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Digitized by the Internet Archive
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https://archive.org/details/reollectionsofirOOjohn
RECOLLECTIONS OF
AN IRISH REBEL
■J*
THE FENIAN MOVEMENT
ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. METHODS OF
WORK IN IRELAND AND IN THE BRITISH
ARMY. WHY IT FAILED TO
ACHIEVE ITS MAIN OBJECT.
BUT EXERCISED GREAT
INFLUENCE ON IRE-
LAND'S FUTURE
PERSONALITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION
The Clan-na-Gael and the
Rising of Easter Week, 1916
A PERSONAL NARRATIVE
by
JOHN DEVOY
CONTENTS.
Introduction. All Irish History Points to the Necessity
of Separation from the British Empire .... 1
PART I.
Chapter
I The Gloom of the 'Fifties 6
II Fenianism Started in America 17
III Burial of Terence Bellew McManus 22
IV The Movement Spreads 26
V The Feud with the Sullivans 36
VI The "Irish People" 41
VII Important Events in 1864 47
VIII When Billy Keogh for once was Merciful 50
PART II.
IX "The Year of Action" 55
X Getting Ready for the Fight 60
XI The English Government Strikes 69
XII Millen's Brief Authority 73
XIII The Rescue of Stephens 77
XIV The Fight Postponed 88
XV The Council of War 98
XVI The Last Chance Thrown Away 107
XVII Fenianism Fighting for its Life 112
XVTII The Catholic Church and Fenianism 118
PART III.
XIX Fenianism in the British Army 128
XX "Pagan" O'Leary 133
XXI How the British Army was "Organized" 140
XXII "Organization" Systematized in the Army 145
XXIII John Boyle O'Reilly 152
XXIV The Soldiers on Trial 160
PART IV.
XXV The Rising Doomed from the Start 185
XXVI Stepaside and Glencullen 193
XXVII Filgate's Personal Narrative 199
ii CONTENTS.
XXVIII The Disaster at Tallaght 203
XXIX The Fighting in Cork 207
XXX Knockadoon and Kilclooney Wood 213
XXXI Tipperary's Effort Failed 219
XXXII The Siege of Kilmallock 223
XXXIII Part Played by Clare 229
XXXIV Some Other Fiascoes 232
PART V.
XXXV The "Erin's Hope" Expedition 235
XXXVI The Manchester Rescue 237
XXXVII The Manchester Martyrs 244
XXXVIII The Clerkenwell Explosion 248
XXXIX The Catalpa Rescue 251
XL The Fenians and the Irish Language 261
PART VI.
XLI John O'Mahony 266
XLII James Stephens, C. O. I. R 272
XLIII John O'Leary 280
XLIV Thomas Clarke Luby 288
XLV Charles J. Kickham 304
XL VI O 'Donovan Ross a 319
XL VII James J. O'Kelly 333
XL VIII Colonel Ricard O'Sullivan Burke 347
XLIX Thomas Francis Bourke 353
L The O'Donovan Brothers 363
LI My Own Record and Antecedents 372
PART VII.
LII Reorganized Fenianism, 1871-1916 392
LIU Foreign Military Aid for Ireland 397
LIV First Interview with Von Bernstorff 403
LV Casement and the Irish Volunteers 407
LVI Casement Goes to Germany 416
LVII English Plot to Murder Casement 423
LVIII Casement Partially Successful in Germany... 431
LIX "Butting in" on the Clan-na-Gael 442
LX The First Irish Race Convention 449
LXI Ireland Decides on Insurrection 458
LXII German Prerogatives Violated 466
LXIII Casement Executed by the English 472
LXIV The Philosophy of "Easter Week" 479
ILLUSTRATIONS
Devoy, John Frontispiece
Davis, Thomas 10
Mitchel, John 16
Denieffe, Joseph 20
Kelly, Colonel Thomas J 58
Stephens, James 78
O'Reilly, John Boyle 152
Manchester Martyrs 244
Breslin, John J 256
O'Mahony, Colonel John 266
O'Leary, John 280
Luby, Thomas Clarke 288
Kickham, Charles J 304
Rossa, Jeremiah O'Donovan 320
"Cuba Five", The 330
Burke, Colonel Ricard O'S 348
Clarke, Thomas J 392
Casement, Sir Roger 408
MacDermott, Sean 458
Connolly, James 464
Pearse, Padraic 474
PREFACE
In the death of John Devoy (born 1842— died 1923) there
passed from this mortal stage one of the most remarkable
figures in Irish history. Blessed with many talents, he devoted
them all, tirelessly and unselfishly, to one idea, and to one ideal.
For more than sixty years, in storm and in sunshine, in sick-
ness and in health, he dreamed and toiled and worked for the
cause of Ireland a Nation. His services covered a wide range of
activities and only with the passing years will the full effects
of his efforts be known and appreciated.
Irish patriots, as far apart in their methods as William
O'Brien and Padraic H. Pearse, have appraised him as among
the greatest of his race.
Mr. O'Brien, in his "Recollections", after ascribing to him
and Michael Davitt the chief credit for the Land League, said:
"The part played by his co-founder of the Land League
movement, Mr. Devoy, is less known, because the terms on
which he was amnestied forbade him to return to Ireland,
and consequently exposed him to misunderstandings of
the situation at home, which eventually made him a bitter
enemy of the semi-parliamentary, semi-agrarian revolution
he had so influential a part in launching. His hostility
in later days, however, ought not to make us forgetful of
the sagacity and courage with which he first rallied even the
extremest of the extreme men to give a full and fair trial
to Parnell and his methods. Mr. Devoy was a born con-
spirator, and, like all born conspirators, can never be meas-
ured at his true value by the public. But it is certain that,
in his own special department of swearing into the Revolu-
tionary Brotherhood the soldiers of the Dublin Garrison,
in 1865, he was perhaps the most dangerous enemy of Eng-
land in the entire Fenian body, and, in some respects, not
altogether unworthy to rank not very far beneath Wolfe
Tone."
In the booklet issued as a souvenir of the O'Donovan Rossa
funeral, on August 1, 1915, there is a preface written by Padraic
H. Pearse (who himself after Easter Week, 1916, became one
of Ireland's patriot martyrs) which contains the following char-
acteristic sketches of the most prominent of the Fenian leaders:
"O'Donovan Rossa was not the greatest of the Fenian
generation, but he was its most typical man. He was the
man that to the masses of his countrymen then and since
stood most starkly and plainly for the Fenian idea. More
lovable and understandable than the cold and enigmatical
Stephens, better known than the shy and sensitive Kickham,
more human than the scholarly and chivalrous O'Leary,
more picturesque than the able and urbane Luby, older and
ii
PREFACE
more prominent than the man who, when the time comes to
write his biography, will be recognized as the greatest of
the Fenians — John Devoy."
In these "Recollections" John Devoy has recorded much of
the intimate but hitherto unwritten story of the Fenian move-
ment. He tells this story of that time with clearness and dis-
tinction so far as it can be done within the compass of a single
volume. For a more comprehensive grasp of what that extraordi-
nary force meant to Irish national progress one has to read many
other books, including those referred to in this narrative, which
describe the intolerable political conditions in Ireland which the
Fenians had to combat. Such further study is also essential to
an appraisal of the varied handicaps under which they operated
and to a due appreciation of the lofty patriotism, indomitable
courage and immolation of self which animated them to chal-
lenge, almost unarmed, the might of Britain.
The lines by John Kells Ingram on the men of 'Ninety-Eight
can, with equal appositeness, be applied to those of the 'Sixty-
Seven period:
"They rose in dark and evil days
To right their native land;
They kindled here a living blaze
That nothing shall withstand".
Volumes have been and others could be written on the ac-
tivities of numerous individuals cited in these "Recollections" of
Devoy, to whom, because of the nature of this work, he has made
but passing reference. In the case of Devoy himself many
events of momentous importance in the struggle for the estab-
lishment of an Irish Republic and also for the preservation of
liberty in the United States, in which he played a conspicuous
part, are, for a similar reason, either not dealt with herein or
received but casual mention.
Born in one of the darkest periods of his country's history,
John Devoy lived to see her emerge in great part from her dis-
tress and advance a long way on the road to real independence.
That much of that result is to be attributed to him, is well
known to those who have been in touch with Ireland's efforts
to secure national freedom.
Stern, unbending, implacable in his course, he was person-
ally lovable, gentle and simple. To the qualities and character
of a leader of men, he added in his personal relationships the
simplicity and likeability of youth. How much he accomplished
of the great task to which he devoted himself, cannot yet with
PREFACE
iii
exactitude be reckoned. Suffice it to say now that he set a
splendid example of devotion and unselfishness to the rest of
his race that cannot be overlooked, and has carved his name
deeply upon the stone on which are recorded the names of those
who live long after they have passed into the grave.
Peace and honor to his memory.
Daniel F. Cohalan.
INTRODUCTION.
ALL IRISH HISTORY POINTS TO THE NECESSITY OF
SEPARATION FROM THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
The Fenian Movement, which had its inception in Ireland in
the Fifties of the nineteenth century, was a continuation of the
struggle which had been maintained throughout seven hundred
years against the English invaders.
Augustin Thierry, in his History of the Norman Conquest of
England, describes the character of this struggle better than any
foreign writer ever did before or since. He quotes from a letter
written to Pope John XXII in the fourteenth century, by Donal
O'Neill, Prince of Ulster, as follows:
"We cherish, at the bottom of our hearts, an inveterate
hatred, produced by lengthened recollections of injustices —
by the murder of our fathers, brothers and nearest kindred —
and which will not be extinguished in our time, nor in that
of our children — so that, as long as we have life, we will fight
against them, without regret, or remorse, in defence of our
rights. We will not cease to fight against and annoy them,
until the day when they themselves, for want of power, shall
have ceased to do us harm, and the Supreme Judge shall
have taken just vengeance on their crimes; which, we firmly
hope, will sooner or later come to pass. Until then, we will
make war upon them unto death, to recover the independence,
which is our natural right; being compelled thereto by very
necessity, and willing rather to brave danger like men, than
to languish under insult."
Thierry, commenting on this letter, says:
"This promise of war unto death, made upwards of four
hundred years ago, is not yet forgotten; and it is a melan-
choly fact, but worthy of remark, that in our own days blood
has flowed in Ireland on account of the old quarrel of the
conquest. The period in futurity when the quarrel shall be
terminated, it is impossible to foresee; and aversion for Eng-
land, its government, its manners and its language, is still
the native passion of the Irish race. From the day of the
invasion, the will of that race of men has been constantly
opposed to the will of its masters; it has detested what they
have loved, and loved what they have detested. * * *
This unconquerable obstinacy — this lengthened remem-
brance of departed liberty — this faculty of preserving and
nourishing through the ages of physical misery and suffer-
ing, the thought of that which is no more — of never despair-
ing of a constantly vanquished cause, for which many gen-
erations 'have successively, and in vain, perished in the field,
and by the executioner — is perhaps the most extraordinary
and the greatest example that a people has ever given."
Thierry had access only to English and Latin authorities, yet
he acquired a fine grasp of the Irish struggle, and had a clearer
2
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
insight into the real meaning and character of events than per-
haps any modern historian.
Strictly speaking, the Irish did not rise in every generation,
but they rose so often that it amounted practically to that. The
chief difficulty of the Irish in every effort to overthrow English
rule was lack of arms, which they always had to procure outside
of Ireland, and they never had enough at any one time to equip
all the men who were willing to fight.
A person ignorant of history on looking at the map of Europe
might reasonably conclude that Great Britain and Ireland, two
islands situated close together to the north-west of that con-
tinent, ought naturally be friends. They would have been if in-
habited by the same races, imbued with common interests and
identical aims. But, the descendants of the Norman-French con-
querors of England had the same motives in invading Ireland as
their ancestors had in subduing the Anglo-Saxons. They wanted
land for their younger sons, and sent them to Ireland to carve
out estates with their swords and make vassals of the owners.
The Saxons submitted at once because the feudal system already
existed in England. The mass of the people there were already
serfs, while in Ireland the land belonged to the Clan, the clans-
men were freemen, and the Chiefs were elected by their respec-
tive Clans.
The Anglo-Normans sought to impose the feudal system on
Ireland, and the struggle waged for three hundred years was
mainly due to this. It was, on the part of the Irish, a fight for
existence; and, on that of the English, an effort to exterminate a
race that refused to submit. All Irish history bears out Augustin
Thierry's diagnosis of the case.
The last battle of a virtually independent Ireland was fought
in 1603 under Hugh O'Neill and Hugh O'Donnell at Kinsale,
where a small Spanish garrison was besieged by an English
army. The Irish went down to defeat in their effort to relieve
their Spanish allies. After that disaster Ireland was at Eng-
land's mercy, and the broken remnants of the Ulster army were
scattered all over Munster. Elizabeth confiscated a lot of land
and planted English settlers upon it. That was the beginning of
Anglo-Irish landlordism.
In 1608, James I began the Plantation of Ulster, in order to
Anglicize the Northern Province, although the majority of the
new Colonists were Scotch. When the Irish rose, in 1641, it was
in part only for Nationality, a considerable number of them
wishing to restore the Stuarts to the throne of England, but
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
3
those favoring Independence were in the majority. Cromwell's
massacres included both sections. His order, "To Hell or to
Connacht", was equally impartial. It was not entirely success-
ful, and Prendergast, in his "Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland",
says that many thousands of his soldiers planted in Ireland mar-
ried Irish women, and that many of their sons fought on the
side of James II in the two years war that followed his removal
from the English Throne.
The Penal Laws followed for nearly a century in an attempt
to deprive the Irish of the right to exercise the religion of their
choice, to deprive them of the light of learning and rob them of
their possessions. This horrible code was described by Edmund
Burke as "a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, and as
well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and degradation
of a people, and the debasement in them of human nature it-
self, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man."
The 18 years of the semi-independence of the Irish Parlia-
ment from 1782 to 1800 was won by the Volunteers by a threat
of force at a time when England's hands were full and she had
no army able to cope with them. This Irish Parliament did not
represent the mass of the people, as all Catholics were debarred
from entering it, but it did wonderful work for Irish industry
and commerce, and that was William Pitt's reason for destroying
it by the most colossal bribery and corruption.
The Rebellion of 1798 was Pitt's excuse, but his real motive
was the destruction of a commercial and industrial rival, which
Ireland was steadily becoming. The United Irishmen who
planned the Insurrection were led entirely by Protestants, and
the greater number of the Rebels in Ulster were Presbyterians
descended from the Scotch and English Colonists planted on the
soil by James I.
The agitation for Catholic Emancipation and for Repeal of
the Union, under Daniel O'Connell, was entirely pacifist. The
"monster meetings" addressed by "The Liberator" were among
the greatest popular demonstrations in history. One of his
favorite remarks to the immense throngs was: "He that com-
mits a crime gives strength to the enemy." Yet England's answer
to his peaceful demand was to arrest and imprison O'Connell and
several of his colleagues, including Dr. Gray, proprietor of the
Freeman's Journal, who was a Protestant.
In the harvest that just preceded the great Famine of 1847,
Ireland produced enough food to supply double its then popula-
tion. It was the potato crop only that failed, and the production
of wheat, oats, barley, cattle, sheep and pigs was normal. John
4
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Stuart Mill, the greatest political economist of his time, and an
Englishman, asserted that Ireland was capable of producing suf-
ficient on her own soil to feed 20,000,000 people. But the food
necessary to sustain life had to be sold by the farmers to pay
the rackrents. A native Government would have prohibited its
exportation, but the British only resorted to makeshifts in the
form of trivial public works, — most of them economically worth-
less. Instead of relieving the food shortage, it undertook to re-
lieve a money shortage which did not exist, and the farmers
who had sold their crops to pay the exorbitant rents were only
given an opportunity to earn a miserable pittance making roads.
England had never any right to rule Ireland. By the exer-
cise of force she compelled the Irish people to permit her to
govern their country; then failed to perform the essential func-
tions of government. And, while more than a million Irish
people were starving or suffering from famine fever, the English
press read them solemn lectures on political economy and printed
columns of claptrap about getting rid of the "surplus popula-
tion." Then the London Times, which always voices the prevail-
ing opinion in England, printed an article rejoicing over the dis-
aster by saying: "They are going! They are going! The Irish
are going with a vengeance. Soon a Celt will be as rare in Ireland
as a red Indian on the shores of Manhattan".
William E. Gladstone, in his speech in the House of Commons
introducing the Bill to Disestablish the Irish Protestant Church,
gave the key to English policy in Ireland in the clearest possible
terms by saying he was led to do justice to Ireland by the inten-
sity of Fenianism. And he explained what he meant by citing
the Rising of 1867, the Manchester Rescue, the Clerkenwell Ex-
plosion and the successful resistance to eviction at Ballycohey,
County Tipperary. Gladstone had read all of Daniel O'Connell's
speeches eloquently pleading for justice to Ireland and had
listened to some of them; he was the most enlightened and
liberal English statesman of the nineteenth century, but this
was a frank admission that peaceful pleas had no effect on him
and that he was only influenced by bloodshed, explosions and
violent breaches of the law. And what he called "justice to Ire-
land" was not the concession of her demand for Freedom, but
the partial redress of a grievance for which Ireland had not asked.
The Protestant Church was technically disestablished, but was
endowed permanently by funds raised by the sale of the Glebe
Lands. Gladstone's confession was a tacit admission that Eng-
land was not actuated by a sense of justice; no Irishman could
have made a stronger argument for the use of physical force.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
5
If England's policy were governed by real statesmanship, her
people and rulers would have recognized long ago that Ireland
will never be satisfied until she regains her absolute indepen-
dence, and that such independent status is the first essential to
lasting friendship between the two countries.
History proves that the only remedy for all of Ireland's ills is
Total Separation from England and the setting up of an Inde-
pendent Government having no political connection whatever
with the British Empire. Of course, it is manifest that as Eng-
land grew stronger and Ireland weaker as a result of the alien,
unjust and tyrannical system which England imposed on her,
political separation could not have been achieved without foreign
aid. And even were independence thus obtained, an alliance with
England's conqueror would be necessary until Ireland could build
up sufficient strength to defend her sovereignty.
These were, in substance, the reasons which influenced the
action of the Fenian Leaders. Their predecessors had sought
and obtained the aid of Spain and France, and that example
was followed in seeking the aid of Germany in the World War.
The instalment of Freedom which Ireland has secured is due
entirely to this traditional policy. No concession made by Eng-
land completely settled any Irish question, — and she never con-
ceded anything except through the use or menace of force. It is
a safe prediction that she never will, and that the principles and
policy of the United Irishmen and the Fenians are the only ones
that can eventually win.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
THE GLOOM OF THE 'FIFTIES.
After Emancipation and the Anti-Tithe Movement, a Period of
Depression Set in — Cardinal Cullen Exercised an Evil In-
fluence on Politics and Education — "National" Schools
Denationalized Irish Children — Catholic University Filled
with English Professors.
In order to understand the Fenian Movement, it is necessary
to give a bird's-eye view of the situation which preceded it.
The 'Ninety-Eight Movement, although it failed in the field,
left a spirit behind it which influenced the whole course of events
during the nineteenth century. Robert Emmet's insurrection in
1803 was followed by an agitation for Catholic Emancipation led
by Daniel O'Connell, and the Catholic Association which included
many of the leading Protestants. Although a peaceful agitation,
it was characterized by many demonstrations which alarmed the
British Government. The Irish soldiers of the British Army,
who had played a leading part in the expulsion of Napoleon's
Armies from Spain, showed a strongly mutinous spirit. As they
marched from garrison to garrison, they passed many Emanci-
pation meetings, and quite a common incident was their throwing
up of their caps and cheering for Emancipation. As the agita-
tion grew in strength, this movement became more intense. The
Duke of Wellington, who knew the Irish soldier, became Premier
a little before the Catholic Relief Bill was introduced in Parlia-
ment. He was not a politician and was guided entirely by ex-
pediency. His chief motto was, "His Majesty's Government must
be carried on"; — meaning that any measures necessary to that
end must be passed. The Relief Bill was passed by an unwilling
English Parliament, but it did not really provide for Catholic
Emancipation. It only enabled educated Catholics to enter
Parliament and obtain positions under the Government, and left
the mass of the people just as they had been before it; and it
contained a clause which disfranchised the Forty Shilling Free-
holders, the men whose courage and self-sacrifice had elected
O'Connell as Member for Clare in 1828. O'Connell's consent to
this reactionary measure was a blot on his career, but he was
not a democrat. King William IV, who was a narrow-minded
6
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL 7
bigot, objected to signing the bill, and Wellington said to him:
"I could reconquer Ireland, but it would be a mighty incon-
venient thing for Your Majesty's Foreign Policy." The King then
relented and signed the bill. Notwithstanding its defects, it was
hailed as a triumph all over Ireland. It was a common toast to
celebrate the event:
"Here's to the goose that grew the quill,
That signed th' Emancipation Bill."
In the meantime, the Anti-Tithe agitation started and con-
tinued until after "Emancipation." This movement consisted
mainly of resistance to the collection of tithes. Crops were seized
when payment was refused. One of the popular songs at the
time had these lines:
"We'll mount a guard on barn and yard,
And we'll give them grape for grain."
The songs sung by the people are the best exponents of their
feeling and those most popular in the early part of the Nine-
teenth Century, although crude in form, were as patriotic as
those in the Young Ireland period. The immediate descendants
of the United Irishmen in Kildare sang such ballads about
'Ninety-Eight and expressed their contempt for George IV in the
following rhyme:
"As I was a-walkin' one day on the Coombe
I met King George an' he blackenin' shoes,
He rubbed an' he scrubbed an' he blackened so fine
That I gave him three ha'pence for blackenin' mine."
The favorite '98 ballad around Naas celebrated the Battle of
Prosperous, where the barrack was burned down and only one
man (an officer) escaped the slaughter by climbing over a wall.
It began thus:
"On the twenty-fourth of May
Before the break of day
We all got under arms and to Prosperous made way.
Steadily we marched under Captain Farrell's orders;
It's in the town we halted and set it in a blaze.
Bullets they were flying,
Soldiers groaning, dying.
Smoke to the skies arising
And Swayne expiring there."
I heard an old man who fought in the Rebellion sing it and
my grandfather taught me a portion of the words, but I found it
later in a small volume of similar ballads, all crude but full of
the fighting spirit.
At Carrickshock, County Kilkenny, in 1831, a body of men
working in the fields, seeing a detachment of police returning
8
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
from one of the customary seizures, were filled with sudden pas-
sion, rushed on the Peelers with scythes and pitchforks, and
killed twenty-two of them in a few minutes. There were several
other such incidents on a smaller scale. So the Government in-
troduced a bill with the ostensible object of abolishing the tithes.
It did not abolish them, but made them a rent charge on the
estate. The landlord had to pay the tithes, and he added them
to the rent and sometimes increased the amount. So that the
tithes continued to be collected, but the stoppage of the seizure of
crops removed much of the irritation. Seven-eighths of the
Irish people were Catholics, and among the Protestants were
hundreds of thousands of Presbyterians and other Non-Conform-
ists who were forced to pay towards the upkeep of the Episcopal
Church, so that these Non-Conformists sympathized strongly
with the Catholic resistance to the collection.
O'Connell, during the campaign for the Repeal of the Union,
to a large extent demoralized the people by his constant repeti-
tion of the statement that "No amount of human liberty is worth
the shedding of a single drop of human blood". He called his
organization the "Loyal National Repeal Association".
On one occasion he wrote in a lady's autograph album:
"Oh, Erin, shall it e'er be mine
To raise my hand in battle line,
To lift my victor head and see
Thy hills, thy vales, thy altars free?
One glimpse of this is all I crave
Between my cradle and my grave."
This might lead one to think that he had in the back of
his mind some idea of using physical force. Militant threats
which he voiced in some of his speeches conveyed the same
impression, but the inevitable conclusion to be drawn from his
general policy is that he was a pronounced pacifist and loyalist.
He had a habit of saying to the crowds at the Repeal meetings:
"If I want you to meet me at such a time, will you answer my
call?", or words to that effect, and a voice in the crowd would
shout: "Will we bring our pikes, sir?" to which he always replied
with a variation of his "No drop of blood" motto.
The test came at the projected meeting at Clontarf in 1843.
The Government waited until all preparations for the meeting
had been made, then "proclaimed" it, and massed a large body
of troops in Dublin for its suppression. Had the meeting been
held, there would have been unquestionably a massacre of the
people, although there was some doubt about the troops obeying
orders. But, O'Connell sent messengers out along the roads lead-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
9
ing to Dublin to warn the men marching in to return, which
they did very unwillingly.
In 1841, Thomas Davis, Charles Gavan Duffy, John B. Dillon,
and other young men of great intellectual capacity had joined
O'Connell's Repeal Association. The next year they established
the Nation, and through it conducted a campaign of intense
nationalism. This group, which later included John Mitchel,
Thos. Francis Meagher, Richard O'Gorman, Michael Doheny,
James Clarence Mangan, Richard Dalton Williams, Thomas
Devin Reilly and others, became known as the Young Irelanders,
and their influence on the national life of Ireland was deep and
abiding.
Then the Split in the Repeal Movement in 1847, when the
Young Ireland leaders seceded, altered its whole character.
John O'Connell (the "Liberator's" son) , an incompetent man, as-
sumed to speak for his father, whose health was rapidly failing,
and his arrogance offended the high-spirited Young Irelanders.
These men had been carrying on, through newspaper articles,
poetry, and the "Library of Ireland" (a series of small historical
and biographical works) , propaganda which really aimed at the
use of physical force. One has only to glance at their writings
to see this; but they made no preparation whatever for the
eventual use of force. Finally the great Famine of 1847 forced
their hand, and they seceded from Conciliation Hall after spec-
tacular debates, during which Thomas Francis Meagher deliv-
ered his famous "Sword Speech". Soon after the secession, a
Split occurred among the Young Irelanders through the quarrel
between Charles Gavan Duffy and John Mitchel. Mitchel started
a rival paper to the Nation called the United Irishman, and
openly preached rebellion. Mitchel's articles advocated a de-
structive policy, his aim being the utter eradication of all the
rottenness superimposed on Ireland by English Governments over
the centuries. While the great mass of the rank and file of the
people remained loyal to O'Connell, very many of the younger
men were converted to the views of the Young Irelanders; but the
conflict between Duffy and Mitchel largely nullified their propa-
ganda. Mitchel admitted in New York, in a conversation with
the released Fenian prisoners just arrived from England in 1871,
that, looking back over that period, he believed the secession
was a mistake; that O'Connell himself was then doomed; that
his son John was an impossible leader, and that the leadership
would have naturally devolved on the Young Irelanders if they
had had only the patience to wait.
John Mitchel started a new movement that alarmed the
British Government. He established in the Ulster Counties, the
10
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Protestant Repeal Associations, and was making steady progress
when the Government decided to take drastic action. These
bodies included many former Orangemen, and a large number of
Presbyterians, and had they been allowed to go on, could not
have failed to produce salutary effects. But the Government
arrested Mitchel and tried him for Treason-Felony — a term in-
vented by Lord John Russell, the introducer of the bill, for the
purpose mainly of degrading Mitchel and classing opponents of
English Rule with ordinary criminals. The scene in Green Street
Courthouse on the day of Mitchel's conviction was sensational,
many prominent men present standing up, raising their hands,
and saying in substance: Mitchel, we are with you! That made
some believe that a rescue was intended, but none was at-
tempted.
Then the utter failure of William Smith O'Brien's attempt at
insurrection in Tipperary, called contemptuously by the English
press, "The Widow McCormick's Cabbage Garden Rebellion",
disheartened the people, whose spirit had already been shattered
by the Famine, and the exodus had already begun.
John Mitchel, in his "Last Conquest of Ireland — Perhaps",
records an incident typical of the period. At Killenaule, in
the County Tipperary, John B. Dillon (father of the Land League
leader) was in command of a body of Smith O'Brien's followers
who had thrown up a barricade across the village street. A
body of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars approached; the officer rode
up and ordered the barricade to be opened. Dillon, who had his
orders from Smith O'Brien, replied that if the officer gave his
word of honor that he had no warrants for arrest, he might pass.
The Hussar captain, however, in an imperious tone, demanded
to be let through. James Stephens — then a young man of
twenty- one — immediately raised his rifle and covered him; his
finger was on the trigger. But Dillon ordered Stephens to lower
his rifle, and having removed some of the carts, Dillon himself
led the officer's horse through as a sign that the soldiers were
not to be molested. Thus ended that affair. Many years later,
I was told by old soldiers that the men of the troop, who
were all Irish, were ready to join the people if they resisted, but
of course Dillon didn't know this. A large number of people were
looking on waiting to see the result of the incident, and they
decided that the Rebels didn't want to fight. Had Stephens been
allowed to shoot the captain, the insurrection would have been
begun then and there, with a small victory for the Rebels, and
the 'Forty-Eight Movement certainly would not have ended with-
out a standup fight. A physical force movement in Ireland which
THOMAS DAVIS
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
11
ends without a fight has a more demoralizing influence on the
people than a fight that fails.
The Young Ireland leaders were arrested, tried by packed
juries, and transported to Van Dieman's Land, with the excep-
tion of Duffy, who remained in Ireland, and a few others like
Michael Doheny, Richard O'Gorman and John Blake Dillon, who
escaped to America; so that the people were left without lead-
ers. A period of utter depression followed the Young Ireland
Movement.
Then in the early 'Fifties an agitation for Tenant Right was
started. It was led by Charles Gavan Duffy, George Henry
Moore, Frederick Lucas (an English convert to Catholicism), and
John Francis Maguire, editor of the Cork Examiner. One of its
chief features was independent opposition by a group of Mem-
bers in Parliament, and another was the holding of public meet-
ings throughout the country. Protestant farmers were joining
the movement in large numbers, and this alarmed the English
Government, because a union of Catholics and Protestants for
any purpose might lead to future union for Independence. One
incident was characteristic. Rev. David Bell, an Ulster Presby-
terian minister, who later became a Fenian and Editor of the
Irish National Liberator in London, was holding an umbrella dur-
ing a shower of rain over a Catholic priest who was making a
speech, and the English Government determined to stop this
fraternizing between the adherents of both religions.
Lord John Russell introduced a measure in Parliament called
"The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill", which forbade Catholic Bishops
to sign their pastorals with the Cross attached. The British
Government knew very well that every Catholic Bishop in Eng-
land as well as in Ireland would rot in prison rather than obey
this bill if it was enacted into law. But there was a group of
dishonest men among the Irish members of Parliament, led by
John Sadleir, William Keogh and Edmund O'Flaherty. Keogh
had made incendiary speeches at public meetings which were an
incitement to assassination, but he only intended them as bids
for employment under the Government. They seized the oppor-
tunity, by starting an agitation against the Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill. The Catholic Bishops and the great body of the priests fell
into line behind them, and the agitation was turned from the
Land Question to a religious one. This caused the Protestants to
fall out of the Land Movement in large numbers, and that was
precisely what the British Government wanted. Sadleir, Keogh
and O'Flaherty were rewarded for their treachery with Govern-
ment jobs.
12
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Added to the betrayal of the Tenant Right Movement came
the failure of the Tipperary Bank, which proved John Sadleir a
swindler.
The defection "of the rotten Members of Parliament practi-
cally broke up the Tenant Right Movement, but that break-up
had other causes than their action.
Archbishop Paul Cullen (who was later on appointed a Car-
dinal) occupied the Dublin See on the death of Archbishop Mur-
ray. While he was a good Bishop and a strict disciplinarian, he
was a reactionary in politics, and entirely pro-English in senti-
ment. He speedily showed his hand in two ways: one by bitter
opposition to the Tenant Right Movement, and the other in war-
fare on the "National" Schools. Archbishop Murray was called
a Whig by O'Connell, and he was, but he never denounced those
who differed from him in opinion. He was one of the Commis-
sioners of National Education, and his place on the Board was
offered to Archbishop Cullen, who at once refused it. Up to
then, priests from the Cathedral had attended the "Model
Schools" in Marlborough Street (where I was a pupil) on two
days in the week, and four hours of these days were devoted
to religious instruction, the "Protestants" among the pupils be-
ing instructed by ministers of their own church in a smaller
room, and the Presbyterians, who were less numerous, in a little
gallery. Archbishop Cullen ordered the priests not to attend the
schools, so that the Catholic pupils were left without instruction.
He then forbade parents to send their children to schools at-
tended by Protestants, on the ground that sitting with Protes-
tants and receiving instruction through some Protestant teachers
endangered their faith. This order was disobeyed so widely that
after a short time it became a dead letter. He then ordered the
priests to refuse absolution to all parents who sent their children
to the mixed schools.
Two incidents which took place at this time helped Arch-
bishop Cullen in his fight against "mixed education". Inspector
Kavanagh, who wrote a work on arithmetic that was used in
the so-called National Schools, though it was not the regular text
book, issued a public statement endorsing the Archbishop's stand
and was either dismissed or compelled to resign. He was out of
employment for some time, but was later appointed a Professor
in the Catholic University.
Father McGauley, author of a book on Physical Science and
lecturer on the same subject at the Teachers' Training School
in Temple Street, was ordered to resign by the Archbishop and
did so. He issued a public statement in which he said he had
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
13
long been tired of "Cullen's tyranny", married a Protestant
teacher and emigrated to Canada. Inspector Kavanagh's state-
ment, coming from an official of the National Schools, was ac-
cepted by many as a confirmation of the Archbishop's charges,
and the action of Father McGauley was taken as proof that asso-
ciation with Protestants undermined the faith of Catholics. But
during all that time and since, English Catholics were sending
their sons to Oxford and Cambridge for their final degrees. So
separation of the religions in the schools and colleges, on which
Dr. Cullen insisted, was applicable only to Ireland, where sec-
tarian differences were a curse.
The National Schools were established for the express purpose
of denationalizing the children of Ireland. Certain school text
books written by the daughters of Archbishop Whately, were cal-
culated to undermine Irish Nationality. The songs taught to the
children were mostly English. The pupils had to sing "God Save
the Queen" and "Rule Britannia" every day; but Archbishop
Cullen made no objection to that feature of the schools; his
whole objection was to have Protestant and Catholic children
occupy the same seats, or to teachers attending the Training
School.
In order to enforce this new rule, which was adopted only
by a majority of one at the meeting of the Bishops — Archbishop
MacHale of Tuam leading the opposition — parents who refused
to withdraw their children were refused absolution. I remember
well the day when my mother came back from the Cathedral
after refusing to obey the order. So far as the order affected
teachers, it meant that no properly trained teacher could obtain
employment in the schools where the Parish Priest was the
Manager or Patron. This had a very bad effect on primary edu-
cation in Ireland for a whole generation. If Archbishop Cullen
had first provided schools, with competent teachers — which, of
course, would have been a hard task — the bad effect of his action
would not have been so marked. But he was unable to establish
such schools and he did not try.
Archbishop Cullen's action in regard to the Tenant Right
Movement was most unjust and tyrannical. He ordered all priests
to leave the movement, and one of the incidents connected with
this action was the censure or suspension of the Callan Curates,
Father O'Keeffe and Father Tom O'Shea, who were most effective
campaigners. There was great popular sympathy with them, and
even Alexander M. Sullivan attacked Dr. Cullen's action in the
Nation. All Catholic parish priests obeyed the order, except
Father Quade of O'Callaghan's Mills in Clare. This action of
14
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Dr. Cullen encouraged the rotten Members of Parliament in their
treacherous action to break up the movement.
Dr. Cullen's own relatives were largely the chief land grabbers
in Kildare, Carlow, and the Queens County, and others held jobs
under the Government. One of his relatives, O'Ferrall, was for
many years Police Commissioner in Dublin. The Tenant Right
Movement sought only some small reforms in the laws govern-
ing land tenure, which fell very far short of the demands later
made by the Land League. It had no political aims, but he de-
nounced it as bitterly as he afterwards condemned the Fenians.
In the matter of the higher, as distinct from primary educa-
tion, Archbishop Cullen did much better, although he left much
to be desired. It was under his guidance that the Catholic Uni-
versity was established, but it was only Catholic, with very little
Irish in it. He made Dr. Newman (not then a Cardinal) the
Rector, and whether Dr. Newman or the Archbishop was respon-
sible for the appointment of the Professors, they were nearly
all English, mostly converts who had come over to the Catholic
Church during the Oxford Movement.
Stewart was Professor of the Latin language, and Arnold of
Latin and Greek literature. Robertson was Professor of His-
tory and Geography, and so on all along the line. While they
were all very scholarly men, and liberal in their views about
Ireland, they were still most decidedly English and took the pre-
vailing English view of everything in the world at the time.
The only Professors who were Irish were Eugene O'Curry, the
great Gaelic scholar, who was almost equal to his friend and
brother-in-law, John O'Donovan, perhaps the greatest Gaelic
scholar of all time; Hennessy, the Professor of Mathematics, who
was a member of the French Academy of Sciences; and a Dr.
O'Reilly, who taught some branch of medical science. Hennessy's
assistant was an ex-National teacher from Dunmanway, County
Cork, named Hayes, who was almost as great a mathematician as
his distinguished superior. He was practically self-taught, and
obtained his mathematical knowledge in studies made at a turf
fire in his father's little thatched cottage in the evenings after
he had driven home and fed the cows. L'Abbe Schurr, an Alsa-
tian, was the Professor of French, and they could hardly get an
Englishman for that work.
This choice of the professorial staff was equivalent to an ad-
mission that classical scholars could not be found in Ireland,
although it was notorious that many such scholars of great ability
could be found among the Irish priesthood. The Chaplain,
Father Anderdon, was an Englishman, as if no Irish priest could
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
15
be found who was fit for the position. He was a very able, learned
and liberal man, but he was English. Even the University Church,
built beside the University, on Stephens Green, was of the Anglo-
Saxon style of architecture, which was a hybrid, and had gone
out of fashion in England itself. The University and its chapel
were a simple illustration of the surrender of all the old Irish
ideals. It was English in everything in its early stages.
My knowledge of the professorial staff of the University was
derived from attendance at the evening classes which were estab-
lished for a while to enable young men who were not in the Uni-
versity to prepare for matriculation. The professors very gener-
ously undertook to give lectures to the classes. Among those who
were most painstaking was Robertson, the Professor of History
and Geography. He was a very genial old man, and his lectures
were very interesting, but I learned nothing of either geography
or history from him. My geography I learned pretty thoroughly
in the National Schools, which were provided with a splendid
lot of maps, and my history I got from reading at home. One
evening when the Professor was dealing with the Battle of Water-
loo, he said that Wellington was a greater general than Napoleon.
I interrupted him and said: "He was not." I was the youngest
student there, and the others looked at me in amazement at
what they thought my effrontery in contradicting a great
authority on history. But the old professor took it quietly and
asked me: "Why do you say that?" I replied that a general
must be judged, not by one battle, but by his whole military
career; that the French were outnumbered and had the English
beaten until Blucher came up with his Prussians. The old man
said in a tolerant tone: "Well, there is something in that." In
those days it was the English habit to laud Wellington as the
greatest general of history. That theory has died out in England,
because it was utterly inconsistent with the facts.
The University was supported mainly by collections in the
churches. The members of the Dublin Confraternities went
around collecting the money in the various parishes. The people
subscribed according to their means. I gave two-pence a week;
my elder brother four-pence, and my father six-pence a week.
When the Prince of Wales was married in 1862, all the loyalist
shopkeepers in Dublin put up illuminations, and the University
did the same. One of the students, J. P. McDonnell, later editor
of a labor paper in Paterson, N. J., led a group of students which
tore down the illuminations, and he was expelled for doing so.
That brought about a boycott of the University, and hundreds
of families stopped subscribing. This action against young
McDonnell was one of the causes which led to the stoppage of the
16
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
evening classes, but many of the young men had already been
matriculated from them.
On the collapse of the Tenant Right Movement, Ireland for
several years was in a state of political torpor. The people lost
all confidence in peaceful agitation, but had not belief enough
in their own strength to adopt a physical force policy. But while
that was the attitude of the mass of the grown up people, many
of the boys were drinking in the literature of Young Ireland and
adopting the principles of John Mitchel, long before they were
old enough to comprehend the significance of what they were
doing. So that in a few years the country became ripe for a
physical force movement. The dishonest Members of Parliament
at the time all took a pledge on the hustings to vote for Tenant
Right and Catholic Education, but the pledge was valueless, and
after getting into Parliament they did nothing but look for Gov-
ernment jobs for themselves or their constituents. This created
prejudice against Constitutional agitation and made the young
men of the country almost fanatical in their opposition to it.
The last time that the clergy went to extremes in using their
influence over the electorate was during the Parnell Split. The
exposure of the gross intimidation used by the clergy in Meath
in favor of Michael Davitt, exposed by the trial of the petition in
court, put an effectual end to clerical domination in Irish poli-
tics. A wonderful change took place later in the attitude of both
bishops and priests, to which I will refer in a subsequent chapter.
JOHN MITCHEL
CHAPTER II.
FENIANISM STARTED IN AMERICA.
Founded in New York in 1855 — Later Introduced Into Ireland
by Joseph Denieffe — James Fintan Lalor — Stephens Re-
turned from Paris and Established the I. R. B. — Movement
Spread Gradually Through the Country — The "National
Petition".
The Fenian Movement was started, not in Ireland, but in New
York, in 1855, although several small organizations looking to
insurrection existed both in Ireland and America previous to that
time. James Fintan Lalor might be said to be the real Father of
Fenianism, as well as of the Land League. An exceedingly clever
man, descended from the Chief of the Clan, which was one of
the Seven Septs of Leix, massacred at Mullaghmast, he was in
poor health from his birth. In 1849 he organized a revolutionary
group to which he seems to have given no name. Its member-
ship was composed entirely of men who had belonged to the
Confederate Clubs in Dublin in 1848, and he projected an attack
on Dublin Castle during Queen Victoria's visit to Ireland in 1849.
That attempt is not recorded, so far as I know, in print. Lalor's
organization lasted after his death in 1853, and was merged with
the Irish Republican Brotherhood by James Stephens in 1858.
In America, the refugees of 1848 formed an organization called
the Irish Emigrant Aid Society, with headquarters in New York.
It was in existence when John Mitchel arrived in this country
after his rescue by P. J. Smyth in Tasmania, and in a continua-
tion of his "Jail Journal" in the United Irishman he describes an
interview he had with the Russian Minister to Washington, with
a view to securing Russian aid for Ireland, as the Crimean War
was then going on. As the Russians could give no aid, the organi-
zation fell away, but a meeting of a few of its members was held
in 1855 in the law office of Michael Doheny in Centre Street, at
which were present several of the men who subsequently became
leaders in the Fenian Movement in America. Among them, be-
sides Doheny, were: John O'Mahony, and James Roche who re-
turned to Ireland and started a Nationalist paper in Galway
which did not last long. Roche came back to New York, and died
before the Fenian Movement attained much strength. Others
present were: Thomas J. Kelly, who was afterwards rescued in
Manchester, in 1867; Oliver Byrne, a man having a good theoreti-
17
13
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
cal knowledge of military affairs; Patrick O'Rourke, foreman of
the Tribune pressroom, afterwards Treasurer of the Fenian
Brotherhood in the United States; and General Michael Corcoran,
then a Captain in the 69th Regiment.
The Know-Nothing Movement was at that time in full blast,
and Joseph Denieffe, disgusted by its activities, decided to return
to Ireland. He was a Kilkenny man who knew all about Stephens
(then eking out a poor living by teaching English in Paris) , and
was a cutter in a Broadway tailor shop. Hearing of his inten-
tion, the meeting at Doheny's office was hurriedly called, and it
was decided to ask Denieffe to introduce the Movement into
Ireland. This was in 1856.
Denieffe's little book describes his experiences very accurately,
but does not give the whole story. I knew Denieffe in Dublin,
lived near him in Chicago in the '80's, and met him frequently
at the house of Edward F. Dunne (son of the old Fenian leader,
P. W. Dunne) , later Governor of Illinois, and heard from him his
full story. One evening after returning to my home I wrote
down from memory all he had told me, submitted it to him a few
days later, and he made many changes and corrections. I re-
wrote the statement, and it set forth much more about his early
experiences in Ireland than is contained in his book. Although
he wrote well, he was not accustomed to writing, and forgot many
rather important things which he had told me.
When John O'Leary started to write his Recollections, he
asked me to send him the manuscript, which I did, but O'Leary,
although a brilliant man, was very negligent, and he neither used
the manuscript nor returned it to me. So, the records of many
of the interesting details of the early Fenian Movement in Ire-
land thus disappeared.
When Denieffe arrived in Ireland, he got into touch with some
of the veterans of 1848, among them Dr. Cane of Kilkenny, and
started to organize. As he had no funds he could only admin-
ister the pledge to the few men whom he was able to reach. They
included some Protestants in Armagh and Belfast, where he
worked for a time.
The progress made was so slow that the men he had taken in
were losing confidence. They were holding a meeting one day
at the house of Peter Langan, who kept a lath factory on Lom-
bard Street, Dublin, and were on the point of deciding to dis-
band as Denieffe had not heard from America since he left there.
James Stephens, who, while in France, had heard from friends
in Kilkenny of Denieffe's efforts at reorganization, had just re-
turned to Ireland and got to Langan's place before those as-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
19
sembled there had reached a final decision. Penniless at the
time, Stephens was the most hopeful man among them, and he
insisted that they should hold together until they could send
Denieffe back to America to procure financial aid. Denieffe
returned to New York and found that no meeting had been held
since the one he attended in Doheny's office. The men were
called together again, and the necessity of immediate financial
aid to the men in Ireland was explained to them. Captain
Corcoran, who always was an essentially practical man, pro-
posed that everyone present empty his pockets on the table, and
the amount thus realized was, I think, £80, which was given to
Denieffe, who promptly forwarded it to Ireland. This first instal-
ment was soon followed by other contributions, none of them
large, and Denieffe returned to Ireland to continue his work.
While Denieffe was in America looking for funds for the or-
ganization, Stephens endeavored to make a living by giving
tuitions in French. He had lived ten years in Paris, spoke the lan-
guage perfectly, and had a thorough knowledge of French litera-
ture. He began by calling on John Blake Dillon, whom, of course,
he had known in 1848, and Mr. Dillon at once engaged him to
teach French to his two sons, John and William, and recommended
him to other well-to-do families. Among these was that of Judge
Fitzgerald, who later, when he learned that the tutor of his chil-
dren was the "Head Centre" of the terrible Fenians, became
very indignant and reproached Mr. Dillon for recommending him.
That was the way of the Irish Loyalists at the time. A man
opposed to English rule was ostracized by them, he was deprived
of his means of living and "the bread taken out of his mouth."
Toleration of difference of opinion was unknown to that class,
and in that respect they were worse than the English. After en-
during centuries of persecution, massacre, artificial famine and
shutting out of the light of learning, it is almost a miracle that
the Irish Race survived with spirit enough to continue the
struggle for Freedom. By driving into exile the best brains of the
Race, generation after generation, England undoubtedly dwarfed
its intellect and impeded the evolution of competent leadership.
But, like "an army in being", the Race has continued to live
and proved the truth of Thierry's analysis of its wonderful powers
of recuperation. Its survival as a separate entity proves its right
to existence and insures it eventually a place among the Nations
of the earth. As John Banim sang:
"Thou art not conquered yet, dear land;
Thou art not conquered yet."
On St. Patrick's Day, 1858, Stephens blocked out the form
and character of the organization (which was called the Irish
20
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Republican Brotherhood), wrote down the oath, which every
member afterwards took, and started on a tour of the country,
so far as the limited resources at his command would justify,
accompanied by Denieffe. He was later joined by Thomas Clarke
Luby, who had returned from Australia. Before long they found
a little organization called the Phoenix Society in Skibbereen,
County Cork, which had among its members O'Donovan Rossa,
Mortimer Moynahan, Dan McCartie, the Downing brothers, and
others who later figured in the first attempt by the British Gov-
ernment to crush the Movement. It was very much of a de-
bating and social society, and had done nothing in the way of
procuring arms. The prosecutions were started owing to infor-
mation sent to Dublin Castle by Father O'Sullivan of Kenmare,
County Kerry. One of the newly sworn-in members of the new
Organization, O'Sullivan (Agreem) , had at confession told about
his membership, and Father O'Sullivan asked him to meet him in
his parlor and repeat to him the information he had given him
in the confessional. O'Sullivan did so, and Father O'Sullivan im-
mediately sent it to the Castle. Then another Sullivan, known
ever since by the nickname of "Sullivan Goulah", turned in-
former. A number of arrests were made in Skibbereen. Some of
the men were allowed out on bail; Rossa and others were de-
tained in jail awaiting trial. They were tried before a packed
jury, but the case against them was weak, and, the Government
of the day not believing that the Movement was likely to become
formidable, agreed to release the prisoners on condition that they
would plead guilty. This course was finally adopted by the men,
and they were set free after spending eight months in jail.
This trial, instead of frightening the young men of Ireland,
really advertised the Movement, and helped in its recruiting
later on. Especially in Munster and Leinster, they had been
reading the literature of the Young Irelanders, and were fast be-
coming ripe for the Fenian recruiting agent.
The first impetus given to Fenianism was by the National
Petition Movement, started in the Nation office about 1859. Lord
Palmerston, Lord John Russell and the London Times, intend-
ing their utterances only to apply to the Pope and the King of
Naples, had been advocating the right of every people to choose
their own rulers, and to change them when they thought proper.
They never dreamed of applying this theory to Ireland; but J. P.
Leonard, a Professor of English at the Sorbonne in Paris, who
was the correspondent of the Nation, in one of his letters sug-
gested that Ireland "take England at her word", and start a
movement to demand a plebiscite in Ireland. T. D. Sullivan, of
the Nation, walked into an Irish class (at which I was present)
JOSEPH DENIEFFE
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
21
and to which his brother, A. M. Sullivan, had given the use of
his editorial room, with two or three friends, with a set of reso-
lutions already written. The class was composed mainly of
youths from seventeen up, and Mr. Sullivan asked each of the
boys to father one of the resolutions, which they did. One of
these resolutions called for a public meeting at the European
Hotel in Bolton Street, which was attended by an unexpectedly
large number of veterans of 1848, and young men who had grown
up in the meantime. The National Petition Movement was
started there, and the Committee met in a little room in Jervis
Street. It elected a Chairman for every meeting, but T. D. Sul-
livan was made Permanent Secretary.
This organization became the real foundation of Fenianism in
Dublin. Parish branches were formed to procure signatures to
a petition to Parliament at the church doors on Sundays, and
they achieved a remarkable degree of success. The only real op-
position at any church came from Father Spratt of the Car-
melites in Clarendon Street, who forbade the men to stand at the
church doors or in the chapel yard seeking signatures. But the
young men were not daunted; they procured loans of tables from
citizens, planted them outside the doors of houses in the neigh-
borhood of the church, and secured as many signatures as if they
had been allowed to take them at the church doors.
Several of these parish committees became permanent organi-
zations, some of them taking the form of athletic clubs, and
nearly all the members were later sworn into the Fenian Move-
ment.
Over five hundred thousand signatures were procured to the
Petition throughout the country. The O'Donoghue presented it
in Parliament, in a rather good speech. He was a grand-nephew
of Daniel O'Connell and was at that time looked up to as a
future leader. He had presided at the first public dinner held in
Dublin since 1848, in the Rotunda, on St. Patrick's Day, 1861,
and made a speech in which he said that "the English Parlia-
ment was no place for an Irish gentleman."
I attended that dinner on the eve of my departure to get a
training in the French Army, and I remember the great ovation
which greeted "The Chieftain of the Glens" when he made that
statement.
CHAPTER III.
BURIAL OF TERENCE BELLEW McMANUS.
Funeral in 1861 of Escaped Veteran of 1848 Gave a Strong
Impetus to Fenianism — The Demonstration a Significant
Popular Outpouring.
The organization was well on its way to success in the Sum-
mer of 1861 when Terence Bellew McManus died in California,
and the Nationalists there decided to send his body to Ireland for
burial in Dublin.
He was a Monaghan man, and was in business in Liverpool
when the Young Irelanders seceded from the Repeal Association
and started on their propaganda. The Clubs of the Irish Con-
federation (which was the name of their organization) held
meetings in Dublin, at which insurrection was openly advocated
and many of the members bought rifles and practised target
shooting, but the leaders did nothing but make speeches. Wil-
liam Smith O'Brien (a descendant of Brian Boru) was the leader,
but, though a fairly good Parliamentary speaker, he was not a
popular orator. Charles Gavan Duffy was a pretty good speaker,
but wrote better. John Mitchel spoke well, and his articles in
the United Irishman were revolutionary propaganda of the high-
est order. Thomas Francis Meagher was the star orator of the
Young Irelanders; he prepared his speeches carefully, com-
mitted them to memory and delivered them with fine elocution-
ary effect. Thousands thronged to the Music Hall in Lower
Abbey Street when the meetings were held, to hear him, and he
made many converts among the younger members of the Repeal
Association, which had no good speaker in Conciliation Hall after
Daniel O'Connell had left for Italy, broken in health.
McManus was not an orator, but he was a clear-headed, prac-
tical man. He came over from Liverpool to take part in Smith
O'Brien's projected insurrection in Tipperary and after its failure
was convicted and transported to Van Dieman's Land, where all
the Young Ireland leaders were confined. He was the first of
them to escape, in 1853, and got to California, where he settled
down and subsequently died. There was not much of an organi-
zation in San Francisco at the time, but a meeting of Irish citi-
zens appointed a committee to escort his remains to Ireland and
secure burial in Glasnevin. There were demonstrations in every
city along the route to New York. The body was held in New
York for a few days before shipment to Ireland and honored by
the Irish people here, the Fenian Brotherhood taking charge.
22
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
23
There was no Atlantic cable in those days and the news of the
death of McManus only reached Ireland a few days before the
arrival of the body, so there was little time for preparation. But
the time was well utilized. Stephens and Denieffe were the only
Fenian leaders then in Dublin, and the general Irish public knew
little or nothing about them. There were a few veterans of
1848, and some new men like the Sullivans of the Nation who
thought it was their prerogative to take charge of all Nationalist
demonstrations, so when a committee was formed, there was a
contest for control of it.
The body of McManus was received in Cork by a hastily organ-
ized committee and large crowds attended the funeral proces-
sion there. At every station where the train bearing the remains
stopped, there were great crowds which stood silently with bared
heads until the train left, but there was no organization. The
word had reached the people that the body of the Rebel of 1848
was on the train and they turned out spontaneously to honor it.
In Dublin, the two elements on the committee were unanimous
in seeking to have a mass said at the Cathedral in Marlborough
Street and to have the body lie in state in it, but Archbishop
Cullen positively refused. The committee then decided to hold
the wake in the Mechanics' Institute on Lower Abbey Street, a
few blocks away from the Cathedral. Instead of throwing a
damper on the demonstration of respect for the dead, the Arch-
bishop's action only intensified popular feeling and vast crowds
stood for many blocks in the contiguous streets waiting for their
turn to view the remains. Among them were many priests, in-
cluding the famous Father Kenyon of Templederry, County Tip-
perary, and Father Meehan of Dublin, both friends of John
Mitchel.
There were rather warm debates at the committee meetings
over the arrangements for the funeral, and the selection of the
speakers, but the Fenians won complete control. Father Kenyon,
who was a fine speaker, but spoke with a strong brogue, knew
nothing of the Fenians, but he was as strong a Nationalist as
any of them. The sister of McManus had written to him, asking
him to take charge of the funeral, as she knew no more of the
new movement than he.
He was satisfied with the explanations given and the funeral
went off according to program. John O'Clohessy, who had re-
cently returned from India, where he served in the Bombay Horse
Artillery, was selected as Marshal of the procession. He was a
handsome man with a fine figure, and he had a talent for man-
aging processions. He had handled the crowds which greeted
the Irish Papal Brigade at the Kingsbridge station on their re-
24
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
turn from Italy a few months previously, and speedily brought
order out of chaos, so the men of Dublin knew his capacity for
such things. He had joined the organization very early, was
one of the Dublin "Centres", and was later sentenced to a term
of imprisonment. His brother Michael (later well known in New
York) was also an active member and had a hand in the arrange-
ments for the funeral. They were sons of a Dublin policeman
from Clare.
The arrangements for the funeral were perfect and were car-
ried out with precision. It was much bigger than the funeral
of O'Connell. Dublin had never seen anything like it before.
All the trade societies took part in it and it seemed as if every
man in Dublin was in line, or on the streets as an onlooker. The
trains that morning brought great crowds from all parts of the
country, practically all of whom fell into line. O'Clohessy selected
a number of ex-British soldiers and Papal Brigade men as his
assistants and gave them instructions the night before. The
handling of the procession, which was several miles long, was
faultless, and the demeanor of the vast crowd which lined the
sidewalks along the route was most respectful. All heads were
bared as the cortege passed, and women prayed aloud.
As the procession passed the spot in Thomas Street where
Robert Emmet was hanged in 1803, and the house on the same
street where Lord Edward Fitzgerald was stabbed to death with
a cane sword by Capt. Ryan in 1798, each contingent stood for
a moment and the men took off their hats. At every historic
spot on the way to Glasnevin, there were appropriate demonstra-
tions. The men in line were of fine physique and their splendid
bearing greatly impressed the English newspapermen. The lat-
ter thought they had all been drilled, but Irishmen are born
soldiers and fall into military step naturally.
In the cemetery a dense mass of people stood near the grave
and speeches were made by Jeremiah Cavanagh and Captain
Smith of San Francisco, which were heartily cheered. After the
funeral services the immense crowd disbanded in an orderly
manner.
Several thousand country people remained for a few days
after the funeral to see the city and hundreds of them were
sworn into the organization by friends and relatives resident in
the Capital, and they started it going in their home districts
after their return.
The funeral was a test, not of the strength of Fenianism,
but of the revival of the fighting National spirit, which had been
thought dead after the great Famine of 1847 and the failure of
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
25
the Young Ireland Movement in 1848. Dublin itself was sur-
prised at the magnificent demonstration, and the countrymen
returned to their homes inspired with new hope.
The English Government was also surprised and greatly dis-
appointed and the London press voiced its feelings. The Ireland
they thought incapable of giving them further trouble of a
serious nature, they now realized was filled with the old militant
National Spirit. The population was still over 6,000,000, which
was 2,000,000 less than in 1847 when emigration began on a large
scale after havoc had been wrought by hunger and typhus, but
the people were still numerous enough to give the Alien Govern-
ment food for thought. But that only awakened their fears. It
did not make them dream of conciliation, and their minds were
occupied only with plans for further repression. A habit that
had lasted for nearly seven centuries was hard to change, and
it required much more than processions marching through the
streets of Dublin to bring about the alteration. The determina-
tion to keep Ireland suppressed, in population and in industry,
remained as strong as ever. Every concession had to be wrung
from England and all of them were halting, incomplete and eva-
sive, including the last one in 1921.
The significance of the popular outpouring in Dublin on
November 10, 1861, lay in the fact that McManus was wholly
unkown in Ireland before his conviction in 1848. All the great
body of the people knew was that he had suffered imprisonment
for Ireland and had escaped from prison in Tasmania.
The effect of the McManus funeral demonstration in the
country was very marked. It gave a strong impetus to the Fenian
Movement and made recruiting easy. The contest with the
"Moderates" for control of the demonstration, resulting, as it
did, in complete success, inspired the young men with great con-
fidence, but it also had some bad effect. It developed a spirit
of intolerance which prevented union with the "Moderates" on
reasonable terms and turned their sympathy away. This pro-
duced evil results in later years, but for the moment it made
Fenianism strong and aggressive.
I missed the McManus funeral, much to my regret (as I was
then serving in the French Foreign Legion) , and could only read
the reports of it in a tent in Algeria. But when I returned to
Dublin in 1862 and heard the inside story from the men who had
taken part in it, I was amazed at the extraordinary change which
had taken place in the spirit of the country. It marked a turning
point in the history of the movement, and Fenianism made rapid
progress thereafter.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MOVEMENT SPREADS.
Steady Progress in the Early 'Sixties — How the Organization
Permeated the Provinces — Total Membership 80,000.
After the National Petition had been dumped on the floor
of the English House of Commons, the Fenian Movement made
rapid progress in Dublin, and from Dublin spread steadily to
the provincial towns in Leinster. The chief recruiting grounds
in the Capital were the trade unions and the three big drapery
establishments, Cannock, White & Co.; Todd, Burns & Co., and
McSwiney, Delany & Co. In these establishments the Drapers'
Assistants were all country boys and were a fine set of fellows.
They were boarded and lodged in the houses where they worked
and were obliged to dress well in order to keep their jobs. They
were also well-mannered and very intelligent. Several of them,
chiefly from Cork, were already members before they left home
and were great recruiters.
The man who swore me in, James Joseph O'Connell O'Cal-
laghan, of Kanturk, was, next to O'Donovan Rossa and Edward
Duffy, the best recruiter in Ireland, but he had a great talent for
exaggeration. At the National Petition meetings, while he was
feeling me out (a wholly unnecessary proceeding, for I already
belonged to a gun club) he told me there were already 20,000
members in Cork and 15,000 in Tipperary, evidently multiplying
the actual number by 5. The swearing in was done in Alexan-
der M. Sullivan's editorial room in the Nation office, where a
Gaelic class met. O'Callaghan did not learn any Irish and only
joined the class to pick out recruits. I introduced him to many
others and he swore in most of the men who later became Cen-
tres in Dublin. His own Circle, after many had been promoted
and had started Circles of their own, numbered 1,100 men.
O'Callaghan also swore in James J. O'Kelly, who later organ-
ized London, and Matthew O'Neill, whose Circle, mostly men of
the building trades and of fine physique, was 1,200 strong. The
biggest Circle in Dublin was that of Hugh Brophy, a builder,
who was arrested with Stephens and lived for many years in
Sydney, Australia, after his release from prison in 1869 and died
there. His men were also mainly from the building trades. Next
to the building trades, shoemakers and tailors were the most
numerous artisans in the organization.
26
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
27
From Dublin, chiefly through the Drapers' Assistants, the or-
ganization spread to the Leinster and Connacht towns. The
organization was always begun at the top. One man was sworn
in and empowered to obligate others, and if he was successful
in recruiting, was in time made a Centre by Stephens. No wit-
ness of the taking of the oath was ever present. Only the man
who administered the oath and the man who took it could give
definite information of the act, and no member was supposed
to know any other man in the Circle outside his own seclon,
numbering not more than ten. The first rule, as to swearing in,
was always strictly adhered to, but the other was utterly dis-
regarded. Every man knew all the members of his own Circle
and practically those of every other Circle in the town. And
the organization would not have grown so rapidly were it not for
that fact. Touching elbows with fellow-members at public dem-
onstrations and having "a pint" with others was a great factor.
The Centre, or head of the Circle (who was supposed to have
the rank of Colonel) was known as "A", and he was allowed
to have nine "Bs", or sub-Centres (Captains) ; each "B" had
nine "Cs" (Sergeants) if his quota was full, and every "C" had
nine "Ds", who were privates. This regulation was never strictly
adhered to and some Circles, like that of John Hickey of "Kings-
town", and William F. Roantree's in the Leixlip District of Kil-
dare, had fully 2,000 members. A little Tipperary hunchback
shoemaker named Stephen Tracy, who was one of O'Callaghan's
"Bs" in Dublin, had the ambition to become a Centre, recruited
his section up to 150 men and appointed three or four "Nomee-
nial 'Bs' ", saying he "didn't want to play second fiddle to no
man", and there were other instances of the kind.
The Highland Scotch bookkeeper in the old New York Herald
office (a Catholic MacDonald) , found the oath in the same way
in an Aberdeen paper and swore in thirty other Catholic High-
land Gaels, who were all ready to go to Ireland to fight, but the
first news they got of the Rising was the report of the failure
of March 5, 1867. MacDonald's brother, a priest, was president
of the College of Valladolid in Spain. But these were only ex-
ceptions: in all cases the starting of the organization was done
by duly authorized men.
There were in all fifteen Circles in Dublin — Hugh Brophy's,
Matthew O'Neill's, James O'Callaghan's, James Cook's, Garrett
O'Shaughnessy's, Denis Cromien's, Michael Moore's, Patrick
Kearney's, John Kirwan's, John O'Clohessy's, Niall Breslin's,
James O'Connor's, Nicholas Walsh's and Edmund O'Donovan's,
and John Hickey's in Dunleary (Kingstown) .
28
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
O'Donovan's was composed almost entirely of Protestants.
O'Donovan Rossa, in his frequent visits to the home of John
O'Donovan, the great scholar, in Buckingham Street, swore in
three sons of the latter, including Edmund, who was the eldest.
The number of members in Dublin was reported as over
10,000, and it was certainly above 8,000. There were, besides,
small Circles in North and South Dublin County. In the Glen-
cullen district, I found there were several hundred unreported
men; their leaders being Larry Caulin and Larry Ellis.
Carlow came in very early. The Centre there was a man
named Londrigan, who was brought in by Andrew Nolan, a Car-
low man who was a clerk in a hardware shop in Thomas Street,
Dublin. John Nolan, a brother of Andy, brought the organiza-
tion to Belfast, where he had a good position in a drapery estab-
lishment. From Belfast he spread it through Ulster.
But though Londrigan was the most prominent man in the
organization in Carlow, the best known and most popular was a
farmer named John Morris. He was an eccentric man, but in
his way very clever and resourceful. After the Irish People was
seized he was "wanted" by the police, but managed to evade ar-
rest without going more than four or five miles away from his
home by training the boys of the neighborhood to signal him
by blowing horns to warn him of the approach of the Peelers.
Often they put a cordon around the district, but he always man-
aged to slip through. At the meeting of Centres that decided
on the Rising of March 5, 1867, he thought the American offi-
cers were interfering too much — though it was the one occasion
when their counsel was most needed — and he said, as Niall Breslin
later told me: "I'd have ye gintlemin from America understand
that ye're only ogzeeliaries here." After the Rising he escaped
to America and settled in Chicago. Although he took sides against
the "Triangle", he liked "sthrong talkers" and went to all public
meetings where John F. Finerty was a speaker. He would ap-
plaud him vigorously and shout: "Good boy, John; give it to
them" when the orator was "twisting the lion's tail" most vigor-
ously. He gave his children a good education and one of his
sons became a priest. (The term "Triangle" was applied to that
section of the Clan-na-Gael of which Sullivan, Boland and Feely
were the leaders.)
Hugh Byrne of Tinahely, a school teacher and a highly gifted
man, started the movement in Wicklow, in which it became very
strong. He wrote a book on arithmetic in Mount joy Prison. He
died in San Francisco in the early 'eighties.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
29
The organization was begun in Louth by a Drogheda man
named McCabe, and one of his first coadjutors was Harry Byrne
who later introduced me to John Boyle O'Reilly.
William Francis Roantree of Leixlip brought it into North
Kildare, and a tailor named Byrne, then working in Dublin,
to Athy. A Dublin "chimney sweep" named Sullivan, who had
settled in Newbridge, started it there, and when I met him after
moving to Naas in 1862, he had over two hundred men. He had
a fine voice and knew how to use it. He was strong on "Corae-
all-ye's" and his favorite was:
"My love Nell
Was an Irish girl
From the Cove of Cork came she:
I'm a-weeping and a-wailing
And the big ship sailing
For the shores of Americay."
After a lapse of over sixty years his splendid voice is still
ringing in my ears. Sweeping chimneys was looked upon as a
low occupation, but Sullivan made a good living and was a very
intelligent man. His work was done chiefly by boys. He was too
big to go up a chimney himself.
I brought the organization to Naas, and my district included
Ballymore Eustace, Kilcullen, Athgarvan, Kill (my native par-
ish) , Straffan and the Bog of Allen.
In Queens County the organization was started by Matthew
Carroll of Maryborough, then a shoemaker, who was sworn in
while working in Dublin. He brought in a well-to-do shopkeeper
named McCabe in Portarlington, and Bill Dunphy, Matt Fleming
and his younger brother, George (both well known later in
Chicago), and Edward Murphy, son of a wealthy mill-owner, in
Mountmellick.
Carroll had a brother a minister, but I knew Matt more than
twenty-five years before I learned he was a Protestant. His men
and mine used to meet in Monasterevan on occasional Sundays,
walking all the way and lunching on bread and butter, washed
down with a pint of porter. On other Sundays we walked from
Naas to Dublin, Carroll walking the whole twenty-five miles
from Maryborough on Saturday. As we passed the church in Kill,
I used to say to him: "Well, as we're passing the chapel we
might as well go to Mass." Carroll would answer: "All right",
and we'd go to a seat in the gallery belonging to cousins of mine,
where he would take a little Catholic prayer book from his vest
pocket and read the prayers for Mass. All Fenians carried that
little prayer book for swearing-in purposes, and later when a
man was arrested the papers would say: "Among the suspicious
30
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
articles found on the prisoner were * * * and a small prayer
book."
Matt Carroll in 1867 was one of the founders of the Clan-na-
Gael and became very well known in New York, where he was
employed as a clothing cutter, and in Jersey City, where he died.
The organization was started in Meath soon after Denieffe's
arrival by a veteran of 1848 named Philip Grey, whom Luby,
O'Leary and Denieffe united in describing as a man of high char-
acter, but he died a year or two later and his death retarded the
work.
Meath was not strong in Fenianism. Its chief men were James
Pallas, the school teacher in Athboy, and Tom Masterson of
Navan, a shoemaker, who moved into Dublin. Billy McLaughlin,
still alive at this writing (August, 1927) in New York, was then
a mere boy, but was a member.
Tom Williams (Secretary to Charles A. Dana of the New York
Sun) started the organization in Longford. He was a Dublin man
whose father owned the old Evening Post, and he became Editor
of the Longford Register, which enabled him to introduce the
organization into that County. When he died, in New York, he
was an editorial contributor to the Gaelic American.
Tom Owens, a quiet, unassuming little Dublin waiter, got a
job in Jude's restaurant at the Mullingar railway station and
started the work in Westmeath. He did not make much progress
until Captain Joe Carroll was assigned to the command of that
County.
I go into all these details because they were typical of the
Fenian Movement, and of the men who composed it all over Ire-
land, so that the new generation may have a clearer view of the
Ireland of that day. I knew nothing of the organization in the
Kings County and little of Wexford.
Kilkenny was one of our strongholds, but Callan had a much
larger number of men than the city. John Haltigan, foreman
printer of the Kilkenny Journal (father of Patrick Haltigan, the
Reading Clerk of the House of Representatives, and of the late
James Haltigan, editor of the Celtic Monthly and later chair-
man of the chapel in the composing room of the New York
World) , was head of the movement in the City of Kilkenny, but
Stephens brought him to Dublin and made him foreman of the
Irish People office. In Callan the chief man was Edward Coyne,
whose brother, Philip, was an active worker in New York.
In Cork City the chief whom all looked up to was John
Kenealy, who was convicted and sentenced to ten years' penal
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
31
servitude in January, 1866. He was released from Western Aus-
tralia in 1869, went to San Francisco, where he lived for many
years, moved to Los Angeles before it became famous, except as
a health resort, and died there many years ago. Although the
system of County Centres did not exist in the old organization,
John Kenealy practically exercised all the functions of that
office for Cork County. He was an even tempered man with a
judicial mind and fine judgment, and was highly respected by
everybody.
Skibbereen was a hotbed of Fenianism and gave us not only
O'Donovan Rossa (whom Padraic Pearse justly described as the
most typical Fenian) but Mortimer Moynahan and his brother,
Michael, who later on was Secretary to General Canby during
the Modoc War in the Lava Beds, the three Downing brothers,
P. J., Denis and Daniel. P. J., after serving with distinction in
Meagher's Brigade, became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninety-
ninth New York National Guard (of which John O'Mahony was
Colonel) , later settled in Washington, and died there. He was
the father of Rossa Downing, well known in the early days of
the Friends of Irish Freedom.
There were more prisoners from Skibbereen in Mount joy
Prison in 1866 than from any other town in Ireland. They were
mostly Gaelic speakers and spoke English with a very strong
brogue. "Have oo any noos from Shkib?" one asked another
in my hearing one day as we walked round the exercise ring,
and the other replied: "No; but I do be dhraming — wisha, quare
dhrames." Owing to the close confinement, prisoners often had
distorted dreams.
Next to John Kenealy in Cork City was James F. X. O'Brien,
a man of considerable literary ability. John Lynch was another
very active member in the early days. He was convicted early in
1866 and died in Pentonville Prison. Another energetic worker
was John O'Callaghan, who spent several months in Mount-
joy Prison as a suspect in 1866, but was not convicted.
Bantry, Mallow, Fermoy, Midleton and Kanturk were good
Fenian towns, but Fermoy came next to Skibbereen in strength.
East Cork was poorer in spirit than West Cork, and the people
seemed to belong to a different branch of the Race.
In Tipperary, Charles J. Kickham was not only the leader,
but was one of the chief men of the whole movement. I deal
with him in a separate chapter.
Denis Dowling Mulcahy, who practised medicine in Newark,
N. J., for many years, was one of the leaders in Tipperary, but
Stephens took both Kickham and him to Dublin as members of
32
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
the staff of the Irish People and both were arrested and con-
victed.
Clare was one of the best Fenian counties in Ireland — due to
the initiative of Edmund O'Donovan, and John Clune, whom he
swore in. Clune was arrested early in 1866, but was released on
bail because he made himself sick by eating soap in Mount joy
Prison, so that he might not have to go to America — as most of
the prisoners were then compelled to do, if they were to secure
their freedom. It nearly killed him, as there was arsenic in the
soap.
In Waterford City the chief man was Denis Cashman (con-
victed in February, 1867 with me) , and he was ably assisted by a
man named Dillon and by a wealthy pig dealer named Kenny.
The county was not well organized. Cashman was for a time
Business Manager of the Boston Pilot.
Kerry was at that time poor ground, and the Corkmen con-
temptuously called the Kerrymen "Chieftain Members", on ac-
count of their devotion to The O'Donoghue, even after he took
an English job. The chief man there was William Moore Stack
(father of Austin) , who was also convicted with me. He was
then an attorney's clerk in Dublin. Maurice Moynahan became
County Centre after the reorganization in 1867, and a man named
Moriarty was also an active worker. When Colonel O'Connor
returned from America after the Civil War he became the
leader and headed the premature insurrection in Kerry in Feb-
ruary, 1867.
In Limerick, Jack Daly and his brother Ned were mere boys
in 1867, but they took part in the Rising. It was in the reor-
ganized movement that John became prominent. The leader in
the city was David Murphy, who was shot at later by a deluded
young fellow named O'Kelly, — at the instigation of Richard Pigott,
whose thefts from the funds subscribed through the Irishman
he had threatened to expose. He was at the time bookkeeper in
the Irishman office. He was alive, though well over ninety, when
I last heard from him. There was also Edward Murphy (not a
relative of David) , a shoemaker in Limerick and a very active
worker, whom I only met in New York. Except for Kilmallock
the rest of the County was poorly organized.
I knew little of Connacht except what I heard from Ned
Duffy and O'Donovan Rossa, who made a tour of the province
together. Rossa's proficiency in Irish helped him considerably,
but Duffy, although born in Connacht, knew nothing of the lan-
guage. I learned much about conditions in Mayo years later
from Martin Lovern, a lame schoolmaster, descended from one
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
33
of Humbert's soldiers who did not return to France. He was
also a school teacher in Scranton and died in Buffalo, N. Y. He
had a fine copy of the "Annals of the Four Masters" and fre-
quently sent me postal cards in Irish.
The organization was strongest in Mayo and Roscommon, but
Galway, Sligo and Leitrim were poorly organized. In the reor-
ganized movement Mayo was the best in Ireland, but Cavan was
a strong rival.
I had little knowledge of Ulster outside of Belfast, where
there was a fine organization, and many groups of the members
often visited Dublin. The most prominent of these was Frank
Rooney, a splendid fellow. Another frequent visitor was a man
named Loughrey. There was a good organization in Down. In
Newtownards, when Rossa visited the town in 1864 or 1865, he
found the Centre to be a Presbyterian linen manufacturer, and
the membership about evenly divided between Catholics, Presby-
terians and Episcopalians. The tradition of the United Irishmen
was still alive there. During my time the Episcopalians were
always called "Protestants", while each of the other Protestant
sects was given its respective designation, and I believe the cus-
tom still prevails.
The I. R. B. was also strong in Monaghan under James Blaney
Rice of Tyholland with whom I was not then acquainted.
The organization got into several places without Stephens
knowing anything about it, owing to failure to report it. I dis-
covered some cases accidentally. There was a Dunlavin family
named Leonard in Naas, one of whose members, Patrick, although
hardly twenty, was one of my most active workers. He joined
the United States Army later, became a staff sergeant, and died
at the Presidio Barracks in San Francisco the day before the
great earthquake and fire. I went with him in 1864 to the
funeral of a relative at Stratford, County Wicklow, close to Dun-
lavin. There was a mill there at that time which employed a
large number of men. I was introduced to more than a score of
them who all belonged to the organization, and was assured
there were fully 1,500 in the district. When I told this to
Stephens on my next visit to Dublin I found he had never heard
of it. I have no doubt there were other such cases which would
more than make up for possible exaggerations elsewhere.
Stephens claimed a total membership in Ireland, England,
Scotland and Wales of 80,000, exclusive of the 15,000 men in the
British army, and he was probably right.
One of the recruiting grounds for Fenianism in its early days
in Dublin and in the North of England was the Brotherhood of
34
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
St. Patrick. It was an open, unsworn organization which held
its meetings in a hall over a restaurant in Marlborough Street,
near the river, which was run by a white American woman whose
husband was a mulatto and the only waiter was their son, a very
meek boy. It was a good restaurant, though cheap, and was well
patronized. One could get a good, plain dinner of meat and
vegetables for sixpence. While the mulatto, a big, stalwart
fellow, stalked around the dining room, his Yankee wife stood
at the cash desk talking incessantly.
The hall on the second floor (it was a three-story stone build-
ing) seated about a hundred people, and it was well filled at the
weekly meetings. No resolutions were passed and the proceed-
ings consisted entirely of speech making. The chief speakers
were Thomas Neilson Underwood (an Ulster Presbyterian who
was a nephew of Samuel Neilson, the United Irishman, and a
cousin of Charles Underwood O'Connell) ; Charles G. Doran, the
architect who later designed the Cathedral at Cobh (Queens-
town), and John C. Hoey, author of "That Damned Green Flag
Again". Both Underwood and Doran were good speakers, but did
not speak to any particular text. Their topic was Irish Nation-
ality, but they advocated no particular programme or policy.
Hoey, who said "dis" and "dat", was an admirer of Hofer, the
Tyrolese patriot, and referred to him in every speech, in advocacy
of physical force. He constantly repeated the invocation used by
Hofer when his men were hurling rocks down from the mountains
on the Bavarians. Not one of the three was a member of the
I. R. B. at that time, but after the failure of 1867 Doran joined
it and some years later became Secretary of the Supreme Council.
Hoey's poem referred to above was based on the story of how
a Confederate officer remarked on the repeated charges of
Meagher's Irish Brigade in one of the famous battles of the
American Civil War: "There's that damned green flag again".
It was recited everywhere by the Fenians.
The Brotherhood of St. Patrick got a good deal of public
notice through Dean O'Brien of Newcastle West, County Limerick,
head of the Catholic Young Men's Society, denouncing it bitterly
in the newspapers. He made all kinds of unfounded accusations
against it, among which was that the members were being drilled
with wooden guns and that it was a cloak for a secret society.
The attacks were wholly unprovoked and unjustified, but they
were continued for many months.
No man of any consequence undertook to answer Dean
O'Brien, but "Red Jim" McDermott, who later became notorious
as a British spy, wrote some flippant letters in the Irishman
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
35
(then edited by Denis Holland) which were wholly ineffective
and only supplied Father O'Brien with new texts for attack.
Finally Stephens ordered all I. R. B. members to withdraw
from the St. Patrick's Brotherhood, and it dwindled to very small
proportions, but continued to hold meetings for several months.
It had no central governing body. The English branches pub-
lished weekly reports of their meetings in the Irishman. Later,
most of their members were taken into the I. R. B. and their
S. P. B. meetings ceased.
CHAPTER V.
THE FEUD WITH THE SULLIVANS.
A. M. Sullivan, Who Became Editor of The "Nation" After the
"Young Ireland" Period, Antagonistic to the I. R. B. — His
Unjustifiable Attacks Begot Retaliation.
The feud with the Sullivans was very unfortunate and did
much harm, but the Fenians did not begin it. It was started by
the publication in the Nation of a letter from Alexander M.
Sullivan to William Smith O'Brien stating that while on a yacht-
ing tour around the Southern coast he found in Bantry and
other towns that members of a secret society were using Mr.
O'Brien's name to induce others to join, claiming that he was a
member. While it was probably true that some were doing this,
the leaders knew nothing of it and were not responsible. The
publication of the letter was a wholly unwarrantable and unjus-
tifiable act, as it warned the Government that the organization
they thought they had suppressed by the trials of the Skibbereen
and Kenmare men was at work again and put it on the scent.
The men in West Cork retaliated by nicknaming A. M. Sullivan
"Goulah", the opprobrious epithet which they had applied to the
fellow who betrayed O'Sullivan of Kenmare. The nickname
was adopted by the members generally, and the Dublin men at-
tempted to break up all public meetings at which the then editor
of the Nation was announced to speak.
Sullivan repeated his offense in his report in the Nation of a
public meeting in the Rotunda for the purpose of starting a
public National organization a few days after the McManus
Funeral in 1861. The control of the meeting was captured by
the Fenians and they were in a majority on the committee ap-
pointed to begin the work of organization. Mr. Sullivan printed
a list of the committee with a number of names in italics and a
note at the foot of the list saying that the names in italics were
"friends of the Fenian delegates". This was another warning
to the Government and was downright "felon-setting". It made
the men very bitter against Sullivan and they retaliated very
vigorously. The proposed organization was not formed.
At a meeting in the Rotunda on Feb. 22, 1864, to protest
against a Loyalist project of erecting a monument to Prince
Albert in College Green there was a riot in which Mr. Sullivan
was ousted from the platform. Stephens sent a letter to the
36
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
37
Dublin Centres telling them to protest against Sullivan making
a speech, but he did not, as Sullivan claims in one of his books,
order them to use violence. I was present on the platform.
The O'Donoghue presided and in his opening speech referred
to the editor of the Nation as "my esteemed friend Mr. Sullivan".
That started the row. A number of young men, led by Paddy
Kearney and Jack Clohessy (both ex-British soldiers) made a
rush for the platform and stormed it. The whole meeting was
in confusion immediately and the men on the platform, jammed
together as they were, could do nothing but utter vain protests.
Those around me were the class of men who would make good
members, but they were indignant at the disturbance and prob-
ably never joined afterwards. They evidently did not appreciate
the reasons for the antipathy to Sullivan, but were indignant at
the breaking up of a meeting to protest against desecrating
College Green with a statue of the Prince Consort who had writ-
ten a letter to Humboldt in which he said that "the Poles were
deserving of as little sympathy as the Irish". That letter had
been published a short while before, and everybody had read it.
Dr. Waters, who edited a daily paper started by A. M. Sullivan
called the Morning News, and who stuttered badly when excited,
attempted to make a speech from the gallery defending Sullivan
and was jeered by the crowd as they went out. A number of the
I. R. B. men went over to the Irish People office in Parliament
Street, where an impromptu meeting, without a Chairman, was
held and speeches were made by Stephens and Luby. The C. O.
I. R. (Chief Organizer of the Irish Republic) was not a practiced
speaker and only explained that it was a mistake to storm the
platform and break upon the meeting, but Luby was jubilant
and spoke sarcastically of Dr. Waters and his stammering at-
tempt at a speech and "the stampede of the respectables". That
was the way all present felt.
A few days later, another, but very small meeting was held in
the Rotunda, to which admission was by ticket and a heavy
guard placed on the door. The breaking up of the previous meet-
ing was bitterly denounced, and the cleavage started there con-
tinued until the trials in 1865-6.
I thought the effect of the riotous proceedings on the country
would be very bad, but it was less so than I anticipated. Meet-
ing a man on the street in Naas on my return he asked me about
it and I answered him apologetically, but I was surprised when
he said in a tone of admiration: "They must be damn shtrong."
The fight with the Sullivans went on for many years and pre-
vented many good men from joining the organization. It divided
38
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Ireland into two rival camps, but the Fenians were organized
and the followers of Sullivan were not, and that counted for
much. Sullivan ceased denouncing and making exposures, but
in reporting public events in the Nation he and T. D. showed
their animosity unmistakably. When George Clarke was killed
on the bank of the Royal Canal near Phibsborough the Nation
put this heading over the report: "Man Killed on False Sus-
picion." Nobody in the Nation or the Morning News office knew
anything whatever about the case, but the report undertook to
show that Clarke was innocent. The fact was that the evidence
against Clarke was conclusive. Michael Breslin, clerk in the Head
Police Office, saw him there talking to Superintendent Hughes;
a detachment of detectives was immediately sent out and raided
an arms depot in which he had applied for work the day before,
and when refused, grumbled in a threatening way. Clarke was a
chronic grumbler. He and about twenty others sent to Rome by
Father Fay of Meath Street Church to join the Irish Papal
Brigade returned to Ireland without enlisting because they were
dissatisfied about something.
The evidence was first submitted to Colonel Kerwin as Judge
Advocate, who passed upon it. Edmund O'Donovan presided at
the courtmartial. At the termination of the trial Clarke was
found guilty and duly sentenced to death. Sam Cavanagh and
Garret O'Shaughnessy were detailed to put the sentence into
effect, — which they did. I forget the name of the one-armed
Dublin man, whom I often met here in later years, who inveigled
Clarke to the place of execution. Cavanagh and O'Shaughnessy
got safely to America and both died in New York, the latter
within a few years of his arrival and Cavanagh about 1908. Cava-
nagh became a Lieutenant in the Sixty-Ninth and was Presi-
dent of the Veterans of the I. R. B. for some time.
When John O'Leary was sentenced to twenty years' penal
servitude, A. M. Sullivan wrote a very mean article about him.
After commending him for his splendid speech in the dock, the
article said:
"Grave things, terrible things, have been said of John
O'Leary and of his brother Arthur, now deceased, but we
refrain," etc.
It would have been more manly if Sullivan had made definite
charges, but the insinuation was damnable. John O'Leary led a
pure and strictly moral life, and the most terrible thing he had
ever done was to stop going to Mass. He was neither an Atheist
nor a Freethinker, but used to say that he belonged to the Broad
Church. Father Finlay, the Jesuit who was prominent in the
Industrial Movement, succeeded in reconciling him with the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
39
Church and he died within its fold. He had never written a word
against Sullivan and disapproved attacks on him.
It was cowardly to assail a man who could not defend him-
self, for under the English prison system convicted prisoners are
not allowed to see newspapers, and warders are always present
when friends or relatives visit them and are under orders to
prevent the conveyance of information regarding public events.
But, even if O'Leary were free to reply he would treat the attack
with silent scorn. He never engaged in personal controversies.
While the Nation under control of the Sullivans was not up to
the high standard of the paper of the days of Gavan Duffy and
Thomas Davis, it was of high literary merit. No weekly paper
in Europe was equal to the old Nation, except perhaps the Lon-
don Spectator, and it was of a wholly different type. The Spec-
tator dealt only with the events of the day, while the Nation
was devoted to a Cause and appealed to the intellect of a Race
in an effort to lift the Race to a higher level and inspire it with
enthusiasm for the Cause.
But the paper under the management of the Sullivans did
splendid work. It kept the National Cause afloat and fought
English tyranny and Anglo-Irish Landlordism manfully; and
Alexander Sullivan rendered fine service in the Longford and
Tipperary elections, in which the majority of the priests, under
the leadership of their Bishops, took the wrong side. T. D. Sulli-
van's poetry, although some of it was of little merit, exercised a
strong influence on the people and helped to keep the Nationalist
Spirit alive.
The Nation of the Sullivans tried to make good the motto of
the old Nation, "to create and foster public opinion in Ireland and
make it racy of the soil."
Notwithstanding the feud with the I. R. B., Tim Sullivan be-
came a sort of Poet Laureate of the Fenians after the Manchester
Rescue by writing "God Save Ireland", which became the National
Anthem until replaced by "The Soldiers' Song" after Easter
Week, 1916. The art of composing music seemed to have died
out in Ireland and all new songs were written to old, or foreign
airs. T. D. wrote "God Save Ireland" to the air of "Tramp,
Tramp, Tramp", written in Libby Prison by a prisoner of the
Civil War. It has fallen into disuse since the reconciliation with
the South, but the American officers carried it to Ireland and the
Dublin men picked it up. It was a fine marching song:
"Tramp, tramp, tramp! the boys are marching,
Cheer up, comrades, they will come,
And beneath the starry flag
We shall breathe the air again
Of the free land in our own beloved home."
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
God rest the souls of the Sullivans. They loved Ireland in
their own way as dearly as did the Fenians. T. D. in his very in-
teresting book of Recollections says that in 1848, Alexander, then
a very young man, started to join Smith O'Brien in Tipperary,
but on the way he heard of the fiasco at Ballingarry and the
arrest of O'Brien. He was making the journey from Bantry on
foot. T. D. also gives high praise to the sincerity and enthusiasm
of the Skibbereen men. But "Ah, Im", as Tim used to call his
brother, was wholly unjustified in the exposures which provoked
the retaliation of the Fenians.
CHAPTER VI.
THE "IRISH PEOPLE".
Organ of the Movement Did Fine Propaganda Work — The Office
Visited Too Much by the I. R. B. Members — Its Correspon-
dence Columns Among Its Best Features.
The Irish People has been described by many, including
Michael Davitt, as one of Stephens's mistakes, but I entirely
disagree with them. The theory of its critics was that it ex-
posed the organization too much and thereby helped the Gov-
ernment. There is some basis for the criticism, but the services
of the paper to the Cause, in my opinion, far outweighed the
damage it did in this direction. It was established in Novem-
ber, 1863.
A Revolutionary Organization that numbered 80,000 men at
its zenith could not continue to be in the full sense of the term
a secret conspiracy. The people had to be converted to its views
and committed to its objects, and that could not be done by
a whispering campaign. Secrecy at the top was essential, but
the Irish are a loquacious people and Stephens's original rules
could not be carried out, and were not. There must be a public
propaganda and that could only be carried on by a weekly paper
which would reach the general public, as well as the members
of the organization.
John O'Leary, the Editor of the paper, in his Recollections of
Fenians and Fenianism, and Thomas Clarke Luby, an Associate
Editor, whose Memoirs are not in book form (more's the pity) ,
have fully described the Irish People from the literary stand-
point, and O'Leary also gives very interesting details of the finan-
cial difficulties which had to be overcome. A paper of the char-
acter of the Irish People is never a financial success and has to
seek support from other sources than the public. The Irish
People managed to live for nearly two years until the Govern-
ment suppressed it on September 15, 1865.
I shall deal with phases of its existence hardly mentioned by
O'Leary or Luby. When Stephens decided, after much consulta-
tion with prominent members, to start the paper he got Con
O'Mahony, his Secretary, to write a circular letter to the active
local men informing them of the project. There were no type-
writers in those days, so Con had to write all the letters with
41
42
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
his own hand. I got one of them, not by mail, but by hand,
during one of my visits to Dublin in the Fall of 1863. The cir-
cular pointed out the necessity for a newspaper organ to replace
"the thing called the Irishman", gave a description of the kind
of journal contemplated, and asked for support in its circula-
tion. There was no appeal for money. If my memory serves
me right, Denis Holland, the founder of the Irishman was still
its editor but Pigott who was Business Manager had acquired a
grip on it.
I got a supply of the first number and was greatly puzzled
by the pessimistic editorial, "Isle, Race and Doom," which I
afterwards learned was written by Stephens himself. All I could
do was to distribute them among the members and put one of
them on file in the reading room of the Catholic Institute in
Naas. I was enabled to do this by supporting Father Hughes in
a motion to have the London Times put on file. He was bitterly
opposed by Aleck Byrne, a sturdy blacksmith, who said: "Father
Hughes, I'm ashamed of you for proposing to bring in the Times,
the arch enemy of the Irish people, to be read by our members."
I wanted the Times for its foreign news and Father Hughes
wanted it for other reasons, and we won by a small majority.
After this he could not very well object to placing the Irish
People on file, but he probably never read a line of it.
I got a bundle of 25 every week, which I distributed free. I
gave five of them free every Thursday to an old newsdealer who
kept a little shop at the corner of the Sallins Road and Main
Street, so that he might sell them, and I sent a few by mail to
prominent people. Two country school teachers whom I had
sworn in and whose salary was only £40 a year I put on the
mailing list in the office of the paper, as they lived too far away
for me to deliver them, and after a while Con O'Mahony, who
was a clerk in the office, sent them bills. When they failed to
pay the bills he dropped them, and when I heard of it I told
Rossa, who was Business Manager, and he reprimanded O'Mahony
sharply. "You know the miserable salaries that country school-
masters get," he said to O'Mahony, who had been a teacher him-
self, "and these men can do a lot of good by handing the paper
around." Con pleaded "business reasons", and Rossa said: "To
the devil with your business reasons. The organization can't be
run on business principles and we must push it in every way we
can. Put them back on the list."
When I offered him payment for the 25 copies I was getting,
Rossa asked me: "How much salary are you getting, John?" I
told him £50 a year and he said: "Oh, trash, man, you have a
lot of expenses to bear" (which was true) "and I won't take your
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
43
money." He then told O'Mahony to send me 50 copies and no
bills.
There was a good deal of that kind of circulation, and some
newsdealers who were not members kept the paper on their
stands. But the paper was beginning to make some headway
among the intellectual classes. When the paper was suppressed
the names of several prominent people were found among the
list of subscribers.
Among those I recollect were Isaac Butt, Mr. Bushe (a son or
grandson of the man Who voted against the Union), Mrs. Par-
nell, mother of Charles Stewart Parnell, and a Protestant Min-
ister named Gilmour.
Mrs. Parnell herself called at the office of the paper to hand
in her subscription, holding a little boy by the hand. Many
years later I asked her was it Charles and she answered: "No;
it was a brother of his who died before reaching manhood." Mrs.
Parnell was a strong sympathizer with the movement, and in
1866 paid the passage to New York of several of the American
officers, released from Mount joy Prison on condition of leaving
the country, among whom were Colonel Michael Kerwin and
Lieutenant-Colonel John W. Byron. She also sheltered at her
home in Avondale, County Wicklow, several men who were "on
the run".
The Minister, Mr. Gilmour, was Rector of Rathmore, County
Kildare, and a splendid man in every way. How he came to sub-
scribe was this: There was a little old man named Gallagher
who had a small plot of land in the Bog of Allen, whose father
had to flee from Mayo for shooting a landlord and had found a
refuge in the Bog. His son had a pony and a small creel and
he eked out a poor living by selling loads of turf in Naas. As
I did my own cooking on the fine kitchen range of the old Cork
Mail Coach office, where I lived, I bought my turf from Gallagher
at three and sixpence a load, and swore him in. One day the
Minister bought a load from him and when it was delivered Mr.
Gilmour was not in the house. While waiting for his three and
sixpence Gallagher curled himself up in a corner of the creel
and was absorbed in reading the Irish People when the Minister
came along and said to him: "I see you are reading. What
paper is it?" Gallagher started to fold it up and put it in his
pocket, not wishing to let the Minister see it, but Mr. Gilmour
said: "Let me look at it," and the old man reluctantly gave it to
him. The Minister looked over it with great interest for a few
minutes and said: "Why, this is a fine paper. Where did you
get it?" "From a man in Naas that I sould a load of turf to,
sir," answered Gallagher.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The Rev. Mr. Gilmour at once sent his subscription to the
paper and I learned later in New York from Tom Burke, a
Rathmore man, that he lent it every week to a doctor and a
veterinary surgeon, who were neighbors and who read it regu-
larly. Tom knew the Minister very well and told me he was a
strong Nationalist. Tom was a great poacher and did his cours-
ing while the Protestants were at church. On his way home he
would throw a hare into the Minister's kitchen and the Minister,
the doctor and the veterinary surgeon saved him from punish-
ment when he was caught once by Byrne, the owner of the
Punchestown Racecourse.
The principal letter writer to the Irish People was James F.
X. O'Brien, of Cork, who was convicted for his part in the Rising
and later became a Member of Parliament. His letters were
always long and well written and were signed "De l'Abbe". He
had lived in New Orleans for some years and knew French
very well.
But by long odds the best of the letter writers was Hugh Byrne
of Tinahely, County Wicklow, who had been a National Teacher
and was then a teacher in Singleton's Academy on Dawson
Street. He wrote sometimes over the signature of "Aodh an
tSleibhe" and at other times "Hugo del Monte", which means the
same thing in Spanish. He had learned Spanish in Nicaragua,
where he accompanied Walker on one of his filibustering expedi-
tions. William F. Roantree, who had also been in Nicaragua,
told me that Walker once put Byrne in the stocks for lampooning
him. He was a caustic writer, with infinite power of sarcasm,
and Walker felt the sting of his criticism very keenly. One of
Byrne's favorite contributions to the Irish People was a report of
the debates at meetings of the Laconic Club, an imaginary
organization in which most of the prominent Fenians figured
under various appropriate names that were easily recognized by
those who knew them. He had a theory that most Irishmen
were too longwinded and he took that method of teaching them
to express themselves tersely. "Con the Laconic" was Con
O'Mahony, and the cognomen fitted him exactly, so that all his
friends recognized the character. There was sound political doc-
trine in all Byrne's articles and he put a great deal in a short
space. He always sent in his contributions as articles, but
O'Leary published them as letters, although he admitted their
literary value.
One of Byrne's articles satirized leaders who spent their time
"making love in a cottage by the sea" when they ought to be
working for Ireland. It was aimed at Stephens, who, after his
marriage to Jane Hopper, spent his time idly in a cottage at
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
45
Sandymount and for a while became less active in the move-
ment. O'Leary recognized its object, but he inserted it because
he thought the criticism was deserved.
Byrne sometimes drank a little too much and he took the
pledge binding himself to take a drink only with his meals.
Rossa told me that one day while his train was stopping at a
station in Wicklow, Byrne was on the platform and Rossa asked
him to take a drink. He told Rossa of his pledge and was greatly
troubled at not being able to take a drink with his old friend.
At last he said: "Give me a penny cake," and munched it while
drinking a pint of porter. That was "whipping the devil around
the stump".
One of the most interesting letter writers was a Tipperary
schoolmaster named Brougham, whose theme was always the
Felon-Setter, a type then rather numerous in Ireland and very
mischievous. They adopted many indirect ways of calling police
attention to men whom they believed to be Fenians. Brougham,
who wrote over the signature of "Harvey Birch" (which he took
from Fenimore Cooper's novel, "The Spy"), satirized them mer-
cilessly, and the local men were always able to recognize the
fellows he aimed at very easily by his description of their
methods. His dog, "Dan", had an unfailing knack of recognizing
the Felon-Setter by the scent and always barked a warning when
one of them was approaching. "Harvey Birch's" descriptions of
the antics of the dog and their effect on the Felon-Setter were
very amusing and were read with avidity by the members every-
where. The letters were always short and as laconic as Hugh
Byrne could have desired. Brougham died in New York.
The editorials were all good, but Kickham's were the best
because there was more concentrated thought in them. Luby's
showed wide and accurate knowledge of his subject, for he was
the best read man of the staff, but he was often a little too
diffuse. O'Leary's articles were brief, but he paid more attention
to style than to the subject of the article. He was essentially
a critic and never showed enthusiasm, which was a fault in
writing for Irishmen. He was an admirer of the London Spec-
tator, although disagreeing entirely with its views, and there was
too much apparent imitation of its style in his articles. But
Kickham, in spite of his physical disabilities, understood the Irish
people better than all of them, apparently by intuition, and went
straight to their hearts. Judge Keogh, although a perjured
ruffian, also understood them, and selected Kickham's articles
as his chief point of attack in the trials. This was eloquent tes-
timony to their effectiveness, though, of course, Keogh did not
know who wrote them.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The Irish People was not the equal of the old Nation of Duffy
and Davis, but it approached it very closely. It was essentially
a teacher and it filled the minds of the people it reached with
ideas which took a firm grip on their minds and have endured
ever since. It prepared the way for all that has since happened
and inspired the people with a new spirit. The fighting Land
League would not have been possible but for it. Two of its three
principal writers, Kickham and Luby, sympathized with the
Land League as the forerunner of better things, although they
did not join it, while O'Leary deplored it as blasting his darling
hope of getting the gentry into the National Movement. He was
not a practical man. The gentry were England's chief agents in
holding Ireland down for England, and their power had to be
broken before Ireland could make real progress towards Freedom.
This supplies the best answer to those who believed the starting
of the paper to be a mistake. The British Government did not
need the information it disclosed of the existence of a formidable
movement to overthrow its authority in Ireland, although it
showed conclusively that the men who led it had great ability.
The Irish People revived the spirit created and fostered by
the old Nation and the Young Irelanders, and carried down their
teachings to a new generation. Time has vindicated it.
CHAPTER VII.
IMPORTANT EVENTS IN 1864.
Stephens Organized Circles in the Army of the Potomac with
Full Consent of the Generals — Incriminating Document
Captured on the Person of Charles Underwood O'Connell on
His Arrival in Ireland — Proposal for Responsible Council
to Govern I. R. B. Rejected.
During the year '64, there was incessant recruiting activity in
Ireland, and there were three events of more than ordinary
importance. Stephens went to America (I believe after Kick-
ham's return) . The American organization forwarded a pro-
posal suggesting a change in the form of Government of the
I. R. B. Stephens rejected an offer by George Henry Moore
to join the organization after O'Donovan Rossa and Edward
Duffy had secured his consent.
In America, Stephens was allowed to visit the Army of the
Potomac and organize Circles among the officers and men. He
was furnished with letters of introduction from Colonel B. F.
Mullen to the Generals at the front, and the organization in
the Union Army was done with the full consent of the latter, who
were all in sympathy with the movement. Before returning to
Ireland, Stephens gave these letters to Charles Underwood O'Con-
nell for safe keeping.
O'Connell had never been at the front and had no military
experience except a few months' service in the Ninety-ninth
New York National Guard (O'Mahony's regiment) guarding Con-
federate prisoners at Elmira, N. Y. O'Mahony left the manage-
ment of the regiment to P. J. Downing, the Lieutenant-Colonel,
who had seen service in Meagher's Brigade and was a very
capable officer. He had been in the Phoenix movement in Skib-
bereen in 1858.
When Underwood O'Connell was starting for Ireland in Sep-
tember, 1865, to take part in the projected Rising, he insisted on
taking with him the letters entrusted to him by Stephens, in
spite of the remonstrances of friends. Captain Michael O'Boyle
(an Armagh man and a patriot of the finest quality) met him
at the dock and tried to persuade him to leave them in safe
hands in America, but O'Connell replied: "I got these letters
from 'The Captain' himself, and into his hands alone will I
47
48
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
deliver them." On his arrival at Queenstown he was searched
and the documents seized.
O'Connell's vanity brought misfortune on himself and other
men. The Government had no evidence against him except
what they found on his person in Cove (Queenstown), but it
was enough to secure him a sentence of ten years penal servitude
and to impose heavier sentences on the other prisoners who
were then awaiting trial. The captured letters of introduction
were used by the English Government later to prove the existence
of an international conspiracy.
The Atlantic cable was not yet in operation and nobody in
New York knew that the Irish People had been seized, many of
the leaders arrested in Dublin, and that the British Government
was engaged in a strong effort to crush the organization.
There had been at various times tentative efforts to get into
the movement such well known men as The O'Donoghue (a
grand-nephew of Daniel O'Connell) , P. J. Smyth, Alexander M.
and T. D. Sullivan, and other prominent Nationalists, but they
all came to naught mainly because of the fact that a change in
the government of the organization involved the creation of
some kind of a Council. Stephens was not willing to share his
responsibility with any advisory body, although in 1864 he cre-
ated an "Executive" that never took any action and never for-
mally met.
The idea of a regularly constituted Council or Governing
Body for the I. R. B. in Ireland was formally put up to Stephens
through a communication from the Fenian Brotherhood in
America, which the men in Dublin contemptuously called "The
Thirty-two Page Document".
Stephens called a meeting of the leading men throughout the
country to consider it. It was not a Convention or a gathering
of a body with definite powers, but a sort of meeting of notables,
and its action would not have bound Stephens if he did not
approve of it. Charles J. Kickham presided, although the pro-
ceedings had to be conveyed to him through an ear trumpet. All
the Centres of Dublin and the nearby towns were present, as
well as several from country districts. It was a very representa-
tive meeting. It was held in Joseph Denieffe's house, which, if
I remember rightly, was in Denzille Street. I happened to be in
Dublin and was invited to attend by Con O'Mahony, Stephens'
Secretary, but took no part in the proceedings.
After a very full discussion the proposal was rejected by
unanimous consent, but there was no formal vote. This put an
end to all chance of union between the "moderate" and the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
49
"extreme" sections and they drifted farther and farther apart
from that time. It also ended the chance of forming a public
movement that could speak for the country in any emergency
that might arise, but the Fenians did not see the necessity for
that and placed their whole reliance on insurrection. The evil
consequences of this became very apparent later, as the country
had no public voice until the Amnesty Movement was organized.
Calling a meeting of prominent members who had no definite
authority and putting up to them the settlement of an important
question, later became a favorite method of Stephens. It enabled
him to relieve himself of responsibility and place it on others,
without creating a Council with which he might at some time
come in conflict. The lack of a representative Council became a
great handicap as events developed.
The rejection of George Henry Moore's offer to join the I. R. B.
is dealt with in the chapter on O'Donovan Rossa.
CHAPTER VIII.
WHEN BILLY KEOGH FOR ONCE WAS MERCIFUL.
A "Practical Joke" Which Might Have Resulted in Heavy Jail
Sentences for I. R. B. Men — Testimony by the "Castle
Cawtholic" Devitt — Judge Keogh Made Drunk by Counsel
for Defense.
The consecration of a church in Kilkenny on Aug. 15, 1864,
was made the occasion of a great demonstration by the Fenians.
Excursion trains were run to the Marble City from Dublin, Cork,
Limerick and Waterford, and people gathered there from every
part of Ireland. The Fenians went in large numbers on all these
trains and several thousand of them were in the immense crowd.
As they kept grouped in separate bodies under their own leaders
and the latter were introduced to each other, the men were able
to see that they had the material for an army and were greatly
encouraged. No regular I. R. B. meeting could be held, but there
were many dinner parties, and the marching and cheering crowds
on the streets constituted an exhibition of strength that could not
be mistaken. The men went home in high spirits.
On the way back to Dublin a group of young men in the
second last car of one of the excursion trains played a practical
joke which led to the arrest of two of them and their trial at the
next Assizes at Naas. At the station at Kildare, John O'Donovan,
son of the great Gaelic scholar, then a student in Trinity College,
and Matthew Hunt, a medical student from Cappoquin, County
Waterford, tried to detach the last car of the train to give their
friends in it a scare, but as there was a double coupling and they
only interfered with the chain one, the train went on intact to
Newbridge, which is the next station, and the coupling was set
right.
At the Kingsbridge Terminus in Dublin, Hunt and a printer
on the Irish People named Martin were identified as the culprits
by a Dublin wine merchant named Devitt and arrested. Devitt,
who had begun life as a porter, was a purse-proud, bumptious
man, with a face that indicated a liberal consumption of his
own beverages. He was a "Cawtholic" and a great friend of
Archbishop Cullen. He held the Fenians in holy horror. "Com-
mon disturbers" and "riff-raff" were the terms most commonly
used to describe them by this snob, who had once been a work-
ingman earning ten shillings a week. Devitt had dined well in
50
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
51
Kilkenny, but was sober enough to do a chalk line and he was
walking up and down the platform at Kildare "to get the air"
when the prank was played. Martin did not even resemble
O'Donovan, but the pompous Devitt swore positively that he saw
him uncoupling the car.
When the Assizes came on, a considerable number of the ex-
cursionists were on hand in Naas as witnesses on one side or
the other, but by far the greater number on that of the prisoners,
who had been released on bail.
I acted as commissary for a large number of the visitors.
Roantree and myself, the only old soldiers present, did the cook-
ing on a range which had once provided breakfast for the pas-
sengers going south from Dublin on the old mail coaches. The
house where I had bachelor quarters was still called the Cork
Office, and there was a fine, spacious kitchen. We had a plenti-
ful supply of bacon and eggs, bread, butter and tea. John O'Don-
ovan, Hunt and McConry (a '48 man whom I had known when
I was a boy) , brilliant fellows, were among the guests and their
witty jokes and stories were of a character never to be forgotten.
I may say in passing that my public association with that crowd
riveted the attention of the police upon me while in Naas.
References to the Irish People became quite common during
the cross-examination of witnesses for the defense, owing to a
broad hint given by Devitt, who was a "felon-setter" of the first
water. "What is your occupation?" asked counsel for the Crown
of Con O'Mahony. "I am a clerk," answered Con. "What kind
of a clerk?" "In a commercial house." "What commercial
house?" "A newspaper office." "And what might be the name
of the newspaper?" O'Mahony was at last obliged to say it was
the Irish People, and counsel said, "Ah, that is the Fenian paper,
isn't it?" Then John Neville (whom they nicknamed "Fire Ball")
was obliged, after much dodging, to admit that his typesetting
was done in the Irish People office and Jerry O'Farrell that he
also worked there. Then the question, "Do you work on the
Irish People, too?" was asked of every witness and wonder was
expressed if the paper could come out that week, with so many
of the staff away.
Counsel for the defense was a man named McKenna, a lawyer
of average ability who looked to be in bad health. The case
against the accused was weak from the start. It depended mainly
on the evidence of Devitt, which was flatly contradicted in the
case of Martin by half a dozen witnesses; while the testimony
of the engine driver, a man named Mulvany (who was not then
a Fenian, but became one before he left Naas) showed that the
52
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
train was not placed In any real danger from the partial un-
coupling. But Billy Keogh was the judge and the jury were
mostly country Tories, liable to be influenced by all the talk
about the Fenian paper. So McKenna made up his mind early
in the case that he would "get on the soft side" of Keogh, whom
he knew very well. "He is always in good humor when he is
drunk," he said. "We'll dine together this evening and I think I
can manage him."
Keogh and the other judges, when they came to Naas for the
Assizes, always took their meals at a quiet sort of boarding house
kept by an old lady whose name I have long since forgotten, and
who set a very good table. A broken-down servant who did odd
jobs about the town and often swept out my rooms, waited on
them. He knew all about Keogh sending the McCormacks un-
justly to the gallows, but that did not seem to bother him. But
Keogh ate meat on a Friday — a thing the old man wouldn't mind
in a Protestant — and that settled it. From this man I got the
particulars of Keogh's dinner on the last day of the trial.
McKenna dined with the judge, counsel for the Crown and
the Clerk of the Crown that evening. The case had been given
to the jury and it remained out several hours. By order of the
judge the jurymen were allowed plenty of liquid refreshment
with their dinner and they were in a mellow mood. Two or three
liberal men among them, I afterwards heard, emphasized the
youth and good appearance of the accused and the festive
character of the excursion, and somebody pointed out that Devitt
was a great Papist and a friend of the Archbishop. The Cullens
were a Kildare family, so between religious prejudice, pity for
the young men, dislike of men like the bumptious wine merchant
and, above all, the influence of sundry jorums of punch, they
took a lenient view of the case. They found Hunt and Martin
guilty, but recommended them to mercy.
At the other dinner the judge and the lawyers had a generous
supply of wine, and they topped it off with several tumblers of
punch. As the evening wore on and there was no news from the
jury, they smoked and chatted and sipped their punch until
finally at midnight, word was brought that the jury had agreed
on a verdict.
I shall never forget the scene in court. It is as vivid in my
memory now after more than sixty years as on that night in the
courthouse in Naas. The jurymen were certainly sober, but they
had taken enough to put them in good humor, and it was easy
to see that they enjoyed the scene that was enacted before them
as they would a comedy in a theatre. It was indeed a comedy
of the most solemn character. Every one of the diners was
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
53
drunk — solemnly drunk, and looking the personification of judi-
cial and legal dignity. Even the Peelers could not help smiling.
The judge, after having been helped on with his robes and
his wig, made an attempt to mount the bench, but had to be
helped to his seat. He could not sit straight and looked as
solemn as an owl with a "jag". But there was a benevolent
expression on his face which showed us clearly that McKenna
had done his work. Keogh's tongue was thick and he spoke with
great difficulty.
The Clerk put the question to the jury in a fairly clear voice
and the foreman announced the verdict and the recommendation
to mercy. The judge smiled and looked at McKenna, who arose,
braced himself by holding the railing with one hand, then leaned
against it, and in a thick voice rehearsed in court the plea for
clemency which had been agreed on over the punch. Then his
Lordship turned to the lawyer for the Crown and said something
which nobody outside the railing could catch, and that worthy,
holding on to the back of a chair with both hands, mumbled out
some solemn nonsense about the enormity of the offense, and
concluded with a reference to his Lordship's well known charac-
ter for clemency, but expressed the hope that in this case its
exercise would not tempt other young men to follow the example
of the prisoners in the dock. The learned counsel nearly missed
his chair as he sat down, but was helped by an attendant and
got into his seat in safety. Keogh, who had been nodding during
the remarks of the last speaker, made a vain effort to sit up
straight and, while his body swayed, he uttered some incoherent
sentences about danger to travellers, the wild pranks of youth
and the responsibility that rested on the shoulders of judges. He
had to cut it short on account of sheer inability to continue and
wound up by ordering the release of the accused on their own
recognizances to appear for sentence when called on. Then he
beamed on the prisoners, and McKenna, with some difficulty, got
to his feet and thanked his Lordship for his generous action,
which was also, he added, eminently just and proper in view of
the character of the evidence. The prisoners were released and
the judge and his fellow diners had a deoch an dorais before
going to bed.
Mulvany was discharged soon after the trial by the Great
Southern and Western, at the instance of Devitt. He and the
other felon-setters waged unrelenting war on the Fenians, many
hundreds of whom lost their jobs in this way. Mulvany came to
the United States, but could never become accustomed to Ameri-
can railroad methods, which he considered reckless in the ex-
treme. He had "railroaded" all over the country when I met
54
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
him on Broadway in the 'seventies and the recognition was
mutual. "Always get in the last car, Johnny," he said, after
reciting some of his experiences. "If she goes down over a broken
bridge, you'll have a chance of coming out on top." The evidence
he gave in Naas was the exact truth, but telling the truth in
favor of Fenians was a crime in the eyes of the felon-setters, and
Devitt, the pious Cawtholic, found ready listeners in the True
Blue Directors of the Great Southern and Western Railway.
Matt Hunt died of consumption about a year from that trial.
Poor Martin was killed in a collision between cabs in London some
years later, and I read an account of the funeral in a paper
smuggled into Chatham Prison.
