1846, and he was therefore a mere youth when, +serving with distinguished gallantry in the Federal ranks, he attained +the rank of captain. He took part in the Fenian rising of the 5th March, +and was prominently concerned in the attack and capture of Knockadoon +coast-guard station. He and his companion, Edward Kelly, were captured +by a military party at Kilclooney Wood, on March 31st, after a smart +skirmish, in which their compatriot the heroic and saintly Peter +Crowley lost his life. His trial took place before the Special +Commission at Cork, on May 22nd and 23rd, 1807. The following are the +spirited and eloquent terms in which he addressed the court previous to +sentence being pronounced on him:-- + + "My lords--In answer to the question as to why the sentence of the + court should not now be passed upon me, I would desire to make a few + remarks in relation to my late exertions in behalf of the suffering + people of this country, in aiding them in their earnest endeavours to + attain the independence of their native land. Although not born upon + the soil of Ireland, my parents were, and from history, and + tradition, and fireside relations, I became conversant with the + country's history from my earliest childhood, and as the human race + will ever possess these God-like qualities which inspire mankind with + sympathy for the suffering, a desire to aid poor Ireland to rise from + her moral degradation took possession of me. I do not now wish to say + to what I assign the failure of that enterprise with which are + associated my well-meant acts for this persecuted land. I feel fully + satisfied of the righteousness of my every act in connexion with the + late revolutionary movement in this country, being actuated by a holy + desire to assist in the emancipation of an enslaved and generous + people. I derive more pleasure from having done the act than from any + other event that has occurred to me during my eventful but youthful + life. I wish it to be distinctly understood here, standing as I do + perhaps on the brink of an early grave, that I am no fillibuster or + freebooter, and that I had no personal object or inclination to gain + anything in coming to this country. I came solely through love of + Ireland and sympathy for her people. If I have forfeited my life. I + am ready to abide the issue. If my exertions on behalf of a + distressed people be a crime, I am willing to pay the penalty, + knowing, as I do, that what I have done was in behalf of a people + whose cause is just--a people who will appreciate and honour a man, + although he may not be a countryman of their own--still a man who is + willing to suffer in defence of that divine, that American + principle--the right of self-government. I would wish to tender to my + learned and eloquent counsel, Mr. Heron and Mr. Waters, and to my + solicitor, Mr. Collins, my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the able + manner in which they have conducted my defence. And now, my lords, I + trust I will meet in a becoming manner the penalty which it is now + the duty of your lordship to pronounce upon me. I have nothing more + to say." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +EDWARD KELLY. + + +On the same occasion the prisoner Edward Kelly delivered the following +soul-stirring address:-- + + "My lords--The novelty of my situation will plead for any want of + fluency on my part; and I beg your lordships' indulgence if I am + unnecessarily tedious. I have to thank the gentlemen of the jury for + their recommendation, which I know was well meant; but knowing, as I + do, what that mercy will be, I heartily wish that recommendation will + not be received. Why should I feel regret? What is death? The act of + passing from this life into the next. I trust that God will pardon me + my sins, and that I will have no cause to fear entering into the + presence of the ever-living and Most Merciful Father. I don't + recollect in my life ever having done anything with a deliberately + bad intention. In my late conduct I do not see anything for regret. + Why then, I say, should I feel regret? I leave the dread of death to + such wretches as Corridon and Massey--Corridon, a name once so + suggestive of sweetness and peace, now the representative of a + loathsome monster. If there be anything that can sink that man, + Corridon, lower in the scales of degradation, it is--" + + The Chief Justice--"We cannot listen to any imputation on persons who + were examined as witnesses. Strictly speaking, you are only to say + why sentence of death should not be passed upon you; at the same time + we are very unwilling to hold a very strict hand, but we cannot allow + imputations to be made on third persons, witnesses or others, who + have come forward in this trial." + + Prisoner--"Well, my lord, I will answer as well as I can the question + put to me. The Irish people through every generation ever since + England has obtained a footing in Ireland, have protested against the + occupation of our native soil by the English. Surely that is answer + enough why sentence of death should not be passed upon me. In the + part I have taken in the late insurrection, I feel conscious that I + was doing right. Next to serving his Creator, I believe it is a man's + solemn duty to serve his country. [Here the prisoner paused to + suppress his emotion, which rendered his utterance very feeble, and + continued]--my lords, I have nothing more to say, except to quote the + words of the sacred psalmist, in which you will understand that I + speak of my country as he speaks of his:--'If I forget thee, O + Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten, let