Chapter LX: {victoria. 1848} (4)

The Orangemen, as a body, also took active measures. They addressed a memorial to the lord-lieutenant, protesting their loyalty, and offering their support.. Their assistance was accepted, arms were distributed to them, and there is no doubt they would have been bravely used on the side of the government. A knowledge that the Orangemen were arming in support of the crown, tended very much to depress the hopes and check the actions of the seditious. The rifle clubs adopted ball-practice, it is true, but they confined their shooting to the precincts of the clubs. When a petty insurrection did break forth, not a shot was fired by the clubs, after so much preparation on their part, and so much expenditure of eloquence in boasting of their bravery, and eagerness for the field.

The transportation of John Mitchell did not extinguish the zeal of the insurgent press. The _United Irishman_ was suppressed, to resume a new life under the title of the _Felon_, which was as true to its designation as treason could make it. A paper called the _Irish Tribune_ vied with the _Felon_ and the _Nation_, in open incentives to insurrection.

It was the policy of the leaders to wait until the harvest was gathered, and this was openly proclaimed by them, which enabled the government more effectually to frustrate their schemes. The editor of the _Felon_ counselled the people, however, to resist if their leaders were arrested, even if the harvest were not reaped. “After harvest if we may; before harvest if we must,” was the counsel of this authority, and the general tenour of the advice given by all the chiefs. The government, upon these indications, took vigorous measures to enable the lord-lieutenant by extraordinary power to suppress or prevent any revolt; the _Habeas Corpus_ Act was suspended, and it was left to the discretion of his lordship to call out the Protestant yeomanry of the north of Ireland.

The House of Commons having assembled on Saturday, the 22nd of July, for a sitting at noon, Lord John Russell rose, amidst profound silence, and proposed a motion of the most important character: a relation of the circumstance is introduced here, rather than in the parliamentary history of the year, because it places in a clearer view the progress of the Irish insurrection, and the government policy in respect to it. His lordship, after a pause in which he betrayed considerable emotion, moved for leave to bring in a bill to empower the lord-lieutenant, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland, to apprehend and detain, until the first of March, 1849, such persons as he should suspect of conspiring against her majesty’s person and government. The noble lord having expressed his deep regret at being compelled to suspend the constitutional liberties of Ireland, and declared that, in his opinion, such a measure was absolutely necessary for the preservation of life and property in Ireland, for the prevention of the effusion of blood, and for the stopping of insurrection, proceeded to state the grounds upon which he rested his proposition. He considered it would be necessary for him to prove three things:—First that the present state of things in Ireland was fraught with evil; that it threatened danger; that we were on the eve of an outbreak, if not timely prevented. Secondly, that there were means sufficient to produce great evils and dangers unless some measures should be adopted to counteract them. Thirdly, that the measure he proposed was the most appropriate for its purpose. He did not propose to rest his case on any secret information known only to the government; but he would rest it on facts patent, notorious, and palpable. He then traced the history of the Irish Confederation, establishing, from the manifestoes published in the _Felon_ and _Nation_ newspapers, that the determination of these confederates was to entirely abolish the imperial government; to take away from the queen all authority in Ireland; to annihilate all the rights of property; to hold up the hope of plunder to those who would break their oaths of allegiance and join in rebellion; and to hold up the threat of depriving all those of their property who would remain fast to their allegiance, and refuse to assist in the insurrection. One of these manifestoes, entitled, “The Value of the Irish Harvest,” set forth that there was growing on the Irish soil eighty millions of produce, and declared that it would be for the new Irish Council of Three Hundred to decide how this produce should be apportioned: thus showing that, by one sweeping confiscation, the masters of this red republic were prepared to disregard all existing social rules, and to reduce everything to anarchy. The noble lord then described the means of effecting their treasonable objects possessed by the confederates. All the intelligence received by the government proved that the organisation of the clubs was formidable, that it was rapidly progressing, and that in many parts of the country the plans of the associates were ripe for execution. He adduced the accounts obtained from Tipperary, Meath, Louth, Cork, Waterford, and other counties, as evidence of the formidable nature of the organisation of the insurgents; the information received from all quarters, and the opinions obtained from various persons, being to the one effect, that though persons of property and the clergy of all denominations were decidedly against an outbreak, no influence would have any effect in deterring many thousands of the younger men, especially of the farmer class, from joining in the proposed insurrection; in fact, nothing was now wanting but the naming of the day and hour, to be fixed by the leaders, for carrying into effect this fatal revolution. The noble lord quoted a letter received that day from Lord Clarendon, in which the lord-lieutenant stated that the aspect of things was growing worse, and that the increasing disloyalty, on the part of the Irish people, was most rapid within the last few days. It might be necessary, he said, to introduce a measure for the prevention of the organisation of clubs, but the first, the most direct, the immediate and efficacious remedy for the existing evil would be the suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act—a power to be given to the lord-lieutenant of at once securing the persons of those suspected of high treason. The government might have been justified in demanding this power at an earlier period, but they delayed it as long as it was possible. He implored the house, if their conviction was this measure should pass, to lose no time in arming the lord-lieutenant with the power requisite. Without it, rebellion could undoubtedly be put down, but it would be at the expense of blood—at the cost of much misery and ruin. No man could say what the consequence of withholding these powers even for a day would be. The government undertook the responsibility, however odious it might be, of proposing this measure; and they confidently asked the house to accept their responsibility, mindful of the blessings they would preserve, and aware of the risks they might incur.

