ECOLLECTIONS
OF AN
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GIFT OF
GEORGE C. MAHON, Esq.,
TO THE LIBRARY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN.
:

·
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
OF AN
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952
.P63
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IRISH NATIONAL JOURNALIST.
BY
RICHARD PIGOTT,
LATE PROPRIETOR OF THE IRISHMAN' AND 'FLAG OF IRELAND.'
DUBLIN:
HODGES, FIGGIS, & CO, 104, GRAFTON-STREET.
LONDON:
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., STATIONERS'-HALL COURT.
1882.
SCAUMA
4-26
C
2016-80
PREFACE.
I
DESIGN this unpretending narrative of the chief
political events in Ireland for the past thirty
years to serve as an apology for my life—a wasted,
perhaps, though I would fain hope not altogether a
lost life. All through my career I have endeavoured
to keep my personality apart from my public labours;
my Papers were my platform; and it is now with the
utmost reluctance I come before the public to claim a
hearing, as a duty I owe to myself, in order, by a
recital of my prolonged political experiences, and the
deductions I make from them, to vindicate my mo-
tives, and to explain why it is that my political
opinions have undergone a marked change. I have
nothing to regret : no act to recall: no omission to
make good. I am neither a penitent, a pervert, or a
convert: I am still what I always was-an humble
Irishman, who desires to see his country contented
and prosperous, and its people happy. I think the
way is plain by which these blessings can be
attained, and I do not hesitate to advocate it, not-
withstanding that it is a complete reversal of former
time-honoured methods. But we live in a world of
iv
Preface.
change and rapid progress, and we cannot, even if
we would, stand still. If we are to win, we must
adapt our means to circumstances.
I have written my opinions of men and events with
entire and unreserved frankness. I am, of course,
alone responsible for them; but I know that there are
very many good and patriotic Irishmen who quite
agree with them. At the same time, I have no inten-
tion of disclaiming responsibility for anything I have
written. I have not the remotest pretensions to in-
fallibility in politics, and no one is more sensible.
than I am myself that I have made mistakes of
perhaps some moment; but I claim that they were
errors occasioned solely by excessive anxiety to serve a
cause in the success of which I was, and am, intensely
interested. Having spent, if not wasted, a lifetime in
the advocacy of Irish rights, my only desire is now
to make clear my reasons for conceiving that the
time has arrived for Ireland to make a 'new depar-
ture,' and that in the direction of reconciliation to
England, with self-government still steadily in view,
and more distinct on the horizon of the future than it
has ever been within living memory.
RICHARD PIGOTT.
April 17, 1882.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
'FORTY-EIGHT.'
The Famine of 1847: its Causes. Young Ireland': its Leaders.
John Mitchel on Vitriol. Mitchel's Trial, Conviction, and
Transportation,
CHAPTER II.
INSURRECTION.
PAGE.
The Habeas Corpus Act suspended. The NATION'S Call to Arms.
The Rising. The Ballingarry affair. O'Brien, Meagher, and
others, Transported, .
CHAPTER III.
ΑΝ
INTERLUDE.
The Revived Nation. Mitchel on Duffy. The Irishman. The
Irish Alliance and Democratic Association. A Newspaper
War. Fighting Intelligence.' A Duel that did not come off.
Thomas Clarke Luby,
CHAPTER IV.
'AGITATION.'
Frederick Lucas. The Tenant League. The Brass Band.' The
Treachery of Sadleir and Keogh. Death of Lucas and the De-
parture of Duffy,
I
15
26
41
vi
Contents.
CHAPTER V.
CONSPIRACY.
John Mitchel in New York. The Irish Citizen. Mitchel on Tenant-
right. The Emmet Monument Association. The Precursor of
Fenianism. The Dublin Tribune. The Emigrant Aid Asso-
ciation.' James Stephens,
6
CHAPTER VI.
THE PHOENIX SOCIETY.
Stephens's Tour in 1858. The Irishman. The Phoenix Men. O'Do-
novan Rossa. A. M. Sullivan on Secret Societies. Arrest of
Phoenix Men. The Informer Sullivan, Goula. The Special
Commission,
CHAPTER VII.
A
After Effects of the Young Ireland' Movement. Failure of Legal
Agitation. Evanescent Character of Irish Enthusiasm. Young
Ireland and Fenian Informers. Progress of Ruin,
RETROSPECT.
•
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FENIAN ORGANIZATION.
Origin of the name Fenian. Plan of the Organization. Stephens
Supreme Head of the Brotherhood. His Capacity for Fiction.
The Fenian Oath. Fenians in the American Armies,
CHAPTER IX.
THE M'MANUS FUNERAL.
Death of M'Manus. Removal of his Remains to New York, en route
to Ireland. The Obsequies in New York. Sermon of the Arch-
bishop. The arrival of the Body in Cork. The Dublin Demon-
stration imposing Display,
•
CHAPTER X.
AGITATION.
The Mac Mahon Sword of Honour.
The 'Half-and-half' National-
ists. The National Petition. Sympathy with America. The
Rotundo Meeting. Fenians and Agitators,
PAGE.
•
55
77
91
98
IIO
117
Contents.
CHAPTER XI.
ORGANIZATION.
•
Luby in America. Fenian Funds. The Irish People. Mr. John
O'Leary and Mr. C. J. Kickham. The Fenians and the
farmers. The Chicago Congress. The Secret Resolutions, 125
CHAPTER XII.
WAR.
Prince Albert and Henry Grattan. Mr. A. M. Sullivan and the
Irishman. Engagement between Fenians and Anti-Fenians.
Rout of the latter,
CHAPTER XIII.
PREPARATION.
C
Stephens again in America. The Executive Document. Pagan
O'Leary. Enrolment of Soldiers in the Brotherhood. The
Call for Action. The Cincinnati Convention. Arrival of
American Officers in Ireland. Colonel Kelly and General
Millen,
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE GOVERNMENT COUP.'
Seizure of the Irish People. Arrests of Rossa, Luby, O'Leary,
and others. Their Committal for Trial. Capture of Stephens.
Effect of the news of the Arrests in America,
•
•
•
ESCAPE OF STEPHENS.
Stephens in the Police Court. He repudiates British Law. His
place of Imprisonment. Arrangements for his Escape. The
Escape effected. Consternation of the Authorities. Sir Robert
Peel enraged. Escape of the Liberators of the C. O.I.R. Ar-
rival of Stephens in Paris,
PAGE.
'
vii
138
142
• 157
166
viii
Contents.
CHAPTER XVI.
DISSENSION.
Arrival of Stephens in New York. Split in the Brotherhood.
Another Convention. The Senate Party preparing to invade
Canada. O'Mahony active,
CHAPTER XVII.
·
THE TRIALS.
Thomas Clarke Luby convicted. His 'Speech from the Dock.'
Repudiates the Assassination Charge. Severe Sentence. Trial
of John O'Leary. His Conviction and Sentence,
CHAPTER XIX.
EXIT
PAGE.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE AMERICAN WINGS.'
Further Dissension in the American Organization. Futile Efforts
of Stephens to unite the rival Factions. The Raid on Campo
Bello. The expenses of Moffatt Mansion. Proceedings of
the Senate Party,
STEPHENS.
•
CHAPTER XX.
•
The C.O.I.R.'s Defection. Its Causes. His Exaggerations. False
Charges of his Enemies. His Organizing Power. Causes which
contributed to produce Failure,
•
REBELLION.
The Informer
Preparations for the Rising. Arrival of American Officers in Lon-
don. Godfrey Massey. The Raid on Chester.
Corydon. Arrest of M'Cafferty and Flood.
Kerry. The late Dr. Moriarty on the Rebels,
The Rising in
•
183
190
205
215
223
Contents.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE FIFTH OF MARCH.
Corydon's Treachery. Arrest of Massey. Plan of the Rising in
Dublin. The Affair at Tallaght. Lennon's Adventures. Cap-
ture of Policemen and Police Barracks. Wholesale Capture of
Rebels. The Rising at Cork, Kilmallock, Ballyhurst, Midle-
ton, and Drogheda. Skirmish in Kilclooney Wood. Death
of O'Neill Crowley. More Trials,
CHAPTER XXII.
ANOTHER SPECIAL COMMISSION.
Trial of Burke, Doran, and others. Evidence of the Informers
Massey and Corydon. The Secret Information. Conviction of
Burke and Doran, and Sentence to Death. Burke's Speech
from the Dock,
CHAPTER XXIII.
A FORLORN
The Jacknell' Expedition. Her Voyage across
Lands her Freight of Irish-Americans at Sligo.
Arrest. Trials of Warren, Nagle, and Costelloe.
fusion in the American Organization,
HOPE.
•
CHAPTER XXV.
the Atlantic.
Their prompt
Further Con-
•
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE MANCHESTER RESCUE.
Arrest of Kelly and Deasy in Manchester. Their Examination in
the Police Court. Their Rescue. Death of Policeman Brett.
Escape of Kelly and Deasy. Numerous Arrests. The Trials,
Conviction, and Sentence of the Prisoners to Death. Their
Speeches from the Dock. Efforts to save their Lives. The
Executions,
ix
PAGE.
232
249
256
263
EXASPERATION.
Funeral Processions in Dublin, Cork, and Limerick. Government
Prosecution of Messrs. Martin and Sullivan. Press Prosecu-
tions. Conviction and Imprisonment of the Proprietors of the
Weekly News and Irishman. The 'Holocaust,'
283
X
Contents.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CLERKENWELL.
Disastrous Attempt to rescue Burke and Casey. Clerkenwell Prison
Wall blown down. Awful Effects of the Explosion. Trial,
Conviction, and Execution of Michael Barrett, .
CHAPTER XXVII.
DISESTABLISHMENT.
The National League. Hostility of the Fenians. Mr. Gladstone in
Office. The Irish State Church. The Disestablishment and
Disendowment. A Fenian Victory,
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MORE
TRIALS.
Mackey's Arms Raids. His Arrest, Trial, Conviction, and Sentence.
General Halpin on Trial. His Defence of Himself. Lennon
sentenced,
FENIAN
CHAPTER XXIX.
FRUITS OF CONSPIRACY.
Another Canadian Raid.
General O'Neill again afield. The Skir-
mishing Fund. Valuable Results of the Conspiracy,
CHAPTER XXX.
•
AMNESTY.
PAGE.
•
292
298
305
310
The imprisoned Fenians.
Their cruel Treatment.
Torture of
O'Donovan Rossa. The Devon Commission. Mr. Butt and
Amnesty Movement. Great Meetings. Return of Rossa as
Member for Tipperary,
316
Contents.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE LAND AND EDUCATION.
The Land Bill of 1870. Its Failure. Increased Evictions and
Agrarian Crime. The Westmeath Act. The Press Clauses.
The Question of Education,
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHPATER XXXIII.
HOME RULE.
The Home Government Association.
The Home Rule Plan. Mr.
Mitchell Henry's Explanation. Mr. Butt's Policy. The Na-
tionalists and the Movement,
CHAPTER XXXIV.
•
OBSTRUCTION.
The Home Rule Parliamentary Party. Its Disruption. Mr. C. S.
Parnell in Parliament. Invents Obstruction.' Fenian Opinion
of Parliamentary Policies. Mr. O'Leary on Obstruction and
Parnellite Members. Deposition and Death of Isaac Butt,
ASSASSINATION.
PAGE.
CHAPTER XXXV.
•
The alleged Fenian Assassination Committee. Assassination of a
Policeman. Mr. D'Arcy M'Gee shot dead. The Informer
Talbot assassinated. Trial of Kelly, the alleged Assassin.
The Murder of the Earl of Leitrim,
•
THE LAND LEAGUE.
Origin of the League. Mr. John Devoy, Mr. Parnell, and the
Trustees of the Skirmishing Fund. Mr. Michael Davitt. The
Fenians and the Leaguers. Mr. John O'Leary on the Land
for the People.' Land League Meetings,
xi
A
329
335
348
364
377
xii
Contents.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE LAND LEAGUE UNDER WEIGH.
Return of Mr. Parnell. The Elections. Triumph of the Land
Leaguers. Defeat of the O'Conor Don and the Hon. King-
Harman. Reverses in Enniscorthy and Mayo. The League
and Parliamentary Agitation. The League Conference. The
League Platform.' Michael Davitt in America. Inactivity of
the Actives.' Government Prosecutions. Agrarian Crime,
(
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE LAND BILL.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Arrest of Michael Davitt. Flight of the League Treasurer. The
League Leader alarmed. The Land Bill. Effort of the
Leaguers to obstruct it. The Bill passed. Vain Attempt of
the League to prevent its Working, .
406
-
CHAPTER XL.
THE TIDE AT THE FLOOD.
Arrest of Mr. Parnell and the League Leaders.
The League
proclaimed. The 'No-Rent' Manifesto. Land League Funds.
Coercion in Force. Designs of the League,
CHAPTER XXXIX.
IRISH LEADERS, PAST AND PRESENT.
The Leader of 'Young Ireland.' The Fenian Leaders. Who the
Chief Leaguers are,
•
·
•
LOOKING BACK.
Past Efforts. Decades of Failure. Continuous Concessions. Pre-
sent Prospects,
PAGE.
•
394
414
429
437
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
OF
AN IRISH NATIONAL JOURNALIST.
CHAPTER I.
"FORTY-EIGHT.'
THE FAMINE OF 1847: ITS causes. 'YOUNG IRELAND': ITS
LEADERS. JOHN MITCHEL ON VITRIOL. MITCHEL'S TRIAL,
CONVICTION, AND TRANSPORTATION.
ΜΥ
Y recollections of Irish politics may be said to
date no farther back than the trial and trans-
portation of John Mitchel, in 1848, though I can still
see, as 'through a glass darkly,' the dim shadows of
previous events-some partly illumined by the vivid
light of perfect memory; others barely discernible
through the haze of intervening years. The great
O'Connell was dead; the Repeal agitation practically
a thing of the past; dire famine and an exhausting
exodus had decimated the population; the country
was groaning under the accumulated evils of a pro-
vidential visitation and of arbitrary government: in-
deed, the state of Ireland at that day was a severe
reproach to its rulers, as well as their predecessors.
Discussion as to the causes of the famine of '47 would
now-a-days lead to no good result. Suffice it to say
B
2
Forty-eight.
that there can be no rational doubt that the system
of government had much share in producing it. It
is equally true that when it appeared all England
united in a noble effort to minimise its effect. No
doubt it has been alleged that the famine was the
result of God's providence, and the supposed idle and
unthrifty habits of the people; but if that were so,
it is certain that the divine interposition would have
been more comprehensive, and that not merely the
failure of a single vegetable, but of many, would have
been decreed. The potato failed in many countries,
but there was famine in none of them save Ireland.
The popular belief in Ireland was, that the chief cause
of the famine was British rule. As John Mitchel
wrote, 'The Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight,
but the English created the famine.'
The government of Ireland by the English up to
that time, and long afterwards, might be well de-
scribed, in modern phrase, as being influenced by a
policy of plunder and blunder—both alternating with
unvarying regularity from the date of the yet uncom-
pleted conquest of the island down almost to the
present day. The Irish people have, under that rule,
been kept almost always at starvation point; they
never had, until recently, a chance of becoming pros-
perous, of developing the resources of their country,
or of educating themselves, to enable them to keep up
with the pace at which other peoples were advancing
on the road to civilization and prosperity. During
the first four hundred years after the British invasion
the Irish people were outlawed because they were
Irish. Afterwards, when they were supposed to be
British Misgovernment.
governed by the same laws as the people of England,
they were outlawed, and worse, not because they were
Irish, but because they were Catholics. They were
required to conform to the State religion, under
penalty of the confiscation, by the State, of their pro-
perties and goods, by fines and forfeitures. Under
Cromwell they were punished and plundered as ido-
lators, and because they had been faithful to Charles
I., notwithstanding which the Restoration confirmed
all the plunder of the preceding reign. In time the
tyranny of the Penal Laws was removed; but the
plunder of the people was continued-by the land-
lords-and was in full force before the outbreak of
the famine, and long afterwards.
The one bright spot, in fact, in the dark history of
the British conquest occurred one hundred years from
the present year-in the year 1782-when Ireland had
her Volunteers; her statesmen and orators; her Grat-
tan, emancipating her parliament; her Bushe; her
Flood; her Curran, and other great men and patriots,
who secured for her a brief, but welcome, spell of
liberty and prosperity. Lord Plunket, speaking of
Ireland under her independent legislature, said:-
'Her laws are well arranged and administered, a
constitution fully recognised and established; her re-
venues, her trade, her manufactures, thriving beyond
hope or example of any other country of her extent';
and Lord Clare affirmed that no country in the world
ever made such rapid advance in cultivation and
commerce, agriculture and manufactures, with the
same rapidity in the same time.' But the brief sun-
shine soon faded away: a rebellion, fomented by the
<
3
B 2
4
Forty-eight.
agents of the foreign government, was crushed with
promptness and cruelty. Martial law for the people;
gold for the senate-a bayonet for the patriot who
loved Ireland, and a bribe for the traitor who did
not-led to the Act of Union, in which the charter
of Irish nationality was destroyed.
Ever since, until but the other day, the Irish have
had a hard struggle against want-the first-fruits
of their hard labours going to their landlords-and
famine has been indigenous. Nearly the whole of the
land of the country has been in the hands of people
having no sympathy with the cultivators, except that
of self-interest. Since the union with England Com-
merce followed Capital, and forsook the subject coun-
try. Nothing remained but the produce of the soil.
That produce was sent to England to find a better
market, for rents should be paid; but neither the pro-
duce nor the rent ever returned. The potato failure,
therefore, found the people barely able to support
existence; it was the last straw which utterly bore
them down, and under pressure of which thousands
of them sank into famine graves or fled their native
land. Were it not for landlord plunder they could
easily have sustained the pressure brought upon them
by the deprivation of one description of food; but, as
it was, they were reduced to so helpless a condition
by bad laws, that they fell easy victims to the famine
fiend.
<
It will therefore be readily realised that the leaders
of Young Ireland' had a fertile field in the suffering
and discontent of the people for the growth and fru-
ition of their patriotic purposes. The task they set
Young Ireland.
<
themselves to accomplish was almost hopeless. To
regenerate a land apparently inextricably sunk in an
abyss of slavery was an undertaking of immense dif-
ficulty; the iron of serfdom and suffering had entered
the souls of the people, and it seemed that nothing.
short of a miraculous intervention could raise them
from the apathy into which they had fallen. The
Young Ireland party, at its inception, was an auxiliary
of the Repeal movement-the advanced wing, in fact,
of the forces of Repeal-and at first its mission was
purely educational. It ambitioned to bring a new
soul into Ireland,' by educating the people into a full
perception of the extent of their wrongs under alien
rule, and a perfect knowledge of their rights and dig-
nity as citizens of an enslaved but unconquered nation.
‘To create and foster public opinion in Ireland, and
make it racy of the soil,' was the sole desire of the
Young Irelanders when first they became a power in
political life. They were mostly all young men of posi-
tion and high culture, who were moved by the liveliest
and most generous enthusiasm, and animated by the
loftiest and noblest ambition. They had the confident
hope that in time, when the people had been suffici-
ently educated, they would be enabled to bring about,
if not the liberation of Ireland from British rule, at least
the restoration of the National Senate. They were,
no doubt, quite well aware that they could not over-
throw British rule with poetry, be it ever so fervidly
patriotic, or make a revolution with leading articles;
but these things were necessarily, for a time, almost
their sole reliance. But circumstances precipitated
their action and changed their plans; so that, when
5
6
Forty-eight.
at length they were driven into the contemplation of
revolutionary projects, there was no time for adequate
preparation. When they caught the infection of the
revolutionary fever, which raged all over Europe, in
'48, they resolved to 'dare the hazard of the die,' and
appeal to arms. But beyond sending a deputation to
Paris to Lamartine, the hero of the French Revolu-
tion of '48, to seek the aid of France, they did little
else. The French statesman received the deputation
with politeness, and spoke words of sympathy for their
cause, but firmly declined to precipitate France into
a war with England, in order to liberate Ireland, at
their request. The people were unarmed, and there
was no organized effort made to promptly provide
arms for them. Military lessons were given in the
Nation and United Irishman, but military weapons
-not to say men-were wanted to constitute the
'citizen' army which was to have won freedom for
Ireland. Apparently the people were expected to
encounter the disciplined and splendidly armed and
equipped battalions of England, and overthrow them
with their naked hands. Not even was that anti-
quated weapon the pike, which played so prominent a
part in former Irish emeutes as to cause it to be named
the 'queen of weapons' by some enthusiasts, to be ob-
tained but by a few of the many expectant rebels who
sought them. 'Clubs,' to be sure, were formed, but
they were little better than debating societies, which
held meetings at intervals, and were addressed by
some of the leading Young Ireland orators. There
was, in fact, a total absence of earnest effort to pre-
pare for the serious step which was intended-that of
O'Brien and Mitchel.
7
waging actual war against England in order to obtain
freedom for Ireland-until it was too late.
The chief leader of the movement was Mr. William
Smith O'Brien, an amiable, humane, and highly ho-
nourable country gentleman, of ancient lineage and
considerable property, but about the most incapable
man that could be chosen as leader of a revolutionary
movement which was essentially republican and de-
mocratic in most of its surroundings. He was an
aristocrat, strong and haughty in the pride of his
caste, and a monarchist, and he had a natural repul-
sion to bloodshed. There is no doubt at all that he
never seriously designed actual rebellion, and that
it was only the force of circumstances which drove
him into so desperate and hopeless an enterprise.
Quite a different manner of man was Mr. John
Mitchel, who may be said to have been the only one
of the Young Irelanders whose resolute determination,
and unshrinking persistence in the course he marked
out for himself, made even attempted rebellion at
all possible, and saved the movement from utter deri-
sion. His opinion was that so great were the suffer-
ings of the Irish people, so serious the wrongs they
endured, that a rising, even if unsuccessful, would be
less disastrous than longer peaceful acquiescence in,
and endurance of, the tyranny of alien rule, which had
proved so disastrous in its effects, while it might
be the means of obtaining substantial concessions
from the oppressors. It would be, he foresaw,
quenched in blood, but it might force the rulers of
the country to concede redress, which they would not
yield except under such extreme pressure. With that
8
Forty-eight.
end clearly in view, he set himself resolutely to the
task of inciting the people to rebel. He stood almost
alone amongst all his associates in this determina-
tion, and he was quite aware that in the course he
took he risked the certain loss of his liberty and the
probable sacrifice of his life. His plan was to force
the Government to arrest, prosecute, and imprison
him, and possibly others of the Young Ireland party,
in the expectation that the people would be excited
to 'rise' and come to their rescue. Therefore, as he
said in his 'Jail Journal,' 'he would compel the Govern-
ment to pack a jury to convict him, thereby proving
that there was no constitution in Ireland at all'; and
by thus demonstrating that there was no constitution
in Ireland he hoped to put an end for ever to consti-
tutional and 'moral force' agitation, and to convince
the Irish people that for Ireland's grievances there was
but one remedy- the edge of the sword.' Having
brought the people to that point, his hope was that
the rulers would disarm their hostility, and secure
their friendship by prompt and timely concession. I
am quite sure that he would have vastly preferred in-
dependence, and that he considered that Ireland could
make no sacrifice too extreme in order to obtain it.
But though at times the possibility that there was just
a chance that the connexion with Great Britain might
be severed by force may have occurred to him, yet he
always maintained that until England sustained de-
feat in foreign war, so calamitous as to depose her
for ever from her proud position amongst the nations,
there was not the faintest hope of the achievement of
Ireland's independence by rebellion. This, I feel,
<
Mitchel on Vitriol.
accurately represents Mr. Mitchel's opinions, for it
conveys the impression made upon me by a length-
ened conversation I had with him a short time before
his death.
9
In '48, however, he was the life and soul of the
revolutionary movement, such as it was; and when
he was struck down its failure was inevitable. It is
doubtful, however, if there would have been any
outbreak had not the French revolution occurred.
That event so fired the lively imaginations of the
other Young Irelanders who were not so advanced
as Mitchel, that they found the attraction of his fiery
rhetoric irresistible, and fell incontinently into his
arms. In February, 1848, Mitchel severed his con-
nexion with the moderate Nation, and started the
extreme revolutionary United Irishman.
The writing in the United Irishman was highly
exciting and wildly incendiary. In its pages Mitchel
addressed letters to 'Her Majesty's Executioner-Gene-
ral and General Butcher of Ireland,' bidding defiance
to the power of Great Britain, and generally scolding
the unhappy nobleman to whom they were addressed,
after a fashion which was quite as novel as it was mer-
ciless. The military lessons demonstrated, amongst
other things, the efficacy of vitriol thrown from win-
dows upon troops passing in the streets underneath as
an engine of warfare. The inhumanity of this sugges-
tion having excited unfavourable comment, Mitchel
explained some years later-in the New York Citizen,
January 14, 1854-what he meant, as follows:-""A
Friend" asks us what the English papers mean by
vitriol. We shall tell him:-After the French revolu-
ΙΟ
Forty-eight.
tion of '48 the United Irishman, Mr. Mitchel's paper,
contained an article giving a minute account of the
barricades and street fighting, as practised in Paris:
and amongst other methods adopted by the citizens
for checking the advance of soldiery through the
streets-throwing down furniture and paving-stones,
firing from behind window shutters, etc.--the writer
mentioned that some ladies judiciously sprinkled
some of the advancing troops with vitriol, which was
simply a fact. And we add, the same thing was
done in Berlin, and with wholesome effect. Is our
"Friend" shocked? Foolish friend; read Froissart,
and you will find that melted lead, red-hot sand,
everything that could penetrate the joints of men's
armour, and cause them all varieties of intolerable
agony, were the common means of defence for cities
and towns; and to facilitate these operations, defen-
sive walls were usually built, with projecting machi-
colations. Did our friend ever see congreve rockets
used in the British service, so cunningly devised for
maiming, scorching, scattering blood and brains?
This is all hypocritical trash. In war everything
that will either kill, hurt, burn, or blast an enemy is
good. Bless your innocent heart! vitriol is nothing.
If there had been, as there ought to have been, an in-
surrection in Dublin in 1848, and if the women in
the upper stories could have rained hell fire upon the
enemies of their country, they would have watered
the revolutionary garden until it blossomed like a
rose.' This will show that Mitchel, at least, was not
a 'rose-water revolutionist.'
The Government, it need hardly be said, could not
Mitchel Convicted.
I I
allow such naked instigations to rebellion against
their rule to long continue. But, before taking action,
they passed a special Act of Parliament to enable
them to deal more effectively with Mr. Mitchel, and
his paper, than the ordinary law enabled them to do.
This Act was called the 'Treason-felony Act,' and
constituted all written incitement to insurrection or
resistance to law felony, punishable with transporta-
tion; and it passed through all its stages and became
law in a few days. But Mitchel was not daunted in
the least: he wrote just as furiously as ever against
the Government, and urged as strongly on the people
that in insurrection, successful or not, lay their only
hope of surcease from suffering, and the salvation of
their native land. He was promptly arrested and
placed on trial. On the 26th of May, '48, he was
convicted and sentenced to transportation for fourteen
years. Most of his intimate associates were present
on the occasion, and took up positions as near to
him, as he stood in the dock, as they were permitted
to occupy. Before sentence was pronounced he spoke
a few words, which gained much force from the im-
pressive manner of their utterance.-'My lords,' he
said, 'I knew I was setting my life on the cast. The
course which I have opened has only commenced.
The Roman who saw his hand burning to ashes be-
fore the tyrant promised that three hundred should
follow out his enterprise. Can I not promise for one'
-pointing to Martin-for two-to Reilly' for
three-to Meagher-‘aye, for hundreds?' There
was a wild cheer at the close of this brief speech
and much excitement, until the first Young Ireland
I 2
Forty-eight.
'felon' was taken from the dock to undergo his
sentence.
Now, if there was any possibility of inducing the
good people of Dublin to 'rise' in an attempt to re-
cover their lost liberties, this was the time which, in
accordance with the fitness of things, it should have
been made. The man who had deliberately made
sacrifice of his liberty, in order to induce them to do
so, was about to be taken out of the country and sent
into an ignominious exile. But surely that would not
be permitted without a struggle-an attempt to rescue
one who had made so serious a sacrifice for the gene-
ral good would at least be made? Not at all. At
about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th of
May, 1848, Mitchel was taken from the prison of New-
gate, heavily manacled and fettered, placed in the
police van, which was at once driven rapidly off, sur-
rounded by a few dragoons and mounted policemen,
by a circuitous route to the North Wall, and on his
arrival there was placed on board a Government
steamer-the 'Shearwater'-which was waiting to
receive him, and which put to sea directly he was
placed on board. There was no attempt whatever
to interfere with the progress through the city of
the prisoner and his escort.
At this time I was very young-a mere boy at
school-but a very desperate, if not dangerous, rebel,
and a very violent and foolish patriot. I was one of
a select circle or club of rebels of the average ages of
twelve years or thereabouts, who were solemnly sworn
on 'Enfield's Speaker' to do or die for their beloved
country. We had our meetings, our drillings, and our
Mitchel Transported.
<
parades, just as the children of larger growth, whom
we took for our guides, had theirs; and moreover
we had our armoury, which, however, was occupied
only by some half-dozen ill-fashioned pikeheads,
which were surreptitiously purchased with the pro-
ceeds of a levy on the members in general. These
much-cherished weapons never happily drank Bri-
tish gore,' as they were supposed to be meant to do,
but they performed a more useful, if not quite so ro-
mantic and painful a function. I blush to own it, but
it is a fact, that these terrible implements of war,
intended for the wholesale slaughter of the English
'enemy,' were not long after degraded to serve as
kitchen pokers!
13
Nothing hitherto had so nearly quite blighted our
hopes, wrung our hearts with the bitterest anguish, and
plunged us into the uttermost depths of the deepest
despair, as the degrading and disgraceful fact that the
noble, the uncompromising, the valorous and self-
sacrificing Mitchel should have been permitted to be
removed from his native land to be cast into slavery,
and not a single hand raised to save him. It seemed
to us like a hideous dream, and deep and bitter were
the curses which we heaped upon the city of 'bellow-
ing slaves' and 'genteel dastards'-meaning Dublin
-which permitted our hero and our darling-our
more than guide, philosopher, and friend—to be
taken from us, without even an attempt being made
to rescue him from out of the clutches of his ruthless
enemies.
And it must be admitted that we had some reason
for our wrath, some excuse for our childish petulance.
14
Forty-eight.
Mitchel was devoted heart and soul to the cause
of Ireland. From the day of his birth to that of
his death it may be truly said of him, that he never
faltered in his passionate love for his native land. He
was rarely gifted as a writer. He had few equals in
that respect—no superiors in Ireland; few, if any, in
Great Britain. His style was clear and polished, in-
cisive and strong in the manner in which it enabled
him to convey the full force of his thought and rea-
lization of his meaning. He was, indeed, a man
capable of wielding vast influence over an excitable
people; and the fact that he was-to use his own
words-' kidnapped, and carried off from Dublin in
chains, as a convicted felon,' and not a hand raised
to save him, was quite enough to damp the en-
thusiasm of older and more experienced people than
myself and my youthful co-conspirators.
CHAPTER II.
INSURRECTION.
THE NATION'S' CALL
THE RISING. THE BALLINGARRY AFFAIR. O'BRIEN,
THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT SUSPENDED.
TO ARMS.
MEAGHER, AND OTHERS, TRANSPORTED.
THE
HE inaction that followed the fervour of patri-
otic excitement, which reached its culminating
point when Mitchel was transported, did not long con-
tinue. Soon the insurrectionary movement was again
in full swing. The Nation went in boldly for rebellion,
and the Felon, conducted by John Martin, and the
Tribune, edited by Messrs. Williams and O'Doherty,
followed suit. The 'rising' was now, by general
consent, postponed until the harvest was ripe. The
rebels should be fed, and there would not be the
wherewith to feed them until the harvest was saved.
Once again the fever of active preparation seemed to
be at its height. The 'clubs' held their meetings regu-
larly, and occasionally marched out in military array
to attend meetings at the Rotunda, or Music Hall,
and to listen to the stimulating oratory of the 'Silver-
tongued' Meagher and others of the Young Ireland
orators. They made a brave show on these occa-
sions, but at the same time they displayed a spirit of
meek submission to the 'powers' they intended to no
16
Insurrection.
C
longer allow to be,' which could hardly be expected.
from such enthusiasts. The tyrant's myrmidons'-
the metropolitan policemen that is-were enabled to
break through their serried ranks, and disperse them,
without having to encounter any resistance what-
ever.
It never seemed to occur to the leaders of the move-
ment that the Government would not be assenting
parties to the arrangements made for the 'rising';
it seemed to be taken for granted that they would
wait for the country to 'rise' before taking action,
and that not until the rebels were actually afield
would they make a move. And, no doubt, did the
Government rely solely upon the powers they had
under the ordinary law, there would have been ample
time for preparation. But they knew that they had
only to ask Parliament for exceptional powers to
meet the coming danger to obtain them. Meanwhile
all was delightfully open and above board with the
Young Irelanders; they described their plans, and
disclosed their intentions, with a perfect frankness
which was quite charming in its utter imprudence
and folly. The Government allowed them to go as
far as suited their purpose, and no farther. Then
they put down their foot. On the 22nd of July a
bill suspending the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland
passed through all its stages in the House of Com-
mons, and on the following day through the House
of Lords, and received the royal assent. Proclama-
tions were forthwith issued, offering rewards for the
capture of the Young Ireland leaders. Duffy was
then in prison, waiting trial, and the other leaders
ma
17
rapidly dispersed themselves over the country to head
the rising. The cry was 'to arms, to arms'; but the
arms were not to be had; the tocsin sounded, but
there was no response.
The last number of the Nation published previous
to its suppression proclaimed war to the knife, and
the 'inspired priestess' of the movement-meaning
Speranza,' a poetess of the Nation, now Lady Wilde
-wrote a poem in prose in it which has been said
to be quite unrivalled as a revolutionary incitement.
The following extracts will convey an idea of this re-
markable production:-
'To Arms.'
‘JACTA ALEA EST.
'The Irish Nation has at length decided. England
has done us one good service at least. Her recent
acts have taken away the last miserable pretext for
passive submission. She has justified us before the
world, and ennobled the timid, humble supplication
of a degraded, insulted people into the proud de-
mand for independence by a resolved, prepared, and
fearless Nation.
'Now, indeed, were the men of Ireland cowards if
this moment for retribution, combat, and victory were
to pass by unemployed. It finds them slaves, but it
would leave them infamous.
'Oh! for a hundred thousand muskets glittering
brightly in the light of heaven, and the monumental
barricades stretching across each of our noble streets,
made desolate by England-circling around that
doomed Castle, made infamous by England, where
C
18
Insurrection.
the foreign tyrant has held his Council of treason and
iniquity against our people and our country for seven
hundred years.
'Courage rises with danger, and heroism with re-
solve. Does not our breath come freer, each heart
beat quicker in these rare and grand moments of
human life, when all doubt, and wavering, and weak-
ness are cast to the winds, and the soul rises majestic
over each petty obstacle-each low, selfish consi-
deration—and flinging off the fetters of prejudice,
bigotry, and egotism, bounds forward into the higher,
diviner life of heroism and patriotism-defiant as a
conqueror, devoted as a martyr, omnipotent as a
deity?
'We appeal to the whole Irish nation—is there any
man amongst us who wishes to take one further step
on the base path of sufferance and slavery? Is there
one man who thinks that Ireland has not been suffi-
ciently insulted, that Ireland has not been sufficiently
degraded in her honour and her rights, to justify her
now in fiercely turning on her oppressor? No! A
man so infamous cannot tread the earth; or, if he
does, the voice of the coward is stifled in the clear,
wild, loud-ringing shout that leaps from hill to hill,
that echoes from sea to sea, that peals from the lips of
an uprisen nation-"We must be free!"
'In the name, then, of your trampled, insulted, and
degraded country; in the name of all the heroic vir-
tues, of all that makes life illustrious or death divine;
in the name of your starved, your exiled, your dead;
by your martyrs in prison cells and felon chains; in
the name of God and man; by the listening earth and
،
Jacta Alea cst.'
19
the watching Heaven, I call upon you to make this
aspiration of your souls a deed. Even as you read
these weak words of a heart that yet palpitates with
an enthusiasm as heroic as your own, and your breast
heaves and your eyes grow dim with tears as the me-
mory of Ireland's wrongs rushes upon your soul—even
now lift up your right hand to Heaven and swear—
swear by your undying soul, by your hopes of immor-
tality, never to lay down your arms, never to cease
hostilities, till you regenerate and save this fallen
land.
'Gather round the standard of your chiefs. Who
dares to say he will not follow, when O'Brien leads?
Or who amongst you is so abject that he will grovel in
the squalid misery of his hut, or be content to be flung
from the ditch side into the living tomb of the poor-
house, rather than charge proudly like brave men and
free men, with that glorious young Meagher at their
head, upon the hired mercenaries of their enemies?
One bold, one decisive move. One instant to take
breath, and then a rising—a rush, a charge from the
north, south, east, and west, upon the English garri-
son, and the land is ours. Do your eyes flash-do your
hearts throb at the prospect of having a country? For
you have had no country. You have never felt the
pride, the dignity, the majesty of independence. You
could never lift up your head to Heaven and glory in
the name of Irishmen, for all Europe read the brand
of slave upon your brow.
'Oh! that my words could burn like molten metal
through your veins, and light up this ancient heroic
daring which would make each man of you a Leoni-
C 2
20
Insurrection.
das-each battle-field a Marathon-each pass a Ther-
mopylæ. Courage! Need I preach to Irishmen of
courage? Is it so hard a thing then to die? Alas!
do we not all die daily of broken hearts and shat-
tered hopes, and the tortures of mind and body
that make life a weariness, and of weariness worse
even than the tortures; for life is one slow agony of
death.
'No! it cannot be death you fear; for you have braved
the plague in the exile ship of the Atlantic, and the
plague in the Exile's home beyond it; and famine and
ruin, and a slave's life and a dog's death; and hun-
dreds, thousands, a million of you have perished thus.
Courage! you will not now belie those old traditions
of humanity that tell of this divine God-gift within us.
I have read of a Roman wife who stabbed herself
before her husband's eyes to teach him how to die.
These million deaths teach us a grand lesson. To die
for Ireland! Yes; have we not sworn it in a thousand
passionate words by our poets and orators-in our
grave resolves of Councils, Leagues, and Confedera-
tions? Now is the moment to test whether you value
most freedom or life. Now is the moment to strike,
and by striking save, and the day after the victory it
will be time enough to count our dead. . . . .
'Nothing is wanting now to complete our regenera-
tion, to ensure our success, but to cast out those vices
which have disgraced our name among the nations.
There are terrible traditions shadowing the word
Liberty in Ireland. Let it be our task, men of this
generation, descendants of martyrs, and sufferers, and
heroes, to make it a glad evangel of happiness—a
The Rising.
reign of truth over fiction and symbols-of intellect
over prejudice and conventionalism—of humanity
over tyranny and oppression. Irishmen! this resur-
rection into a new life depends on you; for we have
lain dead. Hate, distrust, oppression, disunion, self-
ishness, bigotry-these things are death. We must
crush all vices-annihilate all evil passions—trample
on them, as a triumphant CHRIST with his foot upon
the serpent, and then the proud hallelujah of freedom
will rise to heaven from the lips of a pure, a virtuous,
a regenerated, a God-blessed people; and this fair
land of ours, which now affrights the world with its
misery, will be one grand temple, in which we shall
all kneel as brothers-one holy, peaceful, loving fra-
ternity-sons of one common country-children of one
GOD-heirs together of those blessings purchased by
our blood—a heritage of freedom, justice, indepen-
dence, prosperity, and glory!'
But this splendid rhetoric fell flat; it quite failed
to excite the people to revolt. Nevertheless Smith
O'Brien 'took the field.' He wandered aimlessly
about the counties of Kilkenny and Tipperary, with
a bodyguard of unarmed peasants, for a few days,
until he came into collision with a party of police
in the village of Ballingarry. The sequel has been
told by John Mitchel in the following characteris-
tic fashion-but without exaggeration-with, in fact,
perfect truth:-'A very estimable and worthy gen-
tleman goes with three or four attendants (who are
wholly unknown to the people they go amongst),
into the counties of Kilkenny and Tipperary, and
there tells several persons they are to rise in insurrec-
21
22
Insurrection.
tion under his guidance, and free the country.
He
has no money, this gentleman, to pay troops, no
clothing or arms to give them, no food to keep them
alive. He just exhibits a pike, and bids them follow
him and free the country. Well, the people are desi-
rous enough to free their country; let them be but
half armed, half clothed, and one quarter fed, and
they will show what mind they are made of. But
this abrupt proposal of the worthy gentleman takes.
them by surprise. Very few of them have any arms.
at all for fifty years it has been the constant policy
of the hostile government to disarm them, and twenty
Arms Bills have been enacted since the Union, with
that special purpose. And as if that were not enough,
all the influence of the constitutional agitators, and in
a great measure of the priests also, have been exerted
to make the use of arms appear a sin against God.
Now this is not the sort of people-so debased, so
benighted and reduced to a beastly helplessness-
that you can expect to rise en masse on a call to
arms, be their slavery as intolerable, their wrath as
deadly as you will.'
D
And they did not rise. The few policemen took
refuge in a farm-house; the rebels dispersed, and
Smith O'Brien found himself deserted, save by a few
friends. Doheny's 'Felon's Track' gives fuller de-
tails of what has been scornfully described as a battle
in a cabbage garden, as follows :—
'The last time O'Brien had any considerable party
together was at Ballingarry, where forty-five armed
police had barricaded themselves in a strong stone
house, under the command of a certain Captain Trant,
The Ballingarry Affair.
who certainly had the long-expected warrant to ar-
rest O'Brien, but who was afraid to execute it until
the arrival of some further reinforcements. O'Brien
went to one of the front windows, and called on Cap-
tain Trant to surrender. Trant demanded half an
hour to consider, and got it. During this half hour
some of the crowd had thrown a few stones through
the windows; and Captain Trant, seeing that the
people could not be controlled much longer by
O'Brien, gave orders to fire. O'Brien rushed be-
tween the people and the window, climbed upon the
window, and once more called on the police to sur-
render. At the first volley from the house two men
fell dead, and others were wounded; and the crowd
on that side fell back, leaving O'Brien almost alone
before the house. At the other side Stephens* and
MacManus had been collecting some straw and piling
it against the door, with the intention of burning the
place, and forcing the police out. But when O'Brien
learned what they were about he peremptorily for-
bade them to set fire to it. In the meantime some
priests made their appearance, and exhorted the peo-
ple to go home and leave O'Brien to his fate: then,
shortly after, sixty additional police marched up and
relieved Captain Trant.'
His associates fared no better in other directions ;
nowhere could they induce the people to rise at their
call. In a few days after Smith O'Brien was taken
prisoner at the railway station in Thurles; Meagher,
with Maurice R. Leyne and Patrick O'Donoghue, were
* This was James Stephens, the founder of Fenianism.
23
Q
24
Insurrection.
arrested on the road from Holycross to Tipperary;
and Dillon, O'Gorman, Doheny, and others of the
leaders, effected their escape to America. A few un-
concerted attempts were made in Munster to awaken
the insurrectionary spirit by O'Mahony and Savage,
Brennan and Grey, but they all failed.
A Special Commission was the next scene of this
pitiful drama; but, as I am not writing a history of
Young Ireland, I will not do more than record the fact
that the trials resulted in the conviction of O'Brien,
Meagher, MacManus, Martin, and O'Doherty, who
were sentenced to death, but had their sentences after-
wards commuted to transportation for life. Duffy was
three times brought to trial, but the jury having disa-
greed on each occasion, the prosecution was aban-
doned, and he was set at liberty. A large number of the
members of the Confederate Clubs were also arrested
under the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, but were
not long detained in prison. So ended Young Ire-
land. I will not undertake to say that it brought a
new soul into Ireland'; but there can be no doubt,
at all events, that it produced one man in John
Mitchel whose teaching had a powerful influence in
directing the subsequent political struggles in Ire-
land into unconstitutional channels. That it also
produced a number of young men of brilliant genius
whose writings, in prose and verse, rescued the na-
tional literature from the approaching extinction with
which British centralization threatened it-though
Ireland, oppressed and suffering, would not rise at
their bidding; and that, above and before all, it
greatly intensified Irish disaffection to British rule,
abd
End of Young Ireland.
and made the breach between Ireland and its rulers
still wider, also cannot be controverted. But it
furthermore demonstrated the impossibility for
the time being at all events-of freeing Ireland by
force.
P
25
CHAPTER III.
AN INTERLUDE.
THE REVIVED 'NATION.' MITCHEL ON DUFFY. THE 'IRISHMAN."
THE IRISH ALLIANCE AND DEMOCRATIC ASSOCIATION.
NEWSPAPER WAR. 'FIGHTING INTELLIGENCE.'
DID NOT COME OFF. THOMAS CLARKE LUBY.
A
A DUEL THAT
OON after Mr. Duffy's liberation from prison, after
the abortive Government prosecution against
him, he revived the Nation. Associated with him
were Mr. Maurice R. Leyne, Mr. John Cashel Hoey,
Mr. Edward Butler, and Mr. George Fuller-young
gentlemen who, with the exception of the first-named,
were unknown in the political world, but who after-
wards attained distinction in that and other walks of
life.
<
In reviving the Nation Mr. Duffy distinctly stated
that he no longer advocated rebellion, or indeed
anything more than a revival of that moral force and
constitutional agitation which John Mitchel so sternly
reprobated. We cannot fight,' he said; the means
and opportunity have vanished; we must conquer
our rights in detail; we permitted nothing to mature,
but stretched out our hand for the ripe fruit before
the blossom had fallen. But nature will not be hur-
ried; and so, after agitation, education, organization
and war, we must begin all over again.' The duty
The Nation' Revived.
،
27
of the hour he thought was to endeavour to bring
about a union between the Irish people and a section
of the English people who wanted to see the oli-
garchy shorn of their inordinate powers, and a small
proprietary created, and who were anxious to pull
down the English Church Establishment in Ireland as
a monstrous wrong. He suggested a programme for a
national association, which was to comprise :-1. An
attempt to found an Irish plantation with Irish
money for Irishmen; 2. To form agricultural colonies.
on estates purchased under the Incumbered Estates
Act; 3. Possible handicrafts and manufactures to be
fostered and sustained; 4. The making of rude fabrics
for home use in the rural districts to be promoted;
5. To induce America to encourage Irish manufac-
ture; 6. To encourage the purchase of small properties.
in fee by Irish-Americans who had amassed money,
could they be persuaded to return home for that
purpose; 7. To encourage Irish fisheries; 8. The
establishment of industrial schools in the workhouses;
9. Self-help to be inculcated-'I believe,' wrote Mr.
Duffy, we have never yet taken possession of our
country, and this feat remains yet to be achieved';
10. Emigration and enlistment in the British army to
be discouraged. 'Is the generous, sensitive Celtic
nature,' he asked, not fit for some finer task than
sweating under the negro work of Europe and
America, toiling in the grey jacket of a navvy, or
marching in the red jacket of a mercenary soldier?'
<
This comprehensive scheme for an agitation, it
need hardly be said, found no favour whatever with the
extreme politicians, who cherished the teachings of
I.
28
An Interlude.
the more advanced of the Young Irelanders, and whose
political gospel was that taught by the exiled Mitchel.
That gentleman himself could not conceal the con-
tempt and scorn in which he held Mr. Duffy, be-
cause of what he called his 'recreancy.' Duffy had,
moreover, incurred the wrath of Mitchel for having
permitted evidence of character to be given on his
trial, and also for allowing a petition to be presented
to the Government for his release. In his Fail Four-
nal Mitchel wrote:- Why could not Mr. Duffy have
made ballads in some quiet place all his days? As if
purposely to relieve his enemy from all embarrass-
ment in their "vindication of law," he has allowed a
petition to Government to be got up, very extensively
signed, praying that, as he is totally ruined, as he
has already been long confined, as he is an admirable
private character, as his health is delicate, as the
violent and revolutionary articles in his paper ap-
peared during a period of great excitement, and ex-
tended over but a few weeks, the enemy would, of
their mercy, forbear to prosecute him further-the
very thing they wished to have any decent excuse
for. I say he has allowed this petition, because the
petitioners could not make implied promises of amend-
ment without his sanction, and especially since he
has not disowned the mean proceeding. It is quite
in keeping with his miserable defence upon his last
trial, his production of evidence to character, his
attempt to evade the responsibility of articles pub-
lished by himself. Sir Lucius O'Brien, too, who
presents this memorial to Lord Clarendon, takes oc-
casion to admit the "fault" of the culprit. With
Mitchel on Duffy.
what joy the enemy must gloat upon this transaction,
and exult over us and our abandoned cause. .. Yet
one cannot be angry with Duffy, who need not have
been expected to get himself hulked for any principle,
object, or cause whatever. Duffy never could sustain
life without puffery; the breath of his nostrils was
puff, and these teak timbers are no flatterers. .
You cannot get out of any man what is not in him;
but yet this grovelling of Duffy's is a bitter dis-
appointment to me. He had a grander opportunity
than anyone amongst us; and now he will let the
"Government" march off the field with some sem-
blance of having still a rag of law and constitution to
cover them, when he might have torn off every shred,
and shown them as they are-an armed garrison,
ruling a hostile country at the bayonet's point.'
These strictures, it should be observed, though written
by Mitchel in his Journal when the news of Duffy's
release reached him, were not published for some
considerable time after that event.
•
29
Mr. Duffy defended himself with spirit against this
attack of his quondam political associate. He held
that he only followed the course, on his trial, pursued
by O'Brien, Meagher, and Martin on theirs-that they
also had given evidence as to their political princi-
ples-and he accused Mitchel of having broken his
parole, when he escaped from Australia. Thereupon
ensued an unpleasant controversy, the effect of which
was to cause an estrangement between the two men,
which endured, in spite of many efforts of mutual
friends to effect a reconciliation, as long as Mitchel
lived.
30
An Interlude.
The new Nation, if it did not succeed in originating
any great popular movement, at all events endea-
voured to keep up the hearts of the people with hope-
ful anticipations of the future. During the lull in
the political world which intervened between the re-
appearance of the Nation and the commencement
of the agitation for the repeal of the Ecclesiastical
Titles Act, and that for the reform of the Land Laws,
conducted by the Tenant League, the readers of the
Nation had healthy mental nourishment provided for
them, and were enlivened occasionally by such a
divertisement as the following:-
In January, 1849, when Mr. Duffy was still awaiting
trial, the first number of a paper called the Irishman,
identical in size and appearance-the same, in fact, in
almost everything but name—with the suppressed Na-
tion was issued from the same office, No. 4, D'Olier-
street, in which the Nation had been published. The
proprietor of this paper was Mr. B. Fullam, who had
been Mr. Duffy's business manager; and he had the
able aid of a number of young students of Trinity
College, who were emulous, no doubt, of the fame won
by the Young Irelanders. The editor was Mr. Durham
Dunlop, who also conducted an evening paper of mo-
derate politics, and his chief associates were Mr. Wm.
Dunbar, then a student of Trinity, but afterwards pro-
prietor of a well-known sporting paper in Dublin; Mr.
W. Heazle, also at that time a College student, since
then proprietor of a collegiate school' in the city;
Mr. Joseph Brennan, a Young Ireland poet, who
went to America in '50, and died there while still
quite a young man; and another Trinity College
C
The Irishman.'
31
man, who was then working hard as a 'grinder,' but
who afterwards won a high position at the bar, repre-
sented an Irish city in Parliament, and is now an
honoured occupant of the Irish bench. On this paper
it was that I commenced my career as a journalist, in,
however, a very humble position, being then very
young.
The Irishman was well written, and went as far in
the direction of advocating Mitchel's policy as it was
safe to do in those days. I believe there is little
doubt that the proprietor was obliged to give a pledge
to the Viceroy that the paper would not teach revo-
lutionary doctrines, before it would be permitted to
appear. Commercially, however, it was not a suc-
cess: the brief revolutionary fever had subsided, and
the period of prostration-the inevitable result of
the reaction which succeeds excitement, political and
non-political—which followed was not propitious for
an attempt to propagate ideas which had been put to
the test of trial in a limited way, and found imprac-
ticable. The paper was nine months in existence
when the new Nation appeared, and, as might be ex-
pected, it soon fell foul of its formidable rival and its
proprietor. Mr. Duffy had formed a society called
the Irish Alliance,' for the inculcation of the sen-
timental nationalism which the Young Irelanders
originated, which met, however, with but moderate
success, and Mr. Fullam replied by starting the
'Democratic Association,' a combination with aims.
almost entirely socialistic and revolutionary an
association which adopted the rallying cry of the
land for the people,' made so familiar to our ears
<
<
32
An Interlude.
now-a-days by the Land Leaguers. A 'plank' of its
'platform' was:-'The land of Ireland for the pea-
sant—a peasant proprietary in fee must be, and, with
the help of heaven, will shortly be, planted in our
little island.' The Alliance men, as a matter of
course, denounced the Democrats as anarchists and
worse, and the latter retorted by describing their
assailants, in the words of their president, as 'purse-
filling, loyal, and constitutional-peaceful-struggling,
golden-link-of-the-Crown politicians.'
In the course of the dispute between these societies
the Democrats were sustained by the late Mr. Fergus
O'Connor, of Chartist celebrity. Their association
had pushed its organization into some of the large
cities and towns of Great Britain, and endeavoured
to enlist the co-operation of the English democrats,
in which it was so far successful as to secure the
advocacy of Reynolds's Newspaper. Mr. O'Connor
wrote strongly against Mr. Duffy and the Nation.
In a letter published in his paper, the Star, he
wrote:-'I consider myself justified in exposing the
real crime of which Mr. Fullam has been guilty; it
is this: Duffy, when emancipated from his prison,
attempted to make a pecuniary, and not a national
point of his martyrdom. He abandoned the policy
which before incarceration he advocated; he deserted
the party he led on to fury, and Bernard Fullam's
crime was, that, in the very birth of danger, where
the law's strength and power were capable of brand-
ing any man as a criminal, he boldly filled up the gap
and rushed to the rescue of his country. I am some-
thing of a physiognomist, and you should see those
Irish Alliance' -'Democratic Association."
<
33
two men to enable you to judge of their courage and
their intellect. Duffy resembles a hedgehog standing
ɔn his hind legs, while Fullam looks like a game cock
spurred for the pit; in fact it is as much from my per-
sonal knowledge of Fullam, as from the boldness with
which his paper is conducted, that I have formed my
ɔpinion of him.' This is not bad in the way of invec-
ive, but it could not compare with other choice spe-
cimens of abusive language imported into this con-
roversy by the combatants on both sides. For
nstance, a democrat wrote:-'Duffy is an infamous
hell-born liar; a cowardly dog; a man of no principle;
levoid of the smallest scintilla of honour, manhood,
›r honesty,' and soforth.
The Nation for some time stood on its dignity and
ook no notice of its assailants. At length, however,
one of its contributors, Mr. Maurice R. Leyne, a young
relander who was arrested along with Meagher in
48, took up the cudgels for the Alliance, and the
Vation, and then-then indeed there were 'wigs on the
green.' Leyne wrote an article in the Nation in which
he asserted that Fullam, the proprietor of the Irish-
nan, 'dishonestly made use of Mr. Duffy's name in
he establishment of the Irishman; that the first edi-
or resigned his position on that account, and that he
Fullam) made actual personal supplication to Lord
Clarendon.' Whereupon the Democratic Association.
alled a meeting and passed a resolution calling upon
Mr. Leyne to attend another meeting of that body, and
produce the proofs of his charges, which he stated.
e was prepared to furnish if called on.
Mr. Leyne
leclined the invitation, but proposed to submit his.
D
34
An Interlude.
proofs to the consideration of a jury composed of an
equal number of the members of the Democratic As-
sociation and of the Irish Alliance. But the demo-
crats would not consent to this. Mr. Leyne then
printed his proofs in the Nation, but I am bound to
say they did not appear to be conclusive.
The Irishman meantime had published a reply to
Mr. Leyne's article, in which that gentleman was de-
nounced as a coward in '48,' and it was asserted
that he (Leyne) bartered for sale the cause of Ire-
land with the national Reform Association, in the
present year'; Leyne thereupon demanded the name
of the writer, in order that he might inflict summary
punishment upon him. The writer was not slow to
reveal himself, and he appeared in the person of Mr.
William Heazle, an Irishman contributor. Then en-
sued all the preliminary steps necessary, according
to custom, to bring about a hostile meeting between
the two gentlemen, which were duly recorded in the
Freeman's Journal, under the taking heading of
'Fighting Intelligence,' in the merry month of May,
1850.
(
-
<
First we have the letter from Mr. W. Heazle to Mr.
M. R. Leyne, stating that he was the author of an ar-
ticle, Allies for the Alliance,' which appeared in the
Irishman. Then it is related how Mr. George Fuller
-another writer in the Nation-waited on Mr. Heazle
at his rooms in Trinity College, 'Botany Bay Square,'
on the part of Mr. Leyne, to demand either a retrac-
tation of the opprobrious term applied by that gentle-
man to his principal, and of the odious charge made
against him, or the satisfaction of a gentleman.'
Fighting Intelligence.
35
<
Fuller tells how, after an unsuccessful attempt to see
Heazle, he at length succeeded, and found him just
arisen from bed and in his shirt sleeves.' Mr. Fuller
at once proceeded to business, and stated briefly the
purport of his visit. Heazle, Fuller said, admitted
that he was the author of the article, but said he
wrote of Leyne as a public man, and that he did not
intend any reflection on his private character. Fuller
then demanded a written retractation and apology,
which Heazle refused to give. Then the former re-
quested the latter to name a friend. Heazle declined,
stating, according to Fuller, that this would result in
a duel, and that he would be expelled from College-
that is, I suppose, unless he was shot. That, wrote
Heazle to Leyne, settled the question. I cannot
allow you to take any further notice of the man in
the matter.' Leyne then wrote to Heazle :-
'ANNEVILLE LODGE,
'RANELAGH, Sunday.
'SIR,-My friend Mr. Fuller has communicated to
me the result of the interview with you, the nature of
which you could not fail to understand. You de-
clined to retract the gross calumnies you have written
against me. You declined to give me the satisfac-
tion such outrage demands. You avow the act, and
shrink from the responsibility. It now remains for
me, in repelling your slanders, to stigmatise you.
**** (The stars, no doubt, representing some aw-
ful bad language, which the Freeman was too modest
to print.)
'MAURICE R. LEYNE.'
D 2
36
An Interlude.
But the end was not yet. About 2 o'clock on Sa-
turday, Mr. Fuller writes, two gentlemen, Messrs.
Dunbar and Murray, called upon him on behalf of
Mr. Heazle. He declined to see them, as he con-
ceived the matter was at an end. At half-past seven
on the same evening, while Mr. Fuller was enter-
taining a party of friends after dinner-Mr. Leyne
was amongst them, and happened to be standing for
a moment at the window and was visible from the
street-Mr. Heazle in person, with Mr. Dunbar,
appeared at the door demanding admittance, which
being accorded, he and his friend entered the dining-
room. Addressing Mr. Leyne violently, according to
Mr. Fuller's statement, Mr. Heazle demanded that he
(Leyne) should receive from him a note in reply to the
dreadful letter which the Freeman published, with
stars in place of language not fitted for ears polite.'
Mr. Leyne declined, and referred to Mr. Fuller, who
also refused to receive the note, and requested Mr.
Heazle to retire. But Mr. Heazle read the letter aloud,
which, said Mr. Fuller, corroborated the version he
(Fuller) had already given of the grounds upon which
Mr. Heazle had refused to name a friend, viz., that a
'principal or second in a duel was liable to expulsion
from Trinity College.' Then Mr. Heazle put the letter
in his pocket, and proposed to refer Mr. Fuller to his
friend Mr. Wyse. Mr. Fuller remarked on the singu-
larity of naming a friend after having refused at 'the
proper time and in the legitimate manner,' to name
any friend. Mr. Heazle then professed himself ready
to meet Mr. Leyne or Mr. Fuller in half an hour,
whereupon Mr. Fuller 'showed the gentleman out.'
w
A Duel that did not come off.
Now for Mr. Heazle's version of the weighty nego-
tiations between two gentlemen who professed to be
thirsting for each other's blood, but who were so punc-
tilious as to refuse, in turn, to engage in the mortal
combat which they courted, unless in the regular way
-that is, according to the rules of society regulating
such encounters. He could not, he said, name a
friend when Mr. Fuller called on him to request him
do so, because none but a College-man was then
available, and, were such an one selected, he would
incur the penalty of expulsion for engaging in a duel.
But he said that, in Fuller's presence, he sent off to
the Irishman office for a friend, and when he had pro-
cured one, both proceeded to Mr. Fuller's lodgings,
and having found that gentleman at home, expressed
his willingness to give Mr. Leyne the satisfaction
he desired. The same evening he received a note
from Mr. Leyne calling him a coward, whereupon he
started off in search of that gentleman, and discovered
him-as related by Mr. Fuller-at Mr. Fuller's lodg-
ings. I offered,' said Mr. Heazle, 'on the spot, to
give Mr. Fuller or Mr. Leyne any satisfaction they
required. They declined. I branded both as equivo-
cators, who had taken advantage of a quibble to make
a newspaper duel, and left their presence with the
feeling that an honourable man entertains towards
wilful ****
(Here the quite too decorously proper
Freeman makes stars do duty for the exciting, if
unseemly, epithets which, without doubt, were em-
ployed). I have this morning,' said Leyne in con-
clusion, 'posted both those persons, and consider that
no honourable man can henceforward look upon
37
38
An Interlude.
I
either as entitled to any satisfaction whatever.'
have no idea in what this social punishment of 'post-
ing' consists, but doubtless it is very terrible.
Mr. Fuller further stated that during his absence
from home on Monday evening, he learnt that a
car had driven up to his door, loaded with six or
eight men (some of rough exterior), who clamo-
rously insisted on seeing him. Mr. Heazle was of
the party, and also a low fighting man, well known
to the police.' They were refused admission. They
again came, and left the following note with the
servant :
'MR. FULLER,-You have grossly and wantonly
misrepresented me in to-day's Freeman. I have
called at every place where I could possibly expect to
find you, or Mr. Leyne, with the full determination of
horsewhipping you, which I am determined to do at
the first opportunity, as neither of you thought fit to
accept my challenge of last night.
'WILLIAM HEAZLE.'
With the declaration from Mr. Fuller that he
would hand Mr. Heazle over to the police should he
again trouble him, ends the history of this tremendous
duel that did not come off.
I have given thus fully the details of this childish
quarrel as an illustration of the quietude and stag-
nation prevailing in Ireland in things political in
the interval between the re-issue of the Nation and
the commencement of the more active business of
constitutional agitation, which it was intended to
Thomas Clarke Luby.
revive. It can readily be understood that when so
much was made of so silly an affair-so mighty a
storm in so puny a tea-cup-the other events which
transpired were singularly unexciting. And so it
was; neither the lofty heroics of the Irishman, or
the more cautious incitements of the Nation, could
induce even a partial revival of the feverish political
excitement of the previous year. The Irishman, I
grieve to have to record, did not long survive its
quarrel with the Nation-on 25th May, 1850, its last
number appeared, its proprietor modestly announcing
that if he received 3000 quarterly subscriptions, paid
in advance, he would resume the publication of his
paper. The subscriptions were not forthcoming, how-
ever, and the Irishman was permitted to 'go over to
the majority,' to be succeeded, however, by another
Irishman, some years later, which was destined to
enjoy a much longer lease of life.
In addition to the writers whose names I have
mentioned as contributing to Fullam's Irishman, was,
so far as my memory serves me, Thomas Clarke
Luby, who afterwards occupied so prominent a
place in the history of Irish revolutionary move-
ments. At all events, it was about this time that
I became acquainted with him. He was then not
over young. The son of a Protestant clergyman, he
resigned fine prospects of preferment which would
have been his had he entered the Church, in order to
serve his country. He was well educated and clever.
If ever there lived a man who was devoted with all
the powers of heart and soul to the regeneration of
Ireland, it was Thomas Clarke Luby. He led a life
39
40
An Interlude.
of much privation; often, to my own knowledge, was
he within measurable distance of actual destitution.
And he had only to renounce his political opinions to
be placed in such a position that he could have rea-
lized not merely a certain competence, but a substan-
tial fortune. But he would never, as he used to say,
'desert the ship,' and he has been true to his resolve.
And yet, with all his patriotic devotion and great
ability, he was entirely wanting in the most neces-
sary qualifications of a leading conspirator. He
lacked prudence; was impulsive to the verge of rash-
ness, and sadly devoid of not merely administrative,
but ordinary business capacity. Soon after this he
went to Australia, but returned after a few years, in
time to take part in the formation of the Fenian
conspiracy.
CHAPTER IV.
'AGITATION.'
FREDERICK LUCAS. THE TENANT LEAGUE. THE 'BRASS BAND.'
THE TREACHERY OF SADLEIR AND KEOGH.
DEATH OF LUCAS
AND THE DEPARTURE OF DUFFY.
THE
HE Irishman dead, the constitutional agitators
had a fair field to carry on their operations. Soon
after the stoppage of that paper I became connected—
in a subordinate position-with the Tablet, the great
Catholic organ-which had a short time previously
been transferred from London to Dublin. Its proprie-
tor, Mr. Frederick Lucas, was a prominent figure in
the agitations of this period. A kinder-hearted, more
generous, more honourable, more honest, or more lov-
able man one does not often meet. He was one of
those large-hearted Englishmen who, knowing Ire-
land, come to love its people and sympathise with
their sufferings-who become in truth more Irish
than the Irish themselves. To know Lucas indeed
was to love him as a man, as a true patriot, as a pure
humanitarian with sympathies for suffering humanity
boundless as the limitless ocean.
The following extract from a letter which he wrote
to a friend in London, just after his return as Member
of Parliament for the County of Meath, in 1852, when
42
Agitation.
he defeated the son of the great Henry Grattan-the
return of the poll being: Lucas, 2004, Corbally, 1968,
Grattan (the defeated candidate), 565-shows how
deeply he loved Ireland, and how, thus early, his sim-
ple honesty and straightforwardness made enemies
for him amongst the professing patriots whose patriot-
ism was of the pocket; who were only too happy to
have a country to sell-and who sold it:-'This
whole business of M. P., with the weight, duties, and
difficulties of it, by anticipation, almost presses me to
the earth. Often and often I wish I could wash my
hands of it. Why? Not from false modesty assur-
edly. I think if I were an English Protestant, taking
my stand in the ranks of either Whig or Tory, upon
the recognised principles and ideas of either of those
parties, I could discharge my duties in a very tole-
rable and creditable manner. Even then I should be
nervous and anxious about success, because such is
my nature. But, in fact, I go into the House of Com-
mons to stand (I fear) alone—a member of an un-
popular minority-an unpopular member of that
minority, and disliked even by the greater number
of the small party with which I am to act—and hav-
ing cast upon me, in a prominent manner, the de-
fence of the two noblest causes in the world: that of
a religion, which it requires great learning to de-
fend properly, and that of the most ill-treated and (in
all the essential qualities of heart and character) the
noblest population that ever existed on the face of
this earth. I am very poorly and hurriedly describ-
ing to you what it is that weighs me down. But I
think you will understand me.
It remains
Jak
Frederick Lucas.
to be seen and tried whether I can hold as true to my
convictions in Parliament as I have done in the Press
—and I am sure that, with my many weaknesses of
character, this will be utterly impossible, without a
special grace of Almighty God to save me from total
extinction. You will laugh, perhaps, at my calling
the Irish people the "finest peasantry in the world."
But the intercourse I have had with them has left on
my mind a very strong impression, that there is not
in this world a people-I refer to the unsophisticated
portion of the country people-for whom a man of
any heart or conscience would sooner lay down his
life. The wrongs they continue to endure fill me with
a passionate indignation, which I hardly know how
either to express or repress; and I would give every
hope I have in this world to alleviate them but a little.
I fancy that a man who enters the House of Com-
mons with these feelings is little better than a fool.
What right has he to dream of an Irish people, pos-
sessing an Irish character, requiring an Irish social
and political organization, unfitted for the narrow
pedantry of English systems, and whom an English
House of Commons may torture, but cannot govern?
—to dream of such a people, and to labour to get for
them institutions, which the English intellect must
despise, exactly in proportion as they are really suited
to the people for whom they are intended?-I fancy
that to attempt wisdom for Ireland in an English
House of Commons is not exactly a contradiction in
terms, but a practical contradiction just about as
gross. Anyhow, I have it in my mind that I shall
fail in my endeavour, that my abilities are not equal
43
44
Agitation.
to the task before me, that I shall be rudely thrust
out of the saddle upon the ground, and that, before
two years' time, I may be digging gold in, or near,
Port Philip.'
Originally Mr. Lucas had been a member of the
Society of Friends, but became a convert to the Ca-
tholic religion when still a very young man. He
started the Tablet in May, 1840, and continued to con-
duct it down to the day of his death, on the 22nd of
October, 1855. He occupied a foremost place in the
agitations for Tenant-right, and against the Ecclesias-
tical Titles Act-the history of his life for this period
is, in fact, the history of Ireland. But it is necessary
I should say that those who thought with John Mitchel,
that even the most honest and most far-reaching agi-
tation for obtaining redress of grievances from the
British Parliament was foredoomed to failure, took but
little interest in the struggles then proceeding.
The papers that supported these agitations told us.
that this thing and that had 'convulsed the country from
end to end'; but the Mitchelites were unmoved—that
the country had thrown itself into such and such a
struggle with 'fierce energy,' but they remained impas-
sive; and we were constantly being told that a 'shout
went up from Ireland' about one thing or another; but,
oddly enough, they never heard it. In fact they had
other business on hand which engrossed all their
attention.
Nevertheless from the year 1850 to '55 the consti-
tutional agitators had a very lively time of it. Tenant-
right, Papal aggression, Independent Opposition, the
Brass Band-that is the Sadleir-Keogh combination —
The Tenant League.
45
the Tipperary Bank-each in turn fretted their little
hour on the public stage. The Tenant-right question
attained much prominence after the subsidence of the
famine, and the numerous evictions and wholesale
clearances of large properties led subsequently to the
establishment of the Tenant League-just as, some
thirty years later, the threatened famine of 1880 occa-
sioned the formation of the Land League-history thus
repeating itself with faithful punctuality. In August,
1850, a conference of the members of the Tenant
Farmers' Societies, which were established all over the
country, was held in Dublin. The attendance was very
large, and the members remained four days in confe-
rence. The resolutions adopted declared for valued
rents, security of tenure, and the tenant's right to sell
his interest. The Irish Tenant League was formally
established, and the agitation thus auspiciously com-
menced spread rapidly. All over the country great
meetings were held, and the movement was in full
swing when Lord John Russell's famous 'Durham
letter' kindled a fire of sectarian fury in England
which gave rise to a defensive movement in Ireland
that for a time threw Tenant-right into the deepest
shadow. The simple cause of this absurd excite-
ment was the fact that the Pope had declared that
the heads of the Catholic Church in Great Britain
should be henceforward known as Bishops of the
districts under their charge, and take their title from
these districts, just as Irish Bishops of the Catholic
Church have taken their 'style and title' from the dis-
tricts they presided over ever since the Act of Eman-
cipation was passed. The right of Irish bishops to
46
Agitation.
use such titles was formally recognised by the English
Government in '45, by a Royal Warrant for carrying
out the Charitable Bequests Act. The Papal Bull
simply directed the establisment in England of a hier-
archy of Bishops, deriving their titles from their own
Sees, which were constituted in the various apostolic
districts. This was the terrible' Papal aggression'
which so seriously exercised the people of England,
and led to the passing of an 'Ecclesiastical Titles'
Act, which not only constituted the assumption of
such titles by Catholics Prelates, as were heretofore
sanctioned in Ireland, unlawful in England, but made
their continuous use illegal in Ireland as well. The
Act, however, which led to so much ill feeling in
Ireland and Great Britain between Protestants and
Catholics might just as well never have been passed,
for it was openly set at defiance by both English and
Irish Bishops, and from the very date of its birth it
was a dead letter. In 1871 it was formally repealed.
In 1852 the Whig ministry resigned; Lord Derby
came into power, and dissolved Parliament. At the
general election which followed the tenant-right party
made great exertions to return members pledged
to support their programme, and were successful
almost beyond their wishes. As many as fifty-eight
candidates who were pledged to support the tenants'
cause were elected. Amongst them were Charles
Gavan Duffy of the Nation and Frederick Lucas of
the Tablet. The Irish party thus constituted, how-
ever, carried within it the seeds of rapid dissolution.
The swindler Sadleir and the traitor Keogh, by their
loud-voiced championship of the Catholic cause and
The Brass Band.
