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The Life Story of an Old Rebel by John Denvir
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CHAPTER I.

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS--"COMING OVER" FROM IRELAND.


I owe both the title of this book and the existence of the book itself
to the suggestion of friends. I suppose a man of 76 may be called "old,"
although I have by no means given up the idea that I can still be of use
to my country.

And a Rebel? Yes! Anything of the nature of injustice or oppression has
always stirred me to resentment, and--is it to be wondered at?--most of
all when the victims of that injustice and oppression have been my own
people. And why not? If there were no rebels against wrong-doing,
wrong-doing would prosper. To an Irishman, who is a fighter by
temperament, and a fighter by choice against those in high places, life
is sure to provide plenty of excitement; and that, no doubt, is why my
friends have thought my recollections worth printing. The curious thing
is that my share in the struggle for Irish self-government has been
almost entirely what I might call outpost work, for I have lived all my
life in England.

Indeed, it seemed but a stroke of good luck that I was born in Ireland
at all. My father (John, son of James Denvir, of Ballywalter, Lecale)
came to England in the early part of the last century, and settled in
Liverpool, where my eldest brother was born. It was during a brief
period, when our family returned to Ireland, that I and a younger
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