Page:My Life in Two Hemispheres, volume 1.djvu/105

 that no one should presume to bring into his barracks a paper so offensive to loyal feeling as the Nation. Similar reports came from other military depots, and I was much perplexed how to deal with the difficulty when a fortunate incident enabled me to turn the tables on the military censors. The following paragraph, when printed in the Nation, was read, I am assured, with shouts of laughter and exultation in all the barracks in Munster and Leinster:—

"On Saturday last, when our office was surrounded by a multitude of persons, the orderly of Lord Cardigan's regiment rode up to the door—to the great terror of the well-disposed, who thought he was sent to arrest the Editor—and delivered a large official-looking letter, marked 'On Her Majesty's Service '—remember that, red coats, on Her Majesty's Service—which, on examination, was found to be as follows:—

"',

"', Oct. 21, 1843.

"'. The Editor of the is requested to supply the Quartermaster-General's department with the newspaper, which he will be so good as to send to this office, Lower Castle-yard, as soon as published, until further orders. By Order, "' "'The Editor of the .'

"We put this communication on record as a precedent and an example for the army in Ireland. A journal which has the sanction of Dublin Castle, and the Quartermaster-General's department (not to speak of Lord Cardigan's orderly), cannot be bad; and we expect no paltry subaltern will have the insolence to prohibit the NATION in his quarters for the future."

The national movement had now reached its zenith, and there was a fevered and impatient pause for the result. Sir Charles Trevelyan, an experienced Indian officer, who visited Ireland at this time on a semi-official tour of inspection, describes the condition of the public mind. He had set out on his journey regal-ding the demand for Repeal as a gigantic piece of blarney, but he found among the people intense desire and a genuine belief on the subject. They had taken up universally O' Council's doctrine that they must not be the