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Title: The Dock and the Scaffold

Author: T. D. Sullivan

Release date: July 20, 2004 [eBook #12961]
                Most recently updated: December 15, 2020

Language: English

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THE DOCK AND THE SCAFFOLD

The Manchester Tragedy and the Cruise of the Jacknell






[Illustration: THE "ERIN'S HOPE" SALUTING THE GREEN FLAG.]



"GOD SAVE IRELAND."


  "Far dearer the grave or the prison
  Illum'd by one patriot's name,
  Than the trophies of all who have risen
  On liberty's ruins to fame."

                             MOORE






The 23rd day of November, 1867, witnessed a strange and memorable
scene in the great English city of Manchester. Long ere the grey
winter's morning struggled in through the crisp frosty air--long ere
the first gleam of the coming day dulled the glare of the flaming
gas jets, the streets of the Lancashire capital were all astir with
bustling crowds, and the silence of the night was broken by the
ceaseless footfalls and the voices of hurrying throngs. Through the
long, dim streets, and past the tall rows of silent houses, the full
tide of life eddied and poured in rapid current; stout burghers,
closely muffled and staff in hand; children grown prematurely old,
with the hard marks of vice already branded on their features; young
girls with flaunting ribbons and bold, flushed faces; pale-faced
operatives, and strong men whose brawny limbs told of the Titanic
labours of the foundry; the clerk from his desk; the shopkeeper from
his store; the withered crone, and the careless navvy, swayed and
struggled through the living mass; and with them trooped the legions
of want, and vice, and ignorance, that burrow and fester in the foetid
lanes and purlieus of the large British cities: from the dark alleys
where misery and degradation for ever dwell, and from reeking cellars
and nameless haunts, where the twin demons of alcohol and crime rule
supreme; from the gin-palace, and the beer-shop, and the midnight
haunts of the tramp and the burglar, they came in all their
repulsiveness and debasement, with the rags of wretchedness upon
their backs, and the cries of profanity and obscenity upon their
lips. Forward they rushed in a surging flood through many a street
and byway, until where the narrowing thoroughfares open into the space
surrounding the New Bailey Prison, in that suburb of the great city
known as the Borough of Salford, they found their further progress
arrested. Between them and the massive prison walls rose piles of
heavy barricading, and the intervening space was black with a dense
body of men, all of whom faced the gloomy building beyond, and each of
whom carried a special constable's baton in his hand. The long railway
bridge running close by was occupied by a detachment of infantry, and
from the parapet of the frowning walls the muzzle of cannon, trained
on the space below, might be dimly discerned in the darkness. But
the crowd paid little attention to these extraordinary appearances;
their eyes were riveted on the black projection which jutted from the
prison wall, and which, shrouded in dark drapery, loomed with ghastly
significance through the haze. Rising above the scaffold, which
replaced a portion of the prison wall, the outlines of a gibbet were
descried; and from the cross-beam there hung three ropes, terminating
in nooses, just perceptible above the upper edge of the curtain which
extended thence to the ground. The grim excrescence seemed to possess
a horrible fascination for the multitude. Those in position to see it
best stirred not from their post, but faced the fatal cross-tree, the
motionless ropes, the empty platform, with an untiring, insatiable
gaze, that seemed pregnant with some terrible meaning, while the mob
behind them struggled, and pushed, and raved, and fought; and the
haggard hundreds of gaunt, diseased, stricken wretches, that vainly
contested with the stronger types of ruffianism for a place, loaded
the air with their blasphemies and imprecations. The day broke slowly
and doubtfully upon the scene; a dense yellow, murky fog floated round
the spot, wrapping in its opaque folds the hideous gallows and the
frowning mass of masonry behind. An hour passed, and then a hoarse
murmur swelled upwards from the glistening rows of upturned faces.
The platform was no longer empty; three pinioned men, with white caps
drawn closely over their faces, were standing upon the drop. For a
moment the crowd was awed into stillness; for a moment the responses,
"Christ, have mercy on us," "Christ, have mercy on us," were heard
from the lips of the doomed men, towards whom the sea of faces were
turned. Then came a dull crash, and the mob swayed backwards for an
instant. The drop had fallen, and the victims were struggling in
the throes of a horrible death. The ropes jerked and swayed with
the convulsive movements of the dying men. A minute later, and the
vibrations ceased--the end had come, the swaying limbs fell rigid
and stark, and the souls of the strangled men had floated upwards
from the cursed spot--up from the hateful crowd and the sin-laden
atmosphere--to the throne of the God who made them.

So perished, in the bloom of manhood, and the flower of their
strength, three gallant sons of Ireland--so passed away the last
of the martyred band whose blood has sanctified the cause of Irish
freedom. Far from the friends whom they loved, far from the land for
which they suffered, with the scarlet-clad hirelings of England around
them, and watched by the wolfish eyes of a brutal mob, who thirsted
to see them die, the dauntless patriots, who, in our own day,
have rivalled the heroism and shared the fate of Tone, Emmett, and
Fitzgerald, looked their last upon the world. No prayer was breathed
for their parting souls--no eye was moistened with regret amongst the
multitude that stretched away in compact bodies from the foot of the
gallows; the ribald laugh and the blasphemous oath united with their
dying breath; and, callously as the Roman mob from the blood-stained
amphitheatre, the English masses turned homewards from the fatal spot.
But they did not fall unhonoured or unwept. In the churches of the
faithful in that same city, the sobs of mournful lamentation were
mingled with the solemn prayers for their eternal rest, and, from
thousands of wailing women and stricken-hearted men, the prayers for
mercy, peace, and pardon, for the souls of MICHAEL O'BRIEN, WILLIAM
PHILIP ALLEN, and MICHAEL LARKIN, rose upwards to the avenging God.
Still less were they forgotten at home. Throughout the Irish land,
from Antrim's rocky coast to the foam-beaten headlands of Cork, the
hearts of their countrymen were convulsed with passionate grief and
indignation, and, blended with the sharp cry of agony that broke from
the nation's lips, came the murmurs of defiant hatred, and the pledges
of a bitter vengeance. Never, for generations, had the minds of the
Irish people been more profoundly agitated--never had they writhed
in such bitterness and agony of soul. With knitted brows and burning
cheeks, the tidings of the bloody deed were listened to. The names of
the martyred men were upon every lip, and the story of their heroism
and tragic death was read with throbbing pulse and kindling eyes
by every fireside in the land. It is to assist in perpetuating that
story, and in recording for future generations the narrative which
tells of how Allen, O'Brien, and Larkin died, that this narrative is
written, and few outside the nation whose hands are red with their
blood, will deny that at least so much recognition is due to their
courage, their patriotism, and their fidelity. In Ireland we know it
will be welcomed; amongst a people by whom chivalry and patriotism are
honoured, a story so touching and so enobling will not be despised;
and the race which guards with reverence and devotion the memories
of Tone, and Emmett, and the Shearses, will not soon surrender to
oblivion the memory of the three true-hearted patriots, who, heedless
of the scowling mob, unawed by the hangman's grasp, died bravely that
Saturday morning at Manchester, for the good old cause of Ireland.

Early before daybreak on the morning of November 11th, 1867,
the policemen on duty in Oak-street, Manchester, noticed four
broad-shouldered, muscular men loitering in a suspicious manner
about the shop of a clothes dealer in the neighbourhood. Some remarks
dropped by one of the party reaching the ears of the policemen,
strengthened their impression that an illegal enterprise was on foot,
and the arrest of the supposed burglars was resolved on. A struggle
ensued, during which two of the suspects succeeded in escaping, but
the remaining pair, after offering a determined resistance, were
overpowered and carried off to the police station. The prisoners, who,
on being searched, were found to possess loaded revolvers on their
persons, gave their names as Martin Williams and John Whyte, and were
charged under the Vagrancy Act before one of the city magistrates.
They declared themselves American citizens, and claimed their
discharge. Williams said he was a bookbinder out of work; Whyte
described himself as a hatter, living on the means brought with him
from America. The magistrate was about disposing summarily of the
case, by sentencing the men to a few days' imprisonment, when a
detective officer applied for a remand, on the ground that he had
reason to believe the prisoners were connected with the Fenian
conspiracy. The application was granted, and before many hours
had elapsed it was ascertained that Martin Williams was no other
than Colonel Thomas J. Kelly, one of the most prominent of the
(O'Mahony-Stephens) Fenian leaders, and that John Whyte was a brother
officer and co-conspirator, known to the circles of the Fenian
Brotherhood as Captain Deasey.

Of the men who had thus fallen into the clutches of the British
government the public had already heard much, and one of them
was widely known for the persistency with which he laboured as an
organiser of Fenianism, and the daring and skill which he exhibited
in the pursuit of his dangerous undertaking. Long before the escape
of James Stephens from Richmond Bridewell startled the government from
its visions of security, and swelled the breasts of their disaffected
subjects in Ireland with rekindled hopes, Colonel Kelly was known in
the Fenian ranks as an intimate associate of the revolutionary chief.
When the arrest at Fairfield-house deprived the organization of its
crafty leader, Kelly was elected to the vacant post, and he threw
himself into the work with all the reckless energy of his nature. If
he could not be said to possess the mental ability or administrative
capacity essential to the office, he was at least gifted with a
variety of other qualifications well calculated to recommend him to
popularity amongst the desperate men with whom he was associated. Nor
did he prove altogether unworthy of the confidence reposed in him. It
is now pretty well known that the successful plot for the liberation
of James Stephens was executed under the personal supervision of
Colonel Kelly, and that he was one of the group of friends who grasped
the hand of the Head Centre within the gates of Eichmond Prison on
that night in November, '65, when the doors of his dungeon were thrown
open. Kelly fled with Stephens to Paris, and thence to America,
where he remained attached to the section of the Brotherhood which
recognised the authority and obeyed the mandates of the "C.O.I.R." But
the time came when even Colonel Kelly and his party discovered that
Stephens was unworthy of their confidence. The chief whom they had so
long trusted, and whose oath to fight on Irish soil before January,
'67, they had seen so unblushingly violated, was deposed by the
last section of his adherents, and Colonel Kelly was elected
"Deputy Central Organiser of the Irish Republic," on the distinct
understanding that he was to follow out the policy which Stephens had
shrunk from pursuing. Kelly accepted the post, and devoted himself
earnestly to the work. In America he met with comparatively little
co-operation; the bulk of the Irish Nationalists in that country had
long ranged themselves under the leadership of Colonel W.R. Roberts,
an Irish gentleman of character and integrity, who became the
President of the reconstituted organization; and the plans and
promises of "the Chatham-street wing," as the branch of the
brotherhood which ratified Colonel Kelly's election was termed,
were regarded, for the most part, with suspicion and disfavour. But
from Ireland there came evidences of a different state of feeling.
Breathless envoys arrived almost weekly in New York, declaring that
the Fenian Brotherhood in Ireland were burning for the fray--that they
awaited the landing of Colonel Kelly with feverish impatience--that
it would be impossible to restrain them much longer from fighting--and
that the arrival of the military leaders, whom America was expected
to supply, would be the signal for a general uprising. Encouraged
by representations like these, Colonel Kelly and a chosen body of
Irish-American officers departed for Ireland in January, and set
themselves, on their arrival in the old country, to arrange the plans
of the impending outbreak. How their labours eventuated, and how the
Fenian insurrection of March, '67, resulted, it is unnecessary to
explain; it is enough for our purpose to state that for several months
after that ill-starred movement was crushed, Colonel Kelly continued
to reside in Dublin, moving about with an absence of disguise and
a disregard for concealment which astonished his confederates, but
which, perhaps, contributed in no slight degree to the success with
which he eluded the efforts directed towards his capture. At length
the Fenian organization in Ireland began to pass through the same
changes that had given it new leaders and fresh vitality in America.
The members of the organization at home began to long for union
with the Irish Nationalists who formed the branch of the confederacy
regenerated under Colonel Roberts; and Kelly, who, for various
reasons, was unwilling to accept the new _regime_, saw his adherents
dwindle away, until at length he found himself all but discarded by
the Fenian circles in Dublin. Then he crossed over to Manchester,
where he arrived but a few weeks previous to the date of his
accidental arrest in Oak-street.

The arrest of Colonel Kelly and his aide-de-camp, as the English
papers soon learned to describe Deasey, was hailed by the government
with the deepest satisfaction. For years they had seen their hosts of
spies, detectives, and informers foiled and outwitted by this daring
conspirator, whose position in the Fenian ranks they perfectly
understood; they had seen their traps evaded, their bribes spurned,
and their plans defeated at every turn; they knew, too, that Kelly's
success in escaping capture was filling his associates with pride and
exultation; and now at last they found the man whose apprehension they
so anxiously desired a captive in their grasp. On the other hand, the
arrests in Oak-street were felt to be a crushing blow to a failing
cause by the Fenian circles in Manchester. They saw that Kelly's
capture would dishearten every section of the organization; they knew
that the broad meaning of the occurrence was, that another Irish rebel
had fallen into the clutches of the British government, and was about
to be added to the long list of their political victims. It was felt
by the Irish in Manchester, that to abandon the prisoners helplessly
to their fate would be regarded as an act of submission to the laws
which rendered patriotism a crime, and as an acceptance of the policy
which left Ireland trampled, bleeding, and impoverished. There
were hot spirits amongst the Irish colony that dwelt in the great
industrial capital, which revolted from such a conclusion, and there
were warm, impulsive hearts which swelled with a firm resolution to
change the triumph of their British adversaries into disappointment
and consternation. The time has not yet come when anything like
a description of the midnight meetings and secret councils which
followed the arrest of Colonel Kelly in Manchester can be written;
enough may be gathered, however, from the result, to show that the
plans of the conspirators were cleverly conceived and ably digested.

On Wednesday, September 18th, Colonel Kelly and his companion were
a second time placed in the dock of the Manchester Police Office.
There is reason to believe that means had previously been found of
acquainting them with the plans of their friends outside, but this
hypothesis is not necessary to explain the coolness and _sang froid_
with which they listened to the proceedings before the magistrate.
Hardly had the prisoners been put forward, when the Chief Inspector
of the Manchester Detective Force interposed. They were both, he said,
connected with the Fenian rising, and warrants were out against them
for treason-felony. "Williams," he added, with a triumphant air, "is
Colonel Kelly, and Whyte, his confederate, is Captain Deasey." He
asked that they might again be remanded, an application which was
immediately granted. The prisoners, who imperturbably bowed to the
detective, as he identified them, smilingly quitted the dock, and were
given in charge to Police Sergeant Charles Brett, whose duty it was to
convey them to the borough gaol.

The van used for the conveyance of prisoners between the police office
and the gaol was one of the ordinary long black boxes on wheels, dimly
lit by a grating in the door and a couple of ventilators in the roof.
It was divided interiorly into a row of small cells at either side,
and a passage running the length of the van between; and the practice
was, to lock each prisoner into a separate cell, Brett sitting in
charge on a seat in the passage, near the door. The van was driven
by a policeman; another usually sat beside the driver on the box; the
whole escort thus consisting of three men, carrying no other arms than
their staves; but it was felt that on the present occasion a stronger
escort might be necessary. The magistrates well knew that Kelly
and Deasey had numerous sympathisers amongst the Irish residents in
Manchester, and their apprehensions were quickened by the receipt of
a telegram from Dublin Castle, and another from the Home Office in
London, warning them that a plot was on foot for the liberation of the
prisoners. The magistrates doubted the truth of the information, but
they took precautions, nevertheless, for the frustration of any such
enterprise. Kelly and Deasey were both handcuffed, and locked in
separate compartments of the van; and, instead of three policemen,
not less than twelve were entrusted with its defence. Of this body,
five sat on the box-seat, two were stationed on the step behind, four
followed the van in a cab, and one (Sergeant Brett) sat within the
van, the keys of which were handed in to him through the grating,
after the door had been locked by one of the policemen outside. There
were, in all, six persons in the van: one of these was a boy, aged
twelve, who was being conveyed to a reformatory; three were women
convicted of misdemeanours; and the two Irish-Americans completed the
number. Only the last-mentioned pair were handcuffed, and they were
the only persons whom the constables thought necessary to lock up, the
compartments in which the other persons sat being left open.

At half-past three o'clock the van drove off, closely followed by the
cab containing the balance of the escort. Its route lay through some
of the principal streets, then through the suburbs on the south side,
into the borough of Salford, where the county gaol is situated. In all
about two miles had to be traversed, and of this distance the first
half was accomplished without anything calculated to excite suspicion
being observed; but there was mischief brewing, for all that, and the
crisis was close at hand. Just as the van passed under the railway
arch that spans the Hyde-road at Bellevue, a point midway between
the city police office and the Salford gaol, the driver was suddenly
startled by the apparition of a man standing in the middle of the
road with a pistol aimed at his head, and immediately the astonished
policeman heard himself called upon, in a loud, sharp voice, to "pull
up." At the spot where this unwelcome interruption occurred there
are but few houses; brick-fields and clay-pits stretch away at either
side, and the neighbourhood is thinly inhabited. But its comparative
quiet now gave way to a scene of bustle and excitement so strange
that it seems to have almost paralysed the spectators with amazement.
The peremptory command levelled at the driver of the van was hardly
uttered, when a body of men, numbering about thirty, swarmed over
the wall which lined the road, and, surrounding the van, began to
take effectual measures for stopping it. The majority of them were
well-dressed men, of powerful appearance; a few carried pistols or
revolvers in their hands, and all seemed to act in accordance with a
preconcerted plan. The first impulse of the policemen in front appears
to have been to drive through the crowd, but a shot, aimed in the
direction of his head brought the driver tumbling from his seat,
terror-stricken but unhurt; and almost at the same time, the further
progress of the van was effectually prevented by shooting one of the
horses through the neck. A scene of indescribable panic and confusion
ensued; the policemen scrambled hastily to the ground, and betook
themselves to flight almost without a thought of resistance. Those
in the cab behind got out, not to resist the attack, but to help in
running away; and in a few minutes the strangers, whose object had by
this time become perfectly apparent, were undisputed masters of the
situation. Pickaxes, hatchets, hammers, and crow-bars were instantly
produced, and the van was besieged by a score stout pairs of arms,
under the blows from which its sides groaned, and the door cracked and
splintered. Some clambered upon the roof, and attempted to smash it in
with heavy stones; others tried to force an opening through the side;
while the door was sturdily belaboured by another division of the
band. Seeing the Fenians, as they at once considered them, thus busily
engaged, the policemen, who had in the first instance retreated to a
safe distance, and who were now reinforced by a large mob attracted
to the spot by the report of firearms, advanced towards the van, with
the intention of offering some resistance; but the storming party
immediately met them with a counter-movement. Whilst the attempt to
smash through the van was continued without pause, a ring was formed
round the men thus engaged, by their confederates, who, pointing
their pistols at the advancing crowd, warned them, as they valued
their lives, to keep off. Gaining courage from their rapidly-swelling
numbers, the mob, however, continued to close in round the van,
whereupon several shots were discharged by the Fenians, which had the
effect of making the Englishmen again fall back in confusion. It is
certain that these shots were discharged for no other purpose than
that of frightening the crowd; one of them did take effect in the heel
of a bystander, but in every other case the shots were fired high over
the heads of the crowd. While this had been passing around the van, a
more tragic scene was passing inside it. From the moment the report
of the first shot reached him, Sergeant Brett seems to have divined
the nature and object of the attack. "My God! its these Fenians," he
exclaimed. The noise of the blows showered on the roof and sides of
the van was increased by the shrieks of the female prisoners, who
rushed frantically into the passage, and made the van resound with
their wailings. In the midst of the tumult a face appeared at the
grating, and Brett heard himself summoned to give up the keys. The
assailants had discovered where they were kept, and resolved on
obtaining them as the speediest way of effecting their purpose. "Give
up the keys, or they will shoot you," exclaimed the women; but Brett
refused. The next instant he fell heavily backwards, with the hot
blood welling from a bullet-wound in the head. A shot fired into the
key-hole, for the purpose of blowing the lock to pieces, had taken
effect in his temple. The terror-stricken women lifted him up,
screaming "he's killed." As they did so, the voice which had been
heard before called out to them through the ventilator to give up the
keys. One of the women then took them from the pocket of the dying
policeman, and handed them out through the trap. The door was at once
unlocked, the terrified women rushed out, and Brett, weltering in
blood, rolled out heavily upon the road. Then a pale-faced young man,
wearing a light overcoat, a blue tie, and a tall brown hat, who had
been noticed taking a prominent part in the affray, entered the van,
and unlocked the compartments in which Kelly and Deasey were confined.
A hasty greeting passed between them, and then the trio hurriedly
joined the band outside. "I told you, Kelly, I would die before I
parted with you," cried the young man who had unlocked the doors;
then, seizing Kelly by the arm, he helped him across the road, and
over the wall, into the brick-fields beyond. Here he was taken charge
of by others of the party, who hurried with him across the country,
while a similar office was performed for Deasey, who, like Colonel
Kelly, found himself hampered to some extent by the handcuffs on his
wrists. The main body of those who had shared in the assault occupied
themselves with preventing the fugitives from being pursued; and not
until Kelly, Deasy, and their conductors had passed far out of sight,
did they think of consulting their own safety. At length, when further
resistance to the mob seemed useless and impossible, they broke and
fled, some of them occasionally checking the pursuit by turning round
and presenting pistols at those who followed. Many of the fugitives
escaped, but several others were surrounded and overtaken by the mob.
And now the "chivalry" of the English nature came out in its real
colours. No sooner did the cowardly set, whom the sight of a revolver
kept at bay while Kelly was being liberated, find themselves with some
of the Irish party in their power, than they set themselves to beat
them with savage ferocity. The young fellow who had opened the van
door, and who had been overtaken by the mob, was knocked down by
a blow of a brick, and then brutally kicked and stoned, the only
Englishman who ventured to cry shame being himself assaulted for his
display of humanity. Several others were similarly ill-treated; and
not until the blood spouted out from the bruised and mangled bodies
of the prostrate men, did the valiant Englishmen consider they had
sufficiently tortured their helpless prisoners. Meanwhile, large
reinforcements appeared on the spot; police and military were
despatched in eager haste in pursuit of the fugitives; the telegraph
was called into requisition, and a description of the liberated
Fenians flashed to the neighbouring towns; the whole detective force
of Manchester was placed on their trail, and in the course of a
few hours thirty-two Irishmen were in custody, charged with having
assisted in the attack on the van. But of Kelly or Deasey no trace was
ever discovered; they were seen to enter a cottage not far from the
Hyde-road, and leave it with their hands unfettered, but all attempts
to trace their movements beyond this utterly failed. While the
authorities in Manchester were excitedly discussing the means to
be adopted in view of the extraordinary event, Brett lay expiring
in the hospital to which he had been conveyed. He never recovered
consciousness after receiving the wound, and he died in less than two
hours after the fatal shot had been fired.

