The silence which 1s observed in the European press concerning 
the disgraceful acts committed by this oligarchical bourgeois 
government is due to a variety of reasons. Firstly, the English 
Government is rich and the press, as you know, is immaculate. 
Moreover, the English Government is the model government, 
recognised as such by the landlords, by the capitalists on the 
Continent and even by Garibaldi (see his book*): consequently we 
should not revile this ideal government. Finally, the French 
Republicans are narrow-minded and selfish enough to reserve all 
their anger for the Empire. It would be an insult to free speech to 
inform their fellow countrymen that in the land of bourgeois 
freedom sentences of 20 years hard labour are given for offences 
which are punished by 6 months in prison in the land of barracks. 
The following details concerning the treatment of Fenian prison- 
ers have been taken from English journals: 

Mulcahy, sub-editor of the newspaper The Irish People,” sen- 
tenced for taking part in the Fenian conspiracy, was harnessed to 
a cart loaded with stones with an iron collar round his neck at 
Dartmoor. 

O’Donovan Rossa, owner of The Irish People, was shut up for 35 
days in a pitch-black dungeon with his hands chained behind his 
back day and night. They were not even unchained to allow him 

to eat the miserable slops which were left for him on the earthen 
floor." 

Kickham, one of the editors of The Irish People, although he was 
unable to use his right arm because of an abscess, was forced to sit 
with his fellow prisoners on a heap of rubble in the November 
cold and fog and break up stones and bricks with his left hand. 
He returned to his cell at night and had nothing to eat but 
6 ounces of bread and a pint of hot water.? 

O’Leary, an old man of sixty or seventy kept in prison, was put 
on bread and water for three weeks because he would not 
renounce paganism (this, apparently, is what a jailer called free 
thinking) and become either Papist, Protestant, Presbyterian or 
even Quaker, or take up one of the many religions which the 
prison governor offered to the heathen Irish. 

Martin H. Carey is incarcerated in a lunatic asylum at Millbank. 
The silence and the other bad treatment to which he was 
subjected have made him lose his reason.“ 

Colonel Richard Burke is in no better condition. One of his 
friends writes that his mind is affected, he has lost his memory 
and his behaviour, manners and speech are those of a madman.° 

The political prisoners are dragged from one prison to the next 
as if they were wild animals. They are forced to keep company 
with the vilest knaves; they are obliged to clean the pans used by 
these wretches, to wear the shirts and flannels previously worn by 
these criminals, many of whom are suffering from the foulest 
diseases, and to wash in the same water. Before the arrival of the 
Fenians at Portland all the criminals were allowed to talk with 
their visitors. A visiting cage was installed for the Fenian prisoners. 
It consists of three compartments divided by partitions of thick 
iron bars; the jailer occupies the central compartment and the 

© The Irishman, No. 12, September 18, 1869, “The [rishman in Paris. John 

prisoner and his friends can only see each other through this 
double row of bars. 

In the docks you can find prisoners who eat all sorts of slugs, 
-and frogs are considered dainties at Chatham. General Thomas 
Burke said he was not surprised to find a dead mouse floating in . 
the soup. The convicts say that it was a bad day for them when the 
Fenians were sent to the prisons. (The prison regime has become 
much more severe.) 

I should like to add a few words to these extracts. 

Last year Mr. Bruce, the Home Secretary, a great liberal, great 
policeman and great mine owner in Wales who cruelly exploits his 
workers, was questioned on the bad treatment of Fenian prisoners 
and O’Donovan Rossa in particular.” At first he denied everything, 
but was later compelled to confess.” Following this Mr. Moore, an 
Irish member in the House of Commons, demanded an enquiry 
into the facts.“ This was flatly refused by the radical ministry of 
which that demigod Mr. Gladstone (he has been compared to 
Jesus Christ publicly) is the head, and that old bourgeois 
demagogue, John Bright, is one of the most influential members.“ 

Recently, when rumours concerning the bad treatment of the 
Fenians were resumed, several members of Parliament requested 
Mr. Bruce for permission to visit the prisoners in order to be able to 
verify the falseness of these rumours. Mr. Bruce. refused this 
permission on the grounds that the prison governors were afraid 
that the prisoners would be too excited by visit of this kind.’ 

