Goula had sworn against a number of men in Kerry, too, and several of them were indicted for trial at the Kerry Assizes in Tralee. The Tralee Assizes were to come on before the Cork Assizes, and the Kerry men were to be tried before our trial would come on. Propositions were made to us that if we formally pleaded ‘guilty,’ we would be released on our own recognizances, but this we refused to do. Our prosecutors know that all Goula swore against us was false; they knew we could break down his evidence in public court; our pleading guilty would be admitting a guilt we did not feel, would be putting a kind of brand of truth on the informer’s lies and would be periling the safety of the Kerry men. Our attorney approved of our action; he submitted the proposal as made to him, without any advice of his own, and now that we had decided, he was glad we viewed the matter correctly and came to the decision he desired. On his way to the Kerry Assizes he visited us in jail and told us to be in good cheer, that he had evidence secured, which would be produced at Tralee, showing that Goula was swearing falsely in matters connected with the Kerry men, too; that Father John O’Sullivan, of Kenmare, was to come on the witness table in Tralee and swear Goula was a perjurer. Goula swore that before he became informer he had been at confession with Father O’Sullivan, and Father O’Sullivan was coming forward to swear he had never been at confession with him.50
Despite the assurances of Timothy McCarthy Dowling, their solicitor, Fr John O’Sullivan, who had earlier been instrumental in the arrest of the Phoenix men, would stand as a witness against O’Sullivan Goula, Fr O’Sullivan did not act as a witness. On learning that Daniel O’Sullivan was sentenced to ten years in Mountjoy Jail, O’Donovan Rossa was infuriated with McCarthy Dowling. He demanded to know why Fr John O’Sullivan had not been called forward as a witness to denounce O’Sullivan Goula. While initially coy as to why he did not bring Fr Sullivan forward, McCarthy Dowling later revealed Fr Sullivan’s part in the arrests and his correspondence with Dublin Castle. McCarthy Dowling then told O’Donovan Rossa that Sir Matthew Barrington and George Fitzmaurice had threatened Sullivan with fears of exposure of his correspondence should he take the witness stand against O’Sullivan Goula. Furious, O’Donovan Rossa castigated of Fr. Sullivan, and the Catholic Church:
A pleasant thing it would be for peoples if they could get their rights from those who lord a mastery over them by the force of prayer and petition; if I could enjoy that pleasure of believing Ireland could gain her rights by each force, I would keep praying till doomsday before I would hurt the hair of a head of English man or woman. Yes, let the expression stand, ‘till doomsday,’ because till doomsday the praying should last before Ireland could be free.51
At the Assizes trial on 17 March 1859, O’Donovan Rossa was greeted by the face of Judge William Keogh, the former nationalist who crossed the floor to support the British government.
The 17th of March St. Patrick’s day, 1859, came on and Cork Assizes opened. We were ready for trial. William O’Shea, Mortimer Moynahan and I were brought from the prison to the Court House and escorted to the underground waiting room, convenient to the dock. Here we were visited by our attorney and counsel and counsel for the Crown, and propositions were made to us that if we pleaded guilty we would be let free, a mere formal recognizance of our own personal security for twenty pounds to appear when called would be taken, and that would be the last heard of the prosecution. We would not plead guilty and by and by we were led into the dock. On the bench before us sat the famous, or the infamous, Judge Keogh. Into the dock also came Patrick J. Downing, Morty Downing and Denis O’Sullivan, who had been out on bail. They brought some shamrocks into the dock with them and gave us some sprigs of the national emblem and we put them in the buttonholes of our coats. We were ready for trial, ready for fight, but no fight came. England’s Attorney General stood up and asked for a postponement of those cases till the next assizes, as the Crown was not fully prepared at the present. Our counsel opposed the motion of postponement, but Judge Keogh did not seem to care much for the opposition; he granted the motion of the Attorney General and ordered the prisoners to be put back till the next assizes in August. Our counsel applied that we be let out on bail. No, Judge Keogh decided that we be kept in without bail; and off, back to prison, we were taken. It was vexatious, but what were we to do? The stone walls were there around us, but it was no use to us knocking our heads against them. There was no case on which to prosecute us, no informers to swear against us – even the unfortunate fallen women of the streets would not come forward to swear they saw us out at night, and so corroborate the swearing of Goula regarding the nightly drillings. We were offered our liberty, and would not take it. Some of our people had no pity for us; they never considered what we considered, that one of our men, Daniel O’Sullivan Agreem, had been convicted and sentenced to ten years’ transportation on Sullivan Goula’s swearing and that our pleading ‘Guilty’ to get out free would confirm his sentence and put the brand of truth on what Goula swore.52
Once again, all the prisoners earlier released on bail were free to leave the court, while O’Donovan Rossa, Morty Moynahan and William O’Shea, despite application for bail were returned to Cork Jail to resume their imprisonment.
O’Donovan Rossa relieved himself of the mundane life of the Victorian prison system by increasingly turning to satire. In one of his lesser known satirical writings he sought permission from the prison authorities to write to the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Eglington, to demand his right to vote during the 1859 general election. While this letter was seen as appropriate, its contents were entirely tongue-in-cheek. O’Donovan Rossa wrote that it was his civic duty to be temporarily released so he could be returned to Skibbereen and vote for Lord Derby’s Conservative Party. His justification for this demand was that if he did not vote he feared his absence could be the catalyst for a European war, considering Lord Derby’s support for the concert of Europe and the peaceful balance of power within the continent. O’Donovan Rossa sardonically suggested that if allowed to vote, his candidate could keep Lord Derby in office and thus prevent conflict:
Need I remind your lordship how unconstitutional it would be to deprive an innocent man of his voice in this important crisis; and, such a deprivation of right may entail the most disastrous results. For instance, my lord, my support may be instrumental in returning an honourable and independent man to the Imperial Parliament; the support of this honourable and independent man may be instrumental in maintaining Lord Derby in office, and the retention of Lord Derby in office may be the means for preventing the shedding of oceans of blood, by affording him the time and opportunity for bringing the troublous affairs of Europe to a speedy and pacific conclusion; whereas, opposite and most disastrous results may follow from my inability to attend the poles… In counting up the Liberal and Derbyite gains and losses, we must admit at least that Lord Derby, through adverse circumstances, lost one ardent supporter, and if war follows his lordships resignation, we shall remember this new prophet Jeremiah…53
The Lord Lieutenant did not reply and O’Donovan Rossa remained in Cork Jail. As predicted by O’Donovan Rossa, Lord Derby lost the general election. The boredom of life in Cork Jail was finally relieved when McCarthy Dowling returned to the prisoners to inform them that their trial had been moved to the Cork Summer Assizes, taking place on 26 July 1858. McCarthy Dowling was increasingly worried, however, that the prisoners would be kept in jail without charge until 1860, and making applications on behalf of his clients, the state once again offered terms. Under the states’ proposal, if the prisoners pleaded guilty to the charges levelled against them they would at once be released on their own assurances