That trial was the only occasion on which I ever heard of
Billy Keogh being merciful, and it was the drink that did it. His
florid face showed that he was a confirmed toper. I thought
of that queer midnight scene in Naas when I stood before Keogh
in Green Street Courthouse for sentence three years later, and
again in New York when I read the cabled report that he had
cut his throat in Belgium. Drink influenced his action in both
cases, but he must have had some remnant of a conscience and
that led to his seeking alcoholic consolation for his life of sordid
treachery. His betrayal of the people was rewarded by the judge-
ship and he prostituted the Bench to the service of his employers.
And, like the other traitor, Castlereagh, Keogh died by his own
hand, setting an example to the ruffian Pigott, which the latter
followed after the exposure of his Parnell forgeries.
Billy Keogh's bitter antagonism to Irish Nationalists was
exhibited with most effect in the trials of the Fenian leaders.
As O'Donovan Rossa during his trial defied and humiliated him,
I will relate that story and give more details of the treachery of
Keogh and his fellow scoundrels Sadleir and O'Flaherty, in the
chapter on Rossa.
PART II.
CHAPTER IX.
"THE YEAR OF ACTION."
Stephens Announced the Fight Would Take Place in 1865 —
Colonel Kelly Reported Favorably on Conditions — P. J.
Meehan and the "Lost Documents".
When Stephens returned to Ireland after his American trip
he announced to practically everybody that the fight would take
place in 1865. "Next year is the year of action" was the way he
put it. I went into Dublin very often and always visited the Irish
People office. About a week after his return Con O'Mahony told
me "The Captain" wanted to see me and I called on him. There
was nobody else present and I found him in fine spirits. After
giving me a glowing account of conditions in America, striding
up and down the room, as was his custom, he said: "We'll fight
next year." Knowing the utter lack of arms, I said: "What'll
we fight with?"
He paused in his walk, turned to me and replied: "Oh, we'll
get all the arms we need from America. We'll have more than a
hundred thousand rifles and a good supply of artillery."
I asked: "What about officers?" and he assured me there would
be plenty, including several Generals and quite a number of
Colonels, all of them veterans. "We'll get three thousand offi-
cers from Chicago alone", he added.
This was too much for me and I said: "Why, there can't be
three thousand officers in all the Chicago regiments". He saw
that I was a doubting Thomas and he explained that he meant
the Chicago District, which included the whole West.
His habit of exaggeration was incurable and while I was much
encouraged by his account of affairs in America I could not help
feeling that I must take some of it with a grain of salt.
After that he "swung round the circle" for some weeks, visit-
ing all the chief cities and seeing the principal workers, with
the result that the men everywhere were filled with enthusiasm.
Drilling went on more intensively and the whole organization
felt that the long wished-for fight for Freedom was coming at
last, with fine hopes of success. Had the Rising taken place in
1865 while this spirit prevailed and the organization was still
55
56
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
intact, instead of in 1867, when only a broken remnant of it re-
mained and many of the best men were either in prison or refu-
gees in England or America, the history of Fenianism would have
been very different. How and why the postponements were made,
and the fight decided on when all the chances of success had
disappeared, is a sad record of blunders and incapacity that will
be told elsewhere. And it was the man who built up the move-
ment and filled it with enthusiasm who was the chief cause of
the failure. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that the situ-
ation got beyond him and that he had not the capacity to deal
with it. The Split in America unnerved him and blasted all the
high hopes he had cherished of military and financial aid. Splits
have proved ruinous to every Irish movement for more than a
century, and until the Irish people have taken that lesson to
heart, final success will be beyond their reach.
This particular Split which occurred in the Fenian Brother-
hood of America in 1865, is dealt with briefly in the sketch of
John O'Mahony. It would require a large volume to give its full
history, which would include two attempts to invade Canada, one
in 1866, the other in 1870, and examination of many documents,
with reports of meetings and conferences, personal letters and
other data, of which I am not now capable. It is a most inter-
esting subject, and I hope it will some time be dealt with by
competent hands.
The organization in Ireland had a very busy time, owing to
Stephens' announcement that "next year (1865) is the year of
action". All sorts of preparations were going on, except the es-
sential one of procuring arms. That was ignored, on account
of "The Captain's" assurance that we'd get all we wanted from
America.
Pike making was the only kind of arming thought of, and that
was a waste of time, as pikes would be useless against long range
rifles. Country blacksmiths made many and Stephens estab-
lished a pike factory in Dublin, under the management of Michael
Moore, who was a blacksmith. His two assistants were Patrick
Kearney, an ex-British soldier who was one of the Dublin Centres,
and Michael Cody, one of Kearney's "Bs". The assistants did
not get along with Moore and there were constant disputes.
Finally two separate pike shops were started, with Kearney at the
head of the second. Kearney was a man of great natural ability,
with a strong will and a fiery temper. He and Cody were much
criticized for the trouble, without just cause.
Nicholas Walsh, an artist of considerable ability, who was
Centre of one of the smaller Circles in Dublin (he died some
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
57
years later in Florence) , commenting on the finely chiselled
features and splendid physiques of these two men, said to me:
"Why, they are like two Greek statues." Kearney died in
Dublin a few years later, after living a while in New York, and
Cody (who educated himself in prison by the help of the other
prisoners) , became head of the organization in Australia after
his release in 1869, and lived to a good old age.
Kearney had a fine military mind and said that pikes would
be very useful in street fighting in Dublin, which he favored, in-
stead of "taking to the hillside."
Early in 1865, Capt. Thomas J. Kelly arrived from Amer-
ica as an Envoy to report on the military situation in Ireland,
so as to satisfy the leaders in America that a fight that year
was possible. He was very much impressed by Kearney's idea of
a fight in Dublin and with the military fitness of the men gen-
erally. Instead of going back to America he decided to remain in
Ireland and sent his report, which was very favorable as to mili-
tary possibilities, by messenger. He was a very competent judge,
as he had been a staff officer in the Army of the Cumberland,
with opportunities of seeing movements on a large scale and
knowing why they were made. He was wounded at the Battle
of Missionary Ridge, and mustered out of the service.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Kelly was working as a
printer in some city in Tennessee — I don't know whether it was
Memphis or Nashville — and made his way with much difficulty
to Cincinnati, where he joined the Federal Army.
I met him first at the races of Punchestown in April, 1865, with
William F. Roantree, and Montague of the Fifth Dragoon Guards
who had deserted and gone to America, but had been ordered
back to Ireland by Stephens and had obeyed the order. One
would expect that the races of Punchestown, at which several
thousand visitors from Dublin were always present, would be
closely watched, but Roantree and I knew practically all the
"G." men and we did not see one, and in the evidence given at
the trials later there was not a word said about it.
Kelly was the second last of the American Envoys. His
action in deciding to remain in Ireland and cast in his lot with
the Home Organization seemed to have been conclusive evi-
dence to the doubting Thomases in America that everything was
all right in Ireland, and O'Mahony began to send over officers
steadily after receiving his report.
The first to arrive was Lieutenant-Colonel John W. Byron of
the Eighty-eighth Regiment, Meagher's Brigade. I met him a
few days after his arrival at the European Hotel in Bolton Street,
58
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
where he was stopping. He was wounded in the foot at the Bat-
tle of the Weldon Railroad, taken prisoner and remained in Libby
Prison until the end of the war, when he started for Ireland. He
was from Clogheen, County Tipperary, and when he went there
to see his relatives, made the acquaintance of Lord O'Callaghan,
who invited him to do some shooting on his estate. His Lordship
was very much shocked when he learned a little while after that
his guest had come from America to help to overthrow the Brit-
ish Government, of which he was a loyal supporter.
The Envoy previous to Kelly was Henry C. McCarthy, Vice-
President of the Fenian Brotherhood in America. He was de-
scribed as a very able man, and P. W. Dunne and the Scanlans
told me many years after that if he had lived there would have
been no Split, but that he would have automatically stepped into
O'Mahony's place. He died in Chicago, where he was a State
Senator, just on the eve of the Split. I met him in Dublin and
he impressed me as a very clear-headed man, but I cannot recall
the year, though I think it was 1864. He also made a favorable
report of conditions in Ireland.
The last Envoy that went to Ireland was Patrick J. Meehan,
then Editor of the Irish American, New York. P. W. Dunne
went at the same time, and I gained the impression from numer-
ous conversations I had in later years with the latter that
Meehan was not sent to investigate like the others, but that he
was making a trip to Ireland and that the Fenian Senate made
him the bearer of a draft for a large sum of money to mark their
satisfaction with the report submitted by Kelly (who was then
and afterwards known as Colonel Kelly), and he had a note of
introduction to Denieffe.
There has been much talk ever since of the "Lost Documents",
but, so far as I could ever learn, there were no documents except
the note of introduction to Denieffe and the draft. The Govern-
ment never produced any at the trials, which is fairly conclusive
proof that they had not any.
The note of introduction and the draft were found on the
platform of the railroad station at "Kingstown" by a girl em-
ployed in the telegraph office and given to the Manager, who
(being a Loyalist) turned them over to the police. The report
given to the newspapers at the time exaggerated the importance
of the find, but said nothing about the draft. Denieffe was
called on by P. W. Dunne and told that Meehan was coming
to visit him and Dunne arranged the meeting. In Denieffe's ac-
count of his interview with Meehan he says that Meehan told
him he had lost the papers and the draft, and described his later
COLONEL THOMAS J. KELLY
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
59
efforts to cash the "second of exchange", but does not mention
the amount of the draft, which was payable to him.
Meehan explained that he had pinned the papers to the top
of his drawers, that the pin got loose and the papers fell down
without his noticing it. The note of introduction was used at
the trials in December and January, and it, together with the
draft, helped to show the connection between the Home Organi-
zation and the Fenian Brotherhood in America, but the proof
was by no means conclusive. The Government had all the proof
it needed in the documents found on O'Connell, but the draft
showed the danger of allowing the movement to go on.
On account of the exaggerated reports in the newspapers of
the importance of the "Lost Documents", there was great indig-
nation against Meehan among the men in Dublin and some hot-
heads talked of killing him, but Stephens speedily put a stop to
that. The worst that Meehan could be accused of was criminal
carelessness. He must have talked loosely in Dublin, for P. J.
Smyth told me when I dined at his house in 1879 that he had
sneered at the movement in a talk with him as having no rep-
resentative men, and he had heard that Meehan did the same
with Alex. M. Sullivan, whom he knew to be hostile to the move-
ment. But there was no foundation whatever for a charge of
treachery. Meehan was shot some years later in New York by
Dr. Keenan, a disgruntled employe of the organization, but his
motive was personal vengeance. Meehan carried the bullet in his
body to the grave. The truth is that he was a drinking man and
was undoubtedly under the influence of liquor when the incident
of the "Lost Documents" occurred.
I knew his son, Thomas F. Meehan, during the Land League
days and he was a most estimable man. He married the daughter
of Patrick O'Rourke, the Treasurer of the Fenian Brotherhood.
CHAPTER X.
GETTING READY FOR THE FIGHT.
The Fenian Organization in the British Army in Fine Shape —
Morale of the Fenian Soldiers Excellent — Competent Men
in Charge of Groups in Each Regiment — Plan to Blow Up
Woolwich Arsenal Not Sanctioned.
Stephens, in October, 1865, placed me in charge of the
Fenian organization in the British army in Ireland, but it was
impossible for me to visit personally all the military stations. I
concentrated my efforts on Dublin, the Curragh Camp and Ath-
lone, and made such arrangements as I could to have the sol-
diers in the other garrison towns looked after by local men.
Several of our best men throughout the country made frequent
trips to Dublin at this period to report to Colonel Kelly and re-
ceive orders, and I saw most of them. I was able thus to have
the military organization looked after in a general way by com-
petent men in Cork, Fermoy, Buttevant, Limerick, Waterford,
Templemore, Cahir, Kilkenny, Birr, Mullingar, Longford, Dun-
dalk, Newry and Belfast. These men did no recruiting, but kept
in touch with a few men in the regiments. Other places were
wholly unattended to, and this was largely true of most of Eng-
land also. It was a time of stress, and we had to confine our
operations within certain limits.
I made several trips to the Curragh Camp, where our interests
were looked after by Daniel Byrne of Ballitore, County Kildare, a
cousin of the other Daniel Byrne, who aided John Breslin in
the escape of Stephens. He worked in one of the canteens and
knew personally the best men in the camp and in Newbridge
Barracks. There were then about 3,000 men on the Curragh, of
whom we had 1,200; and a regiment of cavalry and a battery of
artillery were in Newbridge. I instructed Byrne to do no recruit-
ing. He was a rather imprudent man, whose zeal often carried
him away. After a time he had to leave the Curragh in order to
avoid arrest and went to Dublin.
Athlone I visited twice. It was a most important position
from a military point of view. Colonel Keating, in his work on
the Defence of Ireland, calls it the most important. There were
then 30,000 rifles and a lot of military stores in the arsenal,
guarded only by about 500 infantry, a battery of artillery and
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
61
about forty men of the garrison artillery. The infantry was com-
posed of the Fifth Foot, one wing of which — about 250 men — was
stationed in Castlebar, and there was not another soldier in the
whole Province of Connacht. Galway and Sligo were then un-
garrisoned. The majority of the Fifth were Englishmen, but we
had 200 good men in the regiment, mostly Ulster Catholics, and
the Centre was an Armagh man named Quinn, a quiet, staunch,
resolute fellow, entirely devoted to the Cause. One of the risks
he was prepared to take was participation, on the inside, in an
attempt to capture Athlone by surprise.
In Mullingar, the only town on the Midland Railroad between
Dublin and Athlone that had a garrison, there was a regiment
of infantry in which we had a good many men. They were looked
after by the local Centre, a quiet, discreet man, whose name I
do not remember, but he acted under the direction of Captain
Joseph Carroll, a Tipperary man who had a fine record as an of-
ficer in the Union army in the American Civil War. He was a
Captain in the Fifth New York Cavalry, served under Sheridan
in his famous Shenandoah Valley campaign and in the pursuit
of Lee's army up to Appomattox, and was wounded at the Battle
of Winchester. Carroll, who had been assigned to the command
of the Mullingar district, took up his quarters at a hotel at the
railway station kept by Mr. Jude, the proprietor of a then famous
Dublin restaurant. The younger Jude had taken a great fancy
to Carroll, who swore him into the organization, and his friend-
ship for a time diverted suspicion from the American officer,
who was supposed to be stopping there for his health. The Cen-
tre in Mullingar was a carpenter working for the Midland Rail-
way; the head waiter in the restaurant was a Dublin member
named Thomas Owens, and through them communication was
made very easy. The situation was so well in hand that I found
it necessary to pay only one visit to Mullingar.
In Longford, which was important because of its proximity to
Athlone, there was a regiment of cavalry. It was looked after by
the civilian Centre, Thomas F. Williams, to whom I have pre-
viously referred. He made frequent trips to Dublin in 1865-66, so
it was not necessary for me to go to Longford at all.
Birr, where there was a regiment of infantry, was also within
supporting distance of Athlone and was attended to by the local
Centre, whose name I do not remember. There was not a soldier
in either Meath or in Queens County, although Portarlington,
where there is an important railroad junction, from which a
single-track line ran to Athlone, would naturally require a gar-
rison. If I recollect aright there were only twenty-two police-
men in Portarlington. I visited the town in October, 1865.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
As we meant to strike our heaviest blow in Dublin, Colonel
Kelly ordered me to devote my best efforts to the garrison there.
I had the accurate figures from the soldiers then and I estimated
the garrison at 6,000 men, the majority of whom were Irish and
among them we had 1,600 members. Figures sent me recently
from Dublin, copied from the Army List in the Libraries and cov-
ering 1866, would make the garrison smaller, but several regi-
ments I knew to be in Ireland, and some of whose men I have
since met in America, do not figure in it, and there is no mention
of artillery or engineers. This list was apparently made out after
the whole year, but the Dublin Freeman in those days published
the "Stations of the Army" once a month, and I checked off my
figures by that at the time. The Sixth Carbineers, whose arrival
in Dubin I witnessed in February, 1866, and whose light blue uni-
form I distinctly remember, is one of the regiments omitted in
the list. It also fails to mention any troops stationed in Mullingar,
Birr, Longford or Castlebar, and I knew that all these places then
had garrisons.
But the crack Fenian regiments — those in which our organi-
zation was best — are all in the list. The Eighth, Twenty-fourth,
Sixty-first and Seventy-third Foot, the First Battalion Sixtieth
Rifles, the Fifth Dragoon Guards, Ninth Lancers and Tenth
Hussars are all included, as stationed in Dublin. The Seventy-
third was supposed to be a Scotch regiment and wore plaid
trousers and a Scotch cap, instead of the usual forage cap, but
we had 300 men in it, and the Centre, a very good man named
Flynn, reported to me immediately on his arrival in the middle
of February, 1866. Irishmen were also numerous in several of
the Highland regiments, wearing kilts. We had over a hundred
men in one of them. These Irishmen had enlisted in Scotland.
In estimating the strength of the garrison of Dublin, we in-
cluded the old soldiers at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, as
most of them, though not capable of a long march, would be fit
for duty in an emergency and were armed with the old musket.
If my recollection is correct they numbered 2,000 men. The Old
Man's House, as the Dublin people called it, was then the Head-
quarters of the Commander of the Forces in Ireland and the
capture of it figured in all our calculations. Sir Hugh Rose
— afterwards Lord Strathnairn — was the man who blew the
Sepoys "from the cannon's mouth" in the great Indian Mutiny
(1857), and had been recently installed in command in Ireland
because his character for ruthless sternness seemed to fit him
best for the work of putting down the Fenians. There came with
him to Ireland another Scotch soldier, General Sir Alfred Hors-
ford, who had a fine military record in India and who seemed
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
63
to me to be a more capable and enterprising man than Rose, as
his management of the short campaign against Colonel O'Connor
in Kerry in February, 1867, seemed to prove.
My work, as ordered by Colonel Kelly, was to organize the
men already sworn in, rather than to spread the organization, but
the public trials stimulated interest among the soldiers, and men
were constantly brought to me. I swore in some hundreds dur-
ing my four months of activity, but my chief attention was
given to getting the men in the various regiments into shape.
The Centre of each regiment, except the Tenth Hussars, had been
appointed by my predecessors, but no men had been assigned
to take care of companies. After consultation with the Centres
I picked out a man for each company of infantry and troop of
cavalry and got the Centres to appoint them. This took some
weeks and later the men in each company were divided into
sections, or squads, with a man in charge of each, so that by the
end of December, 1865, the organization in the Dublin garrison
was in fairly good shape.
While there was a very general knowledge in each regiment as
to the men who were in charge, there was little certainty, and
each group of men only knew their immediate superior. Not one
informer was able to name the Centre of his regiment and the
prosecutor was evidently ignorant that such a man existed. But
the knowledge as to membership was very widespread, not only
in each regiment, but in the whole garrison. A Fenian soldier
very quickly found out another and a remarkable spirit of com-
radeship was developed. There was a very ready acceptance by all
of an appointment or a decision and a remarkable absence of
jealousy. Soldiers are accustomed to obey orders and the spirit
of discipline among the Fenians in the army was admirable.
Our men were the soberest lot of soldiers I ever saw. Having
to meet in public houses, because there was no other place avail-
able, some drinks had to be called for as an excuse, but it was
never whiskey, and the quantity of porter consumed was very
small. During those four months of incessant activity, visiting
public houses every night, with from ten to twenty soldiers
always present, I did not see half a dozen of our men even slightly
under the influence of drink. I have a distinct recollection only
of two cases, and they were both on the same occasion, at a gath-
ering, with none but our own men present, in a room over Hoey's
public house in Bridgefoot Street, where the bartender, a man
named Furey, was a member. I am reminded forcibly of this
by the testimony of one of these two men at the trial of John
Boyle O'Reilly. He was a corporal of the Tenth Hussars, an Irish
Cockney named Fitzgerald, who swore that he was drunk on that
64
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
occasion, as an excuse for not having a clearer recollection ol
what took place. He was slightly under the influence of drink
but he had got it elsewhere. I had sworn him in on a previous
occasion when O'Reilly brought him to me, but he swore that he
never took the Fenian oath, and the rest of his testimony was
intended to clear himself, rather than to convict O'Reilly. This
necessity was put upon him by the spy, Patrick Foley of the Fifth
Dragoon Guards, swearing that Fitzgerald had made a speech
on that occasion. He did, and it was the only time such a thing
was done.
Our business with the soldiers was transacted at gatherings
which were in no sense meetings, in the generally accepted mean-
ing of the term. Mostly there were other men present, both
civilians and soldiers, in the taprooms where those gatherings
took place, and there was absolutely no discussion. While the
others sat at a table, conversing about nothing in particular, I
took the man I wanted to talk to aside and spoke to him private-
ly, either receiving reports (which was most commonly the case) ,
or giving orders. When men were brought to me to be sworn in,
they were taken out into the yard singly, or upstairs to an un-
occupied room, if in a friend's house, and the work was done
there. The rule was that a civilian should do the swearing in,
so as to minimize the danger to the soldier who had brought the
recruit.
The place where the swearing was done was selected be-
cause of the privacy, and all sorts of queer and out of the way
locations were made to serve the purpose. At an earlier date in
1865 I had stood guard on the Cabra Road while Roantree, my
predecessor in charge of the work in the army, swore in a ser-
geant of police in a field just inside the ditch. They lay down,
with their faces to the ground, as if enjoying the sun and a
smoke, and the little prayer book, well concealed, was passed from
hand to hand while the oath was administered. The sergeant
was a schoolfellow and boyhood chum of Roantree in Leixlip. He
had enlisted in the army, became an expert at drill and then
joined the police and was drill instructor for the Constabulary
recruits at the depot in the Phoenix Park. The prayer book, small
enough to fit in the vest pocket, was carried constantly by every
Fenian empowered to swear in men. The Bible mentioned by
some of the military informers was never used. They simply in-
vented it, or Captain Whelan (a British officer) did it for them.
In holding these gatherings of soldiers we avoided the places
that had been used by our predecessors, which were mostly
situated near the various barracks, and were known to the police.
We selected public houses owned or managed by friends, and
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
65
changed them frequently when we had reason to believe we had
attracted too much attention. There were only two real meet-
ings of soldiers held— the one at Hoey's in Bridgefoot Street,
already mentioned, and the other in the private parlor of Peter
Curran, over his public house in Clare Lane. Here I gathered
about twelve men each from the Fifth Dragoon Guards and the
Tenth Hussars for a conference with Captain McCafferty, who
had been an officer in Moseby's Guerrillas in the Confederate
Army. Kelly had a great opinion of him and wanted him to
meet our best men in the cavalry regiments.
McCafferty had done some very daring feats in the Civil War,
of which Kelly had told me. On one occasion he had got inside
the Union lines with a detachment of Morgan's men, captured
a lot of ammunition, loaded it on steamers or tugs which he had
seized and brought his booty down the Mississippi, under the Are
of the Federal batteries. I had related these stories to our cavalry
men and told them that McCafferty was to be their commander,
or would pick a number of them for special service, so they were
naturally very eager to meet him.
McCafferty was essentially a man of action, very chary of
words and his manner was cold. They were a fine body of men,
highly trained in the old school of cavalry tactics and believers
in the charge with sword or lance. McCafferty's experience was
with irregular cavalry, who never charged, and who only fought
at close quarters when necessary in their raids, and depended
mainly on the revolver. In a few brief words and with a very
quiet manner, he told them what could be done by insurgent
cavalry under existing circumstances in Ireland. He began by
saying: "I believe in a partisan warfare." Probably only O'Reilly
and one or two more knew what the word "partisan" meant, but
if he had said "guerrilla" warfare, they would have understood
him. One of them, Martin Hogan of the Fifth Dragoons, was
one of the two or three best swordsmen in the British army and
had cut in two at one stroke of his sabre a bar of iron hanging
from a barrack room ceiling. "Do you mean, sir," asked Hogan,
"that you wouldn't use swords at all?" "Nothing but revolvers,"
said McCafferty quietly, and the trained swordsmen were all dis-
appointed.
But, if they had a chance of being out in the field for a few
days with McCafferty he would soon impress them with the prac-
tical character of the work he wanted them to do. Even as it
was, before the conference was over they began to understand
him better, because they knew he had seen four years of constant
fighting. But they also knew it was in a thinly settled country,
very different from Ireland. With new men who could ride a
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
horse, as most country Irishmen can do, and not wedded to old
traditions, he could probably have done better. On the other
hand, if they had met Colonel Kerwin, whose experience was in
the Army of the Potomac, in which cavalry operations were not
so different from the European methods of warfare, or Captain
Carroll, whose training under Sheridan had taught him to fight
on horseback or on foot, as the circumstances demanded, they
would have been more at home. And, besides, the two latter
were born in Ireland and spoke with an Irish accent, only slightly
modified, while McCafferty was born in Sandusky, Ohio, had lived
many years in the South, and his manner of speech puzzled
them.
The march of events, however, prevented any more such
meetings between American officers and Fenian soldiers. Early
in 1866, on account of the disastrous effects of the Split in
America, Stephens sent McCafferty on a mission to New York.
The alarm of the British Government increased rapidly and ar-
rests became more frequent. The American officers, many of
whom had been going about in American clothes which at
once attracted attention — especially their square-toed boots and
double-breasted vests — had to make themselves less conspicuous
and were warned that they must be seen less in public in day-
light.
But the work of keeping up communication with the soldiers
already sworn in, was continued in the only way it could be done,
by meeting them in public houses and talking to them individu-
ally in private. The informers, in their evidence at the courts-
martial, repeatedly admitted that this was the method, but most
of them swore falsely that the words "Fenians" and "Fenianism"
were constantly used. They followed this plan under instructions
of Captain Whelan, the Prosecutor, in order to clinch the case
against the prisoners. Neither word was ever used, nor was the
word "society", which also occurs in the evidence of the informers,
because they were wholly unnecessary. But the plainest lan-
guage was employed in these conversations about the object of
the movement — an insurrection to free Ireland from English rule.
Not once was the name of James Stephens, or that of any other
man in Ireland, used, but John O'Mahony was often spoken of,
because he lived in America and was publicly known as the
leader of the organization. The "Americans" mentioned by the
informers as being present at meetings were also myths. No
man from America was present at any of these gatherings except
McCafferty at the conference before referred to.
Besides the men in the regiments of the Dublin garrison and
those of the Eighty-seventh who had come over from Portsmouth,
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
67
there were several other soldiers who had been induced to desert,
had been supplied with clothes and sent over by our men in
various parts of England. This was done without orders. The
London men sent a batch of about twenty. These men did not
play any particular role, except two who became informers. But
there was one man who would have played a very important part
if his offer to do so had been accepted. He was a sergeant of
engineers, a Dublin man named O'Brien, who had come home on
furlough from Woolwich. He was a member of a Dublin Circle,
but had no connection with any of our men in the army. He
was brought to me by a Dublin member who guaranteed his good
faith. He needed no guarantee as to his competency, for he
talked and looked like a man of unusual intelligence.
After asking me a few questions about the prospects of getting
arms, the number of American officers, and the strength of the
organization in the army, O'Brien told me it would be quite
easy to blow up and destroy Woolwich Arsenal, or the vital parts
of it, and that he was prepared to undertake the task. These
were not the days of dynamite, but the material for the job
O'Brien could get on the spot. The work to which he was as-
signed in Woolwich made that easy and he made no stipulation
about money. I immediately communicated the offer to Kelly,
who laid it before Stephens. I did not see Stephens, but Colonel
Kelly's report of his answer was rather disappointing. Stephens
was apparently somewhat frightened at the proposition, said it
would shock the civilized world and that we were not ready for
that kind of thing yet. Kelly added that it would be the right
thing to do on the immediate eve of the fight, and that was what
O'Brien had proposed. O'Brien was more than disappointed at
the answer; he was evidently very much disgusted. He said
something about tender hearted Irishmen being unfit to fight the
English, who stopped at nothing. That was the last I saw of
O'Brien.
The organization in the British army remained in good shape
up to the end of February, 1866, and communications were per-
fect. It would have been entirely at our service, if the fight had
taken place as originally planned, in 1865, or at any time up to
the middle of February, 1866. After the first postponement, in
December, 1865, it continued to improve. No arrests of soldiers
were made until February, 1866, but even the arrest of a few of
their comrades did not break the spirit of the men. So long as
the civilian organization remained intact, some of them were
able to meet the organizers every night. The word was passed
from man to man in the barracks that everything was all right
and the soldiers remained cheerful and hopeful. Up to the third
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
week in February there was no difficulty in passing messages in
and out of the barracks, and for long after that — so long, in
fact, as the well organized regiments remained in Ireland — we
could have relied on them.
It was the repeated postponements of the fight and the sub-
sequent demoralization of the civilian movement which enabled
the Government, by courtsmartial and terrorism, to shatter our
organization in the army. But, even then, the disaffection re-
mained and the best proof that England feared it was afforded
by the sending of all the principal Fenian regiments out of Ire-
land. They were all gone before the Rising of March 5, 1867, but
the supposedly Scotch Seventy-third. There were many Fenians
in the regiments which replaced those sent abroad, but com-
munication had been broken off and there could be no concerted
action.
How this situation was brought about can only be explained
by recording the incidents which led to the two postponements
of the intended insurrection. Although that is part of the his-
tory of the civil organization, it comes in more appropriately here
because it decided the fate of Fenianism in the British army.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT STRIKES.
The "Irish People" Seized and Many Leaders Arrested — Stephens,
Kickham, Duffy and Brophy Captured at Fairfield House —
Stephens Defied the Government in Court.
In the Summer of 1865 the Government began to realize that
they had a formidable movement to deal with which could no
longer be treated with contempt. Smollen and Dawson, two of
the smartest of the "G." Division, as the Detective Branch of the
Dublin Police was called, were constantly watching the Irish
People office and trailing men from there to their homes or to the
railway stations. But the Government's chief source of informa-
tion was Pierce Nagle, Clerk of St. Laurence O'Toole Church, who
was employed as a folder in the Irish People office for one day
in the week. He had been a resident of Tipperary before coming
to Dublin, but was a native of Kilkenny. He was a spy, not an
informer, and had been supplying the Government with informa-
tion for some time before it decided to act.
Stephens trusted Nagle, although he was generally disliked,
and used him as a messenger to carry important communica-
tions to Tipperary, all of which he allowed the Castle officials to
read before he delivered them. I was among those who disliked
Nagle, on account of his whining, insinuating manner, and I was
not surprised when his true character was revealed.
The blow fell on Thursday evening, Sept. 15, 1865. Practically
the whole "G." Division and a strong force of uniformed police
swooped down on the Irish People office, seized the paper and
arrested everyone they found on the premises, as well as many
who joined the crowd after the raid began. Others were arrested
at their residences and Stephens had a narrow escape. He was
meeting some of the men at the lodgings of James Flood when
a man rushed in and reported the seizure of the paper. Stephens
at once went away and the police arrived a few minutes later,
only to find that the bird had flown. They probably did not
then know that he was living as "Mr. Herbert" at Fairfield House
in Sandymount.
In the waste paper basket all the "copy" of the articles in
the suppressed number was found, including a letter of mine
censuring Father Hughes, the Parish Priest of Naas, for de-
nouncing the organization and saying that a branch of it existed
69
70
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
in the town. His sermon started the police into renewed activity
and every suspected man was shadowed continuously for more
than a week. In fact, they were all present in the church; the
police stared at them and they stared back defiantly. This fact
was stated in my letter.
The letter was made the basis of a warrant for my arrest, but
it did not arrive in Naas until several days later. Other war-
rants were issued on letters and other papers found in the Irish
People raid.
Among those arrested at the time of the seizure of the Irish
People office on Sept. 15, or within the next few days were Thomas
Clarke Luby, John O'Leary and O'Donovan Rossa. Several ar-
rests were also made in Cork and other cities. The Castle evi-
dently hoped to bag all the leaders at one swoop, but did not
succeed. It was a hard blow, all the same, but it did not pro-
duce the effect intended. The Government hoped it would strike
terror into the rank and file, but it had the contrary effect.
Irishmen are always at their best in the face of danger and they
are best of all when their backs are to the wall facing heavy
odds. A few ran away, but the great majority rose splendidly to
the occasion and became more active then ever. Many outsiders,
some of them men of standing, joined the organization through-
out the country and recruiting went on rapidly.
Stephens lay quiet and entrusted the management of the
organization to Colonel Thomas J. Kelly (later rescued in Man-
chester) and he was a more efficient manager than Stephens
himself. He had kept away from the Irish People office and the
Government was apparently unaware of his presence in Dublin.
The "G." Division were good enough as thief catchers, but were
no good for political work. Their whole reliance was on in-
formers and shadowing. Nagle knew nothing of Kelly and his
knowledge of the organization was very limited.
Stephens was arrested at Fairfield House, Sandymount, on
Nov. 11, 1865, with Charles J. Kickham, Hugh Brophy and Edward
Duffy. He had been staying there for months under the name of
Herbert. Dublin Castle had no knowledge of his whereabouts,
and the other men, all wanted by the police, were his guests.
There were many versions of how the detectives discovered his
presence at Fairfield House; his own opinion was that he was
betrayed.
Some documents were seized by the detectives, among them
being a list of the American officers, with the amount of money
paid to eacb.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
71
The following account of the proceedings in the Magistrate's
Court when the prisoners were arraigned for trial is taken from
the Dublin Freeman's Journal of November 15:
Some time elapsed before Mr. Stronge took his seat on the
Bench, and during the interval, the prisoners, who did not
seem in the least depressed, occupied themselves in conver-
sation and in reading the daily papers. Mr. C. R. Barry,
Q.C., M.P., Law Adviser, appeared for the Crown. The prison-
ers had no professional assistance when the proceedings
opened, but Mr. Irwin, Solicitor, attended on behalf of Mr.
Hopper.
Mr. Stronge, addressing the prisoners, said: "Before any
oral testimony is gone into, I wish to tell you I am about to
read the informations of the witness Nagle. After they are
read oral testimony will be given applicable to the charge,
and it will be open to any of you to cross-examine the wit-
ness."
Stephens: Would it answer your purpose to suppose
those papers read?
Mr. Stronge: That cannot be done. There are others be-
sides you charged.
Stephens: They will say the same.
Mr. Stronge: I shall now read the informations of Pierce
Nagle. Let him be sent for.
Kickham: I wish to remark that I am very deaf and in
order that I may not let anything pass unexplained or un-
contradicted, I ought to be allowed to look at the documents.
Mr. Stronge: Certainly.
Mr. Stronge then read the first informations of Pierce
Nagle giving his account of his connection with the Fenian
Brotherhood, and the facts he learned respecting the promi-
nent members of the Organization and their movements be-
fore his (Nagle's) arrest. James Stephens was the Chief
of the Brotherhood in Ireland. He went under the name
of "J. Power" and was called "The Captain". The informant
referred to a letter which Stephens sent to be read to the
members at Clonmel. This letter was signed "J. Power" and
it was read to the Fenians at Clonmel by Nagle. Amongst
other statements in the letter was one "That this should be
the year of action". When Mr. Stronge read this passage
Stephens said, "So it may."
After the examination of Nagle, Mr. Barry, Q.C., asked
Stephens to explain to Kickham that he (Kickham) could
have time to read it if he wished.
Stephens (to Kickham) : Proceedings have been stayed
until you read this. Read it carefully.
Kickham: Go on with something else. I do not like to
cause delay.
Mr. Nath Halbert was then sworn and examined by Mr.
Barry.
Mr. Halbert: I am the owner of Fairfield House, Sandy-
mount.
Mr. Barry: Did you see that agreement signed?
Mr. Halbert: I did, by Mr. Herbert.
Mr. Barry: Do you see Mr. Herbert here?
Mr. Halbert: I do (pointing to Stephens).
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Stephens: How long did I occupy the house?
Mr. Halbert: From the 1st July.
Stephens: Then I was there four months.
Mr. Halbert: Yes.
Stephens: I want that to be known for the edification
of the Detective Police.
Stephens: Did I represent myself as the son of Rev. Mr.
Herbert?
Mr. Halbert: No such thing.
Mr. Stephens: I state that for the enlightenment of the
Liberal press.
After the evidence of Stephens's arrest was read, Stephens
said he wished to ask a question of witness (Inspector Clif-
ford) .
Stephens: How much money did you find in the pocket-
book?
Clifford: £26.
Stephens: Do you swear that? Yes.
Did you say you opened the bookcase? Yes.
Did you find any documents in it? I did not search it.
Did you find any money in it? I did not search it.
Am I at liberty to ask you who searched it?
Mr. Stronge: Certainly. (To Witness) Do you know who
searched it?
Witness: Inspector Dawson searched it in my presence.
Mr. Barry said he would read some of the documents
found. One of the documents was a list of officers who had
received fees since their arrival here, together with the
amount advanced, and that paid to them on the other side
previous to their embarkation. In one column which was
headed "name" there were the names of twenty-four per-
sons, with their ranks. The next column was sums ad-
vanced. The sums varied from £1 to £4. The next head was
"amount advanced in the United States". The sums varied
from £48 to £37. One was marked "paid his own expenses".
Two persons had received £70 and others various sums rang-
ing from £10 to £70. The next column was "time of sailing"
and the dates were Sept. 1st, 1865, and various periods ex-
tending back to August.
After the closing of the case for the Crown, Mr. Stronge
asked the prisoners if they had anything to say.
Stephens: I am not bound to say anything.
Mr. Stronge: I may as well tell you at once that the case
is so clear against you that I shall be bound to commit you.
Mr. Lawless here whispered a few words to Stephens.
Stephens (to Lawless) : You look upon this matter as a
lawyer. I look upon it as a patriot.
Stephens: I feel bound to say in justification of, rather
than with a view to, my own reputation, that I have em-
ployed no lawyer or attorney in this case, and that I mean
to employ none, because in making a plea of any kind or
filing any defense (I am not particularly well up in those
legal terms) I should be recognizing British Law in Ireland.
Now I deliberately and conscientiously repudiate the exis-
tence of that law in Ireland — its right or even its existence
in Ireland. I defy and despise any punishment it can inflict
on me. I have spoken.
CHAPTER XII.
MILLEN'S BRIEF AUTHORITY.
Selected as Temporary Head of the Organization — This Action
a Bad Mistake Which Was Speedily Retrieved — Stephens
from His Prison Cell Ordered Millen to America.
A few days after Stephens' arrest, and before his rescue, a
meeting of the Dublin Centres and such of the county ones as
happened to be in town, with all the members of the Military
Council, was called by Colonel Kelly to deal with the emergency.
The meeting was held in a spacious room over Haybyrne's bar-
ber's shop in Wicklow Street, and was very well attended. Some
of the Dublin Centres had been arrested, but their places had
been promptly filled and the new men were all present. Hay-
byrne was an old 'Forty-Eight man and his son, Patrick, was a
very active member, but not a Centre. He acted as sentinel and
piloted the men to the room as they arrived.
The dissatisfaction over the lack of military preparation found
expression in an effort to put a military man temporarily in
Stephens' place. Several of the old Centres and practically all
the new ones came to me before the formal opening of the meet-
ing and insisted that I propose General Millen, Chairman of the
Military Council, for the position. We knew nothing of Millen,
except that he was Chairman of the Military Council, and we
had been told that he had been a General in the Mexican Army,
and we believed it would be easier to elect him on that account.
If a military man were at the head, we thought, he would natur-
ally start the necessary military preparations. Kelly, who was
Secretary of the Military Council, would have been the ideal
man, but he had only held the rank of Captain, while Millen
was a General, and Kerwin, Denis F. Burke and Halpin were
Colonels, and we thought it would look bad to put a man of
lower rank over their heads.
I made the motion and Matthew O'Neill, Centre of the second
largest Circle in Dublin, seconded it. We were greatly surprised
when, one after the other, all the members of the Military Coun-
cil, except Millen himself, spoke against the motion. They said
nothing against Millen, but it was quite evident that they had no
confidence in him. They pleaded for delay and urged that no
hasty action be taken. Halpin, who was a very good speaker,
with much experience in American political campaigns, spoke
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
very plausibly against taking any action until Stephens was re-
leased (a thing we all expected) , and said we should take no "leap
in the dark." He made no attack on Millen, but the insinuation
that he was unfit for the position ran through all his remarks.
Kerwin, who was not a practiced speaker at that time, put his
objections mainly on technical grounds, while Burke, who was
rather blunt, came nearer to attacking Millen than any of the
others. Kelly put his objections wholly on the certainty that
Stephens would be out in a few days and would resume the lead-
ership. But all the military men were opposed to the proposal.
John Hickey of Dunleary, or Kingstown, as it was then called,
made the longest speech against the motion, but none of the
other old Centres opposed it. A man named Hetherington from
Mullinavat, on the border of Kilkenny and Waterford, who was
"on his keeping" in Dublin, spoke briefly against it, but the
motion was passed by a large majority subject to the approval
of the absent Centres, and the meeting adjourned, with the
understanding that another would be called as soon as Stephens
was heard from.
In the meantime the following bit of excitement took place.
Superintendent Hughes was shot at the very door of the Head
Police Office beside the City Hall, but was not seriously wounded.
The man who shot him was Tom Frith, the first man I swore in
after taking the oath myself. His father kept a cattle yard in
Newmarket at the corner of Ward's Hill, where cows were kept
while waiting to be shipped to England, and a boarding house
where the dealers stopped.. The family were from the Barony of
Forth and Bargy in Wexford, where the people were of mixed
Norse and Welsh descent, and Tom was a silent, taciturn man,
but a mechanical genius. He had invented a die to cut the cop-
per for percussion caps, and had made hand grenade casings.
Frith had also carefully marked on a map of Dublin the buildings
that should be occupied when we started the fight. They in-
cluded all those seized by the men of Easter Week, 1916, and sev-
eral others. He believed, like Paddy Kearney, that we ought
to fight in the city, instead of taking to the hills.
Frith told me and two or three others of his intention to shoot
one of the prominent police officers as a reply to the arrest of
Stephens, and we tried to dissuade him, but he insisted, although
we were all under orders not to resist arrest, but we pleaded in
vain. His revolver was a cheap "Brummagen" one, loaded only
with loose powder plugged with paper several weeks previously.
Frith stood under the railing of the City Hall, which is raised
above the sidewalk, as Hughes was about to turn into the little
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
75
alley in which the Head Police Office was situated and fired at
him. Superintendent Hughes was only slightly wounded (the
powder being ineffective) ; he lay on the sidewalk a full minute
before anyone ventured out of the Central Office to pick him up.
They evidently feared there would be more shooting.
Frith walked leisurely over to Crampton Court, where a friend
was waiting with a jaunting car, and he reached his room in
Bolton Street in safety. I got him off to Liverpool the next day
and he lived there for many years.
Millen had arranged that one of the men should be the
medium of communication between him and the Dublin Centres,
and it was this man that put Frith on the jaunting car who was
selected. I was waiting in Fitzpatrick's little public house at the
corner of Dame and George's Street, where the bartender, John
Hollowed (later a prosperous liquor dealer in Chicago) was one
of our trusted men. When this man came in, his face was very
pale and an excited look in his eyes. I knew the job had been
done and he was about to speak, but I signalled him to say noth-
ing, as there was only a little space outside the counter, at which
three or four men were standing.
After our conversation he decided to report to General Millen,
and I accompanied him. We found Millen at tea with a lady, to
whom he did not introduce us, and whose face seemed familiar
to me, but I did not recall who she was until I heard later that he
had married a Miss Power of Tipperary, who was engaged to
Denis Dowling Mulcahy, one of those recently arrested. There
was strong feeling against both — against her for breaking her en-
gagement and him for taking a mean advantage of an impris-
oned man.
Millen was greatly upset by the news and expressed the hope
that none of the "As" were concerned in the act — meaning the
Centres. But he had no instructions to give and we left him in
a few minutes.
At the second meeting called by Col. Kelly, Millen was not
present, but he sent a long letter in reply to one from Stephens
(written in his cell and brought to Kelly by Michael Breslin),
ordering Millen's return to the United States "to take command
of the expedition". Millen's letter protested against the order,
said he was getting from the Centres throughout the country
letters of approval of his election by the Dublin men and that he
was about to start for Belgium to purchase arms.
The admission that he was going to leave the country pro-
duced a very bad effect, which was emphasized by Kelly hinting
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
(not to the whole meeting, but in conversation with individuals)
that Millen intended to abscond with all the available funds,
which he had insisted must be turned over to him.
Those who were responsible for selecting Millen were turned
against him by his letter (which was a bid to resist Stephens'
order) and I moved that the motion I had proposed at the pre-
vious meeting be rescinded and it was done by a unanimous vote.
None of us ever saw Millen in Ireland again. Further reference
to him will be found in the chapter on James J. O'Kelly.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE RESCUE OF STEPHENS.
Liberation of the Fenian Chief from Richmond Prison, Dublin —
Effected by John J. Breslin, Hospital Steward, Aided by
Daniel Byrne, Night Watchman — Strong Bodyguard Received
Him Outside the Walls.
Stephens' defiant speech when arraigned before the magis-
trate to be committed for trial led the public to believe that he
had strong resources at his back. A week later most people felt
that on the day of his arraignment he knew all about the ar-
rangements for the rescue from prison, which afterwards took
place on November 24, 1865, and that this knowledge justified his
attitude of defiance. He ever after encouraged this belief, but the
simple truth is it was utterly without foundation. Stephens at
that time knew nothing whatever of the possibility of escape and
the idea had not yet entered the mind of the man who after-
wards conceived and executed the plan which restored the Chief
Organizer to liberty.
Strictly speaking, it was not an escape, but a rescue. The ac-
counts published in the newspapers at the time were all wrong
and references to it in books since then are equally misleading.
A. M. Sullivan, although corrected in a public letter by the
principal actor in restoring the captive to freedom, says, even in
the last edition of his "New Ireland", that Stephens made his exit
through the front door of the prison. The British Government
has never done justice to the Portuguese Governor, Marquess,
whom the Castle officials dismissed for alleged criminal negli-
gence in connection with the escape. And there were thousands
of Irishmen who believed for many years after that the Fenian
Chief was released with the connivance of the British Govern-
ment.
The story of the Rescue from Richmond Prison is as follows:
Among the officers of the prison were John J. Breslin, hospital
steward, and Daniel Byrne, one of the two night watchmen.
Byrne was a member of the Fenian organization, having been
sworn in by Captain John Kirwan, the ex-Papal Zouave, but
Breslin, although a man of strong Nationalist opinions, did not
belong to the I. R. B. Neither was his brother Michael a Fenian,
who just then was a clerk in the Police Superintendent's of-
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
flee, a station which enabled him to render most important
service to the conspirators.
John Breslin had a conversation with Stephens in the prison
the day after the arrest and made up his mind at once that
he was a superior man. He had a day off a little later and found
that his brother Niall, who was an active worker in the move-
ment, was full of some idea about getting Stephens out. He
asked Niall: "Is this man necessary to the organization?" Niall
assured him that he was and John replied that it couldn't amount
to much if the loss of one man could hurt it so badly. However,
he added that it would be easy enough to take him out, but, with
the airs common to Irish elder brothers to their juniors added:
"I'd like to hear it from someone of more importance than you."
Niall put him in communication with Colonel Thomas J. Kelly
and the work of preparation for the rescue was at once begun.
All the communications between Kelly and the prison, whether
verbal or written, were carried on through Michael Breslin,
who went there in his police uniform, and his visits never aroused
the faintest suspicion. He even brought in the false keys with
which the doors were opened.
John Breslin's daily tour through the prison with the doctor
gave him many opportunities for communicating with the
prisoners. He not only accompanied the doctor and took down
his directions about medicine, but went back and delivered it,
retaining the keys until his work was done. He had ample
opportunity for personal interviews with Stephens and kept him
fully informed.
The plan was very simple and effective, and was Breslin's in
every detail. Stephens occupied one of the hospital cells in a
small corridor on the third floor. The only other occupants of
the corridor were his colleague, Charles J. Kickham, and a regular
jailbird named McLeod. The Governor, to provide against any
possibility of escape, had a police sentinel placed on the other
side of the door leading to that portion of the prison where
O'Leary, Luby, Mulcahy, Roantree and the other Fenian prisoners
were quartered, while the other entrance to the corridor was
secured by two doors, one of wood and the other of iron. McLeod
was in a cell between those of Stephens and Kickham, and had
orders from the Governor to ring his gong on the first sound of
anything unusual in the neighboring cells. This would have at
once given the alarm and have effectually prevented escape. The
policeman could not unlock the door between him and the cor-
ridor, and the iron door at the other end could only be opened
by the pass key, which was locked in the Governor's safe. The
Governor's office, where all the keys were deposited at a certain
JAMES STEPHENS
/
StiebLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
79
hour every evening, was effectually protected from all attempts
from the inside by a heavy iron gate, locked on the side facing
the main entrance.
Breslin had a latch key which opened the door of the hospital,
where he slept, and that leading to the portion of the prison
where Stephens was confined. To enable him to enter the cor-
ridor he must have a pass key, and to open the cell door another
key* He took impressions in beeswax of the regular keys in use
in the daytime, and new ones were filed down to fit the impres-
sions by Michael Lambert, an optician who was an active Fenian.
Even at this early stage of the affair a hitch occurred which
showed the lack of precision and promptness characterizing the
whole Fenian movement. The beeswax was not forthcoming at
the time appointed. After waiting several days Breslin was
obliged to go out and buy it himself, thus running the risk of
giving a clue to the police that might be the means of convicting
him if brought to trial. The keys were finally in Breslin's hands,
but even at the last moment he was obliged to do some filing on
one of them, and to run some extra risk by fitting it to the lock
of a door that Byrne, his colleague in the enterprise, could not
open.
The keys having been fitted, Colonel Kelly was notified and
'arrangements were made to receive Stephens on the outside of
the prison walls. Byrne was on watch every second night.
So sure were the authorities of the safety of the captives that
no military guard was placed in the prison, but a regiment of
cavalry and a battery of artillery were quartered at Portobello
Barracks, within fifteen minutes' walk. The only guard was a
detachment of Metropolitan Police, four of whom were stationed
inside the main entrance and others at various points in the
prison. That night care was taken that they were given plenty
of porter and they were in a heavy sleep on their chairs when
the event came off.
At the inception of the plot, Colonel Kelly sent for me and
told me the duty I was to perform. For various reasons, I hap-
pened to be better acquainted with the local officers and rank
and file of the Dublin organization than any man then within
Kelly's reach. He told me he wanted me to pick out from ten to
twelve of the very best men I knew in Dublin for a special work,
requiring courage, coolness, and self-control. They all ought to
know how to use revolvers, but were not to use their arms even
if fired upon, unless ordered to do so. They were to be capable
of making a desperate fight if necessary. I was to avoid as much
as possible selecting Centres, American officers or men filling
other positions demanding constant attention. Kelly did not
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
then tell me the exact nature of the work, but I had no doubt it
was to rescue "The Captain".
A few days later, when I reported for his approval the men
I had selected, he told me it was to act as a bodyguard for
Stephens on his release by men inside the prison; that there
would probably be no need for us, but we were to be on hand
in case any accident should interrupt the escape. A dozen men,
he said, would be quite enough, including himself and two others.
These two were John Ryan, the son of a Liverpool dry goods
merchant, a splendid type of man, mentally and physically, and
Michael Lambert, the optician. He told me I was to have charge
of the party under his directions, and I was to conceal them in
small squads in positions covering every avenue of approach to
the prison.
I selected nine men, whom I considered to be the best fitted
for all the possibilities involved in the attempt. Nearly all of
them were wanted by the police, and many afterwards suffered
imprisonment. Most of them had seen some kind of service. All
knew how to handle both rifle and revolver. Paddy Kearney
was of exceptional courage and decisive character. Michael
Cody possessed great strength and determination. He was an
ex-Dublin-militia man and had a weakness for punching peelers
occasionally. John Harrison was a corn porter of magnificent
proportions, who had spent some time in the English navy and
seen service at Bomarsund under Admiral Napier. He had never
had any difficulty with the police, but had knocked out the best
men among the Dublin coal porters who were at that time mostly
anti-Fenians. Denis Duggan was a young coach builder, who
had served in the English Volunteers, and was noted for his cour-
age and coolness. Jack Mullen was the son of a Dublin shop-
keeper and had led a roving life. When a boy he had enlisted in
the English, and had later on served in the American navy, par-
ticipating in some of the principal naval fights of the Civil War.
Matthew O'Neill was a Dublin stonecutter, who had never seen
any service. He was Centre of one of the most important Circles
in the City, and was a man of fine physique. Jack Lawler had
never been a soldier, and was rather small, but was recommended
as a man of great pluck. William Brophy was a carpenter and a
strong man. Pat Flood, a Dublin cork cutter, was a powerful
man, and an old member of the organization. These, with Kelly
and the two men chosen by him, and myself, were the only per-
sons outside the walls of Richmond prison that night.
Colonel Kelly informed me that a supply of revolvers would be
ready, so that each man would be fully armed and prepared.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
81
None of these men was informed of the nature of the work on
hand, but Colonel Kelly confided the secret to some of those
around him, and they in turn revealed it to a "few friends". I
learned after the rescue, that in this way the news spread until
at least 200 men in Dublin knew of it. The subject had become a
pretty general topic of conversation among the officers of the or-
ganization. This led to serious embarrassment. Scores of men,
especially the recently arrived Irish-American officers, felt hurt
because they were not chosen to take part in the affair, and they
angrily remonstrated. One man, a civilian, who heard the rumor
just as he was leaving for the south, was so overjoyed at the
prospect that on the very night of the escape he confided the
knowledge to a soldier of the Fourth Royal Irish Dragoon Guards,
then stationed at Ballincollig, County Cork, whom he wanted to
swear in. The trooper refused to be sworn in, and immediately
gave information to the authorities, who sent it to the Castle. It
reached Cork Hill about the time the news of the escape was
spreading dismay among the officials. Had the dragoon's story
reached Dublin a few hours earlier, Stephens would have been
sent to break stones in Portland with O'Leary, Luby, and his other
lieutenants. Another version of this incident at Cork was pub-
lished many years ago, but, apart from the details, it is certain
that the ill-advised remark of the man who conveyed the rumor
from Dublin might well have resulted in bringing to naught the
plans for Stephens' rescue.
When the night set for the rescue arrived, the plans were
ready inside the prison, and the authorities had not the faintest
suspicion of anything wrong. The same police guard did duty, no
soldier was any nearer than Portobello Barracks, and the Gover-
nor retired as usual in full serenity and without a shadow of
suspicion. I had reports from the barracks up to a late hour in
the evening and knew that no movement either of troops or
police indicated the taking of any precautionary measures, or the
existence of the slightest misgivings for the safety of the caged
Fenian Chief. The Crown lawyers and the Sheriff were busily
preparing for the trials, and every partisan of British rule in
Ireland looked hopefully forward to the speedy collapse of the
conspiracy. A few striking examples were to be made, the pris-
oners of lesser note were to be let off with short terms of im-
prisonment, and panic and demoralization could be trusted to
do the rest. Ireland would relapse into the calm of despair, and
the crowbar brigade and the emigrant ship would soon effect a
final solution of the Irish problem. Dublin Castle slept tranquilly
that night, with no warning of the panic and consternation that
was to overtake it on the morrow.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Towards midnight the little squad of men told off for a body-
guard dropped one by one into Lynch's public house in Camden
Street, a short distance from the prison, where Ned Waydick was
in charge, and quietly awaited the word to move. But the prom-
ised revolvers were not forthcoming, and much disgust was ex-
pressed. Kearney, who had a hot temper, flew into a violent
rage, and berated the leaders for their seeming neglect. He was
a born soldier, and expected soldierly precision and promptitude
in such matters. "If they mismanage a little thing like this,"
he said, "how is it going to be when the real work comes?"
The fault, however, was not that of Colonel Kelly, but of
the man to whom he assigned that duty. Had those selected for
the rescue any idea in advance that the revolvers would not be
available at the appointed time, they could have supplied them-
selves during the day. The situation had to be remedied imme-
diately, and at a late hour that evening John Ryan and I had to
hire an outside car and apply to friends living in different parts
of the city, and by midnight all but four of the men had re-
volvers. Two were brought to the spot where Colonel Kelly and a
few of the men were stationed in a field opposite the prison,
about an hour before the escape, by Nick Walsh. Eleven men
only had revolvers; one had a large knife, and a thirteenth man
had no weapon whatever, and was sent home early in the night.
Not a man refused to go to the ground, although some were un-
armed when they started out. Yet they fully expected a fight
with police, warders or soldiers before the work was finished.
The night was dark and wet, and the few policemen on duty
in the lonely neighborhood of the prison kept as much as pos-
sible under shelter. A thorough search was made of the Circular
Road, on which the prison fronts, Love Lane, the bank of the
Grand Canal, which runs at the rear of the prison, and a little
lane running from the Circular Road to Dolly's Bridge, which
crosses the canal close to the prison grounds. One policeman
was met sheltering himself under an elm tree on the canal bank
and another peeped out of a hallway on the Circular Road, near
Clanbrassil Street, but a little conversation enlivened by a swig
from a flask of whiskey, revealed the fact that not a single extra
man was out and that nothing startling was expected.
The men arrived on the ground by different routes in small
groups, and quietly took up positions previously assigned them.
Kelly, Ryan, Lambert and Brophy were at a point opposite the
prison wall, in a field on the other side of the Circular Road,
keeping in the shadow of a high wall running diagonally inward
from the road. Kearney, Cody, Mullen and Lawler were placed
under the shadow of a hedge at the gate of the same field, direct-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
83
ly opposite the prison gate. Harrison, Duggan and O'Neill were
in a little dark nook at the western end of the prison wall be-
tween the latter and the wall of a cabbage garden that lay be-
tween the Circular Road and the canal. Flood had been sent
home because we had no revolver for him. He offered to stay,
but Kelly wanted no man without a weapon. The nook was partly
overhung by the branches of trees. My instructions were to move
from post to post, reporting at intervals to Colonel Kelly till
the time fixed for the escape, when I was to take my place with
him. A low mud wall separated the field from the Circular Road,
and in a hole on the inside of this wall John Ryan had, earlier
in the night, deposited a coil of stout rope with knots arranged
at about every two feet of its length, so as to make it easier for
Stephens to climb by when it was flung over the wall.
Here the men waited expectantly in the drizzling rain for the
signal which was to tell them that Stephens had been let out of
the prison and was waiting inside the outer wall for the rope
to be thrown over. He was to throw gravel over the wall as a
signal that the rope was wanted, and the "quack, quack!" of a
duck repeated by Ryan was to announce that the moment was
at hand. But there was a genuine duck in a neighboring garden
that raised a false alarm once.
When the prison clock struck one Breslin left his quarters in
the hospital and quietly opened the door leading to the corridor
where Stephens' cell was situated. No one else was up but Byrne,
and Stephens who was waiting in his cell dressed and ready to
move. Ascending the stairs noiselessly, Breslin opened the two
doors leading into the corridor as quietly as he could, but it was
impossible to do so without making a slight noise. The police-
man on the other side of the door at the other end might hear
if he was listening, and if McLeod was awake, there would be
trouble. Stephens heard Breslin turn the key in the cell door.
He slid from the hammock where he had been lying dressed. No
superfluous words were spoken. Stephens, after receiving a
loaded revolver from Breslin, followed the latter as noiselessly
as possible out of the corridor and down the stairs. Here an anx-
ious pause of a few moments was made. If McLeod, the jailbird,
rang his gong, all was over; but no sound came from his cell.
He afterwards explained his silence by saying that the key
which let Stephens out of his cell would also open his, and that
had he given the alarm his throat would have been cut. Hear-
ing no alarm, Breslin opened the door leading out into the prison
yard. Between this yard and the Governor's garden was a very
high wall, which had to be crossed before the outer wall could be
reached. Breslin had been told by Byrne that the ladder used
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
in lighting the lamps in the yard was long enough to enable a
man to cross the wall, but on making the experiment now he
found that a tall man standing on the top rung of the ladder
could not reach within several feet of the top of the wall. Byrne
had not tried the ladder, as he had promised to do. This was a
serious hitch. McLeod might have rung his gong and alarmed
the prison without Breslin being able to hear it, and not a mo-
ment could be spared. After a hurried consultation he decided
to return to the prison, and, with Byrne's help, bring out two
long tables from the lunatics' dining room, on which to place the
ladder. There was an unoccupied sentry box close to where they
stood, and inside this he placed Stephens. For all he knew,
there might be a policeman stationed in the Governor's garden;
so, assuring Stephens that Byrne and he would take care of any-
thing between the sentry box and the prison door, he told him
to shoot any man coming from the other direction.
The two tables were carried out as quickly as possible, and
placed one on top of the other against the wall at a point where
Breslin knew there was a tool shed on the other side, which
would facilitate the descent. The ladder was then placed on the
upper table and held by Byrne and Breslin, while Stephens
ascended.
As Stephens stepped on the ladder he turned round and
handed Breslin the revolver. This left an unfavorable impres-
sion on Breslin which nothing could efface. If there should be a
policeman in the Governor's garden he could easily stop the fur-
ther progress of the fugitive, and the men outside the wall could
do nothing to aid him. Stephens climbed up the ladder, and,
although there was some glass on the top of the wall, easily got
over it, and dropped down to a shed on the other side and thence
to the ground. He walked over to a pear tree indicated by Bres-
lin, which grew close to the outer wall, and which would aid him
in climbing it. Hearing no footsteps outside, he took a handful
of gravel and flung it on to the Circular Road.
This signal was at once recognized. It was only the work of
a minute for the little party with Kelly to cross the road and
fling one end of the rope over the wall. Four of us held it, and
in a second there was a strong tug at the other end of the
rope and we felt him struggling upward, till at last we saw his
head and shoulders at the top of the wall, which was about
eighteen feet high. The whole party, as well as I can remember,
had by this time rushed to the spot, and "The Captain" was
greeted good-naturedly, but in subdued tones. He peered down
as if gauging the distance to the ground, and was quite out of
breath. After he had vainly tried to hitch the rope between
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
85
two stones on the top of the wall so that he might use it in
descending, John Ryan told him to drop down with his back to
the wall, and we would catch him. He did so and Ryan caught
his feet on his chest, the sand on the soles leaving the imprint
of the shoes on Ryan's buttoned coat. It staggered Ryan, and
as Stephens was coming down I caught him about the knees and
let him slide to the ground. I felt him tremble as I let him
down, a fact probably caused as much by his physical exertion
as by the reaction to the nerve-wracking strain of his enforced
wait in the sentry box in the inner yard. At all events, it gave
the first shock to the belief I had previously entertained in his
coolness and self-possession.
Stephens and Kelly at once crossed the Circular Road and
turned into Love Lane, a long winding street, running through
market gardens and having few houses. From Love Lane they
turned into Brown Street. In this street was the house where the
C. O. I. R. was to be concealed. Mrs. Boland, a sister of James
O'Connor, later Member of Parliament for West Wicklow, had
undertaken to shelter him, and John O'Connor, her brother, then
a bright boy of fifteen, who had acted as messenger between
Kelly and Stephens before his arrest, was on the lookout. Here
he remained in safety, and ever afterwards we used to call Mrs.
Boland "the best man of the O'Connor family". She was one of
the most devoted of the many good women of the Fenian move-
ment.
I had been ordered by Kelly to see that anything that might
give a clue to the nature of the escape should be removed from
outside the wall. The only thing of that kind was the rope, and
I found unexpected difficulty with that. Every man present
wanted to get a piece of it, and a few succeeded.
We started off in small groups, and the state of elation in
which the men all were was indicated by a remark by John
Ryan, who was walking with me. "John," he said, "we have
tonight witnessed the greatest event in history." "Well," I re-
plied, "I suppose it is the greatest in our little movement up to
the present, but I hope we'll best it soon."
As we got to a point on the Circular Road opposite the prison
gate we heard the loud bang of a door, and we thought the alarm
must have been given and expected momentarily to see the gate
open and the policemen rush out. Lest such event might result
in the recapture of Stephens, the men all ran up, every man
pulled his revolver, and we waited expectantly, but there was not
another sound or a sign. We then separated and went our
various ways. Breslin and Byrne said later that they had neither
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
banged a door nor heard any noise, but twelve of us outside heard
it so distinctly that there could be no mistake about it.
A few minutes later I learned how much the matter had
become practically public property. As Ryan and I turned into
Camden Street he said to me, "I promised Sam Clampett that I
would call and let him know the thing has come off all right.
He lives just here." I knew Sam, who was a Protestant and a
member of James O'Connor's Circle. He was a bright, handsome
little fellow. Sure enough, his wife and he were waiting up to
hear the news. She too was, of course, a Protestant, and a great
Fenian. They welcomed us effusively and a bottle of whiskey
was produced. The three men drank "The Captain's" health in
a bumper. Ryan and I were wet from long exposure to the
drizzle and the draught was timely.
Breslin left the tables and the ladder as they stood when
Stephens crossed the inner wall, and the false keys in the door,
so that there might be no mistake about the manner of the
escape, and returned to his room in the hospital, which he
reached a little after 2 o'clock. He wore a pair of patent leather
shoes, so that his ordinary ones might not be soiled, and after
carefully wiping the sand and dust from them he put them
away, and brushing his clothes, got into bed and pretended to
be "fast asleep" immediately. Byrne continued to make his usual
rounds, but not until 4 o'clock did he raise the alarm and report
finding the tables and ladder against the prison wall.
A scene of wild confusion ensued. The whole prison staff was
aroused, and every nook and corner of the building and the
grounds was searched for the fugitive. The Castle authorities
were at once notified, and in a few hours the police were scouring
the city, searching houses and watching trains and outgoing
vessels of all kinds. The garrison was placed under arms. Simi-
lar precautions were taken elsewhere and an utter panic pre-
vailed among the Loyalists. Landlords and magistrates were
paralyzed with dismay, and fully expected the outbreak of a
formidable insurrection.
I stopped that morning at the house of my aunt in Mabbot
Street. Her husband, William Delaney, was in the building busi-
ness in a small way, and the yard, which was full of building
material, had a door opening on a lane which ran into Talbot
Street. I had the key of this door buried in sand so that I could
reach it from the outside and the back door of the house had
been left open for me. Here I had arranged that O'Neill should
also sleep that morning and he was waiting for me in the lane
when I got over. Thinking that we might have been followed,
he insisted on sleeping in his clothes, and he presented a curious
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
87
spectacle as he slept. He had a portion of the rope coiled around
his body and four loaded revolvers — he had collected three be-
sides his own — in his belt. I had two others, but, though I
slept in my clothes, I kept the firearms within reach.
We were anxious to learn how the people felt about the news,
so we were up early, got the papers, reported for orders to Colonel
Kelly, returned the borrowed revolvers and visited several places
frequented by our men. We found them all in high spirits and
everyone talking of the event. At Lynch's in Camden Street, the
place we had started from, there was a large party of our friends
and several men who were not Fenians, but all were equally
enthusiastic.
Had Stephens been ready to give the word then he could
have got five followers for the one that would have answered his
call at any previous time.
The people were wild with delight. Men who had till then
looked with open hostility or cold indifference on Fenianism were
seized with a sudden enthusiasm. They shook hands with their
Fenian acquaintances in the streets, and congratulated them on
the victory. It was the one proud day of the Fenian movement.
The Government had been beaten in their own stronghold, and
not a man ever suffered the loss of a hair.
Byrne was arrested next day and committed for trial, but
two successive juries disagreed, and he was finally released and
allowed to leave the country. Not a shadow of suspicion rested
on Breslin, and he remained at his post for a whole year, when,
finding that he was likely to be arrested, he quietly slipped on
board the Holyhead boat at "Kingstown", and was in Paris the
following night. Neither Breslin nor Byrne contracted for or
ever received a single penny for the work. It was a labor of love.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FIGHT POSTPONED.
"The Year of Action" Passed Without a Rising, Contrary to
Advice of the American Officers — Centres Called into Con-
sultation Not to Make a Decision but to Acquiesce in the
Postponement Already Determined on by Stephens — Split
in the American Fenian Brotherhood a Big Factor.
The trials of the prisoners first arrested — O'Leary, Luby,
Kickham, O'Donovan Rossa, Mulcahy, Roantree, O'Connor and
others in Dublin, and Kenealy, Keane and their fellows in Cork
(September, 1865, to January 1866) — by which the English Gov-
ernment hoped to intimidate the Fenians, had the very opposite
effect. They put the men on their mettle, stimulated recruiting
and aroused the sympathy of the people. Thousands of new
members were sworn in, many of them belonging to the com-
mercial and professional classes, who had hitherto held aloof,
and large masses of men who had not been reached by our work-
ers were favorably influenced by the public propaganda. It is
always so in Ireland when England undertakes coercive measures.
Repression is the best possible stimulant for Irish Nationalism.
It was the same with the soldiers as with the people. The
reports of the trials filled the newspapers and were the chief
topic of conversation everywhere, including the barrooms visited
by soldiers, and the swearing in of new members went on more
briskly than at any previous time. The military organizers were
kept busy. It was only during January that the military authori-
ties seemed to awake to the fact that there was a formidable
Fenian organization in the ranks of the army. One infantry
Colonel seemed to guess it all along, but he made a joke of it.
He was an Irishman who had been shabbily treated by the heads
of the army and undoubtedly had a grievance. The story told
by the men of his regiment was that during the great Mutiny in
India, when all the superior officers of his regiment had been
killed or wounded, he had not alone led it during a hard cam-
paign, but had commanded a large body of native troops as well.
At the end of the Mutiny, they stated, when the regiment was
ordered home, he fell sick and it was taken to England by an offi-
cer of lower rank, a man of no ability, who belonged to an influ-
ential, aristocratic family. They said it was a custom in the army
that the man who took a regiment home from India was always
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
89
promoted, so the aristocratic nincompoop was made a General
and the man who had rendered brilliant service at a critical time
was still only a Colonel in 1865, and very much disgruntled.
I had no means of verifying this story, but the men of the
regiment all believed it and found confirmation of his supposed
sympathy with Fenianism in his treatment of men brought be-
fore him for being absent from roll-call or other similar delin-
quencies. "Ha! What brings you here? I suppose you were
out with the boys last night," they represented him as saying, in
a bantering tone. "Get to hell out of here and don't be brought
up before me again."
The Colonel's brother was a well known parish priest in Wick-
low, and was very patriotic. The Centre of the regiment, an ex-
ceptionally intelligent man, was quite confident that if we made
a good showing when the fight came, his Colonel would come over.
None of his regiment would be left anyhow, for they were Fenians
almost to a man.
There was a similar belief about a Captain of the Fourth
Dragoon Guards and a Lieutenant of the Eighteenth Royal
Irish, but I knew no more about them than I did of the Colonel.
Stephens claimed to have sworn in six commissioned officers of
the army, but he never named them, even to O'Leary, Luby or
Kickham, as they told me later, and the matter remained a
mystery to the end.
The English Government became more active early in 1866;
arrests on suspicion became more frequent, and at last on Febru-
ary 17, the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended. Dublin Castle did
not wait for the formal suspension, but commenced to make ar-
rests by wholesale as soon as the Bill was introduced in Parlia-
ment. The O'Donoghue, a grand-nephew of Daniel O'Connell,
made a rather good speech against it, and John Bright made
another, but no obstructive tactics were used. The Bill was
passed in both houses on the same day it was introduced, and
signed by Queen Victoria that evening. The purpose of the Gov-
ernment was evidently to arrest as many men as possible before
they had time to seek places of safety, so the whole police force
was put on the job and worked overtime, both in Dublin and the
Provinces. Several hundred prisoners had been gathered in
by the time the proclamation announcing the suspension was
published on Sunday, February 18.
Up to the end of 1865, every man had worked in the belief that
the fight would come off that year. Stephens had made the an-
nouncement in 1864, on his return from America, and he had
repeated it many times in 1865. "This year — and let there be
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
no mistake about it — will be the year of action," he wrote in a
letter which was captured and read at the trials of the prison-
ers first arrested. And he kept it up to the very end of the year.
Then, when the men were keyed up to the highest pitch of en-
thusiasm and expectancy there came a sudden change. The fight
was postponed, but, although Stephens was entirely responsible
for it, he adroitly placed the responsibility on other shoulders.
He was certainly in a most difficult position, not so much on
account of the action of the British Government and the arrest
of his chief lieutenants as because of the Split in the American
organization which came at the height of the crisis in Ireland.
The Split was beyond all doubt the chief cause of the failure
of Fenianism in Ireland, but it would not necessarily have had
that effect if Stephens had been a more resourceful man, cap-
able of making proper use of the means at his command in Ire-
land. The Split delivered a large part of the resources originally
intended to arm the men in Ireland to the project of invading
Canada; it cut off the supply of American officers and left the
work of supporting the Home Organization in the hands of that
portion of the American body which was least efficient and
capable. Its moral effect on Stephens was very bad and it made
him commit the worst blunder of his whole career. Overrating
his popularity in America, and throwing all prudence to the
winds, he wrote a letter to O'Mahony, which he evidently ex-
pected would leave the Head Centre's opponents without a fol-
lowing, but which had the very opposite effect. It widened the
breach and made it irreparable. The prompt publishing of the
letter by O'Mahony rendered it morally impossible for the Sen-
ate wing of the American movement to support the Home Or-
ganization so long as Stephens remained its leader.
"Lash them from you like so many dogs", he wrote to John
O'Mahony, forgetting that a gross personal affront is never really
forgiven by men of spirit anywhere and least of all by Irishmen.
What had been only a difference over O'Mahony's management
of the movement in America and a contest for control was at
once turned into a bitter personal quarrel, and all hope of union
among American Irishmen for the overthrow of British rule in
Ireland was gone. It was a fair test of Stephens' capacity for
leadership — the first real test — and it found him wanting. He
probably wrote the letter in the first flush of anger over the news
of the Split, without giving himself time to think of the conse-
quences. He had been depending entirely on America for a sup-
ply of arms, ignoring the fact that there were over 100,000 British
rifles in Ireland, stored in four different depots, the capture of
one of which would be quite easy for a small body of trained men,
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
91
properly armed and led, and that the fall of two out of the other
three would almost certainly follow.
Stephens' disappointment over the failure of his ill-consid-
ered effort to end the Split undoubtedly depressed him, upset
all his plans and paralyzed his energies. Less than half a dozen
men saw him at any time during the month following his escape
from prison in November and we had no means of knowing how
he felt. Colonel Kelly, his Chief of Staff, was a man of untiring
energy, full of optimism and of a buoyant spirit, and our orders
were received from him. He saw or heard from Stephens every
day, and if he knew that the Chief Organizer had lost heart he
gave no hint of it. Up to the last week in December Kelly's orders
all indicated a fight at an early day. We were to "keep the steam
up" — that was his phrase — and have our men ready for action at
a moment's notice. Then suddenly he announced that "The
Captain" wanted to see the Dublin Centres, and we naturally
thought it was for the purpose of issuing final orders for the
insurrection.
It was not to be a meeting, but the men were to be brought to
Kelly's lodgings in Grantham Street in groups of not more than
two or three, each group retiring as soon as "The Captain's"
business with them was transacted, to make room for another.
It was explained that this method was adopted to avoid attract-
ing attention, but I soon made up my mind that it had another
object — to prevent the possibility of discussion and a vote. The
hour fixed for the first batch to arrive was about 8 o'clock in
the evening and each group was timed so that there would be
very little chance of many men being there together. There was
naturally some over-lapping, some of the squads arriving while
those who preceded them were still in the room, but the whole
proceeding went off without a hitch until nearly all the men had
been seen. But all were not seen.
Along with Stephens were the members of the Military Council,
except General Millen, who had been ordered to America. They
were Colonel Michael Kerwin, Colonel William G. Halpin, Colonel
Denis F. Burke, Colonel Thomas J. Kelly, and Captain Doherty
whose initials I have forgotten. The procedure, I learned from
some of the men after they had come out, was this:
Stephens explained that he had been disappointed in his
expectations from America. The Split had interrupted the supply
of money on which he depended to obtain sufficient arms. He
had sent messages to America which he hoped would result in
bringing about better conditions, and a delay of three weeks or a
month would be necessary. If at the end of that time things in
America did not turn out all right, the fight would come off with-
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out American help. What he wanted to know from each Centre
was, could he hold his men together for three or four weeks and
keep them in condition to fight at the end of that time?
His description of the situation suggested the answer to the
question, and the tone in which he spoke made the question an
appeal. It was practically a request for approval of something
he had already decided upon. He had never done anything like
this before with the Centres; he had always issued orders, but
never in a peremptory way. His reference to the difficulties
created by the Split in America had a strong effect on most of
the men and his promise to fight without American help, if
necessary, stirred their fighting spirit. So they all gave him the
promise he asked, but some of them with evident reluctance.
Matthew O'Neill looked very much disgusted when the question
was put to him and answered in a sulky tone: "I suppose I
must."
Stephens asked him what he meant and O'Neill replied: "Be-
cause I know you wouldn't ask me if you hadn't already made
up your mind and intended to make me."
Stephens was a little disconcerted at this, but assured O'Neill
that he need not have any fear on account of the short postpone-
ment; the fight would come off all right.
But the American officers present did not share his optimism;
they knew conditions in the United States too well to justify
them in expecting any favorable result from Stephens' efforts
to heal the breach between the two warring factions. They knew
exactly what could be done in Ireland and did not believe that
conditions would be improved by a delay of three or four weeks.
Arrests of men in various parts of the country were on the in-
crease and might be expected to take place on a much larger
scale as time went on. All the American officers then in Ireland
or England — over 150 — were still at large, but could not expect
immunity from arrest to continue much longer. A few officers
had been already called back to America by the opponents of
O'Mahony and had obeyed the summons. The hope of a success-
ful fight depended on the men being led by competent officers,
and there were nearly as many in Ireland then as Owen Roe
O'Neill had brought from Spain to lead the fight against Monroe
and Cromwell. The disaffected regiments were still in Ireland
and not a single Fenian soldier had been arrested. Among them
were many very intelligent sergeants who were fit for officers,
and 8,000 red-coated Fenians would form a fine backbone for an
insurgent Irish army. And there were thousands of other un-
sworn Irishmen in the English garrisons throughout Ireland
whose sympathy could, for the most part, be relied on. There
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
93
were not enough of arms, but the supply would be likely to
diminish, rather than increase, with the delay, as seizures were
beginning to be made. There were certainly enough on hand
to capture one of the Government arsenals.
This situation was put plainly before Stephens by the Ameri-
can officers that evening before any of the Centres had arrived,
but a few of the latter got in while the discussion was going on
and heard Kerwin and Halpin plead earnestly with Stephens for
an immediate fight. Colonel Kerwin, who was evidently very
much worked up, assured him that the Military Council would
take full responsibility for the decision and pleaded earnestly
with Stephens against any postponement. Stephens listened
with apparent deference to what the officers had to say, but did
not indicate whether he would accede to their wishes or not,
merely saying that the men themselves would decide. Of course,
the men did not decide anything; they merely did what Stephens
asked them to do. The military officers remained during the
interviews between Stephens and the groups of Centres, but did
not interfere in the talk after they had made their plea.
I had been assigned to guard duty that night by Colonel Kelly.
My orders were to select a few men, not more than five, who
could be absolutely relied on to protect the house from intrusion
and "The Captain" from arrest. I selected five men all of whom
were well fitted for the work and all were armed with good
American revolvers. I stationed them at various points around
the block in which the house was situated, within supporting
distance of each other, and I took up my post near the house.
Kelly instructed me to walk past from time to time and give
signals which he would hear inside. If everything was all right
I was to rattle once on the railings in front of the house with my
stick; if there was anything suspicious I was to rattle twice as
a warning, and if there was danger I was to do it three times
very loudly and call up my men to see that "the Old Man" (as
Stephens was called by some) got off safe. I was to be the last
man brought in to see him and was to speak for the soldiers.
We had a man named Michael Graham, an ex-letter carrier,
who was the organization's detective, and he knew every member
of the "G" Division in Dublin, all the Police Inspectors and most
of the sergeants. Mick, as we all called him, was a splendid
sleuth, and he was also on duty in that capacity that night.
As Edmund O'Donovan, son of the great Gaelic scholar, came
up towards the house after 9 o'clock, he informed me that he had
noticed two men whom he believed to be detectives lounging
around the corner of a neighboring street. He was not sure they
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
were after us, but suggested that it would be well to take pre-
cautions. I immediately sent Graham to take a look at the de-
tectives, gave the two rattles on the railing as a warning, gathered
my men in the immediate vicinity of the house, left them on
guard, and with O'Donovan proceeded towards the place where
the suspects were. When we reached the next corner to the west-
ward we met Graham coming back and he assured us there
was no danger. The two detectives were well known to him and
they were assigned to purely civic duties in the neighborhood.
O'Donovan went into the house, explained the situation out-
side, and assured Stephens that there was no danger. He found
"The Captain" with his overcoat on, all ready to go, and without
waiting to hear what the young Centre for Trinity College had to
say on the question of postponement, or waiting to see a few
others who had not yet arrived, he took his departure, accom-
panied by Kelly. He was really in no more danger there than
at any hour of the twenty-four anywhere else, but he made up
his mind to take no chances and broke up the consultation
before it was finished. He had been but a few weeks out of
prison and the thought of being incarcerated again made him
very careful.
But there was unquestionably another consideration which
outweighed everything else with Stephens. There was never any
question in the minds of those who knew him best that he be-
lieved he was absolutely necessary to the success of the move-
ment; that his permanent removal would surely bring failure,
and that, therefore, he was acting in the best interests of the
cause by taking every precaution against the possibility of arrest.
I have never met a man in all my life who believed so thoroughly
in himself, or who so confidently took it for granted that others
shared that belief. It was an obsession with him. And, like all
such men, his overweening confidence in himself and his constant
self-assertion made a deep impression on nearly all those asso-
ciated with him. The wonderful work he had done in building up
a magnificent organization while the failure of the Young Ireland
movement, the horror of the great Famine and the betrayal of
the Tenant League by Sadleir and Keogh, were still fresh in the
people's minds and apathy and depression reigned everywhere,
seemed in a measure to justify this. He had created the organi-
zation, made it what it was, put the impress of his own person-
ality upon it and given it its defects, as well as its good qualities.
Its chief defect, and the one that in the end proved disastrous,
was that Stephens was the sole arbiter in deciding the course
which it should pursue. This situation he had deliberately cre-
ated, in the full belief that he was doing the best for Ireland.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
95
There was nobody in existence entitled to take the place of
Stephens, to share authority with him in arriving at important
decisions, or to offer him advice, after the arrest of O'Leary,
Luby and Kickham, whom he had constituted a sort of execu-
tive council. Every officer in the organization derived his author-
ity from the C. O. I. R. The organization began at the top and
was the most completely despotic system in the world. There
was no intermediate authority between Stephens and the hun-
dreds of Centres whom he had appointed, and on his removal
they became a set of disjointed units, with no provision made
for replacing the central authority.
There was, however, a very general understanding that the
Centres represented their men, had authority to speak for them,
and that when they spoke, the Chief Executive should respect
their wishes.
After he had consulted the Dublin Centres in the imperfect
manner above described, he did the same with the country
Centres, or as many of them as he could get up to Dublin at
short notice. There was no means of ascertaining whether all
of them were notified or not, but it is very probable they were.
The number who responded was very large; probably they were a
majority. But all of them certainly accepted the result when
notified of it, as they all undoubtedly were, within a few days.
The plan followed with the country Centres was the same as
in the case of the Dublin men, except that it began earlier in the
day. I heard of it at the time from some of those present, and
later in America. The men were brought in small groups to the
City Mansion Hotel in Bridge Street, where they met Stephens
and Kelly in one of the rooms. There were often three or four
groups present at the same time, but they kept coming and
going, as at Kelly's in Grantham Street. There was no discus-
sion, but a good deal more general talk than at the other gath-
ering, because most of the men had not seen Stephens for a
long time, and some of them had never met him before. He put
the same question to the men that he had asked in Grantham
Street, but added that the Dublin Centres had already agreed
to do what he asked. Thus reinforced, somewhat unfairly, he
had no difficulty in getting all the country Centres to do what
he wanted, and they returned to their homes delighted at their
experience. They had met, almost under the very windows of
Dublin Castle, the man who had been rescued from the clutches
of the British Government after he had defied it in the dock,
and who, in spite of the utmost efforts of its officials and the
offer of a big reward for his capture, still remained in Dublin to
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
give the signal for an uprising. When they got home they spread
the news and it inspired confidence among their men.
Thus was secured the first postponement of the fight that was
to have taken place in 1865. While there were undoubtedly im-
portant political considerations involved, the chief question was
most certainly a military one, and it was decided by a civilian
against the judgment and advice of his military advisers. For it
was certainly Stephens who decided it. Had all the Centres been
present at the same time, a discussion could not have been
avoided and probably a vote would have been taken. Consider-
ing the confident spirit then prevailing, I think it would have put
Stephens' persuasive powers to a severe test — and he was not an
orator — to prevent a vote in favor of fighting at once.
In 1797, civilians decided a military question, but in the case
of the United Irishmen the men who made the decision were
civilians of first-class ability, while the military men whose offer
to deliver up Dublin Castle they rejected were only sergeants of
militia. In the case of Stephens it was one man who had re-
ceived no military training whatever who overrode the judgment
of five soldiers who, it is true, had not received a scientific mili-
tary education, but had seen hard service for four years and as
commissioned officers in one of the great wars of history. Colonel
Halpin had commanded a Kentucky regiment; Colonel Burke was
commander of one of the regiments of Meagher's Brigade; Colonel
Kelly, with the rank of Captain, was on the staff of General
Thomas up to the Battle of Missionary Ridge; and Captain
Doherty was on the staff of General Owen, but I am not familiar
with his record. But Colonel Kerwin, who pleaded hardest for
fight and offered to share, with his colleagues, the full responsi-
bility for ordering it, was an officer with an exceptionally distin-
guished record. A Colonel of cavalry who had won his promotion
by gallantry in action, he was selected by General Grant in the
closing days of the Civil War for a particularly difficult service,
which he performed with great skill and judgment. At the head
of a body of cavalry Grant sent him from Virginia down through
North Carolina, where the population was all hostile, to open
communication with Sherman, who had successfully completed
his march "from Atlanta to the Sea" and was then heading
north to effect a junction with the Army of the Potomac. He
performed his work to Grant's entire satisfaction and was com-
plimented for the service. The judgment of such a man on the
question of fighting or not fighting ought to have decided it,
especially when backed by all his colleagues on the Military
Council.
But one of Stephens' hobbies was that he was a military
RECOLLECTIONS OP AN IRISH REBEL
97
genius. His only military experience was in facing British soldiers
once in 1848, when a fight seemed imminent at Killenaule, County
Tipperary, taking a creditable part, under William Smith O'Brien,
in the skirmish with the police at Ballingarry, and in actual
fighting at the barricades in Paris in 1851. Stephens was very
proud of his participation in the Paris affair, and thought it
qualified him to pronounce judgment on military questions. This
was unfortunate for Ireland.
CHAPTER XV.
THE COUNCIL OF WAR.
Arrests by British on Large Scale Continued — Soldiers at
Richmond Threatened to Seize Barracks and Start Fight —
The Situation Reviewed in Conference With Stephens on
Night of February 20, 1866.
During the fortnight or three weeks following the suspension
of the Habeas Corpus Act (February 17) Dublin presented a curi-
ous spectacle. I saw only five days of it outside, but witnessed
the effects of it in Mountjoy Prison in the shape of new batches
of arrested men coming in daily. As I knew very many of them
and we were able to talk in spite of the prohibition, I was very
well informed of what was going on outside.
Large bodies of police, accompanied by detectives, moved about
the city, searching suspected residences, hotels, lodging houses and
taprooms and making arrests. The arrests were made by the de-
tectives and the uniformed policemen served chiefly as escorts.
As several of the latter were members of the organization and
a large number of others were sympathizers, they sent many
timely warnings, which enabled some men to escape arrest. Many
went over to England and some to America, but the great ma-
jority remained in Dublin, taking refuge with friends or sleeping
in lodging houses, changing to a different one every night. The
strength of the arresting party precluded the possibility of re-
sistance in most cases, but a few men fought their way to liberty
and were never captured. If Stephens had not some time pre-
viously ordered all revolvers to be given up and placed in small
depots, except in the case of special men who needed them, the
resistance would have been very general and the police would
have had to pay a heavy toll. Some of the most obnoxious de-
tectives who had been watching the Fenians for more than a
year and knew many of them by sight would certainly have been
shot. This would, of course, have led to the calling out of the
troops and in the then state of feeling in the garrison a fight
in the streets of the city on a large scale might have been precipi-
tated and many hundreds of soldiers would have deserted. The
result would have been bloody, but could not possibly have been
more disastrous to Fenianism than the almost bloodless Rising of
March 5, 1867, — a year later.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
99
All the American officers in Dublin, except twelve, were ar-
rested within two days after the first big swoop of the police.
Among them were Kerwin, Denis F. Burke and Byron. Most of
them had been shadowed for some time and their lodgings located,
so there was no difficulty in finding them. The two best men in
the Dublin garrison, John Boyle O'Reilly and Patrick Keating of
the Fifth Dragoon Guards, had been locked up before the Sus-
pension and three or four of the most reliable among the desert-
ers were caught in the lodging house raids. Both civilians and
soldiers were in a state of excitement and many were clamoring
for action.
Word was brought to me on Monday, February 19, that the
men of the Sixty-first and Sixtieth Rifles in Richmond Barracks,
where our men were in the majority, were getting out of hand
and were threatening to seize the barracks and start the fight at
once. This message reached me while in a back room of a public
house owned by a friend at the corner of Camden Street and
the Long Lane, where Colonel Kelly was holding a consultation
with me. There were enough of our men there and in the imme-
diate neighborhood to take care of any body of police who might
come, so Stephens' ch^ef lieutenant was comparatively safe from
arrest.
Kelly told me I must prevent any premature movement of that
kind at all hazards, so I determined to see the impatient men,
even if it should be necessary to go into the barracks. In another
room were William Curry, Centre of the Eighty-seventh, in
civilian's clothes, and Fennessy of the Third Buffs, in uniform
and with a furlough in his pocket. Fennessy and I were about
the same size and build, and the buff facings of the Third could
hardly be distinguished at night from the white ones of the Sixty-
first. So I put on Fennessy's uniform and he my clothes, and
Curry, with a borrowed scissors, cut the beard off my chin (not
then very much) so as to give me the regulation British side
whiskers and mustache. Fennessy's shoes were too large for me,
so I kept my elastic boots, which were wholly unmilitary, but
would hardly be noticed in the night. As I had only been four
years out of the Foreign Legion and had been frequently drilling
during the intervening time my appearance was not likely to at-
tract attention.
I took an outside car, drove to Thomas Street and walked to
James's Street, where I visited a number of public houses fre-
quented by soldiers, getting closer to Richmond as I went along.
I met a number of the Sixty-first, and was assured that the talk of
immediate fight was confined to a few hotheads, but was still
a little dangerous. They said it would not be necessary to go into
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
the barracks, but if I insisted I could go in among a group of
them and escape notice. There would be no difficulty in getting
out, with the furlough and the forage cap of the Third Buffs, and,
besides, the guard at the gate that night were nearly all our
own men. They advised me, however, to walk around near the
gate, where I could see a number of the men as they returned
to barracks, and they would warn them to be on the lookout
for me. This I did and I saw more than fifty of the men of
the Sixty-first and a few of the Rifles and arranged with them
that they would pass the word to keep quiet until orders for
action came. I passed the barracks gate twice, but had no
necessity to go inside.
Not a hint of this adventure reached the military authorities,
though hundreds of soldiers knew of it within twenty-four hours,
and not one of the military informers said a word about it at the
trials of the men a few months later. I returned to Camden
Street, gave his uniform and his furlough back to Fennessy, and
with five or six others, all armed with revolvers, went to a cheap
lodging house, where we all slept in the same room, which had
several small beds in it.
There were at that time between Francis Street, Patrick Street,
Nicholas Street and Bride Street, a number of short lanes which
I believe do not now exist and the names of which I do not re-
member. They contained a lot of lodging houses where a bed
could be had for four-pence. In Nicholas Street and Bride Street
were some eating houses where a meal could be had for four-
pence. It was very poor, but good enough for a healthy, hungry
man. As most of them working with me could not go home,
and Fleming's in George's Street, the Ormond on Ormond Quay
and the Ship in Lower Abbey Street, where we had been eating
alternately for some months, were all closely watched, we lived
and slept around this section for a while in perfect safety. In
the early mornings, when the detectives were sleeping off the ef-
fects of their night watch, we were often able to get a good
breakfast at Fleming's, always going in groups, so as to be ready
to resist arrest. Having nothing to do during the daytime and
no place to stop, we spent much of the time walking the streets,
keeping within supporting distance of each other and resting
occasionally in the taproom of a friend's public house. In such
times the public street is often the safest place for a hunted
man.
About a fortnight before the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus
Act, Stephens had sent me word that he wanted me to furnish
him about once a week with written reports of conditions in the
army. It was an utterly useless and very dangerous proceeding.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
101
I had been sending him regularly detailed reports, in a sort of
cipher, that contained all the necessary information from a mili-
tary point of view. I ruled off a sheet of foolscap with vertical
and horizontal columns, putting cipher headings at the top and
on the left hand side, which contained the numbers and location
of the regiments of infantry and cavalry and the batteries of
artillery; the strength of the guards and pickets (which were be-
ing increased as the Government became more alarmed) , with
the number of our men in each; the total number of men in each
regiment or battery and how many of these we could count on. I
knew that Kelly read these reports carefully, for he did it in my
presence, but I learned later that Stephens gave them scant at-
tention, if he even read them. What he wanted now was de-
scriptive writing about the spirit of the soldiers and anything else
which I thought might be useful to him.
I obeyed the order with great reluctance, but had only sent
him two or three of these reports when the Habeas Corpus Act
was suspended. On Tuesday, February 20, I wrote the last one —
and I intended it to be the last — under great difficulties. I had
met hundreds of the civilian members, who were so excited that
they had knocked off work, among them being several of the
Dublin Centres. They were all dissatisfied at Stephens' inac-
tion and a spirit of impatience and almost open mutiny was
growing fast. Two of them, a civilian and a military Centre, had
bluntly asked me to "pitch Stephens to the devil" and call out the
soldiers at once. I refused and pointed out the folly of such ac-
tion. I had been placed in charge of the organization in the
army by Stephens' appointment; he was my commanding officer
and theirs, and we were all bound to obey him. I was horrified
by the proposition that a subordinate should take the responsi-
bility of bringing about an insurrection against the orders of his
Chief and making a Split in Ireland that must prove still more
disastrous than the one in America. I had some trouble in dis-
suading them, but I failed to satisfy them.
I described this situation in my report, without naming the
mutinous men, and took the liberty of saying to Stephens that in
my judgment the organization could not be held together much
longer unless there was either an immediate fight or a definite
postponement which would enable the men to settle down to
work; that the suspense caused by the expectation of the fulfill-
ment of his pledge of the previous December should be ended, or
the men would be completely demoralized. I added that the writ-
ing of such reports would be impossible any longer.
I had to write that particular report in taprooms and had been
interrupted three times by police raids, of which I had been
102
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
warned in time by my vigilant lookouts to get away. The ab-
surdity of writing reports for the head of a revolutionary organi-
zation under such circumstances struck me very forcibly and I
felt it was dangerous, as well as foolish.
I sought Kelly, handed him the report, which he read, and
supplemented it verbally in answer to his questions. This was
late in the afternoon and I had a number of men to meet in
various parts of the city, which kept me so busy that I had no
chance of getting anything to eat. My last appointment was at
Parker's in George's Street, kept by Joseph Cromien, who died
some years ago in New York. There were never less than twenty
of our men in his place in the evening and often there were as
many as fifty, some of whom carried revolvers; so it would take
a strong force of police to arrest a man there. Several of our
best men were there that night and I told some of them what I
had written to "The Captain". They were all of one mind, because
they fully recognized that the tense situation could not continue.
I left Cromien's about half-past nine, went into a neighboring
shop, where I bought some spiced beef and a roll of bread, which
I ate as I walked along the street. It was my first morsel since
8 o'clock in the morning. I was going to pass the night in the
house of my aunt in Mabbot Street, Mrs. Delany, who was my
father's eldest sister and a strong sympathizer with the move-
ment. She had helped me to run away to be a French soldier.
I could always count on her help, and all her sons were members,
but the eldest and most reliable, William, who died in St. Louis,
was then in London.
I had not gone half a block when I was overtaken by a man
who informed me that Colonel Kelly wanted to see me at the
Bleeding Horse, a tavern in Camden Street, not far from the
Grand Canal. I went there direct and Kelly said: "The Old
Man wants to see you at once." We walked to the nearest car
stand, took an outside car, and Kelly told the jarvey to drive
to the north side of Stephens Green. Arrived there, he told him
to drive into Dawson Street and dismissed him about half way to
Nassau Street. We walked on until the jarvey was out of sight,
then turned back and went through a stable lane to Kildare
Street. Nearly opposite the Kildare Street Club, the headquar-
ters of Loyalism, Kelly halted and seeing that there was nobody
near, walked up the steps of a house and rang the bell. The door
was promptly opened by a stout, grey-haired lady, with a cheer-
ful, smiling face, who was evidently expecting us. She was Mrs.
Butler, a fashionable dressmaker. She shook hands warmly with
Kelly, who introduced me, and she led the way to the front room
on the second floor, where we found a party of men waiting for
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
103
us. Others came later, and when all had arrived the party con-
sisted of James Stephens, Colonel Kelly, Colonel Halpin, Edmund
O'Donovan, Mortimer Moynahan of Skibbereen, David Murphy
of Limerick, John Nolan of Carlow, and myself. Nolan had been
living in Belfast and was the Chief Organizer for Ulster, but was
then managing the civilian organization under Colonel Kelly's
directions. Mrs. Stephens was also there.
While the two ladies were present Stephens told us in a
jocular tone that Mrs. Butler would be willing to keep the Lord
Lieutenant in her house if we could capture him. Mrs. Butler
assured us that nothing would give her greater pleasure than to
hold him a prisoner in her house and that the bodyguard we
would supply would also be welcome and would want for nothing.
There could be no doubt about her sincerity in the matter. "They
would never suspect," she said laughingly, "that we'd have such
guests so near the club house across the street."
Mrs. Butler was a widow with an only daughter, Sarah Jane
Butler, who had written some good verse in the Nation, and they
had not a male relative in the organization. This was the most
striking instance I had yet met of the devotion of the women of
Ireland at that time. Mrs. Butler paid dearly for her patriotism,
for the story that she had sheltered Stephens leaked out after
the failure, and her customers, who were mostly Loyalists, de-
serted her and she died in poverty.
Mrs. Butler withdrew after this, but Mrs. Stephens remained
a considerable time and the talk went on in her presence. With
her recent experience, she was naturally very anxious for her
husband's safety. She spent much of her time looking out of
the window and said several times: "Oh, James, don't talk so
loud. They may hear you on the street." There was nobody on
the street and if there had been the voices in that room could
not be heard. Stephens told her so and at last prevailed on her
to retire.
After some general talk, Stephens turned to me and said: "I
got your letter this evening. I did not know things were so
serious, so I called a few of our friends together for consultation.
The men here know the whole country and I'll leave it to them
to decide what ought to be done." Then he said: "I wish Ned
Duffy were here." [Duffy had been arrested with Stephens and
Kickham on November 11, 1865, but had been released on bail].
Believing that the fate of the organization depended on the
decision whether the fight was to come off within the next few
days or to be put off again, and feeling very sure that Duffy would
vote for immediate action, if there was to be a vote, I immediately
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
offered to go for him. But Stephens said: "Oh, no; you'd be In
danger of arrest." I replied that I was in that danger every hour
of the twenty-four and would be in no more danger going for
Duffy than at any other time. Duffy was staying at the European
Hotel in Bolton Street, which was closely watched during the day-
time, but most of the employees there could be depended on to
give us all the help in their power. Duffy was in an advanced
stage of consumption and not expected to go out at night, so
there would probably be no detectives around at that time. Be-
sides, I was dressed like a countryman, with a heavy brown frieze
coat and, as the house was frequented by farmers and country
shopkeepers, I could probably pass in and out unnoticed, and by
breaking the journey and taking two cars, I was confident I could
bring Duffy to Mrs. Butler's house in safety. Stephens would not
hear of it, however.
I felt that Stephens feared we might be tracked to the house
and that he would be arrested, and, as I considered his safety
necessary to the organization and wished to save Mrs. Butler from
needless danger, I desisted. I have been convinced ever since that
had Duffy been there that night and the next — for he could have
remained there next day — immediate fight would have been de-
cided on.
Halpin and Kelly were the only remaining members of the
Military Council. Nolan could speak for conditions in the North,
Moynahan and Murphy for a large part of Munster, while
O'Donovan knew Clare as well as he did Dublin, and I repre-
sented the organization in the army. But Connacht had nobody
to speak for her. Duffy could do that as no other man could. He
knew every man of any account in the whole province and they
all looked up to him. Strictly speaking, no man present repre-
sented anybody and had no right to decide anything. They held
their positions by Stephens' appointment alone, and their only
right to be there was that Stephens had invited them, so that
they could give him their advice.
There was no Chairman and no regular session was held, but
Stephens was practically Chairman. As was his invariable habit,
owing probably to his lack of outdoor exercise, he walked in his
slippers about the room all the time with his hands in his
pockets, while everyone else was seated. I don't think he sat for
five minutes during the many hours we were there. There was
no smoking or drinking, and neither was there any speechmaking.
It was a very earnest discussion, but was conversational all
through the night.
The first thing that was taken stock of was the condition of
the organization, on account of the large number of arrests and
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
105
the certainty of many more. Its force was still unbroken and it
would have undoubtedly responded promptly to a call to arms —
if the arms were there. But it was found that there were only
about 2,000 rifles in the whole organization, with some thousands
of shotguns, a large number of pikes and a few hundred revolvers.
But there were plenty of Government rifles within easy reach,
and any one of three out of the four Provincial arsenals could be
taken by surprise by a small body of picked men. These were
the Pigeon House Fort (in Dublin), Athlone and Ballincollig.
Carrickfergus was out of the question until we should have a
large force in the field. So it resolved itself into a question of
arming a sufficient force to capture one of these arsenals, for
there was no scarcity of trained men.
The talk was concentrated on this subject for a long time and
the scarcity of arms was recognized as the chief difficulty.
Stephens said there were 2,000 more rifles in Liverpool [we
learned that these had been purchased by Col. Ricard Burke]
which could be brought over at once, but the active watchfulness
of the police made their safe landing very improbable unless it
was protected by a strong body of armed men. That would mean
that the fight and the landing of the rifles would have to be
simultaneous.
This brought us to the condition of the organization in the
army and the possibility of using a portion of it to strike the first
blow. It was then I learned that Stephens knew the condition
of the army only in a general way, had not read my reports and
was ignorant of the figures they contained. The sentiment that
night was all in favor of fight and I was satisfied that if a vote
had been taken it would have been for immediate action. But
it was plain to all of us that while Stephens said nothing posi-
tive, he was really in favor of another postponement. I had told
what I felt certain could be done either in Dublin or Athlone, but
Stephens wanted the exact figures of our strength in the various
regiments. I had them at my fingers' ends, but he wanted them
in writing. I offered to write them there and then, but he pre-
ferred waiting till the next night, as it was then very late and
the matter required full discussion.
Stephens informed us that he had sent Captain McCafferty on
a special mission to America and that he must have arrived in
New York by that time. O'Mahony, he said, had $125,000 in the
treasury of his wing of the Fenian Brotherhood, and he (Steph-
ens) had sent an urgent appeal that it be sent over by McCaf-
ferty at once.
But the burden of his talk was all in favor of waiting for two
or three weeks, just as he had talked of three weeks or a month
106
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
in the previous December. The sentiment was so universal in
favor of righting that he seemed loath to ask for a long post-
ponement.
At about 3 o'clock on the morning of February 21 the meeting
broke up, with an agreement that all should return at 8 o'clock
that evening. We left separately so as to avoid being noticed.
All the others could rest during the day, but Kelly and I had to
meet a number of men, beginning about 10 o'clock, so we only
got about three hours' sleep and were rather fagged out when
the meeting reconvened.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE LAST CHANCE THROWN AWAY.
Another War Conference — Plan to Capture Barracks and Eng-
lish Arms Therein Met With Favor — Paucity of Rifles in
Hands of Civilian Forces Was the Deciding Factor Against
Its Adoption — Disruption Followed.
The same eight men assembled again that Wednesday evening
at Mrs. Butler's house. Numerous arrests had been made that
day, and it was plain to us that our best men were all in danger.
Either the blow must be struck at once, or a definite postpone-
ment made that would give the wanted men a chance to get
to places of safety. Otherwise the organization would be shat-
tered in a few weeks and it would not be possible to strike later
with any hope of success. In the conversation that took place
before the regular discussion started this was freely admitted
by all.
Kelly reported on the condition of the organization, giving
particular attention to Dublin. Notwithstanding the number of
arrests made during the previous five days, the Circles in Dub-
lin were practically intact, the mettle of the men was good
and communication between officers and men perfect. An order
issued would reach them all in a few hours. The men in all the
Leinster counties would require only a few hours longer and all
Ireland could be notified of the decision inside of two days.
Where Centres or other important men had been arrested their
places had been promptly filled, according to arrangements previ-
ously made, except in a few isolated cases. It was a splendid
fighting organization, capable of quick action, if the tools to fight
with were on hand. That was the difficulty, but it was not in-
surmountable.
In Dublin, Kelly stated, the number of rifles was 800 and of
all other weapons — shotguns, revolvers and pikes — there were
about a thousand. We had certainly 8,000 men in the city, but
out of that number only 1,800 could be armed with any kind of
weapon. Several thousand other men could be brought in from
places within an hour's railroad journey of Dublin, but few of
them had arms of any kind. The two veteran officers present
had no faith in the pike, but admitted that in fighting at close
quarters in the city it would be useful. I could have added 200
to the number of rifles by a raid on the Coastguard station,
107
108
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
which was then on the Pigeon House Road, where nobody lived,
and consisted only of a well built wooden shed. The rifles were
the short Enfield and there was a sword bayonet for each. There
was also a small cannon there which was used by the Coast Guard
men for practice.
The exact figures of the strength of the garrison and the num-
ber of our men in it, which Stephens had told me on the previous
night to bring, showed that it consisted of about 6,000 men, more
than half of whom were Irish, and 1,600 belonged to the organiza-
tion. The question of attempting to capture Dublin was first taken
up, and it seemed to the military men to be a desperate chance.
But everything in revolution is desperate and we were confronted
with the alternative of doing something desperate or giving up the
hope of a fight for some time, during which many of our men
would surely be arrested and a number of our arms seized. As-
suming that the 2,000 rifles could be safely brought over from
Liverpool, we should have to face 6,000 regular soldiers with
2,800 partially trained men armed with rifles and 1,000 others
armed very indifferently, making a total of 3,800. Kelly had no
doubt of being able to get the 2,000 Liverpool rifles over in two
or three days.
Counting the 1,600 Fenians in the garrison, it would mean
4,400 men with rifles, supported by 1,000 more, imperfectly armed,
against 4,400 soldiers, of whom about 2,000 were Irishmen and
many of them in sympathy with us. If these 2,000 joined us, as
we had good reason to expect they would, it would give us 6,400
men against 2,400. But except in the case of Richmond Barracks,
where our friends were in a large majority, and in the cavalry
part of the Royal Barracks, where the Fifth Dragoon Guards
were stationed, the Fenian soldiers were mixed up with the others,
so that we could not mobilize our whole force at once. Fully 300
men of the Fifth Dragoons were ready to come out of the Royal
Barracks, after cutting the gas main, and 80 of the Tenth Hussars
from Island Bridge, all armed and mounted.
The two American officers were not enthusiastic about under-
taking an attack on Dublin under such circumstances. Neither
would any of the others if the crisis had not been reached in the
way it had been and if the destruction of the organization did not
seem imminent unless a fight took place. None of us would at
any time have contemplated an insurrection under such condi-
tions, but it seemed to some of us a question of "now or never".
We knew the Irish people better than the American officers,
who had only recently returned from the United States, where
they had been for many years. And we had by that time, on ac-
count of the Split in the Fenian Brotherhood, lost all hope of
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
109
effective help from America unless we took the field and were
able to hold out for a while.
Halpin talked a good deal of a general insurrection, if we
had sufficient arms to make a good start, and sketched out a
plan of campaign. He had had much practical experience during
the Civil War, including an occasional opportunity to take com-
mand of the Brigade of which his regiment formed a part. Of
course, in such a large army a Colonel's experience consists main-
ly in obeying orders during battles, but Kelly, being a staff officer
at the Commanding General's headquarters, had been able to see
more of the fighting and to learn why the movements were made.
As we had not the arms to start a general insurrection, this dis-
cussion, while very instructive, brought us no nearer to the solu-
tion of the question with which we were then face to face. Could
we strike a blow at the Capital, or at some other point, that would
have any chance of success, and that would if successful, remedy
our woeful lack of armament by giving us possession of a large
quantity of rifles? If we could not, then the only tning lerr iu>
us to do was to definitely postpone the fight, come out of the
battle for existence with the English Government as best we
could, and prepare for an insurrection under more favorable aus-
pices in the future.
In the presence of two such competent officers, it was hard for
very young men of no experience in war to venture to offer sug-
gestions for a plan of an uprising, but the desperate character
of the situation made three of us take courage to do so. I had
previously discussed with Edmund O'Donovan and others, two
projects that might be undertaken in such an emergency. One
of these concerned Dublin, the other Athlone, and each had for
its object the capture of 30,000 rifles, with a lot of ammunition,
equipment and military stores. So, somewhat timidly, I laid them
before the meeting.
As the two military men had shown that a simultaneous at-
tack on all the barracks and a general turnout of the men was
entirely out of the question, owing to our lack of arms, I pro-
posed to concentrate our attack on the one barrack where we
had a majority of the soldiers, bringing no men there but those
who had rifles, and if successful, then proceed to attack the others
in detail. With 900 Fenians out of the 1,550 or 1,600 men of the
Sixty-first and the Sixtieth Rifles in Richmond Barracks and a
key of the back gate facing the Grand Canal in our possession,
I was confident that we could surprise and capture it without
much difficulty. The bank of the canal back of the barrack was
closed to traffic between two bridges, was very dark on moonless
nights because it was shaded with large elm trees and there
110
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
were no lamps, and the grass was so thick and long that the
tramp of men over it would make practically no noise. The gate
had not been opened for many years, but there was a small guard
stationed inside of it.
I proposed that our riflemen should be collected on the canal
bank at an hour when the soldiers would be all in, but before
they would have gone to bed. Tom Chambers, the Centre of the
Sixty-first, then a deserter in Dublin, would pick out a small num-
ber of the best men of the regiment to remain out of barracks
and form the vanguard of the attacking party. They would
know every man of the guard and would serve as guides. With-
out giving any notice to our friends inside, so as to avoid loose
talk, excitement or chance of betrayal, the gate would be sud-
denly opened and our men would march inside, move rapidly to
the positions assigned them, make prisoners of such officers
as happened to be on duty, rally our friends to our support and
capture the Englishmen.
We could have probably captured Richmond without firing a
shot. If there was any fighting it would speedily be over. The
only thing that could have beaten us would have been the giving
of precise and definite information of the plan, which would have
only been in the possession of half a dozen men, every one of
whom has since been proved to be true.
With Richmond in our possession, reinforced by 900 Fenian
soldiers and probably several hundred others, with the balance
of the rifles to arm another contingent of our men, our next move
would naturally be on Island Bridge Barracks, which were near
at hand, where the Tenth Hussars were lying. It would there be a
contest between our 2,000 infantry and their 400 cavalrymen,
who would not be expecting attack. That would not be a serious
proposition. With Richmond and Island Bridge in our hands,
the southwestern outlets of Dublin would be open to us, in case of
defeat in the other parts of the city, and we could march out.
Next we would move on the Royal Barracks, across the King's
Bridge on the northern side of the Liffey. The problem there
would be somewhat harder, for we should have to tackle a regi-
ment of infantry, a regiment of cavalry and a battery of artillery.
But in the Eighth Foot we had 200 men and in the Fifth Dragoon
Guards, 300; and as the attacking force would be superior, the
chances would all be in our favor. Success there would add at
least 500 trained soldiers to our force.
By this time the military authorities would probably be
aroused and the future character of the fighting would depend
largely on their action. They would be taken unawares and
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
111
would be at a serious disadvantage. If they marched any large
part of the remainder of the garrison into the streets, so much
the better for us. We would seize certain houses marked on a
map by Thomas Frith, and use them as points of concentra-
tion and support. The other barracks were Ship Street, near
the Castle; Portobello; and Beggar's Bush which was nearest to
the Pigeon House Fort, where the 30,000 rifles were stored. I
forget now whether there was a small body of troops in Aldbor-
ough Barracks, on the North Circular Road, between Summer
Hill and Gloucester Street, but my recollection is that it was
occupied by Constabulary recruits. I am also in doubt as to
whether any soldiers were stationed at the Linen Hall Barracks,
on the North Side of the city, but I had exact information at
the time and laid it before the meeting. The plan also provided
for bodies of men to capture the Castle and the Pigeon House
Fort, without waiting to finish with the barracks.
The plan rather startled Halpin, to whom I had not had an
opportunity of talking on the subject, but Kelly knew of it
already. They were both more in favor of a simultaneous attack
on the Pigeon House and Richmond, if we could first land the
2,000 rifles from Liverpool, but my proposition was based orig-
inally on the arms we actually had in our possession, knowing
nothing of the Liverpool rifles until the night before. As the
matter was discussed and the possibility of the organization being
broken by the wholesale arrests was borne in on them, Kelly and
Halpin warmed to the amended project — that is, a simultaneous
attack on the Pigeon House and Richmond. But, the essential
condition under which Halpin and Kelly favored my plan for
prompt action, namely, possession by our men of the Liverpool
rifles, was not possible of immediate attainment; and, further-
more, as most of the trained American officers had been arrested
and lodged in Mount joy Prison a few days previously, the majority
of the eight men present at that meeting on the night of February
21, 1866, saw no hope for a successful start. Thus, the last chance
for a Rising in that year was thrown away, and the temporary
disruption of the movement followed.
CHAPTER XVII.
FENIANISM FIGHTING FOR ITS LIFE.
Wholesale Arrests Broke Strength of the Organization — As-
sociation of Men in Prison Resulted Favorably Later —
Women Played Important Part in Reorganization — 200,000
Irish Veterans of the American Civil War Animated with
the Spirit of Fenianism — General Miles on the Post-War
Situation.
In a few weeks the jails were filled with fully 3,000 prisoners,
and those believed to be the most important were sent up to
Dublin, where room was made for them in Mountjoy Prison, up
to then reserved for convicted men. When Mountjoy became
crowded, some were sent to Belfast and others sent to Naas. In
order to relieve the congestion, the Government after a while be-
gan to let some out on bail, thus placing them "on their good
behavior" and liable to be rearrested at any time, while others
were released on the condition of going to America. In the latter
case they were escorted to the steamer. Out of Ireland the Gov-
ernment thought they would be less dangerous, but many men
who could easily pay their passage refused to avail themselves of
the privilege, believing up to the end of the Summer that the
fight would come and preferring to take their chances in Ireland.