47
their opposition to the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill in
the previous Parliament, had won great popularity in
Ireland, and attained to an influence in the councils of
the party which ultimately was the cause of its disrup-
tion. They were a party within the Irish party, known
as the 'Pope's brass band,' while the united party was
called the party of "independent opposition.' Sadleir
himself was a clever intriguer, a financial swindler,
and an utterly unscrupulous politician. He had un-
limited command of money, and used it to secure the
return for some Irish constituencies of those of his own
friends whom he knew he could use to further his
designs. The story of his betrayal of the Irish cause;
his appointment as Junior Lord of the Treasury,
under the administration of the Earl of Aberdeen;
the stoppage of the Tipperary Bank, and the dis-
covery of his enormous frauds; his wretched suicide,
and the flight of his accomplices; the appointment of
his most trusted follower William Keogh as Solicitor-
General, in violation of the solemn oath, which that
tremendous patriot publicly registered—that he would
never support any government or party which were
not pledged to carry the measures which Ireland
demanded—and his subsequent elevation to the Irish
judicial bench;-all this is so familiar to even the
present generation, that it is not necessary, in this
résumé of the events of the time, that I should further
dwell upon it.
That the treachery of Sadleir and Keogh should
have led to the break up of the party of independent
opposition, and have rendered the cause of the tenant
farmers hopeless for the time 'goes without saying.'
48
Agitation.
Of the faithful members of the party, Frederick Lucas
was facile princeps. His transparent honesty, single-
mindedness, conspicuous ability, and the devoted
earnestness he brought to bear in his advocacy
of the cause of Ireland, placed him in a position
of influence in Parliament and out of it such as no
other member of the party had attained. In Parlia-
ment especially he won the respect of even the
bitterest enemies of Ireland. And yet he laboured
under great disadvantages. A convert to Catho-
licity, he was regarded by Englishmen as a rene-
gade from his religion; an Englishman, he was
looked upon, in some sort, an enemy of his native
land. Nevertheless, by mere force of his personal
qualities, and unvarying perseverance, he came to be
listened to with attention, and at times appeared
even to excite the sympathy of the House for his
cause.
When the late Cardinal Cullen attempted to fetter
the political freedom of the Catholic clergy of Ireland,
he had no more vehement opponent than the English
convert Frederick Lucas. Notwithstanding that his
health then began to fail-in the autumn of 1854-he
set out for Rome, to personally intercede with the
Holy Father for the Irish priesthood, in order that
their liberty of action should be preserved. The
mission, however, was a failure: at least no formal
answer was given to the memorial which he was in-
vited to prepare by His Holiness while he remained
in the holy city. He left, intending to return in a
few months to receive the decision of the Holy See.
But, alas! he was fated never to revisit Rome: he
Last Letter of Lucas.
had hardly reached England when he was seized with
illness, which proved fatal. Early in September,
when staying at the residence of his brother-in-law
at Staines, his physician abandoned all hope of his
recovery. But he retained all his fortitude and intel-
lect to the end: he sent affectionate farewells to all
his friends, and dictated letters to some of his most
trusted companions in arms' in the fierce crusade
against the Sadleirites, which he waged with so much.
courage and resolution. Many of these letters are
exquisitely touching in their simple, but manly pa-
thos. To Father Tom O'Shea, one of the clergymen
on whose behalf he went to Rome, he wrote:-
(
· STAINES,
49
September 28, 1855.
'MY DEAR FATHER TOM,-I don't know whether I
am glad or sorry that your notion of my disorder is so
mistaken. The truth is, that it is pretty fairly spread
over most of the organs of my body; that I am now
suffering from an enlarged heart, bronchitis, con-
gested liver, inert kidneys, a stomach that refuses
food, asthma that forbids sleep, and, to crown all, the
dropsy. As Sidney Smith says, in one of his letters,
I have seven or eight complaints, but in all other re-
spects I am perfectly well. In plain and sober serious-
ness, my dear Father Tom, I have given up all hope
of life, have received the last sacrament, and though,
perhaps, not immediately to die, for this is in God's
hand, yet I have now no other business than to make
the best preparation I can for the judgment-seat of
the Almighty God, and to request all the prayers of
E
50
Agitation.
my friends, to help me through this dreadful passage,
which, I hope, may be from death to life.
'Thank God, I have no wish to live. I ask for no
prayers for restoration to health. I have never valued
life very much, and now less than ever. Dear Father
Tom, it would be a great pleasure to me to see
you again before I die.
We have fought many a
battle together, at your imminent peril, and I never
found in you less than the courage of a hero, perfect
unselfishness, zeal untiring, and a devotion to the
cause of God and His poor which it will be difficult
to surpass. Now, when, perhaps, I am presently to
stand face to face with my Creator and Redeemer,
I esteem it an honour to have fought so often by
your side, and though I do not for a moment regret
that my exertions have tended to shorten my life, I
do most bitterly regret that your nobleness and
heroism have brought on you so sad a persecution.
However, my dear Father Tom, let me say to you,
and our friends of the diocese, not to be downcast or
disheartened. As sure as God is in Heaven, your
cause is the cause of truth and honour; and when
your last hour comes, you will all feel that conso-
lation it gives a man never to have flinched in the
worst of times, as I may say for you, or given
way in the public service to selfish personal consi-
derations.
-
'My dear Father Tom, I would give a little world
to press your hand once more, and to receive your
blessing. Make my kindest adieus to all our friends,
particularly to Father Keeffe, your good brother, the
archdeacon, Father Aylward, our friends in Tippe-
Death of Lucas.
51
rary, and my most worthy and venerated friend, the
Archdeacon of Rathkeale.
'Your business, as far as it depends on my state-
ment, is not yet complete. I am sorry for it, but I
have done my best; and I have left such instructions
as I hope will turn to the best account what I have
been able to do. If I die, you will hear through one
of my friends how the matter stands; at present I
can add no more than that I am, my dear Father
Tom,
'Most affectionately yours,
'F. LUCAS.'
He lingered on until the 22nd of October, attended
by his devoted wife, when he gave up his soul peace-
fully and resignedly into the hands of his Maker. He
was but in the forty-fourth year of his age and in the
seventeenth of his conversion to Catholicity. I have
dwelt thus fully on the parting hours of the life of this
great and good man, not merely because I loved him,
but because he was one of the bravest and truest
champions of a desperate cause I can point to-in-
deed modern Irish history contains no more heroic
record than that of his great labours for, and earnest
love of, Ireland, in whose service he sacrificed his
valuable life. In his high sense of honour and duty,
in his dauntless courage, in his entire unselfishness,
in his unassuming modesty, he has left an example
for those to follow who, in our days, aspire to hold
the place in the esteem and affection of our fellow-
countrymen which he so deservedly occupied. And
yet nowadays his name is rarely heard!
E 2
52
Agitation.
Shortly before the death of Lucas-in August, 1855
-Charles Gavan Duffy threw up the sponge,' re-
signed his seat for New Ross, and took his departure.
for Australia. He had given the best years of his life
to the service of his country, but was at length forced
to abandon further effort, sorrowfully confessing fai-
lure. He succeeded, however, in imparting a higher
tone to the public life of his native land. The contagion
of his high purposes and untiring energy communi-
cated itself to others, and lifted, for a time, the Irish
cause far above the region of mere sectional and party
conflict. He and his associates thought they could
rescue the struggle for Repeal from the danger which
threatened it, when the guiding hand of the Liberator
grew weak and infirm from failing powers; but they
failed. Then when in despair they had recourse pre-
maturely to the ultima ratio of nations, a like unhappy
result followed. They found that the disaffection on
which they relied was but a fleeting shadow, which
hardly appeared, in response to their call, when it
disappeared. However, Mr. Duffy made yet another
and a last effort. He fancied that by purifying the
representation of Ireland in the Imperial Parliament,
by creating a party of Irish members who could be
relied upon to act unitedly, and hold themselves en-
tirely independent of English parties, some good
might be effected. But failure again was the result
of his efforts, owing not merely to the treachery of
Keogh and Sadleir, and the defection of other mem-
bers of the party, but to the condonation extended to
such recreancy by the majority of the Catholic hier-
archy of Ireland. So that, having encountered failure
C
-
Departure of Duffy.
in every effort to regenerate his country, he decided
that there was nothing for it but to give up the con-
test in despair. In his retiring address to his consti-
tuents in New Ross he wrote:-
P
'I am determined to retire from the office to which
your favour has raised me, and, until better times ar-
rive, from all share and responsibility in the public
affairs of Ireland. The Irish popular party is reduced
to a handful, the popular organisation is deserted by
those who created it; prelates of the Irish Church
throng the ranks of its opponents. .
Shameless
political profligacy is openly defended and applauded.
Till all this is changed there seems to me no
more hope for the Irish cause than for the corpse on
the dissecting-table. . . . . The Irish party com-
menced with fifty adherents; to-day more than forty
(I fear to compute how many more) have gone over
bodily, or in spirit, to the enemy.
And while
we were thinned by desertion from within, what help
came from without? For three years the country has
not sent us a single recruit from county or borough.
The Archbishop of Dublin, who was foremost and
loudest to pronounce for the principle of independent
opposition, lends all the weight of his authority to its
opponents. A majority of the Irish hierarchy follow
in his wake; and we have been disparaged from po-
pular hustings, and in pastoral letters, for no sin that
I know of but because we will not sell ourselves to the
enemies of our country.
With regard to the
priesthood, a deliberate attempt to fetter their public
action has been privately made and openly resisted;
and the result does not appear to be satisfactory or
•
53
•
54
Agitation.
hopeful. The boldest of the patriot priests have been
banished from public life, and remain banished. Many
are panic-stricken by these arbitrary examples, and
not a few despair of resistance. . Quitting pub-
lic life, I will quit, at the same time, my native coun-
try. I cannot look on in dumb inaction at her ruin—
I cannot sit down under the system of corruption and
terrorism established amongst us.'
And so he departed, leaving the Irish cause as
hopeless as the corpse on the dissecting-table,' to
enter upon the great career which opened to him on
another continent, but which should also, under hap-
pier auspices, have been available to him at home.
The exiled Irish patriot and 'rebel,' who failed to
awaken in the minds of the rulers of his native land a
just appreciation of the true needs of his own country,
had afterwards entrusted to him sole control of the
destinies of the greatest of British colonies. Sir
Charles Gavan Duffy, the Irish rebel of 1848, has
been Prime Minister of Victoria, and Speaker of the
Legislative Assembly. This shows how true it is
that no man is a prophet in his own country,' espe-
cially if his country happens to be Ireland under
British rule.
CHAPTER V.
CONSPIRACY.
JOHN MITCHEL IN NEW YORK.
'THE IRISH CITIZEN.' MITCHEL
ON TENANT-RIGHT. THE EMMET MONUMENT ASSOCIATION.
THE PRECURSOR OF FENIANISM. THE DUBLIN 'TRIBUNE.' THE
' EMIGRANT AID ASSOCIATION.'
JAMES STEPHENS.
THE
<
HE 'party of action,'-that is, the Mitchelites, the
Revolutionists, or the Nationalists, as they were
by turns designated-were quite resigned to the failure
of the constitutional' effort to obtain redress for Ire-
land's grievances so valiantly led by Lucas and Duffy.
It was only what they had foretold would come to
pass. They always held that legal, constitutional,
and parliamentary agitation was little better than a
'mockery, a delusion, and a snare,' and that it could
possibly lead to nothing save desertion, disappoint-
ment and despair. In this instance, at all events,
they were right.
John Mitchel, who had escaped, with the aid of
P. J. Smyth-now the popular and eloquent member
for Tipperary-from his place of exile in Australia,
late in the year 1853, assisted by Thomas Francis
Meagher, who had also escaped, started a paper in
New York called the Irish Citizen, the first number of
which was published in the first week of January, 1854,
56
Conspiracy.
for the apparently sole purpose of decrying the efforts
of the constitutional agitators, and advocating the
physical force policy which he commenced in 1848.
This paper had an immense circulation, and was one
of the most potent agencies which first stimulated the
hatred of Irish Americans against the oppressors of
their native land to that point of almost fanaticism,
to which ever since it can be readily raised upon
the slightest indication of possible resistance to
British rule in Ireland, or at the most trifling dis-
aster to the arms, influence, or prestige of Great
Britain elsewhere. The conductors of the Citizen
in their prospectus stated that they refused to be-
lieve that Irishmen at home are so abject as to be
"loyal" to the Sovereign of Great Britain, or that
Irishmen in America can endure the thought of ac-
cepting the defeat which has driven them from the
land of their fathers, and made that beloved land an
object of pity and contempt to the whole earth.' ...
That they would strip off the hypocritical pretence
to Liberalism made by the English Government, and
exhibit the English power in its true character, as
not only the oppressor of Ireland, but the ally of
oppression all the world over.'
That while
British tyranny still grinds Ireland, while Irish spirit
still breathes and burns in passionate revolt against
it, they would labour in their chosen work.' Mr.
Mitchel wrote of the Tenant League, that it was a
'dismal imposture,' that 'Tenant Leagues have been
going on these seven years; their meetings have been
multitudinous; the resolutions thereat bold and strong;
the eloquence ravishing; the petitions touching; the
C
"
The Irish Citizen.'
•
C
57
efforts to return tenant-right members to Parliament
constant and herculean. But all the time the tenants
have been melting off the face of the earth, going to
the poor-house, dying of starvation, or going to Ame-
rica. Such organizations as this Tenant League
are precisely the form of opposition to landlordism
which landlordism likes, and can afford to let live.
The Tenant League holds by London law, acknow-
ledges the force of London law, sends men to London
to get laws made, and landlordism and the British
Government know well that London and the law are
safe ground for them.' But Mitchel was quite pleased,
in some respects, with the Ribbon societies—the
'Moonlighters' of to-day. He wrote-The killing
of odious landlords, agents, tithe proctors, bailiffs—
these have certainly been dreadful atrocities, but by
the country people of Ireland they have been regarded
as executions, not murders; and they were under-
taken not so much from consideration of private re-
venge as of public polity. On the other hand, the
killing of their perpetrators by 'law' has been re-
garded as foul murder. We regard both these sorts of
killing as murder-for there is no real law at either
side--but more substantial justice, on the whole, is
done by the "midnight legislators" than by the judges
of assize.
There is more reality and life in this
form of Irish resistance than in all the whining tenant
leagues and bellowing "brigades," and dining and
spouting “Irish parties," that the Dublin papers are
laden withal. Ribbonism is, at all events, a flat ne-
gation of British law-a great manufactory and nur-
sery of disaffection and rebellion, and one which the
58
Conspiracy.
Government will never be able to reach.' His notion
of tenant-right was comprised in the sentence, 'The
soil is the people's, and theirs only,' which is identical
with the 'tenant right' preached by the Land Leaguers
of the present day, 'the land for the people'; but
John Mitchel never pretended to consider, as they do,
that the change of ownership could be brought about
by legal and constitutional agitation.
The followers of Mitchel in Ireland, as I have
said, were much elated at the collapse of 'inde-
pendent opposition'; but they had not been by any
means idle previous to that event. They had come
to consider that in secret conspiracy lay their only
chance of compassing their ends. A secret revolu-
tionary society existed in Dublin as early as Janu-
ary, 1849, of which Thomas Clarke Luby, Philip Grey,
Joseph Brennan, John O'Leary, and James Fenton
Lalor were members. When O'Mahony's followers
dispersed in '48, Luby escaped to France. Grey fol-
lowed him, after laying the foundations of this secret
society in Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Dub-
lin. In '49 Grey returned to Dublin, and served as
a medium of communication between O'Mahony, in
Paris, and the Secret Society, in Ireland. This so-
ciety was affiliated to an Irish-American organi-
zation just then set on foot in the United States,
consisting of clubs of men pledged to exert them-
selves to bring about and assist in another effort at
the redemption of their native land. Subsequently
these clubs became merged in an organization called
the Irish Military and Civil Association.' The
military branch of this organization became known
C
K
The Emmet Monument Association.
6
59
subsequently as the 'Emmet Monument Association,'
and was secret and oath-bound.
Nothing came of the operations of the Irish society,
though it had many adherents in Dublin, and in the
south and west of Ireland. It had no settled plans,
and such as it had were disconcerted, owing to the
fact that a trifling collision, which some of its mem-
bers had with the police at Cappoquin, led to some
arrests, and put the Irish executive on the alert. Find-
ing themselves under surveillance, the conspirators
soon abandoned their hurriedly and rashly-conceived
designs for immediate action, and the conspiracy was
allowed to subside for a long time. Lalor, who was a
great admirer and intimate friend of Mitchel, and a
man of considerable attainments and much literary
skill, died early in 1849. Joseph Brennan, whose
poetical contributions to the national press are much
admired even in the present day, went to America,
and Philip Grey remained at home.
The outbreak of the Crimean War caused this soci-
ety to be revived. It was the precursor of Fenianism.
It had at first no distinctive title; subsequently it
became the 'Phoenix,' then the 'Fenian Society,' and
finally the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood.' Its opera-
tions were much restricted in the early part of the year
1854, and well into 1855, when the probability that
England would be defeated by Russia, and involved
in serious difficulties, helped to bring it into some-
what vigorous activity. Another symptom of re-
newed nationalist activity was the starting of a
new national journal. The Tribune was first pub-
lished in Dublin on the 3rd of November, 1855.
60
Conspiracy.
It was of the same principles as Mitchel's New York
Irish Citizen. The late Mason Jones, who was
since well known in England as a public lecturer
on social topics, was the registered proprietor and
editor; Thomas Clarke Luby was associate editor;
and its chief contributor was the late John Edward
Pigot, son of the late Chief Baron of the Court of
Exchequer—or, more properly speaking, its real
guiding spirit. I was the publisher, and my chief
assistant in the business department was the Philip
Grey already mentioned.
Mr. J. E. Pigot had been the valued and trusted
friend and associate of Davis, Duffy, and the other
Young Ireland leaders, and was intensely earnest in
his devotion to the national cause. Sir C. G. Duffy
writes of him in Young Ireland :-' He had notable
diligence in gathering recruits among the socially
better class, and in promoting literary and artistic
projects, and he loved Davis with a devotion that
made labour easy to him.' While he was emulous of
making the Tribune a worthy successor of the Nation
in all respects, he was especially desirous that it
should be used as far as possible to cultivate the
popular taste in literature and art. The following are
extracts from the prospectus of the Tribune, which
was written by Mr. Pigot :-
P
'For seven years the cause of nationality has been in abeyance, and
there is now in Ireland no public opinion worthy of the name, upon any
subject whatsoever. Only in the regeneration of an Irish nation is there
any hope for the general mass of the people; and it was this one intelli-
gible principle which they saw in O'Connell (whether he were Emanci-
pator, or Precursor, or Repealer, or under whatever name the great
Tribune led his countrymen in the struggle against their English masters)
The Tribune.'
that inspired them with interest, courage, and force in political action.
Without it no man, or set of men, can evoke the hidden strength, or
waken again the dormant sympathies of the people; and, overrun by the
unchecked current of foreign feelings and opinions, we are now paying the
penalty of our neglect of the great national cause by sinking month after
month into yet more helpless inactivity, so that by-and-bye we shall have
lost all power of thinking or acting for ourselves, even in the petty con-
cerns of a mere provincial life.
To avert this catastrophe, arrangements have been made for the
publication of a new weekly paper, and the conductors of The Tribune
have secured the assistance of a numerous staff of contributors, so as to
enable them to make the publication full and complete in many important
departments of periodical literature, hitherto almost entirely neglected by
the political press. The desire thus, so far as in them lies, to purify and
stimulate public opinion-to contribute to the sound literary, as well as
political education, while endeavouring to bring about the necessary union
of the people, and to give a voice again to the national yearning for
freedom-that yearning which is not dead, nor destined to die, while any
fragment of the Irish race survives in Ireland.
• The Tribune shall defend the principle of nationality against all its
foes; its articles shall illustrate in detail the necessity of independence and
the facility of its realization; it shall resist the acceptance of English
opinions in Ireland—opinions now daily echoed upon almost all subjects
(especially upon the all-engrossing topic of the war) by the thoughtless as
well as by the dishonest portion of the Irish Press; it shall insist upon our
thinking for ourselves, independently of English interests and English
clamour. It shall constantly assert the fullest religious liberty as an in-
alienable right of man, and the fullest toleration of religious dissent as a
correlative duty, equally indispensable. It shall oppose all sectarian ascen-
dancy.
• With reference to the great question of "tenant right," The Tribune
shall endeavour to define and to realise the true principles of landed pro-
perty in a free nation, and to reform such of the existing laws relating to
landlord and tenant as seem unequal or unjust.... The Tribune shall
include a department specially devoted to literature, on a scale commensu-
rate with its importance in a country where there exists, as yet, no literary
newspaper whatever. It shall endeavour to keep its readers informed
upon the current literature of the day by copious and careful reviews;
while at the same time it shall seek to stimulate the literary energy and
taste of the country by the publication of original essays and articles upon
61
62
Conspiracy.
various subjects, independent of mere politics, as well as in those branches
of history and biography particularly connected with the Irish race and
nation.
'No amount of literary, commercial, or other education can, however,
succeed in raising up the Irish people to the dignity of a free and prospe-
rous community unless they are awake to the necessity of political liberty,
and determined, with God's blessing, to achieve it; and, in the agitations
and public discussions of late years, this first of all our wants has been
utterly ignored and forgotten. The conductors of The Tribune, therefore,
convinced by all history, deep reflection, and sad experience, that inde-
pendence or self-government is the very breath of a nation's life—that
freedom is the highest earthly prize for the possession of which men have
ever dared or died—the only earthly possession which an immortal spirit
might not well dispense with (for let others own you, and what is a sack of
potatoes more or less?)—can take little interest in the aims of existing
parties. Rather at this solemn moment, when the kingdoms of the earth
are being weighed in scales, they would invite Irish patriots of all parties
to assist them in lifting a holier standard above the gusts of faction, and
planting it far in advance of those low vantage-grounds, the recent theatres
of so much internecine and ineffectual strife, on the pinnacle of national
independence, prosperity, and renown.
'Of such of this class as for a season may remain aloof, they would
respectfully bespeak the sympathies, in regard of the unselfish aim, and the
lofty and liberal spirit of their undertaking. But from all whose hearts
and hopes, proof against disappointment and disaster, still pine with an
insatiable hunger, still burn with an immortal thirst, still glow with a pas-
sionate ardour, to redeem, to redress, to right their country; they ask not
the mercenary support of mere subscribers, they demand an instant inter-
course, a prompt assistance-all that friends in need may expect from
friends all that brothers in misfortune can achieve for brothers.'
In the leading article in its first number the
following passage occurs:-'Everybody agrees that
two principal and essential changes must be the
necessary preliminary to the improvement of the
people; and the necessity of these changes meets
every philanthropical politician at the threshold, to
check the advance of every project for the advance-
Opportunity Averted.
ment of the people, either in means or education.
1. The first of these is the entire alteration of the
laws affecting landlord and tenant, and such a con-
sequential revolution in the landed property of the
country as should secure to every individual amongst
the peasantry an absolute interest in so much of the
soil of his native land as should be justly adequate to
his support, and that of his family. 2. The second is
the complete destruction of the wide-spread remains.
of Protestant Ascendancy, by the abolition of the
Anglican Establisment as it now exists by law; the
deprivation of all its privileges over other religions,
and the restoration to the nation at large of the vast
possessions so long unjustly appropriated to the uses
of a small minority of the people-so long enjoyed by
the minority as the wages of an aristocratic garri-
son of England, in the midst of an alien and half-
conquered race. To eradicate such monster evils as
these changes alone can remedy must be the work
of an Irish government, for an English one will
never consent to it; and yet the complete eradication
of these evils must be accomplished before any large
or effectual step towards Irish civilization and pros-
perity can be securely taken. For these negative
reasons, then, the practical politician must turn his
attention to the realization of our nationality.' The
writer of this passage lived long enough to see the
changes he held to be the essential preliminaries to
the improvement of the people in part accomplished,
but not by an Irish government. At this time the
Russian war was in full swing, and the conductors
of the Tribune were not without hope that England
63
64
Conspiracy.
would be worsted in the struggle, and that then
would arise Ireland's opportunity to regain her legis-
lative independence. The prestige of England,' the
writer went on to say, 'in her administration at home,
and in her conduct in the field, alike has received a
rude shock; and men who but a little while ago ac-
cepted as Gospel truths the insolent boasts of the
English press upon English invincibility, now
talk of her failure and her weakness-a weakness
especially clear to the world in the bitter contrast
of her power with that of our gallant Celtic kinsmen
of France.' . . . 'In the success of "the Allies " Ire-
land has no manner of interest, material or moral,
in honor or in pocket, in advantage or in fame!
none—absolutely none whatever.' . . . 'We believe
that an opportunity, arising out of some complica-
tion of the war, may be imminent, which, if the Irish
people be prepared to seize and improve, they may
recover their national independence.' The Tribune
had no faith whatever in parliamentary agitation.
'So long,' it wrote, 'as the Irish people put their
faith in parliamentary representatives, trust in peti-
tions; confide in the wisdom, justice, and mercy of the
"Honorable House"; believe in the redress of their
grievances by their enemies in Parliament assembled;
so long as they look to Parliament, instead of them-
selves; trust in the resources of constitutional agita-
tion, instead of their own brave hearts and strong
right arms, so long will they be sold again and
again, and they deserve no better fate.'
At the same time Irish America grew excited over
the possibility of Ireland's opportunity arising out
6
65
The Emigration Aid Society.
<
of the probable reverses of England in the war.
Mitchel's Irish Citizen endeavoured to fan the fire of
Irish-American patriotism into a flame. A letter
signed One who would go' appeared in the Citizen,
calling upon the Irishmen in the United States to
meet and make another effort for Fatherland. This
letter was introduced by the editor with the statement
that its author was a man so well known to fame,
that the mere mention of his name would cause the
Queen of England to tremble on her throne.' Who
this particularly formidable personage was did not
then, or since, that I know of, appear; but, at all
events, the publication of his letter set the ball roll-
ing.' An 'Emigration Aid Association'— the emi-
grants to be aided being those who desired to return
from America to Ireland-was formed under the aus-
pices of the Citizen; or, rather, reconstructed, for it
was originally founded in 1849, but did not then obtain
much support. The object of the Association was to
render aid to the oppressed and downtrodden people
of Ireland,' and urge on all Irishmen who are capa-
ble of bearing arms to embrace all and every oppor-
tunity of acquiring knowledge of military affairs, so
that they may be as efficient as possible in the hour
of need.'
<
G
This and other Irish societies held a convention
in New York, on the 4th December, presided over
by Mr. Robert Tyler (son of an ex-President of the
United States), which remained in secret delibera-
tion for three days, elected a Directory of five, whose
names were kept secret, and issued an address, which
stated that the organization of the Irish people in
F
66
Conspiracy.
America was a pressing necessity in view of the con-
dition of affairs in Europe, which 'presented to the
mind of every man that favourable opportunity for
which the ever-rebellious and discontented mind of
Ireland has been waiting with anxiety and hope';
that in the 'complication of politics which involve so
many nations, and are rapidly drawing others into
the vortex, we see a strong probability that the long-
expected opportunity may arise when Ireland can (if
her children both at home and abroad be ready for
the emergency) take her position as an independent
nation. To prepare ourselves for that emergency is
a duty so clear to us, that the neglect of it would be
an unpardonable crime.' It called upon the Irish
people at home to pronounce that it is your will to
emancipate yourselves from the thrall of a foreign
government, and you shall not be left to struggle
alone in the effort to accomplish that purpose. The
Irish race in America were never so strong in them-
selves, so rich in wealth, and united in purpose as at
the present time.'
C
-
Some slight diplomatic misunderstanding occurred
at this time between the governments of Great Britain
and the United States, arising out of representations
made by the British Consul at New York to his go-
vernment, that Russian cruisers had been permitted.
to be fitted out in American waters, which was ag-
gravated by long-standing difficulties about English
colonization schemes in Central America. Mitchel, in
the Irish Citizen, improved the occasion by suggest-
ing the consequences that might possibly proceed
from the difficulty: 'Who can tell how soon the Rus-
67
War by Contract.
sian eagle may pounce upon Ireland? Who can tell
how soon the American eagle may make a fell swoop
in the same direction for Ireland? The right arm of
England in time of war, and her granary in peace
would be their quarry for the "bird of Jove" in either
case. If the existing exasperation between the Ame-
rican and English governments proceeds much further,
war will soon be declared on one side or the other,
and then a speedy descent on Ireland would be the
obvious policy of America. Would it not be right
royal on the part of the Irish in America to hasten
beforehand to their native sod, and be ready to give
the invaders a warm reception? The doctrine of the
British constitution is-"Once a subject, always a
subject." The return, therefore, of Irish emigrants,
being British subjects, armed or unarmed, to the
British realm, violates no law, British or American,
human or divine.' But it is hardly necessary to say
that this brilliant suggestion for an Irish-American
invasion of Ireland was not acted upon.
<
The Irish Emigrant Aid Society had the co-opera-
tion of the members of the oath-bound Emmet Mo-
nument Association,' though both societies were kept
rigidly apart. Mr. Robert Tyler, president of the
Irish Emigrant Aid Society, soon after the conven-
tion, published a letter, in which he said, that in the
event of war the Society would take that war by
contract, or we will raise all the men required at the
expense of each individual soldier. We will volunta-
rily contribute millions to the national treasury, and
undertake to drive every vestige of British authority
out of Ireland, with the willing assistance of the
(
F 2
68
Conspiracy.
oppressed masses there: provided the United States
alone, or with Russia, will guarantee the indepen-
dence of the country afterwards.' But unfortunately
for the realization of the brilliant hopes of the con-
spirators, both here and in America, peace was virtu-
ally concluded between Russia and the allied powers,
France and England, in February, 1856—the actual
treaty was signed on March 30, 1856-and at once
disappeared all probability of England's difficulty and
Ireland's opportunity arising.
Then again succeeded to the lively enthusiasm
awakened by confident expectations of coming good
fortune the apathy of disappointed hope. The Tri-
bune was discontinued; the secret conspirators be-
came inactive; and 'order' for a time reigned' at
Warsaw. In the United States, too, the Irish move-
ment became paralyzed; Mitchel took up the defence
of slavery in the United States, and became a fre-
quent public lecturer, and Irish disaffection fell into
the torpor of apparent extinction. It did seem as if
at long last Ireland was about to settle down re-
signedly under British rule, with the resolve to make
the best of it. There was no agitation afoot, public
or secret; all was apparent calm, but it was only
the calm which precedes the storm. Over-sanguine
friends of the British connexion were convinced that
Irish discontent had at last come to an end; but the
end was not yet.
For fully a year after the conclusion of the Crimean
War, there was not a breeze to ruffle the tranquil sur-
face of political life in Ireland; but on the outbreak
of the Indian Mutiny, in June 1857, there was just a
wedd
69
James Stephens.
ripple indicative of the coming of a storm. At this
time the only representative of the nationalist sen-
timent at the press was the Nation-and it never
claimed to be more than the mouthpiece of the 'con-
stitutional' nationalists. After the departure of Duffy
to Australia, it was for a short time conducted by Mr.
John Cashel Hoey, but at this time it was edited by
Mr. A. M. Sullivan, late member of parliament for
the county of Meath, who had become its proprietor.
The Nation warmly espoused the cause of the muti-
neers, and made quite a hero of Nana Sahib. How-
ever, all its efforts could not excite much enthusiasm
for the rebels. At the same time there is not the least
doubt that a large majority of the people would not
have been ill pleased if the forces of England had
been worsted in the struggle.
Smith O'Brien, who had been liberated in 1854, on
condition of not returning to Ireland, was in the year
1857 permitted to come back to Erin,' but he did
not emerge from the seclusion of private life for a
considerable time afterwards.
6
During the last half of the year 1857 the physical
force men were quietly and in secret perfecting and
extending their organization.
It was in this year
that James Stephens again appeared on the scene.
It is but simple truth to say that he was one of the
most remarkable figures in the history of Ireland of
the present century. He was born in Kilkenny in
1824, and was well educated. He was preparing in
1848 for the career of a civil engineer when he joined
the Irish Confederation. He organized a band of
young rebels, whom he used to drill at the rising
70
Conspiracy.
of the moon.' When the Government proclamation
was issued ordering that all arms should be given
up to the authorities, the Kilkenny Young Irelanders
held a meeting to decide on what course should be
taken. Stephens's advice to his friends was to keep
their arms, to bury them safely, with the hope of
a happy resurrection,' which was quite in accord
with their sentiments, and they then separated with
the resolve to follow his counsel. Soon after, news
reached the confederates that a detective police-
man, who had a warrant for the arrest of Smith
O'Brien, had arrived in the town, and Stephens and
another at once volunteered to arrest him and carry
him off. As very often happens, however, when
designs of this kind are confided to the honour of a
number of men, the authorities had intimation that
the attempt would be made, and Stephens and his co-
conspirator narrowly escaped arrest. He then took
to the hills,' and from that hour down to the time of
the final collapse of the Fenian organization he led
the life of an active conspirator. He was with Smith
O'Brien at Ballingarry, where he received rather a
severe wound, and escaped, with Michael Doheny, to
France, after a series of hairbreadth escapes and ro-
mantic adventures, which are duly recorded in a book
published by Doheny in New York in 1849, called
The Felon's Track.
C
John Mitchel, in his Last Conquest of Ireland (per-
haps), gives the following account of Smith O'Brien's
movements while he was still undecided where to
begin the 'rising' he contemplated, in which Stephens
figures prominently :- Another day at Killenaule,
Stephens in '48.
O'Brien and his few followers being then quartered
in the place, news was brought that a party of dra-
goons was approaching. At last it was hoped here
was the warrant. Dillon, Stephens, O'Donohoe, fer-
vently trusted that their hands would now be untied,
and that the eager people would have leave to strike
a blow. A primitive barricade was hastily thrown
up across the village street, made of carts and rub-
bish, and Dillon commanded at the barricade. Mr.
O'Brien's order was absolute-to let the dragoons
pass unless they carried a warrant to arrest some of
the party. The officer rode up and demanded pas-
sage. Dillon replied that he commanded there for
O'Brien, and if the officer would give his word of
honour that he had no warrants he might pass.
During this parley you may imagine the indigna-
tion and wonder of Dillon himself and every other
man behind that barricade. They had, after months
of preparation, taken leave of wives and children to
measure themselves in a deadly struggle with a de-
clared and merciless enemy; and here were that very
enemy's hired cut-throats straight before them, within
point-blank range, and were they not to strike? As
the officer imperiously demanded passage, young
Stephens (now, I believe, in Paris) suddenly raised his
rifle and covered him: his finger was on the trigger:
one moment, and Ireland was in insurrection; but
Dillon sternly ordered him to lower his rifle, and,
having removed some carts, he himself led the offi-
cer's horse through the barricade, as a sign to the
people that the soldiers were not to be molested.
The dragoons went on their way-O'Brien was not
71
72
Conspiracy.
yet at war, and the villagers of Killenaule wondered
what it meant,'
**
Stephens was a born conspirator. He was gifted
with dauntless courage, patient perseverance, innate
knowledge of the weaknesses of human nature, in-
flexible firmness of purpose, and the faculty of in-
fluencing men of minds as active and far-reaching as
his own, and bending them to his will. He was, more-
over, of comely presence, had a winning address, and
all the ardour of a sincere enthusiast. He was in-
deed wanting in but few of the qualities which are
necessary to constitute a leader of men. Some of the
incidents which Doheny relates of the escape of Ste-
phens and himself to France are characteristic, and
testify to the cool courage and fortitude of the brace
of fugitives. For two months they were hunted from
place to place in ceaseless flight, enduring privations.
and suffering under which men less hardy and reso-
lute would have succumbed. 'When we found we
were traced and discovered,' wrote Doheny, our first
care was to consider how our enemies would be likely
to judge respecting our future movements. If we had
reason to suspect that we were recognised on a moun-
tain, we sought shelter in or near a town; and after
we appeared in a public place for a day or an hour,
we kept the mountain side for a week following.'
But even in such imminent peril they could not
conquer their love for the old land sufficiently to
prevent their pausing to admire the natural scenery
of the districts they were traversing. 'We had
another and, it must be confessed, a more powerful
motive. In either alternative which our fate presented
Stephens a Fugitive.
-
(
(capture or escape) there was no hope of beholding
these scenes again, and we could not omit this oppor-
tunity of minutely examining and enjoying what was
grandest and loveliest in our native land. We resolved,
therefore, to leave no spot unvisited, whatever time it
cost or risk it exposed us to.' During all these wan-
derings the coolness and uncomplaining courage of
Stephens were, according to Doheny's narrative, al-
ways conspicuous. Though suffering from the effects of
his wound, he was always cheerful and hopeful. His
imperturbable equanimity and ever daring hope,'
wrote Doheny, 'had sustained me in moments of per-
plexity and alarm, when no other resource would
have availed. During the whole time which we
spent, as it were, in the shadow of the gibbet, his
courage never faltered, and his temper was never
once ruffled.' Hearing that the English Premier,
Lord John Russell, was in the district, they conceived
the design-possibly in order to pleasingly vary the
tedium of the life they were leading, which was be-
coming unexciting, owing to the cessation of the
pursuit of seizing him, carrying him off to the fast-
nesses of the Galtees, and keeping him there as a
hostage for their companions who had fallen into
the hands of their enemies. But, fortunately for them
no doubt, Lord John took his departure before their
plans were matured. Ultimately both succeeded in
making their escape to France. Doheny soon after
went to America, where he followed the joint pro-
fessions of journalist and lawyer, and died in 1862.
Stephens was joined in Paris by John O'Mahony,
a 'gentleman farmer' of superior abilities and educa-
73
74
Conspiracy.
tion, who took the hills' at the time of O'Brien's
attempted rising, at the head of a little band, in the
hope that the rebellion might revive, until all chance
of such a thing having vanished, he dismissed his
followers, and escaped to France. Stephens and
O'Mahony remained in the French capital for a few
years. They had hard times there. O'Mahony's remit-
tances from Ireland were few and far between, and
though Stephens made a fine income by teaching
English, both at times suffered all the discomforts of
absolute impecuniosity. They jointly occupied a first
floor, counting from the skies, in the Quartier Latin,
but even in that lofty refuge they were not free from
the importunities of duns. On one occasion a Polish
Jew creditor called for his money, and vowed he
would not leave without at least some of it. O'Mahony,
who was of herculean build and prodigious strength,
appealed for time, but in vain. At last, losing tem-
per, he seized the luckless Israelite by the coat-collar
and a certain part of his nether garment, calmly
carried him outside the door, dropped him over the
bannister, and returned to his room, as if there was
nothing unusual in the action, and without troubling
himself to inquire what became of his victim. Fortu-
nately the man was not hurt. It was at this time
that Stephens's translations of some of Dickens's
works into French, which were highly spoken of by
reviewers, English and French, were published.
O'Mahony left Paris in December, 1853, and his
arrival in New York was thus announced by John
Mitchel in his paper:-
'Amongst the late arrivals from Europe there is
<
John O'Mahony.
The
one we have great pleasure in announcing.
gentleman in question is one whose movements, per-
sonal appearance, and political character the English
papers, in and out of Ireland, took great pleasure to
chronicle, in '48, and whose fortunate escape from his
native country and the police vigilance they as melan-
cholically deplored. Suffice it, that he was a gentle-
man farmer, of ample means and thorough education,
of unassuming manners and devoted patriotism, in
whose warm southern nature a deep knowledge of
the ancient Celtic tongue and misfortunes brooded,
and tinct with a silent but lofty veneration and en-
thusiasm, the hopes and aspirations which at the
period manifested themselves in the Young Ireland
party-in a word, he was a "rebel"; a pure-souled,
high-hearted, courageous, and in his district—which
encompassed the counties of Tipperary, Waterford,
and Kilkenny-most powerful rebel! His name was
John O'Mahony.
75
'It is needless to recount the movements in the
south of Ireland, in '48, nor could our space do justice
to Mr. O'Mahony's connexien with them. To be
brief then-After the arrest of Meagher and O'Brien,
and when the rest of the prominent men had given
up all hopes of success and were wandering outlawed
through the island, or seeking the shores of America.
and France, O'Mahony still brooded over the wrongs
and sorrows of the Fatherland. He could not leave
his native hills. He looked down the golden valley
of the Suir, and said, as Cromwell said when gloating
over the same scene, "This is a country worth fight-
76
Conspiracy.
ing for." The inspiration of Davis throbbed through
him, and he felt the ambition of the poet's soul-
"Be mine the lot to bear that flag,
And head the men of Tipperary."
"With this faith and hope, O'Mahony and a com-
rade in outlawry, hunted almost by night and day,
but resting secure in the devotion of the peasantry,
visited the "disaffected" districts, and organized the
rising which took place in September, at Slievena-
mon, Portlaw, and other localities in the counties
alluded to. They attempted, and did not succeed.
They felt that escape was now honourable. O'Mahony
eluded, by a series of really startling adventures, the
vigilance of the police. He was in Clonmel during
the trial of O'Brien, organizing a force to attack the
court-house, when he was discovered, and saved him-
self by leaping from a back window. He ultimately
escaped from Bonmahon, in the Co. Waterford, in a
fishing-smack, and was landed in Wales, where he
remained for six weeks, until an opportunity offered
for his conveyance to France. He has resided chiefly
in Paris for the last five years.' This shows in what
high esteem the future Head Centre' of the Fenian
brotherhood was held by his political associates of the
"Young Ireland' period.
<
CHAPTER VI.
"THE PHOENIX SOCIETY.'
STEPHENS'S TOUR IN 1858. THE IRISHMAN.' THE PHOENIX
MEN. O'DONOVAN ROSSA. A. M. SULLIVAN ON SECRET
SOCIETIES. ARREST OF PHOENIX MEN. THE INFORMER SUL-
LIVAN, GOULA. THE SPECIAL COMMISSION.
A
SHORT time previous to O'Mahony's departure
from Paris Stephens had gone to Ireland, to go
to work afresh in furtherance of the design, which
neither he nor O'Mahony had ever abandoned, of
revolutionizing Ireland. O'Mahony's business in
America was of a similar character. Stephens found
that a beginning had been made, and that the field of
his operations was marked out. Luby met him in
Dublin, and he at once set to work to personally
organize the country. It should here be mentioned,
perhaps, that most of the prominent leaders of 1848
were opposed to secret societies—even Mitchel was of
this way of thinking; though, as a matter of course,
he warmly sympathized with such of them as had for
their object the attainment of the freedom of Ireland.
Moreover, most of the Young Ireland leaders really
favoured moral rather than physical force as a means
of regenerating their country: their appeal to arms
in 1848 was made only under pressure of circumstances,
78
The Phonix Society.
which seemed to leave them no other alternative. On
the other hand, Mitchel always looked to rebellion
as the only possible means of effecting any substan-
tial good. And he held this opinion consistently to
the last, never allowing an opportunity to escape him
of giving expression to his entire contempt and utter
detestation of what are called constitutional or par-
liamentary politics. So that when O'Brien, Martin,
and Dillon returned to Ireland after their exile, they
naturally took sides with the more moderate poli-
ticians. Between these two parties of moderate or
constitutional politicians and physical force conspi-
rators there existed a feeling of bitter antagonism—
evidence of which we shall see further on-which con-
tinued for a considerable time, and may be said, to a
certain extent, to still endure.
Such was the situation when Stephens set out on
the organizing tour, which was destined to produce
consequences so tremendously important in their re-
sults on the future of Ireland. And surely the obsta-
cles he had to contend with would have discouraged
and daunted any man not gifted with his indomitable
perseverance and buoyant spirit. He was without
money; had few friends; was unknown outside a
small and constantly narrowing circle of the '48 con-
federates. And the spirit of nationality seemed extinct
and beyond the possibility of revival. Disappointment
seemed only to nerve him to further effort; he never
would admit failure-he knew no such word as fail-
disaster only quickened his courage, and he cheerfully
endured the extreme of personal privation with a re-
signed cheerfulness born of the conviction that he was
The Irishman.
6
79
predestined to achieve a great and, to his mind, a
beneficent work.
Before he could succeed in overcoming the torpor of
the people, and making any impression upon them at
all, he had—as stated by Charles Underwood O'Con-
nell, a leading Fenian, in a letter found with another
Fenian on arrest-' walked on foot through Ireland
three thousand seven hundred miles; mingled with all
classes of people; slept in the most wretched of mud
cabins at times, and occasionally dined at the tables
of the wealthy and influential.' All this was merely
preliminary to the active work of organised propa-
gandism, which can hardly be said to have commenced
before '58. In the summer of that year a few branches
of a secret society had been established in the South,
which, once set on foot, spread so rapidly that the
Government, with the intention of nipping them in
the bud, took action, as we shall see, and for a time
neutralized the efforts of Stephens and his associates.
The Irishman was started at this time-in July, '58.
It professed advanced national principles. It was,
in fact, in some sort a successor of the defunct
Tribune. Mr. J. E. Pigot, who had influenced the
policy of that paper, became soon after, when its
publication was transferred to Dublin, chief contri-
butor of the Irishman. Its editor was Mr. Denis
Holland-who died some years since in New York-
a facile and graceful, rather than powerful, writer,
and a sincere and ardent patriot. As in the case of
the Tribune, I was the publisher. The Irishman was
first started in Belfast, but was transferred to Dublin
soon after its first appearance. Amongst its contri-
-
80
The Phonix Society.
butors was the late Mr. M. J. Whitty, who was well
known in the literary world of London, not only as a
journalist and a political writer, but as a novelist
of some repute; Mr. P. J. Smyth, now M.P. for
Tipperary, and the Mr. Pigot already mentioned.
In their prospectus the promoters of the Irishman
stated that they aspired to make it true in every
respect to the national traditions, affections, and aspi-
rations of the Irish people; and to labour to gather
round it the flower of living Irish intellect and man-
hood, as in a bright national garland, and earnestly
endeavour to make it in every way such a paper as
Ireland may confide in as a political exponent, and
be proud of as a literary representative.' And such
also have been the intentions of its various proprie-
tors, down, at least, to the time it passed out of my
hands.
-
The first indication which the outward world had of
the fruits of the labour of Stephens was the fact, that
in the summer of 1858 Catholic clergymen, in various
parts of Munster, preached sermons from the altar de-
nouncing secret societies. At first it was supposed
that these reverend gentlemen referred to the Ribbon
societies, that is, the secret combinations of peasantry
against landlord tyranny, against which the law gave
them no protection, from which our unhappy country
has seldom been free. But it soon became evident that
the society they condemned was one for the political
amelioration of Ireland-it was, in fact, the Fenian,
or Irish Republic brotherhood, then in its embryo
state. Stephens on his organizing tour found at Skib-
bereen, in May 1858, that there was in existence a
Jeremiah O'Donovan (Rossa).
nationalist literary club called the 'Phoenix National
and Literary Society,' in which he had ready to his
hand the nucleus of a formidable branch of the secret
society he was then organizing.
It was on this occasion that he made the acquaint-
ance of Jeremiah O'Donovan (Rossa), who afterwards
became so sturdy an adherent of his. Rossa-to use
the Celtic affix of his name by which he is popularly
known-was then a young man of intelligence but
imperfect education. A more perfect type of the un-
cultured Irishman of the peasant class it would not
be easy to find. He had all the faults and virtues
of the Irish character. Bold as a lion, gentle as a
woman, he exemplified in his disposition the attri-
butes supposed to be possessed by the Irish wolf-
dog-'gentle when stroked; fierce when provoked.'
A kinder-hearted man never existed, or a more stur-
dily independent or obstinate one. I can only attri-
bute his recent dynamite ravings in New York to
the effect of mental aberration, for he is—or was-
naturally humane, not to say excessively tender-
hearted. But always-like many another Irishman
—his bark' was infinitely 'worse than his bite.'
Rossa was 'a very much married man.' Soon after
he became a Fenian he entered the bonds of wedlock
for the third time. He found great difficulty in getting
the nuptial knot tied, owing to his well-known poli-
tical opinions. He lived in Dublin at the time, and
his intended bride resided in Clonakilty, where the
ceremony was to be performed. It was necessary on
that account that he should be provided with a license
from a Dublin clergyman. He relates, in his Prison
G
81
82
The Phonix Society.
Life, his endeavours to procure this document. The
first priest he applied to told him that any license he
could give him would be informal.
'How is that?' said Rossa.
'Why,' said he, 'you have n't been to confession.'
'But I am ready to go to confession to you.'
'Oh I could not hear your confession, now that I
know you.'
"Could n't you hear a confession of my sins ?'
'I could; but I should ask you certain questions
which you should answer, and which would make it
impossible for me to give you absolution.'
And Rossa had to be content with an informal
license from the clergyman.
He then started for Clonakilty, and stopped en
route at Cork, in order to ascertain if he could not
succeed better with some of the clergymen there. He
says that he went to confession to a Dominican friar,
when the following conversation took place:-
Friar.-'Do you belong to any secret society?'
Rossa.-'No.'
'Do you belong to any society in which you took
an oath?'
'I do.'
'What is the object of it?'
'To free Ireland from British rule.'
'You must give it up.'
'I must not.'
Then Rossa asked and obtained a license, stating
that he had been to confession but had not got abso-
lution. 'I left the chapel,' said Rossa, 'thinking I
could leave myself and my sins to the mercy of God
Rossa Married.
83
for the future, and that it would be a long time again
before I would trouble such priests.'
On his arrival at Clonakilty he went, with his
fiancée and her father, to the parish priest to arrange
for the marriage. The priest at once pronounced the
license informal, and referred Rossa to the Bishop.
'I told him,' said Rossa, 'I had not time to see the
Bishop, as I was leaving Ireland the following day;
and if he could not marry me, I should have to go to
Cork to get married.'
His reverence was horrified. He could not believe
that the young lady would leave the town with her
intended husband without being married. The young
lady insisted that she would.
<
Oh,' said the priest to Rossa, 'whatever be your
hostility to our poor old Mother Church that has pro-
tected us through all ages-whatever you do to create
disrespect of the ministers of our holy religion, and to
corrupt society, leave us one thing-leave us the vir-
tue of our women.'
'By Jove,' wrote Rossa, didn't I feel this to be
hard? But the man who said it was a priest, and
there was no strength in my arm. We got an order
to the curate of the parish to marry us.'
This shows that if Ireland is the 'priest-ridden'
country it is supposed to be, there was one Irishman,
at least, who would not yield obedience to clerical dic-
tation when he considered he had right on his side.
Rossa and Stephens soon came to a perfect under-
standing, and the result was that the Phoenix society
became, if not the fountain-head of Fenianism, at any
rate the only visible point of radiation from which
(
G 2
84
The Phoenix Society.
subsequently its branches overspread the land. Mr.
A. M. Sullivan, a well-meaning but quite too ab-
surdly impulsive gentleman, conceiving that he was
in duty bound to stifle this society in its birth, not
only because he may have considered that such so-
cieties were likely to involve well-meaning men in
trouble without gaining any compensating advantage
for the national cause, but also, no doubt, because
their unchecked spread would be not unlikely to inter-
fere with his own projects and those of the more mode-
rate school of politicians with whom he was identified,
wrote articles in the Nation-which referred pointedly
to the Phoenix society-describing their perils, and
demonstrating their supposed demoralizing effects.
And, as it since appeared, he also induced Mr. Smith
O'Brien to write a public letter against them. The
Fenian party naturally resented Mr. Sullivan's inter-
ference with their projects, not merely because it was
calculated to so focus public attention on the fact that
secret societies existed that the Government could not,
were they ever so well inclined, refrain from taking
steps for their suppression, but because their objects
and real character were so vaguely stated as to amount
to actual misrepresentation. The Irishman put the case
very fairly :—‘A Dublin weekly journal of national
politics,' it said, 'raised an imprudent shout of alarm
about it; a daily "Liberal and Catholic" print took
up the cry, and made it the excuse to libel and insult
honest men who have suffered in their devotion to
their country, and a few credulous and well-meaning
clergymen have repeated the clamour, in trembling
and denunciatory tones, even from the altar..
85
A. M. Sullivan and the 'Phænix' Men.
It would seem that there is a political organization in
Munster. . . . . We learn from unquestionable sources.
that it has no connexion with Ribbonism or mid-
night conspiracy; that it contemplates no interfe-
rence with landlord or tenant relations except such
as might result from the establishment of Irish na-
tional independence, that it has no "oaths of blood,"
that it countenances no "dagger law," but prudently
or imprudently, wisely or rashly, its members believe
that, by its means, they can help in bringing back
the independence of Ireland.
We fear the
wholesale denunciation of all forms of secret societies
by well-meaning amiable persons misleads and con-
founds the people, and makes them blind to the line
where morality ends and crime begins.
A
secret organization for the amelioration of Ireland is
no crime.'
""
For my own part, I have not a shadow of doubt
that Mr. Sullivan's hasty action left the Government
no alternative save to take steps to put down the
Phoenix society. It supplied the anti-Irish press in
Ireland and in Great Britain with a text on which to
found clamours so loud for repressive measures, that
they could not be resisted. At the same time, I am
far from saying that he had any intention of inciting
the Government to act; but, all the same, I am forced
to believe that his interference had that effect. If left
to themselves, no doubt, the Government would have
endeavoured to suppress the society sooner or later,
since it appears that they were well informed, by
their spies and others, of all the proceedings of the
conspirators; but their action would probably have
86
The Phonix Society.
not taken place till a much later period. Nor do I
think that, on the whole, the secret society men lost
ground by the Government prosecution-on the con-
trary, it rather served them than otherwise. The
trials made it plain that their aims were national and
honourable, and, furthermore, excited wide-spread
sympathy for the prisoners, which their associates
did not fail to utilise with effect in the work of
propagandism.
A Government proclamation was issued on the
3rd of December, 1858, signed by Lord Naas, Chief
Secretary for Ireland, offering a reward of £100 for
the conviction of any person guilty of administering
an oath in connexion with any of the secret societies
then said to exist in several parts of Ireland, the mem-
bers of which were associated under the obligations of
oaths, and which were declared to be illegal; and
£50 for the conviction of any person on the charge of
being a member of such society. The issue of this
document created some sensation: it was so mani-
festly calculated to create the offences it proposed to
prevent—that is, to tempt unscrupulous men to invent
conspiracies in order to obtain money for betraying
the imaginary conspirators-that it startled even the
London Times out of its always-eager anxiety to pro-
mote repression in Ireland, and forced it to declare
that it was 'both startling and novel.' 'When a re-
ward is offered,' it said, 'for a crime which may not
have been committed at all at the time of the procla-
mation, the case is materially altered. The reward
may be the very cause of the crime, or of the false
accusation of committing it; an unnatural stimulus is
G
Trials of the Conspirators.
administered to the disreputable occupation of spies
and informers, and a principle is laid down which, if
logically carried out, would teach the people at large
to consider the detection of crime, not as a duty
thrown by the very structure and constitution of
society upon each individual member of it, but as a
lucrative secret, to be sold in the dearest market for
the best price that can be obtained from the Govern-
ment of the day.'
However, on the 8th of December, J. O'Donovan
(Rossa), Murty Moynahan, Daniel M'Cartie, John
Stack, and eight others, were arrested in Skibbereen,
and removed from thence to Cork county jail. All were
respectable young men, in the same class of life-
small shopkeepers, mercantile and law clerks, and
shop assistants-and were charged with being mem-
bers of a secret society called the 'Phoenix.' A few
other arrests were also made in Killarney, Bantry,
and Macroom. An approver turned up in the person
of Daniel Sullivan, nicknamed 'Goula. This man
swore that he joined the Phoenix Society deliberately
with the intention of becoming acquainted with the
names and secrets of the members for the purpose of
betraying them. Upon his evidence all the accused,
except three, were committed for trial. A Special
Commission for the trial of the prisoners was issued
for the counties of Kerry and Cork. The trials com-
menced early in March, 1859, at Tralee. The first
prisoner tried was Daniel O'Sullivan, and he was de-
fended by Mr. O'Hagan, Q.C., who has since been
twice Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and is now Baron
O'Hagan, and a Knight of St. Patrick. The evidence
87
88
The Phonix Society.
of the informer Sullivan (Goula) was to the effect that
numbers of young men met occasionally, by day and
night, and were drilled and disciplined. They were
said to be bound by an oath, of which the following is
a copy:-'I, A B, do solemnly declare, in the pre-
sence of God, that I renounce all allegiance to the
Queen of England, and will do my utmost, at every
risk, to make Ireland an Independent Democratic
Republic, and that I will take up arms and fight at a
moment's notice; that I shall yield implicit obedience
to the commands of my superior officers; that I will
preserve inviolable secrecy with regard to the so-
ciety; and that I take this oath without any mental
reservation whatever. So help me, God.'
From a correspondence which has been published
it would appear that Archdeacon O'Sullivan, parish
priest of Kenmare, had been in communication with
the Chief Secretary about the Phoenix society previous
to the prosecution. He wrote at first stating that he
had discovered its existence, and enclosed copies of
the oath. Soon after he wrote again to the effect that
he had denounced the society from the altar, and that
the effect of his denunciation was to prevent the fur-
ther enrolment of members. Then, after the arrests,
he endeavoured to induce the Government to liberate
the prisoners, on the grounds of their youth and in-
experience, and that the society to which they be-
longed was extinct. He also sent letters to the
same effect to the Crown Solicitor who conducted the
prosecution. The Archdeacon further wrote to the
Chief Secretary, after the preliminary examination of
the prisoners, a letter with reference to the informer
89
Conviction of O'Sullivan.
Sullivan's (Goula) evidence, in which he said: 'I
have just read the evidence of the approver in the
Cork Examiner, and he states that he had been to
confession with me, and that I advised him to break
the oaths. The man never confessed to me. I never
exchanged a word with him. He is not a parishoner
of mine at all. If all his evidence is as true as this
much, it is of little value.' This proves how little re-
liance was to be placed on the approver's evidence.
It is quite possible the Government would have ac-
ceded to the Archdeacon's request to enlarge the
prisoners on bail, and put an end to the trials, were
it not for the undue importance attached to the so-
ciety to which they belonged, owing to the indiscreet
comments of professing friends.
The prisoner was ably defended, and the informer's
evidence so seriously discredited that the jury could
not agree, and the other trials were postponed.
O'Sullivan was again put on trial at the ensuing
Kerry assizes, but finding that an exclusively Pro-
testant jury was empanelled to try him, he declined
to make any defence, was found guilty, and sen-
tenced to penal servitude for ten years. Afterwards
the other prisoners, acting upon the advice of their
friends, pleaded guilty, on the understanding that
they would be released. They were told that an
effort was being made to obtain the freedom of
Daniel O'Sullivan, and that if they pleaded guilty,
and as there had been a change of government, and
therefore a probability that the new rulers would be
not unlikely to inaugurate their rule by an act of
grace, they might not only obtain their own free-
90
The Phoenix Society.
dom but that of their comrade.
They consented,
and were released, 'to appear when called on,' but
O'Sullivan was not set free for a considerable time
afterwards. So ended the 'Phoenix' episode.
CHAPTER VII.
A RETROSPECT.
AFTER EFFECTS OF THE 'YOUNG IRELAND
MOVEMENT.
FAILURE OF LEGAL AGITATION.
EVANESCENT CHARACTER
OF IRISH ENTHUSIASM. YOUNG IRELAND AND FENIAN
INFORMERS. PROGRESS OF RUIN.
IT
T will be seen from the foregoing brief narrative
of the political history of Ireland for the decade
of years, from '48 to '58, that both the legal agita-
tions and the agitations which were not legal were
alike absolutely fruitless-not, however, because they
had not a solid substratum of grievances to rest upon.
The Church Establishment remained intact; reform of
the land laws was sought in vain; such facilities for
university training as the members of the Protestant
Church possessed were refused to Roman Catholics;
and relief from many other minor disabilities sternly
denied; in fact British legislation for Ireland for
all this period amounted to absolutely nothing, ex-
cept, indeed, coercion and disarming Acts. The
splendid efforts of Lucas; the unceasing labours of
Duffy, Maguire, Moore, and many other patriotic and
talented Irishmen, all ended in failure. The fervour
of the enthusiastic patriotism kindled by Young
Ireland' survived, it is true, and became, if it were
possible, more intense amongst the rising generation.
And what a splendid, hopeful, and exalting feeling it
<
92
A Retrospect.
was, making the humblest deem it an honour, to be
unceasingly sought, to be permitted to make sacrifices
for their country! I think there is hardly anything
in history, ancient or modern, so truly admirable
and touching as the passionate love for native land,
awakened by the teaching of these devoted Young
Irelanders. The following poem, translated from the
Irish by the late Clarence Mangan, in which Ireland
is pictured as a beautiful maiden suffering and sor-
rowing, charmingly prefigures this love of Irishmen
for the land of their birth:
O, my dark Rosaleen,
Do not sigh, do not weep!
The priests are on the ocean green,
They march along the deep.
There's wine from the royal Pope,
Upon the ocean green;
And Spanish ale shall give you hope,
My dark Rosaleen!
My own Rosaleen!
Shall glad your heart, shall give you hope,
Shall give you health, and help, and hope,
My dark Rosaleen!
Over hills, and through dales,
Have I roamed for your sake;
All yesterday I sailed with sails
On river and on lake.
The Erne, at its highest flood,
I dashed across unseen,
For there was lightning in my blood,
My dark Rosaleen !
My own Rosaleen!
O! there was lightning in my blood-
Red lightning lightened through my blood,
My dark Rosaleen!
'My Dark Rosaleen.'
All day long, in unrest,
To and fro do I move.
The very soul within my breast
Is wasted for you, love!
The heart within my bosom faints
To think of you, my Queen,
My life of life, my saint of saints,
My dark Rosaleen !
My own Rosaleen!
To hear your sweet and sad complaints,
My life, my love, my saint of saints,
My dark Rosaleen !
Woe and pain, pain and woe,
Are my lot, night and noon,
To see your bright face clouded so,
Like to the mournful moon.
But yet will I rear your throne
Again in golden sheen;
'Tis
you shall reign, shall reign alone,
My dark Rosaleen !
My own Rosaleen!
'Tis you shall have the golden throne-
'Tis you shall reign, and reign alone,
My dark Rosaleen.
S
Over dews, over sands,
Will I fly for your weal;
Your holy, delicate, white hands
Shall girdle me with steel.
At home, in your emerald bowers,
From morning's dawn till e'en,
You'll pray
for me, my flower of flowers,
My dark Rosaleen!
My fond Rosaleen!
You'll think of me through daylight's hours,
My virgin flower, my flower of flowers,
My dark Rosaleen!
93
94
A Retrospect.
I could scale the blue air,
I could plough the high hills,
O! I could kneel all night in prayer,
To heal your many ills!
And one beamy smile from you
Would float like light between
My toils and me, my own, my true,
My dark Rosaleen!
My fond Rosaleen!
Would give me life and soul anew,
A second life, a soul anew,
My dark Rosaleen!
O! the Erne shall run red
With redundance of blood;
The earth shall rock beneath our tread,
And flames wrap hill and wood;
And gun-peal, and slogan cry,
Wake many a glen serene,
Ere you shall fade, ere you shall die,
My dark Rosaleen!
My own Rosaleen !
The Judgment Hour must first be nigh,
Ere you can fade, ere you can die,
My dark Rosaleen!
But vehement and vivid as is this patriotic enthu-
siasm, it has only too often proved to be evanescent
and wanting in enduring tenacity in face of disaster.
Indeed this proneness to fall from the very height of
strong and confident hope to the extreme of despair
seems to be one of the most marked characteristics of
the Celtic race. It has been proved on many a hard-
fought field, that in no army of Europe does panic
succeed unforseen defeat so rapidly and certainly as
in that of France. And such also are the conse-
quences observable when Irish rebels encounter unex-
pected reverses. Certainly the demoralization which
atala
-
Informers.
95
succeeded the '48 fiasco had no adequate cause. The
failure it revealed did not appear irretrievable. Blank
hopeless despair, however, seized most of the Young
Irelanders, when disaster disclosed to them the dan-
gers they dared with inadequate resources; and it is
deplorably true that only too many of them were
anxious to purchase immunity for themselves by the
betrayal of their associates.
<
Mr. Frank T. Porter, a Dublin police magistrate,
who, from his position, was aware of the facts, writes,
in a book of Reminiscences* which he recently pub-
lished: No more offensive epithet can be applied in
this country, in the warmest spirit of invective, than
that of an "informer." I have repeatedly heard
it asserted, as a popular maxim, that all informers
should be shot. I can truly and deliberately declare
it to be my firm conviction, that if all the informers
of 1848 were so disposed of, the confederate clubs
and revolutionary associations of Dublin would have
been decimated. There were in one Dublin establish-
ment forty conspirators, of whom ten were in com-
munication with the police.'
I had reason to believe myself-when a prisoner
for sedition in Richmond Bridwell in '69, when Fe-
nianism was on its last legs-that, of the few Fenians
who were at that time confined there, at least two
volunteered to give information, which, however, the
Government did not want, so overpowered were they
by the plenitude of treachery which was at their com-
mand. But I am firmly convinced that before it
*Gleanings and Reminiscences, by an Irish Police Magistrate. Pub-
lished by Hodges, Figgis & Co.
96
A Retrospect.
became evident that the organization had indeed
arrived at the point of collapse, with few exceptions,
all the Fenians were true as steel, and not to be
bought at any price. Stephens, as we shall see, was
quite well aware of this weakness of his countrymen,
and hence it was his constant endeavour to keep up
their hope and spirit, even when in doing so he
had at times to draw largely on his imagination for
proofs to sustain his confident promises.
We see, therefore, that beyond creating an influ-
ence by their teaching and example, the Young Ire-
landers, as is shown by the torpor of these long and
weary years, did little or nothing. But the indomi-
table ardour and irresistible perseverance of Stephens
turned their precepts and sacrifices to such good
account that he all but accomplished the revolution
which they failed to even initiate.
The failure of the constitutional agitators was
still more signal and remarkable. They, too, were
driven to despair; they were forced to confess that the
inactivity of the people arose from their hopelessness
of obtaining justice except they were in a position
to exact it at the bayonet's point.
The successor of Mr. Lucas in the proprietorship
of the Tablet, after a brief struggle, resigned the un-
equal contest with British obduracy; and in remov-
ing the publication of his journal to London, admitted
that the people were silently hugging their wrongs,
and awaiting the opportunity, which they fully be-
lieved would come one day or another: not to obtain
justice from England, but to resuscitate the oppressed
and overborne nation of Ireland.'
<
Statistics of Ruin.
Blind, callous, and culpably ignorant were those
rulers, indeed, not to have seen the ruin that was pro-
ceeding before their eyes-not to have known that
their cruel indifference to the sufferings of Ireland
would react with disastrous effect on the future of their
own land. How fatal was the blight of British rule in
Ireland in those days can be shown in very few words:
In 1841 the population of Ireland was 8,196,597; in
1851 it was 6,574,278; in 1861 it was 5,798,967; so
that in twenty years Ireland lost not far short of two
millions and a-half of the very flower of her popula-
tion! Think of that appalling fact-two millions and
a-half of honest men, virtuous women, and innocent
children sacrificed to the callous indifference or la-
mentable incompetence of English statesmen. And
yet it has been said that the rulers of Ireland were
not aware of the intensity of disaffection to their rule,
or of its causes, until Fenianism enlightened them.
Fatal ignorance; deadly remissness! Had the Admi-
nistrations which were responsible for the government
of Ireland from '41 to'61 but ruled in the spirit of that
which governed in '81, can it be doubted that Ireland
would have not lost so lavishly, or at all, of her life-
blood-would not have been contented and prospe-
rous-would no longer be England's difficulty, as she
still is; nor her people at home and abroad her irre-
concilable foes, as they still continue to be; but her
firm friends? True, indeed, is it that the troubles of
the present are the punishment of the misdeeds of the
past-that the rulers of England of a time gone by
have sown broadcast the crop of wrong-doing, of which
their successors of to-day are reaping the fruits.
H
97
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FENIAN ORGANIZATION.
PLAN OF THE ORGANIZATION.
HIS CAPA-
ORIGIN OF THE NAME FENIAN.
STEPHENS SUPREME HEAD OF THE BROTHERHOOD.
CITY FOR FICTION. THE FENIAN OATH. FENIANS IN THE
AMERICAN ARMIES.
F
،
'ENIANISM proper dates from the time when
Stephens, in 1858, joined O'Mahony in New York.
I am unable to say at whose suggestion the society
received its baptismal appellation, but possibly it was
O'Mahony-a man well versed in Celtic lore-who
hit upon the name. There is no doubt that Stephens
and O'Mahony both stood sponsors for it. In Ire-
land, however, it was not officially' spoken of by the
appellation Fenian, though the name fixed itself in
the popular mind as that which properly belonged to
the organization in Ireland as well as in America.
But the leaders took pains to impress on their fol-
lowers that their society was, in truth and fact, at first
an Irish Republican brotherhood, and afterwards-
as we shall see—an actual de facto Irish Republican
Government the Irish Republic itself 'virtually
established.' That is why the Irish People, the official
organ of the Irish branch of the brotherhood, used to
deny so emphatically that such a thing as Fenianism
The Fenians of Old.
existed in Ireland at all, and assert that it was nothing
more than a phantom, born of anticipations of com-
ing retribution for their misdeeds against Ireland of
conscience-stricken Britishers. But nevertheless the
name adhered, so happily was it chosen.
The Fenians were an Irish national militia, who
had their being in the remote past, and took their
name from Fionn Mac Cumhail, their commander,
and their legions were called Fiana-h-Erionn. They
were the defenders of Ireland before the coming of
St. Patrick. To become a private in the ranks, a man
should be able to go over anything the height of him-
self, or under anything the height of his knee, without
slackening his speed. He should be able to defend
himself against nine men; and, once enrolled, he
should marry for love and not for riches. It will be
therefore admitted that the modern inheritors of the
name of these heroes of Titanic prowess and Spartan
virtue had a high standard set before them for emu-
lation. The choice of name also, perhaps, implied
that the modern Fenians would require to have the
exceptional bodily activity and rigid self-denial of
their progenitors, in order to bring the difficult enter-
prise upon which they had entered to a successful
termination.
99
Both in America and Ireland the plan of organi-
zation was the same. John O'Mahony was head
centre' of the American branch; James Stephens
'central organizer' of the Irish Republic. In both
countries the members were formed into 'circles' of
fifty members, the authorised person who enrolled
them being the 'A' or centre. The centre was in fact
H 2
Vorm
100
The Fenian Organization.
colonel of the band, for whose drilling and training
he was responsible, and they were expected to impli-
citly obey all his orders. Under him were the 'B's'
or captains; the 'C's' or sergeants; and the rank
and file were known as the 'D's.' Stephens was
uncontrolled by any council or other body; he was
indeed an absolute autocrat, who would submit to
dictation from no man. There were, it is true, a few
men with whom he used to consult on occasions,
but at the same time his absolute authority was
never questioned. The famous triumvirate, to whom
he subsequently delegated his powers when he was
obliged to go to America-Messrs. Luby, Kickham,
and O'Leary—were in his confidence, and it was with
them alone that he ever conferred on matters of mo-
ment; but they rarely found fault with any of his de-
cisions, or disputed his right to wield supreme control
over the organization. As he said himself, it was
requisite that the organization should have one ‘ab-
solute, unshackled head."
John Mitchel has left on record an account of an
interview he had with Stephens as long ago as 1858,
which gives a fair idea of the extent to which the
latter asserted-to use a phrase that was adopted
by his latter-day assailants—' the one-man power.'
Mitchel said:
'Exactly nine years ago' (he wrote in 1867), 'James
Stephens came to this country to organize the Ame-
rican branch of the Irish Republican brotherhood.
He came to me in East Tennessee, stated his plans
and resources, and required, rather than proposed,
that Meagher and myself should place ourselves at
Mitchel on Stephens.
the head of the organization in the United States,
appeal to our countrymen here for money, and plenty
of money, and remit all to him. This was cool. I
questioned him closely upon the progress he had made
in Ireland, and he assured me that he had then-nine
years ago fifteen thousand sworn confederates (they
were not then called Fenians) all armed with rifles.
I did not believe him. A few days later Meagher
and myself met Mr. Stephens by appointment, at my
lodging, in Pennsylvania-avenue, Washington. He
demanded of us, in a somewhat high tone, that we
should enter the conspiracy, and should use all the
credit and influence which he supposed us to possess
among the Irish citizens of the United States, in order
to procure money for the purposes of the conspiracy.
It was a startling proposal. Unfortunately for him
we could not believe his statement, and speedily
arrived at the conclusion at which many others have
arrived, that he was a humbug. It was in vain that
he told us that our antecedents and the position we
held (as he said) amongst Irish patriots imposed on
us the duty to place ourselves in the hands of him,
James Stephens, as the only representative and stan-
dard-bearer of the Irish national cause, and with full
confidence in him, his promises and pretensions, ask
our countrymen settled here for their hard-earned dol-
lars, and plenty of them. . . . . I told Mr. Stephens
that, although fully bent upon taking advantage of
any legitimate occasion and opportunity for liberating
our country and destroying British power, we had
never yet asked our countrymen to contribute a revo-
lutionary fund, because we had not the assurance that
IOI
gala
M
102
The Fenian Organization.
it would be properly used; that we believed no op-
portunity whatsoever then existed for a revolutionary
movement in Ireland (England being then at peace
with all the world); that we declined therefore to
make ourselves responsible in the eyes of the whole
Irish race at home and abroad, by calling upon them
to pour into our hands the savings of years—as we
knew they would-on the mere faith of his assurance
that he was going to overthrow the British empire.'
