,
from the charge of scandalous neglect, or more scandalous pusillanimity;
from treachery to my friends, or from an utter insensibility to personal
name and official honour in myself? The thought had nearly deprived me of
my senses. The perspiration of mental torment ran down my face. I stamped
the ground, and would have dashed my forehead against the wall, had not
the whole group instantly clung round me. A few moments more of this
wretchedness, and I must have died; but the door at length was cautiously
opened, and I bounded in.

At a long narrow table, on which were a few lights, and several books and
rolls of paper, sat about twenty men, evidently of the lower order, though
one or two exhibited a marked superiority to the rest. A case of pistols
lay on the table, which had probably been brought out on the signal of my
arrival; and in the corners of the room, or rather vault, were several
muskets and other weapons piled against the wall. From the obvious
disturbance of the meeting, I was clearly an unwelcome guest; and, after a
general sweep of the papers off the table, and a whisper which
communicated to the chairman the circumstances of my capture, I was asked
my name, and "why I had intruded on their meeting?" To the latter question
my reply was an indignant demand, "why my liberty had been infringed on?"
To the former, I gave my name and office at full length, and in a tone of
authority. No announcement could have been more startling. The president
actually bounded from his chair; others plucked out knives and pistols;
all looked pallid and thunderstruck. With the first minister of the realm
in this cavern of conspirators, every life of whom was in peril of the
axe; my presence among them was like the dropping of a shell into a powder
magazine.

But the dismay soon passed; their native daring returned, and I saw that
my fate hung once more on the balance. After a brief consultation, and
many a gloomy glance at their prisoner, the president summed up the
opinion of the board. "You must be sensible, sir," said he, addressing me;
"that in times like the present, every man must be prepared to make
sacrifices for his cause. The call of Ireland has summoned us here--that
call is irresistible; and whatever may be our feelings, for you, sir, who
have been brought into this place wholly without our desire, the interests
of a great country, determined to be free, must not be put in competition
with the life of any individ