In  the  other  article  I  answered  briefly  some  criti-
cisms  on  my  letter,  and  with  respect  to  the  imputed
motive  of  the  silence  maintained  in  the  Nation  for  the
previous  fortnight  I  said :

'^The  legitimate  leader  of  the  movement  was  not  more
willing  to  lead  than  we  to  follow  :  we  proclaimed  strict
obedience  and  discipline  as  essential  to  success  and  we  practised
them ;  for  where  there  are  many  captains  the  ship  sinks.  But
at  all  times^  and  now  not  less  than  any  other  time,  we  stood
prepared  to  hold  our  own  opinion  against  him  upon  a  vital
question  (such  as  the  present)  as  freely  as  against  the  meanest
man  of  the  party.  We  do  not  run  all  risks  with  a  hostile
Government  in  proclaiming  day  by  day  weighty  and  dangerous
truths,  to  abandon  the  same  right  under  any  other  apprehension.
O'Connell  is  incapable  of  playing  the  tyrant  in  the  fashion  these
gentlemen  suppose,  and  if  he  were  not,  we  are  incapable  of  sub-
mitting to  tyranny.  Let  it  be  understood  then  that  our  opinions
are  unchanged ;  and  unchangeable  for  personal  motives,  or
under  personal  influence/^


592


TO  UNO  IRELAND.
One  member  *  required  to  have  his  name  withdrawn
from  the  Association ;  he  could  not  he  said,  hope  to
stem  the  current  of  public  opinion  guided  by  Mr.
O'Connell  but  remembering  how  fatally  a  compromise
on  the  tithe  question  had  paralysed  public  opinion  he
would  not  by  remaining  lend  any  countenance  to  a  new
compromise.  One  seceder  was  not  much ;  but  it  might
be  that  he  was  only  the  first ;  in  the  Alpine  regions  the
fall  of  a  fragment  of  frozen  snow  no  bigger  than  a
bullet  threatens  an  avalanche.
