the abduction of the
then Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII., and the holding of
him as a hostage for a purpose of the Fenian organisation.

The plan was to take him to sea in a sailing vessel, and to keep him
there, until the Fenian prisoners still at that time unreleased were set
at liberty. He was to be treated with the utmost consideration and--the
recollection is not without its humorous side--McCafferty had a
memorandum to spare no pains in finding what were the favourite
amusements of the Prince, so that he might have a "real good time" on
board.

CHAPTER VII.

THE RISING OF 1867--ARREST AND RESCUE OF KELLY AND DEASY--THE MANCHESTER
MARTYRDOM.

Although the Rising of 1867 had somewhat the character of "a flash in
the pan," there were some heroic incidents in connexion with it. With
one of the Fenian leaders, James Francis Xavier O'Brien, I was brought
into intimate connection many years after the Rising, when we were both
officials, he as General Secretary and I as Chief Organiser, of the Home
Rule organisation in Great Britain. When put upon his trial there was
evidence against him in connection with the taking of a police barrack,
he being in command of the insurgents. It was proved that he not only
acted with courage, but with a humanity that was commended by the judge,
in seeing that the women and children were got out safely before the
place was set on fire.

This, however, did not save him from being condemned to death--he was
the last man sentenced in the old barbarous fashion to be hanged, drawn
and quartered--this sentence being afterwards commuted to penal
servitude. Certainly, whether on the field or facing the scaffold for
Ireland there was no more gallant figure among the Fenian leaders than
James Francis Xavier O'Brien.

Few knew of his sterling worth as I did. For several years after his
return to liberty I was in close daily contact with this white-haired
mild-looking old gentleman--still tolerably active and supple,
though--who could blaze up and fight to the death over what he
considered a matter of principle. The most admirable feature in his
character was that, in all things you found him _straight_.

One of the Fenian chiefs I met in Liverpool was General Halpin, who, on
the night of the Rising, was in command of the district around Dublin.
The first of the insurgents who reached Tallaght, the place of
rendezvous on the night of the 5th of March, 1867, were received