They were given the death of rebels in arms, to which no dishonour attaches.

But a fatal mistake was made in suppressing all report of the proceedings of the court-martial on them, and this mistake was to be repeated indefinitely.

Ireland was made to feel that this whole affair was taken completely out of the hands of Irishmen--that no attempt even was made to enlist Irish opinion on the side of law by a statement of the evidence on which law acted.

Day by day there was a new bald announcement that such and such men had been shot; and these were men whose names Ireland at large had never heard of.
Then on top of all came the appalling admission that an officer suffering from insanity had taken out three prisoners and caused them to be shot without trial on his own responsibility, none of these men having any complicity with the rebellion.

This incident would have inflamed public opinion in any community; in Ireland its effect was beyond words poisonous.