Editing John Mitchel (section)

==Arrest and deportation==
On 15 April 1848, a grand jury was called on to indict not only Mitchel, but also his former associates on the ''Nation'' [[William Smith O'Brien|O'Brien]] and [[Thomas Francis Meagher]] for "seditious libels". When the cases against O'Brien and Meagher fell through, thanks in part to [[Isaac Butt]]'s able defence, under new legislation the government replaced the charges against Mitchel with [[Treason Felony Act 1848|Treason Felony]] punishable by transportation for life. To justify the severity of the new measures, under which Mitchel was arrested in May, the [[Home Secretary]] thought it sufficient to read extracts from Mitchel's articles and speeches.<ref name="Sir Charles Gavan Duffy">Four Years of Irish History 1845–1849, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. 1888</ref>

Convicted in June by a jury he dismissed as "packed" (as "not empanelled even according to the law of England"), Mitchel was sentenced to be "transported beyond the seas for the term of fourteen years."<ref name="P. A. Sillard"/> From the dock he declared that he was satisfied that he had "shown what the law is made of in Ireland", and that he regretted nothing: "the course which I have opened is only commenced". Others would follow.<ref name="P. A. Sillard"/>

Accommodated as a gentleman rather than as a common criminal,<ref>Russell (2015), p. 62.</ref> Mitchel was carried aboard the sloop [[HMS Scourge (1844)|HMS ''Scourge'']] to [[Ireland Island, Bermuda|Ireland Island]] in the "[[Imperial fortress]]" of [[Bermuda]]. After a year of acute ill health aboard the [[prison hulk]] [[HMS Howe (1805)#Prison hulk|HMS ''Dromedary'']], he was re-embarked for the [[Cape Colony]] on the ''Nautilus''. Once the ''Nautilus'' reached the Cape it was refused docking or supply during the [[convict crisis]] of 1849 and remained anchored off the coast for 5 months before sailing on to the penal colony of [[Van Diemen's Land]] (modern-day [[Tasmania]], Australia)<ref>{{Cite news |title=Why the Famine Irish didn't emigrate to South Africa |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/why-the-famine-irish-didn-t-emigrate-to-south-africa-1.3397555 |access-date=2024-04-28 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> to which O'Brien, Martin, Meagher, and other Young Irelanders, had been transported in the wake of their abortive [[Young Ireland rebellion|July 1848 rising]]. 

Aboard ship, he began writing his ''Jail Journal'', in which he reiterated his call for national unity and resistance. Accepting a [[ticket of leave]] in Tasmania, he and Martin lived together at [[Bothwell, Tasmania|Bothwell]], in a house still known as Mitchel's Cottage. His wife and children joined him in Bothwell in June 1851. In August, they move onto a two hundred-acre farm which they worked with convict labour. While he admitted to "living as peacefully as they ever did in Banbridge", after Meagher broke his parole in January 1852 and reached New York, Mitchel determined to join him.<ref>Russell (2015), pp. 75, 83-85.</ref>
[[File:Ireland Island Woodcut.jpg|thumb|center|upright=1.6|An 1848 woodcut of [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda|HMD Bermuda]], [[Ireland Island, Bermuda|Ireland Island]], Bermuda.]]