A petition was presented to the house from the mayor and leading merchants of Liverpool, expressing gratitude for this measure, and declaring the apprehensions entertained from the active communications passing between the disaffected in Ireland and the large Irish population in Liverpool. In all the great towns of Lancashire sympathy with Ireland was expressed, and threats were made of firing the manufactories and the merchants’ stores, to prevent the dispatch of troops to that country. A Mr. MacManus, a trader in Liverpool, was the most prominent person among the disaffected in Lancashire. This person procured a beautiful uniform of green and gold, and proceeded to Ireland, expecting to appear on the field of action as an extempore commander. The police were on his track, and he was arrested, with all his military finery, and committed to prison, without even having signalised himself in command of a corporal’s guard of pikemen. Mr. MacManus was an honest man to the cause to which his whole heart was given. The night before he left for Ireland, he slept at the house of a merchant in Manchester, named Porteus; that gentleman used all his influence to dissuade his friend from so mad an exploit, but in vain. The embryo chief left a considerable store of pistols in the custody of Mr. Porteus, which were delivered to the chief constable of Manchester.

The vigorous proceedings of the executive, both in England and Ireland, compelled the Irish leaders, without waiting for the harvest, to decide upon a course of action. Their first project was to seize the metropolis. It was garrisoned by about twelve thousand men—a small force, had there been unanimity and determination on the part of the Irish people; but the leaders were obliged to fly to the provinces, or conceal themselves, in order to avoid arrest; and, in fact, they felt that the fortitude of the clubs could not be relied upon for so bold an enterprise. After all their preparations and their boasting, the members of the clubs—their chief reliance—were too few in number, and inadequately armed for such an exploit.

The project was then adopted for the leaders to repair to those parts of the country where the clubs were most numerous, and supposed to be most resolute, and there proceed with their organisation until the government attempted to arrest them, when the clubs were to rise for their rescue. It was supposed that the excitement produced by the arrest of the leaders was necessary to inflame the enthusiasm of the populace. How little did they know the real feelings of the multitude upon whose generosity and manhood they thus adventurously threw themselves!

On the 26th, the _Habeas Corpus_ Suspension Act arrived in Dublin, and warrants were issued for the arrest of all the club leaders. Troops were moved upon the principal points where it was desirable, for strategetic and political purposes, to concentrate them. Extraordinary precautions were taken for the capital. Sir Charles Napier was placed in command of a powerful steam squadron on the southern coast, Cork and Waterford being especially menaced by the guns’ of the ships. A proclamation was issued by the viceroy declaring the clubs illegal, and “commanding all persons to withdraw from and abandon the same.” On the last day of July, the privy council held a sitting at Dublin Castle, when it was resolved to place a number of baronies and counties under the Prevention of Crime and Outrage Act. By this means opportunity would be most easily taken to disarm the rebels. The districts put under the stern surveillance of this law were the counties of Kerry, Wexford, Carlow, Queen’s County, counties of Galway, Kildare, Wicklow, Westmeath, Louth; seven baronies of the county Cork, eight baronies in the King’s county, four baronies in the county of Cavan, two baronies in the county Armagh, and the barony of Newry, county Down. Proclamations of reward were also offered for the arrest of Smith O’Brien, £500; for Francis T. Meagher, John B. Dillon, and Michael Doheny, “each or either,” £300. The ground assigned for the arrest was “having taken up arms against her majesty.”

The _Hue and Cry_ gave the following descriptions of the personal appearance, ages, &c, of the leaders:—“William Smith O’Brien, no occupation, forty-six years of age, six feet in height, sandy hair, dark eyes, sallow long face, has a sneering smile constantly upon his countenance, full whiskers, sandy, a little grey. A well set man, walks erect, and dresses well.—Thomas Francis Meagher, no occupation, twenty-five years of age, five feet nine inches, dark, nearly black hair, light blue eyes, pale face, high cheek bones, peculiar expression about the eyes, cocked nose, no whiskers, well dressed.—John B. Dillon, barrister, thirty-two years of age, five feet eleven inches in height, dark hair, dark eyes, thin sallow face, rather thin black whiskers, dressed respectably, has a bilious look.—Michael Doheny, barrister, forty years of age, five feet eight inches in height, sandy hair, grey eyes, coarse, red face, like a man given to drink, high cheek bones, wants several of his teeth, very vulgar appearance, peculiar coarse, unpleasant voice, dress respectable, small short red whiskers.—Richard O’Gorman, junior, barrister, thirty years of age, five feet eleven inches in height, very dark hair, dark eyes, thin long face, large dark whiskers, well-made and active, walks upright, dress black frock coat, tweed trowsers.—Thomas Davy M’Ghee, connected with the _Nation_ newspaper, twenty-three years of age, five feet three inches in height, black hair, dark face, delicate, pale, thin man; generally dresses in black shooting coat, plaid trowsers, and thin vest.—Thomas Devin Keily, sub-editor of the _Felon_ newspaper, twenty-four years of age, five feet seven inches in height, sandy, coarse hair, grey eyes, round freckled face, head remarkably broad at the top, broad shoulders, well set, dresses well.”

