It was as a subordinate contributor to this journal that Sir William Harcourt's familiar Irish bogy, O'Donovan Rossa[26], was arrested together with his chief, Mr.O'Leary, and with Kickham in 1865, and found guilty, with them, after a trial before Mr.Justice Keogh, of treason-felony.

The speech then delivered by Mr.O'Leary in the dock made a profound impression upon the public mind in America.

It was the speech, not of a conspirator, but of a patriot.

The indignation with which he repelled for himself and for his associate Luby the charges levelled at them both, without a particle of supporting evidence, by the prosecuting counsel, of aiming at massacre and plunder, was its most salient feature.

The terrible sentence passed upon him, of penal servitude for twenty years, Mr.O'Leary accepted with a calm dignity, which I am glad, for the sake of Irish manhood, to find that his friends here now recall with pride, when their ears are vexed by the shrill and clamorous complaints of more recent "patriots," under the comparatively trivial punishments which they invite.
In 1870, Mr.O'Leary and his companions were released and pardoned on condition of remaining beyond the British dominions until the expiration of their sentences.