Some of them waited on the "Traitors"; others, and the most influential, absented themselves.

Among the latter was the Rev.Mr.
Byrne, who, up to that hour, had taken an advanced position among those who were most forward in the cause of the country.

Not a fortnight before, he delivered a speech to nearly one hundred thousand persons in the town of Carrick, pre-eminently insurrectionary in its tendency; and he had acted more than once as controller and regulator of the violent passions his own vehemence aroused.

For this duty, which he effectively discharged because of his known disloyalty, he received the public approval of England's Prime Minister.

From all these circumstances, the responsibilities of his position were such as it would require great hardihood of character to shrink from.