He has always been a practical patriot, always ready to work for Ireland by every honourable means that came to his hand, whether the means were those of moral or physical force.  Consequently, he was an active worker in the ranks of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood from the early sixties.  He was one of the founders of the Amnesty Movement for the release of the political prisoners of ’65 and ’67.

When the Home Rule movement was started in Ireland he entered into it heartily, and was elected a member of the Council.  He enjoyed the confidence of Butt, John Martin, Justin McCarthy, and all the other leaders of the movement, besides being trusted by Nationalists of all shades of opinion.  Like most of us, without abating in the least his love and esteem for Isaac Butt, he soon recognised the coming leader in Charles Stewart Parnell, who used to refer to him in private conversation as his “political godfather” on account of the prominent part he had played in securing his first election to Parliament for the County Meath, in succession to John Martin.

During the early part of the Land League agitation he was three times nominated, for King’s County, Meath, and Tipperary, for Parliament, but he refused election, on the ground of being an advanced Nationalist.  I have more than once talked this matter over with Pat Egan, and, as I may say in everything else, we were in complete accord; we neither of us could bring ourselves to swear allegiance to what we considered a foreign power.  At the same time, as practical patriots, we helped every movement, inside the constitution as well as outside of it, calculated to benefit Ireland.

When the Land League movement was started in 1879, Egan became at once one of the most prominent figures in it, and, besides acting as Trustee along with Joseph Biggar and William H. O’Sullivan, he was Honorary Treasurer.

In the famous trial of the Land League Executive, in 1880-1881, he and Mr. Parnell and eleven others were prosecuted, the jury being ten to two for acquittal.

In February, 1881, when coercion was so rampant in Ireland, he left his business in the sole charge of his partner, James Rourke, and went to Paris, by desire of Parnell, Dillon and the other leaders, to keep the League Funds out of the hands of the enemy.  While he was there I was brought into close relations with him in my endeavours, as I have already described in this narrative, to carry out the honourable part allotted to me by our leaders of keeping “United Ireland” in circulation in every corner of the land, notwithstanding the watchfulness of the entire British garrison.

In October, 1882, a National Convention passed a unanimous vote, thanking him for his distinguished services and sacrifices as Treasurer of the League, he having given gratuitously to the Cause three entire years of his life, something like a million and a quarter of dollars having passed through his hands during that time.  These and many other circumstances that came to my knowledge abundantly prove that no man has more deserved the confidence and gratitude of the Irish race.