Cork Examiner 26 May 1848
Rejoicings in Cappoquin for the Liberation of Messrs
Smith, O’Brien, and Meagher.
The announcement was received with raptures and
electrifying enthusiasm. Groups congregated in the streets – people
congratulating each other on the greatest victory ever yet achieved for the
Repeal cause…All business was forgotten in excitement…The United Repealers…at
once proceeded to the Repeal Committee-rooms, and a general illumination was
instantly agreed on. Scarcely a house but was brilliantly lighted, and the windows,
from base to attic, decorated with garlands and boughs. The United Repealers
paraded the streets until a late hour, walking six deep, and preceded by the
Cappoquin band, perhaps deservedly considered one of the best bands in the
south of Ireland, and whose occasional performance on board the ‘Star’ steamer,
is an additional inducement to fashionables from Youghal to view the beauties
of the Blackwater scenery.
[Amongst] the blaze of tar barrels and the
exhilarating and soul-stirring national airs played by the repea band. There
were no shouts- no cheers- no outward manifestations of triumph…It was as if
the hopes and aspirations that filled each bosom were too solemn and sacred for
foolish and unmeaning noise. After parading the streets till a late hour, the
Repealers adjourned to their reading-room, where the band played the ‘Memory of
the Dead’…all [then] separated fully assured that it was truthfully ‘a great
day for Ireland’.
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| Main Street Cappoquin |
