Page:Life of John Boyle O'Reilly.djvu/74

40 about Fenianism, but I cannot remember that he said anything about what was to be done in connection with it.

Prosecutor. Was there at any of these meetings of which you spoke, and at which the prisoner was present, any conversation of an intended outbreak or mutiny?

Prisoner. I object to that question, because the witness has already stated the substance of the conversations As far as he can remember. The prosecutor had no right to lead the witness, and put into his mouth the very words of the charge.

The prosecutor submitted that the question was perfectly fair and legal.

The Deputy Judge Advocate ruled that the question should be so framed as not to suggest the answer to it.

Witness. There was a conversation of an intended mutiny that was to take place in January or the latter end of February. The prisoner could have heard the conversation that took place in Hoey's, in January, and in Barclay's, in February. I reported to my colonel in February the subject of the conversation.

Court adjourned for half an hour.

Cross-examination of Private Foley:

I can read and write. I took the Fenian oath. I did not call God to witness I would keep it. I know the nature of an oath. It is to tell the truth, and the whole truth. I had a Testament in my hand and I went through the motion of kissing it, but I did not do so. I swore on two previous occasions I took the Fenian oath. Most decidedly I took the oath with the intention of breaking it. I cannot see how that was perjury. I had to take the oath, in a way, or I would have known nothing about the Fenian movement. I was examined on the trial of Corporal Chambers. I was sworn on the trial to tell the whole truth. I was sworn by the president. I told the whole truth on both trials, as far as I can remember. I know Private Denny of Tenth Hussars by appearance. I know Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald of the Tenth, also by appearance. I know Fitzgerald personally, I only knew him at these places of meeting. I think I knew him in January. I knew him to speak to him. I know Private Smith, Tenth Hussars, by appearance. I know him only by speaking to him in the month of February. I cannot say whether I ever saw Private Denny in Hoey's public house or at Barclay's or Bailey's. I cannot say how often I was at meetings in these houses in February. When I took the Fenian oath, most decidedly I intended to become an informer. I kept no memoranda of the meetings I attended, as I reported them all to my commanding officer in the mornings after they took place. My reports were verbal ones, and I never took down the names of those I met at the meetings.