More extravagant or groundless notions have seldom entered the mind of
man. Yet I accepted them as the true political gospel, and exerted
myself to the utmost to propagate them among the masses of my
countrymen. The Irish reformers demanded a repeal of the Union and the
right of self-government. I advocated both repeal for Ireland and
Republicanism for England. And in all my speeches and publications I
gave utterance to the bitterest reproaches against the aristocracy, and
against all who took their part. I had suffered grievously in my early
days. I had been subjected to all the hardships and miseries of extreme
poverty. I had spent three years on the verge of starvation, never
knowing, more than twice or thrice during the whole of that dreadful
period, what it was to have the gnawings of hunger appeased by a
plentiful meal. I had seen one near and dear to me perish for want of
food, and had escaped the same sad fate myself by a kind of miracle
only. And all these sufferings I believed to have been caused by the
corn and provision laws, enacted and maintained by the selfishness of
the aristocracy. I regarded the aristocracy therefore, and all who took
their part, as my personal enemies; as men who had robbed me of my daily
bread, and all but sent me to an untimely grave.
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