The peculiar personal appearance of the men who comprised, with a few others, those who fomented the insurgent feeling in Ireland is of some interest for the page of history, especially of contemporaneous history. The delineation was faithful, and aided very much in rendering concealment difficult, for it prevented the timid from affording shelter to the chiefs as soon as they became fugitives. For the masses, this minute description had an alarming appearance, as if government were well informed of its enemies.

At last the period arrived for the struggle, if ever it was to be made, and contemporaneous with the projected outbursts, movements were made by the Irish residents in Great Britain, the Chartists sympathising with them. The last week of July was especially an anxious period in Lancashire. The chief danger was apprehended in Manchester, but the only occurrence was a demonstration of the clubs, which was made on Tuesday evening, the 26th:—“The members of the several confederate clubs met in their respective club-rooms, and proceeded thence, about nine o’clock, in military order, to a large space of vacant ground adjoining the new Roman Catholic chapel, on the Cheetham Hill Boad. The number present was very great. No speech was delivered, but three cheers were given for ‘the cause,’ immediately after which the assembly dispersed. The intention of holding the meeting having been made known to the authorities, steps were taken to prevent any disorder.”

In Liverpool, and on the opposite side of the Mersey at Birkenhead, it was necessary to resort to very extraordinary precautions. The following extracts from letters written from these places at that time, describe a state of considerable apprehension in the public mind, and the necessity of great exertions to intimidate the Irish population:—“There being reason to apprehend a movement in Liverpool, to act as a diversion in favour of the insurgents, should a rising take place in Ireland, preparations are accordingly being made by our local authorities to guard against a surprise. From the Liverpool papers of Tuesday we learn that twenty thousand special constables have been sworn in in the several wards of that town. Steps have also been taken to organise the corps and to appoint leaders. A place of rendezvous has been taken in each ward, and there a guard is placed night and day, to give the alarm, should the necessity for so doing arise. About one thousand men belonging to the dock works have been sworn in, and amply provided with formidable weapons, and all the public buildings in the town are guarded day and night. There can be no doubt, it is stated, that confederate clubs are being formed in Liverpool, for the avowed purpose of aiding the people of Ireland in any insurrectionary movements which may be originated. The idea is, that by rising in Liverpool, Glasgow, and other places, whenever a rebellion breaks out in Ireland, troops, instead of being sent across the water, will be kept at home to put down disturbances, and thus the forces of the government in Ireland will be considerably weakened. It is stated that clubs to the number of fifty have been established in the former town—that they number one hundred men each. The subscription of each member is 1s. a-week. The money is spent in the purchase of fire-arms, the general price being about 12s. 6d. a-piece. Every night for the payment of subscriptions, a raffle takes place for the muskets, which the members are enabled to procure with the subscriptions. Several arrests have taken place; and it is hoped that the bold front displayed by the authorities will have the effect of preventing the contemplated outbreak. It may be stated here, as a circumstance showing how much on the alert are those who are endeavouring to repress the rebellious movements of the disaffected, that information was received yesterday morning by the authorities, that two sons of Hyland, the notorious pike-maker of Dublin, arrived from that city in Liverpool on Monday last. The magistrates of Birkenhead have requested the inhabitants of that town ‘to act as special constables for six months.’ A summons, signed by four magistrates—Colonel Gregg, Mr. W. Hall, Mr. J. W. Harden, and Mr. J. S. Jackson—was served to every householder, requiring them to attend on Monday at the Town Hall and take the necessary oath, and by half-past ten every respectable inhabitant was sworn. Accompanying the summons was a notice, signed by Messrs. Townsend and Kent, clerics to the magistrates, informing the parties that ‘by disobedience to the precept a penalty of £5 would be incurred.’”

On the 27th the London _Times_ contained the following startling telegraphic communication, which caused the funds to fall, and created alarm throughout the provinces:—

“The whole of the south of Ireland is in rebellion.

“The station at Thurles is on fire, the rails for several miles torn up, and the mob intend detaining the engines as they arrive.

“At Clonmel the fighting is dreadful. The people arrived in masses. The Dublin club leaders are there. The troops were speedily overpowered; many refused to act.

“The military at Carrick have shown disaffection, and have been driven back, and their quarters fired.

“At Kilkenny the contest is proceeding, and here the mob are also said to be successful.

“No news from Waterford or Cork.”

The writer of this History was in Dublin at that time, and remembers the city being thrown into a state of great excitement by the foregoing intelligence. The alarm was, however, of short duration, as the citizens of the Irish capital were better acquainted with the disposition of the people, and the probability of their sustaining a close contest with the troops. Besides, there existed confidence in the loyalty of the police, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. An incident occurred in Dublin which greatly strengthened that confidence; it was thus related in the papers of the day:—“A policeman who attempted to arrest three of the club-men, who were armed, was stabbed in several places, and now lies dangerously wounded at Mercer’s hospital. The brave fellow never let go his grasp of two of the fellows, and they and a third are in custody, and will, no doubt, be indicted capitally at the next commission. The unfortunate constable (Byrne) at first, on being submitted to medical treatment, continued for some time to improve, but fever having set in, it was deemed advisable for him to make a declaration, and the magistrate on Thursday repaired to the hospital for that purpose.”