The men who willingly cleared out to America lost caste, but the
proportion was very small.
While the wholesale arrests did great harm and dislocated the
organization, they accomplished another purpose which the Gov-
ernment had not anticipated. The best men of the movement
in all parts of Ireland, and from England and Scotland, who had
not previously been known to one another became acquainted and
formed friendships which lasted for the rest of their lives. It
was this which prepared the way for and made possible, after the
failure of the Rising, the reorganization of Fenianism on a better
and more durable plan than the one-man rule of James Stephens.
But for the moment it broke the strength of the organization,
temporarily dislocated all communication, and created new and
serious difficulties. Connections were soon partially restored,
however, by a small band of devoted women, mostly the wives
and sisters of the leading male members, and they were efficiently
aided by the women friends of the men throughout the country.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
113
In America there was a Fenian Sisterhood, which was the
first organization of women on a large scale for political pur-
poses in the history of the world. In Ireland there was no regu-
lar organization of Fenian women, but a large number of them
worked as well as if they had been organized. They took no
pledge, but were trusted by the men without one, were the keep-
ers of important secrets, travelled from point to point bearing
important messages, and were the chief agents in keeping the
organization alive in Ireland from the time that Stephens left
for America early in 1866 until the Rising of March 5, 1867. And
not one woman betrayed a secret, proved false to the trust re-
posed in her, or by carelessness or indiscretion was responsible
for any injury to the cause. It was a fine record for Irish woman-
hood.
But while the women were not organized for purely Fenian
purposes, there was a central organization for a subsidiary object
which accomplished that end. This was the Ladies' Committee
which collected funds to provide counsel for the prisoners on
trial, fed those who were sick and did other work of a benevolent
character. The chief figures in this women's movement were
Mrs. Luby, wife of Thomas Clarke Luby (who was the Treasurer) ;
Mary O'Donovan Rossa, wife of the famous Fenian (who acted as
the Secretary) ; the Misses Ellen and Mary O'Leary, sisters of
John O'Leary; and Miss Catherine Mulcahy, sister of Dr. Denis
Dowling Mulcahy. The committee's meeting rooms were rented
from a Mrs. Shaw, both of whose daughters, Maria and Kate, were
ardent workers for the cause, although they had no Fenian
relatives. As I was a prisoner during most of the more important
activities of these ladies, I was only familiar with the earlier
part of their work. Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa summed up their pro-
gram thus: "We received orders from Headquarters and obeyed
them".
One of the moves that Stephens made in preparation for the
fight that was to have come off in 1865 was to bring a large
number of men over from England and Scotland. He sent mes-
sengers to notify all those who could afford to leave, that the
fight would surely take place before New Year's Day, 1866, and
the response was very general. Stephens and Kelly knew at the
time how many men came, but, as there was no record kept, it
is impossible to say now what the number was. There must have
been several thousand. My only means of making an estimate
was the information I received from Colonel Kelly that after the
postponement in the last week of December, 1865, over 400 of
them were put on subsistence money in Dublin alone, so that
they might remain available when the time for action came. But
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
several hundred others returned to England, promising to come
again when summoned. To prevent a large number of others
coming over, messengers had to be despatched to warn them of
the postponement. Most of the North of England men came to
Dublin; the London men went largely to Cork; but a goodly
number of Londoners were also in Dublin, while those from
Scotland mostly went to Belfast, Derry, Sligo and Galway.
Many went to their native localities and remained until all hope
of action had passed. Quite a number of these men were swept
into prison on the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, but the
majority eventually found their way back to England and Scot-
land.
These men from England and Scotland were a sturdy, stalwart
lot and many of them were trained, either in the army, the navy,
the militia, or the volunteers. They were mostly young, unmar-
ried men, who, having no family ties, having already left their
homes and being, in a sense, mobilized, were ready for immediate
action and fit for any work.
The Irish in Great Britain were at that time even more in-
tensely Irish than their fellow-countrymen who had remained
at home. They lived a life of incessant combat among a people
who hated them, and there was not a man among them who
had not had several personal encounters with insolent English-
men, while there were many instances of fights on a larger scale.
Up to that time the Irish in England had not gone very largely
into the trade unions or the Liberal clubs, in which they are so
numerous and influential to-day, and they were in the full sense
of the term in an enemy's country. This made them a very
valuable accession to the Fenian movement and their contribu-
tion to its fighting strength would have been very important if
the fight had started at the time originally fixed. What they
might have done, even in England, was shown by the Raid on
Chester Castle on February 11, 1867, which, although a failure
and started independently and prematurely by one man, not as
part of a general movement, struck terror into the heart of
England.
At many of the chief strategic points in England there were
stationed at that time Irish regiments with a fine Fenian ele-
ment, so that it was possible to strike several heavy blows in the
enemy's country that would have paralyzed the British army and
given it ample work at home while Ireland would be getting her
insurgent army into shape. When the ill-starred Rising finally
took place, none of this valuable fighting material was available
and the partially disorganized remnant of Fenianism in Ireland
could get no help from the organization in England and Scotland.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL 115
I do not say that an insurrection in 1865, or during the first
weeks of 1866, would surely have been successful. All war de-
pends on a great many things, and the element of chance counts
for much. But a fight at that time would have found Ireland in
better condition from a military point of view than she had been
in for several hundred years previously and England at a greai
disadvantage. England had underestimated Fenianism and she
was very badly prepared for such an emergency. Her army was
honeycombed with Fenianism and many things that occurred
then showed that its organization and administration were as
hopelessly deficient and inefficient as the Boer War showed them
to be thirty-five years later. Under the military leadership which
we then had and with the promise of some of the ablest Generals
in America to join us if we made a good showing, there certainly
would have been a war that would have taxed England's resources
to the utmost.
Several distinguished American Generals, both Federal and
Confederate, were openly in sympathy with Fenianism and the
whole people of the North were angry with England on account
of the undisguised help she had given to the South, while the
Confederates knew that such help as she had given their cause
was not based on any love for them, but had for its sole object
the smashing of the great Republic of the West. General Nelson
A. Miles, one of the men who won distinction in the Civil War
and who later was the ranking General of the United States
Army, wrote a series of magazine articles giving his recollections
of the great struggle, in one of which he laid strong emphasis
on this feeling against England. The article was published in
the Cosmopolitan for March, 1911, and on this subject General
Miles says:
"The end of the war found the North burdened with a
colossal debt and grave international complications looming
up. Our commerce had been swept from the seas by ships
built in British shipyards, manned by British seamen and
commissioned and officered by the Confederacy. The soil of
Canada had been used as a safe refuge and rendezvous for
conspiracies against the Government. A French army had
been landed in Mexico, which overran that territory, took
possession of its capital, and established an imperial Govern-
ment in place of the republic. Many of the strongest states-
men and ablest Generals were in favor of forming two great
armies of the veterans, composed from both the Union and
Confederate armies, and marching one to Montreal and the
other to the City of Mexico. Had this action been taken, no
one could have foretold the result, especially affecting our
territory, sea power and commerce, or the destiny of the great
Republic. It would have solved some problems that will yet
vex the American people. Our people had, however, seen so
much of war, with its horrors and devastation, that they
dreaded the thought of increased carnage and were more
anxious for peace than for all else."
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REEEL
It is impossible to believe that this project would have been
abandoned if the insurrection had broken out in Ireland at that
time — the end of 1865 or the beginning of 1866. It would, there-
fore, have in all probability brought about war between the
United States and England, which, whatever other results it
might have had, would certainly have ended in the annexation
of Canada. There would have been no difficulty in raising an
American army of 1,000,000 veterans, if that number were needed,
and England could not at that time have put 100,000 trained men
in the field. The United States had also a splendid fighting navy,
numerically inferior to the English, but much more efficient.
At least 200,000 of these veterans were Irish and the spirit
of Fenianism animated them all. One of the three great Generals
of the Union army, Philip E. Sheridan, was intensely Irish and
there is no doubt that he had placed his services at the disposal
of the Fenians on very reasonable conditions. He stipulated
that if they supplied him with 30,000 trained men, properly
armed and equipped, he would take command. While this agree-
ment referred to Canada, an invasion on such a large scale, with
a great Union General in command, would certainly have precipi-
tated war between the United States and England. And the news
of Phil Sheridan leading a Fenian army would have caused
thousands of veteran officers, from both sides of the Mason and
Dixon Line, to offer their services and the great army of which
General Miles writes would have been easily organized. England
had not then, nor has she had since, any General fit to cope with
Sheridan, that great Irish-American soldier.
But Fenianism was split into two factions in America and the
30,000 men, fully armed and equipped, could not be had, not
because they were not available, but on account of lack of money
and the paralyzing effect of the Split.
The one thing that would have instantly healed the Split and
forced both factions to unite would have been the successful
start of a fight in Ireland. Then all the money and all the arms
needed would have been forthcoming and new and competent
leadership would have been evolved.
When the first Raid on Canada took place in June, 1866, a
force of United States troops was sent to the border, under com-
mand of General Meade, to enforce neutrality. The victor of
Gettysburg was of Irish descent, sympathized with Fenianism and
shared the feeling of hostility to England that was then universal
in the Northern States. When the temporarily victorious Fenians
were obliged to retreat for lack of supplies and reinforcements,
General Meade remarked to a friend: "Well I gave them all the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
117
time they needed, if they knew their business." This was the
spirit of the whole American army at the time. The soldiers
along the border were in open sympathy with the Fenians and
ready to desert to them by wholesale.
The veterans of the Civil War in America and the Irishmen
in the British army would have provided Ireland with the finest
fighting force in all her history. The thing needed to utilize
this splendid material was a united organization, ably and wisely
led. This essential, Fenianism lacked, but that lack would have
been in part supplied if Stephens had accepted the advice of the
American officers in December, 1865. There was plenty of ability
in the organization and the fight would have brought it to the
front.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND FENIANISM.
Denounced from Almost Every Altar in Ireland Except in Two
Dioceses — Ban Put Members to a Severe Test, but Failed to
Check Movement — Begun by Cardinal Cullen and Fomented
by an English Clique in Rome.
The hardest test the Fenians had to face was the hostility of
the authorities of the Catholic Church. It was based ostensibly
on the oath, but there was overwhelming evidence that Cardinal
Cullen, who was mainly responsible for it, was opposed to the
Independence of Ireland — the object of the organization. He
would have opposed the movement, even if the oath were
dropped. He had bitterly opposed the Tenant League in the early
'Fifties, although it only sought reform of the Land Laws by
peaceful methods, and was mild compared with the Land League
of later days which was supported by Archbishop Croke of Cashel
and several other Bishops. His father, Garret Cullen, was a Kil-
dare farmer, who had been a United Irishman and a leader of
Rebels in the Insurrection of 1798. My grandfather walked
twenty miles each way to attend his funeral and men thronged
from all parts of the county to pay their last tribute of respect
to the dead Rebel. But the future Cardinal was sent to Rome
when a boy and was thirty-five years out of Ireland. He was in
Rome in 1848, when he developed a horror of Revolutionists and
never could get over the idea that the Fenians were allied with
the Carbonari. There was no basis whatever for the theory, but
he assumed that there was and acted on the assumption that it
was an undeniable fact. The Fenians had no connection what-
ever with any movement outside of Ireland except the Fenian
Brotherhood in America, which was composed entirely of Irish-
men and had only one object, the Independence of Ireland.
Dr. Cullen based his assumption of an alliance with the Car-
bonari on the fact that James Stephens while a refugee in Paris
had fought at the barricades in the Red resistance to Louis
Napoleon's Coup d'etat in 1851, and claimed that he was an
enrolled member of the Communist Party. Even if he were, he
never tried to convert the Fenians to Communism, and his chief
lieutenants, O'Leary, Luby and Kickham, wore most conservative
men. But the Cardinal stuck to his theory to the last and waged
unrelenting war on the organization.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
119
The oath was wholly unnecessary and did not prevent men
from turning informer, while it kept many good Nationalists from
joining the organization. In America there was no oath, only a
pledge of honor, but Bishop Duggan of Chicago denounced
the organization as strongly as Cardinal Cullen did in Ireland. A
committee waited on the Bishop and asked him what they could
do to make the organization harmonize with the Church and he
answered: "Give up your object." The committee replied: "But
our object is the Independence of Ireland," and his answer was:
"I have said you must give it up." That ended the interview. He
had given accurate expression to Cardinal Cullen's attitude to-
wards Fenianism.
The members were refused absolution when they went to con-
fession unless they promised to give up the organization, and
many thousands of them refused. The form of the question
asked by the priest was: "Did you take the Fenian oath?" It
never was: "Are you a member of the Fenian organization?"
Many men availed themselves of this to evade trouble. One
fellow in Athboy, County Meath (who later became prominent in
the Hibernian organization in New York) , found the oath in the
reports of the Fenian trials and administered it to several men
without taking it himself. This enabled him to say "No" when
the priest asked, "Did you take the Fenian oath?" When he came
up to Dublin to seek recognition from Stephens he was headed
off by James Pallas (who later was very active in the Clan-na-
Gael and the Land League in New York, and was then a young
school teacher in Kildalkey and Centre for the Athboy district) ,
and prevented from getting into the organization by fraud.
There were several other similar cases.
Archbishop MacHale of Tuam — "the Lion of the Fold of
Judah" — and Bishop Keane of Cloyne refused to allow their
priests to carry out this plan, and when a Papal Rescript con-
demning the organization was issued it was not promulgated in
either Diocese. This encouraged the members in their resistance,
and largely counteracted the effect of the Cardinal's hostility.
Skibbereen is in the Diocese of Ross, where Bishop O'Hea was a
bitter enemy of the organization, but the men had only to cross
a small stream to get into the Diocese of Cloyne, and they went
by the score at Christmas and Easter and got absolution from a
Cloyne priest. In Dublin at that time the Jesuits did not enforce
the rule and men from the other parishes had only to go to
Gardiner Street Church to get the sacraments denied them in
their own.
But in ninety per cent, of the cases it was a flat denial of the
right of the priest to ask the question and to bring politics into
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
the confessional. The Fenians were accused of being anti-
clerical, but it was the Clericals who were anti-Fenian. And, there
can be no doubt that the constant controversies and the con-
tinued altar denunciations were fast developing an anti-clerical
feeling and several Fenians were temporarily estranged from the
Church. The ominous cry of "No priests in politics" was heard
everywhere. Had the fight continued there can hardly be any
doubt that it would have resulted eventually in an anti-clerical
movement in Ireland. But the fight was begun by the Church
authorities on charges that had no foundation and was forced
on the Fenians. Some of the altar denunciations were very
unjust in their statements and were invariably followed by in-
creased police activities. One priest in Belfast accused Luby,
of whom he knew nothing, and who was a most devoted husband,
of living with the wife of another man, and the Carbonari myth
was constantly flung at us. Several priests were members of the
organization, but they were mostly young curates, whose brothers
or other near relatives belonged to it. The Parish Priests were
almost unanimous in their opposition to us, even in cases where
they had been in the Young Ireland Movement.
The most notable instance of this was Bishop Moriarty of
Kerry who said "Hell is not hot enough nor eternity long enough
to punish the Fenians". Gavan Duffy said that he was all right
in 1848 and the Bishop himself defined his attitude in a public
speech thus: "When I speak to you from the pulpit or in a
Pastoral I speak as your Bishop, but here on this platform I'm
plain David Moriarty", — which caused one enthusiast in the
audience to shout: "You're our Bishop if you were boilt."
There were some comic features in the controversy, as there
are in everything in Ireland. In Cork, a Blackpool boy — where
they said "dis" and "dat" — went to confession and when the
priest asked him if he had taken the Fenian oath he said: "I
did, but what has dat to do wid me confession?" The priest
answered: "Tis an illegal society," and "de boy from the Pool"
replied: "Yerra, what does I care about deir illaigal? I tinks
more o' me sowl."
His theology was better than the priest's. It was illegal at
one time in Ireland to go to Mass, and if Lord John Russell's
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill were in force it would be illegal for a
Bishop to attach the cross to his signature to a Pastoral. The
young fellow himself told the story to Charles Underwood
O'Connell, with evident pride in his smart answer.
John F. Scanlan (brother of Michael, the poet of American
Fenianism) told me of an incident that occurred in Chicago
while Bishop Duggan was attacking the Fenians. There was a
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
121
man from his own part of Limerick who spoke with a strong
brogue and who asked him every time he met him on the street:
"How is the Cause?" One day Scanlan said to him: "Why don't
you join the organization and do something to help the Cause?"
"Because I couldn't go to my duty if I did," he replied.
"Might I ask how long is it since you went to your duty?"
asked Scanlan.
The man put his finger to his jaw reflectively and repeated
the question: "How long is it since I wint to my duty? Well,
now, let me see. Well, to the best of my recollection, it's about
forty years. But, you see, Misther Scanlan, if I wanted to go to
my duty I wouldn't want to have anything shtand in the way."
A public controversy on the subject was carried on in the
Irish People, in which the hostile priests were called "felon-
setters" and some of the letters pointed out that they were in-
citing the police to increased activity. That was undoubtedly
true. My own Parish Priest, Father Hughes of Naas, only de-
nounced the organization once, and the Peelers, who were all
Catholics except Head Constable Hogg and Sergeant Johnson,
knew all of us and stared at us while he informed them that an
illegal society existed in the parish. That night they followed
our men everywhere they went. He based his denunciation on a
letter of Cardinal Barnabo (which was not official, but was pub-
lished) in which the statement was made that the Pope had
condemned Fenianism. I wrote a letter to the Irish People in
which I stressed the activities of the Peelers on that Sunday
evening and said that the Pope was misinformed by the English
Catholic clique in Rome, and added that an Irish shoemaker was
a better judge of Irish politics than his Holiness. The letter
appeared in the suppressed number, but the country edition had
been sent off before the seizure and I sent copies of the paper to
Father Hughes and Sub-Inspector Irwin.
Next morning Father Hughes called on me at 8 o'clock, a few
minutes before the mail car brought the Dublin papers contain-
ing the report of the Irish People's suppression. I had not signed
the letter, but Father Hughes told me he knew that it was I who
wrote it, because I was the only man in the town capable of
doing so. I admitted I was the writer and defended my action.
He said he did not come to argue with me and I said: "But you
are arguing, Father Hughes, and I insist on my right to answer
you." He was particularly worked up over my statement about
the Irish shoemaker, which I defended. I had concluded the
letter with this statement — a sort of olive branch: "Altar denun-
ciations have failed elsewhere and it is to be hoped that Father
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Hughes, who has hitherto refrained from denouncing the move-
ment, will not again make the altar an instrument of political
controversy." This seemed to please him and he said: "I have
up till now kept my parish free from this trouble and you will
hear no more of it," but he added, pointing to four tall poplar
trees in the garden in front of the house: "But those unfor-
tunate men will hang as high as those trees — and they deserve
it." With that he took his departure. He was a dyed-in-the-wool
West Briton, whose father was a gombeen man in Carlow, who
left him £20,000, which he invested in the Government Funds,
and he was the landlord of the premises on which I worked. He
did not like being attacked in print and his statement was a
surrender.
In a few minutes the mail cars drove in and the Freeman
contained the report of the seizure of the Irish People. I am
convinced that if Father Hughes had read it he would not have
made the promise. But he kept it.
When I was arrested his servant girl told her sister, who was
the wife of one of the draymen where I worked, that he clasped
his hands and turning his eyes up to Heaven said: "Thank God,
a firebrand is removed from amongst us." (That did not pre-
vent him, however, from sending me his congratulations many
years afterwards, through a returned visitor to Naas, on my
securing a position on the New York Herald. He didn't know I
had heard his other statement) .
That incident illustrates the conditions existing in Ireland
at the time. My personal experience later gives a further illus-
tration:
Father Cody, the Chaplain of Mount joy Prison, was a very
zealous priest and a very likable man, but by no means bright — a
great contrast to Father Potter, who replaced him during his
vacations. His sermons were mere instructions on the catechism
and when making his rounds of the cells he always carried a
handful of devotional books, which had no attraction for the
ordinary convicts — "The Poor Man's Catechism", "Think Well On
It", St. Alphonsus Liguori's Works, or "Hell Open to Sinners" —
never anything cheerful or interesting. He could not argue at all.
He and I were on the best of terms, but we never discussed Irish
politics.
One day he said to me: "Why don't you go to confession?"
and I answered: "Sure, there would be no use because you'd ask
me a question that I don't admit your right to ask."
He turned his face away, prodded the door with his big key
and said: "Oh, I've nothing to do with your politics; I've nothing
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
123
to do with your politics." I took this as a promise that he would
not ask me if I had taken the Fenian oath, and we arranged
a day on which I would go to confession to him.
When I had finished my long story— it was five years old—
for I knew there was no use in going to Father Hughes and he
never said a word to me about confession, though I met him
almost every day in the reading room of the Catholic Institute —
Father Cody asked me: "Did you take the Fenian oath?"
I answered: "I thought you promised not to ask me that
question."
"Oh, I have to ask it," he said, "it's the rule of the Diocese."
I reminded him that he belonged to one of the orders and was
not subject to the jurisdiction of Archbishop Cullen. He told
me he was and we proceeded to argue the question, if I may call
what he said arguments. I refused to submit and we fixed
another day for him to come again. This was repeated five times
and on the fifth day I stood up and said: "Father Cody, I won't
argue politics on my knees any more."
After I was convicted, Father Potter was in Father Cody's
place and told me all the news. One day he asked me about go-
ing to confession. I told him of my experience with Father Cody
and he said: "You can trust me."
I replied that I would trust him and we arranged a date for
my confession. When I was through he asked: "Did you take the
Fenian oath?" I replied that I did and he then asked: "When
you took the oath did you believe you were committing a sin?"
I said: "I did not, but, on the contrary, was doing my duty to
Ireland."
"Have you ever had any scruples of conscience since about
taking it?" I told him I hadn't and he said: "Make an act of
contrition", and gave me absolution. I passed the word along
to the other men and they all went to confession and we all went
to communion on our last Sunday in Mountjoy. We fondly hoped
that this ended our trouble, but we were soon undeceived.
When we got to Millbank we found Father Zanetti, a Jesuit,
whose father was Italian and his mother English, as Chaplain.
He had been Chaplain in Pentonville while the first group of
prisoners were there and he had had long arguments with Kick-
ham, Tom Bourke and Mulcahy, who were more than a match for
him, though he was a very clever man, an,d he evidently resented
it. We went to him shortly after our arrival and told him we
had been at communion in Dublin, but he insisted on our mak-
ing a general confession and the trouble started all over again.
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Going behind the action of the Irish priest, he asked us if we had
taken the Fenian oath and refused us absolution unless we gave
it up. Some of the men yielded, but most of us refused. He
visited us in our cells, and we chatted freely with him, but I
never exchanged another word with him about Fenianism. He
told me a story about Cardinal Manning (not then a Cardinal)
giving permission to eat meat an Fridays and fast days and one
Irishman asked another coming out of the church what he
thought of it. "Oh, what can you expect?" said the other, "when
we have a Protestant for an Archbishop?" With some Irishmen,
eating meat on Fridays is worse than committing murder.
When we were removed to Portland after ten months in Mill-
bank we found the Chaplain was named Poole, descended from
a brother of Cardinal Poole of Henry the Eighth's time, a nice,
kindly little man. He was overmatched in argument by some of
the Fenians and all of them had refused to give up the oath.
When we told him about our experiences in Dublin and Millbank,
he seemed glad to be relieved of the trouble and told us he would
not ask us to make a general confession. So I went to confes-
sion and received communion twice during my twelve weeks in
Portland.
But I was not yet through with Father Zanetti. I was sent
back to Millbank with John McClure and others for taking part
in a strike in sympathy with McClure, who was put on bread
and water for "idleness" when his hands were covered with blis-
ters from handling the pick with which we worked cutting Port-
land stone. I went to confession and told Father Zanetti I had
received absolution in Portland, but he found another way of
getting around it. During my previous stay in Millbank — before
my last confession — I had made an attempt to escape and had
hurt a warder in the struggle for possession of his keys, for
which I was very sorry, as he was a harmless poor fellow who
later told me he made allowance for my state of mind and had
no hard feelings against me. When I had finished my tale of
sin Father Zanetti said to me: "You used violence in attempting
to escape." I told him I was a prisoner of war, held by a Gov-
ernment which had no right whatever in Ireland, and that I
was justified in using any means in trying to escape.
Then followed a long argument, in which Father Zanetti
quibbled a lot. I reminded him that the warders carried heavy
oak clubs and that the Civil Guard, who carried carbines, had
orders to shoot a prisoner if they could not prevent his escape
in any other way and that this justified me in using violence.
"Ah," said Father Zanetti, "if he had his carbine levelled
and was about to shoot, you would be justified in knocking it
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
125
out of his hand or striking him." "Then it would be too late," I
replied, and added: "Do you mean to tell me that God Almighty
would split hairs as to whether I struck the man with a carbine a
second before or a second after he had levelled it at me?"
The argument went on in this way for a long time, and at
length Father Zanetti said: "I am an officer of the prison and
it is my duty to see the rules enforced."
Then I stood up and said: "Father Zanetti, I came to you as
a priest of the Catholic Church. I don't make any confessions
to an officer of an English prison." That was the end of the
confession and it was a very long time before I went to con-
fession again. But Father Zanetti remained on good terms with
me and often came to see me in my cell. I was very much sur-
prised when Arthur O'Connor, M. P., who was an active church
worker in London, and often met him, told me in New York that
Father Zanetti spoke highly of me and of Thomas Francis Bourke,
while he disparaged O'Donovan Rossa.
Times have changed, and there is no change more significant
than the attitude of Irish Bishops towards the National Cause.
From the day of the appointment of Archbishop Richardson to
the See of Armagh they had been hostile to the advanced
National Movement. He was President of the College of Valla-
dolid in Spain during the Peninsular War and had given very
effective help to Wellington, which, I believe, he justified on the
ground of Napoleon's bad treatment of the Pope. After his ap-
pointment as Archbishop of Armagh he continued to be strongly
pro-English and he nullified Daniel O'Connell's opposition to the
demand of the English Government for the right to exercise a
Veto on the appointment of Irish Bishops, by agreeing that the
Bishops should give a pledge of "Loyalty to the King of the Brit-
ish Empire". From that day on the clergy of a Diocese on the
death of a Bishop named three men: one, Dignissimus (the first
choice) , another, Dignior, and a third, Dignus, and sent them to
Rome. During the Pontificate of Pius the Ninth — Pio Nono, — the
three names selected by the clergy were usually ignored unless
some one of them had a strong pro-British leaning. If none of
the three was of this type, some other man saturated with anti-
National feeling was appointed. This naturally had a marked
effect on the Irish clergy. It was a plain intimation that priests
of pronounced Nationalist opinions had no chance of promotion.
The most notable instance of this was Archbishop Croke. Born
in the Diocese of Cloyne, he was a titular Bishop in Auckland,
but was on a visit to Ireland when Bishop Keane of Cloyne died.
He was named Dignissimus at the meeting of the clergy of the
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Diocese, but was cast aside and a Loyal West Briton appointed to
succeed the Nationalist Dr. Keane. He then went to Rome and
rumor said, "made his peace". As he was about to return to New
Zealand, Archbishop Leahy of Cashel died and, without being
named by the clergy of the Archdiocese, he was appointed to
succeed Dr. Leahy. The rumor that he had "made his peace"
seemed to be partly verified by his speech at the O'Connell Cen-
tenary that same year, which was in marked contrast with his
former utterances. He lauded the British Constitution, but
expressed regret that Ireland did not get her share of its benefits.
The change in the attitude of the Bishops began to be noted,
especially in the case of the younger men, after the heroic sacri-
fice of Easter Week, 1916 (which had a marked effect on the
whole race) . It has continued steadily ever since. It was
given a strong impetus by the speech of Cardinal O'Connell at
Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1918. He did not commit
himself definitely to the Republican Movement, but the implica-
tions of his speech to a cheering throng of Irish Republicans
in a hall profusely decorated with the Green, White and Orange
Tricolor of the Republic were all in justification of the demand
for it.
It was the first time that a Prince of the Church had appeared
at such a meeting and given his adhesion to the movement for
the Complete Independence of Ireland. Cardinal O'Connell blazed
the way and others soon followed.
At the great Convention in Philadelphia on Washington's
Birthday, 1919 — the greatest and most representative gathering
of Irishmen ever held anywhere — Cardinal Gibbons, who had up
to then opposed the advanced movement (but had never attacked
it) stood in his purple robes, with twenty-eight Bishops fresh
from a meeting in Washington sitting around him, and gave his
blessing to the movement which Cardinal Cullen had anathema-
tized and which Pius IX had condemned in a Rescript. As I
stood behind the venerable Cardinal, noting the evidence of the
tremendous change, my mind went back to the days when we
were cursed from nearly every altar in Ireland and I nearly broke
down. No other such revolutionary change had occurred in my
time.
And yet there were some well meaning, but shortsighted
Irishmen, under the evil influence of a cold blooded cynic, who
opposed and tried to frustrate the steps leading up to that splen-
did spectacle. They were told that inviting Cardinal O'Connell
to Madison Square Garden would give a sectarian character
to the meeting, would antagonize Protestant Ulster and produce
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
127
a bad effect in Infidel France and Atheist Italy, and give the
movement a setback. But we went ahead, knowing that the
chief thing needed was the Unity of the Race on a reasonable and
progressive policy and the breaking down of the English Propa-
ganda in America. That Unity could be best secured and the
world convinced of our strength by aligning the Hierarchy on
our side.
In describing Fenianism to Sir Horace Plunkett at a dinner
in the house of Justice Martin J. Keogh in New Rochelle some
years ago, I said: "We'd have beaten the Bishops only for the
English Government, and we'd have beaten the English Govern-
ment but for the Bishops, but a combination of the two was too
much for us." That was really what the Fenians had to face.
It is sincerely to be hoped that in the future progress of
Ireland towards complete National Independence — which con-
notes the severance of every remaining political link with the
British Empire — the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church
in Ireland will be found solidly arrayed behind their people in the
endeavor to attain the inevitable goal of the Irish Nation.
PART III.
CHAPTER XIX.
FENIANISM IN THE BRITISH ARMY.
Element of the Movement Most Dangerous to England — Impor-
tance of the Trained Man in Irish Insurrections — Fenian
Soldiers in British Service Remained Loyal to the Organi-
zation With Very Few Exceptions.
The element of Fenianism which gave the movement its
greatest hope of success from the military point of view, and
made it most dangerous to England, was the organization in the
British army. Properly utilized it would have supplied Ireland
with a large body of trained fighting men and correspondingly
weakened and demoralized the forces of the enemy at the very
outset of the contemplated insurrection.
In 1865 and the beginning of 1866 that organization was still
intact and could have been used to deal England a decisive blow.
It would have supplied the nucleus of a trained army, under con-
ditions more favorable to Ireland than had ever existed since the
Anglo-Norman invasion. It was not utilized, and when, after
many postponements, the shattered and broken movement under-
took to strike, the organization in the army was gone, its best
men were in prison and the disaffected regiments scattered all
over the British Empire.
Irish insurrections in the past had all failed because of lack
of the essentials of military success — trained men, educated offi-
cers, arms and ammunition. In 1848 there were neither arms,
ammunition, trained men, officers nor organization, and the at-
tempt at rebellion was doomed to ignominious failure from the
start. Yet in Ireland at that time there were fully twice as many
men fit to fight as there were in 1798. It was the precipitancy
in taking the field without any preparation which caused the
utter failure.
The United Irishmen had a fine organization and plenty of
pikes in 1798, but few firearms of any kind. Outside of Lord
Edward Fitzgerald and Thomas Russell, who had been officers in
the British army, William Aylmer, who had been a Lieutenant of
Militia, one or two men who had seen some service in France
and several who had received a partial training in the Volunteers,
128
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
129
their leaders were all untrained civilians. Yet they inflicted many
defeats on the English forces and killed or wounded thousands
of the enemy in a few weeks of fighting.
The United Irishmen depended on a French invasion to sup-
ply the basis of their military organization and arms and am-
munition. The principal French expedition, under Hoche, in
1796, failed to land; when the second, scarcely numbering a thou-
sand men, under Humbert, landed at Killala, in August, 1798, the
insurrection had been crushed, and it was two months later
(October 11, 1798) when the last one, in which Wolfe Tone was
an officer, was destroyed in Lough Swilly. Had even a small force
like Humbert's landed in May or June while large bodies of in-
surgents were still in the field, the result would certainly have
been very different.
But the thing which was most disastrous of all to the United
Irishmen was their rejection of the offer of the Irish militia ser-
geants to deliver up Dublin Castle in 1797. Had the leaders ac-
cepted it the insurrection could not have fared worse than it
actually did, and if the militiamen had made good, Irish history
would have been written very differently. The effect on the rest
of the militia, many of the yeomen and the Irishmen in the regu-
lar army would undoubtedly have been very great. Even in the
face of many failures a number of militiamen and yeomen de-
serted to the Rebels, and it is entirely reasonable to suppose that
thousands would have done so if Dublin Castle had fallen.
But civilians decided a purely military question, and the in-
surrection of 1798 failed. The same thing occurred in the case
of the Fenians, and the military result was even worse.
Hugh O'Neill began his eight years war (1595-1603) with a
small, but well trained force, and at Clontibret and the Yellow
Ford inflicted crushing defeats on English armies led by Eng-
land's best Generals and superior in numbers and equipment.
For 400 years before O'Neill's time the Irish were virtually able
to maintain their independence and confine English authority
within the narrow limits of the Pale by reason of the fact that
every clansman was a trained soldier and every clan a military
unit, easily mobilized, able to get its simple weapons and plenty
of food and clothing within its own territory, and because Ireland,
always an easily defended country, was then practically covered
with woods.
In the struggle with Cromwell (1641-52), in spite of civilian
and foreign interference, they made a splendid military record
because of the fact that Owen Roe O'Neill, a great soldier, who
had held Arras against Conde and Turenne, the greatest Generals
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of their time, was able to bring from Spain 200 veteran Irish offi-
cers, who helped him to create a small, but well disciplined army.
He avoided pitched battles until his men were fully trained, and
then he gave his little army the best training of all — the train-
ing of battle. And what Owen Roe did at Benburb against an
enemy much superior in numbers and equipment can always be
done with Irish soldiers when they are ably led. Their superb
soldierly qualities are recognized by all military men whose opin-
ion is worth having.
In the war between William and James (1689-91) which, aside
from its poor politics, was a military contest between Ireland and
England — in which England was aided by a Dutch force and by
German mercenaries — the Irish were able to hold out for two
years against heavy odds in men and armament because they
had a small, but well-trained force and many trained officers to
serve as a nucleus of their army. And they might, by enlisting
a larger force, have won in the end but for the cowardice, avarice
and treachery of the English King in whose cause they wasted
their valor.
The important element in all this, and in the whole period
prior thereto since the English Invasion, from 1169 to 1595, was
the trained man.
The same was true of the Fenian movement. There were in
Ireland in 1865 about 26,000 British regular troops. Of these,
as already mentioned, 8,000 were sworn Fenians. Not less than
sixty per cent, of the rank and file of the entire British forces
were Irish, including those of immediate Irish ancestry born in
England and Scotland, and at that period the latter were among
the sturdiest Irishmen alive. In the British military establish-
ment stationed outside of Ireland, we had 7,000 I. R. B. men.
Then the Militia in Ireland, which was not under arms because
the government dared not call it out, numbered some 12,000
men — more than half of whom were in our organization.
When, in addition, the fact is borne in mind that we had
such a large number of American officers in Ireland — to say
nothing of the hundreds of others who were ready to come over —
it must be admitted that trained men were available in abun-
dance, and had the Insurrection started as originally planned,
it would have been one of the most formidable with which Eng-
land ever had to deal.
True, our civilian forces were insufficiently armed, but the
large supply of rifles, ammunition and equipment stored in Brit-
ish arsenals in Ireland could certainly be captured by well-
planned, determined attacks.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
131
Most of the British commissioned officers were at that time
even more incompetent than they proved themselves to be in
the Boer War, and the regiments were really run by the Adju-
tants and the non-coms. The latter included a large propor-
tion of Irish sergeants, and hundreds of these were Fenians. Be-
sides the men stationed in Ireland, many of the best Fenian regi-
ments were at important strategic points in England. A Fenian
at the War Office could not have placed them to greater advan-
tage.
Some "wiseacres" who know nothing of the facts have under-
taken to prove by mere assertion that the Fenians could not have
relied on the Irish soldiers in the British army; that they were
mere pothouse patriots, with neither sincerity of purpose nor
stamina. The opinions of such men are worthless. The scores
of Irish soldiers who bore long terms of imprisonment for their
part in Fenianism, gave ample proof of their sincerity. The
measures taken by the British Government for the suppression
of the organization in the army bore striking testimony to its
belief in the genuineness of the danger.
My testimony ought to be worth something in the matter of
the reliability of the Fenian soldiers of the British army. For
months while my name was in the Hue and Cry — a fact known to
scores of soldiers — I mixed freely among them, in Dublin, at the
Curragh Camp, and in Athlone, arranging plans, assigning men
to special duty, swearing in new members, and encouraging the
old ones, and I was arrested only after four months of this work,
through a spy, against whom I had been fully warned, but whom
I had to face because of civilian blundering, in order to try to
avert a threatened danger. No man whom I really trusted, or
who was trusted by my predecessors in charge of the organiza-
tion in the army, betrayed the cause, and with the exception of
two or three Government spies, the men who gave testimony
against their fellows were all trapped by lying stories while they
were on starvation diet and practically deserted in Arbor Hill
Military Prison, and then they did not tell a tenth part of what
they really knew. The rest of the 15,000 remained loyal and true
to the last.
I got the Hue and Cry — the secret publication of the police —
out of the Government Printing office, each week, through
two compositors who have been dead for many years. All the
Catholic printers except one were searched every evening as they
were leaving the office. The one exception was John Podesta,
who was born in Dublin of Italian parents, and they thought it
unlikely that he would be a Fenian. But he was. He took a copy
of the Hue and Cry as soon as it came off the press, carried it
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outside and handed it to Michael Clohessy, who had already been
searched, and I had it within an hour. There was not a Gov-
ernment Department, not even excepting the police, in which we
had not friends who served us faithfully and promptly at that
time.
As to the wiseacres' theories about the folly of trusting to
mutinous soldiers, they are sufficiently refuted by modern history,
without going back to ancient Rome or Byzantium. Before the
days of Fenianism, but within the memory of men then still
young, whole French regiments had gone over to Parisian in-
surgents, and helped to change the Government. Spanish and
Spanish-American Governments had been frequently overturned
by the army. The most formidable revolt which England has
ever had to face in India originated in 1857 in a mutiny of her
own Sepoys, and they led it from start to finish.
That kind of thing is still going on in the world. Within
recent times the Young Turks deposed Abdul Hamid by marching
a whole division of the regular army on Constantinople. And
later still, the army and the navy combined toppled the King of
Portugal off his throne and set up a Republic. All through
human history military revolts have played a most important
part; Governments still fear them and revolutionists devote much
of their time and energy, with good reason, to bringing them
about.
The Fenians missed making history in a similar manner, not
through any failure of their organization in the British army,
but because their civilian leaders failed to use it while it was
ready to their hand.
CHAPTER XX.
"PAGAN" O'LEARY.
First Organizer Appointed by Stephens to Propagate Fenianism
in the British Army — Swore in Thousands of Soldiers — His
"Paganism" Merely an Eccentricity — Died Reconciled to the
Church.
No account of Fenianism in the British army would be com-
plete without a sketch of "Pagan" O'Leary, who was the first man
appointed by James Stephens to take charge of the work. The
"Pagan" was a unique character. A fanatic on the question of
Irish Nationality and Roman interference in Irish affairs, he was
generous and charitable to a fault, and under the disguise of
stern looks and harsh words carried a heart as tender as a
woman's. His "Paganism" was only a distorted kind of Nation-
alism.
His real name was Patrick O'Leary and he was born in or
near Macroom — "in old Ibh Laoghaire by the Hills" — about 1825
or 1826. His age can only be estimated by the fact that in 1846
when the Mexican War broke out, he was a very young man
studying for the priesthood in an American Catholic college, the
walls of which he scaled to enlist in a regiment going to the
front. He took part in several battles and was hit in one of
them by a spent ball at the top of the forehead. It left an in-
dention that was quite visible and easily felt with the fingers.
This undoubtedly affected his mind to the extent of making him
very eccentric.
His eccentricity took the form of a sort of religious mania.
He hated Rome and England with equal intensity, and his queer
notion was that after driving out the English, Ireland should re-
turn to the old Paganism. He was not really a Pagan, but an
anti-Roman Catholic. He never talked of the old Pagan wor-
ship or beliefs, but was eloquent in extolling the superiority of
Tir-na-nOg over the Christian Heaven. He did not seem to
doubt the existence of either of them and talked as if a man
could make his own choice as to where he would go after death.
In Tir-na-nOg not only were the old Gaelic sports carried on
and fine horses and good hunting dogs available, but the com-
pany was of the best. Fionn MacCumhail, Ossian, Oscar, Goll
MacMorna, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne and the rest of the Fenian
133
134
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
heroes and the beautiful women they fought and sang about were
all there, and he had no doubt that Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh
O'Donnell, Owen Roe, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Wolfe Tone and
Robert Emmet had all found their way to Tir-na-nOg. But Der-
mot MacMurrough, the Queen's O'Neills, O'Donnells and Mac-
Guires, and others who sold their country to Elizabeth; Jimmy
O'Brien and the other informers of 1798; Paul Cullen (as he
called the Archbishop of Dublin), and Sullivan Goulah could
never gain admission.
After he returned to America In 1871 and learned what had
occurred while he was in prison he added Pierce Nagle, Corydon,
Massey and Bishop Moriarty to the list of the excluded. These
he assumed would be all in Heaven, though he would have pre-
ferred to have them in the other place, and no true Irishman
would want to associate with them, either in this world or the
next. One of his chief grievances against the Church was the
giving of the last rites to traitors, informers and enemies of the
people. His Heaven was entirely Irish. His conception of it was
Nationalism gone mad.
"The Pagan" had his particular grievances against St. Patrick,
which made him drop the name. He claimed that the Apostle of
Ireland had demoralized the Irish by teaching them to forgive
their enemies. Any man who did that was a poltroon. It was
like listening to the dialogue between Ossian, back from Tir-
na-nOg, and St. Patrick. As knowledge of that story was com-
mon all over Munster when "The Pagan" was young, he had
probably often heard it recited, and it became his Bible.
Before St. Patrick's time, he said, the Gaels had the finest
life of any people on earth. They sent expeditions to Britain,
Gaul and Spain and came back with their galleys laden with
the spoils of war — gold, silver and beautiful women — enriching
the land thereby, especially with the fine women. St. Patrick
had put an end to all that and now the people, except a few in
whom the old spirit had survived, were good for nothing but
"thumping their craws and telling their beads." That was what
made the Gael an easy prey for the Dane, the Norman and the
Saxon.
Another grievance "The Pagan" had against the "Eyetalian"
Church was that there was a monopoly of the saints for the
priests and the monks; and he did not appear to have any doubt
about these saints having the choice places in Heaven. "Did you
ever hear of them making a saint of a poor devil of a soldier?"
he would ask. And his hearers, being generally unable to recall
the names of the warriors who had been canonized, were put to
silence.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
135
But his religious notions were entirely political, and his favor-
ite expression about the ranting partisans of England was that
he would "rather be a louse on a rat's back than an Orange-
man." And when stripped to be put into the convict clothes in
Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, they found a scapular and an Agnus
Dei hanging from his neck.
After his conviction he was asked the usual question about his
religion and he answered that he was a Pagan — "an old Milesian
Pagan." They told him they had no Pagans in the prison and
he assured them they had one. Well, he must attend religious
service of some kind, and they had only Catholics, Protestants
and Jews, so he must make his choice. He refused and after
the first Sunday was put on a bread and water diet.
The next Sunday he refused again and the dose of bread and
water was repeated. He was brought before the Governor and
said to him: "I see you want to starve me so that I'll be no good
when the fight comes. Well, if I must have some religion, I'd
rather be a beggar than a robber. Put me down as a Papist."
After that, during his seven years in prison he attended Mass
every Sunday, and, in England, was brought to the chapel every
morning for religious instruction, which was always accompanied
by the singing of hymns, and on Sunday evenings to vespers.
But among the convicts in Woking — the invalid prison — he
ranted his "Paganism", to the great scandal and annoyance of
the other Fenian prisoners, and at last was called to task by
Roantree, who taunted him with insincerity because he wore the
scapular and the Agnus Dei. It was then "The Pagan" explained
that he kept them only as a keepsake from his mother. This
incident, which took place among a lot of Englishmen, resulted
in his developing an insane hatred for Roantree, and he circu-
lated the most absurd stories about him. The confinement had
greatly intensified "The Pagan's" mental aberration.
After our release from prison in 1871 and while we were in
Washington as the guests of the city, we found that "The Pagan"
had told several of our Irish friends that Roantree was a British
spy. Fortunately for him, Roantree did not hear of it, but it
had to be stopped somehow to prevent a scandal. Acting on the
assumption that he was a man of unbalanced mind, I got four
or five of the younger ex-prisoners together and we concocted a
plan. We sent for "The Pagan" and I informed him that we were
a courtmartial to try the case. We would hear all the evidence
he had against Roantree and if he was guilty we would sentence
him to death and "The Pagan" would be the executioner. But if
"The Pagan" failed to prove his case we would kill him for bring-
ing a false charge against a good man.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The plan worked splendidly. "The Pagan" at once agreed to
the terms and before an hour had passed admitted that he had
no evidence whatever. He did not mean that Roantree was a
traitor exactly. But he was a crawling slave who went down on
his knees to the "English-Eyetalian soul-savers" in the prison.
We then told him that the death penalty would surely be in-
flicted if he ever repeated the charge; he promised good be-
havior and kept his word. We could hardly keep ourselves from
laughing during the proceedings, but "The Pagan" took them as
seriously as he did his grandmother's stories about the fairies
when he was a child, and he was most discreet in his behavior
during the rest of our week's stay in Washington.
After the Mexican War, O'Leary learned the trade of a car-
penter and roamed all over the United States and some of
Mexico. He finally settled down in New York and joined the
Fenian Brotherhood soon after its organization. One of his
favorite habits was to go down to Castle Garden and watch the
immigrants landing. He would question them about conditions
in the Old Land and if he met a young fellow who was friendless
and found him to be a Nationalist he would take him to his
boarding house and keep him until he secured him employment.
His impatient spirit chafed at the slowness of the Fenian
work and he made several trips to Ireland to see things for him-
self. Then he would return to America to hurry them up.
"The Pagan" spent very little money on himself, but was very
liberal in his contributions to the cause and in helping good men
who were in need. Stephens was hard pressed for money in
1863, and hearing it from Luby, who was then in America, "The
Pagan" gave him $100 to take to "The Captain". Later he sent
him $46 by Roantree, when he was returning to Ireland. We
have the evidence of it in the letters seized at Luby's house and
in one found on Michael Moore, the pikemaker, when he was
arrested. They were read in evidence at the trials.
Moore, who was then in Troy, N. Y., wanted to go home to
Dublin and "The Pagan" told him to get the members in Troy to
subscribe to buy him a rifle. Then "The Pagan's" letter con-
tinues:
"If I had it to spare I would pay your passage money my-
self, but you are aware of my sending $146 on to No. 1 — that
is, $100 by the Doctor and $46 by Bill Roantree, which leaves
me short at present. Saint Sylvester McDermott is here at
present from the West. He says he is going to Ireland. I do
not know whether he is or not, and I don't care a damn either
way about the lying, Slavish Wretch."
This allusion is to "Red Jim" McDermott, who later was noto-
rious as a British spy. With all his eccentricities, "The Pagan"
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
137
was a good judge of character. "The Doctor" was Thomas Clarke
Luby.
Richard Pigott, the traitor and forger, who always pretended
to have inside information about the Fenians, says in his "Recol-
lections of An Irish Journalist" that "The Pagan's" real name
was Murphy. I knew a nephew of his named Murphy, who was
clerk of the Relief Committee during the visit of Mr. Parnell and
Mr. John Dillon to America in 1880, but I assumed that he was
his sister's son. The conclusion of the letter to Moore seems to
settle the question of the right name. It says:
"And when you write to me for ever after this, always
address me as follows: 'O'Laoghari, H. R. and M. P.' The
cursed English way of spelling my name is O'Leary, and the
old Ancient Milesian Pagan way of spelling it is O'Laoghari.
O'Leary is English, I curse it. O'Laoghari is Milesian, I bless it.
"O'Laoghari
"Hereditary Rebel and Milesian Pagan."
This letter was dated, 69 Crosby Street, New York, September
22, 1863. "The Pagan" sailed from Boston for Galway on October
6 of the same year.
I met him first in Denieffe's tailoring establishment in Ann
Street, Dublin, soon after he came over that time, and, in spite
of his odd manner and speech, I was greatly impressed with his
sincerity.
He was an inveterate smoker, but never used tobacco on which
duty had been paid to England, and never drank liquor, tea or
coffee for the same reason. He was the first Sinn Feiner and he
preached the doctrine in season and out, sometimes with embar-
rassing results. A waiter at the "Ship" or the "Ormond" would
ask him: "Will you have tea or coffee, sir?" and he would at once
and in loud voice read him a lecture on the foolishness of putting
money in the pocket of the British Government and helping to
support "Mrs. Brown" — as he always called Queen Victoria. When
his American tobacco ran out he would try to find a Yankee
ship — they sometimes came to Dublin in those days — and would
fast till he could renew the supply from a sailor. But he preached
temperance for its own sake, as well as to injure the British
Treasury.
Pierce Nagle, the informer, swore at the trial of Luby that
"The Pagan", when in Dublin, slept in the Irish People office and
spent much of his time casting bullets. As Nagle was a matter-
of-fact sort of a scoundrel who did not deviate very much from
the truth in his testimony and was himself employed in the
office, this statement was probably true. A free dormitory would
138
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
be quite consistent with "The Pagan's" idea of economy, and
casting bullets at the headquarters of the organization, under
the very noses of the police, would be in accord with the reckless
disregard of ordinary considerations of prudence which charac-
terized much of the Fenian action at that time.
After swearing in thousands of soldiers and never having met
with a refusal, "The Pagan" made his first mistake on the Bridge
of Athlone in 1864. He met a soldier there, got into talk with
him and tried to make a Fenian of him. The soldier led him
on until he committed himself by asking him to take the oath
and then called a policeman who was standing at one end of the
bridge. There was another "Peeler" at the other end, so there
was no escape and he was arrested. He was tried at the next
assizes and sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. He was
the first of the Fenians to wear the "convict grey".
We knew the time of his arrival at the Broadstone station
and arranged to cheer him up by conveying to him the news
which Stephens had just sent out, "the fight will be next year."
Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa, who had only recently become Rossa's
third wife, and the wife of Denis Cromien, the man who built
St. John's Church in Thomas Street, went up to him as he stepped
from the train, shook hands with him, and after a few words
Mrs. Rossa said: "John Hughes is coming home next year."
William F. Roantree, James O'Connor, Dan Downing, Con
O'Mahony and I were standing near, so O'Leary took in the situ-
ation at once and his face lighted up.
John Hughes was "The Pagan's" particular friend in New
York and he had promised to go to Ireland for the fight. So
when John Hughes was "coming over next year" that meant that
the fight was to take place in 1865, and the Peelers who heard
the remark were none the wiser. John Hughes didn't go over,
nor did a great many others in America who had made similar
promises, but the fault was not theirs. Between postponements
in Ireland and the disastrous Split in America, the organization
was only a shattered remnant when the attempt to fight was
made in March, 1867.
"The Pagan" had a number of queer photographs taken in
New York before going over on his last trip to Ireland which
illustrated the odd character of the man. He was dressed in a
Garibaldian shirt, but gray, instead of red, and from his belt
hung two revolvers and a bowie knife. One of his hands pointed
to a black flag, hanging from a horizontal staff, with a skull and
cross bones displayed on it, and over them the words, "Inde-
pendence or ?" He was a small, wiry man, with good
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
139
features, an aquiline nose and clear, blue-grey eyes. His hair,
mustache and "imperial" were perfectly white, and he looked
much older than he actually was.
After his release in 1871 he settled for a time in New York,
but soon resumed his roving habits and his old friends hardly
ever knew where to find him until he entered the Soldiers' Home
in Norfolk, Va., where he died many years ago, fully reconciled
to the Church. Before he left New York he was once taken ill
and immediately sent for a priest and obtained the consolations
of religion. He was hardly out of bed when he began to pitch
into the "Eyetalians" as fiercely as ever, so some waggish friends
played a practical joke on him to test the reality of his "Pagan-
Ism". They put some stuff in his coffee which made him very
sick for a short time and he promptly sent for a priest again.
After that his attacks on the Church became less and less fre-
quent until eventually they ceased entirely.
This queer, unbalanced man, who was more like a survival of
the fifth century than a modern Irishman, was able, in spite
of his mental defects, to bring into existence the element in
Fenianism that was most really dangerous to England, and would
have proved to be most effective in the struggle if the Fenian
leadership had been equal to the occasion. Self-sacrifice and
devotion were common enough among the Fenians, whatever
other qualities they may have lacked, and no Irishman who ever
lived was more devoted or self-sacrificing than Patrick O'Leary
who called himself "The Pagan".
CHAPTER XXI.
HOW THE BRITISH ARMY WAS "ORGANIZED".
William Francis Roantree Succeeded "Pagan" O'Leary as Organ-
izer of Fenianism in the Army, and did Most Effective
Work.
The organization in the British army was not started by
"Pagan" O'Leary. Some "Centres" in garrison towns had sworn
in soldiers, and a few men already enrolled had enlisted, but
Stephens discountenanced the work of spreading the movement
in the army. It was impossible, however, to reach all of those
who were doing work in that line, as no record was kept of
those who had enlisted. So the swearing in of soldiers went on
irregularly, though the number for a while was not large.
Two young teachers from the Skibbereen district of Cork,
who had been up for training in the Agricultural School at Glas-
nevin, had some trouble in the school, and enlisted in the Twelfth
Regiment of Foot. Their names were Driscoll and Sullivan, and
they were both members. They started to work immediately and
swore in a good many men in their own regiment and in the
Eighty-fourth, both of which were then stationed in Dublin. Con
O'Mahony of Macroom, who was Stephens' secretary, Dan
Downing of Skibbereen, who was a clerk in the Irish People office,
James O'Connor and I were walking in the Phoenix Park one
Sunday in 1863 when the two young soldiers came along and I
was introduced to them. In the course of the talk I found they
were quite sanguine about getting the great majority of the
Irishmen in the army. They themselves, without money or
civilian help, had already sworn in several hundred men.
The progress which those two young fellows had made was
the main factor in breaking down the objections of Stephens, but
he did not yield until he and "The Pagan" had a very hot argu-
ment. "The Pagan" had already started to work and he threat-
ened that, if Stephens stopped him, he would return to America
and tell the men there that Stephens was opposed to demoraliz-
ing the army of the enemy. The general sentiment was on "The
Pagan's" side and Stephens at last yielded and appointed O'Leary
Chief Organizer for the British Army.
"The Pagan" set to work in his own way and went where he
liked, coming back occasionally to report to Stephens. He spent
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
141
very little money, and none at all on drink. Besides being
naturally a sober man, he had the prejudice already described
against using anything that put money into the British Treasury.
His plan of work was very simple. Men already sworn in would
tell him of friends in their own or other regiments, or the civilian
Fenians in garrison towns would introduce him to their acquain-
tances among the soldiers. In that way most of the men he met
were already vouched for. He would make appointments to meet
them either in a friend's house or on a country road, and he
would talk to them in groups and swear them in separately.
An old soldier knew how to talk to soldiers, and "The Pagan's"
talks were most effective. In his rough and ready way he told
them of the use to which England put them while they were
young and healthy and the hard lot of the maimed and crippled
veteran who was left to beg on the streets or to die in the poor-
house. The few who lived to get a pension after twenty-one
years' service were the exceptions.
But the most effective part of his appeals was where he
described the heartless evictions, many of them carried out with
bodies of troops to overawe the people, and the sufferings of the
victims on the emigrant ships and after their arrival in America.
He had seen thousands of them and could speak from personal
knowledge, while many of his hearers were themselves victims
of the Clearances, or had relatives who were. And he pictured
the man who would fire on his own flesh and blood for England's
shilling a day as worse than a dog.
In those days bloody fights between Irish and English regi-
ments were very common in the garrisons, and the Irish always
won. I remember seeing one desperate battle between the Eighty-
seventh and a regiment of Guards — either the Coldstreams or
the Scots Fusiliers — and the Faug-a-Ballaghs chased the Guards-
men all along the Quays from near the Royal Barracks and over
one of the bridges to near Carlisle Bridge on Aston's Quay, where
they captured the man they were after, in spite of his comrades
and a large body of police, and threw him into the Liffey. He
was rescued by a man in a boat and the fight ended. The provost
guard had often to be called out at Aldershot and the Curragh
to quell an Anglo-Irish riot in which serious wounds were inflicted
with belt buckles and pewter quarts.
With rough eloquence "The Pagan" would touch the race
pride of the Irish soldiers by showing how they themselves could
smash the English army and give Ireland a sweet revenge for
seven hundred years of robbery, persecution and slavery. All
this would not be said in the form of a speech, but conversa-
142
RECOLLECTIONS Of" AN IRISH REBEL
tionally and in detached pieces. He got the men to help him by
telling their own experiences and what had driven them to .join
the army. Many of these stories were tragic. In those days the
Irishmen in the British army were of fine physique and many of
them had received a good primary education. When later I came
to know them I was amazed at their intelligence. Many of the
sergeants were men fit to hold commissions and had in them
the material for competent regimental commanders. And they
were not all Catholics.
"The Pagan" swore in soldiers in all sorts of places, — not a
few in sentry boxes, while yet on duty with rifles in their hands.
They were all over Ireland, but mainly in the chief garrison
towns and at the Curragh Camp. Some of the regiments were
moved to England and the work went on without interruption.
In the North of England and Scotland, where there were a great
many Irishmen, soldiers and civilian Fenians speedily got into
touch, and it was easy to transmit messages.
But "The Pagan's" work was mainly propagandist and, as it
was all done in about a year, the organization that resulted was
rather loose. Probably "The Pagan" would not have been able
to do any better if he had the time. Some weeks after O'Leary's
arrest, William Francis Roantree was appointed in his place by
Stephens.
Roantree was born in Leixlip, County Kildare. His father
was an auctioneer doing a good business, and he himself was
trained as a butcher. He had several brothers, all of whom
were Fenians, except one, who in after years was an Inspector
of National Schools. William Roantree had served for some
time in the American Navy and had seen some service with the
famous filibusterer, General Walker, in Nicaragua. He had re-
turned to Ireland in 1861 and started the Fenian work in Leixlip,
where there was soon one of the largest Circles in the country.
It included strong contingents in Maynooth, Celbridge, Lucan
and other towns in Kildare and Dublin. As he was a man of
fine physique and military appearance, with good manners, he
was a great contrast to his predecessor, and no better selection
could have been made.
Roantree had for assistants James Rynd, a Kerryman, who
was in the Dublin Fire Brigade, and, I think, had served in the
Irish Papal Brigade; Thomas Baines, a Sligo man, who had
also been for a time in the Fire Brigade; and, towards the end,
Jack Mullen, a Dublin man, who had seen some service in the
Federal Navy in the earlier part of the Civil War. In after years
Mullen turned out rather poorly and was never much of an
acquisition to the organizing staff.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
143
Roantree whipped the organization in the army into better
shape and it advanced rapidly under his management. He got in
touch with the men in the garrisons in Dublin, Cork, Limerick,
Waterford, Fermoy, Buttevant, Athlone, Mullingar, Dundalk, Bel-
fast, Derry, Enniskillen and the Curragh Camp, and picked out
one man for "Centre" of each of the regiments. I found them
all to be very intelligent men.
I became acquainted with several of these men, while Roan-
tree was still in charge, through my close personal relations
with him. I accompanied him on several of his visits to the
men stationed in Dublin and met those at the Curragh Camp
when I went with him to the Curragh races.
When I took Roantree's place I found he had appointed Pat-
rick Keating, a handsome six feet two Clareman, as "Centre"
of the Fifth Dragoon Guards. When a much younger man Keat-
ing had enlisted in the Sixth Carbineers, and his family had
"bought him out." During that enlistment he was on John
Mitchel's escort when they took him away to the ship in 1848,
and again, in his second term, he was on the Luby escort. The
thought of it was too much for him, and as he saw Luby taken
from the van into Mountjoy Prison he burst into tears. The
sight of the helmeted dragoon, sword in hand, with the tears
streaming down his cheeks, made him a marked man, and he
was one of the first soldiers arrested in 1866. He died of heart
disease, a prisoner in Western Australia.
Many of the Fenian soldiers made no effort to disguise their
sympathies and some of them were very reckless. One day in
1865, I met eight six-footers of the Fifth Dragoons, marching in
twos, in close order, with their light canes held as swords, and
all singing "O'Donnell Abu," as they swung into Castle Street
past the Upper Castle Yard, and the infantry guard across the
street standing inside the rails and grinning approvingly. At
the Curragh races in June, 1865, Roantree introduced me to a
lot of soldiers, and he loaded a jaunting car with a group of
them to drive them over to the Camp. Roantree, Dan Byrne of
Ballitore (who worked in one of the canteens) , William Dunphy
of Mountmellick, and I were the only civilians. Among the sol-
diers was Thomas Hassett, a Corkman, who had served in the
"Pope's Brigade," but was then in the Twenty-fourth Foot, and
who was afterwards one of the six men rescued from Western
Australia by the Catalpa expedition. Of their own accord yie
soldiers struck up "The Rising of the Moon," and we tried in
vain to stop them. They continued to sing till the car swung
into the streets of the Camp and there were approving smiles
from scores of soldiers as we passed the doors of the huts.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Roantree was arrested, with several others, on the night the
Irish People was seized — September 15, 1865 — and warrants were
issued for the arrest of Rynd and Baynes, who, being well known
to the detectives, had to keep out of sight. Later both were
arrested. Rynd, against whom there was little evidence, was
released on bail, but Bayne was convicted and sentenced to ten
years' penal servitude. The latter was released in Western Aus-
tralia in 1869 (with John Kenealy and several others) , and went
to San Francisco, where he died. James Rynd died in Boston.
Roantree, shortly after his arrest, was tried and sentenced to
penal servitude for ten years. He was released at the same time
as John O'Leary, Thomas Clarke Luby, O'Donovan Rossa, and a
number of others in 1871, and came to America. After spending
some time in New York he settled in Philadelphia, where he
became a traveller for a large wholesale house. About the year
1900 he returned to Ireland, and secured employment under the
Dublin Corporation. He died in that city in 1918, at the age of 89.
On the night of the seizure of the Irish People several soldiers
came out over the barrack walls to find out what was up and to
convey the news to their comrades inside. They thought there
might be a fight. As a majority of the men on guard at the
barrack gates, and several of the sergeants, were Fenians, they
had no difficulty in getting back, and not a man of them was
punished. For several weeks after the arrests, the work in the
army necessarily was brought to a standstill and new conditions
came into existence.
CHAPTER XXII.
"ORGANIZATION" SYSTEMATIZED IN THE ARMY.
Stephens Appointed Devoy "Chief Organizer of the British
Troops in Ireland" — Assistants Well Qualified for the
Work.
For several weeks after the arrest of Roantree the organiza-
tion in the army was left to drift along without attention. Many
of the men, however, had acquaintances among the members of
the civil organization in the various garrison towns, especially in
Dublin, and some kind of irregular communication was kept up
with the soldiers — enough to let them know that, in spite of the
numerous arrests, the organization was still intact and that the
intention to fight remained.
There was a sharp lookout for Stephens, which made it neces-
sary for him to keep very quiet, but, as long as the head of the
organization remained uncaptured, the spirit of confidence con-
tinued unbroken. For a short time Edward (Ned) Duffy was the
medium of communication between Stephens and the organiza-
tion. Duffy's practice was to interview the men in the back par-
lor of a quiet, very well kept house across the Grand Canal at
Baggot Street Bridge, where a young man of unusual intelligence
and good manners, named Hogan, was manager. On my return
from a trip through southern Kildare and Queens County, on
which I had been sent, I met Duffy there one evening in Octo-
ber, in company with General Halpin, Colonel Kelly, Edmund
O'Donovan and John Ryan of Liverpool. After a preliminary
lecture about stories of dissatisfaction among the men over lack
of preparation, and a rather extravagant expression of his per-
sonal confidence in "The Captain", Duffy handed me a letter,
with "Dev." on the envelope. I opened it and found a document
which I took the risk of preserving; it is in my possession as I
write. I gave it to my eldest sister for safe keeping, and she
sewed it up in her muff, where it remained securely for many
years, and I brought it to America in 1879 on my return from a
trip to Ireland. The document was as follows:
"Thursday, Oct. 26, 1865.
"My Dear Friend:
"There is a lull just now on the part of the enemy, and
we should make the utmost of it. To this end I hereby ap-
point you Chief Organizer of the British troops here in
Ireland. While in this service your allowance will be £3 a
145
146
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
week, but this sum must cover your support, travelling ex-
penses and refreshment to any soldier you may have to
meet. I also authorize you to appoint a staff of eight men to
act under you. Two of these should be civilians and the
other six soldiers. All should be staunch, steady men. Use
your best judgment in their appointment, but make them
rapidly as you can. The allowance to each of the two civil-
ians (your aides) may be from 15s. to £l-10s. a week, accord-
ing to the circumstances and requirements of the men. The
soldiers (unless they be men of superior tact and judgment)
should not be given much money. Five to ten shillings a
week would be amply sufficient for most of them, but, should
you meet with a really clever and reliable man, don't hesi-
tate about allowing him £1 a week. Should you find it wise
to add to the number of your military aides, let me know.
Bearer will give you £6. Send me weekly returns of expenses.
"Yours faithfully,
"J. Stephens.
"P. S. — Send off the man you write about.
"Be very prudent now. You owe me this, to justify the
appointment of so young a man to so responsible a post."
I never drew a salary and never paid one to any of the assis-
tants I appointed. We all subsisted on enough to barely pay our
expenses. The men I appointed were all civilians. I used plenty
of soldiers in the work, but gave none of them any more than an
occasional half crown or shilling, and then only when necessary,
except to William Curry of the 87th. He was an invaluable man,
intelligent, prompt, reliable, always sober, and his expenses never
exceeded £2 a week, and were usually under £1.
I hesitated about undertaking the heavy responsibility, but
Colonel Kelly assured me he would be always ready to give me
direction and advice, so, with the understanding that I would
report to him every day and take his orders, I finally accepted.
As there were warrants out for both of us, the arrangement must
seem to people of the present day to be rather reckless, but to
men with our knowledge of the Irish police and our contempt
for their masters at the Castle, it seemed perfectly feasible then.
And it proved to be so for four months of incessant conflict with
the Government, in which every energy of the officials was put
forth in vain.
I did not make any appointments immediately, and some of
them not for several weeks, but I may as well describe the men
now. Jack Mullen was already on the staff and I kept him on
by Kelly's advice, as he had a wide acquaintance with the men in
the regiments of the Dublin garrison, and through him I was
made known to them. He had an uncle in some position in the
Castle who informed him after we had been working a few
weeks that the police were after him. So, as many of the detec-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
147
tives knew him I allowed him to go over to Liverpool for safety
and I saw him no more. The others were Edward Pilsworth and
Denis Duggan.
Besides these, I was usually accompanied by a group of three
or four stalwart men — all of whom were "wanted" by the police
and could not go home — so as to be ready to resist arrest. The
men most often with me besides Duggan and Pilsworth, were
Matthew O'Neill and William Hampson of Celbridge, a watch-
maker, who worked in Donegan's in Dame Street.
Pilsworth, a slight, but wiry man, was in the London organi-
zation and had come over with a batch of men for the fight
which we all supposed would take place before the year 1865
was out. Pilsworth was the son of an Irish troop sergeant-
major of cavalry, and was born in Birmingham Barracks. He
had a most decided English accent, although he did not drop his
"h's", and it enabled him to avoid detection for a long time. He
went by the name of Williams. He had served with Garibaldi
in Sicily and Naples and, having been brought up among British
soldiers, was a very useful man. When arrested with me he gave
the name of St. Clair, and after his release, in order not to lose
the credit for his conviction for Fenianism, of which he was very
proud, he called himself Edward Pilsworth St. Clair.
Denis Duggan was a Dublin man whose acquaintance I first
made when we were both pupils at School Street Model School.
He was a coachmaker and was working in London when the
Irish People was seized. He belonged to the London Irish Volun-
teers and hurried to Dublin when the news reached him, but he
did a very reckless thing. Determined to come armed, instead
of taking his own rifle he brought one belonging to a comrade
and left him to face the consequences. I believe the comrade was
Michael Lawlor, the sculptor, a cousin of James J. O'Kelly and
nephew of the more famous sculptor of the same name. I knew
the younger Lawlor very well before he left Dublin.
Duggan was a very ingenious man, and he managed to get
the rifle into Dublin by cutting the stock in sections and putting
the pieces under the shelving of his tool chest, securely held by
clamps fastened to the shelves by short screws which left no
marks on the top. Every man coming into Ireland was searched
then. Duggan calmly opened the trunk and stood by while the
detectives were searching it. He lived in Echlin Street, which
runs from James's Street to the Grand Canal Harbor, only a
short distance from Pilsworth's public house, where we were
later arrested.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
That rifle did fine service on the night of March 5, 1867, at
Stepaside and Glencullen, where Patrick Lennon, a very good
judge of such things, assured me Duggan was as cool and col-
lected as a veteran soldier. Another instance of Duggan's in-
genuity was his success in smuggling in to me in Mount joy Prison
in 1866, after he had got out on bail, a whole page of the Free-
man concealed in the scooped out back of a clothes-brush, the
fastening being done with screws deftly put in among the bristles.
I broke a warder's pen knife in unscrewing it, but the stump of
the blade made a fine turnscrew. The paper had a full account
of Stephens' speech at Jones' Wood, New York, which he deliv-
ered on May 15 of that year.
Duggan was one of the men stationed outside the wall on the
night of the Rescue of James Stephens from Richmond Prison,
and later served in the Rescue of the Fenian Military Prisoners
from Western Australia in 1876. Soon after that, he fell into
bad health, returned to Dublin and died there.
O'Neill I knew from the time we met in an Irish class in 1858.
He died in Dublin in 1904.
Hampson, the son of an Englishman who settled in Celbridge,
County Kildare, had charge of that district under Roantree. He
died of yellow fever in Cuba in the early '70's while laying tele-
graph wires.
The most efficient and useful man I had assisting me in the
work was William Curry, a corporal in the 87th, who came over
from Portsmouth towards the end of 1865 with twenty men of the
regiment. They got excited on hearing the news of the arrests
and trials and this detachment was sent as a vanguard, with
the assurance that when the word was given the regiment would
seize a steamer and land on the Irish coast. Curry was the
Centre of the regiment, which was wholly Irish, but, while their
sentiments were all right, Curry, a very prudent man, carefully
selected the men to be sworn in and they numbered only 200. The
rest he knew he could have, but they were rough, reckless fel-
lows whom he thought it better to leave unsworn.
The twenty men of the 87th were a typical lot of Irish soldiers.
They were all powerfully built men, though not all tall. The
shortest period that any of them had served was five years, and
one Clareman named Penn had seen eighteen years' service.
Three years more would retire him on pension. They got thirty
days' furlough each and thirty shillings for thirty days' pay. Out
of this they each paid ten shillings for their passage to Dublin
on the London steamer which called at Portsmouth, Southamp-
ton, Plymouth and Falmouth on its way to Dublin. When their
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
149
furlough had expired and they found that the fight had been
postponed, they decided to remain and we had to provide them
with civilian clothes. We had put them on Is. 6d. a day subsis-
tence money soon after their arrival, and they stood their ground,
ready for any emergency until, one by one, they were all arrested
during the course of the next few months. As not a man of
them turned informer they could only be punished for deser-
tion and making away with their kits. They all got the longest
terms the military law allowed.
Two of them were exceptions to this, Curry and another cor-
poral named Tierney, a Clareman. Curry was convicted on the
evidence of informers from other regiments that he had attended
meetings with me and carried messages to the men in the bar-
racks. He was sentenced to two years and fifty lashes.
A report of the flogging, clipped from the Daily Express, was
smuggled into Mountjoy Prison to P. J. McDonnell in a boiled
potato and, as he was in the next cell to me, he passed me the
clipping. It said that during the flogging Curry never winced
or moved a muscle. When I met him in New York in 1871 and
told him this, he said: "Be japers, John, I had a sixpence between
my teeth."
The spirit and character of these men of the 87th may be
judged from one incident. In getting them civilian clothes we did
not think of shirts. Curry paid them their Is. 6d. a day every
morning, but a few days after the change Gilligan, a stalwart
King's County man, who had served eight years, failed to turn
up at roll call and we feared he had been arrested. Some hours
later he appeared and, in reply to my question, said he had
been "foraging" and pointed to a clean, but unironed white shirt,
which he had on. He explained that he had gone out to Kim-
mage and finding several dry shirts hanging on a line, took one
of them and left his own in its place. "Exchange is no robbery,"
he explained, and then added: "I don't mind takin' me chances
of bein' killed fightin', but, be japers, I don't want to be stood
up agin' a wall an' shot like a dog as a deserter."
I then found that they all wanted to get rid of every vestige
of their military clothing, for the same reason as Gilligan urged.
As the military shirts were very serviceable, the Dublin men
had no objection to wearing them, so they were all exchanged
before night.
While Curry had his uniform he visited the barracks every
day with his furlough in his pocket, carried messages to such
men as I wanted to see, arranged for meetings, ascertained the
strength of the guards and pickets, how many Irishmen were in
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
each and the number of our friends, and did any other work
that was required. He reported to me several times a day and
always accompanied me to meetings. As he was five feet eleven
inches in height and powerfully built, carried a revolver, was a
good collar-and-elbow wrestler and handy with his fists, to say
nothing of his cool courage, his presence at these meetings was
very useful. To arrest a party consisting of Curry, O'Neill,
Hampson, Duggan, Pilsworth, myself and several others, would
require a strong force of police. But Curry was surprised
asleep in bed one night, if I remember rightly, in the house of
Patrick Merrigan, afterwards very well known in New York.
Curry went from New York to Australia in 1877 and I have never
heard from him since.
Corporal Tierney was not arrested until he made an attempt
to kill Warner, the old army pensioner who had drilled the Cork
Fenians and turned informer to save himself. Tierney was sen-
tenced to imprisonment for life and after spending many years
in Spike Island was released, utterly broken in health, and came
to America. He died in New Haven, Conn., and the Clan-na-
Gael of that city, through the efforts of Captain Larry O'Brien,
erected a fine monument over his grave.
Next to John Boyle O'Reilly (with whom I will deal in a sepa-
rate chapter), the most intelligent and best educated of the
Fenian soldiers was Thomas Chambers, who was Centre of the
61st. It was supposed to be an English regiment, but there were
not a hundred men in it who were not Irish and there were 600
Fenians. It was the banner Fenian regiment. Chambers was
born in Kilkenny and had a brother, James, who was a Centre
in the North of England and came over to Dublin before the end
of 1865.
Chambers was arrested with me, tried by court-martial, sen-
tenced to death, and the sentence was commuted to penal servi-
tude for life. He was with me a good deal in Portland and Mill-
bank. He was released with Sergeant McCarthy and John P.
O'Brien, the only remaining Fenian military prisoners in England
in 1878, and was at the breakfast given by Parnell at Morrison's
Hotel in Dublin on January 15th when poor McCarthy dropped
dead. Chambers remained in Dublin for some years after his
release, and I met him at a meeting there in 1879. Soon after
that he came to America, but his health broke down and he died
in the South in the early 'eighties.
John P. O'Brien, as I remember, was born in London of Tip-
perary parents, and he was twenty years of age when he came
over "for the fight" in 1865. His father was a district postmaster
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
151
in London and when the fight was put off in December, 1865, he
did not want to return to London, fearing that his father would
prevent him coming back when needed. So he enlisted in one of
the regiments stationed in Dublin, in order to be on hand when
wanted. He was not on my staff, however. He was convicted
and sentenced to, I believe, fifteen years' imprisonment.
Another very useful man was the Centre of the Third Buffs,
a Tipperary man named Fennessy. He was in the regiment of
Tipperary militia which mutineed some time in the 'fifties, on a
demand to be allowed to retain their trousers, and, like many
others of the mutineers, enlisted in the Line to escape punish-
ment. He also came over from England on furlough and was
useful for carrying messages into the barracks. He was a quiet,
sober, intelligent man.
Sergeant McCarthy I never met until we were both in Port-
land Prison and his health was even then visibly breaking down.
With all these men acting either as regular assistants or as
volunteer aides, I had a very efficient staff, as well as a sturdy
bodyguard, and the work in the army went on with great vigor
until the repeated postponements of the fight made conditions
hopeless, and the best men in the regiments in Dublin and some
in other places were arrested.
CHAPTER XXIII.
JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY
The Outstanding Figure Among the Soldier Fenians — Escaped
from British Penal Colony in Western Australia — Poet and
Patriot.
The most remarkable man among the Fenians in the British
army was by long odds John Boyle O'Reilly, who later became
editor of the Boston Pilot and won fame as a poet in America.
His first poem, "The Old School Clock", was written in Arbor
Hill Military Prison, while he was awaiting trial for Fenianism.
O'Reilly was born at Dowth Castle, on the Meath side of the
Boyne, six miles from Drogheda, on June 28, 1844. The old Castle
had been turned by Viscount Netterville, its owner, into an insti-
tution for widows and orphans, with a National School attached.
William David O'Reilly, John's father, was master of the school.
He gave his son the beginning of a good education which he
completed out in the world later on. At eleven years of age he
became a printer's apprentice on the Drogheda Argus, but after
four years the proprietor died and he was obliged to finish his
apprenticeship on the Guardian in Preston, Lancashire, where
he went to live with a maternal aunt who had married an
English Catholic sea captain named Watkinson. Later he learned
shorthand and became a reporter on the same paper.
In Preston he got his first taste of soldiering in a company of
English Volunteers. Going back to Ireland in 1863, he enlisted
in the Tenth Hussars, then stationed in Dundalk.
O'Reilly's career is so well known to Irishmen everywhere that
it is hardly necessary to go into details here, except as to his
work for Fenianism in the army during four eventful months,
from October, 1865, to February, 1866, when he was arrested. He
was the Centre of the Tenth Hussars.
He was a Fenian before he enlisted, but the statement made
by James Jeffrey Roche in his "Life of John Boyle O'Reilly" that
he joined the army for the purpose of spreading the organiza-
tion among the soldiers is an error. He enlisted because, like
many other Irishmen, he liked soldiering, and the best proof
that he did not have such an intention is found in the fact that
he was more than two years in the service before he did any work
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JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
153
for the movement. I had been working for some weeks on the
regiment before I even knew of his existence and none of my
predecessors had any knowledge of him.
I met O'Reilly first in October, 1865, under circumstances that
were characteristic of the time. In my daily reports to Colonel
Kelly I had informed him that the Tenth Hussars, then quartered
at Island Bridge Barracks, in the southwestern part of Dublin,
was the only regiment with which I was making no progress.
I was anxious to do the best I could with it on account of the
location of the barracks and the fact that in Richmond Barracks,
close by, the Sixty-first and a battalion of the Sixtieth Rifles
were stationed, and were both well organized. These two bar-
racks controlled the roads leading to the Southwest and the
Great Southern and Western Railroad. The men of the Tenth
were mainly English, but there were over a hundred Irishmen
among them and it was the crack light cavalry regiment of the
British army. It was called "The Prince of Wales's Own". Col-
onel Baker, Its commander (afterwards Baker Pasha of the
Turkish army) , was reputed to be the best cavalry officer in the
British service. The few men I had in the Tenth were not of
much account and I could make no headway. This situation was
speedily changed after I met O'Reilly.
At Colonel Kelly's address in Grantham Street one day I met
by appointment a young veterinary surgeon from Drogheda
named Harry Byrne who knew O'Reilly well, and, on account of
his profession, had a wide acquaintance in the Tenth, which had
recently been stationed at Dundalk. He had already told Kelly
that O'Reilly was a member, that he belonged to a much re-
spected family, and was the man for the work in the regiment.
In half an hour Byrne and I were on our way to Island Bridge
on an outside car, which we dismissed some distance away and
went into the barracks. In the barrack square we met a troop
sergeant major whom Byrne knew, a bluff, hearty Englishman
of the best type. He told us that O'Reilly was on picket at the
Royal Barracks. There were heavy pickets of infantry and
cavalry kept in readiness for emergencies at certain points in
Dublin during that period. The Englishman insisted on our
going into the canteen and having a drink and a chat and we
went. He was such a frank, manly fellow that we felt bad at
having to deceive him, but military necessity reconciled us to the
deception. He praised O'Reilly to the skies, said he was the best
young soldier in the regiment, and predicted a great future for
him. "I shouldn't wonder," he said "if in five or six years that
young fellow'd be a troop sawjent majah." And if O'Reilly had
remained a hussar that would have been the end of him.
154 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
We went to the Royal Barracks on the other side of the
Liffey. The sentry at the gate was a soldier of the Eighth Foot, —
"The Eighth King's", I believe they called it — and he gave me a
smile of recognition. He was a Fenian, and another member of
the guard stepped up to me and asked if I was looking for some
of the boys. I told him I wanted to find the picket of the Tenth
Hussars and he directed me to the spot where some men of the
Fifth Dragoon Guards were on stable duty, and they were
nearly all our men. One of them hailed me as I came up; it was
Martin Hogan, one of the six men later rescued in Western
Australia. After a handshake with half a dozen others Hogan
showed us where to go. The hussars of the picket were loung-
ing about, with no officer near them. Byrne went up to a ser-
geant, told him he was a friend of O'Reilly from Drogheda, and
he was at once shown where he was. He was in the stable tight-
ening his saddle girths, getting ready to mount and start off to
the Viceregal Lodge with a despatch to the Lord Lieutenant
from Sir Hugh Rose, Commander of the Forces in Ireland.
In 1890, when O'Reilly died and when my recollection was
much clearer than it is now, I wrote for the Chicago Herald a
description of him as he appeared then and which Roche copied
into his book. It said:
"Byrne had just time to introduce us and O'Reilly and I
to make an appointment for the next evening, when he
brought out his horse, sprang into the saddle and was off.
O'Reilly was then a handsome, lithely built young fellow
of twenty, with the down of a future black moustache on
his lip. He had a pair of beautiful dark eyes that changed
in expression with his varying emotions. He wore the full-
dress dark blue hussar uniform, with its mass of braiding
across the breast, and the busby, with its tossing plume, was
set jauntily on the head and held by a linked brass strap,
catching under the lower lip."
I should have made his age twenty-one, but I wrote from
recollection and in haste. He was so proud of his showy uniform
that he often, as he related in after life, rode out of his way when
acting as a special courier, so that he could pass a shop with a
great plate glass window in which he could see the full reflection
of himself and his horse as he went by.
When I met him the next evening he told me he was often
selected to carry despatches between Sir Hugh Rose and Lord
Wodehouse, who was then Viceroy, and he offered, if we would
arrange a place for him to stop on the way, to let us steam the
despatches open, close them again, and he would then ride on
and deliver them. That showed the bold, daring character of
the man. I at once reported the offer to Colonel Kelly, who said
that at that stage the despatches would hardly contain anything
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL 155
of great importance, that the tampering with them would prob-
ably be at once discovered, and a valuable man sacrificed for
very little information. But he said that later, when important
movements of troops were about to be made, he would avail
himself of O'Reilly's offer. When that time came O'Reilly was a
prisoner and most of the Fenian regiments were gone. But if
the Rising had taken place at the time originally named and
when we were best able to fight, he and all the best Fenians in
the British army would have been ready to answer the call.
I may quote again from the article in the Chicago Herald:
"From that time till the following February, when we were
both arrested within a few days of each other, I saw him al-
most every day. When on guard or picket duty he never
failed to communicate with me, through William Curry — a
furloughed corporal of the Eighty-Seventh Foot, the famous
'Faugh-a-Ballaghs', who could go in and out of the bar-
racks,— every change worth knowing in the location and
strength of the guards and pickets. He brought me some
eighty men to be sworn in, had them divided into two pros-
pective troops, obtained possession of the keys of an unused
postern gate, and had everything ready to take his men,
armed and mounted, out of the barracks at a given signal.
The signal never came, and all his and other men's risks and
sacrifices were thrown away through incompetent and nerve-
less leadership."
In working out his plan for taking out his two troops O'Reilly
made a very good rough map of the section of the city in which
Island Bridge and Richmond Barracks were situated. When he
showed it to me in an upper room of Hoey's public house in
Bridgefoot Street, some of the Eighty-seventh men were present,
and an old soldier named Penn attacked O'Reilly for presumption,
asking him did he think that "these gintlemin" hadn't all of that
kind of thing that they wanted. Unfortunately they had not, but
the veteran's supposition was natural. I had provided myself
long before that with an Ordnance Survey map in sections and
Colonel Kelly had another, but maps were not plentiful among
the Fenians, although they knew the country very well.
Although O'Reilly developed into a poet of considerable ability
in America, he had at that time a good military head. His vanity
about his uniform, his trappings and his horse was a feeling
common to all young soldiers, but his ideas about the capture
of Dublin, and the way to get out of the city with our forces
intact, in case we failed, were all practical. Mere boy as he was,
he believed that the blow ought to be struck in Dublin, where
our organization was strongest and our membership in the Brit-
ish army was largest. The plan of "taking to the hills", which
was afterwards adopted — mainly because the organization in the
army had been broken up — did not appeal to him at all. During
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
the four months of his activity his zeal was unflagging. He
turned up for work every evening that he was off duty and spent
a good deal of time with me, outside of the gatherings where
work was done, discussing plans. These talks were mostly car-
ried on while walking along unfrequented streets.
O'Reilly was arrested on February 14, 1866, and as he was led
across the barrack square, Colonel Baker, of whom O'Reilly was
a great favorite, was passing. The Colonel shook his fist at him
in anger and said: "Damn you, O'Reilly, you have ruined the
finest regiment in Her Majesty's service." When the Colonel was
testifying before the court-martial later on, that O'Reilly had
failed to give him any information of an intended mutiny,
O'Reilly asked him: "What character do I bear in the regiment?"
The Colonel replied: "A good character." Captain Barthorp of
O'Reilly's own troop, who was a member of the court-martial,
swore that he knew the prisoner for three years and his char-
acter was good. Adjutant Russell of the Tenth Hussars (after-
wards well known as Lord Odo Russell) testified that his char-
acter was good "during his whole three years and thirty-one
days of service." Captain Russell afterwards succeeded in hav-
ing O'Reilly's sentence of imprisonment for life commuted to
twenty years, on the ground of his youth. The sentence had
originally been death, but as in all such cases, it had been changed
to life imprisonment.
Captain Whelan of the Sixty-first, an Irish Catholic, who was
the prosecutor at the courtsmartial, was an expert suborner of
perjury. It was he who secured all the informers except the two
willing ones, by the infamous methods which prevail in Irish
conspiracy cases. He went from cell to cell in Arbor Hill Mili-
tary Prison, where the soldiers charged with Fenianism were on
starvation diet, telling each man that the others had all turned
informers and that I had supplied to the Castle a list of all the
men I had sworn in. Several of them broke down and he schooled
and drilled them in the evidence they were to give, turning mere
taproom conversations, with outsiders present, into "meetings"
and making them put the word "Fenian" in when necessary — a
word that was never once used in the talks between the soldiers
and the civilian organizers.
This "Irish gentleman" had told every arrested man of the
Tenth that O'Reilly had informed on them all and pleaded with
them to save themselves by telling all they knew. He had fre-
quently pleaded with O'Reilly, and when he came on the eve of
the trial to make his last appeal to the man about whom he had
lied so cruelly and asked him to save himself by selling his com-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
157
rades, he was accompanied, as usual, by a warder. The warder
was an old soldier and an Englishman. As Whelan got the last
refusal from O'Reilly, he (Whelan) left the cell with a threat
of the dire consequences that would follow. The old soldier,
while Whelan was still there, said: "Yes, O'Reilly, you'd better
do as the Captain says." Then as he was closing the cell door,
he added in a low, but stern voice: "And, damme, I'd like to
choke you with my own hands if you do."
The worst of the informers against O'Reilly, as against most of
the other soldier Fenians, was a private in the Fifth Dragoon
Guards, named Patrick Foley, who hailed from Waterford. He
was really a spy who went into the movement for the deliberate
purpose of betraying it. He was driven out of the Army later
by the dog's life he had to lead. The old warder referred to above
had the soldier's point of view about spies. Every one of the
military informers, to save them from incessant persecution and
assault, had to be transferred to other regiments and when dis-
covered again were driven out, the Englishmen joining with the
Irish in making their lives a burden to them. In the next chap-
ter I cite how Foley was befriended by O'Reilly years later. But
he died in misery soon after.
The mention of this particular informer reminds me of a
namesake of his, William Foley, also a Waterford man, who was
one of our best and most faithful Fenian men in the English
army. Bill Foley, who had become a victim of heart disease, was
out on ticket-of-leave when John J. Breslin arrived in Western
Australia to rescue the military prisoners and he sent the poor
fellow to New York. He died in St. Vincent's Hospital after his
rescued comrades had arrived on the Catalpa, and was given a
fine public funeral.
The courtsmartial must be dealt with in a separate chapter.
After conviction the Fenian soldiers were removed to Mount joy
Prison, Dublin, thence to Pentonville, later to Millbank (both in
London) , where they finished their "probation" or separate
period of imprisonment. Then they were removed to the "public
works" prison at Chatham, then to Portsmouth and later to
Dartmoor. These frequent removals suggest fear on the part of
the Government of attempts at rescue of the soldier prisoners by
their friends outside. In Chatham, O'Reilly and two others actu-
ally made an attempt to escape and were severely punished.
In October, 1867, all the convicted soldiers except McCarthy,
Chambers and O'Brien, were removed to Portland Prison, from
which, with a number of civilian prisoners, they were sent to the
Penal Colony of Western Australia on the old captured French
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
ship, the Houguemont. On January 10, 1868, they landed at Fre-
mantle, West Australia. Of O'Reilly's life in the penal settle-
ment, when on a "road party", I will record one incident. For being
late returning to the camp he was sentenced to six months' soli-
tary confinement. The overseer held in his hand a letter with
black borders on it and said: "O'Reilly, here is a letter for you."
O'Reilly said, "Thank you," and held out his hand. The official
looked at him, evidently enjoying the torture he was inflicting,
and then said: "You will get it in six months." The letter an-
nounced the death of his mother, whom he knew from the last
news he had received to be very sick. But I must say from some
experience of English prison officials that this brute was not an
average specimen.
The thrilling story of his escape, by the aid of Father McCabe
and two Irish-Australians named Maguire, to the American
whaler Gazelle, commanded by Captain David R. Gifford and
having on board as one of the mates Captain Henry C. Hathaway,
who saved him from recapture in an English port in the Indian
Ocean, is too long to repeat here. I shall merely append the fol-
lowing official notice of the escape from the Police Gazette of the
Penal Colony:
"Absconders.
"20 — John B. O'Reilly, registered No. 9843; arrived in the
colony per convict ship Houguemont in 1868; sentenced to
twenty years 9th July, 1886. Description — Healthy appear-
ance; present age 25 years; 5 feet iy2 inches high, black hair,
brown eyes, oval visage, dark complexion: an Irishman. Ab-
sconded from Convict Road Party, Bunbury, on the 18th of
February, 1869."
After an eventful voyage O'Reilly landed in Philadelphia on
November 23, 1869, destined to go through some hardships and
undergo many disappointments — chiefly owing to the demoral-
ized condition of the Fenian movement brought about by the
Split. He went as a correspondent for the Boston Pilot to the
last Raid on Canada in 1870, took part in one of the fights,
and then became editor of that paper.
Further reference to his distinguished career in America would
be out of place here. I shall merely add that he died in 1890,
as he had lived, true to the Irish National Cause. For three or
four years after his arrival in America he felt some resentment
against the "American" wing of the Fenian organization which
found expression in editorials in the Pilot and in private letters
which have since been published. That resentment was shared
for a time by the released Fenian prisoners who arrived in New
York in 1871, but in the latter case it speedily disappeared when
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
159
they came to realize the entire good faith of the men on both
sides in the disastrous Split. In O'Reilly's case it ended with
his intimate knowledge of the plans of the Clan-na-Gael to lib-
erate his fellow-prisoners in Australia.
Although O'Reilly ceased in 1870 (at the request of the Arch-
bishop of Boston) to be a member of the Clan-na-Gael, he
was consulted by its leaders in every important emergency, from
the Rescue of the military prisoners in 1876 to the starting of the
"New Departure" in 1878, and through the whole course of the
Land League. I have hundreds of his letters, written during all
these years up to a short time before his death which fully prove
this assertion and flatly contradict the statements of latter-day
renegades that John Boyle O'Reilly had ceased to believe in real
Irish Nationality, or was not ready to take a soldier's part in its
accomplishment if the opportunity should come.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE SOLDIERS ON TRIAL.
courtsmartial held in royal barracks, dublin, in 1866 — most
of Military Prisoners Told Only Enough to Save Them-
selves— Sentences of Death Commuted.
Fenianism was in a bad way in Ireland in 1866. The chief
features of the year were the courtsmartial on the arrested sol-
diers. They were held in the Royal Barracks (now Collins Bar-
racks) in the middle of the Summer and were intended to destroy
the organization in the British army and strike terror into the dis-
affected soldiers who were at that time the chief hope of the
movement. They did not succeed in striking terror, but between
them and the removal of the good regiments the soldiers' organi-
zation was effectually broken up and shattered.
Edward Duffy, who was left in charge of the movement in the
absence of Stephens and Col. Kelly in America, had no money
to pay counsel to defend the men, while the funds of the Ladies'
Committee (which had paid for the defense of the civilian
prisoners) were exhausted and large sums stolen by Richard
Pigott, through whose paper, the Irishman, they were collected.
Everything that happened was of a depressing character and it
is a wonder, under the circumstances, that the organization
survived. But it did.
A full report of the courtsmartial would require a separate
volume, but, as the evidence against the soldiers was practically
the same in every case, I need only give here the trial of John
Boyle O'Reilly (with the correction of a few errors) from
James Jeffrey Roche's Life of O'Reilly.
I was in Mountjoy Prison, awaiting trial, for over a year
after February, 1866, and in English jails for the next four,
so I was not in a position to get the facts personally. Roche's
book is now out of print, but many copies are still to be found
in second hand book shops in Boston and New York. It ought to
be read by those who wish to acquaint themselves with the Irish
situation during a most interesting period, although there are
many errors in it, on account of the author's desire to heap
praise on the man he worshipped.
O'Reilly's trial began on June 27, 1866, the eve of his twenty-
second birthday, and went on for several days. The charge
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL 161
against him was: "Having at Dublin, in January, 1866, come to
the knowledge of an intended mutiny of Her Majesty's Forces in
Ireland, and not giving information of said intended mutiny to
his commanding officer."
The courtmartial was constituted as follows: President, Col-
onel Sawyer, Sixth Dragoon Guards; Prosecutor, Captain Whelan,
Eighth Regiment, assisted by Mr. Landy, Q. C. The Judge Advo-
cate was advised by Mr. Johnson. The prisoner was defended
by Mr. O'Loughlen, advised by Mr. John Lawless, solicitor.
The other officers of the courtmartial were: Lieut. Col.
Maunsell, Major Drew and Captain Gladstone, Seventy-fifth
Foot; Captain Wallace and Lieut. Caryvell, Ninety-second Gordon
Highlanders; Captain Skinner, Military Train; Captain Kingston
and Lieutenant Garnett, Fifth Dragoon Guards; Captain
Barthorp, Tenth Hussars; Captain Telford and Lieutenant Meade,
Sixtieth Rifles; Captain Taylor, Eighty-eight Foot, Connaught
Rangers; Captain Fox and Ensign Parkinson, Sixty-first Foot.
O'Reilly's fellow-prisoners at that time were: Color-Sergeant
Charles McCarthy, Fifty-third Foot; Privates Patrick Keating,
Fifth Dragoon Guards; Michael Harrington, Thomas Darragh,
Fifty-third Foot; and Captain James Murphy, who was charged
with having deserted from the camp at Aldershot, whereas he
was fighting for the Union in West Virginia as an officer in the
Federal Army, and previous to the Civil War had been a sergeant
in the American Regular Army.
The prisoner (O'Reilly) pleaded "not guilty". Captain
Whelan, the prosecutor, opened the case as follows:
"The enormity of the offense with which the prisoner is
charged is such that it is difficult to find language by which
to describe it. It strikes at the root of all military discipline,
and, if allowed to escape the punishment which it entails,
would render her Majesty's forces, who ought to be the
guardians of our lives and liberty, and the bulwark and pro-
tection of the Constitution under which we live, a source of
danger to the state and all its loyal citizens and subjects,
and her Majesty's faithful subjects would become the prey
and victims of military despotism, licentiousness, and vio-
lence. Our standing army would then be a terror to the
throne, a curse, not a blessing, to the community; but at the
same time, as is the gravity of the offense, so in proportion
should the evidence by which such a charge is to be sus-
tained, be carefully and sedulously weighed. It will be for
you, gentlemen, to say whether the evidence which will be
adduced before you, leaves upon your mind any reasonable
doubt of the prisoner's guilt."
The prosecutor, in continuation, said that evidence would be
laid before them to show that the prisoner was an active mem-
ber of the Fenian conspiracy, and that he had endeavored to
induce other soldiers to join it.
162
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The first witness called was Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald of the
Tenth Hussars. He said:
I know the prisoner. I know Hoey's public house in
Bridgefoot Street. I was in it in the month of November,
1865, with the prisoner. He brought me there. I was intro-
duced by the prisoner to a man named Devoy. There were
then present, Tierney, Rorreson, Bergin, and Sinclair of the
Tenth Hussars.
Prosecutor: Was there any conversation in presence of
the prisoner? If so, state what it was.
Prisoner: I object, sir, to that question. It relates to a
conversation previous to the date of the charge, and can
have no reference to it.
The court ruled that the evidence was admissible, and the
question was put.
Witness: Prisoner introduced me to Devoy and said:
"This is Corporal Fitzgerald," and I spoke to him. Devoy
said O'Reilly had spoken to him several times about me, and
said he should like to get me. We three sat down together
and I asked Devoy who was carrying on this affair. He said
Stephens. I asked, were there any arms or ammunition. He
said there was, and they were getting lots every day from
America. I asked who were to be their officers. He said there
would be plenty of officers. He said it was so carried on that
privates did not know their non-commissioned officers, nor
they their officers. Devoy then left the room and the pris-
oner went after him. After a few minutes prisoner came and
told me that Devoy wanted to speak to me. I went down to
the yard and found Devoy there. He said, "I suppose O'Reilly
has told you what I want with you."
Prisoner: I respectfully object, sir. What the witness now
states to have taken place, was not in my presence.
Court decided that the answer should be given.
Witness: I said that I did not know. He said that it was
for the purpose of joining them he wanted me, and that there
was an oath necessary to be taken. I said I would not take
the oath, and he then said that he would not trust any man
that did not take the oath. We then returned upstairs. Noth-
ing further took place.
President: What did you mean by using the words, "This
business"?
Witness: I meant the Fenian conspiracy. When I went
upstairs I saw the prisoner, who bade me good-night. The
next time I saw him was one evening I met him in town com-
ing from the barracks. Some arrests took place that day,
and I said, "This business is getting serious." He said it was,
and that my name had been mentioned at a meeting a few
nights before. I asked what meeting, and he said a mili-
tary meeting. I asked who mentioned my name, and he said
he did not know exactly, but that it was a man of the Fifth
Dragoon Guards. He added, "If you come home to-night I
will take you to a similar meeting." I gave him no decided
answer. I afterwards met him in the barracks. This all oc-
curred before the meeting at Hoey's, of which I stated. When
I met him in the barracks he asked me was I going out. I
replied that I was. He said, "Will you meet me at the sign
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
163
of the 'Two Soldiers'?" I said yes, and went there and
waited until O'Reilly came in. He called for some drink, and
after we drank we left the house, but came back again to get
my gloves, and he said, "I want to introduce you to a per-
son." I said that I had no time and should go, but he said,
"I shall not detain you a minute." I then went with him to
Hoey's public house. It was on that occasion that I had
the interview with Devoy of which I have given evidence.
Here the court adjourned for half an hour. On its reas-
sembling Corporal Fitzgerald continued his testimony:
The conversation of which I have last spoken took place
either toward the end of November or the beginning of De-
cember, 1865. Prisoner never told me the object of the mili-
tary meetings of which he spoke. I know Pilsworth's public
house, James Street. I met prisoner in that house on the
13th of January, 1866. There were with him Denny, Mul-
larchy, Hood, Loftus, Crosby, and Sinclair, all Tenth Hussars,
and two deserters from Fifth Dragoon Guards. They were
in civilian clothes. There was a man named Williams pres-
ent, and also Devoy. On that occasion I had no conversa-
tion with O'Reilly, nor with any other person in his hearing.
I never had any further conversation with the prisoner about
Fenianism.
To the Court:
Prisoner never asked me the result of my conversation
with Devoy.
On cross-examination by the prisoner, witness said:
When I was in Hoey's public house there were no soldiers
of any other regiment but the Tenth Hussars present. That
was the only time I met the prisoner at Hoey's. It was a few
days after the conversation which took place when I met
the prisoner coming from the barracks, that he introduced
me to Devoy. I am twelve years in the army. The prisoner
was in the army only three years.
To the Court:
I made no report to my commanding officer of my con-
versation with Devoy or the meeting at Pilsworth's. I never
took the Fenian oath.
The next witness, Private McDonald, Tenth Hussars, testified:
I know Pilsworth's house. I was there about Christmas
last with the prisoner. I went with him to the house. There
were other persons there but I cannot say who they were.
There were some civilians, but I did not know their names.
Since then I heard that Devoy was one of them. The pris-
oner did not introduce me to any one on that occasion. Any
drink the soldiers had they paid for themselves. There
was no conversation relating to Fenianism in the presence of
the prisoner.
Here the President deemed it advisable to give the witness a
hint that his evidence was not satisfactory:
President: Remember that you are on your oath.
Witness: Prisoner was sitting near me for a quarter of an
hour or more; he was not far away from me. He was sitting
alongside me, close as one person sits to another. I knew
164
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
prisoner before that night. I had some conversation with
O'Reilly while he was sitting by me. I cannot now tell what
it was about, but it was not about Fenianism.
Devoy was not sitting near me that night; he was sitting
at the same table, but I did not speak to him, nor he to me.
I know Fortune's public house in Golden Lane. I have been
once in that house with O'Reilly, but I cannot say in what
month. It was after Christmas, I think. There were some
civilians and soldiers there; the soldiers were infantry men.
Devoy was one of the civilians, but I knew no one else's name.
Here the President again interjected a threatening hint:
President: Is it impossible to know an infantry man's
name?
Witness: I did not know their names.
President: What regiments did they belong to?
Witness: Some of Sixty-first, some of Eighty-seventh;
there were no other cavalrymen but prisoner and myself. The
prisoner did not introduce me to any one on that occasion.
We were in Fortune's for an hour and a half. I had no con-
versation with the prisoner on that occasion; the people who
were there were talking to themselves and I did not hear any
conversation that night. Some of the civilians treated me to
some drink. Devoy treated both me and the prisoner. I have
met a man known by the name of Davis. He was not in
Fortune's that night. Devoy, prisoner, and myself all drank
together that night. After leaving Fortune's we went to
Doyle's public house. Devoy came with two other civilians
and some infantry soldiers. I was in Doyle's from half-past
eight until after nine. In Doyle's we were again treated to
drink by the civilians and by Devoy; it was he asked us to go
there. O'Reilly was in the room when he asked me to do
so, but I could not say how near he was to us when Devoy
was speaking. I think prisoner might have heard Devoy
speaking. When Devoy asked us to go to Doyle's he said it
was quieter than Fortune's. In Doyle's we were not exactly
sitting together, there were some civilians between me and
Devoy. I do not know their names.
Here the Court adjourned to next morning.
McDonald's examination resumed:
When I was in Doyle's, prisoner was not sitting; he was
standing between me and Devoy. He was in front of me. I
had no conversation with the prisoner or with any person
in his hearing. I was with the prisoner in Barclay's public
house about a fortnight after I was in Doyle's with him.
There were some soldiers and civilians there. Devoy was
there. I don't know any other names, but I know their faces.
They were the same men who had been at Doyle's. We re-
mained at Barclay's from seven till nine o'clock. On that
occasion I had no conversation with the prisoner, I had no
conversation in presence of prisoner. I went to Barclay's
with John O'Reilly. The next public house I was in with
him was Hoey's, in Bridgefoot Street, about a week after. I
went there with prisoner. Same civilians were there that I
met before, and some infantry soldiers. Prisoner did not re-
main; he went away after I went into the house. I had no
conversation with O'Reilly that night. I afterwards, in the
same month, went with prisoner to Bergin's, James Street;
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
165
remained there from half -past eight to quarter-past nine;
did not know any persons present, they were all strangers;
there were four infantry soldiers, one of them, I think, of
the Fifty-third. Prisoner was there the whole time; there
was no conversation between prisoner and those present.
There was singing.
President: No conversation!
Witness: None.
President: Public houses must be mortal slow places ac-
cording to your account.
Witness: Singing was in presence and hearing of pris-
oner. Prisoner did not join in the singing; he was sitting
down; we were both drinking some beer. Some civilians asked
us to drink, but we treated ourselves. Prisoner told me that
he belonged to the Fenian Brotherhood in Cahir. He told
me so in conversation as we were coming down from Island
Bridge Barracks, in April, twelve months ago.
Cross-examined by Prisoner:
At Pilsworth's there were three or four sitting at the same
table with us and Devoy. When I said there was no conver-
sation between me and the prisoner at Fortune's I meant no
conversation about Fenianism. When Devoy asked me to go
to Doyle's, prisoner might not have heard him do so. We
went upstairs at Barclay's. When I said I had no conversa-
tion with the prisoner at Hoey's, I meant none about Fenian-
ism. I think I saw Corporal Fitzgerald at Hoey's one night,
but I can't tell the date. I never was in company with Fitz-
gerald at Hoey's public house; it is over twelve months and
more since the Tenth Hussars were quartered in Cahir; I had
no conversation with prisoner in Pilsworth's about Fenianism.
Strange civilians often asked me to take a drink in public
houses. I never was a Fenian. The Tenth Hussars were
quartered in Cahir for nine months.
To the Court:
The prisoner told me who Devoy was in Pilsworth's. I
have known the prisoner since he enlisted, three years ago.
It was in Pilsworth's I met the man called Davis, that was in
January; I never saw him before or since. I cannot recollect
the subjects of which we talked in the various public houses.
To the Prisoner:
Was not in Hoey's when Fitzgerald was there. I cannot
tell prisoner's motive in asking me to go to the various pub-
lic houses with him. In Fortune's there were civilians pres-
ent. We left it to go to Doyle's, as we did not like to talk be-
fore them. There was nobody in the room at Doyle's when
we went in. There were seven or eight of us came from For-
tune's to Doyle's. I do not know who the civilians were that
were left behind.
President: Why were you so confidential with some of
the civilians you met at Fortune's for the first time, and not
with all? And what was the mysterious conversation about?
Witness: It was the civilians proposed to go to Doyle's
and it was they who held the conversation. I do not re-
member any of the songs that were sung at Bergin's. Davis
was a low-sized man whose hair was cut like a soldier's.
When the prisoner told me to go to the public houses at
night, he used to say, "Go to such a house and you will meet
John there, and tell him I am on duty."
166
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
President: Who was John?
Witness: Devoy.
President: Then Devoy was a great friend of the pris-
oner?
Witness: He appeared to be.
President: Now answer a direct question: Were the
songs sung Fenian songs?
Witness: No, sir; they were not.
Prisoner: Were the songs chiefly love songs?
Witness: I don't know.
Prisoner: Did I ever tell you Devoy was an old friend
of my family?
Witness: No, he did not. John O'Reilly never spoke to
me about Fenianism, and I never heard Fenian songs in his
company.
President: Recollect what you say: Did you not swear
that prisoner told you he was a Fenian?
Witness: He said he was one at Cahir.
President: How do you know what a Fenian song is?
Witness: I don't know. I suppose they are Irish songs.
Prisoner: Did you not state to the President that I told
you I had been a member of the Fenian Brotherhood while I
was at Cahir?
Witness: Yes, that you had been a Fenian at Cahir.
The unprejudiced reader, accustomed to the rigid impartiality
of an American court, will be surprised at the hardly concealed
hostility of this courtmartial President toward his prisoner.
Private MacDonald's testimony is so favorable to the accused
that it does not please the Court at all. The President accord-
ingly reminds him that he is "under oath", sneers at his refusal
to "identify" men whom he does not know, and makes it gener-
ally clear to succeeding witnesses that evidence tending to prove
the prisoner's innocence is not of the kind wanted in that court.
The next witness was Private Denis Denny, Tenth Hussars:
I remember the evening of the 1st January, last. I was
in the "Two Soldiers" public house with the prisoner. He
told me that if I went to Hoey's with him he would show me
the finest set of Irishmen I ever saw in my life. We went
there and found a number of civilians assembled. The pris-
oner, after some time, took me out of the room and told me
that the Fenians were going to beat the English army and
make this country their own. He asked me to take an oath
to join the Fenians. I answered that I had already taken
an oath to serve my queen and country and that was enough
for me. I then came down and went into the yard and he
asked me to be a Fenian. I told him no. He then went away
and a civilian came and said —
Prisoner: I object to anything being put in evidence rela-
tive to a conversation at which I was not present.
Court adjourned for half an hour to consider the objection.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
167
On its reassembling, Private Denny continued:
After returning upstairs prisoner was there and I saw him.
I had no conversation with him. I met O'Reilly in Island
Bridge Barracks about a week before I was in Hoey's with
him. I had then no conversation with him.
Cross-examined by Prisoner:
I am eight years in the Tenth Hussars. I had spoken be-
fore that evening with the prisoner, but nothing about
Fenianism. I cannot say at what period of the day on the
first of January this took place, but it was in the evening,
about seven or eight, I think. There was nobody but the
prisoner with me when I went to Hoey's. Lance-Corporal
Fitzgerald was not in our company. I never, so far as I
know, was in Fitzgerald's company at Hoey's. We went back
to the "Two Soldiers" that evening by ourselves. We went
back to have a glass of beer. I had been drinking before
that evening. I was arrested at Island Bridge Barracks and
confined in the regiment cells at Richmond Barracks. I was
taken on duty to Dublin Castle in aid of the civil power.
Prisoner withdrew this last question.
Witness: I made no report to my superior officers of
v/hat took place at Hoey's before my arrest. I was arrested
on the 5th of March. I made a statement of what took place
before I was transferred to Richmond barracks. I was ar-
rested on a charge of Fenianism and was for two days in the
cells at Island Bridge, during which time I was visited by
Provost-Sergeant Delworth. He did not tell me what I was
charged with. It was told to me by my commanding officer
on 5th of March, when I was arrested. I did not know
O'Reilly was arrested until he spoke to me through the wall
of the cells; that was the first time I knew he was arrested.
Sergeant Delworth came to visit me, but I cannot say if it
was before then that prisoner spoke through the wall to
me. I was only once at Hoey's public house that I am aware
of — that was on 1st of January, 1866. I made no statement
to the provost-sergeant at all. I made none while in the
cells. I swear that the conversation at Hoey's took place on
1st January, 1866.
By the Court:
Before prisoner told you that the Fenians were going to
beat the English army out of the country and make it free,
had there been no conversation about Fenianism in presence
of the prisoner?
Witness: No.
President: What reason had you for not reporting this
conversation?
Witness: I did not wish to get myself or anyone else
into trouble by doing so.
The next witness was Private John Smith, Tenth Hussars:
I was in Hoey's with prisoner some time after Christmas,
about 1st January, 1866. I went there by myself; no one took
me. When I went there I was directed into a room where
I saw the prisoner. Room was full of soldiers playing cards.
There were some civilians there, but I knew none of them but
O'Reilly. I since learnt that a man named Doyle, of the
Sixty-first, was there. I saw him just now outside this room
Prisoner introduced me as a friend to a civilian.
168
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Here Court adjourned to reassemble next morning, when
Private Smith continued his evidence:
I left the room with the civilian and he spoke to me.
The prisoner objected to the question and the objection was
allowed.
Witness: I had some conversation with the civilian, but
I do not know if the prisoner was near enough to hear it.
After I left the room with the prisoner he said the move-
ment had been going on some time, but he did not say what
movement. After that he returned into the room, and when
I went back I found him there. There was no conversation
louder than your breath among those who were in the
room. When I left the room with the civilian he asked me
to do so. When I left the room I went to the back of the
house with him, but the prisoner did not come out at all
while we were there. It was on the lobby that the prisoner
told me that he had known of the movement for some time.
That was said before I went into the yard with the civilian.
There was no one else but the civilian present at the time
with us. The observation was made in the course of conver-
sation between me and the civilian. We were all standing
on the lobby at the time.
President: What was the conversation about, at the time
the observation was made?
Prisoner: I beg to object to that question, sir. The wit-
ness has already said that he cannot say whether I heard the
conversation or not.
The Judge-Advocate said that the question was a legal one.
The prisoner had introduced the civilian to the witness and the
conversation took place when the three were standing within a
yard of one another. The observation was part of the conver-
sation.
Witness: I cannot say what the conversation was about.
It was the civilian that asked me to go down to the yard. I
don't know whether prisoner left before he asked me to go.
About three days after, I met the prisoner at Walshe's pub-
lic house. No one took me there. The house was full of sol-
diers. I did not know any of the civilians, but there were
some men of my regiment there.
President: Do you know the names of any of the
soldiers?
Witness: I did, but I cannot now recollect what their
names were.
Prisoner: I think that the witness said, sir, that Walshe's
is a singing saloon.
President: Is it a public house or a music hall exclu-
sively?
