se of political action they would
recommend. On the 13th of January, the promise was redeemed. The
seceders met as before, and their deliberations were guarded by the same
men, who thus a third time risked their lives--the hazard was nothing
less--to secure to the seceders freedom of speech and of action. On the
13th of January, the Confederation was fully established. The bases, if
the phrase be applicable, were freedom, tolerance and truth. There was
no avowal of war, and no pledge of peace. The great object was the
independence of the Irish nation; and no means to attain that end were
abjured, save such as were inconsistent with honour, morality and
reason.

During the intervening time, between the first and second meetings,
overtures of peace were made by Mr. O'Connell. A sudden and singular
change was observable in his tone and language. He said with chagrin,
and acknowledged with reluctance, that the position and strength of the
party defied alike his power and his address. Every art and every effort
to crush them had been exhausted in vain. The question between them, he
now loudly proclaimed, was one purely of law; and he referred to several
barristers, by whose judgment he was ready to abide. The question he was
prepared to submit suggests the most mournful considerations. If it were
not painful, it would be amusing to see to what painful absurdities he
was compelled to have recourse. He would leave it to anyone at the bar,
whether the "physical force principle" would not make the Association
illegal; and then he would indulge in a hollow triumph over the
certainty and security of his position. But that was not the question
in issue. None of the seceders ever recommended the principle of
physical force, in practice or theory, to the Association. On the
contrary, they disavowed it, in reference to that body, and their own
connection with it. The real question was this--whether it was necessary
to the legality of any political society, to disavow, formally and
forever, under all circumstances, and at all times, the right of men to
strike down the cruellest tyranny with the strong hand. It would be
absurd to submit such a proposition to a lawyer, which could only be
answered by a laugh. It had been sufficiently settled by the fact that,
without it, the Catholic Association, the Corn-law League, and the
Repeal Association itself, up to the 13th of July, 1846, were perfectly
safe and perfectly legal. But no man knew