Darkness had closed in around Manchester before the startling
occurrence that had taken place in their midst became known to the
majority of its inhabitants. Swiftly the tidings flew throughout the
big city, till the whisper in which the rumour was first breathed
swelled into a roar of astonishment and rage. Leaving their houses and
leaving their work, the people rushed into the streets, and trooped
towards the newspaper offices for information. The rescue of Colonel
Kelly and death of Sergeant Brett were described in thousands of
conflicting narratives, until the facts almost disappeared beneath
the mass of inventions and exaggerations, the creations of excitement
and panic, with which they were overloaded. Meanwhile, the police,
maddened by resentment and agitation, struck out wildly and blindly
at the Irish. They might not be able to recapture the escaped Fenian
leaders, but they could load the gaols with their countrymen and
co-religionists; they might not be able to apprehend the liberators
of Colonel Kelly and Captain Deasey, but they could glut their fury on
members of the same nationality; and this they did most effectually.
The whole night long the raid upon the Irish quarter in Manchester was
continued; houses were broken into, and their occupants dragged off
to prison, and flung into cells, chained as though they were raging
beasts. Mere Irish were set upon in the streets, in the shops, in
their homes, and hurried off to prison as if the very existence of
the empire depended on their being subjected to every kind of brutal
violence and indignity. The yell for vengeance filled the air; the cry
for Irish blood arose upon the night-air like a demoniacal chorus;
and before morning broke their fury was to some extent appeased by
the knowledge that sixty of the proscribed race--sixty of the hated
Irish--were lying chained within the prison cells of Manchester.

Fifteen minutes was the time occupied in setting Kelly free--only
fifteen minutes--but during that short space of time an act was
accomplished which shook the whole British Empire to its foundation.
From the conspiracy to which this daring deed was traceable the
English people had already received many startling surprises. The
liberation of James Stephens and the short-lived insurrection that
filled the snow-capped hills with hardy fugitives, six months before,
had both occasioned deep excitement in England; but nothing that
Fenianism had yet accomplished acted in the same bewildering manner
on the English mind. In the heart of one of their largest cities, in
the broad daylight, openly and undisguisedly, a band of Irishmen had
appeared in arms against the Queen's authority, and set the power and
resources of the law at defiance. They had rescued a co-conspirator
from the grasp of the government, and slain an officer of the law in
the pursuit of their object. Within a few minutes' walk of barracks
and military depôts,--in sight of the royal ensign that waved over
hundreds of her Majesty's defenders, a prison van had been stopped and
broken open, and its defenders shot at and put to flight. Never had
the English people heard of so audacious a proceeding--never did they
feel more insulted. From every corner of the land the cry swelled, up
for vengeance fierce and prompt. Victims there should be; blood--Irish
blood--the people _would_ have; nor were they willing to wait long for
it. It might be that, falling in hot haste, the sword of Justice might
strike the innocent, and not the guilty; it might be that, in the
thirst for vengeance, the restraints of humanity would be forgotten;
but the English nature, now thoroughly aroused, cared little for such
considerations. It was Irishmen who had defied and trampled on their
power; the whole Irish people approved of the act; and it mattered
little who the objects of their fury might be, provided they
belonged to the detested race. The prisoners, huddled together in the
Manchester prisons, with chains round their limbs, might not be the
liberators of Colonel Kelly--the slayers of Brett might not be amongst
them; but they were Irishmen, at any rate, and so they would answer
the purpose. Short shrift was the cry. The ordinary forms of law,
the maxims of the Constitution, the rules of judicial procedure, the
proprieties of social order and civilization, might be outraged and
discarded, but speedy vengeance should, at all hazards, be obtained:
the hangman could not wait for his fee, nor the people for their
carnival of blood; and so it was settled that, instead of being tried
at the ordinary Commission, in December, a Special Commission should
be issued on the spot for the trial of the accused.

On Thursday, the 25th of October, the prisoners were brought up
for committal, before Mr. Fowler, R.M., and a bench of brother
magistrates. Some of the Irishmen arrested in the first instance had
been discharged--not that no one could be found to swear against them
(a difficulty which never seems to have arisen in these cases) but
that the number of witnesses who could swear to their innocence was so
great, that an attempt to press for convictions in their cases would
be pertain to jeopardize the whole proceedings. The following is a
list of the prisoners put forward, the names being, as afterwards
appeared, in many cases fictitious:--

    William O'Mara Allen, Edward Shore, Henry Wilson, William
    Gould, Michael Larkin, Patrick Kelly, Charles Moorhouse, John
    Brennan, John Bacon, William Martin, John F. Nugent, James
    Sherry, Robert McWilliams, Michael Maguire, Thomas Maguire,
    Michael Morris, Michael Bryan, Michael Corcoran, Thomas Ryan,
    John Carroll, John Cleeson, Michael Kennedy, John Morris,
    Patrick Kelly, Hugh Foley, Patrick Coffey, Thomas Kelly, and
    Thomas Scally.

It forms no part of our purpose to follow out the history of the
proceedings in the Manchester court on the 25th of September and the
following days: but there are some circumstances in connection with
that investigation which it would be impossible to pass over without
comment. It was on this occasion that the extraordinary sight of men
being tried in chains was witnessed, and that the representatives of
the English Crown came to sit in judgment on men still innocent in
the eyes of the law, yet manacled like convicted felons. With the
blistering irons clasped tight round their wrists the Irish prisoners
stood forward, that justice--such justice as tortures men first and
tries them afterwards--might be administered to them. "The police
considered the precaution necessary," urged the magistrate, in reply
to the scathing denunciations of the unprecedented outrage which fell
from the lips of Mr. Ernest Jones, one of the prisoners' counsel. The
police considered it necessary, though within the courthouse no friend
of the accused could dare to show his face--though the whole building
bristled with military and with policemen, with their revolvers
ostentatiously displayed;--necessary, though every approach to the
courthouse was held by an armed guard, and though every soldier in the
whole city was standing to arms;--necessary there, in the heart of an
English city, with a dense population thirsting for the blood of the
accused, and when the danger seemed to be, not that they might escape
from custody--a flight to the moon would be equally practicable--but
that they might be butchered in cold blood by the angry English mob
that scowled on them from the galleries of the court house, and howled
round the building in which they stood. In vain did Mr. Jones protest,
in scornful words, against the brutal indignity--in vain did he appeal
to the spirit of British justice, to ancient precedent and modern
practice--in vain did he inveigh against a proceeding which forbad
the intercourse necessary between him and his clients--and in vain
did he point out that the prisoners in the dock were guiltless and
innocent men according to the theory of the law. No arguments, no
expostulations would change the magistrate's decision. Amidst the
applause of the cowardly set that represented the British public
within the courthouse, he insisted that the handcuffs should remain
on; and then Mr. Jones, taking the only course left to a man of spirit
under the circumstances, threw down his brief and indignantly quitted
the desecrated justice hall. Fearing the consequences of leaving the
prisoners utterly undefended, Mr. Cottingham, the junior counsel for
the defence, refrained from following Mr. Jones's example, but he,
too, protested loudly, boldly, and indignantly against the cowardly
outrage, worthy of the worst days of the French monarchy, which
his clients were being subjected to. The whole investigation was in
keeping with the spirit evinced by the bench. The witnesses seemed
to come for the special purpose of swearing point-blank against the
hapless men in the dock, no matter at what cost to truth, and to take
a fiendish pleasure in assisting in securing their condemnation. One
of the witnesses was sure "the whole lot of them wanted to murder
everyone who had any property;" another assured his interrogator in
the dock that "he would go to see him hanged;" and a third had no
hesitation in acknowledging the attractions which the reward offered
by the government possessed for his mind. Men and women, young and
old, all seemed to be possessed of but the one idea--to secure as
much of the blood-money as possible, and to do their best to bring the
hated Irish to the gallows. Of course, an investigation, under these
circumstances, could have but one ending, and no one was surprised
to learn, at its conclusion, that the whole of the resolute body
of stern-faced men, who, manacled and suffering, confronted their
malignant accusers, had been committed to stand their trial in hot
haste, for the crime of "wilful murder."

Of the men thus dealt with there are four with whose fate this
narrative is closely connected, and whose names are destined to be
long remembered in Ireland. They have won for themselves, by their
courage, constancy, and patriotism, a fame that will never die; and
through all future time they will rank beside the dauntless spirits
that in days of darkness and disaster perished for the sacred cause
of Ireland. Great men, learned men, prominent men they were not--they
were poor, they were humble, they were unknown; they had no claim to
the reputation of the warrior, the scholar, or the statesman; but they
laboured, as they believed, for the redemption of their country from
bondage; they risked their lives in a chivalrous attempt to rescue
from captivity two men whom they regarded as innocent patriots, and
when the forfeit was claimed, they bore themselves with the unwavering
courage and single-heartedness of Christian heroes. Their short and
simple annals are easily written, but their names are graven on the
Irish heart, and their names and actions will be cherished in Ireland
when the monumental piles that mark the resting-places of the wealthy
and the proud have returned, like the bodies laid beneath them, to
dust.

William Philip Allen was born near the town of Tipperary, in April,
1848. Before he was quite three years old his parents removed to
Bandon, County Cork, where the father, who professed the Protestant
religion, received the appointment of bridewell-keeper. As young
Allen grew up, he evinced a remarkable aptitude for the acquirement
of knowledge, and his studious habits were well known to his
playmates and companions. He was a regular attendant at the local
training-school for the education of teachers for the Protestant
schools of the parish, but he also received instruction at the morning
and evening schools conducted under Catholic auspices, in the same
town. He was not a wild boy, but he was quick and impulsive,--ready
to resent a wrong, but equally ready to forgive one; and his natural
independence of spirit and manly disposition rendered him a favourite
with all his acquaintances. The influence and example of his father
did not prevent him from casting a wistful eye towards the ancient
faith. His mother, a good pious Catholic, whose warmest aspiration was
to see her children in the fold of the true church, encouraged this
disposition by all the means in her power, and the result of her pious
care shortly became apparent. A mission, opened in the town by some
Catholic order of priests, completed the good work, which the prayers
and the example of an affectionate mother had commenced; and young
Allen, after regularly attending the religious services and exercises
of the mission, became so much Impressed with the truth of the
lectures and sermons he had listened to, that he formally renounced
the alien religion, and was received by the respected parish priest
of the town into the bosom of the Catholic Church. His only sister
followed his example, while his brothers, four in number, remained in
the Protestant communion. The subject of our sketch was apprenticed
to a respectable master carpenter and timber merchant in Bandon,
but circumstances highly creditable to the young convert induced the
severance of the connection before his period of apprenticeship was
expired, and we next find him working at his trade in Cork, where he
remained for some six months, after which he returned to Bandon. He
next crossed over to Manchester, at the request of some near relatives
living there. Subsequently he spent a few weeks in Dublin, where he
worked as builder's clerk; and finally he revisited Manchester, where
he had made himself numerous friends. It was in the summer of '67
that Allen last journeyed to Manchester. He was then little more than
nineteen years old, but there is reason to believe that he had long
before become connected with the Fenian conspiracy. In his ardent
temperament the seeds of patriotism took deep and firm root, and the
dangers of the enterprise to which the Fenians were committed served
only to give it a fresh claim upon his enthusiastic nature. When
Colonel Kelly quitted Dublin, and took up his quarters in Manchester,
Allen was one of his most trusted and intimate associates; and when
the prison door grated behind the Fenian leader, it was Allen who
roused his countrymen to the task of effecting his liberation. Allen
had by this time grown into a comely young man of prepossessing
appearance; he was a little over the middle height, well shaped,
without presenting the appearance of unusual strength, and was always
seen neatly and respectably dressed. His face was pale, and wore
a thoughtful expression, his features, when in repose, wearing an
appearance of pensiveness approaching to melancholy. His eyes were
small, the eyelids slightly marked; a mass of dark hair clustered
gracefully over a broad pale forehead, while the absence of any beard
gave him a peculiarly boyish appearance. Gentle and docile in his
calmer moments, when roused to action he was all fire and energy. We
have seen how he bore himself during the attack on the prison van, for
he it was whom so many witnesses identified as the pale-faced young
fellow who led the attack, and whose prophetic assurance that he would
die for him, greeted Colonel Kelly on regaining his freedom. During
the magisterial investigation he bore himself firmly, proudly, and, as
the English papers would have it, defiantly. His glance never quailed
during the trying ordeal. The marks of the brutality of his cowardly
captors were still upon him, and the galling irons that bound his
hands cut into his wrists; but Allen never winced for a moment, and
he listened to the evidence of the sordid crew, who came to barter
away his young life, with resolute mien. The triumph was with him.
Out of the jaws of death he had rescued the leader whose freedom he
considered essential to the success of a patriotic undertaking, and he
was satisfied to pay the cost of the venture. He had set his foot upon
the ploughshare, and would not shrink from the ordeal which he had
challenged.

Amongst the crowd of manacled men committed for trial by the
Manchester magistrates, not one presented a finer or more impressive
exterior than Michael O'Brien, set down in the list above given as
Michael Gould. Standing in the dock, he seemed the impersonation of
vigorous manhood. Frank, fearless, and resolute, with courage and
truth imprinted on every feature, he presented to the eye a perfect
type of the brave soldier. He was tall and well-proportioned, and his
broad shoulders and well-developed limbs told of physical strength
in keeping with the firmness reflected in his face. His gaze, when
it rested on the unfriendly countenances before him, was firm and
undrooping, but a kindly light lit his hazel eyes, and his features
relaxed into a sympathising and encouraging expression, as often as he
glanced at Allen, who stood behind him, or bent his gaxe upon any of
his other fellow-prisoners. O'Brien was born, near Ballymacoda, County
Cork, the birthplace of the ill-fated and heroic Peter Crowley. His
father rented a large farm in the same parish, but the blight of the
bad laws which are the curse of Ireland fell upon him, and in the year
1856, the O'Briens were flung upon the world dispossessed of lands and
home, though they owed no man a penny at the time. Michael O'Brien was
apprenticed to a draper in Youghal, and earned, during the period of
his apprenticeship, the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He
was quiet and gentlemanly in manners, and his character for morality
and good conduct was irreproachable. Having served out his time in
Youghal, he went to Cork, and he spent some time as an assistant in
one of the leading drapery establishments of that city. He afterwards
emigrated to America, where some of his relatives were comfortably
settled. Like many of the bravest of his fellow-countrymen, the
outbreak of the civil war kindled a military ardour within his bosom,
and O'Brien found himself unable to resist the attractions which the
soldier's career possessed for him. His record throughout the war
was highly honourable; his bravery and good conduct won him speedy
promotion, and long before the termination of the conflict, he had
risen to the rank of lieutenant. When his regiment was disbanded he
recrossed the Atlantic, and returned to Cork, where he again obtained
employment as assistant in one of the large commercial establishments.
Here he remained until the night before the Fenian rising, when he
suddenly disappeared, and all further trace was lost of him, until
arrested for participation in the attack upon the prison van in
Manchester.

Close by his side in the dock stood Michael Larkin, an
intelligent-looking man, older looking than most of his
fellow-prisoners. The following are a few facts relating to his humble
history:--

"He was," writes a correspondent who knew him, "a native of the parish
of Lusmagh, in the south-western corner of the King's County, where
for many generations his ancestors have been residents on the Cloghan
Castle estate (then in the possession of the O'Moore family), and
where several of his relatives still reside; and was grandson to James
Quirke, a well-to-do farmer, who was flogged and transported in '98
for complicity in the rebellion of that time, and whose name, in this
part of the country, is remembered with pleasure and affection for
his indomitable courage and perseverance in resisting the repeated
allurements held out by the corrupt minions of the crown to induce him
to become a traitor to his companions and his country. But all their
importunities were vain; Quirke steadily persevered in the principles
of his gallant leader, Robert Emmett. Larkin's father was a
respectable tradesman, carrying on his business for many years in his
native parish; he removed to Parsonstown, where he contrived to impart
to his son Michael, a good English education, and then taught him his
own profession. When Michael had attained a thorough knowledge of his
business, he was employed till '58 at Parsonstown; he then went to
England to improve his condition, and after some time he married, and
continued to work on industriously at his business till May, '67, when
he visited his native country to receive the last benediction of his
dying father. He again returned to England with his wife and family,
to resume his employment. After some time he was arrested for
assisting to release two of his fellow-countrymen from bondage. I
cannot attempt to enumerate the many good qualities of the deceased
patriot: the paternal affection, exhibited from the earliest age;
the mildness and affability of manner, good temper, affectionate and
inoffensive disposition; his sobriety and good moral conduct--endeared
him to all who had the pleasure and honour of his acquaintance.
Throughout his whole life he was remarkable for his 'love of country,'
and expressions of sincere regret for the miserable condition of many
of his countrymen were ever on his lips. He was, in the true sense
of the idea, a good son, an affectionate husband and father, and a
sincere friend."

On Monday, October 28th, the three Irishmen whose lives we have
glanced at were placed at the bar of the Manchester Assize Court,
and formally placed on their trial for wilful murder. With them were
arraigned Thomas Maguire, a private belonging to the Royal Marines,
who was on furlough in Liverpool at the time of Kelly's liberation,
and who was arrested merely because he happened to be an Irishman,
and who, though perfectly innocent of the whole transaction, had
been sworn against by numerous witnesses as a ringleader in the
attack; and Edward O'Meagher Condon (_alias_ Shore), a fine-looking
Irish-American, a citizen of the State of Ohio, against whom, like
his four companions, true bills had been found by the Grand Jury.
It would take long to describe the paroxysms of excitement, panic,
and agitation that raged in the English mind within the period that
intervened between the committal of the prisoners and the date at
which we are now arrived. Nothing was heard of but the Fenians;
nothing was talked of but the diabolical plots and murderous designs
they were said to be preparing. The Queen was to be shot at; Balmoral
was to be burned down; the armouries had been attacked; the barracks
were undermined; the gas works were to be exploded, the Bank blown
up, the water poisoned. Nothing was too infernal or too wicked for the
Fenians, and every hour brought some addition to the monstrous stock
of canards. North and south, east and west, the English people were in
a ferment of anxious alarm; and everywhere Fenianism was cursed as an
unholy thing to be cut from society as an ulcerous sore--to be banned
and loathed as a pestilence--a foul creation with murder in its glare,
and the torch of the incendiary burning in its gory hand. Under these
circumstances, there was little chance that an unprejudiced jury could
be empanelled for the trial of the Irish prisoners; and their counsel,
seeing the danger, sought to avent it by a motion for the postponement
of the trials. The Home Secretary was memorialed on the subject,
and the application was renewed before the judges in court, but the
efforts to obtain justice were fruitless. The blood of the British
lion was up; with bloodshot eyes and bristling mane he stood awaiting
his prey, and there was danger in trifling with his rage. Even Special
commissicns were voted slow, and a cry arose for martial law, Lynch
law, or any law that would give the blood of the victims without
hindrance or delay. So the appeal for time was spurned; the government
was deaf to all remonstrance; British bloodthirstiness carried the
day, and the trials proceeded without interruption.

