ion was decried with
bitterness, and the men who struggled, against great odds, to identify
the whole island with Mr. O'Brien, and pledge it to sustain him to the
last, were subjected to the most virulent denunciations. Because the
compromised resolution was moved, seconded, and spoken to by them, the
whole country regarded them as the betrayers of their own avowed chief,
and the violence with which they were attacked was unmeasured and
unscrupulous.

They made no reply. No unjust aspersions from a people in ignorance of
the resistance offered to them, and the motives that influenced them,
could induce them to explain the position they had taken. But when they
saw while they were subjected to the storm that Mr. O'Connell's friends,
on the authority of his published letter, took credit for neutrality,
they resolved once more to test the question in a body, whose
proceedings were of a more private character, and where the most marked
difference of opinion could lead to no fatal result--the Eighty-Two
Club. Mr. O'Connell was the president of this club, and Mr. O'Brien one
of its vice-presidents. A meeting was called. The attendance was
unusually large. Men who had never before, and have never since,
appeared at its meetings, were present. The question proposed was that
an address be presented to Mr. O'Brien, in which his principles and his
conduct would be fully recognised, approved of and adopted. This led to
a discussion that lasted two days, but the motion was carried in the
end by a majority of two to one. One man, and one only, unconnected with
Mr. O'Connell, either by personal friendship or personal obligations,
voted against the resolution. That man is Sir Colman O'Loghlen. His name
is mentioned, because he was the only member of the minority whose
motives could be regarded as unquestionable. For the rest, the minority
was composed of Mr. O'Connell's sons and relatives, with Mr. Ray and Mr.
Crean, officers of the Association, and one or two members whom he had
caused to be returned to Parliament, amounting to twelve. A committee
was appointed to prepare the address and resolutions, which were written
by John Mitchel, and adopted by the committee without the change of a
word. They also determined that the address should be adopted in its
integrity by the club, or not at all. When it was proposed, objection
was again taken to its principle, on the ground that it would commit the
club, and involve it in a hopeless conf