occupation by being turned into a camp.  The Linen Hall, the Rotundo, Holmes’ Hotel, Alborough House, Dycer’s Stables, in Stephen’s-green—­every institution, literary, artistic, and commercial, was confiscated to powder and pipe-clay.  The barracks were provisioned as if for a siege; cavalry horses were shod with plates of steel, to prevent their being injured and thrown into disorder by broken bottles, iron spikes, or the like; and the infantry were occupied in familiarizing themselves with the art of fusilading footpaths and thoroughfares.  Arms were taken from the people, and the houses of loyal families stocked with the implements of war.”

But the national leaders had calculated on the preparations of the government; they knew the full measure of its military power, and were not afraid to face it; but there was one blow which they had not foreseen, and which came on them with the shock of a thunderbolt.  On the very morning that O’Brien left for Wexford, the news reached Dublin that a warrant had been issued for his arrest, and that the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act was resolved on by the government.  “It appears strangely unaccountable to me,” was Meagher’s reflection in after years, “that whilst a consideration of our position, our project, and our resources was taking place; whilst the stormy future on which we were entering formed the subject of the most anxious conjecture, and the danger of it fell like wintry shadows around us; it seems strangely unaccountable to me that not an eye was turned to the facilities for the counteraction of our designs which the government had at their disposal; that not a word was uttered in anticipation of that bold astounding measure—­the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act—­the announcement of which broke upon us so suddenly.  The overlooking of it was a fatal inadvertance.  Owing to it we were routed without a struggle, and were led into captivity without glory.  We suffer not for a rebellion, but a blunder.”

The few of the Confederate leaders at large in Dublin at the time—­Duffy, Martin, Williams, and O’Doherty were in Newgate—­held a hurried council, and their plans were speedily formed.  They were to join Smith O’Brien at once, and commence the insurrection in Kilkenny.  On the night of Saturday, July 22nd, M’Gee left for Scotland to prepare the Irishmen of Glasgow for action; and Meagher, Dillon, Reilly, M’Manus, O’Donoghue, and Leyne started southwards to place themselves in communication with O’Brien.  A week later the last of the national papers was suppressed, and the Nation went down, sword in hand as a warrior might fall, with the words of defiance upon its lips, and a prayer for the good old cause floating upwards with its latest breath.