Witness: It is both; none of the civilians present had
been in Hoey's when I was there; the prisoner told me that
he wanted to see me the next night at Pilsworth's public
house; he said that he wanted to see some friends and to
bring me to them; I met him as he appointed; there were
two of the Sixty-first there when we got to Pilsworth's,
neither of whose names I know; there was nobody else there
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
169
during the time we stopped; the prisoner and I had some
conversation, but I forget what it was; we left the room
shortly after; the only conversation that took place was that
we asked each other to drink; O'Reilly came away with me,
and we went to Hoey's; it was the prisoner who asked me to
go there; he said, "Perhaps we will meet the friends who
promised to meet us at Pilsworth's"; he told me that some
of them were the same that we had to meet at Hoey's before;
on our way he spoke about different men who used to meet
him at Hoey's; he told me that those he was in the habit
of meeting there were Fenian agents, and men from America,
who had been sent here to carry on business; that is the pur-
port of what the prisoner said; nothing else that I can recol-
lect passed between us; the prisoner told me the business
the American agents came to carry on; Fenian business, he
said, of course.
President: Why, "of course"? You give us credit for know-
ing more than we do.
Witness : When we got to Hoey's we met the same civilian
that we had met there before, and some more strangers; we
stayed in Hoey's about three-quarters of an hour; I had no
conversation there with the prisoner; we separated, I to play
cards, and he to talk with some civilians; there was none but
ordinary conversation going on; when we left Hoey's we went
back to Pilsworth's; a civilian asked us both to go to Pils-
worth's along with some other soldiers; some civilians were
there, Americans, I think; I cannot remember what the con-
versation was about; it was no louder than a whisper; when
we left we called into a public house near the barracks; we
had some talk about the civilians we had left.
President: It is not about the civilians you are asked,
but about the conversation.
Witness: I met prisoner without any appointment in Bar-
clay's public house in James's Street in about a week; there
were some soldiers and civilians there. Among the soldiers
was Private Foley, of the Fifth Dragoon Guards. The civilians
were those I had met at Hoey's. I had no conversation with
the prisoner. I left Barclay's first that night. At Barclay's
the prisoner was sitting at a table with some soldiers and
civilians. I had seen some of the civilians before at Hoey's,
I do not know the names of the civilians I met at Hoey's.
The prisoner never told me the object of "the movement".
O'Reilly never spoke to me about "the movement", except
what he said at Pilsworth's and at Hoey's.
Cross-examined by the Prisoner:
The night I went to Hoey's and Pilsworth's was, I think,
in January. I cannot say what time in January. It might
have been in February. I cannot say. I know Lance-Cor-
poral Fitzgerald; he is in my troop. I know Private Denny,
Tenth Hussars; he is in my troop. I cannot say if I was in
his company on New Year's night; I spent that night partly
in Mount Pleasant Square and partly at the "Bleeding
Horse" in Camden Lane. I am not able to say whether I
ever saw Denny at Hoey's. I was speaking to him fifteen
minutes ago; I am not able to say if I spoke to him to-day or
yesterday, about the trial; I did speak to him about it; I have
spoken to him about his evidence or he to me. I don't know
which. It was after I read the paper and I don't think any-
one heard us.
170
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Prisoner: Were you by yourself? ... If the Deputy
Judge Advocate would be kind enough to read the last two
questions and replies.
The questions and replies were read over.
Prisoner: Do you not know whether you and Denny were
by yourselves?
President: You must know, in a matter that only oc-
curred fifteen minutes ago.
Witness: I only spoke to him as we were coming across
here at two o'clock. When I was speaking to Denny, there
were some other men in the room, but I cannot say if we were
by ourselves.
President: That makes the thing worse. When did you
read the newspaper — this morning? Did you talk to Denny
then about the evidence?
Witness: About nine o'clock, when I was preparing to
come here, I might have spoken to him. The paper was read.
I spoke to him at the bottom of the stairs. There were other
men in the room at the time. I again spoke to him when
coming here at two o'clock. I can read "some" print, but not
writing. I have never tried to read a paper. It was Denny
who read the paper this morning; he read it out for me.
President: What paper was it?
Witness: The paper in Sackville Street.
President: That is the Irish Times.
Capt. Whelan: Oh no, it is the Freeman's Journal!
Witness: When Denny read the paper, there were two
men present; it was after this we had the conversation about
the evidence.
Here the court adjourned, and having reconvened on the fol-
lowing day, Private Denis Denny was recalled and examined rela-
tive to a statement made by Private Smith, the previous wit-
ness, that they had a conversation the previous day concerning
the evidence he had given.
Witness: I had no conversation yesterday about the evi-
dence with Private Smith.
To the Prosecutor:
I was not aware that I read the paper yesterday in pres-
ence of Smith. He may have been there when I was reading
it. I have no knowledge of having had any conversation with
anybody about the evidence of Smith. Before I was recalled
into court I had no conversation with anyone relative to the
evidence I had given previously. I am not aware that I had
any conversation with Private Smith with reference to my
evidence. I read a paper yesterday morning. I would not
swear what men were present. I cannot say if Smith was in
the room when I read it.
To the President:
I do not recollect a man who was in the room.
Prisoner: With your leave, sir, I would wish to ask Private
Denny a few questions in the absence of Private Smith.
President: Leave the room, Smith.
t rFaHVatTetDe,n^ to. Prlsoner: I did not buy the paper that
I read. I took it out of Private Robert Good's bed.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
171
President: We have decided, prisoner, not to put these
questions yet. You will reserve them.
Prisoner: Very well, sir.
President (to witness) : Were there any persons in the
room?
Witness: Four or five.
President: Were you reading aloud?
Witness: No, sir; I cannot read aloud, because I have to
spell the words.
President: Have you had no conversation with anyone
about Smith since you read the paper?
Witness: I spoke to Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald, I now
recollect, about Smith.
President: What did you say about him?
Witness: I was talking to him about the time Smith and
I were arrested. He might have been in the room when the
paper was reading, but no one read aloud when I was in the
room.
President: What did you and Smith talk about yester-
day?
Witness: I did not talk to him yesterday, unless I might
have spoken to him outside the door, while we were waiting.
President: If Private Smith swore yesterday that you had
told him your previous evidence, would it be true?
Witness: No, sir.
Private Smith (recalled) . The two Sixty-first men we met
at Pilsworth's did not come to Hoey's. Private Denny never
spoke to me about Fenianism. I have often played cards for
drink in public houses. When the prisoner introduced me
to the civilian at Hoey's it was as a friend of his in the regi-
ment. My regiment turned out for the field yesterday at
half -past-seven. It was about nine o'clock when Denny made
out the paper for me.
Court: If Denny swore that he did not read the paper
aloud, would he be swearing what was true?
Witness: I say again that Denny read the paper aloud; if
he did not I could not hear him.
President: You must answer "Yes" or "no".
Witness: It would not be true, sir.
To the Court:
I have heard Denny reading the newspaper aloud on other
occasions; I do not know what part of the paper Denny
read, but it was about this trial; when speaking to Denny
yesterday it was about the trial; about his evidence and mine;
when the prisoner introduced me to the civilian at Hoey's,
he merely said that I was a friend of his; I cannot repeat the
precise words used in introducing me; Denny and I had
only a few words about this trial when we spoke together
yesterday.
President: The civilians to whom you were introduced
you said yesterday were Fenian agents; did they ever ask
you to become a Fenian?
Witness: They did.
President: As a rule did you always pay for your drink
or were you treated?
Witness: As a rule I was treated.
172 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
President: Were those civilians that you met Americans
and Fenians?
Witness: I was told so.
President: What were they talking about when the pris-
oner spoke of the movement?
Witness: About the Fenians.
President: You said that a civilian asked you to go down
to the yard at Hoey's house; did he assign any reason?
Witness: He asked me to go with him; and said that he
belonged to the Fenians, and wished me to join them.
President: Did you notice at any time that the prisoner
had more money than you would expect a soldier to have?
Witness: No.
President: Did you take the Fenian oath?
Witness: I did not; I never was asked to take an oath or
join the Fenians in the prisoner's hearing.
Prosecutor: Was it after your interview with the pris-
oner on the lobby at Hoey's that you were asked to take the
oath?
Witness: It was.
Colonel Baker, Tenth Hussars, being sworn, testified: I
know the prisoner. He never gave me any information of an
intended mutiny in her Majesty's forces in Ireland.
Prisoner: Did any private of the Tenth communicate
with you in reference to an intended mutiny, before the first
of March?
Colonel Baker: No.
Prisoner: What character do I bear in the regiment?
Witness: A good character.
Colonel Cass, sworn and examined. I never received in-
formation from the prisoner with reference to an intended
mutiny. I believe his character is good.
Head Constable Talbot, the notorious informer, was the next
witness. He was not called upon to furnish evidence of the
prisoner's direct complicity in the conspiracy, but only of the
fact that a conspiracy existed. He had testified on the trial
of Color-Sergeant McCarthy, that the latter had agreed to fur-
nish the Fenians with countersigns, barrack and magazine keys,
maps and plans of the Clonmel Barracks, and other aid neces-
sary for the surprise of the garrison.
He also testified that not a single regiment in the service was
free from the same taint of rebellion, and that part of the con-
spirators' scheme was the enlistment of revolutionary agents in
the various branches of the British service. O'Reilly was such
an agent.
His testimony was brief. In reply to a question by the
prisoner, he said:
My real name is Talbot, and I joined the constabulary in
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
173
The arch-informer was succeeded by Private Mullarchy of the
Tenth Hussars.
In January last I was in a public house, in James's Street,
with the prisoner. He took me there to see a friend of mine,
as he said that about a fortnight or three weeks previously a
young man was inquiring after me. There were present
there two civilians to whom he introduced me as two of his
friends, but whose names I don't know. From the room we
first entered we went into a larger one, where there were
three or four soldiers belonging to the Sixty-first Regiment
and Tenth Hussars, another civilian, and a young woman.
Prosecutor: Did you see the prisoner stand up and whis-
per to one of the civilians?
Witness: Yes, to the civilian sitting opposite to him. Very
shortly afterwards the prisoner left the room and did not
return. I then had a few words with the civilian to whom the
prisoner had whispered.
Prosecutor: Did you see a book on that occasion?
Witness: Nothing more than the book the civilian to
whom the prisoner introduced me had taken out of his
pocket; the prisoner was not then present. I had no conver-
sation afterwards with the prisoner as to what occurred in
the public house, or about the friend of mine of whom he
spoke. I never ascertained who that friend was.
Cross-examined by the Prisoner:
Witness: I did ask you to go to the theater on the night
in question. I told you I had got paid my wages, that I was
going to the theater, and that I should like to go and see the
friend of whom you had spoken.
Prisoner: Is that what you call my taking you to Pils-
worth's?
President: We have not got as far as Pilsworth's yet, as
far as I can see.
Prisoner: Is that what you call my taking you to the
public house in James's Street?
Witness: It is; I asked you to show me where this friend
was, and you said you would take me to the public house,
which was the last place where you had seen him.
To the Court:
I returned to the barracks at twelve o'clock that night.
The friend of whom the prisoner spoke was a civilian, so he
told me. The civilian who spoke to me in the public house
asked me if I was an Irishman and I said I was. He asked
me if I was going to join this society. I asked what society.
He said, the Fenian society. I did not know what that was.
Since I was in the public house with the prisoner no one
spoke to me of the evidence I was to give here or at this
trial.
Private Rorreson, Tenth Hussars: I was in Private Ber-
gin's company at Hoey's public house in January last. On
that occasion there were present besides Private Bergin and
myself a number of foot soldiers and two civilians, none of
whose names I know. The prisoner was also present, but I
cannot say if he was in the room when I entered or whether
he came in afterwards. I saw Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald, of
the Tenth Hussars, there too. He was in the prisoner's com-
pany.
174
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Prosecutor: Did you see anything occur on that occasion
between prisoner and the civilians?
Witness: I saw prisoner go up to Fitzgerald, and imme-
diately the latter and the civilians went out. Previous to
this I also saw him whispering to the civilians. Any time he
did speak it was in a whisper.
Prosecutor: Did you see the prisoner go out of the room
on that occasion?
Witness: Yes; the three of them left at the same time. I
did not see the prisoner go out of the room more than once.
When the three left they were absent for about ten or fif-
teen minutes, and they returned one after the other. When
they returned, one of them spoke to a foot soldier, said good-
bye to his comrade, and then left the room. There was sing-
ing in the room that evening. A foot soldier sang one of
Moore's melodies. I particularly remember the words of one
of the songs —
"We'll drive the Sassenach from our soil."
Cross-examined by the Prisoner:
I have been at Hoey's since the occasion in question, but
I cannot say how often. I never saw Private Denny there.
Question: If Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald swore that on the
occasion in question there were no soldiers at Hoey's but those
belonging to the Tenth Hussars, would he be swearing what
was true?
Witness: No, there were infantry there. I can't say that
I was at Hoey's with Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald in Novem-
ber last.
Here the court adjourned, and the examination of Private
Rorreson was resumed on the following day.
In reply to the Court:
The infantry soldiers were sitting alongside of me in Hoey's.
There were not thirty of the Sixty-first Regiment there. The
civilians were sitting at my right. I cannot say whether the
soldiers came in first, or whether they were in the room when
I went in. I will not swear what time the meeting took
place; it was in January. No one spoke to me about my evi-
dence. I was not asked to become a Fenian at Hoey's. Bergin
spoke to me elsewhere of it, but never in the prisoner's pres-
ence. Any time I ever went to Hoey's it v/as with Bergin,
and the civilians always paid for the drink. I never heard
the names of the civilians, but afterwards I heard one was
named Devoy. I never heard the names of the others. Devoy
appeared to be a born Irishman. I never heard any sing-
ing but on that occasion, and the prisoner took no part in
it. I think it was before the night in January that Bergin
spoke to me of being a Fenian, on the way to the barracks
going home. We had been in Hoey's; the prisoner was there.
Bergin had been speaking of Fenianism on the way to the
barracks. He said there was such a thing "coming off".
^President: What do you mean by "such a thing coming
Witness: Like a rebellion breaking out.
Prisoner: When you say you since heard one of the civil-
ians was called Devoy, when did you hear it, and who told
you?
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
175
Witness: I cannot tell who told me; Bergin told me he
was employed at Guinness's, but I cannot say who told me his
name.
Prisoner: I respectfully submit that all evidence given by
the last witness relative to Bergin should be expunged. I did
not object during his examination, as the questions were put
by the Court, but I do now.
The court did not accept this view of the case. In admitting
the hearsay evidence it endorsed the following astounding prop-
ositions made by the Deputy Judge Advocate:
Deputy Judge Advocate:
It is too late to object. The prisoner should not have
allowed the examination to go on and taken his chance of
something favorable to him being elicited by it. For the rest,
I submit that the acts or conversations of co-conspirators are
admissible as evidence against each other, even though one
of them on his trial was not present at those acts or con-
versations. All the matters of fact sworn to, show that the
prisoner and Bergin were participators in the Fenian plot.
Therefore the prisoner's objection is unsustainable, particu-
larly after the examination of the witness.
Having thus summarily disposed of the prisoner's few nominal
rights, the prosecution took hold of the case in the good old-
fashioned way, by putting on the stand an informer of the regu-
lation Irish character — one who had taken the Fenian oath in
order to betray his comrades, and excused himself for the per-
jury by saying, that, although he had a Testament in his hand
and went through the motion of kissing it, he had not really
done so. The testimony of this peculiarly conscientious witness
is interesting, because it is typical. He can juggle with the Testa-
ment, in the hope of cheating the Devil; but when pressed he
owns up: "Most decidedly I took the oath with the intention
of breaking it. I cannot see how that was perjury." And again,
"I told the truth on both trials, as far as I can remember." With-
out further preface the reader is introduced to the delectable
company of Private Patrick Foley, Fifth Dragoon Guards, who
testified:
I know the prisoner. I saw him in Hoey's public house
about the 14th of January. He was confined, and they were
asking about him at Hoey's. The waiter asked —
Prisoner: I object to this evidence. I was not in the
house when the questions were asked.
The objection was admitted.
Witness: At the time I saw the prisoner at Hoey's, there
were a number of people there, principally civilians. Devoy
was one, Williams was another, and Corporal Chambers, who
used at that time to appear in civilian's clothes. Hogan and
Wilson, both deserters from Fifth Dragoon Guards, were
also there in colored clothes. There were many others whose
names I do not know. I took part in a conversation that
night, but I cannot say whether prisoner was present.
176
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
To the Court:
The prisoner spoke twice to me during January and Feb-
ruary.
President: The question refers only to one occasion.
Witness: I spoke to the prisoner in February at Barclay's
public house. I do not know on what day. I went to the bar
and found the prisoner there. He asked me to drink. We
both then went into a room, and the prisoner sat at a table
with some of his own men. The conversation was among
themselves, but it could be heard at the off side of the room.
It was on Fenianism and the probable fate of the State pris-
oners who were on trial at that time. There was also some-
thing said about electing a President as soon as they had a
free republic. They were all paying attention to what was
being said, but I cannot tell if the prisoner said more than
the remainder. Devoy was there, and Williams. There were
other civilians present whose names I do not know. I had a
previous conversation in January with the prisoner at Hoey's,
but I cannot remember what it was about. It was regarding
Fenianism, but I cannot tell the words made use of. I met
the prisoner at Waugh's public house some time towards the
end of 1865. The civilians I have mentioned were there and
some soldiers. In all these places the conversation was re-
lating to Fenianism, but I cannot say if they were in hear-
ing of the prisoner, but everybody heard them. Devoy was
at Waugh's, I think. I frequently met Devoy in company
with O'Reilly. I have heard Devoy speak in presence of the
prisoner about Fenianism, but I cannot remember that he
said anything about what was to be done in connection
with it.
Prosecutor: Was there at any of these meetings of which
you spoke, and at which the prisoner was present, any con-
versation of an intended outbreak or mutiny?
Prisoner: I object to that question, because the witness
has already stated the substance of the conversations as far
as he can remember. The prosecutor had no right to lead
the witness, and put into his mouth the very words of the
charge.
The prosecutor submitted that the question was perfectly fair
and legal.
The Deputy Judge Advocate ruled that the question should be
so framed as not to suggest the answer to it.
Witness: There was a conversation of an intended
mutiny that was to take place in January or the latter end
of February. The prisoner could have heard the conversa-
tion that took place in Hoey's, in January, and in Barclay's,
m February. I reported to my Colonel in February the sub-
ject of the conversation.
Court adjourned for half an hour.
Cross-examination of Private Foley:
n1 £a", \ead -and write- 1 t00k the Fenian oath. I did not
call God to witness I would keep it. I know the nature of
an oath. It is to tell the truth, and the whole truth. I had
w«?s tai?ent ™ m.y nand and I went through the motion of
«orfS£ t' * . i I*J?MU,05 d0 so- 1 swore on two previous oc-
casions I took the Fenian oath. Most decidedly I took the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
177
oath with the intention of breaking it. I cannot see how
that was perjury. I had to take the oath, in a way, or I
would have known nothing about the Fenian movement. I
was examined on the trial of Corporal Chambers. I was
sworn on the trial to tell the whole truth. I was sworn by
the president. I told the whole truth on both trials, as far
as I can remember. I know Private Denny of Tenth Hus-
sars by appearance. I know Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald
of the Tenth, also by appearance. I know Fitzgerald per-
sonally. I only knew him at these places of meeting. I
knew him in January. I knew him to speak to him. I know
Private Smith, Tenth Hussars, by appearance. I know him
only by speaking to him in the month of February. I can-
not say whether I ever saw Private Denny in Hoey's public
house or at Barclay's or Bailey's. I cannot say how often I
was at meetings in these houses in February. When I took
the Fenian oath, most decidedly I intended to become an in-
former. I kept no memoranda of the meetings I attended,
as I reported them all to my commanding officer in the morn-
ings after they took place. My reports were verbal ones, and
I never took down the names of those I met at the meetings.
Question: Have you met Corporal Fitzgerald at any of
those meetings?
Witness (to President) : I am very near tired, sir, answer-
ing questions.
President: If you are tired standing, you may sit down.
Witness: I met Fitzgerald at Barclay's and at Hoey's, but
I cannot say how often; prisoner was present when I saw
Fitzgerald at Barclay's. I knew him personally at the time.
I cannot say whether I then spoke to him. At Corporal
Chambers's trial I was asked to state, and did so, who were
present at the meeting at Hoey's. I did name the prisoner
as having been there.
Court here adjourned for the day.
Cross-examination of Private Foley resumed, on July 5.
Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald was present on the occasion
when I said he was at Barclay's, at the time the conversa-
tion about Fenianism took place.
Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald was here confronted with the wit-
ness, and stated that he did swear that he met the prisoner at
Hoey's and at Pilsworth's, but not at Barclay's. Private Foley
would not be swearing what was true if he swore that he (Fitz-
gerald) made a speech on Fenianism at Barclay's, or was present
at a conversation there about electing a President, "when we
would have a free republic."
To the President:
I was never at Hoey's public house in the prisoner's com-
pany, but I was there two or three days after his arrest, when
a man named Williams came up to the barracks and told me
there was to be a Fenian meeting at Barclay's. On the 13th
of January, prisoner absented himself, and on the 14th inst.
(Sunday) he was taken from the barracks by a detective
policeman.
To the Prosecutor:
I have never made a speech on Fenianism to my recollec-
tion, at Barclay's. I might have said things when I was
178 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
drunk that I would not answer for afterwards. I swear
positively that I was never present on any occasion when
there was talk of electing a President of a republic. I might
have been present at such conversation and not know any-
thing about it.
Prisoner contended that this evidence should have been given
in direct examination but was not admissible in cross-examina-
tion.
The prosecutor contended that the witness, who was recalled
by the prisoner, for the purpose of confronting him with another,
was not asked anything that was not perfectly fair and proper
for the purpose of eliciting the truth.
The Deputy Judge Advocate ruled that the evidence was legal
and proper.
Witness to Prosecutor:
I never made a speech on Fenianism, to my recollection, at
any place. I might have said things when I was drunk that
I would not answer for afterwards. I was drunk every time
I went there afterwards. I swear positively I was never
present on an occasion when there was a conversation about
electing a President of a republic. I might have been present
at such conversation when drunk, and not know anything
about it.
The Court: Why was Williams sent to tell you of the
Fenian meeting if, as you say, you had previously refused
to become a Fenian?
Witness: He was sent, I don't know by whom, but he
used to go round to Island Bridge and Richmond Barracks
for that purpose.
Private Foley (re-examined by prosecutor) :
Having heard the evidence of Lance-Corporal Fitzgerald,
I have not the least doubt that I met him at Barclay's in
February last. The reason I did not, on Corporal Chambers's
trial, mention prisoner as being present at Barclay's in Feb-
ruary, was that I had some doubts of his name. I have now
no doubt that he was present.
To the Prisoner:
I did mention your name to the prosecution about a fort-
night ago.
This ended the examination of Informer Foley. He was fol-
lowed by a duller, but more malicious knave, Private Maher, who
boasted, with low cunning, that he had taken the Fenian oath
out of curiosity, and with the intention of betraying his fellows;
repeated his own smart repartees, and put into the mouth of
the prisoner the wholly imaginary atrocious promise, that he
would hamstring the cavalry horses in case of emergency. One
can almost form a picture of this ruffian from his own words.
The official report reads:
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
179
Private Maher, First Battalion, Eighth Regiment, deposed:
He was a member of the Fenian Society and attended several
meetings of that body, at which were present other soldiers.
He saw the prisoner at a meeting in Hoey's public-house in
January, in company with Devoy and Williams, whom he
knew to be Fenians, and with other soldiers, as also with
Baines, Rynd, and others. On that occasion he saw a sketch
of Island Bridge Barracks in the prisoner's hand, which he
was explaining to Devoy.
The President: You are asked what was said.
Witness: Devoy said he wanted a few men out of the
Hussars to give them instruction what to do, and he wanted
about ten men out of each regiment in Dublin. The prisoner
spoke of cutting the hamstrings of the horses in the stables
in case of any emergency. The conversation then turned on
a rising in the army and how the men would act. I said
the Irishmen in the army saw no prospect before them, and
they would be great fools to commit themselves. Devoy said
they would not be asked until a force came from America. I
said it was all moonshine, and that they were a long time
coming. He told me I seemed chicken-hearted, and that
they required no men but those who were willing and brave.
I told him I was as brave as himself, and that he should not
form soldiers in a room for the purpose of discussing Fenian-
ism. That is all the conversation I can remember on that
occasion.
Cross-examined by the Prisoner:
I was examined on Corporal Chambers's trial. I am not
sure whether I named you as one of the soldiers present on
the occasion referred to in my evidence. I took the Fenian
oath, out of curiosity to see what the Irish conspiracy or
republic, as they called it, was. If any serious consequences
would arise I would have given information of the movement.
I had an opportunity of seeing into the Fenian movement,
and I saw that nothing serious was going to happen. If
there was I would have known it days before, and then given
information. I heard Stephens himself say at Bergin's, that
the excitement should be kept up, while aid from America
was expected. In last March I made a statement affecting
you.
This closed the case for the prosecution.
At the request of the prisoner the Court adjourned to Sat-
urday, July 7, to give him time to prepare his defense.
Court having assembled on that date, the prisoner re-
quested that some member of it be appointed to read his
defense.
Lieutenant Parkinson, Sixty-first Regiment, was then re-
quested to do so.
The defense commenced by thanking the Court for the
patient and candid consideration which had been bestowed
by the members throughout the trial, and stated that the
prisoner had no doubt but that the same qualities would
be exhibited in consideration of the points which would be
submitted to them for his defense. The charge against him
was one involving terrible consequences, and he had no doubt
the greater would be the anxiety of the Court in testing the
evidence brought against him.
180
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
There was only one charge which the Court had to con-
sider, and that was: "Having come to the knowledge of an
intended mutiny." To sustain that charge the prosecutor
should prove, first, that there was a mutiny actually intended;
second, that he (the prisoner) had a knowledge of that in-
tention, and third, that he possessed that knowledge in Janu-
ary, 1866, and did not communicate it to his commanding
officer. The prosecutor was bound to prove each and every
one of those allegations, by evidence on which the court
might safely act. After referring to his services he asked
the court to bear in mind his good reputation, while consider-
ing the evidence against him, as it must have observed that,
from the character of some of the proofs upon which the
prosecutor relied, in conversation with no third person pres-
ent, and no date fixed, it was impossible to displace such
testimony by direct evidence.
The defense then pointed out various discrepancies be-
tween various witnesses and the contradiction between the
evidence of Privates Denny and Smith, where Denny had
clearly committed perjury. But even if these men's evidence
were true, it would not bring home to him one fact to bear
out the charge.
None of these witnesses can say that in his presence one
word was ever said respecting the designs or the plans of the
Fenians, and it only amounted to this, that one day, in a
casual conversation, he said to Smith that some persons they
had met were Americans and Fenian agents. In the whole
evidence, which, in the cases of Foley and Maher was that of
informers, there was much to which the addition or omis-
sion of a word would give a very different color to what it
had got. What was the amount of credit to be given to those
men, when it was remembered that they both took the Fenian
oath, the one, as he said, through curiosity, the other with
the deliberate design of informing?
Maher's oath, on his own admission, had not been believed
by a civil court of justice; and would this court believe it
and convict a man of crime upon such testimony? He (the
prisoner) asked the court to reject this testimony and rely
upon that of his commanding officer, Colonel Baker, who had
deposed to his good character as a soldier. In conclusion,
the prisoner appealed to the Deputy Judge Advocate, to
direct the court that unless he had personal knowledge of an
intended mutiny in January, he was entitled to an acquittal.
Guilt was never to be assumed, it should be proved; for sus-
picion, no matter how accumulated, could never amount to
the mental conviction on which alone the court should act.
The defense having concluded, prisoner called Capt. Barthorp,
Tenth Hussars, who was a member of the court. In reply to
questions put, Capt. Barthorp said:
He was captain of the prisoner's troop, and had known
him for three years. His character was good.
Mr. Anderson, Crown Solicitor, was sworn and examined by
prisoner with regard to a portion of Private Maher's evidence on
Corporal Chambers's trial, relative to the alleged meeting. Maher
did not mention the prisoner as having been present at the al-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
181
leged meeting, when giving evidence at Chambers's trial; but on
the present one he swore that he was present.
In reply to the Prosecutor:
Deputy Judge Advocate said he could not state whether
the meeting of which Maher had deposed at Chambers's trial
was the same mentioned on this.
Prisoner: I would wish to ask the Deputy Judge Advo-
cate a question which arises out of his answer: Did you not
hear Private Maher asked on my trial to name the persons
he had met at the meeting which he deposed to at Corporal
Chambers's trial, and did he not do so?
Deputy Judge Advocate: I did hear that evidence given;
I did hear him state the names.
Adjutant Russell, Tenth Hussars, in answer to prisoner,
said: He (prisoner) was put under arrest on the 14th of Feb-
ruary. The prisoner was in hospital for several days in Feb-
ruary, from 19th to 26th.
President: I do not wish to interrupt the prisoner, but I
wish to point out that these dates are all subsequent to the
charge.
At this point court adjourned to eleven o'clock Monday
morning.
At the reopening of the court, Capt. Whelan (the prosecutor)
proceeded to answer the defense of the prisoner. His reply
entered elaborately into the whole evidence that had been given,
and commented on the various points raised for the defense.
Capt. Whelan defended strongly the various witnesses from the
charge brought against them by the prisoner, of being informers,
and insisted that they were all trustworthy and credible, and that
the discrepancies pointed out in the defense were such as would
naturally arise.
The Deputy Judge Advocate then proceeded to sum up the
whole evidence. In doing so, he said:
The court should bear in mind that the existence of an
intended mutiny should be proved before the prisoner should
be found guilty of the charges upon which he was arraigned.
The court should also bear in mind that it was for it to prove
charges and not for the prisoner to disprove them. To expe-
rienced officers, like those composing the court, it was not
necessary for him (the Judge-Advocate) to state what the
law was, bearing on those charges. He might say, however,
that if the prisoner did come to the knowledge of an intended
mutiny, it would be for them to say whether the prisoner had
given notice of any such intended mutiny to his commanding
officer. This, his commanding officers state, he did not do; so
that it became the subject of inquiry whether any such
mutiny was intended. They had the evidence of Head Con-
stable Talbot on that point, and they should attentively weigh
it. Assuming that it was intended, and that the prisoner was
aware of it and an accomplice in the design, they had then
no less than eight witnesses to prove that complicity. The
Deputy Judge Advocate then went minutely through the whole
182
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
evidence, which he recapitulated in a lucid manner, point-
ing out to the court where it was favorable for the prisoner
or bore against him.
The Judge Advocate concluded by saying: "Now, on a calm
and fair review of the evidence, determining in favor of the
prisoner everything of which there was reasonable doubt,
straining nothing against him, is the court satisfied that the
facts are inconsistent with any other conclusion than the
prisoner's guilt? Is the court satisfied that the Fenians in-
tended mutiny as one of the essentials of that plot?
"Are they satisfied that the prisoner knew of that inten-
tion? If you are not satisfied that the evidence adduced for
the prosecution has brought home to the prisoner the charges
on which he is indicted; if you can fairly and honestly see
your way to put an innocent construction on the prisoner's
acts, it is your duty to do so.
"But, on the other hand, if the court has no rational doubt
of the prisoner's guilt, then it is bound, without favor, par-
tiality, or affection, to find their verdict accordingly. Re-
member, though, that although you may feel very great sus-
picion of the prisoner's guilt, yet if you are not satisfied that
the charge is proved home to him beyond rational doubt, no
amount of suspicion will justify conviction. Apply to your
consideration of the evidence, the same calm, deliberate, and
faithful attention and judgment which you would apply to
your own most serious affairs, if all you value most and hold
most dear, your lives and honor, were in peril. The law de-
mands no more, and your duty will be satisfied with no less."
At the conclusion of the Judge Advocate's address, the court
was made private, to consider their finding. After a short time
it was reopened, and Adjutant Russell, Tenth Hussars, was called
to give testimony as to the prisoner's character. He said that it
had been good during his three years and thirty-one days of
service.
The court was then again cleared and the result was not
known until officially promulgated by the Horse Guards.
On July 9, 1866, formal sentence of death was passed upon
all the military prisoners. It was only a formality. The same
day, it was commuted to life imprisonment in the cases of
O'Reilly, McCarthy, Chambers, Keating and Darragh. The sen-
tence of O'Reilly was subsequently commuted to twenty years'
penal servitude.
Adjutant Russell, referred to in the preceding report, better
known as Lord Odo Russell, had pleaded successfully for leniency
in behalf of the youthful prisoner. The first step in execution
of the sentence was taken on Monday afternoon, September 3, in
the Royal Square, Royal Barracks, in the presence of the Fifth
Dragoon Guards, Second Battalion, Third Regiment, Seventy-
fifth Regiment, Ninety-second Highlanders, and Eighty-fifth
Light Infantry. The prisoner was then and there made listen
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
183
to the reading of his sentence, stripped of his military uniform,
clothed in the convict's dress, and escorted to Mount] oy prison.
Before dismissing the story of his trial (says James Jeffrey
Roche) , I may here relate a curious sequel, which occurred some
six or seven years later in the city of Boston. O'Reilly had many
strange visitors in his newspaper office, but perhaps the strangest
of all was one of the two informers before mentioned. This
fellow, after O'Reilly's conviction, found himself so despised and
shunned by his fellow-soldiers, both English and Irish, that his
life became unendurable. He deserted the army and fled to
America, where the story of his treachery had preceded him.
He was starving in the streets of Boston when he met his former
victim, and threw himself upon his mercy. Almost any other
man would have enjoyed the spectacle of the traitor's misery.
O'Reilly saw only the pity of it all, and gave the wretch enough
money to supply his immediate wants, and pay his way to some
more propitious spot.
The foregoing courtmartial account, as already mentioned, is
taken from James Jeffry Roche's "Life of John Boyle O'Reilly".
I will now add a few personal observations on the informers.
It will be noticed that in the case of all the military informers
except Foley and Maher (in Mr. Roche's book spelled incor-
rectly as Meara) they said they had not taken the Fenian
oath and did not remember names. Every man of them took the
oath, and they only told as much as would save themselves.
They all knew my name and knew there was a warrant for
my arrest. Every one of the 80 men in the Tenth Hussars was
brought to me by O'Reilly and I did the swearing in.
Corporal Fitzgerald of the Tenth Hussars was a London Irish-
man and I have no doubt would have fought well if the Rising
had come off before his arrest. Maher was a Tipperary man, a
solemn fellow who talked generalities. One of his favorite say-
ings was: "A sojer has a haurt, as well as another man." He was
orderly one day at the Under Secretary's office in Dublin Castle,
when he overheard a conversation between two detectives in
which they mentioned the name of a man who had given private
information and that made him lose heart and turn informer
after being arrested. He was shot by a young man named
McNeill in Hoey's public house in Bridgefoot Street during the
trials, but though hit by three bullets none of them touched a
vital spot and he was not killed. One bullet hit Paddy Lawlor
of Newbridge (the man who had decoyed him there) in the foot
184
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
and that saved Lawlor. He was arrested on suspicion and told
me the story in Mountjoy Prison.
I was warned against Patrick Foley by Montague, Centre of
the Fifth Dragoon Guards (then a deserter) and I passed the
warning to the men, but he followed some of them to Pilsworth's
public house on the night of our arrest, was "arrested" with us,
but taken out of the cell in Chancery Lane police station about
an hour after our arrival. Police Inspector Doyle admitted to me
(in a whisper) next morning that Foley was the man who had
given us away.
There was never any singing at any of my meetings with the
soldiers except that of the regular hired singers. There were
then a number of singing public houses in Dublin and they were
selected for our meetings because casual visitors attracted no
attention. James Stephens was never present at any of these
gatherings and his name was never mentioned. The statement
made by one of the informers that he spoke to him was perjury.
There were 8,000 sworn Fenians in the regiments stationed in
Ireland at that time and only one, Patrick Foley, turned informer
before being arrested, and Foley admitted in his testimony that
he joined as a spy. That fact speaks for itself as to the reliability
of the soldier Fenians.
PART IV.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE RISING DOOMED FROM THE START.
A Counsel of Despair — Insurgents Had Practically No Arms and
the Favorable Conditions of 1865-66 were then Non-Exis-
tent— Raid on Chester Castle and O'Connor Incident in
Kerry on February 11, 1867, Premature — Marred Slim
Chances of General Rising in March.
The Rising of 1867 from a military standpoint failed dismally.
It could not have been otherwise under the circumstances. The
favorable elements which prevailed at the end of 1865 and the
beginning of 1866 had been dissipated; sufficient time had not
elapsed in which to remedy the weaknesses and deficiencies which
characterized the situation under Stephens.
The organization in the British Army (fully described in Part
III of this book) was the right arm of the movement and if
used at the proper time would have contributed to success in
two ways, both of which were very important militarily. First,
it would have broken the morale of the British Army in Ireland
and crippled its power to suppress an Insurrection; and secondly,
it would have supplied the Fenians with a splendid nucleus for a
trained army and provided the conditions which would have
enabled the Republic (which they intended to proclaim) to de-
mand International Recognition.
At that time (1865-6) the United States was ready to recog-
nize Ireland's Independence, if an early military success, the
possession of a port, military occupation of a considerable area
of territory and the existence of a Provisional Government in
control of the Civil Administration, afforded justification in Inter-
national Law.
But, when the Rising took place in 1867, most of the British
regiments which included strong forces of sworn Fenians had
been transferred out of Ireland; the stock of rifles in the hands
of the civilian Fenians had been considerably reduced through
police raids, and the reliance of the Home Organization on
America for a supply sufficient to reasonably equip the men still
persisted.
185
186 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The decision to fight in 1867 was a counsel of despair. The
ability of the Fenians to undertake an insurrection in that year
was considerably less than it was twelve or eighteen months
earlier, but on the other hand it is true that the reasons for
challenging the tyrannical rule of England had become intensi-
fied in the meantime.
T. D. Sullivan in commenting on the Rising wrote:
"Brave Irishmen who had had actual experience of war
in the armies of America, had crossed the Atlantic, and
landed in England and Ireland, to give the movement the
benefit of their services. To these men the break-down of
James Stephens was a stunning blow, * * * they consid-
ered that they could not return to America with their mis-
sion unattempted, and they resolved to establish their own
honesty and sincerity at all events, as well as the courage
and earnestness of the Fenian Brotherhood in Ireland, by
taking the desperate course of engaging forthwith in open
insurrection. It was in conformity with their arrangements,
and in obedience to their directions, that the rising took
place on the night of the 5th of March, 1867."
The leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood were to
some extent actuated in their decision by the considerations set
forth by T. D. Sullivan; it also may be said that in their opinion
it "was better to have fought and lost, than never to have fought
at all". Even though the attempt which they made can hardly
be called an insurrection, yet their gesture was a brave one and
they passed on the "burning brand" to the generations that fol-
lowed. Their demonstration against English Rule had important
results in later days.
On reviewing the facts of the '67 Rising, the wonder is not
that it was such a military fiasco but that it should have been
attempted at all under the circumstances. The efforts of the
men who "came out" in Dublin, Cork, Clare, Limerick, Tipperary,
Kerry, and in smaller numbers in a few other counties, were
confined to attacks on police barracks and coastguard stations,
and they were miserably equipped for even such petty opera-
tions.
A year earlier the chances for initial civilian successes, as I
have pointed out in previous chapters, were favorable to such
a degree as to ensure the immediate co-operation of the formi-
dable force of Fenians in the British Army of Occupation. On the
other hand, the conditions under which the Rising of '67 was
undertaken were such as to preclude all possibility of participa-
tion on the side of the Irish by any of the disorganized and scat-
tered Fenian soldiers who still remained in Ireland.
No matter from what angle the situation of March, 1867, is
examined, the possibility of a successful insurrection in that year
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
187
did not exist, but whatever chance there was for the men of the
organization as a whole to make even a passable showing was
marred by two premature movements in the month previous.
The Raid on Chester Castle by Captain John McCafferty, and
the uprising in Kerry under Colonel O'Connor, on February 11,
1867 — both due to the fact that the general Rising was originally
set for that date, and that the order postponing action to March
5 did not reach them in time, — reawakened the English to the
menace of Fenianism, and they were on the qui vive to deal with
the March outbreak in its initial stages. Yet, if the Chester Raid
had succeeded, its effect on the Rising in Ireland would have had
a totally different effect.
The opinion at the time was that Captain John McCafferty
grew impatient of delay, planned the Chester Raid on his own
responsibility and sent word to Colonel O'Connor in Cahirciveen
to strike on the same date. But the balance of proof seems to
absolve McCafferty and to show that he believed all Ireland was
to rise on February 11 and that his move on Chester would be
simultaneous with it.
Joseph Denieffe, who was very well informed of what was
going on, says in his book that the date of the Rising was orig-
inally fixed for February 11 and then postponed to March 5, but
gives no reason why the change was made. I have no personal
knowledge on the subject, for I was in prison at the time, but all
my information led me for many years to believe that McCafferty
was in fault, as he was an eccentric, self-willed man, with the
guerilla habit of doing what he thought proper and often dis-
obeying orders. While awaiting trial in Kilmainham we were
brought to Green Street Courthouse every day and the guard
of Dublin policemen placed over us in the waiting room were all
friendly and allowed our families to talk freely with us. My
eldest sister brought me several verbal messages from Edward
Duffy, who was temporary head of the organization during
Stephens's absence in America, and one of them, about the 9th
of February, 1867, said: "The fight will be in three weeks, but
we'll be badly beaten. Plead guilty, so as to get a short sentence,
so you can remain in Ireland and help to reorganize the move-
ment." The same message was conveyed to me by Mrs. Luby.
The Fenians of Northern England knew of no postponement
and answered McCafferty's call to concentrate on Chester on
February 11. Michael Davitt, who had lost his right arm, tells
of carrying a bag of bullets to Chester, as he couldn't use a
weapon. He was not an officer of the organization, but knew
that the order was for the February date and the men in Lan-
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
cashire, where he lived, obeyed it. Of course, no written record
of the meetings was kept.
Captain McCafferty had a surprise plan for the capture of
Chester Castle which seemed to give promise of success. Sev-
eral thousand rifles and a large quantity of ammunition were
stored in the castle, there was no large body of troops stationed
near it, and two or three steamers were anchored in the harbor.
The men of the North of England were armed only with revolvers,
but they would have been sufficient to enable them to overpower
the small military guard in the castle and to take possession of
the steamer. Loading the arms on one of the vessels would
require some time, but, with the telegraph wires cut, the work
could be done before any military force could arrive. McCafferty's
plan was to land the arms on the Eastern Coast of Ireland near
Dublin. Had it succeeded, the fiasco of March 5 would have
been averted. He had performed a bigger feat than that while
Grant was besieging Vicksburg, and the chances of success were
all in his favor.
But the plans were all upset by the spy, John Joseph Corydon,
whom nobody suspected at the time. He was trusted by McCaf-
ferty and gave the Government timely information, which en-
abled it to frustrate the project. Troops were rapidly moved
to Chester and many of them arrived before the hour set for the
attack. The Fenians were at their rendezvous, ready for action,
but McCafferty did not arrive on time and they had no com-
mander. They could not fight regular soldiers with revolvers
and were puzzled by the absence of McCafferty. When he reached
Chester several hours late he doubtless explained his delay satis-
factorily, but the rest of the organization were left in ignorance
of it for several years. The awkward and maddening fact to him
was that the train on which he was coming from London was
sidetracked to allow the troop trains to pass.
I got this information from him only about 1874. He then had
a plan to capture the Prince of Wales and hold him as a hostage
to compel the release of the men still in prison, mainly the
soldiers in Australia, and some civilians including Michael Davitt
and those convicted for complicity in the Manchester Rescue in
England. He talked rather loosely of it to enlist support, and a
few hotheads like John Kearney of Millstreet, County Cork, were
enthusiastically in favor of it. They wanted $5,000 from the
Clan-na-Gael, which was refused because the Executive con-
sidered the project to be impracticable and the preparations
for the Australian Rescue had already been begun. Kearney and
I had an argument about it one day in Rossa's Hotel and he told
McCafferty that I had called him a coward, which was a twist
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
189
from what I had actually said. A day or two later McCafferty
called on me and said in the cold, quiet way which was his habit
and in a low voice: "Devoy, I'm told you have called me a
coward. Now I don't allow any man to call me a coward and
live." He was the most desperate man in the movement, who
never made idle threats, so I replied: "McCafferty, you'll please
allow me to live long enough to tell you that I did not call you a
coward, and I'd be a damned fool if I did. What I said to John
Kearney was that you did not get to Chester in time and that
the men you brought there were left without a commander."
He then explained to me about the troop trains with the rein-
forcements for Chester blocking the railroad and delaying his
train, and then walked away without another word.
The North of England men could not return to their homes
and would not have got their jobs back if they did, so many of
them tried to get to Ireland, as they believed the fight was going
on there. Three hundred of them went on a Liverpool steamer
to Dublin, but a large force of police was waiting for them on
the quay and they were all arrested. The number of Irishmen
on the trains in the Chester area had attracted widespread atten-
tion and the townspeople were greatly alarmed, but no arrests
were made in England. McCafferty made his way to Dublin, but
was arrested on landing and later tried and convicted. I met
him in Portland Prison and we worked at stone cutting in the
same gang.
The Government was greatly alarmed at the danger of fight-
ing in England itself. As the episode developed, Chester was only
a demonstration, but its significance was not lost on the Govern-
ment. There were no warships near Chester or anywhere on the
East Coast of Ireland at the time and the arms could have been
easily landed if Corydon had not been told of the intended attack
on the castle. Then the fight in Ireland would have been begun
with several thousand fully armed men, with a desperate fighter
at their head. McCafferty would have probably landed in Wick-
low where the mountains afford excellent fighting ground. His
experience in the Confederate Army was entirely as a Guerilla,
and Michael Dwyer's feats in Wicklow from 1798 to 1803 showed
what difficulties a regular army would have to face.
The newspaper reports of the Rising in Kerry at the same
time as the Chester Raid, from which A. M. Sullivan took his
account of it in his "New Ireland", are full of errors and grotesque
exaggerations, with the exception of the wild panic of the Kerry
gentry. What really occurred was this:
Head Constable O'Connell, in command of the Peelers in
Cahirciveen, numbering twenty, although a Protestant, had four
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
sons who were all Fenians and a daughter who strongly sym-
pathized with the movement. She was a fine, tall girl and
carried out under her cloak, two at a time, all the rifles in the
barrack and handed them to her brothers outside, and they
passed them to Colonel O'Connor's men. I knew the four
O'Connell brothers and their splendid sister some years later in
New Haven, Conn., where they were in the building business,
and the four were members of the Clan-na-Gael. I got valuable
information about the Kerry Rising from them. Colonel John
J. O'Connor had a fine fighting record in the Union Army in the
Civil War; he returned to his native county intending to remain
there and was assigned to the command of the district.
Having got the Peelers' rifles, O'Connor started for Killarney.
On the way he captured without a fight the Coastguard Station
at Kells, between Cahirciveen and Glenbeigh, with some rifles,
and continued his march. On the road the Insurgents met a
horse policeman riding from Killarney to Cahirciveen and ordered
him to halt. He paid no heed to the order and attempted to ride
on, so they shot at him and he was severely wounded, but did not
die. O'Connor found on him a captured order addressed to him,
in code, changing the date of the Rising from February 11 to
March 5, and a list of the prominent Fenians in Cahirciveen. The
countermand convinced O'Connor of the futility of going further.
With only a handful of his men armed he could not face a body of
regular soldiers, so he told his men to disperse and return to their
homes. Some of them, instead of going home, took up a position
on a neighboring mountain to await developments. The develop-
ments were not long in coming.
General Sir Alfred Horsford (a Scotchman) , who was in com-
mand in Limerick, was the most enterprising and resourceful
General in the British Army — I might say the only one, except,
perhaps, Sir Hugh Rose, then Commander of the Forces in
Ireland. He commandeered every available vehicle — jaunting
cars, gentlemen's carriages and business vans— loaded the sol-
diers on them, and rushed them to Cahirciveen. When I read the
reports in the newspapers given to me by a Dublin policeman
named Duff, who was one of the guards placed over us in the
waiting room of the Green Street Courthouse, I said to myself:
"Horsford does not know what I know, — under other conditions
he could not rely on his men to do such work". The Seventy-
third Regiment, supposed to be all Scotch and wearing plaid
trousers and Glengarry caps, had 300 Fenians in its ranks, and
they were exceptionally good men. It was one of the regiments
sent to Ireland to replace the disaffected ones early in 1866 and
arrived in Dublin just before my arrest, but in time to have one of
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
191
our men from Scotland introduce me to the Centre and to enable
me to introduce him to some of the Dublin men. At that time
there were many Irishmen in the Highland regiments.
Horsford surrounded the mountain on which O'Connor's men
were, placed his force in open order at the foot and directed that
no one was to be allowed to pass through. But that night every
one of the insurgents passed through in safety and made their
way home. Most of them when creeping out through the ex-
tended line, not knowing that they had many friends among the
soldiers, thought they were unseen. But the Fenians in plaid
trousers and Glengarry caps saw them well enough, and the
Scotchmen shut their eyes. Many of the Scotchmen were Gaelic
speakers, and Iveragh, of which Cahirciveen is the chief town, is,
even at this writing (1928) one of the strongholds of the Gael-
tacht. The tie of a common language — for Scotch Gaelic differs
very little from Irish Gaelic — is very strong, and when a few of
the Scotchmen asked questions of the men creeping out, they
were understood, and so were the replies. It was a case similar to
that of William Putnam McCabe in 1798 when he appealed to his
Highland Scotch escort in Watling Street, Dublin, in Gaelic and
was allowed to escape.
O'Connor's men knew every foot of the country and had no
difficulty in making their way home, but some of them were
arrested later and three were convicted on the evidence of the
Coastguard men. I knew one of them named Moriarty in New
York, who was a splendid man.
There was a sharp lookout for O'Connor, but he disguised
himself as a priest, got to Queenstown and took a steamer for
America without being recognized. He arrived safely, but died
a few years later.
O'Connor's short-lived Rising created a great panic among
the gentry. They flocked into Killarney, taking their wives and
children with them and all their valuables that would fit in the
carriages. They poured telegrams into Dublin Castle for aid, laid
in a stock of provisions in the hotel at the railroad station, put
sandbags in the windows and begged the police to garrison it
for their protection. The aid came in a few days. Besides the
troops from Limerick, trainloads of soldiers were sent from the
Curragh Camp and reinforcements also came from Cork. The
panic-stricken landlords made the Government think the insur-
rection was on a much larger scale, and the number of troops
sent was wholly unnecessary.
Among the most prominent of the fugitive gentry were the
relatives of Daniel O'Connell. Practically every one of them then
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
in Ireland who bore his name was among them, and many others
who were relatives by marriage. They were among the most
clamorous for strong action. The only well known relative who
was not with them was The O'Donoghue, who was a grandnephew
of Daniel, and who was then in London. Early in 1866, he de-
scribed the attitude of the Irish people as "one of waiting",
evidently meaning waiting for the fight. His sympathies were
known to be with the Fenians and he would have joined the
organization with a group of other "Moderate" Nationalists on
condition that the system of governing it was changed from a
dictatorship of one man to an elective Council, such as was later
adopted by the reorganized I. R. B.
Had The O'Donoghue and the others been taken in at that
time and the condition agreed to, it would probably have saved
both Stephens and the I. R. B. O'Donoghue was a spendthrift,
and was only relieved of financial difficulties by marrying the
daughter of a rich Athlone banker named Ennis, who was liberally
dowered. But in the meantime he had taken a Government job
and dropped out of public life. It is hardly possible that he would
have done this if he had joined the organization. And had the
elective council plan been adopted the misfortunes which befell
the movement through Stephens' weakness and vacillation when
the crisis came would in all probability have been avoided.
As for The O'Donoghue, he remained popular in Kerry to the
last, and to some extent in the rest of Ireland. The Corkmen
called the Kerrymen of that day "Chieftain Hunters" because of
their personal loyalty to the "gallant young Chieftain of the
Glens", and his popularity was greatly increased by his chal-
lenging Sir Robert Peel to a duel for an insulting remark made
in a speech. Sir Robert declined to fight and was publicly accused
of taking refuge "behind his wife's petticoats". His wife took
some part in the public controversy which followed the chal-
lenge, but I don't recall what seemed to justify the charge. But
I do remember T. D. Sullivan's satirical poem, the refrain of
which was:
"Swaggering Bob,
Staggering Bob."
It had a great vogue at the time, and T. D. also wrote a sar-
castic rhyme on the mad flight of the Kerry landlords during
O'Connor's Rising. It was said for many years later that The
O'Donoghue remained a Nationalist by conviction, notwithstand-
ing his Government job. It was a great pity that his financial
difficulties obliged him to take it, for he was a man of fine ability
and an eloquent orator.
CHAPTER XXVI.
STEPASIDE AND GLENCULLEN.
Dublin Men, Under Patrick Lennon and John Kirwan, Captured
Two Police Barracks After a Short Fight — Few Casualties.
As I have already said, I have no personal knowledge of the
Rising of 1867, being in Mountjoy Prison at the time, but having
heard of the approximate date from Edward Duffy, I was on the
lookout and anxiously awaiting news of it. On the night of
March 5 the challenges of the sentries as the rounds were being
made every half hour or so convinced me that "the game was up".
The soldiers belonged to the Coldstream Guards and they had
deep, sonorous voices — the English Guards were all the kind of
men that Cromwell wanted, with "big noses and strong lungs" —
and the quality of their challenges showed unmistakably that
they were under a strain.
I climbed up to the cell window, which only opened slant-
ingly, and found that rain, sleet and snow followed each other
in quick succession, and I said to myself sadly: "God help the
poor fellows who are out to-night without overcoats or warm
clothing. And what are they going to fight with?" With all
the handicaps which I knew to exist, and the blizzard added,
what kind of a fight could the boys put up?
I lay awake most of the night and my short naps were dis-
turbed by fitful dreams of charges of cavalry, and unarmed
bleeding men, in places within the city like Crampton Court,
where cavalry charges were impossible. In my waking moments
Michael Scanlan's song, "The Fenian Men" (written to the air of
"O'Donnell Abu") came to my mind, and I contrasted its glow-
ing prophecy with what I knew must be the pitiful performance:
"See who comes over the red-blossomed heather.
Their green banners kissing the pure mountain air;
Heads erect, eyes to front, stepping proudly together,
Sure Freedom sits throned on each proud spirit there."
And its chorus:
"Out and make way for the bold Fenian men."
Most of the Fenian poetry written in America indulged in
prophecy like:
"The Phoenix Zouaves
Will do nothing by halves
When they chase the red foe from old Ireland."
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
But in Ireland our song writers mostly recalled memories of
'Ninety-Eight, such as John Keegan Casey's "Rising of the
Moon":
"Well they fought for poor old Ireland,
And full bitter was their fate;
(Oh, what glorious pride and sorrow
Fills the name of Ninety-Eight!)"
Next morning Father Potter, a splendid Irishman, who had
temporarily replaced Father Cody as Chaplain, paid me a visit
and told me that all Ireland was up in arms, that Kilmallock
had been captured, that a battle was going on in Drogheda and
that Cork and Tipperary were practically all in the hands of
the Rebels. These were the reports current in Dublin that day,
but a couple of days later he told me of the sad failure — the
debacle — at Tallaght, but was still hopeful of success in the rest
of Ireland. Poor Father Potter (a Dublin man) was one of the
kindliest souls I ever met and a strong sympathizer with the
Fenian movement. A few days later Father Cody came back and
the news supply was shut off.
I heard no more about the Rising until a young Corkman
named Coughlin, convicted for his part in the fight at Bally-
knockane under James F. X. O'Brien and "The Little Captain"
(William Mackey Lomasney), was brought into Millbank and
while working side by side at the pump to fill the cistern on the
top of the building, told me the whole story of the miserable
failure, and the treachery of Corydon and Massey.
Later, others who had taken part in the Rising arrived and
as opportunity offered, told me what happened in Cork, Tipperary
and Drogheda. With few exceptions it was a sad story of fail-
ure and suffering. Some of the prisoners had not been arrested
for a considerable time after the Rising and knew a lot about
subsequent happenings.
But it was only when I arrived in New York after our release
and deportation that Pat Lennon (who himself came a week
later in the second batch of released men) together with John
Kirwan, — both of whom had participated at Stepaside and Glen-
cullen — called to see me, and from them I got most, but not all,
of the story.
The reports of the Dublin Rising in the Freeman's Journal
(published only on March 7) were very poorly done and were
evidently supplied by the police. It was wretched journalism.
The biggest news of the day was deemed worthy only of a few
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
195
short paragraphs. As copied from the files of the Freeman
recently by my nephew, Peter Devoy, here they are:
(From the Dublin Freeman's Journal, March 7, 1867.)
It was reported by the Railway Officials at Kingsbridge
that the railway lines had been torn up at three places on
the main line, at Holycross, at Knocklong, and near Thurles.
It was also stated that Limerick Junction, being a place of
great strategical importance, was to be seized and made a
centre of action for the Counties Tipperary, Limerick and
Cork.
In Dublin numbers of men were observed going through
the streets between nine and ten o'clock last night. The
general rendezvous appears to have been in the country
about Crumlin and Tallaght. Shortly before ten o'clock last
night a body of men about 500 strong was seen on the Temple
Road near Palmerstown Fields. Information of these pro-
ceedings was at once sent to Portobello and a detachment
of Scots Greys was immediately sent off. In addition to
the Scots Greys a detachment of the 92nd Highlanders was
sent to Crumlin, but on their arrival the Fenians had gone
off in the direction of Tallaght. A gentleman who came
from the Green Hills direction near Tallaght stated that he
saw about 1,500 men moving towards Kildare. More light
may be thrown on the movement by a rumour circulated a
few days ago that the Insurgents from the City and County
Dublin were to have a general concentration in the moun-
tain district between Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare.
A gentleman who came from Howth early yesterday
morning reports seeing a body of over 200 men marching on
the Howth Road.
At a late hour last night [6/3/67] a detachment of the
52nd Regiment and a squadron of the 12th Lancers with four
pieces of artillery, occupied Crumlin.
Dundrum, Bray, Stepaside and Glencullen.
The Insurgents met at Milltown and marched to Dun-
drum. They assembled in front of the police barracks and
tried to induce the nine policemen to come out, and they
refused. After some time, the Insurgents were ordered by
their officers to march towards Stepaside. They arrived here
at about two in the morning and called on the police to
surrender in the name of the Irish Republic. Constable
Mcllwaine and his four men refused to do so. Shots were
fired on both sides, and a quantity of straw having been
forced through one of the windows into a room on the
ground floor for the purpose of burning the house, the police
offered to surrender on condition that the men would not be
injured. This was assented to and the police thus became
prisoners of war, and they delivered up the barracks with
all its arms and ammunition.
The Insurgents then marched along the Bray road as
far as Old Connaught and after their scouts returned it
was deemed advisable not to attack Bray. They proceeded
then to Glencullen where they called on Constable O'Brien
and his four men to surrender in the name of the Irish
Republic. He refused and said he would defend the bar-
racks. The order was then given for riflemen to advance
and 50 men armed with rifles came to the front. They drew
196
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
up before the barrack and just as they fired into it the
police fired out and wounded two of the Fenians. They (the
Fenians) then took cover and continued firing for some
time. The leader of the Fenians then ordered Constable
Mcllwaine, their prisoner, to represent to Constable O'Brien
that resistance was useless, and after some parleying O'Brien
agreed to surrender on condition that all the police would be
set free. This was agreed to — the release not to take place
for two hours.
The march of Patrick Lennon's and John Kirwan's men to
Stepaside and Glencullen and the capture of the police barracks
are fully described by Captain Harry Filgate in his letter to the
Gaelic American, which will be found in the next chapter, so I
will only insert here a brief account of some incidents told me by
Lennon himself and other participants in the fighting.
When Lennon ordered his riflemen to take cover they took up
a position behind a fence on the opposite side of the road, and
Denis Duggan made for himself an embrazure through which he
fired. But the loop-holed iron shutters protected the Peelers
and none of them was hit. Lennon said that Duggan (who nine
years later participated in the Catalpa rescue) had great nerve
and acted with the coolness of a veteran.
On their way to Stepaside a boy of fourteen or fifteen stepped
out of a house with a rifle on his shoulder and fell into line. He
proved to be one of the best fighters in the party, but Lennon
never learned his name. When I told the incident to Pat Breslin
(the youngest of the family) , he said he knew him and gave me
his name, but I have forgotten it. I am very sorry for this, as I
would like to put the brave boy on record. He was apparently
a farmer's son.
After the Glencullen barrack had surrendered, Lennon heard
loud talk inside and fearing that some of his men were going to
harm the Peelers he drew his revolver, went inside and said to
the men he found there: "These men are prisoners of war and
I'll shoot any man who attempts to injure or insult them." The
men laughed and told him they were only "taking a ride out of
the Peelers" and did not intend to hurt them. When he came
outside again he found the old Parish Priest haranguing his men
and telling them to go home. Lennon was a man of few words
and rarely used bad language, but he was excited and stepped
up to the priest, put the revolver to his head and with an oath
said: "If you don't get out of here I'll give you the contents of
this." The priest at once took the advice and went away.
Years afterwards a friend of Lennon who knew the story was
taking a walk through the Dublin hills and found the old priest
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
197
sitting on a low wall near the Glencullen church smoking his
pipe, and asked him for a light. He gave him the light and then
said: "Sit down and have a chat." Soon the talk drifted to the
events of 1867 and the old priest told him the story and said:
"That man knew his business and I've no hard feelings against
him. If I didn't do what I did Paul Cullen would be after my
scalp, but that man knew his business."
After being wounded at Dundrum, John Kirwan was captured
trying to get into Dublin and was held under police guard in
Madame Stevens's Hospital. There was some talk of friction be-
tween him and Lennon, but Lennon (who had remained in Dublin
after the Rising) speedily put an end to it by rescuing Kirwan
from the hospital and he managed to get safely to New York. I
saw the first meeting between the two men in Sweeney's Hotel
after our release and nothing could be more cordial. Kirwan was
a Dublin policeman's son, had been a sergeant in the Irish
Papal Brigade and was a close military student. He drilled his
men well and talked a good deal about military tactics. Some
of the Dublin wags nicknamed him "Me and Napoleon", but
Kirwan never used the words.
Larry Caulin, the old Centre of the district, and his cousin,
Larry Ellis, were then working in England and did not learn
of the intended Rising. If they had there would have been 200
stalwart mountaineers in the fighting. Caulin was a perfect type
of the Wicklow Clansman, tall, straight as a pike handle, good
looking, with dark brown hair and blue-gray eyes and reminded
one of Samuel Ferguson's lines (written later) :
"In the dark eyelashed eye of blue-gray,
In the open look, modest and kind,
In the face's fine oval reflecting the play
Of the sensitive generous mind."
Ellis (evidently of Cromwellian descent) was of a perfect
English type— tall and very strongly built, with very light hair
and blue eyes, but he was a fine Irishman, genial and good-
natured. I knew both men very well, as I had attended several
funerals in Glencullen of people born in that district but who
had lived in Dublin.
The absence of the men of the Dublin hills from the fighting
at Glencullen was an illustration of the confusion caused by the
repeated postponements of the fight.
Every farmer and farmer's son in that district was also a
stonecutter. The land is poor and rocky and the grass thin, so
they could only keep a few cows, sheep and goats, with a pig or
198
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
two and a lot of hens, and went to Dublin and England often to
work at stone cutting, while the girls took service in Dublin.
Coming down from Glencullen towards Dublin, the panorama
that meets the eye is one never to be forgotten; mountain peaks
in several directions, some near and others far off; the city itself
beyond the delightful valleys; and though "My own sweet Dub-
lin Bay" is in the distance it seems to be right at your feet — a
beautiful expanse of water on which the yachts look like swans.
Gazing on that vista, how forcibly the thought fastens on your
mind: truly, a country worth fighting for!
CHAPTER XXVII.
FILGATE'S PERSONAL NARRATIVE.
Recollections of Capture of Police Barracks in 1867 — Perfect
Military Discipline of Insurgents — Lennon Commanded
After Kirwan Had Been Wounded.
When John J. Rossiter, one of the men who took part in the
capture of the Barracks at Stepaside and Glencullen (and who
was in later years very active in the Clan-na-Gael in New York
and Newark, N. J.) , died in 1905, his friend and mine, Edward
Whelan, who also fought under Lennon, wrote a sketch of the
fighting for the Gaelic American. Then Captain Harry Filgate
of the Irish Volunteers in San Francisco, who had in the mean-
time been a sergeant in the American Regular Army, wrote a
letter correcting some errors in Whelan's account. As no two
men who took part in the same battle ever agree on all the
details, I prefer to take the version of the man with ten years'
service as an American Regular as likely to be the more accurate.
Filgate's letter is given herewith:
329 Harriet Street,
San Francisco, Calif.,
February 21, 1905.
Editor The Gaelic American: — A very interesting morsel
of Fenian history was that published in The Gaelic American
of the 4th inst. from the pen of Mr. Edward Whelan. Mr.
Whelan, in the biographical sketch of his old, true and tried
friend, John J. Rossiter, which he read at a recent meeting
of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood Veterans' Associa-
tion, very neatly and connectedly weaves in an epitome of
the salient doings of the I. R. B. in Dublin from 1865 to
1867.
Mr. Whelan's chronological statement of what trans-
pired from the time the Irish People paper was seized to the
night of the Rising, March 5, 1867, is, as the boys active in
the movement at the time knew, quite correct. But Mr.
Whelan is very brief in his account of the operations, and
entirely at sea as to the military condition of the contin-
gent he says John J. Rossiter served with on that memor-
able night.
This body, commanded by Captains John Kirwan, Patrick
Lennon and Lieutenant Matt Slattery, was well organized,
well officered, and an effective military unit. On the night
of March 5, 1867, the boys fell into line in Palmerstown
Park, City of Dublin, like veterans, loaded their pieces de-
liberately, counted off and broke into column like Regulars.
An advance guard was thrown out, a rear guard attached,
and, when the country permitted, flankers deployed. We
could not at any time have been surprised.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Our first prisoners were taken near Milltown, consisting
of Sergeant Sheridan and three patrolmen, city police. From
these four revolvers, belts, bayonets and spare ammunition
were taken.
At Windy Harbor our column was reinforced by a strong
detachment of well-armed men, commanded by Captain
John Kirwan. Here Kirwan assumed command over all.
In the attack on Dundrum Barrack Kirwan was shot through
the shoulder, and had to be taken away. The command
again fell to Lennon.
This barrack being so near the city we deemed it not
wise to remain. Instead we pushed on to Stepaside. Upon
nearing this hamlet our column was halted. Sixteen rifle-
men were detailed to take the barrack. The men being
posted, Lennon approached the door of the building, knocked
two or three times with the hilt of his sword. He was asked
from within: "Who is there?" He replied: "I command
you to surrender to the Irish Republic." After a delay the
answer came, "No." Immediately we were ordered to com-
mence firing through the windows and door. Constable
Mcllwaine returned the fire. We discovered that the shots
came from the second floor. This enabled some of us to get
right up to the building, which we did, and with the aid
of sledges taken from the village blacksmith shop soon had
the lower barricaded window broken in. We could distinctly
hear the piercing cries of women coming from the building.
We stopped firing and sledging to see if they wanted to come
out.
Between their shrieks we could hear a voice calling:
"Are you men of honor?" Lennon replied: "Yes; we want
this barrack and all the Government property it contains,
and will make prisoners of war of the men in it." "We sur-
render" came back to us. The door was opened, and we took
possession. In ransacking the desk we came across all sorts
of legal forms, some made out and ready for service. These
we took to the front of the barrack and burned. A "Peeler"
remarked to a few of us standing by: "This is awful work
in a proclaimed district." We told him that it was mild
to what he would see before the week was out. Alas! Alas!
All we could treat them to was to see us lick their comrades
on Glencullen Heights the next day.
With our prisoners we left Stepaside for our objective, a
place near Arklow, County Wicklow. Upon reaching Old
Connaught, near Bray, we were halted. Scouts were sent
into Bray to ascertain how matters were. They reported a
strong force. We expected this force to be annihilated by
General Halpin's command from Tallaght. General Halpin's
men failed to organize for lack of arms. The situation being
fully considered, we concluded to retrace our steps, take to
the Dublin mountains, and destroy all the police barracks
we could find.
We struck Glencullen Barrack on the morning of the
6th. It was beautifully situated for defence. Had the
"Peelers" taken position on the crest of the mountain they
would have compelled us to alter our tactics and delayed us
for some time. Instead, they held on to the protection of
their barrack. When we arrived in the vicinity Lennon halted
us, and deployed just enough men to envelop the building;
the rest, including the prisoners, were ordered out of range.
Lennon did here the same thing he had done several
times before during our march. When ordered to surren-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
201
der to the Irish Republic the Peelers refused. We were
ordered to commence firing. The Peelers answered in kind,
and for a time the exchange was spirited. Our shots, appar-
ently were doing little damage beyond breaking glass and
denting shutters. We soon discovered a vulnerable spot.
A detail was sent on the roof. Slates soon began to fly, a
hole was knocked through, and a dozen men with revolvers
stood ready to drop inside. The Peelers discovering the
situation shouted an unconditional surrender. Lennon
asked: "Is there treachery in this?" "No" came the
reply. The door was opened and our men took possession.
Our armament was immensely enriched by this victory.
Here, again was displayed the intelligence of our officers.
Preparatory to the attack a picket was sent in the direction
of Three Rock Mountain to watch the approaches from Dub-
lin; another towards the Scalp to watch the roads from
Wicklow. There were no women or children in the Glencul-
len barrack.
* * ♦
Captain Patrick Lennon was scrupulously careful that no
annoyance or insult should be given his prisoners. While
marching up Glencullen Mountain, I noticed a prisoner fall-
ing back. I gently put the butt of my gun to his back and
told him to keep up with the rest. Lennon saw me. In an
instant he drew a revolver and threatened to kill the first
person he found insulting or abusing a prisoner.
Lennon was not a man to seek shelter behind a Peeler,
nor did he want a man who would. With him you had to
stand up like a man and face the music.
The policemen themselves, when they returned to their
respective stations, spoke highly of us, and a Lord (Meath,
I believe) who owned land contiguous to the places we cap-
tured, within a week after the Rising, had published a letter
in the Freeman's Journal, extolling our conduct towards
our prisoners, and praising us in general for our honor-
able military behavior, adding that it was worthy of a
great cause.
"The Government was fully aware of their movements,
and was everywhere prepared to meet them," says Mr.
Whelan. I don't believe it. If the Government knew of
Lennon's party we must charge them with aiding and abet-
ting Fenianism. They stood by and allowed us to destroy
Government property, and endanger the lives of their be-
loved Peelers. Sir Hugh Rose, commander of the British
forces in Ireland at the time — he who blew the Sepoys in
India from the cannon's mouth during the Mutiny — was
aching to make a sacrifice of us. Lennon's party gave him
the chance. He would have taken it had he known it. If he
had known of our existence he would most likely despatch sol-
diers to Harcourt Street Railroad Station, and send them over
the Wicklow and Wexford Railroad with instructions to de-
train a company here and there between Milltown and
Bray. They would surely have bagged us, but not without
a fight. It must have been most galling to him to know,
while he was making prisoners of our men at Tallaght,
that we were doing the same to his pets on the other side
of the mountains.
Another evidence that they did not know about us: When
our party disbanded and each man chose his own route
home, I happened, about 4 o'clock in the evening of the same
day to reach a village two miles outside Rathfarnham. Just
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
as I did a company of heavy dragoons dashed by, going
in the direction where our men had been. In ten minutes
they were followed by four companies of infantry, at forced
march cadence. These were followed by two pieces of field
artillery. The infantry must have come from Beggar's
Bush, or Ship Street Barracks. Two hours would have
brought them to where I met them. It is, therefore, reason-
able to assume the first information the Government had
of Lennon's party must have been about 1 o'clock p. m. on
the 6th.
Henry P. Filgate,
Late "B," Lord Edward Circle I. R. B.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE DISASTER AT TALLAGHT.
Police from Ambush and in Pitch Darkness Poured Volley
into Main Body of Fenians and Killed Their Leader — Many
Prisoners Taken.
There is much confusion and conflict of testimony in the
accounts of what led up to the disaster at Tallaght, County
Dublin, on the night of March 5, 1867, but all agree that it was a
disaster.
General W. G. Halpin was in command of the Dublin District
in the Rising, but he was several miles away from Tallaght, with
a small body of men, when the misfortune occurred.
I was with him for two years in Chatham Prison. He told
me about being with the Breslins in Col. White's demesne (the
Colonel was away from home) , that the men he expected to
join him there did not turn up and how he got back into Dublin,
but that was all. He was a highly intelligent man who had
thrown up a position which brought him an income of $10,000 a
year — City Engineer and County Surveyor of Cincinnati — to go
to Ireland for the fight and his sincerity could not be doubted.
I knew Niall Breslin for sixty years — half a century of it in New
York — and he agreed with Halpin that the men of the other
Circles did not turn up. How they came to be marching on
Tallaght under the leadership of Stephen O'Donoghue, a civilian,
neither Halpin nor Breslin explained and probably did not know.
All that we can ever be certain of is that "somebody blundered".
I understood from Halpin and Breslin that the men were to
assemble in Colonel White's demesne before making any attack,
but the actual fact was that the main body of Fenians, several
thousand strong, but mostly unarmed, was marching along the
road to Tallaght and near the village, on a pitch dark night,
without an advance guard or any other precaution, when a
volley from sixty police rifles was poured into them, killing
O'Donoghue and wounding several others. They could not see
where the volley came from, or anything in front of them, so all
the few who had rifles could do was to fire straight ahead of
them in the direction of the flashes. As soon as the police had
time to reload their old-fashioned Enfields they fired again
and inflicted a few more casualties.
203
204
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Then the Fenians did what all raw soldiers do under such
circumstances facing an unseen foe: they broke, retreated in
confusion, and tried to make their way to Dublin as best they
could. An ex-British soldier (a Dublin man whose name I forget)
told me in New York that he tried to rally them, but failed.
The bridges over the Grand Canal, which had to be crossed
to get into the city, were all guarded by police and the men were
all arrested and marched to the Upper Castle Yard, where, broken
and weary after their terrible night, they had to lie on the wet
ground in their rain-soaked clothes for many hours. It was a
sad ending to the high hopes they had cherished for ten years.
The disaster was complete.
Those assembled at the rendezvous with Colonel Halpin num-
bered only fifty or sixty men, with about half a dozen rifles, and
included five of the Breslin brothers — Michael, previously men-
tioned, Thomas, who belonged to the B. Division (the grenadiers
of the Dublin police) , Ephraim, Niall (the Centre of the Circle) ,
and Patrick, who was only fifteen years of age. When they were
starting out from their home in Rathmines their mother begged
them to leave Pat with her, but he cried and insisted on his
right to go. They locked him up in a room, but he climbed out
through a window, followed his brothers and overtook them
about a mile away. They were a great family.
The party was piloted to Colonel White's demesne by Michael
Lambert, later President of the Amnesty Association, who knew
every foot of that part of the County Dublin.
The men captured after the Tallaght rout were all imprisoned
for a time, but, as there was little evidence against them, none
of them got heavy sentences.
The police guards at the canal bridges were all withdrawn
in the belief that all the men who were in the Rising were taken,
and this enabled Lennon's men, who had hung round the suburbs
till "the coast was clear" to get safely back to their homes.
Halpin told me that he remained playing billiards in a public
house in Rathfarnham all day on March 6, taking sherry and
egg for nourishment, and got into the city in a cab after night-
fall. He was arrested several weeks later trying to board a
steamer for America at Queenstown— the old Irish name of Cobh
had not then been restored — and had a sensational trial. He
knew he was sure of conviction and that it would be a waste of
money (if he had any) to engage a lawyer, so he defended him-
self. He did not bother himself about evidence for the defense,
but raked the Crown witnesses fore and aft. He paid particular
attention to Governor Price of Kilmainham Jail, who was a petty
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
205
tyrant and a vindictive creature. Halpin nicknamed him "The
Gorilla", which was very appropriate. Price was a very low-
sized, but powerfully built man, with forbidding features, a long
yellow mustache and side-whiskers and shaggy eyebrows. He
had a personal hatred for all the prisoners and never missed an
opportunity of inflicting heavy punishment.
Tallaght was the worst misfortune of the whole Rising and
it was a wonder that the men of the organization, after such a
series of defeats, had the recuperative power to reorganize the
movement. Their chagrin over the failure proved a strong incen-
tive, and in a few months Dublin became once more the chief
stronghold of the organization, although it seemed to me when
I arrived in New York that every man I knew in Dublin was
here. These refugees from Dublin, Cork and Limerick were the
backbone of the Clan-na-Gael, which was started almost simul-
taneously with the reorganization of the I. R. B. in Ireland and
Great Britain.
Halpin was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude. While
in Millbank before being sent to join the other "hard cases" in
Chatham, he was turning the pump handle one day and the
English convict who was facing him (an "old lag") told him he
knew all the "Finnians". Halpin named them all one after an-
other and the thief said he knew them all. "Do you know
Halpin?" "W'y, yes I know 'im well. 'Is Moll rounded on 'im."
Halpin told us the story with great gusto.
When we were released in 1870 Halpin refused to accept the
condition attached to the "conditional pardon" of going to
America, though his home was in Cincinnati, and he remained
in prison for more than a year, until the Government got tired
of keeping him and he was set free. He at once started for
America, although he refused to be compelled to go there. He
lived to a ripe old age and died in Cincinnati.
Johnny White, one of my men in Naas, owing to some family
trouble, enlisted in the Fourth Dragoon Guards early in 1865,
when the regiment was stationed at Ballincollig, County Cork.
It was moved to Newbridge, County Kildare (about 26 miles from
Dublin) , a little before the Rising, and White, who had deserted
and come to New York, told me the story of the movements of
the regiment. The whole regiment, except about fifty men, were
Fenians, but notwithstanding the revelations of the courts-
martial, its officers had no suspicions. On March 6 when the
men routed at Tallaght were prisoners in the Castle Yard the
regiment received orders to proceed to Tallaght, and what hap-
pened was a roaring farce. The men had, of course, to provide
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
oats and hay for the horses and to be supplied with sandwiches
for themselves, but the packing of the officers' baggage, which
included bottles of wine and other luxuries, took up nearly the
whole day. The order to march was received at ten o'clock in
the morning, but it was seven that evening before they were
ready to move on the rebels, — who were already prisoners. A
special train had been provided, with a pilot engine ahead, and
the train moved slowly and cautiously along as if an attack were
expected. After about two hours it stopped at a point between
Straffan and Celbridge, and the work of getting off the horses
and the officers' baggage took more than an hour. Then they
started for Tallaght through a country of narrow roads, in-
habited by Dublin shopkeepers and retired officers of the army,
with gardens and woods on each side. Cavalry would be at a
great disadvantage if attacked there, but there was no one to
make the attack. But the soldiers expected one and White
told me they were whispering to one another: "When will the
boys come?" and were ready to join them at the first shot.
They arrived in Tallaght about seven o'clock on the evening
of March 7, nearly two full days after the Fenians had been dis-
persed. It was an opera bouffe performance and a choice illus-
tration of the inefficiency of the British Army. It was chasing
shadows for a whole week after the Rising had failed.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE FIGHTING IN CORK.
Fully 4,000 Men, Mostly Unarmed, Turned Out in the City —
Their Operations Consisted Only of Attacks on Police Bar-
racks— All Attempts, Except One, Failed — "The Little Cap-
tain" and His Merciful Terrorism.
"Rebel Cork" did its best on the night of March 5, 1867, but
its best, owing to lack of arms, amounted only to attacks on some
police barracks, all of which, except one, failed. I was told by
Corkmen after my release, as well as by young Coughlin in Mill-
bank, that 4,000 men turned out in the city, but they had less
than fifty rifles and no American officer of rank or experience
was assigned to the command, except Colonel James Moran (then
a Captain) , who was put in charge of Mallow.
At Ballyknockane, a few miles from the city, James F. X.
O'Brien, a civilian and a clever man, but without any military
knowledge, was in command, and his chief lieutenant, William
Mackey Lomasney, had served as a private in the Union Army in
the Civil War. Lomasney had considerable military ability, but
was an extremely modest man who never asserted himself and
he obeyed O'Brien's orders implicitly. But all those who took part
in the fight, with many of whom I talked in New York, agreed
that the capture and destruction of the barrack was due entirely
to the work of "The Little Captain", as the boys called him.
Curtis's History of the Royal Irish Constabulary, apparently
written for the sole purpose of puffing the Peelers and giving
them entire credit for putting down the Rising, begins every
account of a skirmish with the statement that "a large body of
well armed Fenians" attacked the police barrack and were gal-
lantly repulsed by the policemen. There was no "large body
of well armed Fenians" anywhere in the Rising of 1867. The
Fenians were almost wholly without arms everywhere and the
wonder was that they turned out at all. It was generally said
that the men were told that arms would be distributed after
they turned out, but I could never find any proof of this. The
idea seemed to be that the arms captured from the police would
enable them to hold out until a shipload, with a covering force,
was landed from America. The shipload was sent, but arrived off
the Irish coast too late to be of any use, and the vessel was
obliged to return to America. The police as a "reward" for the
207
208 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
defense of their barracks in 1867, were thereafter styled the
"Royal Irish Constabulary".
A fight in a barroom, or the rumor of a divorce would get
more space in the New York papers than the whole Rising ob-
tained in the leading Dublin journal of the day, and the news
was always at least a day late, the paper evidently waiting for
the Castle to supply it. Yet at that time several of the Manag-
ing Editors, City Editors and nearly all the crack reporters on
the leading New York daily papers were born Irishmen, showing
that it was not lack of journalistic talent in the race, but absence
of spirit and enterprise in the management, and toadying to or
fear of the British Government, which was responsible for the
meagre reports. It was a demonstration of the crying need for
a revolution.
The following brief paragraphs in the Freeman of March 7,
1867, and following days, are all the paper published (with the
exception of a few lines on Knockadoon) about the Rising in
Cork:
"Large numbers of the Insurgents assembled in a suburb
of the city known as Fair Hill and marched north, tearing
up the railway rails at Rathduff. This party was supposed
to be marching on Mallow Junction.
"Shortly after two in the morning a large body of In-
surgents attacked the police barrack at Midleton and were
repulsed. They then proceeded towards Castlemartyr and
on their way they fell in with a patrol of four police. The
constable in charge was shot dead, another wounded, and
the other two made prisoners. On reaching Castlemartyr
they immediately attacked the police barracks and were re-
pulsed, leaving their leader dead on the field.
"The police station at Burnfort between Blarney and Mal-
low was sacked and burnt."
And the paper didn't contain one word about Ballyknockane
until March 11, doubtless because it was a Fenian victory and
the police didn't want to give it out. Immediately following the
little paragraphs about Cork, the Freeman of March 7, under the
headline "Precautions at Powerscourt" had the following:
"One hundred Marines arrived at Powerscourt this
evening, 10th March, to protect the mansion from a Fenian
invasion. It is understood that the force was granted at
the special request of Lord Powerscourt."
The Lord Powerscourt of the day was very unpopular, but
his residence was as safe from attack as the beautiful waterfall
near by. Not one of the residences of the gentry was molested
anywhere during the Rising, though some lead had been stolen
from the roofs to make bullets in preparation for it. There was
absolutely no looting, no woman was insulted, and even the most
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
209
notorious "felon-setters" were left unmolested. The nearest ap-
proach to looting was the commandeering of the bread from a
baker's cart in Thurles, and that was done in the name of the
Irish Republic.
As the Peelers resisted stubbornly at Ballyknockane, though
their fire inflicted but few casualties as the Fenians fired from
cover, Lomasney took a small detachment to the rear of the
barrack, smashed a window, threw in some lighted straw and
piled in more to feed the flame. This soon smoked the policemen
out, set fire to the building, and they surrendered. They were
held prisoners for a time after being disarmed until it was con-
sidered safe to set them free. Although the Fenians were in
strong force, their lack of arms made it impossible to face regu-
lar soldiers and the spot was too close to Cork, where there was
a large garrison, to risk delay. Detachments were sent to attack
other nearby police barracks, but the attacks all failed and
O'Brien decided to disband his men and sent them back to the
city while it was possible to get in.
Following is the report in the Freeman of March 11 of the
Ballyknockane fight on March 5:
"Ballyknockane, Mallow.
"A party of Fenians marched out from Cork to Bally-
knockane, which is six miles from Mallow. There were five
policemen in the barrack and when summoned to surren-
der they refused. A volley was fired at the windows and the
police replied, wounding one man. The Insurgents then
forced the back door and set fire to the place, and com-
pelled the police to come out and their arms were taken from
them."
William N. Penny (a Protestant) , who was for many years
Editor of the New York Daily News, was at that time foreman-
printer of the Cork Southern Reporter, a bigoted Tory organ,
and he told me that the compositors, one after another, came to
him on March 5 and asked for a day off on various pretexts. One
had a sister who was getting married, another wanted to attend
his aunt's funeral, another's father was sick, and so on. Penny
lived north of the city and as he was going home very late that
night he was halted and questioned by detachments of soldiers,
but when he told them he was employed by a staunch Loyalist
paper he was allowed to go his way. Late next day he learned of
the capture and burning of Ballyknockane police barrack and
that accounted for all the weddings and funerals. The proprietor
of the paper, a stern old Tory, was in a furious temper and
ordered him to "discharge every one of the damned blackguards"
and Penny told him he would. Next day the printers began drop-
ping in, looking tired and sleepy, and Penny asked them with a
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
wink if the weddings and funerals had come off satisfactorily and
they all answered in the affirmative. He told them of his orders,
warned them to be very careful, and told them they must all
take new names. He put "every one of the damned black-
guards" back to work and the bigoted old proprietor knew noth-
ing of the trick.
Penny was a member of the Reception Committee which wel-
comed Parnell and John Dillon to New York, was an active
member of the Land League and later joined the Clan-na-Gael,
of which he was a member when he died some years ago. He
was one of the founders of the New York Press Club and his
funeral was very largely attended. There were prominent news-
paper men, politicians, business men, Masons, Clan men, actors
and literary men there, in great numbers, and two or three old
Cork printers who were in the Rising of 1867.
In Mallow only six men turned out, including a brother of
William O'Brien, whom he erroneously, in his Recollections,
places with the party that attacked Ballyknockane. Colonel
Moran assured me he was with him. This group being so small,
Moran hoping to meet another contingent, proceeded to Kanturk,
where they put up at Johnson's Hotel. Johnson was an English-
man married to an Irishwoman and had been a long time in
Ireland. He went into Cork on his jaunting car the next day and
brought back the news of the failure of the Rising everywhere,
and later facilitated Moran's escape to America. His son was
later a member of the reorganized I. R. B. and prominent in the
Amnesty movement. The old man was one instance among many
of Englishmen settled in Ireland rendering service to the National
Cause.
Captain Moran joined the Rhode Island Volunteers in August
1861; he saw nearly two years' service in the Civil War; had com-
mands at Fort Armory and Hatteras Inlet, N. C, and later at
Forts Foster and Parke, at Roanoke Island. But what could an
able officer like him accomplish under the conditions at Mallow
in 1867? After returning to America, he continued his military
activities and was Colonel of the 2d Regt. Infantry (Rhode
Island) from 1887 to 1898 when he resigned.
William Mackey Lomasney was one of the most remarkable
men of the Fenian movement. A small man of slender build,
who spoke with a lisp, modest and retiring in manner, one who
did not know him well would never take him for a desperate
man, but no man in the Fenian movement ever did more des-
perate things. He was better known in Cork for his raids for
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
211
arms in Allport's gunshop and other places after the Rising, than
for the part he played at Ballyknockane. They were done in
broad daylight and he showed great coolness and daring. When
he was arrested he shot the Peeler who had seized him. The
Peeler, although severely wounded, did not die and Lomasney was
tried for attempted murder. Judge O'Hagan, who had been a
Young Irelander and later became Lord Chancellor of Ireland,
was the trial judge and undertook to lecture him on the enor-
mity of his crime, but Lomasney turned the tables on him by re-
minding him that he was himself once a Rebel and that he
(Lomasney) was only following the example O'Hagan had set
in 1848.
The Peeler, a big, powerful man, had knocked Lomasney down
and had him under him while they were struggling for posses-
sion of Lomasney's revolver. It went off in the struggle and
Lomasney had no intention of killing him. O'Hagan was stung
by Lomasney's sharp rebuke and imposed a sentence of fifteen
years' penal servitude, for which he was severely censured by
even the English and the Tory Irish papers. Lomasney took the
sentence calmly, although he had only recently been married.
It was in Millbank Prison that I first met him, and we became
fast friends.
In America, years later, when the dynamite warfare was on
foot, he was warned by the "Triangle" that I was a "traitor"
and he must not have anything to do with me, but he told Aleck
Sullivan that I was an honest man with a right to my opinions
and that he would not obey any order to treat me as a man
disloyal to Ireland. Sullivan needed Lomasney to hold his grip
on the Executive of the organization, which he controlled, so he
let the matter drop.
Lomasney then explained his policy and methods to me, and
they were entirely different from those of the "Triangle". He
wanted simply to strike terror into the Government and the
governing class and "would not hurt the hair of an English-
man's head" except in fair fight. We then discussed the policy
fully and I told him the most he could expect through Terrorism
was to wring some small concessions from the English which
could be taken back at any time when the Government's counter-
policy of Terrorism achieved some success. Lomasney admitted
this, but contended that the counter-Terrorism would not suc-
ceed; that the Irish were a fighting race who had through the
long centuries never submitted to coercion; that their fighting
spirit would be aroused by the struggle; that the sympathy of
the world would eventually be won for Ireland, and that England
212
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
could not afford to take back the concessions, which could be
used to wring others, and that in the end Ireland would win her
full Freedom.
I freely admitted that if honestly carried out on his lines the
policy of Terrorism might succeed, but that I utterly disbelieved
in the sincerity of those men who were directing it; that they
were only carrying on a game of American politics, using the bit-
ter feeling of Irishmen here to obtain control of the organization
and turn it into an American political machine to achieve per-
sonal purposes. I pleaded for a broader policy that would win
the intellect of the Irish at home and abroad and make the race
a formidable factor in the counsels of the world, and an ally
worth dealing with in England's next big war. I further pointed
out to him that the temper of the race would upset all his ideas
about "not hurting the hair of an Englishman's head"; that
once their blood was up the honest fighting men who would
have to carry on the work would kill all the Englishmen they
could and that England, having the ear of the world and control
of all the agencies of news supply, would see to it that the world
was duly shocked.
I wasted my time and made no impression whatever upon
him. He was as cool and calm during the argument as if we were
discussing the most ordinary subject and, while his manner was
animated, there was not the slightest trace of heat or passion
in it. He even denied the right of the Home Organization to
decide the policy for the whole race when I told him the Supreme
Council was as firm as the Rock of Cashel against anything
being done within its jurisdiction of which it did not fully ap-
prove. He was a fanatic of the deepest dye, and all the harder
to argue with because he never got heated or lost his temper.
Such was the man who was blown to atoms under London
Bridge with his brother, his brother-in-law and a splendid man
named Fleming, a short time after my talk with him. The
explosion only slightly damaged one of the arches, and I have
always believed that this was all he intended to do. He was, in
my opinion, carrying out his policy of frightening the English
Government and England's Ruling Class. And that it did frighten
them, as all the other dynamite operations did, there can be no
reason to doubt.
CHAPTER XXX.
KNOCKADOON AND KILCLOONEY WOOD.
Coastguard Station Captured Without Firing a Shot — Peter
O'Neill Crowley's Tragic Death in a Running Fight With
British Soldiers — Honored as a Martyr.
The capture of the Coastguard Station at Knockadoon, some
ten miles from Youghal, County Cork, by Captain John McClure
and Peter O'Neill Crowley, on the night of March 5, 1867, was the
neatest job done by the Fenians in the Rising. It was taken by
a well planned surprise, without the firing of a single shot or the
shedding of one drop of blood, the ten Coastguards were made
prisoners and their rifles appropriated. But it was followed by
the tragic death of O'Neill Crowley on March 31 at Kilclooney
Wood, in a desperate fight with British soldiers. The great out-
pouring of the people at the funeral was a demonstration of sym-
pathy which the English Government could not well suppress,
and aroused Nationalists throughout Ireland.
Captain P. J. Condon, who had served in the Civil War in one
of the regiments of Meagher's Brigade, a native of Cork and a
very capable officer, was assigned to command of the Midleton
district, but was arrested the day before the Rising. James
Sullivan, the Centre of the town, and several others were also
arrested. That disarranged the general plan and broke the con-
nections, so that several contingents did not turn out. Sullivan
had previously been several months in Mountjoy Prison, where I
met him, and his movements were closely watched after his
release on bail. Condon's arrest was a severe blow.
Condon was McClure's brother-in-law, and they had come
from America together. O'Neill Crowley, a prosperous farmer,
about thirty-five years old, was the Centre of the Ballymacoda
district. He was a very popular man, and had great influence
with the people. His Circle numbered a hundred men, and every
one of them turned out. McClure told me they were a fine lot
of fellows, but at the outset they had only one rifle (Crowley's
own) , a few old shotguns, and McClure's Colt's revolver. There
were a few pikes, and some of the men had sharpened rasps,
fastened to rake handles with waxed hemp. With that paltry
armament very little could be expected of them, but they did a
very creditable piece of work.
213
214
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
On three sides of the Coastguard Station there was a sort of
platform made of planks, and on the one in front a sentry paced
up and down. The blizzard which played a disastrous part later
that night had not yet started.
After carefully examining the surroundings, Crowley's men
took up a position in the rear of the station and McClure and
Crowley crept silently along the planks on one of the dark sides,
stood up close to the front and waited. When the sentry reached
the corner McClure gripped him by the collar of his coat, put
the revolver to his breast, and whispered to him that if he said
a word he would shoot. They then took his rifle and went to
the door, which was not locked, the men following silently,
opened it and went in quietly. The Coastguards were all lying
down and most of them were asleep. The arms rack was beside
the door and the rifles were secured at once. The Coastguards
were made prisoners and marched toward Mogeely, a station on
the Youghal Railway ten or twelve miles away, where they were
set at liberty.
McClure's orders were to move to a spot near the railroad to
Youghal, and wait for detachments from other points to arrive.
But none came. The first train from Cork was to have been
stopped, but after waiting in a small wood on the top of a hillock,
the first sight that greeted their eyes about dawn was the Cork
train moving slowly along. It stopped and a Flying Column of
English soldiers and Peelers, numbering 250 men, got out and
headed in their direction. The Fenians were hidden by the trees,
but twenty minutes would bring the Flying Column to the spot.
McClure and Crowley held a hurried consultation and decided to
disperse the men except the ten who had rifles. Every one of the
unarmed men before leaving told McClure that as soon as he
could get rifles for them they would join him again, and all
started for their homes. Not one of them was arrested.
The twelve men then started for a spot which Crowley knew
as a good hiding place. It was a hill with a plateau surrounded
by trees at the top. After placing sentries on watch they lay
down and had a good sleep. It was a lonely section of country
with no houses within miles, and they remained there in perfect
safety for ten or twelve days, and in the meantime were joined
by Edward Kelly, a New York printer, who had come over for
the fight a year previously. He had been with another party
which failed, and he had a rifle. Later they were joined by a
brother of John Boyle O'Reilly, another printer, who had had a
similar experience to Kelly's. Crowley, disguised, went into Cork
to get the news, and got back safely. McClure fully expected
an expedition from America, but when Crowley brought the news
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
215
it was that the Rising had failed everywhere and there was
nothing about an expedition from America. Yet, they resolved
to remain there till something would turn up. They were very
comfortable in a dilapidated old house, and were living on the
fat of the land. They had plenty of chicken and game, and one
of Crowley's men secured some cooking utensils from a family
he knew some distance away.
One morning early their sentry reported that he saw what he
thought to be redcoats in the distance. The hill they were on
commanded a view of the surrounding country for many miles,
and in a few minutes they saw three Flying Columns, composed
of Military and Constabularymen, converging on their little camp.
It would be madness to think of fighting several hundred soldiers
and Peelers with a dozen men, so McClure told the boys to dis-
perse and make their way home. As they knew the country very
well, they all managed to reach their homes in safety. O'Reilly,
who didn't know the country, got away safely also, and was not
arrested. I don't know whether the rifles were saved or not.
McClure, Crowley and Kelly started for Kilclooney Wood, but
after walking a few miles Kelly's feet gave out, and they had to
leave him lying at the back of a ditch. He was arrested, tried,
and convicted, and remained in prison for several years. He
died in Boston many years ago, and, as he was a Protestant, was
buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, in the Roxbury district of
Boston, where John Boyle O'Reilly erected a monument in the
form of a round tower to his memory. The stone of which the
monument is built was brought from Ireland.
Crowley and McClure reached Kilclooney Wood, but were soon
confronted by a soldier, who shouted to them to halt and give
the countersign. Crowley levelled his rifle and fired at him,
saying: "There's the countersign for you." The bullet did not
hit the soldier and they were fired on from several points at
once. The wood was filled with soldiers, evidently searching for
them. The two men turned in other directions several times,
but every time they turned they found soldiers in front of them,
not in military formation, but scattered singly. Every soldier
who saw them fired, and at last Crowley was hit and severely
wounded. Evidently several bullets struck him, but not one hit
McClure.
They could have escaped the bullets in the beginning of the
running fight by surrendering, but neither had the slightest
thought of doing so. Shortly after Crowley was hit they reached
the edge of the wood where they attempted to cross the
Ahaphooca stream which skirted it. Crowley was weak from
loss of blood, and in the stream McClure had to put his left arm
216 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
around him, as his legs were fast weakening. He was six feet
two in height, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and very power-
fully built, and in his efforts to hold him up McClure, who was
only five feet seven, but strongly built, had to stoop, so that the
revolver in his right hand dipped into the water and the old-
fashioned paper cartridges with which it was loaded got wet.
But McClure, in his excitement, didn't know it. Soldiers and
policemen came running up on the outer bank of the stream,
with a magistrate at their head, and the magistrate, who wore
top boots, stepped into the water and called on McClure to sur-
render. McClure pointed his revolver at him and pulled the
trigger, but, of course, it didn't go off, because the ammunition
was wet. He was speedily overpowered and dragged up on the
bank. Crowley was lifted up and placed lying on the bank, and it
was at once seen that his wounds were mortal.
The English forces were accompanied by Mr. Redmond, Resi-
dent Magistrate, who was a retired Captain of the British army
and an uncle of John Redmond.
Dr. Segrave, the military surgeon, on examining Crowley,
found that he could live but a short time. "Can I do anything
for you?" asked Segrave. Crowley requested to see a priest, and
mounted-constable Merryman was hastily despatched to Bally-
gibbon. He was fortunate enough to meet Father T. O'Connell,
the curate of Kildorrery, as he was proceeding to his church to
celebrate Mass.
In a letter written twenty years later, under date of April 5,
1887, to a local newspaper (the clipping from which reached me
in July, 1928), Father O'Connell wrote:
"On my arrival at Kilclooney Wood I found Dr. Segrave,
surgeon to the flying column, busily engaged staunching the
fatal wound with one hand, whilst from a prayer book in
the other he read aloud at the young man's request, the
litany of the Holy Name of Jesus. I was deeply touched by
the scene, and especially by the exclamation 'Thank God, all
is right now', and then turning to the doctor, he said 'Thank
you very much, the priest is come; leave me to him'. I saw
at once the critical condition of the heroic soul whose life-
blood was ebbing fast away. It was clear there was no time
to waste; and having made him as comfortable as circum-
stances would permit, by means of the soldiers' knapsacks,
I then, surrounded by the military and police, administered
the last sacraments."
The prayer book from which Dr. Segrave read was found in
one of Crowley's pockets.
Crowley's dying words as quoted by Father O'Connell were:
"Father I have two loves in my heart— one for my reli-
gion, the other for my country. I am dying to-day for
Fatherland. I could die as cheerfully for the Faith."
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
217
An account of the Kilclooney fight which I published in the
Gaelic American in 1904, confirms the foregoing. Crowley died
while being conveyed to Mitchelstown.
There is one passage in Father O'Connell's letter to which I
take exception. It reads:
"To hold him up as a contumacious Fenian would not be
fair, for he had died long before Fenians as an oath-bound
and secret society were formally condemned by the Church.
I write from thorough conviction when I say that Peter
O'Neill Crowley under no circumstances would willingly be-
come a disobedient child of the Church."
His implication that Crowley would not have participated in
the '67 Rising if the Pope's condemnation of Fenianism had been
issued sooner, has no justification whatever. The Papal Rescript
condemning the movement was issued more than two years
before the Rising and Crowley, as a reader of the Irish People,
knew all about it, though it was not promulgated in the Diocese
of Cloyne.
Crowley's body was given up to his family by Redmond, and
he was given a great funeral. He was buried at Ballymacoda,
where there is a monument to his memory. All Cork seemed to
be there. People flocked to the wake and funeral from all parts
of the biggest county in Ireland, and it was an imposing Nation-
alist demonstration.
O'Neill Crowley was honored as a martyr, and his name is
still revered by Irish Nationalists everywhere. Cork is particu-
larly proud of him. Many people wanted the name of Kilclooney
Wood changed to Kilcrowley Wood. Some of them continued to
call it by that name for many years, and pilgrimages were made
to it on March 5 by the reorganized I. R. B.
Peter O'Neill Crowley was one of the best men in the Fenian
movement, and Ireland never gave birth to a truer or more de-
voted son. His devotion to the cause of Irish Liberty was sublime,
and his courage was dauntless. He led a pure life, was a kindly
neighbor, and had the respect of all who knew him. I knew a
cousin of his in New York named O'Neill, who was one of the
party that captured Knockadoon, and who joined the Napper
Tandy Club of the Clan-na-Gael soon after landing. He returned
to Ireland and died there. I also knew some other men of the
party.
O'Neill Crowley was a deeply religious man. He had taken a
vow of celibacy, McClure told me. Father O'Neill, an uncle of
his, was flogged by the Yeomen in 1798. John Cullinane, one
of the attacking party, was in New York when we landed, and
218
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
often came to see McClure, whom he worshipped. Cullinane
died at home in Ireland at eighty-eight years of age, in April,
1928, and his imposing funeral was a fitting tribute to the old
Fenian.
McClure and I were close friends in Chatham Prison, where
the two of us were brought together from Millbank in 1869, and
he told me the whole story. His account of the incidents after
the surrender at Kilclooney differs in a few details from other
versions, but that can easily be accounted for by the fact that
he was a prisoner at the time and could not see and hear every-
thing that then transpired.
An officer of the New York Clan-na-Gael (President of the old
Sarsfield Club) named Anthony Fitzgerald, went home to Cappo-
quin, County Waterford (his native town) , in the mid-'Seventies,
and frequently met Resident Magistrate Redmond there, and
they often went over the story of Kilclooney Wood. Redmond
said of McClure, with every evidence of admiration: "He was
the pluckiest devil I ever saw." McClure thought he would be
hanged and preferred to die fighting. He was sentenced to death,
but was reprieved and the sentence changed to penal servitude
for life. He was released with the rest of us in 1870, and came
to New York with the first batch of five in January, 1871.
John McClure was born in Dobbs Ferry, a few miles up the
Hudson from New York, of a Tipperary mother and a Limerick
father. When the Civil War broke out he was too young to be
accepted as a recruit, but later enlisted as a private in a New
York cavalry regiment, and served during the last two years of
the war. He was in none of the big battles because his regiment
was operating in the Blue Ridge of Virginia against Mosby's
Guerillas, but was in numerous small fights. Patrick Lennon,
who led the Fenians at Stepaside and Glencullen, was engaged in
the same work at the same time, but they never met until after
their release from prison.
McClure was rapidly promoted and was made a Lieutenant
for gallantry in action at the age of twenty. He was only twenty-
two in the Rising. He married Miss Mary Flanagan, whom he
met at the house of Thomas Francis Bourke's mother, a couple
of years after his return to New York. He had two brothers, the
eldest, William J., being a priest, who published a volume of
poetry, and the youngest, David, was a lawyer, who became
prominent at the New York Bar. John was Chief Clerk in
David's law office. All the McClures are dead at this writing.
CHAPTER XXXI.
TIPPERARY'S EFFORT FAILED.
Turnout Covered a Large Area and the Men Generally Responied
to Call, but had no Supply of Arms and were Unable to Ac-
complish Anything — Pathetic Thurles Incident — Michael
O'Neill Fogarty of Kilfeacle a Splendid Figure.
The Rising in Tipperary, as in other parts of Ireland, was a
failure through lack of arms. The men responded generally to
the call and if properly armed would undoubtedly have given
a good account of themselves, but soldiers and armed policemen
cannot be fought with bare fists and the gallant "Tips" had little
else. They had not in the whole county enough rifles to face a
company of soldiers or fifty Peelers, and must have wondered
what they were expected to do. All that was possible was to
make a demonstration against the Government and that they
did.
The Freeman report on March 7 says that Colonel Gleason
(presumably "big Jack", the brother of the future Mayor of Long
Island City) was in command in Tipperary, but he was not; and
he was not a competent officer. He was a giant in stature (6 feet
7) , had served through the Civil War without any particular
distinction, and was one of the first to volunteer to go to Ireland
for the fight in 1865.
His brother Joseph, who had a good fighting record in the
Civil War, acted very badly in Ireland. Like his brother, he had
gone over for the fight and in the Rising was assigned to the
command of Thurles, but he didn't turn up on March 5 and
never gave any reason for his action. Of course, as a trained
soldier, he knew the Fenians had no chance, but he accepted the
command and then failed at the last moment. The Gleasons
were Tipperary men.
The Centre of the Thurles District, a simple young fellow
named Sheehy, from whom I got the story in Portland Prison,
turned out four hundred men, who were well drilled, so far as
marching and keeping step were concerned, but without a com-
petent officer they were at a great disadvantage. They had
twenty smooth-bore muskets. Sheehy marched his men into
Thurles in good order only to see some twenty Peelers marching
out at the other end of the street. Thurles was theirs without
219
220
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
firing a shot. They had no knowledge of what was taking place
elsewhere and knew nothing of Joe Gleason's orders, so after
waiting some time they helped themselves to the contents of a
baker's cart, and decided to return to their homes and await
developments.
Sheehy's case was pathetic. His mother was a bedridden
widow who had five acres of land which he used as a paddock
in which to keep cattle between fairs. He had been making a
good living and was his mother's only support.
We were standing under a shed out of a shower of rain in
Portland, he with his stonecutter's mallet and chisel in his hands,
as he told me, with tears in his eyes, of his parting with his
mother. "She put an elegant green sash on me," he said, "kissed
me and gave me her blessing when I was going off to fight for
Ireland." She never saw him again, as the Peelers were hot on
his trail and he dared not go home. He was a mere boy with
regular features and without a hair on his face, and his friends
insisted on his disguising himself as a woman and procured him a
ticket for New York under a female name. As he stood in the
line of female passengers on the dock of the steamer at Cobh
he was thinking of the poor sick mother he had left behind him
(the bravest soul in all Tipperary) and did not notice when his
female name was called by the purser who was checking off the
list of passengers until a girl standing next him nudged him
and said: "They're calling your name." He roused himself and
gulped out in a loud voice: "Here, sir." A naval officer who was
standing with the purser said at once: "That's a man." They
got a stewardess to examine him and she immediately found a
turned up trousers under his woman's dress. He was taken off
the steamer, tried for High Treason and sentenced to twenty
years' penal servitude. His mother died shortly after.
On our release, he went with William Mackey Lomasney to
Detroit, where later he married Lomasney's sister. A few years
afterward he was drowned in the Detroit River.
There seems to be no doubt that Godfrey Massey, the in-
former, was first assigned to command in Tipperary, the leaders
believing that his fighting record in the Confederate Army was
genuine, but according to Thomas Francis Bourke it was bogus.
When he was arrested at the Limerick Junction the day before
the Rising he fainted, which disposed of the fighting record any-
how, and he immediately turned informer and gave the Govern-
ment all the information he had.
The "bad drop" was in him. He was the illegitimate son of
one of the Limerick Masseys by the wife of a gatekeeper named
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
221
Condon, and he was known by the latter name until he went to
Ireland. Then, glorying in his mother's shame, he took the
name of his real father.
The detachment of Fenians under command of Thomas Fran-
cis Bourke at Ballyhurst Fort, a few miles from the town of
Tipperary, was attacked by British troops on the evening of
March 6 and a few shots were exchanged, but serious resistance
by unarmed men was impossible and the insurgents quickly dis-
persed. Bourke was tried for High Treason in Green Street
Courthouse and sentenced to be hanged, but the sentence was
commuted to penal servitude for life. His great speech in the
dock created more interest than the whole Rising, and was a
splendid oratorical effort.
Michael O'Neill Fogarty, of Kilfeacle, a progressive, prosperous
farmer, was one of the men most active in organizing Tipperary
and was out in the Rising, but, although all his men turned out,
they were unable to accomplish anything, owing to the same
cause that brought failure everywhere else — lack of arms.
Fogarty lost his farm, but escaped to America and died in New
York a few years after his arrival. His fate was like that of many
others. He lost all he had, including his chance of dying on the
battlefield fighting British soldiers. One of the chief results of
the Rising was to drive many of the best men out of Ireland
and force them to seek a living at new occupations and under
most unfavorable conditions in a strange country.
I knew Fogarty well, as he often visited Dublin during the
early 'Sixties and I met him in the Irish People office, the Mecca
of all organization men who visited the Capital. He and I
corresponded regularly and his letters showed that he had a fine
intellect. He was well educated and wrote very well. Physically
he was a splendid Tipperary type — 6 feet 4, broad shouldered
and very powerfully built, but with a slight stoop. After Charles
J. Kickham, Denis Dowling Mulcahy and Rody Kickham (first
cousin of Charles) , Fogarty was the chief figure of the move-
ment in Tipperary. Rody was, perhaps, the most popular of
all except the author of "Knocknagow", because of his prowess
as an athlete. The boys always called him "Rody Kick", not for
brevity, but in admiration of his agility in kicking football.
All the Tipperary men I met in those days were tall, athletic
fellows.
Captain Lawrence O'Brien, a Tipperary man by birth, was
arrested before the Rising and was in Clonmel Jail when it
occurred. His skillfully executed escape from the jail after the
Rising created a great sensation. The following sketch of him
222 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
is taken from the official History of the Ninth Connecticut Volun-
teers:
"Captain Lawrence O'Brien, born in Cahir, County Tip-
perary, Ireland, April 7, 1842; son of Edward and Elizabeth
(Hammel) O'Brien. When ten years of age, he was brought
to this country by his parents. They finally settled in New
Haven, Conn., where Lawrence attended St. Patrick's paro-
chial school. He learned the trade of bricklayer and was
employed thereat when the Civil War broke out. He had
long been interested in military matters and was an active
member of the Emmet Guard, of New Haven. He enlisted
in the Ninth Regiment August 30, 1861, assisted Captain Pat-
rick Garvey in organizing Company B, and was commis-
sioned First Lieutenant of the Company. He was a splendid
officer, and was promoted Captain of Company D, October 15,
1862. He participated with his regiment in all the move-
ments of the latter and possessed rare tact, judgment and
ability. He was honorably discharged October 26, 1864, his
term of service having expired. He was prominently iden-
tified with the Fenian movement and in 1867 went to Ire-
land, like many other gallant Union officers, in furtherance
of the cause of Irish freedom. He was captured by the
enemy, confined in Clonmel Prison and, later, astonished
the British by escaping therefrom. The Croffut-Morris work
speaks of Captain O'Brien as 'a brave and efficient officer,
fertile in expedients.' "
After his return from Ireland Captain Larry O'Brien became
a builder in New Haven and soon became prosperous. He was
one of the founders of the Clan-na-Gael in New Haven and was
associated with James Reynolds in the organization of the
Catalpa Rescue. He was an active member of the Fenian Vet-
erans' Association and never missed the annual celebration of
the Rising of March 5, 1867. He was very popular among native
Americans on account of his Civil War record and his upstanding
Americanism and was on every local committee in charge of
Revolutionary and Civil War events. At the reception to General
Shafter after his return from the Cuban campaign, the chairman
of the Reception Committee said to the General in introducing
the two veterans of the Civil War: "Captain O'Brien was a
Fenian." "A Fenian?" said General Shafter, "I was a Fenian too.
I gave Tom Sweeney leave of absence to go to Canada."
Shafter after serving as a General of Volunteers in the Civil
War became Colonel of the First Regiment of the Regular Army
and Sweeney was Major.
Captain O'Brien by ceaseless efforts covering many years
secured the erection of a number of tablets at historic spots in
Connecticut commemorating the aid given by the French to the
Continental Army in the War of the Revolution. Although only
ten years old when he arrived in America, "Captain Larry" pre-
served his Tipperary accent to the day of his death.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE SIEGE OF KILMALLOCK.
Insurgents, Led by Captain Dunn, Made an Ineffectual Attempt
to Capture the Police Barrack — Narrative of P. N. Kennedy,
Who Took Part in Fighting.
The only serious fighting in Limerick was at Kilmallock,
where the Fenians attacked the police barrack, but were defeated,
mainly by the arrival of a small reinforcement of police from
Kilfinane.
The late P. N. Kennedy of Perth Amboy, N. J., who took part
as a mere boy in the fighting at Kilmallock, wrote an article in
the Gaelic American in 1906 giving his experiences in the Fenian
movement. The following is the portion of the article in which
he tells of the fighting in Kilmallock:
"In the afternoon of this day (March 5) I received orders to
be at a certain place at 10 P. M., where I met nine or ten others
of our friends and also a man who had just returned from the
United States, and whom I previously knew. He gave us instruc-
tions how to proceed and left us for some other duty. One of
our party assumed command for the present and we then pro-
ceeded to collect guns, on the location of which we had pre-
viously informed ourselves. In performing this duty we fell in
with and made prisoner of a mounted policeman who was the
bearer of despatches. Those we seized, together with the arms
which he carried, his horse and furnishings. This policeman,
who said his name was O'Connor, and who was treated humanely
by his captors while held as a prisoner, turned out to be one of
the most zealous prosecutors of those of us who were taken
prisoners after the fight, but while in our custody he acted the
craven.
"Having fulfilled our orders we proceeded to join the main
body who were stationed at a point on the opposite side of the
town from where we were. In order to do this it was necessary
to make a detour of about a mile and a half so as to avoid a
possible military patrol on the highway, our party being consid-
ered too small for such a contingency, besides being encumbered
with the arms we had collected, a prisoner and the prisoner's
horse.
"For a thorough understanding of the situation it might be
well to give a short sketch of the town itself: Kilmallock is in
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224
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Limerick County, twenty miles from the city of that name. It
is beautifully located in the midst of some of the most fertile
plains to be found in the whole country. A small stream which
has its source in the Galtee Mountains, flows by the town and
is spanned by two stone bridges. It was formerly a walled town
and a part of the wall still remains, as well as the ruins of an
ancient abbey and two old castles which still stand, one on each
of the two principal streets of which the town is partly com-
posed, and which intersect each other at right angles.