We have not patience to rehearse calmly the story of these trials,
which will long remain the reproach of British lawyers. We shall not
probe the motives which led to the appointment of two such men as
Justice Mellor and Justice Blackburne as Judges of the Commission,
but history will be at no loss to connect the selection with their
peculiar character on the bench. Nor shall we analyze the speeches
of the Attorney-General and his colleagues, in which the passions and
prejudices of the jury were so dexterously appealed to. The character
of the evidence demands more study. The witnesses consisted of the
policemen present at the attack, the prisoners who were locked with
Kelly and Deasey in the van, and the bystanders who saw the affray or
assisted in stoning the prisoners before and after they were captured.
They swore with the utmost composure against the four prisoners. Allen
was identified as one of the leaders, and he it was whom most of the
witnesses declared to have fired through the door. On this point,
indeed, as on many others, there was confusion and contradiction in
the evidence: some of the witnesses were sure it was O'Brien fired
through the door; others were inclined to assign the leading part to
Condon; but before the trial had gone far, it seemed to be understood
that Allen was the man to whom the death of Brett was to be
attributed, and that the business of the witnesses was to connect
the other prisoners as closely as possible with his act. On one point
nearly all of the witnesses were agreed--whoever there might be any
doubt about, there could be none concerning Maguire. Seven witnesses
swore positively to having seen him assisting in breaking open the
van, and some of them even repeated the words which they said he
addressed to them while thus engaged. On the evening of Friday,
November 1st, the trials terminated. It was past five o'clock when
Judge Mellor concluded his charge. The court was densely crowded, and
every eye was strained to mark the effect of the judge's words upon
the countenances of the prisoners; but they, poor fellows, quailed not
as they heard the words which they knew would shortly be followed by
a verdict consigning them to the scaffold. Throughout the long trial
their courage had never flagged, their spirits had never failed them
for an instant. Maguire, who had no real connection with the other
four, and who knew that the charge against him was a baseless
concoction, did, indeed, betray traces of anxiety and bewilderment
as the trial progressed; but Allen, O'Brien, Larkin, and Condon went
through the frightful ordeal with a heroic display of courage to which
even the most malignant of their enemies have paid tribute.

The judge has done, and now the jury turned from the box "to consider
their verdict." An hour and twenty minutes they remained absent;
then their returning tread was heard. The prisoners turned their eyes
upwards; Maguire looked towards them, half hopefully half appealingly;
from Allen's glance nothing but defiance could be read; Larkin fixed
his gaze on the foreman, who held the fatal record in his hand, with
calm resolution; while a quiet smile played round O'Brien's lips, as
he turned to hear the expected words.

"Guilty!" The word is snatched up from the lips of the foreman of the
jury, and whispered through the court. They were all "guilty." So said
the jury; and a murmur of applause came rolling back in response to
the verdict. "Guilty!" A few there were in that court upon whom the
fatal words fell with the bitterness of death, but the Englishmen
who filled the crowded gallery and passages exulted at the sound: the
vengeance which they longed for was at hand.

The murmur died away; the sobs that rose from the dark recesses where
a few stricken-hearted women had been permitted to stand were stifled;
and then, amidst breathless silence, the voice of the Crown Clerk was
heard demanding "if the prisoners had anything to say why sentence of
death should not be pronounced on them."

The first to respond was Allen. A slight flush reddened his cheeks,
and his eyes lit up with the fire of enthusiasm and determination, as,
advancing to the front of the dock, he confronted the Court, and spoke
in resolute tones as follows:--

"My Lords and Gentlemen--It is not my intention to occupy much of
your time in answering your question. Your question is one that can
be easily asked, but requires an answer which I am ignorant of. Abler
and more eloquent men could not answer it. Where were the men who have
stood in the dock--Burke, Emmett, and others, who have stood in the
dock in defence of their country? When the question was put, what
was their answer? Their answer was null and void. How, with your
permission, I will review a portion of the evidence that has been
brought against me."

Here Mr. Justice Blackburne interrupted. "It was too late," he said,
"to criticise the evidence, and the Court had neither the right nor
the power to alter or review it. If," he added, "you have any reason
to give why, either upon technical or moral grounds, the sentence
should not be passed upon you, we will hear it, but it is too late for
you to review the evidence to show that it was wrong."

"Cannot that be done in the morning, Sir," asked Allen, who felt in
his heart how easily the evidence on which he had been convicted might
be torn to shreds. But the Judge said not. "No one," he said, "could
alter or review the evidence in any way after the verdict had been
passed by the jury. We can only" he said in conclusion, "take the
verdict as right; and the only question for you is, why judgment
should not follow."

Thus restricted in the scope of his observations, the young felon
proceeded to deliver the following patriotic and spirited address:--

"No man in this court regrets the death of Sergeant Brett more than
I do, and I positively say, in the presence of the Almighty and
ever-living God, that I am innocent, aye, as innocent as any man
in this court. I don't say this for the sake of mercy: I want no
mercy--I'll have no mercy. I'll die, as many thousands have died,
for the sake of their beloved land, and in defence of it. I will die
proudly and triumphantly in defence of republican principles and the
liberty of an oppressed and enslaved people. Is it possible we are
asked why sentence should not be passed upon us, on the evidence
of prostitutes off the streets of Manchester, fellows out of work,
convicted felons--aye, an Irishman sentenced to be hung when an
English dog would have got off. I say positively and defiantly,
justice has not been done me since I was arrested. If justice had
been done me, I would not have been handcuffed at the preliminary
investigation in Bridge-street; and in this court justice has not
been done me in any shape or form. I was brought up here, and all the
prisoners by my side were allowed to wear overcoats, and I was told to
take mine off. What is the principle of that? There was something in
that principle, and I say positively that justice has not been done
me. As for the other prisoners, they can speak for themselves with
regard to that matter. And now with regard to the way I have been
identified. I have to say that my clothes were kept for four hours by
the policemen in Fairfield-station, and shown to parties to identify
me as being one of the perpetrators of this outrage on Hyde-road. Also
in Albert-station there was a handkerchief kept on my head the whole
night so that I could be identified the next morning in the corridor
by the witnesses. I was ordered to leave on the handkerchief for
the purpose that the witnesses could more plainly see I was one of
the parties who committed the outrage. As for myself, I feel the
righteousness of my every art with regard to what I have done in
defence of my country I fear not. I am fearless--fearless of the
punishment that can be inflicted on me; and with that, my lords, I
have done. (After a moment's pause)--I beg to be excused. One remark
more. I return Mr. Seymour and Mr. Jones my sincere and heartfelt
thanks for their able eloquence and advocacy on my part in this
affair. I wish also to return to Mr. Roberts the very same. My name,
sir, might be wished to be, known. It is not William O'Meara Allen. My
name is William Philip Allen. I was born and reared in Bandon, in the
county of Cork, and from that place I take my name; and I am proud of
my country, and proud of my parentage. My lords, I have done."

A sign of mingled applause and admiration rose faintly on the air, as
the gallant young Irishman, inclining his head slightly to the Court,
retired to make way at the front, of the bar for one of his companions
in misfortune. But his chivalrous bearing and noble words woke no
response within the prejudice-hardened hearts of the majority of his
auditors; they felt that the fearless words of the fearless youth
would overbear all that his accusers had uttered, and that the world
would read in them the condemnation, of the government and of the
people whose power he so bravely defied.

Michael Larkin spoke next. He looked a shade paler than on the first
day of the trial, but no want of resolution was expressed in his
firm-set face. He gazed with an unquailing glance round the faces
eagerly bent forward to catch his words, and then spoke in distinct
tones as follows:--

    "I have only got a word or two to say concerning Serjeant
    Brett. As my friend here said, no one could regret the man's
    death as much as I do. With regard to the charge of pistols
    and revolvers, and my using them, I call my God as a witness
    that I neither used pistols, revolvers, nor any instrument on
    that day that would deprive the life of a child, let alone
    a man. Nor did I go there on purpose to take life away.
    Certainly, my lords, I do not want to deny that I did go to
    give aid and assistance to those two noble heroes that were
    confined in that van--Kelly and Deasey. I did go to do as much
    as lay in my power to extricate them out of their bondage; but
    I did not go to take life, nor, my lords did anyone else. It
    is a misfortune there was life taken, but if it was taken it
    was not done intentionally, and the man who has taken life
    we have not got him. I was at the scene of action, when there
    were over, I dare say, 150 people standing by there when I
    was. I am very sorry I have to say, my lord, but I thought I
    had some respectable people to come up as witnesses against
    me; but I am sorry to say as my friend said. I will make no
    more remarks concerning that. All I have to say, my lords and
    gentlemen, is that so far as my trial went and the way it was
    conducted, I believe I have got a fair trial. So far as my
    noble counsel went, they done their utmost in the protection
    of my life; likewise, my worthy solicitor, Mr. Roberts, has
    done his best; but I believe as the old saying is a true one,
    what is decreed a man in the page of life he has to fulfil,
    either on the gallows, drowning, a fair death in bed, or
    on the battlefield. So I look to the mercy of God. May God
    forgive all who have sworn my life away. As I am a dying man,
    I forgive them from the bottom of my heart. God forgive them."

As Larkin ceased speaking, O'Brien, who stood to the right of him,
moved slightly in advance, and intimated by a slight inclination to
the Court his intention of addressing them. His stalwart form seemed
to dilate with proud defiance and scorn as he faced the ermine-clad
dignitaries who were about to consign, him to the gibbet. He spoke
with emphasis, and in tones which seemed to borrow a something of the
fire and spirit of his words. He said:--

    "I shall commence by saying that every witness who has sworn
    anything against me has sworn falsely. I have not had a stone
    in my possession since I was a boy. I had no pistol in my
    possession on the day when it is alleged this outrage was
    committed. You call it an outrage, I don't. I say further,
    my name is Michael O'Brien. I was born in the county of Cork,
    and have the honour to be a fellow-parishioner of Peter
    O'Neal Crowley, who was fighting against the British troops at
    Mitchelstown last March, and who fell fighting against British
    tyranny in Ireland. I am a citizen of the United States
    of America, and if Charles Francis Adams had done his duty
    towards me, as he ought to do in this country, I would not be
    in this dock answering your questions now. Mr. Adams did not
    come though I wrote to him. He did not come to see if I could
    not find evidence to disprove the charge, which I positively
    could, if he had taken the trouble of sending or coming to see
    what I could do. I hope the American people will notice that
    part of the business. [The prisoner here commenced reading
    from a paper he held in his hand.] The right of man is
    freedom. The great God has endowed him with affections that
    he may use, not smother them, and a world that may be enjoyed.
    Once a man is satisfied he is doing right, and attempts to do
    anything with that conviction, he must be willing to face all
    the consequences. Ireland, with its beautiful scenery, its
    delightful climate, its rich and productive lands, is capable
    of supporting more than treble its population in ease and
    comfort. Yet no man, except a paid official of the British
    government, can say there is a shadow of liberty, that there
    is a spark of glad life amongst its plundered and persecuted
    inhabitants. It is to be hoped that its imbecile and
    tyrannical rulers will be for ever driven from her soil,
    amidst the execration of the world. How beautifully the
    aristocrats of England moralise on the despotism of the
    rulers of Italy and Dahomey--in the case of Naples with what
    indignation did they speak of the ruin of families by the
    detention of its head or some loved member in a prison. Who
    have not heard their condemnations of the tyranny that would
    compel honourable and good men to spend their useful lives in
    hopeless banishment."

The taunt went home to the hearts of his accusers, and, writhing under
the lash thus boldly applied, Judge Blackburne hastened, to intervene.
Unable to stay, on _legal grounds_, the torrent of scathing invective
by which O'Brien was driving the blood from the cheeks of his British
listeners, the judge resorted to a device which Mr. Justice Keogh
had practised very adroitly, and with much success, at various of the
State trials in Ireland. He appealed to the prisoner, "entirely for
his own sake," to cease his remarks. "The only possible effect of your
observations." he said, "must be to tell against you with those who
have to consider the sentence. I advise you to say nothing more of
that sort. I do so entirely for your own sake." But O'Brien was not
the man to be cowed into submission by this artful representation.
Possibly he discerned the motive of the interruption, and estimated at
its true value the disinterestedness of Judge Blackburne's "advice."
Mr. Ernest Jones in vain used his influence to accomplish the
judge's object. O'Brien spurned the treacherous bait, and resolutely
proceeded:--

    "They cannot find words to express their horror of the
    cruelties of the King of Dahomey because he sacrificed 2,000
    human beings yearly, but why don't those persons who pretend
    such virtuous indignation at the misgovernment of other
    countries look at home, and see if greater crimes than those
    they charge against other governments are not committed by
    themselves or by their sanction. Let them look at London,
    and see the thousands that want bread there, while those
    aristocrats are rioting in luxuries and crimes. Look to
    Ireland; see the hundreds of thousands of its people in misery
    and want. See the virtuous, beautiful, and industrious women
    who only a few years ago--aye, and yet--are obliged to look at
    their children dying for want of food. Look at what is called
    the majesty of the law on one side, and the long deep misery
    of a noble people on the other. Which are the young men of
    Ireland to respect--the law that murders or banishes their
    people, or the means to resist relentless tyranny and ending
    their miseries for ever under a home government? I need not
    answer that question here. I trust the Irish people will
    answer it to their satisfaction soon. I am not astonished at
    my conviction. The government of this country have the power
    of convicting any person. They appoint the judge; they choose
    the jury; and by means of what they call patronage (which is
    the means of corruption) they have the power of making the
    laws to suit their purposes. I am confident that my blood
    will rise a hundredfold against the tyrants who think proper
    to commit such an outrage. In the first place, I say I was
    identified improperly, by having chains on my hands and feet
    at the time of identification, and thus the witnesses who have
    sworn to my throwing stones and firing a pistol have sworn to
    what is false, for I was, as those ladies said, at the jail
    gates. I thank my counsel for their able defence, and also Mr.
    Roberts, for his attention to my case."

Edward Maguire spoke next. He might well have felt bewildered at
the situation in which he found himself, but he spoke earnestly and
collectedly, nevertheless. He had had an experience of British law
which, if not without precedent, was still extraordinary enough to
create amazement. He knew that he had never been a Fenian; he knew
that he never saw Colonel Kelly--never heard of him until arrested
for assisting in his liberation; he knew that while the van was being
attacked at Bellevue, he was sitting in his own home, miles away; and
he knew that he had never in his life placed his foot in the scene of
the rescue; yet there he found himself convicted by regular process
of law, of the murder of Constable Brett. He had seen witness after
witness enter the box, and deliberately swear they saw him take a
prominent part in the rescue. He saw policemen and civilians coolly
identify him as a ringleader in the affair; he had heard the Crown
lawyers weave round him the subtle meshes of their logic; and now
he found himself pronounced guilty by the jury, in the teeth of the
overwhelming array of unimpeachable evidence brought forward in his
defence. What "the safeguards of the Constitution" mean--what "the
bulwark of English freedom," and "the Palladium of British freedom"
are worth, when Englishmen fill the jury-box and an Irishman stands in
the dock, Maguire had had a fair opportunity of judging. Had he been
reflectively inclined, he might, too, have found himself compelled to
adopt a rather low estimate of the credibility of English witnesses,
when they get an opportunity of swearing away an Irishman's life. An
impetuous man might have been goaded by the circumstances into cursing
the atrocious system under which "justice" had been administered to
him, and calling down the vengeance of Heaven on the whole nation from
which the perjured wretches who swore away his life had been drawn.
But Maguire acted more discreetly; he began, indeed, by declaring that
all the witnesses who swore against him were perjurers--by vehemently
protesting that the case, as regarded him, was one of mistaken
identity; but he shortly took surer ground, by referring to his
services in the navy, and talking of his unfailing loyalty to "his
Queen and his country." He went through the record of his services
as a marine; appealed to the character he had obtained from his
commanding officers, in confirmation of his words: and concluded by
solemnly protesting his perfect innocence of the charge on which he
had been convicted.

While Maguire's impressive words were still ringing in the ears of
his conscience-stricken accusers, Edward O'Meagher Condon commenced to
speak. He was evidently more of an orator than either of those who had
preceded him, and he spoke with remarkable fluency, grace, and vigour.
The subjoined is a correct report of his spirited and able address:--

    "My Lords--this has come upon me somewhat by surprise.
    It appeared to me rather strange that upon any amount of
    evidence, which of course was false, a man could have been
    convicted of wilfully murdering others he never saw or heard
    of before he was put in prison. I do not care to detain your
    lordships, but I cannot help remarking that Mr. Shaw, who has
    come now to gloat upon his victims, alter having sworn away
    their lives--that man has sworn what is altogether false; and
    there are contradictions in the depositions which have not
    been brought before your lordships' notice. I suppose the
    depositions being imperfect, there was no necessity for it.
    As to Mr. Batty, he swore at his first examination before the
    magistrates that a large stone fell on me, a stone which Mr.
    Roberts said at the time would have killed an elephant. But
    not the slightest mark was found on my head; and if I was to
    go round the country, and him with me, as exhibiting the stone
    having fallen on me, and him as the man who would swear to
    it, I do not know which would be looked for with the most
    earnestness. However, it has been accepted by the jury. Now he
    says he only thinks so. There is another matter to consider.
    I have been sworn to, I believe, by some of the witnesses who
    have also sworn to others, though some of them can prove they
    were in another city altogether--in Liverpool. Others have an
    overwhelming _alibi_, and I should by right have been tried
    with them; but I suppose your lordships cannot help that.
    We have, for instance, Thomas, the policeman, who swore to
    another prisoner. He identified him on a certain day, and
    the prisoner was not arrested for two days afterwards. As for
    Thomas, I do not presume that any jury could have believed
    him. He had heard of the blood-money, and of course was
    prepared to bid pretty high for it. My _alibi_ has not been
    strong, and unfortunately I was not strong in pocket, and was
    not able to produce more testimony to prove where I was at
    exactly that time. With regard to the unfortunate man who
    has lost his life, I sympathize with him and his family as
    deeply as your lordships or the jury, or anyone in the court.
    I deeply regret the unfortunate occurrence, but I am as
    perfectly innocent of his blood as any man. I never had the
    slightest intention of taking life. I have done nothing at
    all in connection with that man, and I do not desire to be
    accused of a murder which I have not committed. With regard to
    another matter, my learned counsel has, no doubt for the best,
    expressed some opinions on these matters and the misgovernment
    to which my country has been subjected. I am firmly convinced
    there is prejudice in the minds of the people, and it has been
    increased and excited by the newspapers, or by some of them,
    and to a certain extent has influenced the minds of the jury
    to convict the men standing in this dock, on a charge of
    which--a learned gentleman remarked a few nights since--they
    would be acquitted if they had been charged with murdering
    an old woman for the sake of the money in her pocket, but a
    political offence of this kind they could not. Now, sir, with
    regard to the opinions I hold on national matters--with regard
    to those men who have been released from that van, in which,
    unfortunately, life was lost, I am of opinion that certainly
    to some extent there was an excess. Perhaps it was unthought,
    but if those men had been in other countries, occupying other
    positions--if Jefferson Davis had been released in a northern
    city, there would have been a cry of applause throughout all
    England. If Garibaldi, who I saw before I was shut out from
    the world had been arrested, was released, or something of
    that kind had taken place, they would have applauded the
    bravery of the act. If the captives of King Theodore had
    been released, that too would have been applauded. But, as
    it happened to be in England, of course it is an awful thing,
    while yet in Ireland murders are perpetrated on unoffending
    men, as in the case of the riots in Waterford, where an
    unoffending man was murdered, and no one was punished for it.
    I do not desire to detain your lordships. I can only say that
    I leave this world without a stain on my conscience that I
    have been wilfully guilty of anything in connexion with the
    death of Sergeant Brett. I am totally guiltless. I leave this
    world without malice to anyone. I do not accuse the jury,
    but I believe they were prejudiced. I don't accuse them of
    wilfully wishing to convict, but prejudice has induced them
    to convict when they otherwise would not have done. With
    reference to the witnesses, every one of them has sworn
    falsely. I never threw a stone or fired a pistol; I was never
    at the place, as they have said; it is all totally false. But
    as I have to go before my God. I forgive them. They will be
    able to meet me, some day, before that God who is to judge us
    all, and then they and the people in this Court, and everyone,
    will know who tells the truth. Had I committed anything
    against the Crown of England, I would have scorned myself had
    I attempted to deny it; but with regard to those men, they
    have sworn what is altogether false. Had I been an Englishman,
    and arrested near the scene of that disturbance, I would
    have been brought as a witness to identify them; but being an
    Irishman, it was supposed my sympathy was with them, and on
    suspicion of that sympathy I was arrested, and in consequence
    of the arrest, and the rewards which were offered, I was
    identified. It could not be otherwise. As I said before, my
    opinions on national matters do not at all relate to the case
    before your lordships. We have been found guilty, and, as
    a matter of course we accept our death as gracefully as
    possible. We are not afraid to die--at least I am not."

"Nor I," "Nor I," "Nor I," swelled up from the lips of his companions,
and then, with a proud smile, Condon continued:--

    "I have no sin or stain upon me; and I leave this world at
    peace with all. With regard to the other prisoners who are to
    be tried afterwards, I hope our blood at least will satisfy
    the cravings for it. I hope our blood will be enough, and that
    those men who I honestly believe are guiltless of the blood
    of that man--that the other batches will get a fair, free,
    and a more impartial trial. We view matters in a different
    light from what the jury do. We have been imprisoned, and
    have not had the advantage of understanding exactly to what
    this excitement has led. I can only hope and pray that this
    prejudice will disappear--that my poor country will right
    herself some day, and that her people, so far from being
    looked upon with scorn and aversion, will receive what they
    are entitled to, the respect not only of the civilized world,
    but of Englishmen. I, too, am an American citizen, and on
    English territory I have committed no crime which makes me
    amenable to the crown of England. I have done nothing; and, as
    a matter of course, I did expect protection--as this gentleman
    (pointing to Allen) has said, the protection of the ambassador
    of my government. I am a citizen of the State of Ohio; but
    I am sorry to say my name is not Shore. My name is Edward
    O'Meagher Condon. I belong to Ohio, and there are loving
    hearts there that will be sorry for this. I have nothing but
    my best wishes to send them, and my best feelings, and assure
    them I can die as a Christian and an Irishman; and that I
    am not ashamed or afraid of anything I have done, or the
    consequences, before God or man. They would be ashamed of me
    if I was in the slightest degree a coward, or concealed my
    opinions. The unfortunate divisions of our countrymen in
    America, have, to a certain extent, neutralized the efforts
    that we have made either in one direction or another for
    the liberation of our country. All these things have been
    thwarted, and as a matter of course we must only submit to our
    fate. I only trust again, that those who are to be tried after
    us, will have a fair trial, and that our blood will satisfy
    the craving which I understand exists. You will soon send us
    before God, and I am perfectly prepared to go. I have nothing
    to regret, or to retract, or take back. I can only say, GOD
    SAVE IRELAND."

