The propagator of this malignity knows it to be false.  He knows also that it serves the purpose of those who would charge the country’s truest and bravest with vilest treachery.

I shall pursue the theme no further.  The truth is, Mr. O’Brien remained among a people who were sorely stricken by terror.  Their friends were dead or scattered; and rumour, with a thousand tongues, multiplied the most awful horrors which were said to be approaching them.  Although they received and sheltered Mr. O’Brien, he evidently saw that their generosity cost them dearly, and that they were in the utmost alarm.  His own privations he could endure; but not the fear and suffering his presence caused to others.  This, and this only, determined him in the first instance.  He might also have hoped that if he could reach the neighbourhood of his own home, he would be defended with desperate fidelity.  He was aware that Mr. Richard O’Gorman was in that district, and he had been informed that he was followed by thousands.  That he did not seek to reach the county Limerick by some other means of conveyance—­by a car, on foot, or on horseback—­may be a mistake of judgment; but none would be free from peril:  and had he escaped detection at Thurles, there would not be the least danger, until he reached Cahermoyle, as the rest of the journey would be entirely by night.  His sagacity may be questioned, perhaps, but it is extreme villainy to question his purpose.  He took that course only and solely because he thought it the safest; and he had no more intention of surrendering than I had when I crossed by the packet to Boulogne.

Mr. Meagher and Mr. O’Donohoe were arrested under circumstances over which they had still less control.  They were utterly unacquainted with the country, and did not know, if they left the high road, but the first house they might approach would be a police barrack.  They had made every attempt desperation could suggest to rouse the people, but in vain.  They were opposed by some, shunned by some, and from some they received false counsel.  They had exhausted the welcome of all who were inclined to receive them, and they knew not one step of their way.  Previously, too, Mr. Meagher had peremptorily refused to avail himself of a mode of escape provided for him and he equally peremptorily refused to listen to any terms from Government, which did not include all his comrades.  His object, on the night he was arrested, was to make another trial at Cashel, which he designed to approach by a circuitous route.

The 6th day of August was the date of Mr. O’Brien’s arrest; the 13th of August that of Messrs. Meagher and O’Donohoe, and the 7th of September that of Mr. MacManus.  Mr. O’Brien was taken at the Thurles railway station; Messrs. Meagher and O’Donohoe, near Rathgannon, on the road between Clonoulty and Holycross, about five miles from Thurles, and Mr. MacManus on board the ship N.D.  Chase, in the bay of Cove, on the 7th of September.