FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            177

CAPTAIN JOHN M'CAFFERTY.

Arrested—Tried—Half-Alien Jury because he is an American—Acquitted—Envoy from Ireland to America—Address at the Great Jones' Wood Meeting in New York—Goes back—The Affair at Chester—Second Arrest—In the Dock—Corydon's Evidence—Found Guilty—Speech in the Dock—In his Cell.

SCARCELY less attention has been directed to Captain M'Cafferty, than to any of the Fenian prisoners. The fact that he is an American by birth, and the legal measures taken, in consequence, by his able counsel, to effect his liberation, have kept his case constantly before the public, which has lost nothing either by the manly style in which the subject has conducted himself.

The excitement immediately following the seizure of the Irish, People party, 1865, and the fear of American aid, led the Government to watch the steamers. On the arrival of the City of Limerick at Queenstown, 18th September, Captain John M'Cafferty, announced as " late of the Confederate army," was arrested. From his person was taken a waist belt, with two six-barrelled revolvers, a rifle, and four works upon drill. One was Brigadier General Silas Casey's Infantry Tactics, three volumes; another, Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cook's work on military movements, with illustrations by Colonel George Patten, late United States Army; the third, the " A. B. C."

178            CAPTAIN JOHN M'CAFFERTY.

of Skirmishing and Movements for Infantry, by Wm. Mallon, late Second Royal Middlesex Rifles; and the fourth, a School Manual, by Stephen Pinckney, Colonel Ninety-fifth New York National Guard. These appearing, as the officials sagaciously said, "to contain every information necessary for the management of troops," the authorities regarded the ex-Confederate Captain as a very dangerous character, if not a walking arsenal. He was remanded, put in prison, bills found against him, and sent for trial to the Special Commission, held in 1865, in Cork, charged with feloneously intending to depose the Queen from the style, honor and royal name of the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom ; also, with feloneously intending to levy war against the Queen, and of moving foreigners with force to invade Ireland.

The prisoner pleaded not guilty, and his counsel, Mr. Butt, claimed that as the prisoner was an alien, half of the jury to try him should be aliens also. The Attorney-General requiring to see the foundation of the claim, Mr. Butt read a certificate from the District Court of Michigan, United States, that the prisoner, who had been in the Confederate army, had taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, in May last. He also read the following letter from the United States Consul, at Queenstown, to the prisoner, who, after his arrest, applied to him for his interference:

UNITED STATES CONSULATE, QUEENSTOWN,

October 9, 1865.

J. M'CAFFERTY, ESQ.: SIR—I am in receipt of your communication of 7th instant, and in reply, I beg to inform you that, upon

FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            179

examination of your case, I find, first, that you were born in Sandusky, State of Ohio; second, that you deliberately entered the rebel army during the war; third, that you took the amnesty oath in the month of May last; fourth, that you left New York in September, to go to Paris, to get permission from Southern men to go to Mexico; fifth, that you were arrested at Queenstown, with revolvers and treasonable documents, involving you in a suspicion of complicity with treasonable movements in Ireland. Now, whether your statement is true that you were on your way to Paris to consult with men still disloyal to the United States; or, whether, as suspected, you are an agent from America, combined with the Fenian organization to raise a rebellion in Ireland, in either case, you have entirely forfeited all claims to either sympathy or support from the United States Government. I return you your oath of allegiance, and am your obedient servant,            E. G. EASTMAN.

Under these circumstances, the Government could not resist the suggestion, and the jury was formed as the prisoner's counsel desired. On the 16th, counsel having, at the invitation of the Justice, discussed the manner in which overt acts alleged against the prisoner had been sustained, Mr. Justice Fitzgerald said: “Having carefully considered the case last night, the Court had come to the conclusion that there was no evidence to sustain an overt act on the part of the prisoner, after tender arrived in port. They would direct the jury to acquit him.” The jury, in accordance, returned a verdict of acquittal. This fact is important, and bears upon the case of Stephen J. Meany, who committed no overt act after his arrival in Great Britain, but was found guilty of acts done in America. Captain M'Cafferty was released on his own recognizances, and was cheered by the people on his liberation. Subse-

179            CAPTAIN JOHN M'CAFFERTY.

quently, on his way to Dublin, he was the object of much attention and sympathy wherever, along the railway line, the fact of his presence became known. Men and women pressed forward to shake his hand, and congratulate him on his release from captivity.

