ny, which included, if I remember rightly, Colonel Kelly,
Colonel Rickard Burke, Captains Condon, Murphy, Deasy and O'Brien, all
American officers who had crossed the Atlantic for the Rising, and still
remained, hoping for another opportunity. There were about half a dozen
of the Liverpool men there. Of these I can remember a tall, fine-looking
young man, a schoolmaster from the North of Ireland, whom I then met for
the first time, my old school-fellow, John Ryan, and John Meagher, a
tailor, possessing the amount of eloquence you generally find in Irish
members of the craft. There was also present, if I remember rightly, Tom
Gates, of Newcastle.

Although the Rising had collapsed almost as soon as it commenced, the
determination to fight on Irish soil had by no means been given up by
the leaders in America. That was why the American officers on this side
remained at their posts, ready for active service at a moment's notice.
At the meeting we learned that there was at that moment an "Expedition,"
as it was termed, on the sea to co-operate with and bring arms for
another Rising in Ireland, should such be found practicable. It was
notorious that, notwithstanding all the efforts of active agents,
comparatively few arms had been got into Ireland. Indeed, my friend John
Ryan, who was in a position to know, estimated that there were not more
than a couple of thousands of rifles in Ireland at the time of the
Rising.

Let us see what became of the Expedition. This was, of course, what has
since become a matter of history--the secret despatch from New York of
the brigantine "Erin's Hope," having on board several Irish-American
officers, 5,000 stand of arms, three pieces of field artillery, and
200,000 cartridges. About the middle of May the vessel arrived in Irish
waters, agents going aboard at various points off the coast, including
Sligo Bay, which she reached on the 20th of May, 1867. By that time it
was found that the chances of another Rising were but slender, and the
"Erin's Hope" returned to America with her cargo, entirely unmolested
by the British cruisers, which were plentiful enough around the Irish
coast.

The expedition certainly proved that sufficient weapons to commence an
insurrection with could be thrown into Ireland, providing there was the
necessary co-operation at the time and places required.

I have often thought since of what became of those present in Owen
McGrady's beer house the night we met there t