hey can liberate
their country by an appeal to arms, and consequently to divert
them from constitutional action, would be, in our opinion, a
fatal misdirection of the public mind.

"IX. That this Confederation was established to obtain an Irish
Parliament by the combination of classes, and by the force of
opinion, exercised in constitutional operations; and that no
means of a contrary character can be recommended or promoted
through its organisation, while its present fundamental rules
remain unaltered.

"X. That while we deem it right thus emphatically to disavow the
principles propounded in the publications referred to in the
resolutions, we at the same time equally distinctly repudiate
all right to control _the private opinions_ of any member of our
body, provided they do not affect the legal or moral
responsibility of the Irish Confederation."

AMENDMENT

"That this Confederation does not feel called upon to promote
either a condemnation or approval of any doctrines promulgated
by any of its members, in letters, speeches, or otherwise;
because the seventh fundamental rule of the Confederation
expressly provides, 'That inasmuch as the essential bond of
union amongst us is the assertion of Ireland's right to an
independent legislature, no member of the Irish Confederation
shall be bound to the adoption of any principle involved in any
resolution, or promulgated by any speaker in the society, or
any journal advocating its policy, to which he has not given his
special consent, save only the foregoing fundamental principles
of the society.'"

But nothing could be more remote from the fact than the assumption that
those who supported the Rotunda resolutions were opposed to Mr. Mitchel
in principle. If that ground were not expressly repudiated, Mr. Mitchel
would have been sustained by a majority of two to one. Every speaker who
exercised any influence on the meeting, took occasion emphatically to
disclaim it. They did not deprecate the right or the duty of taking up
arms against the English Government; but they said: While we approve of
the end in view, we condemn the means, and precisely because we think
them the most surely calculated of any that could be devised, to
frustrate the object. This was the distinct ground, specifically,
clearly and unmistakably stated, on which the amendment of Mr. Mitchel
w