one week : In the Daily News of October 3rd, 1847, it is stated that in the
London market " the receipts of oats chiefly consist of the new Irish crop."
In the Examiner of October 4th, you may read that there was in one day
an arrival in London of 11,050 quarters of Irish oats. By the Drogheda
Argus we find that in one week, ending Oct. 3rd, there were shipped from
Drogheda 1,200 cows, 3,500 sheep and swine, 2,000 quarters of grain,
21 1 tons of meal and flour, 130 boxes of eggs, besides butter, lard, etc.
Waterford, in the same week (Evening Post, Oct. 3rd), sent off 250 tons oi
hour, 1,100 sheep and pigs, 308 head of cattle, 5,400 barrels of wheat and
oats, 7,700 firkins of butter, 2,000 flitches of bacon. From Newry, within
five days, in the end of September, there sailed eleven ships for England,
laden with grain, exclusive of two large steamers, which sail four times a
week, laden with cattle, eggs, butter, etc.
But Drogheda, Waterford, and Newry are but three of eleven seaports,
(Deny, Coleraine, Belfast, Newry, Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, Wexford,
Waterford, Cork, Limerick), from each of which, at least two large steamers
(from some of them five steamers), went twice in each week to England,
laden with corn and cattle. And this without counting the minor ports,
and the hundreds of sailing vessels all laden with corn and cattle. In
short, during the four " famine years," Ireland exported four quarters
of grain for every quarter she imported, besides cattle ; and of the
grain imported, the greater part had been exported before, and came
back laden with two freights and speculators' profits to the helpless
consumers.
INTRODUCTORY xli
Rome ; a disposition which proves Jiow miserably broken and
debilitated was that once potent nature.
Politics, by this time, was a chaos in Ireland. " Conciliatijn
Hall " was sending forth weekly an abject howl for food ! foo.l .'
The " Irish Confederation " (of which the present writer was u
member) had no much clearer view through the gloom ; though
it had more energy and honesty. Two or three vain efforts
were made by its leaders to put a good man into the representa-
tion (Meagher at Waterford), or to keep a bad man out (Mona-
han at Galway) both efforts in vain. The representation and
the franchise were too cunningly calculated for British interests.
Every week was deepening the desolation and despair through-
out the country ; until at last the French Revolution of February',
'48, burst upon Europe. Ireland, it is true, did not then possess
the physical resources or the high spirit which had " threatened
the integrity of the Empire " in '43 ; but even as she wai>,
depopulated, starved, cowed and corrupted, it seemed better
that she should attempt resistance, however heavy the odds
against success, than lie prostrate and moaning as she was.
Better that men should perish by the bayonets of the enemy
than by their laws.
Clubs were formed expressly for arming ; rifles were eagerly
purchased ; and the blacksmiths' forges poured forth pike-
heads. Sedition, treason, were openly preached and enforced ;
and the United Irishman was established specifically as an
Organ of Revolution. The Viceroy, Lord Clarendon, became
alarmed : he concentrated eight thousand troops in Dublin ;
he covered the land with detectives ; and informers were the
chief frequenters of the Castle. Walls were covered with
placards (printed by Thorn, the Government Printer), warning
peaceable citizens that " Communists " intended to rob their
houses, and murder their families ; detectives went to unsus-
pecting blacksmiths and mysteriously ordered pikes for the
" revolution " then brought the pikes to the Castle ; and
thereupon Lord Clarendon had additional reasons to call for
more regiments from England, to mount cannon upon the
Bank ; to garrison the College ; to parade his artillery through
the streets. But this was not enough : his Lordship wanted
an organ at the press ; for it happened that, about that time,
all the decent journals of the country were pouring contempt
upon him and his government, except the Dublin Evening Post,
which was bribed with public money. It was necessary to
secure another organ. The cause of " Law and Order " the
interests of civilisation the wise designs of a British Providence
required more support. There was then in Dublin a paper of
the most infamous character ; a paper that subsisted upon
hush-money (the only one of the sort ever printed in Ireland) ;
xlii INTRODUCTORY
a paper that was never quoted, whose name was never named
by any Journal in the city. Its editor, an illiterate being of the
name of Birch, had been prosecuted more than once, convicted
at least once, and imprisoned six months, for procuring money
from timid citizens by threats of publishing disgusting stories
of their private life. To this man my Lord Clarendon applied,
that he might aid him with his counsel and with his pen. With
him he consulted at the Viceregal Lodge upon the critical posture
of affairs, and upon the best mode of carrying out the designs of
Providence for Ireland. In order the more effectually to do
this pious work, it was needful that the avowed enemies of
that British Providence (of whom the present writer had the
honour to be one) should be covered with obloquy, and pointed
out to the execration of mankind as abominable ; but seeing
that reputable persons never saw the Viceroy's new organ, it
became necessary to circulate it gratuitously by means of public
money.*
Under the advice of this Birch, who told the Viceroy that it
was time for vigour, his Lordship called for a new Law of Treason.
