THE CELTIC CONNECTION • MARCH 1992
Page 29
NINE CONVICTS AND THEIR BRILLIANT FUTURES
During the young Ireland revolution of 1848, nine young Irishmen were captured, tried and convicted of treason against the Queen. The sentence was death. The pjesiding judge read out the names of the condemned men: Charles Duffy, Thomas Meagher, Patrick Donahue, Terence McManus, Richard O'Gorman, Morris Lyene, Michael Ireland, Thomas McGee and John Mitchell. Then the judge asked "have you anything to say before the court passes sentence?"
Thomas Meagher had been
chosen to speak for them all. "My Lord, this is our first offence, but not our last. If you will be easy with us this once, we promise on our word as gentlemen to try do better next time and not be fools enough to get caught again."
The indignant judge sentenced all nine to be hanged by the neck until dead. An outcry for compassion was heard from all over the world. Queen Victoria was forced to commute the sentence and the men were sentenced to life in the penal colony of Australia.
In 1871 a Sir Charles Duffy was elected Prime Minister of the Australian state of Victoria. To her amazement, Queen Victoria learned from her Prime Minister Disraeli that this was the same Charles Duffy who had been transported for treason 23 years before. She demanded the records of the other eight convicts and this is what she learned:
Thomas Meagher had become Governor of Montana, Patrick
Donahue and Terence McManus were Brigadier Generals in the United States Army, Richard O'Gorman was Governor General of Newfoundland, Morris Lyene was Attorney General of Australia (to which office Michael Ireland succeeded), Thomas McGee was Prime Minister of Canada, and John Mitchell was a prominent New York politician whose son later became Mayor of New York.
This amazing true story of nine men banished from their native land to a penal colony for their
Colitical views, and in later years ecoming outstanding citizens of America, Australia and Canada is now a part of the U.S. Congressional Records in Washington, D.C.
This article, forwarded to us by Fiona Byrne of Vancouver is quoted from the handbook of the United Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco.
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