Happily the telegraphic communication was found to be false; it was managed by persons in the interest of the insurrection, in order to spread alarm, to magnify the undertaking, and drive many of the Irish people, both in Ireland and Great Britain, to join the confederacy. But while the startling tidings of the telegraph were false, other news, authentic and very alarming, reached London concerning the movements of the insurrectionary chiefs, and the reception which they met with from the people. The following piece of correct intelligence influenced the funds, and produced a considerable degree of anxiety in the public mind:—

“On Sunday evening, July 23rd, Smith O’Brien and Thomas Francis Meagher reached Carrick-on-Suir at half-past five in the evening from Kilkenny. On their route, at Gallan, they addressed thousands, and told them for the present not to interfere with the police or soldiery, as they performed their duties, but when the word should be given, not to spare any who opposed them. Monday being fair-day at Carrick, the town was filled with country people, and Messrs. Meagher and O’Brien addressed the people in a more violent and determined strain than heretofore, stating their determination not to be arrested under the provisions of the new act. Both gentlemen were armed with pistols, which they are determined to use in the event of an attempt being made to capture them; they stated that they had spent their fortunes in the people’s cause, and would hazard their lives for their service, and would now throw themselves on the protection of the people. A number of Waterford men, who were at Carrick doing business at the fair, begged of Mr. Meagher to come to Waterford, alleging that his fellow-citizens would protect him from arrest; but Mr. Smith O’Brien would not listen to that proposal, and brought off Mr. Meagher to Cashel, or, as others said, to Tipperary. Whilst this scene was enacting, two hundred of the 3rd Buffs marched in from the camp at Besborough, and took up their position in the barracks. Few of either party slept during the night; the Young Irelanders, however, did not do anything to disturb the peace of the town, but business is totally at a stand-still, and all in and about the town are resting on their arms, waiting for the battle hour. In Waterford the clubs are described as being well organised, and armed, and ready to act when called upon. The people seemed reckless from poverty; groups of workingmen might be seen in the streets by day and night, discussing politics and retailing the news of the hour. The queen’s forces in Waterford were about one thousand strong. The _Rhadamanthus_ steam-vessel was in the river, and it was proposed to form two camps on the hills which command the town. In the country the peasants were arming; at Coolnamuck so much timber had been cut down for pike-handles, that the clubs would not allow any more to be taken thence, in compassion to the proprietor. At Mount Bolton the owner had it cut and left outside the wood for the people, to prevent further waste; at Lord Waterford’s demesne more ash-trees had been cut down, and the useless parts left behind. All the anvils in the country ring with pike-forging, and every weapon is put in order for the fray.”

The effect upon the government, the legislature, and the country, of the electric telegraph and other communications, false and true, may be judged of by the readers of these pages from the following speech by Sir George Grey, the home-secretary in the House of Commons, on Thursday evening, the 27th. Sir George had been questioned on this subject, and thus replied:—

“I have great satisfaction in stating that I have every reason to believe that the alarming accounts which have appeared in the later editions of the morning papers, and which were transmitted this morning from Liverpool by the electric telegraph, to the effect that insurrection had actually broken out in the south of Ireland, are totally destitute of truth. Sir, on receiving the copy of the paper containing the intelligence said to have been sent from Liverpool this morning, I dispatched a letter to the honourable member for Stoke-upon-Trent, to induce him to forward a communication by the electric telegraph to the mayor of Liverpool, requesting to know from him what information had been received in Liverpool from Ireland, and I received a despatch from that functionary, by the electric telegraph, stating that the information published this morning was accompanied from Ireland by a letter, dated Dublin, Wednesday evening, which represented that Mr. Conway, of the _Dublin Evening Post_, had received from the Castle a most dreadful rumour, which he was about to publish in a second edition of that paper. The writer then went on to say, that he took advantage of our queen’s messenger going off at the moment for London, to forward the intelligence in a parcel to Messrs. Willmer and Smith, of Liverpool, who, no doubt, would transmit it to London by the electric telegraph. The mayor of Liverpool, about an hour after this, further communicated to me that he is perfectly satisfied that the Irish intelligence, contained in the paragraph published in the morning papers, is utterly untrue, unless government have received a despatch from Lord Clarendon, confirming it. He also states that a queen’s messenger certainly had arrived from Dublin by a steamer this morning, and he left Liverpool by the half-past six express train. Now, it is perfectly true that a queen’s messenger was dispatched from Dublin last night. I had sent him over with a despatch, stating that the bill for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act had received the royal assent, and he left Dublin with a despatch from the lord-lieutenant yesterday evening, and arrived in London by the express train this morning by half-past one o’clock. This despatch certainly describes the state of the country in the neighbourhood of Clonmel, Carrick, and Thurles to be dreadful, but in relation to any actual outbreak it is perfectly silent, and makes no mention whatever. I have seen the messenger, and he states that he left Dublin at three o’clock yesterday afternoon, but he assures me he brought no parcel or letter for any party whatever. The messenger is stated to have come over by a special steamer from Kingston yesterday, that he started at three o’clock by the steamer which was reported to have had the queen’s messenger on board. Now, no queen’s messenger came over in that steamer; but I have received letters from the lord-lieutenant, written after the departure of the queen’s messenger yesterday afternoon, which contain no allusion to those frightful accounts. I am also assured by an hon. member that the hon. gentleman the member for Totness left Dublin yesterday by the steamer which leaves at seven o’clock, and that everything was tranquil when he left—that no rumour of the kind had reached his ears when the steamer left the port. I will only add that I certainly shall endeavour to trace the wilful originator of the report. I have now given all the information in my power, and it enables me to concur with the honourable gentleman that these reports were fabricated for a wicked and malicious purpose. With respect to the state of Ireland, I may only add, that by the letters which I have received from the lord-lieutenant, it appears that Sir Charles Napier had arrived at Cork with his squadron, with an able and ample body of troops, who, I am sure, are always ready to discharge their duty with unflinching bravery, and who are, therefore, entirely free from the imputations which the reports circulated this day have unfoundedly cast upon them.”

