Men and women, young and
old, all seemed to be possessed of but the one idea--to secure as
much of the blood-money as possible, and to do their best to bring the
hated Irish to the gallows. Of course, an investigation, under these
circumstances, could have but one ending, and no one was surprised
to learn, at its conclusion, that the whole of the resolute body
of stern-faced men, who, manacled and suffering, confronted their
malignant accusers, had been committed to stand their trial in hot
haste, for the crime of "wilful murder."
Of the men thus dealt with there are four with whose fate this
narrative is closely connected, and whose names are destined to be
long remembered in Ireland. They have won for themselves, by their
courage, constancy, and patriotism, a fame that will never die; and
through all future time they will rank beside the dauntless spirits
that in days of darkness and disaster perished for the sacred cause
of Ireland. Great men, learned men, prominent men they were not--they
were poor, they were humble, they were unknown; they had no claim to
the reputation of the warrior, the scholar, or the statesman; but they
laboured, as they believed, for the redemption of their country from
bondage; they risked their lives in a chivalrous attempt to rescue
from captivity two men whom they regarded as innocent patriots, and
when the forfeit was claimed, they bore themselves with the unwavering
courage and single-heartedness of Christian heroes.
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