"Those two principal streets contain the business part of the
town, and at their extremities debouch in eight different direc-
tions. I am particular in calling attention to those eight dif-
ferent roads because of the fact that in our attacks on the
barrack in Kilmallock the enemy were liable to be reinforced
from five different points which those roads led to, and which
afterwards proved to be the case in some instances. It is un-
necessary to say that those points had to be protected as much as
our limited means would warrant.
"The nine or ten which constituted our group having accom-
plished the purpose for which we were detailed, proceeded to
join the main body, taking our prisoner with us. In order to
accomplish this safely it was necessary to make a detour, as
stated above, marching southward outside the town's wall and
between that and the lake which is situated west of the town.
After a march of about two miles we joined the main body, who
were stationed in a field close by a whitethorn hedge and directly
in front of the barrack, and within gunshot of it, which they
were preparing to attack. The commander of our little party
made his report to Captain Dunn, who was in chief command,
and who, after having complimented us, placed us in the ranks
to await orders.
"It is necessary for me to digress a little here that I may
describe the barrack, its location, its surroundings and our rela-
tive positions. The barrack which we were about to attack was
a strong three-story building of stone, erected a few years pre-
viously, and was garrisoned at this time by twenty-four men,
including a Head Constable and Sergeant. It was set back from
the street about twenty-five feet, having a courtyard in front
which was fenced off from that street by a stone wall three feet
high, said wall being pierced by a gateway constructed of iron.
This wall, later on in the fight, formed a good breastwork.
"About three or four hundred yards south of the barrack the
road divided in two different directions, one of which led to the
railroad station and so on to Kilfinane, a town at the foot of the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
225
Galtee range of mountains, and four or five miles distant. Where
the other led to is immaterial. At the fork of those two roads
and parallel with them stood one of those institutions of English
civilization known as poorhouses. This poorhouse was con-
structed of stone masonry, and flanked the two roads mentioned
for a considerable distance.
"In the town of Kilfinane there was also a garrison of police,
it being the headquarters of the police Inspector, whose name
was Milling. About half way between the two towns was the
residence of a county magistrate named Weldon. In Kilfinane
there was no danger of attack on the police from any source.
They were therefore at liberty to dispose of themselves as they
thought best. I have already mentioned the necessity of guard-
ing different points from a possible attack on our flanks or rear.
This was the most important one, as the distance from which
the enemy could be reinforced was the shortest. You will, there-
fore, see the urgent necessity of protecting our right flank at this
important point. Our commander recognized this, and therefore
placed thirty men, under the command of one Birmingham, in
the poorhouse, for that purpose.
"Directly in front of the barrack and separated from it by
the street was an open field. This field was bounded on the
south side by a whitehorn hedge which ran at right angles to
the street. Near this hedge, about four o'clock on the morning
of the 6th (which was dark) , we were placed in position prepara-
tory to proceeding to the attack. In the darkness we marched
across the field taking positions at the rear and sides of the
building and some in front at the before-mentioned three-foot
wall, at which latter place I was stationed. I mention this be-
cause from that place we had a full view north and south and I
was therefore in a good position to note what was happening.
"Just as we took our positions a volley came from the upper
stories of the barrack without any results except, because of its
regularity, to impress on us the difference between well-drilled,
well-armed men and an ill-armed, undrilled mob. But if we
were deficient in both the drill and the arms, the spirit existed.
Had the garrison fired a few minutes sooner many lives would
have been sacrificed because of our necessarily exposed position,
but thanks to the extreme darkness and precautions taken, this
calamity was averted. A desultory firing was kept up on our
part until daylight, and was returned in regular military style
by the garrison. In this manner things went on until seven or
eight o'clock, when the garrison was summoned to surrender,
and upon their refusal a party was detailed to use Greek fire for
the purpose of making a breach, at least on one side of the
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
building. While proceeding to execute this plan, we were sur-
prised by a volley on our right flank — that is to say, from the
point where we least expected it, having taken the precaution
of placing thirty men there before daylight for the purpose of
intercepting an expected surprise from the Kilfmane police as
before stated.
"It afterwards turned out that those men, with their leader,
deserted their post before being attacked. The person in com-
mand of the party I knew well. He completely disappeared, and
it was well that he did so. This place could have been held by
five determined men with rifles; and it is to the desertion of this
post that all the casualties which ensued may be attributed. Of
course, because of the reinforcement of the enemy on our right,
and having the garrison immediately in front of us, our position
became untenable, and we were therefore compelled to evacuate
that position for another. To do so was no easy matter, especially
for those of us who were behind the three-foot wall, as we
were exposed to the fire of the reinforcing party on our flank,
and to move any distance at right angles to the wall would,
because of its low altitude, expose us to the fire from the bar-
rack. We were therefore compelled to crawl in single file on
hands and knees to a place of comparative safety. We held our
new position for some considerable time, retreating slowly until
we came to the intersection of the two principal streets, where
we made a stand, and where we were sheltered to some extent
by the buildings.
"By this time the reinforcements arrived at the barrack and
were joined by the garrison who issued therefrom upon the
arrival of the others. It was from then on plain street firing
on both sides, and notwithstanding the superior arms of the
enemy, together with the advantages of drill, and having the
Inspector of Police and a Magistrate at their head, we still held
our position.
"It was now between nine and ten o'clock in the forenoon
when a courier arrived with the information that Massey, the
district commander, was arrested at Limerick Junction. We
understood at once that 'the jig was up'. We instantly realized
our position. We were liable to be hanged for High Treason.
How were we to escape? I believe the few of us who were then
remaining (ten or twelve) , with the heat, passion, bitterness and
anxiety, would just as lief fight it out to a finish then and there
and have done with it. This feeling was superinduced by the
death of a young medical gentleman, Dr. Cleary, who was at that
moment shot directly in front of us and in presence of his two
brothers who participated in the fight. This promising young
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
227
man had just been graduated from a Dublin Medical College,
where he became affiliated with the organization — for the prin-
ciples of which he sacrificed his life. Peace to his memory.
"I said that by this time there were but ten or twelve of us
remaining with our commander. This was partly because of the
fact that a large percentage of our men being armed only with
pikes, and those being useless in a fight of that description, threw
them away and disappeared in the darkness of the early morn-
ing. That, and the desertion of the poorhouse contingent, to-
gether with others who had fowling pieces, left our ranks
thinned to the few I have just stated. We then held council as
to what was best to be done, and on the advice of Captain Dunn
decided that further resistance would be worse than useless.
"We then separated and went in different directions, some
going to the seaports to get out of the country, which proved to
be the worst thing they could have done, as all who attempted it
were arrested and brought back to stand trial for High Treason
(which afterwards was changed to Treason-Felony) , and others
hid themselves, by the connivance of friends, in their respective
localities until opportunities occurred for them to leave the
country. The last I saw of Captain Dunn, was when he was
seated on the policeman's horse bidding us farewell.
"We each took different ways and means of escape (but, to
tell the story of this, as well as the sufferings we endured, would
be tedious) until those of us who succeeded in escaping arrest
finally got out of the country.
"Thus ended the '67 Insurrection in one town in Ireland.
Ill-starred though it was, yet it had its usefulness, and during
all these years I have yet to see the man who regretted his par-
ticipation in it. The spirit which animated them is still extant,
and will be until that which they fought for is accomplished;
that is, the inherent God-given right of every nation to be gov-
erned by the will of its people.
"If Captain Dunn is still 'to the fore' (and I hope he is) and
if these lines should meet his eye, he will probably remember
a young fellow of about eighteen whom he ordered during the
fight to take some men and confiscate any guns owned by non-
combatant residents of the town for our use. Among those resi-
dents was a banker named Bourke who possessed a very fine
revolver. When ordered to surrender it he refused, saying that
he would not part with it except by force. We could, of course,
have killed him or put him hors de combat, and taken it, but
I did not feel justified in doing so, and so reported to the Captain,
who I thought, from his manner, was going to shoot me. He
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
immediately ordered me to follow him and he proceeded to the
banker's office. Upon the Captain's appearance the banker raised
his revolver; so did the Captain raise his. It was a fair fight. It
was a question of who was the quickest, and it proved to be the
Captain. The banker was shot through the neck. I believe he
afterwards recovered; at least I hope so.
"P. N. Kennedy
"Perth Amboy, N. J., February 21, 1906."
CHAPTER XXXIII.
PART PLAYED BY CLARE.
Arrest of John Clune and Colonel John G. Healy in Previous
February a Severe Blow — Insurgents, Under Thomas Mc-
Carthy Fennell, Captured Two Coastguard Stations — Col-
onel Healy's Record in the Civil War.
The Rising in Clare would have been more formidable, but
for the arrest of John Clune, with Lieutenant-Colonel John
G. Healy and David Murphy of Limerick as they were passing
through Limerick on their way to Clare in February, as Colonel
O'Connor had just started his insurrection in Kerry. They had
apparently got the original order to start the fight on February
11, but had not heard of the postponement. Had they reached
Clare there would undoubtedly have been a good fight in old
Corcabaiscin and it would very probably have led to a general
Rising throughout the country. Of course, it could not have
succeeded, owing to the lack of arms, but it would have been
of a more serious character than the fiasco of March 5 and to
some extent would have saved the credit of the movement.
The Dalcassians have always been splendid fighters. John
Clune had the confidence of his men who had two hundred
rifles. Colonel Healy was a very capable officer, with a fine fight-
ing record in the Civil War.
John Clune picked Colonel Healy for the command in Clare
because of his belief in his military ability. Besides being a
very good fighter, Healy was a man of great energy, very enter-
prising and resourceful and had he once got started in Clare
would undoubtedly have given a good account of himself. I
knew him very well in later years in New Haven, Conn., where
he was an active member of the Clan-na-Gael, and I always re-
garded his arrest as a great misfortune, coming at the critical
time it did.
The following extract is taken from Healy's record in the of-
ficial History of the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers:
"Colonel John G. Healy, born in New Haven, Conn., Feb-
ruary 12, 1841; son of Thomas and Mary (Gray) Healy.
* * * He learned the trade of marble cutter. Early ac-
quiring a taste for military knowledge, he became a member
of the famous Emmet Guard of New Haven, an organization
that furnished many officers to the army of the Union. He
enlisted in Company C, Ninth Regiment, August 20, 1861;
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230
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
was mustered as First Lieutenant, October 30, that year, and
was promoted Captain of the company, April 15, 1862. Upon
the consolidation of the regiment into the Ninth battalion,
in October, 1864, he being the senior Captain, was given com-
mand of the latter. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel
December 1, 1864 and was mustered out with the battalion
in August, 1865. He participated with the Ninth in many
important events of the Civil War, and proved himself a
very superior officer. * * * In 1866, Colonel Healy, in
company with Captain Laurence O'Brien and Lieutenant
Joseph H. Lawler, of the Ninth, C. V., went to Ireland, in con-
nection with the Fenian movement, in which many other
veteran officers of the Union Army participated. Colonel
Healy was arrested in the city of Limerick and was a pris-
oner in the hands of the British for six months. * * *
Still vigorous and active, he undertook, upon the outbreak
of our recent war with Spain, to organize an Irish regiment.
He communicated with the Governor of Connecticut and
received much encouragement. The New Haven Leader, May
3, 1898, stated that 'As the result of a visit to Governor Cooke
at Hartford last week, Colonel John G. Healy is accepting
applications from men who want to enlist in a regiment
which the Colonel intends to organize. * * *' The unex-
pectedly brief duration of the war, however, rendered the
projected regiment unnecessary.
"Speaking of his services in the Civil War, Dr. Rollin
McNeil, of New Haven, pays the following tribute to Colonel
Healy: 'As surgeon of the Ninth Connecticut Veterans Volun-
teers, I was thrown into most intimate relations with him,
and the friendship that resulted has continued during all
the long years since the Civil War. His bravery in the field
is a matter of record. The day Sheridan made his famous
ride, Colonel Healy was in the forefront, the colors in his
hand. I don't think he ever knew the meaning of the word
'fear'. He led his men in battle; he cared for them in camp,
and on the march, with a solicitude that won their affection.
A thorough disciplinarian, when discipline was necessary,
he stood always for the rights of his men, and the honor of
the command. I can recall nothing but pleasant memories
of the days when we marched and camped together. We
were boys then; we are grey-haired veterans now; yet we
still touch elbows with the few old comrades — noble fellows
all of them — who are still this side of the Great Divide, proud
of our regiment, proud of its record, drawing closer to each
other as our ranks grow thinner, keeping alive the old friend-
ship and the old enthusiasms. And so may it be to the
end.' "
Following is the brief report in the Freeman's Journal of
March 7, 1867, of the capture of the Coastguard Stations:
"Reports from County Clare announce that the Coast-
guard Station at Kilbaha was attacked last night and the
arms and ammunition taken. One man was wounded. The
Insurgents then marched towards Kilrush. The Coast Guard
Station at Carrigaholt was also taken with all the arms and
ammunition."
Thomas McCarthy Fennell, who led at Kilbaha, had no mili-
tary training or experience, but was a man of fine character.
He was sentenced to a term of penal servitude, most of which he
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
231
served in Western Australia, and was released, with all the civilian
prisoners, through Gladstone's Partial Amnesty of 1869. The
first time I met him was when he came to New York to lay be-
fore me his plan for the rescue of the Fenian soldier prisoners
whom he had left behind him in Western Australia.
Had the Fenians of Clare been given the opportunity they
would have acquitted themselves well in the Rising and would
have bagged more than two little Coastguard stations. But
Kilbaha and Carrigaholt were victories and they had no failures.
That is a record made by no other county in the Rising of 1867.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
SOME OTHER FIASCOES.
Drogheda Men Fired on by Police While Awaiting Arms — In
mountmellick enough men did not turn out to attack
Barrack — Waterford Did Not Respond to Call and No Fight
Took Place.
There were three other fiascoes, which were not reported in
the newspapers, — one in Drogheda, another in Mountmellick, and
the third in Waterford, but I got the facts from men who par-
ticipated in them.
The Drogheda men were among the best in Ireland, but they
were caught in a trap by the police while waiting for the arms
to be distributed and were dispersed, without any casualties. I
got the story from Harry Mulleda, one of my fellow prisoners
in Chatham, a Dublin man who was assigned to Drogheda as an
officer. Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard of John O'Mahony's Ninety-
ninth New York National Guard regiment, was in command and
the men were assembled in an open space with a semi-circular
wall at the back and the front open to the street, where the
arms were to be distributed to them. A man named Flynn was
to bring them. While they were waiting, the Peelers, appar-
ently notified by a patrol, came on them in the dark, and fired a
volley which hit nobody. Before the police, who were in open
order, had time to reload, the unarmed men rushed them and got
through in safety. That was the end of the Rising in Drogheda.
Colonel Leonard and Mulleda got away with the rest.
Mulleda started for Dublin on foot and about ten or eleven
0-clock next morning met Flynn several miles from Drogheda
with a cartload of arms heading for the town. Flynn explained
that the delay was caused by his inability to get a horse and
cart. The men in Drogheda were naturally very much disap-
pointed at being unable to do their part in the Rising, but none
of them was arrested, as the police did not recognize any of
them in the dark and there was no evidence against them. They
were very bitter against Flynn for his failure to turn up with
the arms, but the arrangements for their distribution were very
bad. I don't know how many rifles were in the cart, but I be-
lieve they were all saved.
Flynn got away to America and lived for many years in South
Brooklyn, where he was a neighbor of John J. Breslin. I had
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
233
told Breslin the story of his failure and he cross-examined Flynn
and introduced him to me. After hearing his explanation,
which included a long story of disappointment in procuring a
horse and cart after the man with whom he had arranged to
get them had gone back on his word, we both made up our
minds that he was an honest man, but a hopelessly "slow coach"
— a kind of Athelstane the Unready, who had no idea of the
value of time. Yet he was a mechanical genius who patented
several inventions in this country. His manner and speech were
those of a very slow man. He was certainly the wrong man to
select for such a mission, but, as he was an old member, all
the Drogheda men knew him and had only themselves to blame
for picking him for the job.
Colonel Leonard, who was a Kerryman, escaped to New York,
where he died a few years later, and Mulleda was sentenced
to seven years' penal servitude as Colonel Ric. Burke's aide in
the purchase of arms in Birmingham. He, too, died in New
York.
There had been a fine Circle in Mountmellick which included
some prominent business men, but several of the best of them
were arrested after the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in
1866, and released on condition of going to America, and many
others left the country to avoid arrest. By the time the Rising
came it was greatly reduced in numbers. When I was there
at the end of 1865, Matthew Fleming, the son of a very well-to-do
publican, was the Centre and his younger brother, George, was
only a mere boy. Both later became prominent business men
in the Stockyards District of Chicago, and while I was living
there I saw George very often. In New York, Michael Lynch,
another Mountmellick man, was very active in the Clan-na-Gael
and I heard all about what happened in the town on March 5
from all three. When over 80 years of age Lynch returned to
Leix and died there.
On the night of the Rising not more than twenty men turned
out with only five or six rifles, so they could not attack the police
barrack. Instead they made a demonstration in front of it and
exchanged some words with the Peelers. They were all ar-
rested next day, and sent to Dublin for trial, but were given only
short terms of imprisonment. My family knew the Flemings
very well and my sisters sat in the gallery of Green Street Court-
house with Mary Anne Fleming, the sister of the boys, who was
a handsome girl. The family always regarded George as a
child, because he was small, while his brother, Matt, was a fine,
strapping fellow; but George was full of courage and had a
fine mind. His sister was very tense during the trial and when
234
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
sentence was imposed she said to my sister with a sigh of relief:
"Well, I don't mind as long as he didn't cry." George Fleming
was not a "cry baby" and he showed lots of courage, both moral
and physical, in the fight with the "Triangle" in Chicago.
Colonel Ricard O'Sullivan Burke was assigned to the com-
mand of Waterford in the Rising, but less than fifty answered
the call. As they were too few in numbers and short of arms
to do anything effective, Burke marched them into Tipperary to
effect a junction with the men there, but when he got across
the border next day the "Tips" were all scattered, so he had to
send his men home without any attempt at a fight.
There was no attempt at a Rising in Connacht. The West
was asleep, but the province was saved thereby from the exodus
which depleted the organization in Munster and partly in Dub-
lin. That enabled the reorganized Movement to do very effec-
tive work in the West, and when I visited Ireland in 1879 Mayo
was one of the banner counties. It was nearly a tie between it
and Cavan, the latter county having 3,500 members and Mayo
over 3,000. Mayo started the Land League, of which the I. R. B.
was the backbone in its fighting days.
Had I been a free man in the month of March, 1867, I would
have voted with James J. O'Kelly in opposition to the Rising
at that time as strenuously as I advocated fighting in 1865 and
the early part of 1866, when we could have fought with reason-
able hope of success. But the real cause of the failure was the
neglect to procure arms when they could have been easily ob-
tained. We talked fight for ten years and failed to provide the
means of fighting, depending on our friends in America to send
an expedition. And that such an expedition was possible was
proved by the Erin's Hope.
PART V,
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE "ERIN'S HOPE" EXPEDITION.
Vessel Set Sail from New York a Month After the Rising Had
Failed, with 8,000 Rifles and 40 Officers — Cruised Half Way
Around Ireland and Got Safely Back to America.
The Erin's Hope expedition was a romantic incident and an
illustration of the confusion and inefficiency into which the move-
ment had fallen owing to the Split. The vessel, originally named
the Jackmel, had been bought by the O'Mahony section of the
organization a considerable time before the expedition started
and the arms which she later carried were in the possession of
the Fenians in New York. But the work of organizing the expe-
dition was very slow. It is probable that nobody in New York
knew the date set for the Rising in Ireland and it was only made
known when the newspapers reported it.
The despatches published in America stated that the attempted
insurrection had been suppressed in one night, and that quiet
reigned all over Ireland. O'Mahony and his friends, however, felt
that this statement was but one more effort on the part of Eng-
land to keep the outside world in ignorance of the true state of
affairs in Ireland. The men in New York were confident that
large bodies of Fenians still held the field, and could continue
to do so for a considerable time. It was on this assumption that
the Jackmel sailed from New York on April 12, 1867.
She was under command of Captain Kavanagh, who had been
a Lieutenant in the Volunteer Navy of the United States during
the Civil War, hoisted the Irish flag on April 29, and changed her
name to the Erin's Hope.
She had 8,000 Springfield rifles (converted into breech-load-
ers) , and 40 officers on board. She arrived in Sligo Bay on May 20,
where Col. Ricard O'Sullivan Burke boarded her and informed
Captain Kavanagh that the Rising had been suppressed two
months previously. As the vessel was short of provisions Captain
Cavanagh had to land somewhere, but conditions made it impos-
sible on the West Coast, so he took the vessel, dodging British
cruisers, half way around the island, and eventually landed thirty
of his passengers at Helvic Head, near Dungarvan, County Water-
235
236
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
ford, commandeering a large fishing boat for the purpose. As the
men had to wade ashore through shallow water and sand, their
trousers bore the marks of the operation and the police were able
to recognize them easily, as in small groups or separately they
walked along the roads. All of them were arrested, but only two,
John Warren and Augustine E. Costello, were convicted and sen-
tenced to fifteen years' penal servitude. The vessel got safely
back to America and discharged her cargo of arms and ammuni-
tion.
Burke's adventures while waiting for the vessel to arrive were
of the most extraordinary kind. His fine, gentlemanly manners
and splendid figure enabled him to impose himself on the local
gentry, including magistrates, as a gentleman of leisure trav-
elling for pleasure. He was the guest of two or three of them,
dined at their tables, was introduced to their friends and allowed
to shoot and fish on their grounds. Their suspicions were never
once aroused and it was only at the trials of Warren and Costello
that they learned of their guest's identity through the testimony
of Buckley, one of the American officers who went ashore at Dun-
garvan. Buckley had fought well in the Civil War, but he ad-
mitted on the witness stand that it was fear of imprisonment
which made him testify against his comrades.
The cruise of the Erin's Hope proved conclusively that an ex-
pedition could have been sent from America to Ireland. If the
vessel had been a steamer she could have performed the feat
much more quickly, but the funds wherewith a steamship could
have been purchased had been spent in the Split. The speed of
the Erin's Hope was not a factor in this instance, however; she
was late anyway. It was in reality two years too late for a cargo
such as she carried to be of most effective service to the Fenians
in Ireland, and to the Cause which they so unselfishly endeavored
to carry to success against tremendous odds.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE MANCHESTER RESCUE.
Colonel Thomas J. Kelly, After Being Chosen Chief Executive
of the I. R. B., Arrested in Manchester, England, with Cap-
tain Deasy — Story of Daring Exploit Told by Ricard O'Sul-
livan Burke.
The following account of events in Manchester, England, in
the Fall of 1867, written by Colonel Ricard O'Sullivan Burke, was
published many years ago in the Gaelic American:
"The change in the structure of the Fenian Brotherhood in
America resulting from the two conventions, at Chicago and
Cincinnati, by which that body passed from a military organiza-
tion, where authority in command was 'centered' in the head, to
a political body, where authority emanated from the units,
brought much disappointment to the members of the Fenian
Brotherhood who were officers in the various armies in the field
in 1863 and 1864.
"These well-equipped, experienced officers were aware of the
fact that an army cannot be commanded by a debating society:
that discussion is not a working substitute for orders, and that
the old form of the Fenian Brotherhood, by reason of its thorough
cohesion and instant obedience to directions, was a far more
effective method of applying force along any worthy field of
effort than the body was which resulted from the two conven-
tions referred to, in which there was no power to give directions
nor discipline to yield obedience.
"This disappointment was still further augmented by the
empty pomp shown in connection with the Fenian Brotherhood in
New York City in 1865, in which modesty and intelligence seem to
have abandoned all effort to the control of absurdity. This condi-
tion was intensified later by the treason to Ireland shown first by
a part of the American Fenian Brotherhood withdrawing re-
sources, personal and material, from the pledged direct aid to
Ireland and apparently applying them towards an attack on
Canada, and secondly, by the remainder of the American Fenian
Brotherhood, which, after a brief interval of adherence to the
pledged duty to Ireland, yielded to the ignorant clamor of the
time, and joined in the treasonable diversion of the personal and
material resources of the remainder of the organization to an
attempt to capture a piece of Canada.
237
238
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
"Both 'wings' of the Organization of the Fenian Brotherhood
thus abandoned their pledged duty to Ireland. The effect of all
this on the Home Organization or I. R. B., was most marked. It
was an appeal to their individual sense of self-reliance, and in
furtherance of the high purpose of the Home Organization, in
1867, a general Convention of the I. R. B. was held in Manchester,
England, about the early part of August (or late in July) . About
three hundred delegates came from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and
England.
"At this Convention Captain James Murphy, of the Twentieth
Massachusetts Infantry Volunteers, was Chairman; Captain
Ricard O'S. Burke (myself) of the Fifteenth Regiment, New York
Engineers, Headquarters Army of the Potomac, was Secretary.
The Convention fully reviewed the various developments in the
United States. The abandonment by James Stephens of the Home
Organization, following the abandonment of the latter by each
of the 'wings' in America, intensified the purpose of the Home
Organization to stand erect, self-reliant and firm of purpose,
— even if every Irishman in America had become dead to a sense
of duty to Ireland.
* • • *
"The prisons in Ireland were filled, and large numbers of Irish
prisoners from the many trials by Special Commissions in Ireland
were sent to and confined in the various penal establishments of
England. Deputy Chief Organizer General William G. Halpin
being in prison, Colonel Thomas J. Kelly continued in charge,
after Stephens abandoned the Organization, and was the author-
ity which called this Convention in 1867 in Manchester.
"The position of Chief Executive of the Irish Republican
Brotherhood was filled by the unanimous election of Colonel
Thomas J. Kelly. And, after a great deal of thought was given
to the necessities of the Home Organization, a plan was pre-
pared by me as Secretary, and presented to the Convention in the
form of Resolutions, which were passed by an overwhelming vote.
The chief provisions of this measure may be paraphrased as fol-
lows:
"1. The Home Organization to be self-sustaining, each mem-
ber paying into the local Circle a certain sum per week.
"2. The American officers to be located in the various popu-
lous centres, according to the strength of the organization in
each centre or city, and to be maintained by the funds of the
local Circle or Circles.
"3. One of the American officers thus assigned by Headquar-
ters to any city was to serve as intermediary through whom the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
239
Executive could be reached without delay by the Centres of the
local Circles.
"4. The honest and deceived members of the 'wings' in Amer-
ica, whose hatred of England was appealed to in order to lead
them into channels of effort which in fact resulted in with-
drawing their aid from the I. R. B., were now to be approached
and organized into a new body — in America — the good men of
the 'wings' in America were to be selected and formed into a
new American body, working directly with the Home Organiza-
tion. The new organization in America to be known as the
Clan-na-Gael.
"These resolutions had other provisions, not necessary to cite
here. The fourth provision went into active operation without
delay, and soon after, the Napper Tandy Club was organized in
New York, being the first Club of the Clan-na-Gael.
"After the Convention Colonel Kelly continued his Headquar-
ters in the City of Manchester. Captain James Murphy was
placed in general charge of Scotland; Captain Mackey acted
generally for southern Ireland; Edmund O'Donovan was to per-
form like duty for northern Ireland, and Captain Ricard O'Sulli-
van Burke was in a general way to give attention to England and
Wales and to any special duty arising.
"Some officers, who had served in the armies of the United
States in various ranks, commissioned and non-commissioned,
were in the cities in England. These officers included Timothy
Deasy, who was a Captain in Colonel Cass's celebrated Irish
Regiment, the 9th Mass. Inf. Vols.; Captain Michael O'Brien,
who was a civil employee of the Engineer Corps of the Army of
* the Potomac in 1863 under Captain (then First Lieutenant) Ricard
O'Sullivan Burke, subsequently entering the army and becoming
a non-commissioned officer; and Captain O'Meagher Condon, who
had served from late in 1862 to June, 1864, a non-commissioned
officer, being First Sergeant at latter date in K Company, 164th
Regiment, N. Y. Vol. Infantry. Captain Deasy was quite familiar
with the conditions in Liverpool, and it was intended to place
him in that city; Captain Edward O'Meagher Condon was made
Intermediary for Manchester.
"If there was anything necessary to convince one of the in-
sincerity of Roberts and Sweeny in their 'war' on Canada, their
sending agents into England to win recruits for their cause would
readily supply it. These agents asked Irishmen in London to
join the party going to capture Canada so that Ireland might thus
be made free! Could anything be more absurd? And yet two
Circles in London, Notting Hill and Camberwell, could not at
240
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
first see any absurdity in it, for they joined the cause these
agents represented. This action of these two Circles hurried me
at once to London. I had only just got back to England from a
stay of twelve days in Paris, waiting there that time for the
return of our agent, Dr. Hamilton (William O'Donovan) , who
was absent from the Hotel de Suez, Rue de Four, St. Germain.
I met the officers of these two Circles in the presence of the
agents of the 'Canadian' wing and after discussion the two Circles
came back to their duty, rejecting the Irish freedom-via-
Canada doctrine. I had barely finished healing this trouble in
London when a telegram reached me advising me of serious
trouble in Manchester and asking me to go there at once. I
started to Manchester by the first train but had some unavoid-
able delays to meet before I got there.
"I found on arriving in Manchester a very serious situation.
The Chief Executive, Colonel Thomas J. Kelly, and one of the
two American officers, Captain Timothy Deasy, were in the hands
of the enemy. They were arrested the night of September 10
or rather the morning of September 11, 1867, after leaving a
meeting called by the Circle officers of Manchester. On the
morning of September 11 both officers were brought before a
magistrate and remanded for a week. The Centres and Sub-
Centres of the local organizations had made great progress in
the procuring of arms and ammunition and otherwise getting
ready to rescue these two officers should I so direct, when I
had looked the situation over. After I got to Manchester Captain
Michael O'Brien, who had served in a civil capacity with me in
the Engineer Corps of the army, and later with me in England in
1866, gave me complete information as to the local situation.
"On the evening of September 17, a final meeting prior to any
action was called. At this meeting the following men of the
local Circles volunteered to undertake the rescue:
"James Lavery, John Neary, Thomas O'Bolger, Peter Ryan,
William Melvin, Michael Larkin, Timothy Featherstone, Charles
Moorehouse, Peter Rice, William Phillip Allen, Patrick Bloom-
field, John Stoneham, Joseph Keeley, John Ryan, James Cahill,
and the two American officers, Michael O'Brien and Edward
O'Meagher Condon.
"From these volunteers I called for two men who were willing
to undertake extra hazardous duty. Of those who volunteered
I selected Thomas O'Bolger and Peter Ryan. I advised the
larger body as to their conduct at and after the rescue, particu-
larly dwelling upon the condition governing duty that no life
was to be taken unless the taking of it was necessary to the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
241
success of the rescue, then it was to be taken without an in-
stant's hesitation. After arranging to have the main body of
the volunteers meet at a designated place to get more arms and
ammunition in the morning, and privately instructing the two
special volunteers as to the duty they were to do, and directing
them to meet me near the Court House at which our officers
(the prisoners) would again appear on September 18, the meeting
was closed and all went quietly to their homes.
"These names here given I take from a report of the rescue
made by Thomas O'Bolger to me some years afterwards. I had
no relations with the local men, dealing with the resident Inter-
mediary in Manchester and meeting the officers of the Circles
in any locality only on special occasions like that which car-
ried me to London to the officers of the Notting Hill and Cam-
berwell Circles before stated.
"On the morning of September 18 the main body of the vol-
unteers, gradually by ones and twos got to the point selected
for the supply of more arms and ammunition, and further in-
structions were privately given Captains Michael O'Brien and
Edward O'Meagher Condon — the latter I charged with provid-
ing everything necessary to get our officers quickly out of the
van and into our own hands, and to see them away to a place
or places of security. To Captain O'Brien I gave the duty of
using our little force to cover the retreat of our rescued officers,
to hold the police and the soldiers, who it afterwards appeared
had individually joined them, and the mob back; to spread our
boys out on the right and left and prevent the vast mob from
flanking them, and while doing this to retire at intervals, while
fronting the enemy, the flankers passing through the centre
of the front, while those who held the centre moved outward
to the rear, taking a new position on the flanks. The force
covering the retreat to continue fronting the enemy while re-
tiring until the rescued officers had disappeared, then the cov-
ering force was to get away.
"After passing up Hyde Road beyond the railway crossing,
selecting the part just beyond the railroad bridge as the point
of attack on Hyde Road, arranging as to signals, and direct-
ing that the main body of the rescue party should avoid any
grouping, coming together only when the signal was given, I
went to the front of the Court House and made my headquarters
at the Red Lion Inn, nearly opposite the Court House. O'Bolger
and Ryan were sent into the Court House to watch everything
that took place, and one of them at a time was quietly to go
out and advise me of the progress of affairs, coming to the Red
Lion Inn for that purpose. I was informed by both O'Bolger
242
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
and Ryan of their purpose to shoot John J. Corydon should he
appear to identify Colonel Kelly and Captain Deasy. I said that
while the death of the informer, Corydon, was much to be de-
sired, yet taking his life under existing circumstances, laudable
and patriotic as it would otherwise be, would now work the ruin
and failure of the purpose then in hand, as the enemy naturally
would safeguard the prisoners, Colonel Kelly and Captain Deasy,
by sending so strong a force with the van that our little handful
of men, poorly armed as they were, would be entirely incapable
of overcoming such a force as would be escorting the van in the
event of the alarm of the enemy being excited by the killing in
the heart of the Court House of the scoundrel, Corydon.
"About three o'clock I was advised of the identification by a
police official of our two men and their remand to jail, and the
passing of the prisoners into the van. O'Bolger and Ryan were to
watch the actual entrance into the van of the two prisoners,
then precede the van in a cab and give the signal agreed upon.
A great crowd of people had gathered in the area in front of
the Court House. A little earlier, when the crowd was not so
large, I passed among them, keeping my eye on the Court House
door watching for the exit of either of my two men, but I soon
returned to my headquarters, as I thought the detectives by the
Court House were showing interest in the crowd. Going through
the crowd just after the van had passed out to go to Bellevue
Jail up on Hyde Road, to get a cab, I noticed quite a commotion
in the crowd, which in the judgment of the officials was made
up of friends of the two Irish officers. Immediately the detec-
tives caught at several of the crowd, myself among them, but
greater commotion near me alarmed the officers in plain clothes
and I managed to break away from them, dodging through the
crowd, and made my escape by side streets. When I had got far
enough away to consider myself secure, I sought a cab, and find-
ing one drove towards Hyde Road, and then along it towards the
selected point. When I had gone some distance towards the
railroad bridge crossing Hyde Road crowds of people were in the
road, and going to where the crowd was thickest, I got out of the
cab, and soon learned from the excited people that 'the Fenians
had shot a whole lot of people and murdered the police.' Fur-
ther inquiries, made as a newspaper man, soon gave me the in-
formation of the success of the rescue. * * * I then drove
back and went to my headquarters for the balance of the day,
No. 16 Acton Street — the premises of John Nolan, the head of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians — where I received information as to
details of the arrests made by the terror-stricken police and the
safety of the rescued officers. I left these headquarters Sep-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
243
tember 19, the next day, and went to the same premises where
Colonel Kelly was concealed, as his former headquarters was no
longer considered safe, and was glad to give up to him my acting
appointment to his duties which at the request of the head
officers in Ireland and Scotland I had assumed until a conven-
tion would decide upon his successor. He was now his own suc-
cessor, entirely owing to the energy, loyalty and courage of the
officers of the local Circles — that splendid group of the I. R. B.
who, by their gallantry made themselves immortal.
"In the actual fact of the rescue, the initiative was taken by
James Cahill in killing one of the horses which brought the van
to a stop.
"During the rescue itself, James Lavery, Thomas O'Bolger,
Peter Ryan, Peter Rice and James Cahill were most energetic.
Lavery was the senior officer of the local Circle, and was every-
where encouraging and directing. Captain Michael O'Brien and
Larkin had strolled up Hyde Road, loitering around waiting for
the arrival of the van. Hearing the shooting they hurried back
and Captain O'Brien rushed in to cover the retreat of the two
rescued officers in which Thomas O'Bolger, Larkin and a few
others of the gallant little band were engaged. In this they suc-
ceeded, but Larkin and Captain O'Brien were arrested, as was
also young Allen, and were sacrificed to satisfy that English law
which their heroism had humiliated and defied. Whatever honor
may flow to the Irish Cause from the gallantry shown at the
Manchester Rescue is owing entirely to the little band of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood who actually accomplished it. I
only gave form and direction to that force which their loyalty
and value created."
"RlCARD O'SULLIVAN BURKE."
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS.
Rescue of Kelly and Deasy Threw England Into a Panic —
Shooting of Sergeant Brett Purely Accidental — Trial of
Allen, Larkin and O'Brien a Travesty of Justice — Their
Execution a Judicial Murder.
The Rescue of Kelly and Deasy from the prison van in Man-
chester on September 18, 1867, was the boldest stroke of the
Fenian Movement. It threw England into a panic of fear and
rage and gave her warning that the movement she thought she
had completely crushed in March was still alive and its spirit
unbroken.
In broad daylight a handful of Irishmen in the heart of one
of England's biggest cities, with a military garrison and a large
police force, wrested from her grasp two of their Chiefs whom
she was about to send to convict cells, got them safely away
and enabled them to reach the United States while a big reward
was offered for their recapture and England's whole detective
force was searching for them. The reward would have been a
fortune to some of those who knew the whereabouts of the
rescued men, but the offer tempted none of them to give the
Government a scintilla of information.
Only four of the twenty-three rescuers were arrested (with
several others who had nothing to do with it) . Three of them —
William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O'Brien —
were hanged after a trial that was a travesty of justice which
made their execution a judicial murder. England hoped to ter-
rorize the Irish by taking Irish lives, but she only fanned the
spirit of patriotism into a new flame and brought thousands
of recruits to the organization.
Colonel Ricard O'Sullivan Burke, whose account of the re-
organization of the movement is quoted in the previous chapter,
describes the preparations for the Rescue and gives the names of
the rescuers. Most of the latter were in New York and a few in
Boston when I landed in January, 1871, and I got the whole in-
side history from them.
Kelly and Deasy were arrested while returning late at night
from a courtmartial on Edward O'Meagher Condon, who had
very badly misconducted himself, but who later claimed the
244
THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
245
chief credit for the Rescue, asserting that he was in command.
His claim was absurd, but repetition for half a century has
deceived many thousands of Irishmen.
The rescuers were handicapped by lack of implements to
break open the door of the van. Condon was assigned the duty
of procuring a sledge, crowbar and a set of burglar's tools, but he
failed to bring them.
They were trying to batter the door open with stones and
chunks of wood, which they found lying around, when one of
them got the notion that he could shoot the lock open by firing
into the keyhole. He was a very small, but sturdy Dublin man
named Peter Rice, who later lived many years in New York and
died in his native city. Police Sergeant Brett, in charge of the
prisoners, had a seat next the door and, being unable to see
clearly through the slats (which sloped downward) was peering
out through the keyhole. Rice, who, of course, could not see
him, fired his revolver through the keyhole; the bullet passed
into Brett's eye and killed him — a fact of which Rice was igno-
rant. This was the "murder" for which Allen, Larkin and
O'Brien were hanged.
One of the women prisoners took the keys out of Brett's
pocket and dropped them through the slats to the rescuing
party outside. They promptly opened the door, let the two of-
ficers out and the Rescue was accomplished. They were not
provided even with files to cut the handcuffs and the rescued
men had to be taken, still fettered, across a vacant lot and over
a wall to another road, from where they were quickly taken to
a place of safety.
Nothing that had ever occurred in England created such a wild
panic. The English people lost their heads and went into a
frenzy of rage against the Irish. Every individual Irishman in
England was made a special object of attack, as if he were person-
ally responsible for what had occurred in Manchester. In Man-
chester itself Irishmen were beaten by mobs, and they were dis-
charged by wholesale from their employment. Thousands of
special constables were enrolled and a house to house search
was carried out for those suspected of participation in the
Rescue. A large number of Irishmen were arrested on suspi-
cion,— most of them merely because they were Irish, and others
who just happened to be in the neighborhood at the time of the
rescue.
The English have a hobby for describing themselves as "calm"
when they have completely lost control of their nerves, and this
mythical "calmness" figured extensively in the newspaper de-
246
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
scriptions of the situation in Manchester following the Rescue.
Men with ordinary common sense would have known that the
effort of the Fenians could not be repeated in the case of the
men arrested for connection with the Rescue, but every act of
the authorities was based on the absurd belief that Manchester
was filled with armed groups of Irishmen ready to repeat at
any moment the stroke delivered under the railway arch, when,
as a matter of fact, every man who had any hand in the Rescue
had sought safety in flight from that city.
Tom O'Bolger, a Kilkenny shoemaker, who was one of the
boldest and most resourceful men in the Rescue party, made his
way to London immediately and clipped from the Times and put
in a scrap-book the despatches describing the situation in Man-
chester. They afford most interesting reading and throw a com-
ical light on the "calmness" of the English people. Instead of
being "calm", they were in as great a panic as if a foreign army
had captured Liverpool and was marching on Manchester. The
horses drawing the prison van conveying the five men, who
were charged with the "murder" of Brett, from Salford Jail to
the court house in Manchester went at a fast trot, apparently
to avoid being ambushed, and a company of Highlanders form-
ing the escort had to go at the double quick to keep up with it.
Why cavalry was not selected for the escort is one of those
mysteries that are never absent from British military operations.
Angry mobs surrounded the courthouse and filled the streets
in the immediate neighborhood; they hooted and insulted the
prisoners. All mobs are more or less cowardly, but English mobs
are both cowardly and cruel. Their temper towards the men on
trial showed that they would lynch them if they could get at
them. The whole people, including the judges and the jurymen,
were inflamed by passion and anti-Irish prejudice, and the
Bench took no pains to conceal it. The manly, defiant bearing
of the men in the dock was bitterly resented and the law was
strained against them whenever a point of law had to be de-
cided. Ernest Jones, the Chartist leader, who defended them,
was a fine type of Englishman and an able lawyer, but he quickly
realized that legal talent and evidence as to the facts of the
case were of no avail against inflamed hatred and passion on
the bench and in the jury box.
The evidence against the indicted men all came from the
policemen and the thieves and fallen women who were in the
van. Everyone brought before them was promptly identified as
one of the rescuing party. Among them was a marine named
Maguire, who was on furlough and happened to be in the neigh-
borhood at the time of the Rescue. He had a strong Irish ac-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
247
cent, and that was enough. He was fully identified by those
denizens of the prison and duly convicted by the jury. The re-
porters at the trial were struck by the utter improbability of
Maguire having anything to do with the Rescue and they joined
in a petition to the Home Secretary pleading for his release.
He had been convicted on exactly the same evidence as Allen,
Larkin and O'Brien, who were later executed, and Edward
O'Meagher Condon, whose sentence of death was commuted to
penal servitude for life, through the intervention of the Ameri-
can Government because he was a citizen of the United States.
But the evidence that was so defective in Maguire's case as to
procure his release was quite sufficient to hang the other three.
The case of Patrick Meledy was even more striking. Meledy,
who was a vain, light-headed fellow of no character, a Dublin
man, was in London at the time of the Rescue. He had a hobby
for amateur theatricals, and he foolishly told some of his inti-
mates that he had taken part in the Rescue. The story reached
the police, he was arrested, taken to Manchester and "identified"
fully by the criminal witnesses as one of those they had seen
taking part in the attack on the van. He was convicted, spent
ten years in prison, and this gave him a character among
Nationalists in America which he used to good advantage in
many questionable financial operations on a small scale. He had
never been in Manchester in his life and owed his conviction to
his loose tongue.
Allen, Larkin and O'Brien were hanged on November 23rd,
1867. Their names are enshrined in the hearts of the Irish
people, and they shall ever be gratefully remembered as "The
Manchester Martyrs".
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE CLERKENWELL EXPLOSION.
Attempt to Rescue Colonel Ric Burke by Making Breach in
Prison Wall Failed — Explosion Unfortunately Resulted in
Deaths Among Women and Children on the Street— Daring
Effort Had Good Political Results Later.
Not long after the Manchester Rescue, Colonel Ricard O'Sul-
livan Burke was arrested. He was charged with having pur-
chased arms in England for the Fenians, and was lodged in
Clerkenwell Prison, London.
There were two wings of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
in London at that time. One of these had been organized earlier
that year by Ric Burke himself in conjunction with Colonel
Thomas J. Kelly, and the other by James J. O'Kelly and J. I. C.
Clarke. The Centre of one of the Circles of the Burke-Kelly
group was a young man named Jeremiah O'Sullivan who was
born near Cahirdaniel, County Kerry, in 1845.
Under the command of Captain James Murphy, O'Sullivan
managed to get into communication with Ric Burke in Clerken-
well Prison and arrangements were made for his rescue. The
yard in which the prisoners exercised at a certain time each day
was separated from the street only by a high wall, and the
rescuers planned to blow a hole in the latter large enough to
enable Burke to rush through to his waiting friends outside.
It was a priest who supplied the money to buy the powder
(dynamite had not then become known), but they bought sev-
eral hundred pounds of it, — far too much. A smaller quantity
would have been quite enough to make the hole and would not
have caused the loss of life among women and children, which
actually took place. There was a British spy among the Fenians,
and the information he gave resulted in Burke being placed in a
cell at the time set for the explosion, so that all the trouble
and loss of life was rendered useless. O'Sullivan brought up the
powder in a barrel which he wheeled in a pushcart, but when
the explosion took place, the rescuers discovered at once that
Burke was not among the prisoners in the yard, so they had to
make their escape as best they could in the confusion and panic
which prevailed in the vicinity of the prison. This was in De-
cember, 1867.
248
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
249
O'Sullivan was a lithe young man of athletic build, a fine
runner and jumper, and to these qualities he owed his escape.
There was a heavily laden brewery wagon passing at the time
and the driver, a big, corpulent man, dropped from his seat and
threw his arms around O'Sullivan as he was running past, cry-
ing: "You are a thief."
O'Sullivan told him he was not a thief, but the driver said he
would hold him anyhow for the police, who were running up at
the time. O'Sullivan said: "The devil you will", reached to his
pocket with his right hand, pulled out a big horsepistol (of which
he had two) , and hit him a hard blow on the head with the butt.
The man dropped to the ground and never got up again. His
blood had been poisoned by drinking ale too freely and the blow
killed him.
The police were very close on O'Sullivan by this time, but he
dashed off and soon outdistanced them. They followed in relays
however, and kept him in sight. He was a younger man than any
of his pursuers, in perfect condition, and he knew the neighbor-
hood, so he had every advantage over them. He ran five miles
without stopping and at one point had to cross a stream eighteen
feet wide. He cleared it easily, but the policemen were unable
to make it. One of them who attempted the jump fell into the
water and by the time he had clambered up the opposite bank
O'Sullivan was safe, and all that the police, — who were armed
with revolvers at that time, on account of the Manchester
Rescue, — could do was to fire several shots after him, all of which
missed.
After a short time spent in concealment among trusted
friends, O'Sullivan took passage for America under a false name,
and landed safely in New York, where he remained until his
death. He was a very healthy man of temperate habits, and
would undoubtedly have lived many years longer but for two
accidents which happened to him while at work. The first of
these necessitated the amputation of one of his toes and he nar-
rowly escaped blood-poisoning. Some years later he was hurt
internally by another accident, cancer developed and he suffered
greatly for a considerable time before his death.
Mr. O'Sullivan joined the Clan-na-Gael soon after his arrival
in New York and remained an active member until illness pre-
vented him from attending meetings. He belonged to the Bunker
Hill Club in the Bronx and was also a member of the I. R. B.
Veterans' Association. He took a vigorous part in the Land
League until Parnell was deposed from the leadership, when, like
most of the old Fenians, he dropped out and confined his activi-
250
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
ties to the Clan-na-Gael until the Friends of Irish Freedom was
organized. He was a fluent Gaelic speaker and a very well read
man.
He died on Monday, November 6, 1922, and was interred in
Calvary Cemetery.
While the deaths among the English civilians was regrettable,
and though the immediate purpose of this dynamite operation
failed of accomplishment, the Clerkenwell incident, coming so
soon after the daring rescue at Manchester, scared the Govern-
ment and people of England and had good results later.
When William E. Gladstone in 1869 introduced the Bill to dis-
establish the Protestant Church in Ireland (in which the Irish
people were not particularly interested) he admitted in his
speech that his new outlook on Irish affairs was due to the in-
tensity of Fenianism. His remarks on that occasion proved a
stronger argument in favor of physical force — and even of Ter-
rorism— on the part of Ireland to secure justice and freedom,
than any Irishman ever made.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE CATALPA RESCUE.
Expedition that Brought Humiliation to England Organized and
Financed by the Clan-na-Gael — Six Members of Fenian
Organization in British Army, Sentenced to Penal Servi-
tude for Life, Taken from an English Prison in Western
Australia After They had Served Ten Years — Irish Skill and
Yankee Grit Landed Them as Free Men on Friendly Shores
of America.
The detailed story of the "Catalpa Rescue" was published by
me in the Gaelic American in 1904. Weekly instalments appeared
from July 16 to the end of October of that year, so that the
narrative as then written is entirely too long to reproduce here.
But, as most of the principal actors in the Catalpa incident
were active participants in the Fenian organization of '65 and
'66 in Ireland, this volume would not be complete without a
recital of the most interesting features of the Rescue.
The last batch of Fenian prisoners tried in the civil courts
from 1865 to 1867 were released from prison in 1871, on condi-
tion that they reside out of Ireland. These included the men
who under James Stephens had been instrumental in organizing
a strong section of the Fenian organization in the British army,
but the convicted soldiers whom they induced to join were still
held prisoners, most of them at Fremantle, Western Australia.
Gladstone, who was Premier of England at the time, had yielded
to a strong pressure of public opinion, brought about by the Am-
nesty agitation led by Isaac Butt, George Henry Moore and John
Nolan, and wanted to release all the prisoners, but a character-
istic English reason prevented it. The Duke of Cambridge, Com-
mander-in-Chief of the British army, interposed an objection
against the military prisoners and his word was law with his
august cousin Queen Victoria. Releasing these Fenian soldiers,
he said, would be subversive of discipline in the army, and as the
duke was a great soldier, as soldiers go near the top of the army
in England, that settled it. He had won distinction in the
Crimea by promptly falling from his horse at the opening of the
battle of the Alma and had to nurse a dislocated shoulder at
home in England during the balance of the war. But Cambridge
knew all about discipline and red tape and he was quite sure it
251
252
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
would have a bad effect on the army to let those Fenian fel-
lows free.
When the released Fenian civilian prisoners who had been
incarcerated in England (of whom I was one) arrived in New
York in 1871, a public reception was given to them under the aus-
pices of the Clan-na-Gael, which had then been in existence
about four years, and which at the date I write of included in its
ranks many men from both wings of the Fenian Brotherhood.
Some months later, a newspaper containing an account of the re-
ception, and the New York address of Peter Curran, found its
way into the prison at Fremantle. Curran was the man at whose
house in Dublin a picked body of soldiers had been brought to
meet the famous Captain McCafferty in 1866, with a view to
organizing a cavalry corps under his command. In due course he
received the following letter from Martin Hogan:
"Perth, Western Australia,
"May 20th, 1871.
"My dear Friend:
"In order that you may recollect who it is that addresses
you, you will remember on the night of January 17th, 1866,
some of the Fifth Dragoon Guards being in the old house in
Clare Lane with John Devoy and Captain McCafferty. I am
one of that unfortunate band and am now under sentence
of life penal servitude in one of the darkest corners of the
earth, and as far as we can learn from any small news that
chances to reach us, we appear to be forgotten, with no pros-
pect before us but to be left in hopeless slavery to the tender
mercies of the Norman wolf.
"But, my dear friend, it is not my hard fate I deplore, for
I willingly bear it for the cause of dear old Ireland, but I must
feel sad at the thought of being forgotten, and neglected by
those more fortunate companions in enterprise who have suc-
ceeded in eluding the grasp of the oppressor. If I had the
means I could get away from here any time. I therefore ad-
dress you in the hope that you will endeavor to procure and
send me pecuniary help for that purpose and I will soon be
with you.
"Give my love and regards to all old friends — Roantree,
Devoy, Burke (General) , McCafferty, Captain Holden, O'Dono-
van Rossa, St. Clair and others, not forgetting yourself and
Mrs., and believe me that, even should it be my fate to perish
in this villainous dungeon of the world, the last pulse of my
heart shall beat 'God Save Ireland.'
"Direct your letter to Rev. Father McCabe, Fremantle. Do
not put my name on the outside of the letter.
"Yours truly,
"Martin J. Hogan."
This letter was at once given to me, and I promptly answered
it. Most of the evidence upon which the soldiers were convicted
related meetings with me, and I therefore felt that I, more than
any man then living, ought to do my utmost for these Fenian
soldiers. But at that time nothing could be done except in the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
253
way of influencing opinion in the Clan-na-Gael in favor of some
plan to effect their release, and most men considered the task
of releasing the prisoners impossible of accomplishment.
In a few months another letter came from Hogan, and later,
one from James Wilson (of the same regiment), containing more
accurate and detailed descriptions of how the prisoners were
situated, but the plans proposed for rescue were wholly imprac-
tical. Thomas McCarthy Fennell, who had been released from
Australia several years previously with the civilian prisoners, was
the first man in America to suggest a practical idea, which was
to send an American vessel, loaded with grain or some other
cargo and later pick up the prisoners. A proposition that the
organization undertake the rescue of the prisoners was laid by
me in 1872 and 1873 before the then heads of the Clan-na-Gael,
but they doubted their ability to raise the funds.
So matters drifted until July 1874, when a Convention held in
Baltimore decided to take up the project. There were sixty-one
delegates present and as some of them were not at first favorable
to my proposal, they had to be taken into our confidence and
given such information as to existing conditions in Western
Australia as would enable them to judge what the chances of
success might be and induce them to undertake the task of secur-
ing the necessary voluntary contributions. During the twelve
months that followed, a copy of the resolutions adopted, a copy
of Hogan's letter and a copy of the later letter from Wilson, had
of necessity to be printed and circulated among the eighty-six
branches of the organization then existing. These were read to
the members, with the result that fully 7,000 men were eventually
aware of the project on hand. That there was then no in-
former or spy in the organization is proved by the fact that the
British Government took absolutely no precaution against the
rescue, and the carrying out of it fell on them "like a bolt from
the blue".
The Convention entrusted the project to a Committee of ten,
of which I was chairman, but only five were active, namely:
James Reynolds of New Haven, Conn.; Patrick Mahon of Roches-
ter, N. Y., Treasurer; John C. Talbot of San Francisco; John
W. Goff of New York, and myself. In later stages, Dr. William
Carroll of Philadelphia was added. In the course of our work
we received invaluable co-operation from John Boyle O'Reilly,
from John Kenealy of Los Angeles, McCarthy Fennell and others.
The raising of the funds which eventually were ascertained
to be necessary, was a prolonged and arduous job. In February,
1875, at which date but a small percentage of the money needed
254
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
had been turned in, I on behalf of the Committee, and on an
introduction from John Boyle O'Reilly, had interviews with Cap-
tain Henry C. Hathaway in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Hath-
away had been third mate of the American whaling bark Gazelle
on which O'Reilly had escaped from Australia in 1869, and on his
recommendation we secured the co-operation of his son-in-law,
John T. Richardson, and Captain George S. Anthony, both of
New Bedford. Neither of these three men had, so far as we
knew, a drop of Irish blood in his veins, but they undertook
the work they were asked to perform as readily as if they had
been sworn Fenians, and right well did they perform it.
It was finally decided to purchase a sailing vessel, fit her out
as a whaler, send her on a cruise which should extend to Western
Australia, and there endeavor to get the prisoners aboard. Hath-
away pointed out that such a ship could pay her way, and even
make a profit under favorable whaling conditions.
Accordingly, the bark Catalpa, then lying at Boston, was pur-
chased by Richardson for $5,250. Richardson risked some of his
personal funds in the purchase, and advanced $4,000 to James
Reynolds — who was acting for the Clan-na-Gael — on a thirty-day
note. This note was duly redeemed from the money raised by the
Clan.
Though built originally as a whaler, the Catalpa had for some
years previously been engaged in the West India trade, and
several important changes were necessary. A blubber deck had
to be constructed, she had to be coppered, whaling boats had to
be built. Some sails, an anchor, a chronometer, as well as all
accessories for a whaling expedition such as oil, watercasks, har-
poons, bomb-lancers, medicine chest, etc., were also provided.
The outfitting was superintended by Hathaway and Richardson,
and as a result of their practical experience the job was done
expeditiously and cheaply. I may mention that the Catalpa was
at the outset examined for her seaworthiness, etc., by Lieutenant
Tobin, a United States Naval engineer. Years later he called on
me in New York, told me if he had known the purpose for which
we wanted the vessel, he could not have done what he did, but
that he was very glad he did not know and that the expedition
succeeded.
The announcement of the Catalpa's readiness to sail on April
27, 1875, brought up the problem of selecting the Clan-na-Gael
man to go aboard. It was decided that one man only should go,
and the final selection rested between Denis Duggan and Thomas
Brennan. Duggan was my choice, but Goff wanted Brennan.
At the last moment James Reynolds took the responsibility of in-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
255
stalling Duggan, but after the vessel sailed, it was agreed that
Brennan should join her at Fayal, Azore Islands. On Brennan's
arrival there, Captain Anthony refused to ship him. Personal
friends then financed him to go to Australia, and he eventually
got on the Catalpa together with the rescued men and their
rescuers. This matter of Brennan, and subsequent developments,
formed the basis for controversies later which I will not now
dwell on.
The selection by the Committee of the man to plan and effect
the actual getaway in Australia was the next step. I desired to
go and was assured of practically the unanimous support of the
Committee, but conditions arose with regard to the raising of the
funds for the whole expedition which made it necessary for me
to remain in America. Furthermore, my disappearance at that
time would probably result in loose talk, with the possibility of
ruining all chances of success.
John J. Breslin, the man who had liberated James Stephens
from Richmond Prison, had just come from Boston to New York.
He was familiar with the British prison service, was a man of
fine presence, good manners, high intelligence and very unusual
decision of character. He was ideal for the job, and, on my
proposal, was unanimously chosen for the chief command of the
rescue expedition. He proceeded via Los Angeles, where he con-
sulted with John Kenealy, and as requested by the California
men, Thomas Desmond accompanied him. There were long
delays due to embarrassing financial disappointments, but both
men sailed from San Francisco on September 13, and arrived at
Sydney on October 15, 1875; reached Melbourne on October 30,
then proceeded via Albany (King George's Sound) to Fremantle,
where they arrived on November 16.
Breslin, who had travelled under the name of James Collins,
made Fremantle his headquarters, and promptly got into com-
munication with the prisoners in whom he was interested. Before
leaving San Francisco, he had been furnished with a legal docu-
ment from which one might infer that James Collins possessed
large interests in lands and mines in Nevada and other States of
the Union. Breslin, in his report, remarks: "I believe my West
Australian reputation as a millionaire is chiefly due to the fact
that this document was 'with intent to deceive' left loosely in
my room so that it might be read."
During the week following Breslin's arrival at Fremantle, he
learned that William Foley, one of the Fenian ex-prisoners, was
at large in the district. Through the latter, news of Breslin's
presence was conveyed to James Wilson, as was the method of
communication to be employed between him and Breslin.
256
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
About the middle of December, Breslin actually visited the
Fremantle prison in company with two other gentlemen, and
they were shown all through it by the superintendent. Breslin
reported to us on his return to America that "he found it to be
very secure and well guarded". Meantime, Desmond found
employment at Perth, but kept in touch with Breslin. John King,
an old Fenian, whom he had met in Sydney and from whose
friend there Breslin received £200, had come to Bunbury, passed
for a gold miner under the name of Jones, and remained to par-
ticipate in the rescue.
The Catalpa was late in arriving, and to avoid arousing sus-
picion Breslin made a trip into the interior. When the vessel
finally reached Bunbury — the nearest port to Fremantle for mer-
chant ships — on March 28, 1876, Breslin went there to confer with
Captain Anthony. His plan was to get the prisoners from Fre-
mantle to a point on the coast 20 miles south, named Rocking-
ham; the Catalpa to stand well out to sea, and the rescue party
to proceed to her in a whale boat. At Breslin's suggestion Cap-
tain Anthony accompanied him from Bunbury to Fremantle on
the mail steamer Georgette so that he should see the coast out-
side of Rockingham and know exactly where his ship should
wait. On arrival at Fremantle they found there the British gun
boat Convict, which had anchored on the previous day. This was
disconcerting, and the additional fact that another gun boat was
expected soon at Fremantle, caused Breslin and Anthony to post-
pone the rescue. In order to justify the extended stay of the
Catalpa at Bunbury, it was decided that Anthony should over-
haul and paint her in that port.
Before Anthony left Fremantle a series of camouflaged tele-
grams was arranged between himself and Collins (Breslin), by
which Anthony was to be kept informed of the gun boat situa-
tion. Finally it was decided to make the getaway on Easter
Monday, April 17, 1876.
Regarding the method of communication with the Fenian pris-
oners it may be well to state that their good conduct and length
of imprisonment had entitled them to the rank of "constable",
which enabled them to communicate with each other with greater
ease and freedom than usually permitted. Breslin's last remark
to the prisoners was: "We have money, arms and clothes; let no
man's heart fail him, for this chance may never come again".
At 7:30 that Monday morning, Desmond drove a pair of horses
and trap out of Fremantle; Breslin, with a similar outfit, left in
another direction; but both later directed their course to the
JOHN J. BRESLIN
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL 257
rendezvous near the prison which had been pre-arranged with
the prisoners.
After breakfast, the political prisoners were engaged outside
the prison wall. Cranston passed out as if going on a message,
and, having overtaken the warder who was marching the work-
ing party to which Wilson and Harrington belonged, showed him
a key and told him he had been sent to take Wilson and Har-
rington to move some furniture in the Governor's house, which
was the nearest point to where they were to meet Breslin. The
warder told Wilson and Harrington to go with Cranston, and
they marched off. Darragh took Hassett in the same direction as
if going to work; they were joined by Hogan, who made an excuse
for temporary absence to the warder in charge of him.
The first three got into the trap with Desmond and drove
away. The others sat in with Breslin. In each trap they had
three hats and three coats which the prisoners donned promptly.
Brennan had left for Rockingham at 6 A. M. King, well mounted,
followed the traps.
The first ten miles of the route from Fremantle to Rocking-
ham were good for Western Australia, the next six miles heavy
and cut up, and the remaining four a mere track, brush and
sand. The journey was made in record time. I now quote from
Breslin's report:
"At half-past 10 A. M. we made the beach and got aboard
the whale boat. The men had been instructed to stow them-
selves in the smallest possible space, so as not to interfere
with those at the oars, and in a few minutes all was ready
and the word was given, 'Shove off, men; shove off.'
"Now fairly afloat the word was: 'Out oars and pull for
your lives! Pull as if you were pulling after a whale!' The
boat's crew was somewhat disconcerted and scared at the
sudden appearance of so many strangers armed with rifles and
revolvers, and pulled badly at first, but the voice of the steers-
man rallied them, and cries: 'Come down Mopsa; come down,
you big Louis, Pull, Toby, pull. Give them stroke, Mr. Silvee.
What do you say, men? Come down all together. Pull away,
my men, pull away,' soon warmed them to their work and
they fell into stroke and pulled well.
"When about two miles off shore we saw the mounted
police ride up to the spot where we had embarked, and then
slowly drive the horses and wagons we had used up the beach
towards the Rockingham jetty. * * *
"About half-past 5 P. M., Toby raised the Catalpa 15 miles
ahead of us, and the men bent to their oars in order to get
as near to her as possible before dark; at half-past six we
had gained on the ship and could see her topsails quite plain
from the crests of the waves. Made sail on the boat. At
this time the weather had become gloomy, with rain squalls,
and we were pretty thoroughly soaked.
"The boat made good headway under sail and we were
rapidly overhauling the ship, carrying all sail and the whole
258 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
boat's crew — sixteen men in all — perched on the weather gun-
wale, with the water rushing in on us from time to time,
when, about seven o'clock a squall struck us, carrying away
the mast, which broke short off at the thwart, and, by the
time we had the mast and sail stowed away, the ship had dis-
appeared in the increasing darkness."
Breslin's party did not again sight the Catalpa until 7 o'clock
next morning, April 18. Just at that time they saw the smoke
of the Georgette as she steamed out of Fremantle, with all sail
set. It soon became evident that she was making for the
Catalpa — and as to her purpose there could be no doubt. The
occupants of Breslin's whaleboat took down their sail, and the
Georgette fortunately passed without seeing them. The Georg-
ette ran alongside the Catalpa, and after about 10 minutes
steamed slowly away in the same direction, but to the amaze-
ment of Breslin's party the Catalpa also held on her course, and
both kept increasing their distance from the whaleboat. Some
three hours later, the Georgette headed back for Fremantle, and
fortunately for those in the boat, she kept in close to the coast,
evidently searching the indentations for the refugees.
The men of the whaleboat struggled on in the course the
Catalpa was sailing, although she was fast receding from their
view, and they began to call her "the phantom ship". They kept
on, however, and about 2 P. M. saw that the Catalpa had altered
her course and was coming toward the whaleboat. However, all
was not well yet. In a few minutes the occupants of the latter
saw a police cutter leaving shore, and it now became a question
as to which boat should reach the Catalpa first. Breslin's report
continues:
"At 3 P. M. we ran up to the Catalpa on the weather side,
the police boat being close up on the lee side, and scrambled
on board in double quick time. As soon as my feet struck the
deck over the quarter rail, Mr. Smith, the first mate, called
out to me: 'What shall I do now, Mr. Collins? What shall I
do?' I replied: 'Hoist the flag and stand out to sea.' And
never was a manoeuvre executed in a more prompt and sea-
manlike manner. The police boat was dropping alongside. As
we went past, I stepped to the rail and kissed my hand to the
gentlemen who had lost the race.
"Twenty-eight hours in an open boat, with a liberal allow-
ance of rain and seawater, cramped for want of room, and
cheered with the glorious uncertainty as to whether we should
gain freedom or the chain-gang, — a suit of dry clothes, a glass
of New England rum and a mug of hot coffee were just the
things to put 'where they would do the most good,' and were
put accordingly. * * *
"About six o'clock next morning, however, the Georgette
was lying about half of a mile to windward of us, with a
man-of-war and vice-admiral's flag flying. We set the 'Stars
and Stripes' as we passed, and held on our course. * * *
At a quarter to eight o'clock the Georgette was so near that
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
259
I could see she had guns, an artillery force, and the water
police on board.
"The men of our party were all assembled in the cabin
with their rifles and revolvers ready. Of the watch not one
was visible from the Georgette but the lookout and the man
at the wheel. I now stepped down into the cabin and told
our men that if the officials on board the Georgette were
determined to fight for their re-capture they would, most
probably, succeed, as they had the advantage of us in every
way — more men, better armed, cannon, and a steamer with
which they could sail round and round us. I also explained
to them that while those of our party who had not been in
prison could only suffer imprisonment, the men who had been
imprisoned could be hanged in case any life was lost by their
resistance. I added it was simply a matter of dying now or
waiting to die in prison, if the officials on the Georgette fired
into or boarded us. Their answer was 'We'll do whatever you
say.' I then said, 'I'll hold out to the last,' and went on deck
again.
"At 8 A. M. the Georgette steamed ahead and fired a shot
across our bows. • Captain Anthony then put a question to me,
to which I replied, 'Hold on, and don't take any notice of the
shot yet.'
"After a lapse of about three minutes, the artillery men
having reloaded their field piece, and the steamer and the
Catalpa sailing side by side within easy speaking distance, I
said, 'Now ask him what does he want?' Captain Anthony
stepped on the weather rail and raised his speaking trumpet;
as he did so the Georgette hailed: 'Bark ahoy!' and the an-
swer went back: 'What do you want?' 'Heave to,' came back
from the Georgette. 'What for?' shouted our captain. After
quite a pause the Georgette hailed: 'Have you any convict
prisoners on board?' Answer: 'No prisoners here; no pris-
oners that I know of.'
The Georgette then hailed — T telegraphed to your gov-
ernment; don't you know that you are amenable to British
law in this Colony? You have six convict prisoners on
board. I see some of them on deck now.'
"I remarked to the Captain: 'This fellow is lying and try-
ing to bluff us; he can't send a message to Adelaide before
Saturday next.' The Georgette next hailed: T give you
fifteen minutes to consider, and you must take the conse-
quences; I have the means to do it, and if you don't heave
to I'll blow the mast out of you.'
"Captain Anthony shouted a reply pointing to his flag.
'That's the American flag; I am on the high seas; my flag
protects me; if you fire on this ship you fire on the American
flag.'
"The threat of firing on the flag highly incensed our first
mate, who exclaimed, 'Damn him, let him sink us; we'll go
down with the ship; I'll never start sheet or tack for him.'
Smith now asked, 'What will you do if he attempts to board
us?' I replied, 'Sink his boat when it comes alongside. You
have a couple of good heavy grindstones; let us have them
handy to heave over the side.' The Captain reminded Smith
of some heavy logs of timber which were in the hold and
bade him order the crew to pass them on deck; these logs
were quickly passed up and laid on the main hatch ready for
use. * * *
260 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
"Our fifteen minutes' grace and several other minutes
had expired, and, as the Georgette steamed slowly across
our stern, I expected a raking shot among the masts. She
did not fire; and, as she ranked alongside again, I knew that
the game of bluff was played out. The spokesman of the
party on board the Georgette, whom I believed to be Colonel
Harvest, called out: 'Won't you surrender to our govern-
ment?' No reply. And again he called out — 'I see three of
those men on board now.' Our Captain replied — 'You are
mistaken, sir; the men you see are my ship's crew.'
"The Georgette hailed: 'Can I come on board?' To this
Captain Anthony replied: 'No, sir; I am bound for sea and
can't stop.'
"The Georgette still kept us company as if loath to part,
until half-past nine A. M., when she slowly swung off, and
without having the courtesy to bid us bon voyage, steamed
back to Fremantle."
The remaining incidents of the voyage were written in the
log of the good ship Catalpa. The rescued prisoners boarded her
on April 18, 1876, and after a lapse of nearly four months they
were landed safely at New York.
Later, a financial statement setting forth all monies raised for
the expedition, and all the expenditures incurred, was duly sub-
mitted to the proper authorities and approved. Incidents con-
nected with this fund and other matters relating to the Rescue
subsequently became subjects of controversy; they received a lot
of publication, so I need not repeat them here.
The plan for the rescue of those Irish prisoners in Western
Australia was launched and carried through under difficult cir-
cumstances. In concluding this necessarily abbreviated account
of it, it is sufficient to reiterate that ten years after their convic-
tion for having joined the Fenian organization, those six former
soldiers of the British army:
Martin J. Hogan
James Wilson
Thomas H. Hassett
Michael Harrington
Robert Cranston
Thomas Darragh
stepped ashore on American soil as free men. Thus by a combi-
nation of Irish skill and pluck and Yankee grit, the Catalpa expe-
dition was crowned with success.
CHAPTER XL.
THE FENIANS AND THE IRISH LANGUAGE.
Douglas Hyde Mistaken in Theory that John O'Leary Repre-
sented Views of Majority — John O'Mahony and Many Minor
Leaders Enthusiastic for Revival of Old Tongue — Would
Have Restored It Had They Won — An Irish Government
Only Can Complete Work of Restoration.
This chapter, it will be noted, in addition to treating of the
deep interest taken by the Fenians in the propagation of the
Irish language, also deals with the influence of the work of the
Gaelic League (which was not established until 1893) on the
Insurrection of 1916. It might, perhaps, more appropriately ap-
pear towards the end of this volume, but, as the subject matter
does not come under any particular grouping of chapters, I will
insert it here — in contact with the story of the Fenian period
of 1865-67.
Douglas Hyde's admirable article on the work of the Gaelic
League, which the Gaelic American reprinted on August 11, 1923,
from the Manchester Guardian Commercial, was a most timely
contribution to the history of present-day Ireland. It supplies
authentic information that could hardly be given by any other
man, except perhaps Eoin MacNeill. Coming from An Craoibhin
Aoibhin, it was doubly welcome. Many of us thought that Dr.
Hyde rather resented the large and important part played by
members of the Gaelic League in the Revolutionary Movement
which brought about present conditions, but his splendid article
showed that we were mistaken. Not only did he not resent it,
but he was evidently proud of it and said truly that the Gaelic
League was the mother of Sinn Fein.
Very much of the information he gave was wholly unknown
to the great mass of the Irish people. The historians of the
future, having the written evidence of one of the founders of
the Gaelic League and its President for the first 22 years of
its existence, must record and give proper emphasis to the tre-
mendous influence of that organization in leading up to the 1916
fight for Irish Independence.
There is one part of Douglas Hyde's article — that dealing with
the neglect of the Irish language by previous National Move-
261
262 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
ments— in which, owing to lack of information, Dr. Hyde did
not do justice to the Fenians. Here is what he says:
"The Young Irelanders of thirty years earlier, a national
and popular body, never gave any sign of any desire to do
anything for the language, with the exception of the chival-
rous Davis, and he did not know it.
"The Fenians who succeeded them in the 'sixties never
seemed to recognize in any official way that there was an
Irish language at all. The most literary and in many ways
the most striking of them, when he came back to live in
Ireland after his exile, made a speech in Cork, widely circu-
lated as a pamphlet, in which he advised his hearers not to
bother about Irish. T begin by a sort of negative advice,'
he said. 'You are most of you not destined to be scholars,
and so I should simply advise you — especially such of you
as do not already know Irish — to leave all this alone.' In
this attitude he was faithfully followed by all his adherents
until the language movement had become a power. I well
remember the night upon which Arthur Griffith first
acknowledged that he would give allegiance to it."
John O'Leary is evidently the returned exile referred to as
making the speech in Cork. O'Leary was highly respected by all
the Fenians, as he deserved to be, but he did not represent the
views of the majority, at least before the Rising of 1867, on the
question of the language. Douglas Hyde knew John O'Leary
very well in his later years — so well that O'Leary made him a
Fenian, as he did with William Butler Yeats, Rollestone, Gregg,
Charles Johnston, Oldham and other Trinity College students
when the Young Ireland society of which they were all mem-
bers, was doing splendid work in Dublin in the 'eighties. I got
this information from Charles Johnston (son of the famous
Johnston of Ballykilbeg) during Douglas Hyde's trip to America
for the Gaelic League. O'Leary had a hobby, like most college
men of his time, that "culture" consisted mainly in knowledge of
English literature, Latin and Greek, and he was not proficient in
speaking languages. Although he had a thorough knowledge
of French literature and had lived many years in Paris, he never
learned to pronounce the language correctly and always spoke
it, as he did English, with a strong Tipperary accent. The quo-
tation from the Cork lecture represents his views exactly, but
not those of any of the older Fenian leaders, nor of the great
mass of the membership.
John O'Mahony, the founder of the Fenian Movement and
its leader in America, was a fine Gaelic scholar, steeped to the
lips in the lore of ancient Ireland, and his translation from
the Irish of "Keating's History of Ireland", with its valuable
notes, culled from old manuscripts and traditions, is a monu-
ment to his scholarship. All who knew him were well aware that
he looked forward to the restoration of Gaelic as one of the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
263
certain results of the achievement of National Independence,
and he expressed this hope in many of his speeches. The latter
were never collected, but his translation of Keating is there to
testify to his feeling, and the selection of the word "Fenian"
as the name of the organization is indirect evidence of the same
kind. The Fianna Eireann was his ideal of a National Army.
Many of the minor leaders in Ireland, especially in Connacht
and Munster, and practically all the rank and file in the rural
districts of those provinces, were fluent Gaelic speakers and
strong for the restoration of the language. I can speak from
personal knowledge of this, for I knew very many of the men
and talked with them on the subject. O'Donovan Rossa not only
spoke Irish fluently, but he had an extensive book knowledge
of it. He was often a welcome visitor to the house of John
O'Donovan in Buckingham Street, Dublin, and the two men
had long talks on and in the old tongue. Many of the Fenian
Centres in Connacht and Munster and some in Leinster and
Ulster, were enthusiastic advocates of the restoration of the
language, but it is, of course, true that no organized effort was
made at that time to restore it, on account of incessant activi-
ties in the political field. Everything was subordinated to the
work of organization.
The same was true of American Fenianism and it is certain
that had the movement succeeded, the restoration of Irish would
have been undertaken by the Republican Government at the
very first opportunity. John O'Mahony would certainly have
exercised great influence in that Government.
The decline of the language was very rapid during the last
century. When my mother, who was born in 1812, just thirteen
miles from Dublin on the high road to Naas, was a girl, all the
middle aged and old people spoke Irish, but not as their every-
day language, and she herself knew many phrases and hundreds
of words. I was only one among many who wanted to learn
the language and to see it revived. When only nine years of age
I bought an Irish Primer. When fourteen, I invested in a lesson
book and dictionary. I knew many Dublin men who had ac-
quired a fair knowledge of Irish in the same way and through
talking to Connachtmen on their way to England to reap the
harvest, though the harvestmen were very reluctant to talk Irish,
except among themselves. The idea had already become wide-
spread that Irish was a badge of inferiority, and schoolboys in
many parts of Connacht had to carry, hung from the button-
holes of their jackets, small sticks on which their parents cut a
notch for every word of Irish spoken in their hearing at home,
and the schoolmaster gave them a slap for every notch.
264
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
I knew that Meath men who lived near enough to Dublin to
bring loads into Smithfield Market used to line up their carts
in front of Delahoyde's druggist establishment on Queen's Street
and make their purchases there, because Albert Delahoyde, one
of the sons, who was Treasurer of a Gaelic Class that I attended
from 1858 to 1861, spoke Irish very well. Later he joined the
little Papal Army, and still later was a lieutenant in the Aus-
trian Army. It is a curious fact that the name is the same as
Hyde, Delahoyde being the old Norman form.
That little Gaelic class was started by a few young men and
boys who thought they were initiating a movement to revive the
language, but many of them dropped away after a time because
they got too busy in Fenianism. In the end they were unable to
pay the rent of their quarters in Middle Abbey Street, where
Martin A. O'Brennan, who kept an Academy on Bolton Street,
was their teacher. He was the author of a convenient text book
called "Irish Made Easy." A. M. Sullivan gave us the use of his
editorial room in the Nation office. It was there I was sworn in
a Fenian. We continued to meet there until T. D. Sullivan came
in one evening with a set of resolutions which he got us, boys
as we were, to put our names to, calling a meeting at the Euro-
pean Hotel, Bolton Street, to start the "National Petition" move-
ment ("taking England at her word") which gave Fenianism its
first real start in Dublin. Neither Alexander M. nor Timothy D.
Sullivan, nor their brother Donal, who was Business Manager
of the Nation, knew a word of Irish, although they were brought
up in Bantry, then an Irish-speaking centre, yet they took great
interest in the language and gave the revival a good start by
publishing from week to week in the Nation Father Ulick Burke's
"Easy Lessons in Irish."
I give these details to show that the desire to revive the
language was then widespread and that it only needed a Douglas
Hyde, with his fine enthusiasm and great organizing capacity,
to start a Gaelic League more than thirty years earlier. And
Irish was still a living language, not only in Munster, Connacht
and several counties of Ulster, but also in parts of Louth, Meath,
Westmeath, Longford and Kilkenny, as well, so that the work
of restoration would have been then much easier. It was, how-
ever, next to impossible at that time to get native speakers from
Connacht and Kerry who helped us on pronunciation and by
singing Gaelic songs, to even learn the alphabet.
It is, of course, quite true that men very actively engaged in
a political movement, especially one of a revolutionary charac-
ter, are too absorbed in their work to give much time to any-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
265
thing else. The Fenians, owing to the American Civil War and
the bitterness of the American people against England, were
filled with the idea that military action alone, with assistance
from America, would free Ireland. They consequently devoted
all their attention to that line of work, but failed because
of poor leadership and inadequate resources. But they cer-
tainly would not have brought military success any nearer in
those few critical years by starting a movement to revive Gaelic,
though such a movement initiated then would have brought
results at a later period.
Important as has been the work of the Gaelic League and
of Sinn Fein, neither, nor both combined, would have brought
about the national reawakening without the military action of
Easter Week in 1916. It may be said that the Gaelic League
started Sinn Fein, but until the latter became Sinn Fein agus
An Lamh Laidir, it had no chance. Its policy was not adapted
to the character and temperament of the Irish people, who are
only thoroughly aroused by action.
The Gaelic League prepared the ground for and made pos-
sible the later movements, but it required physical action to bring
results. Some of the physical force men, it is true, spoke lightly
of the Language Movement in the early days of the Gaelic
League, but in those days many Gaelic Leaguers talked arrant,
flippant nonsense about physical force. They sneered at Fenian-
ism and scoffed at the literature of Young Ireland because it
was written in English. But that literature, written in the
language of the enemy, was the inspiration of the Fenians,
and, but for Fenianism, neither the Gaelic League nor Sinn Fein
would have been possible. All of these movements served Ire-
land in their own way and all had their defects. And it must
be remembered, after all, that it requires an Irish Government
to complete the task of restoring the Irish language. If the
men of 'Forty-Eight or the Fenians had been able to establish
such a Government, there would have been no necessity for the
Gaelic League.
PART VI.
CHAPTER XLI.
JOHN O'MAHONY.
Exercised a Far-Reaching Influence on the Fenian Movement,
But Lacked Some of the Essential Qualities of Leadership —
The "Invasions" of Canada.
John O'Mahony, the leader of the American Fenians — "Head
Centre" was the official title — was one of the most interesting
characters in Irish history. He was an Irish gentleman of the old
school, of splendid physique, well educated, and an accomplished
Gaelic scholar. Descended from the Chief of the O'Mahony
Clan and recognized as their Chief by the stalwart, fighting
peasantry of the mountainous region on the Cork-Tipperary
border, he was brought up without any association with "the
Garrison", among whom he lived as a "gentleman farmer", with
a very comfortable income. His standing among the people was
aptly illustrated in a poem by his Secretary, Michael Cavanagh:
"Hail to you; hail to you, Chief of the Comeraghs," and he him-
self, in a lecture in Cooper Institute, New York, some years before
his death, described this status by saying that the head of his
family "could always count on 2,000 men in his quarrel". That
illustrates the Ireland of the Clans. They fought for the Chief
whether he had the right or the wrong on his side — and recent
events have shown that there is very much of that spirit in
Ireland to-day.
O'Mahony was born at Clonkilla, a picturesque place on the
banks of the Funcheon, near Mitchelstown, County Cork, in
the year 1819.
In the early days of Fenianism, and even earlier, there were
many stories current in Ireland regarding the great physical
strength and prowess of O'Mahony and his immediate ances-
tors. The O'Mahony family were the popular champions against
"The Garrison", and had many encounters with the latter. An
article by Dr. Campion of Kilkenny, describing how O'Mahony's
grandfather had horsewhipped the Earl of Kingston, the most
powerful landlord in the neighborhood, for some insulting re-
marks, appeared in the Celt in 1857. John O'Mahony wrote a
letter later correcting some of the details, but confirming the
horsewhipping.
266
COLONEL JOHN O'MAHONY
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
267
The most widely spread of the stories was about O'Mahony's
encounter with a "wicked" bull when a young man. He had a
habit of vaulting over walls when strolling around and one day
he landed in a corner where he found a bull of vicious reputa-
tion facing him, with no chance of getting away. The bull low-
ered his head to charge, but O'Mahony jumped on the angry
beast's back, gripped him by the horns, belabored him with a
stout stick and held his place on the bull's back while the
animal charged wildly around the field until exhausted. Irish
boys are very much influenced by stories of physical prowess,
and this particular story gave many a boy the idea that
O'Mahony was a hero.
On the outbreak of the abortive Rising in Tipperary, in '48,
O'Mahony gathered about 2,000 men, all of fine physique, but
with no training or oganization and, with the exception of some
fowling pieces, no arms. There had been no Young Ireland
propaganda among them and there was probably no Confederate
Club in the whole mountain district. The men — all Gaelic
speakers — were simply following their Chief to fight the English.
That spirit was in the marrow of their bones and needed no
propaganda to make it flare up.
But the utter collapse of Smith O'Brien's attempt at Ballin-
garry and John Blake Dillon's decision not to fight at Killenaule,
rendered it absolutely useless for him to keep his men "out", so
O'Mahony disbanded them and remained in hiding until he
escaped to France. After a short stay in Paris, where he met
James Stephens who had also escaped, he made his way to
America.
When O'Mahony went "on his keeping", as they called it in
those days (1848), he turned his property over to his brother-in-
law, one of the Tipperary Mandevilles, and, as he had no profes-
sional training, he was dependent for a living on an occasional
small remittance from his sister and some pitiful remuneration
for literary work. His principal literary effort was a master-
piece— the translation from the Irish of Keating's History of
Ireland. Competent judges have said that his notes are almost
as valuable as the history itself, on account of his intimate
knowledge of old manuscripts and the traditions of the people.
I had the privilege of seeing the manuscript from which
O'Mahony made his translation. It belonged to a Corkman
named Sheehan who was practicing law in New York, and at a
dinner in his house in the mid-seventies he took great pride in
showing it to Joseph I. C. Clarke, James J. O'Kelly and me.
The transcript of Keating's work had been made by Sheehan's
268
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
grandfather, whom he described as "The Southern Captain Rock",
and was very carefully done on vellum. There was not a flaw or
an erasure in it.
During the Civil War O'Mahony organized a regiment of the
New York National Guard (the Ninety-ninth) composed entirely
of Fenians, and was appointed Colonel of it. That was how he
got his military title. But Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick J. Downing,
who had served in Meagher's Brigade, was the real commander
of the regiment, as O'Mahony was too busy to give much atten-
tion to it. It did not do any fighting in the war, but was called
out for duty to guard Confederate prisoners for many months
at Elmira. Many men who afterwards became prominent served
in the regiment. Charles Underwood O'Connell, who went to
Ireland in 1865 and spent five years in British prisons, was a
Captain; John F. Finerty was a sergeant, and Anthony MacOwen,
for some years Coroner in the Bronx, also served in it. Several
of the men went to Ireland in 1865 to take part in the projected
insurrection.
O'Mahony knew the Irish Question theoretically better than
any Irishman of his day, with the probable exception of Thomas
Clarke Luby; he knew the kind of organization that was neces-
sary to prepare the people for the struggle to win National Inde-
pendence and the propaganda that would educate the people,
but he lacked some of the essential qualities of leadership. He
was very much of a dreamer and not a good judge of men. While
he was very tolerant of differences of opinion and wished to
gather around him the best minds of the Race, those with whom
he surrounded himself were not all of the best quality. His
associates may be described thus: clever men like P. J. Meehan
of the Irish American (then the leading Irish paper in America,
though Patrick Donohue's Boston Pilot had the largest circula-
tion) who was not fully convinced of the possibility of an Inde-
pendent Irish Republic; William R. Roberts, a successful dry-
goods merchant, who was vain and shallow, but showy; the
Scanlan brothers of Chicago; Henry C. McCarthy, a State Sena-
tor in Illinois and an able man; P. W. Dunne of Peoria, big-
hearted and forceful, but impetuous; James Gibbons of Phila-
delphia; B. Doran Killian of New York, an able lawyer, and
others — all men of standing in the communities in which they
lived. But there was another class, who held no positions of
trust in the organization, and who hovered around the Chief like
flies over a sugar bowl, who flattered him, carried stories to him,
professed unlimited personal loyalty to him (which most of them
really felt) and exercised an influence over him that was not
always good.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
269
Most of these were honest fellows enough, though poor ad-
visers, but the worst of the lot was known as "Red Jim" Mc-
Dermott. Like Godfrey Massey (who turned informer as soon
as he was arrested in 1867) ; Reynolds, the informer of 1798;
Luttrell, at Limerick in 1691; and Corydon, who informed on
McCafferty at Chester, McDermott was the illegitimate son of a
married woman. His mother's husband was a coachman to an
Orange attorney named O'Brien, who lived on Stephens Green,
Dublin, and O'Brien was his real father. McDermott shame-
lessly boasted of this and blackmailed O'Brien during the greater
part of his life. He was a handsome fellow, glib-tongued and
ready-witted, but wholly without principle, moral sense or moral
scruples. He had served in the Irish Papal Brigade in 1860 and
returned to Ireland with the Cross of St. Sylvester on his breast,
which Dick Fitzpatrick, a British army veteran who was his
sergeant, told me he had done nothing whatever to deserve.
But that cross was his passport and credential in America.
Although Stephens had warned O'Mahony against him when he
left Dublin in 1863, O'Mahony made him an organizer within
a few weeks of his landing. He became O'Mahony's evil genius
and acquired a strange influence over him.
McDermott was really more responsible for the Split, which
took place at the end of 1865, than any of the bigger men. He
was constantly fomenting trouble by lying stories which he put
in circulation or told "confidentially" to numbers of people, with
the intention that they should be spread. Numerous complaints
and demands for his dismissal were made to O'Mahony, but he
stood by McDermott to the end — even after the Fenian Brother-
hood had practically ceased to exist.
When in 1872 John O'Leary, who had been in exile in Paris,
came to New York, there was a little conference held between
O'Mahony t and the recently released Fenian prisoners. At the
close, O'Leary (the only man present who dared to hurt his
feelings by such a question) said:
"Mr. O'Mahony, I want to ask you frankly, how is it that,
although practically every man of standing in the movement
distrusts this man McDermott, you insist on trusting him?"
O'Mahony, who was leaning his elbow on a tall mantelpiece
(unconsciously displaying his splendid figure) leaned over and,
solemnly shaking his head from side to side (a habit he had
when talking emphatically), said:
"Well, morally, I admit that McDermott is a bad man, but
politically (with great emphasis on the word) I have never been
able to see anything wrong with him."
270
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
"But, Mr. O'Mahony," replied O'Leary promptly, "Isn't it
enough that he is a blackguard?"
O'Mahony remained silent, but looked very uncomfortable.
This was the real secret of O'Mahony's failure as a leader
Beginning with profound distrust of McDermott, and irritation
at his influence over O'Mahony, the discontent among the other
Fenian leaders grew until it finally included Doran Killian, the
Secretary, who was a very able man, but self-assertive and with
a most unconcilitary manner, and finally the explosion came at
the New York Convention in 1865, when O'Mahony read a letter
from Stephens — which he published a day or two later — in which,
referring to the malcontents, Stephens used the expression:
"Lash them from you like so many dogs."
The Split had been brewing for several months and there
had been many public manifestations of it, but Stephens' ill-
judged letter evoked such anger among O'Mahony's opponents
that the breach was made irreparable. The C. O. I. R. (Chief
Organizer of the Irish Republic, as Stephens was called) was
angry and bitterly disappointed at the Split, coming just on the
eve of the time set for the Rising in Ireland — it is at such times
that Splits always come — and his feelings got the better of his
judgment. Stephens depended entirely on America for the funds
to arm the men in Ireland, neglecting the work of collecting at
home, and those funds were now to be expended in an invasion
of Canada. For quite some time the Roberts section of the
Fenian Brotherhood had been planning such a project. The
proposal had been opposed by O'Mahony from its inception,
but, later, convinced that the Roberts wing was determined to
carry it out, O'Mahony endeavored to forestall his opponents by
launching in advance an unfortunate expedition against Campo
Bello (an island off the Coast of Maine which was claimed and
held by the English) , and which failed. It was the idea of
B. Doran Killian that he could precipitate trouble between Eng-
land and the United States by seizing the land, but the Eng-
lish were "tipped off" (probably by "Red Jim") in time and sent
a small force which got there in advance of the Fenians who
were led by Bill Stephens (an Irish minister's son who had
been sworn in by Edmund O'Donovan while a student in Trinity
College, Dublin) , and by Tom Williams, who had been Editor
of the Longford Register. Thus, the money that remained
under O'Mahony's control, which was badly wanted in Ireland,
was spent to no purpose.
Immediately after the Campo Bello incident, the Roberts
party devoted all their energies to preparation for the Cana-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
271
dian raid which culminated in the fight at Ridgeway, under
General John O'Neill, on June 2, 1866. And, of course, the pro-
tests which the O'Mahony wing had been making against wast-
ing money on any such expedition were nullified by their own
foolish endeavor.
Another futile attempt to invade Canadian territory, which
was made in 1870, was on a larger scale, but was betrayed by
Beach, the half-breed Gypsy spy, who masqueraded under the
name of Le Caron and pretended to be a French sympathizer
with Ireland. His information enabled the Canadians to fore-
stall every move of the Fenians. That disastrous expedition
broke up the "Canadian" wing of the Fenians. The O'Mahony
wing lingered on for several years, but was unable to accomplish
anything, and finally broke up when O'Mahony died. Its last
effort was to send O'Mahony's remains to Ireland, but the com-
mittee which managed it in New York was composed of men of
the Clan-na-Gael. Fully 20,000 men — in a city where he had
died in poverty — marched behind the hearse en route to the
steamer on which the body of the dead leader was conveyed
to Ireland.
O'Mahony was given a great funeral, like Terence Bellew
McManus in 1861, and later James Stephens, Charles Stewart
Parnell and O'Donovan Rossa, but in New York he was prac-
tically starving for several months before his death. He was too
proud to tell his dire needs and only a few faithful followers,
who were all of humble means, knew his actual condition and
helped him to the utmost of their ability. He lived in a single
room in a tenement house, and when Dr. Denis Dowling Mulcahy
(one of the Fenian leaders released from a British prison a few
years previously) called to see him, he found him in bed in a
cold room, with a grate, but no coal to make a fire. Mulcahy
speedily remedied that defect and brought in medicine, but it
was too late to save his life. Yet the English press and many
of his own countrymen were telling at that very time how he
was rolling in wealth from the "robbery of the poor Irish servant
girls". But the fine funeral was supposed to compensate for all
this. No matter how the Irish treat a leader when living — and
the treatment is often very bad — they never fail to give him
decent burial.
CHAPTER XLII.
JAMES STEPHENS, C. O. I. R.
A Very Able Organizer, with Much Influence Over Young Men,
but Not a Great Man — Very Jealous of His Authority.
James Stephens, the C. O. I. R. (Chief Organizer of the Irish
Republic) , head of the movement in Ireland, was a very clever
man, but not in any sense a great one. He was not the founder
of the movement, but he organized it and made it what it was.
He had fine organizing ability and much influence over young
men, but he lacked some qualities of leadership and when con-
fronted by unforeseen difficulties, due to the Split in America,
he was unable to cope with them and failed.
Stephens was born in the City of Kilkenny in 1824, and was
a Civil Engineer by profession. He was only 24 when the failure
of William Smith O'Brien's attempted insurrection in 1848 cut
short his professional career. He escaped to France, where he
remained about nine years.
In Chapter II, I described the circumstances of Stephens'
return to Ireland in 1857, and the feelings of despair which
prevailed among the Republicans whom Denieffe had assembled
at a meeting in Dublin. Also, how Stephens by his optimism
not alone held them together, but injected new life and prog-
ressiveness into the Movement.
On St. Patrick's Day, 1858, Stephens established the Irish
Republican Brotherhood and soon merged into it the small revo-
lutionary groups that were then in existence. The vesting of
all authority in Stephens himself, which he insisted on, was the
chief strength of the organization in its early stages, because
it secured unity of direction. But, as we have seen, it proved to
be its undoing when the real crisis came.
Stephens wrote the Oath, and beyond that there was no
Constitution or law under which the organization was to be
governed. It was as follows:
"I (name) do solemnly swear allegiance to the Irish Re-
public, now virtually established; that I will take up arms at
a moment's notice to defend its integrity and independence;
that I will yield implicit obedience to the commands of my
superior officers, and finally I take this oath in the spirit
of a true soldier of liberty. So help me God."
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273
There were several slight variations, different men depending
on their memory, as the keeping of documents was forbidden,
but that is the version that I got and on which I swore in sev-
eral hundred men, and I believe it is absolutely correct. It was
simplicity itself, and ensured blind and unquestioning obedience
to Stephens' authority.
As the Movement began to make progress he remained
mostly in Dublin, living in lodgings consisting of a sitting room
and bedroom. Only a few men knew where to find him and they
visited him frequently. The talks were always informal, Stephens
throwing in a sentence or two occasionally. He always treated
each guest to a bottle of porter, bringing it in himself and serv-
ing it to the visitor.
It was at one of these gatherings that I met him first in
March, 1861, when I was about to start for France to enlist. He
tried to dissuade me from going and advised me to go to America
instead, offering to give me letters of introduction to John
O'Mahony, Colonel Corcoran and Thomas Francis Meagher, but
I had set my heart on becoming a Zouave (which no foreigner
could do at that time) , and like most other people, even in
America, I believed that the Civil War would only last a few
weeks or months. All young Irishmen at that time believed
the French army to be the ideal one, and I wanted to get my
training in it for the fight in Ireland. He failed to convince
me and I was told after I had left that he said: "That young
fellow is very stubborn." I was only a little over eighteen, and
he probably never met anyone of that age who failed to be per-
suaded by him.
When he found I was bent on going to France and had al-
ready secured a letter of introduction from T. D. Sullivan to J. P.
Leonard, who was correspondent of the Nation in Paris, and an-
other to John Mitchel (then in Paris) from Denis Holland, editor
of the Irishman, he gave up trying to change me and gave me
advice about Paris that would be useful to me. John Mitchel's
address on Holland's letter was in the Rue de l'Est, and I wanted
to call on him first, so Stephens wrote for me on a slip of paper
what I should say in asking my way. It was:
"Ayez la bonte m'indiquer la Rue de l'Est" (Have the goodness
to show me the way to the Rue de l'Est).
But I found from experience that Frenchmen were not quite
so formal in asking their way.
When I returned to Dublin a little over a year later, I was
brought to see Stephens again and he tested me in French and
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complimented me on my rapid acquisition of a working knowl-
edge of the language. That was his way with young men and
it was one of his methods of acquiring influence over them.
Most of the young men who met him thought he was phenome-
nally able and he cultivated that belief by telling them stories
about his accomplishments. Luby tells how he claimed to be
the best fiddler among thirty-two. According to himself he
was a great rifle shot, so if Dillon had not restrained him at Kil-
lenaule he would have killed the Captain of the Eighth Hussars
at the barricade. As Mitchel put it: "one moment, and Ireland
was in insurrection".
As the organization grew in Dublin, Stephens stopped re-
ceiving visitors at his own rooms, and instead paid for the lodg-
ings of a few trusted men, and he held his receptions in their
rooms. The chief of these was James Flood, whose brother Pat
was one of the most active recruiters among the Dublin cork
cutters. I was informed by a person who knew Pat, that he
was still alive in 1916, and when the fight began, although over
80 years of age, he got up out of a sick bed and started for the
Post Office. He broke down and was found lying helpless on
the steps of a house near the Rotunda and taken home. "Well,
thanks be to God, I lived to hear the shots fired for Ireland,"
the old man said.
At those informal gatherings previously mentioned, "The Cap-
tain" always talked glowingly of conditions in the country, but
seldom went into details. His air of supreme confidence greatly
impressed the men and they always went away satisfied. He led
all to believe that the organization was very strong and rich in
resources, and the general result of his talk was to create the
belief that all the necessary arms would come from America.
This discouraged the purchase of rifles, which could be made
easily in England in the early 'sixties, as the Government put
no restrictions whatever on their sale, believing that another
Insurrection in Ireland was wholly out of the question. The
men devoted all their energy to swearing in members and in
many places to drilling them, mostly by ex-soldiers of the Brit-
ish army.
Stephens about 1863 married Miss Jane Hopper, with whose
family he lived at that time. Her brothers, George, Charles and
John, were all members of the organization, but were not very
active and held no position in it. George kept a tailoring estab-
lishment in Dame Street, near the Parliament Street end of it,
and Charles a cigar shop in Henry Street, and their shops were
a sort of rendezvous for the members. Charles was the best of
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
275
the three and married Julia O'Kelly, sister of James J. O'Kelly.
George was rather pompous in manner, and John, the youngest,
was of little account.
Stephens' place of living was supposed to be a secret, but
on a visit to Dublin, O'Kelly learned it from Charles Hopper and
proposed to me (we were boyhood friends) to make a call on "The
Captain". As I could see him any time I wanted, and know-
ing from previous talks with Stephens that O'Kelly was persona
non grata with him, I did not like to go, but O'Kelly wanted to
have a "showdown" on his position in London, so I went with
him and introduced him to Stephens. He received O'Kelly coolly,
but was cordial with me. The first question he asked of O'Kelly
was: "How did you know where to find me?" O'Kelly replied
evasively: "I suppose it was intuitively." Stephens did not treat
him rudely, but his cold manner left no doubt of his dislike.
On my next visit to Dublin I saw Stephens at one of the regu-
lar meeting places, and he was very sarcastic about O'Kelly,
saying he was "no good". I defended O'Kelly and pointed out
his good work in London. Stephens did not deny it, but said:
"Like him as a friend as much as you please, but don't believe
in him as an Irishman. Notice his Cockney accent. That shows
weakness. I spent ten years in Paris, but my Kilkenny accent is
as good as ever. Give him up." I did not give him up, but
appealed to other men for help, and O'Kelly was eventually
recognized.
After the fight had been finally postponed on the night of
Feb. 21, '66, Stephens remained in Mrs. Butler's house in Kil-
dare St., up to the middle of March when he and Colonel
Kelly started for the United States. They got into a rowboat
off the coal quay and were taken down the river to a small
sailing vessel which conveyed them to Scotland, where they
landed in safety and went by train to one of the Southern
English ports, undiscovered, and crossed over to France, whence
they started for New York. Captain Nicholas Weldon, on whose
vessel they were taken away from Dublin, later wrote a very
interesting account of the trip, but it is too long for insertion
here.
Before leaving Dublin, Stephens appointed Edward Duffy, who
was out on bail, his deputy in Ireland. But he did not write a
single letter or send any money to Duffy during the whole
period of his absence in America, although he boasted at a
Fenian picnic in Jones' Wood, New York, in May, 1866, that he
was in communication with every county in Ireland and that
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
the Home Organization was in perfect condition. It was in that
speech that Stephens said:
"The Irish flag — the flag of the Irish Republic — will float
in an Irish breeze before New Year's Day, 1867."
His trip to America was a complete failure. He made speeches
in several cities, in which he indulged in the same kind of boast-
ing, showing that he had lost his head; he attended conferences
to bring about reunion of the factions, but nothing resulted
therefrom, although P. W. Dunne, one of the best of the Senate
Party leaders, did his utmost to get the leaders of both wings
to resign and to elect Stephens as leader of a reunited organi-
zation. He was willing to forgive Stephens for his letter to
O'Mahony the previous year, but the objectionable expression
used by Stephens left in others wounds which were too deep for
healing.
Things drifted along aimlessly in America and many heated
meetings were held until towards the close of 1866, when a con-
ference of the refugees of the I. R. B. and many of the American
officers who had been in Ireland was held in New York and pre-
sided over by Stephens, at which the decision was taken that
the fight should be made early in 1867. Those present had no
authority to make the decision, but they not only made it, but
compelled Stephens to order the Rising. At the next meeting
he was deposed as leader, and Colonel Kelly was elected in
his place.
The "men of action" obtained control of the organization,
the remnant of the funds, and of some thousands of rifles which
were afterwards sent to Ireland on the Erin's Hope, and arrived
too late to be of any use in the Rising. General Cluseret, who
had been a Captain of the French army and had risen to the
rank of General in the Union Army; General Vifcain, a Bel-
gian; and General Farioli, a Belgian of Italian parentage, ac-
companied the Irish-American officers on that expedition.
Cluseret later wrote in Frazer's Magazine a satirical and
somewhat cynical account of his experiences, in which he dwelt
on the utter lack of preparation, the motive of the men being
chiefly to "keep their word", and expressed a very unfavor-
able opinion of Stephens.
Stephens sailed for France, and after living in that coun-
try for many years he was expelled by Premier Ferry. His expul-
sion was a disgraceful proceeding that will forever leave a blot
on Jules Ferry's name. There was no justification whatever
for it, and it came about in this way: There was a man named
Eugene Davis in Paris who occasionally wrote poetry in the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
277
Irish papers. He was a "spoiled priest" and was never a member
of the Fenian organization, but posed with the English corre-
spondents as an authority on it. During the dynamite opera-
tions in the early 'eighties in London he constantly supplied
them with fakes. The correspondent of the London Standard
was a very gullible man and gave Davis £5 for reports of meet-
ings that never took place. Davis wrote a fake about a meeting
of dynamiters on an island in the Seine, at which he said that
Stephens presided, the Standard published it, and the English
Government at once demanded that the French Government
expel Stephens from France. Jules Ferry complied with the de-
mand without having a particle of evidence that any such
meeting had been held, and the old man was escorted by police
to the Swiss frontier while the blackguard who wrote the fake
was allowed to remain in Paris to ply his miserable trade. It was
a cruel blow to the poor old man, who had no sympathy with the
dynamite performances and had then no connection with any
kind of Irish movement.
Davis played a similar trick in the case of William Mackey
Lomasney after he had been blown to atoms in an explosion at
London Bridge. He wrote an "interview" with "The Little Cap-
tain", got £5 for it from the Standard correspondent and the
paper published it. It was cabled to the New York Herald and
published in full. Lomasney's wife, a devoted Irishwoman, was
completely deceived by it, with very bad effects on her mind.
She kept a little stationery store in Detroit and lived in a small
room behind it and was getting a small pension from the Clan-
na-Gael. I called on her one day, and she told me she was
quite sure that William was alive and in prison. Feeling tired
one day she lay down on the bed and while half asleep imagined
she saw his figure standing inside the door, — he had no beard,
and that showed that he must be in prison, as he always wore
one. I told her the facts about his death and that of his brother
and a man named Fleming who lost their lives with him. She
told me I was mistaken, went to the drawer of a little table,
took out a clipping from the Herald and showed it to me as
proof that he was still alive. I told her all about Davis, but I
wasted my breath. She knew nothing about newspapers or how
easily the best of them are deceived by fakers and continued to
believe up to her death that her husband was still living. The
Irish movement has been always cursed by fellows like Davis
hanging on the skirts of it who humbug the newspapers with
stories that have no foundation at all, — to make a little money.
In the early 'eighties, I think it was, a Bordeaux wine house
appointed Stephens its agent in New York, in the belief that
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
his popularity would bring trade, but the attempt proved a com-
plete failure. He got plenty of newspaper notice and the office
he opened was for a time crowded with visitors, but they were
not the class of man who drink wine and they could give him
no help to make sales. They were mostly old Fenians who still
believed in him and they used the opportunity to make an at-
tempt to restore him to the leadership. But that failed more
miserably than the wine agency. Stephens' day was gone and
after a few months he returned to Europe.
Stephens remained In Switzerland for some years, and then
the English Government permitted him to return to Ireland. In
his later days he wrote a series of articles for the Freeman,
giving his Recollections of the movement, but there was little
of any value in them. He was an admirable writer of short
letters, but a very poor hand at long articles; he spread out too
much and attempted style at which he did not succeed. The
Dublin Freeman's Journal paid him for these contributions, and
that helped him to keep himself comfortable for a while.
Finally, that paper collected a fund for him, which kept the
wolf from the door until he died in Blackrock, County Dublin,
April 29, 1901.
Stephens was not a good speaker, and that is a bad handicap
to an Irish leader. He had a fairly good voice and in the earlier
days of the movement occasionally indulged in singing. He
could sing "The Marseillaise" pretty well, but his favorite song
was James Clarence Mangan's translation of Koerner's "Hymn
of Freedom":
"Yes, Freedom's war, though the deadly strife
Makes earth one charnel boneyard,
Though the last fond kiss to the child and wife
And the last firm grasp of the poinard.
We all have had too much of love,
Let us now try a spell of hatred."
I often heard a group of Dublin men chanting the chorus.
O'Donovan Rossa, who did not sing, translated it into Irish, and
gave me a copy of it in Chatham Prison, but I could not keep it.
As a successful organizer, Stephens holds a prominent place
among those who in numerous generations endeavored to direct
Ireland's efforts towards the achievement of national Indepen-
dence. While his unfortunate decision against starting the fight
in 1865 or early in 1866 prevented that final act which might
then have brought to fruition his splendid work of the pre-
vious eight years, the blame for that must in large measure be
attributed to the Split among the Fenian Brotherhood in Amer-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
279
ica, and the failure of that organization to supply the arms on
which Stephens so confidently relied.
At all events, the extent to which he propagated the princi-
ples of Fenianism made an indelible impress on the national
consciousness of Ireland. During the third of a century after
1867, he lived to see other policies gradually advance to the
political forefront in Ireland; he died 15 years before the
national resurrection. In his declining years his existence was
practically forgotten; yet, on his death, his fellow countrymen
paid a striking tribute to his memory. It was not so impos-
ing as those which marked the interment of Terence Bellew
McManus in 1861 or of John O'Mahony in 1877. Yet it provided
another reminder to the new generation of those ideals for which
the Fenians stood; for which many of them laid down their
lives or lingered long years in British dungeons and penal colo-
nies, and for which Allen, Larkin and O'Brien died on an English
scaffold.
The last honor paid to Stephens was to place his remains
side by side with those of some of his notable Fenian comrades
of the '67 period, in the Patriots' Plot, Glasnevin.
CHAPTER XLIII.
JOHN O'LEARY.
Literary Man and Critic, Rather Than an Active Worker — His
Work Mainly as Editor of the "Irish People" — Later became
Head of the Reorganized I. R. B.
John O'Leary, one of the three most prominent men in the
Fenian Movement in Ireland after James Stephens, was not an
active worker in it and did not take the oath of membership.
He was released from the obligation by James Stephens, who
trusted in his honor. The men of the reorganized movement fol-
lowed the example of Stephens — even to the extent of electing
O'Leary Chairman of the Supreme Council. In both cases it was
a tribute to his high character and many men outside the Organ-
ization who did not believe in its policy shared that estimate
of him.
Born in the town of Tipperary in 1830, his father was a suc-
cessful merchant who was able to give his children a good
education and make ample provision for their future. He left
each of them a small income which placed them beyond the
necessity of working for a living. John's income when I met him
in 1879 was £150 a year; his sister Ellen's £80, Edmund's and a
younger sister's £50, and the others in similar proportions. The
income was derived from house property in the town of Tip-
perary, and that had some influence on his attitude towards
landlordism in the days of the Land League. When the organi-
zation needed money the family lent it £1,000 and never got it
back.
He was first sent to Carlow College and from there to Trinity,
where his graduation was prevented by his participation in the
Young Ireland Movement, and after its failure he finished his
education in the Queen's College in Galway.
I am not writing the Life of John O'Leary, but only the record
of his connection with Fenianism and my personal experiences
with him, and I must refer my readers to his own book, "Recol-
lections of Fenians and Fenianism", for the particulars of his
career.
He was living in London when Stephens decided to start the
Irish People and selected him as Editor. He came over to Dublin
and lived there until the paper was suppressed on September 15,
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
281
1865, and he was arrested and later tried and sentenced to twenty
years' penal servitude. Lord John Russell, the author of the
Treason-Felony Act, intended it to degrade John Mitchel and
class all England's enemies in Ireland as ordinary criminals.
That was the meaning of the second half of the term. Charles
Underwood O'Connell, when brought before Governor Clifton of
Portland Prison on some trivial charge, referred to himself as a
political prisoner, and the Governor replied: "England has no
political prisoners. You are a Treason-Felony convict." That
was the spirit of the England of that day and it was illustrated
by my first sight of John O'Leary in Portland Prison. I knew
Thomas Clarke Luby very well, but had never met O'Leary,
although I had seen him often going in and out of the Irish
People office — always with a book in his hand. When I got to
Portland about January, 1868, I was assigned to a cell on the
second tier of the small building occupied by the Penal Class
prisoners. As my door was opened early the following morning
to empty my slops into a big bucket carried by two convicts I
saw two other convicts on the ground floor on the other side of
the building carrying a similar bucket, or tub, with a short pole
inserted in the two handles. I had never seen O'Leary without
his fine dark beard, but I recognized him and Luby at once as
the carriers of the slop receptacle. They were moving from cell
to cell, with a weary, but resigned look on their faces as some
of the worst criminals in England emptied their cell pots into
the bucket. That was England's way of treating refined and
highly educated Irish gentlemen who opposed her rule in Ireland.
I was introduced to O'Leary by Luby on the following Sunday
at exercise when the prisoners walked in pairs and were allowed
to choose their own companions and change them at will. I was
able to give them an account of all that had happened in the
five months between their arrest and my own, and much that I
had heard from other prisoners in Mountjoy who had come in
later, and to exchange views on events and individuals.
But my intimate acquaintance with O'Leary began in 1879
in Paris, where he lived during his exile. I made Paris my head-
quarters and kept my trunks and papers there while making
trips to Ireland and England. During my time in Paris I dined
with him every day and passed several hours in his company,
sometimes with J. P. Leonard, who was then a teacher of English
at the Sorbonne, and sometimes with others, but usually we
were by ourselves. We discussed the incidents and the men
of the Movement fully and freely and I became very familiar
with his views on everything. We differed strongly in regard to
the Land Movement, but never quarrelled over it.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
In many ways O'Leary was the most interesting man I had
ever met. He had a thorough knowledge of French literature as
well as English, and spoke the language with great ease, but
could never pronounce the French "u" correctly and never tried.
He lived in a large room in the Latin quarter in which there
was space for little but books. There were books everywhere.
Shelves covered a whole side of the room and they were all filled
with books piled without any idea of regularity or classification.
There were a lot of books on the floor under the shelves, a couple
of tables were covered with them; they were piled on chairs, and
there was no attempt at order anywhere. But O'Leary always
knew where to find the book he wanted. They were all English
and French and there were a lot of old magazines. It was the
room of a bookworm who did little else than read.
His reading of newspapers was done mostly in the restaurants
or cafes where he ate, and there he got them free. He never
lived in a pension where meals were supplied, but always ate in
a cheap restaurant. He lived very frugally. There was then in
Paris a chain of Duval restaurants where one could get a good
dinner of soup, one course of meat with vegetables and a pint
of claret for 35 or 40 sous, and he ate his dinner mostly in them,
but took breakfast in a cheaper one. His coffee he always took
in a cafe where it was better and smoked his pipe and read his
papers there.
He had no social life in Paris, though he knew a lot of men,
both French and foreign, but he only met them in cafes. I
never heard of him visiting a French family, and he only knew
the French people through his reading and his occasional meet-
ings with prominent men. He was a poor judge of French
politics and his leanings were towards the Orleanists, not through
sympathy with that branch of the Bourbons, but because he
thought their politicians were more liberal. He was opposed to
all kinds of extremists and was not either a Republican or an
anti-Republican. He thought there was so little difference be-
tween a moderate Republic and a liberal limited Monarchy that
it would not be worth while to change from one to the other.
He was for a Republic in Ireland because it was the aim of the
Fenian Movement and there was no King in sight. But he would
have accepted Repeal of the Union if he could be sure that
England would keep her hands off. He had no positive political
opinions at all, except that he wanted Ireland to be free.
