Page:Life of John Boyle O'Reilly.djvu/77

Rh Witness. Devoy said he wanted a few men out of the Hussars to give them instruction what to do, and he wanted about ten men out of each regiment in Dublin. The prisoner spoke of cutting the hamstrings of the horses in the stables in case of any emergency. The conversation then turned on a rising in the army and how the men would act. I said the Irishmen in the army saw no prospect before them, and they would be great fools to commit themselves. Devoy said they would not be asked until a force came from America. I said it was all moonshine, and that they were a long time coming. He told me I seemed chicken-hearted, and that they required no men but those who were willing and brave. I told him I was as brave as himself, and that he should not form soldiers in a room for the purpose of discussing Fenianism. That is all the conversation I can remember on that occasion.

Cross-examined by the Prisoner:

I was examined on Corporal Chambers's trial. I am not sure whether I named you as one of the soldiers present on the occasion referred to in my evidence. I took the Fenian oath, out of curiosity to see what the Irish conspiracy or republic, as they called it, was. If any serious consequences would arise I would have given information of the movement. I had an opportunity of seeing into the Fenian movement, and I saw that nothing serious was going to happen. If there was I would have known it days before, and then given information. I heard Stephens himself say at Bergin's, that the excitement should be kept up while aid from America was expected. In last March I made a statement affecting you.

This closed the case for the prosecution.

At the request of the prisoner the Court adjourned to Saturday, July 7, to give him time to prepare his defense.

Court having assembled on that date, the prisoner requested that some member of it be appointed to read his defense.

Lieutenant Parkinson, Sixty-first Regiment, was then requested to do so.

The defense commenced by thanking the Court for the patient and candid consideration which had been bestowed by the members throughout the trial, and stated that the prisoner had no doubt but that the same qualities would be exhibited in consideration of the points which would be submitted to them for his defense. The charge against him was one involving terrible consequences, and he had no doubt the greater would be the anxiety of the Court in testing the evidence brought against him.

There was only one charge which the Court had to consider, and that was: "Having come to the knowledge of an intended mutiny."

To sustain that charge the prosecutor should prove, first, that there