O’Brien was in bed, when Meagher and Dillon arrived at Balinkeele where he was stopping.  The news of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and of the plans formed by the Confederates were speedily communicated to him.  O’Brien manifested no surprise at the intelligence.  He quietly remarked that the time for action had arrived; and that every Irishman was now justified in taking up arms against the government; dressed himself, and set out without losing an hour to inaugurate his hazardous enterprise at Enniscorthy.  As the train drove along, the three friends occupied themselves with the important question where should they begin the outbreak.  Wexford was mentioned, but the number of Confederates enrolled there were few, and the people were totally unprepared for a sudden appeal to arms; New Ross and Waterford were ruled against, because of the effectual assistance the gunboats stationed in the river could render the garrison of those towns.  Against Kilkenny none of those objections applied; and the more they discussed the subject the more convinced did they become that the most fitting cradle for the infant genius of Irish liberty was the ancient “city of the Confederates.”  “Perfectly safe from all war steamers, gunboats, and floating batteries; standing on the frontiers of the three best fighting counties in Ireland—­Waterford, Wexford, and Tipperary—­the peasantry of which could find no difficulty in pouring to its relief; possessing from three to five thousand Confederates, most of whom were understood to be armed; the most of the streets being narrow, and presenting on this account the greatest facilities for the erection of barricades; the barracks lying outside the town, and the line of communication between the powerful portions of the latter and the former being intercepted by the old bridge over the Nore, which might be easily defended, or, at the most, very speedily demolished; no place,” says Meagher, “appeared to us to be better adapted for the first scene of the revolution.”

Towards Kilkenny they therefore took their way, haranguing the people in soul-stirring addresses as they proceeded.  At Enniscorthy and at Graigue-na-mana their appeals were responded to with fervent enthusiasm; they called on the people to form themselves into organized bodies, and prepare to co-operate with the insurgents who were shortly to unfurl their banner beneath the shadow of St. Canice’s; and the crowds who hung on their words vowed their determination to do so.  But in Kilkenny, as in every town they visited, the patriot leaders found the greatest disinclination to take the initiative in the holy war.  There as elsewhere the people felt no unwillingness to fight; but they knew they were ill prepared for such an emergency, and fancied the first blow might be struck more effectively elsewhere.  “Who will draw the first blood?” asked Finton Lalor in the last number of the Felon; and the question was a pertinent one; there was a