England, or at least the Irish in England, joined in the agitation. I was present myself at two of the open air meetings, one of them early in the summer at Bray; the other, the monster demonstration at Cabra. Both of these scenes come vividly before my mind: I am sure none that saw has ever forgotten them.

The meeting at Bray took place upon a balmy day. It was Sunday, the sun was bright, and in the early morning the vale through which the river Bray runs brawling down to the sea, and the village nestling in its bosom, made a scene full of freshness and peace. But as the day wore on, and the noontide came, great crowds from the metropolis, and from the neighboring country began to fill the quiet roads. Green emblems were on many a breast, and patriotic words were in every mouth. In due time, Mr. Butt and the other speakers came driving through the crowd to the place of meeting, a field of some half-dozen acres, which was in a minute black with people. But now from afar, martial strains float over the vale, and long lines of men come marching from various outlying districts. Meeting within sight of the constabulary barricks, where Her Majesty's hirelings watch the proceedings from their picturesque battlements, the different. contingents unite in a procession, and with banners waving overhead, and with bursts of patriotic music, they wind along the sloping roads until they reach the place of meeting and are swallowed up in the general mass. It was indeed a scene not easily forgotten when, amid the freshness and beauty of their own native land, ten thousand Irishmen gathered together to proclaim their devotion to her cause, and their confidence in her destiny.

Still another glorious scene, though of a somewhat different kind, was that of the Cabra meeting. There was nothing in the natural surroundings to lend a charm. The meeting tool: place in a great sloping meadow on the right hand side,— going out of town,-of the Cabra road. A wide gap in the fence gave admittance to the crowds; the platform was set up at the side of the field farthest from the road.

The programme for the day had included a procession of

the trades and other civil bodies, but this was prohibited by proclamation from the castle. Nevertheless, most of the organizations went severally over the projected line of march, filling the streets with the afflatus of their determined patriotism. I remember that the heart of the city was wondrously quiet, for the whole population had flocked out to Cabra, and the sounds that reached the ear of the chance wayfarer from time to time, of martial music and marching men, were aweinspiring in the midst of the general solitude.

The meeting was in the afternoon, and I have seldom seen such multitudes as were gathered in the northern portion of the city, about the Mater Misericordiæ Hospital, and out along the Phibsborough Road. The field where the speaking took place was one vast sea of people. Around the outskirts were displayed the banners of the trades, mounted high on wagonettes and drags, drawn by teams of four and six horses. What enthusiasm pervaded the throng! What cheers rent the air! What noble sentiments were uttered!

I have read these last in later years, for I was not then of an age to appreciate oratory,-I think Butt was the only man. who had awakened my attention-and so I will pass the speeches by. In truth, I never got within earshot of the platform. But as I left the field, I remembered catching a glimpse of a fine pale face, surmounting a dark close-fitting habit, and I remember the people held in a wonderful stillness by a voice that came to me then over the heads of the crowd with a sad cadence, like an echo from afar, and that comes back to me now with an added tinge of melancholy, as if from the speaker's grave. It was George Henry Moore, a man of pure and lofty motives, of unselfish patriotism, of high intellectual power, who was gifted with the judgment to avail himself of constitutional methods, and the courage to look forward to the time when bolder counsels might prevail; who owned at once the love of the people and the confidence of their leaders; who commanded the support of the nation and the ear of the foreign government; who died in the hour of promise, and left behind unrealized conceptions and disappointed hopes, an unspotted name and the unavailing sorrow of the nation.

other bodies. The evening Headed with

When the meeting was over, the trades and marched from the field in processional array. was glorious with the rays of the setting sun. bands, with their banners flapping heavily overhead, and bearing bannerets and pennants of green and gold, they came marching down the road. Orange mingled with the green, in badges and rosettes; a new spirit of unity, of strength, of purpose, pervaded the ranks. The blare of the trumpets mingled with the vociferations of the thousands lining the way. It seems as if the march that evening might be taken as a type of the Nation's progress, in the course of which old jealousies. must be swept away, and the efforts of all her sons be blended into one power to work out her salvation.