He and I visited the Chamber of Deputies at Versailles one
day when there was an important debate going on and we heard
several speeches of leading men. Marcere was then Minister of
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
283
the Interior and it was his department that was under fire. I
told him when coming out that the debate foreshadowed the fall
of the existing Government, and it fell in a few days, but O'Leary
thought the debate was unimportant. Having been for some time
in charge of the foreign desk on the New York Herald where I
read the leading Paris papers, I was familiar with the political
situation in France, but O'Leary was more concerned with French
literature than French politics.
He had a hobby that no man was fit for leadership unless he
had received a college education and he thought me prejudiced
when I told him that some of the greatest men in history, espe-
cially in ancient and mediaeval times, were wholly illiterate.
But, of course, I admitted the advantages of a college training.
He put me through a sort of cross-examination as to my training
and reading, and when I told him I had read Sallust in English,
Schlegel's "Philosophy of History", Hallam's "Middle Ages",
Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Edmund
Burke's speeches, Lecky's "Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland"
and his "History of England in the Eighteenth Century", all the
English poets, and Robert Burns, Voltaire's "Age de Louis Qua-
torze", Madame de Stael's "L'Allemagne", Moliere's Comedies,
Racine, Boileau, some of Balzac's stories, practically all those of
Alexandre Dumas, and a lot of French novels, Rancke's "Lives
of the Popes", all of Sir Walter Scott's works, including his "Life
of Napoleon", most of Dickens, all the Irish novels, and a long
list of other books, he looked satisfied and said: "You have
culture."
John O'Leary was unalterably opposed to Parliamentary agi-
tation and to Nationalists entering the British Parliament, but
was very tolerant of men who held a different opinion, provided
they were not Fenians. In 1877, when Dr. Carroll of Philadel-
phia (who was then Chairman of the Executive of the Clan-na-
Gael) went over as an Envoy to the Home Organization, he ar-
ranged a conference with Parnell in a London hotel. James
J. O'Kelly was with Parnell, and he and O'Leary had a sharp
difference of opinion over John O'Connor Power, of whom O'Kelly
was an old friend. The difference prevented a formal agreement
with Parnell, who was quite willing to come to an understanding
with Dr. Carroll. O'Leary's voice was loud and resonant and in
the heat of argument it became louder. The person in the
next room scraped his feet loudly on the floor as a warning that
the discussion was overheard, and Dr. Carroll was informed later
that the occupant of the room was Mr. Gibson who afterwards
became Lord Ashbourne. It was a friendly act. Gibson at the
time was a British official in Ireland.
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Early in 1879, Michael Davitt arranged an interview in
Boulogne between Parnell and me, and in order to have a witness
against probable misrepresentation I informed Davitt that I
would ask Mr. O'Leary to come with me. He told Parnell of this
and the latter brought Joe Biggar with him. We met them at the
boat from Folkestone and our first talk was in a little park ad-
joining the quay. Almost the first words uttered by Parnell were:
"The last time I met O'Leary he 'started a hare' in the
person of John O'Connor Power, and we were kept so busy chasing
that hare that we had no time for anything else. Now I hope
Mr. O'Leary won't start a hare this time."
He spoke in a half jocular tone and O'Leary smiled, but said
nothing. But he did not start a hare. He was discussing abstract
questions (mainly about religion) with Biggar, who had answered
my statement that I was sorry he had turned Catholic, and I
availed myself of the opportunity to give Parnell some informa-
tion. Biggar asked sharply, "Why?" and I replied that he could
be more useful as a Presbyterian. "Now," I said, "when young
Protestants in Ulster showed a tendency towards Nationality their
mothers would say to them: 'The next thing we'll know is that
you've turned Papish like Joe Biggar.' "
"And what about my soul?" asked Biggar.
"Oh, I'd be willing to see you damned for the sake of Ireland,"
I said jocularly.
Biggar laughed and then he and O'Leary began a discussion
of the Presbyterian doctrine of Predestination.
O'Leary had a personal liking for Parnell, and the interview
paved the way for the full working agreement I made with
Parnell in Morrison's Hotel, Dublin, on the Sunday before he
went to Westport and told the Mayo farmers to "keep a firm grip
of their holdings".
O'Leary and I returned to Paris by way of Arras. He wanted
to see the Public Square there— La Place— because of the old
stone buildings on it— some of them erected as early as the
Thirteenth Century— and I myself wished to see the town which
Owen Roe O'Neill had defended for the Spaniards in the historic
siege against Henry IV. Owen Roe was honored by the gallant
French for his great defense by being allowed to march his
men out with arms in their hands and colors flying, between two
lines of French soldiers presenting arms. Some of the officers
under O'Neill afterwards fought at Benburb. Arras was then
part of Flanders and under Spanish rule.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
285
I also wished to see the battlefield of Bapaume, where my old
commander, General Faidherrbe, defeated the Germans in 1871,
thus saving Havre, through which the French received their
American supplies. When I was in the Foreign Legion in 1861,
Faidherrbe was a Colonel of Engineers and in command of the
sub-division of Sidi-bal-Abbes. The son of a widow who kept a
little debit de tabac in Lille, he was known to be a Republican
and was kept by the Empire in Algeria and Senegal where he
did some splendid engineering work. His signature was one of
those on my discharge.
We were in time for a very good table d'hote, which cost only
two francs, at a hotel near the railroad station, and then started
out to see the mediaeval buildings on the Public Square, in which
families were still living. O'Leary wore a billycock hat turned
up at the sides, had a knapsack on his back, which he always
carried during his walking expeditions, and carried a local guide
book in his hand. He read for me the descriptions of the old
houses and examined them critically. As we talked in English
we soon attracted a crowd of boys. The English tourist, with
his "strike me blind" tweed suit, is always a subject of fun for
French boys, and the group of street gamins, growing larger as
we slowly made our way, cried out in chorus: "Ainglishman; oh,
yes; God damn, Ainglishman; oh, yes; God damn." As the
volume of juvenile voices increased, I got tired of it and slipped
back to the middle of the Square, but O'Leary paid no more
attention to it than if so many flies were buzzing around him
and placidly finished his examination.
We walked to Bapaume and I got a peasant (who happened
to be an old soldier who took part in the battle) to show us the
battlefield and then went to Beauvais, where there is a Cathedral
that O'Leary wanted to see. He never missed a chance to see a
Cathedral, but the one in Beauvais cannot compare with that
of Amiens or the two in Rouen.
I have said that O'Leary did not know the French people,
but he had learned on his walking trips that in any farmer's
house one could get a cup of good coffee very cheap, so we went
to the door of one and asked could we get a cup. "Certainly,"
said a tall old man, and he showed us to a seat at a table in
the front room and in a few minutes brought us two bowls of
cafe au lait, with a long roll of bread. We did not need the bread,
but enjoyed the splendid coffee while O'Leary smoked his pipe
and rested from the walk and I smoked a cigar. The cost of the
coffee was only ten sous.
One of the stories O'Leary told me in Paris was illustrative of
old times in Tipperary. A friend came to see his father and they
286
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
were having a glass of punch together. The friend, noticing that
John was getting none, asked: "Why don't you give the boy a
drink?" "Oh, he's too young," said his father, and the friend
replied: "You'll rue the day that you didn't make that boy's
head while he was young."
After my return to New York, O'Leary and I corresponded
regularly. Shortly after Parnell's return to Ireland in 1880
O'Leary came to America as an Envoy, and we gave him an
opportunity of seeing the men for himself. He had an idea that
it was only the leaders who endorsed the Land League and that
it would be an easy thing to wean the rank and file away from it.
I gave him a chance of trying by getting a large reunion of the
Clan-na-Gael called in New York to hear him. I introduced him
to the men, many of whom were old members of the I. R. B. in
Ireland and very largely farmers' sons. O'Leary was not a good
speaker. He spoke slowly and hesitated often, but his sentences
were as perfect as if he had written them.
He pleaded for the old Fenian policy of abstention from all
Constitutional agitation and described the programme of the
Land League as unsound and immoral. The men listened quietly,
but his speech chilled them. There were several good speakers
of the plain kind at the meeting and one after another they gave
their views. Not one of them agreed with him and all favored
the Land League as a means of preparing the way for a free
Ireland. When they had all spoken I replied to him in a respect-
ful manner, but pointed out the error of his contentions. I was
vigorously applauded, and O'Leary stood up again and tried to
refute some of my arguments, but he made no impression on the
gathering. He had had no experience in debate and no talent
for it, and his second speech amounted to a complaint that it
was unfair to him to put him in such a disadvantageous position.
The meeting then proceeded on the usual lines of Clan-na-Gael
reunions, with songs and recitations, which pleased him greatly.
But after that he made no attempt to convert our men from
support of the Land League.
John O'Leary was placed on trial in Green Street Courthouse,
immediately after Luby had been sentenced on November 27,
1865. He stepped proudly into the dock, looking scornfully at the
Judges (Keogh and Fitzgerald) and was duly arraigned. He was
then 35 years of age, and was a very striking figure, with a hand-
some face, fine eyes and wearing a full, dark beard. Conviction
was a foregone conclusion, with partisan judges, promoted for
service to the Government, and a packed jury.
When asked if he had anything to say why sentence should
not be imposed on him he said:
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
287
"I was not wholly unprepared for this verdict, because I
felt that the government which could so safely pack the
bench could not fail to make sure of its verdict."
Mr. Justice Fitzgerald: "We are willing to hear anything
in reason from you, but we cannot allow language of that
kind to be used."
Mr. O'Leary: "My friend, Mr. Luby, did not wish to touch
on this matter from a natural fear, lest he should do any
harm to the other political prisoners; but there can be but
little fear of that now, for a jury has been found to con-
vict me of this conspiracy upon the evidence. Mr. Luby ad-
mitted that he was technically guilty according to British
law; but I say that it is only by the most torturing inter-
pretation that these men could make out their case against
me. With reference to this conspiracy there has been much
misapprehension in Ireland, and serious misapprehension.
Mr. Justice Keogh said in his charge against Mr. Luby that
men would be always found ready, for money, or for some
other motive, to place themselves at the disposal of the gov-
ernment; but I think the men who have been general^
bought in this way, and who certainly made the best of the
bargain, were agitators, and not rebels. I have to say one
word in reference to the foul charge upon which that miser-
able man, Barry, had made me responsible."
Mr. Justice Fitzgerald: "We cannot allow that tone of
observation."
Mr. O'Leary (continued) : "That man has charged me
— I need not defend myself or my friends from the charge.
I shall merely denounce the moral assassin. Mr. Justice
Keogh, the other day, spoke of revolutions, and adminis-
tered a lecture to Mr. Luby. He spoke of cattle being driven
away, and of houses being burned down, that men would
be killed, and so on. I would like to know if all that does
not apply to war, as well as to revolution? One word more,
and I shall have done. I have been found guilty of treason,
or of treason-felony. Treason is a foul crime. The poet
Dante consigned traitors to, I believe, the ninth circle of
hell; but what kind of traitors? Traitors against the king,
against country, against friends and benefactors. England
is not my country; I have betrayed no friend, no benefactor.
Sidney and Emmet were legal traitors, Jeffreys was a loyal
man, and so was Norbury. I leave the matter there."
CHAPTER XLIV.
THOMAS CLARKE LUBY.
A Man of Fine Literary Ability and Devotion to the Cause of
Irish Independence — Sacrificed his Prospects of Success
in Life in its Service: — Details of Prison Life of the Irish
"Convicts".
Thomas Clarke Luby, like his colleagues, John O'Leary and
Charles J. Kickham, was a man of fine literary attainments and
wide reading. A little older than they, he took part in the Young
Ireland movement and was personally acquainted with all its
leaders. His father was a Protestant minister and a Fellow of
Trinity College, and all the avenues of advancement were open
to him if he was loyal to the British Government. But he threw
away all his chances of success in life by joining the 'Forty-
Eight Movement. In this he was like all the Fenian leaders,
whose spirit of self-sacrifice was their most conspicuous quality.
He belonged to the most extreme section of the movement, and
was a follower first of John Mitchel and later of James Fintan
Lalor, with whose doctrines on the Land Question he was in full
agreement.
Although his father was a Protestant minister, his mother
was a Catholic — a very rare combination anywhere and unheard
of until then in Ireland. And she was a militant Catholic at
that, and in constant controversy with her husband's relatives,
who, though not bigots, used to tease her on religion for amuse-
ment. Her son, Thomas, married a Presbyterian, Letitia Frazer,
daughter of "Jean de Jean" Frazer, one of the minor poets of
the old Nation and perhaps the most anti-English of them all.
The intensity of his Nationalism may be judged by these lines:
"What hatred of perverted might
The cruel hand inspires
That robs the linnet's eye of light
To make it sing both day and night,
Yet so they robbed our sires.
Denial met our just demands
And hatred met our love,
Till now, by Heaven, for grasp of hands
We'll give them clash of battle brands
And gauntlet 'stead of glove.
And may the Saxon stamp his heel
Upon the coward's front
Who sheathes his own unbroken steel
Until for mercy tyrants kneel
Who forced us to the brunt."
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THOMAS CLARKE LUBY
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
289
Frazer's sires came from the Scottish Highlands, not from
the King's County, where he was born. They probably came to
Ulster with James the First's Plantation and found their way
down to Offaly. But the Frazers were Gaels.
The "clash of battle brands" which Frazer promised did not
come in his time, nor in that of his children, and the tyrant was
never compelled to "kneel for mercy". Our warrior poets are
always a little too sanguine. But they keep the fighting spirit
alive, all the same. Ireland had to wait until Easter Week, 1916,
for the vindication of the fighting spirit of the race. That was
fully accomplished when less than a thousand Irish Volunteers,
including a company of the Citizen Army, armed only with
rifles, revolvers and shot guns, defied a fully equipped English
army which was reinforced to a total of 40,000 men, — and stood
their ground for six days.
But as strongly as Frazer hated the English, just as ardently
did he long for union among Irishmen of all creeds. He gave
expression to that feeling in these words:
"Then let the Orange lily be
Thy badge, my patriot brother;
The everlasting Green for me
And we for one another."
There was a curious mixture of religions in the Luby family.
Originally from Tipperary, the first of them who came to Dublin
was a sizer in Trinity College, which was established by Queen
Elizabeth to convert the Irish to Protestantism, and he became
a Protestant in order to get his degree. When Thomas Clarke
Luby was convicted of Treason-Felony, his mother (the Catholic
wife of a Protestant minister) lived with her daughter-in-law
(Thomas's Presbyterian wife), and taught Catholic doctrine to
the children with the full consent of their mother Letitia. The
religion of the boys became rather indefinite, as they grew up,
and his younger son, Jack, slipped out one evening from a party
at his father's house in 41st Street, New York, with a daughter
of General Millen on his arm and was married to her by a
Protesant minister in "The Little Church Around the Corner".
And I heard Thomas Clarke Luby himself saying "Hail Marys"
aloud in his cell in Portland. He would probably have em-
braced Catholicity but for the anti-National attitude of Cardinal
Cullen and the majority of the Catholic bishops and priests dur-
ing Fenian days.
Thomas Clarke Luby was born in Dublin on Jan. 15, 1822, and
after receiving the customary academic training became a stu-
dent of Trinity College, where he was graduated in due time.
O'Connell's Repeal agitation was in full swing as he grew to
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
manhood and the Nation was established by Charles Gavan
Duffy, Thomas Davis and John Blake Dillon in October, 1842,
when he was just twenty years old. He at once became a reader
of the paper and drank in its teachings with avidity. If he had
any touch of conservatism in his youthful mind it speedily dis-
appeared under the spell of the writings of Davis and Duffy.
He joined the Repeal Association, but never believed in
O'Connell's peaceful methods and rejected his "No Drop of Blood"
doctrine from the start. He listened to the debates in Concilia-
tion Hall between the Young Irelanders and John O'Connell (son
of the "Liberator") and his partisans, which led to the Seces-
sion; and his sympathies, like those of most of the younger men,
were entirely with the opposition. Luby, in his Life of Daniel
O'Connell, gives a very clear analysis of the whole situation.
The terrible Famine of 1847 forced the hand of the Young
Irelanders and they rushed into a policy of Insurrection without
the slightest military preparation. They were fine writers and
some of them very eloquent speakers, but not one among them
had either military training or an opportunity for acquiring it.
Their writings and speeches had converted a large number of
the young men to the gospel of force and their pride impelled
them to an effort to make good their preaching.
But the people had no arms. A few of the members of the
Confederate Clubs in Dublin had secured rifles, but not enough
to face a company of British soldiers, and a few thousand here
and there through the country were supplied with pikes. Al-
though the British army had not yet been armed with the
Enfield rifle and the old style muskets were of short range, they
were more than a match for the pike. The pike had done splen-
did work in 1798, whenever the Rebels got to close quarters with
the Britishers, but many of them were shot down before they
could reach the enemy. Once they did, the stalwart United
Irishmen in nearly every instance were able to make short work
of the soldiers and yeomen.
An appeal to arms made to a disarmed people was little short
of insanity, but it was made and the result was the fiasco at
Ballingarry, and William Smith O'Brien, the Insurgent Leader,
(a descendant of Brian Boru, Monarch of Ireland, who was one of
the greatest warriors that Ireland ever produced) , came to grief,
was arrested, tried for Treason-Felony and sent to the Penal
Colony of Van Dieman's Land. The imprisonment of nearly all
the chief Young Irelanders (a few only escaping to America
and only Duffy getting off with a short sentence) left Ireland
leaderless, and the people, depressed and demoralized by the
Famine, became an easy prey to the rotten Parliamentarians.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
291
Ireland's military reputation was hopelessly damaged by the
abject failure of the attempted insurrection, but the deprivation
of political leadership when it was most needed was a greater
calamity, from which Ireland did not recover for half a century.
Had Smith O'Brien, John Mitchel, John Martin, Thomas Francis
Meagher and the other Young Ireland leaders and the host of
young men of the Confederate Clubs who sought refuge in Amer-
ica been able to remain in the country, the treachery of Sadlier
and Keogh would have been rendered impossible and Ireland
would have been spared the dark days of the 'Fifties.
Luby would have gone to Tipperary and shared the fate of
O'Brien if he knew of his plans. Like the other young men
of the movement he was filled with chagrin at the miserable
failure. He tells in his "Recollections" of an attempt made by
himself and another young man named O'Reilly (who later be-
came a General in the Turkish army under the name of O'Reilly
Bey) to retrieve the failure by a stand-up fight in Dublin, but
it ended in a futile cab drive in the Phoenix Park, without the
firing of a single shot.
In the unfortunate quarrel between Gavan Duffy and John
Mitchel which followed the Young Irelanders' Secession from
Conciliation Hall, Luby was an ardent supporter of Mitchel. One
Split follows another in all such cases, and, although Mitchel
carried on a very effective Propaganda among the Northern
Protestants and was making rapid headway, his arrest and de-
portation put an end to his work. But the effects of the break
between Duffy and Mitchel remained, and the advanced National
Movement was wrecked.
When Duffy came out of prison he restarted the Nation, but
he was disheartened at the failure and all his old colleagues
were gone, most of them being in prison and the rest in America,
where they were struggling to make a living in a new country.
All hope of an insurrection was gone, so he turned to Parlia-
mentary agitation, was mainly instrumental in founding the
Irish Tenant League and the policy of Independent Opposition
in the British Parliament and was elected Member for New
Ross. All these efforts failed through the support given to Sadlier,
Keogh and O'Flaherty by the majority of the priests and nearly
all the Bishops.
This support continued until Sadleir committed suicide and
his dead body was found on Hampstead Heath with a phial con-
taining the dregs of prussic acid lying beside it. Many at the
time doubted the genuineness of the identification and insisted
that the body was a "stiff" from a workhouse or a prison,
292
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
placed there with the connivance of the Government, but Sadleir
was never seen again by anyone that knew him.
O'Flaherty absconded with the funds of the Revenue Depart-
ment and made his way to America where, under the name of
Stewart, he became manager of a New York theatre. He con-
tributed a number of articles which showed fine literary ability
to the New York Sun, then edited by Charles A. Dana, over the
signature of "An Old Observer". He strongly backed the Home
Rule agitation, as if trying to atone for his delinquency. I was
introduced to him in the office of the theatre by George F. Wil-
liams, City Editor of the Herald (an Englishman) who didn't
know his identity, but knew there was some mystery about him,
and "Mr. Stewart" didn't suspect that I knew he was Edmund
O'Flaherty. He looked what he was, the descendant of the Chief
of the O'Flahertys — a man of splendid physique, with a large
intellectual head, a strong handsome face, a long dark beard
just beginning to get streaked with gray, and his manners were
those of the old Irish gentleman. I often saw him afterwards,
as he took his meals at restaurants which supplied a good table
d'hote for fifty cents. We never spoke again; my cold manner
apparently made him suspect that I knew who he was.
Judge Keogh, partner in crime with Sadleir and O'Flaherty,
and who sentenced most of the Fenians to penal servitude, also
committed suicide by cutting his throat while drunk in a Belgian
hotel. It was one of the few decent acts of his whole career.
On account of the havoc wrought by the treachery of Sadleir,
Keogh and O'Flaherty, Duffy gave up in despair, turned the
Nation over to John Cashel Hoey and went to Australia, where
he later became Minister of Land and Works in the Colony of
Victoria.
Commenting on the political corruption of Keogh, Sadleir,
and others, and the support given such men by the bishops,
Charles Gavan Duffy in his parting message to the Irish people,
wrote: "till all this was changed there was no more hope for
the Irish cause than for a corpse on the dissecting table".
He has been quoted ever since without the opening qualifying
clause (here printed in Italics) although he repeatedly pointed
out the error. Luby, under the influence of his partisanship with
Mitchel, classed Duffy as a "deserter", until later in life he
changed his mind. In a speech commemorating John Mitchel's
death, he snarled out Duffy's name, laying strong emphasis on
the "Sir", the title conferred on him for his successful adminis-
tration of his Ministerial office in Victoria. But when Duffy,
then living in Nice, began to publish his splendid historical works
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
293
Luby relented and returned to his old respect and admiration
for him. When his son, Jack, then a Lieutenant in the Ameri-
can Navy, called on Duffy, when his ship stopped at Nice for a
few days and presented his father's congratulations on the great
historical work he was doing, the old veteran was very much
gratified. Duffy asked Jack Luby to convey to me a very high
compliment on some short Fenian sketches I had written in the
Irish Nation and a request that I should complete the story of
the movement. Luby himself told me of it with evident pleasure
at the funeral of William O'Donovan.
Shortly after 1848 Luby went to Australia to seek a living.
He stayed only a little while in that country and returned to Ire-
land where he joined James Fintan Lalor's small revolutionary
organization. Lalor had started a weekly paper called the
Tribune, which preached the doctrines he advocated in 1848,
and Luby became the sub-editor. But Lalor was in delicate
health and when he died in 1853 the paper died with him. I
was only eleven years old at the time and knew nothing of
Lalor, but returning from Marlborough Street school I passed
through Anglesea Street, where the office of the paper was situ-
ated, saw the crowd at the door and heard men bidding as high
as half a crown for a copy of the last number of the paper.
When I got home and told my father he said that Lalor was a
great Irishman, most of whose ancestors were slaughtered at
Mullaghmast. I did not understand the significance of that
until I grew a few years older.
From the time that Stephens took hold of the movement
Luby gave him active support and travelled a good deal with
him on his organizing tours. I met him first shortly after my
return from Algeria in 1862 and he took great interest in my
trip. One day we met in the Long Lane as I was on my way
to the Royal Dublin Society to attend Professor Pontet's French
readings and he commended my zeal to perfect my knowledge of
French. From that time on he never lost interest in me and
frequently gave me good advice as to the books I should read.
This gave me a strong affection for him, which continued un-
broken to his death. His advice on reading was well worth
taking, as he was a thoroughly well read man and a most com-
petent judge of literature. He wrote more than any other mem-
ber of the Irish People staff and his articles, although charac-
terized by fine literary skill, were so plain and direct that the
uneducated man could understand them as well as the person
of culture, and therefore they made a greater impression than
those of John O'Leary, who was a bit too philosophical and
sometimes wrote over the heads of his readers. Luby wrote rap-
294
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
idly and easily, yet he wrote one very good article on the danger
of "easy writing" becoming flippant.
Luby was a fine speaker. He began in a conversational way
and in a low voice, as if he did not intend to say much, but
gradually warmed up, raised his voice and became very eloquent
and effective. I only heard him a few times in Dublin at small
gatherings, mostly in the Irish People office, at which oratory
was not called for. One of these was on the night of February
22, 1864, after the breaking up of the Rotunda meeting from
which A. M. Sullivan was driven. He was exultant over the
result and gloated over the rout of the "respectables" and in-
terrupted Stephens two or three times while he was explaining
that he didn't intend the meeting to end in a riot, but merely
a protest made against Sullivan's "felon-setting". Stephens grew
a little impatient and appealed vainly to Luby, saying: "Luby,
Luby; hear me", but Luby paid little attention to his pleadings
and insisted that the smashing up of the meeting would have
a better effect on the country. While I agreed with Stephens, I
found, to my surprise, when I got back to Naas, that Luby was
right.
A short time before his arrest Luby, anticipating it, collected
his papers and put them in two packages, one containing docu-
ments relating to the organization and the other the letters that
passed between him and his wife before they were married. He
marked two envelopes and put the papers in the wrong ones. The
envelope containing the "Executive Document" and other organi-
zation papers he put in the open drawer of a table which he used
as a desk supposing them to be the love letters, and the latter he
secreted somewhere in the house. The detectives found the "Ex-
ecutive Document" in the wrongly marked envelope during their
first search, and this gave the Crown lawyers all the evidence
they required for the conviction of the three men named in it —
Luby, O'Leary and Kickham. The powers which it conferred on
them had never been exercised, as no emergency arose during the
period while Stephens was absent in America. Kickham had
never seen it, and probably did not know of its existence.
The "Executive Document" was as follows:
"I hereby empower 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 in England, Ireland and Scotland as that exer-
cised by myself. I further empower them to appoint a com-
mittee of military inspection, and a committee of appeal
and judgment, the functions of which committees will be
made known to every member of them. Trusting to the
patriotism and abilities of the executive, I fully endorse their
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
295
actions beforehand. I call on every man in our ranks to sup-
port and be guided by them in all that concerns the mili-
tary brotherhood.
"J. Stephens."
Luby was sentenced to twenty years penal servitude and took
the sentence calmly. He was taken immediately to Mount] oy
Prison, put into convict garb, his hair cut short and his beard
shaved off. Until he was joined a few days later by John O'Leary,
O'Donovan Rossa and Kickham, he took his exercise alone (an
hour daily) in the ring surrounded by an iron railing in the
prison yard.
As the number of convicted men grew they were all removed
to Pentonville Prison, London. After about a year there they
were sent to Portland. This practice was continued with all the
men sentenced to penal servitude, which meant five years or
more, those who got a lighter sentence being kept in the Irish
prisons.
In the so-called "probation" prisons, in London, where the
prisoners spent the first nine, ten or twelve months, the work
was picking oakum — tearing old tar ropes to floss; or coir — an
Indian grass out of which mats were made. The day's work
at oakum picking was three pounds; that of coir was twenty
ounces; and both blistered the fingers very badly in the be-
ginning, particularly the oakum. The delicate hands of Luby,
O'Leary and Kickham suffered very badly, but failure to com-
plete the allotted task was punished by twenty-four hours on
bread and water — one pound of dry bread and two pints of
water. A good natured warder (and there were many such)
sometimes allowed the prisoner to get more water. When the
prisoner was sentenced to more than three days' bread and water
he was put on "penal class" diet every fourth day — a pint of
oatmeal porridge morning and evening, supposed to be made
of milk and water, but no milk with it. The regular diet in the
"probation" prisons (Pentonville and Millbank) was sixteen
ounces of bread, three-quarters of a pint of cocoa, four ounces
of beef "cooked in its own liquor", and a pint of gruel, supposed
to contain two ounces of oatmeal and a pound of potatoes (often
half rotten) daily. On Sundays, the bread ration was 20 ozs.,
and 4 ozs. of cheese as an extra. In the "Public Works" prisons
(Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham and Dartmoor) an ounce of
meat and three ounces of bread were added. The big men like
Rossa, Martin Hanley, Carey and Sergeant McCarthy, starved on
this diet, and I was constantly hungry for four years, but other-
wise in good health.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
In all cases of "bread and water", the prisoner's mattress and
bed clothes (except one blanket or rag) were removed from his
cell and he had to sleep on the bare board bed, which was fas-
tened to the floor. His shoes and suspenders were also taken
away.
Neither Luby, O'Leary nor Kickham ever got this punishment;
Rossa got it constantly and I got it occasionally. But the dark
cell was the severest punishment.
The work was occasionally changed to tailoring — making con-
vict uniforms, trousers, jackets, vests and drawers, which were
handed in basted together, and the prisoner did the back stitch-
ing and hemming.
In Portland, the work was stone-cutting — making "knobblers"
from Portland stone (which was soft) with a blunt pick. This
work in the beginning caused very bad blisters on the hands.
In Portsmouth, Chatham and Dartmoor the work was of various
kinds, but all hard. This was England's way of taming the
Fenians, but they all remained untamed to the last.
Neither Luby nor O'Leary was much of a success at making
knobblers, and it was painful to look at them handling the pick.
Stone cutting was, of course, utterly impossible for Kickham. I
was glad to get the open air exercise after nearly two years' close
confinement and it did me good. At exercise on Sundays the
prisoners were allowed to talk, and I had many pleasant talks
with Luby and O'Leary during my twelve weeks in Portland.
Then I was sent back to the Penal Class in Millbank for parti-
cipating in a strike. The English warders were down on the
Americans, but made some allowance for the born Irishman.
McClure, James O'Connor and Charles Underwood O'Connell, who
had all struck, were sent back with me. Luby and O'Leary ad-
vised against the strike on the ground that we "couldn't fight
England in her own prisons", but after McClure and myself had
continued it in Millbank for a few months we won the strike
for all concerned. The prison doctor (of course acting under
orders) was the mediator and he was aided by some good natured
lying by an Irish Cockney warder named Nash (a very decent
fellow) , but we didn't put our hands to work until we were
restored to the regular prison diet and taken out of the Penal
Class cells. The doctor's pretext for interfering was that 1868
was an abnormally hot year in England.
When some years later I told our experience to Luby in New
York he admitted that, after all, it was possible to fight John
Bull in his own prisons. John was breaking his own printed rules
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
297
(or Sir Joshua Jebb's) which were embodied in an Act or Par-
liament, and he did not want to face continual public exposures.
When Luby was released in January, 1871, on condition of not
returning to the "United Kingdom" during the balance of his
existence (the condition on which Gladstone liberated all the
Fenian prisoners at that time), he went first to Belgium and
then in a few months came to New York.
In New York he had no chance of employment on a daily
paper. The Irish-American weeklies were out of the question;
they were unable to pay a decent salary and were all out of har-
mony with his views. And as he was not a citizen, political em-
ployment was impossible, although at that time many non-citi-
zens held minor political positions. Indeed about a week after the
first batch of us landed we got a quiet intimation that Presi-
dent Grant was willing to give any of us who wanted it a clerk-
ship in one of the Washington Departments at $1,200 or $1,500
a year, but none of us availed ourselves of the offer. Luby's deli-
cate sense of honor convinced him that it would be entirely
out of place for a man to seek political employment in a country
of which he was not a citizen.
He eventually was engaged by a publisher named McMena-
min at a small salary to write the "Lives of Illustrious Irish-
men" and "The Life of Daniel O'Connell", which came out in
parts and were sold by canvassers throughout the country.
Luby for some time would not join any Irish organization
here. He had a theory that when a movement failed the ground
ought to be let lie fallow until a new situation arose and then
the people could form an organization suitable to the emergency.
All his colleagues in New York disagreed with this view and be-
lieved there should be a permanent organization with a clear
and definite purpose. The English Government, we argued, was
a permanent organization with a fixed purpose and should be
fought by a permanent organization having for its object the
overthrow of English rule in Ireland and the restoration of Irish
Independence, and ready to take advantage of any opportunity
that might arise. He eventually yielded to our pleadings and
joined the Clan-na-Gael, in which he took an active part for
some years. He also consented to act as one of the Trustees of the
"Skirmishing Fund" and wrote the address to the Irish people
in America explaining the broadening of its aims and changing
the name to the Irish National Fund. He never missed a meet-
ing and was present at the one which accepted the plans for
and decided to undertake the construction of the Holland sub-
marine.
298
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
When John Mitchel died in 1875, we got up a memorial
meeting for him in Madison Square Garden, at which Thomas
Francis Bourke presided and Luby delivered the address. John
W. Goff was District Officer for New York and I was Chairman
of the Executive of the Clan-na-Gael. Goff tried to make a bar-
gain with me by which I should preside and he deliver the
oration. I refused because I was only a reporter on the Herald
and Goff a cashier in one of the departments of A. T. Stewart's
drygoods store, and it would look bad if two men in such humble
positions and unknown to the public should be the chief figures
at a demonstration in honor of the great Rebel, while there were
so many men of prominence and ability in New York to perform
the task. I pointed out this to Goff and told him the English
press would use the opportunity to say that the Irish movement
in America had reached a very low ebb when a reporter on a
daily paper and a draper's assistant were its leaders in New York.
(Some thirty years later John W. Goff became one of the most
eminent judges on the Supreme Court Bench, New York.)
Luby and Bourke agreed with me that Richard O'Gorman,
who was a great orator and very well known to the public, was
the proper man to deliver the speech for his old colleague of
1848, but the local officers voted down my proposition because
O'Gorman had taken no part in Irish affairs since his arrival
in the country and was active only in American politics.
At the meeting of the officers of the District which arranged
for the Mitchel meeting, Goff presided at the opening session
and showed no opposition until John O'Connor was selected as
Chairman of the committee and James Fitzgerald (later a Judge
of the Supreme Court) Secretary. Then he left the chair, went
to the centre of the hall and said: "Brothers, you have insulted
your District Member and I don't propose to let you trample on
me. I forbid the meeting." He requested Fitzgerald and me to
walk out with him, but we both refused. He then inserted an
advertisement in the Herald, signed with his official initials say-
ing that the persons who were getting up the meeting had no
authority, brought the receipt for the ad. to Billy Meighan, the
City Editor, told him he was the chief officer of the Clan-na-
Gael in the city and asked him to insert a news paragraph to
the same effect. Meighan brought the ad. to me at the Foreign
Desk (which I was occupying temporarily) and told me to do
what I liked with it. I wrote a column and a half of an advance
notice of the meeting, sent shorter notices to John C. Hennessy
of the Times, Walter O'Dwyer of the Tribune, and John Gallagher
of the World, and they were all inserted next day.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
299
The Commemoration was a great success — the first success-
ful Irish gathering in New York since the collapse of Fenianism.
Bourke, who was one of the most eloquent men in the movement,
made a splendid speech in opening the meeting, and Luby's
address was a most eloquent tribute to John Mitchel. No other
man in New York, not even the silver-tongued O'Gorman, could
have done it half so well. We had only two speakers.
I go into these details to show the difficulties we had to con-
tend with before the Clan-na-Gael was finally hammered into
shape and made the efficient and disciplined organization which
it later became.
During the next two or three years Luby rendered other con-
spicuous services, but when the Triangle got hold of the organi-
zation and adopted the dynamite policy, in spite of the opposi-
tion of the Supreme Council of the I. R. B. in Ireland, he resigned
and took no further active part in the movement.
Luby died on Nov. 29, 1901, in Jersey City, where he had moved
when his son, James, became Editor of the Journal, and was
buried in Bay View Cemetery in that city. I was away from New
York at the time and missed the funeral, which I regretted very
much. I had been out of touch with the family for some time
and didn't know that he was sick.
On June 10, 1911, the Clan-na-Gael, the Veterans of the
I. R. Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers of New York and
New Jersey, decorated his grave and there was a great demon-
stration attended by thousands of people. I delivered the address
and his son James represented the family. The cemetery was
filled with people decorating the graves of relatives who had
fought in the Civil War, and when I was done speaking a fashion-
ably dressed lady came over to me and asked: "Are all these
men Irish Catholics?" I told her that most of them were, and
she said: "And they attend a ceremony in a Protestant ceme-
tery." I told her that Luby was a Protestant, like Robert Emmet,
William Smith O'Brien, Charles Stewart Parnell, Henry Grattan
and many other Irish Leaders, and she expressed surprise and
said: "I thought all the Irish Leaders were Catholics."
In spite of all proof to the contrary, this is still the prevailing
opinion in America, and it seems impossible to eradicate it. Cen-
turies of lying English Propaganda have fastened this belief in
the minds of nearly the whole if not all the people of the world,
and particularly the Americans, and it will take a long time to
banish it. This Jersey City woman was a fine specimen of the
average American.
300
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Thomas Clarke Luby had the temperament of a boy to the
last and he was as optimistic when he died as he was in 1848.
He never despaired of the ultimate Independence of Ireland. His
life was one long sacrifice, but he made it cheerfully and never
for a moment regretted that he immolated himself on the altar
of his country.
Luby's speech in the dock was as follows:
"Well, my lords and gentlemen, I don't think any person
present here is surprised at the verdict found against me.
I have been prepared for this verdict ever since I was ar-
rested, although I thought it my duty to fight the British
Government inch by inch. I felt I was sure to be found
guilty, since the advisers of the Crown took what the Attor-
ney-General was pleased the other day to call the 'merciful
course.' I thought I might have a fair chance of escaping,
so long as the capital charge was impending over me; but
when they resolved on trying me under the Treason-Felony
Act, I felt that I had not the smallest chance. I am some-
what embarrassed at the present moment as to what I
should say under the circumstances. There are a great
many things that I would wish to say; but knowing that
there are other persons in the same situation with myself,
and that I might allow myself to say something injudicious,
which would peril their cases, I feel that my tongue is to a
great degree tied. Notwithstanding, there are two or three
points upon which I would say a few words. I have nothing
to say to Judge Keogh's charge to the jury. 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 this ac-
cusation of an intention to assassinate, attributed to my fel-
low prisoners and myself. The Solicitor-General in his reply
to Mr. Butt, referred to those topics. Mr. Barry was the first
person who advanced those charges. I thought they were
partially given up by the Attorney-General in his opening
statement, at least they were put forward to you in a very
modified form; but the learned Solicitor-General, in his
very virulent speech, put forward those charges in a most
aggravated manner. He sought even to exaggerate upon Mr.
Barry's original statement.
"Now, with respect to those charges — in justice to my
character — I must say that in this court, there is not a man
more incapable of anything like massacre or assassination
than I am. I really believe that the gentlemen who have
shown so much ability in prosecuting me, in the bottom of
their hearts believe me incapable of an act of assassination
or massacre. I don't see that there is the smallest amount
of evidence to show that I ever entertained the notion of a
massacre of landlords and priests. I forget whether the ad-
visers of the Crown said I intended the massacre of the
Protestant clergymen. Some of the writers of our enlight-
ened press said that I did. Now, with respect to the charge
of assassinating the landlords, the only thing that gives
even the shadow of a color to that charge is the letter
signed— alleged to be signed — by Mr. O'Keefe. Now, as-
suming— but by no means admitting, of course — that the
letter was written by Mr. O'Keefe, let me make a statement
about it. I know the facts that I am about to state are of
no practical utility to me now, at least with respect to the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
301
judges. I know that it is of no practical utility to me, be-
cause I cannot give evidence on my own behalf, but it may
be of practical utility to others with whom I wish to stand
well. I believe my words will carry conviction — and carry
much more conviction than any words of the legal advisers
of the Crown can — to more than 300,000 of the Irish race
in Ireland, England and America. Well, I deny absolutely,
that I ever entertained any idea of assassinating the land-
lords, and the letter of Mr. O'Keefe — assuming it to be his
letter — is the only evidence on the subject. My acquaintance
with Mr. O'Keefe was of the slightest nature. I did not
even know of his existence when the Irish People was
started. He came, after that paper was established a few
months, to the office and offered some articles — some were
rejected, some were inserted, and I call the attention of the
legal advisers of the Crown to this fact, that amongst the
papers which they got, those that were Mr. O'Keefe's ar-
ticles had many paragraphs scored out; in fact we put in
no article of his without a great deal of what is technically
called 'cutting down'. Now, that letter of his to me was
simply a private document. It contained the mere private
views of the writer; and I pledge this to the court as a man
of honor — and I believe in spite of the position in which
I stand, amongst my countrymen I am believed to be a man
of honor, and that if my life depended on it, I would not
speak falsely about the thing — when I read that letter, and
the first to whom I gave it was my wife, I remember we read
it with fits of laughter at its ridiculous ideas. My wife,
at the moment said — 'Had I not better burn the letter?' 'Oh,
no,' I said, looking upon it as a most ridiculous thing, and
never dreaming for a moment that such a document would
ever turn up against me, and produce the unpleasant con-
sequences it has produced — I mean the imputation of assassi-
nation and massacre, which has given me a great deal more
trouble than anything else in this case.
"That disposes — as far as I can at present dispose of it —
of the charge of wishing to assassinate the landlords. As
to the charge of desiring to assassinate the priests, I deny
it as being the most monstrous thing in the world. Why,
surely, every one who read the articles in the paper would
see that the plain doctrine laid down there was — to rever-
ence the priests so long as they confined themselves to their
sacerdotal functions; but when the priest descended to the
arena of politics he became no more than any other man,
and would just be regarded as any other man. If he was a
man of ability and honesty, of course he would get the re-
spect that such men get in politics — if he was not a man
of ability there would be no more thought of him than of
a shoemaker, or any one else. This is the teaching of the
Irish People with regard to the priests. I believe the Irish
People has done a great deal of good, even amongst those
who do not believe in its revolutionary doctrines. I believe
the revolutionary doctrines of the Irish People are good, I
believe nothing can ever save Ireland except Independence;
and I believe that all other attempts to ameliorate the con-
dition of Ireland are mere temporary expedients and make-
shifts—"
Mr. Justice Keogh: "I am very reluctant to interrupt
you, Mr. Luby."
Mr. Luby: "Very well, my Lord, I will leave that. I be-
lieve in this way the Irish People has done an immensity of
302
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
good. It taught the people not to give up their right of
private judgment in temporal matters to the clergy; that
while they reverenced the clergy upon the altar, they should
not give up their consciences in secular matters to the clergy.
I believe that is good. Others may differ from me. No set
of men I believe ever set themselves earnestly to any work,
but they did good in some shape or form."
Judge Keogh: "I am most reluctant, Mr. Luby, to inter-
rupt you, but do you think you should pursue this?"
Mr. Luby: "Very well, I will not. I think that disposes
of those things. I don't care to say much about myself. It
would be rather beneath me. Perhaps some persons who
know me would say I should not have touched upon the
assassination charge at all — that in fact I have rather shown
weakness in attaching so much importance to it. But, with
regard to the entire course of my life, and whether it be
a mistaken course or not will be for every man's individual
judgment to decide, this I know, that no man ever loved
Ireland more than I have done — no man has given up his
whole being to Ireland to the extent I have done. From
the time I came to what has been called the years of discre-
tion, my entire thought has been devoted to Ireland. I be-
lieve the course I pursued was right; others may take a dif-
ferent view. I believe the majority of my countrymen this
minute, if, instead of my being tried before a petty jury,
who, I suppose, are bound to find according to British law —
if my guilt or innocence was to be tried by the higher
standard of eternal right, and the case was put to all my
countrymen — I believe this moment the majority of my
countrymen would pronounce that I am not a criminal, but
that I have deserved well of my country.
"When the proceedings of this trial go forth into the world,
people will say the cause of Ireland is not to be despaired
of, that Ireland is not yet a lost country — that as long as
there are men in any country prepared to expose themselves
to every difficulty and danger, in its service, prepared to
brave captivity, even death itself, if need be, that country
cannot be lost. With those words I conclude."
Luby was the first of the Fenian leaders to be placed on trial
before the Special Commission, consisting of Judges Keogh and
Fitzgerald. The evidence against the three consisted of the testi-
mony of the informer, Pierce Nagle, and a Polish Jew named
Schoelfeldt, who had purchased a Fenian Bond for $5, with money
given him by the British Consul in New York, and asked John
O'Mahony to affix his signature to it, so that he might keep it
as a souvenir. This enabled the latter to testify to O'Mahony's
signature.
Schoelfeldt was on the ship with a Tipperary man coming to
America who was entrusted with a letter to John O'Mahony, and
he showed it to the Pole who told him he sympathized with
Ireland's struggle for freedom. The Polish insurrection led by
Langievicz (a former Lieutenant in the Prussian army) was then
going on. All Ireland was in sympathy with it, and the Tip-
perary man foolishly thought that all Poles were to be trusted.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
303
The Jew asked to be permitted to accompany him when he
went to see the great Irishman and he was, and O'Mahony, sus-
pecting nothing, complied with the fellow's request. That bond
with O'Mahony's signature enabled the Government to prove the
existence of an international conspiracy.
But the chief evidence against Luby, O'Leary and Kickham
was the "Executive Document".
CHAPTER XLV.
CHARLES J. KICKHAM.
The Finest Intellect of the Fenian Movement — Had Great Liter-
ary Ability and a Keen Grasp of Public Affairs — His Stories
and Songs an Inspiration.
Charles J. Kickham was the finest intellect in the Fenian
Movement, either in Ireland or America, although his defective
sight and hearing prevented the demonstration of that fact in
public. One would have to know him personally and to see his
work in council to realize the superiority of his mind over those
of his colleagues and contemporaries.
Kickham was born at Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary, near the
foot of Slievenamon on the 9th of May, 1828. His mother's
maiden name was O'Mahony and she was a cousin of John
O'Mahony, the founder of the Fenian Movement. He came of a
very well-to-do family and received the training of an Irish boy of
his class up to fourteen years of age, when the accident happened
which changed the whole course of his life. Boy-like, he was
holding a flask of powder near a fire to dry it, and, as might be
expected, it exploded, with the unfortunate result that he was
rendered nearly blind and almost completely deaf. Though thus
handicapped, he read extensively and studied hard and became
better informed than any of his relatives and neighbors. The
habit of introspection acquired in his solitude, in the opinion of
John O'Leary, helped to develop his intellect and the remaining
senses became more acute and efficient, as nature's compensation
for the practical loss of sight and hearing.
Kickham had great literary ability and a wide knowledge of
modern literature, although reading was a most difficult task for
him. His stories depict life in Tipperary as completely as those
of William Carleton, Gerald Griffin and John Banim do that of
the sections of whose people they wrote, but there is a charm in
Kickham that is entirely absent from the others. I exclude Lever,
because he wrote chiefly for the English market and his heroes
were mostly Anglo-Irishmen, to whom he gave old Irish names.
His principal stories are "Knocknagow"; "Sally Cavanagh,
or the Untenanted Graves"; "For The Old Land", and "Tales of
Tipperary" (a collection of short stories) .
304
CHARLES J. KICKHAM
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL 305
Kickham's notes on "Young Ireland" by Charles Gavan Duffy,
have never been published in book form and his poems have not
been collected.
"Patrick Sheehan" was a simple ballad telling the story of an
Irish soldier wounded in the Crimean War, made blind, and left
utterly unprovided for by the British Government. It at once
caught the popular ear and was sung as a street ballad at fairs
and markets and the Government was forced by the publicity to
grant Sheehan a small pension.
Kickham was one of the four most prominent men in the
old movement, and as Chairman of the Supreme Council for sev-
eral years before he died was the unchallenged leader of the
reorganized I. R. B. The personal affection for him of the rank
and file, although they saw little of him (and conversation with
him was nearly impossible) , amounted almost to adoration.
While his books were widely read, that would not account for
his popularity, but his "Rory of the Hill", the finest of all the
Rebel ballads, was sung more generally than any other National-
ist song except T. D. Sullivan's "God Save Ireland". There is
sound philosophy, as well as political truth which is as plain
to the peasant as to the scholar, in the lines:
"The poet and the orator the heart of man can sway,
And would to the kind heavens that Wolfe Tone were
here to-day!
Yet trust me, friends, dear Ireland's strength — her
truest strength — is still
The rough and ready roving boys like Rory of the
Hill."
The heart of the Irish people is always sound, no matter how
leaders may err or how the rank and file may be misled for a
time.
There is no finer story of Irish life than "Knocknagow". I
quote the following brief but excellent note on its characters
from a Memoir of Kickham, by R. J. Kelly:
"It is a very vigorous work of peasant portraiture, and its
characters are well-known types. It shows what O'Leary
said the writer possessed in a rare degree — thorough knowl-
edge of the people and, with that thorough knowledge,
thorough and sincere sympathy. No one who has once read
it can soon forget Matt Donovan, the Thrasher, who excelled
in all kinds of work as a farm labourer, and who never met
his match at wielding a flail. 'He could turn a hand to any-
thing, soleing a pair of brogues to roofing and thatching a
barn'. Then there is Billy Heffernan, the flute-player, al-
ways lonely on his way to Clonmel but a king in his humble
cottage and on the bog. Phil Lahy, trusted so much to a
little nourishment and Columkille's prophecies. Nellie Dono-
van, stoutest and airiest of peasant girls; the racy Wattle-
toes; poor Norah Lahy, an angel in the shadow of death;
306 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Mary Kearney, one of Nature's ladies; the heart-heavy, true-
souled priest, who yet to the world's view had a proud walk,
Father Matt Hannigan, and Hugh Kearney, the young
farmer — all these stand out in its pages never to be forgotten.
The times they depict, when landlord exaction and tenant
wrongs led to heartless evictions, as so touchingly described,
are happily now things of the past; but while the Anner
flows beside Kickham's grave these men and these times
can never be forgotten. Then how beautifully and simply
the story closes. These are the last words: 'It is very
pleasant', returned Mary, 'Thank God there are happy homes
in Tipperary still'. But she added as she turned round and
looked along the two low whitish walls that reached from
'the Cross' to Matt Donovan's: 'But Knocknagow is gone.'"
No sweeter bit of Irish verse was written in English than:
"She lived beside the Anner
At the foot of Slievenamon,"
telling the pathetic story of an Irish emigrant girl. Its only rival
is Lady Dufferin's "Irish Emigrant's Lament".
Kickham's ability is not to be measured by his writings, al-
though they give him a high place. He displayed knowledge of
men that was remarkable on account of the paucity of his in-
formation about them and his inability to see and hear them,
but his estimates of their character and ability were all correct
It was the same with public events and foreign affairs. His
reading of newspapers was necessarily limited, but his capacity
for grasping the meaning of events from short despatches and
editorial comment was wonderful. He was a perfect master of
Irish politics, was quite familiar with the general trend of Euro-
pean affairs, knew England thoroughly and had a better under-
standing of America than many men who read newspapers exten-
sively. Yet his reading had to be done with his spectacles lifted
up to his forehead, his hand shading his eyes, and the book,
paper or letter held within a couple of inches of them. Conversa-
tion with him for many years had to be carried on by the aid
of an ear trumpet, and for a long time before he died by means
of the deaf and dumb alphabet. Yet the man so handicapped was
able to preside at important council meetings and to contribute
a goodly share to the discussions.
The size and shape of a man's head is not always a safe guide
to his ability, but Kickham's head enclosed a very efficient brain.
It was so large that his hat went down over the top of my ears,
while the same size fitted O'Donovan Rossa, Thomas Francis
Bourke, Ricard O'Sullivan Burke and myself, and each of us had
larger than the average sized Irish head. Dr. George Sigerson,
who had a fine mind, had precisely the same kind of massive
head as Kickham.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
307
Elisee Reclus in his great work on Physical Geography says
that the skulls of the Bohemians (who are fairly representative
of all the Slavs) indicated greater natural brain power than
those of the Teutons and that it was the better education and
training of the Germans which gave them their superiority. The
Slav head is very like the Celtic. A German barber in the
Foreign Legion once said that the heads of the Irishmen were
like a "brosse a Tripoli" — the long brush with which the brass
buttons of the blue tunic then worn by the French infantry,
when inserted in a button stick, were cleaned — and he found
those of many Bavarians and Rhine Prussians the same. That
was because of the strong Celtic strain in their blood. If he had
had experience with Piedmontese (who are Cisalpine Gauls)
and the Galician Spaniards (who are purer Celtic than the Irish)
he would have made a similar remark.
Kickham was deeply interested in national affairs from his
young manhood and was the real leader in Tipperary, but I be-
lieve it was not until 1860 that he joined the I. R. B. In 1863
Stephens put him on the editorial staff of the Irish People.
One of Kickham's few appearances at public meetings was
at an open air gathering on Slievenamon. A group of well
meaning, but irresponsible men, of whom John F. Finerty (then
only twenty years of age) was one and Father Horan of Toome-
vara another, had been holding public meetings, at which fiery
speeches were made, but no resolutions passed, and they attracted
the attention of the English Government to such an extent that
Lord Carlisle, the Lord Lieutenant, undertook to reply to them
at a cattle show at Callan, County Kilkenny. The Viceroy's
speech was characteristic of the man and the time, and he used
a phrase that has become historic because it revealed the settled
policy of the Government. He said there were "two voices" in
Ireland, one speaking in wild and violent accents from the top
of Slievenamon and the other at peaceful gatherings like the
cattle show at which he was speaking. Ireland, he said, was
"destined by Providence to be the fruitful mother of flocks and
herds". This disclosed the purpose of the Government in the
great Clearances then going on, of replacing human beings by
cattle for the English market. The man who had been caught,
with another English aristocrat, in the Sultan's harem in Con-
stantinople and had the traditional punishment inflicted on him,
undertook to be the interpreter of the will of Providence. Napo-
leon once said that God was on the side of the heavy artillery,
but England always claimed to be doing the Lord's work in
carrying out her Imperialist policy and imposing her will on
other peoples.
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Stephens ordered the useless public meetings stopped and
sent Kickham to Tipperary to preside at one already called and
announce that it would be the last. He did the work as well and
tactfully as if he had been in the habit of presiding at meetings
all his life and no further gatherings were held.
In 1863, Kickham visited the United States. Some people
hold that he was sent here by Stephens as an official Envoy to
the Fenian Brotherhood. Others claim that his visit was on
private business, and that while here he was invited to attend
the Convention which the Fenian Brotherhood held in Chicago
while a great fair was in progress in that city to raise funds for
the organization. At all events, he made a fine impression on
the Fenian leaders in America, and accomplished good results
while in this country. The Scanlan brothers with Henry C.
McCarthy, were then the leading men in Chicago, P. W. Dunne
not yet having moved there from Peoria. Michael Scanlan, the
Poet Laureate of American Fenianism, had a hobby for giving
his children old Irish names and a son was born to him during
the fair, who is now (1928) one of the leading judges in Chicago.
Kickham became his Godfather and he was christened Kickham
Scanlan. He is a credit to the name he bears, a man of high
character and great ability, who, when nominated for the Bench
by the Republicans, ran away ahead of his ticket and secured
many Democratic votes. He is fearless and resolute in fighting
corruption in public life and has the public confidence to an
unusual degree. He is a tall, slim man, with finely chiselled
features, typical of the best intellect of the race.
Under the heading "Leaves from a Journal", Kickman wrote
an account of his trip, dealing only with the public part of it.
and giving his impressions of America, but saying nothing of his
negotiations with the American Fenian leaders. It was pub-
lished in the Irish People and made very interesting reading.
From the time of his return from America in 1864, until his
arrest with James Stephens on November 11, 1865, Kickham's
life was uneventful. He wrote articles in the Irish People, lived
quietly and attended no meetings. There were no meetings of
any importance during that period anyhow.
Kickham was placed on trial before the Special Commission,
consisting of Judges Keogh and Fitzgerald, in Green Street Court-
house, Dublin, on January 5, 1866. At the opening his defence
was conducted by counsel; but on the judges' refusal to have
Thomas Clarke Luby produced as a witness, he declared the
trial was a mockery and refused to have any further legal as-
sistance.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
309
At his trial there was practically no evidence against him
except the production of the "Executive Document", and Pierce
Nagle's testimony about his membership in the organization.
O'Donovan Rossa's sensational attacks on Judge Keogh were
really intended to give Kickham time to prepare his defence,
as he was to be tried after Rossa. Keogh sentenced Kickham to
fifteen years' penal servitude, mainly in revenge for the articles
he wrote in the Irish People concerning the "hanging judge" for
sentencing the two McCormack brothers to death on the charge
of killing a Tipperary landlord (whom they had not killed), on
wholly insufficient and mainly perjured evidence which a packed
jury accepted as true. Kickham addressed the jury in his own
defense.
The following is a newspaper account of the trial, in which
I have made a few slight verbal changes:
"He began by saying that a person unaccustomed as he was
to public speaking could hardly get out his ideas at all with-
out preparation, and he had no time. However, he made no
objection to go on. No prisoner, he continued, had ever been
treated more unfairly than he was. Not only had he to bear his
share of calumny, but from the commencement of the Commis-
sion, in every speech made by the counsel for the Crown, his
name was dragged in, and not alone that, but even judges on the
bench did it. He could not but feel a little surprised when one
of the judges read out the names from the 'Executive Docu-
ment'— Luby, O'Leary and Kickham — and said he shuddered at
the crimes these judges would commit if they had the power. He
could not help thinking that his Lordship should have recol-
lected that there was one of these men who was not yet tried,
and who might be innocent of even knowing the existence of
this document. So that he considered he had been tried and
found guilty five times in that Courthouse, and he did not know
how many times in Cork.
"He would now go through the articles in the indictment,
but would not read them all. The first article was one headed
' '82 and '29'. If they took the trouble of reading through that
article, they would be at a loss to see why it was that so long an
article, with so little treason in it, should have the place of
honor. They might not agree with the writer, but, nevertheless,
what he said was true, that it would have been well for Ireland
that the claims of the loyal Volunteers of '82 had been refused,
for the result would have been complete Independence. And let
them look back upon the history of this country — not a gleam
of sunshine, the sufferings of the people, and the Exodus. What
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Irishman could look upon the eighty-four years which had passed
and would not say: 'In God's name, give us our country to our-
selves, and let us see what we can do with it.'
"There was not much Treason in that. Perhaps it was in the
'29 part of the article the Treason was. The purport of that
portion was, that if the English Government refused Emanci-
pation, the Roman Catholics would have taken up arms, and
that the liberal Protestants would have joined them. The Duke
of Wellington said the same thing, and he must say that a
Bishop in America was so oblivious of his allegiance as to organ-
ize forty thousand armed Fenians, to send them to Ireland, if
the Government refused Emancipation.
"There was one good thing that the Fenians did. He said that
concessions to Ireland had been always the result of Fenianism
in some shape or other. The English Government, however,
while making concessions, always expected to get something
in return; and, he believed, they had never been disappointed.
Not only had they stipulated upon getting prompt pay-
ment, but, also, they got a large instalment in advance. And
here he could not help referring to the publication of Sir John
Gray's affidavit, which he stated he withheld, afraid it would
injure the prisoners on their trial, and yet that very affidavit
was published on the eve of his trial.
"To return to the article ' '82 and '29', he repeated, they
would find very little Treason in it. Why, then, had it been
placed on the front of the indictment? That was done for a
passage in it referring to Roman Catholic judges, and Roman
Catholic placemen, in which it was said: 'The Catholic judge
will prove as iniquitous a tool of tyranny, as the most bigoted
Orange partisan would be.' It would not do for the Attorney-
General to select articles in which one of the judges was men-
tioned by name in the severest language. That would be going
too far. Judge Keogh said he had never seen a copy of the Irish
People, and Kickham believed that if his Lordship had seen these
articles, he would have tried to avoid sitting in judgment on the
men who were accused of being the writers of them.
"But the Attorney-General knew of them, and he believed that
the articles he alluded to had been placed in the front for the
purpose of prejudicing Roman Catholic judges against the pris-
oners they would have to try; and the Special Commission was
appointed — if that was the word — for the sole purpose of en-
abling them to select the judges, and that it was the best mode
of following up the attempt to put down the organization, by
trampling on the law, and then following that up by trampling
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
311
on the law of morality and decency. If it were necessary to in-
terrupt him, Mr. Lawless would communicate their Lordships'
wishes to him.
"Justice Keogh: 'Not at all. Proceed.'
"The prisoner went on to say that the jury might be told that
all this was beside the question. But he denied this. He empha-
sized that English rule in Ireland was on trial. The Gov-
ernment admitted the existence of a wide-spread conspiracy,
both in Ireland and America; but this only showed that the
treatment by England of Ireland had been judged and con-
demned.
"After a number of observations of an exculpatory character,
he quoted Thomas Davis:
" 'The tribune's tongue and poet's pen
May sow the seed in slavish men,
But 'tis the soldier's sword alone
Can reap the harvest when 'tis grown.'
"The man who wrote those lines did his best to make the Irish
people a military people. A few years before his death his
friends observed in his library a number of military books, such
as those found in the office of the Irish People, and he would
say, 'These are what Irishmen want — this is what they should
learn.' His statue, by Hogan, is now in Mount Jerome. The
whole Nation mourned his death, and all creeds and classes
gathered round his grave. Thomas Davis saw the peasants'
cabins pulled down by the landlords, and witnessed the suffer-
ing of the people, and he wrote:
"God of justice!" I sighed, "send Your spirit down
"On these lords so cruel and proud,
"And soften their hearts and relax their frown,
"Or else," I cried aloud —
"Vouchsafe Thy strength to the peasant's hand
"To drive them at length from off the land!"
"The prisoner concluded by saying, 'What did the Irish People
say worse than that? I have done no more than he has done;
sentence me to a felon's doom if you choose.' "
After his conviction Kickham was sent, with O'Leary, Luby,
Rossa and others to Pentonville Prison in London, and after nine
months there they were transferred to Portland, where the work
was stonecutting. Kickham was wholly unfitted for hard labor,
and in a little while was sent to the invalid prison at Woking,
where the work was lighter, but still too hard for a man in his
condition. He remained in Woking until his release, with sev-
eral others, in March, 1869, and came out broken in health.
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After the election of O'Donovan Rossa as a Member of Par-
liament for Tipperary in 1869 had been annulled by the British,
there was a difference of opinion among the Nationalists of that
County as to the advisability of letting their protest rest there
or putting up another candidate. Finally Kickham was nomi-
nated. While he polled more votes than Rossa, the West British
candidate, Heron, considerably increased his poll of the previous
November, and defeated Kickham by a margin of four votes, the
poll being 1668 to 1664. Manhood suffrage was unknown in Ire-
land in those days. A debt was incurred for the expenses of the
two elections, and the money to pay it was raised later in
America.
The women of Tipperary made a beautiful green silk flag for
the Sixty-ninth Regiment of New York and T. P. O'Connor of
Laffana was sent out to present it. A committee was formed in
New York and it organized a great demonstration at Bellevue
Garden, at which General George B. McClellan, former Com-
mander of the Army of the Potomac, presented the flag to the
Regiment. "Little Mac" was the idol of the old soldiers and a
great throng crowded the park to witness the presentation.
Colonel James Cavanagh received it on behalf of the Sixty-ninth,
and enough money was collected to pay the Tipperary debt.
Though the Regiment carried a green flag, in addition to the
Stars and Stripes, in all its battles during the Civil War, this
green flag from Tipperary has never been used in public by the
Sixty-ninth, but has been kept in the regimental armory.
Kickham, after release, lived for a time in Mullinahone and
then moved to Dublin, where he made his home, first with his
brother Alexander, and then with James O'Connor, his fellow-
prisoner, who later became Member of Parliament for West
Wicklow. In Blackrock he was knocked down by a jaunting car
while crossing the street and the injuries which he sustained
shortened his life.
Some time during this period I received the only letter I ever
got from him, which showed the keen interest he took in current
literature. He asked me to get him a cheap copy of George
Eliot's "Adam Bede", as he had heard that American publishers
were in the habit of getting out cheap, paper covered editions
(pirated, of course), of the latest English books. I couldn't get
one and I heard he was greatly disappointed.
Before Kickham became Chairman of the Supreme Council
of the reorganized I. R. B., James F. X. O'Brien, who was after-
wards a Member of Parliament, filled that office for some time.
I don't know the date of Kickham's selection, but he was Chair-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
313
man in 1878, when I sent the cablegram to Parnell offering him
the support of the American organization (meaning the Clan-
na-Gael) on certain conditions. I sent it to Kickham asking
him to give it to Parnell. Kickham forwarded it without com-
ment, as he did not want to be held responsible for its contents.
When I went over in December of that year a meeting of the
Supreme Council was held in Paris to discuss that and a proposi-
tion to assist in the importation of arms into Ireland. Both
proposals were backed up by the Executive of the Clan-na-Gael,
as well as by John Boyle O'Reilly, Patrick A. Collins (later
American Consul-General in London) , Robert Dwyer Joyce and
other prominent men whom I had consulted. The letter I wrote
in support of the "New Departure" in the Dublin Freeman's
Journal had been partially copied in the Irishman, with a running
comment, written by Richard Pigott himself, and containing
vicious misrepresentations and insinuations intended to show
that the proposition was an abandonment of the Fenian pro-
gramme and desertion to Constitutional Agitation. This was
the version read by most of the members of the I. R. B. and I
found to my great surprise that it was the only one that Kickham
had seen.
I went over largely because Davitt had asked the Executive
to send me, as he feared opposition by the I. R. B. John O'Leary,
although not a member of the Council, was then residing in
Paris and was invited to attend. There was a very exhaustive
discussion, because all the members except two had read only
Pigott's garbled version of the proposition and looked on the
"New Departure" as an abandonment of physical force and the
substitution for it of constitutional agitation. I succeeded in
convincing them of their error, but during the discussion there
were some sharp clashes between Davitt and Dr. Mark Ryan, who
at this writing (August, 1928) is the only survivor, except myself,
of that meeting. Although a resident of London, he represented
the Province of Connacht on the Council, while Davitt was the
representative for the North of England. Dr. Ryan fancied he
saw the hand of John O'Connor Power in the suggested change
of policy and whenever he mentioned Power's name Davitt, who
was in an irritable mood, replied impatiently. The proceedings
had to be conveyed to Kickham by the deaf and dumb alphabet
by John O'Connor, Secretary of the Council, and at one point
Kickham, not clearly understanding what was going on, lost
patience and said something that deeply offended Davitt, who
in a burst of indignation stood up and announced that he would
withdraw from the meeting. He did so and I accompanied him.
We were both stopping at the Hotel des Missions Etrangeres in the
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Rue du Bac, where the Irish Papal Brigade had stayed on their
way back from Italy, and the meeting was held in a small hotel
near O'Leary's lodgings in the Latin Quarter.
All along the route Davitt cried like a child and remained in
a state of semi-collapse during the rest of the evening. John
O'Leary had succeeded in appeasing Kickham before they went
to bed, and came over to our hotel next morning to induce us to
go back and resume the discussion. We did, and a working
agreement was reached on the basis of approval of that part of
the proposition aimed at securing control of the local public
bodies and leaving the members of the I. R. B. free to take part
in Parliamentary elections, provided they did not enter Parlia-
ment themselves. Kickham was in strong sympathy with the
Land Movement, but opposed to interference in it by the organi-
zation.
The members of the organization in country towns and rural
districts, after the Land League was actually organized a little
later, interpreted the permission rather freely and became the
backbone and the driving force in the Land Movement there-
after.
Kickham remained a few days in Paris after the meeting and
I saw a good deal of him. John O'Connor had to accompany
him everywhere and interpret for him on his fingers. I learned
the deaf and dumb alphabet very quickly and was able to talk
to him freely, but O'Leary was very slow and had to spell out
the words as he went along. This made Kickham a little impa-
tient and he said one day to O'Leary: "You pretend to be a
great friend of mine, yet you don't think it worth while to learn
to talk to me, while this man learned to do so in one day." But
O'Leary was doing his best, though he never mastered the art
of "talking on the fingers". When Kickham closed his left hand
the circuit was shut off and the person talking to him had to
wait till he opened it again.
When he was returning with O'Connor to Ireland, O'Leary
and I accompanied them as far as Dieppe. Kickham was a suf-
ferer from dyspepsia and when his stomach was out of order the
world was coming to an end. The journey upset him like a sea
voyage, and he wanted to get out at the second or third station
where the train stopped, but O'Leary, who had a hobby for look-
ing at Cathedrals, persuaded him, with some difficulty, to wait
till we got to Amiens, where we had to stay for the night.
Next morning when we went to the Cathedral there was a
great crowd of children there for their first communion, dressed
beautifully as only French mothers know how to deck them out.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
315
Though Kickham because of his poor sight could not fully ap-
preciate the beauty of the spectacle, he turned to me and said,
in a voice heard by the whole congregation: "If this man"
(pointing to O'Leary) "keeps looking at Cathedrals and wit-
nesses many scenes like this the grace of God will strike him
some time or other." Every head in the church was turned
towards the man who had spoken so loud in English, but Kick-
ham was unconscious of the fact.
At Rouen we had to get out again and there are two
Cathedrals there. At that of St. Ouere an Irish priest named
McCartan was the Pastor. We visited that first and by the
time we reached the other it was night. The moon was bright
and there was a most beautiful effect of silvery light and shade
on the turrets. Kickham remarked to me that the men who
built those beautiful churches must have had wonderful faith,
and as we turned to leave the narrow street I found that O'Leary
and O'Connor were nowhere in sight, and I was in a most embar-
rassing fix. I didn't know the name of the hotel or the street
it was on and all my money was in my valise. All the hotels
in Rouen were exactly alike, the entrance being an archway
leading to an interior courtyard. I stood waiting, hoping that
O'Leary and O'Connor would miss us and return, but they
thought we had seen them go and would follow them. I had
great difficulty in finding the hotel, but we eventually got there,
with Kickham in a state of nervous excitement.
I didn't like to tell him of my ignorance of the name of
the hotel and the street, hoping I would find them some way
and he kept asking me where we were. As he spoke in a loud
voice and I had to answer on his fingers a crowd of boys gath-
ered around us, thinking I was a dummy, and said mocking
things about us. He saw the boys dimly and it excited him. He
had an ulster overcoat on that nearly swept the ground and a
faded green umbrella under his arm. The sidewalk was so
narrow that three could not walk abreast on it and when he
stopped repeatedly to ask me a question he would turn round
and block the way of anyone who was passing. But he didn't
know it. The boys became so annoying that I had to show them
I was not dumb by ordering them off in rough Algerian French
and at last they got out of our way. I stumbled on the hotel
by sheer luck at last and brought him up to our rooms.
He was very angry at O'Leary for "deserting" us, but it was
really O'Connor's fault. Kickham was called "the gentle
Charles", but the volley of reproaches he poured out on O'Leary
would show that the title did not always fit him.
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We stayed in Rouen that night and accompanied Kickham
to Dieppe next morning. O'Connor and he took the boat there
and crossed to England. He got safely home and traveled no
more. The trip to Paris had shaken him up badly and all future
meetings had to be in Ireland. They were held in his rooms
in his brother's house in Camden Street, Dublin, and were con-
fined mostly to the Executive of the Supreme Council.
Kickham was a devout Catholic, but the Parish Priest of
Mullinahone refused him absolution unless he would give up
the Fenian oath. He refused and went to Thurles to appeal to
Archbishop Croke against the action of his Pastor. I don't
know how long before his death the incident occurred, but the
story of what took place was told me by T. P. O'Connor of
Laffana, who was an intimate friend of Kickham and accom-
panied him as interpreter. He had to tell Kickham on his
fingers what the Archbishop said and Kickham would speak his
own replies. He had been nine years without being able to go
to confession and it grieved him very much. What prompted
him to make the appeal to Dr. Croke was a letter the Archbishop
wrote to the Freeman's Journal in 1877 enclosing a check for
£10 for a fund that was being raised for Michael Davitt and
other Fenian prisoners just released, in which he used the words
"for the men whom the Czar has released from British dungeons."
After a lengthy talk on the merits of the physical force policy
and the Church's attitude towards the Fenians, in which Kick-
ham stoutly maintained the right of the Irish people to use
physical force and to be the proper judge of the time to use it,
and Dr. Croke insisting on the inability of Ireland to cope
with the overwhelming strength of England, he at last yielded
and gave Kickham an order to the priest to hear his confes-
sion without insisting on the oath question. He went to his first
communion in nine years at the church of Clonoulty, the parish
in which O'Connor's residence was situated. He wrote a letter
to his niece, Miss Annie Cleary (who later became Mrs. White) ,
expressing his joy at being allowed to receive the sacraments
once more.
I had had the same argument with Dr. Croke when he was
returning to Ireland via New York, in 1875, ostensibly for his
health, but in reality, Father Eugene Sheehy told me, in antici-
pation of the death of Bishop Keane of Cloyne. His uncle, a
Parish Priest in that Diocese, was the first in Ireland to say
a Mass for the Manchester Martyrs in 1867. Archbishop Croke's
letter to the Freeman in 1877, giving credit to the Czar for the
release of the Fenian prisoners, showed that he retained his old
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
317
nationalist spirit, which encouraged Kickham to appeal to him.
He had said to me in our interview in Sweeny's Hotel in presence
of Father Sheehy and a Father O'Leary (a former Professor in
St. Colman's College, Fermoy, when Dr. Croke was President)
that he had "more respect for the Fenians than for any men in
Ireland, but that he never believed they had a ghost of a chance
for success."
When Kickham died in 1882, there was a great funeral pro-
cession in Dublin which the Freeman said exceeded in numbers
that which followed the remains of John O'Mahony, the Ameri-
can Fenian Leader, to Glasnevin in 1877 (the largest seen in
Dublin since the great demonstration for Terence Bellew
McManus in 1861), and the processionists included all parties.
The I. R. B. was then 35,000 strong and the members came from
all over Ireland and from England and Scotland to pay their
last tribute of respect to the Chairman of the Supreme Council.
John Ryan of London, head of the Organization in Southern
England; John Torley of Duntocher, leader in Scotland; Dr.
Mark Ryan, then living in Brighton, Member for Connacht; Rob-
ert Johnson of Belfast, Representative of Ulster, and every
Member of the Council, as well as practically all the County
Centres in Ireland, marched in the procession. John Dillon,
Timothy Healy, Thomas Sexton and other Members of Parlia-
ment rode in carriages. The line of march was from Blackrock,
where he died in the house of James O'Connor, to the Kings-
bridge Terminus of the Great Southern and Western Railroad,
where the coffin was put on a train for Thurles. It was intended
to have him lie in state in the Cathedral there, but it was closed,
the Pastor saying that in the absence of Archbishop Croke he
could not take the responsibility of allowing the body in. From
Thurles it was taken to Mullinahone, where there was an im-
mense crowd from all parts of Tipperary and the neighboring
counties.
The newspaper report of the funeral says:
"Finding the church of his native town closed against
him and none of the priests present, the friends of the de-
ceased waited some time, after which Mr. Alexander Kick-
ham, standing at the head of the grave, said: 'Friends, place
the remains in the grave and cover it with the earth of his
kindred. The man that lies there was pure and stainless
and a thousand priests could do no more for him.' (sen-
sation.)
"A young clergyman present having read the De Pro-
fundus over the dead, the grave was covered in and
wreaths of immortelles placed above it."
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Alexander Kickham was his brother. John Torley of Dun-
tocher then introduced John Daly of Limerick, who delivered a
short funeral oration, in which he said:
"Surely in some distant time when Irishmen visit the
shrines of their illustrious dead this lonely Tipperary grave
will not be forgotten, for here reposes in death Ireland's pur-
est, bravest and best loved son."
Thus ended the career of Charles J. Kickham, the finest in-
tellect of the Fenian Movement and the truest Irishman that
ever Tipperary produced.
CHAPTER XLVI.
O'DONOVAN ROSSA.
The Most Typical of All the Fenians — His Life was One Lonq
Record of Sacrifice and Suffering.
O'Donovan Rossa's career was an epitome of the history of
Fenianism. He was the very incarnation of its spirit. He typi-
fied more than any other Irishman of modern times the unre-
lenting hostility to English rule and the implacable determina-
tion to get rid of it which were the chief characteristics of the
Fenian Movement, as they were of the United Irishmen and of
John Mitchel. Mitchel and the United Irishmen were the
prophets of Fenianism and no Fenian worshipped more devoutly
at their shrines than O'Donovan Rossa.
The Fenians came after a period of place-hunting and petty-
fogging politics till then unparalleled in Ireland, which had been
rendered half "respectable" by the performances of the previous
ten years. The worst mistakes of Fenianism — and it made many
— were caused by the reaction from the slavish policies of the
corrupt Parliamentarians of the early 'fifties of the nineteenth
century. In rejecting these they discarded many weapons and
agencies which would have helped them to prepare the way for
the final appeal to arms without which their goal of an Inde-
pendent Ireland could not be reached. They saw clearly that in
National Independence lay Ireland's only hope of preserving
the race and enabling it to live, thrive and prosper on its own
soil — that nothing short of that would prevent England from
carrying out her settled policy of stifling Ireland's growth and
removing all possibility of a commercial and industrial rival be-
tween Britain and the Atlantic Ocean. They saw the goal dis-
tinctly and fully realized that there was only one means of
reaching it.
In striking contrast to the politicians whose paltry consti-
tutional methods they swept aside, the Fenians were self-sacri-
ficing men. They had their share of human frailties, but their
worst enemies do not deny that they immolated themselves on
the altar of their country. The opportunity to die for Ireland
did not come to many of them, but they went by the hundred
to the prison cell with heads erect and defiance on their lips,
and by the thousand to exile, privation and suffering without a
319
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murmur. That is why the movement which missed the chance
to show heroism on the battlefield and had no military victories
to its account has exercised such a profound influence on the
Irish people and why its spirit still lives.
In the exercise of this predominant Fenian quality of self-
sacrifice O'Donovan Rossa was the most typical Fenian of them
all. He began to sacrifice himself, his family and his interests
at the very inception of the movement, and he continued it to
his last conscious hour. Often the sacrifice was wholly unneces-
sary, even unwise, but Rossa believed it was called for and never
hesitated or counted the cost. So many thousands of his country-
men knew this that at all times during his long career he had
more personal friends and admirers than any Irishman of his
time. They did not all agree with the particular course he took,
but they recognized his downright sincerity and admired his
outspoken expression of his views. If he made a mistake they
readily condoned it, and this was true of thousands of men who
were not Nationalists at all, as well as of those whose aims
were the same as his.
And as the Irish loved him, so the English hated and feared
him. To them he was the personification of Irish hostility to
English rule, the most implacable foe they had in the wide
world. When an English woman shot him in the streets of
New York, a cry of joy went up from the whole English race at
home and abroad. The English newspapers all printed articles
expressing approval of the attempted assassination and saying
that he had "got a dose of his own medicine." Every English-
man in America justified the act in conversation with his neigh-
bors and could not understand why any right-thinking man
could condemn it. They made it plain that in English eyes
assassination is only wrong when the victim is an Englishman,
or a friend of England, but is all right when one of England's
enemies is struck down. We, Nationalist Irishmen, who know
English history were aware of this fact all along, but the world
is slow to believe it because England has the world's ear and
largely controls the world's output of news.
A well-known Irishman was then living in Colorado among a
colony of English ranchmen, men of the "best" class, sane on
everything else, but morbid on the question of Rossa's activities.
There was not one among them who did not express approval of
the attempt to kill Rossa and wonder that any man of decent in-
stincts could condemn it. They are a strange race, who can
never understand any point of view but their own and think
everything is right that serves English interests.
JEREMIAH O'DONOVAN ROSSA
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
321
They employed Joseph Choate, who became Ambassador to
England and later one of the leading Anglo-Americans in the
country and a shining light among the Pilgrims, to defend
the woman who fired the shot, and he got insanity experts to
prove that she was crazy. British interests required this mis-
carriage of justice and Mr. Choate had sufficient influence to
bring it about. So the woman was sent to an insane asylum and
after a few months quietly released.
As early as 1856 the young men of Ireland had begun to
shake off the lethargy that followed the failure of 1848 and the
betrayal by the Parliamentarian leaders. Small groups of Nation-
alists began to organize in various parts of the country. One of
these organizations was the Phoenix Society of Skibbereen, of
which O'Donovan Rossa was the moving spirit. In May, 1858,
Stephens arrived at Skibbereen on his tour to spread the I. R. B.,
which had been established in Dublin the previous March.
Rossa was sworn in and soon practically the whole membership
had become Fenians. It was because they all originally belonged
to the Phoenix Society, which was a public organization, that
Fenianism at that time was generally known as the "Phoenix
Movement", but its real name then, as later, was the Irish Re-
publican Brotherhood.
As mentioned in Chapter II, Rossa and some of his comrades
were arrested in December, 1858, and released the following July.
Coming out of prison, he found his business broken up and
his family evicted from their home. He kept a shop in which
he sold general merchandise, and he had to reorganize the
business under difficulties. Before his arrest he had many of
the gentry for customers; after his release they all deserted him
and their example was followed by the shoneens. A system of
terrorism was organized, in which Bishop O'Hea, a bitter anti-
Nationalist, took a leading part, with the object of frightening
away his customers, and the boycott had a large measure of
success. The constant persecution eventually broke up his busi-
ness and he had to come to New York in 1863.
He returned to Ireland the same year and on the starting
of the Irish People as the organ of the movement in the follow-
ing November, Stephens appointed him Business Manager of the
paper. From then until the paper was suppressed and the plant
seized on September 15, 1865, Rossa was the most active man in
the movement in Ireland. He travelled constantly for the or-
ganization in Ireland, England and Scotland, and made one more
trip to America. He swore in more members than any ten men
in the movement and had a wider personal knowledge of the
membership than even Stephens himself.
322
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
During a trip through Connacht with Edward Duffy in 1864,
they called on George Henry Moore, at Moore Hall, County Mayo,
and had a conference with him about the organization. Moore
had been a Member of Parliament, but at that time was in re-
tirement. Moore fully approved of the plan of organization
and they could have sworn him in there and then, but on ac-
count of his great ability, and his importance as a public man,
they preferred to have Stephens, the head of the movement, do
so himself, so they arranged a plan of bringing the two men
together. Rossa was to write Moore, who was very much in-
terested in horse racing, to say that the horses of which he had
been speaking to him would be in Dublin on a certain date. This
meant that Stephens would be in town, and was ready to see
Moore.
Promptly on the day named in the letter George Henry Moore
went up to Dublin and had an interview with Stephens, but
nothing came of it. The reason was that Stephens made a propo-
sition to Moore which he knew he would reject — that he should go
to America to make public speeches for the Fenians. Moore told
friends some years later that he knew Stephens made the propo-
sition fully realizing that he must reject it, and that he made
up his mind that the Chief Organizer did not want him.
An effort was made some years ago to misrepresent a por-
tion of what took place during the interview between George H.
Moore and Rossa and Duffy. Moore told them he had a project
in his mind for organizing Volunteers, who could assemble at
the chapel yards after Mass every Sunday and go target shoot-
ing. It was said that Moore's purpose was the defence of the
British Empire. The direct contrary was the case. He intended
those men as the nucleus of an Irish army to throw off the yoke
of England and win Irish National Independence. He spoke
explicitly and left no room for misunderstanding. His visitors
came to him as envoys of an organization that sought Total
Separation and intended to set up an Irish Republic, and he ex-
pressed approval of that programme.
This interview with Moore brought other good results, how-
ever. He had entered Parliament again and when the Fenian
prisoners were being persecuted and some of them done to death,
Moore became their champion and exposed the horrors of their
treatment on the floor of the House of Commons.
Many years later in New York, James J. O'Kelly, who had
been a member of the Supreme Council of the reorganized
I. R. B. before coming to America, told me that the Council
consulted Moore on all important questions and that he was
practically a member of the Council.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
323
O'Donovan Rossa's was the most spectacular of all the Fenian
trials. From beginning to end the prisoner's course was a de-
fiance of the British Government, a merciless exposure of its
utterly unfair methods in conducting political trials and of the
rottenness of its judicial system in Ireland. He made no legal
defense, rejected the advice of the lawyers, and brought on him-
self a heavier sentence than he would otherwise have received.
But he accomplished his purpose.
He held up to public odium as a perjured scoundrel and poli-
tical renegade the judge appointed to try him, showed that he
had a personal grievance against the men whose fate he was to
decide and that he had been placed on the bench as a reward
for betraying the Irish people. And by making all this a matter
of court procedure he secured its publication in every daily
paper in Ireland and Great Britain. It was the best and most
effective piece of propagandist work from beginning to end of
the Fenian movement. And it was, besides, an act of self-sacri-
fice, for Rossa prolonged the agony to give Charles J. Kickham,
who was almost wholly deaf and blind, and whose trial was to
follow his, time to prepare his defense.
The other trials were remarkable enough. The defense was
conducted by Isaac Butt, the leading lawyer in Ireland, who was
assisted by other able men, several of whom later found their
way to the Bench. The trials were characterized by displays of
eloquence seldom surpassed, by able arguments on law and pro-
cedure that were wholly wasted, because the juries in all cases
were carefully packed, and by dignified and spirited demeanor
on the part of the men in the dock. This was especially true of
John O'Leary and Thomas Clarke Luby, two scholarly men of
university training, and of Charles J. Kickham, whose dignified
speeches from the dock did honor to themselves and to the
Fenian movement. But Rossa's trial caught the popular imagina-
tion more than all the others and made him the idol of the
people. From that point of view, it performed a splendid service
to Fenianism, which was then fighting for its life, by arousing
popular sympathy and the militant spirit of the race.
The scandal of appointing William Keogh as one of the two
judges who formed the Special Commission to try the first batch
of Fenian prisoners was characteristic of the British Govern-
ment's methods in Ireland. Promotion to the Bench was the
reward for political services, not of legal ability or character.
All the judges in Ireland at that time had been appointed for
that reason, but Keogh's was the most scandalous that any Gov-
ernment had ever made. He was an able lawyer, but utterly
lacking in principle and character. Even in non-political cases
324
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
he lacked judicial poise and his utterances from the bench were
those of an advocate on either side — generally against the
prisoner — rather than the impartial words of a man holding the
scales of justice. An unscrupulous and reckless demagogue, he
first attracted the attention of the Government at popular meet-
ings by violence of speech which was intended to show that
he was a man worth purchasing. The worst of these was deliv-
ered at Athlone during the days of the Tenant League, which
was a plain incitement to the shooting of landlords. He re-
minded the people that the coming nights would be long and
dark and the moon invisible. Without saying that landlord
shooting would therefore be made easier, that was his plain
meaning and the whole country so understood it.
The Irish People, of which O'Leary, Kickham and Luby were
editors, and Rossa, the business manager, had made a special fea-
ture of exposing the rottenness of the whole Parliamentarian sys-
tem and had mercilessly attacked Keogh as its worst exemplar.
In no other civilized country in the world would a man who had
such a cause of animosity against the conductors of a newspaper
be selected to try them on a serious charge; or would their lives
be placed at his mercy. Yet the British Government ap-
pointed William Keogh, whose dishonesty, corruption and dema-
gogism had been held up to public contempt by the Irish People,
as the judge to conduct the trials of the staff of the Irish People
who had thus treated him. And when a protest was made
against the manifest injustice and unfairness of such a scan-
dalous proceeding, the action was defended by every leading
organ of public opinion in England. English justice is for Eng-
lishmen only.
Luby and O'Leary had been tried, packed juries had con-
victed them and Keogh's violent partisanship had been so undis-
guised in the course of the trials that it was made plain that the
Government was determined to secure a verdict of guilty no
matter what the evidence might be. The sentence of each of
them was twenty years' penal servitude, and the scoundrel on
the Bench had the impudence to lecture the refined gentle-
men whom English law had placed in his power on the heinous-
ness of their offence against society. They had replied with
dignity and courage and had treated his insolence with quiet
contempt.
Rossa was enraged at Keogh's impudence and determined to
handle him without gloves, at whatever cost to himself. As Mr.
Butt and the other lawyers were debarred by the rules and the
etiquette of the courts from adopting the methods which Rossa
proposed to use, he decided to defend himself and to face the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
325
lion in his own den. He put Keogh through the severest ordeal
of his whole life, made him listen while he read article after
article from the Irish People denouncing his treachery and dis-
honesty, drove him to exhibitions of anger which he tried in
vain to conceal, disregarded his decisions and admonitions and
forced the newspapers of Ireland, England and Scotland to
print his black and dishonorable record, the full particulars of
which had been forgotten by many of those who had previously
known them and were until then unknown to the majority of
the people of England. No judge in any country in the world
had ever been so humiliated and disgraced and no court pro-
ceedings had ever before supplied the Irish people with such
amusement. The splendid demeanor of O'Leary and Luby had
evoked the people's admiration, but Rossa's action appealed to
their fighting spirit.
The effect on Keogh was to make him lose his head and to
become intemperate in his interruptions of the prisoner and in
passing sentence. His denial that he was in any way affected by
Rossa's treatment of him was laughable, and the prisoner's defi-
ant interruption, "Go on, Norbury", made his florid face turn
scarlet with rage. And he "got square" with Rossa by inflicting
on him the highest penalty the law allowed him to impose for
"Treason-Felony", — penal servitude for life.
Rossa left the dock with a light step and a defiant look that
won the admiration even of the Orange jury that had found him
guilty, as they freely admitted outside the court. Keogh drank
deep that night, as he always did when irritated, and all Ireland
laughed at him next day.
But the canting, hypocritical English papers, complimented
the ermined renegade on the "calmness" and "dignity" he dis-
played "under extreme provocation", and described Rossa as a
vulgar buffoon. They could only see in his action an ebullition
of passion by a "barbarous Irish peasant". The English can't
understand self-sacrifice, and the idea that O'Donovan Rossa had
immolated himself to accomplish good for his country or to
serve the cause in which he believed, was beyond their compre-
hension.
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was born in Rosscarbery, County
Cork, on Sept. 11, 1831, and claimed to be descended from the
Chief of the Clan. There were three separate branches of the
Clan, called respectively O'Donovan Dubh, O'Donovan Buidhe
and O'Donovan Rossa, all offshoots of the original Sept which
had grown so numerous that they separated eventually and be-
came independent of each other. John O'Donovan, the great
326
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Irish scholar, came of one of these groups, but his immediate
ancestors moved to Kilkenny and remained in that county, which
at the time of his birth was Irish speaking, as all the Leinster
counties were up to the very walls of Dublin. There was hardly
a word of English spoken in Rosscarbery when Rossa was a boy,
but he learned it at school. I believe it was his father who
taught him to read and write Irish, but, whoever taught him,
he did both well.
He was apprenticed to a grocer on leaving school and in early
manhood was started in business for himself in Skibbereen. He
married a Kerry girl named Eager by an arrangement between
the parents, according to the custom of the time. She bore him
four children, all boys, Denis, John, Jeremiah and Conn.
When his first wife died, Rossa married a Miss Buckley, a
tall, handsome girl, the daughter of a prosperous farmer, much
against the wishes of her family, who desired to get her a hus-
band of her own class, but the girl was very much in love with
Rossa and insisted on marrying the man of her own choice. She
was a fluent Irish speaker and she and Rossa always conversed
in the old tongue. He had one son by her, who was reared by
the Buckleys, because at the time Rossa was in constant trouble
and the boy's mother died two or three years after the marriage.
The boy died early also.
Rossa's third marriage to Mary Jane Irwin of Clonakilty is so
fully described in his "Prison Life" that I need not dwell on it
here. Like her predecessor, she was a convent reared girl, very
handsome, and she became a very accomplished woman. I met
the newly married couple a few weeks after their marriage in
1864 in Abbey Street, Dublin, and was introduced to her by James
O'Connor (then the bookkeeper in the Irish People office) as he,
Dan Downing of Skibbereen and I were taking a walk. O'Connor
had told me of the wedding in a short letter a few days pre-
viously, in which he said: "Isn't he the devil's clip to tackle the
third?"
While Rossa was not what is generally known as a "lady's
man", he was always very popular with women. One day as we
were darning stockings in Chatham Prison, Ric. Burke was ban-
tering him on the subject and he explained, "half joke and
whole earnest", that the reason of his success was that he had
a "ball searc" (a beauty spot) which made him irresistible. Then
he opened his shirt and showed us a tiny pink spot, "no bigger
than a flea bite", as one of the men put it, and told us that it
was born with him. He said that Cuchulain and Diarmuid
O'Duibhne had the same mark and that there was an old tradi-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
327
tion in Ireland that any man born with the "ball searc" had all
the beautiful women falling in love with him.
Rossa was a poor hand at the job of darning. The convicts
in Chatham were engaged at that time in constructing a new
dock and they usually got a lot of mud on their stockings. Eng-
lish woollens often have a mixture of cotton, and such are differ-
ent from the soft Irish woollens. The washing was very badly
done and left a lot of dirty dust in the stockings which got up
into our noses and was very offensive. John McClure and Harry
Mulleda darned as neatly as any woman, but Rossa was left-
handed and pulled the thread taut, so that if the stocking was
very "holey" it was hard to see how any human foot could get
into it after Rossa was through his darning. We were allowed
to talk while at work and had two very decent Englishmen,
named respectively Marshall and Andrews, for warders. Mar-
shall was a Cockney who had served in the Tenth Hussars and
for some years had been valet to the Duke of Marlborough,
while his wife, a Welsh woman, was maid to the Duchess, who
was Chief Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria and had to ac-
company the Court when it moved to the Isle of Wight or Bal-
moral. We became very familiar with him and he told us some
very interesting stories about her Majesty. He always called
Rossa "Jerry" and was very frank. He was Chief Warder in
Portland when Tom Clarke and Jack Daly were there, and Tom
told me that he looked as if he'd like to be friendly, but dared
not, as there was a very bitter prejudice against the "dyna-
mite prisoners". He was put in charge of us after the cruel
treatment of Rossa had ceased, following George Henry Moore's
exposures in the House of Commons.
As the then Governor of Chatham was still alive when Rossa's
"Prison Life" was written, there were many things which he
could not reveal without injury to living men. One of these
concerned the Governor and Lord Aberdeen (then Mr. Bruce)
the Home Secretary. Mr. Moore having a specific statement of
the facts in a letter from Rossa (smuggled out by a Highland
Scotch warder named Wallace, a former member of the Life
Guards), asked Bruce about Rossa being handcuffed with his
hands behind his back, and the Home Secretary solemnly de-
nied it and said that such a thing was not possible in an English
prison. This was shifting the responsibility on the Governor
who privately resented it. He ordered Rossa brought to his
office, and then told the warder to leave. This latter was an ex-
ceptional proceeding; as a general rule an interview with the
Governor meant a "trial" for some breach of discipline, and the
warder remained on close guard over his man. When the Gov-
328
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
ernor had Rossa alone, he showed him a letter from the Home
Secretary, not written to the Board of Prison Directors, but to
the Governor himself (a wholly unusual thing) , giving him cate-
gorical orders to inflict the punishment, which was a breach of
the prison rules. There were no typewriters in those days
and it was in Bruce's own handwriting. Bruce "lied like a gen-
tleman" for his country, as Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales,
did to save Lady Mordaunt.
The punishment was inflicted on Rossa for breaking the small
pane of glass in the cell door with the wooden dish in which he
had received his porridge, — "to let in air". Of course, it was a
foolish act, as many of Rossa's other acts were, but he was like
the Irishman who "couldn't keep doing nothing", full of ner-
vous energy which impelled him to constant physical and mental
activity. But as soon as Gladstone, after Moore's exposures,
ordered the relaxation of the persecution, Rossa became the mild-
est and most orderly of all the Fenian prisoners. He wanted
only to be treated as a human being.
When we arrived in New York after being released and de-
ported in January, 1871, Rossa showed the same restless energy,
as if trying to pull up for lost time. He started a passage ticket
agency, with an office in a building on Broadway opposite the
City Hall, he wrote a weekly letter to the Dublin Irishman, he
undertook the editorship of a weekly American paper called the
Era, which was going down and the owner wanted to use Rossa's
name to build it up again; and he went on a lecture tour de-
scribing his treatment in prison. Then when the elections came
in 1872 he ran for the State Senate, in opposition to the corrupt
Democratic Boss, William M. Tweed, against the advice of nearly
all his friends, who believed he had no chance of winning. But
he knew better than his friends and counted on the Corkmen,
whose families, reinforced by Kerrymen, formed the bulk of the
population on the Lower East Side of New York at that time,
especially the old Fourth and Seventh Wards, which made up
the Senatorial District.
He had the endorsement of no political party, had no plat-
form, and ran entirely on his record as an Irishman appealing
to the race to support him. His theory was that there was no
difference between the parties except that between the "ins"
and the "outs". He made an exhaustive personal canvass, and
we all helped him as well as we could, although fully convinced
he would be beaten. Tweed was declared elected by 4,000 major-
ity, but many years later Mike Whalen (father of Grover A.
Whalen) , a Tammany worker in the District, admitted to us
that Rossa won by a majority of 350, but was counted out. The
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
329
Republicans supported him, in order to beat Tweed, but they
were a negligible quantity in the downtown wards of New York
and their workers at the polls were bought by Tweed's Machine.
Soon after Rossa started in business on Broadway, Mike
Heffernan (a cousin of Kickham) , who was a reporter on the
Tribune, brought Horace Greeley to see him, and the editor
was very much disappointed. Greeley knew John Mitchel and
Richard O'Gorman, but Rossa was a man of a wholly different
type from the Young Ireland leaders. When Greeley came out
of the office he asked if Rossa was the leader of the Fenians
and Heffernan replied that he was not, but was probably the
most representative of them all. "Well," said Greeley, "I don't
wonder they failed." In answer to Greeley's questions about the
economic effect of English rule, Rossa said in substance that the
English were foreign tyrants who had no right to rule Ireland.
That was enough for Rossa and it ought to have been enough
for Greeley, who was of remote Irish descent. He was beaten
himself when he ran for President in the following year and his
humiliating defeat broke his heart and ended his career.
Rossa soon gave up the office on Broadway and went into the
hotel business. He was inveigled into it by the landlord of the
Northern Hotel at the corner of Cortlandt and West Streets, op-
posite the Ferry, which was then the chief way of getting to
Jersey City and the Pennsylvania Railroad Station. He thought
Rossa's name would bring trade, but the hotel was too small and
too near the Ferry to be a paying concern and too far downtown
for Irish meetings, though some were held there. He gave it up
in 1875 and took another at Chatham Square and Mott Street,
which was bigger, but not large enough to pay, besides being in
an undesirable location.
Failing there also (though he did not become bankrupt) he
started the United Irishman, which was the queerest Irish paper
ever published. It was a purely personal organ, giving his own
views on everything and his Reminiscences and occasionally
commenting on the news. It was supported entirely by sub-
scriptions, which he called the "rent" and among the "tenants"
were men of all sorts of opinions who liked Rossa personally and
wanted to help him out. Most of them paid him $5 a year, but
Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet made his subscription $100. The doc-
tor was a very kind hearted man and said that Rossa had suf-
fered so much for Ireland that he deserved to be supported in
his old age.
The prevailing opinion that Rossa was a hot tempered man
of violent tendencies is all wrong. He was a man of even tern-
330
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
per and quiet manners who seldom got ruffled and never swore.
Rossa's only approach to swearing was his use of the word
"Christopher" when a little bit aroused. I never knew him to
hit a man but once, and that was his landlord in the Northern
Hotel, who used a vile epithet when speaking to him. Rossa was
left-handed, and his kithogue dealt a severe blow.
Rossa had never played a game of poker until we were placed
on board the Cunard Steamship Cuba on our release from prison
in 1871. Then he learned the game and on our arrival in New
York he had £7 in his pocket as the result of his playing with old
hands at the game. John McClure, Charles Underwood O'Con-
nell, Harry Mulleda and myself accompanied Rossa on that voy-
age, and we became known as "The Cuba Five".
Rossa started an organization which he called the "United
Irishmen" at a Convention held in Philadelphia, of about 150
men, most of whom were members of the Clan-na-Gael, with
some ex-members who had been expelled, and others who could
not get into the Clan. "Red Jim" McDermott was among those
present. A clash soon came with the Clan-na-Gael, because the
affairs of the Clan were the principal subject of discussion at the
meetings. After a Clan committee interviewed M. Shishkin, the
Russian Minister in Washington, in 1877, during the Russo-
Turkish War, the new organization sent a committee to tell him
that the Clan did not represent the Irish Revolutionists, but that
they did. Rossa's committee got no farther than the Secretary
of the Legation, who later told an official of an arms manufactur-
ing company about it and said that the two rival delegations con-
vinced the Russians that there was "neither head, tail nor mid-
dle" to the Irish movement and that it could not be taken seri-
ously.
It was these incidents which led to the personal quarrel be-
tween Rossa and me, made me lose my temper and say hard
things about him which I have ever since regretted. He sent
"Rocky Mountain" O'Brien to me to ask me to call on him in his
last illness, which I did, in company with Colonel Ric. Burke. He
recognized me at once, lifted his enfeebled hand to mine and
said: "John, I'm sorry we ever quarrelled." I could say nothing
but: "So am I, Rossa."
He had not seen Colonel Burke for many years, as Burke
lived in Chicago, and the Colonel was very much changed in
appearance, having become very stout and grown a long beard.
Rossa gazed up at him intently and asked his wife: "Who is this
man?" Burke, who was the joker of the little group of prisoners
in Chatham, said: "What, you old scalawag, don't you know
Ric. Burke?"
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
331
"I know Ric. Burke, but I don't know you," replied Rossa.
"What," said Burke, "don't you remember 'Kick zie bucket'?"
"Ah," said Rossa, "I remember 'Kick zie bucket';" and then
looking at Burke, with a strained expression on his face he said:
"Yes, I remember 'Kick zie bucket'; you're Ric. Burke."
"Kick zie bucket" was one of the Colonel's funny stories in
Chatham which Rossa got him to tell over and over again: A
Frenchman in New York called on a newly made widow to con-
dole with her. He began this way: "Madame, I am very moosh
rotten zat zie husban' 'ave kick zie bucket," and the story ended
there. But Rossa remembered it on his deathbed.
There were a few Fenians still living who joined the move-
ment in America, but while all were old men, Rossa was at the
time of his death the oldest of them all. And he was the last
of the original Fenians of Ireland. The only man of any promi-
nence in the movement whose entrance into it antedated Rossa 's
was Joseph Denieffe, who died many years ago in Chicago.
Rossa died at St. Vincent's Hospital, Staten Island, on June
29, 1915, after an illness of more than two years. He had been
taken to the hospital a few weeks previously after his devoted
wife had broken down nursing him at their home fronting the
harbor. He was a strongly built man about 5 feet 11 in height,
and the work of lifting him in the bed would be a hard task for
a strong male nurse, but his wife insisted on doing it herself
until it became impossible.
There was a great funeral on Staten Island before the body
was taken to Ireland for final interment in Glasnevin. A High
Mass of Requiem was celebrated at St. Peter's Church, West New
Brighton, by Very Rev. Monsignor Charles A. Cassidy, P. R., who
preached a beautiful sermon, in which he paid an eloquent
tribute to the dead. The body was placed in the receiving vault
in St. Peter's Cemetery on July 3 and lay there until July 17,
when it was shipped to Ireland on the American Line steamship
St. Paul.
There was an attempt at a contest for control of the funeral
made by two expelled members of the Clan-na-Gael, who had
neither the money to pay the expenses nor the connection with
Ireland to ensure the proper reception of the remains there, but
Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa quickly, but politely decided the matter
when they called on her and made the proposition, and gave
charge of everything to the Clan-na-Gael. The two men had
had a quarrel with Tom Clarke when he was living in Brooklyn
and called him a "traitor". There is nothing too absurd for an
332
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Irish factionist to do. Tom had spent nearly sixteen years in
English prisons for Ireland while these men were doing nothing.
A cablegram from Tom to me asked the Clan to send the
body to Ireland and telegrams from the members of the Execu-
tive throughout the country authorized me to take charge. I
kept my grip on the arrangements, doing nothing without the
consent of Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa, until the body was placed on
board the steamer, accompanied by his wife and daughter Eileen
(now Mrs. McGowan) on July 17.
On the arrival of the St. Paul in Cobh the body was received
by a committee of the I. R. B. and taken to Dublin.
Unlike his predecessor (Cardinal Cullen), Archbishop Walsh
was a Nationalist, and there was a High Mass at the Cathedral
in Marlborough Street. The remains then lay in state in the
City Hall, where many thousands of people from all parts of
Ireland viewed them. There was a constant stream of visitors
and there were many touching scenes as old friends gave vent
to their sorrow. Irish Volunteers mounted guard.
The funeral took place on Sunday, August 1st, and was the
most imposing demonstration ever held in Ireland, exceeding
even the great McManus funeral in 1861. Thousands of uniformed
Irish Volunteers marched behind the bier and the civilian pro-
cession was several miles long, while a dense mass of people
lined the sidewalks all the way from the City Hall to Glasnevin
Cemetery. Padraic Pearse delivered the funeral oration at the
graveside; it was a historic speech.
The military display marked the wonderful progress of the
National Movement since the funeral of Terence Bellew McManus,
and the Irish Times noted the fact by estimating the number
of trained men in line who were fit for service (for England)
at the front in France. The Irish Tory mind is a curious com-
pound of absurdities and seems incapable of thinking straight.
The demonstration was a great success from every point of
view. It was splendidly managed, perfect order and discipline
prevailed from start to finish and it had a great effect on the
country. It was the most significant demonstration against
English Rule that had taken place before Easter Week, 1916, and
it had considerable effect in preparing the way for it. If the
unconquerable Rebel could look down on the memorable scene
it would console him for all his sufferings and sacrifices and he
would say with John Banim:
"Thou art not conquered yet, dear land;
Thou art not conquered yet."
CHAPTER XLVII.
JAMES J. O'KELLY.
His Spectacular Career as Blacksmith, French Legionnaire,
Fenian, Journalist, Member of Parliament — His Espousal
of England's Cause in the World War a Sad Finale.
James J. O'Kelly played a very important role in the Fenian
movement, but his work was chiefly in England. Sworn in by
James O'Callaghan at an Irish class meeting in A. M. Sullivan's
editorial room in the Nation office in Dublin, he moved to London
towards the close of 1861. He found a small organization there
headed by Peter Maughan, after he had started to organize
with the assistance of James Clancy and Joseph I. C. Clarke
(then a very young man) , and before long became head of the
movement there.
No man in the movement had a more spectacular career, and
it was as varied in his occupations as in the organization. His
father, whose parents came from Roscommon, kept a black-
smith's shop and draymaking establishment in Peterson's Lane,
Dublin, and was the owner of the Cumberland cottages in a
small street near the Westland Row railroad station. He wanted
to make James (his eldest son) a blacksmith, but his mother,
whose brother, John Lawlor, was a prominent sculptor in London,
wished him to become an artist and sent him to his uncle in
London when very young and he remained there two years.
This gave him a sort of an English accent which he never en-
tirely lost. His father insisted on taking him back to Dublin
and set him to work in the forge. Michael Lawlor, his first
cousin, was also a sculptor and moved to London early in 1861.
O'Kelly's father was a man of great physical strength and
one of his feats was to cut in two, with one slash of a sabre, an
iron bar hung by a wire from the ceiling. The only other man
I knew to be able to do that was Martin Hogan of the Fifth
Dragoon Guards. O'Kelly's father was an O'Connellite, while
all the Lawlors were Young Irelanders; those of the latter family
who remained in Dublin being cabinet-makers.
O'Kelly worked (very unwillingly) as a blacksmith until his
father died in 1861, when he sold the property and moved to
London, where he worked at sculpture in his uncle's studio, but
333
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did not remain long enough to master the profession. While
he kept the forge running he made several pikes, and I was his
helper. I also helped a little at shoeing wheels. It was good
exercise. Michael Lawlor was an all-round athlete and he,
O'Kelly and I spent many hours on Sundays heaving stones
and wrestling in the Phoenix Park.
When I started for France in March, 1861, to join the Zouaves,
James O'Kelly was one of those who saw me off on the London
steamer, and my first visit in London was to the Lawlors. Look-
ing for the house I saw a characteristic specimen of the O'Kellys.
There was a group of boys playing in the street and I asked
them my way, but before I could get an answer a fight started
between two of the boys, and one of them, a stocky little fellow
in a green frock, went fiercely at the other and with one thump
made his nose bleed. The nose bleeding chap started crying
and gave up the fight. Then one of the other boys pointed to
the victor in the fight and said: " 'E'll show you." The little
fellow stepped up to me and walked silently by my side till we
came to the house, when he said: "That's it, sir," and went
back to his playmates. I was talking to his grandmother (a fine
old Queens County woman) who kept house for her son, when
the little chap came in, and the old woman said to him: "Ah,
there you are, late for your dinner as usual. What have you
been doing? Up to some mischief, of course." It was Aloysius
O'Kelly, James's youngest brother, the only one alive at the
present writing (December, 1927).
O'Kelly's two other brothers, Charles and Stephen, were also
artists. Their mother, a splendid and very intellectual woman,
was in bad health when her husband died and had to keep
Stephen away from school (Julia, her only daughter, had been
married to Charles Hopper) , and I volunteered to act as Stephen's
tutor. Mrs. O'Kelly gladly accepted the offer and I became a
favorite with her. My eldest sister, Brigid, also visited her fre-
quently and gave her all the help she could. That cemented the
friendship between James O'Kelly and me and influenced our
relationship for the rest of our lives.
In 1863 O'Kelly was elected Captain of the London Irish Volun-
teers, but his uncle refused to give him the £7 necessary to buy
a uniform, so he started for Paris and enlisted in the Foreign
Legion, although I had told him during a visit he paid to Naas
a little earlier, what he would have to face in Algeria and that
the regiment would probably be sent to Mexico to help in making
an Austrian Archduke Emperor of a country that was then a
Republic. I knew that Napoleon the Third's Mexican adventure
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
335
was most unpopular in the French army, but at that earlier date
O'Kelly had no intention of leaving London.
He took part in several battles and met my two friends, Frank
McAlevy (from Scarva, County Down) and Patrick Moriarty.
Moriarty was a seasoned veteran of the Crimean War, from the
Alma to Inkermann and of the Austro-Italian War of 1859. He
was in MacMahon's headlong charge on the Austrian right flank
at Magenta and was severely wounded in the chest by the frag-
ment of an Austrian shell at Solferino, for which he was given
the Medaille Militaire (awarded only for wounds and bravery
in action) and had, besides, the English Crimean medal with
three clasps (the Alma, Inkermann and Balaklava) , and the reg-
ular Italian war medal. He was also in several local campaigns
in Algeria with the Arabs and Kabilep. He was the most fearless
man I ever met and a splendid soldier in every way, but he was
incorrigible for breaches of discipline. I heard he was killed at
Gravelotte.
McAlevy had become a sergeant, but returned to Scarva after
his four years' service had expired. On the outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian War he returned to France and joined the
Franc-tireurs. He was a crack shot with the rifle and within a
few days he picked off a Prussian Captain, then a Major and
next a Colonel and was promoted to a Lieutenancy. O'Kelly met
him again in France and had him slated for Captain in the Irish
Brigade he was authorized to organize, but Paris surrendered
while he was recruiting in Ireland and O'Kelly's hopes of rivalling
the glorious deeds of the O'Briens, the Dillons and the Lallys
were dashed.
When Stephens made the announcement in 1864, "We'll fight
next year", I wrote to O'Kelly and told him. The French were
faring badly at the hands of Juarez, Miliano and the guerillas,
so my letter chased him over half of Mexico and took six months
to reach him. He took the first chance of deserting and made
for the northern frontier on foot. He had only money enough to
buy a cheap suit of clothes and was not many days out when
he was captured by a band of guerillas. He still wore the mili-
tary shirt, so he was easily recognized as a French soldier. He
had picked up a little Spanish and explained to his captors that
he was a deserter. They invited him to join them, but he told
them he wanted to get to Ireland to fight the English. They
knew nothing of Ireland or England and that excuse made no
appeal to them. He was exhausted and fell asleep on the floor
of the hut into which they had taken him. He was awakened
by loud talk and found that they were discussing cutting his
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
throat. There was an old woman present, the mother of some
of them, and she was pleading for his life while he pretended
to be still asleep. She opened his shirt and stroked his white
breast, saying his poor mother would be grieving for her dear
boy, and her appeal at last won. That night she helped him to
escape and told him the road to take. He got to Matamoros,
half dead, starving and in rags, and from there worked his pas-
sage on a coasting vessel to Galveston. There he wrote to his
uncle, John Lawlor, and asked him to send him, to the Poste
Restante in Baltimore, the price of his passage home. He had
secured passage as a deck hand to Baltimore and in a few days
after his arrival there received $75 from his uncle, which en-
abled him to get to London, where the old artist received him as
the prodigal son.
He was just in time for a meeting to discuss the projected
Rising in 1867 and voted against it, arguing that it was mad-
ness on account of the utter lack of arms. He took no part in
the Rising, but set about reorganizing London at once. Soon
after his arrival Michael Breslin was sent over by the Roberts
(Senate) Wing of the Fenian Brotherhood in America and a
Provisional Supreme Council was started, with a skeleton or-
ganization based on the plan of the United Irishmen, with Pro-
vincial, County and Parish representation that redeemed the
chief fault of the old movement, with its One Man Leadership.
Joseph I. C. Clarke and James Clancy gave him considerable
help, but O'Kelly was the chief driving force in the reorganized
movement. Clancy had during O'Kelly's absence enlisted in the
Royal Engineers in order to get a military training, but deserted
when he learned of the projected insurrection. He went about
London pretty freely and a Scotland Yard detective, who recog-
nized him from the description sent out by the military authori-
ties, attempted to arrest him. Clancy shot the detective; before
he could get away a uniformed policeman ran up and knocked
him down by a blow of his club on the head, and he was arrested.
He was sentenced to imprisonment for life for attempted mur-
der and there was no mention of Fenianism in the indictment.
On that account O'Kelly and I had a hard task in later years to
get his name put on the list of political prisoners when Isaac
Butt, George Henry Moore and John Nolan were leading the agi-
tation for Amnesty. The Fenians were classed by the Govern-
ment as "Treason-Felony" prisoners, but O'Kelly eventually suc-
ceeded, through Isaac Butt, in securing Clancy's recognition as a
Fenian and he was released after ten years. T. P. O'Connor got
him a job on an English weekly paper, he married the sister
of the editor, came to New York, and after a brilliant career on
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
337
the Herald and as correspondent of the Berlin Tageblatt, he was
my chief assistant on the Gaelic American at the time of his
death many years ago.
Almost simultaneously with the reorganization in London a
convention met in Manchester representing a much larger num-
ber of old members, including many from Ireland, and a reor-
ganization was effected. The chief factors in this movement were
Colonel Thomas J. Kelly and Ric. Burke and it was this section
which a few months later carried out the Rescue of Kelly and
Deasy in Manchester. There was some friction between the men
in London and those in Manchester, especially between James
O'Kelly and Burke, but the Rescue and the subsequent arrest of
Burke left the Manchester Wing without leaders and an amal-
gamation was before long effected which lasted till Easter Week,
1916.
O'Kelly 's first experience in journalism was as London cor-
respondent of the Dublin Irishman. John F. O'Donnell, the poet,
was London correspondent before O'Kelly, but Pigott failed to
pay the salary of either regularly because he was always in
financial straits.