Last week the Home Secretary was again submitted to question- 
ing. He was asked whether it was true that O’Donovan Rossa 
received corporal punishment (i. e., whipping)* after his election 

Irish prisoners, The Irishman, No. 3, July 17, 1869.— Ed. 

b H. A. Bruce, Speech in the House of Commons on June 4, 1869, The 
Irishman, No. 3, July 17, 1869.-- Ed. 

Prisoners”, The Irishman, No. 1, July 3, 1869.— Fd. 

January 18”, The Irishman, No. 32, February 5, 1870.— Ed. 

Irishman, No. 32, February 5, 1870.— Ed. . 

8 C. W. White, Speech in the House of Commons on February 18, 1870, The 
Times, No. 26975, February 19, 1870.— Ed. 

to Parliament as the member for Tipperary'*’; the Minister 
confirmed that he had not received such treatment since 1868* 
(which is tantamount to admitting that the political prisoner had 
been given the whip over a period of two to three years). 

I am also sending you extracts (which we are going to publish in 
our next issue) concerning the case of Michael Terbert, a Fenian 
sentenced as such to forced labour, serving his sentence at Spike 
Island Convict Prison in the county of Cork, Ireland. You will see 
that the coroner” himself‘ attributes this man’s death to the torture 
which was inflicted on him. This investigation was held last week." 

In the course of two years more than twenty Fenian workers have 
died or gone insane thanks to the philanthropy of these good 
bourgeois souls, backed by these good landlords. 

You are probably aware that the English press professes a chaste 
distaste for the dreadful general security laws which grace la belle 
France. Well, except for a few short intervals, it has been 
general security laws that formed the Irish Charter. Since 
1793 the English Government has taken advantage of any pretext to 
suspend the Habeas Corpus Bill (a law guaranteeing 
the liberty of the individual) '” regularly and periodically, in fact all 
laws, except that of brute force. In this way thousands of people have 
been arrested in Ireland on suspicion of being suspected of Fenianism 
without ever having been tried, brought before a judge or court, or 
even charged. Not content with depriving them of their liberty, the 
English Government has had them tortured in the most savage way 
imaginable. The following is but one example. 

One of the prisons where persons suspected of being Fenians 
were buried alive is Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. The prison 
inspector, Murray, is a despicable brute. He maltreated the 
prisoners so cruelly that some of them went mad. The prison 
doctor, an excellent man called M’Donnell (who also played a 
creditable part in the enquiry into Michael Terbert’s death), spent 
several months writing letters of protest which he addressed in the 
first instance to Murray himself. As Murray did not reply, he 
sent accusing letters to higher authorities,“ but being an expert 
jailer Murray intercepted these letters. 

aH. A. Bruce, Speech in the House of Commons on February 18, 1870, The 
Times, No. 26975, February 19, 1870.— Ed. . 

Irishman, No. 34, February 19, 1870.— Ed. 

Finally M’Donnell wrote directly to Lord Mayo, then Viceroy of 
Ireland. This was during the period when the Tories were in 
power (Derby and Disraeli). What effect did his actions have? The 
documents relating to the case were published by order of 
Parliament* and ... Dr. M’Donnell was dismissed from his post!!! 
Whereas Murray retained his. 

Then the so-called radical ministry of Gladstone came to power, 
the tender, unctuous, magnanimous Gladstone who had shed such 
warm, sincere tears before the eyes of the whole of Europe over 
the fate of Poerio and other members of the bourgeoisie who were 
badly treated by King Bomba.’ What did this idol of the 
progressive bourgeoisie do? While insulting the Irish by his 
insolent replies to their demands for an amnesty,” he not only 
confirmed the monster Murray in his post, but endowed the 
position of the chief jailer with a nice fat sinecure as a token of his 
particular satisfaction!* There’s the apostle of bourgeois philan- 
thropy for you! 

But something had to be done to pull the wool over the eyes of 
the public. It was essential to appear to be doing something for 
Ireland, and a law regulating the land question (Lanp But) '“* was 
proclaimed with a great song and dance. All this is nothing but a 
pose with the ultimate aim of deceiving Europe, winning over the 
Irish judges and advocates with the prospect of endless disputes 
between landlords and farmers, conciliating the landlords with the 
promise of financial aid from the state and deluding the more 
prosperous farmers with a few mild concessions. 

