At length
the Fenian organization in Ireland began to pass through the same
changes that had given it new leaders and fresh vitality in America.
The members of the organization at home began to long for union
with the Irish Nationalists who formed the branch of the confederacy
regenerated under Colonel Roberts; and Kelly, who, for various
reasons, was unwilling to accept the new _regime_, saw his adherents
dwindle away, until at length he found himself all but discarded by
the Fenian circles in Dublin. Then he crossed over to Manchester,
where he arrived but a few weeks previous to the date of his
accidental arrest in Oak-street.
The arrest of Colonel Kelly and his aide-de-camp, as the English
papers soon learned to describe Deasey, was hailed by the government
with the deepest satisfaction. For years they had seen their hosts of
spies, detectives, and informers foiled and outwitted by this daring
conspirator, whose position in the Fenian ranks they perfectly
understood; they had seen their traps evaded, their bribes spurned,
and their plans defeated at every turn; they knew, too, that Kelly's
success in escaping capture was filling his associates with pride and
exultation; and now at last they found the man whose apprehension they
so anxiously desired a captive in their grasp.
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