In 1870, O'Kelly visited me in Chatham Prison. He had a
project to rescue us, with inside help, and wanted to get a look
at the prison. He managed to convey the news to me in veiled
language and I was able to tell him that we had a hint that
Gladstone intended to release us and that the attempt would not
be worth the risk. After returning to London he got confirma-
tion of that and the thing was dropped. But before leaving me
he asked me to tell Ric. Burke that all differences were for-
gotten. This gratified Ric. very much and was good news for
us all.
Some time after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War
O'Kelly went to Paris and offered to organize an Irish Brigade,
but found he was forestalled by an adventurer whom nobody
knew named McAdaras. McAdaras called on Palikao, the Min-
ister of War, and told him he represented the then Lord Mayor
of Dublin, P. J. Smyth, A. M. Sullivan and the others who were
organizing the Ambulance Corps, of which the French knew
through the newspapers. He asked Palikao to obtain an audi-
ence for him with the Empress Eugenie, so that he could obtain
from her an autograph letter authorizing the formation of an
Irish Brigade. The French disasters had begun and they were
grasping at any straw to get help. Palikao (General Montauban)
introduced him to the Empress and she gave him the letter.
Eugenie was very popular in Ireland, and her letter was the
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
introduction of McAdaras to the men he claimed to represent.
He returned to Paris with letters from them and the French ap-
pointed him a General. As he was lame from wounds received
in India, where he told them he had been an officer in the Brit-
ish army, and was unfit for active service, he was appointed
Inspector of Camps, with the pay of a General. O'Kelly ac-
counted for his own departure from the Legion by telling them
that he had been captured by Mexican Guerillas. They accepted
his explanation, appointed him a Colonel and authorized him to
go to Ireland to recruit the Brigade.
The first definite information received by any Irishman about
McAdaras came to Dr. Constantine J. MacGuire, who had gone
to France as second in command of the Irish Ambulance Corps
and was then a surgeon in the French Army. He had an ap-
pointment with McAdaras in a cafe and while waiting for him
found the Paris correspondent of the London Standard, an ex-
Captain of cavalry in the British army, whom he knew, sitting
at a table. He sat down beside him and while they were chat-
ting the door opened and McAdaras limped in. As soon as he
saw the Captain he turned on his heel and went out again. The
Captain stood up and glared after him and MacGuire said: "I
see you know my friend, General McAdaras."
"General be damned," replied the Englishman; "that fellow
was sergeant-major of my troop and he's the damndest scoun-
drel from here to hell."
McAdaras had a great facility for picking up a smattering
of foreign languages, but what he knew of them he spoke glibly
and he was eking out a living by acting as interpreter for Ameri-
can tourists who spoke only English, until he played the success-
ful confidence game on the French Minister of War.
After the close of the war, McAdaras for several years posed
as the representative of the Irish Revolutionists, which he was
not, and his title of General in the French army enabled him
to deceive the Russians and other foreigners. He came to Amer-
ica and married an American widow in St. Louis, who had
$400,000 and took her carriage across on his trips to Europe. He
was the most successful of all the fakers who traded on the Irish
Movement, but he never got into it.
The surrender of Paris and the opening of peace negotiations
ended the Irish Brigade project and O'Kelly returned to Paris
only to find that his pay had already been drawn and spent
by McAdaras, so he went back to London and had to borrow
the money to come to New York a few weeks after the arrival
of the released Fenians. When he called to see me he was in a
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
339
sorry plight. His clothes were fairly good, but he had not a clean
shirt or the money to buy one. My shirts fitted him, so I gave
him one and a little money. In two days Joe Clarke got him a
job as a reporter "on space" on the Herald. The week after he
started work (July 12) the so-called "Orange riots" occurred,
and Mike Kelly, the City Editor, assigned him to the job. There
was no real riot. The Orangemen decided to hold a parade and
got a permit to march up Broadway. The Hibernians protested
and some of them made threats, so "handsome Johnny" Hoff-
man, the Governor, decided to ride at the head of the procession
"to vindicate the right of public meeting" and so gave a fictitious
importance to what would have otherwise been a very small in-
cident. There was a large crowd in the street to see the Irish
scrimmage (that didn't come off) and the National Guard was
turned out. Some fellow on the roof of a house fired a pistol
shot in the air which, of course, hit nobody, and Jim Fisk's
Ninth Regiment, which was lined up on Broadway in front of
that particular house, immediately levelled their rifles and, with-
out orders, fired on the crowd, broke ranks and fell back in
disorder to the sidewalk. Pat Lennon, the man who commanded
the Fenians at Stepaside and Glencullen and who had served
as a Lieutenant in a New York cavalry regiment in the last two
years of the Civil War, happened to be standing by and told me
that evening that the Ninth men were in panic and that three
men with revolvers could have routed the whole cowardly pack.
One company of the Eighty-fourth Regiment, N. Y. National
Guard, also fired in panic and without orders, and a number of
men, women and children were killed and wounded.
That was the only "riot" there was, but the newspapers next
day and for several days after were filled with sensational re-
ports of the "riot" that hadn't taken place. It was a great week
for the "space" men, and O'Kelly cleaned up $106 — $8 a column
of nonpareil. Both the Ninth and the Eighty-fourth Regiments
went out of existence soon after and Jim Fisk was shot a year
or two later by Ed. Stokes in a quarrel over a woman named Josie
Mansfield.
One of O'Kelly's earliest feats on the Herald was on the occa-
sion of the escape of Henri Rochefort from New Caledonia. He
was sent by Bennett to meet the famous Frenchman in Chicago
and found him on the station platform surrounded by a group
of reporters (including John F. Finerty, then on the staff of the
Chicago Times) trying to interview him. None of them spoke
French and Rochefort knew no English, so there was no chance
of getting the interview. O'Kelly elbowed his way to Rochefort
and told him in French that if he gave an exclusive interview
340
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
to the Herald the paper would give him all the space he wanted
and print every word of it. Rochefort accepted the offer and
O'Kelly called a cab, as the other newspaper men vainly pro-
tested, and took him to a hotel, where he gave orders that nobody
be allowed to see him, as he was taking a bath. The two took
the next train for New York and O'Kelly interviewed him all the
way, wiring the copy to the Herald in instalments as the train
sped eastward. He tipped the conductor, who stopped the train
at 125th Street long enough to permit the two of them to alight.
O'Kelly then drove Rochefort to the old Grand Central Hotel,
where he gave similar orders. The other reporters (including
myself) were waiting at the Grand Central Station, as the train
was not due to stop at 125th Street, and all had to return to their
various offices disappointed. In the Herald office every man who
knew French was on the job translating the portion of the state-
ment that had come by wire when about nine o'clock Rochefort
and O'Kelly walked in. The Frenchman started at once to cor-
rect the proofs and the paper went to press about half past two
(the usual time) with two pages, one in French, the other in
English, in which Rochefort got square with all his enemies,
from Thiers down, in the spiciest v/ay. It was a great "scoop",
and the other papers were only able to report that Rochefort had
arrived in New York and fill up with sketches of him. This was
typical of New York journalism at the time.
O'Kelly rose rapidly on the Herald. He had superabundant
energy and was a tireless worker. Tom Connery, the Managing
Editor, quickly realized his merit and made him Dramatic
Critic and soon after he took the job of Art Editor, filling both
positions at the same time and receiving $50 a week — at that
period a very good salary. He also made some money by dealing
in paintings, which he kept on exhibition at Goupil's Art Gal-
lery on Fifth Avenue.
In 1873, O'Kelly was sent by the New York Herald at his own
request to Cuba to get into the Insurgent lines and report on
conditions there, with a view to arousing the sympathy of the
American people with the cause of Cuban Independence. The
Herald at that time made a feature of foreign news and its
despatches were sent to the papers all over the country by their
New York correspondents. On the day of his departure I spent
several hours with him and as I bade him good-bye we drank a
toast "A Cuba Libre" in a glass of Burgundy.
The Insurgent leaders were informed by their friends in New
York of his mission and he was received with open arms by their
agents in Havana. He had letters of introduction to Ceballos,
the Spanish Governor General, and asked him for a permit to
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
341
enter the Rebel lines, which request was politely, but haughtily
refused. That did not increase the vigilance of the Spaniards,
and as the Rebels had a perfect system for eluding the Spanish
outposts, he was safely smuggled in during the night.
He had acquired a good smattering of Spanish during his
stay with the Foreign Legion in Mexico, but he asked James
Gordon Bennett to allow him to take "General" Millen along be-
cause the latter had spent ten years in Mexico and knew Spanish
well. It was an unfortunate choice, for Millen started to under-
mine O'Kelly with the Cubans from the start and when he got
back to New York after having done nothing of the slightest
value took the credit with the Cubans for all O'Kelly's work, al-
though he got his job as a Herald reporter on O'Kelly's recom-
mendation.
During his stay with the Cubans, O'Kelly saw several
skirmishes and found that the Insurgents were wasting ammu-
nition. They were armed with Remington rifles and machetes
and always fought at close quarters. Arms of precision were of
little use in such fighting. He pointed out this to the leaders
and recommended them to use muskets or fowling pieces loaded
with slugs, which would put the Spanish soldiers hors de combat,
and that was as good as killing them for the moment. They
adopted his advice and the change proved to be beneficial. They
put more Spaniards out of action, firing from cover, and won more
fights than the costly Remingtons had enabled them to do.
O'Kelly was a born soldier and very practical.
The Rebels conveyed for O'Kelly brief notes to Millen in
Havana, and he sent them to the papers as his own, chang-
ing the wording a little and got credit for them. I don't re-
member how long O'Kelly remained within the Rebel lines, but
when he was coming out he was caught, tried by courtmartial
and sentenced to be shot. This made a great sensation, but
as he had not been long enough in America to become a citizen,
the Spaniards paid no heed to the protests from Washington. He
was still a British subject and the English Anti-Slavery Society
did some effective work by pressure on the Government in his
behalf. This secured a stay in the execution and gave Emilio
Castelar, then President of the short-lived Spanish Republic,
time to order Ceballos to send him to Spain as a prisoner. This
saved his life. Castelar was a great friend of Ireland and would
have given a large measure of Autonomy to Cuba if he dared.
He intended to save O'Kelly, but he had to keep up appearances,
for the army was all-powerful in Spain and would have resented
O'Kelly's liberation, so he was sent to the fortress of Santander
and confined there for several weeks.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
General Sickles was then American Minister to Spain and
secured O'Kelly's release in his custody and on his parole. I
got several letters from O'Kelly from Santander and some after
his release. Pi y Margal, who had written a book on Ireland
and was a strong sympathizer with Ireland's aspirations for
Freedom, was Minister of the Interior in the Republican Cabi-
net and sent word by a private messenger to O'Kelly to sur-
render his parole and go to Gibraltar at once, as General Lopez-
Dominguez, the Captain-General of Madrid, would overthrow the
Republic next day and would certainly have him shot if he re-
mained in Spain.
O'Kelly, without telling General Sickles of the reason, in-
formed him of his intention to surrender his parole and asked
him to accompany him to the Ministry of the Interior and he did
so, protesting the while against O'Kelly's folly as he stumped be-
side him on his wooden leg over the short distance. He as-
sured him that he was certain of securing his release in a short
time if he only left the case in his hands and O'Kelly could
not tell him of the confidential information he had received
from Pi y Margal. When O'Kelly surrendered his parole the
Minister said, "All right, senor; kindly leave your address with
me and you will hear from me later."
O'Kelly had his valise packed and took the next train for
Gibraltar. On his arrival there next day he picked up a paper
and read the report of the overthrow of the Republic by Lopez-
Dominguez, who had the whole garrison at his back. He re-
mained at Gibraltar for several days waiting for a steamer to
take him to England, and put his leisure time to good use.
He found the two regiments of the garrison had many men
who had taken the Fenian oath and were still true to it. He in-
spected the fortress and decided that it could be easily taken by
surprise from the land side. There was a short flight of stairs,
hewn out of the rock, which was used by smugglers, with a very
small guard house at the top, providing only for a corporal's
guard, and there was only one sentry on duty at a time. The
soldiers were bribed by the smugglers and let everyone in and
out without question. Only one man could use the steps at a
time, and O'Kelly made up his mind that a handful of men
speaking English could easily make their way up unsuspected,
overpower the guard and cover the entry of a large body if the
Spanish Government would permit their secret concentration.
As mentioned elsewhere, O'Kelly met Dr. William Carroll in
1877. He told Carroll of his experience in Gibraltar and sug-
gested that they call on Canovas del Castillo, the Spanish
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
343
Premier and Leader of the Conservative Party, and lay before
him a plan which O'Kelly had thought out for the capture of the
fortress by a body of Irishmen selected from the L R. B. and
some ex-soldiers of the United States Army to be supplied by the
Clan-na-Gael, the latter to include artillery men. Of course, the
plan could only be carried out with the connivance of the Spanish
Government, which should have a body of troops ready to occupy
the fortress after the Irishmen had captured it by a night
attack.
Dr. Carroll and O'Kelly went to Madrid, obtained an audience
with the Premier and laid the plan before him. O'Kelly knew
enough Spanish (supplemented by some French, which Canovas
understood fairly well) to make himself understood and ex-
plained his plans in detail. Dr. Carroll, who had been a Surgeon-
Major in the Union Army in the Civil War, was a fine, hand-
some man of imposing appearance, and made a very good im-
pression on the Spanish Premier.
Canovas thanked the two Irishmen cordially for their offer,
and in regard to O'Kelly's proposal said in substance:
"There is nothing dearer to the heart of every Spaniard than
the recovery of Gibraltar, but its capture would be useless to us,
for the British fleet could destroy our sea coast cities and com-
pel us to surrender it. It could only be restored to Spain in
the event of England's defeat in a great war."
From the post of Dramatic Critic and Art Editor of the Herald,
James Gordon Bennett sent O'Kelly to Brazil to accompany the
Emperor, Dom Pedro (who afterwards abdicated) on his pro-
jected visit to the United States. Dom Pedro, who was a big-
hearted, generous man, made him and his wife, a sister of Joseph
I. C. Clarke, his guests during their stay; and he came to New
York on the same steamer. He managed the Emperor's tour of
the United States from first to last and saved him from much
trouble and annoyance, especially from reporters seeking inter-
views. The feelings of the disappointed newspapermen may be
judged from an incident in San Francisco. The reporters boarded
the train at Vallejo or Sacramento, but O'Kelly refused to let
them have a word with the Emperor. The Chronicle man (an
Irish-American) got square by inserting in the paper next day
as his only report, the following "personal":
"Mr. James J. O'Kelly of the New York Herald arrived in
San Francisco yesterday, accompanied by the Emperor of
Brazil."
When Dom Pedro returned to Brazil, O'Kelly resumed work on
the Herald but soon made up his mind to return to London, in
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
1880. Before starting he offered to re-establish the Arms Bureau
there, for connection with which Michael Davitt and an English-
man named Wilson had been sentenced to penal servitude, and
the offer was accepted by the Executive of the Clan-na-Gael,
subject to the approval of the Supreme Council of the I. R. B.
Assuming that the plan would be accepted, as O'Kelly had man-
aged the bureau with great success up to Davitt's conviction, he
was given $10,000 out of the National (or Skirmishing) Fund to
start the work, but, owing to the opposition of John O'Leary,
who disliked O'Kelly on account of his support of John O'Connor
Power, the Supreme Council refused to accept O'Kelly and he re-
turned the money without deducting a penny for his expenses.
O'Kelly's attempt to effect an understanding with Parnell in
1877, need not be repeated here. Had it succeeded, the co-opera-
tion of the I. R. B. with Parnell would have been effected then,
and the "New Departure" of 1879 would have been unneces-
sary. Such co-operation was in the minds of many old Fenians
before I started the move.
O'Kelly had a great stroke of luck on the voyage to England
in 1880. The Arizona of the Williams and Guion Line, on which
he was a passenger, struck a half -sunken iceberg a few days out
from New York. Her prow was shaved off, but she was saved
by the forward bulkhead remaining intact and she was able to
steam into Halifax for repairs. O'Kelly wired the story of the
vessel's narrow escape from destruction to the Herald, and as it
was a "scoop" he received a handsome remuneration from the
paper, which much more than paid his expenses over. In a few
weeks after his arrival in Liverpool, Parliament was dissolved
and he ran for North Roscommon against The O'Connor Don and
won in the most spectacular election contest of that year. The
result of the election paved the way for Parnell's leadership, and
O'Kelly remained as Member for North Roscommon until his
death.
It was generally believed that he was Parnell's chief adviser
during his Parliamentary career. Be that as it may, he was
very close to Parnell and in his confidence. From the very
beginning he believed that Parnell was the best man for Leader
and he stood by him to the last. During the bitter fight in
Committee Room 15 he made a strong defense of the Chief and
characterized as folly the surrender of the majority to English
dictation. At the request of the old Fenians in Chicago, where I
was at the time, I sent him a cable saying that if Parnell yielded
to English clamor it would break the movement in America and
do irreparable harm to the Irish Cause. My prophecy was ful-
filled, the American Land League went to pieces, and it was only
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
345
when William O'Brien founded the United Irish League that a
new organization was established here.
When the Split came after the fight in Committee Room XV,
Parnell sent O'Kelly to America at the head of a delegation con-
sisting of William Redmond, "Long John" O'Connor and young
Harrison (a grandnephew of Henry Joy McCracken) to plead
his cause and cabled me to meet them in New York and advise
them. I did so and told O'Kelly the Land League was broken
and that some new organization was necessary. He said that
was too big a job and that they would have to do the best they
could with the material at hand. I told him it was rotten and he
would fail. He had no knowledge of Irish organizations in Amer-
ica and did not realize the power and evil influence exercised by
Alexander Sullivan, so he persisted and was deceived, hum-
bugged and cheated, and the delegation, after wasting several
weeks in America in fruitless negotiations with men who never
intended to help them, returned disheartened to Ireland. The
only money they received was about $3,500, the proceeds of a
meeting in New York.
I gave a full account of their experience in America in a series
of articles in the Gaelic American, but it is too long for insertion
here.
During England's war with the Mahdi, the London Daily News
sent O'Kelly to Egypt as correspondent, and he managed to get
into communication with the Rebel Chief through the Egyptian
Nationalist leaders. Knowing the military situation he made up
his mind that 20,000 rifles in the hands of the Mahdi's men would
enable them to turn the tide of battle and he wrote me, through
John Boyle O'Reilly, asking that the Clan-na-Gael supply them.
He said he would send a cipher cable from Suakim when his
plans were completed. As the "Triangle" was in power at the
time — it was some time between 1881 and 1884 — all I could do was
to send his letter and cablegram to Alexander Sullivan, who was
then Chairman of the Executive, and practically dictator, ad-
vising that the proposition be complied with. I knew there was
sufficient money in the Treasury, as all the funds of the Clubs
had been sent in and a Special Call had realized $87,000 more.
Sullivan acknowledged receipt of my letter, but did not say
what he would do. I did not mind this, as I thought it was only
necessary reticence, but nothing whatever was done and a fine
opportunity of striking a blow at England was missed. Instead,
a lot of money was wasted on a more or less futile dynamite cam-
paign of terrorism and the greater part of the funds was lost by
Sullivan in gambling on the Chicago Board of Trade.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
In 1888, Parnell sent O'Kelly to ask me to postpone the trial
of the charges which Luke Dillon and I had brought against the
Triangle (Sullivan, Boland and Feely) until after the trial before
the Parnell Commission had ended, lest the evidence might
prejudice the defense. Patrick Egan had written to Parnell
telling him that my object in making the charges was "to get
down in black and white, evidence that would help the Times".
I handed to O'Kelly a printed copy of the charges, which did
not contain a word about the £20,000 which Egan had given
to Sullivan in Paris, but were concerned only with Clan-na-Gael
funds. O'Kelly assured me that Parnell did not believe Egan's
statement, but was afraid that something about this transaction
might get into the evidence and be used against him by the
Times. I have been subject to this kind of throat-cutting for
nearly half a century, and always at the hands of men who were
themselves dishonest.
During the World War, O'Kelly's old sympathy with France
and his bad treatment by a Supreme Council that had gone out
of existence, put him on the side of the Allies and made him
blind to the fact that England's enemy was necessarily Ireland's
friend, and he died during the war espousing England's cause.
It was a sad ending to all his splendid work for Ireland. I had
been out of touch with my boyhood friend for many years. The
last I heard of him was in a published communication between
himself and the renegade "Long John" O'Connor replete with
fulsome eulogy of the gallantry of the English at Ypres which
utterly disgusted me. O'Kelly and I had never before been on
opposite sides.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
COLONEL RICARD O'SULLIVAN BURKE.
. Record in the Civil War, Services to Fenianism, and Conduct in
Prison, Proved Him a Remarkable Man — Success of the
Rescue at Manchester under His Leadership, the Crowning
Incident of an Extraordinary Career.
Colonel Ricard O'Sullivan Burke was by long odds the most
remarkable man the Fenian movement produced, and also one
of the ablest. The story of his life is in large part the history
of Fenianism and reads more like romance than a record of
actual facts.
He was the youngest son of Denis and Margaret Burke, and
was born at Keneagh, near Dunmanway, County Cork, on Janu-
ary 24, 1838. His father was a civil engineer.
When a boy he was tutored at the local National School,
the master of which was a Carlow man named Murphy, who
later became master of the Model School in School Street,
Dublin, which I attended for several years. Murphy was a
dyed-in-the-wool West Briton, and after his two former pupils
had been sent to prison for Fenianism he expressed bitter regret
at his misfortune in having put two such rebels through his
hands.
Young Burke from early boyhood showed military tastes and
when the Crimean War broke out, in 1853, although he was only
fifteen years of age, he and a number of other boys attempted
to join the British army to get to the war. English propaganda
at that time made a feature of Russian tyranny in Poland and
for a time it was very effective in Ireland. Many young fellows
enlisted in the hope that they would have a hand in freeing the
Poles. The fact that the French were fighting side by side with
the English also had some influence in Ireland, but Poland was
not freed, nor was her name even mentioned in the terms of
peace. Although he was a tall, well developed boy, his youth
prevented his being accepted as a recruit. But he was determined
to be a soldier, so he joined the Cork militia, where they did not
raise the age question.
When the militia regiment was disbanded at the close of the
war, in 1856, he was ashamed to go home, on account of the dis-
grace attending service in the militia, which was mainly com-
posed of corner boys, tinkers, and other wastrels, so he went to
347
348
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
sea. Before long his superior intelligence won him promotion
and he became supercargo of a sailing vessel. He "followed the
sea" for several years and travelled practically around the world.
He visited nearly all the Mediterranean ports, went to Japan,
Peru, Chili, Argentina, Mexico, and the United States. He spent
about a year in Paris, where he picked up a fair knowledge of
French. He also studied art in Paris.
He reached New York for the second time a little before the
outbreak of the Civil War and at once made up his mind to enlist
in the Federal Army. His sympathies were strongly with the
cause of the Union and he was opposed to human slavery. This
threw him naturally into the Republican Party and he remained
in it to the end, although he was never a politician. He enlisted
in the Fifteenth New York Light Infantry, under Colonel John
McLeod Murphy.
Burke, who was then twenty-three, was appointed color-
bearer of the Fifteenth just before the Battle of Bull Run, in
which he took an active part. After Bull Run the regiment was
sent back to Washington to undergo training as an engineer
unit. On account of his inherited talent and some experience
with his father, Burke made rapid progress in the Engineering
School and became very proficient.
Early in 1862 he took part in the siege of Yorktown. He also
fought at the Battle of Gloucester, and participated in the fierce
fighting of the Seven Day Battle, from Mechanicsville to Malvern
Hill, and at the Battle of Franklin's Crossing.
In 1863 he was appointed a First Lieutenant. He was a hard
worker and most ardent student, and in the intervals between
battles devoted much time to the study of the science of war.
In 1864 he served through the Battles of the Wilderness, Spottsyl-
vania, Bathesto Church, and many others. In the same year he
was assigned to the staff of the Chief Engineer at General
Grant's Headquarters at City Point. A little later the siege of
Petersburgh took place and he was in charge of fifteen miles of
earthworks in front of the city. The Confederates were forced
to evacuate the city and this led to the fall of Richmond and
later to the surrender of Lee at Appomatox.
In May, 1865, he was made a Captain, in order to take com-
mand of the company assigned him at Burke's Station, Va. The
rank of Colonel by brevet was conferred on him just before he
was mustered out of the service at Fort Barry, Va., on June 13,
1865. He had gone through the whole war, from Bull Run to
Appomatox, without a scratch, but on the day of the mustering
out the men of his company went on a joyous drunk and were
COLONEL RICARD O'S. BURKE
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
349
firing off their rifles indiscriminately, when a bullet grazed his
hand, inflicting a slight wound.
He joined the Fenian Brotherhood in New York before his
regiment left for Washington, and helped to organize it in the
Army of the Potomac at the front. The Federal Generals were
in sympathy with this work and the Government threw no ob-
stacles in its way. The organization in the army was grouped
in separate units and Burke was at the head of one of them.
After having been mustered out Colonel Burke went to New
York and reported to John O'Mahony, then Head Centre of the
Fenian Brotherhood, for service in Ireland whenever called upon,
and, while waiting for orders, secured work as bookkeeper in a
publishing house. In a few months the orders came and he
proceeded to Dublin, where he reported to Colonel Thomas J.
Kelly, then acting as Chief of Staff for James Stephens, the
Chief Executive of the I. R. B. Kelly recommended him to
Stephens as the best man to act as agent of the organization
in England for the purchase of arms. He proceeded to England
at once and made contracts in a very skillful way for the de-
livery of arms, but lack of money, caused by the American Split,
prevented the filling of most of the contracts. The various con-
signments actually delivered amounted in all to 2,000 Enfield
rifles and they were stored safely in Liverpool.
Matters being almost stagnant in Ireland in 1866, awaiting
news from Stephens in America, Burke returned to New York in
the Summer of that year, and was one of those who attended the
Conference in the Fall, at which it was decided to return to
Ireland and fight early in 1867.
During the whole Winter American officers and refugees of
the I. R. B. kept going in small groups to Ireland, but the num-
ber was by no means as large as in 1865. The plans for the Ris-
ing were made hastily at meetings of small groups and then sub-
mitted to a meeting of Irish Centres in Dublin, which was very
representative, but could not be called a Convention of the I. R. B.
The gathering was called mainly to give instructions to the men,
rather than to formulate plans, which were made chiefly by
General Halpin, Colonel Kelly and Colonel Burke.
Colonel Burke's assignment to take charge of Waterford in
the Rising, the boarding by him of the Erin's Hope off the Irish
Coast, his participation in the I. R. B. Convention at Manchester
in the late summer of 1867, the successful carrying out of his
plans for the "Manchester Rescue", and his arrest and deten-
tion at Clerkenwell Prison, have already been dealt with.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Ric Burke was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude on
the charge of purchasing arms for the Fenians in England. There
was no evidence to show any connection with the Clerkenwell
explosion, but the Government's belief that he had planned it,
influenced their whole treatment of him thereafter. He was in
Chatham Prison in 1869, when the prison doctor made an at-
tempt to kill him by poison, but he discovered it in time, foiled
it by pretending insanity which compelled the Government to
remove him to the Invalid Prison at Woking and later to Broad-
moor Convict Lunatic Asylum. His fellow-prisoners in Chatham
at the time were O'Donovan Rossa, General William G. Halpin,
Charles Underwood O'Connell, Captain John McClure, Harry S.
Mulleda and myself. John Warren and Augustine E. Costello had
been released a few months previously.
Burke soon realized the symptoms caused by the medicine
the doctor had given him, emptied his stomach one day and got
the prison chaplain, Father O'Sullivan (a cousin of Alexander
M. and T. D. Sullivan) to take the contents outside and have
it analyzed by a chemist, without letting him know where the
stuff came from. The chemist's analysis showed conclusively the
presence of a small dose of poison, and Father O'Sullivan so re-
ported to Burke. It was evidently the intention to do the job by
slow degrees. Burke at once began his efforts to foil the attempt
by shamming insanity, even keeping up the pretence with his
Fenian comrades, fearing lest an indiscreet word might spoil his
scheme. Most of them thought at the time that his belief that
he was being poisoned was an evidence of actual insanity, but
they were all fully convinced of the facts later on, when after
his release he was able to explain everything.
He presented a pitiable spectacle at that time. His once stal-
wart form became shrunken, the skin of his face was yellow and
full of freckles, and his legs below the knees, which were exposed
by the knickerbocker trousers, were reduced to merely skin and
bone. He was taken away from the others while at exercise in
the prison yard, and the look on his face was inexpressibly sad.
It was as much as to say: "Good bye for ever, boys." Up to then
he had been the life of the party, which worked at darning stock-
ings in the same room and were allowed to talk all day. He was
always the most cheerful and optimistic of the lot, and con-
stantly regaled them with humorous stories.
He went through a terrible ordeal at Woking and Broadmoor,
and was little more than a skeleton when finally released in 1872.
After his release he went to the home of one of his brothers at
Coachford, County Cork, where he spent practically his whole
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
351
time in the open air, fishing and fowling, until his health was
completely restored.
The animus of the prison officials against Burke is clearly
revealed in the evidence given by Dr. Burns before the Royal
Commission which inquired into the treatment of the Fenian
prisoners, the report of which is printed in a Blue Book. The
Commission consisted of the Earl of Devon, Chairman; a Mr.
Broderick, who was then a leader writer on the Times and was
later Secretary of State for War; Dr. Greenhow, an eminent
London physician, and Dr. Lyons of Cork, an Irish Whig, but who
was good-natured and fair. The Commission sat in Chatham,
Portland and Woking, where the Fenians were incarcerated at
that time (in 1869) , and Dr. Burns repeated his testimony in
substance several times. He said on each occasion that "Burke
was the cleverest of all the Fenians, but his cleverness was that
of a devil". He varied it a little sometimes by using the word
"devilish" or "demoniac".
Burns was a handsome little Scotchman who had been a
surgeon in the navy. His face had a nice expression, but he was
cold-blooded and heartless, and treated every sick Fenian as if
he was "malingering", except in the case of myself, and I never
asked him for anything but a dose of castor oil.
Burke returned to America in 1874 and spent most of his time
for a while lecturing in the Eastern States. Subsequently, he was
appointed a clerk in the War Department, Adjutant-General
Drum being an old friend of his. He joined the Clan-na-Gael in
Washington and remained a member until his death. He was
one of the Reception Committee which welcomed Charles Stewart
Parnell and John Dillon in Washington when they came to
America in 1880 to collect money to relieve the distress in Ireland
and to finance the Land League, and he was one of those who
secured the hearing for Parnell before the House of Represen-
tatives.
For several years his activities were confined to the Clan-
na-Gael and he was a delegate to several Conventions of the
organization. He "took the stump" for Garfield in 1880 and made
an extensive tour of the country for James G. Blaine in 1884. It
was during the Garfield campaign that he met his wife in Fort
Wayne, Ind., eloped with her and married her in Washington.
He was then over forty-five and she only twenty.
About this time he left Washington and went to Mexico to
build railroads. As engineer in the employ of the Mexican
National Construction Company, he built the railroad from
Laredo, via Monterey, to Mexico City. Returning to the United
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
States he lectured for a while in Colorado, and was then ap-
pointed Assistant City Engineer in Omaha, Neb. Leaving Omaha
he went to Chicago in 1884.
The father of Richard Croker (the famous Tammany leader) ,
a County Cork blacksmith, was veterinary sergeant in Burke's
company, and had some knowledge of his people in Ireland.
He was a very liberal Irish Protestant, a relative of the famous
Crofton Croker, and, while not a Fenian, was in sympathy with
the movement. Some time after Burke had moved to Chicago
he happened to meet the younger Croker who in the course of
conversation asked him what he was doing. Burke answered
that he was Map Clerk in the County Clerk's office in Chicago,
and Croker said: "Don't waste your time in a petty job like that.
Come to New York and I'll give you a position worthy of your
talents. New York is going to be the greatest city in the world
and for many years there will be great construction work requir-
ing able engineers. I'm sure from what my father told me of
your ability that you'll make good, so you'll be fixed for life."
Ric thanked him cordially, but declined the offer. Croker was
noted for standing by old personal and family friends, but Burke
was also staunchly loyal to his. And, as Michael Ryan, County
Clerk of Cook County, Illinois, had sent for him to Omaha and
had given him congenial employment, he made up his mind
to stay where he was.
In Chicago, Burke became Assistant City Engineer and was
responsible for much of the construction work on the Drainage
Canal which takes the sewage of that city to the Mississippi. He
was next appointed Assistant Harbor Engineer, and held that
position when stricken with his last illness.
His wonderful vitality was shown by the fact that he lived
for five and a half years after getting a stroke of paralysis.
He had to lie in bed all of that time, helpless, though he could
move one arm and foot a little, and his mind was clear to the
end. His wife nursed him all the time, with the help of her
daughter, Nellie, but it was a severe ordeal for her and she was
near collapse when the end came on May 11, 1922. There was a
touching scene as the coffin, bearing the mortal remains of
Colonel Burke, draped with the two flags for which he had
fought — the Stars and Stripes and the Green, White and Orange
Tricolor of Ireland — was borne to the hearse from his home. He
was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago.
CHAPTER XLIX.
THOMAS FRANCIS BOURKE.
One of the Finest Characters in the Movement — Commanded
the Fenians in Tipperary in 1867 — His Speech from the
Dock Compared with that of Robert Emmet.
Thomas Francis Bourke was one of the finest characters In
the Fenian Movement at either side of the Atlantic. Of a most
lovable disposition, generous and good natured, he had no ene-
mies. Although he could fight for his opinions when necessary,
his manner, even in the hottest debate, was conciliatory and he
was essentially a peacemaker and promoter of harmony.
Born in Fethard, County Tipperary ("the city of Fethard",
he always jokingly called it, because it was a walled town) on
December 10, 1840, the family moved to America when he was a
child, and he was brought up partly in New York, partly in
Boston and partly in Toronto, Ont., but his accent remained
Irish up to his death — not a Tipperary accent, but a distinctly
Irish one. That is an index of character, but in his case it was
mainly due to his father, who always corrected his children
when they mispronounced a word or gave it a Yankee "twang".
His father was a housepainter, and all his sons, except one,
Edward, the youngest, who became a public school teacher in
New York, were brought up to the same trade. The father
joined the Fenian Brotherhood in America soon after its forma-
tion, and his three sons, James, Thomas F. and Edward, all fol-
lowed his example. Thomas was working in the South when
the Civil War broke out in 1861, and, like most men at that time,
Americans as well as Irishmen, took sides with the State of
which he was a citizen. The doctrine of States Rights was then
predominant in America and only a few native Americans and
Irishmen who found themselves in the South moved North to
join the Union Army. Nobody at that time on either side be-
lieved the war would last long and the same belief prevailed in
Europe, because such a large proportion of the officers of the
Regular Army joined the Confederacy. The great majority of
the non-commissioned officers and men of the Regular Army
were Irishmen, but every man of them remained true to the
Union and some of them endured much hardship in making
their way North to take their place in the ranks, the sergeants
rejecting tempting offers of promotion.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Tom Bourke was working in New Orleans when Fort Sumter
was fired on and, although lame from a hurt received in a fall
from a scaffolding, joined the Confederate Army there. Bourke
was only a little over twenty and, as he admitted later, was not
capable of doing much thinking, else he would not have taken
that step.
In later years, I met an old Irishman (a member of the Clan-
na-Gael) in New Orleans who told me he voted against Seces-
sion and gave me his reasons:
"Do you see that flag?" he said, pointing to the Union Jack
flying from the mast of an English steamer. "Well, that flag
would be floating from the masthead of every ship in every
Southern port if the Confederacy won, and I saw it as clearly
then as I see it now. We have no industries down here and the
whole trade of the South would be controlled by England. That
was why the English wanted Secession."
Although Bourke could do no marching he took part in the
fighting around New Orleans when Banks and Butler landed
some Northern forces there, but did not see much service. But
he "smelt powder" and conducted himself with the proverbial gal-
lantry of his race and country.
At the close of the war he returned to the North and went to
live with his family in New York. He became a member of the
Wolfe Tone Circle of the Fenian Brotherhood (then the largest
branch of the organization in the city) in June, 1865, and at once
became very active in the work, which was then at its height. He
was one of the three best orators in the movement, the other
two being William J. Hynes (who later became one of the lead-
ing lawyers in Chicago) and John F. Finerty. Bourke was much
in demand as a speaker, and John O'Mahony soon appointed him
an organizer.
When the Split came Hynes and Finerty went with the Senate
Party (then called "the Party of Action", because it was for
"fighting England in Canada, the nearest spot where she could
be got at") , but Bourke stood by O'Mahony, whose policy, though
ill managed, was to make the fight in Ireland. Bourke contended
that every dollar collected was subscribed for a fight in Ireland
and that diverting the funds anywhere else was a breach of faith
with the Men at Home. That was also the contention in Ireland,
and the difference of opinion was fatal. The original cause of
the quarrel was O'Mahony's management of the organization, but
the divergence of policy soon made the Split unhealable.
While the contest was bitter, the Fenian Split was almost
entirely free from the abuse and accusations of treachery and
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
355
dishonesty which have characterized subsequent divisions in Irish
organizations. Even the "Manhattan Committee", which, after
an investigation of the funds, denounced the expenditures as
grossly extravagant, made no charges of personal dishonesty.
Nowadays every man who dares to differ from a self-constituted
leader is denounced as a "traitor to Ireland", his character is
smirched and he is held up to public odium and contempt.
It was the English who started the cry of "robbing the poor
servant girls", which was picked up later by Irish opponents of
Fenianism and was kept up for more than a generation. The
Irish servant girls contributed a fairly good portion of the Fenian
funds, as they did of every other Irish fund, but their contri-
butions to their families in Ireland to enable them to pay the
rackrents imposed by the Anglo-Irish landlords, were many
times greater than what they gave to Fenianism. The talk
about "robbing the poor servant girls" came mostly from those
who were robbing their families in Ireland of the hard earned
savings sent from America. The Irish servant girls also sub-
scribed heavily for the building of Catholic churches in Ire-
land. Tom Bourke's biting sarcasm on this subject was very elo-
quent and interesting.
But Bourke's speeches were all eloquent and interesting. He
was one of the most eloquent speakers I ever listened to. His
choice of words was excellent and he could speak without the
slightest preparation because his mind was full of the subject. He
never prepared a speech and yet his arguments were as finished
as if he had spent much time in studying what he should say.
He was very effective in debate, quoting the statements made
by the other side with great accuracy without taking any notes,
and demolishing them. Had he become a lawyer as Hynes, Pat-
rick A. Collins, John E. Fitzgerald and other Fenian organizers
did, he would have become most effective before a jury. But he
was in prison in England while they were studying law. When
told he ought to study law after his arrival in New York, he re-
plied that it was too late, although he was then only thirty-one.
He had no personal ambition and declined to take office in any
organization, although his popularity would have secured his
election.
A typical instance of this was in the Clan-na-Gael Conven-
tion in Baltimore in 1874, where the Rescue of the Fenian soldiers
in Australia was decided on. There was a hard fight before the
decision was reached and the opposition was led by a big Tip-
perary man named Tim Hanley, who had been a Colonel of Cav-
alry in the Federal Army in the Civil War and had served in the
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
English Army in the Crimea. I had gone there with the plan
for the Rescue in my head and the letters from the soldiers in my
pocket, but with no thought of seeking office. When the election
of officers came Bourke stepped across the floor and said to me:
"John, you have got to take the Chairmanship to see this thing
through. The other fellows are going to run Finerty and he is
not fit for a job like this. We want a man with executive ability
to manage it, and you are the man for the job."
I told him I didn't want it, that he himself was the man for
Chairman, and that I would attend to the details under the direc-
tion of the Executive. He replied that he would take no office,
but would nominate me. He did so in a short speech, citing my
work with the British Army and my personal knowledge of the
men as qualifications. I was elected by a big majority. But
Finerty was not there and did not know they were setting him
up for the office.
John Savage in his "Fenian Heroes and Martyrs" quotes a
statement from Thomas Francis Bourke before he went to Ire-
land for the Rising, in which he admitted that there was no hope
of success, but that those who had been promising a fight in Ire-
land were bound in honor to carry out their pledges. Savage
does not say where the statement was made, but the implication
is that it was in a public speech, which was very improbable. But
I know that this was the frame of mind he was in, as was also
true of nearly every man who went to Ireland for the fight and of
most of those in Ireland who decided on it.
He started for Ireland towards the end of 1866 and soon at-
tracted the attention of the police. He was arrested, but his
debilitated appearance seemed to confirm his statement that he
had gone over for his health, and after a few days he was re-
leased, so that he was able to get into communication with the
leaders and make himself known to the men in Tipperary, who
were very glad to learn that their Commander was to be a "Tip."
He was made prisoner in the Rising and placed on trial in
Green Street Courthouse in Dublin. Bourke's eloquent speech
in the dock attracted universal attention and Lord Naas (then
Chief Secretary for Ireland) , who was assassinated in India some
years later when he succeeded his father as Earl of Mayo, visited
him in his cell to ask him how he came to spell his name Bourke.
That is the way the Earls of Mayo spelled their family name while
the other Fenians who bore the name — Colonel Ricard O'Sullivan
Burke and Colonel Denis F. — spelled it Burke, which is the usual
way in Ireland. Tom told Lord Naas that his family had spelled
it that way for generations. He could joke even at the foot of the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
357
gallows and said banteringly to the Chief Secretary: "We may be
thirty-first cousins, my lord, but the relationship is no closer than
that."
Every man of the name in Ireland, no matter how he spells it,
is, of course, a descendant of the original Norman-French
De Burgo. The De Burgos settled in Connacht and became two
separate Irish Clans, the Clanricardes calling themselves MacWil-
liam Uachter (Upper), and the Mayos, Mac William Iochtar
(Lower) . Sometimes they fought for Ireland, and Thomas Davis
emphasizes the fact in his "West's Asleep" in the lines:
"And glory guards Clanricarde's grave.
Sing, oh, they died their land to save
By Aughrim's slopes and Shannon's wave."
Although the title is a Connacht one, the chief property of the
Earls of Mayo is in Kildare, and the family mansion is at Palmers-
town, two miles on the Dublin side of Naas, from which the eldest
son takes his title. I was born on the estate, like my mother and
several generations of her family, although the Dunnes, like
the Devoys (or O'Deevys) were originally from Leix.
The Lord Mayo of my childhood was a granduncle of the
Chief Secretary who visited Tom Bourke, but his wife, an Eng-
lish druggist's daughter, bore him no children, and the heir to the
title and estates was a nephew, and father of the Lord Naas
who called on the man under sentence of death in his cell.
His granduncle (who talked with a snuffle, owing to a defect
of the palate) was a most kindly man and, although an officer of
yeomanry, saved several lives, in 1798, including John Dunne, a
granduncle of mine, who had just got home after the Battle of
Rathsallagh, and was already asleep in bed in the house in which
I was born. His wife had barely time to put his dirty clothes
and leggings, muddy and stained with blood, into a box (there
were no trunks in those days) and go out to feed the cows, with
his bloodstained shoes on her own feet, when the Yeomen came
in, with young Bourke (who had no title then) at their head.
He snuffled out, with evident pleasure: "Ah, didn't I tell you that
Johnny Dunne was all right?" There was some argument about
hanging Dunne on his own dunghill, which was the custom in
such cases, but the future Lord Mayo eventually had his way.
Yet the night before, the man he saved was in the bloodiest fight
in Kildare in the whole Rebellion, where the Rebels ambushed
and wiped out a troop of the Black Horse Cavalry who had been
burning houses and outraging women on their march to Naas
from Maynooth. Also, Mayo threatened to commit suicide if they
hanged Tyrell, a former sergeant of the Volunteers, who was his
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
constant companion in his fowling expeditions, and Tyrell was
spared.
There were several cases like that in 'Ninety-eight. Robert
Johnson of Belfast, who was from Ballymena, told me in 1879
that the grandfather of Sir George White, who commanded the
English at Ladysmith in the Boer War, saved the lives of many
United Irishmen in Antrim after the Rebellion.
Thomas Francis Bourke's trial began on April 24 and ended
May 1st, 1867. His counsel were Isaac Butt, Dowse and
O'Loughlen.
His speech before sentence was pronounced on him, said to
compare favorably with that of Robert Emmet, was as follows:
"My Lords: — It is not my intention to occupy much of
your time in answering the question — what I have to say
why sentence should not be passed upon me? But I may
with your permission review a little of the evidence that has
been brought against me. The first evidence that I would
speak of is that of Sub-Inspector Kelly, who had a conver-
sation with me in Clonmel. He states that he asked me
either how was my friend, or what about my friend, Mr.
Stephens, and that I made answer and said, that he was the
most idolized man that ever had been, or that ever would
be in America. Here, standing on the brink of my grave, and
in the presence of the Almighty and ever-living God, I brand
that as being the foulest perjury that ever man gave utter-
ance to. In any conversation that occurred, the name of
Stephens was not mentioned. I shall pass from that, and
then touch on the evidence of Brett. He states that I as-
sisted in distributing the bread to the parties in the fort,
and that I stood with him in the wagon or cart. This is also
false. I was not in the fort at the time; I was not there
when the bread was distributed. I came in afterwards. Both
of these assertions have been made and submitted to the
men in whose hands my life rested, as evidence made on
oath by these men— made solely and purely for the purpose
of giving my body to an untimely grave. There are many
points, my lords, that have been sworn to here to prove my
complicity in a great many acts it has been alleged I took
part in. It is not my desire now, my lords, to give utterance
to one word against the verdict which has been pronounced
upon me. But fully conscious of my honor as a man, which
has never been impugned, fully conscious that I can go into
my grave with a name and character unsullied, I can only
say that these parties, actuated by a desire, either of their
aggrandizement, or to save their paltry, miserable lives, have
pandered to the appetite, if I may so speak, of justice, and
my life shall pay the forfeit. Fully convinced and satisfied
of the righteousness of my every act in connection with
the late revolutionary movement in Ireland, I have nothing
to recall — nothing that I would not do again, nothing for
which I should feel the blush of shame mantling my brow;
my conduct and career, both here as a private citizen, and
in America — if you like — as a soldier, are before you; and
even in this, my hour of trial, I feel the consciousness of
having lived an honest man, and I will die proudly, believing
that if I have given my life to give liberty and freedom
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
359
to 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. I, my lords, shall scarcely — I feel I
should not at all — mention the name of Massey. I feel I
should not pollute my lips with the name of that traitor,
whose illegitimacy has been proven here — a man whose
name even is not known, and who I deny, point blank, ever
wore the star of a colonel in the Confederate army. Him
I shall let rest. I shall pass him, wishing him, in the words
of the poet: —
" 'May the grass wither from his feet;
The woods deny him shelter; earth a home;
The dust a grave; the sun his light;
And Heaven its God.'
"Let Massey remember from this day forth that he car-
ries with him, as my able and eloquent counsel, Mr. Dowse,
has stated, a serpent that will gnaw at his conscience, will
carry about him in his breast a living hell from which he
can never be separated. I, my lords, have no desire for the
name of a martyr; I seek not the death of a martyr; but
if it is the will of the 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 right
of men to free government — the right 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 free-
dom— an enemy to the power that holds my native land in
the bonds of tyranny. It has so often been admitted that the
oppressed have a right to throw off the yoke of oppression,
even by English statesmen, that I do not deem it necessary
to advert to the fact in a British court of justice. Ireland's
children are not, never were, and never will be, willing or
submissive slaves: and so long as England's flag covers one
inch of Irish soil, just so long will they believe it to be a
divine right to conspire, imagine, and devise means to hurl
it from power, and to erect in its stead the God-like structure
of self-government. I shall now, my lords, before I go any
further, perform one important duty to my learned, talented,
and eloquent counsel. I offer them that which is poor
enough, the thanks, the sincere and heartfelt thanks of an
honest man. I offer them, too, in the name of America, the
thanks of the Irish people. I know that I am here without
a relative — without a friend — in fact 3,000 miles away from
my family. But I know that I am not forgotten there. The
great and generous Irish heart of America to-day feels for
me — to-day sympathizes with and does not forget the man
who is willing to tread the scaffold — aye, defiantly — proudly,
conscious of no wrong — in defence of American principles —
in defence of liberty. To Messrs. Butt, Dowse, O'Loughlen,
and all the counsel for the prisoners, for some of whom I
believe Mr. Curran will appear, and my very able solicitor, Mr.
Lawless, I return individually and collectively, my sincere
and heartfelt thanks.
"I shall now, my lords, as no doubt you will suggest to
me, think of the propriety of turning my attention to the
world beyond the grave. I shall now look only to that home
where sorrows are at an end, where joy is eternal. I shall
hope and pray that freedom may yet dawn on this poor,
down-trodden country. It is my hope, it is my prayer, and
the last words that I shall utter will be a prayer to God for
forgiveness, and a prayer for poor old Ireland. Now, my
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
lords, in relation to the other man, Corydon, I will make a
few remarks. Perhaps before I go to Corydon, I should say
much has been spoken on that table of Colonel Kelly, and
of the meetings held at his lodgings in London. I desire
to state, I never knew where Colonel Kelly's lodgings were.
I never knew where he lived in London, till I heard the in-
former, Massey, announce it on the table. I never attended
a meeting at Colonel Kelly's; and the hundred other state-
ments that have been made about him, I now solemnly de-
clare on my honor as a man — as a dying man, these state-
ments have been totally unfounded and false from beginning
to end. In relation to the small paper that was introduced
here, and brought against me as evidence, as having been
found on my person in connection with that oath, I desire
to say that that paper was not found on my person. I knew
no person whose name was on that paper. O'Beirne, of
Dublin, or those other delegates you heard of, I never saw
or met. That paper has been put in there for some purpose.
I can swear positively it is not in my handwriting. I can
also swear I never saw it; yet it is used as evidence against
me. Is this justice? Is this right? Is it manly? I am
willing if I have transgressed the laws to suffer the penalty,
but I object to this system of trumping up a case to take
away the life of a human being. True, I ask for no mercy.
I feel that, with my present emaciated frame, and some-
what shattered constitution, it is better that my life should
be brought to an end than that I should drag out a miser-
able existence in the prison dens of Portland. Thus it is,
my lords, I accept the verdict. Of course my acceptance of
it is unnecessary, but I am satisfied with it. And now I
shall close. True, it is, there are many feelings that actuate
me at this moment. In fact, these few disconnected re-
marks can give no idea of what I desire to state to the
court. I have ties to bind me to life and society as strong
as any man in this court can have, I have a family I love as
much as any man in this court loves his family. But I can
remember the blessing I received from an aged mother's
lips as I left her the last time. She, speaking as the Spartan
mother did, said — 'Go, my boy, return either with your shield,
or upon it.' This reconciles me — this gives me heart. I sub-
mit to my doom; and I hope that God will forgive me my
past sins. I hope also, 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 — to rise in her beauty and majesty, the sister
of Columbia, the peer of any nation in the world."
Bourke wrote the following letter to the priest who had been
his confessor at Clonmel:
"Kilmainham Gaol, 4th, Month of Mary.
"Dear Rev. Father:— * * *
"I am perfectly calm and resigned, with my thoughts
firmly centred with hope in the goodness and mercy of that
kind Redeemer, whose precious blood was shed for my sal-
vation; as also in the mediation and intercession of His
Blessed Mother, who is my Star of Hope and Consolation.
I know, dear father, I need not ask you to be remembered
in your prayers, for I feel that in your supplication to the
Throne of Mercy I have not been forgotten. * * * I
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL 361
have only one thought which causes me much sorrow, and
that is that my good and loving mother will break down
under the weight of her affliction, and, oh, God, I who loved
her more than the life which animates the hand that writes,
to be the cause of it. This thought unmans and prostrates
me. I wrote to her at the beginning of my trial, and told
her how I thought it would terminate, and spoke a long and
last farewell. I have not written since; it would break my
heart to attempt it; but I would ask you, as an especial
favor, that you would write to her and tell her I am happy
and reconciled to the will of God, Who has given me this
opportunity of saving my immortal soul. I hope to hear
from you before I leave this world.
"Good-bye, father, and that God may bless you in your
ministry, is the prayer of an obedient child of the Church.
"Thomas F. Bourke."
As in the case of all the other men sentenced to death for
their part in the Rising of 1867, Bourke's sentence was commuted
to penal servitude for life and he was released and deported in
January, 1871. He arrived in New York with eight others on the
Cunard steamship Russia about the middle of that month and
joined the "Cuba Five", who had got here a week earlier, in
Sweeney's Hotel. A little later there was a big parade in our
honor and we were greeted by committees from every city in the
East and from Chicago, who presented us with addresses of
welcome and some of them with money to enable us to make a
new start in life. Tammany Hall (then controlled by Boss
Tweed, who was fighting for his political life) collected $22,000
for us, but about half of it was spent on the parade, and
Sweeney's hotel bill for the six weeks we were there was $6,000.
But we got the rest of it.
After spending a couple of days with his mother in Green-
point, Bourke was our spokesman in replying to the addresses
of welcome, and his little speeches were most happy. Among
the delegations was a Colored one headed by a man who was
later appointed Minister to Liberia (whose name I forget) and
in his speech of welcome he used the phrase, "You and your
co-patriarchs", but Bourke's complimentary reply made the
Colored gentleman happy. We were invited to Washington
(which then had a City Council) and were the guests of the
city for a week. During our stay there President Grant expressed
a wish to see us and he received us on the steps of the White
House. Bourke was introduced to the President by the Chairman
of the Reception Committee and the rest of us by Bourke. He was
quite self-possessed and at his ease, while the President seemed
a little embarrassed, but he really was not. As everybody knows,
the great soldier was a man of few words, but his feeling towards
us was shown in his telegram to Tom Murphy, then Collector of
the Port of New York, instructing him to take the "Cuba Five"
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
off the vessel down the Bay and bring us ashore on the Revenue
Cutter. But we did not believe the telegram was genuine and
declined the invitation with thanks. We made a bad mistake,
because the Revenue Cutter was a Government vessel and if she
took us ashore it would have been a slap in the face to England.
Grant was very partial to the Irish. He appointed Tom Murphy
Collector of the Port; Pat Jones, Postmaster; and Jack Glea-
son, Collector of Internal Revenue for the Eastern District of
New York, — the best offices he had in his gift in New York.
As Bourke introduced each of us he made a little speech and
as Grant shook hands with us he merely said: "Glad to see you."
The motion of his arm was like a pump handle. But the fact
that he received Fenian prisoners just deported from England
was resented bitterly by the English press.
Tom Bourke made some fine speeches for Rossa in his cam-
paign for State Senator against Tweed. In 1872 we ran Bourke
for Sheriff, but he was beaten because the Machine resented his
support of Rossa against the Boss. However, he was soon after
appointed a Deputy Sheriff and later Clerk of Supply and Re-
pairs in the Department of Public Works, an office he held until
his death.
He remained active in the Clan-na-Gael all the time and at-
tended two or three Conventions. He was a member of the Recep-
tion Committee for Parnell and John Dillon and was a favorite
speaker at Land League meetings. Soon after our arrival in
America, he and Thomas Clarke Luby went together on a lectur-
ing tour which extended as far West as Nevada, and their meet-
ings were very successful and did much to revive the Fenian
Spirit.
I was away from New York and in financial straits when
Bourke died on November 10, 1889, and did not know of his death
until my return. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery, not far
from where Michael Doheny lies. Ireland lost one of her finest
sons by the death of Thomas Francis Bourke; no truer Irishman
ever lived.
CHAPTER L.
THE O'DONOVAN BROTHERS.
Sons of the Great Gaelic Scholar, Several of Them Were Active
Fenians — Edmund, Famous War Correspondent, Headed a
Circle Consisting Largely of Trinity College Students.
The three elder sons of John O'Donovan, the great Gaelic
scholar, were all sworn in by O'Donovan Rossa during his visits
to their father's house and were all active members of the organi-
zation. The young O'Donovans were proficient linguists, but none
of them knew Irish. The old man, Rossa told me, had thought
of training one of them to become his successor, but did not live
long enough to carry out his intention. John and Edmund knew
Arabic, as well as Latin, Greek, French and Spanish, while a
younger son, Richard, who still survives, also acquired a good
knowledge of several languages, and was later employed for many
years by a Liverpool Insurance Company as a translator and
foreign correspondent. The eldest son, John, started the work in
old Trinity, but Edmund, next to him in age, became the Centre
and had between 80 and 100 students enrolled.
John immigrated to New York after the failure of the Rising
of 1867, and was here when the Fenian exiles landed in 1871. I
met him often in Rossa's office. He retained his friendship for
the man who swore him in, to the last. He became Professor of
Latin and Greek in La Salle Catholic College in St. Louis, and was
accidentally drowned in the year 1873' (through getting cramps as
a result of a spring which made the water cold) while swimming
with a party of students in a small lake near the college. An old
member of the Order, Brother Maurice, who witnessed the acci-
dent, still survives at St. Thomas R. C. School at Scranton, Pa.
None of the O'Donovan boys ever married except Richard,
whom I met in Dublin in 1879. I had never known him in the old
times, as he was then too young to take any active part in poli-
tics, but I knew John and Edmund very well and spent a night in
their house, 36 Upper Buckingham Street, Dublin, in 1864. Ed-
mund was a great authority on rifle shooting and had a fine col-
lection of rifles in the library. He spent most of the night show-
ing them to me and explaining their mechanism. He wrote a
small descriptive handbook on the rifle, which Stephens got Con
O'Mahony to circulate among the men. Stephens sent Edmund,
John and William, with other emissaries, through the country
363
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
to teach the men to make Enfield rifle cartridges. A great stock
of ammunition was made under their teaching, but there were
very few rifles outside of Dublin and Clare. The Enfield was
then the English Army rifle, and the same ammunition fitted the
American Springfield.
Edmund started the organization in Clare by swearing in John
Clune. O'Donovan, Sr., had married a Clarewoman of remote
English descent whose brother had a farm there, where the boys
sometimes spent their vacations. Eugene O'Curry, the other great
Gaelic scholar, married her sister, and his son John was one
of the earliest recruits for Edmund's Circle. John died in Argen-
tina in 1911. The late Senor William Bulfin, a magnificent
type of Irishman, the author of Rambles in Eirinn, editor of
the Southern Cross in Buenos Aires, and the leading man of the
Irish race in Argentina, told me that young O'Curry fell in with
the English Colony there and in his latter days ceased to take
any active interest in Irish politics. I knew John O'Curry very
well in Dublin while we were both "on the run" in 1865. He was
fairly brilliant, like his cousins, but impressed me as being unen-
ergetic and partly apathetic. In later life, he suffered a good
deal from neurasthenia.
Edmund O'Donovan was born in Dublin, September 13, 1844.
He was educated at home by his father and by tutors until, in
1857, he became a pupil of Belvedere College, the Jesuit school in
Great Denmark Street. His special aptitudes were for Natural
Philosophy and Military Engineering. The latter study presum-
ably he followed on his own account. He was interested in paint-
ing and heraldry. His father made use of him as an amanuensis.
He assisted his father when the latter was engaged on the Brehon
Laws. This work was carried on in Trinity College.
Sir Thomas Larcom, the Under-Secretary for Ireland, al-
though an Englishman, was a warm personal friend of the elder
O'Donovan, who when dying relied upon him to act as guardian
of his sons, who were all very young at the time. Larcom was
placed in a very embarrassing position by the frequent arrests
of Edmund. He was first arrested on February 23, 1866, two
days after the meeting in Mrs. Butler's house at which the fight
was postponed, and Larcom procured his release after a few
days in Mount joy and tried to exact a promise from him that
he would give up his connection with the movement, but this,
of course, Edmund refused to do. When he was arrested a sec-
ond time Larcom stormed a lot and vowed he would leave him
to his fate, but relented and secured his release again. Edmund
was arrested a third time, in Limerick, where he was tried and
convicted for having arms in a proclaimed district, and spent
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL 365
six months in the County Jail. After protesting that this time
he would leave him to rot in prison, Larcom again relented and
continued to use his influence in his favor. Larcom, in spite
of the severity of his action against the Fenians, was really a
kind hearted man and his friendship for John O'Donovan, Sr.,
was both strong and lasting.
After Edmund was brought into the exercise ring in Mount-
joy on that February 23rd, we could only exchange glances. We
never saw one another again. He was then in his twenty-second
year. A little before that I had met him at a casual gathering
and he was carrying about with him an unloaded Colt's revolver.
General Halpin asked him what use it would be to him and
he replied: "The average Dublin policeman has no wish to die
for England and when he comes to arrest you and you point the
revolver at him and say 'Begone' he will think twice before lay-
ing hands on you." That was his philosophy. As a matter of
fact several Dublin policemen were Fenians and most of them
sympathized with the movement. Michael Breslin, who knew
nearly all of them through his position as Clerk in the Super-
intendent's office, told me that practically the whole Dublin
police force would have joined us if we had gained an initial
success.
Shortly after the failure of the '67 Rising, Edmund went to
France. John Augustus O'Shea gives this picture of him in
"Leaves from the Life of a Special Correspondent" (p. 78) :
"Our Irish Colony (in Paris) was strengthened about this
period (1867) by the arrival of a sprightly young fellow who
has since annexed a niche in history, Edmund O'Donovan.
He was an ardent partisan of what are known as extreme
Irish national politics, and had it forced upon him that it
was more convenient to live out of British territory than
within it. To Paris he came, partly because his brother,
William, was there before him, and partly for the facilities
it afforded for self-education. A gay but purposeful stripling
he was, well read, quick of perception and brimming with
virility. What a springy step he had, and what a peculiarly
earnest emphatic voice, as he delivered his views, on what
he had seen, in language vivid and well chosen, broken by
frequent short pauses.
"There was a wild glare in his eyes now and then, as he
worked himself to animation, and he was ready of gesture as
a Neapolitan. His marked attainments were not of the ordi-
nary University character. He was not given to embroider-
ing his discourse with quotations from the classics. I may
almost venture to say that he cared more for Mangan and
Davis than for Juvenal or Ovid; anyhow he was fond of
singing 'Clare's Dragoons' and kindred lyrics, and the bent
of his mind lay more towards the use of arms than the use
of globes. In chemistry and military engineering he was an
adept, and bought and borrowed all the treatises he could
find on the subjects; he knew heraldry, medicine, could
sketch, shoot, lecture, botanize, quote Milton, handle conic
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sections, sleep on a table, and was master of many othei
minor accomplishments.
"The study of Arabic was Edmund's passion while in Rue
de Fosses St. Victor. He used to absolutely take the gram-
mar to bed with him. This strenuous application stood him
in good stead in after years. The gift of concentrativeness
— to employ a long word — was inherited from his father, and
was common to the family."
During the famous Longford election in 1868, when Bishop
Woodlock tried to defeat John Martin (Mitchel's brother-in-
law) and elect a Whig candidate, a son of Colonel Greville-
Nugent (who was a Captain in the Guards and utterly without
any recommendation to public favor) , there was a combination
of all shades of Nationalists in favor of Martin, but the Bishop
lined up practically all the priests on the side of the Guards-
man, and it was one of the hottest election contests in Irish
history. The real leader of the Greville-Nugent party was not
the Bishop, but Father Reynolds, President of St. Mel's College,
who was an able man but singularly lacking in patriotic feeling.
There was much violence and open intimidation during the cam-
paign, and the Nationalists trooped in from all the neighboring
counties and from Dublin to aid the veteran of 1848. Alex. M.
Sullivan, of the Nation, P. J. Smyth, "Amnesty John" Nolan,
John and William Dillon, sons of John B. Dillon (one of the
founders of the Nation) , James O'Kelly, Edmund O'Donovan, and
many others representing different shades of National opinion,
were among the speakers for Martin and all Nationalist Ireland
was united for the first time in many years. There were pitched
battles in the streets of the town, the Greville-Nugent mobs
being led by priests and the Martin fighters chiefly by Edmund
O'Donovan, James O'Kelly and John Nolan. The Fenians were
the backbone of the Martin forces, and, though heavily out-
numbered, were the victors in most of the fighting. But in the
polling they were badly beaten and the little snip of a Guards-
man (whose only distinction was as a female impersonator in
amateur theatricals) was declared elected over "Honest John"
Martin, the veteran of 1848, who was universally respected.
Colonel Greville-Nugent was reported to have boasted that if he
gave a site for a Catholic church, or otherwise subsidized the
clerical party, he could "put up his horse for the county and the
priests would elect him."
It was a contest between intelligence and ignorance, and
ignorance won. The type of men who supported Greville-Nugent
(under compulsion) was shown by a story told by A. M. Sullivan
in his report in the Nation. An illiterate voter who was drunk,
when asked to declare his vote, forgot Greville-Nugent's name,
scratched his head and said: "I vote for Father Rinnels and the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
367
clargy." Greville-Nugent's victory was short-lived. He was un-
seated on petition on charges of intimidation.
One of the incidents of the Longford election was typical of
the time. A nephew of Bishop Woodlock named Higgins was
Curate in a country parish where the Pastor, a very old and
bed-ridden man, was a strong Nationalist. The Curate was a
supporter of Martin, and with the Pastor's full approval an-
nounced from the altar on the Sunday before election that he
would lead the parishioners from the chapel yard to the polling
place to vote for Martin. He called on those who owned vehicles
of any kind to bring them, so that they could carry old and
feeble voters into the town on election day. They did so and
marched into the town with Father Higgins at their head. He
assembled them in front of the Bishop's house and standing
under one of the front windows made a vigorous speech for
Martin. The Bishop called him in and informed him that un-
less he made a public retraction of that speech he would sus-
pend him. They had a hot argument and Father Higgins, losing
his temper, told his uncle that he would "see him damned first",
and he was suspended, as was, of course, inevitable after such
a display of civic independence and disregard of Episcopal
authority. He told me the story himself in New York, where I
knew him well, some years later. He secured employment from
William O'Brien on United Ireland, but strong pressure was
brought to bear and Mr. O'Brien had to drop him. He went to
Liverpool and Father Nugent gave him a job on the Catholic
Times, but the same thing occurred again, and this time the sus-
pended priest betook himself to London, where John Morley gave
him work on the Pall Mall Gazette. But the effects of his uncle's
resentment still pursued him and John Morley too had to part
with him.
My recollection of the Longford election is very vivid because
I read the reports of it at the time in papers smuggled into
Chatham Prison, and a man remembers what he reads in prison
better because his mind is concentrated on it and he dwells on it
after reading it until it becomes rooted in his memory. Besides,
I met in America several men who took an active part in it
and the unfortunate priest gave me many inside details. All of
them gave high praise to Edmund O'Donovan and James O'Kelly
for their prowess in the fighting. Edmund was a very mild man-
nered man whom nobody who didn't know him well would
suspect of being a fighter, but his courage was dauntless and he
was also endowed with great penetration and all-round in-
genuity.
368
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 found him in
Paris. He joined the Regiment Etranger (Foreign Legion) in
which he was given the rank of sous-Lieutenant. At one period
he was wounded and taken prisoner. In May, 1871, he returned
to Ireland, where he lived for many months in his mother's home
in Clare.
Regular journalism claimed him from this time forth. His
career in that profession was brief but very brilliant. In 1873
we find him in Spain, as Special Correspondent for the Free-
man's Journal during the Carlist rising. Before long he be-
came a contributor to the London Standard, the Times, and
later the Daily News. For this last mentioned paper he acted as
Special Correspondent during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877.
Dr. Mark Ryan, late of London, now (August, 1928) residing in
Dublin, aged 83, says, in a recent letter, that "Edmund O'Dono-
van received a special cheque of £1,000 as a present from the
Daily News for his brilliant service to that paper."
At the urgent request of Sir John Robinson of the Daily News
he started, in November, 1879, for Merv, a collection of Turcoman
settlements forming an oasis in Central Asia. His feat in reach-
ing his destination on horseback rivalled those of McGahan and
O'Kelly. The history of his exploits on that expedition is set
forth in two substantial volumes entitled "The Merv Oasis",
published in 1882. His brother William told me that Edmund
wrote it in an extremely short space of time, working day and
night, with a wet towel around his head to enable him to remain
awake.
Edmund's end was tragic. He is supposed to have started
from Hicks Pasha's camp to enter the Arab lines in the Soudan
and interview the Mahdi, and was never heard of again. Sir
Garnet Wolseley had a great admiration for him and told the
Daily News people that he made exhaustive efforts to trace him
by examining Arab prisoners, but could never get a word of
genuine information about him. Opinions varied as to whether
he was shot when trying to enter the Mahdi's lines or whether
he actually succeeded in joining him and was afterwards killed
in battle by the Anglo-Egyptian forces who overthrew the Mahdi's
Empire. There were many circumstances which seemed to sup-
port the latter theory. He spoke Arabic very well and his sym-
pathies, at least in his earlier years, were entirely with England's
enemies. The mystery of his disappearance will probably never
be cleared up. All that is definitely known of his fate is that a
blood-stained mackintosh bearing his name was found by Father
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
369
Ohrwalder, an Austrian missionary, on or near the site of the
final battle of El Obeid in the Soudan.
His brother William, who knew Edmund probably better than
any other man, believed to the last that he had succeeded in
joining the Mahdi and might have been killed fighting the
English. And he told me laughingly that he would not be sur-
prised if Edmund turned up later as an Arab Chief. He hated
England intensely and would stop at nothing that would help to
destroy the Empire.
William was only a mere boy (about twenty years old) when
John Mitchel (having been released by President Johnson, at
the request of a Fenian Committee, from Fort Lafayette where
he had been detained as a Federal prisoner because of an at-
tack on the Government) was sent to Paris as Financial Agent
of the American Fenians in 1865. Then, Stephens ordered young
O'Donovan to Paris, on account of his proficiency in French,
to act as interpreter for the messengers sent with money for
Ireland. Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa was the chief of these messen-
gers, and she brought the money to Dublin in English bank-
notes or sovereigns. William got to know Paris very well during
his trips and, after the failure of the Rising, the Irish Times,
although a Tory paper, made him its correspondent there. He
remained in Paris many years and was there during the Siege
and the Commune, and his letters were very interesting when
he could get them out. If he had put his Recollections in book
form they would have furnished much curious information from
a historical point of view, but he had no ambition to write a book.
Some of his stories about the Communists when they were be-
sieged by the Regular French Army under MacMahon were very
amusing. There was one leader among them, a vainglorious
fellow named Bergeret, who, when the Communards were about
to make a grand sortie, issued a flamboyant General Order which
gave full information beforehand to the Government of what
the Parisian Army was going to do. He always concluded with:
"Bergeret lui-meme marchera a la tete de colonne" — "Bergeret
himself will march at the head of the column." He took himself
very seriously as a great military leader, but he never achieved
a success. O'Donovan always called him "Bergeret lui-meme".
He had a theory that the majority of them were not really Com-
munists at heart or by conviction, but were unbalanced by the
hardships of the Siege, when the general privations were so great
that rats, mice and cats were a luxury. Some doctors were of
the same opinion.
The Irish Times sent him to Spain during one of the Carlist
insurrections and he had a most interesting experience among
370
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
the Basques. All horses and vehicles having been commandeered
by the contending parties, he had to make his journeys on foot,
his trunk being carried by a stalwart Basque woman on her head.
The women were not in the least afraid of travelling alone with
a man, but were strictly virtuous and well able to take care of
themselves.
He discarded the theory long prevalent in Ireland that the
Basques were Celts. He found them a hempen-haired people
whose language had no affinity with any Celtic dialect. The
Gascons, whom Thomas Davis thought to be Celts, are a mix-
ture of Basques and Gauls. It is now believed that, amongst
the inhabitants of the Peninsula, the Galicians and the Portu-
guese are those in whom the Celtic strain is predominant.
The only known affinities of the Basques are with the Laplanders.
John Augustus O'Shea writes of William:
"He knew German, not as the waiter or dragoman knows
it in its colloquialisms, but as the scholar familiar with the
beauties of Goethe and Schiller, and competent to appre-
ciate them. He was a linguist by race, and earned a compe-
tence by concocting a spicy epitome of Paris gossip every
day."
After his Spanish experience William O'Donovan returned
to Dublin and became an editorial writer on the Irish Times. It
is one of the anomalies of daily journalism in every country
(including America) , that the editorials are largely written by
men who don't agree with the policy of the paper, but write
to order. While William O'Donovan, a Fenian, was writing Tory
editorials in the Irish Times, Jack Adams, an Atheist, was doing
the Catholic articles in the Freeman's Journal, the owner of
which, Sir John Gray, was a Protestant, although his son, Ed-
mund Dwyer Gray, became a Catholic and married an English
Catholic woman. O'Donovan and Adams used to meet at supper
in the Ship Tavern in Abbey Street and have a good laugh
over their articles, of which they didn't believe a word.
When Pigott's Flag of Ireland (the cheap edition of the
Irishman) was taken over by Parnell and named United Ireland,
with William O'Brien as Editor, William O'Donovan joined its
staff. On the suppression of the paper he came to New York
and I at once made him my chief assistant on the Irish Nation.
He knew the Irish Question thoroughly, was a most competent
and painstaking journalist, and I could always go away and
leave the paper in his hands, sure that what I wanted would be
done, except on the rare occasions when he went on a spree.
Then he would disappear and a wire from John J. Breslin, who
was Business Manager, would bring me back. His habits were
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
371
entirely French and he lived in a cheap pension kept by an
Alsatian, in the French Quarter. He remained a Fenian to the
last, but was a strong supporter of Parnell.
William O'Donovan died suddenly, his body was taken to the
Morgue and we had some difficulty in finding it. We buried him
in Calvary Cemetery and O'Donovan Rossa, Thomas Clarke Luby,
John Breslin and I were the pall bearers. John Reid, a Scottish-
American, the Managing Editor of the Times, who was a personal
friend of mine, gave me two columns in the paper for an article
on him and the O'Donovan family.
I didn't know Henry, the youngest but one of the O'Donovan
brothers. He studied medicine in Dublin, but never qualified as
a doctor. After some years spent as an unqualified assistant in
England, he died at York in 1905.
Edmund was by long odds the chief intellectual contribution
of the O'Donovan family to the Fenian movement, but they were
all sincerely devoted to it.
The only survivors of the family at this writing (August, 1928)
are Richard and Daniel, both of advanced age and now living in
retirement in North Wales. They both entertain the same con-
genital feeling for the Old Country, and deem themselves happy
in having lived to see Ireland make such long strides towards
her destined goal of National Independence.
CHAPTER LI.
MY OWN RECORD AND ANTECEDENTS.
Inherited My Nationalist Opinions from Several Generations
of Workers for Ireland — The Clan One of the "Seven Septs
of Leix" Massacred at the Rath of Mullaghmast — Father
a Repeal Warden under O'Connell and Secretary of a Young
Ireland Club in 1848 — Had to Work Hard from Boyhood —
Spent a Year in the Foreign Legion and * * * *
Although my position in the Fenian Movement during the
'Sixties was of a subordinate character, the work assigned me was
of sufficient importance that I suppose I may without presumption
class myself among its personalities. Others have given me a
higher place than I ever claimed for myself; even so, I have been
subjected to more misrepresentation than any Irishman of my
time. This must serve as my apology for devoting so much space
to myself.
One of the pet theories about me among certain people is
that I am not Irish, but French. This theory has a distinguished
sponsor in George Bernard Shaw, who once honored me with
a sarcastic article, the occasion of which I don't recall, in which
he said he had been for some time a clerk in an Irish land
office and had never met the name. Mr. Shaw is a great drama-
tist and an unusually clever man, but he is not an authority on
Irish names.
The name is "as Irish as the pigs in Connemara" and is to be
found scattered all over Southern Kildare, Leix and other Coun-
ties of Leinster. With all due respect to Mr. Shaw, it is "kindly
Irish of the Irish, neither Saxon nor Italian" — nor French. It is
to be found in the "Annals of the Four Masters" and in foot-
notes in "Hardiman's Minstrelsy", and is not likely to die out,
though I am an old bachelor of 86.
Father O'Hanlon in his "History of the Queen's County" says
the ancestors of the Seven Septs of Leix, who were massacred at
Mullaghmast, came down from "Ulster in the early days of the
Christian Era, but before St. Patrick's time, to aid the Prince of
Leix in a fight with a neighboring Chief, on a promise of a
tract of land; that the Prince broke his word and that they
turned on him and defeated him and took their pick of the
land in Leix. The Seven Septs of Leix consisted of the O'Mores,
the Leinster O'Kellys, the O'Lalors, the O'Devoys (or O'Deevys),
372
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
373
the MacEvoys, the O'Dowlings and O'Dorans. Father O'Han-
lon's book contains a map of Leix in which the territory each
Clan occupied is marked. The O'Mores were the paramount
Chiefs of the Seven Septs. The district of the O'Devoys was
named Tuatha Fiodhbhuidhe, and is near the present site of
Maryborough. Father O'Hanlon further says that antiquarians
claim that in all cases where there was a grouping of seven clans
with one paramount chief they were of Pictish origin, so that
if his theory be correct, my ancestors were in Ireland before
the Milesians. Cuchulain was a Pict, and that effectually dis-
poses of the Milesian claim of superiority.
Even if I were of French origin it would make no difference.
Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the chosen military leader of the United
Irishmen, was a descendant of one of the Anglo-Norman adven-
turers who came over with Strongbow to conquer Ireland, and all
the other leaders of the United Irishmen, except John Keogh,
were of English or Scotch descent. The first Emmet came to Ire-
land as a captain of cavalry in Cromwell's army, and was a Pur-
itan bigot. An ancestor of Theobald Wolfe Tone, the real father
of modern Irish Nationalism, came to Ireland in the army of
William of Orange, and there are many more such instances
of men of foreign descent (including English) who have served
Ireland faithfully. But I can establish my claim to be of the old
Gaelic stock.
The attitude of Irish Nationalists is well expressed by Thomas
Davis in these lines:
"We do not hate, we never cursed,
Or spoke a foeman's word,
Against a man in Ireland nursed,
Howe'er we thought he erred.
So start not, Irish born man,
If you're to Ireland true,
We heed not race, nor creed, nor clan —
We've hearts and hands for you."
The Massacre of Mullaghmast, in County Kildare, took place
in 1577 and was conducted by Sir Francis Cosby, with the full
sanction of Sir Henry Sydney, the Lord Deputy, who gave his
word of honor that if the men of the Seven Septs came unarmed
to a banquet to discuss terms of permanent peace they would be
perfectly safe. They came without any arms except for the
swords which all men of position carried at that time, and for
a long time afterwards, and as 400 of them were in the banquet
chamber of the Rath they were butchered in cold blood by Cosby's
soldiers. But, they didn't all go in. One of the Chiefs, who was a
marvellous swordsman, cut his way out and gave warning to those
of the clansmen who had not yet entered the death trap, and
they escaped.
374 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The Seven Septs had successfully resisted all England's efforts
to conquer them, including the destruction of their luxuriant
crops of grain. It was Sydney who decided on the more effec-
tive method, just described, of getting rid of them.
This was a typical instance of England's persistent policy, pur-
sued relentlessly in one form or another, from the first invasion
in the Twelfth Century to Lloyd George's Reign of Terror in
1920-21.
Richard Dalton Williams (one of the Young Irelanders) in his
poem "The Rath of Mullaghmast" gave excellent advice which
should govern the attitude of Nationalist Ireland in all negotia-
tions with "perfidious Albion". I quote only two stanzas:
"False Sydney! knighthood's stain,
The trusting brave in vain —
Thy guests — ride o'er the plain
To thy dark cow'rd snare.
Flow'r of Offlay and Leix,
They have come thy board to grace —
Fools to meet a faithless race
Save with true swords bare."
* * * *
"Though the Saxon snake unfold
At thy feet his scales of gold,
And vow thee love untold,
Trust him not, Green Land.
Touch him not with gloveless clasp
A coiled and deadly asp,
But with strong and guarded grasp
In your steel-clad hand."
It was to commemorate the Massacre, as well as to demand
Repeal of the Union, that Daniel O'Connell held his great "Mon-
ster Meeting" at Mullaghmast in 1843. My father and uncles
were present at it. They went in a cart, lined with straw, and as
there were seven of them, there was no room to spare, so they
tried to leave my grandfather at home and locked him in a room.
But when they got several miles away they found to their aston-
ishment the old man trudging sturdily along the road ahead of
them, so they had to take him up. He wanted to see the old
scenes and the old neighbors, got out through a back window,
and had actually started on the journey before they left home.
After the Massacre, the disinherited Clansmen were scattered
over the adjoining districts and my ancestors were given land
on the estate of the Duke of Leinster in the parish of Athy,
County Kildare. In the latter part of the Eighteenth Century
there were twenty-three families of the name (eighteen of them
closely related) in the parish, but there is not one now. The
last of them (not related) was at Courtwood.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
375
My paternal great-grandfather (who did not speak a word of
English until he was twenty-five years old— he lived to be 102)
held two farms, 235 acres in all, from the Duke of Leinster at a
place called The Heath. It was in making out the leases that
the name got changed. The Gaelic speaking tenant pronounced
it correctly and the English-speaking agent who did the writing
spelled it as best he could.
My great-grandmother lived to be 104, and I saw her when
she was 102, when moving from Daars to the home of a mar-
ried daughter at Newtown Mount Kennedy, County Wicklow,
where she died in the early 'fifties of the last century.
In those days in Ireland a groom was not considered a ser-
vant, but a sort of equerry, and my grandfather, John Devoy,
who was born in 1780, became groom to the Duke of Leinster
after a due apprenticeship. While a boy he remembered often
seeing Lord Edward Fitzgerald on his visits to Carton, the family
seat. The older servants, who were all United Irishmen, and the
old neighbors told him that Thomas Moore while writing the
"Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald" was for a time a guest at Car-
ton, and was induced to tone down the book to suit the "mod-
erate" views of the family. My grandmother, Mary Brennan.
although the daughter of a prosperous farmer, at Daars, was
maid to Lady Cecilia Fitzgerald (Lord Edward's favorite sister) ,
and eloped with my grandfather when a young girl, throwing
her bundle of clothes out through a window and going out
through a back door. She was a handsome little woman, al-
though her mother, whose maiden name was Jane Rourke, was
tall and stately.
My grandfather after his marriage became groom to Lord
Leitrim and spent some time in London. Later, he lived on the
Leitrim estate at Killadoon, County Kildare, where my father and
his eldest brother were born. He taught the Lord Leitrim who
was killed in Donegal how to ride a horse. A little known fact
about that Lord Leitrim is that in his early days he was a
sort of a Nationalist. The family name is Clements, and in
1847 while he was Colonel Clements and the Arms Act was under
discussion he walked into the House of Commons in full uni-
form with his sword at his side and made a short speech in
which he said that "sooner than vote for that Bill he would break
his sword across his knee and resign from Her Majesty's ser-
vice."
When my father was a very young boy, my grandfather moved
to Kill where he started as a small farmer, just outside the vil-
lage. Five other sons and two daughters (my uncles and aunts)
376
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
were born there. Bringing up a family of nine on eight acres of
land was a hard problem, but the boys were hard and skillful
workers and supplemented farming by road making and small
contract work. They were all "good scholars", as the phrase
went in those days, and their uncle who kept the turnpike gate
in Kill, was a contractor on a larger scale. He had constructed
a large section of the Grand Canal and was able to help them.
That uncle had commanded a party of Rebels in 1798 and
warned the Kildare men against accepting the invitation to
deliver up their arms at the Curragh Rath on a promise of im-
munity. He reminded them of Mullaghmast and England's con-
tinuous treachery, but his pleadings were all in vain. He refused
to go with them.
The deluded men, trusting to the honor of an English "sol-
dier and gentleman", delivered up their arms, according to their
agreement with General Dundas, and were immediately ridden
down and sabred to death by the Eighteenth Hussars and Lord
Jocelyn's yeomanry with the aid of the infantry.
The Massacre at the "Gibbet Rath" took place on June 3,
1798, shortly after the outbreak of the Insurrection. The ex-
planation made as to how it occurred was that General Dundas,
who agreed to grant immunity to the Rebels, sent General Gos-
ford to receive the arms, but that Major-General Sir James Duff
was on the march from Limerick to Dublin with a force of
infantry, cavalry and artillery, and arrived on the Curragh as
the Insurgents were delivering up their arms; that one of the
Rebels whose gun was loaded fired it off so that it might be
empty when he handed it in, and that General Duff then ordered
the charge, pretending to believe that the shot was a signal for
an attack. This was a shallow pretense, as, when the massacre
began, the arms had already been turned in. The number of
men slaughtered was 350.
Madden gives this version in his "Lives and Times of the
United Irishmen". There were 2,000 men at the parley with Gen-
eral Dundas, but only 350 turned up at the surrender.
The Eighteenth Hussars were Irish and were composed main-
ly of Orangemen. In 1821 the regiment mutinied on the Curragh
and was disbanded. There were no railroads in those days and
the men could not pay their fare on the mail coaches, so they
had to make their way to their homes on foot. As they walked
along the roads they were attacked fiercely by the relatives of
the men who had been butchered by that regiment in 1798, al-
though 23 years after the event there could not possibly have
been a man in the regiment who belonged to it at the time of the
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
377
Massacre. One of them was killed at Thonavore, a dark spot
overhung with trees just outside Johnstown, as he walked to-
wards Dublin. I knew one of the two men who did the killing,
and my last act before going "on the run" in September, 1865,
was to bring the aged veteran of 1798 some tobacco in the Poor-
house at Naas, as all his relatives were dead.
My father took an active part in the Catholic Emancipation
and the Anti-Tithe Movements and in Father Mathew's great
Temperance Movement. Although he had never been a drinker he
brought 3,000 men to take the pledge from Father Mathew in
Naas. It was a wonderful crusade and the Irish people have
good reason to be proud of the fact that the greatest Temper-
ance Movement in the world's history took place in Ireland
and was led by an Irish Catholic Priest.
My father at 26 married Elizabeth Dunne, a neighbor's
daughter, four years his junior, and started housekeeping with
half an acre of land (part of the Dunne farm of 32 acres) which
they got rent free, in the thatched cottage in which she was
born, and where I was born on September 3, 1842, just as the
Repeal Agitation was nearing a crisis. He was the Repeal War-
den for the District (the Barony of South Salt) and devoted all
his spare time (and much of his working time, as well) to the
collection of the "Repeal Rent" — a shilling a year from each man,
for which each got a receipt from Thomas Matthew Ray, the
Secretary of Conciliation Hall, in the form of a Repeal Card.
The money was delivered to Ray by Edward, the youngest of my
father's six brothers, who was thus enabled to make the ac-
quaintance of Thomas Davis, Charles Gavan Duffy and other
notable men.
The distance to Dublin (12 miles) was easily walked and, as
the "caravan" cost a shilling each way, he spared the ex-
pense, and the trip was a delight to him. Inspired by the example
of Davis, my uncle later wrote some rather good poetry in the
Nation of the Sullivans.
To judge from the manner in which my father utilized his
half acre, he would have been a thrifty farmer had he enough
land to till. In addition to the corner allotted to cabbage,
there were cherry trees, gooseberry and currant bushes, and in
front, rosebushes, laurels and hollies, boxwood borders to the
flower beds and beds of luscious strawberries half way round the
house. There was a neatly cropped privet hedge in front, with
two laburnums intertwining their branches over the narrow
wooden gate. Otherwise the little house where I spent the first
seven years of my life was much the same as the ordinary Irish
378
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
cottage. Inside, my father had constructed partitions to provide
small rooms for a steadily growing family. He was a very
handy man, a good cobbler who mended all our shoes and made
all the tables, chairs and stools himself.
My earliest recollection of that little house is seeing a crowd
of men in corduroy kneebreeches, with pipes in their mouths,
sitting around the fire while my father read the Nation for them
— every word of it — and hearing them every now and then ex-
claim: "Bloody wars!" That was the common expression at the
time. He was the only man in the neighborhood who got the
Nation and was a good reader.
I was sent to the National School in Kill when I was six. My
eldest brother, who died of the cholera in Dublin when he was
fourteen, was the smartest boy in the school. He could demon-
strate the 45th problem in Euclid with his back to the black-
board, and my uncles had similar reputations, so that Dowling,
the schoolmaster, was surprised at finding that I couldn't learn
the alphabet. He sent for my father one day, and after a long
consultation put me on a seat nearer to the alphabet card. In
a few minutes I was able to call out all the letters, and thus
the discovery was made that I had short sight. After that I
made rapid progress, but at that time giving spectacles to a lit-
tle boy or girl was never thought of. If I had got them then
and been coaxed to wear them perhaps I shouldn't have so much
difficulty in writing this after three operations (two major and
one minor) for cataracts.
My father, though a "good scholar", writing a good hand,
was obliged to support his family by any kind of labor, and at
one time he was employed at breaking stones for road construc-
tion. He also worked as a navvy in the construction of the Great
Southern and Western Railroad, but was beginning as a con-
tractor in a small way when an incident typical of the time
blasted his hopes. He had put in a bid for the drainage of
Lord Mayo's demesne, and on the same evening was sending in
his report as Repeal Warden. He addressed the two envelopes
before enclosing the papers and put them in the wrong envelopes.
The Lord Mayo of that day (grand uncle of the Governor-
General of India who was later assassinated) was a good
natured, kindly old man, who had saved several lives in 'Ninety-
eight, but his wife was a hard headed Englishwoman and at-
tended to all the business. She was a country town druggist's
daughter, and was not received in Society because, though an
Earl's wife, she was not of "gentle blood". How times have
changed! She was a spitfire in temper, and when she found
the Repeal Warden's Report, instead of the drainage bid, she
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
379
flew into a rage and tore it up. She was an intelligent woman
in other respects, but stupidly insisted that the Repeal Report
was sent to her for the purpose of insulting her. It seems she
didn't know that my father was Repeal Warden until then. He
got the drainage bid back from Conciliation Hall in a day or
two and the staff had a good laugh over it, but it was no laugh-
ing matter for my father, for it ended his chances of making a
decent living in Kildare. The Famine was drawing to an end,
but his little potato crop was all rotten and there was depres-
sion on every side, so he had to decide to move into Dublin.
In Dublin, he had to take the first job he could get, and it
was driving a coal cart for a well-to-do brother-in-law who
kept a dairy and a coal yard on Summerhill. The coal porters at
that time were called "O'Connell's Police" and they were a rough
lot. They jeered him as a "bloody Young Irelander" and made
his life miserable during the few weeks he was among them. He
was a very sensitive man, and was greatly relieved when his
youngest brother, who had become gate clerk in Watkins' Brew-
ery on Ardee Street, procured him a job as drayman. The
Watkins brothers were very decent Englishmen who had come
to Ireland as agents for a hop firm in Kent, and after half a
century in Dublin had lost all their prejudices, if they ever had
any. They took a liking to my uncle and made him Brewer
after serving an apprenticeship. My father succeeded him as
gate clerk, and had been Managing Clerk for several years be-
fore his death in 1880.
For a few years my father had some time in the evenings to
devote to the education of his children and he put us through
our school tasks for the next day. Sunday evenings he de-
voted to religious instruction, and he never failed to read for
us one of Father Gahan's sermons. From the time my eldest
brother died in 1849, my father said the Rosary every night.
Later when he had to sleep in the brewery, my mother said it
until I grew old enough to take her place. My next oldest
brother, Michael, who died in New Mexico in 1914, was appren-
ticed to a grocer in Glasthule, County Dublin, beyond Kings-
town, and later became clerk in Watkins' ale and beer brewery
in Bray. My father was a deeply religious man and added a
number of extemporary prayers to the Rosary, and then we had
to say "our own prayers." As the houses we lived in all had
earthen floors in the kitchens, there were welts on my knees
from constant kneeling. He piled it on too much and made me
tired, which is a mistake with a healthy boy. One Mass on a
Sunday was not enough for him. He often said to me: "I
wouldn't thank a young fellow like you to hear two or three
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Masses every Sunday." Sunday was the day that a group of us
devoted to taking long walks in the country and to hearing the
fine singing of patriotic songs by two brothers named Woods,
who had splendid voices and could render the best songs of the
Nation, under the Canal bridges, often with a group of other
boys for an audience. So, instead of the extra Masses, we some-
times did not stay for the finish of one Mass lest we should be
late for our appointments.
After getting to Dublin in 1849, I was sent to O'Connell's
School in Richmond Street, the first of the Christian Brothers'
schools to be started in the city. It was the only one then, but
St. Laurence O'Toole's School was started as soon as the Church
was built. The Principal of O'Connell's School was Mr. Grace,
who figures largely in the history of the Irish Christian Brothers,
and the only other Brother I remember was a tall, handsome
Englishman named Clifford, with curly blond hair. I remember
him particularly because he gave me an apple, fresh plucked
from a tree in the garden, as a prize for answering in the Cate-
chism. My proficiency was due to my father's teaching at home.
Some time later when I was about nine I got scarlatina and was
attended by Father Cooper, another Englishman and a very
kindly man, from the Cathedral. He put me through an ex-
amination in the Catechism and turning to my mother said:
"It's not the Catechism he knows, but Theology." So my first
experiences with Englishmen were very pleasant.
During the four years we lived in Summerhill I attended
Catechism in the Cathedral in Marlborough Street and went to
my First Communion with a large batch of boys from Marl-
borough Street Model School. I was confirmed there by Arch-
bishop Murray, Cardinal Cullen's predecessor. He was a very
amiable, kindly man, but in politics he was a Whig, and, as I
say in another place, O'Connell called him so, but he never
denounced anyone on account of difference of opinion. I can
still, seventy-seven years later, feel the tap of his finger on my
cheek. After our First Communion we got a breakfast of rolls
and coffee in a room behind the altar. It was my second cup
of coffee. The first one I got was at Pat Carroll's in Rathcoole
as we were moving into Dublin in 1849 on carts supplied by
Jimmy Dunne, my first cousin. I took it with a penny roll, sitting
straddled on the end of a form, set slantingly out from the
fireplace. In 1924 I went into the place, then kept by Pat Car-
roll's grandson, and there was a form in the very same place
and at the same slant. Pat Carroll's sister was the mother of
Jimmy Dunne, and his other sister married my father's eldest
brother, Michael, who was already living in Dublin. Pat Car-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
381
roll's father, Andy Carroll, a tall, handsome man, whom I re-
member very well, as his farm was next to that of the Dunnes,
fought in 'Ninety-eight, but that was true of the male members
of the families from Naas to Kill and further on towards Dub-
lin. An old man of splendid physique named Nick Doyle, over
six feet tall, wearing an old-fashioned cothamore, drab col-
ored, with a big cape across the shoulders, who lived next door
to us on the Dublin side, had used a scythe fastened straight
on the handle with great effect in 'Ninety-eight, and he kept it,
rolled up in oiled flannel, in the thatch of the house. He had
two sons, both splendid men, in the 'Forty-eight Movement, who
were killed in the American Civil War, one on each side of the
fighting. Nick could never be persuaded to go to any of O'Con-
nell's meetings, called him "an ould blathermskite", and always
wound up the argument by saying: "It'll come to my way yit."
He was illiterate, but had a strong intellectual head and finely
chiselled features.
Later, when we moved over to the Liberty, on account of my
father's employment in Watkins' Brewery, I attended Catechism
in Arran Quay Church of which Father Yore was Pastor, be-
cause my father's cousin was Secretary of the Confraternity and
had charge of the Catechism class. Father Grimley, who later
became Bishop of Cape Town, but who was then a Curate, really
managed the Parish, as Father Yore was a very old man. There
was a fine library attached to the church, filled with first class
Irish books which could be borrowed by payment of a penny
a week. It was through that library that I first became
acquainted with the writings of Archbishop MacHale, then called
Bishop of Marona, if I remember rightly. He was Coadjutor for
another Bishop when he wrote a series of controversial letters
which were in book form in the Arran Quay Church Library.
He was probably then the most popular man in all Ireland and
he did more for the restoration of the Irish Language than any
man of his time. He translated Moore's Melodies and Homer's
Iliad into Irish.
When I was about nine or ten years of age I was subject to a
"lightness in the head" which prevented me from reading or
writing or going to school for three days, and my mother gave
me a note to explain my absence. Sheehy, the Superintendent
of Marlborough Street Model School, was a big Cork man. He
announced one day that he would take no more "absent tickets",
as the boys called such notes when they wanted to take a swim
at the Wharf or to have some fun in the Phoenix Park, and
that the mothers must come to give a personal explanation. My
mother could not do that, as the walk from Newmarket, where
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we then lived, to Marlborough Street was too long; and when I
appeared one day after one of the attacks Sheehy undertook to
slap me and I refused to hold out my hand. He proceeded to
beat me with a cane, although it was against the rules of the
school, and I gripped him by the thigh and pushed him, and
kicked him in the shins, which made a great sensation in the
school. He dismissed me from the school for this.
A few days previously he had hit me a hard blow on the
head with a little slab of a slate, saying, "Sing, Sir-r!" be-
cause I had refused to sing "God Save the Queen." The blow
sent a hundred stars into my head and hurt me badly. I vowed
that when I grew big enough I would lick him, but he died before
I was able.
After my adventure with Sheehy, I was sent for a while to a
private school, at a cost of 8 pence a week (as distinguished
from the penny a week of the National and Christian Brothers'
Schools) , kept by a man named Donnelly, in a street running
parallel to Aldborough Barracks, which fronts on the South Cir-
cular Road. He was one of the last of the old "Paddy Byrne"
type of teacher, who made a specialty of handwriting and the
multiplication table. His idea was evidently to prepare boys for
commercial employment, and he arranged contests in totting
up figures. He had a name of his own for every sum, and he
called compound multiplication "short accounts." That was the
only benefit I derived from the few months I spent in his school,
but I found it very useful in after life. He didn't divide his
school into classes; the whole school was one class, and there
was consequently much noise and disorder, which he would al-
low to go on for a while and then take a strong leather strap
and proceed to wallop the boys indiscriminately. That speedily
brought order of a kind. In after years I was reminded of him
by an article written by Thomas Francis Meagher in his Irish
News in New York after his arrival in America, in which he
described a Tipperary schoolmaster who concluded a description
of his school by saying: "I whipped me byes all round each day
to make them Spartans."
Then I was sent to the Model School in School Street, which
was the second one in Ireland, where I finished my schooling.
The teacher there was a Carlow man named Murphy, who had
previously taught the Model School in Dunmanway, County
Cork, the last school attended by Colonel Ric. Burke. After
our conviction for Fenianism, Murphy, who was an arrant Loy-
alist, expressed keen regret that he had had the misfortune to
put two such Rebels through his hands as Ric. Burke and John
Devoy. Most of the "National Teachers" were good Nationalists,
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
383
but we had among them several of the Murphy type. I had an
argument with him one day about John Mitchel. He never hesi-
tated to introduce politics, and he made a statement to the whole
school in which he quoted John Mitchel as saying "that he
wished he had a plantation of fine fat niggers." The quotation
happened to be correct, but I didn't believe it and contradicted
him without hesitation. Murphy said he had read it in the
London Times and that it was true. I answered that the Lon-
don Times was the bitter enemy of the Irish people and was
always lying about them. That explanation went with the boys,
and they applauded all round the schoolroom.
Before I was many months in School Street I was appointed
a Monitor at 10 shillings a month. That was the first money I
ever earned, although I had got premiums of 6 pence, 8 pence,
10 pence and a shilling for answering at examinations — for
which I made little preparation. When I got my first 10 shil-
lings, being only fourteen at the time, I ran all the way home,
handed the money to my mother, and then, before I had recov-
ered my -breath, asked her to give me 2 shillings of it. She held
the money in her hand and asked me what I wanted the 2 shil-
lings for. I told her I wanted to buy John O'Daly's "Self-
Instruction in Irish" and Edward Walsh's "Irish Songs With
English Metrical Translations." She gave me the money at once,
and then I ran all the way to John O'Daly's bookshop in Angle-
sea Street and bought the two books after a long talk with
O'Daly himself. I had previously, when I was nine, picked up
an Irish Primer in a shop on Bachelor's Walk for a penny,
which enabled me to learn the alphabet. That was my first step
in the study of Irish, which unfortunately I have never been
able to finish. I remained two years and a half as a Monitor in
School Street.
One day nearly all the boys in a class were wrong in a sum
in algebra; Murphy lost his temper and ordered us, whether
right or wrong, to blot our sums off our slates; did the problem
himself on the blackboard and ordered us to copy it. There
were two Protestant brothers named Faulds (descendants, they
told me, of a German family planted in Ireland by George II) ,
who were good fellows and great friends of mine and sat next
to me. They were bright enough, but were hopeless idlers. In-
stead of copying the sum from the blackboard, they continued
playing a game of "odd and even" with marbles in their laps
under the desk, so when Murphy came around behind us to ex-
amine our slates and found their sums still wrong he wrung
their ears vigorously. The Faulds boys resisted with their el-
bows, which increased his temper. My sum was exactly the same
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
as his on the blackboard, so I hadn't changed it, but the ill
tempered man had got into the habit of wringing ears and pro-
ceeded to wring mine. I protested vehemently and pointed out
that my sum was precisely the same as his own. His only
answer was, "Do what I tell you, sir," and a further vicious twist
at my ear. I gave him a vigorous drive with my elbow and
picked up a slate — one of the little slabs similar to that with
which Sheehy had given me the knock on the head in Marl-
borough Street for refusing to sing "God Save the Queen."
Murphy saw what was coming and stepped out into the aisle.
I let fly and the slate missed his ear by about an inch. He put
me standing inside the fire screen and sent for my father, who
lived near by, to complain of my misconduct, and the old man,
without hearing my explanation, read me a solemn lecture.
One of my younger brothers, James, was a kind of prodigy
who insisted on reading books beyond his years. He read every
book that our eldest living brother took out of the fine library
of the Mechanics' Institute and all those that I got from that of
the Catholic Young Men's Society, doing his reading surrep-
titiously on the roof of the old building in Newmarket in which
we lived at the time — the remains of one of the old mansions
of the pre-Union period — which commanded a fine view of the
beautiful country around Dublin. He had read Gibbon's "De-
cline and Fall of the Roman Empire" and Hallam's "Middle
Ages" before he was twelve, but neglected his school tasks.
One day when he was hopelessly behind in his tasks Murphy
gave him a savage beating, using one stick of the broken frame
of a school roll which had some stumps of nails in it. When
the boy came home from school he said nothing, but went into
his bedroom, took off all his clothes except his trousers and
shoes and stepped out backwards, saying, "Do you see that?"
His back was one hideous mass of cuts and bruises. I was seven-
teen and had left school, but I made up my mind that I would
go at once to Murphy's house and give him a walloping. But I
counted without Mrs. Murphy. She was a School Organizer who
earned £100 a year — a good salary for that time — and a most
kindly woman — as kindly as her husband was cross and peevish.
They lived on Heytsbury Street, near us. She answered my ring
and saw at once there was something serious up. She managed
to draw my story and my intention out of me. A kindly woman
can do anything in reason with an Irish boy.
After hearing my story she said: "He was awfully wrong,
but leave him to me, John." All my anger evaporated and I
had to yield. That was my last experience with Murphy.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
385
After I left Murphy's school I got a job in the office of an
Englishman named Fitch who sold hops to Watkins' Brewery.
While there the National Petition Movement was started by T. D.
Sullivan and I joined it. As related in another chapter the
National Petition was the real beginning of Fenianism in Dub-
lin. My father, who had had a sad experience from neglecting
his own interests for those of the Repeal and Young Ireland
Movements, told me I was making a mistake in throwing myself
too early into the National Movement, and that my first duty
was to finish my education. He was right. I ruined my future
chances in life by throwing myself too early into it. But he
insisted, and we had a hot argument, in the course of which he
told me if I didn't stop attending the meetings in Jervis Street
he would come over some evening and kick me out. The poor
man didn't intend to do so, but I thought I would be disgraced
forever if such a thing happened, and I determined to run away
and join the Zouaves. No foreigner can join any French regi-
ment but the Foreign Legion, but I thought that letters from
prominent Irishmen would enable me to do so, and I procured
a letter of introduction from Denis Holland to John Mitchel,
and one from T. D. Sullivan to J. P. Leonard, a professor in the
Sorbonne, who was Paris correspondent of the Nation, in the
hope that they would enable me to become a Zouave. I was seen
off by a group of young fellows, many of whom became after-
wards prominent in the Fenian movement, including James J.
O'Kelly. Through T. D. Sullivan I got a free ticket by the long
sea route from Dublin to London around the English coast. That
saved me just £1, but, as the ticket was first class, the cost of
the food in the cabin really made it heavier than had I gone via
Holyhead or Liverpool. I was then in my nineteenth year.
I was delayed in London waiting for money from my eldest
brother, which he sent me by weekly instalments. On receipt of
£2 I took the boat train for Boulogne, and stopped at the Hotel
De New York, a little hostelry kept by a French woman who had
been a cook in London and spoke English very well. I found I
could not enlist in Boulogne. French red tape made it pos-
sible to enlist only in the Capital of a Department, and I had
to wait till I got more money to go to where I could enlist. Dur-
ing part of that time I starved. My good French hostess thought
I was taking my meals in the restaurant, and she charged them
up to me, but I had to wait till I got some money from home
to get a square meal. I visited the site of Napoleon's camp,
where he had placed the army with which he intended to invade
England — it happened about the time when they were having
their dinner in Dublin — and as I hadn't eaten anything for two
386
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
days I couldn't help crying, but it didn't alter my determination
to enlist. The interpreter in the hotel had brought me the day
before to the door of the English Consul's office, and advised me
to go in and ask him for help, which I know now I could have
got, but I couldn't think of doing it.
Instead of stopping at the nearest Capital of a Department
I went straight to Paris, thinking that my letters of introduc-
tion would enable me to become a Zouave. In Paris I went to
the Hotel des Missions Etrangeres because the members of the
Irish Papal Brigade had stopped there on their way back from
Italy a few years previous.
I couldn't find John Mitchel because he had moved after my
introducer had written his letter. His then address was in the
Rue St. Nicolas, Choisy-le-roi. I thought that Choisy-le-roi
was the name of a section of Paris instead of a suburb, and I
wore out the gutta-percha soles of my shoes walking from one
part of Paris to the other, and found five Rues St. Nicolas, one
of them ending at the Place de la Bastile.
I finally found the address of J. P. Leonard and presented my
letter from T. D. Sullivan. Mr. Leonard gave tuitions in English,
and one of his pupils came up while I was waiting for my ring
to be answered, and he displayed his proficiency in English by
asking me: "Aff you rung de clock?"
Mr. Leonard told me it was useless to try to become a Zouave;
that French law was against admitting foreigners into the French
army except through the Foreign Legion, but that he would do
his best. The next day he took me around to the Ministry of
War, where I found one of the officers to be a big stout German
Major, who had risen from a private in the Foreign Legion.
There I enlisted in the Legion on May 2, 1861.
The French system of sending recruits to join the regiments
at that time was peculiar. The French soldier was then entitled
to travel on the railroads at one-third of the fare, so they cal-
culated the number of etapes (days' march) of the destination
of the recruit and gave him his subsistence on the way. Mar-
seilles, the port of debarkation for Africa, is 28 days' march
from Paris, so I was entitled to 28 francs to pay my way there.
But instead of giving it to me in a lump sum, they divided the
journey into a certain number of etapes and gave the recruit the
money to take him to the nearest one. I had a very interesting
tour of Central France. I stopped first at Melun, the birthplace
of Lamartine, the poet. Macon was another stop, as was Lyons,
and Avignon. It took me four days to reach Marseilles. If I had
known enough to buy a through ticket to Marseilles in Paris I
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
387
could have got there for less than half the money, but not know-
ing French I was ignorant of the conditions.
At Lyons I had a very pleasant experience. The railroad
station was then at the point of junction of the Rhone and the
Saone, a beautiful spot. A few paces from the stationhouse I
met a Sergeant Major of infantry, with an account book under
his arm, and I asked him my way to the office of the Sous-
Intendant, to whom I had to report and get my route paper
visaed. Unlike the ordinary French infantry man, he was a
tall fellow, and he told me the office was closed. When he saw
the blank look on my face he asked me how much money I had,
and not being able to answer him readily in French (though
I was picking it up very fast) I took the short cut by pulling out
my little purse and showed the contents to him. He shook his
head and said: "That won't take you far en Afrique." The
French never say "Algeria." Then he looked at me and asked
"What countryman are you?" I told him I was an Irishman,
and he smiled at once. He proved to be the Frenchman that
knew most about Ireland that I met during my whole experience
in France and Algeria. He said: "Come with me and I will see
if I can't get you a bed in the barrack. I have only to leave this
book in an office and then I am free." I thanked him as well
as I could in my smattering of French, and went with him. In
the barrack he took me to a room occupied by himself and a
sergeant. There were two military beds, a table, two chairs and
an American stove in the room, and on the stove was a pot of
coffee. Dinner was finished, but he took me over to the canteen
where there were two great big French girls that looked like
Irishwomen. He got them to lift out of a big boiler some soup
meat and a lot of soup vegetables, and added to it a great chunk
of military bread, on which I had a fine feed, which I needed
badly, while he was flirting with the two girls. When the meal
was finished we went back to his room in the barrack, and he
gave me a fine cup of coffee. Himself and his roommate then
started a game Of cards and invited me to take part, but I had
never played cards and declined. While they were at the
game the Lieutenant of the guard dropped in. He and the Ser-
geant Major were from the same place, but the Sergeant Major
was the more intelligent of the two, although the Lieutenant had
gone through the Military School of St. Cyr. In the course of
their talk the Sergeant Major told the Lieutenant that I was
Irish and going to join the Legion, and they then got into an
argument about Ireland and England. The Lieutenant knew
nothing whatever about Ireland, and I heard him say: "La meme
gouvernment; la meme reine; la meme langue" (The same gov-
388
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
eminent; the same queen; the same language) . Then he
shrugged his shoulders. The language was a conclusive argu-
ment. The Sergeant Major in reply gave me the first long sen-
tence I had ever heard in French, which showed he had intimate
knowledge of Ireland. He thumped his hand on the table and
said: "L'Irlande, par sa position geographique, par race, par
religion et surtout par la volonte de son peuple est une nation"
(Ireland, by its geographical position, by race, by religion and
above all by the will of its people, is a nation) . The Lieutenant
shrugged his shoulders again and gave it up. Then they invited
the Lieutenant to join in the game of cards — a thing which is
against the regulations of every army in the world, including
the American. He hesitated a bit, but they pressed him, and he
finally concluded by taking off his gold collar, his sword, his
shako, threw them on the bed and sat down with the two men
and joined in the game.
Next morning the Sergeant Major said to me: "We won't
mind eating breakfast here; I will see if I can't get a breakfast
in town." So we started and went to the military barrack where
he was a clerk, and there he met a number of fellows he knew, —
all soldiers, — and among them was an old sergeant with his
breast covered with medals — the Crimean, the Italian, the
Medaille Militaire (given for wounds and gallantry in action),
and the Cross of the Legion of Honor — every decoration that the
French army could offer. He was a sturdy, athletically built
man, and very genial. They bantered each other for a while,
and then tossed a franc to decide who would pay for the break-
fast. The Sergeant Major won the toss, and he took us into a
restaurant where we had a breakfast of sheep's feet with a bot-
tle of white wine, black coffee and cigars. So I have a most
pleasant memory of Lyons — the pleasantest of my whole experi-
ence in France. I then proceeded to Marseilles.
[Note. To lend a personal and intimate touch of
the author, the following pages of his manuscript are
reproduced.]
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
389
390
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
391
Editorial Notes.
The foregoing two pages of manuscript constitute the last
writings of John Devoy. God called him away before he could
finish this special chapter about which, a few weeks prior to his
death on September 29, 1928, in a letter addressed to the mem-
bers of the Clan-na-Gael, he wrote:
"As there is much about myself in the course of the
present narrative, I had intended originally to leave myself
out in the sketches of the Personalities, but several friends
whose opinion I highly value insisted that I should include
my autobiography, so I am adding that, prefaced with some
particulars about the Devoy Clan (which was one of the
Seven Septs of Leix almost annihilated in the massacre at
the Rath of Mullaghmast) , and about my immediate relatives
who played a part in the Rebellion of 1798, the Emancipation
struggle, the Anti-Tithe, the Repeal and the Young Ireland
movements."
Happily, the recital of the chief incidents of Devoy's subsequent
connection with Fenianism in Ireland had already been inter-
woven by him in the other chapters of these "Recollections".
The translation of the reply from the French War Office,
quoted on page 389:
"Tous les papiers de votre engagement au Ministere de
la Guerre doivent y rester comme pieces a l'appui de l'acte
de l'engagement. D'ailleurs vous pouvez vous procurer les
doubles des pieces dont il s'agit."
is as follows:
"All the papers regarding your enlistment at the War
Department have to remain there being documents in con-
nection with your enlistment. However you can obtain copies
of the documents in question."
PART VII.
CHAPTER LIL
REORGANIZED FENIANISM, 1871-1916.
Tom Clarke Returned to Ireland — I. R. B. Under His Leadership
Assumed New Life and Vigor — Letters from Clarke on
Political Developments.
Reorganized Fenianism in Ireland suffered many vicissitudes
and at times had a hard struggle for existence. It was at some
periods very strong, and at others dwindled to small proportions,
but it always remained a force to be reckoned with. From 1871
to 1916 it was maintained almost entirely by moral and material
support from the Clan-na-Gael. Envoys from the I. R. B. at-
tended every Convention of the Clan-na-Gael and went back
to carry on the work. When I went over as Envoy in 1879 I in-
spected the organization in every province of Ireland, and in
England and Scotland, and found a compact body of 35,000 men,
which continued to grow during the Land League agitation.
Later the numbers fell off considerably, mainly through the
manipulation of the Parliamentary leaders who overthrew
Parnell (of whom T. P. O'Connor was the most successful) , until
finally it was reduced to a mere skeleton.
Tom Clarke who, because of his activities with Gallagher
and others in 1883, spent over fifteen years in English convict
prisons, came back to New York after his release and resumed
membership in the Clan. On his return to Ireland in 1907, the
I. R. B., inspired by his resoluteness and singleness of purpose,
began to assume new life and vigor and became an active
force. Its leaders were capable men, and its rank and file were
of superior intelligence and force of character. The repeated
statements of the Parliamentary leaders that Fenianism was a
spent force were ridiculously untrue, and even William O'Brien,
who always meant to be fair, was deceived by appearances and
by informants with whom the wish was father to the thought.
The supplies of money from the Clan-na-Gael in America
were largely increased from the time that Clarke returned, and
sums never less than £1,000 at a time reached the Supreme
Council of the I. R. B.
From the beginning of the Irish Volunteer movement in 1913,
notwithstanding the fact that many non-organization men were
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
393
high in its councils, the I. R. B. controlled it and gave it the
majority of its leaders and martyrs in 1916.