Immediately (April iQth) a Bill was brought in by Sir George
Grey, and made into an Act by large majorities, providing that
any one who should levy war against the Queen, or endeavour to
deprive her of her title, or by open and advised speaking, printing,
or publishing, incite others to the same, should be " deemed
guilty of felony " and transported.
* All this might have remained a secret, but that Lord Clarendon's
friend, Birch, was obliged, three years afterwards, to sue his Lordship, and
again Sir William Somerville, the Irish Secretary, for the balance due to
him on account of Law and Order. The action against Lord Clarendon
was compromised by payment of ^2,000 ; that against Somerville was
resisted and tried. Thus it came out how his Excellency had sent for
Birch to his residence ; and, how Birch had been closeted with him often.
Plaintiff's counsel stated the nature of his services thus : " I may say this,
that he gave his Excellency the full benefit of his counsel, of his knowledge,
of his intimate acquaintance with parties, with newspapers, with factions,
and with public men. I am instructed that he even went the length of
stating when the Government might be vigorous, and when it would be
prudent to be cautious."
Lord Clarendon in his evidence, says it was in Feb., '48, that he entered
into communication with Birch : " I then offered him ^100, if I remember
rightly, for it did not make any great impression on me at the time. He
said that it would not be sufficient for his purpose, and I think it was then
extended to about 350. This was in the beginning of February, 1848, if
I remember correctly. Did your Excellency know that any further sums
of money were paid to Mr. Birch in London ? Yes. Is your Excellency
aware from what fund it came ? From a fund placed at the disposal of
Sir William Somerville at my request. Out of the public funds, was it ?
I could not say it came out of the public funds. I said it was a fund
placed at the disposal of Sir W. Somerville, at my request."
Secret service money, in short. Lord Clarendon's private secretary, a
Mr. Connellan, was usually the instructor of Birch. It is unfortunate that
all the letters have not come to light ; for on payment of the ^2,000 to
INTRODUCTORY xliii
This act was passed with a special view to crush the United
Irishman, and to destroy its Editor. If the offence had been
left a misdemeanour as theretofore, the " government " knew
that the United Irishman could not be put down, because there
would have been no forfeiture in case of conviction ; and they
were all well aware that competent men would not be wanting
to give a voice to treason, even though editor after editor should
be chained up.
In the meantime the case grew pressing. All the country was
fast becoming aroused ; and many thousands of pikes were in
the hands of the peasantry. The soldiers of several regiments,
being Irish, were well known to be very willing to fraternise
with the people, upon a first success and the police, in such an
event, would have been a green-coated Irish army upon the
moment.
Birch and Clarendon would not even wait to get their enemy
fairly into the new felony. They caused three to be arrested
in the meantime (O'Brien, Meagher, and the present writer),
on a charge of sedition ; but on bringing the two former to trial,
it was found that the juries (special juries in the Court of Queen's
Bench) had not been closely enough packed ; and the prose-
cutions failed. In my case, though there were two indictments,
one for a speech, and one for an article, and two juries had
actually been struck, " Government " felt that a failure would
be at least dangerous so the Viceroy suddenly caused my
settle Birch's claim, his Lordship took care, as he thought, to get up all
the papers. Birch prudently kept back a few, amongst which I find this
note :
"V. R. L. (Viceregal Lodge), March, 1848. Dear Sir The French
news ought to turn to account the triumph of the moderate party, the
defeat and certain ejection of Ledru Rollin, the Irish fraterniser, and the
vigorous proceedings of the provisional government in making arrests.
