Adopted at a Meeting of the Confederation, held at Music Hall, Dublin, March 23, 1848, P. J. Barry presiding.
CITIZENS OF THE IRISH NATION: A voice calls you from afar! The breath of young nations mingle with your old and holiest aspirations. Awake! If your cause must be consecrated by sacrifices, they shall not be wanted.
Three of your truest friends have been already called to the altar. They have gone with a proud step and fearless hearts, because they hope—hope in you.
Citizens, this is the beginning of the end. All is now staked on the majesty and the virtue of the people. Be ours the post of suffering—yours, the path of liberty, its vindication in the hour of trial, its enjoyment in success!
Be wise, be steady, be prudent, but be bold. One backward step is death. Look around, and look within, and ask your hearts if the time has not come. From the east and the west—from the north and the south, murmurs Freedom’s invocation! Her lessons are read by the light of burning thrones—her echoes heard in the footfalls of flying tyrants—and Religion and Peace and her handmaids. Here, too, her cause shall be sacred. Here, too, popular virtue shall sanctify popular triumph. There shall be order, protection, tranquillity. Property and life shall find their best security in the generous magnanimity of a liberated people.
Stand together, and swear that the time is at hand. Stand together, and prepare. Prepare!—for the trial will require all your firmness. The end is in view. Courage, truth, and virtue—and it is already yours!
So the people be saved, and be free, let us perish! We shall be happy.
[Signed]
MICHAEL DOHENY,
Chairman of the Council.