The Life Story of an Old Rebel

ons connected with Fenianism, I must re-introd

ommencement of the constitutional Home Rule agitation, I think it well, as it w

t as part of my recollectio

ly opened the door of James Stephens's cell, and, with the aid of Byrne, another warder, helped t

en more arduous undertaking was projected, John Breslin shou

Freemantle, in Western Australia, which was ultim

ght, and converted into a whaler, but was intended to be used in carrying off the convicts. She was ready for sea in March, 1875. It was more than a year before she took the prisoners away from Australia, and a further four months before she reached New York with the rescued

of carrying off the prisoners. Happily he was available for the work, and entered into it heartily. He sent me the narrative

ith the prisoners, so as to be in readiness for the arrival of the Catalpa. In the meantime two more men joined the expedition-John King, who brought a supply of money from N

e at work outside the prison walls, or at other employment equally accessible, when they were taken away in two traps from Freemantle, about nine o'clock in the morning of the 17th of April, 1876. By the

graphed for by the authorities, but it was found that the wires had been cut the p

she returned to Freemantle to coal, leaving the police boat to watch the Catalpa, and to look out for the whale boat containing the rescued men, which had not yet appeared, although, as it turned out, not far off at the time. The boat had been vainly searching for the Catalpa all night, and had only now discovered her. The party in the boat had actually seen the Georgette overhauling the Catalpa, and had yet themselves remained undiscovered.

to me, 'What shall I do now, Mr. Collins (this was the name Breslin went by); what shall I do?' I replied, 'H

he pensioners and police, a twelve-pounder field-piece. At 11 o'clock the same night (Tuesday) she steamed out once more. At daylight on the following morning she came up with the Catalpa again, an

he American flag; you are on the high seas; and if

the whaler. But the pursuers had a wholesome fear of coming into conflict with a vessel sailing under the St

ions-for there were two-for the rescue of the military Fe

h, it will, perhaps, be remembered I published at

n rescuers. He told the story at a very select gathering in Liverpool, at which I was present. On the 13th of January, he said, two men, of whom he was one, left thi

latter of whom worked as a coach-builder at Perth. Walsh and his friend offered their co-operation to the men from America in any capacity, and arrangemen

not available to deal with the Catalpa; for when the telegraphic communicati

e, they were to fight and fly with their friends. If there was no fight, they were to remain behind. If the Catalpa f

le-boat to the Catalpa, which was lying off the coast awaiting them, he and his friend started with them, and remained behind to st

some part of them, for John Walsh's expedition passed thro

us that the Catalpa, having on board the rescued men and their rescuers, had safely reached New York. The news was received with the wildest enthusiasm. The terrible str

he finally went to America, came back to me in a very curious manner. A gentleman came into my place of business in Liverpool one day, and presented to me, as an introduction, a letter I had sent to my friend about a month previously. I was s

nothing more suspicious was reported than that he had been see

messenger returned, and when he heard this, excl

his mind one or two of the worst cases of the anti-Fenian inform

d a letter from Michael Breslin, saying that his friend, whom I had treated with such suspicion and such scant hospitality,

alive the tradition and the spirit of freedom among Irishmen, and handed them on to the next generation. In so far as the men who took part in it were unselfish, were whole-souled lovers of their country, an

, and the devotion of its adherents were such that they undoubtedly awa

s moved to the belief that surely there must be something wrong with a system which provoked such a movement, something not wholly bad about a cause for which men went with calm, proud confidence to the felon's cell

ions, whose former connection with Fenianism is unsuspected, who, at the time, if the call had been

men were capable then of high enterprises

e risks of conspiracy-how little it troubled me that there were dozens of men who bore m