I presume t. at to-morrow's (Friday) mail will bring us an account of the
capture of Blanqui and Cabet, the great Communist leader, etc. The
moral of this might be well applied to Mitchel and Co."
For of course it was one main point in his lordship's policy to make
people believe that the enemies of English government were " Com-
munists," and that Communists were robbers. Birch was recommended
also by Lord Clarendon to Lord Palmerston ; and was duly paid by that
nobleman for supporting his policy. Here are two little notes which were
read on the Somerville trial : " Sir Viscount Palmerston desires me to
express to you his best thanks for your obliging letter of the pth inst.,
and your able articles in the World newspaper. I am, sir, your obedient
servant, SPENCER PONSONBY." June 15, 1851, Mr. Ponsonby says
" Viscount Palmerston desires to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
to-day's date, and to request you to call upon me at this office on Monday
or Tuesday, at a quarter before 5 o'clock."
Such was one of the agencies made use of by Divine Providence for
preserving British civilisation in Ireland. I never saw Lord Clarendon's
friend Birch ; but am informed that he earned much of his money by
weekly attacks upon me.
xliv INTRODUCTORY
arrest on a charge ot " treason-telony " under his new Act
and determined to, not try, out pretend to try me, at the next
Commission in Green Street at anyrate to clear Ireland of me
and so get rid of one obstacle at least to the fulfilment of British
policy.
Here, then, this narrative leaves the general affairs of the
country and shrinks to the dimensions of a single prosecution.
From the day that I entered my dungeon (the 23rd of May,
1848), I know but by hearsay how the British Government
fulfilled the designs and administered the dispensations of
Providence in Ireland how the Famine was successfully ex-
ploited ; how the Poor-rates doubled and trebled, and were
diligently laid out in useless works ; how the Orange Lodges were
supplied with arms from the Castle ; how the mere Celtic peas-
antry were carefully deprived of all weapons ; how the land-
lords were gradually broken and impoverished by the pressure
of rates, until the beneficent " Encumbered Estates Bill " had
to come in and solve their difficulties a great stroke of British
policy, whereby it was hoped (now that the tenantry were
cleared to the proper point) to clear out the landlords, too,
and replace them with English and Scottish purchasers. In
short, how the last conquest was consummated, let other pens
than mine describe.
The United Irishman was at that time admitted to be making
progress in stimulating the just disaffection of the people to the
point of insurrection. The first and most earnest efforts, there-
fore, of the enemy's Government were now to be exerted for its
destruction. And now came the momentous question of the
jury. The Ministr}^ of England happened to be a Whig Ministry ;
and one of the artifices by which the Whigs had gained their
reputation for " liberality " was hypocritically censuring the
Tories for packing juries that is, carefully selecting their own
friends apparently to try, but really to destroy a political enemy.
I provoked them to this prosecution with the idea that if they
did not pack, and were beaten on the trial (in a case of so open
and flagrant " treason "), the prestige and the real power of the
British rule in Ireland would be wounded seriously, perhaps
mortally but that if they broke through all Whig maxims, and
obtained their conviction by the usual villainous means of
excluding five-sixths of the people from serving on juries, the
atrocity would still more exasperate the furious disaffection,
and ripen the Revolution. In all this I under-estimated, on
the one hand, the vigour and zeal of the British Government in
carrying out the designs of Providence, and on the other, the
much-enduring patience and perseverance of the Irish Catholics.
The day of trial approached ; and it became well known in
Dublin, that Lord Clarendon was resolved, Whig or no Whig,
INTRODUCTORY xlv
to pack at least this one jury most jealously. The juries to
try O'Brien and Meagher had been selected, indeed, with consider-
able care ; yet on each of those juries there had been left at
least one friend of the national cause a piece ot official negli-
gence which ended in the defeat ot those prosecutions ; and it
was, therefore, clear that it must not be repeated. Just before
my pretended " trial," however, Ministers were taken to task
about the instructions which had been sent to Ireland for the
conduct of the State prosecutions ; and returns were moved
for. Lord John Russell replied, in a most virtuous speech,
that nothing could be further from the intention of the Govern-
ment than excluding Catholics as such, from the jury-box,
using " unfairness," or turning the administration of justice into
a matter of politics.* The report of that virtuous speech
arrived in Dublin on the very day when the Crown prosecutors
and Attorney General were packing the jury, to convict me, as
never jury was packed before excluding all Catholics, as such
excluding all Protestants who were not known to be my enemies
openly " using unfairness," and using the false pretence of
law and justice to crush a political enemy. There was not, oi
course, a single Catholic left upon this pretended jury ; nor a
single Protestant who was no well known to be for the Castle,
and against the People.