It must be recollected that when this was written—
in 1867-the star of Stephens had set; failure had
overshadowed the record of his labours and services.
to the cause of his native land: his friends had de-
serted him, and nothing was remembered of him
except his faults and his frailties. Therefore Mitchel's
strictures, however just they may have been, were at
that time hardly generous. It was certainly rather
presumptuous on the part of Stephens that he should
expect that men of the standing of Mitchel and
Meagher-who had in 1848 been his much reverenced
leaders would place themselves unreservedly in his
hands and use their influence to extend and confirm
his own. On the other hand, it was he who created
the organization, and his sole authority had been
hitherto freely acknowledged. He could therefore
hardly be expected to share that authority with.
others, unless for some all-sufficient reason which he
asserted he could not then discover. It can be well
understood that he should 'brook no rival near his
throne,' seeing what cheerful obedience was yielded
to him, and the great personal sacrifices which he
made to attain it. No doubt his statements as re-
The Fictions of Stephens.
gards the effective strength of the organization were
greatly exaggerated, and Mitchel knew that they
were. But exaggeration was so ingrained in his
system, from his consciousness of the impossibility of
enlisting the support of his countrymen in any enter-
prize that did not present fair prospects of large and
immediate results, that possibly he thought he could
impose upon the credulity of Mitchel and his friend
by a little romancing. If so, it is clear he deceived
himself greatly. Mitchel must, however, have had
reason to modify his opinion of Stephens later on,
seeing that he became a member of the brotherhood,
and consented to act as the medium for transmitting
money-sent to him at Paris from America-to Ire-
land to support the organization there.
It is true, also, that even Stephens's fidus Achates,
John O'Mahony, had some scruples about calling on
his countrymen to contribute money to help the Irish
organization, so long as there was no immediate pos-
sibility of action being taken. More especially did
he object to make such demands upon the basis of
untrustworthy or exaggerated statements.
'I re-
solved,' he wrote in 1867, 'never to deceive or mis-
lead either my constituents on this side of the Atlantic,
or my allies and correspondents at the other, by the
wilful promulgation of false statements, or by making
reckless promises respecting the position and pro-
gress of the movement.' For thus acting he was re-
garded as an obstructionist, and he was subsequently
bitterly denounced by many of the active mem-
bers of the home organization as the author of the
'drag-chain policy' which impeded their efforts and
103
104
The Fenian Organization.
interfered with the prosecution of the vigorous propa-
gandism initiated by James Stephens.
The truth is, that for the first few years of the ex-
istence of the organization, before it had reached
anything like the numerical strength necessary to
make it self-supporting, money came from America
in such driblets, that more than once the C. O. I. R.
was tempted to resign his position, and abandon fur-
ther effort to spread the conspiracy. There is no
doubt at all that that was why he occasionally per-
mitted himself to send requests to O'Mahony for
money, backed up by statements so highly coloured
and improbable that the latter could not be deceived
by them. Stephens and his friends, indeed, were dis-
heartened and discouraged so seriously by the insen-
sibility of O'Mahony to their remonstrances against
his inactivity, that more than once utter collapse
threatened the still frail fabric of an organization
which they had been at such pains to raise. Without
money, in fact, the conspiracy could not be carried
on, and it has never been charged against the con-
spirators that the money contributed by the Irish-
Americans was not used to promote the object for
which it was subscribed. Though James Stephens.
has been maligned and misrepresented as Irish leader
never was before, no one has ever ventured to hint
that he ever misapplied or misappropriated a single
shilling of the money he received for the purposes of
the organization. That, at least, has never been said
of him. Can as much be said of other leaders who
came after him-of our own days?
The organization of the American branch was dif
GRO
The Fenian Oath.
105
ferent in many important respects from that of the
Irish. Nearly all the important offices were filled by
election; and the head centre's power was subject to
the veto of a council, which was elected annually.
The head centre, however, was the only medium of
communication between the Irish-American and the
Irish Fenians. The head centre was assisted by two
treasurers and two secretaries. The State centres were
appointed by the head centre, on the recommendation
of a majority of the delegates from the various circles
entitled to vote. The State centres appointed dis-
trict centres. The oath taken by an American Fe-
nian was as follows:-'I solemnly pledge my oath,
as a Christian and an Irishman, that I will labour
with earnest zeal for the liberation of Ireland from
the yoke of England, and for the establishment of a
free and independent government on Irish soil; that
I will implicitly obey the commands of my superior
officers in the Fenian brotherhood, in all things per-
taining to my duties as a member thereof; that I will
do my best to promote feelings of love, harmony,
and kindly forbearance among all Irishmen; and
that I will foster, defend, and propagate the afore-
said Fenian brotherhood to the utmost of my power.'
The oath taken by an Irish member of the organiza-
tion was more direct to the point. It ran :- In the
presence of Almighty God, I solemnly swear alle-
giance to the Irish Republic, now virtually esta-
blished, and to take up arms when called on to
defend its independence and integrity. I also swear
to yield implicit obedience to the commands of my
superior officers."
106
The Fenian Organization.
In 1859 Stephens sent Luby to America, soon after
his own return therefrom, to endeavour to stimulate
the American organization into some semblance of
practical activity. There was no money to carry on
the organization at home, and none was coming from
the United States. Luby succeeded to some extent
in obtaining a much-needed supply of the sinews of
war; and, moreover, his visit had considerable effect
in reconciling differences and removing difficulties
which stood in the way of a cordial and complete un-
derstanding between O'Mahony and Stephens. Luby
returned to Ireland before the end of 1859, and soon
after Stephens sent P. J. Downing (one of the released
'Phoenix' prisoners) to O'Mahony with dispatches,
and subsequently, at intervals, others of the released
'Phoenix' men.
In the following year things began to look brighter
for the conspirators at home: there was considerable
activity amongst the American branches, and the re-
mittances to Ireland began to increase. Messengers
were constantly coming from O'Mahony to Stephens,
and going from Stephens to O'Mahony. In Novem-
ber, 1860, O'Mahony himself set out for Ireland, in
order to ascertain on the spot how things were pro-
gressing. Injurious statements were being promul-
gated by the anti-Irish press in the United States
about Stephens and the home organization, the truth
or falsehood of which he was desirous of investigat-
ing, so as to be in position to authoritatively pro-
nounce the amount of credence to be given to them.
During his absence his position as chief of the orga-
nization was occupied by the late General Corcoran,
Fenians in the American Armies.
commanding the 69th Regiment of the Irish Brigade,
who, during O'Mahony's absence, refused to parade
his regiment in honour of the Prince of Wales, who
was then visiting America, for which he was tried by
court-martial, but acquitted. On that occasion Ste-
phens and O'Mahony met several times, and arrived
at a perfect understanding. O'Mahony visited Paris,
where John Mitchel was staying at that time, and
also London, where he attended a meeting of centres
of the organization in England, and explained his
plans to them. He arrived back in New York in
January, 1861, just a month or so after the outbreak
of the Civil War.
107
On the 12th April the first shot fired in the war
came from Fort Sumter, inaugurating a prolonged
and sanguinary conflict, and bringing a new element
of comfort and lively hope to the Fenians on both
sides of the Atlantic. Opportunity for military train-
ing for its members was what, it was held, was most
wanted to constitute the Fenian organization truly
formidable, and here was the opportunity at hand to
obtain it. Accordingly, Fenians flocked round the
standard of the North. An Irish Brigade, commanded
by General T. F. Meagher-'of the sword'-was
formed, which was almost exclusively composed of
Fenians, as was also the Corcoran legion—Corcoran
himself being a Fenian high in the confidence of
O'Mahony and Stephens.
General Halpin, in an account of the constitution
of the American branch of the brotherhood, which he
published in '73, wrote: 'Many of the regiments were
Fenians to a man, and there were few in which circles
T
108
The Fenian Organization.
were not organized. The head centre for the army of
the Potomac was Brigadier-General Thomas Smith,
Second Division, Second Corps. Corcoran was one
of his subordinates, and one Colonel Mathew Murphy,
afterwards killed in action, and who belonged to the
Sixty-ninth New York (Corcoran's legion) was ano-
ther. . . . The 164th New York was originally raised
and officered by Fenians who had graduated in the
99th New York State Militia, otherwise called the
Phoenix or Fenian Regiment. In Milford, Mass., out
of a circle of one hundred and fifteen Fenians previous
to the war, eighty at once enlisted in a body, under
their centre, Major Peard. In Connecticut the whole
circle of about two hundred volunteered unanimously.
Two-thirds of the 9th Massachusetts Infantry were
Fenians. The "Douglas Brigade" of Illinois, chiefly
raised in Chicago, was in great part Fenian; as was
also the brigade raised by the late lamented Colonel
Mulligan, who was high up in the order. In the
"Excelsior Brigade" a large proportion of the officers
were Fenians; and the 42nd New York, raised by the
late Lieut.-Col. Kennedy, was chiefly organized by
Lieut.-Col. Doheny, one of the original founders of
the order, whose two sons received glorious wounds
in the army of the Potomac.'
On the Southern side also the Fenians were well
represented. They had their circles in nearly every
regiment engaged in the struggle, and very many of
the officers who held high positions were also sworn
and devoted Fenians. Hardly anything could, in fact,
have occurred more opportunely than this regretable
war to further the designs of the Fenian leaders, and
What was expected after the War. 109
it gave a tremendous impetus to the progress of the
movement. The American Governments of both North
and South were by no means disposed to interfere with
the enlistment of Fenians in their armies, notwith-
standing that their non-interference might have been
held to make them accomplices in preparations for war
with England-a power with whom both were at peace
—which these men were undisguisedly making. But
they wanted soldiers, and were not nicely particular as
to the ulterior objects which the Fenians who crowded
into their armies had in view-that was none of their
business; all they wanted was food for powder, and
Irish Fenians would answer for that purpose just as
well as any other men. It was, moreover, hinted
that once the American people had got over their own
troubles-when the war was over-they would not be
unlikely to settle accounts with the 'perfidious' Bri-
tishers, against whom Americans of the South as
well as the North had complaints to make. It was,
therefore, no wonder that the opposing armies were
so largly recruited from the Fenian ranks.
CHAPTER IX.
THE M'MANUS FUNERAL.
REMOVAL OF HIS REMAINS TO NEW
DEATH OF M'MANUS.
YORK, EN ROUTE TO IRELAND. THE OBSEQUIES IN NEW YORK.
SERMON OF THE ARCHBISHOP. THE ARRIVAL OF THE BODY IN
CORK. THE DUBLIN DEMONSTRATION: IMPOSING DISPLAY.
SHORTI
HORTLY after the outbreak of the war, which
so effectively served the purposes of the Fe-
nians of America, another occurrence exerted a si-
milarly stimulating effect on the Fenian organization
at home. This was the funeral of Terence Bellew
M'Manus. M'Manus was one of the '48 leaders who
had escaped from Van Dieman's Land to San Fran-
cisco in '51, where he settled, and died in '61. It
was at once proposed by the Fenian leaders in New
York to have the body embalmed and sent to Ireland
for interment. The idea was not at all bad; the body
of the dead martyr would serve excellently as a cen-
tre round which to attract all that was generous and
worthy in Irish patriotism. In doing honour to the
remains of an unrepentant rebel the cause of rebellion
would be served.
The newspaper organ most favoured by the Fenians
in New York at this time was the Phenix, which was
said to have been edited by O'Mahony himself. This
The Obsequies in New York.
paper highly lauded the proposed demonstration over
the remains of the dead patriot-it was indeed in its
pages that the suggestion of such a thing first saw the
light. The arrangements included, as stated in the
Phonix, the removal of the body by the Californian
Nationalists to New York, accompanied by an escort
'worthy of the man'; from thence to Ireland it would
be attended by another escort, who would superin-
tend its burial in consecrated soil.
I I I
"With a deposit so sacred,' the Phenix wrote,
'many men will visit Ireland who never had hoped
to set foot on her shores again-nay, who would not,
under any circumstances, stand up again where the
felon flag of England waved. They will feel them-
selves relieved from the degradation that flag would
entail on them by the sacredness of their duty and the
holiness of the mission they would be there to ful-
fil. . . . If ever yet deed of love fructified, this one
will. The dear remains will be carried over thousands
of miles to be laid in the mother isle. This will show
the world what strong love, what an inflexible pur-
pose, what profuse generosity, prompt the task and
propel the hearts of those who undertake it.'
On the 21st of August, the body was removed from
San Francisco to New York, accompanied by Cap-
tain Smith and Jeremiah Kavanagh, both prominent
members of the Fenian organization in America. On
the 15th of September it arrived in that city, and was
laid in state in the Catholic cathedral, where a so-
lemn High Mass and requiem were celebrated. The
Archbishop of New York preached a sermon on the
occasion, from which the following are extracts :—
II2
The McManus Funeral.
'It is a great deal for us to know, and to be able
to state, that the deceased, whose remains are now
before the altar, loved his country. In all times, in
all nations, and under all circumstances, whether of
savage or civilized life, love of country has always
been held a virtue; for, in the teaching of her doc-
trine by the Catholic Church, the love of country
comes next to the love of God; next to that comes
the love of relations and friends, neighbours and so-
ciety. Now this love of country has generally been
understood as that by which men defend their native
or adopted soil, and support the Government, when
that Government is lawful and not oppressive. If the
Government should degenerate into oppression and
tyranny, then would come the love of country but not
of government. This has been the rule, not by autho-
rity, but by the recognition of the Catholic Church, in
all ages, and throughout the world. . . . Some of the
most learned and holy men of the Church have laid
it down with general sanction and authority, that
there are cases in which it is lawful to resist and
overthrow a tyrannical government. . . . The young
man, whose brief and chequered career has come to
an end in a distant land, to whose memory and re-
mains you pay your respects, was one who was wil-
ling to sacrifice—and, I may say, did sacrifice-his
prospects in life, and even his life itself, for the
freedom of the country which he loved so well, and
which he knew had been oppressed for centuries.'
The sermon from which the above extracts are taken
was not the least valuable result of the M'Manus
funeral to the Fenian organization in Ireland. There
Arrival at Cork.
the Catholic clergy had held a somewhat different
doctrine. They insisted that the Church only recog-
nized the right of oppressed peoples to revolt when
their grievances were intolerable, and when there ap-
peared reasonable expectation that the revolt would
be successful. They also denounced the Fenian
organization because it was oath-bound, and conse-
quently the Catholics joining it incurred the penalty
of being refused the sacraments, and, if they persisted
in remaining members, of excommunication. But
here was a highly respected and illustrious prelate of
the Catholic Church doing honour to the remains of a
Fenian, praising him unreservedly, and justifying his
conduct as being in accordance with the teaching of
the Church. And, moreover, not only exalting love
of country into the position, as a virtue, of being
next to the love of God, but showing that the Church
had laid it down that there were cases in which it is
lawful to resist and overthrow a tyrannical govern-
ment. The Fenians, of course, held that the British
Government was such a government as the bishop de-
clared the Church held it lawful to resist and over-
throw, and consequently their delight with the sermon
was boundless.
113
The remains of the exile reached Cork on the 31st
of October. A great demonstration took place there.
The body would not be admitted to the Cathedral, but
it was allowed to 'lie in state' at the chapel attached
to the Mercy Hospital until Sunday, when it was con-
veyed, accompanied by an immense procession, to the
terminus of the Great Southern and Western Railway,
where it was placed in the train which at once started
I
114
The McManus Funeral.
for Dublin. Immense crowds of people assembled at
the stations along the line, as the train conveying the
remains passed by, and great excitement prevailed
all along the route. The remains arrived at Dublin
at an early hour on Monday, and, as Archbishop
Cullen would not permit them to be placed in any of
the metropolitan churches, they were taken to the
Mechanic's Institute, Lower Abbey-street, where they
remained until the Sunday following, and were visited
daily by countless thousands of sympathizing citi-
zens.
The arrangements for the funeral were made by a
society called the Brotherhood of St. Patrick, which
had been in existence for some time previous to this.
The Brotherhood was an open and legal organization,
with objects rather undefined and vague.
It was,
however, ultra-National, and though not quite adopt-
ing the physical force policy, occasionally coming
dangerously near it. It was founded chiefly by the
late Denis Holland of the Irishman, and the late
Thomas Neilson Underwood of Strabane, then a well-
known Nationalist, and also a frequent speaker at
tenant-right meetings. In reality, this St. Patrick's
Brotherhood was a feeder for the Fenian Society,
which gradually absorbed all its members, and finally
snuffed it out of existence altogether.
The more moderate section of the Nationalist party
endeavoured to throw cold water on the funeral de-
monstration, but nevertheless in the end they were
obliged reluctantly to take part in it themselves. The
O'Donoghue was accepted as the leader of this party,
the chief function of which was at this period to do
The Dublin Demonstration.
115
nothing in particular, but keep a vigilant eye on the
doings of its formidable Fenian rival.
On Sunday, November 10th, the final interment,
took place, and the funeral procession on the occasion
was admitted to have been one of the most imposing
demonstrations ever witnessed in Dublin.
It was
composed of respectable, well-dressed, and well-be-
haved young men, and was marshalled in a manner
that suggested the notion that the men were not un-
acquainted with military drill and discipline. As a
display of Fenian strength, it so favourably impressed
the members of the American deputation, that on
their return they reported so favourably that the
organization made another great stride in advance,
and the Fenian treasury began to fill rapidly. Fune-
ral orations were delivered by the Rev. Father Lavelle
of Ballinrobe, and Captain Smith, the representative
of California on the American deputation.
The effect of the demonstration in Ireland was
such that the membership of the Fenian Society was
doubled in a few weeks after it. On the whole it was
really a most remarkable display, not only because of
its dimensions and respectability, but also because it
was organized by the people themselves, not only
without the aid of the ostensible leaders of public
opinion of the day and the Catholic clergy, but really
in opposition to them. Even John Mitchel at first
was opposed to it. In a letter written from Paris to
an American paper he begged of his countrymen in
America not to send the dead patriot's remains to
Ireland, as that island was not in a fit condition to
receive them. But he was soon forced to admit that
I 2
116
The M'Manus Funeral.
he was mistaken, and when he heard the details of
the demonstration he exclaimed in delight, 'Surely
the touch of that dead hand will rouse the young men
of Ireland to conspire at least.' This shows that he
was at last convinced that Stephens was not quite
the 'humbug' he once pronounced him to be. No
mere humbug' could organize and carry out so suc-
cessfully a demonstration which roused the veteran
'rebel' to enthusiastic approval, and delighted and
confident expectation of the coming of still better
things. Moreover, all this was done without the aid
of recognized leaders. Such leaders, indeed, were
held henceforward as of little account.
<
A few months later, the Irish People-then just
established—wrote: The M'Manus funeral proved
to the world that the spirit of nationality lived and
breathed in Ireland. Would this proof ever have
been given if the people had waited for men 'of
station' to lead them? We put this question to the
men of station themselves, and ask them even now,
at the eleventh hour, to acknowledge the supremacy
of the people.' This was plainly an intimation to the
'men of station' that their day had passed-that they
had had their innings, and that there was nothing
further for them to do save to make way for the bold
Fenian men.'
<
CHAPTER X.
TORS.
AGITATION.
THE MACMAHON SWORD OF HONOUR. THE HALF-AND-HALF
NATIONALISTS. THE NATIONAL PETITION. SYMPATHY WITH
AMERICA. THE ROTUNDO MEETING. FENIANS AND AGITA-
WH
(
THILE this serious work of organizing a revolu-
tion was proceeding, the moderate, or Grattan
Nationalists, as they liked to be called-or the open
policy' or anti-Fenian Nationalists, as some of them
preferred to be styled-were not idle. I never could
understand what these gentlemen precisely meant.
They might be more properly called, I think, the
half-and-half Nationalists, that is, men who were not
rebels nor yet loyalists, but something indescribable
between the two. I have seen some of them appear
alternately in both characters, as the occasion re-
quired, and acquit themselves equally well in both.
These nondescript patriots, as I have said, were not
idle all this time: they were getting up little inter-
ludes and entertaining distractions, which pleasantly
diverted public attention from the serious work which
the revolutionary party were carrying on so actively.
Of such a character was the presentation of the
'MacMahon Sword.' During the progress of the war
118
Agitation.
in '59, between Austria and France, it became sud-
denly known that Marshal MacMahon, who had led
the armies of France to victory, was of Irish descent.
Quite elaborate genealogies were forthwith printed
and circulated, and it was suggested that it would be
a fitting and graceful thing to make the hero a pre-
sentation of a sword of honour in the name of the
Irish nation. Moreover, it was hinted, just to give
the project the necessary rebellious complexion, that
England would not like it; that the Marshal, having
Irish blood in his veins, must necessarily be an
enemy of England, and that consequently a compli-
ment to him would be an oblique blow at our 'an-
tient enemie.'
It need hardly be said that the most earnest men
of the 'party of action' regarded the project as silly
to an excessive degree, but they did not interfere
with it in any way. Possibly the person most per-
plexed and puzzled over the affair was the Marshal
himself, who had doubtless weightier matters to oc-
cupy his attention all through his busy life than
would permit him to concern himself overmuch about
his ancestors. Indeed, it is said that he required to
be reminded that he was of Irish descent. However,
the proposed presentation could, at all events, do no
harm, and that reconciled people to it, who, in their
secret hearts, regarded it as little better than a mean-
ingless absurdity. At any rate the people subscribed
the money required to buy the sword; it was accord-
ingly procured and, suitably inscribed, was presented
in due form to the Marshal on the 20th of September,
'60, at the camp at Chalons, by Mr. J. P. Leonard, an
Ga
The National Petition?
6
119
Irish gentleman who had long been resident in Paris;
Dr. George Sigerson, a professor of the Catholic Uni-
versity of Ireland; and Mr. T. D. Sullivan, then sub-
editor of the Nation, and now one of the Members of
Parliament for Westmeath; who collectively repre-
sented the Irish nation on the occasion. The Mar-
shal, as in duty bound, was grateful for the gift, and
received the gentlemen who presented it with much
politeness and cordiality, entertained them hospi-
tably, and, on taking leave, gave them most effusive
assurances of his profound good wishes for them-
selves personally, and for their country in particular.
So that, having acquitted themselves of their im-
portant mission to their entire satisfaction, they de-
parted for their homes with the serene consciousness
that they deserved well of their country.
Another and rather more diverting divertissement
was the National Petition.' This was nothing
less than an humble petition of the Irish nation to
Her Most Gracious Majesty, that of her exceeding
goodness she would be graciously pleased to loose
Ireland and let her go-that she would withdraw her
army and her administrators, and leave the Irish
people thenceforward to their own devises, and the
peaceful management of their own affairs. And
really the thing was not at all a bad joke. The
question of the Pope's supremacy was agitating
Europe, and the English papers were writing vehe-
mently in favour of the right of the Romans to choose
their own rulers. They took for their text the ad-
mitted right of subject peoples to throw off the yoke
imposed on them by their rulers, should they desire
<
I 20
Agitation.
it and be able to do so, and argued—which no one
ventured to dispute-that the people of Rome were
quite justified in replacing rulers, whose rule they did
not approve, by others whom they preferred. If they
were competent to assert their choice, their right to
do so was undoubted.
Now what our half-and-half friends designed was
to take England at her word, and petition the Sove-
reign, that whereas British rule was distasteful to the
Irish people, and as it was admitted they had the
right to choose their own rulers, that therefore
the English governors should be allowed to take
themselves off, and the Irish people be permitted to
govern themselves. Of course the important proviso,
that the right of people to choose their own rulers is
dependent on their ability to enforce their claim so to
do, was kept out of sight.
The petition itself, as framed and presented, did
not go quite the length I have mentioned, though I
have given the plain meaning of it. It begged that
Her Majesty 'would be pleased to direct and autho-
rise a public vote by ballot and universal suffrage
in Ireland to make known the wishes of the people,
whether for a native government and legislative in-
dependence, or for the existing system of government
by the Imperial Parliament.' But as it was obvious
that had such a plebiscite as was here proposed been
taken, it would have resulted in an overwhelming
vote in favour of native rule. What was really
petitioned for directly, was permission for Ireland to
cut herself adrift from England at once and for ever.
The force of the joke, however, and the weight of the
The Trent' Affair.
(
argument, were materially weakened when it came to
be considered that a people, really in earnest in their
advocacy of the abstract right of people who believe
themselves to be ill-governed to change their rulers,
would hardly be guilty of the solecism of giving aid
and assistance in men and money to impose upon
another people a government and governors they
wished to be rid of, and to have changed for others
of their own choosing. It certainly did seem incon-
sistent for people who had sent an Irish brigade to
Italy, to assist in compelling the people of that coun-
try to accept a government they were discontented
with, to petition the alien rulers of their own country
for permission to replace their government by ano-
ther of their own selection. It is true that the Roman
people availed themselves of the assistance of the
Piedmontese, to enable them to freely exercise their
right to change their government, but so also would
the Irish people have welcomed the aid of France or
America for the same purpose. Though the joke missed
fire, it was artfully designed and constructed. It was,
however, only a joke and nothing more. The peti-
tion was said to have had a million and a-half of
signatures; it was presented in due course, and
nothing more was heard of it.
Another sensation, got up by some of the 'open
policy' men, arose soon after the outbreak of the
American Civil War, when Captain Wilkes, in the
United States sloop-of-war San Jacinto,' intercepted
the British mail steamer Trent,' and made prisoners
of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, Confederate envoys,
and their secretaries, who were on board, despite the
<
I2I
<
¡
122
Agitation.
protest of the captain of the English steamer against
so signal an insult being offered to the English flag.
This occurrence naturally excited much interest in
Ireland, where it was regarded as almost certain to
eventuate in a war between Great Britain and the
United States, and a meeting was held at the
Rotundo, in Dublin, to express sympathy with the
Northern States.
Though this meeting ostensibly originated with the
'open' agitators, yet the secret society men, feeling
that they were more immediately interested in the
question of peace or war, between their American
well-wishers and their British enemies, resolved that
they should not be left out in the cold. The chair
was taken by The O'Donoghue, who was acknow-
ledged chief of the anti-Fenian and quasi nationalist
party. The first resolution was proposed by Mr. P.
J. Smyth, who had shortly before become proprietor
of the Irishman. It was as follows:
'Resolved-That the population of the great Re-
public, from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico,
and from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores, being
largely composed of men of Irish birth or Irish blood,
a war by England against America would necessarily
be a war against the Irish race upon that Continent;
and it would be unnatural to suppose that Ireland
could remain an indifferent spectator of a struggle
between England and America.'
In the course of his eloquent speech, Mr. Smyth
declared, that the moment England entered into a
war with America, that moment would the Irishmen
in the armies of both the Northern and Southern
An Abortive Meeting.
123
States of America sink all their differences, and be-
come firmly united in antagonism to the enemies of
their native land. Other resolutions of a similar im-
port were duly carried, and the meeting was about
to disperse, when the Fenian party made themselves.
manifest in the person of Captain Kavanagh, of the
American deputation which accompanied the remains
of M'Manus from California, who moved :—
'That the chairman, the secretaries, and twenty-
one members—each having been duly and separately
proposed and seconded-be chosen by a majority of
voices, at this mass meeting, to take into considera-
tion the advisability of an organization in the present
state of affairs at home and abroad.'
The object of the originators of this resolution was
not merely to prevent the meeting resulting in no-
thing more than talk, but to commit the moral force
agitators to a course which would have the effect of
identifying them to some extent with the policy of
their Fenian rivals. The resolution was seconded by
Mr. T. N. Underwood, Secretary of the St. Patrick's
Brotherhood, and was passed unanimously. The com-
mittee was then appointed, and was found to include
the names of Messrs. P. J. Smyth, The O'Donoghue,
Mr. G. H. Moore, and one or two other anti-Fenians,
while the names of men who, it afterwards became
known, were prominent Fenians, were largely in the
majority.
Next day, however, appeared letters from The
O'Donoghue and Mr. Smyth, repudiating the reso-
lution sanctioning the appointment of the committee,
on the ground that it had come upon them by sur-
Stag
WA
124
Agitation.
prise, and that it had not been included in the reso-
lutions which it had been previously arranged were to
have been submitted to the meeting. The committee
was never formed; the expected war did not come
off, as the United States Government surrendered the
captured Confederate envoys; and nothing, therefore,
came of the meeting beyond the pleasure which dis-
affected Ireland experienced in perusing the highly-
flavoured speeches of the orators on the occasion.
CHAPTER XI.
ORGANIZATION.
LUBY IN AMERICA.
FENIAN FUNDS. THE IRISH PEOPLE.'
MR. JOHN O'LEARY AND MR. C. J. KICKHAM. THE FENIANS
AND THE FARMERS. THE CHICAGO CONGRESS. THE SECRET
RESOLUTIONS.
FEN
ENIANISM made steady progress in 1862 and
in 1863, but it was not until the close of the
American Civil War in March, 1865, that it reached
its highest point of power and efficiency. The work
of organization in both Ireland and America went
forward steadily and continuously. In Ireland, the
conspiracy spread itself all over the country; secret
drilling was carried on, and the enrolment of mem-
bers proceeded—but so cautiously that it began to be
imagined that Fenianism had died out.
In America, the war, as a matter of course, inter-
fered much with the levy of contributions, though the
society was increasing in numerical strength; so that
in fact what was wanted both in Ireland and America
was money, and not men. In 1863, Stephens sent
Luby to America to assist the work of the organiza-
tion there. In a letter written to his wife, on 6th
May, '63, and read on his trial in '66, Luby describes.
a visit he made to General Corcoran's camp, in com-
126
Organization.
pany with John O'Mahony, and refers to a speech he
made at a meeting of the officers of Corcoran's regi-
ment. He also mentions having spoken at Green-
castle and Indianopolis, and his having had for his
companion for a time one Father O'Flaherty-the only
clerical Fenian whose name has been publicly men-
tioned in connexion with the organization in America.
He concluded by intimating that he proposed to re-
turn to Ireland on the 1st June, and asking his wife to
inform the 'Captain' (that is Stephens) that 'Big John'
(O'Mahony) would lose no time in sending him (Ste-
phens) the money in hand—a ‘large sum, at least £50.'
This shows how enormously exaggerated were the
stories told of Fenian wealth at this time. It was
supposed that the money-bags of the organization
were full to repletion, and yet here we find Luby talk-
ing of £50 as a large sum. The truth is, as stated by
James Stephens himself, that the total receipts of the
society, from its foundation in '58 to the end of '63,
were less than 1500-that is, less than £250 per
year. After this, however, they vastly increased, as
we shall see further on. O'Donovan Rossa also
visited America in '63. He mentions in one of his
letters having met O'Mahony in New York, and
accompanying him on a visit to General Meagher,
whom he swore into the organization on the occa-
sion.
The next important steps in the development of
the plans of the conspirators were the starting of
the Irish People, the Fenian organ, in Ireland, and
the holding of a Fenian Convention at Chicago, in
the United States, both of which events occurred in
The 'Irish People."
127
the month of November, 1863. Stephens felt that the
paper would not only be a great help to the work of
propagandism, but also bring an access of revenue,
which was much needed.
He wrote to Luby:-'On an average, the receipts of
the house yonder have not reached £250 a-year.
The paper, once established, would give us five or
six times that amount, and might be made to give us
fifteen or eighteen times as much. How pleasant the
thought of all we could accomplish with this.
Without the paper I can no longer answer for our
house, because the paper is the only source of revenue
we can now rely on.'
The paper, however, it may be here stated, turned
out to be a drag on the resources of the organization
rather than a help, for though largly circulated it
did not pay.
The funds necessary to start it were
procured by Stephens himself, in subscriptions from
members of the society. He travelled much at this.
time through the south, canvassing for the paper, and
enrolling members of the brotherhood. He wrote to
Luby that he was 'doing unparalleled business in a
general way, and also canvassing for the paper. . . .
In all ways I am satisfied, and in one special way
astonished, at the results of my tour.'
The first number of the Irish People was published
on the 28th November, 1863. The registered proprie-
tor was Thomas Clarke Luby: the publisher, Jeremiah
O'Donovan (Rossa); and the printer, John Haltigan.
The editor-in-chief was John O'Leary, and Thomas
Clarke Luby and Charles J. Kickham were the chief
writers. Denis
Denis D. Mulcahy was the sub-editor;
128
Organization.
James O'Connor was the book-keeper, and Cornelius
O'Mahony clerk. I have already introduced Luby
and Rossa to the reader; it is necessary now that I
should fulfil a like duty as regards Messrs. O'Leary
and Kickham, as both held high place in the coun-
sels of the conspirators.
Mr. John O'Leary was born in the town of Tip-
perary, and belonged to a respectable family. He is
said to have been a graduate of the Queen's Uni-
versity, and was undoubtedly well educated. His
appearance at this time was very striking. His
features were sharply cut, his eyes dark and flashing,
and his long hair and flowing beard black as the
raven's wing. He generally had a look of stern
resolution and haughty seriousness, which was ad-
mirably in keeping with the character of a man en-
gaged in a dangerous enterprise. His figure was well
knit and muscular, and altogether his was, in truth, a
remarkable presence. He looked indeed the embodi-
ment of a poet or painter's ideal of a desperate con-
spirator. Whether he was really the very desperate
person he appeared I will not undertake to affirm;
though I have heard it said of him by his intimate
friends that his looks belied him; that he was not
much of a conspirator, and still less of a desperado.
It was only when he took pen in hand that he became
formidable; he was really terrible-on paper. Per-
haps he might be described as being in appearance
as deceptive as was the 'Last of the Patriarchs,' in
Little Dorrit, who had only to hold his tongue, keep
the bald part of his head well polished, and leave
his hair alone,' to get through 'life with ease and
،
mb
<<
C. J. Kickham.
credit,' and 'that his being town agent to Lord
Decimus Tite Barnacle was referable not to his hav-
ing the least business capacity, but to his looking so
supremely benignant that no one could suppose the
property screwed or jobbed under such a man.' There
are, I think, no grounds for disputing the assertion
that John O'Leary had only to hold his tongue and
let his hair and beard-alone, to look the very per-
sonification of all the qualities popularly supposed
to constitute a desperate conspirator; or that it was
not the actual possession of these qualities, in a
larger degree than any of his fellows that gave him.
supremacy over them, but his looks-and the fact that
he had an income of £200 a-year. He was the only
prominent member of the Fenian organization in
Ireland, I believe, who had a stake in the country'
-to the limited extent I have mentioned-and that
of course helped to give him influence amongst men,
most of whom were not only landless but penniless.
I never heard that he was of much practical use to
the conspiracy. He organized not, neither did he
'swear in.' His métier appeared to be to find fault,
look dignified, and maintain a haughty reserve of
manner, calculated to impress observers with a proper
sense of his unquestionable superiority. But, at all
events, he was honest, if not over earnest, in his pro-
fession of patriotism.
Of Charles J. Kickham, so far as regards his per-
sonal appearance, I prefer to say nothing; an un-
happy accident in his youth almost deprived him
of sight, seamed his face with ugly scars, and took
away his sense of hearing. He has been called the
K
129
<la
130
Organization.
'gentle' Charles; and his amiability has been the
theme of universal praise. But his political antago-
nists, at all events, would, I do not doubt, call in
question his gentleness; for he was in argumentation
a very hard hitter, and never spared a foe once he
had a chance of getting the better of him. His na-
ture, however, was kind and genial, and he was a
ready and an effective political writer. But it is as
a delineator of Irish peasant life, and as the author
of some charming poems and songs, that he will be
chiefly remembered.
The People was almost as outspoken as the Nation
and United Irishman of '48, but was not nearly so
clever as either. But it hit the popular taste, then
surfeited by a long course of mild and sentimental
sedition, administered by the professors of what has
been called Grattan Nationalism,' at the press and
from the platform, and were longing for more sti-
mulating mental food. That the Irish People pro-
vided them with in plenteous abundance. It was
particularly opposed to constitutional and moral-force
agitation in any shape or form. Its first number con-
tained the only contribution of James Stephens to its
pages—a high-soaring and loud-sounding rhapsody
in praise of patriotism, not very intelligible to ordi-
nary minds, but possibly appreciated by those who
consider that the charm of writing, whether in prose
or verse, consists chiefly in its incomprehensibility.
A long article, headed '82 and '29,' written by
Luby, argued that the Volunteer Movement in '82,
and the Catholic Emancipation of '29 were, in fact,
'blessings rather than curses' to Ireland, mainly
C
C
The Irish People.'
6
131
because both were won peaceably. The aim of the
Irish People was, in fact, to impress upon the people
that independence could only be won by the sword';
that it was possible soon so to win it; that the Ame-
rican war showed that as Irishmen had, by their
genius and courage, helped America to win battles,
so had they the same ability to conquer the inde-
pendence of their own country.
'Young men,' the People wrote, 'not equal to those
whom we have yet available in Ireland, have led, in
the present American war, with valour and devotion
never surpassed, through battles terrible beyond all
precedent, the companies and regiments of the Fede-
ral armies. In spite, then, of any and all untoward
issues of the past, our confidence in the national cause
should remain rooted and strong. Let the people
only strive with might and main to develop and
rouse to vigorous life all the intelligence, energy,
and virtue they have amongst themselves-let them
do this, and they will soon find substitutes within
their own ranks for the corrupt and craven classes
that have abandoned the cause of their country. To
this end, we say, let the people toil night and day.
That is what is chiefly requisite in order to make
Ireland an independent nation.'
In another article the following passage occurs:—
'You will, fellow-countrymen, then prepare to re-
gain your lost independence, which, we are never
tired of repeating, can be won but by one method.
This method sometimes fails to achieve independence,
but no other method ever succeeds in winning it.
Let us each and all put our trust in the might, the
K 2
132
Organization.
majesty, and the glory of the people, and the revival
of the national aspiration and action in our country
shall, ere long, be manifest to the world.'
The paper was thus used solely as a means of in-
citing the people to secretly organize a rebellion,
and to prepare for its speedy outbreak. Military
lessons were also published in its pages. The office
was made the headquarters of the organization, and
drill-books and even arms were supplied to the
country branches.
Stephens has been censured for having, within a
stone's throw of Dublin Castle, fixed his central office,
and employed his best men on the paper, thus bring-
ing them under police observation, and also other
Fenians having business with the heads of the or-
ganization. He could not have expected that the
Government would fail to have the office well watched.
It does seem to have been a foolish step. But, as it
turned out, it made no practical difference where the
Fenian headquarters were situated, since one of the
employés on the paper named Nagle, who was much
trusted by Stephens, was also in the pay of the po-
lice, and kept them au courant of all the proceedings
of the conspirators, and, no doubt, supplied them with
a correct list of the callers on the C. O. I. R.
The Irish People also made efforts to win the sup-
port of the farmers for the conspiracy. It used to write
on the land question pretty much in the same fashion
as the Land League organ, the New York Irish World,
of our own days. 'Landlord tyranny,' it affirmed,
'will vanish when the land becomes the possession of
the people. That will be accomplished, but never by
Fenians and Farmers.
133
English law. It will be accomplished—but how and
when it is the business of those who desire it to find
out for themselves.' And it pointed out that every
man has one simple object to accomplish. It is to rid
the land of robbers, and to render every cultivator of
the soil his own landlord-the proprietor, in fee-
simple, of the house and land of his father, which
will be an inheritance worth a freeman's while to be-
queath to his children.' And again it wrote-'The
"territorial magnates" of the British empire are the
grand obstacles in the path of Irish prosperity, and
never, till they and the accursed land laws—which, in
in their own interest, they have enacted-are swept
away, and the land restored to its rightful proprietors,
the Irish people, will there be an end of those horrors
which have astonished the nations.
Ireland for
This is the
the Irish, and the land for the people.
grand idea now.'
This 'grand idea' of the land for the people is also
the grand idea of the Land Leaguers of to-day, with
this difference-the Fenians proposed that the con-
fiscation of the landlord's property should succeed,
the Land Leaguers that it should precede, a revolu-
tion.
•
•
(
This fact opens up a curious and not uninteresting
subject of speculation. The Fenians wanted Ireland
for the Irish; the Land Leaguers may be said to want
it for the English. The plan of the former was to
drive out the English by force of arms; of the latter,
by 'peaceful means' to place Ireland more directly
under England's sway. If the Land Leaguers could
induce the English Government to buy out the Irish
134
Organization.
landlords en masse, and sell to the tenants, becoming
themselves the sole landlords-at least for thirty-five
years, or for any longer period that the instalments
of the purchase-money would be made to extend over,
before the land become the property of the tenant—
they would have, in fact, reconquered Ireland for
England. It would, under such conditions, plainly
be for the interest of the tenants to support the rule
of Great Britain, and all the more particularly since
a revolution would, in all probability, lead to the con-
fiscation of the land, for the purchase of which they
were contributing instalments of the profits of their
labours. So that there are just as solid grounds for
assuming that the creation of a peasant proprietary
in Ireland would make British rule permanent, as
there are for the contention that it would lead to its
removal.
The Chicago Congress was held on the 3rd of
November, 1863, and is described as having been
largly attended. The C. O. I. R. was represented by
C. J. Kickham. An address was issued to the Irish
people, which was, as a matter of course, highly in-
flammatory. It was published in the Irish People on
the 5th of December, 1863. The following are the
opening and concluding paragraphs :-
'Brothers -We deem it prudent to withhold for
the present from publication in the newspapers cer-
tain important resolutions, having special reference
to the revolutionary element in Ireland, which have
been submitted to this Convention by the Head Cen-
tre of the Fenian Brotherhood in America, and unani-
mousy adopted. Printed copies of these resolutions.
The Chicago Congress.
will be placed before the different circles of our or-
ganization in this country, and will also be trans-
mitted, at the earliest fitting opportunity, to our
friends at home. In the meantime, we do not wish
to separate without addressing to you a few guarded
words—such as we can afford to have read by all
whom it may concern—regarding the present aspect of
our cause.' 'Let us falter now, and Ireland's doom is
sealed: a grand old nation-grand even in her chains
-is blotted from the map of the world. But there
shall be no faltering, no cowardice. Our country cries
to us for aid, and points to the grave which the foe
has dug for her. Armed legions shall interpose be-
tween her and that grave. Here we have soldiers
armed and trained (thousands of them trained in the
tented field, and amid the smoke and thunders of
battle), with able and experienced generals to lead
them. Let the cities and towns and parishes of Ire-
land have their brigades, regiments, battalions, and
companies of partially disciplined soldiers of liberty
silently enrolled. Above all things, let every man
be pledged to obey the commands of his superiors;
and pledged also never to move without such com-
mand. Without such an organization as we con-
template, partial uprisings of the people will be sure
to occur, leaving no results but the sacrifice of brave
men, and, perhaps, the ruin of our cause. When we
strike let us strike home. And are there not strong
arms within the enemy's own shores to second the
blow? Circumstances are in our favour, such as
Providence never before vouchsafed to an enslaved
people.'
135
.
136
Organization.
The important resolutions which were stated to
have been withheld fell into the hands of the autho-
rities, very opportunely for them. They were dis-
covered in a sealed envelope, found at the house of
T. C. Luby, when he was arrested, together with the
still more important 'executive document,' mention
of which will be met further on. They were as fol-
lows:
'For private circulation only. The widely-extended
national organization, which was heretofore named
"The Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood," but which,
having grown in numbers and power, and in subordi-
nation to its constituted authorities, and its discipline,
under the wise and able direction of its central execu-
tive, is now known as "The Irish Republic."
"Re-
solved That we, the Centres and Delegates of the
Fenian Brotherhood assembled in this convention, do
hereby proclaim the Republic of Ireland to be vir-
tually established; and, moreover, that we pledge
ourselves to use all our influence and every legitimate
privilege within our reach to promote the full acknow-
ledgment of its independence by every free govern-
ment in the world."
(Signed,)
'JOHN O'MAHONY,
President and Head Centre of the Fenian
Brotherhood in America.
'HENRY O'CONNOR M'CARTHY, Illinois;
'JOHN A. STUART, Indiana;
'Secretaries.'
Resolution No. 13 proclaimed James Stephens, the
The Secret Resolutions.
137
central executive officer, as the representative of the
Fenian brotherhood for Europe and supreme orga-
nizer of the Irish people, and Resolution No. 14
entrusted to C. J. Kickham the two preceding reso-
lutions for delivery to James Stephens. One of the
delegates attending this convention was the informer
Nagle, who had arrived from Ireland in September
'63, and made himself known to O'Mahony at his
office, 6, Centre-street. Nothing particularly note-
worthy transpired in Fenian affairs after this either
in Ireland or America until the second visit of Ste-
phens to America in March '64.
·
CHAPTER XII.
WAR.
PRINCE ALBERT AND HENRY GRATTAN. MR. A. M. SULLIVAN
ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN FENIANS AND
AND THE IRISHMAN.'
ANTI-FENIANS.
ROUT OF THE LATTER.
IN
N February, '64, Dublin was entertained with yet
another political sensation of the burlesque cha-
racter. The Corporation of the City had allocated a
site for a statue of Prince Albert in College-green,
which, it had been suggested, would be more appro-
priately occupied by an effigy of Henry Grattan.
This 'outrage' convulsed the great soul of the patriot
Sullivan, of the Nation, with burning indignation,
which only could be appeased by a public meeting.
For that event he prepared the way, according to
the formula he favoured, by some spirited writing in
the Nation. He unburthened himself of some of his
anger in a couple of columns or so, and then sug-
gested the holding of a public meeting. As usual
with him on similar occasions-when his chief ob-
ject was to make political capital for himself and
his backers-he pretended to hear what was entirely
inaudible to everyone else, a 'cry of indignation,' or
a 'shout of shame,' I am not sure which, from all
Ireland, by reason of the attempt to shunt the effigy
،
A. M. Sullivan and the Irishman?
139
of the patriot Grattan into a corner, to make room for
that of an alien prince who was not noted for his love
of Ireland.
<
The Fenian party, it is hardly necessary to say.
had no very fervent affection for Prince Albert, but
they loved A. M. Sullivan still less. They never for-
gave him for having, as they said, 'set' the Pho-
nix men for the Government; and they fastened
the odious name of 'felon-setter upon him, as
well as that of Goula'-the affix of the name of
the man Sullivan who was the chief Crown witness
against the Phoenix men. In '62, the Irishman pub-
lished a letter written by O'Donovan Rossa, in which
Mr. A. M. Sullivan was denounced as an informer.
Mr. Sullivan, feeling sorely aggrieved, brought an
action at law against the proprietor of the Irishman,
seeking to recover the modest sum of £1000, as a
salve for his outraged feelings. In his cross-exami-
nation he was forced to make the humiliating con-
fession that some very open incitements to rebellion
which appeared in his paper, the Nation, meant no
more than that a 'crisis of the ministry' was at hand,
of which the people should take advantage to press
their claims. The jury gave Mr. Sullivan a verdict,
but valued the injury done his character by O'Dono-
van Rossa and the Irishman at almost the smallest
silver coin of the realm-sixpence. This circum-
stance still more seriously embittered Fenians against
Mr. Sullivan. They thought the meeting afforded a
good opportunity, therefore, of settling accounts with
him—at least partially—and afterwards justified the
action they took on the occasion by arguing that, as
140
War.
there was at the time no intention of raising a statue
to Grattan in the city, the meeting was plainly in-
tended only to give an opportunity to Mr. A. M. Sul-
livan of advertising his patriotism. They, therefore,
determined to prevent it being held if Mr. Sullivan
persisted in appearing on the platform.
(
The meeting assembled in the Round Room of the
Rotundo, which was densely crowded in all parts.
Proceedings commenced by moving The O'Donoghue
to the chair, who had made some progress with his
speech when he chanced to refer to Mr. A. M. Sul-
livan in complimentary terms. Immediately there
arose deafening shouts of down with Sullivan,'
'away with Goula,' we won't have Sullivan.' Sud-
denly there was a brief lull-to borrow the burning
words of Speranza in her prose poem 'Jacta alea
est'-'one instant to take breath, and then a rising;
a rush, a charge from north, south, east and west' of
the hall, and the Fenians had swept like a wave over
the platform, clearing it of its occupants, who fled in
dismay. The attack was completely successful, and
the meeting came to a sudden and quite unexpected
end. When the scene closed, an eccentric Tipperary
nationalist, named Peter Gill, was seen on the plat-
form brandishing a cane sword; another indivi-
dual who had improvised a nationalist flag out of
the green baize cover of the reporters' tables, was
flourishing it frantically amid tremendous cheering;
and a popular, but rather inarticulate orator, was
making painful and ineffectual efforts to make a
speech.
Whatever may have been said of the policy of this
Victory of the Fenians.
raid on a public meeting, it cannot at all events be
denied that it showed that the Fenians of Dublin
were well disciplined, and that it was cleverly plan-
ned. Mr. Sullivan, however, subsequently succeeded
in holding another meeting under police protection;
and all who were suspected of belonging to the Fe-
nian party, or of being favourably disposed towards
them, were excluded.
14I
CHAPTER XIII.
PREPARATION.
STEPHENS AGAIN IN AMERICA. THE EXECUTIVE DOCUMENT.
'PAGAN' O'LEARY.
ENROLLMENT OF SOLDIERS IN THE BRO-
THERHOOD. THE CALL FOR ACTION. THE CINCINNATI CON-
VENTION. ARRIVAL OF AMERICAN OFFICERS IN IRELAND.
COLONEL KELLY AND GENERAL MILLEN.
IN
N the month of March, in this year of '64, Ste-
phens again set out for America. Before leaving,
he appointed Messrs. Luby, O'Leary, and Kickham
to govern the organization during his absence. The
official document making this appointment fell into
the hands of Mr. Luby's captors, and was used with
fatal effect against him and his associates—in fact,
but for it, convictions would hardly have been had
against them; it supplied the missing link which was
alone wanting to complete the case of the Crown.
It ran as follows:-
'Executive.'-'I hereby appoint Thomas Clarke
Luby, John O'Leary, and Charles J. Kickham, a
Committee of Organization, or Executive, with the
same supreme control over the Home Organization
(Ireland, England, Scotland, &c.), I have exercised
myself. I further empower them to appoint a Com-
mitte of Military Inspection, and a committee of ap-
Stephens again in America.
peal and judgment, the functions of which committee
will be made known to each member of them by the
Executive. Trusting to the patriotism and ability of
the Executive, I fully endorse their action beforehand,
and call on every man in our ranks to support and
be guided by them in all that concerns our military
brotherhood.
'J. STEPHENS.
143
·
Dublin, March 9, '64.'
Stephens travelled in America under the assumed
name of Daly, and visited the American camp,
as well as several of the large centres of the Irish
population of the States. While he was in America
on Easter Monday, March 28, 1864, the great national
fair was held at Chicago. Contributions of goods,
&c., were received from all parts of Ireland and Great
Britain for this fair at the office of the Irish People
in Dublin, and thence sent on to Chicago.
It was
a great success, the People stating that 'it greatly
accelerated the progress of the organization which is
devoted solely to the overthrow of the English Govern-
ment in Ireland.'
Stephens returned to Dublin in the month of
August, '64, and expressed himself well pleased with
the success of his mission. He resumed with re-
doubled ardour the work of organization. He at once.
set out for the provinces, and while he was anxious
that no pause should be made in the enrollment of
men, the procurement of arms, or in the elementary
drilling of the rank and file, advised that prizes should
be offered by the centres, when practicable, for pro-
144
Preparation.
ficiency in the higher branches of military science.
These views were cautiously urged in the Irish People.
In the city drilling was carried on to an extent of which
the general public had no knowledge, or seemed at all
credible. Many large stores were hired in different
parts of the city, where drilling took place nightly.
And all this time also the manufacture of pikes was
carried on by Michael Moore, the blacksmith, who
was amongst the first batch of the conspirators ar-
rested.
AN
Another branch of the preparations which com-
menced at this time was the enrollment as members
of the organization of soldiers in the British service.
One of the conspirators, who rejoiced in the name
of 'Pagan' O'Leary, had considerable success in this
part of the business. He is said to have 'made'-
that is, sworn into the organization-several hundred
soldiers of her majesty's forces then serving in Ire-
land. The 'Pagan,' I believe, had been himself a
soldier, and was well acquainted with the weaknesses
of latter-day warriors-of which a decided inclination
for unlimited beer is not the least pronounced. There
is no doubt a British soldier is just as often a-thirst as
other men, but has not always the means of satisfying
his craving; so that he is naturally prone to listen to
a tempter who begins operations by enabling him to
do so. Nor can it be wondered at that he should
even be induced to take an oath-which he might
well be excused for considering as meaningless-of
allegiance to a visionary Irish Republic. The 'Pa-
gan's' apparantly successful tampering with the al-
legiance of so many of her majesty's soldiers can
h
ލ
'Pagan' O'Leary.
145
therefore be well understood. But that he, and other
organizers, especially Roantree and Devoy, did really
succeed in attaching a large number of men of the
army in Ireland in '64 and '65 from the service of
England to that of the Irish Republic, the records of
the courts martial held later on afford ample testi-
mony.
And it is remarkable that some of the British sol-
diers who were thus seduced from their allegiance
were men of intelligence and education far above the
average of British soldiers. For instance, one of them,
Sergeant O'Reilly, who was convicted and sentenced
to a long term of penal servitude, but who effected
his escape from the convict settlement in Western
Australia, is now editor of the Boston Pilot, a very
ably-conducted Catholic newspaper, and has pub-
lished a couple of volumes of poems and stories,
which have been favourably reviewed by leading
English journals. Sergeant Darragh, too, who was
also convicted of treason felony, was a man of vastly
superior mental calibre to that of the ordinary British
soldier, as was also Sergeant M'Carthy, whose sud-
den death in Dublin, just after his release from penal
servitude in '78, created so profound a sensation of
sympathy throughout the country.
'Pagan' O'Leary-whose real name was Murphy-
was at length caught tripping. Early in '64 he was
arrested at Mullingar, charged with attempting to
administer an illegal oath to a soldier, for the purpose
of seducing him from his allegiance, was tried, con-
victed, and sentenced to ten years' penal servitude at
the assizes held just after his arrest.
L
146
Preparation.
It has been stated that Stephens at this time--
that is, in '64, and up to the middle of '65-was op-
posed to the wholesale enrolment of soldiers in the
Fenian ranks. He argued that it was a course of
procedure which should be reserved until all other
preparations were well nigh complete, and the ar-
rangements for the rising well matured; because
if too early taken in hand, it would be calculated
to alarm the authorities, and compel them to take
action against the organization before it was in such
a state of efficiency as to be ready to take the field.
But notwithstanding that his power was supreme,
he could not control all the actions of his subordi-
nates, so that the seduction of soldiers went on to
a great extent in spite of him.
out.
In truth, both in Ireland and America, a consider-
able party in the organization were chafing at what
they considered was unnecessary delay, and Stephens
himself was somewhat to blame for this disaffection.
He was quite too lavish of promises of immediate ac-
tion, which he must have known he could not carry
But he felt it necessary to use a strong stimulus
to keep the patriotic ardour of the people always at
the point of expectancy, lest delay might so cool it as
to cause them to fall into the apathy of despair. It
was because of his knowledge of this national weak-
ness-this incapacity for long playing a waiting game
—that he felt himself compelled to hold out hopes of
action before adequate preparations for it had been
made. Like O'Connell, who used to sustain his fol-
lowers, year after year, with the assurance that the
year after that in which he spoke would herald the
-
The call for Action.
coming of Repeal, so did Stephens keep up the hopes.
of his followers, by constantly protesting that the
time of action was just at hand. As it turned out,
however, he played this card so often, that it came
to be disregarded, and the impatience of his followers.
at last carried all before it. He felt he had them no
longer in hand, and allowed himself to be led by,
having failed to lead, them.
In America the same feeling of restless anxiety for
action at length became irresistible. So far back as
the time of the Chicago Convention there was a party
of action in the organization. This party insisted that
there should be at once either war or dissolution.'
With them Stephens was forced to co-operate, and
during his tour in America, in '64-according to
John O'Mahony-' war or dissolution in '65,' also be-
came his watchword. O'Mahony was opposed to this
course, knowing that the preparations for war in '65
could not have been completed in time to make war
possible, unless at the risk of certain and ignomi-
nious defeat.
147
Hence, Stephens and O'Mahony were in antago-
nism. Both, however, continued to meet publicly on
a friendly footing, and to abuse each other in private
-to mutual friends. O'Mahony wrote to a friend
on March 25, '64:
'The design of his (Stephens's) coming (to the Chi-
cago fair) is obviously to usurp the credit of all done
during the last six months. His minions will go
round in Ireland and say that, but for his coming,
nothing could have been done. He will take all the
eclat for the increased supplies. . . . I feel he would
L 2
148
Preparation.
supersede me, if possible. He wants a money-finder
for the I. R. B. here, not a directing mind—a drudge
to do his work, and never think. He makes light, or
would make light, of our Fenian organization here-
except in so far as it may seem a draw-farm for the
I. R. B. at home.'
Stephens, in a letter written at this time, and read
on Luby's trial, thus reciprocates O'Mahony's com-
plimentary references to himself:—
'O'Mahony is our standing drag-chain and stum-
bling-block. . . . I am sick almost to death of the man
and his ways. His policy involves, on the one hand,
the assumption that we require but little—that it
would be unwise to entrust us with much; and, on
the other, that whatever our requirements, he is not
bound, and could not be expected, to try and furnish
them.'
Stephens, as I have said, was well pleased with the
result of his American tour in 1864. During this
year the dispute between Denmark and the Germanic
Confederation over the Schleswig-Holstein succes-
sion arose, and it was considered not improbable that
England would go to war with Germany, in defence
of Denmark. Lord Palmerston had stated in the
House of Commons on July 23rd, 1863, that he was
convinced that if any violent attempts were made to
overthrow the rights, and interfere with the indepen-
dence, of Denmark, those who made the attempt
would find in the result that it would not be Den-
mark alone with which they would have to contend.
This seemed to amount to a pledge that England
would back up Denmark against Germany, and
The Cincinnati Convention.
149
such a thing appeared all the more probable from the
fact that, but a short time before, the Prince of Wales
had been married to the Princess Alexandra, daugh-
ter of the King of Denmark.
Early in 1864, therefore, it seemed probable that
England would become involved in a foreign war,
and, in that event, Stephens made up his mind to
fight; but that, whether England went to war or
not, he would most certainly take the field in '65.
However, there was no war. England permitted
the countless German hosts to all but annihilate the
little army of Denmark, and victorious Germany to
impose what terms she pleased on that plucky but
unlucky little state, without at all interfering. Ste-
phens had, therefore, another year for preparation.
Another convention of the American Fenians was
held in January, '65, at Cincinnati. Capt. Coyne,
who had just returned from Ireland, whither he had
been sent at the close of '64 to investigate the con-
dition of Fenian affairs there, attended, and gave in
his report, which was very favourable.
'It is important,' wrote O'Mahony, in his narrative
of the proceedings of the American branch of the or-
ganization, 'here to state that William Sullivan, P.
Bannon, James Gibbons, P. W. Dunne, and Michael
Scallan, all of whom became leaders of the subsequent
secession, were among those that were nominated and
became members of the Central Council on the occa-
sion.'
S
So that his troubles, which afterwards culminated
in the ruin of the organization, were at this time well
begun. The proceedings at the Congress, however,
150
Preparation.
were harmonious. It appeared that great progress had
been made in spreading the organization in the United
States since the holding of the Chicago fair. O'Mahony
announced an increase of two hundred and thirty-
seven circles, and that the receipts in money had im-
proved in the same proportion. 'I can safely say,'
said O'Mahony, 'that it has exceeded the sum of our
receipts during the seven years that have elapsed
since the Fenian Brotherhood was first established.'
In view of a pressing and well-supported call from
the I. R. B., an immediate levy of five dollars for
each member of the various circles was ordered to be
made.
About the beginning of this year, American mili-
tary officers began to arrive in Ireland, but the great
influx did not commence until the end of the war,
and the disbandment of the American armies in the
month of May. The first of these was Col. Thomas
J. Kelly, who was fated afterwards to become a con-
spicuous figure in contemporary history. He had
held a lucrative government appointment in Wash-
ington, but resigned it, and set out for Ireland about
the beginning of March. About a month after-
wards, General F. B. Millen, who had held a com-
mand in the Mexican army, was also dispatched to
Ireland. Both of these gentlemen were really very
distinguished military men, who had seen much ser-
vice, and were considered in every way competent.
to undertake high command in the 'Irish Army of
Liberation.' Millen was appointed by Stephens
'President of the Irish Military Council,' a body of
officers who had had commands in the American
G
American Officers in Ireland.
armies during the civil war 'He acted as such,'
said O'Mahony, 'to the satisfaction of his comrades,
till near the close of the year, when he was sent back
to this country, with orders to aid in the military or-
ganization of the Fenian expedition to Ireland, which
was then in course of prepartion here. The unfortu-
nate discussions and treachery which rendered that
undertaking abortive caused the resignation of Gene-
ral Millen, and he returned to the Mexican army,
where he resumed his former rank and position of
Brigadier-General of Artillery.'
At this time the American organization also re-
ceived an accession of administrative strength. Mr.
P. J. Meehan and Colonel W. R. Roberts were elected
on the Central Council. Mr. H. O'C. M'Carthy had
been some time previously appointed, at the suggestion
of Stephens, to the position of Deputy Head-centre,
which he held up to the time of his death, in August
of the same year. All these gentlemen were hostile
to O'Mahony, and participated in the split in the
ranks of the organization which took place soon after-
wards. In the month of May, '65, the Central Coun-
cil held an important meeting, which was presided
over by Colonel Roberts, at which, in compliance with
requests made in dispatches from Stephens, Kelly,
and Millen, it was determined to send over as many
officers as could be obtained, without delay, to Ire-
land. The pay they were to receive was fixed on
a liberal scale. It was also ordered that each officer
should receive three months' pay in advance. The
following is the rate of pay received by the U. S.
officers in paper, according to rank. It was laid down
151
·
152
Preparation.
by the Central Council that military men going to
Ireland should be paid at the same rate, according to
rank:--
Major-General,
Brigadier-General,
Colonel (special arms),
Infantry (line),
Lieut.-Colonel (special arms),
Infantry (line),
""
""
Major (special),
""
Infantry (line),
Captains of all arms,
Lieutenants,
Second Lieutenants,
monthly, 750 Dols.
400
248
238
225
215
200
""
>>
""
""
""
""
>>
"
""
""
190
165
125
115
""
""
""
""
""
""
""
د.
>>
""
At the June session of the Central Council O'Dono-
van Rossa attended to, as O'Mahony said, 'urge us
to hasten on the fight, and to impress on us the ne-
cessity of our issuing our final call.' But he failed to
convince the Council that the time was come. It was
decided to send two envoys to Ireland to see how
things were really getting on. Messrs. P. J. Meehan
and P. W. Dunne were chosen for that purpose. They
were directed to ascertain whether the time for fight-
ing had really arrived; whether there was to be 'war
or dissolution' in '65. These gentlemen made their
report to O'Mahony by letter. It stated that it was
written after due examination of the position of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood. It justified all the
demands of Stephens, and confirmed his representa-
tions as to the strength of the organization. 'It cor-
roborated him,' said Mr. O'Mahony, and sustained
The Lost Documents.
153
him in the most extreme of his demands. It com-
pletely verified the consecutive and unanimous re-
ports of Captain Coyne, Colonel Kelly, General
Millen, and O'Donovan Rossa.' The report also re-
quested that at least three hundred experienced offi-
cers should be sent to Ireland, and more money for
the purchase of arms; that it was said was all that
was necessary to begin the fray. It also recom-
mended that the 'final call' should be at once issued.
And the final call was made, but greatly against
O'Mahony's wishes.
'With so great an accumulation of testimony
against my individual opinion,' he wrote, 'I had no
alternative left save to promulgate the "final call”
without further delay, and throw my whole energies
into the "immediate war policy" of Mr. Stephens.
I felt that the Fenian organization was about to bar-
ter a system of action which promised certain victory
in the future for what was almost a folorn hope in the
present.'
-
He was not then made aware of a circumstance which
occurred on the arrival in Ireland of Messrs. Meehan
and Dunne, which, it was since asserted, put the
Government on the qui vive, and ultimately led to the
arrests. This was the loss, by Meehan, of documents.
entrusted to him by O'Mahony for Stephens. Ac-
cording to Meehan's account, he had pinned the
papers in question, for safety, inside his drawers,
and lost them at Kingstown in July. There they
were found by a man who brought them to a lady
at the telegraph-office, who in turn handed them.
over to Sergeant Armstrong, police Superintendent.
154
Preparation.
They were found to consist of two letters, both in-
tended for Stephens. One was merely a formal intro-
duction of the two envoys to the C.O.I.R., authorizing
them, on the part of the Head Centre and Central
Council of the Fenian Brotherhood, to inquire into
certain matters, which were embodied in resolutions,
concerning the Irish organization, and enclosing a
draft in favour of George Hopper, brother-in-law of
James Stephens, for £500. The other, from O'Mahony,
requested that O'Donovan Rossa should be sent back
to New York, as soon as possible, with a view to
'prompt and cordial work.' O'Mahony complained
that the knowledge of this loss-which caused the
arrests was designedly kept from him, and that in
consequence he continued to send money to Hopper,
which the Government was enabled to intercept and
seize.
It is extremely probable that this complaint was
well founded. There was nothing in the letters of
a nature to alarm the Government except the money;
but when it was apparently so plenty with the con-
spirators that a £500 draft could be found derelict,
and knocking about, it was certainly time that they
should bestir themselves. Their investigations were
much assisted by the knowledge of the fact of which
they were made aware by a telegram sent by George
Hopper to Messrs. Rothschild, stopping payment of
the lost draft, that it might probably have been made
payable to John O'Leary. Acting on the hint thus
obtained, the authorities in Dublin seized other drafts
for large amounts, most of which were made pay-
able to Mr. John O'Leary.
P
Pierce Nagle.
Mr. Meehan, it is said, for his culpable careless-
ness in this matter of the loss of the documents, would
have been shot-have had ' a traitor's death,' to use
the words of the C. O. I. R.—were it not that the in-
tercession of Stephens saved him. But the Govern-
ment had also information conveyed to them from a
quarter where it might be least likely to be expected
to be obtained. Within the very sanctuary of the
conspiracy—in the innermost 'circle' of the wide en-
compassing brotherhood—in the head quarters of the
far-reaching organization, they had their trusty and
well-beloved spy. Pierce Nagle was the name of this
eminent man, and to all appearance he was a most un-
assuming, highly respectable, and pious person.
He
held the humble position of folder in the Irish People
office; but he stood high in the favour, and in the
confidence, of the central organizer of the Irish Re-
public-then 'virtually established'-who was, more-
over, his apparently sole employer-it not having
become known until after the arrests that he had
other and better paying employers-the police.
155
C
This Nagle was so remarkably respectable, and in
every way so upright and virtuous, that he was se-
lected by the Catholic clergymen of St. Laurence
O'Toole's Church to fill the office of clerk. But from
March '64 up to the time the arrests were made in
September '65 he was receiving the pay of the police,
and supplying them with full details of the doings
of the conspirators, and particulars of their designs.
The leading Fenians had no suspicion that this scoun-
drel was playing them false; they lived in fact in a
fool's Paradise, never dreaming that while they were
-
156
Preparation.
known to have been for years engaged in actively
organizing a rebellion, the Government, whose first.
duty is the preservation of law and order, were igno-
rant of their proceedings, and had taken no precau-
tions to inform themselves about them. Like other
intending 'rebels' in Ireland of the past, they seemed
to think that they had only to choose their own time
to 'rise,' and that the Government would be good
enough to wait until it arrived-would patiently wait,
doing nothing, until they were quite ready to open
the ball.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE GOVERNMENT COUP.
SEIZURE OF THE IRISH PEOPLE.' ARRESTS OF ROSSA, LUBY,
O'LEARY, AND OTHERS. THEIR COMMITTAL FOR TRIAL. CAP-
TURE OF STEPHENS. EFFECT OF THE NEWS OF THE ARRESTS
IN AMERICA.
WHILE
'
HILE O'Mahony and Stephens were disputing
about the date of the rising,' the Govern-
ment, feeling possibly that they had waited long
enough to meet the convenience of the rebels, de-
cided to wait no longer. So having made all their
arrangements beforehand, on the evening of Friday,
the 15th September, a party of police quietly took
possession of the office of the Irish People, seized and
carried off all the copies of the paper which were
printed off for circulation in the city on the follow-
ing day, and all the documents' they could lay
hands on.
Then the arrests began. I have reason to know
that some of the staff of the Irish People, and others.
of the leaders of the movement, might easily have
escaped were they so disposed; but they deliberately
remained to be apprehended, rather than have it said
that they lacked courage, or lest their flight, did
they escape, would have an injurious effect on the
future of the conspiracy.
158
The Government Coup.
The first man captured was O'Donovan Rossa. 'I
was talking to some friends in 82, Dame-street,' he
wrote, 'when Mr. Patrick Kearney rushed in and said
the Irish People was seized-exclaiming, "what are
we to do?" He had fight in his eye, and I saw that the
most welcome words to him would be instructions to
resist the police. But I told him there was nothing
for it but to keep quiet, and that I would go up to the
office.. I was under orders from Mr. Stephens to
go to America, and I was taking my wife to the South
of Ireland next morning. I lived across the street,
and I told the boys about me that I would run over
to speak a word to my wife, and then go up to the
Irish People office; but, as I was going across the
street, two detectives pounced upon me, and I was
their prisoner.'
Mr. O'Leary was arrested at his lodgings, No. 16,
Palmerston-place, and some more 'documents' fell
into the hands of the police. At the same time, a
party of police remained in ambush outside Thomas
Clarke Luby's house at St. James's-terrace, Dol-
phin's-barn, and saw Mr. Luby enter at a late hour.
Humanely wishing, possibly, to let him have a good
night's rest previous to his imprisonment, some of
them remained on watch all night, and at 9 o'clock
on the following morning they entered and found
him dressing. He at once expressed his willingness
to accompany his captors. Meanwhile, however, the
policemen were searching the house, and were soon
rewarded by a valuable find of still more and more
'documents.' As many as two hundred letters-
many of them of a very compromising character-
-
The Arrests.
159
were found; and amongst them were the missing re-
solutions of the Chicago Convention, and the execu-
tive document, which proved so invaluable to the
Crown Prosecutor at the trials which followed the
arrests. These precious papers were locked up in a
small desk, the key of which Mrs. Luby handed to
the detective, and he unlocked it, and took out a
large black-edged envelope, securely sealed, ad-
dressed to Miss Frazer. Seeing the address, the
detective asked Luby what it was.
'Oh, nothing,' said Luby,
Detective will you open it?'
Luby: 'no; it belongs to the ladies,' handing it to
Mrs. Luby.
Mrs. Luby also declined to open it, and then the
detective took it back again, and carried it off.
It appears that it lay unopened in the Castle until
the very eve of the trials, of so little importance was
it considered; but when it was at last opened it dis-
closed an unexpected treasure.
It is a tradition of the 'Castle' that when Mr.
Crown Solicitor Anderson and Mr. Crown Prosecu-
tor Barry had read the precious manuscripts, and
realized their full import, they executed a frantic
pas de deux expressive of their boundless delight at
the valuable evidence they had so long overlooked.
Indeed but for the letters and papers, so carefully
but very foolishly, treasured by the conspirators, the
Crown would have had immense difficulty in corro-
borating the evidence of the informers.
Between the night of the seizure of the Irish People
and the following Monday, the police had captured
160
The Government Coup.
all the leading Fenians in Dublin and Cork, and
other arrests were made in other parts of the coun-
try. But Stephens himself—the redoubtable C.O.I.R.
-was sought in vain. All his known haunts were
carefully watched, and a reward was offered for his
apprehension, but he was nowhere to be found.
The news of the arrests came by surprise upon
the good people of Dublin and of the country gene-
rally; but no alarm was felt until the full extent
and nature of the conspiracy became generally
known, after the publication of the reports of the
preliminary examination of the prisoners. Little
was known of Fenian doings outside Fenian and
nationalist circles, beyond the vague rumours of a
coming rising, and the reports of drillings and march-
ings of bands of men in parts of the South and West,
which had become stale and unexciting from con-
stant repetition-so that the revelations which suc-
ceeded the arrests came upon the general public with
startling unexpectedness.
Even the Government, it is said, anticipated that
an outbreak would not be unlikely to occur on the
night following the seizure of the Irish People, and
they made preparations in view of any attempt being
made to initiate so desperate and hopeless an
terprise. They took over the telegraph lines; kept
the soldiers in garrison confined to barracks, ready
to turn out at a moment's notice-both in Cork and
Dublin-and were generally on the alert.
But Stephens was not ready; he could not fight
just then. Still he was not idle. In a speech delivered
in '66, in New York, he said:
After the Arrests.
'The arrests were made, and the Government said
triumphantly that all was over in Ireland; but so far
from it, never was harder work and more work done
in Ireland than immediately after the arrests.
I was
free myself, and while free I am not used to be idle.'
On the day after the arrests he sent a despatch to
O'Mahony, communicating the intelligence of the
Government coup and the loss of the money, request-
ing at the same time that a fresh supply of that
most necessary 'sinew of war' should be sent him by
hand.
161
'Tell our friends,' he said, 'that their scepticism,
inquisition, hesitation, and not imprudence on our
part, has brought us to this. Mr. Meehan especially
is universally blamed.'
This meant that if the head centre and the council
at the other side of the Atlantic had not been so
anxious to learn everything that was doing at this
side, causing great delay in sending envoys back and
forwards, instead of sending money when it was
wanted, and not waiting to know what precisely it
was wanted for before sending it, the I. R. B. might
have anticipated the Government, and made the first
move in the game of war which was about being
played. This undoubtedly presupposed the existence
of an amount of trusting confidence amongst the
Irishmen of America, which in those days seemed
quite improbable, but just now will be looked upon
as likely enough since these same innocent Irish-
Americans are sending thousands of pounds to Paris
to an obscure and illiterate person who has taken
up his quarters there, in the belief that it will be
M
162
The Government Coup.
used to create a revolution in Ireland; while, as a
matter of fact, it is principally being lavished in the
support of a reactionary and anti-national agitation,
and of a number of impecunious agitators and Mem-
bers of Parliament.