Lord Lansdowne was also questioned in the House of Lords, and made a similar reply, when the Marquis of Londonderry, in a very spirited maimer and amidst the applause of the house, inculpated the government for allowing the agitation in Ireland to rise to such a head, arguing that had the seditious writing, speaking, and acting of the confederates been timely prevented, the law would have been vindicated, public peace and order undisturbed, and many thousands of poor deluded men would have been saved from wandering after the _ignis fatuus_ of the Confederation. This philippic was well deserved by the government; had they really desired that the pear should ripen before they plucked it, they could not have proceeded otherwise than they did. The insurrection might have been crushed in the bud had the government exercised proper wisdom and firmness. It will scarcely be believed that during these exciting transactions, any member of the legislature would have the folly to introduce measures for repealing the union or holding parliaments in Ireland. There were, however, such persons: Fergus O’Connor and John O’Connell repeatedly advocated repeal, and Mr. R. M. Fox gave notice of a motion for holding a parliament in Ireland, which, on the 26th, he withdrew, amidst the derisive laughter of the house, the honourable member assuring it that he deprecated the union of repealers and republicans in Ireland. The government and the legislature were very much strengthened by the support which the executive received from Sir Robert Peel. In one of the debates upon the political condition of Ireland during that memorable week, Sir Robert, with great warmth and energy of manner, said, “He was prepared to give his unqualified support to the government. He trusted in the veracity of the ministers when they stated that the conspiracy was wide-spread and imminent, and he was ready to take his part with the crown against those mock kings of Munster of whom they had heard, and against those conspirators who were working to substitute for the mild sway of her majesty a cruel and sanguinary despotism. There was now no excuse for further delay in coping with the Irish traitors, and he for one was prepared to consent to the suspension of all the forms of the house in order to the speedy passing of this bill; and if additional powers should be required, he trusted the government would not hesitate a moment in bringing them forward. Having referred to the results of revolution on the continent, the right honourable gentleman concluded by reiterating his conviction that the throne of this country was firmer than ever fixed in the hearts and affections of the people.”

The Roman Catholic clergy were never favourable to the Young Ireland party. They desired the repeal of the union, and even the entire separation of the two countries; but they had no confidence in the ringleaders of the Confederation, because, in their opinion, some were sceptics, and some heretics, and all men of a judgment below the undertaking: of this a considerable body of the clergymen of the Romish church in Ireland were well competent to judge; they knew the feelings of the people better than any other class of men did, and in their own ranks were numbered a great many men of high attainments and superior intellect. Some of the very old clergymen in the south, who remembered the great insurrection at the close of the last century, and the sufferings which the people experienced, spared no efforts of persuasion and moral influence to prevent a like occurrence, while some of the younger and more active clergymen literally horsewhipped the people to their homes who had turned out. But for these efforts of the priests, there would have been an insurrection of some force; and had the priests given it active encouragement, a wide-spread and sanguinary rebellion must have ensued. Lord Glengall declared in his place in the House of Lords that the country was much indebted to the Roman Catholic priests for the preservation of the peace. The general discontent of the people, and their disloyalty to the throne, had been, however, much perverted by the bigoted spirit and inflammatory harangues of their teachers.

After vain attempts to rouse the people to turn out, Mr. O’Brien, with persistence and courage worthy of any cause, placed himself at the head of a mob of a few hundred peasants and labourers, and without any well-poised aim or determinate plan of action, proclaimed open revolt against the queen’s government. On the 29th of July he appeared as the leader of this hopeless corps, to make war against the mightiest empire in the world. He was, however, compelled to resort to some decisive measure by the proclamations of reward offered for his arrest, and by the efforts which were put forth immediately upon the proclamations having been posted up. Kilkenny was one of the principal _foci_ of the strength of the confederates, and O’Brien seems to have relied mainly upon the men of Kilkenny and Tipperary.

