The Times, 8 November 1878
   RELEASE OF A FENIAN.—By order of the Home Secretary, the last of the Fenian prisoners confined in Great Britain, Michael [sic] Ahearne, has been released from Millbank Prison, after having spent 11 years in penal servitude. No intimation was given to him on the subject previous to his discharge, when he received an order for a sum of money in the Post Office bank in Westminster-bridge-road. For some time past communications on the subject of his release had been passing between the Home Secretary and Mr. Butt, M.P., Mr. O'Connor Power, M.P., and Mr. O'Shaughnessy, M.P., who had seperately made representations to Mr. Cross on the condition of the prisoner's health, and the fact that his father was in a dying state. Ahearne, who is very feeble in health, will be allowed to visit Ireland, and to remain in Great Britain permanently, should he so desire.
Submitted by dja
The Times, 15 November 1878
   THE RELEASED FENIANS.—Last night Mr. O'Connor Power, M. P., addressed a meeting of representatives of the Irish Organizations of London, called by the Political Prisoners Visiting Committee to welcome Messrs. Ahearne and Clancy, who were recently released by order of the Home Secretary, after having undergone 11 years' penal servitude for offences connected with Fenianism. In proposing a resolution of welcome the hon. gentleman congratulated the meeting on the fact that Messrs. Clancy and Ahearne were the last of the patriotic Irishmen who were confined in Great Britain. He attributed their release and that of their colleagues who had proceeded them to the healthy public opinion created, to the revelations of the prison treatment made by the exertions of the committee, the constant attention devoted to their cases by the people of Ireland here and at home, and to the ventilation of the subject in Parliament. The release was a tardy concession to public opinion, which could not atone for the sufferings needlessly inflicted. Two other Irishmen were confined in the United Kingdom for their devotion to the cause for which Messrs. Ahearne and Clancy had suffered, and he was happy to say from communications made by Mr. Lowther, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, he was led to believe that these two, confined in Spike Island, would shortly be added to the list of liberated men. Mr. Clancy, in ackowledging the resolution, in an eloquent address, complained that for a great period of his imprisonment he was treated with much greater severity than the ordinary convict, and he attributed his release and that of his comrades not to any feeling in their favour by the Government officials, but to the feeling of reprobation which had been aroused among his countrymen by the exertions of the Visiting Committee and the advocacy of Mr. O'Connor Power and his friends in Parliament. Mr. Ahearne also expressed his thanks. A considerable sum had been collected by the Irish societies in London for presentation to the released men, whose release occurred before the time originally anticipated, and a committee has been formed for the purpose of holding a public meeting at which Mr. Clancy will be invited to narrate his prison experiences. Mr. Ahearne, who is in exceedingly delicate health, is about to reside for a time in Ireland on a private visit to his family.
Submitted by dja

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