Again were the voices of his companions raised in unison. "God save
Ireland!" they cried defiantly, in chorus. "God save Ireland!" The
cry rung through the packed justice-hall, and fell on the ears of its
blood-thirsty occupants like the voice of an accusing angel. "God save
Ireland," they said; and then the brave-hearted fellows gazed fiercely
around the hostile gathering, as if daring them to interfere with the
prayer. "God save Ireland!"--from the few broken-hearted relatives who
listened to the patriots' prayer the responsive "Amen" was breathed
back, and the dauntless young Irishman continued:--

    "I wish to add a word or two. There is nothing in the close
    of my political career which I regret. I don't know of one act
    which could bring the blush of shame to my face, or make me
    afraid to meet my God or fellow-man. I would be most happy,
    and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to die on the
    field for my country in defence of her liberty. As it is,
    I cannot die on the field, but I can die on the scaffold, I
    hope, as a soldier, a man, and a Christian."

And now the last was spoken. As true Irishmen and as true patriots
they had borne themselves. No trace of flinching did they give for
their enemies to gloat over--no sign of weakness which could take from
the effect of their deathless words. With bold front and steady mien
they stood forward to listen to the fatal decree their judges were
ready to pronounce. The judges produced the black caps, with which
they had come provided, and then Justice Mellor proceeded to pass
sentence. No person, he said, who had witnessed the proceedings could
doubt the propriety of the verdict, which, he insisted, was the
result of "a full, patient, and impartial investigation." He made no
distinction. "I am perfectly convinced," he said, "that all of you
had resolved, at any risk, and by any amount of dangerous violence and
outrage, to accomplish your object; and that, in fact, Charles Brett
was murdered because it was essential to the completion of your common
design that he should be." The stereotyped words of exhortation to
repentance followed, and then the judge concluded:--

    "The sentence is that you, and each of you, be taken hence to
    the place whence you came, and thence to a place of execution,
    and that you be there hanged by the neck until you shall be
    dead, and that your bodies be afterwards buried within the
    precincts of the prison wherein you were last confined after
    your respective convictions; and may God, in His infinite
    mercy, have mercy upon you."

With quiet composure the doomed men heard the words. They warmly shook
hands with their counsel, thanked them for their exertions, and then,
looking towards the spot where their weeping friends were seated, they
turned to leave the dock. "God be with you, Irishmen and Irishwomen!"
they cried and, as they disappeared from the court, their final adieu
was heard in the same prayer that had swelled upwards to heaven from
them before--

"GOD SAVE IRELAND!"

[Illustration: "GOD SAVE IRELAND!"]

Scarcely had the Manchester courthouse ceased to echo those voices
from the dock, when the glaring falseness of the verdict became the
theme of comment amongst even the most thoroughgoing Englishmen who
had been present throughout the trial.

Without more ado, down sate some thirty or forty reporters, who, as
representatives of the English metropolitan and provincial press,
had attended the Commission, and addressed a memorial to the Home
Secretary, stating that they had been long accustomed to attend at
trials on capital charges; that they had extensive experience of
such cases, from personal observation of prisoners in the dock and
witnesses on the table; and that they were solemnly convinced, the
swearing of the witnesses and the verdict of the jury to the contrary
notwithstanding, that the man Maguire had neither hand, act, nor part
in the crime for which he had been sentenced to death. The following
is the petition referred to:--

    We, the undersigned members of the metropolitan and provincial
    Press, having had long experience in courts of justice, and
    full opportunity of observing the demeanour of prisoners and
    witnesses in cases of criminal procedure, beg humbly to submit
    that, having heard the evidence adduced before the Special
    Commission, on the capital charge preferred against Thomas
    Maguire, private in the Royal Marines, we conscientiously
    believe that the said Thomas Maguire is innocent of the crime
    of which he has been convicted, and that his conviction has
    resulted from mistaken identity. We, therefore, pray that
    you will be pleased to advise her Majesty to grant her most
    gracious pardon to the said Thomas Maguire.

This was a startling event; it was a proceeding utterly without
precedent. Nothing but the most extraordinary circumstances could have
called it forth. The blunder of the jury must have been open, glaring,
painfully notorious, indeed, when such an astonishing course was
adopted by the whole staff of the English Press.

It was most embarrassing. For what had those newspaper reporters seen
or heard that the jurors had not seen and heard?--and yet the jurors
said Maguire was guilty. What had those reporters seen or heard that
the judges had not seen and heard?--and yet the judges said they
"fully concurred in the verdict of the jury." The reporters were not
sworn on the Evangelists of God to give a true deliverance--but the
jurors were. The reporters were not sworn to administer justice--were
not dressed in ermine--were not bound to be men of legal ability,
judicial calmness, wisdom, and impartiality--but the judges were. Yet
the unsworn reporters told the government Maguire was an innocent man;
while judge and jury told the government--_swore_ to it--that he was a
guilty murderer!

What was the government to do? Was it to act on the verdict of
newspaper reporters who had happened to be present at this trial,
and not on the verdict of the jury who had been solemnly sworn in the
case? Behind the reporters' verdict lay the huge sustaining power of
almost universal conviction, mysteriously felt and owned, though as
yet nowhere expressed. Everyone who had calmly and dispassionately
weighed the evidence, arrived at conclusions identical with those of
the Press jury, and utterly opposed to those of the sworn jury. The
ministers themselves--it was a terribly embarassing truth to own--felt
that the reporters were as surely right as the jurors were surely
wrong. But what were they to do? What a frightful imputation would
public admission of that fact cast upon the twelve sworn jurors--upon
the two judges? What a damning imputation on their judgment or their
impartiality! Was it to be admitted that newspaper reporters could
be right in a case so awful, where twelve sworn jurors and two judges
were wrong?

And then, look at the consequences. The five men were convicted
in the one verdict. There were not five separate verdicts, but
one indivisible verdict. If the (jurors') verdict were publicly
vitiated--if the government confessed or admitted that verdict to be
false--it was not one man, but five men, who were affected by it.
To be sure the reporters' jury, in _their_ verdict, did not include
Allen, O'Brien, Larkin, and Shore; but was it to be conveyed by
implication that omission from the reporters' verdict of acquittal was
more fatal to a man than inclusion in the verdict of guilty by a sworn
jury? Might not twenty, or thirty, or forty men, quite as intelligent
as the reporters, be soon forthcoming to testify as forcibly of Allen,
O'Brien, Larkin, and Shore, as the Press-men had testified of Maguire?
Was it only _reporters_ whose judgment could set aside the verdict of
sworn jurors, endorsed by ermined judges? But, in any event, the five
men were convicted by the one verdict. To cut that, loosed all--not
necessarily in law, perhaps, but inevitably as regarded public
conscience and universal judgment; for there was not in all the
records of English jurisprudence a precedent for executing men on a
verdict acknowledged to have been one of blunder or perjury. Clearly,
if the jurors were to be told by the government that, in a case
where life and death hung on the issue, they had been so blinded
by excitement, passion, or prejudice, that they declared to be a
guilty murderer a man whose innocence was patent even to unofficial
lookers-on in court, the moral value of such a verdict was
gone--ruined for ever; and to hang _anyone_ on such a verdict--_on
that identical verdict, thus blasted and abandoned_--would, it was
pointed out, be murder, for all its technical legality; neither more
nor less, morally, than cool, deliberate, cold-blooded murder.

Everybody saw this; but everyone in England saw also the awkward
difficulty of the case. For, to let Allen, O'Brien, Larkin, and
Shore go free of death, in the face of their admitted complicity in
the rescue, would baulk the national demand for vengeance. It was
necessary that some one should be executed. Here were men who, though
they almost certainly had had no hand in causing, even accidentally,
the death of Brett, dared to boast of their participation in the
affray in the course of which that lamentable event unhappily
occurred--that rescue which had so painfully wounded and humiliated
English national pride. If these men were saved from execution,
owing to any foolish scruples about hanging a possibly--nay,
probably--innocent man along with them, a shout of rage would
ascend from that virtuous nation amongst whom Charlotte Winsor, the
professional infant-murderess, walks a free woman, notwithstanding a
jury's verdict of wilful murder and a judge's sentence of death.

So, for a time it seemed that, notwithstanding the verdict of the
reporters, the government would act upon the verdict of the jury, and
assume it to be correct. No doubt Maguire might be innocent, but it
was his misfortune to be included in an indivisible verdict with other
men, who, though perhaps as guiltless as he of wilful murder, were
surely guilty of riot and rescue, aggravated by the utterance of the
most bitter reflections on the British Constitution, which all men
know to be the "envy of surrounding nations." If they were not guilty
of the crime laid against them on the trial, they were guilty of
something else--they had outraged British pride. It was necessary they
should die; and as Maguire's verdict was not separate from theirs, he
must die too, rather than that they should escape.

But after a while the idea gained ground in England that this would
be rather _too_ monstrous a proceeding. Maguire's utter innocence of
any participation whatsoever in the rescue was too notorious. The
character of the witnesses on whose evidence he was convicted became
known: some were thieves, pickpockets, or gaol-birds of some other
denomination; others were persons palpably confused by panic,
excitement, passion, or prejudice. True, these same witnesses were
those who likewise swore against Allen, Larkin, O'Brien and Shore.
Indeed, a greater number swore against Maguire than against some of
the others. Nevertheless, the overwhelming notoriety of the jury's
blunder or perjury, in at least his case, became daily more and more
an obstacle to his execution; and eventually, on the 21st of November,
it was announced that his conviction had been cancelled, by the only
means existing under the perfect laws of Great Britain--namely, a
"free _pardon_" for a crime never committed. The prison doors were
opened for Maguire; the sworn jurors were plainly told in effect
that their blunder or perjury had well-nigh done the murder of at
least one innocent man. The judges were in like manner told that
shorthand-writers had been more clear-headed or dispassionate to weigh
evidence and judge guilt than they. The indivisible verdict had been
openly proclaimed worthless.

The news was received with a sense of relief in Ireland, where the
wholesale recklessness of the swearing, and the transparent falseness
of the verdict had, from the first, created intense indignation and
resentment. Everyone knew and saw that, whatever might have been the
participation of those men in the rescue of Colonel Kelly, they had
not had a fair trial; nay, that their so-called trial was an outrage
on all law and justice; that witnesses, jurors and judges, were in the
full fierce heat of excitement, panic, and passion--much more ready
to swear evidence, to find verdicts, and to pass sentences against
innocent men than they themselves were, perhaps, conscious of while
labouring under such influences. The public and official recognition
of the falseness and injustice of the Manchester verdict was therefore
hailed with intense satisfaction.

Maguire was at once liberated; Allen, Larkin, Shore, and O'Brien
were still detained in custody. It was universally concluded that,
notwithstanding the abandonment by the Crown of the verdict on which
they had been sentenced, they, because of their admitted complicity
in the rescue, would be held to imprisonment--probably penal
servitude--for a term of years. Considerable astonishment was excited,
some days subsequently to Maguire's pardon, by a statement that, in
the case of the other prisoners included in the verdict, "the law
should take its course." No one credited this declaration for an
instant, and most persons felt that the Crown officials were indulging
in an indecent piece of mockery. Amidst this universal incredulity,
however--this disdainful and indignant disbelief--the prisoners'
solicitor, Mr. Roberts, vigilant and untiring to the last, took the
necessary steps to pray arrest of execution pending decision of the
serious law points raised on the trial. Some of the most eminent
counsel in England certified solemnly that these points were of the
gravest nature, and would, in their opinion, be fully established on
argument before the judges; in which event the conviction would be
legally quashed, independently of the substantial abandonment of it as
false and untenable by the Crown in Maguire's case.

The first idea of the merest possibility--the faintest chance--of
the remaining four men being executed on the vitiated verdict, arose
when it became known that the judges, or some of them, had informally
declared to the government (without waiting to hear any argument on
the subject) that the points raised by the prisoners' counsel were
not tenable, or were not of force. Mr. Roberts was officially informed
that the sentence would infallibly be carried out. By this time barely
a few days remained of the interval previous to the date fixed for
the execution, and the strangest sensations swayed the public mind in
Ireland. Even still, no one would seriously credit that men would be
put to death on a verdict notoriously false. Some persons who proposed
memorials to the Queen were met on all hands with the answer that it
was all "acting" on the part of the government; that, even though it
should be at the foot of the scaffold, the men would be reprieved;
that the government would not--_dare not_--take away human life on a
verdict already vitiated and abandoned as a perjury or blunder.

The day of doom approached; and now, as it came nearer and nearer,
a painful and sickening alternation of incredulity and horror surged
through every Irish heart. Meanwhile, the Press of England, on
both sides of the Channel, kept up a ceaseless cry for blood. The
government were told that to let these men off, innocent or guilty,
would be "weakness." They were called upon to be "firm"--that is, to
hang first, and reflect afterwards. As the 23rd of November drew near,
the opinion began to gain ground, even in England, that things had
been too hastily done--that the whole trial bore all the traces of
panic--and that, if a few weeks were given for alarm and passion
to calm down, not a voice would approve the Manchester verdict.
Perceiving this--perceiving that time or opportunity for reflection,
or for the subsidence of panic, would almost certainly snatch its prey
from vengeance--a deafening yell arose from the raving creatures of
blood-hunger, demanding that not a day, not an hour, not a second,
should be granted to the condemned.

Still the Irish people would not credit that, far towards the close of
the nineteenth century, an act so dreadful durst be done.

During all this time the condemned lay in Salford gaol, tortured by
the suspense inevitably created by Maguire's reprieve. Although every
effort was made by their friends to keep them from grasping at or
indulging in hope, the all-significant fact of that release seemed
to imperatively forbid the idea of their being executed on a verdict
whose falseness was thus confessed. The moment, however, that the
singular conduct of the judges in London defeated the application of
Mr. Roberts, they, one and all, resigned themselves to the worst;
and while their fellow-countrymen at home were still utterly and
scornfully incredulous on the subject, devoted their remaining hours
exclusively to spiritual preparation for death upon the scaffold.

It was now that each character "rushed to its index." It was
now--within the very shadow of death--in the most awful crisis that
can test the soul--that these men rose into the grandeur and sublimity
of true heroism. They looked death in the face with serene and
cheerful composure. So far from requiring consolation, it was they
who strove most earnestly to console the grieving friends they were
leaving behind; imploring of them to exhibit resignation to the will
of God, and assuring them that, ignominious as was death upon the
gallows, and terrible as was the idea of suffering such a fate
unjustly, it was "not hard to die" with a clear and tranquil
conscience, as they were dying, for the cause of native land.

It may be questioned whether the martyrology of any nation in history
can exhibit anything more noble, more edifying--more elevating and
inspiring--than the last hours of these doomed Irishmen. Their
every thought, their every utterance, was full of tenderness and
holiness--full of firmness and cheerful acceptance of God's will.
The farewell letters addressed by them to their relatives and
friends--from which we take a few--amply illustrate the truth of
the foregoing observations. Here is O'Brien's last letter to his
brother:--

    New Bailey Prison, Salford,

    Nov. 14th, 1867.

    My dear brother--I have been intending to write to you
    for some time, but having seen a letter from a Mr. Moore,
    addressed to the governor of this prison, and knowing from
    that that you must be in a disagreeable state of suspense, I
    may therefore let you know how I am at once. With reference
    to the trial and all connected with it, it was unfair from
    beginning to end; and if I should die in consequence it will
    injure my murderers more than it will injure me. Why should I
    fear to die, innocent as I am of the charge which a prejudiced
    jury, assisted by perjured witnesses, found me guilty of? I
    will do judge and jury the justice of saying they believed
    me guilty of being--a citizen of the United States, a friend
    to liberty, a hater of relentless cruelty, and therefore
    no friend to the British government, as it exists in our
    beautiful island. I must say, though much I would like to
    live, that I cannot regret dying in the cause of Liberty and
    Ireland. It has been made dear to me by the sufferings of its
    people, by the martyrdom and exile of its best and noblest
    sons. The priest, the scholar, the soldier, the saint, have
    suffered and died, proudly, nobly: and why should I shrink
    from death in a cause made holy and glorious by the numbers
    of its martyrs and the heroism of its supporters, as well as
    by its justice? You don't, and never shall, forget that Peter
    O'Neill Crowley died only a short time since, in this cause.

  "Far dearer the grave or the prison,
    Illum'd by one patriot name,
  Than the trophies of all who have risen
    On liberty's ruins to fame."

    I should feel ashamed of my manhood if I thought myself
    capable of doing anything mean to save my life, to get out
    of here, or for any other selfish purpose. Let no man think
    a cause is lost because some suffer for it. It is only a
    proof that those who suffer are in earnest, and should be an
    incentive to others to be equally so--to do their duty with
    firmness, justice, and disinterestedness. _I feel confident
    of the ultimate success of the Irish cause, as I do of my
    own existence._ God, in His great mercy and goodness, will
    strengthen the arm of the patriot, and give him wisdom to
    free his country. Let us hope that He, in His wisdom, is only
    trying our patience. The greater its sufferings, the more
    glorious will He make the future of our unfortunate country
    and its people.

    The shriek of the famine-stricken mother and the helpless
    infant, as well as the centuries of misery, call to heaven
    for vengeance. God is slow, but just! The blood of Tone,
    Fitzgerald, Emmett, and others has been shed--how much good
    has it done the tyrant and the robber? None. Smith O'Brien,
    McManus, and Mitchel suffered for Ireland, yet not their
    sufferings, nor those of O'Donovan (Bossa) and his companions,
    deterred Burke, McAfferty, and their friends from doing their
    duty. Neither shall the sufferings of my companions, nor mine,
    hinder my countrymen from taking their part in the inevitable
    struggle, but rather nerve their arms to strike. I would write
    on this subject at greater length, but I hope that I have
    written enough to show you that if a man dies for liberty, his
    memory lives in the breasts of the good and virtuous. You will
    also see that there is no necessity for my father, mother,
    sisters or relations fretting about me. When I leave this
    world it will be (with God's help) to go to a better, to join
    the angels and saints of God, and sing His praises for all
    eternity. I leave a world of suffering for one of eternal joy
    and happiness. I have been to Holy Communion, and, please God,
    intend going shortly again. I am sorry we cannot hear Mass;
    the good priest is not allowed to say it in this prison.

    Give my love to my father and mother, to Mary, Ellen, John
    Phillips, Tim, Catherine, uncles, aunts, and cousins.

    Farewell.

    From your affectionate brother,

    MICHAEL O'BRIEN (_alias_ William Gould).

The following is one of Allen's letters to his relatives, written the
day before his execution:--

    Salford, New Bailey Prison, Nov. 23rd, 1867.

    TO YOU, MY LOVING AND SINCERE DEAR UNCLE AND AUNT HOGAN,

    I suppose this is my last letter to you at this side of the
    grave. Oh, dear uncle and aunt, if you reflect on it, it
    is nothing. I am dying an honourable death: I am dying _for
    Ireland_--dying for the land that gave me birth--dying for
    the Island of Saints--and dying for liberty. Every generation
    of our countrymen has suffered; and where is the Irish heart
    could stand by unmoved? I should like to know what trouble,
    what passion, what mischief could separate the true Irish
    heart from its own native isle. Dear uncle and aunt, it is
    sad to be parting you all, at my early age; but we must all
    die some day or another. A few hours more and I will breathe
    my last, and on English soil. Oh, that I could be buried in
    Ireland! What a happiness it would be to all my friends, and
    to myself--where my countrymen could kneel on my grave. I
    cannot express what joy it afforded me, when I found Aunt
    Sarah and you were admitted. Dear uncle, I am sure it was not
    a very pleasant place I had to receive you and my aunt; but
    we must put up with all trials until we depart this life. I am
    sure it will grieve you very much to leave me in such a place,
    on the evidence of such characters as the witnesses were that
    swore my life away. But I forgive them, and may God forgive
    them. I am dying, thank God! an Irishman and a Christian.
    Give my love to all friends; same from your ever affectionate
    nephew,

    W.P. ALLEN.

    Pray for us. Good bye, and remember me. Good bye, and may
    heaven protect ye, is the last wish of your dying nephew,

    W.P. ALLEN.