On his release from prison, Captain M'Cafferty put himself in communication with the Fenian Government in Ireland, and was despatched by it to America to explain the extent of the movement there, and the reliance placed in the promise of assistance. At the great mass meeting held in Jones' Wood, New York, after the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, in February, at which two hundred thousand persons were present, Captain M'Cafferty was introduced as "the envoy of the Irish Republic, with important despatches for the order in this country." He implored his hearers to stand by the Irish revolutionary army, which amount to two hundred and fifty thousand men. All they wanted was arms and munitions of war. He spoke of the discipline which existed, and in the course of his remarks said:

He could not speak to them as eloquently as other gentlemen present could. He was only a soldier ; he desired to fight, not to talk. Ireland was not even his native country, he was an American by birth ; but Ireland was now his adopted country, and it was her cause he was now pleading. He was dealing in no extravagances, he was telling them plain facts. Another consideration he would impress upon them. In carrying forward the struggle which had been inaugurated, they might fail of success. In that case, it would be worthy of every Irish-

FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            181

man to have something to show that when the struggle was going on, he had patriotism enough to aid the cause of his native land to the extent of his power ; let him have some token of his patriotism in this emergency, to hand down as an heir-loom to his children. Of course there were possibilities, though not probabilities, of failure. No one could look into the future and predict, with absolute certainty, what would be the issue of this contest; but if, perchance, they should fail, the aiders of this movement in America, would have the assurance that he would, like many of his comrades, leave his bones bleaching on the soil of Ireland.

At this great meeting, resolutions were passed, condemnatory of Mr. Adams, the American Ambassador, at London, and Mr. Eastman, Consul at Queenstown, for declining to interfere in the case of Captain M'Cafferty, because he had been in the Confederate service, and notwithstanding that the said "Captain M'Cafferty has taken the amnesty oath required by the President, who thereby cast into oblivion all former acts against the Government or authority of the United States, and restored said Captain M'Cafferty to the full and entire rights of American citizenship."

Captain M'Cafferty attended and addressed the mass meetings held in Washington, Philadelphia, and other leading cities. At Philadelphia, he said there could be no difference of opinion, among those who are informed on the subject, as to where the blow should be struck. The invasion of Canada was not to be thought of. It would take three years to compel the surrender

CAPTAIN JOHN M’CAFFERTY 182

of Quebec, and to obtain the control of the St. Lawrence. He expected to return to Ireland. He promised to do so, and he would keep his promise. Most assuredly he did. As he said, he was a soldier, and only believed in fighting; consequently he was one of those who adhered to the military programme, when Stephens refused to fight in Ireland, and immediately started for the theatre of operations. The Attorney General, charging M'Cafferty with being the chief instrument, if not the originator of the contemplated seizure of Chester Castle, gave an outline of his movements, up to the date of his second arrest, based on the information of Corydon.

The attack was to have been made on Chester on the 11th of February; but on Sunday information of the design was given by Corydon to the authorities, who were enabled, in consequence, to take the necesary precautions. "If that project," said the Attorney-General, had been carried out, it would be impossible to exaggerate the disastrous consequences to this country which might hare followed. "M'Cafferty went to Chester some days before the contemplated attack, and took apartments at the King's Head, in the name of Frederick Johnstone, and remained till Monday. On Sunday morning, the 10th, he was visited by two men, and later in the evening by seven more, "who had all the appearance of Yankees." The Government stated that between one thousand four hundred and one thousand five hundred strangers arrived in Chester, by train, from Crewe, and, other places, but the authorities there were not unprepared.

FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            183

M'Cafferty having ordered dinner for two o'clock, went out with Flood, and soon found that the matter was blown up. They then disappeared. Before leaving, M'Cafferty sent a messenger, one Austin Gibbons, to countermand the officers who were coming from Liverpool, by way of Birkenhead, and to say that the affair was blown upon. As might be expected, the officers found their way one after another to Ireland. On the 19th February, M'Cafferty and Flood landed at the port of Whitehaven, in England. They went to a hotel, where they stopped till the following day, when they sailed for Dublin in a coal brig, called the New Draper. They arrived in Dublin on the 23d day of February. Fortunately the authorities were prepared beforehand for their arrival, and a watch was kept on the New Draper. At each side of the river police were stationed, and as the vessel sailed up the river, they observed two men dropping into an oyster boat, which was rowed by three men. The police gave chase in a ferry boat, and arrested the men as they got into a collier. They gave their names as William Jackson (M'Cafferty) and John Phillips (Flood.) They were identified at Mountjoy prison. On being searched in the jail, there was found between the cloth and the lining, a gold ring, which would be produced, containing a photograph, and inside these words: "Erin, I love thee and thy patriots, presented to Captain John M'Cafferty, by the Detroit Circle of the Fenian Brothers, as a token of esteem. Detroit, April, 1866."

When the jury retired, in the case of Thomas F. Bourke, on the 1st May, M'Cafferty was brought to

184            CAPTAIN JOHN M'CAFFERTY.

the bar for trial. Mr. Butt applied to the Court for a postponement of the trial to the last of the Commission. The application was grounded on an affidavit which was verified by the' prisoner, and which set forth that he was born in the State of Ohio, in the United States of America, in the year 1838; that he was indicted at the last Special Commission for the County of Cork, when he was tried by a jury half of whom were foreigners, by whom he was acquitted; and that there were certain official documents of the Republic of the United States of America, which he believed he would be able to produce, to authenticate his affidavit, and which were material and necessary for his defence. The Attorney-General, for the purpose of the trial, admitted the prisoner to be an alien; when Mr. Butt withdrew his motion for postponement, the object of the application having been attained. The trial was proceeded with on the following day. He is thus described in court : " Captain John M'Cafferty is put forward. I look down at him, as he comes up from where Thomas Bourke and Patrick Doran passed in, with his hat upon him, which he now removes. He sits down in his accustomed place, and the case goes on. Few men have a face in which determination and symmetry are so much blended, as that of John M'Cafferty. It is bronzed, too, with the light of battle-fields, where it gleamed amidst the lines of Morgan's troops, as they dashed along in many a desperate charge. He fixes his gaze always intently upon whoever speaks. A witness, or a lawyer, or a judge, or a juror, whenever he opens his lips to speak, will meet M'Cafferty's eyes. Yet I see,

FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            185

as he sits there, that it is no anxiety that moves him to do this. He is a soldier, although he wears no uniform, and has the soldier's habit of looking at his interrogator steadily. He is a man of iron will."

The principal evidence is that of Corydon; it is a continuation of that given on Bourke's trial, and is as follows:

The informer, Corydon, was next examined by the Attorney-General. He repeated the evidence already recorded, and continued:

I know John M'Cafferty; that is he in the dock; I saw him first, in Dublin, in February, 1866; he was introduced to all the American officers there in Carey's hotel; it was the headquarters of all the American officers in Dublin at that time; he was introduced to me as Captain M'Cafferty, of the rebel army, who had served in Morgan's guerrillas; no statement was then made to me as to his being a member of the Fenian Brotherhood; all I knew at that meeting were Fenians; I saw, in Dublin, Captain Doheny, General Halpin, Colonel Kelly; I met a person named John Flood very often at Fenian meetings, in Dublin; I met Edward Duffy there; he was organizer for the province of Connaught; I met Captain Dunne at these meetings; I met a person named O'Connor there; I also met Dennis Burke at these meetings; I remained in Liverpool till February, 1867, employed in Fenian business; I received pay, while there, out of the Fenian funds, from Captain O'Rorke; he went by the name of Beecher; I saw M'Cafferty in February, 1867, in Liverpool ; Colonel Thomas Bourke, J. J. Rogers, Colonel Dunne, and others were with him ; I first saw him in Birchfield street, in Liverpool; that was a headquarters of the Fenian Brotherhood; the meeting on that occasion, stated that Stephens did not mean to fight, and they would not put up with his nonsense any longer, since he did not mean it; M'Cafferty was at that meeting, and could hear these words; M'Cafferty went somewhere between January and February; I don't know where; a meeting was held late in January, in Liverpool, about forming direc-

