416 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



were found many carboys of acids and cans 

 of glycerine, with large quantities of dynamite 

 in various stages of manufacture. These dis- 

 coveries and arrests created a panic through- 

 out England. The people of Birmingham left 

 the city almost deserted. Sir William Har- 

 court framed the explosives act, and Parlia- 

 ment passed it with an expedition not paral- 

 leled since the suspension of habeas corpus in 

 1866. Within a few days Norman, whose true 

 name was William Joseph Lynch, made a full 

 confession. He was born in New York city, 

 and was a carriage-maker. He joined a secret 

 oath-bound society which met in the Bowery 

 in New York, and had for its object the 

 achievement of the freedom of Ireland by 

 physical force. The society seemed to be di- 

 vided into small groups, like the Russian Nihil- 

 ists, and the members of each group knew each 

 other by numbers. He heard frequent men- 

 tion of " the old man," whom he understood 

 to be Rossa. He was summoned to go on a 

 mission for the society, and was directed to 

 Gallagher. The latter was -a young physician 

 in Williamsburgh. Gallagher furnished him 

 liberally with money, and ordered him to take 

 passage for England. In London he met him 

 again, and after several days of preparation 

 sent him to Whitehead for the first package 

 of dynamite, which was found in his room 

 when he was arrested the night after his re- 

 turn. In their walks about London Dr. Gal- 

 lagher pointed out to him the Parliament 

 House and other buildings which would have 

 to " come down. 1 ' The prisoners were tried 

 for treason-felony in June : Dr. Thomas Gal- 

 lagher, Henry Wilson, Whitehead, and John 

 Ourtin were convicted and sentenced to hard 

 labor for life ; the rest were acquitted. 



Murder of Carey. The informer Carey was so 

 generally execrated that the British Govern- 

 ment did not venture to bestow on him a lib- 

 eral public reward, such as was granted to the 

 other informers and persons who were instru- 

 mental in bringing the murderers to justice. 

 He displayed at the trial and later, with no 

 lack of knowledge and natural intelligence, a 

 character of singular baseness. The impulsive 

 Irish people, who had been shocked at the 

 Phoenix-Park assassinations, after witnessing 

 the fortitude with which the condemned men 

 had met their deaths, and the cowardice and 

 heartlessness of their chief who had escaped, 

 now turned upon him as the real criminal, and 

 regarded them by comparison as misguided 

 but devoted patriots. The English authorities 

 consequently desired to get Carey out of sight 

 and memory as soon as possible, and particu- 

 larly to prevent vengeance being taken upon 

 him by any of the many Irishmen who stood 

 ready. The police kept him concealed, and, 

 while avengers were looking for his arrival at 

 American and Australian ports, got him safely 

 embarked in the Kinfauns Gastle for Cape 

 Town. The vessel sailed from London July 

 4th. Carey was smuggled on board at Dart- 



mouth, with his wife and seven children, under 

 the name of Power. On the same steamer 

 was a passenger who went by the name of 

 Macdonald. He was Patrick O'Donnell, a Cali- 

 fornia miner and naturalized citizen of the 

 United States, forty-eight years of age, a man 

 of resolute and adventurous spirit, who had 

 lived in various parts of the world, and was 

 probably connected with the Irish revolution- 

 ary societies. O'Donnell associated familiarly 

 with Carey, and made sure that he was the in- 

 former. Carey's destination was the diamond- 

 fields. At Cape Town they both changed to 

 the Melrose Castle for Natal. When not far 

 from port, on July 29th, while they were con- 

 versing in the cabin, O'Donnell suddenly called 

 Carey by his right name, and drawing a re- 

 volver fired at him three times, in the presence 

 of his wife, in whose arms he died in half an 

 hour. O'Donnell was taken back to London, 

 where the juries could better be depended upon 

 than in South Africa. In Ireland and America 

 he was extolled as a hero. Among the Irish of 

 the United States over $50,000 was contributed 

 for his defense ; and Roger A. Pryor and A. 

 M. Sullivan were retained to assist the English 

 counsel ; but they did not seek to take part in 

 the pleadings in view of the probable futility 

 of the request, particularly in opposition to the 

 advice of the English advocates, who thought 

 that it would prejudice their client's case. The 

 defense was, that Carey, when addressed in 

 his own name, first drew a pistol. O'Donnell 

 was convicted December 1st. Congressman 

 Finnerty, President of the Irish National 

 League of America, was joined by many other 

 politicians in his efforts to induce the American 

 Government to intercede, and a resolution was. 

 carried in Congress, in accordance with which 

 the President requested a delay in the execu- 

 tion, in order to allow the prisoner's counsel to 

 show points of error in the trial. The British 

 Government listened to the representations of 

 the counsel, and then returned an answer forth- 

 with to Minister Lowell that there was no 

 ground for postponement and reopening of the 

 case. O'Donnell was accordingly hanged on 

 the appointed day. 



Condition of Ireland. Throughout the year a 

 controversy regarding the relief of distress in 

 Ireland engaged public attention. The Gov- 

 ernment had taken the position that, as the 

 distress was local, being confined mostly to the 

 western counties, and as the laws and tradi- 

 tions of the empire made public charity a local 

 charge, the boards of guardians must carry out 

 the work, and the poor-rates supply the means. 

 The Government also pronounced in favor of 

 the scheme of emigration as the best means of 

 relieving the congested districts, and, in view 

 of the inadequacy of the statutory provisions 

 in such localities, offered to give 5 to the local 

 boards toward the expenses of sending each 

 and every destitute person to a new country. 

 The Irish patriotic party declaimed earnestly 

 against the plan of depopulation as a remedy 



