en and his followers were actual agents of
the British Government, suborned to precipitate the country into
revolution, for which they were to receive large possessions and
lucrative employment beyond the sea. It was the constant habit of Mr.
O'Connell, when any one proposed a course bolder than his own, to
suggest that he was doing the business of the enemy. He may have
adopted this course in his self-assumed character of Dictator, as the
surest and speediest means of clearing all obstructions out of his way.
Whatever his motive, it was an unworthy resource; for it supplied the
meanest minds with an example and a pretext for the gratification of
their own vile propensities. Their voice was heard, amid the silence of
mourning and death, when in an hour of universal dismay, John Mitchel
was borne from his loved fatherland; and still more audibly when the
dungeon closed on Smith O'Brien and his illustrious comrades. In the
latter instance, slander availed itself of an incident connected with
their arrest to justify its infamous conclusions. "If," it croaked,
"they were in earnest, why suffer themselves to be arrested so
easily?--Why come to the railway terminus?--Why parade on the high road
in front of a police barrack? In effect, why surrender?" But in Ireland
this was little heeded; nor should I deem it worthy of the least notice,
if it were not revived in the new world, under circumstances calculated
to give it credence and durability. At one time it is insinuated that
they "surrendered," such as "it was said they gave themselves up," and
immediately afterwards, in reference to the period or the fact, is to be
found "at the time of Mr. O'Brien's surrender." And again, in the same
breath, it is positively stated as a mere matter of course.

The propagator of this malignity knows it to be false. He knows also
that it serves the purpose of those who would charge the country's
truest and bravest with vilest treachery.

I shall pursue the theme no further. The truth is, Mr. O'Brien remained
among a people who were sorely stricken by terror. Their friends were
dead or scattered; and rumour, with a thousand tongues, multiplied the
most awful horrors which were said to be approaching them. Although they
received and sheltered Mr. O'Brien, he evidently saw that their
generosity cost them dearly, and that they were in the utmost alarm. His
own privations he could endure; but not the fear and suffering his
presence caused to oth