l character; and although
huxtering politicians have since endeavoured to set up the honour of the
island for sale, they have only been able to dispose of their own
characters. The people have not debased themselves. In the lying homage
to the Queen of England they took no part. They have preserved through
the severest trials the old immortal yearning of their race, and the
arms they had provided themselves with in '48 they have guarded
religiously, in the hope of using them on some day of brighter auspices
and loftier destiny.

[Illustration: John Savage (1848)]

APPENDICES

I

THOMAS D'ARCY M'GEE'S NARRATIVE OF 1848

Early on Saturday the 22nd of July I left my pleasant home in
Cullenswood, near Dublin, to which I was never to return. On reaching
the city I found a telegraphic despatch from London had been just
published, announcing the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and that
the "extraordinary powers" to be conferred on the Lord Lieutenant would
be forwarded to Dublin on the following Monday. It was contended on all
hands that the hour for action or submission or flight for the
Confederates was now come. Of "The Council of Five,"[16] there were then
in Dublin but three members. One is now in Van Diemen's Land; the others
were Mr. Dillon and myself. We had a hasty meeting in the old Council
Rooms of the Irish Confederation. They decided to proceed that evening
to Enniscorthy to advise with Smith O'Brien, and, as I understood, to
proceed with him to the district between the Suir and the Shannon, and
to operate from that basis according to circumstances and their own best
judgment.

A gentleman had arrived in Dublin that morning with a proposition which
decided my movements and led me into some singular situations.

He was a professional man, by birth an Irishman who had resided a long
time in Scotland. He had one only son, two rifles, and L120 in money,
which he brought as his offering to the country. He informed us that
several hundred Irishmen in Scotland had been all the year preparing for
this event, that they had a good share of arms and ammunition, and that
if any plan could be devised to bring them into Ireland, they could be
relied on for courage and endurance. I do not mention this gentleman's
name, because I do not know but he is still under the laws of England.

We perceived, on consultation, that if it were possible to land 400 or
500 staunch men in the north-west--say, at Sligo or K