At the time of the arrests, Stephens was the oc-
cupant of a house in Sandymount, in the southern
suburbs of the city, where he continued to live for
weeks after the arrests, with a price upon his head,
occasionally going into the city after nightfall to
attend meetings of the centres, or to confer with such
of the leading conspirators as were then at large.
Messrs. Luby, O'Leary, Rossa, and the others
who were arrested immediately after the seizure of
the Irish People, were brought up before the police
magistrates at the Head Office, and committed for
trial, on the 2nd October, '65. The Crown Prose-
cutor now Judge-Barry, in his statement of the
case against the prisoners, made the most outrage-
ously false assertion that the Fenians designed the
massacre of all the people above the middle classes,
including the Catholic clergy—the only possible foun-
dation for which was a couple of silly letters, found in
Luby's house, written by a man named O'Keeffe, of
whose perfect sanity there were grave doubts. This
monstrous charge was never formally withdrawn, as
it should have been, in justice to the prisoners, but it
was allowed to drop, and was not mentioned in any of
the subsequent proceedings.
For more than two months after the arrests Stephens
remained at liberty. He led the life of a retired
bourgcoise at Fairfield House, under the name of Mr.
S
-
Capture of Stephens.
163
Herbert, and might be daily seen in his garden
serenely tending his flowers.
It was known afterwards that he had with him as
guests gentlemen who were more enamoured of the
strict seclusion and the consoling comfort of the do-
mestic hearth than he was himself, since they never
were seen out of doors at all. They were Charles J.
Kickham, of the Irish Republican executive, Hugh
Brophy, a Dublin centre, and Edward Duffy, chief
Fenian organizer for the province of Connaught.
He was considered in the neighbourhood to be a
highly respectable and well-to-do gentleman, and no
one had the least suspicion that he was not one of
the most peace-loving, contented, and loyal of men.
But his wife, with whose appearance the detective
police were familiar, was seen about the city as usual at
frequent intervals, and, as might have been expected,
her movements were watched. For a long time the
police spies could not trace her to any place which
was at all likely to prove the refuge of her husband.
At length, on Thursday, the 9th of November, she was
seen by a mere accident to leave Fairfield House by a
detective, who traced her into the city and back again
to the same house, which she entered and did not
again leave. Then the policeman was sure of his
game, and summoned reinforcements to his aid.
Strict watch was kept all that night, and the day and
night following, by a strong body of detectives, who
remained in ambush well within sight of Fairfield
House. Before day-break on Saturday morning, a
formidable force of police, under the command of
Colonel Lake himself, surrounded the house. Some
M 2
164
The Government Coup.
half dozen of them crossed the garden wall, and
knocked loudly at the back door.
A voice, after a time, was heard exclaiming, 'Who's
there?'
Constable Hughes replied, 'I am a constable, I
have come to examine the house; I have a magis-
trate's warrant, and you had better open the door.
The Voice replied, 'I am naked.'
Constable. Have you a night-shirt on?'
The Voice.-'Yes.'
Constable. Then you need not be ashamed; and if
you don't open the door I will break it open.'
The door was then opened; the police rushed in,
and a figure in a white shirt was seen retreating
up the stairs. Quickly following, Constable Hughes
entered a bedroom, where he found Stephens and his
wife.
The Constable, addressing Stephens, asked, Who
is the landlord?'
6
Stephens.-'I am.'
Constable.--' What is your name?'
Stephens.-'James Herbert.'
Then Hughes called in Detective Dawson, who im-
mediately accosted Stephens with this friendly greet-
ing:
'How are you, Stephens?'
Stephens.-' Who the devil are you?'
Dawson.-'I am Police-constable Dawson.'
Stephens.-Dawson be damned '—and he became
rather excited.
Then Hughes told Stephens that he arrested him
for high treason. The latter at once recovered his
More 'Documents.'
165
self-possession, simply said 'All right,' and proceeded
to dress himself. Kickham, Brophy, and Duffy were
also made prisoners; and before the citizens of
Dublin had arisen from their beds, the formidable
C. O. I. R., whose capture was regarded as a matter
of such vital importance by the Executive Govern-
ment of Ireland, and his three trusted associates,
were safely lodged in Richmond Bridewell—but not
for long.
(
More documents' were found in Fairfield House,
and, what was quite as important, more than £2000,
in notes, gold, and drafts.
When the news of the capture of the much-dreaded
'Central Organizer' became known, the more timid
felt a sense of relief, and the more loyal a sensation.
of lively satisfaction, that now, at any rate, the con-
spiracy would be utterly crushed out of existence,
and no particular harm done. But they were soon
fated to experience the liveliest pangs of disappoint-
ment.
CHAPTER XV.
ESCAPE OF STEPHENS.
STEPHENS IN THE POLICE COURT. HE REPUDIATES BRITISH
LAW. HIS PLACE OF IMPRISONMENT.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR
HIS ESCAPE. THE ESCAPE EFFECTED. CONSTERNATION OF
THE AUTHORITIES. SIR ROBERT PEEL ENRAGED. ESCAPE OF
THE LIBERATORS OF THE C. O. I. R. ARRIVAL OF STEPHENS
IN PARIS.
TEPHENS did not long remain in durance vile,
and the troubles and anxieties
of the law-
abiding class, so far from coming to a close, were
only commencing.
On Tuesday, the 14th of November, he and his three.
companions were brought up before the magistrate,
at the police office, in the Lower Castle Yard. The
office was crowded, and many of the élite of Dublin
society were present, anxious to get sight of the terri-
ble C. O. I. R. Some of the higher executive func-
tionaries also attended.
The demeanour of Stephens was calm, without the
semblance of any bravado. It was generally admitted
that in his appearance at least there was nothing
sinister: on the contrary, he looked amiable and un-
pretending, and his bearing was that of a gentleman.
He was dressed with scrupulous neatness, and the
Stephens in the Police Court.
167
smallness and whiteness of his hands were the sub-
ject of general remark. The reporters of the Dublin
papers agreed in the opinion that if the man before
them really was the designer of the murderous pro-
jects attributed to the Fenians by the Crown-pro-
secutor not the least serious of which was the
indiscriminate slaughter of all above the middle
classes, including the Roman Catholic clergy-he
did not by any means look the character.
The Freeman reporter wrote: 'Stephens looks about
forty-five years of age; he is bald on the top of his
head; has long, fair, curly hair, and a long, fair
beard. His height is about five feet seven and a-half
inches; he is broad-shouldered, stoutly built, and
muscular-looking. His eyes are small and are
slightly sore; his expression is sharp and observ-
ing. His general aspect indicates a man of some
ability, with much resolution and coolness.'
Express reporter said: His face is at once pleasing,
if not handsome, and his head indicates intellectual
powers of no common order. He preserved the man-
ner of a person of superior rank.'
The
<
The informer Nagle was the chief evidence against
Stephens. He palpably cowered at sight of the
prisoners, and studiously avoided meeting their gaze.
The Crown chiefly relied on a letter from Stephens to
the Clonmel Bs,' which Nagle had taken from the
person of a Fenian messenger, as he lay asleep in the
Irish People office, shortly before the seizure of that
paper, and forthwith carried off to his employers at
the Castle. It was as follows:-
M
<
168
Escape of Stephens.
'DUBLIN,
September 8, 1865.
'BROTHERS.—I regret to find the letter I addressed
you has never reached you. Had you received it, I
am confident all would have been right before this:
because I told you explicitly what to do; and once
you saw your way, it is sure to me you would have
done it well. As far as I can understand your actual
position and wishes now, the best course to take is to
get all the working Bs together, and after due de-
liberation, and without favour to anyone-acting
purely and conscientiously for the good of the cause
—to select one man to represent and direct you all.
This selection made, the man of your choice should
come up here at once, when he shall get instructions.
and authority to go on with the good work. There is
no time to be lost. This year, let there be no mistake
about it, must be the year of action. I speak with a
knowledge and authority to which no man can pre-
tend; and I repeat, the flag of Ireland—of the Irish
Republic-must this year be raised. As I am much
pressed for time, I shall merely add that it shall be
raised in a glow of hope, such as never gleamed
round it before. Be, then, of firm faith and in best of
cheer, for all goes bravely on.
'Yours fraternally,
'J. POWER.
'N.B.-This letter must be read for the working
Bs only, and when read it must be burnt.'
The C. O. I. R. repudiates British Law. 169
When the sentence appointing the then present
year as the year of action was read, a sensation
was created by an exclamation from Stephens- So
it may be,' he said, in loud and confident tones; and
there were some listening to him who thought it
would. His companions who stood beside him in the
dock, as well as every man of the other prisoners
awaiting trial, felt confident that their term of du-
rance would be short, and that the Irish Republic
actually established would soon restore them, as it
would their country, to liberty. The examination in
the Police Court lasted two days, and closed with
the committal for trial of Stephens and his three
friends, on Wednesday, the 15th of November.
Before formally committing the prisoners, the ma-
gistrate asked them if they wished to make any obser-
vations: whereupon Stephens, rising and folding his
arms, and with great deliberation, made the follow-
ing characteristic and appropriate little speech:
'I have employed no lawyer in this case, because,
in making a defence of any kind, I should be recog-
nizing British law in Ireland. Now, I deliberately
and conscientiously repudiate British law in Ireland
-its right, or even its existence, in Ireland; and I
defy any punishment, and despise any punishment,
it can inflict on me. I have spoken.'
Now, under the circumstances, and from the Fe-
nian point of view, this was a very apt and manly
utterance. He regarded himself as the head of the
legitimate, and his prosecutors as the executive of
the illegitimate, government of Ireland. Their autho-
rity he considered usurped and unauthorized; his
JorM
170
Escape of Stephens.
own he asserted he held by the will of the people,
who yielded to it cheerful obedience. Obviously,
therefore, he could not so far confess criminality,
or weaken the force of his own position as chief ex-
ecutive of the Irish Republic, as to defend himself
against a charge made by people whose authority he
denied, contemned, and defied. Their place, he held,
was the dock, and his the judgment-seat. Therefore
he set them at defiance.
The speech told in the direction he, no doubt, de-
signed. It gave strength to the resolution, and re-
assurance to the hopes, of the rank and file of the
brotherhood, who were not unnaturally rather discou-
raged at the capture of their chief. It also produced
an excellent effect in America.
James Stephens had been just a fortnight an in-
mate of Richmond Bridewell, when a circumstance
occurred that caused such a sensation as has seldom
been experienced in Ireland-which convulsed the
country from end to end with astonished and, on the
whole, pleased excitement, but which moved the in-
most souls of the chiefs of the executive Government
with rage unspeakable and apprehension almost in-
tolerable. Here were all the classes who had any
stake in the country, and many who had not, com-
forting themselves with the idea that the Govern-
ment had its foot on the neck of the vile conspiracy
which was said to have designed their destruction,
and their worst fears were re-excited with tenfold
force when, in the early morning of Saturday, the
25th of November, it became known that the Fenian
Myou
Richmond Prison.
171
chief had escaped-actually got out of prison and
clear away, no one knew whither.
The intelligence seemed almost too incredible
for belief-the thing was really quite too absurd.
Could it be possible that the man whom the Govern-
ment had set so much store by capturing could be
put for safe keeping into a prison from which there
was the slightest possibility that he could escape?
Surely not. And Richmond Bridewell was one of the
strongest prisons in the country-no, it could not be
true: it was a canard. But it was true all the same.
The bird had somehow escaped from his granite and
iron-bound cage, and was once more free.
The story of this remarkable escape is very simple;
and though it has been often told, yet it has seldom,
or never I believe, been told correctly. The details.
of the following account were communicated to me
by one of the rescuers, and therefore may be relied
upon for strict accuracy.
Richmond prison is an ill-arranged and straggling
structure, consisting of several blocks or wings en-
closing spaces of vacant ground used as exercising
yards for the prisoners. The cells are arranged in
corridors of varying lengths, which are enclosed at
each end by strong iron doors. For greater safety
Stephens was placed in a cell in a short corridor situ-
ated as nearly as possible in the centre building of
the entire block. The only other Fenians in that part
of the prison were Edward Brophy and Charles J.
Kickham, whose cell was removed by one from that of
Stephens. In the intervening cell was placed a young
man named M'Leod, who was waiting trial on a
172
Escape of Stephens.
criminal charge. One of the doors of the corridor
opened on to a flight of stone stairs, which led to
another iron door in the lower corridor leading into
a yard which was enclosed on one side by portion of
the boundary-wall of the prison. M'Leod had been
promised a reward by the governor if he would sound
his gong should he hear any noise in the cell next to
his during the night-time.
The only two of the prison officers, except the Go-
vernor, who had pass keys for the corridor doors in-
side the prison, and the gates in the passages outside
were Breslin, the hospital superintendent, and Byrne,
the night watchman. Both these men were sworn
Fenians. The first-named had frequent opportu-
nities of conversing privately with Stephens, as the
latter feigned slight illness, and induced the prison
doctor to send him medicine, which it was the duty
of the hospital superintendent to take to the patient.
There was nothing extraordinary therefore in Breslin's
frequent visits to the cell of Stephens, but it was on
these occasions that the details of the escape were
arranged between the Fenian warder and his im-
prisoned chief. All that was necessary was to pro-
vide a duplicate of the cell door key, and arrange for
an escort to receive Stephens outside the prison, and
conduct him to his hiding-place. The false key was
easily procured; Breslin took an impression of the
wards of the genuine key, which was all day in his
keeping, on soft bread, and took it, when off duty, to
a locksmith, who belonged to the brotherhood, and
who had no difficulty in fashioning a perfect duplicate
from it. The escort was just as readily procurable.
Arrangements for the Escape.
173
There were crowds of American officers in the city,
waiting to take part in the expected rising, from whom
the men required could be easily selected. Breslin
accordingly put himself in communication with
Colonel Kelly, who acted as deputy for Stephens
during his imprisonment, and concocted with him.
the plan of the escape, so far as regarded the out-
side arrangements.
All having been settled, one o'clock in the morn-
ing of Saturday, November 25th, was fixed on as the
hour of the deliverance of the Head Centre. The inter-
val between the hour of 'lock up' and the appointed
time on that eventful occasion was an anxious one,
not only for Stephens, but for his two confederates,
who risked not only the loss of their situations but of
their liberty for a long term of years, should the at-
tempt fail.
But their devotion to what they consi-
dered the cause of their country, and their affection
for their chief, overbore all other considerations, and
they were prepared for the worst.
<
And it does seem strange that the plot was not
somehow exploded, considering that neither Breslin
or Byrne were over-reticent about it. O'Donovan
Rossa, whose cell was situated in another part of the
prison, heard of the affair before it came off. The
day before that of his (Stephens's) escape,' Rossa
wrote, 'one of the prison officers, on passing my cell,
whispered to me, "the little man will be out to-night."
"Are you sure of it?" I asked. "Certain," replied he;
and added—“ Have you any message to send him?”
to which I answered, "No." Next day, an attorney,
Mr. Lawless, visited us; and, as the time of trial
174
Escape of Stephens.
was approaching, it was deemed necessary that Mr.
Stephens and Mr. Duffy would meet Mr. O'Leary,
Mr. Luby, and me. The solicitor made an applica-
tion to the governor of the prison, and the governor
allowed Mr. Duffy to be brought in to our con-
sultation-room, which was Mr. Luby's cell; but
Mr. Stephens would not be allowed to approach us.
We remained in conversation for half-an-hour. Duffy
whispered to me that Stephens was going out that
night. I whispered it to John O'Leary as we were
parting.' The wonder is, that where there was so
much whispering, some eaves-dropping warder did
not overhear something about it. But it was fortu-
nately kept 'dark.'
And it subsequently transpired, that so certain did
Stephens feel that the enterprise would succeed, that
he sent off a despatch to O'Mahony to New York,
announcing that the escape had been planned, and
that it would take place on the day appointed—seve-
ral days before it came off. This despatch was con-
veyed to its destination by the informer Corydon, who
was then faithful to the brotherhood.
When the appointed hour arrived, for which Ste-
phens, ready dressed, so anxiously waited, Breslin
was at hand, punctual to a moment. Almost noise-
lessly he shot back the bolts of the large lock with
his false key, raised the heavy iron bar which fas-
tened the massive cell door, slowly opened it, and in
an instant his eager hand clasped that of Stephens,
and drew him along rapidly through the door at the
head of the stairs leading to the yard, which he had
left open; thence, still quickly, down the stairs,
The Escape effected.
through the door on the next landing, and into the
yard. Here they found Byrne anxiously awaiting
them. Another fervent greeting, and the trio hurried
across the yard to the boundary wall, against which
Byrne had placed two tables on top of each other,
which had been previously removed from the lunatic
prisoner's dining-room. A pebble thrown by Breslin
over the wall brought an answer in the form of ano-
ther pebble thrown from outside, showing that the
escort were in waiting. Then Stephens mounted the
table. A hurried leave-taking- God guard you,
Stephens,' whispered Breslin; Heaven assist you,
Captain,' said Byrne-and aided by his friends below,
the C. O. I. R. was soon on the top of the wall. A
rope was then thrown over the wall from the outside,
which Breslin and Byrne held while Stephens easily
slid down and was caught in the arms of the Irish-
American escort outside.
·
6
175
Thus safely delivered from the hands of his enemies,
Stephens may be well excused for feeling elated at
the rare success of the enterprise. 'Oh,' he ex-
claimed, 'how all Europe will ring with this exploit!'
But there was no time for rejoicing: there was no
knowing how soon the alarm would be given, and
'onward' was the cry. The weather greatly favoured
the fugitives. It blew a hurricane; the rain it rained
as it hardly ever rained before or since; the darkness
was Cimmerian in its intensity, and as a matter of
course not a solitary policeman was visible. Ste-
phens, placed in the centre of a hollow square formed
by the few desperate, well armed men told off to pro-
tect him, and who would have resisted any attempt to
176
Escape of Stephens.
recapture him to the death, was taken to a tempo-
rary place of refuge not certainly one hundred miles,
or above a thousand yards, from the prison, where
having seen him safely settled, the rescuers took their
departure.
A stillness, as of the grave, reigned within the
prison from the time that the C. O. I. R. had taken
French leave of its gloomy walls, until watchman
Byrne, on his rounds at 3 o'clock in the morning, was
somewhat startled at the unusual appearance of a
couple of tables which were clearly out of place, as
they were settled close up to the boundary-wall,
whereas their proper location was within the lunatic
prisoners' dining-hall. He began to have a dim
consciousness that something was wrong, and-inno-
nocent man!—he thought that perhaps, under the
circumstances, the best thing he could do would be
to rouse the Deputy-Governor and tell him what he
had seen. Accordingly he did this, but in quite
leisurely fashion, and with a somewhat troubled ex-
pression of face, as if there was a good deal on his
mind. He, however, was quite self-possessed when
telling his story to Mr. Philpots, the Deputy-Governor.
They both then sought Mr. Marquis, the Governor,
and soon as might be, all proceeded to the corridor
where the C. O. I. R. had been caged.
Horror unspeakable! the cell door lay wide open;
the cell was empty; the bird had flown! The three
officials gazed at each other in speechless terror, for
the moment quite paralyzed at the sight of the empty
dungeon. When their agitation had a little subsided
the youth M'Leod was questioned.
Maoll
The Chief Secretary Enraged.
'Did you,' asked Mr. Marquis, 'hear any noise?'
'Yes,' promptly answered he; 'about one o'clock
this morning I heard some one open the end door,
come to the cell next him, and unlock it.'
'Why, then, did you not pull your gong handle, as
I told you to do?' asked the Governor.
6
Because,' replied the cautious youth, if I did, how
was I to know that they would not open my door and
kill me?'
177
That settled it: there was no use wasting further
time on him.
Then the yard was visited and the tables inspected;
messengers were sent off in hot haste to the detective
office and the Castle; and Hospital-superintendent
Breslin and watchman Byrne were submitted to a
rigid cross-examination, which, it need hardly be
said, failed to elicit any information worth anything
whatever. Soon detectives and Castle officials began
to arrive, and hourly confusion became worse con-
founded. Later on, the Chief Secretary himself, Sir
Robert Peel, arrived.
The honourable baronet, as is well known, is a
man of impetuous not to say passionate tempera-
ment. As Punch said of him, when another and
not so great a man would simply order his car-
riage, Sir Robert would-
S
Utter a roar
For his carriage and four’-
(
thus happily illustrating his imperious impatience
and his love of state.
On the present occasion the impetuous baronet
N
178
Escape of Stephens.
•
literally boiled over with uncontrollable rage. He
fumed, he stormed, he abused, and-with pain I have
to say it—he used awfully bad, and anything but
decorous, language. Poor Mr. Marquis he suspended
on the spot-he would possibly have him hanged
out-of-hand if he could-and he vowed dire ven-
geance against the culprit or culprits whose negli-
gence, or worse, made the escape possible, if he could
only find out who they were; but that is just what he
could not do.
Byrne, it is true, was arrested and brought to trial
some time afterwards; but though a copy of the
Fenian oath was found in his room in the prison, not
a particle of evidence could be found to connect him
with the escape, and he was acquitted. Breslin was
not suspected at all. He remained at his post for
several months after, and at length went to America
of his own accord, where he told the whole story, and
gloried in his share of it-as well he might.
Stephens has been blamed for not arranging for the
escape of the other prisoners, or at least of Kickham
and Brophy, whose cells were in the same corridor,
which, it is said, could have been done. Denis D.
Mulcahy in particular was severe upon him, and, I
think, not exactly just. He wrote in the Irishman in
'72 that Stephens was 'a leader who was ever ready
to sacrifice his best men, and did sacrifice them, to
cover his own bungles and blunders, and afterwards
left them in prison, when he could have released
them, that he alone might have the sole honour of
escaping and the entire control of the organization.'
Neither Mr. Kickham or Mr. Brophy, I believe, ever
A Contumacious Sentry.
179
complained that they were not released; on the con-
trary, they were well content to remain behind, con-
fident in the belief that their imprisonment would not
be for long, and feeling it possible that to make them
participators in the escape would be likely to increase
the dangers of discovery.
In the city, as the news spread, the excitement be-
came intense. The respectable classes were dismayed;
the classes which are not conventionally considered re-
spectable were overjoyed. The Castle was convulsed,
the officials bewildered, the police utterly at fault.
Placards offering a reward of £1000 for the capture
of Stephens, and £300 for any information that would
lead to his arrest, were issued and posted up all over
the city without delay.
There was something about the escape-which, if
not very daring, was at least a rather romantic ad-
venture-which caused the liberated captive to be
regarded with sympathy, even by some who might
have been expected to look upon him with different
feelings.
For instance, it is related that a portly and elderly
bank director was entering the Bank of Ireland on
the morning of the occurrence, when he stopped to
question the sentry on duty.
'Have you heard, my man, that Stephens has
escaped?' he asked.
"Deed I have,' replied the soldier, an English-
man.
C
I hope it is not true,' said the elderly party.
'I 'ope it his,' said the sentry, adding—if he as
escaped, I shall be d-d glad-long life to him.'
N 2
180
Escape of Stephens.
The respectable party fled in dismay, and, I am
sorry to say, informed on the poor soldier, and had
him punished.
But the excitement soon subsided, as the public
interest became absorbed in the trials of the other
Fenians, which commenced three days after-on 28th
November.
Stephens, it is needless to add, was never recap-
tured. He remained over three months in Dublin
after his escape, often changing his hiding place,
which, however, was always known to many of the
members of the brotherhood; and despite the tempt-
ing reward offered for his capture-which would, it is
believed, have been increased five fold at least could
his re-arrest have been effected speedily-the authori-
ties had not the faintest suspicion of his whereabouts.
This shows how faithful and true to him were those
whom he trusted. At length, however, he found it
necessary to leave Dublin; and how his departure
was contrived, Colonel Kelly, writing from Paris on
March 21st, '66, relates as follows:-
'In spite of all the vigilance of British spies, he
(Stephens) left his lodgings on an outside car, got on
board a vessel in the Liffey, and sailed for an English
port. It was amusing to me to see him pass several
policemen on the quays, and walk deliberately on
board. We were three days in the channel, owing
to bad winds. We ultimately reached a port in
Scotland, slept all night in Kilmarnock, rode in the
mail train next day from there to London (in the
heart of the enemy's city), and in the morning, after
sleeping all night in a hotel across the street from
Stephens in Paris.
Buckingham Palace (the Palace Hotel), started by
the morning train from Victoria Station for Dover.
We got on board the French mail steamer there
about eleven o'clock on Sunday, and started for
Calais, which we reached in safety. Wasn't my
mind happy when I touched French soil, and saw
the Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic in a po-
sition to laugh at the blindly mad, childish efforts
of the British to capture him. After all the searches
of ships and steamers outside of the Irish Coast, so
well were we informed of their every movement, that
the affair was comparatively easy. The next time
that James Stephens touches the Irish soil he will
show the British that their barbarous treatment of
Irish patriots but added fuel to the national flame
already kindled all over the island, instead of stamp-
ing it out, as they purpose to do.'
In Paris Stephens remained for over a month. He
at once became a personage, and was sought after
by society leaders as a patron for their parties. The
Marquis de Boissy, an eccentric nobleman, who was
possessed of a rabid hatred for Englishmen, but a
'strong weakness' for Englishwomen, seeing that his
wife was English, entertained and feted him until
the wonder was that his head was not turned by the
adulation and the attention he received. As it was,
he was said to have wasted quite too much time
before setting out for the United States, where his
presence was urgently required. Fenian affairs in
America were fast lapsing into that chaotic state
which leads to dissolution, and it was hoped his
influence would restore harmony, if exercised in
181
182
Escape of Stephens.
time. He, however, at once sent Colonel Kelly to
New York as his avant courier, and followed him-
self as soon after as he could tear himself away
from the dissipations and distractions of the French
capital.
CHAPTER XVI.
DISSENSION.
ARRIVAL OF STEPHENS IN NEW YORK. SPLIT IN THE BROTHER-
HOOD.
ANOTHER CONVENTION.
THE SENATE PARTY PREPAR-
O'MAHONY ACTIVE.
ING TO INVADE CANADA.
JAME
AMES STEPHENS arrived in New York on the
10th of May, 1866. The condition in which he
found Fenian affairs was such as indicated plainly
ultimate collapse. Not merely had American politi-
cians been permitted to get hold of the organization,
to manipulate it for their own purposes, but a num-
ber of unscrupulous Irish politicians, who traded in
patriotism-a class, however, who had not then be-
come at all as conspicuous as they are at present-
had, by their intrigues and treachery, caused a serious.
disruption in the ranks of the brotherhood.
A general convention of the American brotherhood
was held at Philadelphia some seven months previous
to this time-on the 16th of October, '65. The objects
of the convention were the creation of financial and
military bureaus adequate to the increased develop-
ment of the Fenian brotherhood, and the political
crisis wherein it was then placed; and, in the second
place, the granting of more unrestricted powers to the
184
Dissension.
G
Central Council. But the most important business
done was the complete remodelling of the Fenian con-
stitution in such a manner as to utterly efface the su-
preme authority of the Head Centre, and vest it in a
senate composed of representatives elected by the
branches in good standing, with a president and vice-
president. The 'Head Centre' became 'President' of
the brotherhood. The president of the senate was ex-
officio vice-president of the brotherhood, and was to
take the place of the president, should occasion require
it. The senate was to sit in perpetual session, and it
had power to carry any measure against the president
of the I. R. B. by a vote of two-thirds; and no appro-
priation of money was to be made save by its vote.
The president was, in short, deprived of any vestige
of personal authority: every step he took was subject
to the veto of the senate--he was reduced to a cipher.
O'Mahony was elected to this unpleasant position.
The vice-president was Colonel Roberts, and his war
secretary General Sweeny, both of whom were hostile
to O'Mahony, as were most of the senators, promi-
nent amongst whom were Messrs. Dunn, Meehan, and
Meany. Despatches from Ireland were read at this
convention, which represented matters as progressing
there in a highly satisfactory manner, and demanding
This was at once voted, and the con-
more money.
duct of Stephens warmly approved. The proceed-
ings ended harmoniously, but, as it soon turned out,
the train which fatally disrupted the brotherhood, and
led to its final extinction, was laid there and then.
Soon after the holding of this congress O'Mahony
Kindly
i
The Split in the Brotherhood.
185
Stephens.
received a dispatch from Ireland, stating that the
rising was fixed to come off in the last week of
December. He at once assembled his council, and
urged the issue of the bonds. The senators refused
assent to this proposal. Time passed and nothing
was done.
Then came the news of the arrest of
That decided O'Mahony to act on his
own responsibility. He had learned by this time that
the senate had resolved upon an invasion of Canada,
as a diversion, meantime allowing the men at
home to rely upon their own slender resources. He
hesitated no longer. He issued the bonds of the
Irish Republic, which were got up after the man-
ner of bank notes, and bore the following inscrip-
tion :-
'It is hereby certified that the Irish Republic is in-
debted to
or bearer, in the sum of
dollars, redeemable in six months after the acknow-
ledgment of the Irish Nation, with interest from the
date hereof, inclusive, at six per cent. per annum,
payable on presentation of this bond at the Treasury
of the Irish Republic.'
Then the senators met and vetoed the act. O'Mahony
retaliated by denouncing them as traitors, and refused
utterly to be dictated to by them. They, in their turn,
deposed him, and elected W. R. Roberts in his place.
The split was then complete. O'Mahony, however,
had control of the funds. The senators asserted that
the money which he received subsequent to the Phila-
delphia Congress he lavished upon the rent, furnishing,
and decoration of the head-quarters of the organiza-
186
Dissension.
tion in New York. This was a 'brown-stone palace,'
known as the Moffatt Mansion, and it was most sump-
tuously and extravagantly furnished and fitted up. It
was asserted that at least thirty thousand dollars of the
Fenian fund were lavished in this quite unnecessary
and profitless way. At all events it enabled O'Mahony
to hold his court in right royal style, and issue his
proclamations and decrees with an assumption of
supreme authority, which well became him as a di-
rect descendant of a long line of Irish kings. A large
staff of highly-paid officials carried on the adminis-
trative work of the organization, and the sale of the
bonds of the Irish Republic went on briskly for a
time.
The senate party, however, managed to get posses-
sion of the Fenian armoury, and with its contents.
they proposed to make shift to attempt the invasion
of Canada. While preparing for the raid, they em-
ployed their spare time in denouncing O'Mahony for
issuing the bonds of the Irish Republic, signed with
his own name, as fraudulent, and sent an address to
the circles of the brotherhood, asking the members
to send their contributions only to the treasurer of
their 'wing.' They also convicted O'Mahony and
his treasurer Killian of 'perfidy and malfeasance.'
O'Mahony retaliated by having posted outside the
Moffatt Mansion the following notice:-
'It being long deemed advisable to keep dishonest
persons from the offices of the head-quarters of the
Fenian Brotherhood, as well as the enemies of the
brotherhood, from its immediate valuables, the fol-
Another Convention.
187
lowing persons are excluded for perfidy until further
notice.
'By order,
'JOHN O'MAHONY,
'President, F. B.
[Then followed the names of all the senators who
had sat in judgment upon him.]
O'Mahony had undoubtedly the strongest following
at this time, as was proved by the proceedings of the
Fourth Convention of the Fenian Brotherhood, which
assembled in New York, in response to his summons,
on the 3rd of January, 1866. The attendance was im-
mense, and O'Mahony's supporters were unmistake-
ably in the ascendant. Roberts, finding that he would,
in fact, be nowhere in a contest for supremacy with
O'Mahony, sulked in his tent, and remained away.
He did all he could, however, to prevent the success
of the convention. Nevertheless, it was the most in-
fluential assemblage of the brotherhood which ever
met. General Sweeny was the only representative of
the senate party present, and he was speedily put to
silence. He was forced to admit that he was not a
Fenian at all-that he had never taken the Fenian
oath; but pleaded that he was a military man who
hated England, and was only too anxious to take any
chance that offered of paying off some of the old scores
which his native land owed to her oppressors. But,
however commendable the delegates considered was
the possession of such a feeling by the gallant Gene-
ral, they were bound to hold that it gave him no right
to take part in the deliberations of the convention.
188
Dissension.
The result of the proceedings was the re-adoption of
the Chicago Constitution, the re-election of O'Mahony
as Head Centre, and a Central Council was nominated
to co-operate with him. The news of the escape of
Stephens, which had become generally known some
time before the summons was issued for the con-
vention, no doubt assisted materially to strengthen
O'Mahony's hands, and it is needless to say he made
the most of it.
The Roberts party soon, however, mustered courage,
and put forward their claims upon the confidence of
the brotherhood. They were all men of action, and
they lost no time, therefore, in getting seriously to the
work of preparing for war. On the 10th of January
the senate issued a war circular, signed by General
Sweeny, directing the military men of the F. B. to
hold themselves in readiness for immediate action,
appealing for money, and explaining that their object
was to obtain such a foot-hold on British territory as
would enable the Irish Republican army to claim
belligerent rights from America: that is, they wanted
to secure a port from which their ships could go forth
to prey upon British commerce, and to which they
could bring back their prizes. But, at the same time,
their objective point,' they asserted, was Ireland;
the Canadian enterprise was but the preliminary
move to a descent upon the shores of the old coun-
try by an invading host flushed with victory. Presi-
dent Roberts also had his convention. It assembled
at Pittsburgh on the 17th of February, and, as a mat-
ter of course, endorsed the proceedings of the senate.
C
Vid
O'Mahony active.
189
On the 22nd of February, O'Mahony summoned a
military convention, which passed resolutions express-
ing confidence in himself and Stephens, and declar-
ing that all the energy of the association should be
directed to the organization of war in Ireland. Such
was the condition of Fenian affairs in America when
Stephens reached New York.
C
-
CHAPTER XVII.
THE TRIALS.
THOMAS CLARKE LUBY CONVICTED. HIS SPEECH FROM THE
DOCK.' REPUDIATES THE ASSASSINATION CHARGE. SEVERE
SENTENCE. TRIAL OF JOHN O'LEARY. HIS CONVICTION AND
SENTENCE.
THE
HE trials of the Irish People staff, and other
leading members of the Fenian organization,
commenced on the Monday following the escape of
Stephens-the 27th of November, '65. Thomas Clarke
Luby was the first tried. The judges were Messrs.
Keogh and Fitzgerald, both of whom owed their pre-
ferment to the bench to their political services to the
Whig party. The late Isaac Butt, Q. C., Mr. Dowse,
Q. C. (now Judge Dowse), Mr. Sidney, Q. C., and Mr.
O'Laughlin, were the chief counsel for the prisoners,
and the Crown was represented by the Attorney- and
Solicitor-Generals, Mr. Barry, Q.C. (now Judge Barry),
and Mr. Murphy, Q. C. The evidence of the informer
Nagle, elucidated and corroborated as it was by the
writings of the Irish People, and the documentary
evidence, which it seemed the chief care of most of
the conspirators to carefully preserve, that it might
come up in judgment against them, so conclusively
established the case for the Crown, that the convic-
tion of the prisoners became inevitable.
Conviction of Luby.
The trial lasted four days. In all, three informers
were examined, Nagle, Power-on whose person the
important letter of Stephens to the Clonmel Bs was
found-and Herman Schofield, a Prussian Pole, who
was produced to prove the handwriting of John
O'Mahony. The jury, after brief deliberation, brought
in a verdict of 'guilty.' Previous to receiving sen-
tence, Mr. Luby made a manly and affecting speech,
which was delivered in a calm, clear, unimpassioned
tone, which added to its impressiveness. He was
most anxious to dissociate himself and his com-
panions from the odious charge that they favoured
assassination in any way, and was guarded in what
he said, least he should prejudice the case of those
who were to be tried after him.
191
'I feel particularly embarrassed at the present
moment,' he said, 'as to what I should say. Under
other circumstances, there are a great many things I
would wish to say; but feeling that there are other
persons in the same situation as myself, and that
I might allow myself to say something injudicious
that might peril their case, I feel that my tongue is
to a great degree tied. Nevertheless, there are two
or three points upon which I shall say a few words.
I have nothing to object to in Judge Keogh's charge.
He did not take up any of the topics that had been
introduced to prejudice the case against me; for
instance, he did not take up this accusation of an
intention to assassinate, which has been attributed
to my fellow-prisoners and myself. . . .
Mr. Barry
was the first person who advanced these charges. .
I don't see that there is the smallest amount of evi-
192
The Trials.
dence to show that I ever entertained the notion of a
massacre of landlords, or a massacre of priests. . .
The only thing that gives the shadow of a colour
to the charge is a letter alleged to be signed by
Mr. O'Keeffe-containing what I suppose were the
private views of the writer; and I pledge this to the
Court as a man of honour—and I believe the majority
of my countrymen, in spite of the position in which I
now stand, believe me to be a man of honour-if my
life depended on it I would not speak falsely about
this thing. When I read the letter, the first person I
read it to was my wife, and I remember I read it with
fits of laughter as a ridiculous piece of burlesque.
The remark she made was, "Had you not better
burn that letter?" "No," said I, "it is a literary
curiosity." . . As to the charge of desiring to
assassinate the priests, it appears to me the most
monstrous thing in the world. I say it in the most
enlarged sense of the word, that the priest from the
altar is deserving of all reverence, but when he de-
scends into the political arena he becomes no more
than any other man; he is just to be tried on his
merits. . . . Perhaps some persons who know me
would say I should not have touched the assassina-
tion charge at all, that I ought to have considered it
would not be believed by the generality of persons-
that, in fact, I have rather shown weakness in attach-
ing so much importance to it. But with regard to the
entire course of my life-and whether it be a mis-
taken course or not will be for the judgment of every
individual man to decide-this I know, that no
man ever loved Ireland more than I have done, no
O'Leary Sentenced.
193
man has ever given up his entire being to such an
extent as I have done. From the time I came to
what some one here called the other day
"the years
of discretion," my entire thought and being has been
devoted to Ireland; no man ever thought so much of
his country as I have. And I believe the course I pur-
sued was right. Others of course may take a different
view; but I believe that the majority of my country-
men would pronounce that I am not criminal, but
that I have deserved well of my country. As long as
there are men in any country prepared to expose
themselves to every difficulty and every danger, and
who are prepared to brave captivity, and even death
itself if need be, that country cannot be lost.'
Judge Keogh, in passing sentence, admitted that
the prisoner could not be held morally responsible for
the O'Keeffe letter. Nevertheless the sentence passed
was terribly severe-twenty years' penal servitude.
The next prisoner tried was John O'Leary. He
was convicted on similar testimony to that pro-
duced against Mr. Luby. Mr. O'Leary, it appeared
from the evidence, was the cashier of the brotherhood.
The authorities succeeded in intercepting two letters
from O'Mahony to O'Leary enclosing drafts for £1000
each, which reached Dublin after the arrests. Counsel
for the Crown stated that in one year bills drawn
in favour of O'Leary for £5290 had been cashed in
Dublin. Mr. Dowse, Q. C., in his speech to evidence
for the defence, made a most eloquent speech in
favour of the free and unfettered liberty of the press.
Afterwards this gentleman became a politician, a
member of parliament of much distinction; then
о
194
The Trials.
Solicitor-General, and in due course Attorney-General,
and the author of the severest law ever enacted in any
country for fettering the press. This shows what a
marvellous difference there is in the estimate of
рори-
lar rights held by office seekers and by office holders.
Mr. O'Leary's speech from the dock was characte-
ristic of the man. It was a laboured effort. His fine
features were distorted with passion, and he glared
melodramatically at judges and jurymen, while his
voice was hoarse with ill-suppressed rage. This was
much regretted by his friends, as the speech itself
was much to the point. He said:
(
My Lord, I was not wholly unprepared for this.
I felt that the Government which had so safely packed
the bench, could not fail to make sure of the juries.'
(Here the judge interrupted.) 'A jury has been found
to convict me of this conspiracy upon the evidence.
Mr. Luby admitted that he was technically guilty,
according to British law; but surely it is only by the
most forcible interpretation of that highly elastic in-
strument that these men dare to make out a case
against me. And this brings me naturally to a sub-
ject about which there has been much misapprehen-
sion in Ireland-I mean the subject of informers.
Mr. Justice Keogh said that men will always be ready
for money, or some other motive, to place themselves
at the disposal of the Government; but I think it is
agitators, and not rebels, who have been generally
bought in that way, and who have certainly made the
best bargain
I have been guilty of treason—
treason-felony. Treason is a foul crime. Dante places
traitors in the ninth circle of his hell-I believe the
•
Rossa on Trial.
195
lowest circle. But what kind of traitors are these?
Traitors against kin, country, friends, and benefac-
tors. England is not my country, and I betrayed
no friend or benefactor. Sidney was a legal traitor
—a traitor, according to the law, and so was Emmet;
and Jeffreys and Norbury were loyal men. I leave
the matter there.'
Mr. O'Leary was also sentenced to twenty years'
penal servitude. Michael Moore, the pike-maker,
was the next prisoner tried. He was found guilty,
and sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. After
him John Haltigan, printer of the Irish People, was
tried, convicted, and sentenced to penal servitude for
seven years. Then came what was emphatically the
most sensational of the trials-that of O'Donovan
Rossa.
Rossa felt that he was-as he said himself-in for
it,' and accordingly he resolved, regardless of conse-
quences, to avail himself of the opportunity he had of
obtaining a hearing from the general public, to ex-
pound and illustrate his principles and those of the
organization to which he belonged. It is not often
that an Irish patriot, holding advanced views, can
command a medium through which to reach an
audience outside his own immediate following; and
such a one presented itself to Rossa, and he felt it
too tempting to allow it to pass. He therefore elected
to defend himself. He occupied an entire day in the
cross-examination of the informer Nagle and other
Crown witnesses, displaying much readiness and legal
acumen, but not, of course, serving his case in the
least. He was frequently stopped by the Judges when
}
O 2
196
The Trials.
he attempted to introduce irrelevant matter; but he
was not in the least put out, and returned to the
charge with quite unruffled front. He undoubtedly
met his match in Nagle, whose testimony he could
not shake at all; but at any rate he convicted him
out of his own mouth of such ingratitude and
treachery as should have made even his police em-
ployers ashamed of him.
<
Judge Keogh, one of Rossa's Judges, it is noto-
rious, as I have said, obtained his seat on the Bench
in return for his political services. It is also known
that, to win his promotion, he stooped to the mean-
est deception and predetermined treachery. On one
occasion he called God to witness his vow that he
would never support any English party which would
not do justice to his country. So help me, God!'
he vowed at a meeting in Cork city, in March, '52,
'no matter who the minister may be, no matter who
the party in power may be, I will support neither that
minister nor that party, unless he comes into power
prepared to carry the measures which universal popu-
lar Ireland demands.' Nine months later, this much-
professing gentleman did support a ministry which
did not carry any single measure, or attempt to carry
it, which Ireland demanded, and received as his re-
ward the position of Her Majesty's Solicitor-General
for Ireland. Now the Fenian theory was, that con-
stitutional agitation could have no other effect than
to enable unscrupulous politicians to betray the
people and obtain places for themselves. The Fenian
organ seldom missed an opportunity of inculcating
this view, and Judge Keogh's perfidy was evidence
Rossa's Defence.
which they never failed to adduce to sustain it. Here
then was a Fenian of the Irish People face to face with
the awful exemplar, cited by that paper, of the baneful
effects of constitutional agitation; and the situation, it
must be admitted, was interesting. It certainly was
quite as good as any 'play' to listen to Rossa, calmly
and with studied deliberation, putting in evidence the
action of the patriot Keogh to prove the faithlessness
of Keogh the Judge. He selected the strongest ar-
ticles condemnatory of the man who sat in judgment
upon him and insisted on reading them as part of his
defence.
197
At the commencement of his speech he said that
he had written a letter to the Chief Secretary, Sir
Robert Peel, in which he said :-
'You know that the Irish People, since its com-
mencement, has been writing down agitation and
has been writing up Judge Keogh, as a sample of
the benefits derived by the Irish people from tenant
leagues, parliamentary agitation, and episcopal poli-
tics. Of the many allusions to his lordship through-
out the Journal, here is a specimen from the number
for March 26th, '64" Mr. Justice Keogh (what a
curious combination of words) speaks of cowardly
men, who in their closets write violent and inflam-
matory stuff which led others into such acts as were
the subject of the investigation, but who themselves
shrunk from joining the dangerous practices they led
others into. It must have been rather refreshing for
the learned Judge's audience to hear him coming out
in the appropriate character of censor morum. But
has the high-flying moralist never heard of men who
-
198
The Trials.
spoke "violent and inflammatory stuff," and who
swore rhetorical oaths which they never kept? Has
he never heard of men who sit in the high places of
the land who were ever, if not the accomplices, at
least the intimate associate of forgers and swind-
lers. But it is a waste of time to bandy words with
Mr. Keogh. To be sure he is a Judge; but so was
Jeffreys, so was Macclesfield, and so was Norbury."
'Selecting him,' continued Rossa, as the Judge to
try persons connected with the Irish People may be
quite in accord with the rest of the proceedings, but
it cannot tend much to impress people with a feeling
of respect for the administration of the law. But as
it is law the Government seems most desirous to ad-
minister, there is no doubt but in selecting Judge
Keogh to administer it was to have selected the most
proper person."
After that, he settled down steadily to his work,
and read some articles to the same purport; other
articles from the daily papers of great length, which
he held prejudged the case of the prisoners; the
Chicago pamphlet, which-despite the remonstrances
of the Judges and the jury-he persisted in reading
from end to end, making running comments as he
read; as many other articles as the Court would per-
mit him to read, and many other wholly irrelevant
documents, until the patience of the Judges, jury, and
counsel for the Crown, was fairly worn out. In vain
his attorney urged him to stop, declaring that he was
in fact making a speech for the Solicitor-General.
'I want to do his business as well as my own,'
said Rossa, and calmly proceeded with his reading.
Rossa's Last Words.
199
When, however, he had continued for eight hours-
when the usual time for adjourning the Court had
arrived he stopped, and suggested that the Court
should adjourn. But the Court would do nothing of
the sort; they declared they would go on-they would
be even with the prisoner; and if he would persevere
in his obstructive tactics they would keep him all
night speaking. Rossa at this, for the first time, lost
temper.
'It is like one of the '98 trials,' he said, 'hurrying
a man on to his destruction.'
Mr. Justice Keogh-You had better proceed, sir,
with propriety.'
The Prisoner—‘A regular Norbury.'
Mr. Justice Keogh—' Proceed, sir.'
The Prisoner-Tell me,' my lord, when do you
propose to stop'?
Mr. Justice Keogh-Proceed, sir.'
The Prisoner- What is the next article'?
(
Rossa then read a couple of articles, the last of
which had reference to the 'treachery of Keogh' and
the advancement of the Sadleirs and Monahans,' and
said:
6
'And now, gentlemen of the jury, I will address to
you one word. This English Government have put
that article in evidence against me, and they selected
that man Keogh to try me for that article. Gentle-
men, if there is a man amongst you an Irishman,
with a spark of justice in his breast, he will denounce
such injustice as that. The Judge now trying me,
Judge Keogh, is the man alluded to in that article.
I have done. Let English law now take its course.'
200
The Trials.
And at long last the all but irrepressible Rossa
subsided. The Solicitor-General then addressed the
jury, and the Court adjourned at eight o'clock in the
evening.
Next day the Judge delivered his charge, and a ver-
dict of guilty followed as a matter of course. Then
Rossa had brought up against him the charge to
which he pleaded guilty in '58--his connexion with
the Phoenix Society-and he was asked if he had
anything to say why sentence should not be passed
upon him.
The Prisoner-The fact that the Government got
papers connected with my defence, and perhaps ex-
amined them—the fact that the Government packed
the jury-and the fact that the jury yesterday said
they would consider the exercise of my legal right
quite sufficient to connect me—
Mr. Justice Keogh—' We can't allow this to go on.'
The Prisoner-The fact that the Attorney-General
sent Judge Keogh to try me, I consider enough to pre-
vent me making another observation on the case.'
The Judge, in passing sentence of penal servitude
for life, was commenting on the fact that the prisoner
had been connected with rebellious combinations as far
back as 1859, when Rossa exclaimed, 'I was an Irish-
man, my lord, since I was born.'
With that defiant exclamation disappeared from
public view, and closed the 'career in Ireland of, per-
haps as brave, as honest, and certainly as implacable
and earnest a rebel to English rule in Ireland as any
of which her history makes mention.'
After this trial the Commission adjourned to the 1st
More Convictions.
201
of January, when C. J. Kickham, D. D. Mulcahy, and
many other of the lesser Fenian lights, were brought
to trial, convicted in nearly every case, and sentenced
to long terms of penal servitude.
Mr. Kickham dispensed with the assistance of
counsel, and defended himself. He adopted this
course in consequence of the refusal of the Crown to
produce Thomas Clarke Luby and Charles Under-
wood O'Connell, whose evidence he contended was
necessary for his defence. He was found guilty, and
sentenced to fourteen years' penal servitude. Denis D.
Mulcahy, of the staff of the Irish People, who made an
able speech, prior to receiving sentence, was adjudged
ten years' penal servitude. James O'Connor, also of
the Irish People, was sentenced to penal servitude
for seven years; Edward Brophy, who was arrested
with Stephens, and C. M. O'Keeffe, whose foolish
letters so greatly prejudiced the cases of the other
prisoners, to the same punishment for ten years. The
trials lasted forty-two days. In all forty-one men were
put on trial, of whom thirty-six were convicted; three
acquitted; and one-Edward Duffy-allowed out on
bail. In one case there was a disagreement of the
jury.
As is generally the case in Ireland when the
Government takes hostile steps against a popular
movement, and prosecutes and imprisons its leaders,
these trials gave an immense stimulus to the Fenian
movement. It wanted martyrs, and they were pro-
vided in plenty. The manly bearing of the men on
trial; the extraordinary rapidity with which convic-
tion followed conviction, thus appearing to indicate a
202
The Trials.
<
too ready aptitude of juries to fall in with the wishes
of the Crown prosecutors, by bringing in verdicts of
guilty in every case; the severity of the sentences;
the speeches from the dock' of some of the leaders,
so brimful as some of them were of defiance of the
British Government, and hope for the future of the
country, not only brought a large accession of recruits
to the Fenian ranks, but created a compassionate feel-
ing for the prisoners, and good wishes for the cause
they had so unselfishly and devotedly served, amongst
classes of the people who had hitherto looked coldly
on both. It is notorious that Fenianism was regarded
with unconcealed aversion, not to say deadly hatred,
by not merely the landlords and the ruling classes, but
by the Catholic clergy, the middle-class Catholics, and
the great majority of the farming classes. It was, in
fact, only amongst the youngest and more intelligent
of the labouring class; of the young men of the large
towns and cities engaged in the humbler walks of mer-
cantile life; of the artisan and working classes, that it
found favour.
The effect of the Government prosecutions indeed,
so far from striking the brotherhood with terror, was
to actually strengthen its ranks, and intensify disaffec-
tion to English rule. This revolt against measures of
repression, however imperatively necessary they may
now seem to have been in the interests of the people
themselves, is paralleled in these days when the pesti-
lent Land League agitation was revived into vigorous
activity, just when it showed unmistakeable symp-
toms of approaching decline, by its attempted sup-
pression, and the arrests of its leaders. No doubt
The Habeas Corpus Act Suspended.
this was a step which could not have been avoided;
but there is no doubt at all that it was the immediate
cause of renewing the flow of Irish-American dollars
into its coffers, which had begun to sensibly slacken.
In '66 at all events the trials so stimulated Fenian ac-
tivity that the Irish executive found themselves unable
to deal with it without the concession of exceptional
powers from the British Parliament. On Saturday, the
17th February, '66, therefore, Ministers in both Houses
of Parliament informed Members that it was necessary
for the preservation of law and order in Ireland that
the Habeas Corpus Act should be once more sus-
pended. It was a humiliating thing for a British
Minister to be forced to confess that after sixty-five
years of the rule of the British Parliament, disaffection.
to the Government had become so serious in Ireland
that it could no longer be ruled unless by the suspension
of the liberties of its people. But such as it was, the
confession had to be made, and, as a matter of course,
the demand for exceptional powers was readily granted.
203
The bill suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, and
giving the Viceroy unlimited power to arrest and
imprison suspected rebels, passed all its stages in
both Houses on the same day that it was introduced,
received the Royal assent on the same evening, and
became law at twenty minutes before one o'clock on
the following Sunday morning.
On that occasion Mr. John Bright made what is said
to have been the best speech he ever delivered in
Parliament. He declared that it was his conviction
that 'if the majority of the people of Ireland, counted
fairly out, had their will, and had the power, they would
204
The Trials.
unmoor the island from its fastenings in the deep
and move it at least two thousand miles to the west.
And another great and noble-minded Englishman
happily and truly declared that the true cause of the
undoubted failure of British rule in Ireland was the
'eternal non possumus' with which English Ministers
met every Irish demand for redress of grievances,
the only justification for which, as he said, was that
'we don't do it in England.'
In Dublin, on Saturday night, the police anticipated
the passing of the Act by some hours. They made a
raid on several lodging-houses in Marlborough-street
and its neighbourhood, and arrested as many Irish-
American and other suspects as they could lay hands on.
By the early part of the following week they had caged
in Mountjoy Prison as many as 250 suspected rebels,
and before many more days passed the number was
greatly increased, until by the end of March it reached
670. Many other prisons throughout the country held
Fenian suspects; and altogether, at one time, there
were nearly 1200 men in prison in Ireland on suspi-
cion of treasonable practices. At the same time some
considerable seizures of arms were made.
Though this bold stroke of the authorities naturally
disconcerted the plans of the conspirators, it was far from
discouraging them. They still held firm to the hope
that the increased activity which the Government
swoop would occasion in the Fenian circles in America,
and the impetus it would give the organization, would
more than counterbalance the loss occasioned by the
arrest of so many of their number. They were, how-
ever, doomed to bitter disappointment.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE AMERICAN WINGS.'
ORGANIZATION.
FURTHER DISSENSION IN THE
THE AMERICAN
FUTILE EFFORTS OF STEPHENS TO UNITE THE RIVAL FACTIONS.
THE RAID ON CAMPO BELLO. THE EXPENSES OF MOFFATT
MANSION. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SENATE PARTY.
N America Fenian dissensions increased.
The
IN secession of the senate party, it soon became
evident, utterly destroyed any little chance there was
up to that time of sending arms and men in suffi-
cient numbers to Ireland to afford the faintest hope
of bringing about a successful rising. Every day
widened the breach between the two parties, further
crippled the efforts of both to be of service to the
rebels at home, and disheartened some of the most
hopeful and earnest of the Irish patriots of that day.
Amongst these was John Mitchel, who had joined the
organization soon after the close of the American
civil war. Writing, in '68, to the late John Martin,
he said :-
·
'That after the close of the successful war waged
against the Confederate States, it was quite natural
that in the flushed intoxication of triumph, and with
many thousands of Irish soldiers and officers, trained
in camp, and eager to use their weapons and their
skill against their hereditary foe-it was very natural,
206
The American 'Wings.'
I say, that an immense impetus should be given to
the Fenian organization, and that, under the exciting
appeals of certain leaders, our highly impressionable
people should be worked up to the point of resolving
on instant battle. There was also, at the same time,
an apparently well-grounded expectation that the
United States, having subdued the Confederacy,
would take an early opportunity of requiting to
England the humiliating affair of Mason and Slidell,
and the ravages committed on American commerce
by cruisers built and fitted out in British ports. The
moment was exciting, and many who had, up to that
time, held aloof from these organizations, joined them.
I myself was one of these; but when the break-up oc-
curred here, and when I could no longer tell to which
"wing" I belonged, I quietly withdrew myself from
both. Many excellent Irishmen in the United States
acted as I did.'
Mr. Mitchel at the period of the 'split' was resident
in Paris, and acted for the American brotherhood in
the capacity of agent for the transmission of funds to
Ireland. Both 'wings' devoted all their energies to
the frustration of the object of each other. The
'senate' people denounced O'Mahony as a traitor,
and argued that a raid on Canada was the one thing
necessary to set the game of rebellion in Ireland fairly
afoot. The adherents of O'Mahony, with greater rea-
son, held that in Ireland alone could the battle against
British misgovernment be waged, and that attempts
to invade Canada, being clearly a breach of the neu-
trality laws, would most certainly cause the British
Government to interfere.
The Raid on Campo Bello.
So that when Stephens arrived at New York, on
the 10th of May, '66, he found the disruption so pro-
nounced, and the split so alarmingly wide, that he
at once saw, unless he could, through his influence,
somehow manage to bridge over the chasm which
ranged the available forces of Irish America in hos-
tile camps, and reunite them firmly in one great and
powerful combination, the cause of Irish liberty was
irredeemably lost. He therefore addressed himself
with all the energy and resolution he had at command
to the attempt to bring about reconciliation and union.
O'Mahony also made the most of Stephens's pre-
sence in New York. The C. O. I. R., with the
prestige of having so cleverly escaped from the cus-
tody of England's jailers fresh upon him, was a safe
'draw' for his side; but Stephens held himself reso-
lutely aloof from identification with either party, ex-
cept in so far that he set his face against the Canadian
invasion scheme, as involving the certainty of defeat,
and the perfectly useless expenditure of resources
which were so badly wanted, and could be of such
service, elsewhere.
207
O'Mahony, too, was rather losing ground, partly
by reason of a silly fillibustering attempt by a small
party of Fenians on the island of Campo Bello, which
he had foolishly allowed himself to be persuaded into
countenancing. The party consisted of a handful of
men, and they set out in a small and unseaworthy
steamer in the month of April. They had hardly
came in sight of Campo Bello when they abandoned
the enterprise without firing a shot, as their capture
by the British it was seen could not be prevented had
208
The American 'Wings.'
they persevered. This foolish fiasco cost a large
amount of money, and brought the O'Mahony wing
into much disfavour, from which, however, it was
hoped Stephens would rescue it. Moreover, the ex-
penditure of the Moffatt Mansion establishment began
to be questioned, and a 'committee of investigation
had been holding an inquisition into the accounts.
However, all was expected to come right when the
long-expected presence of the C. O. I. R. in New York
would have had time to exert its influence.
S
Stephens came, saw, and did not conquer. He
failed signally. He pleased neither the O'Mahony
faction nor yet that of Roberts. He attended many
meetings; made numerous speeches; was as profuse.
of promises as ever. The men at home were ready
and panting to begin, and all that was wanted was
the money to provide the war material- merely
money, nothing more. But the Irish-Americans be-
gan to grow weary of subscribing money when there
was nothing to show for it-except British prisons.
full to repletion of Irish rebels. Irish-America in
those days was not the inexhaustible 'draw-farm' for
Irish agitators to make draughts upon for supplies it
has since become. Then the subscribers required some
account of the expenditure of their contributions, and
to have had some value for them; now, they pay
cheerfully when called upon, and do not concern
themselves about what becomes of their money.
Stephens, at all events, found that he could no longer
coax money to any considerable amount for his bleed-
ing country from his already quite too freely-bled
fellow-countrymen in America. He has stated that
-
General Cluseret.
the total receipts of the Moffatt Mansion Branch
amounted to no more, for the year '66, than £2500
-hardly sufficient to pay the working expenses of
that pretentious establishment.
209
Things, indeed, looked particularly black; but Ste-
phens did not lose heart. About this time he and
Cluseret first met. Cluseret was a soldier of fortune,
ready always to fight for any 'good cause at all.' He
commenced his military career as a subaltern in the
French army. He fought in Africa, and afterwards
in the Crimea, where he commanded a company. He
then joined Garibaldi, and fought under him during
the campagin in Italy in '59 and '60. In the Ame-
rican war he served as a volunteer on the staff of
General Fremont. Stephens was anxious that he
should take the command of the Irish army of libera-
tion; and he was quite willing to do so, provided he
could see his way to fight with any hope of success.
Stephens and he had frequent interviews, and many
plans were discussed without, however, Cluseret being
convinced that the proposed rising could possibly
succeed. He subsequently published an article in an
English magazine, in which he entered fully into the
subject of these negotiations. Of Stephens he ex-
pressed, on the whole, a favourable opinion. He said
of him that he was an organizer to his fingers ends,
and in that respect he was a man of superior mind.
He explained his plans, too, with great clearness;
but as regards action, he was worthless, and he was
vain, despotic, and overbearing.'
-
As regards the resources of the organisation, Cluseret
wrote, 'He (Stephens) had given me a key to his
Р
210
The American 'Wings.'
organization, which did not leave out a single man in
all Ireland; everything had been scrupulously and
carefully visited and organized. As far as men were
concerned, there no longer seemed need that any
should be brought over. And he was careful to fur-
nish me with the most indubitable material proofs of
the truth of the facts he stated.' But in all the other
indispensable requisites for making a revolution,
Stephens admitted to Cluseret the Irish organiza-
tion was not so well provided. The latter said that
he attended a meeting of representatives of the most
important districts of Ireland, and it appeared from
the statements made on the occasion that there was
some money, but not much, and no arms worth
mentioning-in fact he felt constrained to believe that
the Fenian armament existed only in imagination, or
in the arsenals of the enemy. After investigating
matters fully, Cluseret came to the conclusion that the
money in hand was not nearly sufficient to provide
sufficient war material. When the secession took place,
as I have before mentioned, O'Mahony kept the cash,
and Roberts carried off the war material, so that it
was no longer available to equip the men at home.'
Finally, Cluseret consented to take the command
offered him, provided ten thousand men could be
armed and equipped ready to his hand. With this
force he calculated that he could seize on the most
important positions, commanding the principal roads
of communication, and trust to the prestige of success,
which he asserted confidently would attend his stra-
tegy at the outset, to so rapidly augment his forces.
and procure arms for them from the British arsenals
(
6
The Raid on Canada.
2 II
already mentioned, as to enable him to keep the
British army in check while he was organising his
levies, and making the requisite disposition of them
to ensure final victory. This was the understanding,
it is said, between Stephens and Cluseret.
The O'Mahony wing was placed once again in
the ascendant, by the utter failure of the raid on
Canada, which came off in the beginning of June,
'66. On the night of the 31st of May, six hundred
Fenians crossed the Niagara River, not far from
Buffalo. The men were badly armed; had little
ammunition, no artillery, and some of them not even
rifles. They were commanded by General John
O'Neill, an Irishman who had seen much service in
the American war. Quite early on the morning of the
2nd of June, within three miles of Ridgeway, O'Neill's
advance guard fell in with the enemy.
The following description of the engagement which
followed is written by John Savage, who afterwards
became Head Centre of the F.B. of America. O'Neill
advanced his skirmishers, and formed a line of bat-
tle behind temporary breastworks made of rails, on
a road leading to Fort Erie, and parallel with the
enemy. The skirmishing was briskly kept up for
half-an-hour. The enemy was attempting to flank
O'Neill on both sides, and he failed to draw their
centre, which was protected by thick timber. In this
exigency he fell back a few hundred yards, and formed
a new line. The British, seeing how far the invading
troops were off, became adventurous; they supposed
O'Neill had retreated, and advanced to pursue. Now
was O'Neill's chance, and he did not fail to take it.
P 2
212
The American Wings.'
The British came on rapidly after the Irish, who re-
treated not so rapidly. They came nearer and nearer-
now they are near enough for O'Neill's purpose. He
gives his orders with decision; a volley stops the
career of the British; it is their turn to retreat, but
they retreat in earnest, with the Irish after them, in
earnest too; driving them for three miles, and through
the town of Ridgeway. In their retreat the British
threw away knapsacks, guns, and everything likely to
retard their speed, and left some ten or twelve killed,
nearly thirty wounded, with twelve prisoners in the
hands of the Irish. O'Neill gave up the pursuit one
mile beyond Ridgeway.'
<
The 'British' here spoken of consisted of a couple of
volunteer regiments called the Queen's Own,' and
the Hamilton Battalion ;' and there is no doubt that
they ran away from their assailants. But though
victorious, the invaders were too weak to attempt.
a further advance, knowing well that they would
soon have to encounter a vastly superior force to their
own. O'Neill thought it better to retire before his
rapidly advancing foes could surround him, and cut
off his retreat. His men, moreover, were without food
or supplies, and had marched forty miles and fought
a battle. He could not ascertain whether any other
body of Fenians had crossed the frontier at any other
point, so as to divide the enemy's forces. There was
nothing for it, therefore, but to recross the river, which
he succeeded in doing, but only to fall into the hands
of the American authorities. A few days later, on the
7th June, another attempt at invasion was made by a
Fenian force, under General Spear, which crossed the
(
Last Speech of Stephens.
boundary near Fermont, but becoming demoralised,
returned without a shot having been fired.
The results of the raid were the arrest, trial, convic-
tion, and sentence to death of a number of Irishmen, in
Toronto and Montreal, for complicity with the designs
of the invaders, amongst whom was Father M'Mahon,
a Catholic priest. Their sentence was afterwards com-
muted to penal servitude.
Stephens made the most of the Canadian fiasco,
urging that it demonstrated the superior efficacy of
his plans. Soon he had the O'Mahony 'wing' all
to himself. O'Mahony resigned, alleging as his
principal reasons that he could not understand
Mr. Stephens's perseverance in his war programme.
in Ireland, after the 1st of January, '66, and because
he felt that there was no prospect of a united Fenian
Brotherhood in the United States.'
213
Stephens then became Head Centre of the Fenian
Organization in America,' as well as 'Central Orga-
nizer of the Irish Republic,' and attended many meet-
ings, made speeches, and succeeded in getting more
money. On the 28th October, he attended a meeting
in Jones's Wood, and stated that it would be his last
appearance previous to his departure for Ireland.
'My last words,' he said, ' are, that we shall be fight-
ing on Irish soil before the 1st January, and I shall
be then in the midst of my countrymen.' The effect.
of this speech in Ireland, as a matter of course, was
to redouble the vigilance of the authorities, and many
more arrests were made. There, however, was no
fighting on Irish soil on 1st January, or until long
after it; and the C. O. I. R. did not leave New York.
214
The American Wings.'
On the contrary, he could not be got to move; he
began to show symptoms of a decided inclination to
retire from the desperate undertaking he had been
at such pains to prepare for. And at last, when
the end of the year had nearly arrived, and as he
made no move whatever, he was deposed from his
position. Colonel Kelly, who had hitherto stood by
him through good and evil report, became now one
of his most vehement denouncers. From very shame
at the disgrace which would result from a total
abandonment of the projected rebellion in Ireland,
after such confident promises had been made, Kelly,
Burke, Halpin, M'Cafferty, and a few others, re-
solved themselves to organize and head a rising.
Up to the very eve of the departure of Kelly and his
friends for Europe, Stephens gave them to understand
that he would accompany them.
It is said that even
after their departure he sent a despatch to the Centre
for Cork to the effect that, should Kelly arrive before
him and call on the people to rise, they should do so,
and make 'war to the knife,' and that he would be
with them, for he would 'go by the next steamer.' He
did undoubtedly go by the next steamer, but not to
Ireland. He arrived in Paris, and remained there,
leaving his friends to bear the brunt of the unequal
contest to which his powers of persuasion and exag-
geration committed them.
CHAPTER XIX.
EXIT STEPHENS.
THE C. O. I. R.'S DEFECTION.
IT'S CAUSES. HIS EXAGGERA-
TIONS. FALSE CHARGES OF HIS ENEMIES. HIS ORGANIZING
POWER. CAUSES WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO PRODUCE FAILURE.
THERE
'HERE is no manner of doubt that Stephens was
in honour bound to persevere, in spite of all
obstacles, in attempting to carry out the solemn pro-
mises and deliberately formed undertakings, which he
so freely made in America, that he would be in Ire-
land at a given time to then lead a 'rising,' which he
moreover confidently asserted could not possibly fail.
By these solemn averments, he prevailed on men to
join him in preparing for the struggle, who, once hav-
ing committed themselves to it, were too honourable
to abandon it without at all events putting his pro-
mises to the test of performance. But at the same
time there is a good deal to be said to excuse such
seemingly inexcusable desertion of the cause to which
he had devoted his life, and of his companions in
arms who were about to take the field. He must
have known that the rising was foredoomed to ab-
solute and disastrous failure, and it may be that
he considered that by himself remaining away, the
others would feel themselves justified in abandoning
the hopeless adventure. He possibly considered that
216
Exit Stephens.
he might live to fight another day, and that the
discretion he himself displayed would serve as an
inducement to-in his view-quite too sensitively
conscientious friends, to follow his example.
His last hope was to have been in a position to have
made a successful beginning-no matter how insigni-
ficant the success-in Ireland, and trust to the popular
enthusiasm and fervour it would excite to render ulti-
mate victory a matter of reasonable expectation. But
even that hope, his vain efforts to stimulate the Irish
people in America into providing the means neces-
sary to attempt its realization must have convinced
him, was quite visionary. He then probably consi-
dered that in face of his abandonment of the enter-
prise his confederates would not persevere; but in
that he was mistaken. No doubt, his proper course
would have been to have plainly and openly stated
his conviction that a rising in Ireland was no longer
possible, and have called on the people to at least
postpone attempting it. But seeing that the prisons
in Ireland were full to overflowing of men whom he
had led into illegal courses, it would certainly be
difficult for him to justify his abandonment of them
without striking a blow in the direction of realizing
the promises by which he secured their adhesion to a
desperate cause. Therefore, no doubt, he attempted
no vindication of his conduct whatever.
He re-
mained silent on that point then, and has preserved
the same silence ever since, notwithstanding that he
has been maligned, and misrepresented as probably
no other public man in Ireland ever was before, not
merely by his enemies, but by his friends. He held
His Patient Perseverence.
217
his peace all through, and said not a word in de-
fence of himself.
But despite his abrupt, unexpected, and unex-
plained desertion of the revolutionary cause at the
eleventh hour, there is, I think, much in the career of
James Stephens that goes far to constitute him one of
the most remarkable men of the century. To him
alone is due the credit of having opened the eyes of
English statesmen to a true appreciation of the wrongs
endured so long by the Irish people from British rule.
The difficulties he had to contend with before he could
form even the semblance of an organization would cer-
tainly have deterred any man, save himself, from at-
tempting to surmount them. Hardly was the Fenian.
organization under weigh when it had to face a coun-
ter-move of the Government-in '58, when it was all
but nipped in the bud by Government prosecutions
and the arrest of most of its leaders. For years after
it had to drag out a precarious existence, dependent
alone for sustainment on the slender resources it
could obtain from the famine-stricken people of Ire-
land itself; and when, at length, Irish-America was
excited to sustain it, internal dissensions, combined
with the hostile action of the Government in the ar-
rest of its leaders, united to compass its destruction.
Still it survived, and may be said, in a sense, to yet
endure.
And it was solely born of, and mainly sustained by,
the resolute courage, self-sacrifice, energy, and patri-
otic devotion of James Stephens. To bring it into
existence at all, he was forced to hold out expecta-
tions of the early attainment of favourable results
K
218
Exit Stephens.
which could not be realized; then, when the time of
the promised accomplishment arrived and passed by,
he had to meet the disappointment of deferred hope
by making still more exciting promises, of impossible
performance. At length he found there was nothing
for it but to permit himself to be driven-to go with
the stream; to precipitate action without time for
adequate preparation.
The result was what he had foreseen: the Govern-
ment became alarmed, and took steps to suppress the
conspiracy in Ireland, which were not wholly unsuccess-
ful. But despite all this-but for the disruption of the
American branch of the conspiracy, caused by the se-
cession of the 'senate' party, he would have been in a
position to have, at least, made a rebellion in Ireland
which, though it would no doubt fail, would, at all
events, have not been entirely insignificant. If he
could have only commenced well, there were fair
grounds for justifying him in the belief that, despite
all the discouragements he experienced, the uprising
of the Irish people would have been, for a time at all
events, formidable to some extent. He counted, per-
haps too confidently, on the inspiriting effect of a first
success, to muster to the revolutionary standard all the
fiery youth of the country. Moreover, his agents had
so seriously tampered with the allegiance of many
regiments of the English garrison, that he might also
have counted on the accession of a considerable force
of well-armed and disciplined soldiers. This, too,
turned out to have been a miscalculation. But he
knew well that without the help of Irish-America he
could do nothing.
His Exaggerations.
It is quite true that, to gain the support of the Irish
in the United States for his enterprise, he enormously
over-stated his actual resources in men and armament
all through. This was a constant source of disagree-
ment between O'Mahony, other prominent Irish-Ame-
ricans, and himself. But he was one of those politi-
cians-so numerous now-a-days-who conceive that
the end always and amply justifies the means; and
though tried even by that somewhat loose standard
of political morality, his conduct could not probably
be considered blameless; nevertheless it is certain
that by no other method could he have brought the
conspiracy to the point of power and efficiency
necessary for it to reach before the expatriated Irish
beyond the Atlantic could be induced to support it.