Larkin was the only one of the condemned four who was married. There
were to weep his fall, besides his aged parents, a devoted wife
and three little children--all young; and it redounds rather to his
honour, that though flinching in nowise, lacking nought in courageous
firmness, home ties were painfully strong around his heart. With
him it was anguish indeed to part for ever the faithful wife and the
little ones who used to nestle in his bosom. Ah! he was never more to
feel those little arms twining round his neck--never more to see those
infant faces gazing into his own--never more to part the flaxen curls
over each unfurrowed brow! Henceforth they would look for his coming
and hearken for his footfall in vain! They would call upon him, and be
answered only by the convulsive sobs of their widowed mother. And who
would now fill his place for them, even as bread-winner? Mayhap, when
he lay in the grave, these cherished little ones, for whom he would
draw the life-blood from his heart, would feel the hunger-pangs of
orphanage in squalid misery and obscurity! But no. If such a thought
approached Larkin's heart, it was at once repelled. Assuredly, he
had more faith in his countrymen--more faith in the fidelity and
generosity of his race--than to believe they would suffer one of those
orphans to want loving, helping, guiding hands. As he himself said, he
was not, after all, leaving them fatherless; he was bequeathing them
to Ireland and to God.

And the Father of the Fatherless, even on the instant, raised up a
friend for them--sent an angel missioner of blessed comfort to give
poor Larkin, even on the brink of the grave, assurance that no pang of
poverty should ever wound those little ones thus awfully bereaved. One
day the confessor met the prisoners with beaming face, holding in his
hand a letter. It was from the Dowager Marchioness of Queensbury, to
the condemned Irishmen in Salford gaol, and ran as follows:--

    MY DEAR FRIENDS--

    It may be that those few lines may minister some consolation
    to you on your approaching departure from this world. I send
    you by the hands of a faithful messenger some help for your
    wife, or wives, and children, in their approaching irreparable
    loss, and with the assurance that so long as I live they shall
    be cared for to the utmost of my power.

    Mr. M'Donnell, the bearer of this for me, will bring me their
    address, and the address of the priest who attends you.

    It will also be a comfort for your precious souls, to know
    that we remember you here at the altar of God. where the daily
    remembrance of that all-glorious sacrifice on Calvary, for you
    all, is not neglected.

    We have daily Mass for you here; and if it be so that it
    please the good God to permit you thus to be called to Himself
    on Saturday morning, the precious body and blood of our Lord
    and Saviour and our Friend will be presented for you before
    God, at eight o'clock, on that day--that blood so precious,
    that cleanses from all sin. May your last words and thoughts
    be Jesus. Rest on Him, who is faithful, and willing and
    all-powerful to save. Rest on Him, and on His sacrifice on
    that Cross for you, instead of you, and hear Him say, "_To-day
    thou shalt be with me in Paradise_." Yet will we remember your
    souls constantly at the altar of God, after your departure, as
    well as those whom you leave in life.

    Farewell! and may Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners, save
    us all, and give you His last blessing upon earth, and an
    eternal continuance of it in heaven.

    CAROLINE QUEENSBURY.

This letter enclosed £100. On hearing it read, poor Larkin burst into
tears; the other prisoners also were deeply affected. Surely, never
was act more noble! Never was woman's sex more exalted--never was
woman's mission more beautifully exemplified, than by this glorious
act of bravery, tenderness, and generosity.

Two days before the fatal 23rd, the calm resignation which the
condemned by this time enjoyed was once more cruelly disturbed, and
almost destroyed. Once again the government came to fill their hearts
with the torturing hope, if not, indeed, the strong conviction, that
after all, even though it should be at the foot of the gallows, they
would one and all be reprieved. _Another man of the five included in
the vitiated verdict was reprieved_--Shore was to have his sentence
commuted.

This second reprieve was the most refined and subtle torture to
men who had made up their minds for the worst, and who, by God's
strengthening gracs, had already become, as it were, dead to the
world. It rendered the execution of the remaining men almost an
impossibility. Maguire notoriously was innocent even of complicity
in the rescue--the verdict of the sworn jury, concurred in by the
"learned judge," to the contrary notwithstanding. But _Shore_ was
_avowedly a full participator in the rescue_. He was no more, no less,
guilty than Allen, Larkin, O'Brien. In the dock he proudly gloried in
the fact. What wonder if the hapless three, as yet unrespited, found
the wild hope of life surging irresistibly through heart and brain!

To the eternal honour of the artisans of London be it told, they
signalized themselves in this crisis by a humanity, a generosity, that
will not soon be forgotten by Irishmen. At several crowded meetings
they adopted memorials to the government, praying for the respite
of the condemned Irishmen--or rather, protesting against their
contemplated execution. These memorials were pressed with a devoted
zeal that showed how deeply the honest hearts of English working-men
were stirred; but the newspaper press--the "high class" press
especially--the enlightened "public instructors"--howled at, reviled,
and decried these demonstrations of humanity. The Queen's officials
treated the petitions and petitioners with corresponding contempt;
and an endeavour to approach the Sovereign herself, then at Windsor;
resulted in the contumelious rejection from the palace gate of the
petitioners, who were mobbed and hooted by the tradesmen and flunkeys
of the royal household!

In Ireland, however, as might be supposed, the respite of Shore was
accepted as settling the question: there would be no execution. On the
21st of November men heard, indeed, that troops were being poured into
Manchester, that the streets were being barricaded, that the public
buildings were strongly guarded, and that special constables were
being sworn in by thousands. All this was laughed at as absurd parade.
Ready as were Irishmen to credit England with revengeful severity,
there was, in their opinion, nevertheless, a limit even to that.
To hang Allen, O'Brien, and Larkin now, on the broken-down verdict,
would, it was judged, be a measure of outrage which even the fiercest
hater of England would frankly declare too great for her.

A few there were, however, who did not view the situation thus. They
read in the respite of Shore, _fear_; and they gloomily reflected that
justice or magnanimity towards the weak seldom characterizes those who
exhibit cowardice towards the strong. _Shore was an American._ By this
simple sentence a flood of light is thrown on the fact of respiting
him alone amongst the four men admittedly concerned in the rescue.
Shore was an American. He had a country to avenge him if legally
slaughtered on a vitiated verdict. To hang _him_ was dangerous; but
as for Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien, _they had no country_ (in the same
sense) to avenge them. America was strong, but Ireland was weak. If
it was deemed dangerous to sport with the life of the American, it was
deemed safe to be brutal and merciless towards the Irishmen. On these
the full arrear of British vengeance might be glutted.

But there were not many to discern, in the first flush of its
proclamation, this sinister aspect of Shore's respite. The news
reached Ireland on Friday, 22nd November, and was, as we have already
said, generally deemed conclusive evidence that the next day would
bring like news in reference to Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien.

Early next morning--Saturday, 23rd November, 1867--men poured into the
cities and towns of Ireland reached by telegraphic communication, to
learn "the news from Manchester." Language literally fails to convey
an idea of the horror--the stupefaction--that ensued when that news
was read:--

"_This morning, at eight o'clock, the three condemned Fenians, Allen,
Larkin, and O'Brien, were executed in front of Sulford Gaol._"

Men gasped in awe-struck horror--speech seemed denied them. Could it
be a dream, or was this a reality? Had men lived to see the day when
such a deed could be done? For the reason that incredulity had been
so strong before, wild, haggard horror now sat on every countenance,
and froze the life-blood in every heart. Irishmen had lain quiescent,
persuaded that in this seventh decade of the nineteenth century, some
humanizing influences would be found to sway that power that in the
past, at least, had ever been so merciless to Irish victims. But now!
Alas!--

In that dreadful hour the gulf between the two nations seemed widened
and deepened, until it gaped and yawned wide, deep, and dark as hell
itself. There was a scowl on every brow. Men went about--sullen,
moody, silent, morose--with clenched teeth and darkened faces,
terrible passions raging in their bosoms. For all knew that the
sacrifice of those three Irish patriots was a cold-blooded and
cowardly act of English policy, more than a judicial proceeding--an
act of English panic, cowardice, hate, and terror. All knew that
Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien would never have been hanged on the
evidence of those forsworn witnesses, and on the verdict of that jury
whose perjury or blunder was openly confessed and proclaimed, but for
the political aspirations and designs of which the rescue was judged
to be an illustration. Had their offence been non-political, they
would not have been held a day on such a verdict. They were put
to death for their political opinions. They were put to death for
political reasons. Their execution was meant to strike terror into
Irishmen daring to mutter of liberty. Had they been Americans, like
Shore, they would have been respited; but as they were Irishmen, they
were immolated.

The full story of how those patriots met their fate at the last
reached Ireland two days afterwards, and intensified a thousandfold
the national emotions. Men were alternately melted into tears
or maddened into passion as they read that sad chapter of Irish
martyrdom.

Even before the respite of Shore the government had commenced the most
formidable military preparations in view of the bloody act of State
policy designed for the 23rd. Troops were hurried by rail to all
the English cities and towns where an "Irish element" existed; and
Manchester itself resembled a city besieged. The authorities called
for "special constables," and, partly attracted by the plenteous
supply of drink and free feeding;[1] and partly impelled by their
savage fury against the "Hirish" or the "Fenians,"--suddenly become
convertible terms with English writers and speakers--a motley mass
of several thousands, mainly belonging to the most degraded of the
population, were enrolled. All the streets in the neighbourhood of the
prison were closed against public traffic, were occupied by police or
"specials," and were crossed at close intervals by ponderous wooden
barriers. Positions commanding the space in front of the scaffold were
strategetically scanned, "strengthened," and occupied by military. The
scaffold was erected in a space or gap made in the upper part of the
outer or boundary wall of the prison in New Bailey-street. The masonry
was removed to the width necessary for the scaffold, which was then
projected over the street, at the outer side of the wall. It was
approached or ascended from the prison yard below, by a long wooden
stair or stepladder, close alongside the wall on the inside. Against
the wall on the inner side, on either hand of the scaffold, were
erected platforms within about four feet below the wall coping.
These platforms were filled with soldiers, "crouching down," as the
reporters described, "with the muzzles of their rifles just resting on
the top of the wall." The space in the street immediately beneath the
scaffold was railed off by a strong wooden barrier, and outside this
barrier were massed the thousands of police, special constables, and
volunteers.

[Footnote 1: The Manchester papers inform us that the specials were
plentifully fed with hot pork pies and beer _ad libitum_, which seemed
to have a powerful effect in bringing in volunteers from the lower
classes.]

On Friday the doomed men took leave for the last time of the few
relatives allowed to see them. The parting of Larkin and his family
is described as one of the most agonizing scenes ever witnessed. Poor
Allen, although not quite twenty years of age, was engaged to a young
girl whom he loved, and who loved him, most devotedly. She was sternly
refused the sad consolation of bidding him farewell. In the evening
the prisoners occupied themselves for some time in writing letters,
and each of them drew up a "declaration," which they committed to the
chaplain. They then gave not another thought to this world. From that
moment until all was over, their whole thoughts were centred in the
solemn occupation of preparing to meet their Creator. In these last
hours Father Gadd, the prison chaplain, was assisted by the Very
Rev. Canon Cantwell and the Rev. Father Quick, whose attentions were
unremitting to the end. From the first the prisoners exhibited a deep,
fervid religious spirit, which could scarcely have been surpassed
among the earliest Christian martyrs. They received Holy Communion
every alternate morning, and spent the greater part of their time
in spiritual devotion. On Friday evening they were locked up for
the night at the usual hour,--about half-past six o'clock. In their
cells they spent a long interval in prayer and meditation--disturbed
ever and anon, alas! by the shouts of brutal laughter and boisterous
choruses of the mob already assembled outside the prison walls. At
length the fated three sought their dungeon pallets for the last
time. "Strange as it may appear," says one of the Manchester papers
chronicling the execution, "those three men, standing on the brink
of the grave, and about to suffer an ignominious death, _slept
as soundly_ as had been their wont." Very "strange," no doubt, it
appeared to those accustomed to see _criminals_ die; but no marvel to
those who know how innocent men, at peace with God and man, can mount
the scaffold, and offer their lives a sacrifice for the cause of
liberty.

Far differently that night was spent by the thronging countrymen of
Broadhead, who came as to a holiday to see the "Fenians" die. Early
on the preceding evening crowds had taken up their places wherever the
occupying bodies of military, police, or specials did not prevent; and
the pictures drawn of their conduct by the newspaper reporters, one
and all, are inexpressibly revolting. It was the usual English crowd
assembled to enjoy an execution. They made the air resound with
laughter at obscene jokes, shouts, cries and repartees; and chorused
in thousands [beneath the gallows!] snatches of "comic" ballads and
pot-house songs, varied by verses of "Rule, Brittania" and "God save
the Queen," by way of exultation over the Irish. Once or twice, in
the early part of the night, the police had to remove the mob from the
portion of the prison nearest the condemned cells, as the shouts and
songs were painfully disturbing the hapless men engaged at that moment
preparing for eternity.

Saturday, the 23rd November, dawned misty, murky, dull, and cold over
Salford. During the first hours after the past midnight the weather
had been clear and frosty, and a heavy hoar covered the ground; but as
daylight approached, a thick mist or fog crept like a pallid pall over
the waking city.

The condemned were roused from sound and tranquil slumbers about a
quarter to five o'clock. Having dressed, they attended Mass, Rev.
Canon Cantwell, Rev. Mr. Gadd, and Rev. Mr. Quick officiating. They
heard this, their last Mass, with a fervour and solemnity which no
words could describe. The Holy Sacrifice having been offered, the
condemned and the three priests remained in prayer and spiritual
exercises until seven o'clock, when the prisoners partook of
breakfast. "The last preparations," says an English eye-witness,
"were then begun. At twelve minutes to eight o'clock the executioner,
Calcraft, and his assistant, were introduced into the cell in which
the prisoners were placed, and the process of pinioning their arms
was gone through. The priests stood by the side of the unhappy men,
administering the consolations of religion, and exhorting them to
firmness to meet the last dreadful ordeal. The convicts, at this
time," continues the English reporter, "manifested a remarkable
fortitude. Not one of them flinched in the least."

The same eye-witness describes as follows the last act of the tragedy,
with a brief general sketch of which we commenced this narrative:--

"At a quarter to eight o'clock the interior court of the gaol
presented a strange and striking spectacle. Behind the wall in New
Bailey-street was erected the long staircase leading to the scaffold,
and by its side were platforms for the use of the military. The fog
was so dense, that objects could be but faintly distinguished at a
distance of thirty yards. Suddenly the words of military command
were heard, and a company of the 72nd Highlanders marched round
the Roundhouse, and took up a position in line at the foot of the
staircase. Simultaneously, small detachments of the same regiment
ascended to the platform, and crouched there, with their loaded rifles
slightly projecting over the prison wall. At almost the same moment
the heads of a line of soldiers arose above the parapet of the railway
viaduct. A line of warders was formed in the gaol court. The sentries
on duty ceased their walk; magistrates and reporters stood aside, and
a dead silence prevailed for a few moments, as a signal was given from
the corner of the Roundhouse. At three minutes past eight o'clock the
solemn voice of a minister repeating the litany of the Catholic Church
was heard, and the head of the procession became visible through a
thick fog, about thirty yards from the foot of the staircase. The
Rev. Canon Cantwell walked first by the side of Allen. The convict
was deadly pale; his eyes wandered alternately from the priest to the
individuals standing round, and then he uplifted his gaze, in a vain
endeavour to pierce the dense canopy which hung above him. He walked
with a tolerably steady step, and uttered the response, 'Lord, have
mercy upon us,' in a firm voice."

Next to him came Larkin, in whose appearance confinement and anxiety
of mind had wrought a striking change. His physical strength seemed
shaken, and he required to be assisted by one of the warders in
ascending the long wooden stair that led to the scaffold. Last of
all came O'Brien, whose noble, firm, and dignified bearing won the
approbation of everyone who beheld him. A partition running in the
line of the wall divided the scaffold into an outer and an inner
platform, a small door opening between them. Allen and O'Brien, and
their attendants, having reached the top of the stair, waited on the
inner platform until Larkin and the rest of the attendant warders and
officials came up. Then, all being ready, the door was flung open,
and the boy-martyr was first led out upon the drop. His face, which
was deathly pale, appeared working with the effects of strong mental
agony. The high priest of English rule over Irishmen, Calcraft, came
forward, placed the treacherous noose around Allen's neck, pulled a
thin white cap over his ashen face, and then stooped, and securely
tied his feet together. The pinioning of the arms, which had been done
in the cell, allowed his hands, from the elbows downward, sufficient
freedom to clasp on his breast a crucifix, which ever and anon, as he
spoke aloud the responses of the litany, the poor young fellow seemed
to press closer and closer to his heart.

Next O'Brien was led forth. On his fine manly face the closest
scrutiny could not detect a trace of weakness. He looked calmly
and sadly around; then, stepping up to where Allen stood capped and
pinioned, he clasped him by the hand, and kissed him affectionately on
the cheek, speaking to him a word or two not overheard. Then O'Brien
himself was placed by Calcraft on the drop, the rope was fixed upon
his neck, the cap was drawn on his face, and his feet were securely
bound.

Larkin was now brought out, and led directly to his place on the
left hand of O'Brien, who was in the middle. The sight of his two
brother-martyrs capped and pinioned, and with the fatal cord around
each neck, seemed to unman the poor fellow utterly. He stumbled on
touching an uneven plank on the scaffold, so that many thought he had
fainted; but it was not so, though he unquestionably was labouring
under intense agony of mind. O'Brien, firm and unshrinking to the
last, turned and looked at him encouragingly, and to him also spoke
a few words in a low tone.

Calcraft now disappeared from view, and the three men stood for a
moment before the multitude, their voices ringing out clearly in the
still morning air, "Lord Jesus, have mercy on us." Suddenly the click
of the bolts was heard; the three bodies sunk through the traps;
England's three halters strained, and tugged, and twitched
convulsively for a few moments, and the deed was done--her vengeance
was accomplished.

That afternoon, her functionaries bore to three grave-pits in the
prison-yard three lumps of lifeless clay, that a few short hours
before had been three of God's noblest creatures. Like carrion, they
were flung into those unconsecrated pits, and strewed with quicklime.
For this was British law. The wolf and the tiger leave some vestiges
of their victims; but a special ordinance of English law required even
the corpses of those martyred Irishmen to be calcined.

They had purposed addressing the crowd from the scaffold, but were
prevented from so doing by order of the government! They had each one,
however, committed to writing, as already mentioned, a last solemn
message to the world. These declarations of the dying men were
entrusted to the care of their confessor, who eventually gave them up
for publication. They created the most intense and painful sensation
in Ireland. They made more and more clear the, dreadful fact that
the hapless men had been cruelly sacrificed. Standing, as it might
be said, in the presence of their God and Judge, they one and all
protested their innocence, and declared the falseness of the evidence
on which they had been convicted. But not in querulous repining or
denunciation were these truths proclaimed, but in language and with
sentiments worthy of men who professed the faith preached by the
Crucified on Calvary. Every line breathed the purest humility, the
most perfect resignation, and the most intense devotion to God,
mingled with the most fervent love of country. Those men were all of
humble circumstances in life, and, with the exception of O'Brien, had
but slight literary advantages; yet the simple pathos, beauty, and
eloquence of their dying messages moved every heart. Poor Larkin was,
of all three, the least endowed with education, yet his letter has
been aptly described as "a perfect _poem_ in prose." here append those
memorable documents:--

DECLARATION OF WILLIAM PHILIP ALLEN.

I wish to say a few words relative to the charge for which I am to
die. In a few hours more I will be going before my God. I state in
the presence of that great God that I am not the man who shot Sergeant
Brett. If that man's wife is alive, never let her think that I am the
person who deprived her of her husband; and if his family is alive,
let them never think I am the man who deprived them of their father.

I confess I have committed other sins against my God, and I hope He
will accept of my death as a homage and adoration which I owe his
Divine Majesty, and in atonement for my past transgressions against
him.

There is not much use in dwelling on this subject much longer; for by
this time I am sure it is plain that I am not the man that took away
the life of Sergeant Brett.

I state this to put juries on their guard for the future, and to have
them inquire into the characters of witnesses before they take away
the lives of innocent men. But then, I ought not to complain. Was
not our Saviour sold for money, and His life sworn away by false
witnesses? With the help of the great God, I am only dying to a world
of sorrow to rise to a world of joy. Before the judgment seat of God
there will be no false witnesses tolerated; everyone must render an
account for himself.

I forgive all the enemies I ever may have had in this world. May God
forgive them. Forgive them, sweet Jesus, forgive them! I also ask
pardon of all whom I have injured in any way.

In reference to the attack on the van, I confess I nobly aided in the
rescue of the gallant Colonel Kelly and Captain Deasey. It is well
known to the whole world what my poor country has to suffer, and how
her sons are exiles the world over; then tell me where is the Irishman
who could look on unmoved, and see his countrymen taken prisoners, and
treated like murderers and robbers in British dungeons?

May the Lord have mercy on our souls, and deliver Ireland from her
sufferings. God save Ireland!

WILLIAM PHILIP ALLEN.


DECLARATION OF MICHAEL LARKIN.

Men of the World--I, as a dying man, going before my God, solemnly
declare I have never fired a shot in all my life, much less the day
the attack was made on the van, nor did I ever put a hand to the van.
The world will remember the widow's son's life that was sworn away,
by which he leaves a wife and four children to mourn a loss. I am
not dying for shooting Brett, but for mentioning Colonel Kelly's and
Deasey's names in the court. I am dying a patriot for my God and my
country, and Larkin will be remembered in time to come by the sons and
daughters of Erin.