my tongue cleave to my + jaws if I do not remember thee: if I make not Jerusalem the beginning + of my joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of + Jerusalem: who say, raze, raze it, even to the foundation thereof. O + daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed be he who shall repay thee + thy payment which thou hast paid us.' In conclusion, my lords, I + wish to give my thanks to my attorney, Mr. Collins, for his untiring + exertions, and also to my counsel, Mr. Heron, for his able defence, + and to Mr. Waters." + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +CAPTAIN WILLIAM MACKAY. + + +In the evidence adduced at the Cork Summer Assizes of 1867, on the +trials of persons charged with participation in the Fenian rising of +March 5th, the name of Captain Mackay frequently turned up. The captain, +it would appear, was a person of influence and importance in the +insurrectionary army. He had taken part in many councils of the Fenian +leaders, he was trusted implicitly by his political friends, and much +deference was paid to his opinion. But more than all this, he had taken +the field on the night of the rising, led his men gallantly to the +attack of Ballyknockane police barrack, and, to the-great horror of all +loyal subjects, committed the enormous offence of capturing it. This, +and the similar successes achieved by Lennon at Stepaside and +Glencullen, county Wicklow, were some of the incidents of the attempted +rebellion which most annoyed the government, who well knew the influence +which such events, occurring at the outset of a revolutionary movement, +are apt to exercise on the popular mind. Captain Mackay, therefore, was +badly "wanted" by the authorities after the Fenian rising; there was any +money to be given for information concerning the whereabouts of Captain +Mackay, but it came not. Every loyal-minded policeman in Cork county, +and in all the other Irish counties, and every detective, and every spy, +and every traitor in the pay of the government, kept a sharp look out +for the audacious Captain Mackay, who had compelled the garrison of one +of her Majesty's police barracks to surrender to him, and hand him up +their arms in the quietest and most polite manner imaginable; but they +saw him not, or if they saw, they did not recognise him. + +So month after month rolled on, and no trace of Captain Mackay could be +had. The vigilant guardians and servants of English law in Ireland, then +began to think he must have managed to get clear out of the country, and +rather expected that the next thing they would hear of him would be that +he was organizing and lecturing amongst the Irish enemies of England in +the United States. There, however, they were quite mistaken, as they +soon found out to their very great vexation and alarm. + +On the 27th day of December, 1867, there was strange news in Cork, and +strange news all over the country, for the telegraph wires spread it in +every direction. The news was that on the previous evening a party of +Fenians had entered the Martello tower at Foaty, on the north side of +the Cork river, made prisoners of the gunners who were in charge, and +had then taken possession of, and borne away all the arms and ammunition +they could find in the place! Startling news this was undoubtedly. Loyal +men stopped each other in the streets, and asked if anything like it had +ever been heard of. They wanted to know if things were not coming to a +pretty pass, and did not hesitate to say they would feel greatly obliged +to anyone who could answer for them the question "What next?" For this +sack of the Martello tower was not the first successful raid for arms +which the Fenians had made in that neighbourhood. About a month +before--on the night of November 28th--they had contrived to get into +the shop of Mr. Richardson, gunmaker, Patrick-street, and abstract from +the premises no fewer than 120 revolvers and eight Snider rifles, +accomplishing the feat so skilfully, that no trace either of the weapons +or the depredators had since been discovered. This was what might be +called a smart stroke of work, but it shrunk into insignificance +compared with the audacious act of plundering one of her Majesty's +fortified stations. + +The details of the affair, which were soon known, were received by the +public with mingled feelings of amusement and amazement. The Fenian +party, it was learned, had got into the tower by the usual means of +entrance--a step-ladder, reaching to the door, which is situate at some +height from the ground. One party of the invaders remained in the +apartment just inside the entrance door, while another numbering five +persons, proceeded to an inner room, where they found two of the +gunners, with their families, just in the act of sitting down to tea. In +an instant revolvers were placed at the heads of the men, who were told +not to stir on peril of their lives. At the same time assurances were +given to them, and to the affrighted women, that if they only kept quiet +and complied with the demands of the party no harm whatever should befal +them. The garrison saw that resistance was useless, and promptly acceded +to those terms. The invaders then asked for and got the keys of the +magazine, which they handed out to their friends, who forthwith set to +work to remove the ammunition which they found stored in the vaults. +They seized about 300 lbs. of gunpowder, made up in 8 lb. cartridges, a +quantity of fuses, and other military stores, and then proceeded to +search the entire building for arms. Of these, however, they found very +little--nothing more than the rifles and sword bayonets of the two or +three men who