the proud bearing of his head; everything about him struck us with a
brilliant and exciting effect, as he threw himself from his saddle and,
tossing the bridle on his arm, hastened to meet and welcome us. At a
glance we recognised in him a true leader for the generous, passionate,
intrepid peasantry of the South." O'Mahony strongly advised them to
begin the insurrection that night in Carrick, and he left to collect the
peasantry. O'Brien and his comrades proceeded to the town where the
people received them with frenzied enthusiasm, calling out to be led
immediately to the fray. "A torrent of human beings rushing through
lanes and narrow streets"--such is Meagher's description of the
scene--"surging and boiling against the white basements ... wild,
half-stifled, passionate, frantic prayers of hope ... curses on the red
flag: scornful delirious defiances of death.... It was the Revolution if
we had accepted it." But it was not accepted. The local leaders were
unworthy of the people. They persuaded O'Brien to go elsewhere. It was a
cardinal and egregious mistake which he regretted within twenty-four
hours. Had he brushed the quavering local leaders aside and given the
word to the imploring people of Carrick the insurrection of 1848 would
have become respectable. O'Mahony's followers to the number of 12,000
were on the march to Carrick when the news reached them of O'Brien's
departure. Disheartened they broke up and returned to their homes.

Doheny's account of what happened after the fatal retreat from Carrick
needs to be amplified in connection with the final error of O'Brien's
leadership. At the Council of War on the 28th of July O'Brien rejected
the proposal to seize for the use of his followers all things needful,
paying for them with drafts on the future Irish Government, and he
declined the other practical proposal to offer farms rent-free to all
who fought for Ireland. Neither would he assent to the suggestion that
he and the other leaders should go into hiding until the harvest was