Two or three days after my pretended trial as I find in the
papers the same Lord John Russell, being questioned again
by Mr. Keogh on the exclusion of Catholics on all the three
trials, declared that in the case of Mr. O'Brien and Mr.
Meagher, jurors had not been set aside for political or religious
opinions ; but, said his Lordship, " / have no explanation to
* This is Lord John Russell's virtuous speech it was on the 23rd of
May :
" I certainly did not expect that there would arise any charge against
us of partiality on the ground of exclusion of Roman Catholics. I enter-
tain exactly the same opinions I held in 1844, that the exclusion of Roman
Catholics, as such, unless they were members of the Repeal Association,
or were distinguished by the violence of their conduct in those Associations
the exclusion of Roman Catholics, as such, is an extremely wrong and
unjustifiable proceeding. I therefore did not expect that a charge of this
nature would be made ; but, however, notwithstanding that, I did write
when I first received from my noble friend, the Lord Lieutenant, an intima-
tion that it was the determination of the Government to prosecute those
several persons for sedition I wrote to him immediately, to say that I
trusted there would not arise any charge of any kind of unfairness as to
the composition of the juries ; as for my own part, I would rather see thost
parties acquitted, than that there should be any such unfairness. (Cheers)
I repeat, that whatever example there may be given by others, of dis-
regarding the obligations of right, and makirg the part they have to per-
form in the administration of justice a matter of politics, and not of duty,
the Government will be the last persons to allow any example of that kind
to operate upon them "
xlvi INTRODUCTORY
offer with respect to what has taken place on the trial of
Mr. Mitchel."
In short, the cause of " civilisation " and of British Law and
Order, required that I should be removed to a great distance
from Ireland, and that my office and printing materials should
become the property of Her Majesty. Though the noble old
Robert Holmes, who advocated the prisoner's cause that day,
had had the tongue of men and of angels, he could have made
no impression there. A verdict of " Guilty," and a sentence of
fourteen years' transportation had been ordered by the Castle :
and it was done.
The Clubs of Dublin, as I was credibly informed, were vehem-
ently excited ; . and the great majority of them were of opinion
that if an insurrection were to be made at all, it should be
tried then and there that is, in Dublin streets, and on the day of
my removal. There is no reason why I should not avow that
I shared in that opinion, and refused to sign a paper that was
brought to me in Newgate, deprecating all attempt at rescue.
I believed that if the City of Dublin permitted any Irishman
to be put on board a convict-ship under such circumstances,
the British Government could have little to fear from their
resentment or their patriotism afterwards. Others of my
Confederate comrades differed from me ; restrained the Clubs ;
promised action in the harvest fa promise which they after-
wards fulfilled to the best of their ability) ; bade me farewell
mournfully enough ; and in due course of time, some of them
followed me on my circumnavigation of the globe.
Their decision was wrong ; and, as I firmly believe, fatal.
But that their motives were pure, and their courage unquestion-
able, I am bound to admit.
So much I have thought fit to narrate by way of Introduction
to the diary which I kept in my cell. The general history or a
nation may fitly preface the personal memoranda of a solitary
captive ; for it was strictly and logically a consequence of the
dreary story here epitomised, that I came to be a prisoner, and
to sit writing and musing so many months in a lonely cell.
" The history of Ireland," said Meagher to his unjust judges at
Clonmel, " explains my crime and justifies it." No man proudly
mounts the scaffold, or coolly faces a felon's death, or walks with
his head high and defiance on his tongue into the cell of a convict-
hulk, for nothing. No man, let him be as " young " and as
" vain " as you will, can do this in the wantonness of youth or
the intoxication of vanity.