Though loving their country with an ardent and un-
dying love, and hating its rulers with a hate in-
tense as it is unreasoning, the Irish population of the
United States require a strong stimulus to induce
them to interest themselves earnestly in any Irish
movement which does not promise the immediate ac-
complishment of substantial advantages. That is why
Stephens was so unscrupulous in promising seeming
impossibilities, and making extravagant estimation
of the means at his command. And that is the rea-
son that the still more unscrupulous and utterly un-
conscientious agitators of our own days seized the
moment when the Irish people of America were
profoundly moved with the sincerest sympathy for
their fellow-countrymen at home-when famine again
threatened to desolate their land-to appeal, only
too successfully, to them for money, on the false pre-
-
219
220
Exit Stephens.
tence that it would be used to henceforth render
famine in Ireland an impossibility, by abolishing
landlords, and restoring the land to the people-its
rightful owners.'
Naturally when Stephens's representations came
to be investigated, it was proved, as a matter of
course, that he had greatly magnified the means and
appliances at his disposal for the creation of a revo-
lution in Ireland. There were hardly any arms or
other war material, and his estimate of the number
of men actually enrolled in the organization was
found to be excessive. Thereupon were founded
charges of malversation and extravagant expen-
diture of funds against the C. O. I. R., which after-
wards turned out to be quite unfounded. The truth
is, that the amount subscribed in the United States
to support the organization in Ireland was grossly
exaggerated. Mr. John O'Leary stated recently,
in a letter published in the Freeman's Journal, on
the authority of James Stephens, that the whole
amount collected in America for the Fenian con-
spiracy from '58 to '66, and remitted to Ireland, was
under £32,500, of which amount £7000 fell into the
hands of the Government.
The following are the figures:
Received from America,
From 1858 to 1864, .
1864 to 1866,.
""
In 1866,
Total, .
•
£1,500
28,500
2,500
£32,500
Fenian Funds.
221
Mr. O'Leary further states that the whole amount
collected in America by the Fenian organization was
under 500,000 dollars, in paper currency-equal, allow-
ing for depreciation of currency, to some £80,000—
about a third of the amount subscribed by the Irish-
Americans to sustain the odious Land League delusion.
Now it is perfectly plain that £32,000 was ludicrously
inadequate to arm, equip, and furnish supplies for a
rebel army in the field sufficiently strong to overthrow
the strongest force which England, backed by her
practically limitless resources in men and money,
could muster against it, even could the whole amount
be used for that purpose. But when the heavy ex-
penses of the organization itself-the payment of or-
ganizers and other incidental charges for eight years,
had to be defrayed out of it—how possibly could there
have been any considerable quantity of war material
purchased? It is not conceivable that it would—even
increased by contributions levied from the members.
of the home organization-be more than sufficient to
pay the mere working expenses.
That there was culpable waste of money, however,
there is no doubt: but not in Ireland; nor was
Stephens at all responsible for it. The expenses of
Moffatt Mansion, and the gang of 'loafers' whom it
sustained, combined with the useless expenditure of a
large sum on the Campo Bello fiasco by the O'Mahony
wing, and the criminally foolish misuse of money on the
attempted invasion of Canada by the Roberts branch,
might and should have been avoided. As it was,
the effect of such reckless and profitless waste was
to quite close the sources of Irish-American libera-
222
Exit Stephens.
lity, and thereby to render revolution in Ireland im-
possible.
I am, for all these reasons, forced to believe that
while all the credit-if any credit there be—of creat-
ing a revolutionary organization in Ireland, belongs,
of right, to James Stephens, the chief causes of its
ultimate collapse lay beyond his control; and that
he, therefore, should not be held solely responsible
for it. I am also certain that to his labours are the
Irish people chiefly indebted for any recent conces-
sion made to them by England.
3
CHAPTER XX.
REBELLION.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE RISING. ARRIVAL OF AMERICAN
OFFICERS IN LONDON. GODFREY MASSEY. THE RAID ON
CHESTER. THE INFORMER CORYDON. ARREST OF M'CAFFERTY
THE RISING IN KERRY. THE LATE DR. MORIARTY
AND FLOOD.
ON THE REBELS.
IT
T must be confessed that to attempt a rising under
the circumstances which the defection of Stephens
made manifest was simple lunacy-or something
nearly approaching to it. But, as I have said, the
Irish-American officers whom Stephens had induced
to join the organization considered that they were
bound in honour to attempt to redeem his promises.
In December, '66, these gentlemen held many meet-
ings and concocted their plans. Amongst them was
one General Godfrey Massey-whose real name was
Patrick Condon-who had served in the Southern
army in the American war, and who was selected to
head the rising in the South. As we shall presently
see, he afterwards became Queen's evidence, and bore
witness against his co-conspirators. Of their number
also was General Halpin, who had subsequently as-
signed to him the post of commander of the rebel
forces of the county of Dublin; General T. F. Burke,
who had a command in the county of Tipperary, and
224
Rebellion.
Colonel Kelly, who had been appointed, on the depo-
sition of Stephens, Central Executive officer of the
Irish Republic.
Massey was sent off from New York for Liverpool
on the 11th of January, '67, to join the others who had
left previously for the same destination. He arrived
in Liverpool on the 26th of January, '67, and had with
him a sum of £550 to pay the officers who were to
land in districts of Ireland selected for them by
General Cluseret, who was named as commander-in-
chief. He soon after joined Kelly in London, fre-
quent meetings were held at Kelly's lodgings there,
and a military Directory was formed. At one of these
meetings there attended delegates from the Irish or-
ganization, with whom the military officers arranged
the details of the rising. Three of these envoys-
O'Beirne of Dublin, Mahony of Cork, and Henderson
of Belfast, were constituted by Kelly a Directory of
the civil, as distinguished from the military, ma-
nagement of the organization.
Owing to some misunderstanding just after this
meeting, on the 11th February, or through some mis-
management, an attempted outbreak took place in
the county of Kerry, and it became known that the
Fenians of the North of England meditated the cap-
ture of Chester Castle.
This latter project was to have been conducted by
Captain M'Cafferty, and 'Smuggler' Flood, and it does
not appear that it was sanctioned by Cluseret, or
included in the general plan of the rising. But it
never came off. The Government, having received
information previously that it was contemplated, took
The Informer Corydon.
225
steps to make the Castle secure against assault; and
in their turn the Fenians, who had assembled in large
numbers in the town, were apprised that their scheme
was blown upon, in time to prevent them making the
attempt to carry it out.
The Government informer on that occasion was one
Corydon, who had served in the American army, and
who joined the Fenian brotherhood in '62. His chief
occupation was the carrying of despatches between
New York and Dublin, from Mahony to Stephens, and
vice versa. According to his own account, however,
he did not commence to give information to the
Government until September, '66. He certainly was
of enormous service to the Irish executive during this
troubled time. But for him, it is beyond doubt that
Chester Castle would have been taken, and the arms
it contained carried off; and he was also the means
of enabling the Government to arrest General Massey
at the Limerick Junction: and thus ensured the easy
suppression of the rising in Ireland.
M'Cafferty, who was entrusted with the carrying
out of the contemplated raid on Chester Castle, was
a man of great daring and resolution. He had seen
much service in the corps known as Morgan's Raiders,
in the service of the Southern States, and was a very
devoted Fenian. On the occasion of his first coming
to Ireland with the other American officers, sent for
by Stephens in September, '65, he was arrested at
Queenstown, just after landing; and as treasonable
documents were found upon him, he was returned for
trial at the Cork Special Commission in February, '66,
but was acquitted on a point of law. Nothing daunted,
2
226
Rebellion.
however, by his narrow escape, he at once, after his
liberation, proceeded to Dublin, and there held fre-
quent conferences with other American officers who
were then in the city. Soon after, he returned to New
York, and after a time came to Liverpool, where he
remained till the time fixed for the making of the
attack on Chester Castle.
It was known that there were very large quantities of
arms stored in Chester Castle, and that the guard over
them consisted of a few men, who could be readily
overpowered. The arrangement was that the men
were to assemble in the middle of the day in Chester;
that M'Cafferty was to go there before them, and
meet the other officers at a hotel, there to make a final
disposition of his forces. Then, when all was ready,
the Castle guards were to be taken by surprise, and
disarmed; the arms were to be seized and carried off;
a train was to be taken possession of, and having been
freighted with the raiders and the captured arms was
to have been driven off to Holyhead-the telegraph
wires having previously been cut. Arrived at Holy-
head, one of the mail steamers was to have been seized
and men and arms placed on board, and started off at
once for any part of the Irish coast on which it might
be considered practicable to effect a landing.
M'Cafferty, as arranged, arrived in Chester on
Saturday, the 9th of February, '77, and took up his
quarters in the King's Head Hotel. There he re-
mained all that day; and on the next day, Sunday, he
was visited by several Irish-Americans, one of whom
remained with him all night in the hotel. On the fol-
lowing Monday crowds of strange men were observed
The Chester Affair.
227
coming into Chester, at about two o'clock in the after-
noon, by train from Crewe, Manchester, and other
places. And it was also noted that many Ameri-
can officers arrived from Liverpool. It was computed
that as many as one thousand five hundred or two
thousand strange men arrived at Chester on that
day. But shortly before two o'clock in the after-
noon, Flood called upon M'Cafferty at the hotel,
with the unwelcome news that their project was
discovered. Corydon had put the authorities on the
qui vive. Prompt measures of defence were taken.
Volunteers and soldiers arrived from neighbouring
towns, and a strong detachment of Scots Fusilier
Guards was sent from London. The first intimation
received in Chester of the intended raid was at 12.30
a.m. on Monday. At night, Mr. Johnson, the Mayor,
convened a public meeting, and over five hundred citi-
zens were sworn in as special constables, and paraded
the town in large bodies throughout all that night. It
appeared afterwards that, up to midnight on Sunday,
Chester was not protected by more than half a dozen
soldiers, on guard at the Castle, and twice as many
unarmed policemen in the city. Under their protec-
tion were no less than nine thousand stand of arms,
four thousand swords, and nine hundred thousand
rounds of ammunition, in addition to powder in bulk.
There were also stored in another part of the Castle
nine hundred stand of arms belonging to the militia;
and in a small building in the city were two hundred
stand of arms belonging to the volunteers. M'Cafferty,
when he realised the fact that the attempt should be
abandoned, at once sent messengers off in different
Q 2
228
Rebellion.
directions to stop other persons who were setting out
for Chester to take part in the affair, and directed
those who had arrived to return to their homes as
soon as possible.
So ended this well-devised, but daring scheme,
which, had it succeeded, would have entailed serious.
consequences upon the Government.
As it was,
Corydon enabled them to frustrate it. A number of
the men engaged in it took their departure for Dublin
by the steamer which left Liverpool on the evening of
the 11th inst., but were arrested on landing, next
morning, by a strong force of police, and lodged in
Kilmainham prison under the Habeas Corpus Sus-
pension Act.
M'Cafferty and Flood remained in the neighbour-
hood of Chester for several days after this, but on the
19th of February they took passage for Whitehaven
on board a Manx steamer. On arriving there they
arranged with the captain of a collier for a pas-
sage to Dublin. They feared arrest did they travel
by any of the usual routes, as they were aware the
Dublin police were keeping a sharp watch at the
points of arrival of steamboats from England, and
they thought they would be enabled to elude their
vigilance if they arrived in a ship which was known
not to take passengers. But they did not know that
the informer Corydon had made the authorities in
Dublin aware of their expected arrival and the name
of the vessel by which they were expected to come; so
that when the New Draper, the vessel in which they
took passage, arrived in the river, the passengers
observed two strong bodies of police drawn up on
The Kerry Rising.
both sides of the quays, no doubt waiting to receive
them. Rightly judging that the policemen were there
for the purpose of effecting their capture, they were
in the act of getting into a small boat when another
boat, with two policemen on board, was seen putting
off to intercept them. The boat freighted with the
Fenian leaders, however, had a good start, and left
the policemen somewhat behind. At length, how-
ever, the latter came up with the fugitives, and cap-
tured them as they clambered up the side of a
barge.
229
G
The informer Corydon, after the Chester failure,
was ordered by his still trusting and unsuspecting
comrades of the Directory to go to Dublin. When he
arrived there, Massey sent him to Millstreet, county
Cork, where he was to have met a centre who would
inform him where he would find Colonel O'Connor.
If he found O'Connor he was to communicate to
him the date fixed upon for the rising; if not, he
was to take command himself, blow up railway
bridges, hew up the rails and cut down telegraph
wires, and endeavour to make his way, with his
forces, into the county of Limerick. But when he
reached Cork he heard of the attempted outbreak in
Kerry, and was ordered by Captain Condon, who
held military command at Cork, to go to Midleton,
instead of to Miltown, county Kerry, in search of
Colonel O'Connor.
The attempted rising in Kerry, it was asserted,
was in reality meant as a feint, to draw off troops to
a remote and difficult county. On the night of the
12th of February, a band of Fenians at Cahirciveen.
230
Rebellion.
intercepted a mounted orderly, slightly wounded him,
took his despatches, and let him go. The man made.
his way into Killarney, and raised an alarm, which
created wild dismay amongst the neighbouring gen-
try. Coastguard stations and police barracks were
said to have been captured, and the mountains were
stated to have been alive' with armed men. The
town became thronged with gentry from the surround-
ing country, who fled from their homes, with their
families, for safety, into the town, in which there
were some soldiers and a large force of police sta-
tioned, and further reinforcements of military soon
arrived. The Royal Hotel was garrisoned and pro-
visioned to withstand a lengthened siege, and within
it many panic-stricken landowners and their families
found a welcome refuge.
<
C
This alarm was mingled with a feeling of intense
indignation against the 'rebels,' which found expres-
sion in a sermon preached by the Catholic bishop of
the district, the late Dr. Moriarty, whose burning
anger against the 'miscreants,' who had the temerity
to offer the sacrifice of their lives for what they con-
ceived to be a just and righteous cause, could hardly
find intelligible expression. 'Hell is not hot enough,'
quoth his lordship, 'or eternity long enough, to
punish such miscreants;' upon which the comment of
an irreverent rebel was that, before long, his lordship
might himself be in a position to declare that the
place of torment for unrepentant sinners who bore
false witness against their neighbours was quite too
hot to be pleasant, and eternity entirely too long to
endure it.
Dispersal of the Rebels.
When the Cahirciveen Fenians had 'demonstrated'
to their hearts' content and the discomfort of their
enemies, they simply dispersed, went to their homes,
the scare subsided, and no more was heard of a
rising in Kerry.
231
CHAPTER XXI.
THE FIFTH OF MARCH.
CORYDON'S TREACHERY.
ARREST OF MASSEY.
PLAN OF THE
RISING IN DUBLIN. THE AFFAIR AT TALLAGHT. LENNON'S
ADVENTURES. CAPTURE OF POLICEMEN AND POLICE BARRACKS.
WHOLESALE CAPTURE OF REBELS. THE RISING AT Cork,
KILMALLOCK, BALLYHURST, MIDLETON, AND DROGHEDA.
SKIRMISH IN KILCLOONEY WOOD. DEATH OF O'NEILL CROWLEY.
MORE TRIALS.
I
MMEDIATELY after the meeting at which the
Directory was appointed, Massey at once left
for Dublin. He was there met by O'Beirne, who
convened a meeting of centres to receive him. It
appeared that in Dublin there were 18,000 men en-
rolled in the Fenian ranks, but only 3000 stand of
arms, of all sorts, to equip them with. Then Massey
set out on a tour of inspection all over the country-
west, north, and south-and found the same state of
things pretty generally prevailing, that is, plenty
of men, but neither arms nearly sufficient, or money
to purchase them. He returned to London on the
23rd of February, and informed Colonel Kelly that
he had fixed on the night of the 5th of March as
the date of the rising. The plan decided on was to
assemble as many men as they could in every part of
the country, and unite separate bodies where it was
Arrest of Massey.
possible; take arms wherever they could seize them;
assemble at particular points, tear up the railways,
cut down telegraph wires, and wait the further de-
velopment of the plan which the course of events.
would occasion.
233
Massey, having arranged all these particulars with
Kelly, at once returned to Dublin, where he met the
Dublin Centres, and communicated the arrangements
and the date of the rising to them. He then left for
Cork on a similar errand, and found General Fariola
waiting his arrival. While Massey was in Cork, the
informer Corydon arrived in the city to learn Colon el
O'Connor's whereabouts; and gaining intelligence
there of Massey's intended movements, instead of
going to Midleton, as ordered, he returned to
Dublin, where he arrived early on the 4th of March,
and at once gave information to the authorities that
Massey would leave Cork that night by the mail
train.
Acting on this important intelligence, the Govern-
ment massed a large force of military and police at
the Limerick Junction Station of the Great Southern
and Western Railway; and when the mail train ar-
rived there from Cork, at twelve o'clock at night,
Massey was taken into custody, greatly to his surprise
and dismay, and removed to the waiting-room, where,
so great was his agitation, that he fainted away—this
man of war! But still greater was the surprise, the
horror, and the consternation of his associates when,
later on, they learned that he whom they so implicitly
trusted, and who was apparently so intensely devoted
to them, and who was so anxious to bring the enter-
234
The Fifth of March.
prise they had all embarked upon to a successful
termination, had turned Queen's evidence.
This arrest utterly disconcerted the plans of the
rebels: only in Cork and Dublin was the word to
rise given, and the want of concert proved disas-
trous. Nowhere was there anything at all approach-
ing a stand made by the isolated parties of partially
armed men, who turned out in different parts of the
country at the bidding of their leaders. The rising
was, in truth, quite as signal a failure as it was
expected to be. Still the mere rumour, before it
came off, that it was approaching, stirred the heart
of every patriotic Irishman, young or old, of ad-
vanced or moderate politics, with the most anxious.
anticipation regarding the fate of the rash but gene-
rous men who were about to risk their lives in their
country's service. And surely, in these degenerate
days, when self-interest is the predominant power
which guides the actions of 'patriots,' the spectacle
which was witnessed in Dublin, Cork, and other
places in Ireland, on the eve of the rising, of crowds
of young men hurrying to the churches to make their
peace with God before taking the field, to perhaps
lose their lives in a brave and earnest, if foolish,
endeavour to conquer the freedom of their country,
was one which could not fail to move the most
callous to pitying sympathy, if not to admiration.
It need hardly be said, therefore, that many a fervent
prayer for the success of the rebel cause was breathed
on that memorable Shrove Tuesday, and supplica-
tions that the sacrifice which the rebels were prepared
to make would not be made in vain. That ultimately
The Rising in Dublin.
235
victory would crown their efforts, however, none but
the most sanguine dared to hope; but since there was
to be a rising, even those who disapproved of so
desperate a movement could not restrain their desire
that, for the honour of the country, it would not be
altogether contemptible.
Contemptible, however, it was not, since it showed
that there were thousands of young Irishmen who
were prepared to offer up their lives for the general
good but that it was hopeless and foolish there
can hardly be a doubt. At the same time, it is cer-
tain that, had not very adverse circumstances com-
bined to defeat the designs and disarrange the plans
of its leaders, it would have given some serious
trouble to the rulers of the country to suppress, and
have occasioned much bloodshed. It was therefore
much to be grateful for that it was so easily put
down, and that the great calamity of actual war
was avoided.
:
In Dublin, the plan of the rising was this:-The
men were to assemble after nightfall on the 5th of
March, in two bodies, at different places on the south
side of the city. Within the city boundary there was
to be no general assembly; the men were to repair
to the places of meeting by twos and threes. One of
the places of rendezvous was in the Palmerston fields,
Rathmines; the other at Tallaght, some miles far-
ther in the same direction outside the city. These
two bodies of men were to be massed by the officers
commanding, and conducted to a general rendez-
vous on the Dublin mountains, where the rebel camp
was to have been fixed, and where the men were to
236
The Fifth of March.
await an adequate supply of arms to enable them to
commence hostilities.
<
General Halpin held the chief command of the
Dublin contingents. The party which was to ren-
dezvous at Tallaght was estimated to number eight
hundred men; and it was seen by many people on
the march by fours,' the men marching steadily
and well. Near Rathfarnham another contingent
was met, also marching in the direction of Tallaght.
Sub-inspector Burke, with a small party of police-
men, was proceeding from Rathfarnham to Tallaght
at twelve o'clock that night, when he came upon two
carts guarded by a few men, who ran away at his
approach. These carts, it afterwards appeared, con-
tained ammunition. When the Sub-inspector arrived.
at Tallaght, he made the necessary arrangements,
with his small force, for resistance to the attack on
the police-barrack which he felt sure would be made.
Between twelve and one o'clock a body of men were
seen approaching the barrack, and the police were
drawn up across the road to bar their progress.
The reply to the summons to the rebels of the Sub-
inspector to surrender in the Queen's name was a
volley, which, owing to the darkness no doubt, was
without effect; the police then fired, and the rebels
fled, leaving one of their number seriously wounded
in the head, who was taken into the barrack, where
he died. The name of this poor man was Stephen
O'Donoghue. Very many of these men were after-
wards arrested as they made their way back to the
city; and on one of them was found a green flag, with
a sunburst and a harp upon it.
Gaj
Lennon's Raid.
237
The body which assembled in the Palmerston fields
numbered five hundred men, and many of them had
guns and rifles. They were formed into military
order, and marched off in the direction of Miltown.
On their route they made prisoners of a sergeant and
three constables of the Metropolitan Police, took
their arms from them, and made them march with
the column, under an escort. After a brief halt at
Dundrum the party proceeded to Stepaside, where
there was a constabulary barrack; and Patrick Len-
non, who had command of the party, summoned the
police inside to surrender in the name of the 'Irish
Republic.' The police refused, and then Lennon
ordered up his riflemen to open fire on the barrack,
and straw was procured and placed under the door for
the purpose of being fired. The policemen, alarmed
at these portentous preparations, thought better of
their resolve to resist, and surrendered to Lennon,
and Doran, his second in command. The five con-
stables thus easily caught were placed along with the
other prisoners, and taken off with them. As a mat-
ter of course, all the arms in the barrack, together
with some ammunition and uniforms, were seized by
the rebels and carried off. The party then proceeded
in the direction of Bray; but after reconnoitring that
position, it was reported by the rebel scouts to their
leaders to be 'too strong' to venture to attack.
They then re-traversed portion of the way they
came, until they arrived at Golden Ball, where they
stopped a bread-cart, took all the bread out of it,
and served it out amongst themselves. They next
marched off to Glencullen, taking a by-road from
238
The Fifth of March.
Golden Ball, and on arriving before the constabu-
lary barracks there, summoned the constables to sur-
render. The sergeant in charge refused: the rebel
riflemen then opened fire, without, however, doing any
damage. The police returned the fire, and claimed to
have killed or wounded some of the attacking party;
Lennon, however, placed his nine prisoners in front
of his forces so that they were placed between the
fire of the besieged garrison and of the rebel riflemen
—which ingenious piece of strategy had the immediate
result of bringing Constable Brien-so the policeman
in charge of the barrack was named-to terms. He
stipulated that, in return for the surrender of all the
arms and ammunition in the barrack, the rebel chief
should surrender his prisoners. The latter readily
consented to this, as the prisoners were a serious in-
cumbrance to him. Accordingly, the prisoners were
allowed to enter the barrack; the rebels took posses-
sion of all the arms and ammunition they could find,
and went off, leaving a guard of riflemen over the
policemen in the barrack, to prevent them giving an
alarm until the main body had time to get away.
The policemen were kept in the barrack for over two
hours, and then their armed custodians took their
departure. It was now broad daylight, and Lennon
divided his contingent into two bodies, which appear
to have wandered about aimlessly for some time, and
then to have dispersed, very many of the men being
captured by the police as they endeavoured to re-
enter the city unobserved. Amongst the men thus
taken were Patrick Doran, Lennon's second in com-
mand, and Patrick Meares, a Dublin Centre.
C
The Rising in the South.
In all, the police captured over two hundred pri-
soners, who, when brought into the city, and taken to
the Castle Yard, presented a wretched appearance.
Many of them were so overcome by fatigue that they
threw themselves on the snow-covered ground, and
fell asleep. So ended the rising, so far as Dublin was
concerned.
239
The weather in Dublin and all over the country con-
tributed a good deal to the easy dispersion of the re-
bels. Within the memory of the oldest inhabitant more
dreadful weather was not known than that which was
experienced by the poor Fenians on the night of the
5th of March. There was a heavy snow-fall, accom-
panied by hard frost, and a high and biting wind,
which was more than sufficient to cool the ardour of
more resolute men than those who turned out in
answer to the summons of the visionary Irish Re-
public.
In Cork the commander of the rebel forces was
James Francis Xavier O'Brien, a commercial clerk,
who had not long returned from America, where he
served in a Louisiana regiment as surgeon, with the
rank of captain during the civil war. The rendezvous
of the Cork contingent was at a place called Prayer
Hill, behind the City Gaol. Here, on the night of the
5th of March, between one thousand five hundred and
two thousand men, variously armed with guns, rifles,
pikes, and revolvers, assembled under the command of
Colonel O'Brien, who had under him another Colonel
O'Brien, and Captain Mackey. The party marched
out of the city in the direction of Blarney, and made
their way to the Rathduff Station on the Great South-
240
The Fifth of March.
ern and Western Railway, where they tore up the rails,
cut the telegraph wires, and levelled several of the tele-
graph posts, so as to completely cut off communication
between Cork and the county lying northward of it.
They also destroyed a bridge near Rathduff. When
this work was completed it was broad daylight, and
the party marched off to the police barrack at Bally-
knockane, which was in charge of a party of police-
men, under the command of a head-constable, who
barricaded themselves within the barrack at the ap-
proach of the rebels.
As usual, the surrender of the barrack, in the name
of the Irish Republic, was asked by the rebel leader,
and refused by the police. The rebel riflemen then
opened fire, and the police responded with a volley.
Some of the attacking party, however, succeeded in
forcing their way into the lower part of the building,
which they proceeded to set on fire. Still the police
held out-the rebels, however, humanely rescuing a
daughter of the head-constable, who had sought refuge
in a lower room at the rear of the premises. The
fire spread rapidly, and at length the police surren-
dered. Ladders were procured, and they were allowed
to descend. The rebels marched off, and halted at a
place called Bottle Hill, where a number of their un-
armed comrades had already assembled.
Here they
remained for some time. Meanwhile information of
the whereabouts of the insurgents having reached the
authorities, a party of military was sent off to inter-
cept them, and arrived by rail at the place where the
rails had been torn up, which was within sight of the
insurgent encampment on Bottle Hill. The military
C
The Affair at Kilmallock.
advanced in skirmishing order, and the rebels, after
firing a few shots, fled in disorder. The leaders,
O'Brien and Mackey, escaped on that occasion, but
O'Brien was afterwards captured by a 'flying column'
of troops near the village of Hospital, county Lime-
rick. This was the only insurgent demonstration in
Cork county of any importance.
In the county of Limerick an American officer called
Captain Dunne held high command. On the day of
the rising he and a Fenian Centre named Walsh,
who acted as his lieutenant, made their arrangements
for assembling contingents from Bruff, Bruree, and
Charleville, at a place called 'Gabbett's Field,' on
the outskirts of Kilmallock. The party from Bruree,
on their way to the rendezvous, fell in with a police
orderly, from whom they took despatches. When all
were assembled, in the early morning, under com-
mand of Captain Dunne, who wore a green uniform,
with a soft hat, which had a green feather in it, in
Gabbett's Field, a move was made upon Kilmallock,
and the police barrack surrounded.
The police refusing to surrender, the insurgents
opened fire, taking shelter behind the barrack outer
wall, the door of which they made several ineffectual
attempts to burn down. The first volley fired by the
police wounded Welsh, the second in command, in
the leg, while the insurgents' fire riddled the windows
and doors of the barrack, without wounding any of the
inmates. Fire on both sides was kept up for near
three hours.
241
Meanwhile the town lay at the mercy of the insur-
gents: Captain Dunne and three others went to the
R
242
The Fifth of March.
house of a Mr. Bourne, Manager of the Munster Bank,
for the purpose of obtaining possession of a gun which
that gentleman was known to have had in his house.
They met him before his hall door, and demanded that
he should give them the gun. He refused; then Dunne,
drawing his revolver, shot him in the neck, leaving
him for dead, and returned to the barrack, where the
attack was still proceeding. Dunne had ordered a
man named Carroll, whom he met after the shooting
of Mr. Bourne, to be arrested, and this man was forced
to go through the fire from the police barrack, and
demand the surrender of the place. The police held
out, and the insurgents were making preparations
to blow up the barrack, when the beleaguered garri-
son were relieved unexpectedly.
It appeared that a Mr. Milling, a Sub-Inspector of
police, stationed at Kilfinane, who happened to be in
the neighbourhood of Kilmallock on the morning of
the attack on the police barrack, received information
of what was going on in the town from a man who
had been taken prisoner by the insurgents, and who
was making his escape. The Sub-Inspector at once
returned to Kilfinane, and having got together a
sufficient force, proceeded in haste to Kilmallock. He
arrived while the attack on the police barrack was
still proceeding, and at once opened fire on the in-
surgents, two of whom were killed by the first volley.
He soon dislodged the rebels, relieved the barrack,
joined the released policemen to his own force, and
the united body soon cleared the town of all the
insurgents. Dunne, the leader, exhibited consider-
able discretion; he certainly showed little valour.
T
Capture of Colonel Burke.
243
He kept carefully from under fire all the time, and on
the approach of Sub-Inspector Milling's party, got on
a car, and drove off rapidly, leaving his confederates
to their fate. His deputy, Patrick Walsh, was found
hiding in an outhouse in the town, badly wounded,
and was taken prisoner. The police made many
more prisoners. A young medical man named
Cleary, who was not in any way identified with the
insurgents, was accidentally shot dead by the po-
lice.
Colonel T. F. Burke was entrusted with the conduct
of the rising in Tipperary. His men assembled at
the village of Bansha on the night of the 5th, hav-
ing come in from other districts in large numbers.
Colonel Burke, armed with a revolver, was seen en-
deavouring to form them into military array. When
morning dawned, the party marched off to an old
Danish fort at Ballyhurst, Burke being mounted. They
had with them a cart filled with pikes, which were
distributed amongst the men when Ballyhurst was
reached. They remained there until noon, when the
authorities having received intelligence of the assem-
blage, a party of military, consisting of portion of the
31st Regiment, who were stationed in the neighbour-
hood, were sent off to disperse them. As might have
been expected, a panic seized the insurgents at sight
of the red coats, and despite the efforts of Colonel
Burke and his lieutenants, Captain Fitzharris and a
respectable farmer named O'Neill Fogarty, they fled
at the first discharge of the military, Burke, as he
rode off, shouting, 'To the mountains; assemble on
the mountains.' But he was himself taken prisoner
R 2
244
The Fifth of March.
soon after, having fallen from his horse, and the sol-
diers coming up before he could remount.
There were a few other minor affairs in the south.
Captain M'Clure and Peter O'Neill Crowley headed
a small party of insurgents, who captured a coast-
guard station at Knockadoon, took the men prison-
ers, and marched them off to Castlemartyr, where
they released them, retaining their arms, and also
those which they had taken from the coastguard
station. The force then dispersed.
M'Clure and Crowley remained at large until the
31st of March, when they were surprised by a flying
column of military, under the command of Mr. Red-
mond, R. M., at Kilclooney Wood, near Mitchels-
town. Crowley and M'Clure, posted behind trees,
kept up a hot fire on the military, retreating from
tree to tree as the soldiers advanced. At last, close
pressed, they came into the open, and ran in the
direction of a small river; but before it was reached,
Crowley had fallen mortally wounded. Mr. Redmond
seized M'Clure, who was in the act of firing his re-
volver at his captor, when a soldier struck up his arm,
and probably saved the life of the magistrate. The
death of Crowley created a profound impression, and
he has since been enrolled in the political martyro-
logy of Ireland.
At Midleton, on the same night, a large party
of Fenians under command of Timothy Daly,
Centre of the organization there, encountered a police
patrol, one of whom was shot dead, and another
wounded. This party then proceeded to Castlemar-
tyr, where they attacked the police barrack. The
G
End of the Rising.
245
police, however, succeeded in driving off their assail-
ants, and in shooting Daly, their leader, dead.
Another of the southern leaders named Kelly, who
had been a printer on the Cork Herald, was at
Youghal on the night of the attack on the coast-
guard station at Knockadoon, and with a small
force, which he collected, joined M'Clure on his
return from that successful affair. He also was
captured on the 31st of March at Kilclooney Wood
by the party of military who had shot Crowley
and made prisoner of M'Clure. His arrest was
not at all so romantic as that of his command-
ing officer. He was found hiding in a ditch, armed
with a rifle and bayonet, and a number of com-
promising documents were found in his keeping.
One of these was a diary headed 'Notes of my Cam-
paign,' and contained a record of the movements of
himself and friends, which was found very valuable
by the Crown counsel at the subsequent trial, as it
supplied corroboration of the informers' testimony,
which could not otherwise be had.
North of Dublin the only rising of any account was
that at Drogheda on Shrove Tuesday night. There
Colonel Leonard held command, and succeeded in
assembling as many as one thousand men; but, as
in other places, they were dispersed without difficulty
by the police.
Such is a brief account of this most preposterous
rising. It is difficult to conceive how the men who took
part in it could have been so foolish as to have per-
mitted themselves to have been led into an undertak-
ing from which could proceed nothing save disaster
246
The Fifth of March.
and ruin. But it must be recollected that the organi-
zation which designed it was in actual existence for
nearly ten years before it occurred, and that for the
last four years of that period a steady and active
propagandism was carried out by its leaders, sus-
tained by the most extravagant promises. A too
readily impressionable people thus had their hopes
excited so keenly that when, owing to the disruption
of the American branch of the conspiracy,—to treach-
ery and deception, and many other unforeseen causes,
they saw disappointment staring them in the face-
that certain failure awaited the plans of their leaders
-the keen sense of being thwarted which fell upon
them was succeeded by a feeling that any disaster
would be preferable to the disgrace of defeat involved
in submission without striking a blow. They ‘rose' then
at the command of their leaders to save their honour,
knowing that their enterprise was foredoomed to in-
evitable disaster. It is, therefore, no wonder that the
rebellion was so easily suppressed, and that in no
single district did the insurgents make even a show of
determination, or anything approaching to a resolute
stand. The treachery of the informers, no doubt,
seriously disconcerted the plan of the rising, and pre-
vented the concentration in any place of any force
of insurgents which was in the least formidable.
Besides, they were all but unarmed.
The arms
which they had consisted chiefly of the primitive
pike and the antiquated muzzle-loader, and of even
these unserviceable weapons there were not nearly
enough to arm more than a small proportion of the
men who took the field. According to the informer
Godin
Humanity of the Rebels.
Massey, in Cork alone there were twenty thousand
enrolled Fenians, and but fifteen hundred stand of
arms of all descriptions available to arm them. A
similar lack of such indispensable requirements for
making a revolution prevailed in other places where
a rising was attempted.
It is, of course, greatly to the credit of these
misguided people that the rising was marked by
an entire absence of outrage, plunder, and crime,
which might have been expected would stain its re-
cord. So tender-hearted, indeed, were these poor
Fenians, that in some cases where they had some of
their enemy's forces in their power-where they had
made prisoners of policemen-they let them go not
only uninjured, but unpledged to not appear to give
evidence against them [as many of them did] should
they fall in their turn into the hands of their enemies.
'I did not take up arms,' said Patrick Riordan, at
the Limerick Special Commission in '67, when he
was about to receive sentence for taking part in an
attack on a coastguard station, with the intention of
hurting anyone,' and really this naïve admission
well described the spirit which animated the great
majority of these quite too humane rebels.
The immediate result of this miserable emeute was
yet another Special Commission for the trial of the
prisoners. All the prisons in the country were full
to overflowing, of Fenians convicted, Fenians sus-
pected, and Fenians awaiting trial. The number of
men confined under the Habeas Corpus Suspension
Act after the rising, in the prisons throughout the
country, was not far short of one thousand: the num-
247
248
The Fifth of March.
ber returned for trial at the Special Commission in
Dublin alone was two hundred and sixty-five, and in
Cork and Limerick at least fifty, and at the summer
assizes in Kerry and Clare a few more. Of this large
number, eight were convicted of high treason, and
sentenced to death-they were Colonel Burke, Patrick
Doran, Captain M'Cafferty, Captain M'Clure, John
Edward Kelly, Thomas Cullinane, David Joyce, and
Colonel J. F. X. O'Brien; forty-four were found guilty
of treason-felony and sentenced to penal servitude,
and long terms of imprisonment; one hundred and
ten pleaded guilty to charges of treason-felony and
Whiteboy offences, some of whom were sentenced to
imprisonment, and others discharged on bail, to ap-
pear when called on; and the rest were liberated on
their own recognizances.
CHAPTER XXII.
ANOTHER SPECIAL COMMISSION.
TRIAL OF BURKE, DORAN, AND OTHERS. EVIDENCE OF THE
INFORMERS MASSEY AND CORYDON. THE SECRET INFORMA-
TION. CONVICTION OF BURKE AND DORAN, AND SENTENCE
TO DEATH. BURKE'S SPEECH FROM THE DOCK.
THE
HE Commission at Dublin opened on the 8th of
April. The Judges were the late Chief Justice
Whiteside, Judge Fitzgerald, and Baron Deasy. The
first of the prisoners tried were Colonel Burke and
Patrick Doran. Unlike the trials at the first Special
Commission-those of O'Leary, Luby, &c.-the case
of the Crown rested, not on documentary evidence,
but that of two informers, who corroborated each
other. The Fenians had learned a lesson from the
enormous advantage the Crown prosecutors had in the
possession of the documents which the police seized
at the residences or on the persons of the first batch
of Fenian prisoners. The Fenians for trial at this
Commission had no documents, and the cases against
them rested mainly on the testimony of the approvers.
The evidence of Massey was very important for the
prosecution, and though his treachery to his brothers-
in-arms, to whom he was sworn to be faithful, was
despicable; yet there are circumstances which some-
250
Another Special Commission.
what qualified its baseness. For instance, he did not
turn traitor until he found that he had been himself
betrayed; and it has been said of him that he could
have been more outspoken-that he could have in-
criminated others-had he been so disposed.
But Corydon deliberately premeditated the betrayal
of those who trusted him, and laboured to obtain
information of all the details of their plans for the
purpose of revealing them to the Government for
money; moreover, he was more than suspected of
'; having sworn falsely, particularly with regard to the
existence of an 'assassination committee,' to which he
deposed on the trial of Cody, but which undoubtedly
existed only in his own imagination. He was, be-
sides, a man of confessedly bad character and profli-
gate habits, and his demeanour and bearing were
those of a professional swearer-of one, that is, who
rather relishes than otherwise the crime of bearing
false witness against his neighbour.
Colonel Burke, in the dock, looked a soldier all over,
and a gentleman. His features were regular, and
were well set off by a fine flowing beard. He had an
open and frank expression, and there was much sym-
pathy for him, even on the Bench. Doran, too, was a
well set up and, on the whole, good-looking young
man.
The feature of interest in these trials was a mys-
terious information which Massey said he had sworn,
and which Mr. Butt, counsel for the prisoners,
vehemently insisted he should see, but which the
Attorney-General, acting for the Crown, just as em-
phatically maintained he should not.
G
The Mysterious Information.
Mr. Butt seldom appeared to better advantage than
in his tussle with the Crown counsel over this infor-
mation. The 'old man eloquent' was profoundly
moved by what he considered the gross injustice to
the prisoner of withholding the document; and he
spoke out bravely, letting the Bench, the Crown coun-
sel, and the Irish executive have it 'hot' all round.
In his view, the law should be as inviolate and as
far removed above suspicion as Cæsar's wife, and no-
thing more profoundly excited him than any attempt
to prevent its impartial administration. Of such a
character, he asserted, was the attempt to burke this
information, to the prejudice of the prisoner he was
defending, and hence his mighty wrath. The Judges
held that he was entitled to cross-examine the infor-
mer upon the information. Mr. Butt maintained that
he could not do that unless the information was pro-
duced; the Crown, however, would not produce it, nor
would the Judges order them to do so. So that, de-
spite Mr. Butt's resolute efforts, the contents of that
secret and mysterious document remain unrevealed
from that day to this. The other incident of the
trial was the speech of Colonel Burke prior to re-
ceiving sentence.
These trials added a new feature to the national
literature—that is, the speeches of 'patriots in the
dock,' and the speech delivered by Colonel Burke
on this occasion takes high rank amongst such ora-
tions. In its delivery, however, lay its chief charm.
It was spoken with great deliberation, pleasing in-
tonation, and an entire absence of affectation and
straining after effect. The following is the substance
251
Chag
252
Another Special Commission.
G
of this remarkable speech, which produced an im-
mense effect in Ireland, favourable, it need hardly
be said, to the prisoner, and adverse to his prose-
cutors :-
'It is not my desire now to give utterance to one
unseemly word, and, fully conscious of my honour as
a man, which has never been so unjustly impugned,
I can go into my grave with a name and character
unsullied. Fully convinced and satisfied with the
righteousness of every act of mine in connexion with
the late revolutionary movement in Ireland, I have
nothing to recall-nothing that I would undo-no-
thing for which the blush of shame should mantle
on my brow. I need not blush for my conduct and
career here, as a patriot-as a citizen; and in Ame-
rica, if you like, as a soldier. It is in this my hour of
trial I feel the consciousness of having lived an honest
man; and I will add, as I proudly believe, that if I
have given any little aid to procure freedom and
liberty for the land of my birth, I have done only that
which every Irishman and every man whose soul
throbs with a feeling of liberty should do. My lords,
I feel that I should not pollute my lips with the name
of that traitor whose illegitimacy has been proven
here a man whose name is not known, and who, I
deny point blank, ever wore the star of a colonel in
the Confederate army. I will let him rest. I will
pass him by and say, in the words of the poet,
"May the grass wither from thy feet! the woods
Deny thee shelter! earth a home! the dust
A grave! the sun its light! and heaven her God."
Let Massey or Corydon remember from this day forth
Burke's Speech.
he carries with him, as my able and eloquent counsel,
Mr. Dowse, has stated, a serpent that will gnaw his
conscience-that he carries about with him in his
breast a living hell, from which he can never be
separated. I, my lords, have no desire for the name.
of "martyr." I ask not for the death of a martyr;
but if it is the will of that Almighty and Omnipotent
God that my devotion for the land of my birth shall
be tested on the scaffold, I am willing there to die in
defence of the rights of man to free government, and
the rights of an oppressed people to throw off the
yoke of thraldom. I am an Irishman by birth-an
American by adoption-by nature a lover of freedom,
and an enemy to that power that holds my native land
in the bonds of tyranny. It has been so often ad-
mitted that the oppressed have a right to throw off
the yoke of oppression, even by English statesmen,
that I deem it unnecessary to advert to that fact in a
British Court of Justice. Ireland's children are not
under awe, and never will be willing or submissive
slaves, and as long as the English flag waves over an
inch of Irish soil, just so long will they believe it to
be a divine right-so long will they conspire, imagine,
and devise means to hurl it from power, and erect in
its stead the godly structure of self-government.
I will now, my lords-as, no doubt, you will suggest
to me the propriety of directing my attention to the
world beyond the grave-look only to that home
where sorrows are at an end, and where joy is eter-
nal. I will hope and pray that freedom may yet
dawn upon this poor, down-trodden country. It is
my hope and my prayer; and the last words that I
•
253
254
Another Special Commission.
"
shall utter will be a prayer to God for forgiveness,
and a prayer for poor old Ireland. . . . I am willing,
if I transgressed the law, to suffer punishment; but I
am opposed to this system of trumping up a case to
take away the life of a human being. True, I ask for
no mercy. With a constitution somewhat shattered,
it is better, perhaps, that my life should come to an
end, than to drag out a miserable existence in the
prison pens of Portland. Thus it is, my lords, I
accept the verdict. Of course my acceptance is un-
necessary. I am, however, satisfied with it; and now
I shall close what I have to say. No doubt there are
many feelings which actuate me at present. These
few disconnected remarks will give, can give, no idea
of what I desire to say to the Court. I have ties to
bind me to life and society as strong as any man in
this assembly. I have a family I love as much as
any person now present; but I can still remember the
blessing I received from my aged mother's lips as
I left her for the last time, when, speaking as the
Spartan mother did of old, she said—
(
Go, my boy; return either with your shield or upon it.'"
This consoles me; this gives me heart. I submit to
my doom, and I hope that God will forgive my past
sins. I hope that, inasmuch as He has for seven
hundred years preserved Ireland, notwithstanding all
the tyranny to which she has been subjected, as a
separate and distinct nationality, He will also assist
her to retrieve her fallen fortunes, and raise her in her
beauty and majesty, the sister of Columbia, the peer
of every nation in the world.'
Death Sentences Commuted.
255
This speech has been favourably compared with
the oration of Robert Emmet 'in the dock,' which
still lives in 'song and story' as well as in history.
There is no doubt, however, that it was effective, and
made a small sensation in the city when it was pub-
lished in the newspapers.
As I have said, Burke, Doran, and six others were
sentenced to death, but it was felt that the sentences
would not be carried out. At the same time it was
known that the Duke of Abercorn, who was then
Viceroy, was in favour of allowing the law to take
its course, and there was great anxiety lest his views
should prevail with the Cabinet. Burke's manly bear-
ing in the dock touched the hearts of the most gene-
rous of the English people, and a great public meeting
was held in St. James's Hall, in London, soon after
the trials, to adopt a petition praying that the death-
sentence might not be carried out. Mr. Mill was the
principal speaker, and he made a fervent appeal in
favour of clemency to the condemned men, which was
applauded to the echo by a large audience, composed
mostly of Englishmen. This meeting, without doubt,
had its influence with the Government, and in the
result the sentence of death, in every case it was
passed, was commuted to long terms of penal servi-
tude. None of the other trials call for particular
notice.
MA
CHAPTER XXIII.
A FORLORN HOPE.
THE JACKNELL' EXPEDITION. HER VOYAGE ACROSS THE
ATLANTIC. LANDS HER FREIGHT OF IRISH-AMERICANS AT
SLIGO. THEIR PROMPT ARREST. TRIALS OF WARREN, NAGLE,
AND COSTELLOE. FURTHER CONFUSION IN THE AMERICAN
ORGANIZATION.
THE
HE news of the rising, when it reached America
-highly coloured and exaggerated in the most
'taking' manner by the 'cableman '-caused much en-
thusiasm amongst the Fenians and the Irish people
generally. But, as usual, when the truth became
known, the enthusiasm not only evaporated, but
reacted with despairing effect-the most acute dis-
couragement succeeding the liveliest expectations.
But the rivalry between the Fenian 'wings' con-
tinuing, it was thought by the managers of one of
them, which had as yet done nothing in Ireland,
that a good stroke of business might still be done
there, although all was apparently over and 'peace
reigned at Warsaw.' General Gleeson succeeded
to the Head Centreship of the Fenian Brotherhood
proper after the deposition of Stephens; but that
'wing' was utterly discredited-placed, in fact, hors
de combat by the defection of Stephens, and the sub-
sequent fiasco in Ireland.
The 'Facknell Expedition.
The Senate, or Roberts party, having 'demonstrated'
in Canada and failed, were in a little better standing,
and therefore resolved to try their luck in Ireland,
where their rivals had failed. It was determined to
send a small shipload of arms to Ireland, and a fur-
ther reinforcement of American officers.
257
One would suppose that the climax of Fenian
fatuity had been reached in the ridiculous rising,
which, after years of preparation, vanished at a breath.
But surely, to send a handful of men and a few hun-
dred stand of arms across the Atlantic when all was
over in Ireland-when even superhuman ingenuity
could hardly stimulate another rising-fairly out-
Heroded Herod.' Nevertheless that was what was
done.
<
·
<d
A small sailing ship, of some two hundred tons bur-
then, called the Jacknell, was purchased. She was
laden, it was said, with five thousand rifles, and two
hundred thousand cartridges. These were packed in
piano cases and wine barrels, for the Jacknell was
given out to be a fair trader. Her destination was
said to have been the West Indies, and her cargo
pianos and wine. But it was not generally known
that she also carried a number of passengers. These,
curiously enough, were all military men-mostly offi-
cers of the United States service, who had fought in
the Civil War. On the 12th of April, '67, the Jack-
nell put to sea, but she did not long keep the course
which her ostensible owners pretended to prescribe
for her. She was hardly twenty-four hours under
weigh when her course was changed, and she was
steered for Ireland. Then the Irish Sunburst' was
S
258
A Forlorn Hope.
run up at the main, and she appeared in her true
colours-a privateer of the Irish Republic bound for
Ireland, there to run the blockade, and land arms and
officers for the Irish Republicans. The Facknell ap-
peared off Sligo bay on the 20th of May, and was
boarded by Colonel Rickard Burke, a representative
of the Fenian Brotherhood, who was on the watch
for her coming. He told the captain that a land-
ing was not possible in Sligo bay, but might be
practicable at some other point of the coast. Mean-
while the Sligo coast-guards had observed the Jack-
nell lying off and on with no apparent purpose,
and reported her as 'suspicious.' Gunboats were
thereupon sent out from Queenstown to intercept her,
but she succeeded in eluding them. At last, after
having been sixty days at sea, and provisions run-
ning short, thirty of the party were landed at Dun-
garvan, and the Facknell started on her return voyage
to New York, with the munitions of war she carried,
and could not deliver at their destination. The coast-
guards, who had noted the landing of the strangers,
put the police on the alert, and before night they were
all in custody. Amongst them were Colonel John
Warren, Colonel Nagle, and Lieutenant Costello-
all American officers of distinction, but of Irish birth.
G
C
Colonel Warren was brought to trial in November,
'67, and, relying on his American citizenship, claimed
to be tried by a jury mediatate lingua. This, the Judges
held, he was not entitled to by law, and he conse-
quently refused to make any defence. The evidence
against him was mainly that of one Buckley, one of
the Jacknell party, who had turned Queen's evidence.
The Cleveland Congress.
259
He was found guilty, and sentenced to fifteen years'
penal servitude.
Nagle's case proved quite a poser for the Crown
lawyers. He was an American by birth as well as by
citizenship, and his right to be tried by a mixed jury
of aliens and citizens was admitted. And it was also
conceded that he should be tried in the district where
he was arrested. He was indicted accordingly at the
Assizes at Sligo in March, '68, but a jury could not be
got-the required number of aliens not being to be
had-and he was liberated on the 18th of April fol-
lowing, on condition of his returning to America.
A series of letters which were published in the Times
on this case, illustrative of the legal difficulties with
which it was encumbered, over the signature of 'His-
toricus' (now known to be Sir W. V. Harcourt, the
Home Secretary), were believed to have had much in-
fluence with the Government in coming to the decision
to abandon the prosecution.
Lieutenant Costelloe was also convicted, after one
abortive trial, ending in a disagreement of the jury,
on the testimony of the same informer, and sentenced
to penal servitude for twelve years.
In the month of May, '67, John Savage became
Head Centre of the O'Mahony branch of the Fenian
Brotherhood, and soon after efforts were made, but
without success, to unite that 'wing' with the other,
under Roberts. In September, however, a congress.
of both branches was held in Cleveland, at which some
progress was made in the direction of union. It was
decided that the constitution of Philadelphia should
be re-adopted, and that John Mitchel should be in-
S 2
260
A Forlorn Hope.
vited to take the presidency under its provisions. He
declined. In a letter written sometime afterwards to
his friend John Martin, he stated his reason for re-
fusing, as follows:-
'If these two wings were united to-morrow (as they
would not.be), they would be able to do nothing-able
to take no single step in advance in the direction of
their object. That union would be only an agreement
of two 'wings' to help one another in doing nothing,
instead of hindering one another to do nothing, as at
present. They would then be more conspicuously
doing nothing than even now. In short, the whole
concern has run right up against a wall, and cannot
take one step further. . . In this position of affairs
you are aware that negotiations for union were held,
with a very sincere desire, I believe, on the part of the
'presidents,' to effect their combination, and withdraw
themselves from under the heavy responsibility that
weighed upon them. A basis of union was drawn up,
and the two presidents, pursuant to that preliminary
arrangement, came and offered to me the presidency
of the joint and united brotherhood. Why to me?
I have here had nothing to do with them or their
organization for two years, and very little before that
time. I was not responsible for any of their doings or
misdoings. I had not approved of any of their enter-
prizes, either on the side of Canada, or on the side
of Ireland. Whenever I had ventured to give them
any advice, or give them any warning, it had been
uniformly disregarded. . . If I had accepted the office
I would have begun by dismissing all 'Secretaries of
State,' disbanding all 'paid organizers,' cancelling
John Mitchel on the Wings:
6
261
all pretended commissions to officers, exhorting the
circles everywhere to keep their money within their
power until there should arise an opportunity for using
it with effect; and exhorting the people to attach
their military companies to the militia services of their
respective states-and to wait. Then what a wild out-
cry! Treason!—abandoning our brothers-British
gold in his pocket. . . The trouble at either side is
merely impotence. Having been directed on a wrong
course, they find at last that they have come to an
impassable barrier. Why not come back? What is the
use of prancing and tearing there against that wall?
Let them all come back to where they started from,
and then there will be some chance of combining the
powerful Irish element of this Republic with rational
aim and in a legitimate form.'
It is needless to say that Mitchel's forcible reason-
ing did not persuade the men of the 'wings' that they
should come back and begin 'doing nothing' all over
again. He blamed them for not having been able to
do anything, and advised them to recommence by
doing nothing. But at the same time Mitchel was
consistent with himself. He held that the '48 emeute
proved to conviction that there was no hope at all of
winning the independence of Ireland from England,
by force, until England was too weak to effectively
resist. As a latter-day Fenian has said, until Eng-
land is 'beaten to her knees' by some other Power,
Ireland cannot expect to achieve her independence.
That is to say, when the time arrives when England
is helplessly beaten in war with some other country,
Ireland is to step in, give her the coup de grace, and
262
A Forlorn Hope.
cut herself free from the bonds which hitherto held
her united to her conqueror. This being Mitchel's
view, it was natural that he should be opposed to any
attempt being made to free Ireland, while England
continued all-powerful, and at peace with all the
world. On the other hand, the Fenians argued that
unless they organized and prepared, when the time
came when England was involved in war, which
might bring her disaster, the Irish would not be pre-
pared to take advantage of her difficulties and her
helplessness. So that there was a good deal to be
said on both sides of the question.
sense.
One piece of advice which Mitchel gave the Fe-
nians, however, was dictated by wisdom and common
That was, that the 'circles' should every-
where keep their money within their own power until
an opportunity should arise for using it with effect;
and the Irish-American Land League 'circles,' or
'branches,' or 'clubs,' or whatever else they are
called, of the present day would be wise to take it
to heart, or, at all events, to keep their money until
they are permitted to know what has been done with
what they have already sent to Ireland, via the Hotel
Brighton, Paris.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE MANCHESTER RESCUE.
COLO
ARREST OF KELLY AND DEASY IN MANCHESTER.
EXAMINATION IN THE POLICE COURT. THEIR RESCUE.
OF POLICEMAN BRETT. ESCAPE OF KELLY AND DEASY.
ROUS ARRESTS. THE TRIALS, CONVICTION, AND SENTENCE OF
THE PRISONERS TO DEATH. THEIR SPEECHES FROM THE DOCK.
EFFORTS TO SAVE THEIR LIVES. THE EXECUTIONS.
THEIR
DEATH
NUME-
OLONEL KELLY, and
KELLY, and many others of the
American officers who had been engaged in
the abortive insurrection, and had escaped capture,
remained in London and other English cities undis-
covered for a considerable time afterwards, in the
vain hope that the Irish-American factions would
adjust their differences, and that another attempt to
organize rebellion in Ireland would be made. In the
month of September, Kelly was in Manchester, and
so also were Captain Deasy and some other members
of the Military Directory.' Kelly and Deasy were
returning from a meeting of Centres in the early
morning of the 11th of that month, when, in Oak-
street, they met two Centres from Ireland, and
stopped to hold converse with them. Suddenly
they were pounced upon by policemen, who, it
afterwards appeared, suspected that they were con-
cocting the commission of a felony in the neigh-
bourhood. Two of the party escaped, but Kelly
264
The Manchester Rescue.
***
and Deasy were arrested, and brought before the
magistrates on the following day. They gave their
names as Willis and White respectively; and as
there was no charge against them, they were about
to be discharged, when the policeman asked for a
remand of one week, as he was under the impres-
sion that they had some connexion with Fenianism.
They were accordingly remanded, and, sure enough,
before long it was known that the soi disant Williams
was the Fenian Kelly; White the Fenian Deasy.
Great was the joy of the Manchester police at this
unlooked-for capture; bitter the grief that prevailed
in Fenian circles.
But neither feeling was destined to long endure.
Soon the jubilant policemen went wild with rage,
and the despairing Fenians mad with joy, when it
became known that their 'chiefs were rescued from
their captors.
On the following Wednesday, the 18th September,
the accused were brought before the police magis-
trates on remand. Evidence was given identifying
them as Kelly and Deasy, and they were again re-
manded for the production of further evidence. For
their better security on the way back to prison they
were handcuffed, and locked up in different compart-
ments in the prison van; and in addition to five po-
licemen on the box seat, two on the step behind, and
one who sat inside the door, four more in a cab
strengthened the escort. Within the vehicle were
four other prisoners-three women and a boy.
At half-past three o'clock the cortege started for
the county prison at Salford, about two miles off.
The Prisoners Rescued.
When the archway on the Hyde-road at Bellevue
was reached, a crowd of men, all armed with revol-
vers, swarmed over the low wall on the roadside,
and ran after the van. A shot fired by one of them
brought one of the horses to the ground, and as
a matter of course, the progress of the van was
suddenly stayed, and it was quickly surrounded by
the attacking party, who, with revolvers levelled,
drove off the police escort, who were unarmed.
Then an attempt was made by some of the party to
break in the van door with crowbars and hatchets,
but without success. By this time the police, who
had fled, were seen returning, accompanied by a
great crowd of people. There was then no time to
lose. The attempt to break open the van door was
abandoned, and the policeman Brett was called on
to deliver up the keys. He refused. The police
and the crowd were now at hand. Some of the
Fenians faced them, and fired a few shots over their
heads, thus keeping them at bay. Then the word
was given to burst open the lock of the door with
a pistol-shot. This was done; but, unfortunately,
the shot which shattered the lock passed through the
body of poor Brett, killing him on the spot. One of
the female prisoners thereupon took the keys from
the mortally wounded policeman, and passed them
through the ventilator to the men outside.
W
265
ܢ
(
Then a young man, who was described by one of
the female prisoners as having a pale face,' entered
the van, unlocked the compartments in which Kelly
and Deasy were confined, and brought them out. As
they alighted from the vehicle the pale-faced young
266
The Manchester Rescue.
man seized Kelly's manacled hands, and kissing
them rapturously, exclaimed, Ah, Kelly, I'd die for
you.' The rescued men were then hurried off across
the fields, under the escort of a few of the rescuers,
while the rest of the party prevented pursuit, firing
occasional shots over the heads of the advancing
crowds, and keeping them at a safe distance.
Not until they felt sure that the rescued leaders
were safe did these devoted men attempt to save
themselves. At last they separated, and sought
safety in flight. Police and people followed fast, and
succeeded in arresting a few of them, who were
savagely beaten by some of their captors. Amongst
the prisoners, it was said, was the young man with
the 'pale face,' who was afterwards identified as
William Philip Allen.
When all the prisoners were safely lodged in prison
the police, maddened at the disgrace which had fallen
upon them, made a descent on the Irish quarters of
the town, making wholesale arrests, for which there
was not the least justification.
The fact that in the broad daylight and in the
centre of one of the chief English cities, a handful
of Irishmen could rescue prisoners from the appa-
rently safe custody of a considerable body of police,
was indeed quite sufficient to wound the pride of
Englishmen, excite their anger, and awaken in their
breasts a strong desire for vengeance. It is a well-
known characteristic of English human nature that,
when once raised to fury, it is rarely restrained by
the promptings of either justice or humanity. It can
be readily understood, therefore, why the daring act
Glenda
Fenian Scare in England.
267
of men who not only had the courage to 'beard the
British lion in his den,' but to rescue prisoners from
his clutches, should have so profoundly moved them.
Victims to satiate their thirst for vengeance were
demanded, and the police exerted themselves to pro-
vide them. Hence the number of arrests.
The Government, as a matter of course, had to bear
the chief blame: they were censured for not having
taken precautions to secure the prisoners. It was
even said that they had had private information of
the intended rescue some time before it was carried
out, but that they disregarded the warning. The truth,
however, was only, that Lord Naas, who was then
Chief Secretary for Ireland, telegraphed to the of
ficials at Manchester to make sure of the safe custody
of the prisoners. Therefore it was that the usual police
escort of the prison van was increased to twelve men.
I am myself aware that in Fenian circles in Dublin
it was known that the attempt would be made, long
before it came off. But at the same time it was felt
that it would fail; it was considered the odds against
its success were quite too overwhelmingly great. But
when it became certain that it had been completely
successful, the elation of spirits which took possession
of the hitherto rather despondent disaffected classes
in Ireland quite equalled in intensity the rage and
mortification experienced by the governing bodies in
both countries.
In England the authorities endeavoured to make
amends for their remissness in permitting a few
Fenians to recover their captured leaders, by increased
vigilance. The daring deed in fact created quite a
268
The Manchester Rescue.
<
scare all over the country; plots and rumours of plots
disturbed the great Briton's equanimity. Attacks
on prisons which held Fenian convicts, and raids
on barracks and armouries, were anticipated, and
guards were doubled, and soldiers kept under arms
night and day. The police were active to the
verge of absurdity. They ransacked the houses of
quite innocent Irish people in search of documents,'
and made many arrests, which afterwards were
proved to have been in every way unwarranted.
Quest of the rescued captives also was eager and
far-reaching, but utterly futile — never again did
British officials set eyes upon, never British prison
hold them. They were free, and soon beyond the
reach of capture.
A Special Commission was issued for the trial of
the prisoners, while the public excitement was still
feverish, and the thirst for vengeance unabated. The
preliminary proceedings only too accurately mirrored.
the altogether unjust temper of the great British
mind—official and non-official. When the prisoners
--twenty-three in number-were brought before the
magistrates, they were seen to be handcuffed. Such
a spectacle had rarely or ever been witnessed in a
British Court of Justice; and so indignant was their
leading counsel, the late Mr. Ernest Jones, an English-
man, at a proceeding so cruel, unnecessary, and un-
usual, that, failing to induce the Bench to direct the
removal of the manacles, he withdrew from the case,
amidst the jeers of the audience. This plainly in-
dicated that the chances of the prisoners receiving a
really fair and impartial trial were well nigh hopeless.
Trial of the Alleged Rescuers.
Mr. Roberts, solicitor, of Manchester, who undertook
their defence, memorialed the Government, praying
that their trial should be postponed. He explained.
that they were all poor men, who had no money to
fee counsel to defend them, except what their friends.
provided. There had not been sufficient time to make
any organized effort to obtain funds. Mr. Roberts
therefore urged that either the trial should be post-
poned to admit of this being done, or that the Go-
vernment should defray the expenses of the defence.
Needless to say, the Government would do nothing
of the sort. The prisoners would therefore have been
undefended if their friends-with the aid of the Irish-
man--had not made herculean exertions to provide
funds, which were partly successful.
The Commission opened at Manchester on Monday,
the 28th of October. Five prisoners-William Philip
Allen, Michael Larkin, Thomas Maguire, Michael
O'Brien (alias Gould), and Edward Condon (alias
Shore), were put on trial for the murder of Sergeant
Brett.
269
It was charged that Brett had been deliberately
murdered—that is, that he had been killed by a shot
aimed directly at him through the ventilator. The
only evidence to support this view was that of the
female thief who was inside the van, and therefore
could have seen little of the occurrence. Besides,
her testimony was quite uncorroborated, and, by
reason of her antecedents, unreliable. The defence
was the obviously tenable one, that the prisoners.
meditated a rescue only, and that the death of the
policeman was a mere mischance.
270
The Manchester Rescue.
The identification of the accused was also, to say
the least of it, not convincing, or entirely conclusive.
Indeed, as it afterwards appeared, it was quite un-
reliable. Nevertheless, the prisoners were convicted,
and all five sentenced to be hanged on the 23rd of
November.
Wh
This was foreseen, but, all the same, the verdict,
in Ireland at least, was considered to be at variance
with the facts given in evidence. Even the Govern-
ment papers admitted that the men were only con-
structively guilty-that is, if they really all took part
in the rescue, of which the death of the policeman
was an accident, they were responsible for it, accord-
ing to law. But even from that point of view, the
evidence did not seem to establish their guilt: indeed,
the verdict was vitiated, as we shall see, by the sub-
sequent discovery that one of them was innocent.
They all, humble men though they were, com-
ported themselves with much dignity and unas-
suming bravery, when called upon to say whether
they wished to make any statement prior to receiving
sentence. Allen, the youngest of them, a boy under
twenty, first stood forward, and said a few words,
with perfect self-possession, and an entire absence of
bravado.
He said 'My Lords and Gentlemen-It is not
my intention to occupy much of your time. The
question is one that can be easily asked, but not so
easily answered. It is a question which an abler
man than I am could not answer with any effect.
When Burke and Emmet stood in the dock in defence
of their country-when the question was put to them,
Speeches of the Prisoners.
what did they answer? That they were ready to die.
I say the same-I am ready to die. I say there is not
a man in this Court regrets the death of Sergeant
Brett more than I do, and I positively say, in the
presence of the Almighty and living God, that I am
innocent of his death-ay, as innocent as any man in
this Court. I don't say this for the sake of mercy. I
don't want mercy. I am not afraid to die. I'll die,
as many thousands have died, for the sake of their
beloved land, and in defence of it, proudly and de-
fiantly. I say positively that justice has not been.
done me.
As regards what I have done in defence.
of the cause of my country, I am fearless of the con-
sequences.'
271
Maguire denounced the swearing of the witnesses
as false, and declared that his arrest was a mistake;
that he took no part in the rescue at all.
Larkin then spoke. He said: 'I do not deny
that I went to the assistance of the two noble men
who were in the van, Colonel Kelly and Captain
Deasy. I did all I could to extricate them from
bondage. I did not mean to take life.
The man
who took life is not here; you have not got him yet.
May God forgive those who swore away my life.'
I
O'Brien said:-'I am proud to say that I am a
fellow-parishioner of O'Neill Crowley, who fell vali-
antly fighting against British tyranny in Ireland.
love my country, and am proud to suffer for her. I
hope her imbecile and tyrannical rulers will before
long be driven from her soil amidst the execrations.
of the world.'
Condon spoke last. He said: In rescuing the
272
The Manchester Rescue.
prisoners from the van I am of opinion that excess, to
a certain extent, had been committed; but such was
not intended. A life was lost, which perhaps was
- uncalled for. But if a similar event had happened in
a foreign country; if Jefferson Davis had been res-
cued in an American city, English cities would have
rung with approval of the daring deed. If Garibaldi
had been rescued, would not all England have ap-
plauded the action? In Ireland murders were per-
petrated on unoffending men in Dungarvan an
unoffending man was murdered by soldiers, and no
one was punished. I thank God I leave the world
without a stain on my conscience, and that, as
regards the death of Sergeant Brett, I am entirely
guiltless. I do not accuse the jury, but I believe
they were prejudiced. I don't accuse them of wil-
fully wishing to convict, but prejudice has induced
them to convict, which they otherwise would not have
done. We have been found guilty, and as a matter
of course we accept our death. We are not afraid to
die—at least, I am not.'
'Nor I'; 'Nor I'; cried the others.
'I only trust,' he continued, 'that those who are to
be tried after us will have a fair trial, and that our
blood will satisfy the craving that I understand exists.
I pray that prejudice may pass away, and that my
country may be able to right herself, and at some
future time her sons, instead of being looked upon
with dislike, will receive the respect of the civilized
world. The unfortunate division of our countrymen
in America has paralyzed all action for the present;
but I feel better days are coming for my beloved
Ca
-
End of the Trials.
273
country. For myself, I have nothing to regret, or
retract, or take back. I can only say God save
Ireland.'
As he pronounced the last words all his compa-
nions, moved by a common impulse, stood forward,
and with faces and arms upraised to heaven, solemnly
repeated the words, God save Ireland.'
C
The scene was impressive, but had little effect on
the occupants of the crowded court, whose hearts were
steeled by unconquerable prejudice, and whose thirst
for vengeance could only be satisfied by the immo-
lation of as many victims as officials-baffled in every
effort to recapture the prisoners they had allowed to
slip through their fingers-could secure, and the law
could convict.
Seven other Irishmen were convicted of complicity
in the rescue, and sentenced to penal servitude for
seven years each; six were acquitted, and eight re-
leased, as there was no evidence against them.
Amongst those sentenced to penal servitude was
Daniel Redden, whose sufferings in prison created
much sympathy later on. In calmer moments, when
the soothing idea that the death of the policeman Brett
would be avenged had somewhat restored to reason
those who conducted the prosecutions, the timely re-
monstrance of the gentlemen who had had the duty
of recording the proceedings took effect, and the life
of one innocent man was saved. The reporters of the
press joined in a memorial to the Government, pray-
ing that the life of Maguire might be spared, as the
memorialists were convinced that in his case the find-
ing of the jury was a mistake. The Government, on
T
-
274
The Manchester Rescue.
making inquiries, discovered that this was so—that
Maguire had neither hand, act, or part in the rescue.
Therefore his pardon was declared, and he was set at
liberty.
This was a somewhat embarrassing position for the
authorities; and it did seem impossible that the ver-
dict against the others could stand. Maguire was
convicted on the same testimony as they were, and yet
he was found to be innocent. If the verdict was
wrong in his case, was it not probable that it was
also wrong in the cases of the others?
All were
tried together on the same charge; the same evidence
was given against them all; the verdict convicted
all, and yet it was found to be wrong as against one.
The idea seemed preposterous that a verdict so flawed
with error could be upheld, and the sentences it im-
posed carried out. But nevertheless it was decided
that the 'law should take its course.'
No event of our days ever so profoundly moved the
Irish people as this Manchester rescue, nor was there
within living memory such a universally prevailing
anxiety regarding the issue of any public event as there
was about the fate of the rescuers. It was generally
felt that, owing to the excited state of public feeling
in England, they would not have a fair trial; that
their conviction was a foregone conclusion. But few
imagined that the death sentences would be carried
out. This opinion was strengthened by the fact that
so influential and distinguished an Englishman as John
Bright, and many other leading English Liberals,
were pleading for their lives. The London Star also
earnestly protested against the execution of the men,
Efforts to Save the Condemned Men. 275
and the poet Swinburne contributed a noble poem to
its pages in advocacy of mercy for them. Meetings
of English working men were also held in London in
favour of clemency, at which the late Mr. Odger and
the present Mr. Bradlaugh attended, and took promi-
nent part. A petition for presentation to the Queen
was adopted, and a deputation went down to Wind-
sor to present it to the Sovereign in person, but her
Majesty would not receive them. Returning, they
were hooted, and all but mobbed, by some of her
Majesty's retainers!-so it was stated at the time in
the newspapers. Mr. Sergeant O'Brien, Mr. Digby
Seymour, Q.C., Mr. Ernest Jones, and two junior
counsel, who had defended the condemned men,
sent a memorial to the presiding Judge, indicating
some important law points which, they argued, would
probably vitiate the conviction, and praying that they
might be reserved for the decision of the Court of
Criminal Appeal, and the men respited meanwhile.
The Judge refused.
When all the circumstances are considered with
unprejudiced and impartial mind, it must appear
that the crime for which they were to suffer, even
supposing them guilty, was not a very serious one.
They were humble men who, taking their lives in
their hands, went forth to rescue their beloved leaders
from their enemies. They considered that Ireland
was actually at war with England, and themselves
as soldiers doing battle for their native land. The
rescue of their chiefs was therefore a sacred duty in
their eyes.
That their lives were fairly forfeited
under such circumstances may be possible, but it
T 2
276
The Manchester Rescue.
seemed bad policy, to say the least of it, for the
Government of England to execute four men as sa-
tisfaction for the life of one.
Had such an occurrence taken place elsewhere—
as poor Condon argued-if a number of rebels in any
other subject country had rescued their leaders at the
risk of their lives, and it was contemplated to put four
of them to death, though but one of the escort had
been slain-would not the English press and the Eng-
lish people have cried shame upon the cruel deed?
Would they not have regarded the rescue as a gallant
and praiseworthy act, and the rescuers as patriots and
heroes, and not as criminals in any sense? There can
be no manner of doubt that this would have been the
feeling in England had the scene of the desperate
venture been laid in any other place than an English
or an Irish city, and that the actors in it were of
any other race than that of the 'Irish enemie'-that
they were Irish made all the difference in the eyes
of Englishmen. It was but another illustration of
the state of feeling so well expressed in the sen-
tence-' rebels at Cork; patriots at Madrid.'
At the time that the final fate of these five Irishmen
hung on the balance, I had been nearly three years
proprietor and editor of the Irishman. After the sup-
pression of the Irish People, the extreme, or Fenian
party, transferred their support to my paper. My po-
litical opinions were simply and easily expressed. I
was a 'rebel' born and bred. I am not ashamed to
confess that I held that for Ireland there were but
two alternatives-separation or submission. That
hybrid nationalism which professed to combine these
Policy of the Irishman.
