Farewell to the Irish political prisoner William Smith O'BRIEN

The following is a transcript of a letter dated 4 July 1854 and appearing in the Hobarton Mercury of 8 July 1854. William Smith O'Brien was the leader of the Young Ireland movement. He was transported to Tasmania together with other Irish political prisoners but his life sentence was later commuted and he was pardoned in 1856.

To William Smith O'Brien, Esq.. Dear Sir, -- On the eve of your departure from this colony, we, the undersigned inhabitants of Hobart Town and its vicinity, beg leave to offer you and your companions, Messrs. Martin and O'Doherty, our sincere congratulations upon your restoration to freedom. It affords us pleasure to testify that your sojourn amongst us has been marked by the same high gentlemanly spirit which had previously distinguished your public career. However many of us differ from you as to the merits of the cause which led to your expatriation, we must all respect the purity and disinterestedness of your motives, and admire the fortitude with which you have borne up against the privations which an ardent devotion to what you deemed the interest of your country, entailed upon you. With the fervent hope that-in the enjoyment of freedom and the society of your family and friends-the recollection of all that has been painful and irksome in your captivity may soon be obliterated from your mind,
We remain, dear Sir,
Very sincerely yours, ..............

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