At the Council of War on the 28th of July O'Brien rejected the proposal to seize for the use of his followers all things needful, paying for them with drafts on the future Irish Government, and he declined the other practical proposal to offer farms rent-free to all who fought for Ireland.

Neither would he assent to the suggestion that he and the other leaders should go into hiding until the harvest was reaped.

Willing to fight and ready to die, he would not consent to conduct a revolution on revolutionary lines.

The departure of Doheny and others--save Devin Reilly, who urged the abandonment of the insurrection as hopeless--was in pursuance of their plan to await the gathering of the harvest.
O'Brien's attitude at the Council of War destroyed the last hope of the insurrection.

He expected to get men to fight under his standard while he essayed no adequate provision for their support in the field, and interdicted them from interference with private property to supply them with the necessaries of the campaign.