O'Connell's necessary consciousness that Mr.O'Brien would not come without his bail.

In truth, it was known to all Dublin that he even found a difficulty in reconciling the conflicting claims of several gentlemen who aspired to that honour.

So it was, too, with Mr.Meagher and Mr.Mitchel.All those gentlemen hurried to tender their services, as soon as they heard that bail would be required, the Messrs.

O'Connell alone selecting the public court for the display of their magnanimity.

It is needless to add that their courtesy was declined; and they must have left the police-office that day in the wake of the crowd, oppressed with the conviction that the confidence of the Irish people had passed for ever from their house.
[Illustration: Thomas Francis Meagher (A Sketch in May: 1848)] [Illustration: John Martin (About 1865)] This prosecution marked a new epoch in the Irish movement.