188            CAPTAIN JOHN M'CAFFERTY.

tories; neither M'Cafferty nor Flood were present; Captain O'Rorke presided at it; the meeting came to the understanding that Stephens did not intend to fight at all; O'Rorke stated that now they had, therefore, formed a directory, which was to depose Stephens and constitute themselves as the authority of the Irish Republic ; he further stated that the Head Centre in England (Flood) had joined this directory, as well as Captain M'Cafferty and himself, and wanted also to know if the American officers then in Liverpool, would sanction Flood's name and M'Cafferty's name as members of the directory; the meeting agreed to have Flood and M'Cafferty on the directory; I saw the prisoner after that, in Liverpool, from the 11th to the 19th February; there was a meeting of Fenians; M'Cafferty and Flood attended; they said they came from London, representing the directory; that they had brought about twenty pounds to be divided among the officers there, to pay their way to Chester; they stated that at Chester the castle was to be seized, the arms therein to be taken and put into trains, the rails were to be destroyed after the trains had started, the telegraph wires to be torn ; they were to go to Holyhead, seize mail steamer, and go thence to Ireland; the way Captain M'Cafferty stated these plans to the meeting, in company with Flood, was—the night of the following Monday was fixed upon to carry out the plan, all the American officers

in Liverpool were to go to Chester, as well as the Centres in Liverpool; a Centre is a colonel; he has got that rank ; he commands a regiment or company; he is a commander of a circle the majority of the meeting assented to the plan proposed by John M'Cafferty and Flood; some of the men went to Chester on the Monday I

gave information to the authorities at Chester; I had been giving information since the September before; I saw the Fenians going to Chester by Birkenhead, thence to Monk's Ferry, and on to Chester; I went to Birkenhead myself, and remained till one o'clock; I saw at least five hundred Fenians starting from Birkenhead for

Chester; while I was getting my ticket at the railway station, a man named Gibbons beckoned me to go back; I went to him, and he told me he was directed by Captain M'Cafferty and the Fenian authorities, to go back, as the affair in Chester was sold; all who had not gone on to Chester then went back; there was then a meet-

FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            187

ing of the American officers, called at the Zoological Gardens, Chester; and we were then directed to come to Ireland, and wait there for the final instructions as to the rising in Ireland; I did not see M'Cafferty again till I saw him in prison at Kilmainham; about a week before the rising, I attended a meeting held near the canal, in a small street off Brunswick street, in Dublin, at which it was announced the rising would take place on the 5th; I got instructions to go to Millstreet, in the county Cork, and see the Centre of that district; that was about the 25th February.

Mr. Butt contended that the Attorney-General had no right to examine the witness as to the measures projected at the meeting referred to.

The Court ruled from the Crown.

Examination resumed —At the meeting at the Zoological Gardens, there were there Colonel Doheny, Captain O'Brien, Colonel Dunne, Kirwan, James Smith, David Joyce and Dennis Burke; the only member of the Directory present was O'Rorke, who paid each officer present thirty shillings, to keep him till the rising took place; O'Rorke also stated there would be French and German officers to head the rising in Ireland; he did not say what the movements would be; we were to receive instructions, O'Rorke said, when we got to Dublin; he did not say from whom, but said they were in reference to the time for the fight; I always traveled from the Kingsbridge station, on the Great Southern and Western Railway, when carrying despatches, and on my way to Queenstown.

The same pen that gave us an outline of the prisoner, also gives us an impression of the persecutor. "I look well," says the Irishman, " at Corydon, and take down a mental photograph of him. Sharp and clear of feature, his hollow eyes set far under the caverns of his brows, are not a favorable feature. His retreating chin, and sharply angular jaw, Lavater would tell us is the type of a weak man. He gives his evidence with the coolness of a veteran, and endeavors to im-

188            CAPTAIN JOHN M'CAFFERTY.

press us with the belief that he is doing what he considers an act of virtue. He is not believed; and when Mr. Dowse cross-examines him, he is made to feel that. He asks him questions, under which he winces and writhes, but in vain. He pins his shame to him in his despite, and makes even the hardened informer blush. There is, however, a variation in the scene. There is an argument about a law point, and Mr. Dowse disputes with the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General finds fault with Mr. Dowse's manner, and Mr. Dowse retorts that he is not to be taught manners by the Attorney-General, that he is as good and stands as high as he does, though he has not the harness of Government on his back. The Attorney-General subsides, and is decidedly and unmistakably snubbed."

