Nor
did he prove altogether unworthy of the confidence reposed in him. It
is now pretty well known that the successful plot for the liberation
of James Stephens was executed under the personal supervision of
Colonel Kelly, and that he was one of the group of friends who grasped
the hand of the Head Centre within the gates of Eichmond Prison on
that night in November, '65, when the doors of his dungeon were thrown
open. Kelly fled with Stephens to Paris, and thence to America,
where he remained attached to the section of the Brotherhood which
recognised the authority and obeyed the mandates of the "C.O.I.R." But
the time came when even Colonel Kelly and his party discovered that
Stephens was unworthy of their confidence. The chief whom they had so
long trusted, and whose oath to fight on Irish soil before January,
'67, they had seen so unblushingly violated, was deposed by the
last section of his adherents, and Colonel Kelly was elected
"Deputy Central Organiser of the Irish Republic," on the distinct
understanding that he was to follow out the policy which Stephens had
shrunk from pursuing. Kelly accepted the post, and devoted himself
earnestly to the work. In America he met with comparatively little
co-operation; the bulk of the Irish Nationalists in that country had
long ranged themselves under the leadership of Colonel W.
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