John Martin, Member for Meath, the brother-in-law of John Mitchell,
and his only genuine disciple, died on Monday at Newry.. He was a small landowner of County Down, was educated for the medical profession, and but for John Mitchell would probably have lived and died a benevolent squire, practising medicine among the poor without charge. Mr. Mitchell, however, fascinated him, he made him believe that Ireland would never be righted till she was independent, and turned a quiet, gentle person of no political powers into a furious agitator, who used, it is said, to get horribly puzzled where to find the necessary supply of abuse for the English. He had no venom in him, and had, as it were, to learn hissing. His opinions once imbibed, he never afterwards changed them, and after undergoing ten years' transportation for treason committed in his newspaper the Irish Felon, re- turned to Ireland unchanged, and being sent up to Parliament, used every now and then to say in the pleasantest manner the most outrageous things. The man, however, was so much better than his political creed, he was so transparently honest, and he had such real regard for Ireland, that English Members bore almost anything at his hands, and he died the object of all but politicalrespect. If he had succeeded in his design, and had separated Ireland from England, he would have been trodden down by rougher and less scrupulous men within two years.
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