lic road direct towards Kenmare; but when we were
clear of the police-barrack, we had to travel several miles of mountain
to gain the intended spot. Our feet were all cut and bleeding, and we
lay down on a rock in our wet clothes, where we slept soundly, and I
suppose sweetly, until near sunset. When we awoke we were obliged, from
the lateness of the hour, to abandon our project.

During our stay near Killarney, we fondly indulged the last dream for
our country. In the remote regions of the counties of Cork and Kerry,
the people seemed possessed of no political information. They had a
vague notion that an effort was made to free the country from foreign
thrall, and that the patriots and their cause were lost through the
Catholic priests. It was easy to perceive, by the bitterness with which
they cursed, that they--although never reached by a speech of Mr.
O'Connell's, or an article or song of the _Nation's_--had cherished in
their hearts the same imperishable purpose and hope of overturning the
dominion of the stranger. We calculated on collecting between fifty and
one hundred of the hardiest and most desperate mountaineers, whom we
could easily place in ambush near the lakes, to seize on Lord John
Russell, who was at the time announced as a visitor to Killarney. Once
in our possession, we could have him conveyed to some inaccessible
fastness where we could dictate terms to him concerning our imprisoned
comrades. We had scarcely a doubt of putting our plan into execution,
and our sojourn near Killarney was prolonged for the purpose of becoming
more familiar with the pathways whereby to escape to the mountains with
our prisoner. How success in that enterprise might have suggested or
shaped a further course of aggression, it is now bootless to conjecture.
The project was marred by the Premier's abandonment of his intention.

Having appointed to meet a person this evening, near Kenmare, who was to
bring us the latest papers and otherwise inform us of his lordship's
movements, we proceeded in that direction, determined to return to
Killarney next day to prosecute our examination of the locality. But the
current news informed us that Lord John Russell had left for Scotland.

We remained several days in the neighbourhood of Kenmare, where we had
daily interviews with the friend to whom I have already alluded. He
spent all his time in endeavouring to devise some means of escape, and
intermediately provided resting-places for