In his address to the jury, Mr. Butt alluded to his client as "a man who had won an honorable character on fields of fame, and who had only done what Englishmen gloried in, when they went to fight with Garibaldi," and held that there were no two witnesses to prove the only act of treason which affected him, as the informer's statement was not corroborated. At the conclusion of Mr. Butt's address, Judge Fitzgerald said:

John M'Cafferty, I have to apprise you that now, after your counsel has spoken, you are entitled—the law also gives you the privilege, of addressing the jury; and if you have anything to say to the jury, this is the proper time to make it.

Captain M'Cafferty said: I have but one statement to make, and previous to making that statement, I feel bound, by private feelings, to return my deep, and bounden, and sincere thanks, and to both of them I do so, to Mr. Butt, whom I consider the star of the Irish

FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            189

bar, and to the noble and gallant Mr. Dowse. [Turning to Messrs. Butt and Dowse] he said: Gentlemen, to each of you I tender my sincere thanks. [Then, turning to the jury,] he said: Gentlemen, I have only this statement to make to this jury. I am a stranger. Unfortunately, I have been tried in this country by you on the charge of treason-felony against the Government of Great Britain. I was acquitted by the judges who presided at that tribunal, after the evidence had failed against me, on the part of the Crown prosecutor. They discharged me, without allowing my case to go to the jury, on that occasion. I pleaded, and properly pleaded, not guilty to the charge brought against me. That was the truth. I had committed no overt act of treason within the realm and jurisdiction of Great Britain. I returned to my native country after my acquittal. I again returned within the realm and jurisdiction of Great Britain. I have been led to believe—and I make the statement, emanating from my conscience—I have been led to believe, that from the moment of my arrest, the Government of Great Britain did not intend to deal fairly with me. I do not make this statement for the purpose of gaining sympathy.

Mr. Butt, Q. C.—You had better not state that. You have paid me a compliment, and I would ask you not to say that.

M'Cafferty—I have been led to believe it.

Judge Fitzgerald—You had better be guided by your counsel in any observations upon this case as it now stands.

Mr. Butt—I really and sincerely hope that Captain M'Cafferty will not use any strong language against the Government ; he has paid me a compliment, and I would ask him, as a favor, to make no attack upon the Government, or anything remarkable.

M'Cafferty—I beg to explain. You have misunderstood me, in the manner in which I mean to bring this forward. I do not wish to make any attack upon the honor and integrity of the Government.

Chief Justice—If you have anything to say in the case, we will hear you, but this is a general discursive statement. You had better confine yourself to observations upon the case.

After consulting with Mr. Lawless for a few moments, M'Cafferty, addressing the jury, said : I have merely to say that I am inno-

190            CAPTAIN JOHN M'CAFFERTY.

cent—that I have not committed any overt act, with which I am charged, within the realm or jurisdiction of Great Britain. Mr. Butt—That is quite right.

On Monday, May 6th, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, on all the counts. Sehtence was postponed for several days, to hear argument before the Court of Criminal Appeals, on points raised by Mr. Butt, who declared that in the whole range of state trials, perhaps there was not a single case which involved, he would not say so many intricate questions, but questions going so directly to the root of the law of high treason. It was, however, of no avail. On the 20th of May, Captain M'Cafferty was brought into Court, and being asked what he had to say why judgment of death should not be passed upon him, in a clear, unhesitating voice, he said :

"My Lords, I have nothing to say that can, at this advanced stage of this trial, ward off that sentence of death. I might as well hurl my complaint, if I have one, at the orange trees of the sunny South, or the lofty pine of the great North, as now to speak to the question why sentence should not be passed upon me, according to the law of the day ; but I do protest, loudly, against the injustice of that sentence. I have been brought to trial upon a charge of high treason against the Government of Great Britain, and guilt has been brought home to me, on the evidence of one witness, and that witness a perjured informer. I deny, distinctly, that there have been two witnesses to prove the overt act of treason against me. I deny, distinctly, that you have brought two independent witnesses to two overt acts. There is but one witness to prove the overt act of treason against me. I grant, and freely grant, that there has been a cloud of circumstantial evidence, to show my connection, if I may please to use that word, with the Irish people, in their attempt for Irish independence, and I claim that, as an Ameri-

FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            191

can, and as an alien, I have a right to sympathize with the Irish people, or with any other people who may please to revolt against that form of government by which they believe they are tyrannically treated. England sympathized with America. She not only sympathized with her, but gave support to both parties. Who ever heard of Englishmen being arrested by the United States Government, for taking up arms on behalf of the confederation of the Southern States, or of being placed upon his trial on a charge of high treason against the Government I No such case ever appeared.

