e,
he was to proceed to some other place in Ireland. Some days
after this, they came in sight of the coast of the county
of Limerick, and then they sailed towards Sligo; but they
overshot the mark, and arrived off the coast of Donegal. They
then turned back, and arrived at Sligo Bay on the 20th of May.
The learned gentleman then went on to describe certain occurrences
alleged to have taken place on board the vessel, while she remained
in and about Sligo Bay. He said that on one evening a hooker came
alongside, from which a man, who appeared to be a gentleman, got on
board the brigantine. This person went down into the cabin, conversed
with the officers, and told them the landing could not be effected at
Sligo, after which he returned on board the hooker, and sailed for the
shore. The Attorney-General said:--
About the 26th of May the ship left the Sligo coast. On the
1st of June she arrrivcd at Dungarvan. During the voyage
councils were held on board. Provisions were running short,
and they could not remain much longer at sea. These matters
were made the subjects of discussion. Some were for going to
America, and some for landing; and at last the conclusion was
arrived at that the majority of the officers should be landed,
and that the others should go either to America or to the
Western Isles--the Hebrides. They hailed a large fishing boat,
and offered the man on board L2 to put two men on shore. He
went on board the brigantine, and when he did so, twenty-eight
men who were hitherto concealed, rushed on board his ship. He
asked them if he would land them at Helwick Point, and they
said no, because there was a coastguard station there. They
were eventually landed about two miles from that point, and
they were compelled to wade through water three-and-a-half
feet deep to the shore.
So far the learned gentleman, her Majesty's Attorney-General for
Ireland. His statement was supported by the informations and
the evidence of an informer, Daniel J. Buckley, the Judas of the
expedition. He, however, represented Kavanagh as the captain of
the vessel, and General James E. Kerrigan as chief of the military
expedition. As to the armament on board, they had, he said, "some
Spencer's repeating rifles, seven-shooters, and some Enfield rifles,
Austrian rifles, Sharp's and Burnside's breech-loaders, and some
revolvers. There were about 5,000
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