The Irish standard., 1896-06-06
on my countrymen during the last thirty
years. Irish freedom must be won
nv Irish courage. Every statesman in

on my cOunlrymen curing the last Slntrly
years. Irish freedom must be won
by Irish courage. Every statesman in
the civilized globe looks upon Ireland
as you look upon Poland, and upon your
connection as entirely analogous to that
of Russia with Poland. l am here tonight
to tell you, that if you refuse our claims
TO legislative independence, you will have
to encounter during the present year the
chance Of Republic in Ireland"
/ Outspoken words, surely, in the very
stronghold of England's greatness.
The bill passed, and warrants were issued
Wholesale. The Confederate leaders deter
mined to appeal to the country to assert
its rights by force of arms, and left Dub
lin FOR this purpose. O'Br:en left for Wex-
ford, where he found but few clubs and,
little preparation. He then, after counsel
with his fellow-leaders, determined to
make Kilkenny the centre of the outbreak,
but here, too, there was little organiza-
tion and great scarcity Of arms. With
Dillon, Meagher, O. Reilly and others he
visited the neighbouring towns of Callan,
Carrick, Mullinahone, and Balingary, but
in no place were the people ready for the
conflict 1t was at the latter place that
the fate Of the movement was decided. A
body of forty-six police came from Callan
to arrest O'Brien, who had summoned the
people to meet at Ballingarry. On reach
ing that village the police found that am
pie precautions had been taken to defend
t,Jand fearing an open conflict With the
insurgents they took refuge in a neigh
boring farmhouse. This house the insur-
gents attacked, but the police after killing
a few men succeeded in repelling the at
tacking party, and the rebellion was at an
end. O'Brien all through behaved with
the utmost courage and gallantry. His
Ecomrades urged On him the necessity OF not
EthroWing away his life uselessly. His an
|sWer was that "an O'Brien never turned his
back on an enemy and he continued to
move about amongst his followers, all the
time being we'll within the range Of fire.
There was no other way out of the unhappy
position into which the movement had
drifted but death, and he seemed deter
mined to die. At last, when all his at
tempts to rally the people had failed, he
listened to the solicitations OF his comrades
and rode away. A week afterwards he
was arrested at ThUrles railway station,
just as he had taken a ticket for Lin
erick, and was hurried away by special ex-
press to Dublin.
On September rs, 1S48, he was arraigned
at ClOnnlel on charge OF high treason,
and after a trial of ten days was found
guilty. When sentence Of death was about
to be pronounced his composure was un-
disturbed, and his bearing was full Of quiet
dignity and firmness. In answer to the
usual question, he said
::'My lords--It is not my intention to
enter into any vindication of my conduct,
however much I might have desired to
avail myself of this opportunity OF SO do
ing. am perfectly satisfied with the con-
seriousness that l have performed my duty
to my country-that I have only done
that which, in my opinion, it was the duty
of every Irishman to have done: and J. am
now prepared to abide the consequences of
having performed my duty to my native
land Proceed with your sentence"
The sentence Of death and decapitation
was commuted, and with Meagher, McMa-
nus ard O'Donohue, he was transported to
Tasmania. Years afterwards he received
an unconditional pardon, and returned to-
Ireland in 1856 His active connection
with Irish politics, however, altogether
ceased with his imprisonment. and after
some years of travelling and retirement he
died at Bangor in 1864, and was buried in
the churchyard of Rathronan, County Linn
aricly