"I do not deny but that I have sympathized with the Irish people. I loved Ireland, and I love the Irish people. If I were free to-morrow, and the Irish people were to take the field for independence, my sympathies would be with them. I would join them, if they had any show whatever to win that independence, while I would not give my sanction to the useless effusion of blood. I have done it, and I state distinctly, that I have no connection whatever, directly or indirectly, with the movement that took place in the county of Dublin. I make that statement on the brink of my grave. Again, I claim that I have a right to be discharged on the charge that has been brought against me, by the nature of the law by which I have been tried. That law distinctly says that you must produce two independent witnesses to prove the overt act of treason against the prisoner. I claim, and claim loudly, that you have not produced, according to that law, these two independent witnesses. This is the only complaint I have to make. I make that loudly. I find no fault with the jury. I have no complaint to make against the judge. I have been tried and found guilty, and I am perfectly satisfied' I will go to my grave. I will go to my grave as a gentleman and a Christian. Although I regret that I should be cut off at this state of life, still many noble and generous Irishmen fell on behalf of my Southern land. I do not wish to make any flowery speech in this court of justice; and whhout any further remarks, I will now accept the sentence of the court."

The death sentence was then pronounced by Judge Fitzgerald, after which the prisoner, " still unshaken," spoke as follows:

192            CAPTAIN JOHN M'CAFFERTY.

"I will accept my sentence as a gentleman and a Christian, and I have but one request, and that is, after the execution of the sentence, my remains may be turned over to Mr. Lawless, to be interred by him in consecrated ground, as quietly as he possible can. I have now to return my grateful and sincere thanks to Mr. Butt, the star of the Irish bar, for his able defence of the alien prisoners. [To Mr. Butt]—Mr. Butt, I return you my thanks. I also return the same token of esteem to Mr. Dowse, for the kind manner in which he speaks of my former life. Those allusions recalled to my mind many moments, some bright, beautiful, glorious, and yet some sad recollections drifted before my eyes, of that gleam of hope that floated for an instant in the revolutionary struggle, and then sank forever. Mr. Butt, please give to Mr. Dowse my grateful and sincere thanks. Mr. Lawless, to you I return my thanks now for your many kindnesses, and I can do no more."

Mr. Lawless then shook hands with the prisoner, who immediately retired with a firm step.

The gentleman who visited Colonel Bourke in his cell, caught a glimpse of his fellow prisoner, himself unseen, and thus relates it :

"When I entered the prison I was shown along through many corridors, to that recent building called the New Jail. The door was opened upon a passage, lofty and airy, in which my view was bounded by a screen, but whose hue was, to my eyes, of ebon darkness. I passed beyond it, and a cell door met my glance on the side of the passage, in the centre of which was a small trap-door, of about one foot square, through which I looked, and saw Captain John M'Cafferty, dressed as I last caught his glance, with stalwart form as ever, but now kneeling, with his arms outstretched, and his hands clasped beneath, his face bent upon them, in prayer. Before his humbled brow rose an image the most sacred to Catholic eyes, the most hopeful to Christian hope. It was the image of the Crucified. The lofty brow of the great Sufferer was crowned with

FENIAN HEROES AND MARTYRS.            193

the diadem of agony. The artist had pictured the drops of blood that oozed from the gashed forehead, the heavy gouts of gore that fell from the hand and foot and side, and the whole eidolon an awful representation of the sacrifice of Calvary. I looked and listened—the supplicant still unconscious of human presence. Low murmurs reached my ear. They were murmurs of prayer and pardon—the prayer of a man about to die with the spirit of a Christian gentleman.' Why should I intrude upon its rapture, its faith and consolation."