This article, entitled Jacta alea est (the die is cast), appeared in The Nation for 29th July, 1848, and led to the immediate suppression of the paper by the Government. Anything more violent, more inflammatory, more intemperate, could hardly be imagined. The article is couched in the most high-flown style. There is a sentence about "a hundred thousand muskets glittering brightly in the light of Heaven," though where these muskets were to come from, was a problem not touched upon. During the trial of Gavan Duffy, which was adjourned several times, and finally took place in April, 1849, one great point against him was the publication of this article, along with another. The Hour of Destiny, which appeared in The Nation of July 22nd, 1848. Both these articles were by Speranza, and both laid the writer open to a charge of high treason. Mr. Butt, in alluding to them, when making his speech for the defence of Gavan Duffy, said—
"I now hold in my hand a letter from the authoress of these articles, assuring me that Mr. Duffy never saw them before they were published, and that he was in prison at the time. I would not be suffered to give pain to the highly-respectable connections of this lady and to herself, by placing her on the table, but I ask the Solicitor-General as a man of honour, and a man of honour I believe him to be—he knows the lady as well as I do—to contradict my statement if it is not true."