Only one other instance of those days of the Amnesty movement will I stop to mention here-one that caused infinite amusement, and yet carried no small weight at the time, but which, as I think, has produced rather lamentable results in later days. This was the election of O'Donovan Rossa to Parliament by the County Tipperary, in November, 1869. As a manifestation of the sort of man the people of Ireland wish to represent them,—or rather, I should say, as a signalization of the principles they wished their representatives to hold, the election of Rossa to the House of Commons was an event of unsurpassed importance. It was one of the strongest endorsements of Fenianism that the period afforded.

The vacancy in Tipperary was caused by the death of one of the sitting members. Mr. Denis Caulfield Heron, a lawyer, was the regular Whig candidate. The fight was between him and Rossa. The latter had been chosen for the contest as the extremest-to use an un-English word,-of the prisoncrs. His swaggering defiance of the judges, and indeed of the whole machinery of the law at his trial, had tickled the fancy of the people. The ill-usage which he brought on himself in prison by his useless, ill-timed, and undignified resistance to rule, won for him the popular sympathy. Rumorserroneous of course—were rife that he had been flogged in prison, and it was known that he had spent days in the dark cells. These things made him an available candidate for a

struggle where everything depended upon catching the popular fancy. The Catholic clergy were opposed to him, but the bulk of those who voted were opposed to England above all things. Rossa defeated his opponent by 1054 votes to 898.

It is needless to say that Rossa was never allowed to take his seat in Parliament; but the protest against Westminster legislation conveyed in his triumphant return over all difficulties at the polls was just as strong as though he had been allowed to refuse the oath of allegiance at the speaker's table, clad in his convict gray.

To dispose of the subject of the Fenian prisoners briefly, it only remains to be said here, that the British government long resisted the demand for amnesty; but at last, in December, 1870, Mr. Gladstone announced the intention of the government to extend "pardons" to all the remaining non-military treason-felony convicts, on condition that they should leave the United Kingdom and remain abroad until the expiration of their several sentences. Thirty-seven men were set at liberty on these conditions, most of whom sooner or later proceeded to America. Of the imprisoned soldiers, six were rescued from the convict settlement at Swan River near Freemantle in Western Australia, on Easter Monday, 1876, through the gallantry and ability of John J. Breslin, -who had also aided in the escape of James Stephens from Richmond Bridewell, in Dublin -backed by the financial resources of an American Association of Nationalists. Many others were from time to time released on tickets-of-leave or otherwise, and the last man remaining in prison on any charge growing out of the Fenian movement was James Clancy, an ex-soldier of the Royal Engineers, who was arrested for treason-felony, and sentenced to penal servitude for life for firing at the policeman who captured him. Clancy was released in October, 1878, and a short time after came to America.

CHAPTER XCI.

HOW IRISHMEN OF OPPOSITE OPINIONS COMBINED AT LAST IN THEIR COUNTRY'S CAUSE. STRENGTH AT THE HUSTINGS AND WEAKNESS IN THE COMMONS. JOHN MITCHEL.

N this chapter I am to begin the story of the Home Rule movement. I believe the narrative will illustrate the important truth that in politics as in all other affairs of life, clearness of aim, and untiring aggression are indispensable to success. We shall find the Home Rule movement weak, languishing, and fruitless, so long as its policy is one of conciliation and patient waiting. But as soon as a man of bold determined character, and vigorous activity assumes the leadership, the party develops into a great power; as soon as a single, well-defined, and paramount object becomes the focus of its endeavors, these progress to great results.

The period on which we are now entering, opened with a national disaster. George Henry Moore died at his residence, Moore Hall, in the County Mayo, on the 19th of April, 1870. This was just one month before the founding of the Home Rule organization. There can be no doubt as to the part that this man would have taken in the new agitation, and it is impossible to exaggerate the greatness of his loss at this time. What indecision, what delays, what feeble measures, what hampering of all the energetic tendencies of the nation he might have prevented! His death threw the undivided leadership into the hands of Isaac Butt, and Butt proved wholly unequal to the trust.

I cannot refrain from saying a few words about the death of Moore. It fell like a pall upon the nation. But a day or two before, his name had been in every mouth as a word of hope, and when he died the people were dismayed. A great throng gathered to follow him to the grave. From every