While O’Brien, Meagher, and a few others were mustering their poor forces, others of the leaders appear not to have taken very much precaution against arrest. Charles Gavan Duffy was taken early in July, so was Doheny, and several more of the most boisterous of the club chiefs. Mr. Blake, the county inspector of constabulary in Kilkenny, arriving at Harley Park, discovered that O’Brien and his forces were quartered among the colliers of Boulagh, within a mile of Ballingarry. He immediately sent to Callan, where the constabulary of the district had been concentrated for some days, to avoid being attacked in small parties by the populace. Nearly sixty men left Callan, under Inspector Trant. Mr. Blake sent to Kilkenny, and other military positions, for troops, which were dispatched so as to surround the neighbourhood where the confederates had mustered. The country people soon communicated to Smith O’Brien and his followers these facts; and Mr. O’Brien thereupon reviewed his force, consisting of colliers and peasants, variously armed. They all promised faithfully to stand by him. While thus engaged, Inspector Trant and his police detachment were seen approaching from Ballingarry, and the insurgents, numbering twenty to one, dashed forward to meet them. The police perceiving the disparity of force, made for a farm-house known as the widow M’Cormack’s. The mob broke their array, and rushed also to seize the house; but the police were first there, and barricaded it with the furniture and such other materials as were at hand. Mr. O’Brien parleyed with the police, shaking hands with them through the lower windows, and used every persuasion to induce them to deliver up their arms, which of course they refused. The peasants and colliers then directed showers of stones against the doors and windows, and also opened a fire of small arms from an outhouse. This was replied to by the police, who killed several and wounded many others. O’Brien was perfectly incompetent to give any useful direction, and his men began to retire before the sharp practice from the fire-arms of the police, when at last the latter, advancing under cover of some low walls and haystacks, drove the crowd from the neighbourhood, O’Brien escaping on the inspector’s horse. Neither skill nor courage was shown by the assailants. O’Brien’s conduct has been criticised with much severity on this occasion; but it is false to represent him as having acted without spirit; he, of course, in giving directions to his party, placed himself where he might best do so, and avoid the aim of the police; but if he or his followers had been fit for the work they had undertaken, they would either have stormed the house or retired in order; and, possessing so intimate a knowledge of the country, they might have evaded the armed parties in pursuit, until, with increased numbers, they had fallen upon some place of arms which they would have made their _point d’appui_. As it was, their proceedings were ludicrous, and afforded subject-matter for _Punch_, which contained a caricature representing an army of Irish rebels scared by the shadow of a policeman. There can be no doubt that O’Brien would have dared anything which a sense of duty and honour dictated, and which opportunity afforded; but to lead an insurrection was a task utterly beyond his capacity. It is difficult to believe that the more crafty of the confederates were sincere in the language they employed in inciting him to the preposterous acts in which he took part. For instance, a letter written by Charles Gavan Duffy was found in Smith O’Brien’s portmanteau after his arrest, which contained the following absurdly eulogistic incitement to place himself in the foreground of the revolt:—

“There is no halfway house for you. You will be the head of the movement, loyally obeyed, and the revolution will be conducted with order and clemency; or the mere anarchists will prevail with the people, and our revolution will be a bloody chaos. You have at present Lafayette’s place, so graphically painted by Lamartine; and I believe have fallen into Lafayette’s error—that of not using it to all its extent, and in all its resources. I am perfectly well aware that you don’t desire to lead or influence others; but I believe, with Lamartine, that that feeling which is a high personal and civic virtue, is a vice in revolutions. If I were Smith O’Brien, I would strike out in my own mind, or with such counsel as I valued, a definite course for the revolution, and labour incessantly to develop it in that way.”

Had Mr. Duffy desired to precipitate a weak man—the leader of other weak men—into certain ruin, these extracts, and the letter from which they are taken, would be perfectly consistent and intelligible. Had Mr. Duffy himself been quite sure of escape, by some means, from the consequences of insurrection, and had he desired to aid the government in bringing the disaffection existing into actual maturity, such a mode of addressing the proud, brave, and honest man to whom he wrote, would be rational; but with the clergy and gentry of all sects in Ireland adverse to any such movement, and with a fourth at least of all the other classes in Ireland, except the mere peasantry, equally hostile,—while many of those favourable to the Confederation were afraid to move hand or foot in its behalf,—such a letter, written by a man who ought from his position to have known Ireland well, is one of the most extraordinary episodes in the history of the eminently foolish transactions of the party.

After the wild affair at Boulagh Common, Smith O’Brien became a fugitive. There was no more preparedness or spirit to rise in his behalf than there had been for Mitchell; and indeed so destitute were leaders and people of any military knowledge or resources, that in any effort against the soldiery, the insurgents would have gone forth as sheep to the slaughter.

On the 5th of August O’Brien was arrested at the Thurles railway station, having taken a ticket at that place for Limerick. He was recognised by Hulme, a guard on the Great Southern and Western Railway, and the police and military were promptly summoned to Hulme’s aid. General M’Donald treated the prisoner with all possible courtesy, and sent him to Dublin. The courtesies of the gallant general were rather disdainfully repelled. Mr. O’Brien requested his portmanteau to be sent for, as it contained various necessaries. This request was granted, but all papers which it contained were abstracted by the Irish secretary, and several documents and letters from the other leaders, of a treasonable nature, were discovered. Nine years after this event, when Mr. O’Brien as a pardoned convict was permitted to return to his country, he had the puerility to complain of this act in a letter to the public. The man who could fail to see the justice and propriety of such a step on the part of the government, was so far beyond reason on political matters, that all astonishment at the impracticability of his insurrectionary attempts during the autumn of 1848 ceases.

