Leinster, so that the Hibernians appear to have had their stronghold in
the Northern province and the adjoining counties in Connaught and
Leinster. This is exactly as one might expect, seeing the necessity for
a defensive organisation against the Orangemen of Ulster. The Order took
deep root in Glasgow and Liverpool on account of the convenience of
access by sea from Ireland to these cities.

I was too young to have known John Murphy, who signed the letter for the
Liverpool Hibernians, but, from what I knew of these afterwards, it is
likely that he was a dock labourer. As I will show, these men, over and
over again, to my own knowledge, gave splendid proofs of their courage
and love of creed and country. Their love of learning, too, has been
equal to that of their fathers in the days when our country was "The
Island of Saints and Scholars." Some of these poor men may not have had
much learning themselves, but they made great and noble sacrifices that
their children should have it. I noted with interest in the Irish papers
recently that the name of the Secretary of the Hibernian Order at the
Bridge of Mayo, County Down, was "Brother Denvir."

Our country sent over to Liverpool, besides sterling Nationalists, as
bitter a colony of Irishmen--I suppose we can scarcely deny the name to
men born in Ireland--as were, perhaps, to be found anywhere in the
world. These were the Orangemen. If there was one place more obnoxious
to them than another it was the club room of the Hibernians in Crosbie
Street. But though in their frequent conflicts with the "Papishes" they
wrecked houses and even killed several Irishmen--for they frequently
used deadly weapons against unarmed Catholics--they were never able to
make a successful attack on McArdle's. One of my earliest experiences
was being on the spot on the occasion of a contemplated assault on the
Hibernian club room on the day of an Orange anniversary. This was in