In this instance, that lesson of Mr.O'Connell's which was the most fatal in its influence, found many believers.

It was said, and said unscrupulously, that Mr.O'Brien and his followers were actual agents of the British Government, suborned to precipitate the country into revolution, for which they were to receive large possessions and lucrative employment beyond the sea.

It was the constant habit of Mr.
O'Connell, when any one proposed a course bolder than his own, to suggest that he was doing the business of the enemy.

He may have adopted this course in his self-assumed character of Dictator, as the surest and speediest means of clearing all obstructions out of his way.
Whatever his motive, it was an unworthy resource; for it supplied the meanest minds with an example and a pretext for the gratification of their own vile propensities.

Their voice was heard, amid the silence of mourning and death, when in an hour of universal dismay, John Mitchel was borne from his loved fatherland; and still more audibly when the dungeon closed on Smith O'Brien and his illustrious comrades.