John Mitchel

“ But Mitchel did once draw up a petition to the English Parliament— a petition which probably not a dozen of the present generation have ever read, and which forms a perfect model for all petitions to that Parliament from Irishmen. In 1848 the Young Irelanders determined on formally demanding from England, before they repudiated the connection altogether, Repeal of the Union. ”

“ That since the incorporation aforesaid, in the name of the act aforesaid, and by means of armed troops regular, and of police, spies, placemen, and others (the means which your honourable House has always approved for the sustentation of English dominion) , divers persons, calling themselves successively, the 'Imperial Government,' have, to the utmost of their ability, and under the sanction of your honourable House, abused the native land of your petitioners for the sole benefit of the English, and the complete misery of the Irish people. ”