One victim of English ‘justice’ has found rest in the grave. Patrick O’Donoghue {sic} died in Brooklyn after five days illness, on Sunday morning last (22nd January); and it is sad to relate that on that very evening his wife and daughter arrived in New York too late to see him alive. Every since his removal from his home and family, under a fraudulent pretence of trial and conviction, nearly six years ago, his life has been a wild and varied one – now editing a newspaper in Hobart town, now cutting timber with the convict gangs in Port Arthur, now living penniless in Launcestown, and goaded almost to madness by the mean persecution of English officials.

He was of an ardent and excitable temperament originally, and that was what drove him to the hills of Tipperary, pike in his hand, in the train of O’Brien. The same warm temperament made him affectionate to his friends, bitter against those whom he believed his enemies; and if that excitable disposition, stung by insolent injustice, ever hurried him into error, we lay his errors, and we lay his blood at the door of the Liberal and ameliorative statesmen of England. If the day of retribution come in our time, and we believe it will, the name of O’Donoghoe shall be heard of in England yet. His wife, we have reason to know, is in very poor circumstances, and the raising of a fund for her support will be the first thought of his fellow-countrymen in America.⁴⁰²

Escape from Van Diemen’s Land

The seven state prisoners spent just over a year together in Van Diemen’s Land because towards the end of 1851, Terence MacManus escaped from the island. He reached San Francisco, where he remained until his death in 1861. The other men knew of his plans. O’Brien admitted that ‘my mind will not be at ease until I hear he is safe in California’. ⁴⁰³ When MacManus escaped, he left his shaggy greyhound, Brian, in Meagher’s care.⁴⁰⁴ However, in January 1852 Meagher escaped. Two more Young Irelanders followed. In December 1852, O’Donoghoe escaped and he was followed by Mitchel, in June 1853. The arrival of the four men in the United States ensured that Irish nationalism remained at the forefront of political debate there.