constituted the garrison, a circumstance which seemed to +occasion them much disappointment. They were particularly earnest and +pressing in their inquiries for hand-grenades, a species of missile +which they had supposed was always kept "in stock" in such places. They +could scarcely believe that there were none to be had. Some charges of +grape-shot which they laid hands on might be, they thought, the sort of +weapon they were in quest of, and they proceeded to dissect and analyse +one of them. Grape-shot, we may explain to the unlearned in these +matters, is "an assemblage, in the form of a cylindrical column, of nine +balls resting on a circular plate, through which passes a pin serving as +an axis. The balls are contained in a strong canvas bag, and are bound +together on the exterior of the latter by a cord disposed about the +column in the manner of a net." This was not the sort of thing the +Fenian party wanted; grape-shot could be of no use to them, for the +Fenian organization, to its great sorrow, was possessed of no artillery; +they resolved, therefore, to leave those ingeniously-constructed +packages behind them, and to retire with the more serviceable spoils +they had gathered. While the search was proceeding, the Fenian sentries, +with revolvers ready in their hands, stood guard over the gunners, and +prevented anyone--young or old--from quitting the room. They spoke +kindly to all however, chatted with the women, and won the affectionate +regards of the youngsters by distributing money among them. One of these +strange visitors became so familiar as to tell one of the women that if +she wished to know who he was, his name was Captain Mac--a piece of +information which did not strike her at the time as being of any +peculiar value. When the party had got their booty safely removed from +the building, this chivalrous captain and his four assistant sentries +prepared to leave; they cautioned the gunners, of whom there were three +at this time in the building--one having entered while the search was +proceeding--against quitting the fort till morning, stating that men +would be on the watch outside to shoot them if they should attempt it. +So much being said and done, they bade a polite good evening to her +Majesty's gunners and their interesting families, and withdrew. + +The heroic garrison did not venture out immediately after they had been +relieved of the presence of the Fenian party; but finding that a few +charges of powder were still stowed away in a corner of the fort, they +hurried with them to the top of the building and commenced to blaze away +from the big gun which was there _in situ_. This performance they meant +as a signal of distress; but though the sounds were heard and the +flashes seen far and wide, no one divined the object of what appeared to +be nothing more than an oddly-timed bit of artillery practice. Next +morning the whole story was in every one's mouth. Vast was the amusement +which it afforded to the Corkonians generally, and many were the +encomiums which they passed on the dashing Irish-Americans and smart +youths of Cork's own town who had accomplished so daring and clever a +feat. Proportionally great was the irritation felt by the sprinkling of +loyalists and by the paid servants of the crown in that quarter. One +hope at all events the latter party had, that the leader in the +adventure would soon be "in the hands of justice," and one comforting +assurance, that never again would the Fenians be able to replenish their +armoury in so easy and so unlawful a manner. + +Four days afterwards there was another "sensation" in Cork. The Fenian +collectors of arms had made another haul! And this time their mode of +action surpassed all their previous performances in coolness and daring. +At nine o'clock in the morning, on the 30th of December, eight men, who +had assumed no disguise, suddenly entered the shop of Mr. Henry Allport, +gunmaker, of Patrick-street, and producing revolvers from their pockets, +covered him and his two assistants, telling then at the same time that +if they ventured to stir, or raise any outcry, they were dead men. While +the shopmen remained thus bound to silence, five of the party proceeded +to collect all the rifles and revolvers in the establishment, and place +them in a canvas sack which had been brought for the purpose. This sack, +into which a few guns and seventy-two splendid revolvers of the newest +construction had been put, was then carried off by two men, who, having +transferred the contents to the safe-keeping of some confederates, +returned with it very quickly to receive and bear away a large quantity +of revolver cartridges which had been found in the shop. This second +"loot" having been effected, the guards who stood over Mr. Allport and +his men, lowered their weapons, and after cautioning all three not to +dare to follow them, quitted the shop in a leisurely manner, and +disappeared down one of the by-streets. As soon as he was able to +collect his scattered wits, Mr. Allport rushed to the nearest police +station, and gave information of what had occurred. The police hastened +to the scene of this daring exploit, but of course "the birds were +flown," and no one could say whither. + +Needless to say how this occurrence intensified the perplexity and the +rage of the government party in all parts of the country. There was +surely some fierce swearing in Dublin Castle on the day that news +arrived, and perhaps many a passionate query blurted out as to whether +police, detectives, magistrates, and all in that southern district were +not secretly in league with the rebels. In fact, a surmise actually got +into the papers