Farewell, dear Ireland, for I must leave you, and die a martyr for
your sake. Farewell, dear mother, wife, and children, for I must leave
you all for poor Ireland's sake. Farewell, uncles, aunts, and cousins,
likewise sons and daughters of Erin. I hope in heaven we will meet
another day. God be with you. Father in heaven, forgive those that
have sworn my life away. I forgive them and the world. God bless
Ireland!

MICHAEL LARKIN.


DECLARATION OF MICHAEL O'BRIEN.

I have only to make these few remarks. I did not use a revolver or
any other firearm, or throw stones, on the day that Colonel Kelly and
Captain Deasey were so gallantly rescued. I was not present too, when
the van was attacked. I say this not by way of reproach, or to give
annoyance to any person; but I say it in the hope that witnesses may
be more particular when identifying, and that juries may look more
closely to the character of witnesses, and to their evidence, before
they convict a person to send him before his God. I trust that
those who swore to seeing me with a revolver, or throwing stones,
were nothing more than mistaken. I forgive them from my heart, and
likewise, I forgive all who have ever done me or intended to do me
any injury. I know I have been guilty of many sins against my God; in
satisfaction for those sins I have tried to do what little penance I
could, and having received the sacraments of the Church, I have humbly
begged that He would accept my sufferings and death, to be united
to the sufferings and death of His innocent Son, through whom my
sufferings can be rendered acceptable.

My Redeemer died a more shameful death, as far as man could make it,
that I might receive pardon from Him and enjoy His glory in Heaven.
God grant it may be so. I earnestly beg my countrymen in America to
heal their differences, to unite in God's name for the sake of Ireland
and liberty. I cannot see any reason, even the slightest, why John
Savage should not have the entire confidence of all his countrymen.
With reference to Colonel Kelly, I believe him to be a good, honorable
man, unselfish, and entirely devoted to the cause of Irish freedom.

MICHAEL O'BRIEN.


So ends the story of the memorable events which gave three new names
to the list of Ireland's martyrs; so closes the sad and thrilling
record which tells how Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien died. Over the
neglected plot in which their calcined remains are lying no stone
stands inscribed with their names--no emblem to symbolize their
religion or their nationality. But to that gloomy spot the hearts of
the Irish people will ever turn with affectionate remembrance; and the
day will never come when, in this the land that bore them, the brave
men whose ashes repose within it will be forgotten.

       *       *       *       *       *


THE CRUISE OF THE JACKNELL


There was wild commotion among the Irish people in America, when, on
the 6th of March, 1867, the Atlantic cable flashed across to them
the news that on the previous night the Fenian circles, from Louth
to Kerry, had turned out in arms, and commenced the long promised
rebellion. It was news to send a thrill of excitement through every
Irish heart--to fire the blood of the zealous men, who for years had
been working to bring the Irish question to this issue; and news to
cause profound and anxious thought to that large class of Irishmen
who, deeply occupied with commercial and professional pursuits, are
less energetic than the members of the Fenian Brotherhood in their
political action, but who scarcely differ from them in principle. It
was, for all who had Irish blood in their veins and Irish sympathies
in their hearts, a serious consideration that once again the banner
of insurrection against English rule had been unfurled in Ireland,
and that on many a spot of Irish earth the organized forces of England
were in conflict with the hastily collected, ill-supplied, and almost
unarmed levies of Irish patriotism.

The question whether the cause of Ireland would be advantaged or
injured by the struggle and its inevitable results, was differently
answered by different minds. Some saw in the conflict nothing but
defeat and suffering for the country--more, gyves and chains--more,
sorrow and humiliation for her sons, and a fresh triumph for the proud
and boastful power of England. Others, while only too well convinced
that the suppression of the insurrectionary movement was sure to be
speedily accomplished, viewed the position with a certain fierce and
stern satisfaction, and discerned therein the germ of high hopes for
the future.

But to certain of the Fenian leaders and Fenian circles in America,
the news came with a pressing and a peculiar interest. They were
largely responsible for the outbreak; the war was, in a manner, their
war. Their late head-centre, James Stephens, was chargeable with it
only in a certain degree. He had promised to initiate the struggle
before the 1st of January of that year. Conscious that his veracity
was regarded in somewhat of a dubious light by many of his followers,
he reiterated the declaration with all possible passion and vehemence,
and even went the length of swearing to it by invocations of the Most
High, before public assemblies of his countrymen. When the time came
for the fulfilment of his pledges he failed to keep them, and was
immediately deposed from his position by the disappointed and enraged
circles which had hitherto trusted him. But in the meantime, relying
on his engagement to lead off an insurrection in Ireland, those
circles had made certain preparations for the event, and a number of
their members, brave Irishmen who had had actual experience of war in
the armies of America, had crossed the Atlantic, and landed in England
and Ireland, to give the movement the benefit of their services. To
these men the break-down of James Stephens was a stunning blow, an
event full of shame and horror; they felt their honour compromised
by his conduct; they considered that they could not return to America
with their mission unattempted, and they resolved to establish their
own honesty and sincerity at all events, as well as the courage
and earnestness of the Fenian Brotherhood in Ireland, by taking the
desperate course of engaging forthwith in open insurrection. It was
in conformity with their arrangements, and in obedience to their
directions, that the rising took place on the night of the 5th of
March, 1867.

The ill success which attended the attempted insurrection was reported
in America almost as soon as it was known in Ireland, by the agency
of the Atlantic telegraph. But, whoever believed the statements of its
speedy and utter collapse, which were forwarded through the cable, the
Fenian circles certainly did not. They felt certain that the truth was
being withheld from them, that the cable, which was an instrument in
the hands of the British Government, was being employed to mislead
them, and that when it reported all quiet in Ireland, and no movement
afoot save that of the British troops employed in "scouring" the
mountains of Cork and Tipperary, there was, in reality, a guerilla
warfare being waged over a great extent of the country, and many
a tough fight being fought in pass, and glen, and wood, amidst the
picturesque scenery of the Munster counties. Their incredulity was but
natural. They had no reason whatever to rely on the truthfulness of
the cable messages. If there had been Fenian successes to report, it
is very likely that no fair account of them would have been allowed
to pass by that route. Still, as day after day went by, and brought
no news of battles lost or won by any party, the conviction began to
force itself on the minds of the American Fenians that the movement
in Ireland was hanging fire, and that it was going hard with the brave
men who had committed themselves to it at the outset. It was necessary
that something should be done, if those men were to be sustained, and
the outbreak developed into a struggle worthy of the cause, and of the
long years of preparation, the bold threats and the glowing promises
of the Fenian Brotherhood, the risks they had incurred, and the
sacrifices they had made.

What was to be done? What was most needed to give force and power to
the insurrectionary uprising in Ireland? They knew the answer. Arms
and officers were wanted. To supply them, at least in some measure,
was, therefore, the great object that now presented itself to their
minds. How they sought to accomplish it is known to the public--if the
Attorney-General and his witnesses, at the opening of the Commission
in Dublin, in November, 1867, told a true story.

Any references we shall here make to that particular subject, that is,
to the alleged voyage of a Fenian cruiser conveying men and arms from
New York to Ireland, shall be derived entirely from the statements
made in open court on that occasion, with an extract or two from a
document otherwise published. We shall add nothing to them, neither
shall we vouch for the authenticity of all or any of them, for, at
the time of our writing, "the Crown," as the government lawyers call
themselves, are not yet done with some of the cases arising out of
this alleged expedition. But, taking the narrative as we find it
in the newspaper reports of the trials of Colonel John Warren and
Augustine E. Costello, and in the lecture delivered in America, under
the auspices of the Fenian Brotherhood, by Colonel S.R. Tresilian,
John Savage, Esq., C.E.F.B. in the chair, reported in the _Irish
People_, New York, and in other journals, we summarise briefly, as
follows, its chief particulars.

It appears, then, that at the time to which we have referred, when the
necessity of transmitting a quantity of arms, and sending a number of
military leaders to Ireland for the sustainment of the insurrectionary
movement had impressed itself on the minds of the Fenian leaders
in America, they resolved on an attempt to supply, to some extent,
those requirements. Two ways were open to them of setting about this
difficult and hazardous undertaking. One was to avail of the ordinary
mail steamers and trading ships between the two countries, send the
men across as ordinary passengers, and ship the arms as goods of
different kinds. Much had been done in that way during the previous
three or four years, but it was plainly too slow and uncertain a
process to adopt on the present occasion. The other course was to
procure a vessel for this special purpose, freight her with the men
and arms, place her under the command of a skilful and experienced
captain, and trust to his skill and luck for landing the entire in
safety somewhere on the west coast of Ireland.

This was the course adopted. How it was carried out, the
Attorney-General, with whatever degree of authority may attach to his
words in such a case, has thus described:--

    On the 12th of April, 1867, a party of forty or fifty men,
    almost all of whom had been officers or privates in the
    service of the American government, went down from New York to
    Sandyhook, in a steamer, a distance of about eighteen miles.
    There they found a brigantine of about 200 tons burden, which
    had been purchased for the expedition, and in that brigantine
    these men embarked, and sailed for Ireland. She was called the
    "Jacknell," and she sailed without papers or colours. For the
    purpose of keeping their movements as free from observation
    as possible, these men embarked without luggage--a rather
    extraordinary thing in men the great majority of whom had
    been officers in the American service. The commander of the
    expedition was named John F. Kavanagh, and he had filled the
    office of brigadier-general in the American army, and was at
    one time a member of the American Congress. These men had on
    board a very large quantity of arms, packed in piano-cases,
    cases for sewing machines, and wine barrels, in order to
    conceal them effectually; and the parcels were consigned to
    a merchant firm in Cuba. The ship steered for one day towards
    the West Indies, in order to avoid suspicion, and then shaped
    her course towards Ireland. Vessels occasionally came in
    sight, and when they did English colours were hoisted. Nothing
    remarkable occurred until Easter Sunday, April 29th, nearly
    nine days after they had sailed from New York. The parties
    determined to celebrate that day as a festival, and they
    hoisted the green flag with a sunburst, fired a salute, and
    changed the name of the vessel, calling her "Erin's Hope."
    Kavanagh then produced Fenian commissions, and distributed
    them, and also produced sealed orders, from which it appeared
    that he was to sail to Sligo Bay, and there land his men and
    arms; and if he found it impracticable to land them there,
    he was to proceed to some other place in Ireland. Some days
    after this, they came in sight of the coast of the county
    of Limerick, and then they sailed towards Sligo; but they
    overshot the mark, and arrived off the coast of Donegal. They
    then turned back, and arrived at Sligo Bay on the 20th of May.

The learned gentleman then went on to describe certain occurrences
alleged to have taken place on board the vessel, while she remained
in and about Sligo Bay. He said that on one evening a hooker came
alongside, from which a man, who appeared to be a gentleman, got on
board the brigantine. This person went down into the cabin, conversed
with the officers, and told them the landing could not be effected at
Sligo, after which he returned on board the hooker, and sailed for the
shore. The Attorney-General said:--

    About the 26th of May the ship left the Sligo coast. On the
    1st of June she arrrivcd at Dungarvan. During the voyage
    councils were held on board. Provisions were running short,
    and they could not remain much longer at sea. These matters
    were made the subjects of discussion. Some were for going to
    America, and some for landing; and at last the conclusion was
    arrived at that the majority of the officers should be landed,
    and that the others should go either to America or to the
    Western Isles--the Hebrides. They hailed a large fishing boat,
    and offered the man on board £2 to put two men on shore. He
    went on board the brigantine, and when he did so, twenty-eight
    men who were hitherto concealed, rushed on board his ship. He
    asked them if he would land them at Helwick Point, and they
    said no, because there was a coastguard station there. They
    were eventually landed about two miles from that point, and
    they were compelled to wade through water three-and-a-half
    feet deep to the shore.

So far the learned gentleman, her Majesty's Attorney-General for
Ireland. His statement was supported by the informations and
the evidence of an informer, Daniel J. Buckley, the Judas of the
expedition. He, however, represented Kavanagh as the captain of
the vessel, and General James E. Kerrigan as chief of the military
expedition. As to the armament on board, they had, he said, "some
Spencer's repeating rifles, seven-shooters, and some Enfield rifles,
Austrian rifles, Sharp's and Burnside's breech-loaders, and some
revolvers. There were about 5,000 stand of arms on board, and three
pieces of artillery, which would fire three-pound shot or shell. With
these pieces the salute was fired on the occasion of hoisting the
sunburst on Easter Sunday. As regards ammunition, there were about a
million-and-a-half rounds on board."

Colonel S.R. Tresilian, in the lecture already alluded to, gave the
following facetious account of the warlike stores which were on board
the vessel:--

    We found the cargo to consist of 5,000 rat-tail files, of
    different sizes and descriptions. Then there were several
    smaller files that mechanics carry in their pockets; then
    again there was the flat file, in respectable numbers, that
    are used for cutting on either edge, and that are carried
    in sheathes, to prevent the mechanics from cutting their
    neighbours' fingers. These files were to be distributed to the
    paupers in Ireland, to enable them to sharpen their teeth, so
    that they could masticate animal food at the grand barbecue
    that was to be given on the landing of our vessel. Another
    portion of the cargo was 200,000 puff-balls and sugar-plums,
    for gratuitous distribution among our English friends and
    brethren in Ireland.

It surely was a daring venture to run that craft, freighted as she
was, across the ocean, and sail her for days along the coast of
Ireland. The lecturer gave the following account of her voyagings:--

    The craft made three landings in Ireland, and one in England,
    and they were very near being captured several times. At no
    time were they over twelve miles from a British man-of-war,
    a frigate, ram, or gun-boat, and were continually annoyed by
    pilots. They were at sea 107 days; 38 days from America to
    Ireland, in which, they sailed 3,565 miles; 24 days round
    the coast of Ireland and England, 2,023 miles; 47 days from
    Ireland to America, 3,577 miles; making a grand total of 9,205
    miles.

As regards the return voyage, the lecturer gave the following
information:--

    On the return trip they had, in starting from the coast of
    Ireland, one barrel sound bread, one barrel mouldy bread,
    one rice, pork 6 lbs., one box fish, one barrel of beef, one
    bushel of beans, two quarts of molasses, one-half lb. sugar,
    tea and coffee in sufficient quantities, one-third rations
    of water. They ran out of everything except bread and water
    before reaching the Banks of Newfoundland, where they received
    assistance from a fishing-smack, and again, off Boston, from
    a vessel bound to San Francisco. They succeeded in landing the
    entire cargo safely in America, and it is now in the hands of
    the Fenian Brotherhood.

It is a strange story altogether. The voyage of the vessel to and fro,
and along the well-watched coast of Ireland, unchallenged by a British
ship, is a fact of no small significance, even if it be not quite
conclusive as regards the argument of the lecturer, that the Fenian
Brotherhood of America can, when they please, land large supplies, men
and arms, in Ireland. Then the interest of the narrative is greatly
enhanced by some of its romantic incidents, more especially by the
remarkable scene stated to have occurred on Easter Sunday morning.

News of the landing which had been effected near Dungarvan was
quickly spread amongst the coastguards and the police, and a few
hours afterwards some twenty-seven men were under arrest, charged with
having come into the country under suspicious circumstances. Amongst
them were two whose trials for having formed part of an armed
expedition destined to aid a rebellion in Ireland, have since been
had at the Commission which opened in Dublin on the 28th of November,
1867, and whose spirited defence of themselves in the dock it is our
purpose to record in these pages. They were Colonel John Warren, of
the American army, and Augustine E. Costello.

The trial of the first-named of those gentlemen is likely, owing
to the spirited and statesmanlike course which he adopted on the
occasion, to become memorable for all time, and to have a prominent
place in the histories of two great nations, England and America. One
of its results, now actually in progress, is an alteration in the law
of America, on a point of great importance to both countries; and this
alteration will necessitate a corresponding change, if not in the law,
at least in the practice, of the English courts. From these changes
will ensue consequences of the utmost gravity to England, but of
unquestionable advantage to the Irish people, and the cause which they
have at heart; for all which the name of Colonel Warren will long be
held in honour and in grateful remembrance among his countrymen.

[Illustration: COLONEL WARREN]

Colonel Warren, who is a native of the town of Clonakilty, in the
county of Cork, and of respectable parentage, emigrated to the United
States some twelve years ago, and in due course of time, like most
of his countrymen who transfer their domicile to that free and great
country, he took out papers of naturalization, and became one of its
adopted citizens. That act of naturalization is the declaration of
a contract between the American government, on the one hand, and
the new-made citizen on the other, whereby the latter formally and
solemnly transfers his allegiance to that government, and withdraws
it from any other which might previously have had a claim on it; and
whereby the government, on its part, in exchange for that allegiance,
engages to extend to him all the liberties and rights possessed by its
native-born subjects--the benefit of its laws, the full scope of its
franchises, the protection of its flag. In this way many hundreds
of thousands of men, hunted by British law and British policy out of
Ireland, have, during recent years, been added to the number of brave
and devoted citzens possessed by the United States. But yet, it
seems, the law of England affords no recognition to this transfer of
allegiance, expressly denies the legality of any such act, and claims
as subjects of the British crown, not only all persons born within
British jurisdiction, but also their sons and grandsons, wherever
their domicile and their place of birth may be. Between the
British law on the subject of allegiance and the American system of
naturalization, there is, therefore, an irreconcilable discrepancy;
and the course taken by Colonel Warren, on his trial, was to bring
this question of law between the two governments to a direct issue.
He took his stand on his American citizenship; he claimed to be tried
as an alien, and, on the bench refusing to accede to his demand, he
abandoned all legal defence, directed his counsel to withdraw from
the case, and put it upon his government to maintain the honour and
vindicate the laws of America, by affording him the protection to
which he was entitled.

Other Irishmen, naturalized citizens of America, had previously been
tried and sentenced for Fenian practices, including acts done and
words spoken by them in America, which would not have come within the
cognizance of the court had they been tried otherwise than as British
subjects; and in their addresses to the court they had made reference,
proudly and hopefully, to the fact that they were adopted sons of
that great country; but none of them had struck upon a course so well
calculated as that taken by Colonel Warren to raise the international
question, and necessitate a distinct and speedy solution of it. He
had a good case to go before the jury, had he allowed himself to be
legally defended, and he was perfectly aware of that fact; but he
clearly perceived that, by taking the other course, whatever might
be the consequences to himself, he would be able to render better
service, both to his adopted country and his native land. He took that
course, and it is, therefore, that he is to-day in a British convict
prison, far away from his home and friends, from his wife and his
children, subject to all the restraints and indignities imposed by
England on the vilest and meanest of her criminals, and with a term of
fifteen years of such treatment decreed to him. Let us be able to say
at least, that his countrymen are not unmindful of the sacrifice.

In the course of the trial, which was had before Chief Baron Pigot
and Mr. Justice Keogh, in the Commission Court, Dublin, Colonel Warren
offered some few remarks on the evidence, and put some questions to
the witnesses, all of which showed considerable acumen on his part,
and were thoroughly _ad rem_. He complained particularly of the manner
in which his identification was obtained. Gallagher, who had piloted
the "Erin's Hope" around the west coast of Ireland, swore to his
identity as one of the party who were on board; but the prisoner
contended that Gallagher's knowledge of him was acquired, not on board
that vessel, but in Kilmainham gaol, where Gallagher had been his
fellow-prisoner for some weeks, during which time he had abundant
opportunities of learning his, Colonel Warren's, name, and the
charge against him. But it was a vain thing, as far as the jury were
concerned, to indulge in such criticisms of the evidence. There were
times in Irish and in English history, when juries could rise above
the panic of the hour, and refuse to minister to the passion of the
government, but we have fallen upon other times, and, now-a-days, to
be accused of a political crime means to be convicted.

A verdict of "guilty" against Colonel Warren was returned as a
matter of course. On Saturday, November the 16th, he, with two other
prisoners, was brought up for sentence. On the usual interrogatory
being put to him, the following proceedings took place:--

    I claim the privilege established by precedent. I have had no
    opportunity of making any remarks on my case, and I would now
    wish to say a few words.

    THE CHIEF BARON--Just state what you have to say; we are ready
    to hear you.

    WARREN--I desire, in the first place, to explain, while
    ignoring the jurisdiction of this court to sentence me,
    and while assuming my original position, my reasons for
    interfering in this case at all. I can see beyond my present
    position, the importance of this case, and I was desirous
    to instruct the jury, either directly or indirectly, of
    the importance of their decision, while never for a moment
    deviating from the position which I assumed. I submit that
    I effectually did that. They incautiously, and foolishly for
    themselves and the country of which they claim to be subjects,
    have raised an issue which has to be settled by a higher
    tribunal than this court.

    PRISONER--I propose to show that the verdict is contrary to
    evidence.

    THE CHIEF BARON--I must again tell you that you are not at
    liberty to do that.

    PRISONER--I propose to answer briefly the question why the
    sentence of the court should not be pronounced upon me. Do I
    understand you to refuse me that privilege?

    THE CHIEF BARON--Certainly not; but I am bound in point of law
    to refuse to hear you upon any matter respecting the verdict.
    We are bound by that verdict just as much as you are. That is
    the law.

    PRISONER--What position do I stand in now, my lord? I have
    been indicted with a number of parties, one of whom had been
    identified in America. I have been tried and convicted. What
    position do I stand in now? Am I convicted on the evidence of
    Corydon, who swears that I belonged to the Fenian Brotherhood
    in 1863? Does that prove that I belonged to it in 1867?