On the 28th of September Mr. O’Brien was put upon his trial at Clonmel. The trial lasted until the 9th of October, when a verdict of guilty was returned, and a strong recommendation for mercy, the jury stating that, on many grounds, they were of opinion that Mr. O’Brien’s life should be spared. Probably every impartial person in the kingdom snared their views. The judges, however, recorded sentence of death.

The trials of MacManus, Meagher, and O’Donoghue resulted in verdicts of guilty, and sentence of death was recorded in each case. When they were brought to the court for that purpose, and asked what they had to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon them, Mr. MacManus delivered a manly and sensible speech, in a tone and with a manner so frank and direct, as to produce a strong impression in his favour throughout the court, as it did throughout the country, by all who perused it. The speech of Meagher was an eloquent failure; it appeared as if he had kept the noble and unfortunate Emmet before him as a model. He addressed the judges as if he were about to expiate his error upon the scaffold, whereas he knew, as all Ireland knew, that it was not the intention of government to put the sentence of the law in force. This circumstance gave an air of display and bombast to a speech that, if the realities of the speaker’s position had corresponded with it, would have been thrillingly effective.

Soon after these events, a number of other participants in the revolt were put upon their trial for their connection with it, or for seditious writings. The following notices, under the head of “State Trials,” appeared in the papers of the day, and will sufficiently exemplify the general character of such proceedings and their results:—“The trial of Mr. Williams was closed on Friday se’nnight, by the acquittal of the accused. It appeared that he could not be fixed upon as the author of any of the articles indicted. Those which were most violent had been published during a period when he was confined to his room, and could not, and did not, take part in conducting the _Tribune_. Mr. O’Doherty, the part-proprietor of the _Tribune_, less fortunate than Mr. Williams, has been sentenced to ten years’ transportation. In Dublin the sentence on Mr. O’Doherty was not expected to be so severe. He is a young man, not more than twenty-two, and his high character for humanity, and the recommendation of the jury, induced the public to believe that, though the sentence would be severe, the punishment would not so nearly approach that of those who preceded him in his career. With his sentence, and the discharge of Mr. Williams, the commission terminated. Mr. Duffy still remains in the custody of the gaoler of Newgate.”

The sentence of death upon the prisoners at Clonmel was afterwards commuted to transportation, and this was carried into effect. The people of Ireland felt that the crown had acted with justice and clemency; and all regretted the necessity of visiting with so severe a punishment men whose conduct arose from fervent patriotism and honest purpose.

The case of Charles Gavan Duffy was the most remarkable of any which was brought before the Irish law courts in connection with the insurrection. Certainly, the charges brought against him were as clearly proved as were those against any other of the party leaders. Yet the trial was so managed, and juries were found so obstinate, that notwithstanding the appearance of the most pertinacious prosecution on the part of the crown, a conviction could not be obtained. The following extract from a journal published Saturday, the 23rd of December, exhibits the general character of the proceedings against Mr. Duffy, and the questions which were raised to postpone his trial and embarrass the prosecution:—

“On Friday (se’nnight) the important trial of Mr. Duffy commenced, before Baron Richards and Mr. Justice Perrin, and the first two days were consumed in arguments for and against the quashing of a former indictment found in the county of Dublin against the prisoner. On Monday the court decided the point. The motion of the prisoner’s counsel was, that Mr. Duffy be not called upon to plead to the indictment found against him by the grand jury of the county of the city of Dublin, because another and a similar indictment was put in against him in the county of Dublin; and as it would be an injustice to him to be called upon to plead to one indictment during the subsistence of another in which the crime laid was the same.

“The judgment of the court was, that the whole of the cases previous to the passing of the act 6 Geo. IV., cap. 51, were against the case made on behalf of Mr. Duffy, and that there was nothing in the act to take it out of the operation of those decisions. The act did not directly apply to the present case at all, and the court could not imply anything to disqualify the crown from taking whatever course it should think fit to take in furtherance of the administration of justice.

“The counsel for the prisoner, however, had not stated all their objections; and on Mr. Duffy being called on to plead to the indictment, his counsel handed in on his behalf a plea of abatement, on the ground of the disqualification (by reason of non-residence, or not being householders) of two of the grand jury who found the bill. The counsel for the crown retired, and, ultimately, the further consideration of the plea was postponed to the next day.

“The court intimated that in the decision they had come to on the motion before them in the morning, they by no means desired or intended to leave Mr. Duffy open to the indictment found in the county along with that found in the city. Before he pleaded to the latter, the crown should declare what course would be adopted—whether a _nolle prosequi_ should not be entered on the other.

“Application having been made to rescind the order of the court made on Saturday, prohibiting the proceedings at the trial to be published in the newspapers until the trial had been concluded, the court refused to accede to the request.

“On Tuesday, the arguments on the plea, handed in on the previous day, engaged the court the whole day. Their lordships took time to consult the various authorities cited, before giving judgment. Before rising, the court refused to hear Mr. Duffy, who applied to have the order against the publication of the proceedings at the trial in the newspapers rescinded, and directed the application to be made by counsel; stating at the same time that the order must remain in force, unless it could be shown that the prisoner would sustain damage from the non-publication.

“On Thursday morning, Mr. Holmes inquired at what time their lordships would deliver judgment as to the validity of the plea in abatement? Mr. Justice Perrin replied that they hoped to be able to give judgment to-morrow (Friday). It was clear that, no matter what that decision might be, the trial could not be commenced until after Christmas.”