that the proprietors of the gunshops knew more about the +disappearance of the arms, and were less aggrieved by the "seizure" than +they cared to acknowledge. However this might be, the popular party +enjoyed the whole thing immensely, laughed over it heartily, and +expressed in strong terms their admiration of the skill and daring +displayed by the operators. The following squib, which appeared in the +_Nation_ at the time, over the initials "T.D.S.," affords an indication +of the feelings excited among Irish nationalists by those extraordinary +occurrences:-- + + THE CORK MEN AND NEW YORK MEN + + Oh, the gallant Cork men, + Mixed with New York men, + I'm sure their equals they can't be found, + For persevering + In deeds of daring, + They set men staring the world around. + No spies can match them, + No sentries watch them, + No specials catch them or mar their play, + While the clever Cork men + And cute New York men + Work new surprises by night and day. + + Sedate and steady, + Calm, quick, and ready, + They boldly enter, and make no din. + Where'er such trifles + As Snider rifles + And bright six-shooters are stored within. + The Queen's round towers + Can't baulk their powers, + Off go the weapons by sea and shore, + To where the Cork men + And smart New York men + Are daily piling their precious store. + + John Bull, in wonder, + With voice like thunder, + Declares such plunder he roust dislike, + They next may rowl in + And sack Haulbowline, + Or on a sudden run off with Spike. + His peace is vanished, + His joys are banished, + And gay or happy no more he'll be, + Until those Cork men + And wild New York men + Are sunk together beneath the sea. + + Oh, bold New York men + And daring Cork men, + We own your pleasures should all grow dim, + On thus discerning + And plainly learning + That your amusement gives pain to _him_. + Yet, from the nation, + This salutation + Leaps forth, and echoes with thunderous sound-- + "Here's to all Cork men, + Likewise New York men, + Who stand for Ireland, the world around!" + +But Captain Mackay, skilful and "lucky" as he was, was trapped at last. + +On the evening of the 7th of February, 1868, he walked into the grocery +and spirit shop of Mr. Cronin in Market-street--not to drink whiskey or +anything of that sort, for he was a man of strictly temperate habits, +and he well knew that of all men those who are engaged in the dangerous +game of conspiracy and revolution can least afford to partake of drinks +that may unloose their tongues and let their wits run wild. He called +for a glass of lemonade, and recognising some persons who were in the +shop at the time, he commenced a conversation with them. + +Only a few minutes from the time of his entrance had elapsed when a +party of police, wearing a disguise over their uniforms, rushed into the +shop, and commanded the door to be shut. + +The men inside attempted to separate and escape, but they were +instantly grappled by the police. One of the force seized Captain Mackay +by the collar, and a vigorous struggle between them at once commenced. +The policeman was much the larger man of the two, but the Fenian Captain +was wiry and muscular, and proved quite a match for him. They fell, and +rose, and fell, and rose again, the policeman undermost sometimes, and +at other times the Fenian Captain. They struggled for nearly twenty +minutes. + +"Dead or alive, I'll take you," said the policeman, as he drew his +revolver from his pocket. + +"I have but one life, to lose, and if it goes, so be it," replied Mackay +drawing a weapon of the same kind. + +In another instant there was a clash as of striking steel, and a +discharge of one of the weapons. + +"Good God! I'm shot!" exclaimed Constable Casey from, the end of the +room, and he fell upon the floor. + +Captain Mackay's revolver had gone off in the struggle, and the ball had +struck the constable in the leg, inflicting on him a serious wound. + +By this time several parties of police had arrived in the street and +stationed themselves so as to prevent the formation of a crowd and deter +the people from any attempt at rescue. A reinforcement having turned +into the house in which the struggle was going on, Captain Mackay and +others who had been in his company were made prisoners, and marched off +in custody. + +Some days afterwards, the wounded constable, who had refused to submit +to amputation of the wounded limb, died in hospital. + +On the 10th of March, 1868, at the Cork Assizes, Judge O'Hagan +presiding, Captain Mackay was put on his trial for murder. The evidence +established a probability that the discharge of the prisoner's revolver +was not intended or effected by him, but was a consequence of its having +been struck by the revolver of the policeman who was struggling with +him. The verdict of the jury therefore was one of acquittal. + +But then came the other charge against him, the charge of +treason-felony, for his connexion with the Fenian Brotherhood, and his +part in the recent "rising." For this he was put on trial on the 20th +day of March. He was ably defended by Mr. Heron, Q.C.; but the evidence +against him was conclusive. To say nothing of the testimony of the +informers, which should never for a moment be regarded as trustworthy, +there was the evidence and the identification supplied by the gunners of +the Martello tower and their wives, and the policemen of Ballyknockane +station and the wife of one of them. This evidence while establishing +the fact that the prisoner had been concerned in the levying of war +against the crown, established also the fact that he was a man as +chivalrous and gentle as he was valorous and daring. Some of the +incidents proved to have occurred during the attack which was made, +under his leadership, on the police barrack, are worthy of special +mention in any sketch, however brief, of the life and adventures of this +remarkable man. After he, at the head of his party, had demanded the +surrender of the barrack in the name of the Irish Republic, the police +fired, and the fire was returned. Then the insurgents broke in the door +and set fire to the lower part of the barrack. Still the police held +out. "Surrender!" cried the insurgents; "_You want to commit suicide, +but we don't want to commit murder._" One of the policemen then cried +out that a little girl, his daughter, was inside, and asked if the +attacking party would allow her to be passed out? Of course they would, +gladly; and the little girl was taken out of the window with all +tenderness, and given up to her mother who had chanced to be outside the +barrack when the attack commenced. At this time a Catholic clergyman, +the Rev. Mr. Neville, came on the spot. He asked the insurgent leader +whether, if the police surrendered, any harm would be done to them? +"Here is my revolver," said Captain Mackay, "let the contents of it be +put through me if one of them should be injured." Well did Mr. Heron in +his able speech, referring to these facts, say, "Though they were rebels +who acted that heroic part, who could say their hearts, were not +animated with the courage of Leonidas, and the chivalry of Bayard." + +On the second day of the trial the jury brought in their verdict, +declaring the prisoner guilty, but at the same time recommending him to +the merciful consideration of the court, because of the humanity which +he had displayed towards the men whom he had in his power. The finding +took no one by surprise, and did not seem to trouble the prisoner in the +faintest degree. During the former trial some shades of anxiety might +have been detected on his features; the charge of "murder" was grievous +to him, but when that was happily disposed of, the world seemed to +brighten before him, and he took his treason-felony trial cheerily. He +knew what the verdict on the evidence would be, and he was conscious +that the penalty to be imposed on him would be no trivial one; he felt +that it was hard to part from faithful comrades, and dear friends, and, +above all, from the young wife whom he had married only a few short +months before; but then it was in Ireland's cause he was about to +suffer, and for that he could endure all. + +And yet, Ireland was not his native land. He was born in Cincinnatti, +Ohio, in the year 1841. But his parents, who were natives of +Castle-Lyons, near Fermoy, in the County Cork, were true children of +Erin, and they taught their son to love, even as they did themselves, +that green isle far away, from which a hard fate had compelled them to +roam. Patriotism, indeed, was hereditary in the family. The +great-grandfather of our hero suffered death for his fidelity to the +cause of Ireland in the memorable year 1798; and a still-more remarkable +fact is that Captain Mackay--or William Francis Lomasney, to call him by +his real name--in leaving America for Ireland in 1865 to take part in +the contemplated rising, merely took the place which his father wished +and intended to occupy. The young man induced him, to remain at home, +and claimed for himself the post of danger. Well may that patriotic +father be proud of such a son. + +When called upon for such remarks as he might have to offer on his own +behalf, Captain Mackay, without any of the airs of a practised speaker, +but yet with a manner that somehow touched every heart and visibly +affected the humane and upright judge who sat on the bench, delivered +the following address:-- + + "My lord--What I said last evening I think calls for a little + explanation. I then said I was fully satisfied with the verdict--that + it was a fair and just one. I say so still, but I wish to state that + I consider it only so in accordance with British law, and that it is + not in accordance with my ideas of right and justice. I feel that + with the strong evidence there was against me, according to British + law, the jury could not, as conscientious men, do otherwise. I feel + that. I thank them again for their recommendation to mercy, which, I + have no doubt, was prompted by a good intention towards me, and a + desire to mitigate what they considered would he a long and painful + imprisonment. Still, I will say, with all respect, that I feel the + utmost indifference to it. I do so for this reason--I am now in that + position that I must rely entirely upon the goodness of God, and I + feel confident that He will so dispose events that I will not remain + a prisoner so long as your lordship may be pleased to decree. The + jury having now found me guilty, it only remains for your lordship to + give effect to their verdict. The eloquence, the ability, the clear + reasoning, and the really splendid arguments of my counsel failed, as + I knew they would, to affect the jury. I feel, therefore, that with + my poor talents it would be utterly vain and useless for me to + attempt to stay the sentence which it now becomes your lordship's + duty to pronounce. I believe, my lord, from what I have seen of your + lordship, and what I have heard of you, it will be to you a painful + duty to inflict that sentence upon me. To one clinging so much to the + world and its joys--to its fond ties and pleasant associations, as I + naturally do, retirement into banishment is seldom--very + seldom--welcome. Of that, however, I do not complain. But to any man + whose heart glows with the warmest impulses and the most intense