The Chief Baron then explained that what he left to the jury was,
that if they believed upon the evidence that on the 5th of March the
prisoner belonged to the Fenian confederacy, having for its object the
deposition of the Queen, he would be answerable for the acts done by
his confederates, whether he was present or absent at the time.

    PRISONER--You instructed the jury, at the same time, that
    the fact of my holding the position of a colonel in '63 was
    sufficient corroboration of the evidence that I belonged to it
    in 1867.

    THE CHIEF BARON--I told the jury that holding the rank of
    colonel was evidence for their consideration, upon which
    to determine whether you previously belonged to the Fenian
    confederacy. I told them they were at liberty to consider
    whether you would have got that rank if you then joined for
    the first time.

    PRISONER--Precisely the same thing, but in different
    phraseology. Am I to understand that I have not liberty to
    address the court as to why sentence should not be pronounced
    upon me?

    THE CHIEF BARON--You are not so to consider. You are at
    liberty to address the court, but you are not at liberty to
    comment upon the evidence to show that the verdict was wrong.

    PRISONER--What can I speak on? To what can I speak, if not to
    something connected with my case? I am not here to refer to a
    church matter or any political question.

    THE CHIEF BARON--I have informed you what we are bound to
    rule.

    PRISONER--Then I state, my lord, that as an American citizen,
    I protest against the whole jurisdiction of this court, from
    the commencement of my arraignment down to the end of my
    trial. I protest against being brought here forcibly, and
    against my being convicted on the evidence of a man whom you
    yourselves designated a man of the most odious character.
    You instructed the jury pointedly on one occasion, and
    subsequently you said that no respectable jury could act on
    his evidence, and that it was a calamity for any government,
    to have to resort to the evidence of such a man. I do not wish
    to say anything disrespectful to this eourt, but I think I may
    say that if I stand here as a convicted felon, the privilege
    should be accorded to me that has been accorded to every other
    person who stood here before me in a similar position. There
    is a portion of the trial to which I particularly wish to
    refer. That is, in reference to the oath which it was stated
    the pilot was forced to take on board the vessel. Much
    importance was attached to this matter, and therefore I wish
    to ask you and others in this court to look and to inquire if
    there is any man here who could suppose that I am scoundrel
    enough and ignorant enough to take an ignorant man, put a
    pistol to his face, and force him to take an oath I ask you,
    in the first place, not to believe that I am such a scoundrel,
    and in the second that I am not such an idiot. If I were at
    this moment going to my grave, I could say that I never saw
    that man Gallagher till I saw him in Kilmainham prison. These
    men, although they have been, day after day, studying lessons
    under able masters, contradicted each other on the trial, and
    have been perjuring themselves. Gallagher, in his evidence,
    swore that his first and second informations were false, and
    that he knew them to be false. It is contrary to all precedent
    to convict a man on the evidence of a witness who admits
    that he swore what was false. In America I have seen judges,
    hundreds of times, sentencing men who were taken off the
    table, put into the dock, and sent to prison. In this case,
    this poor, ignorant man was brought into Kilmainham gaol on
    the 1st of July. He knew my name, heard it called several
    times, knew of the act of which I was suspected, and, on the
    2nd of August he was taken away. On the 12th of October he
    is brought back, and out of a party of forty or fifty he
    identifies only three. If that man came on board the vessel,
    he did so in his ordinary capacity as a pilot. He did his
    duty, got his pay, and left. His subsequent evidence was
    additions. With respect to the vessel, I submit that there was
    not a shadow of evidence to prove that there was any intention
    of a hostile landing, and that the evidence as to the identity
    of the vessel would not stand for a moment where either law
    or justice would be regarded. Now, as to the Flying Dutchman
    which it is said appeared on the coast of Sligo and on the
    coast of Dungarvan, in Gallagher's information nothing is said
    about the dimensions of the vessel. Neither length, breadth,
    or tonnage is given, but in making his second information he
    revised the first.

The prisoner then proceeded to argue that there was nothing to show
that the vessel which had appeared in Sligo harbour was the same with
that which had appeared off Dungarvan, except the testimony of the
informer, Buckley, of which there was no corroboration. He also denied
the truth of Corydon's evidence, in several particulars, and then went
on to say--

    As to the position in which I am now placed by British law,
    I have to repeat that I am an American citizen, and owe
    allegiance to the government of the United States. I am a
    soldier, and have belonged to the National Militia of America.
    Now, if war had broken out between the two countries, and that
    I had been taken prisoner, the English government, according
    to English law, would hold me guilty of high treason. I would
    not be treated as an ordinary prisoner of war, but would be
    liable to be strung up at the yard arm. See then the position
    of England towards the United States. The Crown should not be
    in such haste to act thus. It was hardly a judicious policy.
    Andrew Johnson was the grandson of an Irishman; Mr. Seward was
    the son of an Irishwoman; General Jackson was the son of an
    Irishman; General Washington and Benjamin Franklin lived
    and died British subjects, if this law be correct. There is
    another point to which I wish to refer--it is to the manner in
    which my government has acted in this matter--

    THE CHIEF BARON--We cannot allow you to enter into remarks on
    the conduct of any government. We have simply to sit here to
    administer the law which we are called upon to discharge.

    THE PRISONER--I wish simply to call your attention to one
    point. On the 3rd of August I wrote to my government--

    THE CHIEF BARON--I cannot allow you to refer to that.

    THE PRISONER--The President of the United States, on a report
    submitted to him--

    THE CHIEF BARON--I cannot allow you to proceed with any
    reference to what has been done by any government. We have
    nothing to do with the conduct of any government We are only
    here to administer the law which we are sworn to administer.

    THE PRISONER--I was simply going to state that while the vile
    officials of your government--.

    THE CHIEF BARON--We have nothing to do with the conduct of any
    government. We are here to dispense justice according to
    law, and whatever the officials of our government or of
    the American government have done cannot have the slightest
    influence upon our judgment. It can neither affect us
    favourably or unfavourably to the prisoner or to the Crown. We
    stand indifferently between both.

    THE PRISONER--I beg simply to call your lordship's attention
    to the correspondence--

    THE CHIEF BARON--We cannot allow you to do so. We cannot allow
    you to refer to the correspondence between the officials of
    one government and the officials of another.

    THE PRISONER--If America does not resent England's conduct
    towards me, and protect that allegiance to her government
    which I proudly own is the only allegiance I ever
    acknowledged, I shall call on thirteen millions of Irishmen--

    THE CHIEF BARON--I cannot allow you to use the position in
    which you stand there as the arena for those observations.

    PRISONER--I must then state, in conclusion, that while I
    protest against the jurisdiction, I am confident that the
    position which I take will be sustained. I know that the
    verdict of the jury will be reversed, and while returning you,
    my lord, thanks for your kindness during the trial, I must
    say you have taken from me the privilege I am entitled to
    get. I am sure that I shall live longer than the British
    Constitution.

       *       *       *       *       *

AUGUSTINE E. COSTELLO.

After the verdict had been returned against Colonel Warren, Augustine
E. Costello was put on his trial, charged with the same offence--that
of having formed cne of the invading party who landed from the "Erin's
Hope," in the neighbourhood of Dungarvan. He, too, was an adopted
citizen of the United States, and he declared that he was anxious to
follow the course that had been taken by his friend, Colonel Warren,
in reference to his trial; but, deferring to the strongly-expressed
wish of his counsel, he would leave his case in their hands. An able
defence was made for him by Messrs. Heron and Molloy, Q.C., instructed
by Mr. Scallan, Solicitor; but it was all in vain. When he was called
on to say why sentence should not be pronounced on him, he delivered
the following address in a loud tone of voice, his fresh young
face glowing with emotion as he spoke, and his manner showing deep
excitement, but withal a fearless and noble spirit:--

    In answer to the question put to me by the Clerk of the Court,
    I will speak a few words. I don't intend to say much, and I
    will trespass on foibidden ground but as little as possible.
    I am perfectly satisfied that there has not been one fact
    established or proved that would justify a conscientious and
    impartial jury in finding me guilty of treason-felony. There
    is an extreme paucity of evidence against me;--that everyone
    who has been here while this case has been proceeded with
    will admit frankly and candidly. We need no stronger proof of
    this fact than that the first jury that was empanelled to try
    me had, after a long and patient hearing of the case, to be
    discharged without having found me guilty of treason-felony.
    Ah! there were a few honest men on that jury. They knew that
    Augustine E. Costello was not guilty of the crime trumped up
    against him. They knew I was not guilty. Mr. Anderson, sitting
    there, knows that I am not a felon, but that I am an honest
    man; that as such I stand here in this dock, where Robert
    Emmett stood, where Robert Emmett spoke from; and the actions
    and the words of that Emmett have immortalized him, and he now
    lies embalmed in the hearts of the world.

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--I cannot allow you to proceed in that
    strain.

    COSTELLO--I can say to those assembled here, and who are now
    listening to me, that I stand here, branded, as I am, a felon,
    but with a clear conscience. No one can point the finger of
    scorn against me, and say I have sold my brother and committed
    perjury. Can every man in this court house lay his hand on his
    heart and say the same? Answer me, Mr. Anderson. Answer me,
    Governor Price.

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--You are again transgressing. You had
    better stop for a moment or two; you seem to be excited.

    COSTELLO--My lord, as you truly remark. I have allowed my
    feelings to run away with my discretion; but it is hard for
    a man to stand here, satisfied as I am of innocence, knowing
    full well that I have committed no wrong; it is hard for a
    man in the bloom of youth, when the world looks fair and
    prosperous to him--when all he loves is in that world--it is
    hard that a man should be torn from it, and incarcerated in a
    living tomb. My lords, I am an humble individual; I claim no
    rights but the rights that emanated from a Godhead--the rights
    that were given to me at the hour of my birth. That right is
    my inalienable liberty, and that no government, no people,
    has a right to take from me. I am perfectly satisfied to stand
    before a British tribunal to answer for acts or words of mine,
    if I break any of the laws of the country; but, my lords,
    you must admit that I have transgressed no law. His lordship,
    Judge Keogh--I must now candidly admit that I have heard
    a great deal about that gentle nan that was not at all
    complimentary to him--but I say for myself that his lordship,
    Judge Keogh has dealt with me in the fairest manner he could
    have done. I have nothing to say against the administration of
    the law, as laid down by you; but I say a people who boast of
    their freedom--hold up their magnanimous doings to the world
    for approval and praise--I say those people are the veriest
    slaves in existence to allow laws to exist for a moment which
    deprive a man of liberty.

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--It is impossible for a Court
    administering the law, to allow you to speak in such terms
    against such law.

[Illustration: Augustine E. Costello.]

    COSTELLO--I speak under correction, my lord. You must, if you
    please, be assured that I do not attribute any wrong to
    your lordships--far be it from me; I acknowledge and again
    reiterate that. So far as the law is concerned, I have had a
    dose that has almost killed me; but if there was a little--a
    very little--justice mixed in that law, I would not be now
    addressing your lordships. Of the law I have had sufficient,
    but I have come to the conclusion that justice is not to be
    found inside a British courthouse. My lords, I complain, and
    grievously, of what my friend Colonel Warren and my friend
    General Halpin complained of--of being tried in this Court
    as a British subject; and I think your lordships will not
    reprimand me much for that expression. I left the shores of my
    native land--Ireland is the land of my birth, and I am proud
    to own it. I am proud to say that I am an Irishman, but I am
    also proud and happy to state that I am an adopted citizen of
    the United States; and while true to the land of my birth, I
    can never be false to the land of my adoption. That is not
    an original phrase, but it expresses the idea which I mean to
    convey. Now, my lords, my learned and very able counsel, who
    have conducted my case with the greatest ability and zeal, and
    of whom I cannot speak in terms of sufficient praise, demanded
    for me a jury half alien. I was refased it. I was born in
    this country, and I was, while breath remained in my body, a
    British subject. In God's name--if I may mention His holy name
    without sufficient reasons--what affection should I have for
    England? You cannot stamp out the instincts that are in the
    breast of man--man will be man to the end of time--the very
    worm you tread upon will turn upon your feet. If I remained in
    this country till I descended to the grave, I would remain in
    obscurity and poverty. I left Ireland, not because I disliked
    the country--I love Ireland as I lovs myself--I left Ireland
    for the very good and cogent reason that I could not live in
    Ireland. But why could I not live here? I must not say; that
    would be trespassing. I must not mention why I was forced to
    leave Ireland--why I am now placed in this dock. Think you,
    my lords, that I would injure a living being--that I would,
    of my own free accord, willingly touch a hair upon the head
    of any man? No, my lords; far would it be from me; but that
    government which has left our people in misery--

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--I cannot allow you to trespass on
    political grievances.

    COSTELLO--I am afraid I am occupying the time of the court
    too much, but really a man placed in such a position as I now
    occupy, finds it necessary to make a few observations. I know
    it savours of a great deal that is bad and foul to be mixed
    up with Fenian rebels, assassins, and cut-throats. It is
    very bad; it is not a very good recommendation for a young
    man. Even were that fact proved home to me--that I were a
    Fenian--no act of mine has ever thrown dishonour on the name.
    I know not what Fenian means. I am an Irishman, and that is
    all-sufficient.

The prisoner then proceeded to criticise the evidence against him
at considerable length. He declared emphatically that one of the
documents sworn to be in his handwriting was not written by him. He
thus continued:--

    Your lordships are well aware that there are many
    contradictions in the informers' testimony, and now here is
    a matter which I am going to mention for the first time.
    Corydon. in his first information at Kilmainham, swears that
    he never knew me until he saw me at a Fenian pic-nic, and this
    he modifies afterwards by the remark, that any man would be
    allowed into these pic-nics on the payment of a certain sum.
    I did not pay much attention to what the fellow was saying
    about me, as I thought it did not affect me in the least; but
    this I can distinctly remember, that Mr. Anderson, jun.--and
    he is there to say if I am saying anything false--said that
    the evidence of Corydon did not affect any one of the six
    prisoners put in this dock but another and myself. It _is_
    very strange if that was said by Mr. Anderson. He knew
    that there was nothing more to be got out of Corydon,
    the informer--that he had told everything he knew in his
    information, but on pressure there was found to be a little
    left in the sponge. They refreshed his memory a little, and
    he comes to think that he saw Costello at a meeting in
    814 Broadway I think he gives it. And here is a singular
    occurrence--that Devany, who never swore an information
    against me, comes on the table and swears that he also saw me
    at 814 Broadway Here is one informer striving to corroborate
    the other. It is a well-known fact that these informers speak
    to each other, go over the evidence, and what is more likely
    thin that they should make their evidence to agree--say, "I
    will corroborate your story, you corroborate mine." By this
    means was it that the overt acts of the 5th of March, which
    took place at Stepaside, Glencullen, and Tallaght, were
    brought home to Costello--a man who was 4,000 miles away,
    and living--and I say it on the word of a man, a Christian
    man--peaceably, not belonging to that confederation. I did
    not belong to the Fenian Brotherhood for twelve months before
    I left America, if I did belong to it at any other time, so
    help me God! God witnesses what I say, and he records my words
    above. It is a painful position to be placed in. I know I am
    a little excited. Were I to speak of this matter under other
    circumstances, I would be more cool and collected. Were I
    conscious of guilt--did I know that I merited this punishment,
    I would not speak a word, but say that I deserved and well
    merited the punishment about to be inflicted upon me. But,
    my lords, there never was a man convicted in this court more
    innocent of the charges made against him than Costello. The
    overt acts committed in the county of Dublin, admitting
    that the law of England is as it was laid down by your
    lordship, that a man, a member of this confederacy, if
    he lived in China, was responsible for the acts of his
    confederates--admitting that to be law, I am still an innocent
    man. Admitting and conceding that England has a right to try
    me as a British subject, I still am an innocent man. Why do I
    make these assertions? I know full well they cannot have any
    effect in lessening the term of my sentence. Can I speak for
    the sake of having an audience here to listen to me? Do I
    speak for the satisfaction of hearing my own feeble voice? I
    am not actuated by such motives. I speak because I wish to
    let you know that I believe myself innocent; and he would be
    a hard-hearted man, indeed, who would grudge me those few
    sentences. Now, my lord, I have observed I did not belong to
    the Fenian confederacy in March of this present year. I did
    not belong to the Fenian confederacy anterior to the period
    that Corydon and Devany allege that they saw me act as centre
    and secretary to Fenian meetings; that, anterior to that
    period, I never took act or part in the Fenian conspiracy up
    to the period of my leaving America. Does it do me any good to
    make these statements? I ask favours, as Halpin said, from
    no man. I ask nothing but justice--stern justice--even-handed
    justice. If I am guilty--if I have striven to overthrow the
    government of this country, if I have striven to revolutionize
    this country, I consider myself enough of a soldier to
    bare my breast to the consequences, no matter whether that
    consequence may reach me on the battle-field or in the cells
    of Pentonville. I am not afraid of punishment. I have moral
    courage to bear all that can be heaped upon me in Pentonville,
    Portland, or Kilmainham, designated by one of us as the modern
    Bastile. I cannot be worse treated, no matter where you send
    me to. There never was a more infernal dungeon on God's earth
    than Kilmainham. It is not much to the point, my lord. I will
    not say another word about it. I believe I saw in some of the
    weekly papers that it would be well to appoint a commission to
    inquire--

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--I cannot allow you to proceed with that
    subject.

    COSTELLO--I will not say another word. I will conclude now.
    There is much I could say, yet a man in my position cannot
    help speaking. There are a thousand and one points affecting
    me here, affecting my character as a man, affecting my life
    and well-being, and he would be a hard-hearted man who could
    blame me for speaking in strong terms. I feel that I have
    within me the seeds of a disease that will soon put me into
    an early grave, and I have within my breast the seeds of a
    disease which will never allow me to see the expiration of my
    imprisonment. It is, my lord, a disease, and I hope you will
    allow me to speak on this subject, which has resulted from
    the treatment I have been subjected to. I will pass over it as
    rapidly as I can, because it is a nasty subject--Kilmainham.
    But the treatment that I have received at Kilmainham--I will
    not particularize any man, or the conduct of any man--has
    been most severe, most harsh, not fit for a beast, much less
    a human being. I was brought to Kilmainham, so far as I know,
    without any warrant from the Lord Lieutenant. I was brought on
    a charge the most visionary and airy. No man knew what I was.
    No one could tell me or specify to me the charge on which I
    was detained. I asked the magistrates at Dungarvan to advise
    me of these charges. They would not tell me. At last I drove
    them into such a corner as I might call it, that one of them
    rose up and said, with much force, "You are a Fenian." Now, my
    lords, that is a very accommodating word. If a man only breaks
    a window now he is a Fenian. If I could bring, or if I had
    only the means of bringing, witnesses from America, I would
    have established my innocence here without a probability of
    doubt. I would have brought a host of witnesses to prove that
    Costello was not the centre of a circle in 1866. I would
    have brought a host of witnesses to prove that he was not
    the secretary of a circle--never in all his life. My lords, I
    speak calmly, and weigh well, and understand every word that
    I say. If I speak wrong, time will bring the truth to the
    surface, and I would sooner have fifteen years added to my
    sentence than that any man might say I spoke from this dock,
    which I regard as a holy place, where stood those whom I
    revere as much as I do any of our saints--

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--I cannot suffer you to proceed thus.

    COSTELLO--I would not speak one word from this dock which I
    knew to be other than truth. I admit there is a great deal of
    suspicion, but beyond that there are no facts proved to bring
    home the charge against me. What I have stated are facts,
    every one of them. Now, my lords, is it any wonder that I
    should speak at random and appear a little bit excited. I am
    not excited in the least. I would be excited in a degree were
    I expressing myself on any ordinary topic to any ordinary
    audience. It is my manner, your lordships will admit, and
    you have instructed the jury not to find me guilty, but to
    discharge me from the dock, if they were not positive that
    I was a Fenian on the 5th March. I believe these are the
    instructions that his lordship, Justice Keogh, gave to the
    jury--if I were not a Fenian on the 5th March, I was entitled
    to an acquittal. Well I was not a Fenian at that time. I say
    so as I have to answer to God. Now, to conclude. I have not
    said much about being an American citizen. For why? I am not
    permitted to speak on that subject. Now, as Colonel Warren
    remarked, if I am not an American citizen, I am not to be held
    responsible, but to the American Government. I did not press
    myself on that government. They extended to me those rights
    and those privileges; they said to me, "Come forward, young
    man; enrol yourself under our banner, under our flag; we
    extend to you our rights and privileges--we admit you to the
    franchise." I came not before I was asked. The invitation
    was extended to me. I had no love then, and never will have,
    towards England, and I accepted the invitation. I did forswear
    allegiance to all foreign potentates, and more particularly
    I forswore all allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain. Your
    lordships say that the law of the land rules that I had no
    right to do anything of the kind. That is a question for the
    governments to settle. America is guilty of a great fraud if I
    am in the wrong.

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--I cannot allow you to proceed in that
    line of argument.

    COSTELLO--I will take up no more of your time. If I am still a
    British subject, America is guilty.

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--I cannot allow you to refer either to
    the American people or to the American government.

    COSTELLO--Would you allow me to state they enticed me from my
    allegiance to England; therefore she (America) is guilty of
    high treason?

