150 A LIFE'S work: IN IRELAND. 



the magistrates, was told that a good many extra 

 police had been ordered in. I at once said that was 

 quite enough to make a successful fight, but not 

 enough to prevent a row from taking place (the only 

 right principle to act on in Ireland), and as there 

 were dragoons thirteen miles off, I signed a requisi- 

 tion for a small party of them to come over next 

 morning. At ten o'clock there they were, drawn up 

 outside the town, and waiting for a magistrate to 

 billet them. 



The result was the most amiable quiet. The 

 officers sat with us for their amusement all day. I 

 went to Court resolved, if possible, that some one 

 should go to the treadmill for a month for his 

 country's good. Too much fuss had been made about 

 the first cases, and it was necessary to send them to 

 Quarter Sessions for trial, which had the effect of 

 letting the offenders out on bail. At length three 

 unhappy fellows had cases proved against them, and 

 I persuaded the other J.P.'s to sentence them to one 

 month on the treadmill. In ordinary course they 

 would have been forwarded to Cork gaol next day. 

 And I knew that there would be an ovation of 

 Fenians, and perhaps a row, when they started. 



It was a frosty evening, and I asked the officer of 

 the dragoons how fast he should go home if we let 

 him go. " About six miles an hour," was the answer. 

 I replied, " The door of the gaol at B. is just opposite 

 your barrack gate. Will you take charge of these 