love + of freedom; strongly attached to kind friends, affectionate parents, + loving brother and sisters, and a devotedly fond and loving wife, the + contemplation of a long period of imprisonment must appear most + terrible and appalling. To me, however, viewing it from a purely + personal point of view, and considering the cause for which I am + about to suffer, far from being dismayed--far from its discouraging + me--it proves to me rather a source of joy and comfort. True, it is a + position not to be sought--not to be looked for--it is one which, for + many, very many reasons there is no occasion for me now to explain, + maybe thought to involve disgrace or discredit. But, so far from + viewing it in that light, I do not shrink from it, but accept it + readily, feeling proud and glad that it affords me an opportunity of + proving the sincerity of those soul-elevating principles of freedom + which a good old patriotic father instilled into my mind from my + earliest years, and which I still entertain with a strong love, whose + fervour and intensity are second only to the sacred homage which we + owe to God. If, having lost that freedom, I am to be deprived of all + those blessings--those glad and joyous years I should have spent + amongst loving friends--I shall not complain, I shall not murmur, but + with calm resignation and cheerful expectation, I shall joyfully + submit to God's blessed will, feeling confident that He will open the + strongly locked and barred doors of British prisons. Till that glad + time arrives, it is consolation and reward enough for me to know that + I have the fervent prayers, the sympathy and loving blessings of + Ireland's truly noble and generous people, and far easier, more + soothing and more comforting to me will it be to go back to my + cheerless cell, than it would be to live in slavish ease and + luxury--a witness to the cruel sufferings and terrible miseries of + this down-trodden people. Condemn me, then, my lord--condemn me to a + felon's doom. To-night I will sleep in a prison cell; to-morrow I + will wear a convict's dress; but to me it will be a far nobler garb + than the richest dress of slavery. Coward slaves they lie who think + the countless sufferings and degradation of prison life disgraces a + man. I feel otherwise. It is as impossible to subdue the soul + animated with freedom as it will be for England to crush the resolute + will of this nation, determined as it is to be free, or perish in the + attempt. According to British law, those acts proved against + me--fairly proved against me I acknowledge--maybe crimes, but + morally, in the eyes of freemen and the sight of God, they are more + ennobling than disgraceful. Shame is only a connexion with guilt. It + is surely not a crime to obey God's law, or to assist our fellow-men + to acquire those God-given rights which no men--no nation--can justly + deprive them of. If love of freedom and a desire to extend its + unspeakable blessings to all God's creatures, irrespective of race, + creed, or colour, be a crime--if devotion to Ireland, and love of its + faithful, its honest, its kindly people be a crime, then I say I + proudly and gladly acknowledge my guilt. If it is a disgrace, all I + can say is I glory in such shame and dishonour; and, with all respect + for the court, I hold in thorough and utmost contempt the worst + punishment that can be inflicted upon me, so far as it is intended to + deprive me of this feeling, and degrade me in the eyes of my + fellow-men. Oh, no, it is impossible, my lord; the freeman's soul can + never be dismayed. England will most miserably fail if she expects by + force and oppression to crush out--to stamp out, as the _Times_ + exclaimed--this glorious longing for national life and independence + which now fills the breasts of millions of Irishmen, and which only + requires a little patience and the opportunity to effect its purpose. + Much has been said on these trials, on the objects and intentions of + Fenianism. I feel confidently, my lord, as to my own motives. I shall + not be guilty of the egotism to say whether they are pure or + otherwise. I shall leave that to others to judge. I am not qualified + to judge that myself; but I know in my soul that the motives which + prompted me were pure, patriotic, and unselfish. I know the motives + that actuate the most active members of the Fenian organization; and + I know that very few persons, except such contemptible wretches as + Corridon, have profited by their connexion with Fenianism. My best + friends lost all they ever possessed by it. Talbot and Corridon, I + believe, have sworn on previous trials that it was the intention of + the Fenians to have divided the lands of Ireland amongst themselves + in the event of success. Though an humble member of the organization, + I have the honour and satisfaction of being acquainted with the great + majority of the leaders of Fenianism on both sides of the Atlantic, + and I never knew one of them to have exhibited a desire other than to + have the proud satisfaction of freeing Ireland, which was the only + reward they ever yearned for--the only object that ever animated + them. As to myself, I can truly say that I entered into this movement + without any idea of personal aggrandisement. When, in 1865, I bade my + loving friends and parents good-bye in America, and came to Ireland, + I was fully satisfied with the thought that I was coming to assist in + the liberation of an enslaved nation; and I knew that the greatest + sacrifices must be endured on our parts before the country could be + raised to that proud position which is so beautifully described by + the national