r many a long day, until he took a trip to America, where
his services to the cause landed him in a good situation. So he stayed
there, and told everything, and that was the first the British
Government knew about it, beyond suspicion of Byrne.

"If Stephens had made up his mind for an outbreak the funeral of
MacManus was the right occasion. He missed his tip then, and no
mistake. There never was another chance like that. He said the
arrangements were not complete, and from that moment the thing
dwindled away, and we who were working it up in the rural districts
began to think he did not really mean business. We were short of arms,
but a small success would have improved our condition in that respect.
Lots of the country organisers went to Dublin to see his funeral, and
when we saw the crowds and the enthusiasm we all agreed that such a
chance was not likely to occur again. MacManus had been a chief of the
insurrectionary movement of 1848, and had been transported for life to
Botany Bay, I think. He escaped to America, and died there in 1861.
Mahony, the Fenian commander-in-chief, proposed to spend some of the
revolutionary funds in bringing the body to Ireland, there to give it
a public funeral. This was a great idea, and as the Government did not
interfere, it turned out a greater success than anyone had
anticipated. There were delegates from every city in America, and from
every town in Ireland. It took about a month to lug MacManus from the
Far West to Dublin, and the excitement increased every day. In my
little place we collared all the timid fellows who had been holding
back before, until there was not a single man of the peasant class
outside the circle. MacManus was worth more dead than alive.

"A hundred thousand men followed the hearse through the streets of
Dublin. At the critical moment Number One held back. If the streets
had been barricaded on the evening of the funeral the country would
have stood an excellent chance of obtaining its independence. The
moment was missed, and such chances never come twice. The French would
have made a big thing of that affair. Stephens was great at
organisation, but he had not the pluck to carry out the enterprise. He
had not the military training required, nor the decision to act at the
right moment. So here we are and here we shall remain, and I am your
humble, obedient, loyal servant to command.

"No, I do _not_ believe in the present leaders at all. I think they
want