277
two things-or at all events to advocate both as
occasion required-I never could be induced to fa-
vour. At the same time I was only too anxious to
extend the utmost toleration to people who thought
differently. But the Fenians were men after my
own heart. I thought it the duty of Irish patriots to
plot, conspire, and design the complete overthrow of
British rule in Ireland-to devote all their energies,
abilities, and, if need be, make sacrifice of their lives.
to secure the independence of their country. I had
seen the futility of efforts to obtain justice and good
government for Ireland from England by legal agita-
tion so strikingly demonstrated that I despaired of
further striving in that direction. I was convinced
that Ireland was not, and probably never would be, in
a position to win freedom from England by the sword,
but at the same time had confidence that by conspir-
ing, confederating, compassing, and devising, ever
and always, some means by which to convince her
rulers that she was utterly and irretrievably irrecon-
cilable to their rule, we could ultimately wear out
their patience, make the country too hot to hold
them, and induce them to give us back our freedom.
To that complexion did Fenianism come when it
became evident, from the failure of the rising, that
Ireland could not wage open war successfully against
her powerful oppressor. To make occasional demon-
strations of force-sack a police barrack, rifle a gun-
smith's shop, and raid' for arms at intervals-just
to show that still we lived,' and keep our governors
in constant hot water, might, it was thought, compel
them to consider that after all they might as well
6
<
278
The Manchester Rescue.
abandon us to our own devices, and allow us to legis-
late for ourselves, without their aid.
I held firmly to the Fenian theory that-
The patient dint and powder shock
Can blast an empire like a rock';
and therefore was it, that though not an enrolled
Fenian-because if I had been an acting member of
the organization my papers would be liable to sum-
mary suppression, and that was not thought advis-
able just then-I supported the Fenian policy. To
open and constitutional agitation I maintained, as a
rule, an attitude of benevolent neutrality, believing,
however, that it would never be productive of much
good, but that it could do little or no harm. My
chief objection was, that it to some extent conceded
the right of England to rule Ireland against the wish
of its people.
It can be readily understood, therefore, that, in
common with the great mass of the people, I looked
forward to the ultimate fate of the Manchester res-
cuers with much anxiety. I was profoundly affected
by their simple enthusiasm, bravery, and devotion. I
don't exaggerate when I say that there is no sacrifice
which I would not have made to save them. But I
was just as powerless as others who thought as I
did. Still up to the eleventh hour I had strong
hope that after all the lives of the men would be
spared. Despite even the haughty refusal of Lord
Derby, who was then Prime Minister, to listen to any
appeal on their behalf, my hope was strong that at
the last moment reprieve would come.
Before the Execution.
-
There was the possibility, too, that their rescue
would be attempted by the Irish of Manchester and
surrounding towns. It had been resolved, indeed, that
such an attempt would be made, and Kelly had ar-
ranged plans for carrying it out. With a view to put
the authorities off their guard, he had letters published
in the Irishman, which were re-produced in other
papers, here and in England, holding out threats that
reprisals would be made—that some of the governing
classes would also be 'executed'-if the condemned
men were hanged.
279
He wrote:-'I greatly fear that unless the prisoners
are treated as prisoners of war, that reprisals will be
made from amongst the heads of the British Govern-
ment.. Some may be desperate enough to take
into consideration that the vast commerce of Liver-
pool, Manchester, and indeed of London, could be
paralysed in twenty-four hours, should the Fenian
organization in these cities so determine.'
G
ter.
In another letter he said :-'I take the occasion
publicly to deny that I have ordered any general
movement in connexion with the trials in Manches-
It would be treason to the cause of liberty for
any body of men who have not had special word from
me to act at this time. . . Once for all, I pledge my-
self that I will have an eye for an eye, and a tooth for
a tooth. . . I hereby promise, until the exact minute,
peace.'
But the precautions taken by the Government were
such that it was seen that it would have been simple
madness to make any attempt in face of them to save
the men. Had such an effort been made, it would
280
The Manchester Rescue.
have inevitably failed, and have caused much blood-
shed. In addition to a large force of military drafted
into the town, special constables to the number of two
thousand five hundred were sworn in, for duty on the
occasion. Still there was hope up to the last hour
almost, that better counsels would prevail, and that the
punishment of the condemned men would be commuted
to penal servitude. That however was not to be, and
three of them were hanged. The fourth, Condon, was
reprieved, for no conceivable reason except that he
happened to have been an American citizen, and that
his execution might possibly have given rise to a
diplomatic difficulty for England with the Govern-
ment of the United States. Perhaps, however, the
fact that he was unarmed when captured may have
had some effect in inducing the Government to spare
his life.
The execution was carried out with surroundings
which rendered the relentless spirit with which the
law was vindicated more odious, as being prompted
by an inflamed and unwholesome condition of public
opinion. On the evening of the 22nd November,
the day preceding that fixed for the execution, a dis-
reputable crowd commenced to assemble before the
prison, and made night hideous by their yells, their
ribald songs, their groans for the 'Fenian murderers,'
and their singing of the 'national anthem'-at such
a time!—well knowing that inside three men were
preparing to meet death as Christians. But the
attempt to shake their courage and resolution failed
conspicuously.
In the early dawn of the morning of the 23rd of
The Execution.
November, Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien, met their
doom like brave men and heroes, as they were.
Bayonets to the right of them; bayonets to the left
of them; bayonets in front of them; bayonets behind
them they came forth on the scaffold, and with their
'faces turned to the west,' with the howls of the
brutal mob ringing in their ears, with trusting hearts,
and tranquil consciences, went to meet their God.
Oh! cruel insensate deed!-oh! worse than crime-
vindictive blunder that gave three martyrs to a failing
cause, and a rallying cry that never yet failed to re-
animate slumbering disaffection!
It is related that as they stood on the scaffold side
by side, O'Brien-whose dignified and manly bearing
was made the theme of favourable comment by even
some English papers-fettered and bound as he was,
stooped down, and lovingly kissed the upturned face
of the boy Allen. Then the three men affectionately
embraced, and the next moment they were face to
face with a Judge more merciful and forgiving than
they found on earth. Think of it! Three simple-
minded, justice-loving enthusiasts, whose only crime
was love of country and readiness to sacrifice them-
selves for what they believed to be the general good
-virtues in fact which ennoble human nature, and
bring it nearer to God-being done to death as if
they were malefactors the vilest and most odious.
Look on that picture: then on this. A blaspheming,
besotted, brutal crowd, surging and swaying; strain-
ing and striving to feast their eyes on this horrible
spectacle. Say which is the nobler-the 'malefactors'
281
282
The Manchester Rescue.
hanging dead for love of country, or the howling
mob athirst for their blood? And what a pitiful
revenge for mighty, magnanimous, freedom-loving
England!
CHAPTER XXV.
EXASPERATION.
FUNERAL PROCESSIONS IN DUBLIN, CORK, AND LIMERICK.
GOVERNMENT PROSECUTION OF MESSRS. MARTIN AND SUL-
LIVAN. PRESS PROSECUTIONS. CONVICTION AND IMPRISON-
MENT OF THE PROPRIETORS OF THE 'WEEKLY NEWS' AND
'IRISHMAN.' THE HOLOCAUST.'
'
IN
N Ireland, the news that the execution had been
consummated produced feelings indescribable
in the intensity of their bitterness. Such was the
anxiety to know the worst, that in Dublin many
people remained up all Friday night; and when the
fatal news, next morning, that all was over flashed
over the telegraph wires, it soon spread rapidly over
the city. Many strong men were moved to tears at
the recital of how the heroes died; and bitter hate,
and rage ill-suppressed, filled the heart of every man
with heart to feel and brain to reflect. But then the
moral effect of it? The moral effect was to ennoble
the cause for which these men died, to raise up sym-
pathizers with it by the thousand, who had hitherto
looked coldly on it; to give the revolutionary move-
ment, which then had all but died out, a renewed lease
of long and vigorous life. The popular indignation
was still further intensified when later accounts of the
GR
284
Exasperation.
execution stated that the bodies of the murderers
had been interred in unconsecrated ground.
<
That decided the people to do signal honour to the
memory of the murderers.' Funeral processions
were organized in the chief cities and towns all over
the country, to commemorate their memories as mar-
tyrs, and prayers were said and masses offered up
for the repose of their souls, in every Catholic church
in the country. The processions in Cork, Limerick,
and Dublin, were about the largest and most im-
posing public demonstrations ever witnessed in these
cities. Countless thousands of marshalled men
followed hearses inscribed with the names of the
martyrs, and sympathizing crowds witnessed their
progress.
The Dublin procession counted fully 100,000 men
in line, and as many more spectators assisted at the
demonstration. On the arrival of the procession at
Glasnevin Cemetery, its destination, the late John
Martin delivered a short address, and prayers were
said.
<
-
The Irish executive became somewhat concerned
at the magnitude of these demonstrations, and at
length when they were all over-proclamations
were published declaring them illegal. Summonses
were issued against Mr. John Martin, Mr. A. M.
Sullivan, and other members of the Funeral Com-
mittee, to answer for their conduct in taking part in
an illegal procession. That is, the processions were
allowed to be held, then they were proclaimed to be
illegal, and some of their organizers were prosecuted.
But the prosecutions were mere brutum fulmen :
285
they failed signally-convictions could not be had.
John Martin defended himself, and so also did Mr.
A. M. Sullivan. The last-named gentleman made a
speech of fearful and wonderful eloquence, in which
he vowed solemnly his readiness to walk over red-
hot iron ploughshares, and perform other equally
awful and impossible feats in the service of his
country. One would think, to listen to him, that the
very least penalty for the offence for which he was
being tried was hanging by the neck till he was
dead'—whereas it could not possibly amount to more
than very brief imprisonment. I desire to say, how-
ever, that, in my opinion, Mr. Sullivan was an honest
politician, as politicians go now-a-days; but somehow
he could never be convinced that the eyes of the
world were not always upon him, and accordingly
he was perpetually posturing as a patriot aggrieved
about something or other. And indeed, as an orator,
he was always at his best when in the King Cambyses
vein.
Press Prosecutions.
6
The Irish Government also tried their hand at
Press prosecutions, and succeeded better. The na-
tional papers had written strongly upon the Man-
chester executions, but not stronger, I think, than
the occasion demanded. The Government Press,
however, could not stand such 'flat blasphemy' as
that involved in the impeachment of the verdict of
a British jury, and called aloud for the prosecution.
of the editors who had the temerity to hint at the
mere possibility that British prosecutors were not
quite above reproach, nor British jurymen infallible.
They succeeded in goading the Government into
286
Exasperation.
taking proceedings against the proprietors of the
Weekly News and Irishman, who were both sum-
moned in December, and returned for trial at the
Commission to be held in the following February.
I was first tried. The charge against me consisted.
of the publication of an original and several selected
articles and paragraphs, chiefly from American Papers,
which were held to constitute the offence of sedition,
but the indictment spelled plainly treason-felony. I
am not much of a lawyer, and therefore, no doubt,
failed quite to understand the gravamen of the charge
against me, or the precise force of the Judge's di-
rections and definitions. It was laid down that the
selected articles might be lawfully published if the
intent were good. The intent was to be looked for
in the original article already mentioned. The intent
of that undoubtedly was, to show that the Govern-
ment had committed a blunder, and done an unjust.
act in hanging three Irishmen for the accidental
killing of one Englishman. But the selected articles
were said to have a tendency to incite the people to
rebellion; and as the intent of the original article
was merely to pass censure on the Government, it
should have qualified their still more evil and unlaw-
ful tendency. Again, if the original article was to be
interpreted by the rebellious articles, its compara-
tively harmless intention would have become still
more clear. It all turned on the question of 'intent,'
therefore; and the whole thing got so mixed that
perhaps the best thing the jury could have done was
to bring in a verdict of guilty—and they did.
Another curious fact was, that the presiding Judge
The Irishman' Convicted.
287
(Fitzgerald) told the jury that with them rested the
decision of both the law and the facts of the case.
His duty therefore would appear to have been simply to
have let the case go to the jury for decision, and to
have held his peace. But he did far more. He stated
the law and the facts of the case, and put his own
construction upon them. His anxiety, indeed, ap-
peared to be to convince the jury that if they did not
take his view, and bring in a verdict of guilty, he
would consider them the least intelligent and most
conspicuously stupid of reasoning beings. And, as I
have said, they did find me guilty, and I was sen-
tenced to twelve months' imprisonment.
Mr. Sullivan was also convicted, and his term of
imprisonment was fixed at six months. On the whole,
I congratulated myself that I was not tried for trea-
son-felony, for a verdict would probably as readily be
had against me for that offence as for sedition: at the
same time I very much doubt if an English editor,
tried by an English judge and an English jury, would
have been convicted on the same evidence of the most
trivial offence against the law of libel.
But there is not, and never was, liberty of the Press
in Ireland—or for the matter of that, in England.
It exists only by connivance. There is hardly a jour-
nal published that does not some time or other offend
against the law of libel-so comprehensive and ill-
defined is it. The mildest censure on a Minister might,
in fact, be twisted into libel as the law stands at pre-
sent. So that really liberty of the Press in Great
Britain is dependent on the toleration of Ministers
and Crown prosecutors. However, as it is not my
288
Exasperation.
province to suggest an amendment of the law of
libel as applied to newspapers, I will say no more on
that head.
As regards the imprisonment, though my fellow-
captive made much moan subsequently over the
sufferings it entailed upon him, I—though treated
precisely as he was-found it very tolerable indeed.
We had, as a matter of fact, nothing to complain
of beyond simple detention. But no doubt differ-
ence of temperament caused Mr. Sullivan to feel the
restraint of confinement more severely than I did.
Of course I did not like being in prison, and would,
on the whole, have much preferred being at liberty.
But I had books to read, and tobacco to smoke.
What could the 'heart of man wish for more?'-under
the circumstances.
www
Mr. Sullivan was a member of the Dublin Corpora-
tion, and his fellow corporators exerted themselves
to procure for him a remission of part of his sentence.
They succeeded ultimately in getting it reduced from
six to three months, and, as a distinction could hardly
be made in my case, my sentence was also commuted
from twelve to six months.
The original article included in the indictment
against me was published in a special edition of the
Irishman on the 23rd November, immediately after the
news of the executions reached Dublin. It has been
greatly praised as a literary work. The Attorney-
General was good enough to tell the jury that it was
'written by no ordinary pen, and by a man of high
ability.' He also said: 'Perhaps you may live many
years—you may drink deep of the stream of literature,
289
but I believe you will seldom meet in your reading
an article of more power, of more vigour, of more stir-
ring eloquence, than that article called the Holocaust.'
Rumour ascribed its authorship to my dear and much
lamented friend Isaac Butt; but I am, I think, in a
position to say that he was not the writer. The fol-
lowing is the article, and it will speak for itself:-
The Holocaust."
"
'THE HOLOCAUST.
'Deaf to all warnings, however ominous, spurning alike the argument
of the Just and the prayer of the Merciful, the Government of England
has this day done a deed of blood which shall overshadow its name before
the whole world.
'Nothing can account for its perpetration, against all the urgings of
statesmanship and humanity, save alone the blindness which falls from
Heaven upon overweening pride.
'Clouds of passion and prejudice have wrapt their councils round;
thick, and gloomy, and terrible as ever fell the black night of darkness
upon the Egyptian land, "because," said the Lord God of Israel, "ye
would not let my people go."
Hapless people! Fortunate only in the protection of one Sovereign-
the King of kings, the Judge of judges, the Avenger of oppressed inno-
cence, who shall surely mete out to all offenders retribution with interest
to the uttermost farthing.
<
Hapless people! They have been required to build without stones,
to make bricks without straw; and when their taskmasters have found
the tale not completed, the lash has been laid unsparingly on their
backs.
'For they were deprived of their lands, and punished for being poor;
deprived of their liberty, and scourged for being serfs; deprived of their
teachers, and slain alike for learning and for being ignorant.
'Those days, they exclaim, have passed and gone away; we have long
desired to govern you mildly and well.
Thus they cry out, and since when, we ask, has the change been
shown?
'Was it in the Relief Act, granted merely through fear of a civil war?
Was it in the prosecutions of the Tribune who won it?
'Was it in the Famine which slew its millions under their flag ?
U
290
Exasperation.
'Was it in the exile of those gallant men, whose counsels would have
guided them to avert the popular death?
'When and where can we behold this beneficent change of policy? Let
it not be hid from the nation.
'Was it in the mouthing of a Viceroy who incessantly proclaimed that
Ireland was proper only for brute beasts, not for men?
Was it in the millions' exodus fleeing from all ports, before his fiat, to
the uttermost ends of the earth?
Was it in the refusal to this day to change a system of land laws
which plunders them of their hard-won earnings, and drives them out bare
and miserable, sick and dying, in the heat of summer and in the icy chills
of winter, from the homesteads of their fathers, from the native land of
their race?
'Let it be shown to us, this change which should make us glad.
'Is it to be found in the benignity of rulers whose faces we never see;
but whose swords we have often felt ?
'Is it to be found in a denial that we have a right to a voice in our own
government-like Hungary, like Australia, like Canada, like any colony
soever of the Empire, however small, provided it be not Ireland ?
Finally, the wrongs and grievances of the country are admitted :
English statesmen have denounced them in the harshest terms. The
present Chancellor of the Exchequer has declared them sufficient cause
for a revolution. When young men know this-when young men hear
this-when, too, they see them allowed to remain in all their venomous
vitality—when, too, they see those statesmen not only justify revolution at
home, but foster it abroad-then, stung into desperation and madness,
should they act upon the lesson taught, where is the exoneration, where is
the mercy?
'On a vitiated verdict; on tainted testimony; on evidence which has
been admitted that of false swearers or perjurers-on a verdict avowed to
be flawed with error-two men and a youth-in the eye of the law an
infant-are done to a cruel death.
'Behold England's justice in the conviction and condemnation-behold
England's mercy in the sentence and execution of the political prisoners—
‘ALLEN, LARKIN, O'BRIEN.
There, indeed, written large and deep-written in letters indelible—written
in letters of BLOOD-read the Mercy and Justice of England!
They died far from the land they loved-far from the nation they
would fain have served-foully slandered by the organs of a sanguinary
،
The Holocaust."
(
291
aristocracy—in the midst of five thousand bayonets. It was said as an
excuse they were offenders against society; but an army had to interfere
between them and the people, to prevent a rescue. It was said as an
excuse, they were mere non-political criminals; but they offered their lives
to save those of two fellow-men, and they died with their faces turned to
the West, with trust on God in their souls, and on their lips the patriotic
cry-
""GOD SAVE IRELAND!"
'DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. But there are those who think that in death they
will be more powerful than in life. There are those who will read on
their tombs the prayer for an avenger to spring from their bones, exoriare
aliquis ex ossibus ultor, and we foresee troubles and trepidations which
might have been averted by a humane policy, which we fain would have
averted, and which we pray, by wise counsels, may yet be saved the
nations. Mistaken as these martyred men may have been, they yet shall
be remembered in their native land, along with those who have gone
before them: nor shall their deaths shake her desire for a legislative
independence, nor her trust in its speedy consummation.
"From the morning watches even to the night, Israel shall hope in
the Lord.
“Because with the Lord there is mercy; with Him there is a plentiful
redemption.
"AND HE SHALL REDEEM ISRAEL FROM ALL WHO WORK IN
INIQUITY.""
U 2
CHAPTER XXVI.
CLERKENWELL.
DISASTROUS
ATTEMPT ΤΟ RESCUE BURKE AND CASEY.
CLERKENWELL PRISON WALL BLOWN DOWN. AWFUL EFFECTS
OF THE EXPLOSION. TRIAL, CONVICTION, AND EXECUTION OF
MICHAEL BARRETT.
THE moral effect of the Manchester executions
did not prevent other Fenians from engaging in
another attempted rescue more desperate, and, alas!
infinitely more disastrous in its effects, than that for
which Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien suffered the ex-
treme penalty of the law. Early in December Colonel
Rickard Burke and Mr. J. T. Casey, Fenian leaders,
were arrested in London and committed for trial.
They were confined in the House of Detention,
Clerkenwell, awaiting trial, when a desperate at-
tempt to rescue them was made on the 13th of De-
cember, only a few weeks after the Manchester
executions, by exploding a barrel of gunpowder
outside the prison wall. The intention of the de-
signers of the enterprise was to make a breach in the
wall through which the prisoners could be removed.
But by a miscalculation of the force of gunpowder
results the most lamentable were produced. Not
only were sixty yards of the wall blown down, but
Terrible effects of the Explosion.
a number of houses in the neighbourhood were re-
duced to ruin, and, sad to say, six persons were killed
on the spot; six more died afterwards from injuries.
then received; forty mothers were prematurely con-
fined, and twenty of their babes died from the effect
of the explosion on the women; one hundred and
twenty persons were wounded, and the damage to
property was estimated at £20,000.
The utterly insane nature of the attempt can be
realized when it is known that but for the fact that
the governor of the prison had been forewarned of it,
and confined the prisoners to their cells, the men
whom it was designed to rescue would have been
blown to atoms by the force of the explosion. The
wall against which the barrel was placed and ex-
ploded enclosed the yard where the prisoners were
believed to have been at exercise at the time (3.45
P.M.) when it occurred. Had Burke and Casey been
in the yard, as was expected, there cannot be the
slightest doubt that they would have met the same
fate that befell the other victims of the catastrophe.
Amongst the Irish in England this lamentable affair
was regarded as a just judgment of Providence on
the English for taking the lives of the Manchester
martyrs. They looked upon it as the carrying out of
Kelly's threat to have an eye for an eye, and a
tooth for a tooth,' with a vengeance.
Burke and Casey, for whose release this act was per-
petrated, were brought up on remand at Bow-street on
the following Saturday. They were again remanded
for a week. Their counsel, the late Dr. Kenealy, re-
fused to again appear for them, on account of the
293
294
Clerkenwell.
dreadful outrage of the previous day. Both prisoners,
however, declared that they had no knowledge of it,
and that they regarded it with the greatest abhorrence.
This extraordinary and unprecedented conduct of the
prisoners' counsel shows how enraged the English
people were at this fresh outrage which took place so
soon after the somewhat similar, but not nearly so
disastrous, one at Manchester. The late Dr. Kenealy,
as is well known, was himself an Irishman, but he
found it necessary to bend before the might of British
prejudice. There was also a feeling of much alarm in
the public mind lest other Fenian threats of reprisals
would be carried out. Quite a scare' again pre-
vailed. Special constables were sworn in London and
all over the country; the provincial papers, both
English and Scottish, were filled with reports of ma-
gisterial meetings to enrol defenders of law and order;
at every public meeting resolutions condemnatory of
Fenianism were interpolated; Judges, recorders, and
chairmen of quarter sessions in their charges were
not less strong and unanimous in their denunciations.
of the mysterious conspiracy; and grand juries in-
variably followed suit with special presentments. Sir
Stafford Northcote, who presided over a sessions'
court, felt it necessary in order to reassure the people
that order would be preserved to declare his convic-
tion that the authorities were in possession of full
information in reference to the Fenians, and that the
precautions which had been taken to prevent any
further outrages would be successful. Among those
sworn in as special constables at Bradford was Isaac
Jefferson, well known, in 1841, as 'Wat Tyler,' a
P
Trial of Barrett.
295
conspicuous Chartist, who, being a whitesmith, did
a large amount of business as manufacturer of pikes.
There were, however, no further outrages worth
mention.
On the 14th of January, '68, Michael Barrett was
taken prisoner at Glasgow, brought to London,
charged with being concerned in the Clerkenwell ex-
plosion, and committed for trial. The trial came off
in April, '68. Along with Barrett, William Des-
mond, Timothy Desmond, and Anne Justice, were
accused of murder. The evidence was chiefly that of
an informer named Mullany, who had been himself.
included in the charge. His testimony was wholly
wanting in corroboration. The Judge directed the
acquittal of Anne Justice, and the jury found the two
Desmonds not guilty. Barrett was convicted and
sentenced to be hanged. The evidence produced in
his favour was an alibi which even the Judge admitted
was so compact and probable that it might well jus-
tify the jury in acquitting him. But, nevertheless,
they found him guilty. Before receiving sentence
he made an able speech protesting his innocence.
He said :—' I most solemnly swear that at the time
these people said they saw me I was in Scotland.
(Mullany, the informer, and others swore that Barrett
and a Captain Murphy came from Glasgow for the
purpose of rescuing Burke and Casey). Now, with
reference to that fiend of iniquity (Mullany), I will
pass him over in as few words as possible, as though
by the very mention of his name I should inhale a
deadly poison. Him I will allow to remain in wretch-
edness and misery. In the words of Holy Writ,
296
Clerkenwell.
"Where your fear cometh in desolation, and your de-
struction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and
anguish cometh upon you.
'Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they
shall prevail against him, making ready to the battle.
"Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss
him out of his place.'
"""
In conclusion, he expressed sorrow for the disas-
trous effects of the explosion, and hoped the Irish
people would persevere in the struggle to free their
country from the yoke of England.
So strongly, however, did the evidence point to the
fact that Barrett was not in London at all at the time
he was charged with the commission of the crime that
a strong effort was made to obtain the reversal of his
conviction. Mr. Bright and other English liberals
brought the matter under the consideration of the
Government. The Home Secretary so far relented.
as to consent to the holding of an extrajudicial in-
vestigation, but the result was that the Chief Justice,
and the authorities at the Home Office, declared them-
selves satisfied with the verdict. Mr. Bright, how-
ever, who had warmly interested himself about the
case, prompted to do so by his well-known humanity
and love of justice, was not satisfied. He pleaded in
the House of Commons for a postponement of the
execution, with a view to a further prosecution of the
inquiry as to the reliability of the evidence brought
forward in the prisoner's defence. But he pleaded in
vain. He was assured that there was no longer a
doubt of the propriety of the verdict.
fore, as in the case of the Manchester men, took its
The law, there-
Barrett executed.
297
course. Barrett was hanged, and he died like a brave
man, up to the last protesting his innocence. He was
but twenty-seven years of age.
And that he was innocent those most competent to
give an opinion emphatically assert. The man who
fired the fuse which exploded the gunpowder is well
known in Fenian circles in America. He has publicly
boasted of the deed. He has over and over again
solemnly asseverated that Barrett was not present at
the explosion. He has also asserted that the witnesses
produced to prove that Barrett was not in London on
the day of the explosion swore the truth, and nothing
but the truth. If he is to be believed, therefore Barrett
was a murdered man. His testimony on that head,
moreover, has been corroborated by that of others,
who stated that they were also concerned in the out-
rage. They too have declared that Barrett had nothing
whatever to do with it. But it was not denied that
he was a Fenian, and that fact was, doubtless, quite
sufficient to remove any scruples which might disturb
the Great British conscience about the taking of the
life of a man of whose innocence of the charge made
against him there was so great probability.
Burke was subsequently tried, convicted, and sen-
tenced to ten years' penal servitude. His offence was
that of purchasing arms for the conspirators. If the
evidence produced against him be really trustworthy,
he had had large transactions in that way. One man
deposed that he (Burke) had paid him nearly £2000
for revolvers alone.
Barrett executed.
297
course. Barrett was hanged, and he died like a brave
man, up to the last protesting his innocence. He was
but twenty-seven years of age.
And that he was innocent those most competent to
give an opinion emphatically assert. The man who
fired the fuse which exploded the gunpowder is well
known in Fenian circles in America. He has publicly
boasted of the deed. He has over and over again
solemnly asseverated that Barrett was not present at
the explosion. He has also asserted that the witnesses
produced to prove that Barrett was not in London on
the day of the explosion swore the truth, and nothing
but the truth. If he is to be believed, therefore Barrett
was a murdered man. His testimony on that head,
moreover, has been corroborated by that of others,
who stated that they were also concerned in the out-
rage. They too have declared that Barrett had nothing
whatever to do with it. But it was not denied that
he was a Fenian, and that fact was, doubtless, quite
sufficient to remove any scruples which might disturb
the Great British conscience about the taking of the
life of a man of whose innocence of the charge made
against him there was so great probability.
Burke was subsequently tried, convicted, and sen-
tenced to ten years' penal servitude. His offence was
that of purchasing arms for the conspirators. If the
evidence produced against him be really trustworthy,
he had had large transactions in that way. One man
deposed that he (Burke) had paid him nearly £2000
for revolvers alone.
The National League.
The Fenian party, I am sorry to say, did not like
such harmless maundering as went on at the meet-
ings of this little League, and sometimes interrupted
them. On one occasion a few of them invaded
the back drawing-room in D'Olier-street, where the
League meetings were held, assailed the members
assembled with volleys of eggs and such-like un-
pleasant missiles, with such effect, that the leaguers.
fairly bolted. John Martin himself did not escape
unscathed, and I believe I am correct in saying that
none more sincerely regretted that any indignity
should have been offered to him than the Fenian lead-
ers. The League people meant well, and no doubt
thought that when they had made speeches, and had
had them reported in the newspapers, they had there-
by discharged a sacred duty to their country. They
also felt convinced, no doubt, that the eyes of Eng-
land, if not of Europe, were upon them; and that the
least result of their copious eloquence would be to in-
duce the British Government to make substantial con-
cessions to Ireland. I fear, however, that their plead-
ing had little effect on British ministers. At all
events it is my duty to record the facts that the League
did not repeal the Union, or disestablish the Protestant
Church, and that it did not long survive the Fenian
attack I have mentioned, but very soon after gave up
the ghost, and was never heard of afterwards.
But if the National League did not disestablish the
Protestant Church in Ireland, other agencies were at
work which did. The English people had come to
regard the Irish as unreasoning people, whom nothing
could satisfy; who really wanted nothing, and who
299
300
Disestablishment.
required only to be ruled with a strong hand. But
when they learned from the incidents of the Fenian
movement that Irishmen could cheerfully make sacri-
fice of their lives, and resign their personal liberty,
without a murmur, in a cause which designed the
overthrow of British dominion in Ireland, they could
not fail to become convinced that, after all, Ireland
must have suffered some grievances from misgovern-
ment, and have had something to complain of. They
had been taught that the Irish were like children who
cried for the moon; but when they came to think of it
they began to realize the fact that it was not the moon
merely which these people cried for, but that they
were forced to cry out because they were hurt.
The State Church in Ireland was a grievance of
the sentimental order, but none the less galling on
that account. It was always regarded a badge of
conquest. It was the Church of the British Garrison,
of the State, and of the Government which oppressed
the people. The Protestants, whose Church was by
law established, were in fact looked upon as the
mainstay of misgovernment, and they were consi-
dered to have been themselves less Irish than the
English in their feelings and sympathies. To en-
dow the Church of such people was therefore to the
last degree unjust to the Catholic population.
The Fenian movement, therefore, when it revealed
and made patent the fact to all the world, not exclud-
ing Great Britain, that the Irish had many grievances
which should be redressed, also made it known that
the Established Church in Ireland was one of the
most insupportable of the disabilities of that unhappy
The Irish State Church.
301
country, because it implied a superiority over the
Church of the great mass of the people which they
could not acknowledge. Mr. Gladstone, in particular,
came to consider that the time had arrived for mak-
ing a change in the method of ruling Ireland. He
felt that the experiment of trying whether that coun-
try could not be governed as well, if not better, by
a policy of concession than of oppression could not
longer be postponed. The 'intensity' of Fenianism
he knew could not fail to have convinced the people
of England of the reality of Irish wrongs, and the
time was opportune for attempting to remove at least
one of them, and that not the least intolerable.
The people of Great Britain had already received a
considerable share of enlightenment about this State
Church grievance. The late Sir John Gray-one of
the most earnest and energetic of the politicians of
that day, and not the least able-had, in Parliament
and out of it, exhaustively exposed its intolerable
injustice. The late John Francis Maguire, Member
of Parliament for Cork city, demonstrated, in the
House of Commons in March, '68, that it was 'a
scandalous and monstrous anomaly.' Mr. Bright on
the same occasion also denounced vehemently its
monstrous injustice, and finally Mr. Gladstone de-
clared that the time had come when the Protestant
Church in Ireland should cease to be a State insti-
tution.
C
Not long after this debate Mr. Gladstone introduced
resolutions for the disestablishment and disendow-
ment of the State Church in Ireland. The resolutions
were three in number. The first declared that it was
302
Disestablishment.
necessary that the Established Church of Ireland
should cease to exist as an establishment; the second,
that it was expedient to prevent the creation of new
public interests by the exercise of public patronage;
and the third proposed that the Queen should be
petitioned to surrender her interests in the tempora-
lities of the Irish Established Church. After a couple
of rather long debates Mr. Gladstone's resolutions
were carried by a majority of 65.
Immediately after, a dissolution of Parliament took
place-in July, '68. The elections were held in No-
vember. Mr. Gladstone 'went to the country' with
the cry Justice to Ireland.' He carried all before
him. The Liberals secured a solid and substantial
majority. Mr. Disraeli, discomfited at the polls,
resigned, and Mr. Gladstone became Prime Minister
Mr. Gladstone pledged himself to deal with the ques-
tion of the Irish State Church, the Land, and of
National Education. The country was with him;
the Fenians had taught the British people that
Ireland's demands could no longer be met with a
non possumus.
On March 1st, '69, the Prime Minister brought in
the bill for the disestablishment of the Irish Church.
It deprived the Irish Protestant Church of its State.
attributes; henceforward it would be simply a free
Episcopal Church. The Irish bishops were to lose
their seats in the House of Lords, and the govern-
ing body of the Church was to be elected from the
clergy and laity of the Church; and it was to be re-
cognised by Government. The Church property was
estimated at sixteen millions, and after providing for
<
The Irish State Church.
303
vested interests and other charges it was calculated
that a surplus would remain of nearly nine millions
for the relief of unavoidable suffering in Ireland.'
(
The Conservatives opposed the disestablishment
measure with much bitterness and pertinacity, but
they knew that the fight against it was all up-hill,
and would result in certain defeat. In the result the
bill passed triumphantly through all its stages in the
Lower House, and through the House of Lords al-
most unscathed. On the 26th of July, '69, it received
the Royal assent.
The fall of the Irish Church establishment was
regarded in Ireland as a victory for Fenianism. It
is quite true that for years previously to its downfall
the late Sir John Gray, the late Mr. J. F. Maguire,
and Mr. O'Neill Daunt had been dealing it heavy rhe-
torical and argumentative knocks; but, at the same
time, it is highly probable that had there been no Fe-
nian rising, no Manchester rescue, or no Clerkenwell
explosion, the State Church would continue to be an
established institution in Ireland up to the present
day. The Protestant party, as a matter of course,
were greatly exasperated. They held that the destruc-
tion of the Established Church was virtually setting
aside the Act of Union-as indeed it was. That
Act decreed that the Churches of England and Ire-
land were one, and should be maintained for ever.
It therefore followed that the English Church should
either fall with the Irish Church, since both were one,
or the Act of Union itself should go by the board.
The last was what happened, according to the Irish
Protestants, for the English State Church still stands,
304
Disestablishment.
and they vowed, some of them, that they would no
longer consider the Act of Union binding. But it is
binding all the same, and will so continue as long as
England wills it. Some of these for-the-time-being-
disaffected-to-English-government gentlemen became
Home Rulers, but, as we shall see, only so long as
their anger lasted.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MORE FENIAN TRIALS.
MACKEY'S ARMS RAIDS. HIS ARREST, TRIAL, CONVICTION, AND
SENTENCE. GENERAL HALPIN ON TRIAL. HIS DEFENCE OF
HIMSELF. LENNON SENTENCED.
THE
'HE Clerkenwell explosion was the last of the
overt acts of Fenian hostility to England of
any importance. In Ireland, however, there were,
just after that event, occurrences of some interest.
Mackey's raids and still more State trials served to
convince the public that Fenianism was, at all events,
not killed outright, however it might have been
crippled by reverses.
Mackey—the 'little captain,' as he was called by
his admirers-had served in the American army, and
was arrested at Queenstown, on his arrival from
America, with Captain M'Cafferty, in October, '65.
He was tried at the first Cork Special Commission in
'66 with M'Cafferty, and acquitted. Soon after this
he was arrested in Dublin on the Lord Lieutenant's
warrant, but was liberated, after a brief detention, on
condition that he would go to America. It appeared,
however, that he got no farther than Liverpool on his
way to the States, for he was next heard of in that
town, where he was known to have been in com-
X
306
More Fenian Trials.
munication with Kelly, Massey, Burke, and other
American officers who were occupied in organizing
the rising.
We have seen that he was engaged in the attack
on the police barrack at Ballyknockane during the
rising. He succeeded in escaping capture on that oc-
casion, and remained about Cork for several months
afterwards. In the month of November following,
a robbery of one hundred and fifty revolvers from
the shop of Messrs. Richardson, Cork, which, it
was believed, was planned by Mackey, and carried
out under his direction, took place, and on the
26th December the martello tower of Fota, county
Cork, was sacked by the same adventurous indi-
vidual, without harming anyone in any way. He was
arrested, however, on the 7th February, '68, and was
tried at the Cork Assizes in the following March,
before Judge (now Lord) O'Hagan. The trial created
some excitement, and there was much sympathy for
the prisoner, owing to his gallantry and modest de-
meanour and dignified bearing in the dock. He was
convicted, and sentenced to twelve years' penal servi-
tude. The Judge was much affected on passing sen-
tence, and displayed great feeling for the prisoner.
In fact, Judge O'Hagan became quite popular by
reason of his evident sympathy for the 'little Captain,'
and it has been stated that it was chiefly on that
account-that is, because the trial made it evident
that his Lordship was not much out of harmony with
the popular sentiment of Ireland-that Mr. Gladstone,
when he came into office soon after, in his new-born
desire to rule Ireland in accordance with Irish
Halpin Tried.
307
ideas,' bestowed on him the signal honour of ap-
pointing him Lord Chancellor, judging rightly that
the appointment would be popular.
I have already referred briefly to the trials of
Nagle, Warren, and Costello, in December, '67. At
the same Commission General Fariola was put on
trial, pleaded guilty, and was liberated after a few
months' imprisonment.
General Halpin, the leader of the rising in the
county of Dublin, was also tried, convicted, and
sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude. He was
captured on board the City of Paris on his way to
New York. He defended himself with great astute-
ness, remarkable coolness, and the most unabashed
audacity. He was a man of much ability, and had
been connected with the American press before he
took to soldiering-first in the United States regular
army; next in the irregular army of the Irish Re-
public. The late Chief Baron Pigot, who was the
presiding Judge on this occasion, was one of the
most painstaking and rigidly conscientious of men.
He allowed the utmost latitude to the prisoner, and
directed that he should be supplied with writing
materials and documents which he demanded as
being necessary for his defence. At the commence-
ment of the proceedings he entered into a long argu-
ment with the prisoner upon the refusal of the latter
to plead. He took infinite pains to impress on him
that the effect of persistence in the course he was fol-
lowing would be that he would be considered guilty,
and receive sentence. The prisoner listened with
great respect and much attention to the admonition
X 2
308
More Fenian Trials.
of the learned Judge, and then quietly requested that
his refusal to plead should be put upon the record.
That was taken as meaning that he desired to plead
not guilty, and the plea was so recorded. Then he
demanded to be tried as an American citizen.
'Do you allege you were born in America?' asked
the Judge.
'I will leave that,' said the prisoner, 'to the Crown
lawyers to discover. It is their business to prove that
I am not-if they can.'
The Judge overruled him on that point. His next
demand was that the Crown should produce James
Stephens and Colonel Kelly as witnesses in his de-
fence, declaring that they could prove that he was not
a Fenian at all. The Crown prosecutors, however,
could not comply with so modest a request, and
would, no doubt, have been too well pleased to have
been in a position to have done so. He next com-
plained that the Crown Solicitor had endeavoured to
induce General Fariola to turn Queen's evidence, in
order that he might be got to swear against him.
The Crown Solicitor indignantly denied this. Then,
after badgering the Crown counsel, quietly chaffing
the Judge, irritating the jury by a quite unconscion-
able waste of time, exasperating the informer Corydon
to such an extent that he lost his head, and confessed
that he expected to get at least £2000 from the Go-
vernment as a reward for his betrayal of former asso-
ciates, he suddenly stopped, and requested the Judge
to charge the jury as briefly as possible, so that they
might find him guilty, and get him sent to penal
servitude without delay.
Lennon Sentenced.
309
'I cannot,' he said, 'longer endure the sufferings
I have to undergo in Kilmainham. Hell is a bad
place, but it is nothing to Kilmainham: the devil is
a bad boy, but he cannot hold a candle to 'gorilla'
Price (the governor).
Lennon, another of the leaders of the Dublin emeute,
was arrested in Dublin soon after Halpin's conviction,
and was convicted, and sentenced to penal servitude
for ten years in February, '68.
CHAPTER XXIX.
SPIRACY.
FRUITS OF CONSPIRACY.
ANOTHER CANADIAN RAID. GENERAL O'NEILL AGAIN AFIELD.
THE SKIRMISHING FUND. VALUABLE RESULTS OF THE CON-
A
FTER '68, Fenianism in Ireland, Great Britain,
and the United States, languished, or appeared
to do so. At all events, it made no outward and
visible sign of vigorous existence. The fatal split
in the ranks of the brotherhood in America was
never closed up. There was another abortive raid
into Canada in 1870, which ended more disastrously
for the raiders than the first. They had hardly
crossed the frontier when they were obliged to re-
tire discomfited, to fall into the hands of the United
States officials.
In October, '71, yet another of these silly raids was
made. General O'Neill and a few followers surprised
the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Port Pembina,
Fort Garry, Manitoba, and occupied it. But on the
approach of a small force of United States troops,
under a Captain Wheaton, the General and his little
band fled; but he was himself and the greater part
of his followers pursued, captured, and imprisoned for
some months afterwards.
The Skirmishing Fund.
311
When the amnestied prisoners reached New York
in '71, they endeavoured to revive the Fenian orga-
nization in America as a militant body, but with only
partial success. They succeeded for a time, however,
in galvanizing it into a brief-a very brief-existence,
but it soon again subsided. O'Donovan Rossa also
started a 'Skirmishing Fund' on his own account,
which was to be used for blowing up British war
ships; blowing down British arsenals; burning British
cities, and generally playing havoc with British pro-
perty—wherever found.' The collection of this fund
went on for years, and realized several thousands of
pounds. But no 'skirmishing' was done. When it got
big enough to make its custody a desirable acqui-
sition Rossa was forced to resign it into the hands
of four trustees. These gentlemen changed its name
to that of the National Fund.' One of them under-
took to make the tour of Europe to endeavour to
secure foreign allies for the Fenians, and to, if pos-
sible, induce Russia to go to war with England by
the tempting offer of an Irish contingent, and aid in
arms and money for the invasion of Ireland—this was
in '78, while the Russo-Turkish war was proceeding –
and he acquitted himself of his mission, it is said, to
his own perfect satisfaction, and had his travelling
expenses defrayed out of the fund. A 'torpedo boat'
was also said to have been constructed, and paid for,
but what has become of the surplus is still matter of
occasional inquiry; but no information has been—or
is likely to be-given on that head. O'Donovan
Rossa asserts that it has disappeared.
Lately, however, the organization in America has
(
312
Fruits of Conspiracy.
been reconstituted on a new basis. War with
England is only contemplated as the uncertain con-
tingency of a very remote future. Its present func-
tion is to collect money for Irish Land Leaguers to
spend how they please. It is widespread, and has a
formidable array of adherents; but they will pro-
bably do little else than subscribe money when called
on, for any purpose whatever which is likely to give
trouble to the British rulers of Ireland, but they
have no notion of fighting. Doubtless, were England
'beaten to her knees' in a foreign war, they would
furnish a formidable contingent to assist her enemy
in completing her defeat and humiliation; but until
that time arrives, Irish-America's hereditary and ac-
quired hatred for the British will not manifest itself
in more formidable form than in the giving of good
money, and the use of bad language to exasperate
them, and prevent them, if possible, from conciliating
Ireland by concessions.
In Great Britain and Ireland, beyond the occa-
sional discovery of concealed arms, nothing note-
worthy has since transpired to indicate that Fenianism
still exists. That it still lives is beyond doubt, but that
it will never again, in our time, make a demonstra-
tion in force against the rulers of Ireland is equally
certain. It is proverbially unsafe to prophesy until
after the event, but still I am inclined to hazard the pre-
diction that this generation will not witness another
armed rising against British rule in Ireland. There is
nothing to rise for, nothing to rise against, that cannot
be had, cannot be overcome, by more effective, if less
romantic, methods. Some well-meaning men will
-
Results of Fenianism.
313
continue to play at conspiracy-the very young men
especially-they will take awful oaths, they will con-
tinue to procure arms surreptitiously, hide them away
carefully, occasionally to be examined and admired,
but never used-except against each other-but that
they will ever seriously contemplate entering into an
armed conflict with the great power of England I
altogether refuse to believe.
Fenianism in fact has done its work, and done it
well; it has had its day, and its originators and ad-
herents have proved beyond all question that they
have deserved well of their country. I am not an
over emotional man, but yet I protest that I never
can sufficiently restrain the expression of the feeling
of intense admiration and respect I entertain for these
self-sacrificing Fenians-for the 'rank and file' espe-
cially. Consideration of self absolutely had no in-
fluence with them, and the record of their doings is
altogether unstained by the cowardly crimes which
are so rife now-a-days. It is an admitted fact, that at
no period in the history of modern Ireland was the
country so free from agrarian crime as it was during
the Fenian period. And are not men who, as they did,
peril life and liberty for the general good, the very salt
of the earth? Their passionate love of the land that
bore them; their readiness to lay down their lives to
give liberty to its people are, I think, so truly admi-
rable as fairly to entitle them to be honoured and
respected as are now the memories of the most patri-
otic peoples of past times. Nor have their sacrifices
and labours been in vain. On the contrary, they have
worked wonders. Where 'Young Ireland' failed, with
314
Fruits of Conspiracy.
all its wealth of genius; its ennobling sentiments,
inculcated by precept and example; its boundless
and fervid enthusiasm, they succeeded. The cause in
the advocacy of which Lucas lost his life, which Duffy
abandoned in despair; which many other great and
good men long struggled in vain to at all advance,
they brought, at a bound, within measurable dis-
tance of complete victory. They made it so evident
to Englishmen and English rulers that Ireland's
wrongs were great and unendurable, that immediate
redress was recognised to be an imperative necessity.
And, moreover, they lifted up the hearts of the long-
suffering despairing people of their native land with
renewed and confident hopefulness that at long last
the dawn of their deliverance from misgovernment was
at hand. And the people shall not be disappointed.
Already the light has broken; it has revealed to Bri-
tish statesmen that they must govern Ireland-if they
govern it at all-in accordance with its people's wishes
-for Ireland and not for England-and if they are
not turned from their purpose, and their well-meant
efforts to conciliate Ireland thwarted and rendered
ineffective by the intrigues and devices of self-seek-
ing men-'patriots' by profession-there is no de-
mand that Ireland makes as a united nation which
will not be conceded, promptly and cheerfully. If
united Ireland. demands a separate Parliament, and
wills that there shall be no connexion between her-
self and England, save that of Golden link of the
Crown' the thing is done. That is my honest opinion.
To that point I think has Fenianism brought the
Irish difficulty that Ireland has but to ask anything
(
Results of Fenianism.
in reason and in unison to have it. England is only
too anxious, I am convinced, to concede anything
which will cause Ireland to be no longer her diffi-
culty. Has not Fenianism, therefore, done its work,
and done it well?
315
CHAPTER XXX.
AMNESTY.
THE IMPRISONED FENIANS. THEIR CRUEL TREATMENT. TOR-
TURE OF O'DONOVAN ROSSA. THE DEVON COMMISSION. MR.
BUTT AND THE AMNESTY MOVEMENT.
RETURN OF ROSSA AS MEMBER FOR TIPPERARY.
GREAT MEETINGS.
IN
the year '69 agitation for obtaining an amnesty
for the imprisoned Fenians was commenced and
grew to vast proportions in a very short time. The
prisoners were subjected to a very rigorous discipline.
They were treated in fact worse, by many degrees,
than if they had been the vilest criminals. That po-
litical prisoners should be caged, cared, and punished
as if they were little better than wild beasts, was
surely a grievous wrong. But such was and is the
law of England. It owns no distinction amongst
criminals, and the patriot who errs through an excess
of zeal in promoting reforms has the same measure
of punishment apportioned to him as the man who,
at war with society, lives by murder and plunder.
But had the imprisoned Fenians belonged to the cri-
minal class they would undoubtedly have had a much
better time of it in prison. The possibility that their
rescue might be attempted caused them to be sub-
jected to a harassing and almost unbearable espion-
Treatment of the Fenian Prisoners.
317
age. They were constantly 'under observation' night
and day-that is, it was but at rare intervals that the
prison officers had not their eyes upon them. At
night even their rest was broken by frequent visits
of warders to see that they were safe. Then their
food was bad and not sufficient; they were compelled
to associate with the vilest criminals; and altogether
they were subjected to a system of petty persecution
which was mean, as it was unjust and undeserved.
Some of them were goaded almost to madness by
such treatment-more than one of them did in fact
become mad, and others of them died in prison.
O'Donovan Rossa, in particular, was so incensed at
what he considered the unjust punishments he re-
ceived for trivial breaches of discipline of which he
had been guilty, that he assaulted a warder, for which
offence he was handcuffed, with his hands behind his
back for thirty-five days. This seems incredible, but
it is true. I learned the astounding fact from Rossa
himself on the occasion of a visit I paid to him in
Chatham prison in the early part of '69. I lost no
time in making it public. The story was not believed;
it was ridiculed and declared to be utterly improba-
ble. The late Mr. M'Carthy Downing, Member for
Cork county, however, himself visited Rossa, and
obtained from his own lips ample corroboration of
my statement. Then Mr. Downing moved for, and
obtained, the appointment of a Commission of In-
quiry into the details of this disgraceful act, and also
of the general treatment of the prisoners.
The Earl of Devon was one of the Commissioners,
and Dr. Lyons, one of the present members for the city
318
Amnesty.
of Dublin, was another. The Commissioners reported
that Rossa's story was substantially true, and also
that the treatment of the prisoners generally was such
as it had been described in my papers by some of the
prisoners themselves. Dr. Lyons especially brought
out an overwhelming mass of evidence which demon-
strated the maltreatment of the Irish prisoners. Be-
sides this, he visited the French prisons, and made a
report, which showed a most striking contrast be-
tween the barbarous manner in which England treated
her Irish prisoners, and the humane, considerate way
in which France dealt with her political prisoners.
Under such circumstances it is not surprising that the
great heart of Ireland should go out in sympathy
with the sufferings of these men, who had done such
noble service in her cause.
Mr. Isaac Butt was president of the Amnesty As-
sociation, and laboured unceasingly to obtain the re-
lease of the long-suffering men. Mr. Butt had not
taken part in politics for some time previously. As is
well known, he had been a Conservative, and in his
young days had done battle with the great O'Connell
in the Dublin Corporation over the question of Re-
peal, but he was, all the same, an Irishman from the
time he was born.' The 'Liberator' himself foretold
that young Butt would at some future time be found
fighting in the nationalist ranks. Mr. Butt threw him-
self heart and soul into this agitation. His generous
nature was profoundly moved by the sufferings of the
prisoners, and his intercourse with them as their lead-
ing counsel on their trials taught him to respect them,
and appreciate their unselfish and devoted, if mis-
Mr. Butt's 'Conversion."
319
taken, patriotism. He made no secret himself of the
fact that it was the insight he obtained into the causes
of Ireland's grievances, when engaged in the defence
of Irish patriots of two epochs—of Young Ireland and
of Fenianism—which led him to so far modify his po-
litical views as to take the side of the people op-
pressed, instead of that of their oppressors. In his
speech at the National Conference in '73, he said :—
'Mr. Gladstone said that Fenianism taught him
the intensity of Irish disaffection. It taught me more
and better things. It taught me the depth, the
breadth, the sincerity of that love of fatherland that
misgovernment had tortured into disaffection, and
misgovernment, driving men to despair, had exagge-
rated into revolt. State trials were not new to me.
Twenty years before I stood near Smith O'Brien when
he braved the sentence of death which the law pro-
nounced upon him. I saw Meagher meet the same,
and I then asked myself this: "Surely, the state is out
of joint-surely, all our social system is unhinged
when O'Brien and Meagher are condemned by their
country to a traitor's doom?" Years had passed away,
and once more I stood by men who had dared the
desperate enterprise of freeing their country by revolt.
They were men who were run down by obloquy-they
had been branded as the enemies of religion and so-
cial order. I saw them manfully bear up against all.
I saw the unflinching firmness to their cause by which
they testified the sincerity of their faith in that cause
-their deep conviction of its righteousness and truth—
I saw them meet their faith with a manly fanaticism
that made them martyrs. I heard their words of de-
320
Amnesty.
votion to their country as with firm step and unyield-
ing heart they left the dock, and went down the dark
passage that led them to the place where all hope
closed upon them, and I asked myself again, "Is there
no way to arrest this? Are our best and bravest spirits
ever to be carried away under this system of constantly
resisted oppression and constantly defeated revolt?"
From this it can be understood why he devoted him-
self with all the ardour of his generous nature to the
amnesty movement.
Great meetings were held all over the country, and
the Fenian party, as a matter of course, lent their aid.
This was an agitation which they were bound to sus-
tain, though to support any open agitation was, as a
rule, opposed to their principles. When, however,
the liberty of their revered leaders was the object to be
achieved, they did not, of course, hesitate to cordially
co-operate with any effort in that direction.
The meetings would compare, as regards numbers
and enthusiasm, not unfavourably with those 'mon-
ster' Repeal gatherings, held when the 'Liberator'
was at the height of his power and popularity. In-
deed the Cabra meeting was declared to have been
larger and more imposing than any of the Repeal
meetings. But they failed to make the required im-
pression on the Government. Ministers met, for a
long time, every appeal for release of the prisoners
with a flat refusal.
Then another, and a more striking demonstration
was made. The British prison authorities had sought
to degrade the prisoners, and the Government refused
to release them or to alleviate in the slightest degree
An Extraordinary Candidate.
321
their prison treatment. Well, the people would
exalt and do honour to them since the Government
sought to disgrace and torture them.
An oppor-
tunity was not long wanting for carrying out this
resolve. In November, '69, a vacancy occurred in
the representation of Tipperary county, upon the
death of Mr. Charles Moore, and at the suggestion
of Mr. J. F. X. O'Brien, one of the prisoners sen-
tenced at the second Cork Special Commission to
a long term of penal servitude, but who had been
released, owing to ill health, after undergoing part
of his sentence, and a few gentlemen in Tipperary
town, it was resolved to start O'Donovan Rossa as
a candidate. I also favoured the proposition, and
assisted in carrying it out.
Most people looked upon the thing as a rather good
joke, but that there was the faintest possibility of
Rossa's election being carried, not even the most san-
guine of his friends and admirers would venture to
assert. There was no time for preparation, or money
to pay the expenses; still it could do no harm to have
Rossa nominated, and if the show of hands was in his
favour—and care would be taken that it should be-
it was considered that the effect would be pretty
nearly as great as if he was actually elected. The
Government candidate was the late Mr. D. C. Heron,
Q.C., a popular man, but one who could not, of course,
compete with Rossa for public favour on equal terms.
Rossa's address was not written and printed until
the very eve of the nomination. But everyone con-
cerned set to work with a will, and the county was
Y
322
Amnesty.
soon overrun with volunteer agents in Rossa's inte-
rest. At once, however, the Catholic clergy to a
man rose up in arms against the candidature of the
'felon.' They were all in favour of the Government
man, and Rossa's supporters were denounced vehe-
mently from almost every altar in the county. The
clergymen themselves became canvassers for Mr.
Heron, and used their influence to the very utmost in
his favour.
Mr. Heron himself became alarmed. He offered,
through a friend, to give a large subscription to the
prisoners' families sustentation fund if Rossa was
withdrawn. The offer was rejected. As I have said,
there was no intention of persevering beyond the
nomination. There was the almost certainty of his
being defeated at the polls, and, moreover, the money
to pay the sheriff's fees was not forthcoming. But
we did not count on the indomitable determination
of 'gallant Tipperary' once its blood was up. The
nomination duly came off, and the show of hands dis-
played a tremendous majority for Rossa. I had had
placards prepared ready to be posted up all over the
county, claiming Rossa's triumph at the nomination
as a victory over the jailer Government,' and stating
that it was judged better not to put the people to the
expense and trouble of a contest. They never saw
the light. The Tipperary men would not hear of with-
drawal. They had taken the field, and retreat would
be disgraceful—so they said. They vowed that they
would carry their man in spite of all opposition,
clerical and lay. And they did. To the utter amaze-
Rossa Elected.
ment of everyone in Ireland, and to none more
than of those who set the contest afoot, at the
close of the poll the numbers were announced as
follows:
O'Donovan Rossa,
D. C. Heron,
1131
1028
323
Majority for Rossa,
It must be recollected, in order to appreciate the
full significance of the victory, that the expenses of
contesting the representation of a large county like
Tipperary are very considerable, and that the people
themselves had to find the money to defray them, as
well as to provide volunteers for the due performance
of the heavy work incidental to a contested election.
And never before was work so well and so cheerfully
done. But the hearts of the workers were in their
work their's was truly a labour of love.
And they
won-hands down.
103
This election produced an immediate effect, both in
Ireland and England. It proved to demonstration
that the people had set their hearts on obtaining the
release of the prisoners, and that there was no sacri-
fice that they were not prepared to make to bring it
about. It went hard with Tipperary men to oppose
Mr. Heron's candidature; for that gentleman had
been leading counsel for many of the prisoners, and
had acquitted himself of his duty with courage and
ability. Had his opponent been any other than
the despised felon, they would have returned him
Y 2
324
Amnesty.
triumphantly; but Rossa-by reason of his sufferings
and the cause he represented-held first place in
their affections. The English people were not slow to
see so unprecedented an occurrence in its true light,
and to acknowledge that it was not prompted merely
by exasperation or anger, but was meant to show,
beyond all possibility of question, that amnesty for
the Fenian prisoners was an object the attainment
of which the Irish people were united in fixed and
firm resolve-and there can be no doubt that it had
much effect in inducing the Government to afterwards
liberate all the prisoners.
Rossa's election, as was expected, was declared
void, but not without the removal of some legal dif-
ficulties, which occupied a considerable time. Mean-
while, the convict in his cell was the duly elected
representative of the premier county, and was all
unconscious of the signal honour bestowed upon
him. The new election was held in February, '70;
and Mr. Charles J. Kickham, who had been liberated
some time previously, owing to his delicate state of
health, was nominated by the national party against
Mr. Heron. But there was not entire unanimity on
this occasion on the side of the nationalists. Some
of them held aloof, and took no part in the contest
in any way, conceiving that enough had been done
in the Rossa election to demonstrate the feeling of
the people on the question of amnesty. Moreover,
Mr. Kickham was not then a prisoner; though it was
well known that, if elected, he would not enter Par-
liament. In spite, however, of all these discourage-
ments, the friends of Mr. Kickham polled within four
madd
pild
Other Elections.
votes of the number recorded for his antagonist. The
numbers were:-
D. C. Heron,
C. J. Kickham,
1668
1664
Hon. G. Nugent,
John Martin,
Majority for Heron,
Another remarkable election that occurred about this
time was that for Longford county. The question of
amnesty did not come prominently forward in this
contest; it, in fact, resolved itself into a stand-up
fight between the Catholic clergy and a section of
the people, stimulated by the sentimental or half-and-
half nationalists of Dublin, who put forward the late
John Martin as their candidate. The priests did
battle for the Hon. Greville Nugent, and beat their
opponents hollow. Despite the utmost efforts of the
Dublin orators, John Martin was almost literally no-
where at the polls. The return was :—
4
325
1478
411
Majority for Nugent,
Thus, while in Tipperary a declared and uncompro-
mising rebel was returned against the opposition of
the priests, in Longford a semi-rebel-or at all events
a gentleman who had been a rebel, but no longer con-
sidered rebellion possible-opposed by the Catholic
clergy, was badly beaten. Whether this proves that
the people preferred an actual to an ex-rebel; or
1067
326
Amnesty.
only that clerical influence was greater in one county
than the other, I will not undertake to say.
The Dungarvan election in '68, in which Mr. Crown-
Prosecutor Barry-who had made the shockingly false
assassination charge against the Fenians, and never
withdrew it—was defeated by the nominee of the na-
tional party. Mr. H. Mathews was also meant chiefly
to advance the cause of amnesty, by demonstrating
how dear to the people were the reputations of the
prisoners.
The agitation was ultimately successful. Some of
the prisoners were liberated in '69; others, on condi-
tion of their leaving the country, in '71 (including
Rossa, Luby, O'Leary, Mulcahy and Devoy), and
the rest, at intervals, down to January, '78, when
the last of them were amnestied. A few others, who
had been transported to Western Australia, amnes-
tied themselves in '76. They took French leave of
their custodians, with the assistance of an expedition
sent, in a ship called the Catalpa, from New York,
and commanded by Breslin, the liberator of James
Stephens. They arrived safe in New York on the
12th of August, 1876. The authorities do not appear
to have taken much trouble to recapture them. If
the truth were known, it is very possible they were
only too well pleased that they were taken off their
hands.
The military prisoners, the men convicted of hav-
ing taken part in the Manchester rescue, and those
adjudged guilty of having made attempts to assassi-
nate informers and suspected informers, were the last
to be released. Colour-sergeant M'Carthy, Corporal
Death of Sergeant M'Carthy.
327
Chambers, Private O'Brien, and Michael Davitt were
liberated on the 2nd of January, '78. M'Carthy was
convicted in May, '66, on a charge of high treason.
It was alleged that he had come to the knowledge of
an intended mutiny, and had not given information
to his superior officers. He was sentenced to death,
but his sentence was commuted to penal servitude for
life. Corporal Chambers and Private O'Brien were
convicted of a similar offence-the former in June,
'66; the latter in June, '67-and received the same
sentence. M'Carthy was forty-four years of age when
released, but so terribly had the rigour of twelve
years' penal life told upon him, that he presented the
appearance of a very old and utterly broken-down
man. The others were much younger, but they did
not escape all unscathed from the ordeal of penal
suffering they had undergone. Chambers especially
appeared to be in very bad health.
These released men arrived in Dublin on Sunday
evening, January 13th, '78, and were welcomed by a
'monster' demonstration. A torch-light procession
accompanied them through the city to the European
Hotel, in Bolton-street, and seldom has a crowd so
large, or more enthusiastic, collected in the city on
any public occasion. The streets through which the
procession passed were literally blocked, so dense
was the crowd, and it was with the greatest difficulty
that the men contrived to make their way into the
hotel. Mr. Parnell, who was one of the gentlemen
who formed a deputation to receive the liberated
captives, invited them to breakfast at Morrisson's
Hotel, Dawson-street, on Tuesday, 15th of January,
•
328
Amnesty.
▸
'78, and a few friends, of whom I was one, were in-
vited to meet them. On my arrival at the hotel, about
half-past nine o'clock on that morning, I was horri-
fied to hear that poor M'Carthy was dead. He had
arrived a few minutes before me, and had hardly
entered the breakfast-room when he was seized with
a sudden spasm, and died almost immediately. The
poor fellow had not even the gratification of meeting
his wife and children, from whom he had been so
long separated; they were on their way from Cork to
Dublin when his death occurred. It was a sad and
painful tragedy indeed. An inquest was held, and the
verdict of the jury was to the effect that his treatment
in prison was the primary cause of his death. His
funeral, on Sunday, January 20th, was also made the
occasion of a great public demonstration, which vied
in numbers with those of M'Manus and O'Mahony.
About a year afterwards the last of the prisoners,
Messrs. Condon, Melody, Ahearn, Kelly, O'Kelly,
Dillon and O'Connor, were released.
CHAPTER XXXI.
CLAUSES.
THE LAND AND EDUCATION.
}
THE LAND BILL OF 1870. ITS FAILURE. INCREASED EVICTIONS
AND AGRARIAN CRIME. THE WESTMEATH ACT. THE PRESS
THE QUESTION OF EDUCATION.
IN
N 1870 Mr. Gladstone took in hand the lopping off
of the second branch of the Irish Upas-tree,' to
the destruction of which he had pledged himself when
Fenianism convinced him that the conciliation of
Ireland to British rule could only be brought about
by prompt and liberal concession to every righteous
Irish demand. He turned his attention to the Irish
land question, and produced a bill. It was good
so far as it went, but it did not go at all far enough.
It, however, acknowledged a principle which British
statesmen had hitherto refused to recognise. This
was that the tenant had, if not an equal right to
the ownership of the soil he tilled with the landlord,
at least a limited partnership therein. Up to that
time this had been looked upon as little short of
blasphemy. Lord Palmerston declared that tenant-
right meant landlord-wrong, meaning thereby that
the tenant had no right at all, except the right,
graciously permitted him, to pay whatever rent the
landlord chose to impose upon him. And that was
330
The Land and Education.
the principle which guided every British statesman
until Mr. Gladstone, stimulated thereto by the inten-
sity of Fenianism, entirely reversed it.
The bill which he introduced at the opening of the
session of Parliament in '70 utterly overset the land-
lord's sole ownership; affirmed the right of the tenant
to compensation for improvements and for disturb-
ance, except for non-payment of rent; gave the force
of law to the Ulster Custom where it was found, and
encouraged and aided tenants to become proprietors.
The measure was necessarily complicated, and its
great blot was that the sliding scale of compensation.
for disturbance encouraged the consolidation of pro-
perties and the eviction of small holders. The land-
lords' right to contract themselves, under some re-
strictions, out of the provisions of the bill remained
intact, and was also the cause of many evictions.
There was no limit, moreover, placed upon the power
of the landlord to raise rent, and in that way to con-
fiscate the value of the tenant's improvements. It
was, furthermore, so cumbrous in its structure as to
be difficult of definite interpretation in parts-like its
successor, the Act of '81.
But, nevertheless, it was an enormous concession
to Irish 'tenants at will.' The intention of its author
was to give them security of tenure and compen-
sation for the improvements created by their labour
and their capital. It failed, in working, to do these
things to any considerable extent. Landlord inge-
nuity was able to devise means-principally by rent-
raising by which indulgence in the luxury of capri-
cious eviction could be enjoyed at the tenant's ex-
1
Coercion.
331
pense. But the mere fact that it established the
principle that the tenant had a certain ownership all
but coequal with that of his landlord was a very
valuable concession to Irish ideas, and still greater
to the intensity of Fenianism.
The bill passed at a 'hand-gallop' through all its
stages in the Lower House, and encountered but little
opposition in the Upper Chamber. It received the
Royal assent on August the 1st, 1870, and became
law.
Unhappily, however, it proved, as I have said, an
insufficient remedy for the evils it was intended to
remove. Evictions, in fact, increased so sensibly after
it became law that their inevitable consequence, an
outbreak of agrarian crime, soon succeeded. Early
in '71 yet another Peace Preservation Act-called
this time the Westmeath Act-was passed by the
British Parliament. Thus once more concession and
coercion appeared hand-in-hand.
This measure suspended the Habeas Corpus Act
in Westmeath, and proclaimed districts in other
counties. The arrests under it, however, were very
few. It included, moreover, certain other provisions,
which utterly annihilated freedom of the Press in
Ireland. The Viceroy was empowered, at his own
good will and pleasure, to summarily stop the publi-
cation of any newspaper or periodical which con-
tained any matter he might himself consider as
treasonable, treasonably felonious, or seditious, and
seize and confiscate its type, plant, and machinery.
The only preliminary step necessary to the exercise
of this arbitrary power was that of giving the offend-
P
332
The Land and Education.
ing journalist one 'warning' previous to the seizure
of his property.
It was well known that these clauses were framed
with the express intention of enabling the Irish exe-
cutive to deal summarily with my papers, the Irish-
man and the Flag of Ireland. Imprisonment had not
taught me to cease to do evil-evil, that is from the
point of view of the Government prosecutors and
custodians in general of the morals, political and
otherwise, of the Irish people-and, indeed, I must
have appeared to them very wickedly contumacious,
inasmuch as I not only made no change for the
better in the tone and temper of the writings of the
Irishman, but actually started another paper, an off-
shoot from the parent stem, called the Flag of Ire-
land, to further extend and propagate its teachings.
There was really no way of dealing with so 'wicked,'
malicious,' and generally contumacious a person,
save by giving the absolute power to the Lord Lieu-
tenant to silence his organs and ruin his property
whenever it pleased him so to do. That is really
what the Press clauses of the Westmeath Act meant.
Mr. (now Baron) Dowse was the author of these
Press-gagging clauses, which, I believe, are unpre-
cedented in their severity in any country in Europe,
though he professed, as I have already mentioned,
great reverence for free speech, free discussion, and
the utmost anxiety for the preservation of the invio-
lability of the freedom of the Press, on one occasion
at least; and despite the fact, to which I can bear
testimony, that he is open to the not unreasonable
suspicion of having in his young days himself written
University Education.
in an excessively seditious, not to say treasonably
felonious, national journal. The clauses, however,
were never acted upon. One' warning' was given to
the Flag of Ireland, but they were not further put
into operation.
333
Mr. Gladstone came to grief over his attempt to
hew off the third branch of the Irish Upas-tree.
The problem of Irish University education proved
too much for him. And yet it was simple of solu-
tion. The Protestants, who are but a sixth of the
population, had a chartered university; the Catho-
lics, who constituted five-sixths of the population,
had none. There were, to be sure, the Queen's Col-
leges, but they were not sectarian, and, therefore,
condemned by the Catholic Church. The obvious
remedy, therefore, was to give a chartered college to
the Catholics. Mr. Gladstone, however, proposed
instead to constitute the University of Dublin a cen-
tral university, to which the Queen's Colleges and the
Catholic University were to have become affiliated, and
in the government of which they would have a share,
each continuing to control their own internal arrange-
ments absolutely, and teaching what they pleased.
No disputed question, however, would be permitted
to be included in the examinations for prizes. In
short, the Dublin University was to be made abso-
lutely unsectarian, and empowered to confer degrees
on its own members, as well as those of other col-
leges, sectarian or unsectarian, affiliated to it, and,
moreover, such colleges would take part in its ma-
nagement.
The scheme found no favour in Ireland amongst
334
The Land and Education.
the Catholics, by whom it was held to be only an
exaggeration of all the objectionable features of the
Queen's Colleges, and it was even less liked by the
Protestants-which might have been expected, since
it took away from them the monopoly of endowed
university teaching which they so long held. The
bill was defeated by four votes; the Government re-
signed, but retained office till Mr. Gladstone dissolved
Parliament in January, '64.
Thus Mr. Gladstone's attempt upon the third limb
of the Upas-tree was ineffective; but he had done
well; he had toppled over the State Church, and
killed 'felonious landlordism' almost outright. Here,
we see, was a minister for the first time since the Eng-
lish connexion was perfected who had the full know-
ledge of the extent of Ireland's wrongs and the most
intense desire to repair them, but who yet, despite his
commanding intellect, his boundless popularity, and
his unprecedented political power, found himself so
hampered and thwarted by the invincible ignorance
of Ireland of some of the most influential classes in
England, and their unconquerable prejudices in the
same direction, that he was obliged himself to con-
fess failure. That fact supplied the discontented Irish
people with another argument to prove that, even when
actuated by the best and most liberal intentions, a
British minister cannot of necessity-that is, will not
be permitted to-legislate for Ireland in accordance
with the wishes of its people.
T
T
CHAPTER XXXII.
HOME RULE.
THE HOME GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION. THE HOME RULE
PLAN. MR. MITCHELL HENRY'S EXPLANATION. MR. BUTT'S
POLICY. THE NATIONALISTS AND THE MOVEMENT.
<
H
OME RULE may be said to have been raised
upon the ruins of the Irish Church Establish-
ment. Mr. Butt, it is true, was, properly speaking,
the father of Home Rule'; but he could not have
floated the agitation were it not for the co-operation
of the Protestants he had induced to join him. These
gentlemen made no secret of their disaffection-for
the time being-to British rule. The practical set-
ting aside of the Act of Union, which the disesta-
blishment of their Church in Ireland occasioned, they
held, discharged them also from all obligation of sub-
serviency to the rule of the British Parliament, and
justified them in demanding a separate Legislature for
their native land. There were of course some amongst
them who really joined the movement from purely
patriotic promptings, and an earnest desire to avert
from their country the evils of misgovernment, under
which it so long suffered. Mr. Butt felt pretty sure that
if he could but set on foot a movement for obtaining a
native Parliament for Ireland, he could so act on this
336
Home Rule.
feeling of fleeting irritation amongst the Protestants
as to commit many of them to the agitation. Could
he do so, he felt he could render it more powerful for
its purpose than was such an agitation in Ireland ever
before. At any rate he resolved to make the experi-
ment.
Accordingly he called a preliminary meeting at
the Bilton Hotel, in Sackville-street, on the 19th of
May, 1870. At this meeting there were present some
sixty gentlemen, of whom more than one-half were
Protestants who had not only never identified them-
selves with any popular movement in Ireland, but who
were usually found amongst its opponents. Most
of them were leading merchants and professional
men, and amongst them was the Protestant and Con-
servative Lord Mayor. The proceedings were merely
preliminary, but they were quite harmonious. A re-
solution was adopted to the effect that in the opinion
of the meeting 'the true remedy for the evils of Ire-
land is the establishment of an Irish Parliament with
full control over our domestic affairs,' and an asso-
ciation to be called the Home Government Associa-
tion was formed.
Sch
Home Rule did not mean separation; neither did
it mean Repeal. It meant an Irish Parliament for
the management of Irish affairs only; Imperial legis-
lation was to be left to the Imperial Parliament, in
which, however, the members of the Irish Parliament
were also to have a voice. Domestic affairs were
loosely defined to mean everything except the vot-
ing of money for the army and navy.
