The great shame is I'm all out of Guiness.

[Matthew X]

The "Young Ireland Movement," was led by William Smith O'Brian, Thomas 
O'Meagher, John Michell, Terence McManus and Patrick O'Donohue. In the heat 
of the revolutionary year of 1848, their country beset by famine and 
official neglect, they attempted a peaceful coup against British rule. They 
failed, of course, as did others - on both sides of the Anglo-Celtic divide 
- who sought Irish home rule. But one of their lasting achievements was the 
adoption of the tricolor Irish flag - originally given them during a visit 
to Paris as a present by their French sympathizers.
These were not the first revolutionaries - Irish rebellions date back way 
before Oliver Cromwell. But they were the best educated and the most 
articulate of their day, and as "The Great Shame" reveals, the loss of 
their leadership was profound. Transported as state prisoners to Van 
Diemens' Land (modern Tasmania), many of them - most notably Michell and 
Meagher - escaped to the United States. Meagher was the star, rising to a 
Union General during the Civil War, distinguishing himself at 
Fredericksburg and later becoming Governor of Montana. Michell, as if to 
prove that seemingly reasonable people can choose a radically different 
course, plunged into Confederate politics and became a die-hard secessionist.
Hugh Larkin's story serves as something of a prologue to the "Great Shame." 
A "Ribbonman," he was one of the many blue-collar Irishmen whose campaigns 
against the British, however passionate, remained localized to their 
particular home towns. When he journey to Australia, unlike the Young 
Irelanders, was permanent: he became a successful farmer and, after earning 
his freedom, a relatively prosperous New South Wales country merchant. 
Kenneally's own family is descended from him. Even Larkin's story, however, 
has its tragedies, with a wife and a little daughter left behind - there is 
simply no historic trace of the little girl's fate.
The closing chapters of The Great Shame deal with the Fenian Movement, its 
transportation to Western Australia and its own leaders' daring escape to 
America. Keneally also explores the collapse of Gladstone's Home Rule bill 
- and with it the last best hope for a peaceful settlement of Irish 
independence.
This is not only a terrific history of the time, it is a celebration of the 
links which bind four great English-speaking countries: Australia, Ireland, 
Britain and America.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385720262/ref=pd_sim_books/104-0188761-0538340