poet as-- + + "'Great, glorious, and free, + First flower of the earth, first gem of the sea.' + + "Well, it was with that only wish, and that only desire I came to + Ireland, feeling that to realize it were to an honest man a greater + reward than all the honours and riches and power this world could + bestow. I cannot boast of learning, my lord; I have not had much + opportunity of cultivating those talents with which Providence may + have blessed me. Still I have read sufficient of the world's history + to know that no people ever acquired their liberty without enormous + sacrifices--without losing, always, I may say, some of the purest, + bravest, and best of their children. Liberty, if worth possessing, is + surely worth struggling and fighting for, and in this struggle--of + which, although the crown-lawyers and the government of England think + they have seen the end, but of which I tell them they have not yet + seen the commencement--I feel that enormous sacrifices must be made. + Therefore, my lord, looking straight before me now, I say I was + determined and was quite ready to sacrifice my life if necessary to + acquire that liberty; and I am not now going to be so mean-spirited, + so cowardly, or so contemptible as to shrink from my portion of the + general suffering. I am ready, then, for the sentence of the court, + satisfied that I have acted right, confident that I have committed no + wrong, outrage, or crime whatever, and that I have cast no disgrace + upon my parents, my friends, upon my devoted wife, or upon myself. I + am, with God's assistance, ready to meet my fate. I rest in the calm + resignation of a man whose only ambition through life has been to + benefit and free, not to injure, his fellow-men; and whose only + desire this moment is to obtain their prayers and blessings. With the + approval of my own conscience, above all hoping for the forgiveness + of God for anything I may have done to displease Him, and relying + upon His self-sustaining grace to enable me to bear any punishment, + no matter how severe, so long as it is for glorious old Ireland. I + had intended, my lord, to refer to my notes which I took at the + trial; but I feel that was so ably done by my counsel, it would be a + mere waste of time for me to do so, but I just wish to make an + explanation. Sir C. O'Loghlen made a statement--unintentionally I am + sure it was on his part--which may or may not affect me. He said I + sent a memorial to the Lord Lieutenant praying to be released from + custody. I wish to say I sent no such thing. The facts of the matter + are these:--I was liberated in this court because in reality the + crown could not make out a case against me at the time; and as I + could, at the same time, be kept in prison until the next assizes, I, + on consultation with my friends and with my fellow-captive, Captain + M'Afferty, consented, as soon as I should receive a remittance from + my friends in America, to return there. On these conditions I was set + at liberty, understanding, at the same time, that if found in the + country by next assizes I would be brought up for trial. I did not + want to give annoyance, and I said I would go to America. I honestly + intended to do so then--not, however, as giving up my principles, but + because I saw there was no hope of an immediate rising in Ireland. + While agreeing to those conditions, I went to Dublin, and there met + M'Afferty, and it was on that occasion I made the acquaintance of + Corridon. I met him purely accidentally. He afterwards stated that he + saw me in Liverpool, but he did not see me there. I went over with an + object, and while there I was arrested by anticipation, before the + _Habeas Corpus_ Act was really suspended. I defy the government to + prove I had any connexion with Fenianism from the time I was released + from Cork jail until February, 1867. I was afterwards removed to + Mountjoy prison, and, while there, Mr. West came to me and said he + understood I was an American citizen, and asked why I did not make + that known. I said I had a double reason--first, because I expected + the crown would see they had broken their pledge with me in having + been so soon arrested; and also that I expected my government would + make a general demand for all its citizens. By Mr. West's desire I + put that statement in writing; and I do not think that there is a + word in it that can be construed into a memorial to the Lord + Lieutenant. One of the directors of the prison came to me and asked + me was I content to comply with the former conditions, and I said I + was. I was liberated upon those conditions, and complied with them; + but there was no condition whatever named that I was never to return + to Ireland nor to fight for Irish independence. At that time I would + sooner have remained in prison than enter into any such compact. Now, + with reference to Corridon's information. He states he met me in + Liverpool after the rising, and I stated to him that somebody 'sold + the pass' upon us--to use the Irish phrase. Now, it is a strange + thing, my lord, that he got some information that was true, and I + really was in Liverpool, but not with the informer. The fact is, the + month previous to that I knew, and so did M'Afferty, that Corridon + had sold us. We left instructions at Liverpool to have him watched; + but owing to circumstances, it is needless now to refer to, that was + not attended to, and he came afterwards to Ireland and passed as a + Fenian, and the parties here, not knowing he had betrayed them, still + believed in him. But I knew very well that Corridon had betrayed that + Chester affair, and so did Captain M'Afferty; and