The Treson-Felony Act - The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps)
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by the Parliament of Great Britain—if that be treason, I avow the treason ('oh!' and great excitement). Nay, more, I say it shall be the study of my life to overthrow the dominion of this Parliament over Ireland—(hear, hear, and cries of 'oh!'). . . It has been stated I went to France for the purpose of enlisting French aid—(hear, hear)—that is to say, armed aid and succour for my countrymen in the struggle in which they are engaged. This is a misapprehension—(oh! oh! oh!) If I had gone to France asking for aid of an armed kind, believe me I should have come back accompanied by a tolerably large legion of troops—(some laughter, and oh! oh!') You may believe what I say. I only wish you had been in France—(a laugh). The language I have held in Ireland and in France to my countrymen has been this—that Irish freedom must be won by Irish courage and Irish firmness. I had no desire to impose upon my country one description of servitude in the place of another—(hear, hear)—for I believe that the liberty of Ireland, and its redemption from its present position, were they won by foreign bayonets, could only be retained by foreign bayonets; and it is not my desire or intention to place my country under foreign dominion......I trust that the Repealers of Ireland will accept that aid which the Chartists are universally prepared to give them. Now, I avow the fact,—I know not whether it be illegal or not,—that I have been instrumental in asking my countrymen to arm (marks of surprise and sensation). I conceive that under the present circumstances of all nations, it is the duty of every man to obtain the possession and learn the use of arms. There is not a nation, I believe, in Europe which does not make it part of its duty to instruct its citizens in the use of arms; and I conceive that it is the peculiar duty of the Irish people to obtain the possession of arms at a time when you tell them you are prepared to crush their expression of opinion, not by argument, but by brute force (loud cries of 'oh! oh!' and expressions of disapprobation)."
The Bill was passed into "Law," of course, by immense majorities; and thereafter an Irish Repealer of the Union was to be a felon." O'Brien returned to Dublin. The deputies were received by a multitudinous and enthusiastic meeting in the Dublin Music Hall; and Meagher presented to the citizens of Dublin, with glowing words, a magnificent flag, the Irish Tri-colour, of Green, White, and Orange, surmounted by a pikehead. Of all the Confederates, Meagher was the sole orator, in the highest sense of that term; and those who have only heard him, in America, where his addresses were but rhetorical exercitations, and where the central fire of a great passion was wanting to lift him into a sublime self-abandonment, can ill conceive the effect of his speeches there, poured forth, bright and burning, upon ten thousand hearts whose fuel was so prompt to kindle.
Events hurried on; every day bringing in more and more de- ...continue reading »
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