So, what about Lalor?
Well, what about Lalor? All this stuff going on, but no sign of him until now. What was he thinking? What was he doing? Well, we don't know, except for what he chose to tell us afterwards. And we have no idea whether or not we can put any faith in his honesty. Just as we most certainly can't with the writings of the Italian "revolutionary" Raffaello Carboni.
It's important to note that Lalor was not a great man for violence. In Ireland, while we don't have any definite information, it seems fairly likely he took part in some of his brother Fintan's activities, and possibly some others. But Fintan was not regarded as a threat to the British, or he would have been executed, or have found himself in Australia before Richard and Peter, unwillingly, probably.
So, although Fintan was sometimes connected to men who wanted to exercise violence, and although Peter may also have had some connections with them, he doesn't seem to have either caused or been involved in any political trouble. It doesn't seem as if he even had any powerful attachment to freedom or independence for Ireland.
When you think of Lalor, you should definitely not picture some kind of left-wing revolutionary for the workers. And the truth of this really peeves the left. Certainly, he seems to have had feelings about peoples' rights to fairness and justice, but his attachment to these concepts could be rather varied and unpredictable.
From this distance, he seems to have been much more of a fairly classic small business person on the make. His involvement in the rebellion seems to have been more of a last minute affair, because those prepared to rebel with violence didn't appear to have a leader prepared to stand with them.
As far as the loonies of the nationalist right is concerned, Lalor was definitely not one of them. He may not have been a leftist revolutionary, but neither was he a nationalist or right-wing revolutionary. It strikes us as quite odd that both the extreme left and the extreme right view Eureka as indicative of support for their insane beliefs. The truth is much more mundane, and so was Lalor.
It's important to note that Lalor was not a great man for violence. In Ireland, while we don't have any definite information, it seems fairly likely he took part in some of his brother Fintan's activities, and possibly some others. But Fintan was not regarded as a threat to the British, or he would have been executed, or have found himself in Australia before Richard and Peter, unwillingly, probably.
So, although Fintan was sometimes connected to men who wanted to exercise violence, and although Peter may also have had some connections with them, he doesn't seem to have either caused or been involved in any political trouble. It doesn't seem as if he even had any powerful attachment to freedom or independence for Ireland.
When you think of Lalor, you should definitely not picture some kind of left-wing revolutionary for the workers. And the truth of this really peeves the left. Certainly, he seems to have had feelings about peoples' rights to fairness and justice, but his attachment to these concepts could be rather varied and unpredictable.
From this distance, he seems to have been much more of a fairly classic small business person on the make. His involvement in the rebellion seems to have been more of a last minute affair, because those prepared to rebel with violence didn't appear to have a leader prepared to stand with them.
As far as the loonies of the nationalist right is concerned, Lalor was definitely not one of them. He may not have been a leftist revolutionary, but neither was he a nationalist or right-wing revolutionary. It strikes us as quite odd that both the extreme left and the extreme right view Eureka as indicative of support for their insane beliefs. The truth is much more mundane, and so was Lalor.