mory of some old grudge
or malice, which they hoped now to have an opportunity of requiting.
Many were there, who, like the weak-minded in all popular commotions,
float with the strong tide, whichever way it may run. They knew not the
objects aimed at; they were ignorant of the intentions of their leaders;
but would not be under the stain of cowardice among their companions,
nor shrink from any cause where there was danger, if only for that very
reason. Thus was the mass made up, of men differing in various ways; but
all held together by the common tie of a Church and a Country. It might
be supposed that the leaders in such a movement would be those who,
having suffered some grievous wrong, were reckless enough to adventure
on any course that promised vengeance;--very far from this. The
principal promoters of the insurrection were of the class of
farmers--men well to do, and reputed, in many cases wealthy. The
instruments by which they worked were indeed of the very poorer
class--the cottier, whose want and misery had eat into his nature, and
who had as little room for fear as for hope in his chilled heart. Some
injury sustained by one of these, some piece of justice denied him; his
ejection from his tenement; a chance word, perhaps, spoken to him in
anger by his landlord or the agent, were the springs which moved a man
like this, and brought him into confederacy with those who promised him
a speedy repayment of his wrongs, and flattered him into the belief
that his individual case had all the weight and importance of a national
question. Many insurrectionary movements have grown into the magnitude
of systematic rebellion from the mere assumption on the part of others,
that they were prearranged and predetermined. The self-importance
suggested by a bold opposition to the law, is a strong agent in arming
men against its terrors. The mock martyrdom of Ireland is in this way,
perhaps, her greatest and least curable evil.

Owen was, of all others, the man they most wished for amongst them.
Independent of his personal courage and daring, he was regarded as one
fruitful in expedients, and never deterred by difficulties. This mingled
character of cool determination and headlong impulse, made him exactly
suited to become a leader; and many a plot was thought of, to draw
him into their snares, when the circumstances of his fortune thus
anticipated their intentions.

It would not forward the object of my little tale to dwell upo