success of the movement. It will be remembered that
during these years the great Civil War in America was going on, in which
many thousands of our fellow-countrymen, were engaged on both sides,
mostly, however, for the North. A great number of these had entered into
this service chiefly with the object of acquiring the military training
intended to be used in fighting on Irish soil for their country's
freedom. Such an opportunity seemed likely to arise, for during this
time the "Alabama Claims" and other matters brought America and England
to the verge of war. Had such a conflict arisen, one result of it, as
Mr. Gladstone and other British statesmen could not but have foreseen,
would probably be the severance of the connexion, once for all, between
Ireland and Great Britain.

John Ryan, knowing me so well, felt tolerably assured that no argument
from him would be required to induce me to join the I.R.B.;
consequently, one of the first things he did was, at my request, to
administer to me the oath of allegiance to the Irish Republic, as the
saying went, "now virtually established."

After this we had a long _seanchus_, I telling him of all that had
happened among our friends during his frequent absences from Liverpool,
and he describing to me many of the adventures of himself and other
prominent men in the movement, which were to me both interesting and
exciting. Among these were his assistance in the escape of James
Stephens, of which I will speak later.

Before we parted, he arranged with me for my acting in Liverpool as a
medium of communication in the organisation. In this way I was, for
several years, brought into constant contact with the leaders, nearly
all of whom I met from time to time.

I think the most capable Irishmen I ever met were the various members of
the Breslin family, with several of whom I was intimately acquainted.
Bravest among the brave, as they proved themselves at many a critical
moment, there were none more prudent. John Breslin was hospital steward
in Richmond Prison when James Stephens, the Fenian chief, was imprisoned
there awaiting his trial.

John Devoy was the man who successfully carried through, under the
direction of Colonel Kelly, the outside arrangements in connection with
the escape of the C.O.I.R. (Chief Organiser of the Irish Republic), as
he was called, in the early morning of the 24th of November, 1865.

But John Breslin it was who, with the assistance of Daniel Byrne, ni