In the long introduction to his grandiloquent and confused 
speech Gladstone admits that even the “benevolent” laws which 
liberal England bestowed on Ireland over the last hundred years 
have always led to the country’s further decline.*? And after this 
naive confession the same man persists in torturing those who 
want to put an end to this harmful and stupid legislation. 

© The Irishman, No. 19, November 6, 1869.— Ed. 

1870, The Times, No. 26673, February 16, 1870.— Ed. 

II 

The following is an account taken from an English newspaper 
of the results of an enquiry into the death of Michael Terbert,* a 
Fenian prisoner who died at Spike Island Prison due to the bad 
treatment which he had received. 

On Thursday last? Mr. John Moore, Coroner of the Middleton district, held an 
inquest at Spike Island Convict Prison,“ on the body of a convict [...] named 
Michael Terbert, who had died in hospital. 

Peter Hay, governor of the prison, was called first. He deposed—The deceased, 
Michael Terbert, came to this prison in June, 1866; I can’t say how his health was 
at the time; he had been convicted on the 12th of January, 1866, and his sentence 
was seven years’ penal servitude; he appeared delicate for some time past, as will 
appear from one of the prison books, which states that he was removed on the 
recommendation of medical officers, as being unfit for cellular discipline. Witness 
then went into a detail of the frequent punishments inflicted on the deceased for 
breach of discipline, many of them for the use “of disrespectful language to the 
medical officer’’.4 

Jeremiah Hubert Kelly deposed—I remember when Michael Terbert came here 
from Mountjoy Prison; it was then stated that he was unfit for cellular 
discipline—that means being always confined to a cell ©; certificate to the effect was 
signed by Dr. M’Donnel: [...] I found him, however, to be in good health, and I 
sent him to work. I find by the record! that he was in hospital from the 31st 
January, 1869, until the 6th February, 1869; he suffered then from increased 
affection of the heart, and from that time he did not work on the public works, but 
in-doors, at oakum; from the 19th March, 1869, until the 24th March,’ 1869, he 
was in hospital, suffering from the same affection of heart; from the 24th April tll 
the 5th May he was also in hospital from spitting of blood; from the 19th May till 
the lst June he was in hospital for heart disease; from the 2Ist June till the 22nd 
June he was under hospital treatment for the same; he was also in hospital from 
the 22nd July till the 15th August, for the same—from 9th November till the 13th 
December for debility, and from 20th December to the 8th February, when he died 
from acute dropsy; on the 13th November he first appeared to suffer from dropsy, 
and it was then dissipated; I visit the cells every day, and I must have seen him 
when under punishment from time to time; it is my duty to remit, by 
recommendation, that punishment, if I consider the prisoner is not fit to bear it; I 
think I did so twice in his case. 

As a medical man, did you consider that five days on bread and water per day 
was excessive punishment for him, notwithstanding his state of health in Mountjoy 
and here?—I did not; the deceased had a good appetite; I don’t think that the 
treatment induced acute dropsy, of which he died [....] 

See The Inshman, No. 34, February 19, 1870.— Ed. 

Martin O’Connell, resident apothecary of Spike Island, was next examined— 
Witness mentioned to Dr. Kelly last July that while the deceased was labouring 
under heart disease he should not have been punished; [...] he was of opinion that 
such punishment as the deceased got was prejudicial to his health, considering that 
he was an invalid for the past twelve months [...] he could not say that invalids were 
so punished, as he only attended cells in Dr. Kelly’s absence; he was certain, 
considering the state of the deceased man’s health, that five days continuously in 
cells would be injurious to his health; [...] The Coroner then [...] dealt forcibly with 
the treatment which the prisoner had received [...] alternating between the hospital 
and the punishment cell. 

The jury returned the following verdict: ““We find that Michael Terbert died in 
hospital at Spike Island Convict Prison, on the 8th of February, 1870, of dropsy; he 
was twenty-five years of age,2 and unmarried. We have also to express in the 
strongest terms our total disapproval of the frequent punishment he suffered in 
cells on bread and water for several days in succession during his imprisonment in 
Spike Island, where he had been sent in June, 1866, from Mountjoy Prison, for the 
reason that in Dr. M’Donnell’s opinion he was unfit for cellular discipline at 
Mountjoy; and we express our condemnation of such treatment.”