Page:My Life in Two Hemispheres, volume 1.djvu/271

 "How, indeed, could the organisation exist at all with opinions so conflicting? If he and his friend, Mr. Ross, of Bladensburg, who formed a connecting-link between North and South, were sent to Newry as a deputation to convince the friends of order in Ulster that they would forfeit none of the interests they held dear by joining the Confederation, were they to be told at the same time by Mr. Mitchel that there could be no combination of classes, and that they must prepare for guerilla [sic] warfare?

"Between these courses of action the Confederates must choose, for they were totally incompatible with each other. Their decision would determine whether he and others could continue to be members. He concluded by moving a series of ten resolutions, of which this was the keynote:— ' That this Confederation was established to attain an Irish Parliament by the combination of classes and by the force of opinion, exercised in constitutional operations; and that no means of a contrary character can be recommended or promoted through its organisation while its present fundamental rules remain unaltered.'

"John Pigot seconded the motion, because he believed the good faith of the body was pledged to such a disavowal.

"Mr. Mitchel's reply was far from being an answer to this serious impeachment. The rules of the Confederation, he said, no doubt declared that the members were to attain their ends by 'force of opinion' among other agencies; but what did opinion mean? Must it be always legal, always peaceful? They were told, indeed, it was opinion and sympathy, and other metaphysical entities, that rescued Italy, and scared Austria back from Ferrara without a blow. Yes, but it was opinion with the helmet of a National Guard on his head, and a long sword by his side; it was opinion standing, match in hand, at the breech of a gun charged to the muzzle. &hellip; To Mr. O'Brien's objection, that to admit his doctrine would be to break faith with certain Confederates, he replied that, by adopting the proposed resolution, the meeting would break faith with him and others who never would have consented to be limited to constitutional action. He had no faith in a Parliamentary Party. After describing the repeated attempts to obtain a combination of classes, which had all failed, he