A more
exact definition of what was meant by domestic and
What Home Rule Meant.
337
what by Imperial affairs was constantly asked, and
as constantly not given. It was a mere matter of
detail for after arrangement. First, Mr. Butt used to
argue, let us get the principle that Ireland has a
right to manage her own affairs acknowledged, and
the rest will come afterwards. The only thing that
was clear was that the members of the Irish Par-
liament were to regulate Irish affairs, and also take
part in regulating those of the British empire. 'Why,'
said a London critic, 'this means Ireland for the Irish,
and as much of Great Britain as possible.' And so it
did. But Mr. Butt was, no doubt, wise not to permit
himself to be drawn into explaining fully the details
of his scheme, because that might have had the effect
of bringing its weak points into such prominence that
it would rapidly fall into disfavour with men of widely
divergent views, upon whose united support he
counted to carry it. To the Separatist 'Home Rule'
undefined might be made to seem to mean an indepen-
dent Irish Parliament, with a responsible ministry,
ruling Ireland, unfettered by responsibility to the Im-
perial Parliament; so that in effect Ireland would have
no connexion with England, save that of the 'golden
link of the Crown.' To the most loyal of the friends
of the British connexion it might be defined to signify
only a local legislature, whose chief function would
be to relieve the Imperial Parliament of such Irish
business as it could not conveniently get through.
So that a precise definition of what was meant by
domestic legislation might alienate the support of
either, or both, these important classes.
I am very far from meaning to imply that Mr. Butt,
Ꮓ
338
Home Rule.
and those patriotic gentlemen who acted with him,
meant to deceive any class, or individual, in the
community, by misrepresentation of the true mean-
ing and scope of his plan for Home Rule; I only
desire to show that he left it purposely unexplained,
in order to prevent the enemies of Ireland exagge-
rating its difficulties for the purpose of alienating
from it the support of any one class or section of the
people. He knew perfectly well that he had no hope
of inducing the British Parliament to give it legis-
lative sanction, unless it was backed by the approval
and support of the entire Irish people-or at least of
a vast majority of them—and therefore was it that he
confined his labours to an endeavour to obtain from
the Parliament of Great Britain the affirmation of
the principle that Ireland had a right to manage her
own domestic concerns. That conceded, no doubt,
details would be matter for easy settlement.
C
Other objections to the Home Rulers' mode of pro-
ceeding were effectively disposed of by Mr. Butt's
most influential, unflinching, and able supporter,
Mr. Mitchell Henry. We are often asked,' wrote
Mr. Henry in '77, 'why we do not introduce a Bill
to carry out our views. The reason is obvious. A
private member's Bill is debated, and, as a rule,
defeated on some trumpery point of detail which
does not touch the principle of the proposal, and
this is what is desired in the case of Home Rule.
The proper course in the case of great constitutional
proposals is for the House of Commons to pass a
Resolution in favour of the principle contended for,
and then for the Government of the day to introduce
Ba
Mr. Henry's Definition.
a Bill to carry it out. This was the course followed
by Mr. Gladstone in the disestablishment of the Pro-
testant Church in Ireland.'
ter.
Mr. Henry also explained the Home Rule plan so
lucidly, though briefly, that there could be no valid
ground for misapprehension as to its true charac-
He wrote: Roughly speaking, I may say that
the proposal is to apply the American State Consti-
tution to Ireland. In that country each State has its
own local Parliament, and the Federal Government
has the Parliament in Washington. As regards our
own country, the present Parliament would undergo
no change, but it would not attend to Irish local
affairs, such as education, railways, waterworks,
fisheries, and such like; these would be attended to
by Irish ministers responsible to the Queen and the
Irish Parliament, and of course the Irish members
would have nothing to say to the local affairs of
England or Scotland. The United Parliament at
Westminster would raise in Ireland on its own autho-
rity the taxes necessary for Imperial affairs, such as
the army and navy, the Crown, Colonies, and Foreign
Affairs, and it would of course have as many sol-
diers in Ireland as it liked, and as many ships round
the coast. I need hardly say that there would be no
interference with customs duties, which stipulation
would be specially provided in the Act to give effect
to the Home Rule proposal, and there would also be
provisions for religious equality, and other such im-
portant matters.'
Mr. Butt, no doubt, followed the example of O'Con-
nell, who never was known to define precisely what
339
Z 2
340
Home Rule.
he meant by Repeal, further than that he intended to
re-establish the Irish Constitution, which was fraudu-
lently voted away in 1800. He did not intend, it is
certain, to re-set up the Irish Parliament, because he
knew that such a thing would not be possible. So
that probably what Repeal meant was the Irish Con-
stitution restored, and a new Parliament established.
In like manner, Home Rule, no doubt, really meant
an Irish Parliament for merely local legislation-the
definition of such legislation to depend on circum-
stances.
The extreme nationalist party observed an attitude
of benevolent neutrality to this agitation. They were
deeply grateful to Mr. Butt for his labours in defence
of the Fenians from '65 to '68, and still more so for
his earnest and self-sacrificing efforts in the cause of
amnesty; so that as they could not conscientiously
support the Home Rule movement under his direc-
tion-only, however, because it was 'legal and con-
stitutional'-they at all events would not oppose it.
The agitation, however, did not make much way,
until after the General Election of 1874.
As an election cry, Home Rule answered admi-
rably. It might mean so much, and yet so little, that
it took the fancy of most people who are not con-
cerned to look below the surface of things, or to per-
form that curious feat of reading between the lines.
Quite early in its career its influence was felt in elec-
tions. It carried John Martin into the representa-
tion of Meath, and Mitchell Henry into that of Gal-
way. Later on, it put P. J. Smyth into Parliament
as Member for Westmeath; R. P. Blennerhassett for
-
The Conference.
Kerry, and Mr. Butt himself for Limerick. In Novem-
ber, 1873, a Conference was held in Dublin, which
remained in deliberation for three days. The result
of the proceedings was, that the Home Rule Asso-
ciation became the Home Rule League, and the adop-
tion of a series of resolutions, of which the following
are the most important:-
<
That, as the basis of the proceedings of this conference, we declare our
conviction that it is essentially necessary to the peace and prosperity of
Ireland, that the right of domestic legislation on all Irish affairs should be
restored to our country.
34I
C
That, in accordance with the ancient and constitutional rights of the
Irish nation, we claim the privilege of managing our own affairs by a
Parliament assembled in Ireland, and composed of the Sovereign, the
Lords, and the Commons of Ireland.
That, in claiming these rights and privileges for our country, we adopt
the principle of a federal arrangement, which would secure to the Irish
Parliament the right of legislating for and regulating all matters relating
to the internal affairs of Ireland; while leaving to the Imperial Parliament
the power of dealing with all questions affecting the Imperial Crown and
government, legislation regarding the colonies and other dependencies of
the Crown, the relations of the empire with foreign states, and all matters
appertaining to the defence and stability of the empire at large; as well
as the power of granting and providing the supplies necessary for Imperial
purposes.
'That such an arrangement does not involve any change in the existing
constitution of the Imperial Parliament, or any interference with the
prerogatives of the Crown, or disturbance of the principles of the consti-
tution.
(
'That, to secure to the Irish people the advantages of constitutional
government, it is essential that there should be in Ireland an adminis-
tration of Irish affairs, controlled, according to constitutional principles,
by the Irish Parliament, and conducted by ministers constitutionally re-
sponsible to that Parliament.'
It will be seen that, as conducing to a proper and
clear understanding of the Home Rule scheme, these
342
Home Rule.
resolutions required much further elucidation. But,
as I have said, Home Rule was meant to remain
undefined, but it did excellently well as an election-
eering cry. This was made abundantly manifest by
the result of the General Election in Ireland in 1874.
Though Mr. Gladstone's determination to dissolve
Parliament was so unexpected as to take most of his
own supporters by surprise, and put the Home Rulers
at a serious disadvantage, yet they carried all before
them at the polls. They won in all about sixty seats.
<
The Home Rule papers, as a matter of course, were
in ecstasies. Again they told us how a shout went
up' from Ireland-this time a shout of victory.'
Some of these agitating gentlemen would have it that
Ireland'shouts' in season and out of season. The
wonder is that she has any voice left at all, so con-
tinuously has she been 'shouting' all these years of
legal and constitutional and noisy agitation. That
they were victorious, however, under disadvantageous
circumstances, at this election, there is no doubt.
Mr. Richard O'Shaughnessy, who was returned
for Limerick city as Mr. Butt's colleague, proved
himself an able and energetic representative. Mr.
Mitchell Henry, who had been returned for Galway
county previous to the general election, at once took
a foremost place in Mr. Butt's party. Mr. Henry has
made practical demonstration of his love of Ireland
more than once. Irish by birth and descent, he be-
came one of the richest merchants in Manchester, and
he has shown what good can be effected by the ex-
penditure of capital in his native land-even though
the capital be English. He purchased an entire dis-
-
The Elections.
343
trict in Connemara which was literally a desert, and
converted it into a paradise. Kylemore Castle, which
he built, is the admiration of British and foreign
tourists, and around it are the well-built houses and
comfortable homesteads of a contented and pros-
perous tenantry, who have been rooted in the soil'
by the proprietor of Kylemore. The Castle is pic-
turesquely situated on the shores of Kylemore Lake,
and commands views of the most exquisite scenery.
Mr. Henry is a man of great ability, and as a poli-
tician, is independent and consistent. He entered
Irish politics as an earnest opponent of British mis-
rule and a sincere advocate of Home Rule, and
such he remains to the present day. Nevertheless
he has been scandalously reviled by latter-day
'patriots,' because he has refused to become an
accomplice in their misleading and anti-national
schemes.
For the same reason Mr. R. P. Blennerhassett, over
whose return for the county of Kerry the Home
Rulers raised such loud rejoicing, and, in fact, every
really independent and honest Irish representative
who refuses to yield obedience to the insolent dicta-
tion of men whose dominant idea is self-interest,
have been politically boycotted,' and their re-election
to Parliament at any future time in Ireland, during
the continuance of the present craze, rendered a mat-
ter of extreme improbability.
At this election Mr. C. S. Parnell, the present
leader of the 'No Rent' movement, was badly beaten
by Colonel Taylor in the contest for the representa-
tion of Dublin county- the ex-Chancellor of the
<
344
Home Rule.
Duchy of Lancaster defeating the present 'leader of
the Irish race' by fully two votes to one.
Perhaps, however, the most valuable accession to the
movement was that of Mr. P. J. Smyth, who had been
elected for Westmeath in June, '71. Mr. Smyth had
been a Repealer, and a Young Irelander in '48, and
had organized and carried out the escape of John
Mitchel and T. F. Meagher from Australia in '54.
He devoted his life to the service of Ireland, and
was, and continues to be, greatly respected even by
his political opponents. His eloquence recalls the
memory of the great orators of past days. He, too,
has incurred the displeasure of the 'No Rent' gentle-
men—but that should be his best recommendation to
the esteem and respect of genuine Irish patriots. Mr.
Smyth withdrew from the Home Rule movement,
however, soon after the conference, as he came to
consider the Federal plan not feasible or satisfactory.
In Cavan county Messrs. Biggar and Fay won
a brilliant victory. The first-named gentleman, in
'72, contested the representation of Derry city with
Mr. C. G. Lewis, who polled nearly ten votes to Mr.
Biggar's one. In Cavan, however, he had an easy
triumph, owing, no doubt, to his association with Mr.
C. J. Fay, a gentleman of great and deserved popu-
larity in his native county.
Cork county returned as one of its representatives
the late J. P. Ronayne, a '48 man and a chivalrous
and true-hearted gentleman, who did knightly ser-
vice for the Home Rule cause up to the day of his
lamented death. Another valuable accession to the
Home Rule ranks was that of the late Lord Francis
Fenians and Home Rulers.
345
Conyngham-who was returned for Clare county-a
devoted and enthusiastic lover of Ireland, and a fast
friend and great admirer of Mr. Butt.
Mr. O'Connor Power, a gentleman who had, up to
this time, been known only as an extremist-or more
plainly speaking as a Fenian-was quite unexpectedly
returned for Mayo county, despite much opposition
from the Catholic clergy. Mr. Power was then a stu-
dent of St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, but previously he
had been imprisoned as a Fenian suspect. His elec-
tion was regarded with distrust, and something like
dismay, by most of the Fenian party-outside Mayo—
as indicating a reversal of the cardinal article of their
creed that Parliamentry action, inasmuch as it implied
an acknowledgment of the usurpation of the Govern-
ment of Ireland by Great Britain, was inconsistent
with, and hostile to, that other action which was based
on the assumption that England had no right to rule
Ireland save that of conquest, and that therefore the
overthrow of her rule by force of arms became impera-
tive.
The Fenian view of Parliamentry action for Ireland
was that it could only tend to improve British rule,
and render it more acceptable to the Irish people,
whereas it was their intention to make it odious to
them, and overturn it altogether. Moreover, a Fe-
nian entering Parliament would have of necessity to
swear allegiance to the Sovereign and Government
of Great Britain, having already been solemnly sworn
to fidelity to the Government of the Irish Republic—
that was to be. Yet here was a reputed Fenian being
sent to the British Parliament by undoubted Fenians.
346
Home Rule.
Whether Mr. Power ceased to be a Fenian when he
became a Member of Parliament I am unable to say,
but that he has since that time I think there is no
doubt; but whether voluntarily or under compulsion.
I am not aware. I think it greatly to his credit
that he has parted company with the 'No Rent'
section of the present Irish Parliamentary party,
though he had strong personal reasons to induce him to
hold with them. It is an 'open secret' that he is not a
wealthy man, and it is equally notorious that the 'No.
Rent' members have large incomes paid from the
League treasury. Mr. Power, however, disdained to
get his living out of money subscribed by the Irish
people of the United States for a totally different pur-
pose, and is manfully working his way at the English
Bar.
Mr. Power was not the only supposed Fenian re-
turned to the British Parliament then and since.
Messrs. Biggar, O'Clery, Barry, and Finegan, were all
believed the two first-named at all events-to have
been Fenian rebels, and loyal members of the British
Parliament for some time. To show that I do not
make these assertions unsupported by testimony, I
will put Mr. John O'Leary, ex-member of the execu-
tive of the Irish Republic, en evidence. Commenting
on a letter of Mr. F. H. O'Donnell in '80, he wrote:
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
'Mr. O'Donnell says that "the Irish party amongst the Opposition by
no means wish to raise a question of dynasty, and on the contrary are
truly loyal from the very fact of their traditions, and the Home Rulers
recognize the Sovereignty of the Queen over Ireland as well as Great
Britain." The italics are mine. Now, I should like to know whether
this Irish party is meant to include the whole body of Home Rulers, or
only that active section with which Mr. O'Dounell's name is more par-
1
Fenians in Parliament.
347
ticularly identified, and whether Mr. O'Donnell is quite certain of the
"traditions" of such well-known Home Rulers as (say) Mr. O'Connor
Power, Mr. Biggar, Mr. Finnegan, or the Chevalier O'Clery?'
In another letter he said:
'Mr. Parnell tells us something in the very same speech, which is as
true as the other thing is not. "I believe very little in the strength of a
pledge if the man who gives it has not shown that he needs no pledge."
True as Gospel; but how does this bear upon the policy of sending us over
much-promising young men from English Government and newspaper
offices? Have these young men "shown that they need no pledge?'
The country knows nothing of most of them, sa ve that they either are, or
are supposed to be, guaranteed by Mr. Parnell. But I know something
about many of these young men, and Mr. Parnell ought to know some-
thing too. Some of them have already not only broken pledges but oaths,
and they'll break them again, just as often and as barefacedly as their
interests may require.'
""
But that these gentlemen are Fenians no longer is, I
think, certain. How they could reconcile it to their
consciences to make pledges of fidelity to two hostile
and utterly irreconcilable allegiances I am sure I can-
not tell the Fenian executive, however, would ap-
pear to have regarded their doing so as treachery to
their cause, for, as I have been told, they unanimously
cast them out.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
OBSTRUCTION.
THE HOME RULE PARLIAMENTARY PARTY. ITS DISRUPTION.
MR. C. S. PARNELL IN PARLIAMENT. INVENTS OBSTRUCTION.'
FENIAN OPINION OF PARLIAMENTARY POLICIES. MR. O'LEARY
ON OBSTRUCTION AND PARNELLITE MEMBERS. DEPOSITION
AND DEATH OF ISAAC BUTT.
<
THE
<
IIE sixty Home Rule members were, soon after
the elections, formed into a party, with a leader,
secretary, and whips,' and thenceforward were sup-
posed to hold aloof from all British factions, and to
constitute a separate and independent Irish party.
Thus organized under the astute and judicious leader-
ship of Mr. Butt the Home Rulers did good service,
but hardly in the Home Rule direction, until 'obstruc-
tion' disrupted its unity.
Their sole action as regards Home Rule was
limited to an annual discussion on the motion of its
leader that the House would be graciously pleased to
inquire as to whether or not there was any ground for
the demand for Home Rule, which polite request the
House invariably and ungraciously refused. Never-
theless, they obtained some important concessions.
for Ireland from Parliament, and their influence
was felt and courted by English parties. Mr. Butt,
to some extent, held the balance of power between
Mr. C. S. Parnell.
349
the English Liberal and Conservative parties, but he
resolutely refrained from alliance with either.
In '75 a vacancy occurred in the representation of
Meath county, consequent on the lamented death of
John Martin, and Mr. C. S. Parnell was elected by a
very large majority.
Mr. Parnell came very quickly to the forefront of
Irish politics. His success as an agitator, if some-
what slow of growth, was one of the marvels of the
day. He had hardly one of the attributes of a popular
leader-save in the matter of his descent-there he was
unassailable. [One of his ancesters was Sir Henry
Parnell, who refused the bribe of a peerage which was
offered to tempt him to support the Union.] But he
was a landlord, and an aristocrat, and was not con-
sidered to be at all in sympathy with the Irish
national cause, until he became a politician. More-
over, he was educated at Oxford College, and there
contracted an English accent-a serious disquali-
fication for an Irish patriot. Then he was singu-
larly unimpassioned as an orator. But his speeches
were clear, and always to the point. He was, besides,
eminently practical and entirely unscrupulous as to the
means, so that his ends were achieved-two indispen-
sable requisites now-a-days for success in politics. He
had the disadvantage, however, of being by nature
quite unsympathetic, so that his followers had not that
great personal attachment for him which O'Connell,
Butt, and other leaders of opinion in Ireland, so
readily excited in their adherents. But he exacted
and compelled implicit obedience from them, so that
the matter of their likes or dislikes did not concern
350
Obstruction.
him at all. Such was the man-then, moreover,
under thirty years of age-who soon after his entry
into Parliament in '75, broke up the Irish party,
and took the lead of the largest section of it, and sub-
sequently caused Mr. Butt to resign the leadership of
the other. Almost at once he became the recognized
leader of the extremists of the Irish party, who con-
ceived that Mr. Butt was quite 'too slow,' and that he
required to be driven and goaded into attempting to
do impossible things. Failing to move Mr. Butt, they
took action on their own account. They began to use
the rules of the House to delay or defeat obnoxious
measures, and generally to interrupt the progress of
public business—that is, they began to obstruct.
Now Mr. Butt himself had used this weapon of
obstruction with considerable effect on occasions;
but he objected to its indiscriminate use for no per-
ceptible purpose, save to not only exasperate oppo-
nents, but estrange possible friends. The up-all-night
sittings, the perpetual trotting in and out of division
lobbies, the interminable speeches, the irritating mo-
tions, the continual wrangling, may have been mag-
nificent, but they were not war. Obstruction, in fact,
did no good. I cannot call to mind a solitary sub-
stantial victory for this 'policy of exasperation,' except
delaying public business, if that can be considered an
advantage. It may, perhaps, have somewhat pro-
tracted the passing of bad measures, but if so, it cor-
respondingly delayed the enactment of good ones.
Clearly it is not consistent with common sense to
suppose that a small minority can compel a great
majority to bow to its will in all things by attempts
S
The Fenians and Obstruction.'
351
to bully and coerce. Yet that is what the Par-
liamentary 'Obstructionists' undertook to do. That
they failed it is hardly necessary to say; but though
their efforts in that direction have been considerably
circumscribed by the new rules of debate, they still
persevered. At all events they deposed Mr. Butt,
extinguished Home Rule, and generally played havoc
with legitimate parliamentary action. Possibly they
still consider that by persistently making themselves
unpleasant to the Government and to the House, that
they may, some time or other, be sent back to Ireland
-just to get rid of their importunities—there to ob-
struct in a native Parliament to their hearts' content.
Let us hope they will not be disappointed.
The attitude of the extreme Nationalist, or Fenian
party, as I have said, to the Home Rule agitation,
was at first one of benevolent neutrality. Later on they
began to manifest hostility to it. The only person I
know who, since the final collapse or subsidence of the
movement in '69, has appeared as spokesman for the
Fenians, is Mr. John O'Leary. But whether or not he
was or is authorized to act for them in that capacity
I am unable to say. Moreover, Fenianism in Ireland
has had of late so many 'wings' and sections, that
it is difficult to know for which Mr. O'Leary speaks—
there is a Stephens party, a Roberts party, a 'Supreme
Council' party, and, I suppose I may now add, a
'Moonlight' party. I know many Fenians, at all
events, who do not coincide with Mr. O'Leary's views,
and who will insist that he represents no one save—
Mr. John O'Leary. But at the same time, as he has
spoken for the Fenians, and as no one has questioned
6
352
Obstruction.
his right to do so, he must, I suppose, be considered.
duly authorized.
Mr. O'Leary was amnestied in '71, since which time
he has chiefly resided in Paris, from whence he occa-
sionally sent letters to the Irishman, which, if they
cannot be said to have reflected the views of the
Fenians in general, at all events, may be relied on
in expressing the opinions of Mr. O'Leary's Fenians.
As regards the Home Rule movement, Mr. O'Leary
displayed an utter contempt for it. He was pos-
sessed of a perfectly unreasoning and insatiable
hatred for Mr. Butt and Mr. O'Connor Power, and
one or two other less important personages who
gave an independent support to the movement, and
he never allowed an opportunity to pass of having
a shot at them-all the way from Paris, which pro-
bably accounts for his missing his mark so often. He
could never succeed in provoking either of the
above-named gentlemen into noticing his attacks
in any way, which, of course, only served to in-
tensify his hatred and stimulate his anger. Be-
yond abuse of these gentlemen, Mr. O'Leary had
nothing noteworthy to say about the Home Rule
movement. He, of course, predicted its failure, and
ridiculed it at times, but he did little else. To
judge, therefore, from Mr. O'Leary's letters, it was
not the movement, so much as some of the men en-
gaged in it, that excited Fenian hostility. That this
was so, occasional rows at meetings at which Mr.
O'Connor Power attended seemed to confirm. It was,
however, the Land League movement, and not the
Fenians, which gave Home Rule its coup de grace.
Nationalists and ‘Obstruction.'
353
According to Mr. John O'Leary, Fenians had just
as little liking for the parliamentary party of exas-
peration as for the party of conciliation. But I can
hardly regard Mr. O'Leary as a true Fenian inter-
preter on that point. There is no doubt, I think, that
the Fenians, so far as they favoured parliamentary
policies at all, inclined to that which was the most
self-assertive and gave most trouble to the Govern-
ment. This was but natural, since it was their theory
that every British Government was of necessity hos-
tile to their cause, and one does not, as a rule, love
one's enemies sufficiently well as not to take comfort
from their difficulties.
In a letter published in January, '79, he wrote:-
'The very worst use that can be made of Parlia-
ment is the one that has been made on a small scale
for some time past, and the infliction of which we are
threatened with in the near future. I mean, of course,
the now well-known obstruction policy of continual
divisions and speeches-walking and talking.'
His favourite parliamentary policy would be one
which would ignore the British parliament altogether.
He would have the Irish people refuse to send mem-
bers to any Parliament save their own. Or, as that
was not possible or likely to be in the near future,'
that members should be elected as Irish representa-
tives who would pledge themselves not to go to Par-
liament. That also not being practicable, the next
best thing and a thing which was feasible-was,
that men should be sent to Parliament who would
refuse to take the oath, or who would take the oath
and refuse to vote, or to vote and talk as little as pos-
<
2 A
354
Obstruction.
sible-which was Mr. Butt's method, or something
not far removed from it. What he was vehemently
opposed to was too much speaking-too much vot-
ing: in short, to 'obstruction.'
In another letter, published before the General
Election of '80, he said:-'There was another utter-
ance of Mr. Parnell, at Cork, which ought to make
all believers in Parliamentary policy who are not alto-
gether blind to patent facts pause a little before giving
too warm a reception of the new delusion. Mr. Par-
nell has found seven faithful ones out of the famous
fifty-nine of the last election, and I should probably,
if I could guess at the names of Mr. Parnell's pets, be
inclined to reduce the " mystic" number of seven to
the mystic number of one. Mr. Parnell, I freely
grant, is faithful himself, and may have one or two
faithful and "humble" followers; but there my faith
must stop. I should not, however, be near so hard as
Mr. Parnell on the remaining fifty-two, among whom,
I have no doubt, there are many honourable and
patriotic, however, in my opinion, mistaken men.
Neither do I think their action a whit less effective
than that of the so-called "party of action." Mr.
Parnell claims the whole credit of several measures
for his mystic (perhaps misty might be a better
epithet) seven, but the fifty-two had just as much (or
as little) to do with these glorious victories, and, in
my humble opinion, it is quite probable that neither
the seven nor the fifty-two had anything whatever to
do with any of them. In short, no tittle of evidence
has been as yet presented to my mind to show that,
if we were to send to Parliament, not seven, but
The 'Obstructionists' Reinforced.
355
seventy-seven men, as active as squirrels and as
talkative as parrots, they would effect anything very
much more important than the premature destruction
of their own boots, and the occasional disturbance of
Englishmen's digestions' After the election, when
the party of exasperation had been rather unex-
pectedly very largely reinforced, he wrote:-‘I may,
perhaps, as well begin by expressing my satisfaction,
from a non-parliamentary point of view, at the gene-
ral result of the elections. Carpet-baggism is more
strongly in the ascendant than ever I could have
hoped it would be; in plainer language, political
scoundrelism is triumphant all along the line. The
chief interest now is to know how long our scoundrels
—that is, the newest and nastiest crop of them—are
to be allowed to go on duping our fools.'
Listen to that, oh! ye men of little discernment,
who blindly follow 'leaders.' Hear how one of your
idols of the past talks of your idols of the present!
'Political scoundrels' all, all of the newest and
nastiest crop of them.' The Dillons, the Healys, the
O'Connors, the Barrys, the Sullivans, and the rest of
the patriots of those days, whom you so fervently
admire, so implicitly obey, so lavishly endow with
your offerings and subscriptions-scoundrels !'
Semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum.'
(
But Mr. O'Leary spoke by the card'; he knew the
men he talked about. Some of them, he told us, had
broken not only pledges, but oaths, and would break
them again when it suited them to do so. But all is
fish that comes into the Land Leaguers' net; the
2 A 2
356
Obstruction.
greater the scoundrel a man is, politically, all the
better they like him. Not but that there are honest
men among them, but they are the dupes; it is the
men who 'run the machine' who come fairly within
Mr. O'Leary's comprehensive, and not at all compli-
mentary, category.
Later on, when 'obstruction' was at its highest, he
wrote: Our M. P.s have indeed found a new form
of Parliamentary activity, and have certainly suc-
ceeded to their hearts' content in piercing the thick
hide of British self-satisfaction. They goad, they
irritate, they enrage; but, after all, cui bono? No-
body will suspect me of any particular regard for
Saxon skins or Saxon sensibilities; but I have the
most earnest desire to preserve Irish self-respect and
Irish dignity. I would gladly bring England to her
knees, but I get small comfort from these mere pin-
pricks to her pride.'
The policy of 'exasperation' not only failed to
secure the sympathy of Mr. John O'Leary's Fenians,
but it alienated from the Home Rule movement the
support of the Protestants-that is, it deprived the
movement of its chief raison d'être, the attempted
conversion of West Britons into Irishmen. It es-
tranged the few Protestants who held steadfastly by
Home Rule long after others, who had joined the
movement in the mere momentary exasperation
occasioned by the disestablishment of their Church,
had withdrawn from it. Of the sixty and odd Protest-
ants who attended the preliminary meeting in '70 at
which the movement was inaugurated, hardly one
remained faithful to it after obstruction' first made
<
Mr. Butt and the 'Obstructionists.'
357
itself manifest. Not the least distinguished of the
gentlemen who then parted company with the Home
Rulers was Professor Galbraith, Fellow of Trinity
College, and one of the most devoted adherents of the
movement, and his example was followed by every
man of note belonging to his creed.
The Parnellites, it cannot be disputed, killed the
Home Rule movement, and were also said-as the
Young Irelanders were said to have killed O'Connell
-to have killed Isaac Butt. For myself, I can
say that I believe there are some not unreasonable
grounds for that assertion. There is no doubt that
he felt the revolt against his leadership of Parnell
and his followers keenly, and that the policy of 'ex-
asperation' pursued by them moved him to indig-
nation and heartfelt sorrow.
He ambitioned to lead a united party in the British
Parliament, which, by firm cohesion and rigid inde-
pendence of English parties, would come in time to
hold the balance of power between Government and
Opposition, and so be enabled to compel concession
in return for its support of either. That so consti-
tuted, and resolutely led, it could obstruct bad mea-
sures with effect, he held, was proved to demonstration
by the opposition to the Coercion Act of 1870, which
so far succeeded as to so modify some of the severest
provisions of that measure, and hamper their working
with so many restrictions, that it remained almost a
dead-letter. There were hardly any bounds to his
hopes of what unexpected good for Ireland could be
effected did the party only remain united and faithful
to him. And notwithstanding that almost during
358
Obstruction.
the whole of the time that the unity of the party
remained unbroken a Conservative administration,
which was naturally supposed to be more hostile to
concession to Ireland than a Liberal one, was in
office, Mr. Butt's efforts were not wholly fruitless.
That is generally conceded. He felt confident, how-
ever, that the opportunity for the Irish party to exer-
cise its power to the fullest extent would not arise
until the Liberals came into office. But, unhappily,
when that time arrived he was rendered powerless
by the dissensions of the party, and the fact that the
greater part of it had broken quite away from his
lead.
That he took the desertion of the Parnellites and
their ceaseless thwarting of his plans and his policy
so seriously to heart that it had a prejudicial effect on
his health, therefore, is extremely probable, and that
it was mainly instrumental in bringing about the
final break-up of his once vigorous constitution is not
unlikely.
What would be his feelings now-a-days had he
lived to see his opponents of that time doing their
best to obstruct the passing of a Land Bill which
concedes everything that he asked for the Irish
tenantry from the British Parliament, to enable them
to live and thrive'-and more-and, when passed,
to prevent its working?
Those who knew and loved him could not fail to
notice how the disappointments and vexations of this
time told upon him. To see him thus gradually sink-
ing, borne down by worries and annoyances imposed
upon him by the reckless action of men whose poli-
Mr. Butt's Illness and its Causes.
359
tical reputations he made, was a hard trial for those.
who knew how serious were the personal sacrifices
he made in order to devote himself to the service of
his country. They knew that proffers of high pro-
motion were made him and rejected, and that he
cheerfully surrendered the splended emoluments of
the profession in which he held a leading place, so
that he might entirely devote himself to the service
of the people he so dearly loved. Not even when he
felt the hand of death upon him did he seek that re-
pose which might have prolonged his life. The fol-
lowing letter written to his medical attendent, the
late Dr. O'Leary, shows that when he felt the pre-
monitory throbbings indicative that the lamp of his
life was flickering to extinction, he was journeying
to promote the interests of the Irish people :-
'UNITED HOTEL, CHARLES-STREET, ST. JAMES'S,
'July, 4, 1878.
'MY DEAR O'LEARY.-You have always shown such kindness and
care to me that I would like you to know every little thing that happens
to me.
'I am not happy about myself. Yesterday I crossed over in a good
passage. I lay down the latter half of the way. Before getting up I felt
an uneasy sensation at my heart, with something like palpitation. Get-
ting up, I had difficulty of breathing nearly as great as I used to have at
Buxton on the night I came over with you. It has continued more or less
ever since. My journey to the sitting-room here (you know the length)
has been a series of relays and pantings, and all this is accompanied by
vagueness in my trains of thought very perceptible, but scarcely per-
ceivable.
'Now, surely my dear friend, it is useless to say that this is of no con-
sequence. Is it not better to accept the truth that it is the knell of the
curfew telling us that the hour is come when the fire must be put out and
the light quenched?
360
Obstruction.
If not, is it not at least something that requires more care than you or
I or Butcher have given it?
'In other respects I am improving. You will see in this letter that my
hand is steadier, but does not this give to these symptoms a worse charac-
ter?
'I have observed latterly that in writing I very frequently omit a word,
far oftener the syllables or letters of a word. When half an hour in bed
last night I had lost all recollection of where I was, or how I came to be
where I was. I had great difficulty in settling to myself whether the
change from Irish to English time made my watch fast or slow.
'Is it not through the want of blood to feed the action of the brain ? or
is it only congestion of the ganglionic nerves? Do not laugh at this. Tell
me HONESTLY, and as a true, because a candid friend, what you think.
'I will go to Quain to-morrow, but I fear this is of no use. I have
taken a strange notion in my head-I would like to consult a perfect
stranger, who does not know me, and see what he would say.
'If I were to carry out this perverse notion, who would be the best man
to select ?
'Can I depend on you to tell me the truth?
'I will write to you to-morrow what Quain says.
'I am afraid I must stay here until the Education Bill passes. If I go
over I must come back again. I will know to-morrow what I will do.
'Yours ever sincerely,
ISAAC BUTT.'
In fact he remained in harness, working for Ire-
land, up to the very hour of the seizure which proved
fatal. And it was but a few short weeks before his
death that some of the popular leaders of the present
day chose as the most fitting time to make a com-
bined and pre-arranged attack upon him for his
inactivity—this dying man! Few who were present
can forget the scene between the grand old man and
Mr. John Dillon, at a meeting of the Home Rule
League held in February, '79. Mr. Dillon, with that
frankness which is his chief characteristic, but with
Death of Mr. Butt.
361
entire want of good feeling under the circum-
stances, not only vehemently impeached him for hist
inactivity-a charge which was groundless, and
merely put forward as an excuse to justify the pur-
poseless trampings through division lobbies of him-
self and friends-but deliberately charged him with
betraying the Irish cause-that is, for voting against
Russian aggression. I do not envy Mr. Dillon hist
feelings if he does not regret the language he held
on that occasion of and to a man to whom he is
indebted for much of his popularity as a politician.
Mr. Butt died on the 13th of May, 1879, and was
buried in his native Donegal. Of him can be said
with entire truth, that he loved his country and
served his kind.' Most of all should his memory be
revered by those for whom he did such brave and
knightly service. As the Irishman wrote:- Had he
not thrown himself into the van when he did, stirred
as his soul was by the sacrifice of the heroic State
prisoners, many fruits of the victories due to them
might have lain unreaped, and ungarnered; perverted
it might be to the nourishment of herds of parasitic
politicians. When the dungeon doors had closed
upon them, whose life had been given for light to
Ireland, it is owing to him that the banner of native
rule was raised high, if not to its highest, over a land
where English factions were preparing to float their
paltry pennons, once again, as before. When men
feared even to mention the terrible name of Fenian
without an anathema, and this journal alone at the
Press dared to render justice to their motives despite
the imminent menance of angry power, Isaac Butt
362
Obstruction.
soon showed that he could formulate the claim for
Amnesty and speak the aspirations of the millions
for justice.' And I feel sure that he is remembered
with gratitude and affection by every Fenian worthy
of the name-except Mr. John O'Leary.
The Home Rule movement did not long survive its
founder; and a word from the fugitive Land League
treasurer is now sufficient to prevent any attempt to
revive it. But it will be heard of again, despite the
pestilent League-of scoundrels,' according to Mr.
John O'Leary—of Hell, according to Mr. P. J. Smyth.
That some liberal scheme of Home Rule for Ireland
is a possibility of the future there can, I think, be
little doubt, and its character and thoroughness de-
pend altogether on the Irish people. It is now an
old story that the British Parliament has quite too
much work to do, and to relieve itself it must of
necessity apportion a large share, if not the whole, of
the work of legislating for Ireland to the Irish people.
On their unity, firmness, and desire to co-operate with
the rulers of the country in framing a plan, altogether
depends its comprehensiveness and completeness in
realizing their aspirations for native rule. Whether
it will run on the lines of Mr. Butt's plan or diverge
therefrom so as to proceed more directly towards the
ultimate goal of complete legislative independence, a
measure of Home Rule for Ireland cannot much longer
be delayed. There is nothing to retard its coming or
to prevent its being as entirely satisfactory as the
most earnest patriot could desire, save Irish obstruc-
tion in Parliament and anarchy in Ireland. The
former, it is to be hoped, the Cloture will suppress;
End of 'Home Rule.'
363
the latter will cease when Irish-America stops sub-
scribing the money by which it is sustained-by
which murder and outrage are being suborned. The
Cloture has, as might be expected, excited the ire of
the whole of the Parliamentary scoundrels,' as well
as of the 'newest and nastiest' crop of them. But
after all it leaves the rights and privileges of Mem-
bers whose conduct is guided by the instincts of not
merely gentlemanly feeling but of common decency,
intact. I think it is possible for Irish Members of
Parliament to be quite uncompromising in their
opinions, and firm and fearless in the advocacy of
the cause they represent, without, at the same time,
making themselves needlessly and odiously offensive.
If they regard their position as Irish representatives
as conferring distinction, they should also be aware
that it imposes, if not of a more or less dignified
courtesy to their opponents, at least an avoidance of
deliberate breaches of the rules of civilized society. But
many of them are either quite ignorant or oblivious of
this fact. So that if the Cloture imposes better be-
haviour on those people, it will be all the better for
Ireland.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
ASSASSINATION.
THE ALLEGED FENIAN ASSASSINATION COMMITTEE.
NATION OF A POLICEMAN. MR. D'ARCY M'GEE SHOT DEAD.
THE INFORMER TALBOT ASSASSINATED. TRIAL OF KELLY, THE
ALLEGED ASSASSIN. THE MURDER OF THE EARL OF LEITRIM.
ASSASSI-
J
AMES STEPHENS, as is well known, was totally
opposed to assassination as a penalty for either
desertion or treachery among his followers. It is a
fact that but for his influence a party of Fenians
would have made their way into the Courthouse, in
Green-street, Dublin, during the trials of their leaders,
and have shot the informer Nagle. Hundreds of them
would have volunteered for a venture so daring had
he consented to sanction it. But he refused. Never-
theless, that murders were committed by Fenians
there is no doubt. At the same time I think there
is the all but positive certainty that none of them
were sanctioned by the leaders of the movement. The
responsibility for them, no doubt, rests with some of
that outside fringe of irresponsible and fanatical peo-
ple, who are to be found in every secret society, over
whom authority can exercise no restraint.
The murder of the man Clarke, in February, '66, for,
as was alleged, giving information which enabled the
The Alleged Assassination Circle.
365
police to seize an arms depôt of the brotherhood in
Loftus-lane, it is true, was said to have been planned
and carried out by the assassination committee' of
the Fenian Brotherhood, of which Cody, one of the
Fenians committed in '67, was said to have been the
chief. But there is reason to believe that the exist-
ence of such an association was doubtful. The in-
former Corydon is the only authority for the truth
of the allegation that there was an assassination
circle in the Fenian organization, and it must be
admitted that his authority is not above question.
Corydon stated that along with Cody was associated
John Devoy—who since, with Michael Davitt, origi-
nated the Land League-in this alleged combination
for the murder of informers and police detectives, and
that it was formed immediately after the close of the
Special Commission in February, '66.
C
In burning words Mr. Butt, on behalf of the pri-
soners, denied the truth of the informer's story.
• On
behalf of those,' he said, 'who have been guiding the
Fenian organization-on behalf of those who are now
wearing out their lives in the miseries of a convict
prison- on behalf of those who are waiting the execu-
tion of the doom that has sentenced them to die-on
behalf of all Irishmen that have joined in this wild
effort for their native land, whether they lie in the
prison cell, or are still free on their native hills, or
exiles in far-off lands-I indignantly deny that ever
any design of assassination entered into their plans.
It is a cruel slander upon men whose whole life and
conduct, whatever were their political follies or their
political crimes, prove them incapable of this.'
366
Assassination.
The prisoner also denied the truth of the startling
story; but, nevertheless, the Judge held that the fact
that the prisoner Cody was armed when arrested, and
had a document containing a list of names of citizens
of Dublin in his possession, was sufficient corrobora-
tion of it, and sentenced him to a longer term of pe-
nal servitude than the others, Flood and Duffy, with
whom he was tried and convicted. Nevertheless the
assassination committee of '66 probably had no exist-
ence, save in the fertile brain of the informer Corydon.
On the night of the 30th of October, '67, two police-
men named Kenna and Kelly were shot at the corner
of Parliament-street and Essex (now Grattan) Bridge.
The first-named constable stopped a man carrying a
bundle and attempted to arrest him, but the man shot
the policeman dead with a revolver. The other police-
man, who was near, came to the rescue of his comrade
and was also shot. The man escaped. Kenna died,
but Kelly recovered. This is supposed to have been
a Fenian outrage. The assassin is said to have
been a Fenian carrying documents.
and as the encounter with the policemen was acci-
dental, the murder could not have been designed by
any combination or conspiracy, since it was clearly
not premeditated.
If that were so,
On the 7th of April, '68, Mr. D'Arcy M'Gee, a mem-
ber of the Canadian Parliament, who was formerly a
prominent Young Irelander,' but afterwards became
a fervent loyalist, and a vehement anti-Fenian, was
shot dead at Ottowa, it was alleged, by a Fenian;
but whether the assassination was ordered by any
secret body, or was merely the act of an individual,
<
The Murder of Talbot.
does not appear. Mr. M'Gee was an accomplished
writer, and contributed several valuable historical
works to Irish literature.
367
On the night of the 11th of July, '71, Talbot, the
informer, was shot in Nelson-street, Dublin. This
man was perhaps the vilest of the vile herd of paid.
spies whom the Government had in their service
during the Fenian period. Massey betrayed his asso-
ciates through fear of death, and partly in revenge for
having been himself betrayed. Corydon was faithful
up to a certain period-until he was convinced that
the conspiracy was doomed to extinction from the in-
evitable failure of its designs-then he resolved to get
all that was to be got for betraying its secrets to the
Government. But Talbot became a conspirator with
the set purpose of obtaining adherents for the con-
spiracy in order afterwards to betray them to the
Authorities. He was a constable in the Royal Irish
Constabulary-the detective department-and in '65 he
was sent down to Carrick-on-Suir, where he pretended
to be a water bailiff. He represented also that he was
an American Fenian, and that he was commissioned
from Dublin as centre for the district. In this way
he wormed himself into the confidence of the local
Fenians, and not only learned their secrets, but in-
duced many young men, whom he afterwards be-
trayed, to join the conspiracy. The better to deceive
his dupes, he—a Protestant-feigned to be a Roman
Catholic; attended regularly at service in the Catholic
church, and received the sacraments. He admitted
also that he constantly spoke in the vilest terms of
my
368
Assassination.
the Queen, and, on one occasion, that he crossed out
Her Majesty's name in a prayer-book, the better to
convince those whose confidence he sought, for the
purpose of betraying it, of his desperate disloyalty.
All this he admitted on cross-examination at the
many trials of Fenians, whose conviction rested
mainly on his evidence.
More hideously detestable treachery than this is
surely not conceivable. As Mr. Butt put it, 'The
man who bows down to worship for the purpose of
deceiving others, calls God to witness to his falsehood
even more solemnly than he who gives testimony on
his oath. An oath, indeed, is said to be an act of re-
ligious worship, and to derive its solemn obligation
from being so; and every time that Talbot was sent
into a Catholic church to bow down as one of the con-
gregation, he was sent there to attest, by an act more
solemn than an oath, to that which was not true. He
attested by a solemn act of worship that he was a
Roman Catholic when he was not, and this profana-
tion of holy things was carried on week after week
for the purpose of obtaining information for the
Government, and with their authority and sanction.'
All this time Fenians were being sworn in in his pre-
sence, and he was constantly communicating the
secrets of the organization to the Government that
employed him. From this it would really seem as if
the authorities were anxious to promote the con-
spiracy, rather than to suppress it, since they, with
full knowledge of its working and steady extension,
did not in any way interfere or attempt to suppress it.
Death of Talbot.
369
So well did Talbot do his vile work, that over fifty,
soldiers and others, were convicted of treason-felony
upon his evidence solely.
Talbot was a man of great courage and resolution,
and when he had done his work, and had been pen-
sioned off by his employers, he refused to leave Dub-
lin, though he must have known that his life was in
constant danger. He led a riotous life, and was an
habitual drunkard. On the night he was shot it ap-
peared he had been enjoying himself with friends in
a public-house in Harry-street, and must have been
followed by the assassin until an opportunity offered
for putting his design into execution. His supposed
assailant was captured running away in the direction
of St. George's Church, by two policemen, whom he
attempted to shoot. Talbot was found to have been
badly wounded in the head, and was taken to hospital,
where he died on the 15th July-four days after his
admission.
There is a horrible story current of his last mo-
ments, which is said on the authority of a person who
was present to be true, and if so, shows that remorse
must have distressed him sorely. He lay unconscious
all through the night of his death until about an hour
before midnight, when he regained consciousness,
and asked the attendant-
'When will the doctor come?'
'At two o'clock,' was the reply.
'I'll be in hell then,' said the wretched man.
And,' adds the narrator, 'he was, for he died about
an hour afterwards.'
The trial of the alleged assassin, Robert Kelly, was,
<
2 B
Death of Talbot.
369
So well did Talbot do his vile work, that over fifty,
soldiers and others, were convicted of treason-felony
upon his evidence solely.
Talbot was a man of great courage and resolution,
and when he had done his work, and had been pen-
sioned off by his employers, he refused to leave Dub-
lin, though he must have known that his life was in
constant danger. He led a riotous life, and was an
habitual drunkard. On the night he was shot it ap-
peared he had been enjoying himself with friends in
a public-house in Harry-street, and must have been
followed by the assassin until an opportunity offered
for putting his design into execution. His supposed
assailant was captured running away in the direction
of St. George's Church, by two policemen, whom he
attempted to shoot. Talbot was found to have been
badly wounded in the head, and was taken to hospital,
where he died on the 15th July-four days after his
admission.
There is a horrible story current of his last mo-
ments, which is said on the authority of a person who
was present to be true, and if so, shows that remorse
must have distressed him sorely. He lay unconscious
all through the night of his death until about an hour
before midnight, when he regained consciousness,
and asked the attendant-
'When will the doctor come?'
'At two o'clock,' was the reply.
'I'll be in hell then,' said the wretched man.
And,' adds the narrator, 'he was, for he died about
an hour afterwards.'
The trial of the alleged assassin, Robert Kelly, was,
2 B
<
Contempt of Court.
to have contributed articles to the Irishman, as on
a former occasion already mentioned; but again
was rumour 'fabulous and false.' I have reason to
know that they were extremely displeasing to the
Crown prosecutors; but as they were quite within the
law of fair comment, no action could well be taken
for the purpose of either bringing me to account, or
interfering with the publication.
But they kept a sharp eye on the paper, and at
last it was caught tripping. While the trial of Kelly
was progressing, a number of the Irishman appeared
containing a small paragraph of some half dozen
lines-which was inserted without my knowledge-
reflecting upon the conduct of one of the presiding
Judges (the late Chief Justice Whiteside) in such a
way as to make it a clear contempt of Court. That
was just what the Crown lawyers wanted. I was sum-
moned to appear to answer for the 'contempt.' I duly
presented myself before the Court, and explained that
I was not the writer of the offending paragraph, and
expressed my sorrow that it should have appeared.
That ought, no doubt, in all fairness, to have settled
the matter, but I was not fated to get off so easily.
The Attorney-General, Mr. (now Judge) Dowse, made
out a stupendous case against me. If I was not the
writer, why did I not give up the writer's name, so
that he might be punished? I politely declined to do
anything of the sort. Then the articles to which I
have referred came up in judgment against me. They
were held to amount to a deliberate prejudging of the
case before trial, for the purpose of influencing the
jury in the prisoner's favour, and inducing them to
371
2 B 2
372
Assassination.
acquit him. The Judge took this view of my conduct,
notwithstanding the very able defence made for me by
Mr. Butt, and I was sentenced to four months' impri-
sonment. I accordingly endured my second martyr-
dom' in Richmond prison, which was as little to my
fancy as the first, but still was not altogether unplea-
sant. The discipline was by no means intolerable,
but still I was 'not happy.' What prisoner is?
On this subject of assassination, perhaps I may
here relate a somewhat curious occurrence bearing
upon it, in which I was the chief party concerned.
In the month of October, '80, and long previously,
we had been rather encouraging the Land League
movement in the Irishman—as it was known at the
time that the latest Land Bill was in preparation, and,
therefore, all the light that could be thrown on the
land question would be of service. The League was
doing good work in that direction, and, accordingly,
my papers applauded and encouraged its efforts. This,
it appears, gave mortal offence to some Fenians—or
I. R. B. men-in the city-as I anticipated; and one
morning I was waited upon by one of them-that is,
by a man personally known to me as a nationalist,
but not as a Fenian or I. R. B. man—to request that
I would receive a deputation from the 'I. R. B.' on
important business. I at once expressed my willing-
ness to do so, and an appointment was made for the
next day. Now, as I have said, there were then, and
I suppose are still, so many factions, sections, and
wings of Fenians in Dublin, that I never could tell
which was which, so that I remained (and still re-
main) in blissful ignorance what particular division
G
A Sentence of Death.
373
of the I. R. B.,' or Fenian Brotherhood, sought an
interview with me.
However, the deputation appeared at the time ap-
pointed, and it was composed of the nationalist who
was well known to me, two young men, and one
rather elderly man, who were entire strangers. My
nationalist friend had a portentously solemn and
alarming aspect. With all the dignity and gravity
of a Judge passing sentence on a malefactor, he drew
from his pocket a 'document,' and read it as fol-
lows:
'I. R. B.
'HEAD QUARTERS, Oct., 1880.
'SPECIAL ORDER.-N°. I. (New Series).
'I. The Irishman newspaper, with its auxiliary the Flag of Ireland,
being the reputed organ of the nationalists of Ireland, the writings of these
journals should be in full accord with the aspirations of those whom they
claim to represent-the men who are labouring for the restoration of Ire-
land's national independence.
'II. For a number of years the proprietor and conductor of these jour-
nals have outraged the feelings of those in whose name said journals
lived, moved, and had their being, by supporting every adventurer who
appeared on the stage of Irish politics, from Butt to Parnell.
<
III. Recent writings of the journals in question, propping up a social-
istic movement headed by Land League agitators, are calculated to mis-
lead the public and bring the name of nationality into disrepute, because
the inference will be drawn that an alliance has been formed with the
national party and the designing knaves who are aided by these journals
and endeavouring to trade on their name.
'IV. Now it is hereby ordered that an end be put to such treasonable
proceedings, and that Mr. Richard Pigott, as proprietor and editor of the
Irishman and Flag of Ireland newspapers, be commanded to resume the
advocacy of the national cause, and to eschew all moral force doctrines
from the columns of said journals, or change the names of the papers for
others to be approved of by the executive authority who issue this order.
'V. That this order be enforced by the General in command of the dis-
374
Assassination.
trict in which the aforesaid journals are published, and due notice be given
the proprietor of the journals referred to, and all whom it may concern,
that the command herein named shall be complied with on and after the
Ist day of November next, one thousand eight hundred and eighty.
'VI. The penalty of refusal is the forfeiture of the life of the said
Richard Pigott.'
Having deliberately read the document, of which
the above is a verbatim copy, my esoteric friend, and
his friends, took their leave, stating that they would
call next day for my reply-which it was stipulated
should be in writing.
My first notion of the affair was that it was a
joke; and then I thought that it was seriously meant
to frighten me. But afterwards I had good reason to
know that the threat with which the silly Special
Order' wound up was not an idle one. Then I be-
came very angry indeed, and wrote an answer, in
which I said:
<
'Without inquiring whether the parties concerned
in the concoction of this document are authorized to
speak in the name of the I. R. B., I have to say that,
as I am not in any way connected with that organi-
zation, I deny that it has any right or title to dictate
to me as to the manner in which I am to conduct my
papers, or to decree the forfeiture of my life as the
penalty for non-compliance with its commands. I
own responsibility to no man, or no body of men, as
regards the management of my business, and there-
fore resent any attempt to interfere with that manage-
ment as presumptuous impertinence; and when, as in
the present case, it is accompanied by a threat of
murder, I meet it with the most emphatic rejection
and defiance. If this threat be seriously made, as I
The Murder of the Earl of Leitrim.
375
have reason to believe it is, I would be unfitted for
the position I hold if I did not declare that I refuse
to submit to such atrocious intimidation, and that
I defy and despise the people at whose instance it
is made, even if they are authorized to speak for the
I. R. B.-an organization which I have yet to learn
is an association of assassins.'
(
To this I appended some friendly advice, and when
the deputation' again called, I handed it to them,
and moreover gave them verbally, and in still plainer
language, to understand that I was not afraid, and that
I defied them and despised their threats. There the
matter ended. I made no change whatever in the
tone of my papers, and no attempt was made to take
my life. I am quite sure that this absurd attempt to
intimidate me originated with some of the irrespon-
sible outsiders of whom I have already made men-
tion, whose uncontrollable fanaticism is so constant a
source of danger to conspirators in general.
There were other assassinations, and attempted as-
sassinations, of a political complexion, in the Fenian
times, but none of much importance. Reports have
been circulated of the murder of the informers Cory-
don and Nagle, but they have not been corroborated.
The murder of the Earl of Leitrim on the 2nd of
April, '78, has also been attributed by some Ameri-
can papers to the Fenians. It has been stated that
the murder was planned by the trustees of the Fenian
Skirmishing Fund, who defrayed the expenses atten-
dant upon its commission; but there is no reason to
suppose that this was so, or that it was not an act of
private vengeance. It was at all events regarded as
376
Assassination.
an act of retributive justice.
The Earl was un-
doubtedly a 'hard man,' to speak mildly. In plain
truth, however, he was not only a 'hard' landlord,
but few feudal lords ever exacted such service
from their serfs as he did from his tenantry-and
their wives and daughters. The least opposition to
his will he resented with fierce and unrelenting ven-
geance. The number of tenants he is stated to have
evicted, and peasant women to have ruined, would
be absolutely incredible if there was not substantial
foundation for the statement. However that may be,
he was sent prematurely and unprepared before his
Maker to account for his misdeeds; and I believe
there is little doubt that his assassins-who escaped-
were tenants whom he had evicted, and whose female
relatives he had ruined, who came from America to
avenge the wrongs they endured at his hands. On
the whole, therefore, and so far as I know, the Fenian
organization is absolutely free from the imputation of
inciting to bloodshed; except of course in the actual
rising which it attempted to provoke. Not a single
outrage against property was ever laid to its charge.
At all events, I can positively affirm that there is
not one word of truth in the sensational stories of
Fenian assassinations and intended assassinations,
published in a so-called 'Secret History of Fenian-
ism' some years since, and more recently in English
magazines, which I do not hesitate to designate
as audacious fictions. But the Secret History of
Fenianism' is so plainly undisguised fiction that no
reliance can be placed upon the accuracy of its 'facts,'
despite their circumstantial narration.
CHAPTER XXX V.
THE LAND LEAGUE.
ORIGIN OF THE LEAGUE. MR. JOHN DEVOY, MR. PARNELL, AND
THE TRUSTEES OF THE SKIRMISHING FUND. MR. MICHAEL
DAVITT. THE FENIANS AND THE LEAGUERS. MR. JOHN O'LEARY
ON THE 'LAND FOR THE PEOPLE.' LAND LEAGUE MEETINGS.
TH
`HE Land League had its origin-to begin at the
beginning-in New York, in the autumn of
1878. Mr. John Devoy, I suppose, may claim to have
been its father. This gentleman was said, by the in-
former Corydon, as I have already mentioned, to have
belonged to the apocryphal Fenian assassination
committee. No doubt this was quite untrue. But it
might have at least the seeming of truth if certain
bloodthirsty speeches and writings of his in America,
threatening death to British statesmen, and destruc-
tion to British commerce and British cities, were
meant to be taken seriously as expressing his opi-
nions and intentions. They were, however, all sound
and fury—but signifying something. They indicated
a strong desire to become possessed of some of the
spare coin of his Irish-American compatriots.
This patriotic gentleman, it seems, held council
with certain other Irish-American politicians—all of
whom were trustees of the Fenian Skirmishing (now
378
The Land League.
National) Fund-as to the best method of starting
a land-for-the-people agitation in Ireland; and they
decided that the best way to do that would be to bring
about a union of the extreme Nationalists and the
loyal and constitutional agitators-if it were at all
possible.
The Fenians, however, were not to cease to be
Fenians-not at all. They were to only put their
own particular policy aside for a time, until they
could revert to it with effect. Meantime they were
to go on agitating, demonstrating, orating, and pe-
titioning, as if they were really at last reconciled to
British rule, and resolved to make the best of it.
,
An 'open' telegram was, therefore, sent by Devoy
and the trustees of the Skirmishing Fund to Mr.
Parnell, as the 'leader of the Irish people,' proposing
an alliance of this character between his party and
their party, in order to obtain the land of Ireland for
its people. Mr. Michael Davitt, on this side of the
Atlantic, was supposed to be the contracting party
representing the Fenians of Ireland and Great Bri-
tain. As might have been expected, Mr. Parnell
took no public notice of this public invitation to him
a loyal man and a member of the British Parlia-
ment—to enter into an alliance, offensive and defen-
sive, with the party of rebellion, to bring about the
abolition of landlordism. But that he did arrive at
an understanding with them is certain. He made no
secret of this. In a speech which he delivered at
Newry, in the summer of '81, he told his hearers that
Michael Davitt had proposed to him to assume the
conduct of the agitation at its inception, that he took
Fenians and Land Leaguers.
<
<
a month to consider whether or not he would accept
it, and that ultimately he consented. Therefore, we
see that Messrs. Devoy and Davitt, of the one part,'
and Mr. Parnell, of the other,' entered into an agree-
ment for the purpose of setting on foot an agitation
for the abolition of landlordism in Ireland, and the
restoration of the land to the people.
Though the Fenian party, which Mr. John O'Leary
represents, holds the League at arms' length, still
there is no doubt it has absorbed the great body
of the still-existant Fenian organization, of all fac-
tions and sections. Whether the Fenians are using
the League for ulterior purposes of their own, or the
Leaguers the Fenians I cannot say; but both may
be regarded as belonging, for the present, to the same
379
concern.
As I have mentioned already, there is not anything
new in this land-for-the-people theory. As a matter of
philosophical discussion, it is indeed of quite respect-
able antiquity. What is now novel about it is, that it
is attempted for the first time to bring it within the
region of hard and practical fact-that is, in Ireland.
It is, moreover, contended that it can be realized by
'legal and peaceful' agitation. Heretofore it was held
as a matter of course that any violent change in the
ownership of land could not be achieved by lawful, or
any other save unlawful, means-by confiscation fol-
lowing revolution. But our latter-day patriots have
changed all that. There is to be a revolution it is
true, but a peaceful one, and the confiscation is to be
made by the favour and confirmed by the authority
of the British Parliament.
380
The Land League.
GRAN
The Leaguers run this problem of landownership
to the extremest limit of its at all intelligible in-
terpretation. As advocated in their organs, it means
that the ownership of the soil is by right vested
in the cultivator-that is, the man who tills the
ground, by the mere tilling it becomes its sole and
absolute owner. Landlordism is held to be an ana-
chronism—a thing inadmissible. The landlords are
to lose the land; it is to be taken from them by
force, and they are not to be compensated; and
the tillers are to become the owners, and have
nothing to pay. This is literally the teaching of
the New York Land League organ, the Irish World.
The Young Irelanders' were not by any means so
extreme on this question. They admitted that the
landlord had at least some right to the land. The
Nation wrote:- The land is not the landlord's own,
because it can only be held in proprietorship, subject
to the prior claims of the inhabitants to get food and
clothing out of it. No concurrence of circumstances
can annul that claim, or transfer it to a select circle
of gentlemen entitled landed proprietors.' That is,
after the produce of the land feeds the tillers, the
landlord is entitled to the surplus. So much Young
Ireland conceded the 'land thieves.'
'land thieves.' The Land
League gives them nothing.
My Fenian exemplar, Mr. John O'Leary, condemns
this land-for-the-people project very strongly indeed,
which is just a little hard on Messrs. Devoy and
Davitt. These gentlemen are disciples of his; they
are, at all events, indebted to the Fenian organ the
Irish People, of which Mr. O'Leary was the editor, for
<
The Land for the People.
381
their political education. Both were Fenians, and
one, Mr. Davitt, has been said to have been himself
a contributor to the Irish People; and both, I do not
doubt, drew their patriotic inspiration from that fount
of treason, 'pure and undefiled.'
The following extracts are samples of the teaching
of the Irish People on the land question :- Some-
thing more than a successful insurrection is de-
manded, and what is that? An entire revolution.
which will restore the country to its rightful owners.
And who are those? The people.' 'Every man has
one simple object to accomplish. It is to rid the land
of robbers, and to render the cultivator of the soil his
own landlord, the proprietor, in fee-simple, of the
house and land of his fathers.' 'Landlord tyranny
will vanish when the land becomes the possession of
the people. That will be accomplished, but never
by
English law. . . .
. . The problem has been already
solved in France, and it will be solved in Ireland.'
Now this is precisely what the 'legal and consti-
tutional' Land Leaguers profess to design to accom-
plish, but strictly by peaceful means.
But Mr. O'Leary's Fenians appear, to judge from
his published opinions, to hold different views at the
present time; and if so, they are greatly to be felici-
tated upon the change. Mr. O'Leary, whose paper
said that what was wanted was the restoration of the
country to its rightful owners, the people, wrote thus
the other day :-'The constant talk about the aboli-
tion of landlordism is semi-socialism and whole non-
sense, and the almost equally frequent assertions that
landlordism has been abolished in France, Prussia,
}
382
The Land League.
and elsewhere, are either gross ignorance or rank
roguery; perhaps in most cases somewhat of an ugly
mixture of both. The plain truth is, that landlordism
has been abolished nowhere, and is little likely to be
abolished anywhere for the next thousand years, if it
is destined to be abolished at all. As to the Land
League's programme of buying out the landlords at
twenty years' purchase, and, en attendant, stopping
the payment of rent for two years, I have only to say,
all right, if the Land League were the British Parlia-
ment, and provided that landlords (who, after all, are
only men and brothers") were not forced to sell,
and that such tenants as could easily pay were made
to pay. But what is the use of speculating on the
advantages of a measure which, in the eyes of all sen-
sible people, is about as attainable as the North Pole?'
In another letter he wrote :-‘I should have no objec-
tion to a land movement for the attainment of the
much-despised Three Fs, and the gradual formation
of a peasant proprietary. These measures are pos-
sible of attainment, and theoretically defensible, and
Mr. Davitt must excuse me for still continuing to
think that the abolition of landlordism is neither one
nor the other.' And 'I deliberately say here that
any man who tells the people not to pay rent, and to
"keep a grip of the land," must, if he be not a fool,
expect not only evictions, but resistance to evictions,
and, if he be sensible, must know that successful
resistance involves fighting (and beating) the police
first and the soldiers after. Now, as I do not believe
successful fighting possible under the circumstances,
I must hold such advice either foolish or criminal,
(C
Fenians as Agitators.
383
and my only hope is that it will be but very partially
taken.'
I suppose I am pretty safe in supposing that
Mr. O'Leary does not mean to reserve the right
to confiscate the property of landlords to Fenians
alone that what in the Fenian is a choleric word'
in the Land Leaguer is 'flat blasphemy'; but it
is just a little perplexing to find him advocating
the abolition of landlordism in the Irish People, and
condemning it now that some of his disciples have
taken up the cry. But it is satisfactory, at all events,
to know that he does not now think that it lies
within the scope of practical politics.
Mr. Devoy's telegram was followed by a series
of long letters written by that gentleman indica-
tive of the views of himself and friends, which were
published in the Freeman's Journal. They were in-
tended to prove to the Fenian party that they were
foolish not to lend a hand to the work of agitation,
that they might just as well do that as do nothing.
They could help to send good men to Parliament, and
to make other good men poor law guardians, and
members of municipal councils. I had the temerity
to oppose this proposal. I argued that Fenians, to
become agitators, should cease to be Fenians; that
the abolition of landlordism was not possible by
peaceful, or any other means; and that the plan
proposed would produce social disorganization, in-
tensify class differences, and prevent that unity of
purpose and action by which alone political liberty
could be secured. For so doing, I was then and
there labelled' dangerous,' and the resolve registered
-
384
The Land League.
that I was to be got rid of at the earliest possible
date. However, nothing was done to float the new
agitation until the commencement of the year '79,
when Michael Davitt began to organize meetings.
The time was well chosen. There had been two
bad seasons, and a third threatened. The farmers
were hard pressed, and famine seemed inevitable.
The public mind was therefore well prepared to con-
sider proposals to save the people from impending
famine and pauperism, and give them security in
their homes.
Michael Davitt, who took the agitation in hand,
had suffered some years' penal imprisonment for
treason-felony. In '70 he was convicted, along with
an Englishman, a dealer in fire-arms. The overt act
of which he was declared guilty was the purchase and
sending of arms to Ireland for treasonable purposes.
It was considered greatly to his credit that he
endeavoured to save his fellow-prisoner, taking all
the responsibility on himself. But he failed in that,
and was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude.
In January, '78, he was liberated on ticket-of-
leave.
The first Land League meeting was held at Irish-
town, Co. Mayo, in April, '79. Many other meetings
were held in quick succession, at which there was a
great deal of very tall talking. Michael Davitt was the
chief orator on those occasions. The 'cry' then was
to hold the harvest.' That is, the farmers were to
make ample provision for their families, in view of
the anticipated season of severity; and if they had
anything left out of the proceeds of the harvest, after
385
doing all that, they might give it to the landlord.
And, moreover, they were told that the result would
be, if they adopted such advice, that they would not
only be able to tide over the bad times, but bring their
landlords on their knees, so that they could make
their own terms with them.
Increased Evictions.
It is hardly necessary to say that the tenants—or
at least a great many of them—were only too willing
to give ear to such pleasing suggestions, and to at-
tempt to carry them out. As might therefore be ex-
pected, rents could not be collected in some districts,
evictions followed as a matter of course, and many
poor people who might, had they not been so ill-
advised, have made friendly arrangements with their
landlords, and retained their holdings were left deso-
late and destitute, with no refuge save the workhouse.
Many landlords, however, made substantial reductions
of rent, and so did all they could to enable their strug-
gling tenants to live through the bad season and sup-
port their families.
<
The Leaguers took credit to themselves for these
reductions, and boasted that they had been the means
not only of obtaining large allowances for the te-
nantry, but of preventing evictions. Their advice to
tenants to keep a grip of the land,' and the penalty
of social isolation which they held out as a deterrent
to prevent land from which tenants had been evicted
being relet, they maintained, had averted evictions.
But official returns told a different tale. The figures
were as follow:-In 1877 there were 406 evictions;
in 1878, 834; and in 1879 (the first year of the Land
League's existence), 1098. For the first half of the
2 C
386
The Land League.
following year, 1880, the evictions had increased to
1060; that is, nearly as many as were carried out in
the whole of the year 1879. There was also a marked
and continuous increase in the emigration returns.
In the first quarter of 1880, 15,500 persons emigrated
to America, which was an increase of over 9000 as
compared with the numbers of the first quarter of
1879, before the Land League commenced its opera-
tions: so that so far the effect of agitation was to
increase emigration as well as evictions. The same
results are still observable; evictions are daily in-
creasing, and the emigration for the present year of
1882 bids fair to exceed that of the last few years.
In the summer of 1880, the Land League orators
became so flagitiously seditious,' that the Govern-
ment took action, but with singular il success.
They caused Messrs. Davitt, Daly, Brennan, and
Killen to be arrested on charges of sedition. But
the prosecutions collapsed-why, never has been
explained. The accused were liberated on bail, to
await trial, but the trial never came off. Thus in
the first actual collision between the Government de
jure and the Government de facto of Ireland, the
former came off second best, and the Land League
government scored 'first blood.'
It is difficult to understand why Michael Davitt, if
it was right that he should be arrested at all, was not
arrested at this time. Nothing was urged in justifica-
tion of his arrest, later on, that could not have been
then urged with greater force. It was said that he
had violated the conditions of his ticket-of-leave,
which bound him to be of good behaviour. Now, if
<
Mr. Parnell in America.
387
taking such prominent part in the land agitation was
a breach of good behaviour in 1881, so also was it in
1880.
The fact that he was not then arrested, but
only prosecuted, but not to conviction, for a breach
of the law, was certainly calculated to cause him to be-
lieve that his taking part in the agitation was not in-
consistent with his observance of the conditions upon
which he obtained his release from penal servitude.
He might be well excused for believing that he was
free to agitate to his heart's content without incurring
any risk of being sent back to prison.
The movement languished until Mr. Parnell, ac-
companied by Mr. John Dillon, went to America,
towards the end of the year '79-with a double
object in view-to appeal for money for the relief of
distress, and to sustain the brand new land agita-
tion started under the auspices of the then recently
formed alliance between himself, as representing
the constitutional agitators, and Michael Davitt, the
Fenians.
That he achieved immediate success is not to be
wondered at; quite a combination of circumstances
favoured his enterprise. There was the ever present
love for their native land of the expatriated Irish in
the United States, newly stimulated to pitying and
practical sympathy at the apprehended approach of
famine, to make his presence welcome, and his mis-
sion certain to commend itself to their prompt and
generous support. Moreover, he had himself per-
sonal recommendations which they were not likely
to overlook. Not the least of these were the facts
that his great grandfather was a distinguished admi-
2 C 2
388
The Land League.
ral, who 'whipped the Britishers'; and that he had
himself driven British ministers all but crazy by
obstructing the business of the British Parliament.
He was believed to be in reality a revolutionist of
the school of Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet. No
one supposed him to be a mere agitator; and it was
openly stated that he was in fact a Fenian in dis-
guise. This statement was corroborated to some
extent by the notorious fact that he had entered into
an alliance with Fenians.
But there is no possibility of gauging the depth of
the gullibility of these good Irish-American people,
or of the intensity of their hatred for the Government
which governs, and has misgoverned, their native
land. Leaving out of sight the long list of wrongs
inflicted upon Ireland by misgovernment, the mere
fact that either themselves or their fathers found it
necessary to expatriate themselves they regard as
of itself an intolerable grievance. The intensity of
this feeling has been well illustrated by the late John
Francis Maguire, in his book on The Irish in America.
He relates that a prosperous Irish farmer, whom
he visited in the Western States, owning 400 acres
of land, and whom he found surrounded by his wife
and sons, swore he would never forgive the British
Government the longest day he had to live,' because
years before he had been turned out of his wretched
cabin and two-acre farm, and left 'like a dog to die
on the road side.' Another man, also well to do in
mundane matters, told Mr. Maguire that he and his
family had been evicted and left destitute on the
road side; and his father, who suffered from rheuma-
C
389
Mr. Parnell's Success.
tism, and his wife, who was near her confinement,
both died from exposure. So strong was this poor
man's thirst for vengeance, that he neglected his
religious duties, and could not be induced to go to
confession, because he registered a vow never to
forgive the bloody English Government, that allowed
a man to be treated worse than a dog, and sent their
peelers and their army to do it to me and others.'
The children of such Irishmen as these naturally
inherit the hate of their fathers for the English.
Moreover, the transatlantic enemies of the British
Government of Ireland are being constantly rein-
forced by immigrants of the Irish farming classes.
So that such of the descendants of Irish rebels of
the past as have ceased to feel concern in the for-
tunes of the land of their ancestors are being con-
stantly replaced by freshly imported natives of Ire-
land, who have left their country with a vengeance,'
chiefly because of the land troubles. This is a very
serious difficulty for the rulers of Ireland, but it will
cease when the recent beneficent legislation of the
Government exerts its healing influence.
6
The mission of Mr. Parnell, therefore, could hardly
fail of success. He went to solicit relief for the
famine-threatened people of the South and West of
Ireland, and support for an organization which pro-
posed to give over to these poor people absolutely the
possession of the land they tilled, so that in future
they would have no reason to apprehend a return of
the dreadful scourge of famine which then impended
over them. The results of his mission began soon to
be pleasurably felt. Large sums commenced to flow
390
The Land League.
into the Land League treasury, sent not merely by
Mr. Parnell himself, but direct to the Land League
treasurers, from the United States. His tour was
interrupted by the dissolution of Parliament in March,
1880, when he was obliged to hurry back to take con-
trol of the Irish elections. But he had done excel-
lently well, so far as the collection of money was
concerned. Up to the time of his departure for
Ireland, the Land League treasurers had received
£22,385 9s. for the relief of distress, and £3861 19s.9ď.
for the support of the agitation. But very large sums.
for both purposes were sent after his departure, and
it is stated that the total receipts of his begging tour
reached the very large sum of £40,000.
