opt 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 ther