My preface, then, will explain, at least to some readers, what
was that motive, spirit and passion which impelled a few Irish-
men to brave such risks, and incur so dreadful penalties for the
sake of but one chance of reusing their oppressed and degraded
INTRODUCTORY xlvii
countrymen to an effort of manful resistance against their
cruel and cunning enemy.
It will further help to explain the contumacy and inveterately
rebellious spirit evident enough in the pages of the " Journal " ;
and, moreover, will suggest some of those considerations which
lead the present writer to differ from the vast majority of man-
kind, and to assert that his native country has not been, even
this time, finally subdued ; that this earth was not created to
be civilised, ameliorated and devoured by the Anglo-Saxons ;
that Defeat is not necessarily Wrong ; that the British Provi-
dence is not Divine ; and that his dispensations are not to be
submitted to as the inscrutable decrees of God,
JAIL JOURNAL
CHAPTER I
May 27, 1848. On this day, about four o'clock in the after
noon, I, John Mitchel, was kidnapped, and carried off from
Dublin, in chains, as a convicted " Felon."
1 had been in Newgate prison for a fortnight. An apparent
trial had been enacted before twelve of the castle jurors in
ordinary much legal palaver, and a " conviction" (as if there
were law, order, government, or justice in Ireland). Sentence had
been pronounced, with much gravity, by that ancient Purple
Brunswicker, Barori Lefroy fourteen years' transportation ; and
I had returned to my cell and taken leave of my wife and two
poor boys. A few minutes after they had left me a gaoler came
in with a suit of coarse grey clothes in his hand. " You are to
put on these," said he, " directly." 1 put them on directly. A
voice then shouted from the foot of the stairs, " Let him be re-
moved in his own clothes " ; so I was ordered to change again,
which I did. I asked to what place I was to be removed. ' ' Can' t
tell," said the man. " Make haste." There was a travelling bag
of mine in the cell, containing a change of clothes ; and I asked
whether I might take it with me. " No ; make haste." " I am
ready, then " ; and I followed him down the stairs.
When we came into the small paved court, some constables and
gaolers were standing there. One of them had in his hand a pair
of iron fetters ; and they all appeared in a hurry, as if they had
some very critical neck-or-nothing business in hand ; but they
might as well have taken their time and done the business with
their usual unconcerned and sullen dignity of demeanour.
I was ordered to put my foot upon a stone seat that was by
the wall ; and a constable fastened one of the bolts upon my ankle
2 JAIL JOURNAL
But the other people hurried him so much that he said quickly,
" Here, take the other in your hand, and come along." I took it,
and held up the chain which connected the two, to keep it from
dragging along the pavement, as I followed through the hall of
the prison (where a good many persons had gathered to see the
vindication of the " law ") and so on to the outer door. I stood
on the steps for one moment, and gazed round : the black police-
omnibus a strong force of the city constabulary occupying the
street on either side ; outside of them dark crowds of people,
standing in perfect silence ; parties of cavalry drawn up at the
openings of the streets hard by. I walked down the steps ; and
amidst all that multitude the clanking of my chain was the
loudest sound. The moment I stepped into the carriage the door
was dashed to with a bang. Someone shouted, " To the North
Wall ! " and instantly the horses set forward at a gallop. The
dragoons, with drawn sabres, closed both in front and rear and on
both sides ; and in this style we dashed along, but not by the
shortest, or the usual way to the North Wall, as I could see through
a slit in the panel. The carriage was full of police-constables.
Two of them, in plain clothes, seemed to have special charge of
me, as they sat close by me, on right and left, one of them holding
a pistol with a cap on the nipple. After a long and furious drive
along the North Circular road, I could perceive that we were
coming near the river. The machine suddenly stopped, and I
was ushered to the quay-wall between two ranks of carbineers,
with naked swords. A Government steamer, the Shearwater, lay
in the river, with steam up, and a large man-of-war's boat, filled
with men armed to the teeth, was alongside the wall. I de-
scended the ladder with some difficulty, owing to the chain, took
my seat beside a naval officer, who sat in the stern, and a dozen
pulls brought us to the steamer's side. A good many people who
stood on the quay and in two or three vessels close by, looked
on in silence. One man bade God bless me ; a police-inspector
roared out to him that he had better make no disturbance.
As soon as we came on board, the naval officer who had brought
me off, a short, dark man of five-and-forty or thereabouts, con-