The Wearing of the Green | Page 9

procession moved at an
orderly pace down Winetavern-street, which, spacious as it is, was in a
few minutes absolutely filled with the vast crowds. The procession
again reached the quays, and moved along Wood-quay and Essex-quay,
and into Parliament-street, which it reached at twenty minutes to two
o'clock. Passing down Parliament-street, and approaching the
O'Connell statue, a number of persons began to cheer, but this was
promptly suppressed by the leaders, who galloped in advance for some
distance with a view to the preservation of the mournful silence that
had prevailed. This was strictly enjoined, and the instruction was
generally observed by the processionists. The reverential manner in
which the many thousands of the people passed the statue of the
Liberator was very observable. A rather heavy rain was falling at the
time, yet there were thousands who uncovered their heads as they
looked up to the statue which expressed the noble attitude and features
of O'Connell. As the procession moved along through Dame-street the
footways became blocked up, and lines of cabs took up places in the

middle of the carriageway, and the police exercised a wise discretion in
preventing vehicles from the surrounding streets driving in amongst the
crowds. By this means the danger of serious accident was prevented
without any public inconvenience being occasioned, as a line parallel to
that which the procession was taking was kept clear for all horse
conveyances. Owing to the hour growing late, and a considerable
distance still to be gone over, the procession moved at a quick pace. In
anticipation of its arrival great crowds collected in the vicinity of the
Bank of Ireland and Trinity College, where the cortege was kept well
together, notwithstanding the difficulty of such a vast mass passing on
through the heart of the city filled at this point with immense masses of
spectators. Oil passing the old Parliament-house numbers of men in the
procession took of their hats, but the disposition to cheer was
suppressed, as it was at several other points along the route. Turning
down Westmoreland-street, the procession, marshalled by Dr. Waters
on horseback, passed slowly along between the thick files of people on
each side, most of whom displayed the mourning and national symbols,
black and green. The spacious thoroughfare in a few minutes was filled
with the dense array, which in close compact ranks pressed on, the
women, youths, and children, bearing bravely the privations of the day,
the bands preceding and following the hearses playing the Dead March,
the solemn notes filling the air with mournful cadence. The windows of
the houses on each side of the street were filled with groups of
spectators of the strange and significant spectacle below. With the dark
masses of men, broken at intervals by the groups of females and
children, still stretched lengthily in the rere, the first section of the
procession crossed Carlisle-bridge, the footways and parapets of which
were thronged with people, nearly all of whom wore the usual tokens of
sympathy. Passing the bridge, a glance to the right, down the river,
revealed the fact that the ships, almost without exception, had their
flags flying half mast high, and that the rigging of several were filled
with seamen, who chose this elevated position to get a glimpse of the
procession as it emerged into Sackville-street. Here the sight was
imposing. A throng of spectators lined each side of the magnificent
thoroughfare, and the lofty houses had their windows on each side
occupied with spectators. Pressing onwards with measured, steady pace,
regardless of the heavy rain, the cold wind, and the gloomy sky, the

procession soon filled Sackville-street from end to end with its dense
dark mass, which stretching away over Carlisle-bridge, seemed
motionless in the distance. The procession defiled to the left of the site
of the O'Connell monument at the head of the street, and the national
associations connected with this spot was acknowledged by the large
numbers of the processionists, who, with uncovered heads, marched
past, some expressing their feelings with a subdued cheer. The
foremost ranks were nearing Glasnevin when the first of the hearses
entered Sackville-street, which, at this moment, held a numberless
throng of people, processionists, and spectators, the latter, as at all the
other points of the route, exhibiting prominently the sable and green
emblems, which evidenced their approval of the demonstration. The
hearses slowly passed along, followed by the mourning carriages, the
bands playing alternately "Adeste Fidelis" and the "Dead March," and
then followed the deep column of the processionists, still marching
onwards with unflagging spirit, thousands seeming to be thoroughly
soaked with the rain, which was falling all the morning. Sackville-street
was perhaps the best point from which to get a correct notion of the
enormous length of the procession, and of the great