the British army, was an old schoolfellow
of mine with the Liverpool Christian Brothers, Peter Maughan, of whom I
have already spoken as a fellow-workman at the Curragh.

Before joining the I.R.B. Peter had been a member of the "Brotherhood of
St. Patrick," an organisation which furnished many members to the "Irish
Revolutionary Brotherhood."

Most of the Fenian prisoners were amnestied before the completion of
their full terms. I have a letter in my possession from John McCafferty
to our mutual friend, William Hogan, written from Millbank Prison, 6th
June, 1871. In this he regrets that the terms of his release will not
allow of his paying Hogan a visit. He says:--

I know there are many who would like to shake my hand and bid me a
kind farewell. God bless you before my departure. My route will
afford me no opportunity of seeing the iron-bound coast of the home
of my forefathers. Still God may allow me to see that isle
again--Yes, and then perhaps I may meet somebody on the hills.

He concludes with love to William Hogan's family and "Kind regard to
each and every friend."

McCafferty did, I know, see the "iron-bound" coast of Ireland again, for
a few years after this an extremely mild and inoffensive-looking,
dark-complexioned person, with black side whiskers, came into my
place--I was carrying on a printing and newsagency business--in Byron
Street, Liverpool, and, though I did not recognise him at first, I was
pleased to find that this Mr. Patterson, as he called himself, was no
other than my old friend John McCafferty.

The mission he was engaged on was one that can only be described by the
word amazing. So daring was it, so hedged around with apparent
impossibilities, that to the ordinary man its very conception would be
incredible. But McCafferty was perfectly serious and determined about
it, and to him it seemed practicable enough, provided only he could get
a few more men like himself: and indeed if the collection of just such a
company of conspirators _were_ practicable, no doubt the impossible
might become possible enough. But the hypothesis is fatal, for the
McCafferty strain is a rare one indeed, so that his project never got
further than an idea. I think, however, that I cannot be accused of
exaggeration in saying that if he had been successful in carrying out
his idea, his achievement would have formed the most extraordinary
chapter in English history--for it was no less than