if I had met him at + that time in Liverpool I don't think it would be him I would inform + of our plans. I only want to show, my lord, how easily an informer + can concoct a scene. I never in my life attended that meeting that + Corridon swore to. All his depositions with respect to me is false. I + did meet him twice in Dublin, but not on the occasions he states. I + wish to show how an informer can concoct a story that it will be + entirely out of the power of the prisoner to contradict. With + reference to the witness Curtin, whom I asked to have produced--and + the crown did produce all the witnesses I asked for--your lordship + seemed to be under the impression that I did not produce him because + he might not be able to say I was not in his house that night. Now, + the fact is that, as my attorney learned the moment Mr. Curtin was + brought to town, he knew nothing whatever about the circumstance, as + he was not in his own tavern that night at all. That was why I did + not produce the evidence. But I solemnly declare I never was in + Curtin's public-house in my life till last summer, when I went in + with a friend on two or three occasions, and then for the first time. + That must have been in June or July, after the trials were over in + Dublin. So that everything Corridon said in connection with my being + there that night was absolutely false. I solemnly declare I was never + there till some time last summer, when I went in under the + circumstances I have stated. In conclusion, my lord, though it may + not be exactly in accordance with the rules of the court, I wish to + return your lordship my most sincere thanks for your fair and + impartial conduct during this trial. If there was anything that was + not impartial in it at all, I consider it was only in my favour, and + not in favour of the crown. This I consider is the duty of a judge, + and what every judge should do--because the prisoner is always on the + weak side, and cannot say many things he would wish, while the crown, + on the other hand, have all the power and influence that the law and + a full exchequer can give them. I must also return my sincere and + heartfelt thanks to my able and distinguished counsel, who spoke so + eloquently in my favour. As for Mr. Collins, I feel I can never + sufficiently thank him. He served me on my trial at a great sacrifice + of time and money, with noble zeal and devotion, such as might be + more readily expected from a friend than a solicitor. There are many + more I would like to thank individually, but as this may not be the + proper time and place to do so, I can only thank all my friends from + the bottom of my heart. I may mention the name at least of Mr. Joyce, + who, in the jail, showed a great deal of kind feeling and attention. + And now, my lord, as I have already stated, I am ready for my + sentence I feel rather out of place in this dock [the prisoner here + smiled gently]. It is a place a man is very seldom placed in, and + even if he is a good speaker he might be put out by the circumstance + of having to utter his remarks from this place. But speaking at all + is not my _forte_; and there are such emotions filling my breast at + this moment that I may be pardoned for not saying all I would wish. + My heart is filled with thoughts of kind friends--near at hand and + far away--of father and mother, brothers and sisters, and my dear + wife. Thoughts of these fill my breast at this moment, and check my + utterance. But I will say to them that I am firmly convinced I will + yet live to see, and that God will be graciously pleased in His own + good time to order, the prosperity and freedom of this glorious + country. I would only repeat the powerful, touching, and simple words + of Michael Larkin, the martyr of Manchester, who, in parting from his + friends, said, 'God be with you, Irishmen and Irishwomen,' and the + burning words of my old friend Edward O'Mara Condon, which are now + known throughout Ireland and the world, 'God save Ireland!' And I, + too, would say, 'God be with you, Irishmen and women; God save you; + God bless Ireland; and God grant me strength to bear my task for + Ireland as becomes a man. Farewell!' [A sound of some females sobbing + was here heard in the gallery. Several ladies in court, too, visibly + yielded to emotion at this point. Perceiving this the prisoner + continued:--] My lord, if I display any emotion at this moment, I + trust it will not be construed into anything resembling a feeling of + despair, for no such feeling animates me. I feel, as I have already + said, confidence in God. I feel that I will not be long in + imprisonment; therefore I am just as ready to meet my fate now as I + was six weeks ago, or as I was six months ago. I feel confident that + there is a glorious future in store for Ireland, and that, with a + little patience, a little organization, and a full trust in God on + the part of the Irish people, they will be enabled to obtain it at no + distant date." + +During the concluding passages of this address many persons sobbed and +wept in various parts of the court. At its close the learned judge in +language that was really gentle, considerate, and even complimentary +towards the prisoner, and in a voice shaken by sincere emotion, declared +the sentence which he felt it to be his duty to impose. It was penal +servitude for a term of twelve years. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK, PART I*** + + +******* This file should be named 13112.txt or 13112.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13112 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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