The manner of dispensing the relief fund was, to
say the least of it, peculiar, and would hardly meet
the approval of the donors. The practice' of the
League, it was stated, 'in distributing meal in the
county of Galway was, to charge a person who re-
quired one cwt. the price of half a cwt. A person
who had not the means of purchasing four stone of
meal would not be able to procure the cwt., and if´
really destitute could not obtain relief under this rule
at half price.' There is little doubt either-though it
has been denied that relief was refused, as a rule,
to tenants who had paid their rents. All this has
never been satisfactorily contradicted. And com-
plaints were frequently made in the papers—and,
without doubt, many more privately-of fruitless ap-
plications for relief from districts where faminę was
actually raging.
For instance, the Rev. Laurence Ansbro', P. P.,
PUNKT MË
•
The League Relief Fund.
I
Annadown, wrote to the Freeman on 1st March, 1880:
'The distress in this parish is intense and wide-spread;
over 300 families, out of a population of 600, are at
this moment on the very brink of starvation; and
I am convinced many deaths would have occurred
before this but for the timely aid afforded by the
"Marlborough" and "Mansion House" Relief Com-
mittees.
Will you kindly direct me to find
out the Irish Land League Relief Committee?
have written more than once to their offices, and
hitherto have had no reply.' The Very Rev. Canon
M'Dermott, P. P. of Kilmovee, Ballaghaderrin, wrote
about the same time to the Freeman: 'I am P. P. of
one of the poorest and most populous parishes in
the diocese of Achonry, county of Mayo.. . The
Mansion-House Committee sent us in all £150; the
Land League £20.' The Rev. P. Livingstone, C. C.,
Dunmore, Tuam, wrote, also in March, 1880: 'I wrote
several times to the Land League for assistance.
Every one of my applications, with one exception,
was ignored. I received one letter, dated 4th Febru-
ary, from the League, stating I was ordered a sum
of £10, cheque for which I would receive in a few
days, when signed by Mr. Biggar. This cheque now
cannot be found high or low.'
These are but samples of many complaints made.
in other journals. But all the while the money came
pouring into the League coffers. It soon became
evident, from the miserable driblets that were being
made from the fund from week to week, that the
object of its managers was to accumulate a surplus
which they could afterwards apply to their own pur-
•
•
391
T
392
The Land League.
poses. And so it turned out. When the subscrip-
tions began to fall off, though there was still extreme
distress throughout the country, there remained in
the hands of the League treasurer a sum of £10,000
-of which he had kept a firm grip,' despite the
urgent need there was for it, and the frequent and
pressing applications made for some of it, by those
for whose relief it was intended which, on the
motion of that extremely honourable,' high-minded,
and altogether immaculate patriot, Michael Davitt,
was transferred to the League fund-that is, the
fund for the support of the agitation and the agi-
tators, of the expenditure of which no account has
been, or ever will be, in all likelihood, given. The
palpable dishonesty of this proceeding must be ma-
nifest to all-except the dupes of the Irish 'patriots'
of the period.
The same tactics are being carried on with regard
to the Political Prisoners' Sustentation Fund'-so
called. Priests and people all over the country sub-
scribed generously to this fund for the intended sup-
port of the prisoners arrested under the Habeas Corpus
Suspension Act; but part of the time most of them
were allowed to subsist on prison diet-in order
that a surplus might be accumulated, probably, for
the sustentation' of the prisoners when they get
out of prison. In the present month of March this
surplus was over £13,000, and was being daily aug-
mented by large subscriptions. The Freeman some
time previously announced the closing of the fund,
and stated that there was quite enough money to
support the prisoners for all the time they were likely
C
Another Surplus.
to remain in prison, and that more could be readily
had, if required, for the asking. But Mr. Parnell
would not hear of such a thing: the collection should
go on. Accordingly, it went on, and I suppose shall
continue until the captives are liberated.
393
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE LAND LEAGUE UNDER WEIGH.
RETURN OF MR. PARNELL. THE ELECTIONS. TRIUMPH OF THE
DEFEAT OF THE O'CONOR DON AND THE
LAND LEAGUERS.
HON. KING-HARMAN.
REVERSES IN ENNISCORTHY AND MAYO.
THE LEAGUE AND PARLIAMENTARY AGITATION. THE LEAGUE
CONFERENCE. THE LEAGUE PLATFORM. MICHAEL DAVITT IN
AMERICA. INACTIVITY OF THE 'ACTIVES.' GOVERNMENT PRO-
SECUTIONS. AGRARIAN CRIME.
M
R. PARNELL arrived in Cork from America
a week or two before the general election of
March, 1880, and at once found himself beleaguered
and beset by shoals of expectant candidates, seeking
his imprimatur to constituencies. As the chief of
Parliamentary obstruction, and with all the blush-
ing honours of his triumphant progress through the
United States thick upon him, it was naturally felt
that he carried the most Irish constituencies in the
hollow of his hand.
In the selection of candidates he displayed an astute
perception of what manner of men would best suit
his purpose, which after events brought more conspi-
cuously into notice. He fought carefully shy of
men of position and independence, and patronized
only those who were obscure and likely to do his
bidding-to fetch and carry for him. His energy
and activity at this time were somewhat extraordi-
nary. He flashed all over the country in a meteoric
The Elections.
395
flight, making brief pauses at places where his men
were contesting, cheering them on, and pleading
briefly for them. Special trains were hired by the
score, to enable him the better to annihilate space;
and he left nothing undone which could be effected
by energy and the lavish expenditure of money, to
secure victory. And victory declared for him.
The result of the elections swelled the strength of
his forces from some ten or twelve to about thirty.
He had himself nominated and elected by three dif-
ferent constituencies. But the numbers were nothing
to the moral effect of the defeats he was able to in-
flict, as showing how great was his influence-or
rather of the organization of which he was the visible
head. So distinguished a man as The O'Conor Don
—a man of conspicuous ability, tried patriotism, and
great popularity; a good landlord, a man universally
respected, and a politician who served Ireland faith-
fully and well for over a quarter of a century—was
defeated in the contest for the representation of the
county of Roscommon, which he held for over twenty
years, by an obscure Dublin pressman-clever, no
doubt, but unknown except as an agitator—simply
and solely because he was the nominee of Parnell
and the Land League. And stranger still, the Hon.
King-Harman, in the adjoining county of Sligo-a
very popular landlord-had to succumb to a Parnellite
carpet-bagger, who might have dropped from the
clouds, so utterly unknown was he in the county.
But Mr. Parnell's triumph was not altogether un-
attended by reverses. He was literally hunted out
of the town of Enniscorthy by a party of Nationalists;
396 The Land League Under Weigh.
and worse still, Mr. O'Connor Power-one of his own
once most trusted adherents, who had begun to give
indications that he had a mind of his own, and whom
he had set his heart on defeating, just, no doubt, 'to
encourage the others'-beat him at the polls, in the
contest for Mayo county, by a considerable majority.
Not the least curious part of the business was, that
the Land Leaguers, though engaged up to their necks
in the Parliamentary contest, vowed all the time that
they had the utmost contempt for Parliamentary ac-
tion, and took no concern about Parliamentary elec-
tions, or spent none of their money in fighting the
battle of their champions.
Mr. Davitt himself always denied that the Land
League at all relied upon Parliamentary action. And
at a meeting of the League, held just before the elec-
tions, he said :-'Not only would not a fraction of the
money sent to the League for relief purposes be used
for returning members to Parliament, but not a penny
of the political fund of the League would be used for
any such purpose, and one of the rules of the League
expressly stated that no money should be used to fur-
ther the interests of any Parliamentary candidate.'
These astounding assertions were made with the
intention of hoodwinking the Nationalist allies of the
League as to their real objects and designs. The
Nationalists, it was known, were opposed to Parlia-
mentary action, while the Land League, in so far as
it was a political organization at all, was an organiza-
tion which could only achieve its objects by Parlia-
mentary action. But the Leaguers wished their
Nationalist supporters to believe that their organi-
The League Conference.
zation, which they held out to be legal and consti-
tutional, was in reality revolutionary, illegal, and
entirely unconstitutional. Therefore they pretended
that, in fact, they relied not at all on Parliamen-
tary action. As regards the non-defrayal, by the
League, of the expenses of its nominees, how pos-
sibly could they be paid unless the League paid
them? Nearly the whole of Mr. Parnell's young
men were not only obscure, but excessively impecu-
nious, and it was simply impossible that they could
have themselves defrayed their election expenses.
Therefore the League must have payed, and did, as a
matter of fact, pay them. That this was so is, in fact,
no longer denied. The Rev. Dean Cantwell has stated
that the Land League treasurer paid the cost of the
election of Mr. John Dillon and Mr. P. J. Smyth as
representatives for the county of Tipperary, and that
individual has never denied the 'soft impeachment.'
Then, is it to be believed that Mr. Parnell defrayed
the expenses attendant on his organizing scampers
over the country previous to the elections-the spe-
cial trains, and the other expenses incidental to these
feats of the haute ecole of agility and endurance? The
League managers did not decidedly overrate the in-
telligence of their Fenian confederates when they ex-
pected them to believe these monstrous fictions.
After the elections, the newly-elected Members held
a conference in Dublin, and deposed Mr. W. Shaw in
favour of Mr. Parnell, as their Parliamentary leader.
On the 29th of April, 1880, the Land League held a
conference, and adopted a programme, a 'platform,'
and a policy-all alike absurd, impracticable, and, if
397
398
The Land League Under Weigh.
practicable, anti-national, and therefore undesirable.
There was not much difference of opinion, and indeed
none was expected. Mr. Parnell had his following
too well in hand to permit that. The programme has,
I know, excited the admiration of some English Radi-
cals and advanced' Liberals. Mr. Cowen, M. P. for
Newcastle-on-Tyne, is especially enamoured of it.
He said lately that he considered it did not 'conflict
with economical principles, or do injustice to any
party.' But does he quite know what it is? Here
are some of the ' planks' from the League 'platform,'
adopted at this conference as their programme, and
never since withdrawn or modified in any way :—
<
'To carry out the permanent reform of land tenure, we
propose the creation of a Department or Commission
of Land Administration for Ireland. This Department
would be invested with ample powers to deal with all
questions relating to land in Ireland. . When a te-
nant tendered to the landlord, for the purchase of his
holding, a sum equal to twenty years of the Poor Law
Valuation thereof, the Department would execute the
conveyance of the said holding to the tenant, and
would be empowered to advance to the tenant the
whole or any part of the purchase-money, the repay-
ment of which would be secured as set forth in the
case of ordinary sales. The Department would be em-
powered to acquire the ownership of any estate upon
tendering to the owner thereof a sum equal to twenty
years' Poor Law Valuation of such estate, and to let
said estate to the tenants at a rate equal to three and
a-half per cent. of the purchase-money thereof. Pro-
vision would be made whereby the Treasury could,
•
The League Programme.
399
from time to time, advance to the Department such
sums of money as would be required for the purchase.
above mentioned.'
Does this 'conflict with no economical principles,
and do injustice to no party'? I know, if I were
a landlord, and that a 'Department' took over my
land without my consent, and paid me only a stated
sum, which was far under its value, I would be
tempted to consider myself very unjustly treated, and
would have but small respect for the 'economical
principles or for the Government which enforced
them-which did not conflict with such monstrous
injustice. Such is the League scheme which finds
such favour in the eyes of this generous English
gentleman.
But Mr. Cowen, and Englishmen in general, may
be well excused if they fail to rightly understand what
are the precise aims of the Land Leaguers, since the
leader of the movement is not above attempting to
deceive them-but whether with deep design, or
malice aforethought, I will not undertake to say. For
example, in an article written by him, which appeared
in the Nineteenth Century in August, 1880, he gives
the following version of the Land League scheme for
the settlement of the Irish Land Question :-
< 1. A Board of Commissioners should be esta-
blished in Dublin, whose duty it would be to buy
entire estates in the Landed Estates Court, and then
take their own time to sell these estates in lots to the
occupying tenants.
2. The Judge of the Landed Estates Court should
be empowered to sell the estate to the Board, not-
400
The Land League Under Weigh.
withstanding any objection by the owner, not only
when they bid the highest price, but also when they
bid as high a price as any other bidder.
3. Provision should be made for advancing to the
tenants a sum not to exceed (say) five-sixths of the
purchase-money to be paid by them, such advance to
be repaid by them in instalments, in a manner simi-
lar to that provided by the Bright clauses.
This, it need hardly be pointed out, is vastly diffe-
rent to the official programme of the League, which
means simply the compulsory purchase of the pro-
perties of the landlords by the Government at twenty
years' purchase of the Poor Law Valuation.
But in reality the League goes far outside its of
ficial programme. The organization is worked from
its 'base of supplies' in America, and the New York
Irish World is its authorized organ. The World's
platform, as I have shown, is the 'land for the people'
—as it was of the Fenian conspiracy—its rightful
owners,' and it laughs to scorn the idea of compen-
sating the landlords; it considers the mere suggestion
of such a thing the 'rankest blasphemy.' 'What!' it
says in amazement, 'compensate the "land thieves!""
The land thieves have no moral right to the land
they call their own-it is they who should make resti-
tution to the tenants, whom they have been so long
permitted to plunder.' Mr. Davitt, moreover, at the
Conference, repudiated the League programme in so
far as it proposed to give the landlords twenty years'
purchase of the Government valuation as compensa-
tion for the loss of their properties. The rate of pay-
ment was too high, he thought-in strict justice they
The League Conference.
should get nothing. He would prefer to get rid of
landlords by revolution, but that as revolution is
impossible, we must have recourse to compensation'
-only it must be as little as possible.
Soon after the Conference Mr. Davitt went to Ame-
rica to complete Mr. Parnell's unfulfilled mission, and
succeeded in inducing the Irish-Americans to keep up
the flow of coin into the League money-bags. At
the same time the newly-recruited Parnellite Parlia-
mentary party entered upon its first campaign. It
began with a great flourish of trumpets and loud
proclamation of great achievements to be performed.
But it did nothing-absolutely nothing. The inac-
tivity of the Irish Parliamentary party during the first
Session of the present Parliament was just as promi-
nent as it was at intervals when it gave its undivided
allegiance to the late Mr. Butt. Naturally the more
moderate members of the party, who had remained
faithful to Mr. Butt, and who had joined him in con-
demnation of the policy of exasperation,' did not
take part in any of the obstructive manœuvres of the
Parnellite section; so that the Irish party was just as
much divided, and as impotent for united action, in
the present as it was in the last Parliament. The
Parnellites did nothing save obstruct, and not much
even in that direction.
<
401
Evictions were proceeding in Ireland at an alarm-
ing rate, but the 'active' Irish party remained com-
placently inactive. They 'toiled not; neither did
they spin'-they looked on. 'I think,' exclaimed
Mr. John Ferguson, a leading Land Leaguer, at a
meeting held in the middle of June, when the Session
2 D
402
The Land League Under Weigh.
(
was half over, the delay of the Irish party is frightful.
It appeared as if, from some influence or other, the
Irish party were giving way from the pledges they
made on the hustings.' The small tenantry of Ire-
land were being driven from their homes from utter
inability to pay arrears of rent, but the active, the
much promising, and the loudly-boasting Parnellite
Members of Parliament, did not stir hand or foot to
save them. They devoted all their energies to oppos-
ing the admission to Parliament of Mr. Bradlaugh—
who had always opposed Coercion, and had worked
earnestly, but ineffectually, to obtain the pardon of
the rescuers of the Fenian chiefs at Manchester-
and to criticising the appointment of a French am-
bassador. They did, it is true, endeavour to prevent
Irish farmers giving evidence before the Commis-
sion which was appointed by Parliament to collect.
evidence upon which to ground legislation upon the
land question. But when the House of Lords rejected
the Compensation for Disturbance Bill, intended to
prevent the eviction of rack-rented tenants for non-
payment of impossible arrears of rent, they humbly
acquiesced, and calmly resumed the study of the
haute politique-Imperial and Great British-with
which that disagreeable event had somewhat inter-
fered. When Mr. Shaw, who had succeeded to the
leadership of the party after Mr. Butt's death, was
deposed from that position, and Mr. Parnell ap-
pointed to succeed him, the people were promised
a session which should astonish the world by reason
of the extraordinary and aggressive character of the
tactics of the Irish party which it would exhibit. But
Inactivity of the 'Actives."
when the session ended it proved to have been, so far
as Ireland was concerned, the most unexciting, most
unproductive, and altogether fruitless on record. The
Irish party could not even obtain any change in the
constitution of the Land Commission, which was
open to serious objection.
Now, why was this? why, after holding out such
great expectations of notable and valuable achieve-
ments, was absolutely nothing done? why was no
serious effort made to do anything? The reason is
plain. The pace of the land movement in Ireland
was getting just a little too fast, and if further
stimulated by triumphs of the Parliamentary party,
might precipitate the coming concessions of the Go-
vernment, so that there was danger of the agitation.
prematurely subsiding before the plan of the League
wire-pullers had time to become fully developed.
Besides, money was coming to them from America
in vast sums, with promises of still more, and conse-
quently it would have been calamitous for them had
the Government yielded to pressure, and brought in
their conciliatory measure just then. Therefore they
were well pleased that their party in Parliament had
done nothing. Indeed, Mr. Parnell did not conceal
his satisfaction at the defeat of the Disturbance Bill
by the Lords. Had it passed, he made no scruple to
declare, it would have taken the ground from under
his feet.
403
During the Parliamentary recess the agitation
grew apace; boycotting became an established insti-
tution; evictions increased, consequent on the non-
payment of rents. The meetings were frequent, and
2 D 2
404 The Land League under Weigh.
the talk the tallest. A fresh impetus was given to
the movement just when it wanted it It was be-
ginning to languish a little, in October, when the
Government instituted prosecutions against Messrs.
Parnell, Dillon, Brennan, Sullivan, and others who
had taken prominent part in the movement. This
exactly answered the purposes of the Leaguers. They
knew perfectly well that the prosecutions would fail,
and saw at once that they afforded a splendid oppor-
tunity of creating another 'surplus.' And they could
not fail to perceive that the agitation itself would re-
ceive a new lease of life. And so it turned out. From
the moment the jury was sworn, the result of the trials
was never in doubt. It was plain as the sun at noon-
day that they would disagree, if they did not acquit.
The League had influence sufficient to make sure of
that. And they did disagree, and the surplus also was
secured. The collection for the Defence Fund rea-
lized nearly £23,000, of which certainly not one-half
was expended in the defence; so that the surplus
which the State prosecutions enabled the League to
realize cannot be far short of £12,000. That the
Government failure to obtain convictions against the
leading Leaguers extended and confirmed their al-
ready vast influence in the country is a fact so
notorious as to be beyond dispute.
When the news of the Government prosecutions
reached America it was made use of with much effect
by the land-for-the-people men, and there, as in Ire-
land, the State trials and their result wonderfully
helped the organization. Michael Davitt returned
from America to Dublin when he heard of the prose-
Increase of Crime.
cutions, but, no doubt greatly to his chagrin, he arrived
too late to be included in the indictment. He had
consequently no role to fill in the legal struggle be-
tween the Crown prosecutors and the Land League
traversers, save that of judicious bottle-holder, which
he sustained à merveille.
405
<
Meantime agrarian crime began to manifest itself
in alarming form. Landlords were not the victims
of the 'wild justice of revenge,' as formerly, but
only bailiffs, process-servers, and other lesser limbs.
of the law'; poor tenants who had the honesty and
courage to brave the terrors of Land League in-
timidation; and-horrible and disgraceful to relate
-dumb animals. You must,' said a minister of
God's mercy-a Catholic priest-at a Land League
meeting in the west, 'shun the wretch who dares to
take the land from which another is evicted, as you
would a leper. Hold no communion with him what-
ever. If his wife and children lie sick unto death you
must bring him no relief; nay, if the house over their
heads were burning as they lay in slumber, all un-
conscious of their danger, you must not give them
warning so that they might save their lives.' And
this really is a fair reflection of the spirit which took
possession of the farming classes as the result of this
ruthless agitation.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE LAND BILL.
SURER.
ARREST OF MICHAEL DAVITT. FLIGHT OF THE LEAGUE TREA-
THE LEAGUE LEADER ALARMED. THE LAND BILL.
EFFORT OF THE LEAGUERS TO OBSTRUCT IT. THE BILL PASSED.
VAIN ATTEMPT OF THE LEAGUE TO PREVENT ITS WORK-
ING.
THE
HE Government, finding that the abortive prose-
cution of the leaders of the movement had any-
thing but a beneficial effect, at last took a step which
considerably disconcerted the Leaguers, and spread
dismay in their camp. In the month of January, 1881,
Michael Davitt was arrested in Dublin, and sent back
to Portland prison to complete the term of his sen-
tence of penal servitude. That proved to them that
the Government was at last in earnest.
2
The first defection was that of the Land League
treasurer, who pretended to become suddenly alarmed
lest the Government should lay hands on the funds of
the organization, which he had in charge. That,
however, was but an excuse to cover his flight from
possible arrest. He knew perfectly well that the
Government had no power to touch a shilling of the
League fund. In '65 it is true that Fenian money
was seized by the authorities and confiscated, but
Mr. Parnell Alarmed.
407
then the Fenian organization was a treasonable and
revolutionary combination-and the League, at that
time, was quite legal.
Then, it is an open secret, that Mr. Parnell himself
became alarmed. He, too, feigned to become sud-
denly concerned for the safety of the League money,
and would insist on joining Egan in Paris. There he
tarried for weeks, on one pretence or another, leaving
his followers in Parliament to fight the battle against
the Coercion Act, which the Government introduced
at the opening of Parliament, uncheered by his pre-
sence, and without the guidance which his tact and
foresight rendered so valuable to them. However,
just at that time, he became on a sudden alive to
the great advantages which would accrue to the
Irish cause from enlightening French public opi-
nion upon the national question. That is, just
when the British Government were forging fresh
fetters for liberty in Ireland-driven to do so, no
doubt, under the pressure of imperative necessity—
the 'leader of the Irish people'-whose duty to his
country and the cause he professed to serve was to be
in his place in Parliament, at the head of his fol-
lowers, resisting the Government proposals with all
his generally superabundant energy and untiring ac-
tivity—considered it necessary to interview certain
French publicists and newspaper writers, and give
them his views on Irish politics. I believe I am correct
in saying that Mr. Parnell was only present at two
or three of the many divisions during the prolonged
fight over the Coercion Bill, and that it was not until
Mr. Justin M'Carthy, Mr. Biggar, and others of the
C
408
The Land Bill.
Irish party, had given him some very broad hints
that his presence in London was desirable, he re-
turned to his bereaved but belligerent following.
I am afraid there is little doubt that the League
leader lost heart at this critical time. However,
when at last the Coercion Bill was got out of the
way, and it was seen that the first arrests under
it were 'nobodies,' I suppose he felt his courage re-
established. At all events he displayed much of his
old resolution and determination in opposing, not the
Coercion, but the Land Bill, when he came back to
London, after 'nobbling' the French press-or pre-
tending to have done so-and hobnobbing with M.
Henri Rochfort, and other French irreconcilables.
It is not my purpose to discuss the merits or
demerits of this Land Bill. It was the best abused
and the most greatly bepraised bill which has, within
my memory, been brought before Parliament. I will
only repeat what I have always said of it, that it is
the very largest measure of redress the Irish tenantry
may expect, or have a right to expect, to receive from
the English Parliament; that it is quite as favourable
to them as would be a similar Act passed by a native
Parliament; that it practically abolishes landlordism;
that it concedes them fully as much, and more, in the
way of protection in the enjoyment and exclusive
possession of the value of their improvements, and
that it fixes them more firmly in their holdings at a
fair rent, and gives them greater facilities for becom-
ing owners than the extremest scheme ever seriously
devised or contemplated by tenant-right advocates.
I do not say that it is perfect-far from that.
It
Hostility of the Leaguers
has only been a short time in working, and yet it has
been seen to have serious blemishes, which, of course,
will be removed. But I maintain that in its scope,
its design and its intention; in the principles which it
recognizes and to which it gives the force of law; it is
the best measure which the Irish tenantry can expect,
or have a right to expect, from their rulers. And I
think that the difficulties which the Government had
to encounter, in order once for all to do justice to the
Irish tenantry, have never been sufficiently appreci-
ated. The Act which they have succeeded in passing
conflicts directly with many economic theories; it
overrides the rights of property, and it obliterates
freedom of contract, both of which have been hitherto
objects of reverential care and respect to British
legislators. Already it has reduced the income of
many Irish landlords by one-fourth, without com-
pensation. I do not say whether or not this is
justifiable. I only wish to point out how great was
the violence which British ministers were obliged to
do to British feelings of right and justice; how deep-
seated were the prejudices they were obliged to en-
counter and overcome, to obtain legislative sanction.
for a complete reversal of traditional theories hitherto
held to be inviolable by the British people.
And yet it did not please the Land Leaguers.
Why should it? It was quite too good, too liberal,
too unexpectedly generous. Indeed, they were hor-
ribly disgusted with it—and no wonder. They calcu-
lated that it would have been quite the reverse of what
it turned out to be; they felt quite confident that it
would be so flawed with defects, that they could pick
409
410
The Land Bill.
it to pieces, and hold it up as an example of the
incapacity of British legislators in general, and of
Liberal legislators in particular, to make just laws
for Ireland. But, at the same time, I feel bound to
say that Mr. Parnell himself in private-and in pub-
lic, though not so unreservedly-admitted that it was
really excellent. 'It is,' he said to me, a far better
Bill than anyone could have expected; much better
than the beggars (meaning the tenants) deserve.
But,' he cautiously added, we must not say all that,
you know.' Clearly not. If he said that-though he
believed it in his heart-what would become of the
land agitation and the land agitators? But even in
public his opposition to the Bill did not become very
pronounced for some time.
(
Before it was introduced he was accused of over-
moderation. In a speech which he delivered in
London, in March, '81, he said :-'I don't think we
ought to reject absolutely any proposal that may be
made to us of an ameliorative character by the pre-
sent Government; I do not think we ought to reject
any Bill which may be offered by the Government,
no matter how small it may be. I would be very
sorry to oppose the slightest concession to the tenant-
farmers of Ireland.' This was said before the Bill
was published, and it looked as if the Land League
leader wanted to give the Government a hint that
they might not trouble themselves overmuch about the
character of the measure they were about to introduce,
since anything they offered would be accepted with
thanks. It seemed in fact as if he wished it to be
worthless, so that it might be rejected. But there he
ww
The Working of the Act.
was on delicate ground, and he soon changed his
tone. It is not impossible that he received an inti-
mation from his transatlantic directors that such
moderate views were distasteful to them, and that
they would not tolerate them under any circum-
stances. At all events, when the Bill was intro-
duced, and found not only not to be a very 'small,'
but a very large one, though he did not openly
oppose it, he damned it with faint praise,' did all
he could to depreciate it, and prevented his party
from voting for its second reading, though some of
them had expressed their intention of doing so.
<
Out of doors he and his fellow-Leaguers con-
demned it unequivocally, and rejected, with con-
tempt, the suggestion that it could be regarded in
any sense as even a temporary settlement of the land
question. And at every stage of its progress through
Parliament they met it with covert but effective ob-
struction, so that its final passing was sensibly de-
layed. However, the Bill passed, and the next move
of the Parnellites was to endeavour to keep the tenants
out of the Land Courts, and to demonstrate the ineffi-
ciency of the Act by misinterpreting the plain mean-
ing of some of its most important clauses. They
were told that the League would prepare a number of
test cases for the decision of the Land Commission,
which would be sure to prove that it was useless.
Mr. Parnell, in his speeches during the contest for
the representation of the county of Tyrone, in which
his nominee was so soundly beaten, laboured hard in
this direction. On one occasion he said :-"The prin-
ciple of the Irish National Land League was that the
4II
w
412
The Land Bill.
land should belong to the people of Ireland, and not
to the landlords, and that the value added to the land
by the exertions and labour of the tenant-farmers
should be restored to the tenant-farmers, and taken
away from the landlords.' And he argued that if the
'Healy clause,' upon which he put a strained and
misleading interpretation, were acted upon by the
Land Commission, the last-named stipulation would
be in fair way of realization. And so, indeed, it
would. If the landlords were only to be allowed
'prairie value' for the land, the tenant-farmers would
have restored to them the value of not only their own
labours, but those of their predecessors in title'
from the remotest antiquity down to the present.
This is a fair sample of the utterly unscrupulous.
manner in which he sought to discredit this most
beneficent measure, and to raise up obstacles to pre-
vent its getting a fair trial.
The attempt to keep the tenants out of the Land
Courts altogether failed, and, on the whole, the
success of the Act has, so far, quite justified the
expectations of its originators. It is to be regret-
ted, however, that it has not dealt more effectu-
ally with the arrears of rack-rents. I am quite sure
that the great majority of the small farmers are
quite unable to pay those arrears. And I am also
of opinion that the inability of such men to pay
rent arises from no fault of theirs, but is altogether
owing to the grievous losses suffered from failure of
crops and unsaleable cattle. It is, therefore, an
agrarian offence of a heartless kind to direct a volley
of notices to quit against them, in order to break up
<
Necessary Amendments.
their homesteads, and drive them for ever from the
land of their fathers. I am sure, however, that the
great majority of the landlords have no desire to act
harshly unless driven to do so. One of the worst
evils of the present agitation is that it prevents those
poor farmers from making friendly arrangements with
their landlords. They are goaded and intimidated
into setting them at defiance, and the latter may be
excused, under such circumstances, for asserting their
rights.
It has also become evident that the purchase
clauses will have to be amended in order to become
operative; the whole of the purchase-money, pro-
bably, instead of three-fourths, will have to be ad-
vanced to the tenant purchasers before they can be
induced to avail themselves of the great advantages
offered to them under these clauses. There is no
doubt that such a modification would vastly increase
the number of intending purchasers, and there is
little doubt, too, induce very many of the landlords
to sell.
413
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE TIDE AT THE FLOOD.
ARREST OF MR. PARNELL AND THE LEAGUE LEADERS. THE
LEAGUE PROCLAIMED. THE 'NO-RENT' MANIFESTO. LAND
LEAGUE FUNDS. COERCION IN FORCE. DESIGNS OF THE
LEAGUE.
SIM
IMULTANEOUSLY with the opening of the
Land Courts agrarian crime broke out afresh;
League orators became more outspoken, and Mr.
Parnell himself, stimulated, no doubt, by fresh orders
from the other side,' became more and more defi-
ant of the Government, and more pronounced in his
condemnation of the Land Act. Nevertheless, it was
just beginning to be seen that the agitation would
soon lose ground, and that gradually its influence
with the people would become weakened. The sup-
pression of the meetings generally all over the coun-
try, and the arrests of local leaders, were beginning
to tell, and the receipts from America were palpably
lessening, when, late in autumn of last year, as if the
stars in their courses were fighting for it, the League
was once more revivified. On Friday, October the
14th, Mr. Parnell was arrested, and all the other
League leaders, officials, and Parnellite Members of
Parliament, with a few exceptions, upon whom the
The Arrests.
415
police could lay hands in Dublin, were soon after
placed in durance vile. No doubt, the step was un-
avoidable, but it is nevertheless certain that it helped
the League agitation very materially—that it gave it
new life in seeming death. Very likely the action
of the Irish executive prevented some excesses, and
may ultimately achieve its object; but for the time
there is no doubt it quite served the purposes of
the League managers-it obtained for them more.
money and further 'moral support' from Irish Ame-
rica.
Then came the No Rent manifesto, by way of
retaliation, from the new head-quarters of the Land
League in Kilmainham, which was promptly an-
swered by the issue of the Government proclamation
suppressing the League. For a time, then, it was
to all seeming dead, but soon it arose again, phoenix-
like, from its ashes, and it lives still in Ladies'
Leagues, in Prisoners' Aid Societies, and in secret
combinations all over the land. And the great heart
of Irish America, once more throbbing responsive in
pitying sympathy for the troubles of the parent coun-
try, was again moved to compassion, and the people
opened their purse-strings afresh, and another stream
of gold was set flowing over the Atlantic into the
capacious treasury of the supposed to be defunct
League. At a convention of the American Land
League, held in December, £50,000 was agreed to
be raised for the Home organization, but the remit-
tances actually made to Paris largly exceeded that
large amount. Altogether I am sure that the re-
ceipts of the League, from all sources, since it was.
416
The Tide at the Flood.
started in '79 to March of the present year, includ-
ing the various surpluses, cannot fall far short of, if
it does not exceed, £200,000.
And what is there to show for the expenditure of
the larger portion of this vast amount, which is
already said to have been squandered? Nothing,
save misery and degradation. Trade stagnant; in-
dustry paralyzed; shopkeepers ruined. Numbers of
tenants who have lost their farms crowding into the
work-houses, or dragging out a miserable existence
in sight of the land from which they were dispos-
sessed-which in all probability shall never be theirs
again-in 'Land League huts,' on the miserable dole
allowed them by the League; an all-pervading ter-
rorism, which proscribes common honesty and good
feeling and fair dealing, and renders rent-paying a
crime punishable by murder-a reign of coercion by
Irish ‘patriots,' infinitely more odious than any which
the British rulers of Ireland ever imposed on that un-
happy land. I do most vehemently detest coercion
in even its mildest form, and would gladly see its
perpetual abolition decreed. But why do not the
real coercionists begin it?
There is coercion and coercion. The coercion of
the British Government is, at the present time, the
inevitable consequence of the coercion of the Land
League. The first duty of every Government is to se-
cure its subjects in the assertion of their lawful rights.
The British Government which rules Ireland conse-
quently is bound to enable Irish landlords to assert
their rights-to obtain payment of their rents. A com-
bination of men, however, is formed with the object
-
The Outcry against Coercion.
of preventing the landlords from getting any rent at
all; and can it be pretended that the extremest steps
which the Government could take, to encounter the
evil effects of such a combination, would not be en-
tirely justifiable? Besides, it was boasted by the
Land League that it was, in fact, the Government
of Ireland. The glory of the Land League move-
ment,' said the New York Irish World, is that, as its
enemies admit, it is a government de facto. It can
issue its decrees directly in the teeth of the reigning
political machine, and yet not fall directly under its
power and jurisdiction.' The wonder is that, knowing,
as they do, that the conspiracy with which they had
to deal has ulterior and still more unlawful designs
against all law, order, and right, they did not take
a more extreme and effective course than any upon
which they have hitherto relied.
(
417
.
-
But the Land Leaguers, and many other people who
should know better, are sadly aggrieved because a
few Irish representatives and a few hundred of their
deluded followers have been imprisoned-prevented,
that is, from preaching dishonesty and resistance
to law, and indirectly, but effectively, instigating
to the commission of murder and outrage. If the
truth were known, I venture to say that Mr. Parnell
and his associates are not at all sorry to be placed
under temporary and not severe restraint. Were they
free, they know that the impetus of the movement
might precipitate them into still more unlawful enter-
prises. And they are aware that all the time they are
in retirement, the movement is making greater pro-
gress than it would otherwise have done; and, what
2 E
418
The Tide at the Flood.
is still more satisfactory, the 'surplus' cash is being
constantly swollen.
And their hearts bled for the sufferings of the
'martyr' Davitt. The arrest of Davitt was a harsh
step, I admit, but only because long tolerance might
have led him to count on continued impunity. I can-
not forget that he was a prisoner on ticket-of-leave-
that is, he was liberated on condition that he would
be of good behaviour.' But is the fact that he is the
originator of a movement declared to be illegal, and
that he went about the country preaching incendiary
sermons upon the text that 'rent is an immoral tax
on industry' consistent with the implied pledge upon
which he obtained his liberty-that he would observe
the law of the land-that he would be of good be-
haviour?
The Leaguers indeed should be devoutly thankful
for 'Coercion.' Some of them at least have made a
real good thing of it. A medical officer of a public
body, and a Leaguer, who had, moreover, been local
treasurer of the League in the city, was arrested
under it. When the League was proclaimed an ille-
gal combination, as a matter of course, its execu-
tive officers were all arrested, and amongst them was
Dr. Kenny, the gentleman in question. But he held
an appointment under a Government department, and
from that also, as a matter of course, he was dis-
missed by the heads of the department. His friends,
however, raised an outcry at this so-called 'gross in-
justice,' and immediately got up a subscription to
compensate him for the loss of his situation, which
realised £1000. The Government, apparently not to
I
Incitements to Crime.
419
be outdone in generosity, thereupon-after the inte-
resting culprit had enjoyed the congenial society of
Messrs. Parnell, O'Kelly, and others of his associates,
in the calm and salubrious seclusion of Kilmainham
for a couple of months-liberated him, and restored
to him the appointment taken from him by the
'sealed order' of the Local Government Board, chief
of which is the Irish Chief Secretary himself. Could
a more heartrending instance of British 'brutality'
be conceived than this? A Catholic clergyman,
Father Sheehy, was also amongst those first arrested.
He was detained in prison just sufficiently long to
make him a 'martyr,' and then he was allowed to
go to America, where he went on the stump' for
the League. His oratory was, as might have been
expected, of most stimulating and treasonable cha-
racter, and there is no knowing how many thousand
dollars it added to the League fund. More British
tyranny!
And we are told that it is because the restraining
influence of the League leaders is absent, while they
are in prison, agrarian crime is so prevalent. But they
did vastly little in the direction of restraining crime
when at liberty. That the tendency of their orations,
on the contrary, was to stimulate it was evident from
the interpretation put upon them by 'voices' shouting
'give them lead'; 'shoot them,' and soforth, at most
of the meetings held previous to the suppression of
the League. Even Michael Davitt himself, who pre-
tended to be so horrified at the crimes, the commis-
sion of which he had no small share in indirectly
promoting, is not above the suspicion of having been
2 E 2
420
The Tide at the Flood.
himself implicated in a contemplated assassination.
At his trial in 1870 a letter was read which was sworn
to be in his handwriting, in which was the following
passage :-'In reference to the other affair, I hope
you won't take any part in it whatever; I mean in
the carrying of it out. If it is decided upon, and you
receive Fem's, and through him Fitz's consent, let it
be done by all means; but one thing you must re-
member, and that is, that you are of too much impor-
tance to our family to be spared, even at the risk of
allowing a rotten sheep to exist among the flock.
Whoever is employed, don't let him use the pen we use,
and have been selling; get another for the purpose-a
common one.' It was sworn that 'family' was a
Fenian term for society, and a 'pen' meant a re-
volver.
Mr. Parnell also took a peculiar way-to say the
least of it—of exhibiting his anxiety for the repression
of crime. For instance, in a speech which he de-
livered at a meeting in the Rotunda, Dublin, soon
after his return from America, he wound up his re-
marks with a charming anecdote. After addressing
a meeting in the United States, he said, one of his
audience came to him and handed him twenty-five
dollars, saying: Here are five dollars for bread, and
twenty for lead.' Mr. Parnell did not say he refused
this generous contribution, and the inference is, that
he took it; and that if he did not expend it in ac-
cordance with the intention of the donor-that is, in
laying out four-fifths of it in the purchase of lead,
presumedly to be made into bullets, whose billets
were to have been the bodies of landlords or other
<
<
und
Meetings and Outrages.
enemies of Ireland'-he was unfaithful to the trust
he accepted. Mr. Biggar, too, indulged in many sly
incitements to outrage at League meetings, and other
speakers told the people that there were many land-
lords who deserved to be shot; that the compensation
they ought to get was not twenty years' purchase,
but twenty feet of a rope; that the people would soon
have a right to keep guns, and use them; that it was
cowardly to maim cattle, and that those who did so
had not the courage to shoot the landlord; that the
law allowed them to kill ground game, and game
above ground, and that landlords should be treated
like mad dogs.
421
It is also worthy of note that the returns of outrages
show that they were most prevalent in the districts
where the meetings attended by these gentlemen.
were held. Thus, in Clare, there were 29 meetings
and 93 outrages; in Kerry, 23 meetings and 298 out-
rages; in Limerick, 17 meetings and 196 outrages;
in Mayo, the cradle of the League, 55 meetings and
239 outrages. In other places the figures varied, the
North showing the smallest number.
The issue of the 'No Rent' manifesto was fol-
lowed by a fresh outbreak of crime. That this was
directly traceable as the effect of the 'No Rent' com-
mand—that if there had been no 'No Rent' procla-
mation there would have been no outrages worth
mention-is self-evident. The Land League is, we
are assured, the government of Ireland de facto-the
government which by right rules Ireland-but it has
no army or navy, or police force-as yet to compel
obedience to its decrees. It was, therefore, compelled
422
The Tide at the Flood.
to have recourse to the services of 'irregulars'—that
is, Moonlighters, bastard Fenians and Ribbonmen-
to see that its commands are respected and enforced.
The first serious aggressive move of the Government
de jure-the Irish executive-was the arrest of the
leaders of its enemy's forces. The counter-move of
the government de facto was the 'No Rent' command,
enforced by the terrorism of its guerillas-the mid-
night assassins, incendiaries, and maimers of dumb.
animals-in no other way could it be enforced. The
fact that the victims of this organized ruffianism in
the service of the League are now very rarely of the
landlord class, but are chiefly poor tenants who have
paid their rents, shows that the crimes which now
devastate the country are committed solely in enforce-
ment of the No Rent proclamation of the Land League
government of Ireland. Nor is this infamous decree
conditional, as has been alleged. It is absolute
and, it is said, irrevocable. The New York Irish
World described how it was adopted at the Chicago
Convention as follows:-
'Some argued that, as the No Rent policy had been
adopted by the Irish executive, the Chicago Conven-
tion ought to-stomach it; but at the same time it
ought to be gently intimated that there was some-
thing about this piece of business they didn't exactly
like; the indorsement should be made "conditional";
and, as a significant squint in this direction, the word
"until"-2.e. until the suspects were released-ought
to be injected. This conditional indorsement was
vigorously opposed through the heated hours of a
long night of debate; but, finally, the smoke of battle
The Moonlighters.'
C
423
lifted, and the banner of the positive men was seen
waving in victory!'
It is true that Mr. John Devoy, in his Irish Nation,
opposed the making absolute of the 'No Rent' ukase,
but only because it might precipitate an immature
rising against the Government de jure. Besides, is
there not also more than the suspicion that the out-
rages are secretly rewarded by the Land League?
The Dublin Evening Mail recently asked some plain
questions:-
'Is it true,' it said, 'that the money sent down from
Dublin to Connell, the "Moonlight" captain, was
supplied out of the Land League funds? Is it true
that the members of the gang upon whom Connell
"split" were fed, while in prison, by the Land
League? Is it true that the funds for the defence,
at the Assizes, of the same gang came out of the
Land League bank?' But no answer was given—
for obvious reasons. And I would supplement them
by another :-How came it, if the League does not
promote crime and outrage, and does not encourage,
reward, and defend those implicated in them, that,
in almost every instance, during recent Assizes,
where atrocious scoundrels were arraigned for the
commission of outrages—as a rule, so utterly hideous
in their callous brutality as to cover the name of
Ireland with lasting disgrace - the Land League
solicitors appeared to defend them? If these sus-
picions and conjectures are not well founded, the
Leaguers can readily disprove them. They have
only to publish a duly vouched and audited state-
ment of their expenditure. This, however, there is
424
The Tide at the Flood.
little chance of their doing. Yet, if they would only
follow the example of the Young Irelanders, as re-
gards the expenditure of their funds, they would have
prevented unpleasant suspicions. The Irish Con-
federation published monthly accounts of receipts
and expenditure, regularly audited, and full publicity
was given to all the proceedings as the most secure
basis of public confidence.
W
<
But the League will publish no accounts. It knows.
a trick worth two of that. The enemy,' you see,
might learn too much about the League's doings
if that were done. But I greatly doubt if it be the
'enemy' which the League wishes to keep in the
dark about this important matter-it is rather the
dupes who subscribed the money whom it is designed
to hoodwink. But when questioned by 'interviewers'
and others who want to know, the League Treasurer
invariably states that the money is used solely for
certain purposes which he names, and none other.
Therefore, the enemy' is told what is being done
with the money; and why should there be any secrecy
about it? To the same effect replied Michael Davitt
to interested querists. We spend the money only for
such and such purposes, he, too, said; and he was
always emphatic in his denial that any of it was used
to support Parliamentary agitation. Thus the world
was let into the secret of the purposes for which the
money was being expended; but yet it is held that if
details are published, the 'enemy' would obtain more
information than was desirable! Can there be a
doubt, therefore, that it is in reality being spent for
other purposes than those stated-that it is being
The League Funds.
misappropriated and misspent? This is notorious.
It is being wasted in a way that I am certain the
subscribers have no idea of; and would, if they only
knew it, be opposed to. I know myself that League
money has been, and is still, used to support Par-
liamentary agitation and Parliamentary agitators;
and that with it Nationalist opposition has been
bought off. That large sums are being lavished by
the League Treasurer in sustainment of his style and
dignity as Parisian Ambassador is well known; and
it is also notorious that very many of the tenants
who, acting on the advice of the League, have set the
law and their landlords at defiance, on the under-
standing that they would be supported and sustained
by the money entrusted to the League for that sole
purpose, have been utterly deceived and neglected—
have lost their farms and been left destitute, and
have had to seek refuge in the workhouses. With
this money, held in trust by the League managers
solely for the support of the evicted tenants at 'law'
with their landlords, have my papers-first having
been boycotted, so that I had no alternative save
to part with them-been purchased, and their writers
with them; with that money has Nationalist opposi-
tion in the West of Ireland been also bought off-
that is, honest independent opinion hostile to the
League has been silenced by bribes. And as I have
already shown, there is more than the suspicion that
the money is being used for the subornation of murder
and outrage. It is true that Mr. Egan has proposed
a secret audit of the accounts—that is, a select num-
ber of Irish-American Land League leaders in whose
425
426
The Tide at the Flood.
honour our executive' have confidence, are to be
satisfied as to the details of the expenditure. That
is as if directors of a bank had submitted their ac-
counts to the inspection of a few of themselves, and
asked their shareholders to take their auditing as
satisfactory! The whole thing is plainly an orga-
nized attempt to still further deceive a too-readily
deceived people.
But what is the true motive for this agitation? what
are the ends it proposes to attain? I am greatly
afraid its chief end and aim is to keep up a state of
unrest and turmoil in Ireland, for no worthier object
than to obtain money to sustain the movement and
its leaders. I am inclined to believe that it is an
agitation for collecting money only, and on false pre-
tences. To promote that end, the most brazen decep-
tion is being used. Lying telegrams from Ireland,
representing the country as in a state bordering on
rebellion—or, according to Mr. Pat. Egan's formula
when acknowledging money-advancing with 'ten
times greater celerity to national independence,' are
constantly appearing in New York Land League
organs, as if coming from Ireland. Concocted lists
of refusals to pay rents in the rural districts, which
have been proved to be absolutely false, are also
being circulated amongst the Irish in the United
States, and other discreditable devices being had re-
course to, with the sole object of obtaining money—
always money and still more money. With the
same object in view, it is pretended that landlord-
ism can be abolished by the simple expedient of
refusing to pay rents. This the Land Leaguers
The Abolition of Landlordism.
'
tell their dupes is 'horribly simple': they have only
got to keep their money in their pockets, and
wait patiently until the landlords are abolished!
That would be all very well if the Land League was
actually the de facto Government of Ireland it is pre-
tended that it is; but as it is not, and as the British
Government is still supreme in Ireland, and British
law still existent, the horribly simple' tenant who
keeps his landlord's money will be 'horribly' sold when
he finds himself put out of his farm, without any hope
of its redemption. By persistent refusal to pay rents,
the Leaguers argue, the landlords will be starved out,
the Government compelled to take over their pro-
perties, and restore the land to its rightful owners';
and if the landlords are to get any compensation, the
money to pay them must come out of the 'Imperial
treasury,' and is not to be levied off Ireland. And it
is on strength of this expectation that money is being
so lavishly subscribed in the United States to sustain
the movement—it is paid over in the confidant expec-
tation that it will bring about the extinction of land-
lordism, and the land revert to its 'rightful owners'
without any payment whatever.
C
No man in his senses can pretend that such expec-
tations as these are at all likely to be realized—just
as little likelihood is there that the people will get
the land for nothing, and the landlords be not com-
pensated in any way. Still the Irish-American
people continue to subscribe their money, and don't
seem to concern themselves in the least what be-
comes of it. And the too credulous people at home
blindly follow the instructions of their evil advisers,
427
428
The Tide at the Flood.
and the results are confusion, disunion, and dis-
trust; increasing evictions, and an exhausting exo-
dus; and the Irish national cause pushed back half
a century, at least; so that a fresh start for the road
of progress will, in all likelihood, have to be made.
2
*
CHAPTER XXXIX.
IRISH LEADERS, PAST AND PRESENT.
THE LEADER OF YOUNG IRELAND.' THE FENIAN LEADERS.
WHO THE CHIEF LEAGUERS ARE.
PERHAPS the very strongest evidence that can
be obtained of the demoralization of what is
called public opinion in Ireland, caused by the Land
League agitation, will be found in the deterioration
of its leaders. To realize this fact, we need look
back no farther than the Repeal period. The leaders
of that day—particularly of the 'Young Ireland' sec-
tion-were, as a rule, men of cultured intelligence,
of fair social position, of high personal character-
who had, moreover, lofty aspirations. The Fenian.
leaders, who succeeded them, were, with a few ex-
ceptions, men in the humblest walks of life, un-
educated, but many of them possessing considerable
natural abilities; they emulated the men of '48,
however, in the self-sacrificing devotion to the
country, and in the generous enthusiasm of their
genuine and unselfish patriotism. On the other hand,
the leaders of the present day are, with some excep-
tions, mere adventurers, who have adopted politics as
a profession, 'smart'-some of them-no doubt, but
quite unscrupulous, and utterly (unreliable; the per-
430
Irish Leaders, Past and Present.
petuation of anarchy and discord their highest hope;
greed and dishonesty the gospel they teach. In
short, most of them are men who have taken up
'patriotism' as a business, and are making handsome
incomes out of it.
We see, therefore, that in all the attributes which
are necessary to excite respect for leaders of politi-
cal opinion in Ireland, there has been a marked
descent from '48 to '65; while from the latter period
to the present there has been a terrible tumble in-
deed. A brief reference to the antecedents of those
of the more recently prominent of the Land League
leaders will illustrate this.
Enough is known already of the ancestry of the
leader, Mr. Charles Stewart Parnell, to warrant the
assertion, without the risk of exciting controversy,
that he is well-born, and has solid claims to be con-
sidered a gentleman. That he has received a Uni-
versity education is also well known, and also that he
is a landed proprietor. What, however, is not so
notorious—in England at least—is that he is utterly
ignorant of the history of his own country, and that
his property is heavily incumbered. The former fact
may, to some extent, be held to account for his pecu-
liar policy; the latter for his lofty disregard of the
rights of property: having none left of his own worth
mentioning, he can regard the obliteration of the
rights of those who have with entire equanimity. As
a last resource of the impecunious, patriotism, it is
said, presents considerable attractions, but it would be
hardly fair to assert that considerations of pecuniary
profit influence the leader of the Land League. He
The League Leader.
431
is moved by the stronger stimulus of ambition. He
has tasted the sweets of all but illimitable political
power, and, as a matter of course, will not resign
it without a struggle. Even the most fervid of his
pretended admirers-that is, those who know him
intimately-do not assert that he is a patriot of the
highest and purest type; they do insist that his
patriotism is practical, calculating, and entirely
suited to the requirements of the present political
situation, which is true to a certain extent, since the
situation has been his own creation. It is, therefore,
not surprising that he has not attracted to his side
the support of the cultured youth of the country,
who by their genius and enthusiasm shed such lustre
on many of the former political movements. An
agitation which has for its creed the non-payment
of rent cannot be expected to obtain adherents
amongst the class who still persist in believing that
common honesty is a thing which should not be per-
mitted to go out of fashion. Neither can such men
be won over by the cry for the abolition of landlord-
ism. The movement led by Mr. Parnell, in truth,
appeals to covetousness and greed-the worst pas-
sions of human nature-or perhaps it would be more
charitable to say, to its most marked weaknesses-
and, therefore, cannot be expected to awaken the
sympathy of those who consider that the worship of
self is not a thing to be encouraged.
g
Mr. John Dillon is perhaps the only one of the
leading Leaguers to whom the suspicion of honesty,
sincerity, and genuine enthusiasm fairly attaches.
But even he is wanting in that elevation of purpose
432
Irish Leaders, Past and Present.
for which the Young Irelanders were so remarkable.
Mr. Biggar is a Belfast merchant. He professes to
be an ultra republican, and he has coquetted with
Fenianism. As I have already mentioned, he unsuc-
cessfully contested the representation of Derry with
Mr. Lewis in '72. On that occasion he bribed a
nationalist, with a £50 note, to endeavour to secure
the support for his candidature of the late Archbishop
of Tuam. The attempt failed. He claims to be the
original inventor of 'obstruction,' and is looked
upon as the Quilp' of the House of Commons.
Mr. Sexton, who has held the vice-leadership of
the Land League movement in Ireland, and of the
party in Parliament, is the son of a sub-constable of
police from the county of Waterford. The place or
manner of his education are not generally known.
For several years previous to his appearance on the
political stage, he held the position of sub-editor,
and afterwards of editor, of the Weekly News, a
small weekly penny paper, owned formerly by Mr.
A. M. Sullivan, and now by his brother, the Member
for Westmeath. When at the last general election
he ousted The O'Conor Don from the representation
of Sligo county, he was quite unknown; but he had
Mr. Parnell's recommendation, and that was all-
sufficient to secure his triumph. Mr. James O'Kelly
is the son of a blacksmith who formerly kept a small
forge in Great Brunswick-street, in the city of Dublin.
His education naturally was of the most elementary
character. He was of a roving disposition, and when
quite young joined the foreign legion of the French
army, and is said to have gone through a campaign
<
Other Leaguers.
with it in Algeria. Afterwards he turned up in New
York as a writer on the New York Herald, and the
next thing that was heard of him was during the in-
surrection in Cuba, where he had been doing duty
for the Herald as its special correspondent. He was
arrested as a spy by the commander of the Royal
troops, sentenced to be shot, but, it is said, had his
life spared through the intercession of the British
consul. His next public appearance was as defen-
dant in a civil action in a New York law court,
which excited much attention, and gave rise to not
a little scandal, which went against him. We next
find him a candidate for the representation of Ros-
common, to the electors of which county Mr. Parnell
commended him, and in due course the Dublin black-
smith's son attained to the signal honour of mem-
bership of the British Parliament, after defeating
the Hon. King-Harman, a resident landlord. Mr.
O'Brien, editor of United Ireland, the Land League
official organ, commenced life as a reporter on the
Cork Examiner, and at that time was known as an
advanced Nationalist. Then he obtained employ-
ment on the Freeman's Journal, and so far accommo-
dated his opinions to circumstances that he took
prominent part in supporting the candidature of
Mr. E. D. Gray, his employer, for Tipperary, at a
recent election, against Mr. Casey, an ex-Fenian
prisoner, the nominee of the Nationalists. Of the
other League Members of Parliament, Mr. T. P.
O'Connor is by far the most respectable, and to be
respected. He has worked his way manfully as a
writer on the London press, and has been uniformly
consistent as a politician. Mr. Finnegan, as I have
2 F
433
-
wtedy
434
Irish Leaders, Past and Present.
said, is alleged to have been a Fenian. He, too, is
earning an honest livelihood on the London press.
Mr. T. D. Sullivan is the proprietor and editor of
two so-called 'National,' but really Land League jour-
nals, and was originally a house-painter in Bantry.
Mr. Barry is, or has been, a commercial traveller.
Mr. Leahy is a publican and pawnbroker. Mr.
Dawson is a baker. Mr. Healy was a commercial
clerk; he is now one of the League stumpers, and
baiter of British ministers in ordinary to Mr. Parnell.
Mr. A. O'Connor was a War Office clerk, who has
commuted,' and is living on the proceeds—thus he
is sustained by the 'brutal British Government,' of
which he professes to be so deadly an enemy.
Of the rest of the the 'tag-rag and bob-tail' who
'run' the League machine, the place of honour (?)
must be accorded to Mr. Patrick Egan, ex-clerk in
a milling concern, now a baker, and for a time a
Government contractor. In politics he has been a
Nolanite ('Amnesty' Nolan), a Buttite, a Sullivanite,
a Martinite (National League), and is now a Par-
nellite-and will doubtless so continue as long as
Mr. Parnell's star remains in the ascendant; when
it declines, exit Egan, to re-appear hanging on to
the skirts of the next succeeding public favourite.
One of his chief exploits was an unsuccessful attempt
to interfere with the harmony of the O'Connell Cen-
tenary celebration, solely because he was not per-
mitted to have a 'finger in the pie.' He also gave
himself out to be a Fenian.* Then there are a clerk
G
* I was drawn into a newspaper controversy with this person some
months ago, and found it necessary to state what I knew of his antece-
ܚ
The League Treasurer.
435
in a milling concern, a couple of Mr. Egan's male
relatives, a market-gardener, and several gentlemen
dents. Corroboration of my statements came to me from many sources,
and quite unexpectedly across the Atlantic, in an influential American
paper, the Lowell Weekly Sun. The Sun wrote :—
'When, almost a year ago, the Sun called for a report of the receipts.
and expenditures of the Land League's treasurer, it did so from a personal
knowledge of the character of Mr. Patrick Egan. We knew he was a
trickster, and, without giving scandal to the Irish cause, we suggested an
unobjectionable means of making it impossible for him to misuse his trust.
It will be remembered that we penned this suggestion to Mr. Parnell, Mr.
A. M. Sullivan, and Mr. Egan himself, and that, in their replies, Mr. Egan
was the only one to raise an objection. Without yet breathing an insinua-
tion against his character, we continued to press Mr. Egan to withdraw
his objection, which we showed to be absurd and untenable, and agree to
an occasional verified statement as to the amounts of money received and
paid out by him. But it was fruitless. The increased excitement of the
"No Rent" departure then came, and the matter was allowed to drop.
We had done our duty in pointing out that there must be something
wrong when the treasurer was the only man of authority in the movement
to object to telling what he was doing with the money entrusted to him
alone, and when his reason was no better than the silly one that the
English Government might discover what use it was put to-as if the
secret service could be prevented from knowing, or that it would make any
difference if it did know.
'We hesitated then from saying what we knew of Mr. Egan. But now, on
one point at least, we are no longer bound to silence, for Mr. Richard
Pigott has put it into print. The occasion was the controversy between
the ex-editor of the Irishman and the Land League treasurer, which we
summarize elsewhere in this paper. Mr. Pigott refers to Mr. Egan's act-
ing as a "milling clerk," and as at one time having Government contracts.
A member of the Sun staff was personally acquainted with these facts.
Egan was book-keeper at the Balls-bridge Flour Mills, in Dublin, and it
was remarked that, though he was a poor young man while a clerk, he
went into business on a large scale for himself when the mills failed.
'It is not necessary at this time that we should further add to what has
already got into print regarding the character of Mr. Egan. It is enough
to be told that he is not above suspicion by those who know him best.
•
2 F 2
436
Irish Leaders, Past and Present.
in the whiskey and pawnbroking trades. These be
your Gods, O Israel!'
<
We shall stop at what we advisedly said a year ago, that Mr. Patrick
Egan is not sufficiently free from human frality to be entrusted with the
sole charge of the great Irish national fund, without furnishing the con-
tributors with periodical detailed reports of the receipts and expendi-
tures. . . . In justice to the contributors and to the Irish cause, Mr. Egan
ought to have been placed under the control of an auditing committee from
the outset. But, as we at one time distinctly intimated, the reason that he
was not was the fact, well known to his colleagues at the time, that he was
a vindictive, unscruplous enemy, whom it would not be personally profit-
able for an Irish public man to provoke. An instance of Egan's vin-
dictiveness is seen in his treatment of Mr. Pigott, as described by that
gentleman in the Freeman's Journal, consisting of Egan's first depreci-
ating Pigott's business by secret boycotting, and then buying him out
when he was reduced to such a state of poverty as to be obliged to accept
anything rather than sink to a deeper depth. And so, Egan's "smartness”
and known vindictiveness have made and secured him the sole irrespon-
sible treasurership of the greatest national fund ever contributed.'
CHAPTER XL.
LOOKING BACK.
PAST EFFORTS. DECADES OF FAILURE. CONTINUOUS CONCES-
SION. FUTURE PROSPECTS.
(
FRO
ROM a troubled present, looking back upon a
troubled past, and then seeking to forecast the
future, is, indeed, oppressive when no ray of hope
breaks through the impenetrable gloom. Though for
Ireland all hope is not lost, yet the outlook is dark
and cheerless. Woe is me! it makes me sick at
heart, to think of all the gallant hearts, the generous.
natures, the splendid intellects that have been lost
in fruitless struggles to bring her succour; of the
noble lives that have sunk out of sight in the hor-
rid maelstrom of heartrending and hopeless effort.
Still more grievous is it to consider that just as the
fruition of the labours and sacrifices of the patriots
of the past is seen approaching, its advent is re-
tarded and obstructed by the professed patriots of
the present. Yet so it is. The national cause of
Ireland is down in the dust, and a shame to be
seen,' and is supplanted by a socialistic movement for
the attainment of an impossibility. Landlords and te-
nants are ranged in hostile camps, and what living man
438
Looking Back.
can see where the contest is to end? The whole duty
of a patriotic Irishman is now held to consist in not
paying his rent. If he can but swindle his landlord,
his patriotism is held to be incontestably proved.
The plain tendency of the present agitation, in short,
is to plunge the people into the deepest abyss of de-
moralization, and render Irish independence—legis-
lative or entire-an absolute impossibility.
If we will look back a little, we will see this in
clearer light. From '48 to '58 we had agitation follow-
ing abortive rebellion, for the redress of quite intoler-
able grievances, and lamentably failing. During this
period legal agitation and Parliamentary action had
a perfectly fair and full trial. Both proved to be
useless: no impression was made on the rulers: all
redress was refused. Then from '58 to '68, following
as a natural sequence upon the failure of open and
legal effort, came secret and illegal action. This was
the period of conspiracy and preparation for rebel-
lion. Conspiracy also failed, and yet succeeded. It
failed to conquer liberty for Ireland, but it overcame
British ignorance of Ireland's wrongs, and British
refusal of redress. Fenianism succeeded in bringing
home to the minds of British legislators the fact that
Ireland was misgoverned, and should henceforth be
ruled in accordance with the wants and wishes of
its people. And surely that was a great victory.
From '68 to '78 we find British Ministers, thus awak-
ened to a sense of their true responsibilities as rulers
of Ireland, endeavouring to do justice and make
reparation for an evil past. First we see them re-
moving the monstrous wrong of the State Church;
Concession Rejected.
then reforming the laws of land tenure greatly in
favour of the tenant, and making other lesser, but
still valuable, concessions. From '78 to '81 we wit-
ness them still labouring for the complete removal of
the grievances which the intensity of Fenianism re-
vealed to them as constituting the chief causes of
Irish discontent. We note that they have dealt with
the question of Irish University education in a liberal
spirit, and in a manner not unlikely to remove the
obstacles preventing Irish Catholics from obtaining
facilities for University training co-equal with those
so long enjoyed by their Protestant fellow-country-
men. And we find them again dealing with the land
question, supplementing the deficiencies of the Act of
1870, vastly enlarging its powers, and erecting upon
its basis a measure which concedes all that Ireland
ever asked Great Britain to give—a measure which
fixes the farmer firmly in the possession of his
holding; secures that he shall not be over-rented;
gives him the full value of his improvements; con-
cedes him the right to sell his interest in his farm,
and assists him to become the proprietor of the land
he tills.
439
All this is progress-satisfactory and rapid as
could be fairly expected. But it does not satisfy the
reactionary patriots' of the day. They will not
tolerate the Land Act. They are doing their best, by
means of an organized system of intimidation and
terrorism, and with too much success, to obstruct its
working and preventing it exercising its remedial in-
fluence. And yet, if these men were true patriots: if
they really desired to render their country prosperous,
440
Looking Back.
fit for self-government, and finally self-governed, they
would endeavour, instead of setting class against class,
to firmly unite both. They would see that this Land
Act makes tenants just as independent of their land-
lords as their landlords are of them, and that all
sources of contention having been removed, both
classes could in time come to respect, understand,
and mutually assist each other; and this benign
spirit of toleration would surely spread, and, annihilat-
ing class differences and sectional feuds, ultimately
realize the dream of a united Ireland, which has been.
the highest aspiration of every Irish patriot since the
Conquest.
It is an oft-repeated truism that Ireland united
means Ireland free-and contented. It was never so
true as it is at this day. The Land Act is substan-
tial earnest that there is no demand which Ireland
makes, that is sustained by the united voices of her
own people, which will not be granted, no mat-
ter how extreme it may be. Her rulers have found
out that it profits Great Britain nothing to keep Ire-
land discontented, and therefore there is no limit
of possible concession to which they would not go
to reconcile her and secure her friendship. It is a
sort of traditional superstition with too many Irish-
men that the English are animated with a hate so
malignant and unreasoning for this country, that it
is their constant study how best to incite their Go-
vernment to oppress and coerce it, and generally
tyrannize over its people. Never, I honestly believe,
was there a greater delusion. I am convinced that
from this time forward at least, if only their offers of
Our Present Rulers.
44I
peace are received in a reciprocal spirit of trust and
friendship, the rulers of Great Britain will have no
wish save to do us ample and generous justice. And,
surely, the present Prime Minister has given many
and noble proofs of his desire to undo the misgovern-
ment of the past, by generous concession in the pre-
sent. He was the first British Minister since the
Union who has had the courage, in face of ingrained
and obstinate English prejudice and lamentable igno-
rance of the condition of the country, to seriously deal
with Ireland's grievances with an earnest desire to
remove them. Such indeed has been the effect of his
efforts, that for Ireland a reactionary English Govern-
ment is no longer a possibility. The present Chief
Secretary-who has been so shamefully maligned and
scandalously misrepresented-also, there is ample evi-
dence to show, has the warmest sympathy for Ireland
and its people. In the dread famine time he laboured
to alleviate the sufferings of the victims; in Parlia-
ment he has always supported Ireland's claims for
redress, and in office, as Chief Secretary for Ireland,
the chief credit of the Land Act, next to the Premier,
belongs to him. When I say that that arch-Fenian,
Mr. John O'Leary, in a recent letter, has affirmed
that Mr. Forster is a vast improvement on the Chief
Secretaries of the past, it will be understood that his
merits must be conspicously pre-eminent. He has
had an exceedingly uncongenial task in the adminis-
tration of the Coercion Act, but it has never been se-
riously asserted that he has in the least over-strained
it; on the contrary, it cannot be denied that he en-
deavoured to make it as little irksome as possible to
442
Looking Back.
those whom the 'reasonable suspicion' of the police
has brought within its power.
And there is no
doubt that other English statesmen-Ministers of the
future-are quite emulous to follow in their footsteps.
And, as I have said, there is no concession which
Ireland united may not hope to obtain, not even ex-
cluding a perfect measure of Home Rule. But it has
been said that Ireland is in effect united on this ques-
tion of Home Rule. Unhappily this is not so. No
doubt, a vast majority of the people are in favour of
it, but then the minority, who do not at present desire
it, are powerful and influential; they have wealth on
their side, and, moreover, the British are bound to
stand by them, in return for their support of their rule
in Ireland. Therefore this class must be conciliated,
and won over to the popular side, before Ireland can
hope to obtain the restoration of her own Parliament.
But so far from our modern patriots endeavouring to
do that, they are striving their utmost to estrange
them, and embitter their hostility to the concession of
Ireland's legislative rights. Is it conceivable that a
combination against the rights of property can secure
the co-operation of the propertied classes for any
conceivable object? And is it not perfectly certain
that there is no other possible means by which
Ireland can secure the recognition of her nationality
and her power of governing herself save by the
grace and good will of her British rulers? There
is no longer any question of the perfect impossibility
of the achievement of such inestimable advantages
by rebellion. Even that uncompromising Fenian,
Mr. John O'Leary, has written: - Everyone who
<
Misleading Leaders.
<
knows anything about me knows my remedy for
the ills of Ireland, and no one can know better
than I do how hopeless that remedy is now, or, as
far as I can see, in any near future.' His remedy
is the edge of the sword,' and his near' future is
next door to never. No, self-government for Ireland
cannot be obtained by force. I am-me miserable—
one of those who once thought it could, and that if
not, there was nothing for it but submission. Well,
submission is an ugly word; but, at the same time,
I am confident that the time has come when it is the
duty of every true patriot to do the best he can with.
the materials he has at hand; to labour unceasingly
to induce the people to make the very most of recent
legislation, in order to secure the higher concession
of self-government.
443
But the agitators of the present day tell us that
they will do all this, and more. No doubt they will
undertake to do any given thing, so long as the sup-
plies from America are kept up.
It is indeed vastly
pleasant to be a patriot leader now-a-days. The ut-
most sacrifice that he is likely to be called on to
make is to spend a few months in prison, where he
will be splendidly maintained at the expense of a
grateful country, and in return for that slight suffer-
ing he has the secured certainty of a handsome income
so long as the agitation continues. Clearly, there-
fore, these gentlemen will not be chary of promises.
But, first of all, they are pledged to bring about
the abolition of landlordism-root and branch, ab-
solutely, and almost at once. Supposing this were
possible—though of course it is to the last degree
444
Looking Back.
impossible-suppose the present race of landlords
abolished, would not the peasants who succeeded
to their properties become landlords in their turn?
There can be no doubt of it; so long as time endures
there will be landlords and tenants. It is not possible
to abolish landlordism, and these people know it.
But it is possible to prevent Irish tenants obtaining
any amelioration of their condition, and by that means
perpetuating social strife, ill-feeling, and all unchari-
tableness between classes; so that union will become
impossible, and self-government unattainable. It is
to that end that these people are working.
I can only hope and pray that their evil designs may
be frustrated; that the deluded people will have their
eyes opened in time to a true perception of the real
detriment to themselves which their unquestioned ac-
ceptance of the deceptive theories and misleading
counsels addressed to them would be certain to occa-
sion. If not, they will come to be looked upon as
ill-conditioned and unreasoning people, whom it is
impossible to satisfy - upon whom concession is
thrown away.
'If,' in effect, said a leading Eng-
lish journal the other day, 'we cannot satisfy the
Irish, there is nothing for it but to sit still and do
nothing.' And is it any wonder that this should be
said?
Here is an Act of the British Parliament which
gives everything which at least two generations of
Irish patriots sought in vain, and yet it is contemned
and spurned-all but rejected. I wish, with all my
heart and soul, that my countrymen could be got to
think for themselves; that they would cease to follow
Encouraging Signs.
the beck of every political charlatan who chooses to
exploiter them for his own personal benefit. Then
they could not fail to see that the liberty of their
country, and the assured happiness and prosperity of
its people, are within their easy reach.
Is it not time that we should begin to look ahead a
little, and cease to moan over the past? Is it not
time for us to settle down and try all we can to make
the best of things as they are? Are we always fated
to wait for something that is coming but somehow
never comes—always to vainly seek after the un-
attainable? Even as our country is circumstanced at
present, there is no reason why it should not be fairly
prosperous; and to make it more so rests altogether
with ourselves.
445
There are, I am glad to say, indications that even
the leading Land Leaguers are beginning to find out
and to renounce the errors of their ways. The Bill to
amend the Land Act, which they have so much des-
pised and so earnestly endeavoured to depreciate—
which they have so loudly proclaimed to be so altoge-
ther worthless as to be totally incapable of satisfactory
amendment—is so unexpectedly moderate in its sug-
gested alterations, that it might almost be accepted
by the Government unaltered. And the League
organ, United Ireland, has at last thrown up the
sponge dropped the 'No Rent' cry like a hot pota-
to, and now confines itself to abuse of the Irish Chief
Secretary and other people of lesser note; which is
about the safest form in which Land League rancour
can manifest itself, since the parties assailed could
not deign to notice it. If, therefore, the 'No Rent' com-
446
Looking Back.
mand be recalled, and the Land Leaguers honestly
devote themselves to procuring an amendment of the
Land Act, they will have done much to atone for
the misdeeds of the past. They will open the prison
doors to the suspects, and coercion will become a
tradition.
Legitimate, manly, open and fearless agitation,which
honestly means to assist and not obstruct the Govern-
ment in passing remedial measures, is what is wanted,
is the only thing wanted-not the selfish, unutterably
mean, and altogether cowardly system, working by
terrorism, the offspring of murder and outrage, which
is now relied upon-not to obtain redress, but to pre-
vent it, in order that social strife and anarchy may be
maintained. There is now no excuse for such a sys-
tem: formerly the rulers of this country required strik-
ing effects before they could be got to move. They are
moving now in Ireland's cause, and the only obstacle
is Ireland herself. In Heaven's name let us at least
meet them half way; let us give them a fair chance.
We are said to be a justice-loving people: why will
we not do them justice? We have only to do that and
we need not fear the result.
I, for one, declare for peace. I no longer care to
look upon my country typified as the Niobe of nations
—a maiden all distraught, and weeping always over
her unstrung harp. Rather would I have her repre-
sented—as she ought to and might be in grave rea-
lity-in all the glory of her awakened womanhood,
the light of liberty in her face, her eyes aflame with
the fire of long-fainting hope at length about to be
realized; her form instinct with new life and vigour,
An Aspiration.
and with her face turned towards the west, beckon-
ing to her exiled children to return, and share her
new-found liberty and partake in her restored pros-
perity.
THE END.
447

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