After many and intricate legal questions had been disposed of, Mr. Duffy finally escaped the meshes of the law, and resumed his avocations as proprietor and editor of the _Nation_ newspaper, which journal he conducted for a time with more moderation, although the government still allowed him an extraordinary degree of license.

_Irish Agitation fob Rotatory Parliaments_.—The extinction of the Irish insurrection did not suppress agitation. The moral-force Repealers kept up a certain amount of clamour: said much, but not to any purpose, and did nothing.

A considerable number of noblemen and gentlemen, more remarkable for their high position and character than for intellectual power, formed an association for the purpose of promoting what they called Rotatory Parliaments, which would lead to the frequent holding of legislative sessions in Dublin. On the 18th of December, a meeting for this purpose was held in Dublin, at the Northumberland Buildings, Lord William Fitzgerald in the chair. The meeting was but thinly attended, probably on account of the extreme wet which prevailed all day. Mr. Sharman Crawford proposed the first resolution—“That the present mode of legislation for Ireland is at the root of all the difficulties under which this country labours.” Mr. Crawford referred all the evils under which Ireland laboured to English misrule and Irish landlords. Dr. Carmichael moved the next resolution:—“That amongst the many striking instances of the neglect which Irish affairs, even of vital importance, usually meet with in the imperial parliament, may be stated the failure of all attempts by the Irish members to improve the laws relating to medical charities.” The next resolution was as follows:—“That the present mode of legislation for Ireland tends to alienate the affections of her people; to prevent their industry and self-reliance, and would be impolitic even in a recently conquered country.” The fourth resolution stated:—“That the waste lands of Ireland offer a vast field of remunerative employment for her unemployed population, while the many abortive attempts that have been made to legislate on the subject in the imperial parliament sitting at Westminster, furnishes another argument for a meeting of the imperial parliament in Dublin.” All the resolutions were passed unanimously. Lord Massarene was then called to the chair; and a vote of thanks having been passed to Lord W. Fitzgerald, the meeting separated.

This agitation, which enlisted the attention of so many respectable persons, was never supported by the people. Had the priests, and their lay agents, and organs of the press favoured it, it would in all probability have attained to some degree of importance. The people began to lose faith in all associations, and the programme of this was not sufficiently _piquant_ for the political taste of the violent and bigoted sections of the community. The association met with some favour in high quarters in England, but not with so much as its promoters believed would be the case.

_Religious Feuds.—Conflicts between Landlords and Tenants_.—The social and agrarian warfare continued when the political fires were quenched. Men were waylaid and murdered on account of their religious opinions being too prominently expressed for the bigotry of their assassins, and the utmost religious animosity raged through the land. Landlords who were active in proselytising, or who in any way showed religious zeal or earnestness, were subject to insult and injury in every form.

The conduct of the owners of land was not generally forbearing and praiseworthy, while the laws were all designed to operate in their favour. The tenantry were not more just than the owners of the soil; and altogether the relations of landlord and tenant in Ireland were most unhappy. A letter written from Ireland at the close of the year, thus depicted the state of affairs:—“The evictions and house-levelling do not cease in activity. At Ardnacrusha, a little hamlet about two miles from Limerick, twenty houses were levelled on Monday. Thousands of the fertile acres of Tipperary are waste, and these are increased each day by further evictions. The case is the same in Limerick and in Clare. We find daily announcements of large farmers running away, and sweeping all with them. They grow alarmed lest their turn may soon come, and they evade the fate of others by leaving the land naked on the landlord’s hands. A few days since, in a district of Clare, while the farmers were at market with their produce, the landlord’s agents descended on the farmers, with a large body of armed followers, and without legal process or authority of any kind, it is said, swept away all the stock on the land to satisfy the landlord’s claims. On the other side of the picture we find that a tenant, holding ninety-seven acres of land, had sold off everything, and, with the whole of the produce in his pocket, had reached Limerick, to emigrate, when he was arrested at the suit of his landlord and other creditors.”

_Advent of Cholera_.—Many as were the social and political evils of Ireland during the sorrowful year of 1848, there was a providential visitation which added to her miseries. Cholera made its appearance in several places during the autumn; the cases were not very numerous, but were in general fatal, and excited great apprehension as to the progress of the pestilence, which, in the following year committed fearful ravages. It was observable that the famine fever disappeared as this still more deadly enemy approached.

Such was the history of Ireland during one of the most eventful years in the annals of the world. She had passed through a terrible ordeal, and although not wholly uninstructed by it, yet any lessons it was calculated to teach were reluctantly received and imperfectly learned.

ENGLAND.

_Political Events_.—On former pages we sketched the violent political convulsions of continental Europe, and the relation which England bore to the changes which so rapidly took place: within her own confines there was much uneasiness, and some danger, but law and order triumphed over their adversaries.

The chartist confederacy put forth all its force, and its leader, Fergus O’Connor, assumed unwonted boldness, both in and out of parliament. Meetings were held in various parts of the country, in which the government was denounced for not employing the people; and the virtue (as it appeared to these assemblages) of appropriating the property of the landholders and manufacturers, was loudly insisted upon.