    The LORD CHIEF BARON--We cannot allow you to speak on that
    subject.

    COSTELLO--I will conclude, then. I have nothing to say further
    than to thank your lordships for the latitude you have given
    me in these few remarks, and also to thank your lordships for
    your kindness during my trial. I know you have done me every
    justice; you did not strain the law against me; you did
    everything that was consistent with your duty to do, and
    I have nothing to complain of there. I must again thank my
    learned and able counsel for the able, zealous, and eloquent
    manner in which they defended me. I am at a loss for words
    to express the gratitude I owe to each and every one of those
    gentlemen who have so ably conducted my case. Now, my lords,
    I will receive that sentence which is impending. I am prepared
    for the worst. I am prepared to be torn from my friends, from
    my relations, from my home. I am prepared to spend the bloom
    of my youth in a tomb more dark and horrible than the tomb
    wherein the dead rest. But there is one consolation that
    I will bring into exile, if I may so call that house of
    misery--a clear conscience, a heart whose still small voice
    tells me that I have done no wrong to upbraid myself with.
    This is the consolation that I have,--that my conscience
    is clear. I know it appears somewhat egotistical for me to
    speak thus, but it is a source of consolation for me that I
    have nothing to upbraid myself with, and I will now say in
    conclusion, that if my sufferings can ameliorate the wrongs or
    the sufferings of Ireland. I am willing to be offered up as a
    sacrifice for the good of old Erin.

       *       *       *       *       *

GENERAL W. HALPIN.

At the same Commission, before the same judges who had tried the cases
of Colonel Warren and Augustine E. Costello, General William Halpin
was put on his trial for treason-felony. It was alleged that he was
one of the military officers of the Fenian organization, and, had been
appointed to take command, in the Dublin district, in the rising which
had taken place on the 5th of March; and this it was sought to prove
by the evidence of the informers, Massey, Corydon, Devany, and others.

General Halpin employed no counsel, and undertook the conduct of his
case himself. The considerations that had induced him to take this
course he thus explained to the jury:--

    Two reasons operated on my mind, and induced me to forego
    the advantage I would derive from having some of the able and
    learned counsel that plead at this bar. The first reason is,
    that if you, gentlemen, are a jury selected by the Crown,
    as juries are known to be selected heretofore in political
    cases--if you are, in fact, a jury selected with the express
    purpose of finding a verdict for the Crown--then, gentlemen,
    all the talent and ability that I could employ would avail
    me nothing. If, on the other hand, by any chance the
    Attorney-General permitted honest men to find their way into
    the box, then, gentlemen, lawyers were equally unnecessary for
    me.

Not an inaccurate view of the case, perhaps; the experience of the
Fenian trials, from first to last, certainly goes to support it.

The general set about his work of defending himself with infinite
coolness and self-possession. He was supplied with a chair, a small
table, and writing materials in the dock. When he had any notes to
make, he sat down, cleaned and adjusted his spectacles, and wrote out
what he wanted. When he wished to cross-examine a witness, he removed
his glasses, came to the front of the dock, and put his questions
steadily and quietly, without a trace of excitement in his manner,
but always with a close application to the subject in hand. One could
almost refuse to believe, while listening to him, that he had not been
educated and trained for the bar; and undoubtedly many of those who
wear wigs and gowns in her Majesty's courts, are far from exhibiting
the same degree of aptitude for the profession. But it was in his
address to the jury that the remarkable talents of the man were most
brilliantly revealed. It was an extraordinary piece of argument and
eloquence, seasoned occasionally with much quiet humour, and enriched
with many passages that showed a high and courageous spirit. His
scathing denunciations of the system of brutality practised towards
the political prisoners in Kilmainham gaol, and his picture of Mr.
Governor Price as "the old gorilla," will long be remembered. One
portion of his remarks ran as follows:--

    The whole conduct of the Crown, since my arrest, has been such
    as to warrant me in asserting that I have been treated
    more like a beast of prey than a human being. If I had been
    permitted to examine witnesses, I would have shown how the
    case had been got up by the Crown. I would have shown them
    how the Crown Solicitor, the gaolers, the head gaoler and the
    deputy gaolers of Kilmainham, and the Protestant chaplain
    of that institution, had gone in, day and night, to all\
    the witnesses--to the cells of the prisoners--with a bribe
    in one hand and a halter in the other. I would have shown
    how political cases were got up by the Crown in Ireland. I
    would have shown how there existed, under the authority of
    the Castle, a triumvirate of the basest wretches that ever
    conspired to take away the lives and liberties of men. One of
    these represented the law, another the gibbet in front of
    the gaol, and another was supposed to represent the Church
    militant.

Here the Chief Baron interposed; but the prisoner soon after reverted
to the subject, and said that every opportunity was taken in that gaol
to wrong and torture the men incarcerated there on political charges.
Every petty breach of discipline was availed of to punish them,
by sending them down to work the crank, and reducing their scanty
rations. For the crime of not saluting Mr. Governor Price, they were
placed upon a dietary of seven ounces of what was called brown bread
and a pint of Anna Liffey, in the twenty-four hours. Brown, indeed,
the article was, but whether it deserved the name of bread, was quite
another question. The turf-mould taken from the Bog of Allen was the
nearest resemblance to it that he could think of. For his own part, he
did not mean to complain of his rations--he could take either rough
or smooth as well as most men; but what he would complain of was, the
system of petty insults and indignities offered by Mr. Price and his
warders to men of finer feelings than their own, and whom they knew to
be their superiors. He concluded his address in the following terms:--

    I ask you if I have not thoroughly and sufficiently explained
    away the terror, if I may use the term, of these papers, which
    were taken from walls and other places, to be brought against
    me here. I ask you, gentlemen, us reasonable men, if there
    be a shadow of a case against me? I ask you if I have been
    connected by an untainted witness with any act, in America or
    Ireland, that would warrant you in deciding that I was guilty
    of the charge with which I stand accused? Is there one single
    overt act proved against me; or have I violated any law for
    the violation of which I can be made amenable in this court?
    I ask you if, in these letters which have been brought up
    against me--one found in Thomas-street, another in the pocket
    of a fellow-prisoner--there is anything that can affect me?
    Recollect, gentlemen of the jury, that I speak to you now
    as men imbued with a spirit of justice. I speak to you,
    gentlemen, believing that you are honest, recognising your
    intelligence, and confident that you will give in a verdict
    in accordance with the dictates of your conscience. If you are
    the jury that the Attorney-General hopes you are, gentlemen
    of the jury, I am wasting time in speaking to you. If you are,
    gentlemen, that jury which the Attorney-General hopes to make
    the stepping-stone to the bench--for; gentlemen, I do not
    accuse the Attorney-General of wishing to prosecute me for
    the purpose of having me punished; I believe he is above any
    paltry consideration of that sort--but, gentlemen, all men are
    influenced by one motive or another, and the Attorney-General,
    though he is the first law officer of the Crown in Ireland,
    is human like ourselves; he is not above all human frailty,
    but like other men, doubtless, likes office, and likes
    the emolument which office brings. But, gentlemen of the
    jury, it will be your fault if you make your shoulders the
    stepping-stone for the Attorney-General to spring upon the
    bench. I say these words to you in sober, solemn earnestness.
    You are now trying a man who has lived all his life-time in
    a country where freedom is venerated and adored. You may
    believe, gentlemen, that you have the speech of freedom here;
    but I claim, gentlemen, that the real spirit of freedom has
    fled these shores many a century ago--has sped across the
    Atlantic, and perched upon American soil; and, gentlemen, it
    ought to be your wish and desire--as I am sure it is, for I am
    unwilling to believe that you are the men the Attorney-General
    deems you to be--to do me justice, and to prove that Dublin
    juries do not on all occasions bring in a verdict at the
    dictation of the Crown. Gentlemen, the principle of freedom
    is at stake. Every man that is born into this world has a
    right to freedom, unless he forfeits that right by his
    own misdemeanour. Perhaps you have read the Declaration of
    American Independence. In that declaration, drawn up by one
    Thomas Jefferson, it is stated that every man born into this
    world is born free and equal; that he has the right--the
    inalienable right--to live in liberty and the pursuit of
    happiness. These are the cardinal principles of liberty. I
    claim these rights, unless I have forfeited them by my own
    misconduct. I claim there is not one particle, one scintilla,
    of evidence to warrant you in finding a verdict for the Crown.
    I have not conspired with General Roberts or any of these
    other generals. There is no evidence to show you anything
    about any such conspiracy, as far as I am concerned. With
    these facts before you, I ask you, as reasonable men, is
    there one particle of evidence to show that I am guilty of
    the charges preferred against me? I shall simply conclude
    by repeating the words with which I commenced--that I leave
    it between your conscience and your God to find a verdict
    according to the evidence and, the truth. I leave it to you
    in the name of that sacred justice which we all profess to
    venerate, and I ask you not to allow your passion or your
    prejudices to cloud your judgments--not to allow the country
    to say that the Dublin juries are in the breeches-pocket of
    the Attorney-General. Never let it be said that a prisoner,
    forced into your country, carried off from the steamer which
    was bearing him away from yours to his own, has been found
    guilty on the evidence of perjured witnesses. Never let the
    world say that a Dublin jury are not as honest as any other.
    Do not allow those acrimonious feelings which unfortunately in
    this country difference of sect engenders, to have anything to
    with your verdict. As far as I am concerned, I ask no favour
    from you. I ask no favour from any man that lives in the
    world. I have always, gentlemen, adhered to my own principles,
    and will do so while I am able. If you consent to send me
    for my life to a penitentiary you will not make the slightest
    impression on me. I am pleading for life and liberty--I am
    pleading in the cause of justice, and I leave it in your
    hands. I demand that you should exercise your best judgement
    to render a verdict before the Omnipotent Creator of the
    universe, who is looking into your hearts as well as mine--to
    render a verdict for which you will be sorry--to render a
    verdict that your countrymen will cheer--to render a verdict
    that will make you venerated and admired im the land of your
    birth while you live on this earth.

The jury, however, found not for the prisoner, but for the Crown.

When General Halpin took his place in the dock with, his fellow
"convicts," Colonel Warren and Augustine E. Costello, to receive his
sentence, he appeared calm and uuimpassioned as ever. The question why
sentence should not be passed on him having been put--

    The Prisoner said that before he spoke to the question put
    him by the Clerk of the Crown, he wished to say a few words on
    another topic. The day before yesterday he was handed by the
    governor of Kilmainham a letter which had come from America,
    and enclosed a draft. The draft the governor refused to give
    up, and also refused to state what disposition he intended
    to make of it. The deputy governor had other moneys of his,
    and he requested that those, as well as the draft, should be
    restored to him.

    The Attorney-General, in an undertone, having addressed some
    observations to the bench.

    The Lord Chief Baron said that the prisoner, having been
    convicted of felony, his property was at the disposal of the
    authorities, and that any representation he had to make on the
    subject should be made to the government.

    Halpin said he wished that the money might be transferred to
    the governor of whatever gaol he was to be imprisoned in,
    so that he might have the use of it to purchase necessaries
    should he require them.

    LORD CHIEF BARON--If you desire to make any representation it
    must be through the government.

    PRISONER--I don't wish to make any representation to the
    government on the subject. I will permit the government to add
    robbery to perjury.

The Prisoner, in reply to a question asked by the Clerk of the Crown,
said that justice had not been dealt out to him as he thought it might
have been. He had been prevented by the Crown from getting witnesses
for his defence, and from seeing his witnesses, while the Crown had
taken four months to get their witnesses properly trained, and to
ransack all the Orange lodges of Dublin for jurors. He complained of
the rules of the gaol, and of the law that permitted them to be in
force, and said:--

    I deny the jurisdiction of this court in common with Colonel
    Warren. I owe no allegiance to this country, and were I a
    free man to-morrow I would sooner swear allegiance to the
    King of Abyssinia than give half-an-hour's allegiance to the
    government of this country--a government that has blasted
    the hopes of half the world and disgusted it all. I am not, I
    suppose, permitted to speak of the verdict given against me by
    the jury. It was entirely unnecessary for the Crown to produce
    one single witness against me. The jury had their lesson
    before they came to the box.

    THE CHIEF BARON--It is impossible for me to allow you to
    proceed with this line of observation.

    HALPIN--I wish to simply say that the jury exhibited an
    extreme anxiety to find a verdict against me before I had
    even said a word to them. I saw their anxiety. I knew from
    the moment they were put into the box that a verdict of guilty
    would be returned against me. I knew it from looking at the
    conduct of the jury in the box.--I knew it from the way the
    jury were empanelled, and I knew the Attorney-General relied
    upon the jury for a verdict when he set three citizens aside.
    I therefore conclude, and rightly, that all the eloquent
    talent that ever pleaded at this bar would be entirely useless
    to me whilst such a jury was in the box. The Crown, in order
    to give some colour to the proceedings, thought proper to
    produce several witnesses against me. Eleven witnesses
    were examined, and out of these no less than nine committed
    absolute, diabolical, and egregious perjury.

    THE CHIEF BARON--You are transcending the limit within which
    the law confines you.

    HALPIN--I do not blame you for enforcing the law us it stands.
    By no means. I have to thank your lordship for your kindness
    during the progress of my trial. I do not blame you, because
    the law stands as it does, but what I say is--that the law is
    absurd in taking me and trying me as a British subject whilst
    I am a citizen of the United States, without a particle of
    evidence to show that I was born under the jurisdiction of
    the British Crown. I must say that I look to another place,
    another government, and another people to see that justice
    shall be done me.

    THE CHIEF BARON--Here again you are transcending the limits
    which the law allows. We could not deal with any consideration
    connected with what any government will do.

    HALPIN--I am aware that it is not within your province to deal
    with the acts of another government, but I may be permitted to
    say this--that the outrages offered me and those gentlemen who
    claim, like me, to be citizens of the United States will be
    gladly submitted to if they only have the effect of making the
    sword of Brother Jonathan spring from its scabbard.

    THE CHIEF BARON--I cannot suffer you to proceed with this line
    of observation. I cannot suffer to make this a place of appeal
    to persons in this country or in America.

    HALPIN--I am not making any appeal to any man. Although I was
    found guilty by a jury of this court I deem my conduct above
    reproach. I know how I have been convicted, and will still
    assert that the first gun fired in anger between this country
    and America will be a knell of comfort to my ears.

    THE CHIEF BARON--I will be compelled to remove you from where
    you are now if you proceed with this line of observation.

    HALPIN--Well, then, if I am not permitted to say that,--

    CHIEF BARON--You are not permitted to make any observation
    upon what any government of any country may do.

    HALPIN--I think the reference has not anything to do with any
    government or any country. It refers to a fact that will
    come to pass, and when I shall hear the death-knell of this
    infamous government.

    The CHIEF BARON--I will not allow you to proceed.

    HALPIN--Well, I cannot be prevented thinking it. Now, I will
    refer to a subject which I may be allowed to speak upon. You
    will recollect that I had addressed a letter to Mr. Price,
    asking him to furnish me, at my own expense, with two of the
    morning papers--the _Irish Times_ and _Freeman's Journal_. I
    believe they are both loyal papers; at least they claim to be
    loyal, and I have no doubt they are of the admitted character
    of loyalty registered in the principles of Dublin Castle. The
    reason why I wanted these papers was, that I believed that
    the best reports of the trials since the opening of the
    Commission, would be found in them. I said to Mr. Price that
    it was important that I should see all the evidence given by
    the informers who were to be produced against me, to enable me
    to make up my defence. I was denied, even at my own expense,
    to be furnished with these papers, and that I complain of as
    a wanton outrage. Perhaps Mr. Price was governed by some rule
    of Kilmainham, for it appears that the rules of Kilmainham
    are often as far outside the law of the country as I have been
    said to be by the Attorney-General. In fact, Mr. Price stated
    when giving his testimony, that he was not governed by any law
    or rule, but that he was governed solely and entirely by his
    own imperial will.

    CHIEF BARON--That I cannot allow to be said without at once
    setting it right. Mr. Price said no such thing. He said that
    with respect to one particular matter--namely, the reading of
    prisoners' correspondence, he was bound to exercise his own
    discretion as to what he would send out of the gaol, and what
    he would hold. This is the only matter in which Mr. Price said
    he would exercise his own discretion.

    PRISONER.--I think, my lord, you will allow your memory to go
    back to the cross-examination of Mr. Price, and you will find
    that when I asked him by what authority he gave the letters he
    suppressed into the hands of the Crown to be produced here,
    he stated he had no other authority than his own will for so
    doing.

    CHIEF BARON--You are quite right with respect to the
    correspondence.

    PRISONER--I say he violated the law of the land in so doing,
    and I claim that he had no right to use those letters written
    by me in my private capacity to friends in America, asking
    for advice and assistance, and the very first letter
    that he read was a letter written to a man named Byrne.
    That, you may recollect, was put into the hands of the
    Attorney-General--kept by him for four months. That was the
    first intimation I had of its suppression or of its production
    here by the Crown. Now, the letter was addressed to a friend
    in New York, asking him to look after my trunk, which had been
    taken away without my consent by the captain of the vessel in
    which I was arrested. Mr. Price never told me he suppressed
    that letter, and I was three months waiting for a reply,
    which, of course, I did not receive, as the letter never went.
    Mr. Price suppressed another letter yesterday. It was written
    to a friend of mine in Washington, in relation to my trial and
    conviction, and asking him to present my case to the President
    of the United States, detailing the case as it proceeded in
    this court. Mr. Price thought proper to suppress that letter,
    and I ask that he be compelled to produce it, so that, if your
    lordships think fit, it may be read in court.

    THE CHIEF BARON--I cannot do that. I cannot have a letter of
    that character read in open court.

    HALPIN--Am I entitled to get the letter to have it destroyed,
    or is Price to have it, to do with it as he pleases?

    THE CHIEF BARON--I can make no order in the matter.

    HALPIN--Then Price is something like Robinson Crusoe--"Monarch
    of all he surveys;" monarch of Kilmainham; and when I ask if
    he is to be controlled, I find there is no law to govern him.

    THE CHIEF BABON--you have now no property in these letters,
    being a convict.

    THE PRISONER--I will very soon be told I have no property in
    myself. I claim to have been arrested on the high seas, and
    there was then no case against me, and the Crown had to wait
    four months to pick up papers and get men from Stepaside, and
    arrange plans between Mr. Price and his warders to fill up any
    gap that might be wanted. I was arrested out of the _habeas
    corpus_ jurisdiction, without authority, and detained four
    months in gaol until the Crown could trump up a case against
    me. Have I not a right to complain that I should be consigned
    to a dungeon for life in consequence of a trumped-up case? I
    am satisfied that your lordships have stated the case as it
    stands, but I am not satisfied that I have been convicted
    under any law. I have been four months in durance vile, and
    vile durance it has been. The preachers tell us that hell is a
    very bad place, and the devil a very bad boy, but he could not
    hold a candle to old Price.

    THE CHIEF BARON--You are trespassing very much upon a very
    large indulgence. I must adopt a more decisive course if you
    persevere.

    HALPIN (laughing)--Well, my lord, I will say no more about the
    old gorilla. The Crown officers have laid much stress upon
    the fact that I have travelled under different names, and
    therefore I was guilty of a great crime. I have precedent for
    it when I read in the papers that some continental monarchs
    travel under an assumed name, and I hear that the Prince of
    Wales does so also when he thinks proper to go the London
    brothels.

At this point the Court cut short his address, and Chief Baron Pigot
proceeded to pass sentence on the three prisoners.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE SENTENCES.

After some share of preliminary remarks, the Chief Baron announced the
sentence of the court. It was for

    John Warren, 15 years' penal servitude.

    William Halpin, 15 years' penal servitude.

    Augustine E. Costello, 12 years' penal servitude.

The prisoners heard the announcement without manifesting any emotion.
General Halpin remarked that he would take fifteen years more any day
for Ireland. Colonel Warren informed the Court that he did not think
a lease of the British Empire worth thirty-seven-and-a-half cents; and
then all three, followed by a _posse_ of warders, disappeared from the
dock.

And thus were three men of education and ability added to the hundreds
who are now rotting their lives away in British dungeons, because of
the love they bore to their country, and their hatred of the misrule
which makes her the most afflicted and miserable land on earth. It is
hard for Ireland to see such men stricken down and torn from her upon
such an accusation; yet, looking at the noble bearing of that long
list of devoted men when confronted with the worst terrors to which
their enemies could subject them, she has something which may well
cause the light of pride to glisten in her eyes, even while the tears
of love and pity are falling from them. And we would say to her in
the noble words of a French writer, one of the many generous-hearted
foreigners, whose affectionate admiration has been won by her
sufferings and her constancy, the Rev. Adolphe Perraud, Priest of the
Oratory, Paris:--

"Take heart! your trials will not last for ever; the works of iniquity
are passing and perishable: 'Vidi impium super exaltamum et elevatum
sicut cedros Libani, et ecce non erat!' (Ps. xvxvi.) Patience, then,
even still! Do not imagine that you are forsaken: God forsakes not
those that believe in Him. The day of retribution will come--to teach
men that no struggle against right is rightful, that probation is not
abandonment; that God and conscience have unimagined resources against
brutal spoliation and the triumphs of injustice; and that if men are
often immoral in their designs and actions, there is still in the
general course of history a sovereign morality, and judgments the
forerunners of the infallible judgment of God."





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