John Redmond's attempt to make the Irish Volunteers an
annex of the Parliamentary Party was followed by the starting
of a rival Volunteer Fund in America, collected through the
Irish World, and the Clan-na-Gael's fund was bitterly denounced
as a "factionist" movement. The Irish World attacked it as "un-
authorized"— meaning that John Redmond had not given his
permission. Yet our fund, amounting only to about $50,000, sup-
plemented by the Clan-na-Gael's remittances to the I. R. B.,
making in all fully $100,000, supplied the men of Easter Week
with the means of striking their historic blow. Excepting money
collected in Ireland and England, not a dollar came to them
from any outside source. It was a small amount with which
to start an insurrection, but it was larger than any sum ever pre-
viously received by an Irish insurrectionary movement.
The Redmond Volunteer Fund in America amounted only
to about $5,000, but the campaign for its collection obstructed
the Clan-na-Gael's work and lowered the amount that other-
wise would have been sent in. Very little of our Fund for the
Irish Volunteers came from any but Clan members.
Robert Ford sent the money he had collected to Redmond,
but after Redmond's speech at Woodenbridge, he as long as he
lived, supported the Sinn Fein policy in the Irish World. His
change of front and his personal support of the Friends of Irish
Freedom, of whose National Council he was a member, did much
to promote unity among the Irish in America, and his death was
a serious loss.
The Irish Volunteer Fund reached Ireland through various
channels. Some went by members of the Organization who
visited there. The first $5,000 was cabled MacNeill. Other
sums were taken by Tom Ashe, Diarmuid Lynch, Dr. McCartan
and John Kenny in 1914. But, the largest portion of the Clan-
na-Gael money was carried by Tommy O'Connor, who held a
position on one of the White Star steamers which enabled him
to make regular and frequent crossings.
On each trip O'Connor went from Liverpool to Dublin, and
delivered the money to Sean MacDermott. Sean would make
a note of the amount in his small, neat handwriting on a slip
of paper, without any signature, and this would be handed to
me as a receipt on O'Connor's next trip to New York.
Several men coming to settle in America were the bearers of
communications of more or less importance, but some had only
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
short notes of introduction. Among the latter was James Larkin.
All of them had considerable information to give, some of it very
valuable; in other cases it did not amount to much, and Lar-
kin's was utterly unreliable. Probably the best of the new ar-
rivals was a young clerical student named Liam O'Donnell, who
was highly recommended by Tom Clarke. He finished his studies
and was ordained to the priesthood in America.
Tom Clarke's letters to me during that period (I have not
been able to find all of them) threw an interesting light on the
situation in Ireland and the hopes which the men who were
executed in 1916 based on that situation.
The following letter from Clarke (who usually signed himself
"T. James" when communicating with me) gave a fuller sketch
of the progress of the Volunteer movement than any of the
others:
"May 14, 1914.
"Dear Uncle:
"I know with what interest you follow things in the old
country and how you hanker after reliable information re-
garding conditions, so I am going to try and give you a 'line'
upon the situation here at present writing.
"The country is electrified with the volunteering busi-
ness— never in my recollection have I known in any former
movement anything to compare with the spontaneous rush
that is being made all over to get into the movement and
start drill and get hold of a rifle. John Redmond & Co. were
panic-stricken at what was happening, and when too late
for themselves privately opened negotiations with the leading
members of the Irish Volunteer Provisional Committee.
These members didn't rise to the bait and still the volun-
teering went on at a gallop.
"The Home Rule Bill will pass as it stands, but an amend-
ing bill, re Exclusion, will be introduced as a result of an
understanding between the Government and the Opposition
(Redmond & Co. quite ignored in this) . We have known
of this for some weeks, so there were more pour parlers
between the Irish Volunteer people and Redmond, Devlin
& Co., to consider what should be done in face of this
new development. I believe a programme was mapped
out by the I. V. people and has been approved of by the
other people, with the result that a 'private and con-
fidential' circular has been issued by the National Secretary
of the A. O. H. to all the divisions directing all the members
to join the Volunteers — join the companies that are already
formed and form committees to start new companies and
regiments where they don't already exist, and emphasizing
the necessity of sinking all minor points and joining hands
in this work with all creeds and classes of the people who are
working in the movement. This circular was only sent out
this week, but I saw a copy of it, and upon my word one
would think it was written by an ultra Sinn Feiner.
"In the same way a circular has been issued to the U. I.
L. branches — also 'private and confidential' and on much
the same fines as the other, as far as my information goes,
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
395
and I get this information from a variety of sources, includ-
ing a reliable 'big pot' of the U. I. L. with whom I am rather
intimate.
"Volunteering is going on at a rapid rate in Ulster (I
mean Irish Volunteering). I know this from an old friend
up there named Carrick from whom I hear often; and the
strange thing about it is that in some sections the Carsonites
regard the Irish Volunteers with a friendly face, and in fact
some of the influential ones in conversation with prominent
Volunteer men say that if it comes to a scrap between
them (Carsonites) and the English they know that the Irish
Volunteers would fight with them and not against them.
That is an extraordinary change in the attitude of the one-
time Orangeman, when he even allows himself to entertain
the thought of himself and the papists fighting together in
any circumstance. However, seeing with what lightning-like
rapidity things are developing in various directions, one
needn't be surprised at anything now.
"And the change that has come over the young men of
the country who are volunteering! Erect, heads up in the
air, the glint in the eye, and then the talent and ability that
had been latent and is now being discovered! Young fellows
who had been regarded as something like wastrels now
changed to energetic soldiers and absorbed in the work and
taking pride that at last they feel they can do something
for their country that will count. 'Tis good to be alive in
Ireland these times.
"Larkin's people for some time past have been making
war on the Irish Volunteers. I think this is largely inspired
by a disgruntled fellow named O'Casey. By this attitude they
have antagonized the sympathy of all sections of the country
and none more so than the advanced section. Liberty Hall
is now a negligible quantity here.
"I'd like you would let me know as soon as you can if
Cousin Ric will be able to pay a visit to us. If he can't we
shall want some time to negotiate employment of another
man to fill the position. But from a business point of view,
no one could fill the position just now like him.
"The family are well and in real good health and business
is splendid.
"Goodbye. Trusting you keep strong and in good health,
with all sorts of kind wishes to old friends.
"T. James."
"May 15, 1914.
"P. S. — Since finishing my letter last night I was talking
to a lady belonging to the Lady Volunteer Committee. She
attended the weekly meeting last night and seemed delighted
with the atmosphere of the place and the way things are
progressing. Among the interesting items are the following:
The London Ladies' Sub-Committee (Mrs. Stopford Green,
chairwoman) has collected £500; the Ladies' Com. here
nearly the same amount.
"It has been officially decided that all monies collected
by the Lady Vol. Committees will be turned over to the Pro-
visional (Men's) Committee with the expressed stipulation
that this will only be used for the purchase of arms.
"From different parts of the country communications
came in to the Ladies' Committee expressing a desire to
co-operate and asking for instructions.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
"Two Limerick ladies were present to get information,
etc., in order to start a committee in that city. Those ladies,
by the way, are nieces of the old Rebel, John Daly. Another
married sister was with them who is a member of the Dublin
Committee.
"In connection with the discussion to adopt a badge for
the Lady Volunteers, she submitted a combination bow badge
— orange and green on the wings with white in the centre.
Having explained the symbolical meaning of the badge as
indicating one of the basic principles of their organization,
this badge was adopted unanimously. She and Mrs. Bradley
were appointed as a sub-committee to devise a scheme of
organization to start an Irish Volunteer Boys' movement,
this boys' movement to rest upon the same principles as the
I. V. organization."
The "married sister" referred to in the above postscript was
Tom's wife; the "two Limerick ladies" were his sisters-in-law.
All of Tom Clarke's other letters were brief, hastily written
notes, but they were remarkably clear. When communicating
with us in America, Tom always addressed me as "Uncle", and
wrote as though himself and his "uncle" were merely interested
onlookers with respect to political developments. We had a very
fair idea of the situation in Ireland, through the reports of
Envoys who attended the Clan-na-Gael Conventions and who, be-
sides, gave us much first-hand information individually in per-
sonal conversations. This was invaluable, coming from men who
themselves were members of the Supreme Council of the I. R. B.
and had a thorough knowledge of Irish affairs. Sean MacDer-
mott was the Envoy in 1912, and Diarmuid Lynch in 1914. The
latter attended our Convention in Atlantic City, where a com-
mittee was appointed to draft and publish an address to our
people in America pointing out that Ireland's interests would be
best served by taking sides with Germany against England in the
war which had just broken out.
CHAPTER LIII.
FOREIGN MILITARY AID FOR IRELAND.
The Irish Repeatedly Sought Outside Aid in the Centuries-Old
Effort to Overthrow the English Invaders — Scotch, Span-
ish and French Precedents for Appeal to Germany in 1916.
Ever since the English invaders, under Fitz Stephen, landed
in Ireland (1169), the Irish people endeavored to overthrow the
domination of England and sought the aid of England's enemies.
The first help they got was from their kindred in Scotland. In
many minor fights Gaelic Scotsmen had fought side by side with
their Irish cousins, but the most notable effort of that kind
was the invasion of Ireland by Robert Bruce's brother, Edward,
soon after the Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and his subsequent
coronation as King of Ireland. A strong Irish contingent, sent
by Donal O'Neill, Prince of Ulster, had helped Bruce to win
that glorious victory, and he reciprocated by sending his brother,
with a small army (6,000 men) to Ireland. Later (1317), Robert
Bruce came over himself and many defeats were inflicted on
the English and the Anglo-Irish Barons. Robert Bruce returned
to Scotland and the English sent an army of 30,000 men, under
De Bermingham. Edward Bruce rashly disdained the wise ad-
vice of Donal O'Neill to retire to Ulster and draw the English on.
With his small force he faced De Bermingham's overwhelmingly
superior army and was defeated and killed at the Battle of
Faughart, near Dundalk, in 1318. De Bermingham cut off Bruce's
head and sent it as a trophy to the English King, Edward II.
That ended the war for the time being.
At various times thereafter Spain aided the Irish in their
struggle for complete Independence, and the last battle of a
virtually independent Ireland was fought in an effort by Hugh
O'Neill and Hugh O'Donnell to relieve a small Spanish force
beleaguered in Kinsale in 1603.
During the Insurrection begun in 1641, the Pope gave some
help to Ireland, and Spain sent Owen Roe O'Neill, one of the
great Generals of the age, and a number of Irish officers to com-
mand and train the Irish army. France sent a small army to
aid King James II after the English Revolution of 1688, when a
strong section of the Irish, led by Sarsfield, wanted to make
James King of Ireland.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
During the wars following the French Revolution, through
the efforts of Wolfe Tone, France sent three different expedi-
tions to Ireland. Hoche, next to Napoleon, the greatest General
of the Revolution, commanded the most formidable of these in
1796, but his fleet was scattered by a great storm. Grouchy (the
man who later failed at Waterloo) was second in command, and
reached Bantry Bay with 8,000 men and several thousand stand
of arms, but the Admiral refused to give him boats to effect a
landing and the expedition had to return to France. Had that
expedition landed, the English having only a few hundred men
in all Munster, Ireland in all probability would have again be-
come an Independent Nation, the advance of the British Empire
would have been frustrated, and the history of the world would
have taken a different course.
The Dutch Republic had another expedition ready to sail,
but in a naval battle outside the Texel, Holland's fleet was badly
beaten. The storm that scattered the French fleet, and the Eng-
lish victory over the Dutch, ended all hope of foreign aid. The
United Irishmen, in 1798, armed only with pikes and shotguns,
had to face desperate odds, and were overwhelmed by the Brit-
ish army after thousands of casualties had been inflicted on
the latter.
Robert Emmet, when preparing for his insurrection of 1803,
also sought French help and spent some time in France in the
effort. He very probably saw Napoleon himself, who was then
First Consul. Napoleon had a large army encamped on the
heights above Boulogne-sur-mer, and the English fleet was
keeping a close watch, but there would have been little difficulty
in a small force slipping through and getting to Ireland from
Brest or some other point further west. Napoleon's army was
intended for England, and if he succeeded in effecting a landing
would have been able to overwhelm the British army. But the
Corsican had other plans in mind, and the big army was moved
elsewhere. Later, in St. Helena, he admitted to Dr. O'Meara that
if he had gone to Ireland, instead of to Egypt, he would have de-
feated England. In those days the fate of the British Empire
was hanging by a thread.
The Irish were obliged to seek foreign aid because of the
practical impossibility of getting arms in their own country.
During the Crimean War (1853 to 1856) an effort was made in
America to secure help from Russia, but Ireland was hopelessly
dispirited from the effects of the great Famine of 1847, and
the exodus which followed it; there was no organization what-
ever, and Russia could do nothing under the circumstances. But
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
399
the idea of securing foreign aid persisted and became a tradi-
tion among the Irish people.
Daniel O'Connell, in spite of his opposition to force and his
reiterated statement (varied somewhat in different speeches)
that "no amount of human liberty is worth the shedding of a
single drop of human blood", gave equal prominence to the
axiom that "England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity." Of
course, he meant an opportunity to exact concessions by peace-
ful means, but the Irish people interpreted the words literally
and applied the maxim both to peaceful (or semi-peaceful)
agitation and armed insurrection.
The Fenians (1865-67) hoped for American help; the resent-
ment against England which then prevailed in the Northern
States on account of the British Government's treacherous aid
to the Confederacy during the Civil War, gave good reason for
the hope.
The United Irishmen of 1798 and the Fenians in 1865-67 aimed
to separate Ireland from England by armed force. Their prin-
ciples and policy were continued by reorganized Fenianism in
Ireland and by the Clan-na-Gael in America from its inception.
England was under no illusions as to our objects and sought
by every means in her power to break us up. She kept an
army of spies to pry into our work, and dangled "concessions"
of one kind or another (all falling short of Ireland's inherent
and inalienable right to Nationhood) before the eyes of the
Irish people, to wean them from their hostility, but the ideal
of complete Independence lived on and was insuppressible.
In 1877, while the Russo-Turkish war was going on, it seemed
for a time that England was about to intervene. England did
intervene to the extent of sending a division of her fleet to the
Princes' Islands and another division to Gallipoli to hold the
Dardanelles for the purpose of barring the Russian army from
Constantinople, which they effectually did. The Russians had
captured Adrianople and were at San Stefano, a few miles from
the Turkish Capital, but they got no further. The Grand Duke
Nicholas telegraphed to the Czar (his brother) that he could
take Constantinople, with the loss of 7,000 men, but he got no
answer, and he took that as a negative. Peace negotiations then
began and resulted in the Treaty of San Stefano, which ended
the war.
The Clan-na-Gael Executive, before the crisis of the war
came, appointed a committee, consisting of Dr. William Carroll
of Philadelphia (then Chairman of the body) , James Reynolds
of New Haven, Rev. George W. Pepper, an Ohio Methodist Min-
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
ister, who was a veteran of 1848 in Ireland and a member of
the Clan, General F. F. Miller, and myself, to wait on M. Shiskin,
the Russian Minister to the United States. We were introduced
to him by Senator Conover of Florida, who was a member of the
organization, and his introduction was a guarantee to M. Shiskin
of our right to speak for it.
We presented him with a Memorial written by Jerome J.
Collins (who later perished on the Jeanette Polar expedition) ,
which stated very ably why it was to Russia's interest to help
Ireland. M. Shishkin forwarded the Memorial to St. Petersburg,
but informed us that his Government was not likely to take
action on it, because it believed that Ireland only wanted Land
Reform and some concessions on education, and did not desire
Separation.
This belief, he said, was based on the fact that every city
in Ireland welcomed every representative of British Royalty who
visited the country, and that there was no public demand for
anything more than a limited measure of Self-Government. This
statement was the real cause of what was called the "New De-
parture" urging the Fenians in Ireland to take part in public
affairs, obtain control of the Parliamentary representation and
of the local public bodies — which later resulted in the forma-
tion of the Land League.
M. Shishkin spoke English very poorly, but was fluent in
French, and I acted as interpreter. He had been Consul-General
to Servia and later became Minister to Greece. While in Bel-
grade he had received several delegations of Slavs, both Turkish
and Austrian, and based his advice to us on the Russian answers
to their appeals for help. But, he said, if Russia and England
went to war (which he did not think probable) , his Government
would seriously consider the question of giving military aid to
Ireland. He then arranged that all future communications
should reach him through Senator Conover. The Peace Treaty
of San Stefano made any further appeal to Russia useless.
Towards the close of the last century and at the beginning
of the present, the relations between France and England were
often somewhat strained, owing to French resentment over
Disraeli's tricky action in securing control of the Suez Canal.
During the Boer War they were particularly bad. After the
Union of the two sections of the Clan-na-Gael at the Atlantic
City Convention of 1900, where Judge O'Neill Ryan was elected
Chairman of the Executive, we provided for the possibility of
war by laying Ireland's case before the French and Russian Am-
bassadors in Washington, through Judge Ryan. Jules Cambon
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
401
then represented France in Washington; his brother, Paul, was
Ambassador to England, and Count Cassini was the Russian Am-
bassador in America.
Bearing these facts in mind and knowing that England for
several years had been making combinations for the destruc-
tion of Germany, her greatest commercial and industrial rival,
we felt that Ireland's opportunity was certain to arrive in our
day.
King Edward VII had been "swinging around the circle" of the
European Capitals, and the English newspapers were boasting
that he had "forged a ring of iron around Germany" — though it
remained for the Soviet Government after the World War, to
reveal the whole war plot by publishing the diplomatic cor-
respondence between the Foreign Offices of London, Paris and
St. Petersburg, which proved conclusively that the three Powers
had already determined on war and were only waiting for such
an opportunity as developed in 1914 from the assassination of
Archduke Ferdinand of Austria at Serajevo, in Bosnia. That
assassination was approved, or excused by editorials in the lead-
ing English papers and in the pro-British press of New York,
just as the attempt of an English woman to kill O'Donovan Rossa
had been condoned many years before. That is the proverbial
English attitude. But the assassination of one of England's
enemies, actual or potential, is only a venial sin, if not a wholly
justifiable act.
The Clan-na-Gael leaders realized in advance that war was
coming, but regretted that it should take place while Ireland
was practically unarmed. They had done their utmost to help
to arm the Irish Volunteers, but the supply was wholly inade-
quate to justify an attempt at insurrection without help from
outside. When the war broke out, the Clan therefore sought Ger-
man help, as our forefathers had sought Scottish, Spanish and
French assistance, and as the living organization had tried to
provide for French and Russian aid in case of war.
The Supreme Council of the I. R. B. in Ireland had deter-
mined that when the war offered an opportunity they would
seize it and strike a blow for Freedom, and we were in con-
stant communication with them, through Tom Clarke, who
availed himself of every chance of sending me a letter by hand.
They were greatly encouraged by the progress of the Volunteer
movement; and the fine turnout at the funeral of O'Donovan
Rossa, whose body we had sent to Ireland in 1915 for interment
in Glasnevin, filled them with high hopes, as it did us in America.
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Centuries of oppression and injustice and a more or less con-
tinuous attempt to exterminate the race fully justified the Irish
people in seeking the overthrow of English rule by any means
in their power and obtaining help from England's enemies.
England had been attempting to cut Ireland's throat for seven
centuries, so that the English complaint that Ireland "stabbed
England in the back" during the World War was utter nonsense.
If the weapon were long and sharp enough to reach England's
heart, either through the back or the chest, Ireland would have
been entirely justified in giving the death blow.
CHAPTER LIV.
FIRST INTERVIEW WITH VON BERNSTORFF.
Ambassador Told We Did Not Want and Would Not Accept Money
— Sought Only Military Aid from Germany — Address to the
Kaiser.
Soon after the outbreak of the World War, a special com-
mittee of the Clan-na-Gael presented Ireland's case to the Ger-
man Ambassador, Count von Bernstorff.
Our interview with him took place during a reception at The
German Club on Fifty-ninth Street, New York. Among those
present on that occasion were Captain von Papen, Military At-
tache; Wolff von Igel (von Papen's assistant) ; Herr Dernburg,
George von Skal and others connected with the German Embassy.
Any appearance of secrecy was studiously avoided; the door to
the hallway was kept open.
Our spokesman told the Ambassador that our friends in
Ireland intended to use the opportunity presented by the war to
make an effort to overthrow English rule in Ireland and set up
an Independent Government; that they had not an adequate
supply of arms, had no trained officers, and wanted Germany to
supply the arms and a sufficient number of capable officers to
make a good start, but that we wanted no money. We needed
military help only. This was stated with clearness and emphasis.
The point was stressed that a rebellion in Ireland would
necessarily divert a large part of the British army from the fight-
ing front on the Continent and that therefore it would be to
Germany's interest to help Ireland in her fight for freedom.
Count Bernstorff listened attentively and with evident sym-
pathy, asked many questions, so as to be sure he fully under-
stood our position, and he promised to send our application to
Berlin.
Whether or not there was a British spy or Wilson Secret
Service man in the room (and I think it highly improbable at
that stage — August, 1914) did not matter much, as the Ambas-
sador's staff hovered so closely around, but with apparent care-
lessness, that not even any of the prominent Germans present
could possibly hear a word. They certainly did not try to do so
and kept at a respectful distance while the conversation was
going on.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
We took our departure and went to work at once to prepare
for the arduous work before us. The Home Organization was
informed at the earliest possible moment, through Tom Clarke,
of what had occurred, and we were empowered to do the best we
could and keep the Supreme Council informed of our progress
as far as it could be done with safety.
Supplementing the German Embassy's wireless to Berlin, sev-
eral copies of a written statement were sent there by hand. One
or more of these copies went by the Embassy's own messengers;
another was taken by Michael Francis Doyle of Philadelphia to
Holland, where he was sent by the State Department to provide
for the return to their homes of American citizens who were left
stranded by the war; while two more were carried by John
Kenny.
Kenny left New York for Germany on August 21, 1914. His
passport was for Switzerland, and the benefit of his health was
given as the ostensible purpose of the trip. He carried creden-
tials from the German Embassy at Washington, and on arrival
at Romes (via Naples) he delivered to von Flotow, the German
Ambassador there, one copy of the statement which he bore.
Von Flotow furnished him with a special passport which facili-
tated his entry into Germany and his arrival at Berlin. There
he delivered his message to von Beulow personally. Then, a
favorable opportunity having presented itself, he proceeded to
Ireland and confided to Tom Clarke the particulars of his visit
to Berlin.
Meantime, Sir Roger Casement had prepared an Address to
the Kaiser. Though we of the Clan-na-Gael would have worded
some portions of it differently, we accepted it as written, which
was as follows:
"New York, August 25, 1914.
"To
"His Imperial Majesty,
"The German Emperor.
"Sire:
"The undersigned, representing many millions of the
people of this country, either of Irish birth or Irish descent,
desire very respectfully to place before Your Majesty what
we believe to be the view of the vast majority of Irishmen
not only in the United States but throughout the world.
"In the first place, we seek to give voice to the feeling of
Irishmen in America. That feeling is chiefly one of sym-
pathy and admiration for the heroic people of Germany,
assailed at all points by an unnatural league of enmity,
having only one thing in common, a hatred of German
prosperity and efficiency. We feel that the German people
are in truth fighting for European civilization at its best and
certainly in its less selfish form. We recognize that Germany
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
405
did not seek this war, but that it was forced upon her by
those jealous of her military security, envious of her indus-
trial and commercial capacity, and aiming at her integrity
as a Great World Power that was capable, if peace were
maintained, of outdistancing the competition of all her rivals.
"Since peace was essential to the fullest German develop-
ment, and since in the realm of peaceful rivalry Germany
could not be overcome, those who were jealous of her growing
prosperity and were themselves incapable of matching it by
peaceful means, determined to destroy by war what they
could not meet by peace. This we believe to be the reason,
and the sole reason, for the present combination of arma-
ments against Germany. For this reason we assert that
Germany is fighting the battle of European civilization at
its best against European civilization at its worst.
"We wholeheartedly hope for the success of the German
people in this unequal struggle forced upon them. Just as
they have overcome by peaceful means the competition of
their trading rivals, so we pray they may now overcome by
armed manhood the unfair combination those rivals have
substituted for lawful effort.
"This said on behalf of our countrymen in America, we
would bring before Your Majesty the condition of our coun-
trymen in Ireland, and draw Your Majesty's attention to
the part that Ireland necessarily, if not openly, must play
in this conflict and in every conflict where sea-power is at
stake.
"The British claim to control the seas of the world, rests
chiefly on an unnamed factor. That factor is Ireland. It is
by the sole possession of Ireland that Great Britain has
been able for two centuries to maintain an unchallengeable
mastery of the seas and by this agency to convert a small
trading community into the wholly arbitrary judges of war
and peace for all mankind.
"If Europe would be free at home, she must be free at
sea. If Europe would have peace within her borders she
must deprive Great Britain of the means to provoke or preci-
pitate war whenever, as in the present case, it may suit the
interests of that power to substitute war for peace.
"There cannot be peace in Europe until Great Britain's
claim to the mastery of the seas, that great highway of the
Nations, has been finally disposed of.
"We are profoundly convinced that so long as Great
Britain is allowed to control, exploit and misappropriate
Ireland and all Irish resources — whether of men, material
wealth, or strategic position — she will dominate the seas.
Thus the freedom of Ireland becomes of paramount, nay,
of vital importance to the larger question of the freeing
of the seas.
"Hoping as we do that Germany will win this war so
unrighteously forced upon her by a combination of assail-
ants, each lacking the courage to act alone, we earnestly
commend to Your Majesty's attention this fundamental fact
that to restore the equilibrium of sea power so grievously
injured by Great Britain, to the detriment of the whole
world since the Napoleonic wars, Ireland must be freed from
British control.
"While the fortune of war may not bring German troops
to Ireland, the hearts of thousands of Irishmen go out to the
German shores today. Thousands of Irishmen are prepared
406 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
to do their part to aid the German cause, for they recognize
that it is their own.
"Should God grant victory to the German people in this
struggle of brave men to keep the freedom they have so
dearly won, we hope that Ireland may be permitted to con-
tribute something to the triumph of that good cause. We
beg Your Majesty to reflect that a defeated Great Britain,
still retaining Ireland, is really a victorious Great Britain.
"We beg Your Majesty to reflect that an Ireland freed
by German victory over Britain becomes the sure gage of a
free ocean for all who traverse the seas.
"On these grounds alone, did not natural sympathy and
admiration for a people fighting against such heavy odds
lead us to address Your Majesty, we should hope for a Ger-
man triumph over an enemy who is also our enemy. We
pray for that triumph for Germany; and we pray with it
Your Majesty may have power, wisdom and strength of
purpose to impose a lasting peace upon the seas by effecting
the independence of Ireland and securing its recognition as
a fixed condition of the terms of final settlement between
the great maritime Powers."
The signatories included all the members of the Clan-na-
Gael Executive. My own signature was the first.
The following month Casement wrote another statement, the
first intimation of which I received from him in a letter dated
Brooklyn, September 18, the opening paragraph of which read:
"I had intended sending this out to press today, but J. Quinn
and Bourke Cockran strongly deprecate my doing so. They say
it will do harm — not good! What do you think?"
We were more than surprised that Sir Roger had, without
saying a word to any of us, taken Bourke Cockran and John
Quinn into his confidence by consulting them on this matter.
They were both honorable men, but neither of them was in agree-
ment with our policy. After Easter Week, Bourke Cockran
came around to our side and did splendid service. Mr. Quinn
took sides with the Allies long before the United States went
into the war, and after that became strongly hostile to our atti-
tude.
While a highly intellectual man, Casement was very emo-
tional and as trustful as a child. He was also obsessed with the
idea that he was a better judge than any of us, at either side
of the Atlantic, of what ought to be done (though he was too
polite and good natured to say so), and he never hesitated to
act on his own responsibility, fully believing that his decisions
were in the best interests of Ireland's Cause. This created many
difficulties and embarrassments for us.
After the interview with Count von Bernstorff our communi-
cation with the Germans was conducted chiefly through Captain
von Papen, the Military Attache.
CHAPTER LV.
CASEMENT AND THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS.
John Redmond's Attempt to Dominate the Volunteers — Provi-
sional Committee's Submission Nearly Paralyzed Prepara-
tions for the Easter Week Rising — Casement and Hobson
Showed Weakness.
Roger Casement is one of the most tragic figures in Irish his-
tory. After a life spent in the service of England (although al-
ways at heart an Irish Nationalist) , he retired from Government
employment on account of broken health, the result of hard-
ships endured in the tropics, and became free to devote himself
to the Cause of Irish Freedom.
Long absence from Ireland had rendered him somewhat un-
familiar with conditions in his native land, but no man of his
generation knew better than he the evil results of English rule,
or had a better grasp of the general policy by which it could
be brought to an end. Practical politics he did not understand,
but the end to which the practical politician, the statesman and
the soldier should devote their efforts he understood most
thoroughly. He was an idealist, absolutely without personal am-
bition, ready to sacrifice his interests and his life for the cause
he had at heart, but was too sensitive about the consequences to
others of his actions.
I first saw Casement's name in the newspapers when he was
British Consul in the Congo. Knowing nothing of him at the
time, I assumed that he was an Englishman and that while the
atrocities he charged against the Belgians might in large
measure be true — for I saw enough of the Belgians during my
short stay in Algeria with the Foreign Legion to estimate possi-
bilities— I took it for granted that his revelations were simply
English propaganda to justify a projected move to oust Belgium
(or King Leopold) from that territory. My first personal knowl-
edge of him was acquired through a letter he wrote me from
South America just before he went into the Putumayo to ex-
pose even worse horrors than those of the Congo — and neither
of these exposures was made, as I later learned, in the inter-
ests of British policy, but to serve humanity. His letter to me
enclosed two subscriptions for the Gaelic American, one for
himself and the other for either his mother or his sister in
407
408
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Ireland. After this I occasionally got small, but always very
interesting, items of news from him for publication, with brief
suggestions as to their bearing on the Irish Question.
As his address was a British Consulate, I concluded he must
be a young scion of an Irish Loyalist family newly converted to
Nationalism. I was disabused of this mistake by learning from
himself in New York that his father, although the Colonel of an
English cavalry regiment, was a Fenian in principle. There was
nothing extraordinary to me in this, — as may be inferred from
my experiences with that army in the 'sixties. I also learned
from P. M. Haverty, the publisher of John Mitchel's works, who
was Quartermaster of the Sixty-ninth in the Civil War, that
when a boy in McGlashan and Gill's bookshop in Dublin in 1848
he had heard General O'Donnell (father of the future Marchion-
ess of Queensbury and descendant of Ball Dearg O'Donnell of
Righ Shemus's time) swearing at the Young Ireland leaders, not
for their disloyalty to the Queen, but because "there was not a
damned man among them had ever smelled powder" — and wind-
ing up by adding that "if they really meant fight he would join
them tomorrow."
I need not dwell on Casement's activities after his return
to Ireland further than to say that he joined the Gaelic League,
did much to relieve the acute distress then prevailing in the West,
made a nearly successful effort to have German Transatlantic
steamers call at Queenstown to offset the Cunard Line's with-
drawal, and thus connect Ireland directly with the outside
world. But his most notable work in Ireland was in the Volun-
teer movement, and in this he made a bad mistake in conjunc-
tion with other well-meaning men by surrendering the control
of it to the Parliamentary Party.
In 1912, the Unionists of Ulster through a "Solemn League
and Covenant" pledged their opposition to the Asquith Home
Rule Bill then under discussion in the House of Commons, and
determined "to refuse to recognize its authority". Early in 1913,
Sir Edward Carson organized the Ulster Volunteers and to some
extent armed them. The Asquith Government showed its dis-
satisfaction at this quasi military display, but permitted it to
proceed; the Ulster Volunteers continued with every evidence
of determination to prevent the functioning of the Home Rule
Bill with respect to the North-Eastern Counties, should it become
law. In other words, Carson and his volunteers made good their
right to publicly drill and carry arms — a situation such as had not
existed in Ireland since the time of Grattan's Volunteers — and
Copyright — Brown * Dawson
SIR ROGER CASEMENT
Krom.U. A U.. N. Y.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
409
herein lay the genesis of the Irish Volunteer Movement of our
day.
Men in Dublin imbued with the principles of Irish nation-
ality, though of different political affiliations, recognized that if
the English government permitted Carson's volunteers to drill
and carry arms openly, it could not estop Irish Nationalists from
following Ulster's example. Thus it happened that the Irish
Volunteers were inaugurated on the 25th of November, 1913.
Their avowed object was "to secure and maintain the rights and
the liberties common to all the people of Ireland, without dis-
tinction of creed, class or politics".
While the leaders of the I. R. B. were largely instrumental
in bringing about the formation of the Irish Volunteers, they
wisely decided that the Provisional Executive Committee of the
organization should contain a large percentage of men who
were not then in accord with the "extreme" policy. The former
held their own interpretation as to what constituted "the rights
and liberties common to all the people of Ireland", and without
emphasizing that interpretation they contented themselves for
the moment with the opportunity to militarily organize and drill
the young manhood of Ireland.
The Irish Parliamentary Party and the Redmondite press
practically ignored the establishment of the Irish Volunteers, but
during the ensuing months Volunteers enlisted by tens of thou-
sands. Then, in the opinion of Redmond, they had become a
force of potential danger to England and he decided on steps
whereby he might secure control of the organization in the in-
terests of the British Government. He demanded that twenty-
five nominees of his should be permitted seats on the Executive
Committee of the Volunteers; otherwise he threatened to set
up an independent Executive to which those Volunteers who
agreed in the main with his parliamentary policy would give al-
legiance. In other words, he threatened to split the Volunteer
Movement in Ireland unless he was permitted to dominate it,
and eventually a majority of the original Provisional Committee
did succumb to his impertinent demand on June 16, 1914. This
is the surrender, Casement's participation in which I condemned.
Tom Clarke had written me putting the chief blame for the
surrender on Bulmer Hobson. Hobson, who was then Dublin
correspondent of the Gaelic American, had written for publica-
tion an article defending the expediency of the surrender, and a
private letter informing me that Casement was coming to Amer-
ica to collect funds for the Volunteers. Casement came by way
of Canada, and wrote me the following letter from Montreal.
410
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
"Montreal, Canada, 14 July, 1914.
"Private.
"Dear Mr. Devoy:
"Our mutual friend Hobson has probably told you of my
journey across. I hope to be in New York by end of this
week at latest and shall call on you on arrival.
I shall probably stay a night or two in some hotel —
probably the Belmont, as I see it is near the station — until I
can get a private apartment somewhere.
"It is possible you may not be in New York now — as I see
by the papers there is great heat there and thousands are
leaving the city.
"There are things to discuss with you, and one or two
more, of interest, and I propose staying a few weeks in
U. S. A., with New York my headquarters. I don't mind heat
very much.
"Looking forward to the pleasure of seeing you very soon,
"Believe me,
"Yours faithfully,
"Roger Casement."
Casement arrived in New York on July 20, 1914, put up at the
Belmont Hotel and telephoned me that he was there. I went
to see him that evening and we had a long talk. I told him the
prospect of his helping us much in collecting funds for the Vol-
unteers was very poor, on account of his voting for the surren-
der to Redmond, and that our men blamed Bulmer Hobson very
much for his vote. He defended the surrender as unavoidable
and told me we in America did not understand the situation
which made it necessary. I answered that it did not require in-
timate local knowledge to enable one to understand the surren-
der; that it was a human proposition, a contest between men
and principles that could be judged accurately whether the ac-
tion was taken in Ireland, America or in any other part of the
world; that it was an act of weakness that must produce bad
results and that it was already cutting down the collection of
money in America. I told him that many of us knew John Red-
mond well and regarded him as a weak man, although a bril-
liant speaker; that he was really acting for the Liberal Ministry,
who would compel him to use his control of the Volunteers to
demoralize the movement and sap its vitality. The evils they
wished to avoid by the surrender, I told him, would all overtake
them; that worse would follow as a result of the first false step;
that the Irish people respected men of firmness and decision
of character, perhaps more than any other people in Europe, and
that the bold course would have been also the safe one.
Casement listened attentively to all I said and then in a
calm and very friendly manner undertook to persuade me that
I was mistaken. As he wrote me a letter on the following day
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
411
giving his version of the incidents of the surrender, I give it
here, instead of endeavoring to describe his arguments. It gives
many details which throw a very interesting light on the situa-
tion in Ireland at that time. The letter follows:
"Hotel Belmont, 21 July, 1914.
"Dear Mr. Devoy:
"I think of going to Philadelphia to stay with McGarrity
either tomorrow evening or Thursday morning.
"I was sorry to find from your remark last night that you
held that Hobson had deceived you — or the others who dif-
fered from our (the majority's) standpoint over the Redmond
affair. That is not so. I hope I made it clear to you that
there was no deception or indeed even keeping anything back
from them.
"Here, again, are the dates — to show you how unjust is
that suspicion, or statement, if it has been made as a state-
ment.
"On Monday, 8th June, I left Eoin MacNeill at Dundalk—
he for Dublin, I to go to Belfast. It was that night he was
'interviewed' by Redmond, Dillon and Devlin at the Gresham
and got their ultimatum for an Inner or Governing Com-
mittee of five, himself to be the chairman. It was that same
night I, in Belfast, decided that to save the Provisional Com-
mittee the linking of it up with the Volunteers in each county
by an elected County Delegate, would take the place of our
(abortive) undertaking to hold a Convention at a date as
soon as possible after 10 June where company delegates
would cease to be eligible. Only some 200 companies or less
had affiliated, and as there were probably 800 to 1,000 actually
in existence, a Convention of a minority to make law for a
majority not represented would have done nothing to disarm
the criticism already gathering, or to unify our organization.
"Tuesday, 9 June, I came up specially to Dublin, lodged
my motion for discussing that proposal, and got a special
meeting called for the following Friday (12 June) to discuss
and deal with it. Wednesday, 10 June, appeared Redmond's
first letter in the Irish press pointing out that the P. Com-
mittee was 'non-representative', etc., and calling for the 25
nominees.
"Owing to this the meeting that would have been held on
Friday, 12th, to discuss my motion was called at once, as an
emergency meeting for that night, Wednesday, 10th.
"At that meeting — a very large one, 22 present — my pro-
posal was accepted and the inclosed manifesto issued to the
press.
"We hoped that, as our proposal was a more democratic, a
more representative and a more acceptable one for all Volun-
teers, that we should have met the charges brought against
us as being only a Dublin body and that we had cut the
ground from under the feet of our critics.
"On Saturday, 13 June, appeared Redmond's second and
more truculent letter.
"I came up from Belfast on Sunday, 14 June, ill and wor-
ried, and that night thought with MacNeill that resignation
was probably our only dignified course.
"On Monday, 15 June, while in bed at Buswell's Hotel, Col.
Moore and Hobson were with me at 10 a. m. to noon, and we
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
practically decided that so far as we four were concerned
(MacNeill having agreed over night) resignation was the
course. Whatever we did threatened calamity. While they
were with me Tom Clarke and Sean MacDermott came to
urge me to fight Redmond, and I refused. They left me, and
I held to the opinion throughout the day that resignation
was the least of the evils, and I began drafting my view of
the statement to be issued as the result of our meeting the
next (Tuesday, 16 June) night when the Provisional Com-
mittee would have to deal finally with Redmond's demands.
"On Tuesday morning (16 June) Hobson came to me (I
was still in bed) and pointed out the dangers of that course
(resignation) , the impending resignations in the Committee,
and put forward his suggestion that we should accept, under
compulsion, R.'s demand — and go on with our work of trying
to get rifles and arming only such corps as we trusted.
"I agreed, and sent him to MacNeill with a message to
say I agreed and that I wanted MacNeill to come down to my
hotel. Col. Moore called and he, too, agreed — and then at
about 4 p. m. MacNeill came and he, I and Hobson discussed
the final form of the manifesto I had been preparing in bed.
"It was taken off to be typed only between 5 and 6 p. m.,
and the meeting of the P. Committee was at 8.
"You will see from this that there was no deception on
Hobson's part and no concealment either. It was simply a
question of time — and of change of plan, too, at the eleventh
hour.
"You are quite wrong in thinking that Hobson deceived
you. Here are his last words to me in the last letter I got
from him at Belfast just before I sailed. You are 'the old
man' and 'the other' is J. McGarrity.
'"Dublin, 30 June, 1914.
" 'You might explain my action to the old man and the
other in Philadelphia over the whole business. They will
both understand our difficulty. ... I would suggest
that you keep in closest touch with the old man when you
arrive. He and the chairman of the committee are safe
guides — the two best men in the country.
" 'There will be plenty who will want to "capture" you
because your name might help them politically, but our
two friends will always give you the true facts of any such
attempts. They know the country and conditions and you
will meet many who will promise much and do very little.
We will have a difficult time enough here, I think, but will
pull through well, I am confident.'
"That is not the letter or opinion of a man conscious of
having broken faith with you.
"The whole truth is simply that something had to be done,
and done at once, and that of all the evils before us we chose
the one we thought, and I firmly believe, was the least of
the evils threatening the Volunteer cause.
"I have no doubt at all that if we can get rifles and
ammunition into Ireland the question of 'control' will show
itself to be a purely academic term.
"Had we had a raging faction fight with Dillon, Devlin,
etc., the difficulty of getting arms would have been far
greater, the original status and aim of the Volunteers would
have been wholly lost sight of, and when the dust and dirt
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
413
of the hideous scuffle had subsided Ireland would have
emerged disgusted and ashamed — and with no Volunteers
in existence. As it is we have kept the Volunteer body in-
tact— and if we can get guns into the hands of, say, a dozen
chosen corps it will revolutionize the mind of the whole
country and vitalize the organization and make every man
in Ireland realize that the function of a Volunteer is not to
'form fours' and pass 'resolutions' of confidence in R. & Co.,
but to have a gun and learn to shoot straight.
"I would sooner see 20,000 American rifles and 10,000,000
cartridges landed in Ireland today than learn you (or anyone
else) had cabled $1,000,000. It is not American dollars, but
Irish-American manhood, courage and skill we want to help
an unarmed and enj ailed people get rifles into their hands.
"This said — I think you should amend your judgment on
Hobson. It pained and startled me last night to hear you
express that view, but I was too tired to go into all this ex-
planation then.
"Hobson has heaps of faults, but he is not guilty of de-
ceiving you or the Irish here.
"Moreover, Redmond had again and again said that he
could get money and give money to the Volunteer cause, and
H. was justified in thinking that one result of our action
would be financial solvency.
"We had accomplished much and on the slenderest re-
sources, and were, I suppose, the poorest body of 'Govern-
ors' a great national movement ever had, and we were threat-
ened with difficulties on every hand. The only thought in-
fluencing Hobson was that that swayed me — to save the
Volunteers from disruption and Ireland from a disgraceful
faction fight in which all original issues would have gone
by the board.
"Yours very faithfully,
"Roger Casement."
The letter was shown to the Revolutionary Directory and
other men active in the movement, and while they were not
convinced by it that yielding control of the Volunteers to John
Redmond was justifiable, all were impressed by the downright
sincerity of the man, and it was decided to utilize his services
in collecting funds for the purchase of arms. So he remained
in America for a few months addressing meetings and confer-
ring with friends. He spent the time alternately between New
York, Philadelphia and Chicago.
The Gaelic American could not, however, publish any further
articles from our Dublin correspondent, Hobson. I so informed
him on July 3, and pointed out the ill effects of the surrender
on our work in America for the Volunteers.
I regretted the necessity for this action as Hobson had made
many sacrifices and had done good work both in Ireland and
America for the Cause, and the paltry sum he received as re-
muneration for his articles to the Gaelic American was, as he
stated in his reply, his "sole remaining source of income".
414
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The O'Rahilly who also voted to submit to Redmond's ulti-
matum, wrote me on June 25 acknowledging advices from the
Bank for the money we cabled to MacNeill, and set forth the
alternatives, as he viewed them, with which the Provisional Com-
mittee of the Volunteers was confronted immediately before the
surrender.
These men soon realized the grievousness of their error. Some
seven weeks later Redmond, in the House of Commons, said:
"There are in Ireland two large bodies of Volunteers, one of them
sprang into existence in the South. I say to the Government
they may tomorrow withdraw every one of their troops from Ire-
land and the coast of Ireland will be defended from foreign in-
vasion by her armed sons." On September 19, addressing a
Volunteer meeting at Woodenbridge, County Wicklow, Red-
mond went much further and said to the assembled men: "I
say to you therefore your duty is two-fold * * * go on drill-
ing and make yourselves efficient for the work, and then account
yourselves as men, not only in Ireland itself, but wherever the
firing-line extends in defense of right, of freedom and religion in
this war." (Italics are mine.) Thus Redmond consummated his
treason to the Irish Volunteers and to Ireland.
There was then but one course open to the original Commit-
tee. On September 24, 1914, they issued a proclamation that
thenceforth Redmond's nominees ceased to belong to the gov-
erning body of the Volunteers. Thereafter, the "Irish Volun-
teers" continued under the jurisdiction of the original Provi-
sional Committee, and the men who adhered to Redmond con-
tinued to function (for a time) under the title "National Volun-
teers". Thus the misfortunes which Casement, Hobson and the
others hoped to avert by surrendering to Redmond in June, mate-
rialized in September, and with added force because of that
surrender.
We here became convinced at an early date that the submis-
sion had been made with the best intentions, but nothing could
better demonstrate the fallacy of the arguments on which it
was based than the following letter which The O'Rahilly sent
by John Kenny, on the occasion of the latter's special mission
to Ireland after his return here from Germany:
"40 Herbert Park, Dublin,
"November 10, 1914.
"J. Devoy, Esq.
"A Chara:
"Thanks exceedingly for your cheerful message. Things
are going well.
******
"The other (Redmond's) imitation Volunteers are going
to pieces every day, and a good job, too. They were a source
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
415
of weakness, really not being sincere and being mostly fools.
The best of them will join us yet. We escaped well from a
most insidious and well designed plot to break and bankrupt
the movement. During the few weeks they were co-operat-
ing with us they secured over £7,000 of funds that should
have been ours, and they piled up expenses and debts in a
way to break a bank.
"Redmond got hold of £6,000. Dillon got and held £230.
L. T. Kettle secured £230, and the various nominees voted
that about £500 worth of our Howth guns, paid for with your
money, should be divided among themselves on the pretext
of defending Ulster. To show how sincere they were in this
object, they never asked for a single cartridge to do the de-
fending with.
"Having got the guns out of our hands, and prevented us
from selling them to our own men and so raising more money,
their work was done.
"Their star performer in this looting work has already
been paid by the British Government £1,500 a year as a new
crown solicitor.
"In the policy of misspending this Committee money they
opened three Dublin offices in place of one, and their last
action before we kicked them out was to establish another
Dublin Board with separate control and expenditure.
"Office expenses were incurred regardless of the here-
after, and £500 a year was allocated to paying railway fares
for the Inspector General's shoneen officers around Ireland.
"We have ended all this and are now devoting every penny
to the only work of importance which is going ahead well.
"We can invest every penny that we get in the really
necessary things, and we are doing it.
"When conscription comes, as it will, you will hear from
us. Meanwhile we want all we can get to strengthen the
hands of our real men.
"Mise do chara,
"Ua Rathghaille."
During the ensuing year the Irish Volunteers — the Sinn Fein
Volunteers, as their opponents called them — had an uphill
struggle against the forces of Redmondism, but the work of or-
ganization and arming went steadily on. They were "heard
from" to splendid effect in Easter Week, 1916— among them be-
ing The O'Rahilly himself who was killed while leading his men
in action.
CHAPTER LVI.
CASEMENT GOES TO GERMANY.
Clan-na-Gael Executive Acceded to Plan — Mission Financed by
Our Organization in America — Casement Personally Selected
Christensen to Accompany Him.
In addition to his work for the Irish Volunteer Fund, Case-
ment wrote a good deal during his short stay in America. His
article on "Ireland, Germany and Freedom of the Seas" (written
years earlier) , was published first in the Gaelic American (Sep-
tember, 1914) and then reproduced in pamphlet form and widely
distributed. It pointed out very ably the enormous advantage to
England of her control of the seas, which is based on her pos-
session of Ireland and enables her to become "a law unto her-
self" in regard to international trade and to dictate the terms
on which other nations are permitted to carry on commerce. It
enables her to blockade the coasts of Europe, to patrol the ocean
highways of commerce and to shut off food and other supplies
at will. All this was clearly demonstrated in her conduct of the
war with Germany, and it placed the United States in a posi-
tion of dependence which to a large extent paralyzed American
commerce with Europe.
There was nothing new in this citation of these facts. Irish
Nationalists had always understood the situation and had oc-
casionally pointed it out, but Casement was the first to call the
attention of the world to it at a time when it was in a recep-
tive mood. But, owing to the determination of President Wilson
to aid England in the war, even to the serious disadvantage of
his own country, Casement's warnings were wasted on America.
The Department of State at Washington continued to play into
England's hands and left American commerce with neutral
countries like Holland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark subject to
England's dictation.
Casement's article had a great effect on Irish-Americans, and
since then our leaders have made strong protests against Eng-
land's continued mastery of the seas (with the consent of the
United States) a foremost plank in their policy.
During his stay in America the Bachelors' Walk massacre by
the Scottish Borderers on the evening of their futile attempt to
stop the Howth gun-running took place, and the Philadelphia
416
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
417
Clan-na-Gael held a meeting of protest on Sunday, August 2,
1914. There was a procession, and a public meeting in a hall
where Casement was the principal speaker. In the procession
he and I were placed in the same open carriage and the re-
porters, who were out in force, took a snapshot of us. Case-
ment tried to hide his face, but was not quick enough to evade
the photographer, and the result was that copies of the picture
were put in circulation. This made his features very familiar
to a portion of the public and caused him to fear that it would
lessen his chances of escaping detection by the English in case
he wanted to go on any mission unknown to them. He was evi-
dently, even then, thinking of going to Germany, although he
had not mentioned it up to that time.
When he first broached the project, I discouraged him for sev-
eral reasons. While I recognized his intimate knowledge of for-
eign affairs, I had doubts of his temperamental fitness to deal
with the Germans in the conditions then existing. However,
the standing he had acquired by the wide publicity given to his
exposures of the Congo and Putumayo atrocities would help us
in negotiations. I strongly doubted the possibility of his getting
through the close scrutiny of the English naval officers who ex-
amined every ship bound for any country through which access
to Germany could be had. His tall figure, striking features and
very dark hair made him very conspicuous, and he had never
had any experience in disguising himself such as many of us
had in Fenian days, and some younger men in more recent times,
and I did not think it possible that he could succeed. However,
he had set his heart on going, so the Clan-na-Gael Executive,
after discussing the matter fully, decided to sanction the trip
and pay his expenses. He was in such a hurry to go that there
was hardly time to consult the Supreme Council in Ireland, but
we had been given a free hand in matters of emergency, and
when we reported to the S. C. our action was approved, reluc-
tantly, I believe, by some.
Casement was very frugal in his expenditures. Even so, on one
occasion when we visited him at the St. George Hotel, a very
quiet place on Brooklyn Heights, we realized that his personal
funds must have been low, and gave him $1,000. This sum was
from the Clan-na-Gael treasury in connection with his travels
for the Volunteer Fund, all the expenses in the raising of which
were paid by the organization.
He had to be provided with introductions and instructions
as to how to get in touch with the German Government, begin-
ning with his arrival in Norway, if he succeeded in getting there,
418
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
so I introduced him to George von Skal. The latter brought him
to Count von Bernstorff, who happened to be in New York, and
the arrangements were made directly between himself and the
Ambassador, nobody else being present, so far as I know.
The arrangements with von Bernstorff having been con-
cluded, Casement's personal preparations had to be made by
himself and we had to keep clear of him, so as to avoid giving
warning to the English spies whom we knew to be watching
our movements and supposed to be on his trail. Their work was
very inefficient and later events proved that they gained no ink-
ling of his going, though they missed him after he had gone and
made inquiries at the hotel. When he was ready to take the
Norwegian steamer a small group of us met him at the house
of a friend, a few nights before he left, with every assurance
that we had not been tracked. On October 13, 1914, we handed
Casement $2,500 in gold as the initial payment towards his ex-
penses to Germany.
During our discussion, owing to my deafness, I missed one
very important statement. That was Casement's announcement
that he had decided to take with him as a servant or companion
a Norwegian sailor named Christensen whose acquaintance he
had recently made, but of whose character and antecedents he
knew absolutely nothing, and of whom he had never heard be-
fore. Those present at the consultation, after questioning Case-
ment, accepted his judgment and were convinced that Chris-
tensen's knowledge of English and German and his Norwegian
nationality would be a great help to Casement, who did not
know German. I heard enough of the talk to understand that
he proposed to take a Norwegian along, but missed the fact that
the acquaintance between the two was only of a few weeks' dur-
ation. Had I understood that, I would have objected strongly
to Christensen's going as Sir Roger's companion. The thorough
knowledge of the man's character, which I later acquired
through a visit of some weeks he had made in New York while
Casement was in Germany, made me deeply regret that he had
been thus allowed to become a participant in our activities.
When the arrangements for Casement's departure had been
completed to the last detail and he was about to leave the St.
George Hotel for another one, after changing his clothes and
personal appearance, he wrote me the following farewell letter
and sent it to me by messenger:
"New York, 15 Oct., 1914.
"My Dear Old Friend:
"I cannot go without a farewell word and grip of the
heart. Without you there would be nothing, and if success
come, or even a greater hope for the future, it will be due to
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
419
you and your life of unceasing devotion to the most un-
selfish cause on earth.
"May God keep you safe and well to see the first fruits
of all your years of suffering and waiting and working. I
shall not forget you. I am only sorry now I did not talk
much louder that last evening for you to hear our final
words.
"But, please God, we meet again — and meantime we work
and plan.
"Goodbye and au revoir where we both hope that meeting
may be.
"I leave in an hour; am still unshaved, but going to try
it now, and wash my face with buttermilk to get a 'fair
complexion'.
"Always in faith and hope and affection,
"Your devoted
"Roger Casement."
Everyone going abroad had to have a passport and was
obliged to give a reason satisfactory to the State Department
for his going, but Casement was a British subject, so a passport
was out of the question and he had to go without one. An
American gentleman, taking him by a roundabout route, saw
him safely on board the steamer and slipped ashore unnoticed.
This man and three Irishmen were the only people who knew
of Casement's departure.
At Stornaway the vessel was taken into the harbor by a
British cruiser for examination of passengers and cargo. When
Christensen returned from Europe to New York on orders from
Casement he told me that when the naval officers came into
the cabin Casement made a bluff which threw them off their
guard and not alone saved himself from a personal search,
but six German officers as well. He was engaged in a game of
cards, some or all of the Germans being in the party, when the
naval officers came in. The Englishmen were all young fellows
and very courteous in manner, but before they could begin their
search, Casement, according to Christensen, assumed an air of
indignation and a good imitation of an American accent, and
said in a loud voice, with an oath which I never heard him use:
"This is an outrage. Can't an American gentleman travel on a
transatlantic steamer without being treated as a thief by these
damned Englishmen?" The young officers seemed taken aback
by the unexpected outburst and withdrew without making a
search. I cannot vouch for the truth of this story, nor of any
other told by Christensen, but give it for what it may be worth.
After Casement's departure from New York we were in a
state of doubt and uncertainty until the arrival of the steamer
at Christiania was reported in the Herald's ship news, and the
420
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
absence of any report of his capture encouraged us. We were
without definite information as to his safety until Kuno Meyer
arrived in New York from Germany with a letter from him. A
group of us met Professor Meyer on the evening of his arrival,
towards the end of November (1914), and heard the interesting
story he had to tell.
Casement's letter was devoted mainly to the attempt of Find-
lay, the British Minister to Norway, to capture him by a vio-
lation of Norwegian neutrality. We, in the U. S. were greatly
surprised to learn that he had only funds enough to keep him
till about the end of the year. Christensen had tapped his
pocketbook pretty heavily running back and forth between Ber-
lin and Christiania, with the alleged purpose of getting writ-
ten proof of Findlay's guilt. He certainly did get it in Findlay's
own handwriting on the official letter-head of the Legation. It
established Findlay's guilt beyond all doubt, but left open the
question as to who began the negotiations. The German offi-
cials believed it was Christensen. Kuno Meyer was half in-
clined to share their opinion, as I came to do wholly after my
experience with the man in New York. But that does not re-
move the stain on Findlay's honor.
Within a few days after my own meeting with Kuno Meyer
we sent Casement $1,000. I handed the amount in bills to Cap-
tain von Papen, the German Military Attache, and he at once
wirelessed the order to Berlin.
The hope of the Clan-na-Gael in acceding to Sir Roger Case-
ment's wish to proceed to Berlin was that he would be able to
convince the German Government of the importance of giving
military help to Ireland when the opportunity offered, and that
if he succeeded in getting any prisoners of war of Irish nation-
ality to join an Irish contingent to fight for Ireland in Ireland,
the Germans would maintain, feed and clothe the men.
It never occurred to us that we would be expected to send
money to Germany for that purpose, and Casement's notion
early in 1915 that we should do so was a complete surprise to us.
It was our view that any military help whatever Germany might
give Ireland in her fight for independence would be considered
by the German Government as an integral part of its warfare
against the British Empire, and in furtherance of the policy to
smash England's control of the seas.
The Clan-na-Gael was an organization with but limited
resources, and the Volunteer Fund was raised specially for the
support of the men in Ireland. The vast majority of our mem-
bers were not men of much means. They paid six dollars a year
dues, but they contributed to the Volunteer Fund "till it hurt",
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
421
and other occasional special funds taxed the majority to the
utmost. Casement's notion that we could obtain money from
rich Irishmen in America was of course a delusion. With a few
notable exceptions, moneyed Irishmen and Irish-Americans were
unfortunately not then interested in the freedom of their
motherland, though it is true that five or six years later, the
latent race pride of a larger number of them was re-enkindled
by the magnificent sacrifices of the young men and women in
Ireland and by the marvelous progress of the movement in
America after the Race Convention in Philadelphia, and as a
result more of them opened their purse strings. Even then, the
percentage was a miserably small one.
The idea of starting a revolution in Ireland after the out-
break of the World War with but a few thousand pounds in the
hands of the I. R. B. and Volunteers, was regarded by even the
most sanguine of our countrymen as quixotic, but revolutions
don't go by the rules of logic and reasoning. If they did there
would never be a revolution in any country in the world. A
man who had been a member of the Provisional Committee of
the Volunteers, on arrival in New York shortly after the Rising
(in which he took no part and who was not an idealist) told me
that the leaders had "no sense of proportion" when they thought
they could smash the British Empire with a few thousand men
armed only with rifles, and not having enough to arm all their
men at that. I agreed with him that his statement would be
true if England was not then fighting the greatest military
power in the world.
As the recruiting of Irish prisoners of war in Germany was
but a minor incident in our view of the general situation, we
were not desirous that Casement should expend too much money
on that particular scheme, the fact being that we did not have
it to spend as we were sending every dollar we could collect to
Ireland. The remittance which we sent to him after our talk
with Kuno Meyer should, we felt, carry him for a considerable
period, and on April 10, 1915, we handed another $1,000 to Von
Papen which was duly forwarded.
Early in 1915, however, Casement's funds were exhausted —
the Findlay fight cost him £300— and a number of German civil-
ians raised a sum of money for him. He expressed his personal
feelings with regard to that in a letter he wrote me under date
of April 6, as follows:
"I don't like taking this German fund and in any event
it is for the general cause* and / personally cannot touch
*This could only have reference to the recruiting of Irish prisoners
of war. J. D.
422
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
it — yet for the moment I am forced to use some of it on my
personal needs, as all my other money came to an end three
weeks ago — owing chiefly to the Findlay outlay."
Over the remaining months of 1915 we forwarded to Case-
ment five remittances of $1,000 each. The receipts for the vari-
ous sums mentioned above were reproduced in the Gaelic
American of October 11, 1924. I dislike to dwell at such length
on these money matters, but because of certain statements that
have been made in the meantime I deem it well to give the fore-
going details. I repeat that Casement with regard to expendi-
tures on himself was one of the most economical of men, and he
was the soul of honor.
CHAPTER LVII.
ENGLISH PLOT TO MURDER CASEMENT.
The British Minister to Norway Offered £5,000 Bribe to Chris-
tensen — Casement Accused Findlay and Sir Edward Grey —
Flung Back at England the Distinctions She Had Previously
Conferred on Him.
The story of the dastardly attempt of M. de C. Findlay, the
British Minister to Norway, to get Sir Roger Casement kidnapped
and murdered, was published at the time throughout Europe ex-
cept in that favored portion called "the British Isles".
Whether Christensen was approached and tempted by Find-
lay (as Casement believed) , or, whether Christensen concocted
the scheme himself for his own gain (as I, among others, came
to believe) , does not matter much. Findlay entered into the
project, promised the reward for the crime and put the promise
in writing (but omitted therefrom his suggestion of murder
which Casement cites) on the official paper of his Legation,
which is reproduced on page 424.
The details of the plot are given in the letter sent to Sir
Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, by Sir Roger Case-
ment. I first found the letter in a German paper published
in Rio de Janeiro, sent by some unknown friend, and was hav-
ing it translated into English when the New York American's
version was published. Both translations were compared and
some obvious errors corrected, but not having the original copy,
the re-translation was given instead, as it was the only means
then available of placing the facts before the Irish people in
America. In both translations the original text suffered.
When the copy of the original was received from Sir Roger,
several weeks later, I was making frequent journeys out of
town and was engaged in very important work. Consequently,
I was unable to give the matter immediate personal attention,
and the authentic letter was not published in the Gaelic Ameri-
can until July 10, 1915, as follows:
"Berlin, 1st February, 1915.
"The Right Honorable
"Sir E. Grey, Bart, K.G., M.P.,
"London.
"Sir — I observe that some discussion has taken place in
the House of Lords on the subject of the pension I voluntarily
423
British Legation.
Christian!*.
Norway.
A •< ~
[424]
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
425
ceased to draw when I set out to learn what might be the
intentions of the German Government in regard to Ireland.
"In the course of that discussion I understand Lord Crewe
observed that 'Sir Roger Casement's action merited a sensi-
ble punishment'.
"The question raised thus as to my action and your pub-
licly suggested punishment of it I propose discussing here
and now, since the final proof of the actual punishment you
sought in secret to inflict upon me is, at length, in my pos-
session.
"It is true I was aware of your intentions from the first
day I set foot in Norway three months ago; but it has taken
time to compel your agent there to furnish the written proof
of the conspiracy then set on foot against me by His
Majesty's Government.
"Let me first briefly define my action before proceeding
to contrast it with your own.
"The question between the British Government and my-
self has never been, as you are fully aware, a matter of a
pension, of a reward, or a decoration.
"I served the British Government faithfully and loyally
as long as it was possible for me to do so, and when it be-
came impossible, I resigned. When later, it became impossi-
ble for me to use the pension assigned me by law I volun-
tarily abandoned that income as I had previously resigned
the post from which it was derived, and as I now proceed to
divest myself of the honors and distinctions that at various
times have been conferred upon me by His Majesty's Govern-
ment.
"I came to Europe from the United States last October in
order to make sure that whatever might be the course of
this war, my own country, Ireland, should suffer from it the
minimum of harm.
"The view I held was made sufficiently clear in an open
letter I wrote on the 17th of September last in New York,
and sent to Ireland for public distribution among my coun-
trymen. I append a printed copy of that letter. It defines
my personal standpoint clearly enough and expresses the
views I held, and hold, on an Irishman's duty to his country
in this crisis of world affairs. Soon after writing that letter
I set out for Europe.
"To save Ireland from some of the calamities of war was
worth the loss to myself of pension and honors and was even
worth the commission of an act of technical 'treason'.
"I decided to take all the risks and to accept all the pen-
alties the law might attach to my action. I did not, however,
bargain for risks and penalties that lay outside the law as
far as my own action lay outside the field of moral turpitude.
"In other words, while I reckoned with British law and
legal penalties and accepted the sacrifice of income, position
and reputation as prices I must pay, I did not reckon with
the British Government.
"I was prepared to face charges in a court of law; I was
not prepared to meet waylaying, kidnapping, suborning of
dependents or 'knocking on the head'. In fine, all the ex-
pedients your representative in a neutral country invoked
when he became aware of my presence there.
"For the criminal conspiracy that Mr. M. de C. Findlay,
H.B.M. Minister to the Court of Norway entered into on the
426
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
30th of October last, in the British Legation at Christiania,
with the Norwegian subject, my dependent, Eivind Adler
Christensen, involved all these things and more. It involved
not merely a lawless attack upon myself for which the British
Minister promised my follower the sum of £5,000, but it in-
volved a breach of international law as well as of common
law, for which the British Minister in Norway promised this
Norwegian subject full immunity.
"On the 29th of October last year I landed at Christiania,
coming from America.
"Within a few hours of my landing the man I had en-
gaged and in whom I reposed trust was accosted by one of
the secret service agents of the British Minister and carried
off, in a private motor car, to the British Legation, where
the first attempt was made on his honor to induce him to
be false to me.
"Your agent in the Legation that afternoon professed
ignorance of who I was and sought, as he put it, merely to
find out my identity and movements.
"Failing in this the first attempt to obtain satisfaction,
Adler Christensen was assailed the next day, the 30th of
October, by a fresh agent and received an invitation to again
visit the British Legation 'where he would hear something
good'.
"This, the second interview, held in the early forenoon,
was with the Minister himself.
"Mr. Findlay came quickly to the point. The ignorance,
assumed or actual, of the previous day, as to my identity, was
now discarded. He confessed that he knew me, but that he
did not know where I was going to, what I intended doing,
or what might be the specific end I had in view.
"It was enough for him that I was an Irish Nationalist.
"He admitted that the British Government had no evi-
dence of anything wrong done or contemplated by me that
empowered them either morally or lawfully to interfere with
my movements. But he was bent on doing so. Therefore,
he baldly invoked lawless methods, and suggested to my de-
pendent that were I to 'disappear' it would be 'a very good
thing for whoever brought it about'.
"He was careful to point out that nothing could happen
to the perpetrator of the crime, since my presence in Chris-
tiania was known only to the British Government and that
Government would screen and provide for those responsible
for my 'disappearance'.
"He indicated, quite plainly, the methods to be employed,
by assuring Adler Christensen, that whoever 'knocked him
on the head need not do any work for the rest of his life',
and proceeded to apply the moral by asking Christensen, T
suppose you would not mind having an easy time of it for
the rest of your days?'
"My faithful follower concealed the anger he felt at this
suggestion and continued the conversation in order to be-
come more fully aware of the plot that might be devised
against my safety. He pointed out that I had not only been
very kind to him but that I 'trusted him implicitly'.
"It was on this 'implicit trust' Mr. Findlay then proceeded
to build the whole framework of his conspiracy against my
life, my liberty, the public law of Norway and the happiness
of the young man he sought to tempt by monstrous bribes
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
427
to the commission of a dastardly crime against his admitted
benefactor.
"If I could be intercepted, cut off, 'disappear', no one
would know and no question could be asked, since there was
no Government save the British Government knew of my
presence in Norway and there was no authority I could
appeal to for help, while that Government would shield the
individual implicated and provide handsomely for his future.
Such, in Mr. Findlay's words (recorded by me) was the prop-
osition put by His Majesty's Minister before the young man
who had been enticed for this purpose into the British Lega-
tion.
"That this man was faithful to me and the law of his
country was a triumph of Norwegian integrity over the igno-
ble inducement proffered him by the richest and most pow-
erful Government in the world to be false to both.
"Having thus outlined his project, Mr. Findlay invited
Christensen to 'think the matter over and return at 3 o'clock,
if you are disposed to go on with it'.
"He handed him in Norwegian paper money twenty-five
kroner 'just to pay your taxi-cab fares', and dismissed him.
"Feeling a not unnatural interest in these proposals as to
how I should be disposed of, I instructed the man it was thus
sought to bribe to return to the British Legation at 3 o'clock
and to seemingly fall in with the wishes of your Envoy
extraordinary.
"I advised him, however, for the sake of appearance to
'sell me dear' and to secure the promise of a very respectable
sum for so very disreputable an act.
"Christensen, who has been a sailor and naturally has
seen some strange company, assured me he was perfectly
at home with His Majesty's Representative.
"He returned to the Legation at 3 o'clock and remained
closeted with Mr. Findlay until nearly 5 P. M. The full
record of their conversation will be laid before you, and
others, in due course.
"My follower pretended to fall in with the British Minis-
ter's projects, only stipulating for a good sum to be paid in
return for his treachery. Mr. Findlay promised on his 'word
of honor' (such was the quaint phraseology employed to
guarantee this transaction), that Christensen should receive
£5,000 sterling whenever he could deliver me into the hands
of the British authorities.
"If in the course of this kidnapping process I should come
to harm or personal injury be done me, then no question
would be asked and full immunity guaranteed the kidnapper.
"My follower pointed out that as I was leaving that
evening for Copenhagen, having already booked my com-
partment in the mail train, he would not have any imme-
diate chance of executing the commission.
"Mr. Findlay agreed that it would be necessary to defer
the attempt until some favorable opportunity offered of
decoying me down to the coast 'anywhere on the Skaggerrack
or North Sea', where British warships might be in waiting
to seize me.
"He entrusted my dependent with the further commission
of purloining my correspondence with my supposed asso-
ciates in America and Ireland, particularly in Ireland, so
428
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
that they, too, might participate in the 'sensible punish-
ment' being devised for me.
"He ordained a system of secret correspondence with him-
self Christensen should employ, and wrote out the confiden-
tial address in Christiania to which he was to communicate
the results of his efforts to purloin my papers and to report
on my plans.
"This address in Christiania was written down by Mr.
Findlay on a half sheet of Legation note paper in printed
characters. This precaution was adopted he said 'so as to
prevent the handwriting being traced'.
"This document, along with one hundred crowns in Nor-
wegian paper money given by Mr. Findlay as an earnest of
more to follow was at once brought to me with an account
of the proceedings.
"As I was clearly in a position of some danger, I changed
my plans and instead of proceeding to Copenhagen as I had
intended doing, I decided to alter my procedure and route.
"It was, then, with this secret knowledge of the full extent
of the crime plotted by your Representative in Norway
against me that I left Christiania on the 30th of October.
"The rest of the story need not take so long in the telling.
"You are fully aware of most of the details, as you were
in constant touch with your agent both by cable and des-
patch.
"You are also aware of the declaration of the Imperial
German Government, issued on November 20 last in reply to
the enquiry I addressed to them.
"The British Government, both by press reports and by
direct agents had charged Germany, throughout the length
and breadth of Ireland, with the commission of atrocious
crimes in Belgium and had warned the Irish people that
their fate would be the same, did Germany win this war.
"Your Government sought to frighten Irishmen into a
predatory raid upon a people who had never injured them
and to persuade them by false charges that this was their
duty.
"I sought not only a guarantee of German goodwill to
Ireland, but to relieve my countrymen from the apprehen-
sions this campaign of calumny was designed to provoke
and so far as was possible to dissuade them from embarking
in an immoral conflict against a people who had never
wronged Ireland. That Declaration of the German Govern-
ment, issued as I know in all sincerity, is the justification
for my 'treason'. The justification of the conspiracy of the
British Government and its Minister at Christiania begun
before I had set foot on German soil in a country where I
had a perfect right to be and conducted by means of the
lowest forms of attempted bribery and corruption I leave
you, sir, to discover.
"You will not discover it in the many interviews Mr.
Findlay had, during the months of November and December
last, at his own seeking, with my faithful follower. The
correspondence between them in the cypher the Minister
had arranged tells its own story.
"These interviews furnished matter that in due course
I shall make public. What passed between your agent and
mine on these occasions you are fully aware of, and you
were the directing power throughout the whole proceeding.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
429
"Your object, as Mr. Findlay frankly avowed to the man
he thought he had bought, was to take my life with public
indignity — mine was to expose your design and to do so
through the very agent you had yourselves singled out for
the purpose and had sought to corrupt to an act of singular
infamy.
"On one occasion in response to my follower's pretended
dissatisfaction with the amount offered for betraying me
you authorized your agent to increase the sum to £10,000. I
have a full record of the conversations held and of the
pledges proffered in your name.
"On two occasions, during these prolonged bargainings
your Minister gave Adler Christensen gifts of 'earnest money'.
Once it was five hundred crowns in Norwegian currency; the
next time a similar sum, partly in Norwegian money and
partly in English gold. On one of these occasions, to be pre-
cise on the 7th of December last, Mr. Findlay handed Adler
Christensen the key of the back entrance of the British Lega-
tion, so that he might go and come unobserved and at all
hours.
"I propose returning this key in person to the donor and
along with it the various sums so anxiously bestowed upon
my follower.
"The stories told Mr. Findlay at these interviews should
not have deceived a school boy. All the pretended evidence
of my plans and intentions Adler Christensen produced, the
bogus letters, fictitious maps and charts and other incite-
ments to Mr. Findlay's appetite for the incredible were part
of my necessary plan of self defence to lay bare the con-
spiracy you were engaged in and to secure that convincing
proof of it I now hold.
"It was not until the 3rd ultimo that Mr. Findlay com-
mitted himself to give my protector the duly signed and
formal pledge of reward and immunity, in the name of the
British Government, for the crime he was being instigated
to commit, that is now in my possession.
"I transmit you herewith a photograph of this document.
"At a date compatible with my own security against the
clandestine guarantees and immunities of the British Minis-
ter in Norway I shall proceed to lay before the legitimate
authorities in that country the original document and the
evidence in my possession that throws light on the proceed-
ing of His Majesty's Government.
"To that Government, through you, sir, I now beg to
return the insignia of the Most Distinguished Order of St.
Michael and St. George, the Coronation Medal of His Majesty
King George V., and any other medal, honor or distinction
conferred upon me by His Majesty's Government, of which
it is possible for me to divest myself.
"I am, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
"Roger Casement."
Neither Grey nor Findlay has ever made any denial of the
damning facts, for the very good reason that there were enough
authentic specimens of Findlay's handwriting available to prove
the authenticity of the document reproduced in this chapter.
430
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Casement was very much upset on reading the versions of his
letter to Grey as published here in March. He sent a long com-
munication, dated April 9, 1915, to the New York American re-
questing publication of the original text which he enclosed,
and another to me dated April 16 on the same subject. I, of
course, was only too happy to have the correct text for the
Gaelic American, but it was out of the question to expect a New
York daily paper to publish a document the subject matter of
which it had covered some two months earlier, and which at
the later date had lost its "news value". This, Casement did
not understand, and he seemed not to appreciate the fact that
the American in the first instance had done him and his friends
here a great service in giving such wide publicity to the English
murder plot.
CHAPTER LVIII.
CASEMENT PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL IN GERMANY.
Secured Arms and Ammunition but No Regular German Military
Forces for Ireland — Negotiated German-Irish Treaty — Failed
to Organize Irish Prisoners of War into Effective Military
Unit.
Sir Roger Casement was so upset by Findlay's attempt to
kidnap and murder him that he lost for a time his sense of pro-
portion when the greatest war in history was going on. In his
judgment Findlay's action was a major event which he wanted
the whole world to know all about and he devoted his attention
to the task of informing the world, while the main purpose of
his mission to Germany received for the moment scant attention.
He knew so little of the American press at the time, and so over-
rated the influence of the Irish over it, that he was grievously
disappointed when his revelation of the plot was not featured
in this country as a great sensation.
The New York American was the only paper which gave it
space. The other New York newspapers, having already openly
taken sides with England in the war, and being engaged in the
work of forcing the United States into it as an ally of England —
at the same time abusing those of us in America who kept up
the fight for Irish independence, as pro-Germans, — either took
no notice of the incident or sneered at it as "German propaganda".
In Ireland, not a word pertaining to the Findlay-Casement mat-
ter was allowed to pass the English censor.
Casement's letters came by German couriers who traveled
by way of neutral countries and always had to face the risk
of capture or having their despatches seized or stolen. He wrote
in the plainest terms on large sheets of foolscap. And the let-
ters were enclosed in a very large envelope, often rendered more
bulky by the enclosure of copious newspaper clippings and some-
times documents which made it very hard to conceal them. He
often wrote to others besides me, but in all cases the letters were
delivered to me by the German Embassy officials and I sent them
to their destination by hand.
Casement's mission to Germany had three main objects:
First, to secure German military help for Ireland when the
opportunity offered.
431
432
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Second, to educate German public opinion on the Irish situa-
tion, so that the people would stand behind their Government
when it took action in favor of Ireland.
Third, to organize, if possible, Irish prisoners of war into a
military unit to take part in the fight for Irish freedom.
Casement did his best in all these things, but did the first
ineffectively, succeeded admirably in the second, and failed badly
in the third.
After Casement's arrival in Germany he spent considerable
time in negotiating a formal Treaty between Germany and him-
self (as Representative of Ireland) which contained some provi-
sions that we in America did not approve of and which we were
certain the men in Ireland would not ratify. The Treaty never
was ratified by any Irish body, but Casement regarded it as a
crowning triumph of his efforts.
The Treaty was printed in German and English in parallel
columns, and was so reproduced in the Gaelic American. It was
intended for wide circulation in the United States, which
Casement thought we could easily secure, but it was impossible
to get any daily paper to publish it. He could not understand
this, and when I advised him that the daily papers had all been
captured and treated us as badly as the English did, it seemed
to him that it was due to lack of proper effort on our part.
I quote hereunder the version of the Treaty in English, as a
historical curiosity which had no influence whatever on the
course of events. I preface it with a copy of Casement's letter
on the subject addressed to Zimmermann, the German Under
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and of the communication
from Zimmermann accepting Casement's proposal and transmit-
ting to him copy of the Treaty on behalf of the German Imperial
Government:
"Berlin, 23 December, 1914.
"To the Under-Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs,
Berlin.
"Dear Mr. Under-Secretary:
"Following upon the interview I had the honour to have
with you soon after my arrival in Berlin, the Imperial Ger-
man Government issued a Declaration defining its attitude
towards the Irish People which offered me convincing proof
of the goodwill of Germany towards Ireland.
"In that declaration the Imperial Government announced
that it desired for the Irish people only their national pros-
perity and national freedom. I now learn that the Irish
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
433
soldiers, prisoners of war in Germany, are being quartered
in a separate camp and are being treated with as much
kindness as is possible to show men circumstanced as they
are.
"Fully aware of the importance to my country of the
Declaration issued by the German Government and very sen-
sible, as I am, of the kind treatment accorded to my country-
men now in Germany, I have had under consideration the
possibility of taking active advantage of these manifestations
of goodwill to Ireland. With the end in view of aiding the
cause of Irish nationality, I have now the honour to submit
to the Imperial German Government a proposal for the em-
bodiment of an Irish Brigade, pledged to fight in that cause
alone, to be formed of such Irishmen, now prisoners of war
in Germany, as may be willing to enroll themselves in such
a corps.
"I venture to transmit herewith a statement covering the
conditions under which, in my opinion, such a Brigade might
possibly be formed, and I would beg that this suggestion
may have the earnest consideration of the Imperial German
Government.
"I have the honour to be, Dear Mr. Under-Secretary, with
the highest respect,
"Your very obedient servant,
"Roger Casement."
"Auswartiges Amt.
"Berlin, December 28th, 1914.
"The Honorable
Sir Roger Casement,
Eden Hotel,
Kurfurstendamm,
Berlin.
"Dear Sir Roger:
"I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your let-
ter of the 23rd inst., in which you submitted to the Imperial
German Government a proposal for the formation of an
Irish Brigade, pledged to fight in the cause of Irish nation-
ality alone and to be formed of such Irishmen, now prisoners
of war in Germany, as may be willing to enroll themselves in
such a corps.
"In reply I have the honor to inform you that the Im-
perial German Government agrees to your Proposal and
accepts the conditions under which the Brigade might pos-
sibly be formed, as laid down in the statement annexed to
your letter of the 23rd inst. and enclosed herewith.
"I have the honor to be, Dear Sir Roger,
"Your obedient servant,
"ZlMMERMANN
"Under Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs."
434
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
THE TREATY.
"Article 1.
"With a view to securing the national freedom of Ireland,
with the moral and material assistance of the German Im-
perial Government, an Irish Brigade shall be formed from
among the Irish soldiers, or other natives of Ireland, now
prisoners of war in Germany.
"Article 2.
"The object of the Irish Brigade shall be to fight solely
in the cause of Ireland, and under no circumstances shall it
be employed or directed to any German end.
"Article 3.
"The Irish Brigade shall be formed and shall fight under
the Irish flag alone. The men shall wear a special, distinc-
tively Irish uniform.
"As soon as Irishmen can be got for the purpose, either
from Ireland or the United States, the Brigade shall have
only Irish Officers. Until such time as Irish Officers can be
secured German Officers will be appointed with the approval
of Sir Roger Casement, to have disciplinary control of the
men.
"But no military operation shall be ordered or conducted
by the German officers of the Brigade during such time as
the men are under their control.
"Article 4.
"The Irish Brigade shall be clothed, fed and efficiently
equipped with arms and munitions by the Imperial German
Government on the clear understanding that these are fur-
nished as a free gift to aid the cause of Irish Independence.
"Article 5.
"It is distinctly understood and is hereby formally de-
clared by the Parties to this agreement that the Irish
Brigade shall consist only of Volunteers in the cause of Irish
national freedom, and as such no member of the Irish
Brigade shall receive pay or monetary reward of any kind
from the Imperial German Government during the period
he shall bear arms in the Brigade.
"Article 6.
"The Imperial German Government undertakes, in cer-
tain circumstances, to send the Irish Brigade to Ireland with
efficient military support and with an ample supply of arms
and ammunition to equip the Irish National Volunteers in
Ireland who may be willing to join them in the attempt to
recover .Irish national freedom by force of arms.
"The 'certain circumstances' hereby understood are the
following:
"In the event of a German naval victory affording the
means of reaching the coast of Ireland, the Imperial Ger-
man Government pledges itself to despatch the Irish Brigade
and a supporting body of German officers and men, in Ger-
man transports, to attempt a landing on the Irish coast.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
435
"Article 7.
"The opportunity to land in Ireland can only arise if the
fortune of war should grant the German Navy a victory that
would open, with reasonable prospect of success, the sea-
route to Ireland. Should the German Navy not succeed in
this effort the Irish Brigade shall be employed in Germany,
or elsewhere, solely in such a way as Sir Roger Casement
may approve as being in strict conformity with Article 2.
"In this event it might be possible to employ the Irish
Brigade to assist the Egyptian People to recover their free-
dom by driving the British out of Egypt. Short of directly
fighting to free Ireland from British rule a blow struck at the
British invaders of Egypt, to aid Egyptian national freedom,
is a blow struck for a kindred cause to that of Ireland.
"Article 8.
"In the event of the Irish Brigade volunteering for this
service the Imperial German Government undertakes to
make arrangements with the Austro-Hungarian Government
for its transport through that Empire to Constantinople, and
to provide with the Turkish Government for the recognition
and acceptance of the Irish Brigade as a Volunteer Corps
attached to the Turkish Army in the effort to expel the
British from Egypt.
"Article 9.
"In the event of the war coming to an end without the
object of the Irish Brigade having been effected, namely, its
landing in Ireland, the Imperial German Government under-
takes to send each member of the Brigade who may so desire
it, to the United States of America, with the necessary means
to land in that country in conformity with the United States
Immigration Laws.
"Article 10.
"In the event of the Irish Brigade landing in Ireland, and
military operations in that country resulting in the over-
throw of British authority and the erection of a native Irish
Government, the Imperial German Government will give the
Irish Government so established its fullest moral support,
and both by public recognition and by general goodwill will
contribute, with all sincerity, to the establishment of an in-
dependent Government in Ireland."
The Treaty bore the seal of the Imperial German Govern-
ment. The publication of the document was withheld by Case-
ment for several months. It was eventually released by him when
in his opinion the opportune moment had arrived.
With respect to the clauses setting forth that under certain
circumstances the "brigade" might be sent to fight in Egypt, we
in America strongly objected to any such proposal, and our
friends in Dublin were unalterably opposed to it. There was but
one place for these men to fight, and that was in Ireland.
Having had considerable experience in organizing Irish sol-
diers of the British army during the Fenian movement, I felt
that it was possible to do something in that line during the
436
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
World War if the work was undertaken properly, even though
there was a great deterioration in the quality and spirit of the
Irishmen who joined the British army then from those who
went into it in Fenian days. But Casement tackled the work in
the wrong way. Instead of approaching the men individually, he
had them all assembled at a meeting at which he delivered an
address that went over their heads. The good and the bad, the
Orangeman and the Catholic, the half decent fellow and the
blackguard, were all there to listen to his high patriotic senti-
ments, and what was still worse, old Reserve men — whose
wives were receiving subsistence money from the British Gov-
ernment and who naturally would think of the interests of their
families before and above all else — were present.
To step out of the ranks and volunteer for service against
England under such circumstances required a degree of moral
courage that is rare among Irishmen of that class, and the won-
der is that even fifty of them were bold enough to do so.
Casement soon realized his mistake, but it was too late. He
first tried to remedy it by asking for a priest to act as a chap-
lain, and Rome granted the request. But Rome had to be neu-
tral in war, and the Vatican, even if inclined to do so, could not
afford to offend England. So two chaplains were sent to him,
one of whom lectured the men on their duty to keep their oaths
as soldiers, while the other in a half-hearted way talked a little
about Irish patriotism. This got Casement nowhere, so he asked
us to send him a priest from America.
Our first effort was a failure. We recommended a Penn-
sylvania priest of our acquaintance who agreed to under-
take the task. But, because of developments at the last moment
before the ship sailed it was deemed best not to send him. Then
a Father Nicholson, who was stationed somewhere in Penn-
sylvania, was selected. He was all right from every point of view
and helped Casement to the best of his ability, but the harm had
already been done by the public meeting attempt and only a few
more recruits were obtained for the "brigade".
In his letter to me, dated April 6, 1915, Casement reported
progress towards the organization of his "brigade", the men of
which he referred to as the "Poor Brothers", and outlined some
of the difficulties with which he had to contend, as follows:
"With regard to the 'Poor Brothers' things are improv-
ing, and to-day I got fairly good news. There is a chance of
a move there — but nothing can be said openly yet. The day
I cable 'publish text' you will know that the men have re-
sponded and that the Treaty of Alliance and recognition may
be proclaimed. The first need is officers. Something must
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
437
be done to have these available, for as you see from the
Treaty no active operations can be undertaken until our own
Nationality is in command. That was an essential condi-
tion— one without which I could not have got the assent to
my conditions. My chief difficulty has been being single
handed. I needed, and need, others to work below me and
do the things I cannot do. The work of recruiting has to be
done by others. The difficulties are enormous. Fr. N. has done
all he could, but there are limitations on him that you can
understand. To-day, however, I begin to see some hope, and
some of the dejection I have experienced for so long is break-
ing up. I cannot tell you in a letter all the difficulties that
have been put in the way — not purposely, but through the
difference of temperament existing and the military neces-
sities of this country and of the war.
"So far as Ireland is concerned, everything, almost, de-
pends on this effort. If this cannot be done, nothing is done.
The view here (in official circles) is that we must show some
spirit of patriotism and sincere belief in our cause to get help
from this country. If we do nothing, they say, how can they
do anything. If Irishmen themselves care so little for Ireland
that they will risk nothing, what proof is there that there is
any National Cause at all in Ireland on which Germany can
count."
It will be noted that Casement developed the idea that his
mission was the really important part of the movement. We in
America were convinced that our most essential task was to fur-
nish, to the utmost, means whereby the men in Ireland could
arm and equip themselves. As to the measure of risk which
Irishmen were taking, and were ready to assume to a greater
extent, the answer was to be found in the activities of the I. R.
B. and the Volunteers in Ireland in the teeth of the British Gov-
ernment, and in a lesser though not unimportant degree, the
manner in which the men of the Clan-na-Gael not alone
financed the men at home but stood up to all the pro-British
propaganda in this country and to the antagonism of the Wilson
Administration, which became more and more venomous as the
war proceeded.
The Republicans in Ireland proved later that they were pre-
pared to risk everything, but the time at which they were to
make their great endeavor was a matter on which they them-
selves were the sole arbiters.
At that period, Sir Roger was also laboring under the disap-
pointment of not having received replies from us to certain
letters (which never reached us) , as well as from the fact that
John Quinn had declined to begin an action against the New
York World for statements which it published about Casement.
And, he was far from satisfied with the then progress of the war
from the German viewpoint. The following is an extract from
his letter dated April 14, 1915:
438
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
"Things are going better with the Poor Brothers, and I
think we may soon be able to start that part of the campaign.
"That now may not prove the difficulty. The chief diffi-
culty I see is in the military situation itself. This, to my
mind, precludes all possibility or hope of military aid of the
kind pledged in Article 6. Therefore there is no hope of the
expedition coming off, and all we can now hope for would
be the moral effect of the formation of the thing and the
public announcement of it. Urbi et orbi. That would be
great. It would hurt the enemy much; wound his prestige;
impair his military efficiency and seriously hinder his re-
cruiting. It would equally cheer and uplift our own people
all over the world — and unify them, I think. It lifts the
National Cause to a higher level, and shows, at any rate,
that it was (or is) only the fortune of war that prevented
the full realization of the promises. Other things may come,
things possibly of military value to our cause, but the great
expedition cannot come. That I see clearly. The war may
end in many ways — no man can say — but it will leave the Sea
Serpent still coiled safely on the waves. She can only be
cut up later on. Meantime we shall have struck a blow and
not talked. It will be an act in Irish history. Something
done, and the future may yet see its fruit. It will have a
deep effect on the national mind, and will uplift the spirit
of our countrymen."
Casement was most desirous to obtain a commander for the
little batch of Irish soldiers. He wrote to me time after time to
get him an Irish-American officer, whose rank should not be less
than that of Colonel. I told him this was impossible; that
American officers, and especially West Point graduates, had a
very high sense of their own dignity, and that to ask them to
take command of a body of fifty and odd men — and "deserters"
at that — would be taken as an insult. Besides, we were con-
vinced that President Wilson intended from the start to enter
the War on the side of "The Allies", and that all retired offi-
cers would be subject to orders to rejoin the army. Casement,
however, could not be brought to recognize these realities.
When Robert Monteith, an officer in the Irish Volunteers,
who had previously served some ten years in the British army
as sergeant of artillery, was selected by the men in Dublin to
command the little Irish contingent in Germany, Casement wrote
me that he would do for the time being, but repeatedly expressed
the hope that we would find a man of high rank who could meet
the German officers as an equal. He sent Christensen back to
New York to accompany Monteith on the trip.
The arrangements for the voyage were necessarily made by
Christensen. His method was to travel as a first class passenger
and smuggle Monteith over in the cabin with the connivance
of the steward who, of course, was to be paid for his services.
Besides the price of the tickets I gave Christensen money enough
to provide for any unforeseen emergency, but when he came back,
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
439
he put in claims for extra expenses, based on things which Mon-
teith told me, on his return to the United States after the War,
were simply inventions. However, the outstanding feature of the
venture was that he got Monteith landed successfully and put him
into communication with Casement.
When Casement commenced the formation of his "brigade",
the English propagandist machine began to operate immediately.
The Redmondite and Tory papers in Dublin vied with one
another as to which of them could tell the most lies about it.
All the stories were substantially the same, though they differed
in detail according to the imaginative powers of the relator.
They all represented Sir Roger Casement as offering bribes of
"German money" to the men to volunteer to fight for Germany;
that these offers had been rejected with scorn by these gallant
Irish soldiers of England, who were "cruelly persecuted, starved,
put into unhealthy, vermin-infested dens", and otherwise mal-
treated. The "Prussian Guards" — who were at the front doing
their full share of the fighting — were represented as having been
in charge of the prisoners and having had a hard time to keep
the indignant Irishmen from tearing Sir Roger Casement to
pieces.
These yarns were cabled to America and flaunted in the faces
of Irish readers here as proof that Ireland was united as one
man behind England in the war, and that John Redmond was
a hundred times more popular with the Irish people than Daniel
O'Connell ever was. The constant repetition and reiteration of
these stories was enough to convince any man who knows Ire-
land that England felt uneasy concerning the loyalty of her
Irish soldiers. She was afraid lest any large proportion of the
Irish prisoners in Germany should join the "brigade", and still
more fearful that the news of such might reach the Irish sol-
diers on the English front in France and Flanders and wake
them up to the fact that some of their fellow countrymen at
home and abroad were talking of the rights of their own small
nation and exploding the hypocrisy of England fighting for
"poor little Belgium".
As in the case of the men who joined Casement's "brigade",
every man in Ireland and America who took Ireland's side, was
charged by the press with being in receipt of "German gold".
The real fact in the situation was that English money had pur-
chased the support of a large part of the American press, and
the reptile editors in this country vied with their English con-
temporaries in vilification of Irishmen who had spent their
lives in efforts to prepare the Irish people for just such an op-
portunity as the war presented.
440
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
In an effort to counteract the calumnies widely circulated
about themselves, the non-commissioned officers of Co. A of the
"brigade", — who had simply followed the examples set them by
Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Thomas Russell in 1798, and of
John Boyle O'Reilly, Charles McCarthy and other Irish soldiers of
the British army in the early days of Fenianism, — issued a state-
ment under date of September 24, 1915, from which I quote this
excerpt:
"In this, too, we are only doing what many other soldiers
of the 'small nationalities' are doing or are being asked to do
by the Allied Governments of England, Russia, France and
Italy.
"The Russian Government, notably, made repeated at-
tempts to recruit an 'Italian Legion'. The Czar at an early
stage of the war proclaimed in a manifesto his intention of
giving 'freedom to all Austro-Hungarian prisoners of Italian
blood' and of sending them to Italy where they might be
free to fight for 'their motherland', despite the fact that they
were subjects of the Austrian Emperor, born on Austrian
soil and sworn soldiers of his Imperial Army, and that at
that date Italy was a neutral country and ostensibly an ally
of Austria even.
"If the Emperor of Russia can do this with honor and
pride, how much more honorable and fitting was it that we,
native born Irishmen, should gladly grasp the chance to be
sent to our motherland to fight there for her freedom and
betterment against a country that has never ceased to injure
her.
"So, too, we have seen and read of the attempts to form a
'Czech Legion', a 'Polish Legion', and quite recently we see in
the newspapers a statement from the Paris Temps of Sep-
tember 20, that the Russian Government has formed two
hundred Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war 'of Servian
origin' into a corps to fight for Servia.
"In the official report of the Russian General Staff, record-
ing that day's operations in the field, the General Staff an-
nounces that at an engagement near Kromenez 'of two hun-
dred Austrians taken prisoners here, forty came over as
volunteers into our trenches'.
"At the present moment there are some twelve regiments
of Bohemians, with special uniforms given by the Czar, in
the Russian Army, fighting against the Austrian army to
which they belonged.
"If these things be loyal and right for the Allied Sover-
eigns to do, and to enroll soldiers of the Austrian or German
armies in corps pledged to fight against Austria and Ger-
many, then how much more right is it for Irishmen to volun-
teer to fight for Ireland and for that cause alone?
"No bribe, no reward, no money has been offered us. We
have only been asked would we give ourselves to Ireland in
a wholly righteous, honorable and unselfish effort, and we
have answered yes. We trust by God's help to be able to
strike a blow for the freedom of our country, and we know
that in that hope we stand with all that is best and most
unselfish in the history of our country and the past of our
race."
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
441
Casement sent the statement to me in the hope that I could
secure its publication, but, because of the attitude of the press in
this country, which I have already described, it never saw the
light in any American daily. It was published in the Gaelic
American and thus reached our own people.
On one occasion, Casement when repeating his request for offi-
cers, wrote: "I am told there are men of the Irish Volunteers in
New York who could come, and two or three would be very
useful". We informed him that we had already been making
preparations to send a number across. They were mostly men of
the Irish Volunteers in this City, all members of the Clan-na-Gael,
very intelligent fellows, thoroughly grounded in the principles of
the organization, and all born in Ireland.
Christensen once more journeyed here from Germany to ar-
range for their conveyance thither. I intended to reproduce in a
separate chapter the story of how this fellow double-crossed us
in our endeavor to send the first batch of them via a Norwegian
port, but, suffice it to say, he proved himself a trickster and a
fraud, with the result that we were compelled to abandon the
project and to summarily dismiss him. Had Christensen acted
honestly, we could have dispatched at least fifty dependable and
partially trained men whose presence among the prisoners of war
enrolled by Casement in Germany would have improved their
morale, and would in all probability have been the means of in-
ducing a far larger number of Irish soldiers of the British Army —
who were then prisoners of war — to join the "brigade".
As events transpired at Tralee Bay in 1916, it made no differ-
ence. But, had fortune favored an expedition such as that of
the Aud, and had it thus been possible to augment the Irish Re-
publican forces in Easter Week with even one hundred of those
Irishmen who had fought under England's banner on the West-
ern Front, the effect on the people of Ireland itself would have
been great at that period. Furthermore, no one can now appraise
the far-reaching influence which such a circumstance would have
had on the morale of the immense number of Irishmen of
nationalist tendencies who unfortunately were then fighting
England's battles on the Continent of Europe and elsewhere.
CHAPTER LIX.
"BUTTING IN" ON THE CLAN-NA-GAEL.
Unalterable Decision of the I. R. B. and the Clan Not to Ac-
cept Money from Germany Proved Wise as Well as Right —
Pet Schemes of Unauthorized Men Endangered Our Position.
Had the Clan-na-Gael not stipulated at the very outset that
no German money would be received and that we wanted only
military assistance, misfortune would have dogged our footsteps
at every turn, and some Irishmen would have undoubtedly faced
a firing squad or have had to undergo long terms of imprison-
ment. The documentary evidence would have assuredly been
kept and just as surely seized by the Secret Service and used
remorselessly to crush the Irish Republican organizations, which
was the darling object of the Wilson Administration. We were
not long in securing evidence that our stipulation to accept no
money was our best safeguard.
The strong individuality of the Irishman is his best quality,
but it often turns out to be his most dangerous one. He is always
inclined to "butt in," convinced that he could do things better
than those entrusted with the task. Old members of the Clan-na-
Gael were mostly free from this defect of a fine national quality.
They were like soldiers, trained in habits of discipline and respect
for authority, and they had confidence that the Executive would
properly take care of the interests of the organization and the
Cause. There were some exceptions, but these were mostly com-
paratively new members. But the Clan-na-Gael was only a very
small part of the Irish population of the United States, and large
numbers who belonged to no organization were keenly alive to
the opportunity presented to Ireland by the war and were anxious
to "do something."
Among those who "butted in" were some men who might be ex-
pected to know better. Letters from Irishmen, offering all sorts
of suggestions, began to reach the German Ambassador, and they
were all referred to me. Some of these were undoubtedly from
British spies and were transparently dishonest, but others were
from men I knew. I will deal only with a few of the latter.
The first application for money to reach the Germans was
from a New Yorker, who had an exaggerated idea of his own
importance. It was for a considerable sum, with which he pro-
posed to start a paper friendly to them.
442
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
443
Then came a suggestion, from another resident here, that
periodicals in Ireland which were opposed to recruiting for the
British army should be subsidized by Germany, and he offered
to go over to take charge of the campaign. If this proposal had
been accepted, a record would have been surely filed by the Ger-
man authorities which would in all probability have been seized
later and given to the English, like the document found in von
Igel's office. Even apart from that, the fact would have leaked
out in Ireland, and Arthur Griffith and all others connected with
the anti-recruiting campaign would have been hanged. They
would also have been utterly discredited as paid agents of Ger-
many, instead of Irish patriots acting on principle and working
for Ireland. But I cannot imagine Griffith accepting German
money.
When the letters were submitted to me by the Germans I re-
minded them of our bargain that we would accept no money,
and both applications were turned down promptly.
The next man to "butt in" was Francis Sheehy-Skefflngton,
the militant pacifist and feminist, who was murdered by Captain
Bowen-Colthurst in Dublin during Easter Week, 1916. I did not
see his letter until after his request had been rejected. It was
written in a small town in Belgium and handed to the German
commander, with a request that it be forwarded to the proper
authority. It was referred by the German Foreign Office to von
Bernstorff, and shown to me by von Skal. Written in English,
the letter was very clear and precise. It began with an admis-
sion that he did not belong to the Irish Revolutionary organiza-
tion, but said that the leaders trusted him. It recited the effec-
tive work done by the anti-recruiting movement, pointed out its
importance to the Germans, and made an estimate of the cost of
keeping it going. I don't remember the amount he named, but
it was very modest. Although violently opposed to all war, Skef-
fington evidently wanted England beaten in that particular war,
and was willing to make a pacifist's contribution towards bring-
ing about that result. Colthurst wreaked England's vengeance
on him without knowing or caring what Skeffington had actually
done, as he murdered at the same time a Scotchman and a
worthless Irishman, while the fury of the blood lust had posses-
sion of him. Had the English Government the smallest scrap
of evidence that Skeffington had written that letter, or held any
sort of communication with the Germans in Belgium, he would
doubtless have been executed long before "Easter Week".
The worst instance of "butting in", which was in a differ-
ent category from those just mentioned, occurred early in 1915
and might have resulted in irreparable harm.
444
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Mr. Rumely, the rich German-American who purchased the
New York Evening Mail, presumably to help the German cause,
but who wilted in fear of the Wilson Administration and began
almost as soon as he obtained control of the paper to straddle
the fence in the most absurd fashion (for which Wilson later re-
paid him by sending him to prison) , was a Catholic, and was edu-
cated at Notre Dame University, and had for a fellow-student a
man named Brogan, who had managed to obtain control of the
Irish-American (New York) .
Brogan was never a real Nationalist and sneered at the Clan-
na-Gael at every opportunity. He was a glib talker and Rumely
evidently had a high estimate of him, in which he was encour-
aged by James K. McGuire, who ought to have known better.
Between them they had him sent to Germany to help the Irish
Cause there.
Which of the German departments or agents of departments
consented to the sending of Brogan I never found out, but I am
certain that it was neither Von Bernstorff nor Von Papen. The
Germans frequently muddled some things in the same manner
as the English — one department was constantly interfering with
the work of another. For instance, the plans of the Army Gen-
eral Staff were interfered with by agents of the Admiralty, and
both interfered with those of the Foreign Office. In our ex-
perience here we sometimes found two or three men attempting
to do the same thing, with confusion as the result. And worse
than confusion was most likely to ensue in Irish affairs from in-
terference therein by unauthorized individuals in such instances
as I have cited.
I did not hear of Brogan's going to Germany for some time
after he had left, and immediately wrote to Sir Roger Casement
warning him against having anything to do with him. Letters
had to wait for a courier and my letter was delayed so that
it did not reach Casement until after Brogan had called on him
and won his confidence.
Fearing some such development, I had a wireless message
forwarded to Casement at a later date, in which I referred to
Brogan as "the New York man", and within a few days of its
receipt Casement sent me the following memorandum:
"This gentleman called on me at the Continental Hotel
on 1 March, accompanied by a friend of the German Army—
the son of a well-known and highly placed officer in Ger-
many and well known to the officials I was in touch with.
He explained who he was and that he had come to Europe
solely to assist 'the Cause' and would do nothing I disap-
proved of. He was vouched for by his military friend who
had known him in U. S. A.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
445
"They called again next day and had a long talk pointing
out various ways in which he could help. I was glad of
the help, as I needed very much just such a fellow-country-
man.
"From that on I saw him several times at my hotel, and
he got various things done through Capt. that were of
use. I was in Hamburg from 3 March to 10 March, when I
returned to Berlin and was ill in bed for several days.
"During those days called on me several times. I
heard that a warning against him had been received from a
certain friend in New York and had been communicated of-
ficially to the authorities. Then came the letter of 'John'
of 19 February and his warning. I communicated this to the
authorities also and we talked things over.
"I then told the man that these warnings had come
(while I was ill in bed) , and he wrote me the letter of 14
March attached. I did not tell him who the persons were
who warned against him save that one was Irish, the other
an Englishman in U. S. A., nor did I go into details — merely
that I was told he was not to be trusted and that he was a
venal Irish 'patriot.' He gave me as references Dr. John F.
Kelly in New York and others, and declared that he had
never made money from his patriotism and that he only
desired to work with me and do anything he could to help
the cause I directed. He wrote the letter attached as a guar-
antee of good faith.
"I discussed the matter with those warned, in authority,
and they agreed that he might prove of service here. The
military were his friends. He visited the Poor Brothers on
17 March and saw N., who reported his visit as useful.
"He subsequently left Germany on 24 March on a mis-
sion of which I have no details, arranged between him and
Capt. , writing me the annexed letter of 23 March,
enclosing one from Dr. Kelly and the one from J. K. McGuire,
both attached.
"I have heard nothing of him since, and believe he went
to a neutral country first and then further. His mission I
gathered involved danger to himself and is of service to the
Cause. He may prove of use, and so far as I can see and
the authorities here, he cannot do harm here but may prove
very serviceable to them.
"It seemed to me the lesser danger to let him go on, after
the warning given him, and his promises to work loyally and
faithfully, than to ask the authorities to discard him after
they had already discussed many things with him before I
came in touch.
"Moreover, it would produce a very bad impression on
their minds if we always showed so much distrust of each
other. He is now probably in a place you can guess. I had
been alone and single-handed so long I welcomed the chance
of a man to help who came to me vouched for by a German
officer who had had many dealings with him, I gathered in
New York, and had already introduced him to military circles
here.
"On Sunday last, 4 April, I got John's wireless— 'the New
York man is dishonest; letter explains.' I await this letter
and meantime send this memo to show how far I had deal-
ings with him.
"I thought him honest and believed he changed from
Redmondism quite sincerely when he saw where it was going.
446
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
He said again and again that J. D. was right from the start
and all Irishmen now saw it, but he thought J. D. too bitter
against those who had differed from him, and trusted that
now all Irishmen would pull together.
"P. S. Since writing foregoing I have heard more of the
man. He is all right and doing excellent service.
"I retain the various letters he wrote me for the present,
as they might fall into wrong hands, but will try to send
them later on."
Sir Roger erased from his memorandum the name of the Ger-
man army officer who introduced Brogan to him. Subsequently,
however, we became morally certain of his identity as one who
had given much trouble to the Embassy here by meddling in
matters that were already in capable hands.
Casement shows in his postscript that Brogan made an im-
pression on him and convinced him that we were repelling good
Irishmen — like himself. We were at the time he wrote on the
best of terms with the Irish World, which, under Robert Ford's
direction, was doing good service to the cause, but Casement
was led to believe that it was necessary to send us a lecture on
the importance of unity from Berlin based on complete igno-
rance of actual conditions in America and on Brogan's misin-
formation.
The Dr. John F. Kelly referred to by Casement as one of
those who recommended Brogan must have been Dr. John F.
Kelly, of Pittsfield, Mass., now dead. He was a doctor and engi-
neer, a very clever man, absolutely sincere. He was a convert
from Parliamentarianism but retained all his prejudices towards
the Clan-na-Gael, and a strong personal antagonism against
some of us. He certaintly was not justified in "butting in" on
work which we had officially undertaken.
James K. McGuire had rejoined the Clan-na-Gael after many
years of following Redmond, and he was on the most cordial
terms with all of us. He was constantly repeating the statement,
then becoming fashionable, that I was right and he and his
friends were all wrong, and he even put it in his book on the
war. But he never said a word to any of us about his recom-
mendation of Brogan. Some years later, when he had become
Chairman of our Executive I never mentioned the matter to him.
That habit of individual action, inherited from the days of the
Clans, seems to be ineradicable with the race, and has led to
many misfortunes. Casement had it as badly as any one of our
people at that time, but it was largely owing to his impulsive
temperament.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
447
Casement's plea that the fellow could do no harm was a
specimen of his good-natured, easy-going methods. Brogan's
statement to him that, while events had proved me to be right,
I had an inveterate prejudice against all men who had taken
Redmond's side, had no foundation in fact. We gladly wel-
comed the co-operation of numerous men who stood by Redmond
until he attempted to induce the Irish Volunteers to enlist in
England's army, because we knew them to be sincere and able
to render effective help to the cause, but Brogan had never been
prominent in the United Irish League or in any other Irish
movement, and had no standing among Irish-Americans.
Casement, notwithstanding the good opinion which he had
formed of Brogan, and his desire not to show distrust of a fel-
low-countryman, finally decided, in the matter of certain docu-
ments which he had given to the Germans for despatch to
Brogan in Italy, to act on our estimate of "the New York man".
Sir Roger got the officials to order the interception of their
courier, and the papers referred to were abstracted in Switzer-
land. What these documents were I never learned.
Now, on the main point, it is very evident that even after
our repudiation of Brogan as not having any connection with
the Clan-na-Gael which, in conjunction with the I. R. B. in
Ireland, initiated and was directing negotiations between the
Irish and the Germans, the German military authorities retained
Brogan's services for some particular purpose of their own.
While they were within their rights in so doing, they had no
right in the first instance to connect him up with Casement
and the "brigade", nor to inject any man not sanctioned by us
into official Irish-German affairs.
The nature of Brogan's mission after leaving Germany on
March 24, when as Casement wrote "he went to a neutral coun-
try and then further", can only be surmised by us. We do know
that he was in Dublin the following August, and on the occasion
of O'Donovan Rossa's funeral marched near the head of the pro-
cession. From one who knew and spoke to him that day I
learned that his dress made him conspicuous among those around
him, and I was also informed that he drew particular atten-
tion to himself by "paying his respects" to Rossa's widow and
daughter at their carriage.
Later on he turned up in London, and there interviewed a
prominent I. R. B. man who promptly reported the conversa-
tion to a member of the Executive in Dublin. Sensing dangerous
complications for the Irish cause, it was decided that Sean
MacDermott go to London immediately to ascertain just what
448
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Brogan had in mind. Sean was a man who would brook no
"crossing of wires" with the work of the Organization; he put
Brogan "through his paces", and emphatically told him to keep
his hands off. That was the last the Irish leaders heard of
Brogan.
The incident mentioned in the preceding paragraph proved
how injudicious it was for persons in their individual capacity
to meddle in such important work, especially in the international
field, which was within the province and under the jurisdiction
of representatives of the responsible organizations in Ireland and
the United States who were dealing officially with such matters.
CHAPTER LX.
THE FIRST IRISH RACE CONVENTION.
Most Representative Gathering of Men and Women of the Irish
Race Ever Assembled in America Prior to 1916 — Over Two
Thousand Delegates Present — Notable Pronouncement Issued.
The first great Irish Race Convention, at which the Friends
of Irish Freedom organization was founded, was held at the
Hotel Astor, New York, on Saturday, March 4, and concluded
at the Cohan Theatre on Sunday, March 5, 1916 (the anniver-
sary of the Rising of 1867), and was the largest assemblage of
Irish delegates (about 2,300) that ever met in America up to
that time.
The name given to the new organization was on a motion
proposed by Robert E. Ford, then editor of the Irish World, and
seconded by me. The Irish World and The Gaelic American were
in perfect accord and, by agreement between the two editors,
pursued a common Irish policy. That accord came to an end
when in January, 1920, Robert Ford died and his brother, Austin,
came into control of the Irish World and adopted an antago-
nistic attitude.
A short time before the Convention I had received from the
Supreme Council of the L R. B. the announcement that they
had decided "to strike on Easter Sunday, April 23," but only four
men in America knew that fact. They were all present at the
Convention, but, of course, no hint of it could be given to anyone
else.
The only indirect allusion I made to the subject was in a
short speech delivered just before the Convention adjourned, in
which I warned the delegates against imprudent speech and ac-
tion which would give the English Government the pretext they
wanted for drastic, repressive measures. There was a little
weekly organ of the Parliamentary Party, called Ireland, in New
York at that time, and the week after the Convention, it con-
tained an editorial note, omitting my name, but deliberately re-
versing the meaning of my words and making it appear that the
speech urged that the English Government be provoked into
taking the drastic action for which I said it was seeking a pre-
text. This kind of misrepresentation is very common in Irish
controversies.
449
450
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Supreme Court Justice John W. Goff was Temporary Chair-
man of the Convention; Judge O'Neill Ryan, of St. Louis, was
Permanent Chairman. The chief speakers, besides the Tempo-
rary and Permanent Chairmen, were Bourke Cockran, Judge
Daniel F. Cohalan, Victor Herbert, Colonel Conley of the Sixty-
ninth Regiment, Hon. J. M. Wall, of Bound Brook, N. J., and Hon.
Patrick H. O'Donnell, of Chicago.
The two largest of the Land League gatherings were those
held in Chicago in 1881 and in Philadelphia in 1883, but the
Irish Race Convention of 1916 had more than double the num-
ber of delegates that attended either of these great gatherings.
At no previous Irish Convention was there even one Supreme
Court Judge: there were five at this, besides several other Judges
of lesser rank, and a large number of lawyers. And there were
prominent merchants, manufacturers and business men and
women by the hundred. No such Irish-American gathering in
the past ever had so many clerical dignitaries present as dele-
gates.
The Convention was one of the best managed and most suc-
cessful gatherings of its kind ever held in the United States.
This fact was freely acknowledged by all the reporters present,
who were sent there to lampoon the affair, but who promptly
called up their city editors and informed them that it would be
ridiculous to try that plan. Some of the editors did, however,
attack the gathering, but they eventually came to realize that
the Pro-British movement was confronted by an organized Irish
Race throughout the land and that it was a force that had to
be reckoned with.
Victor Herbert, one of the greatest composers of music in
America, and grandson of Samuel Lover, was elected National
President of the Friends of Irish Freedom organization founded
by the Convention.
Thomas Hughes Kelly, son of the famous Eugene Kelly who
raised more money in a few weeks for the Land League under
Parnell's leadership than the whole American organization was
able to do in several years, and who was himself a man of promi-
nent financial standing, was chosen National Treasurer.
John D. Moore, whose splendidly systematic and precise work
as secretary of the Arrangements Committee contributed in large
measure to the success of the Convention, was elected National
Secretary.
The list of outstanding men and women of the race, repre-
senting all sections of the United States, who were elected mem-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
451
bers of the National Council of the new organization is too long
for insertion here.
The following Declaration of Principles and Policy was
adopted unanimously:
"Resolutely following in the footsteps of the men of our
race who did so much to bring this great Republic into ex-
istence and of those others who have since in peace and war
striven unceasingly to defend its flag, to uphold its honor
and to advance its interests, we solemnly declare that we
owe no allegiance and we share no loyalty which in any
manner, or to any degree, lessens our devotion to American
ideals, impairs our faith in American institutions or weakens
our determination that no influence of any kind shall be per-
mitted to undo the work of the Revolution, or by entangling
alliances, — open or secret — make America the tool of any
foreign country and bring it into the quarrels of other
nations to serve ends and purposes alien to its institutions
and hostile to its ideals. Enjoying here the fruits of hard-
won freedom, we have never been unmindful that eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty, and keeping in close touch
with the cradleland of our race, in its unending struggle for
existence and for freedom, against the same foe that after
eight years of savage warfare was driven in defeat from our
shores by Washington and his victorious legions, we have
followed with closer attention than many of our fellow-
citizens of other strains of blood, the course of American
history, and have seen the same hand which has crushed
Ireland ever stretched out in constant menace against
America.
"We have seen not only the untiring English efforts to
curb the growth of our mercantile marine, but the high-
handed interference with our seamen, our ships and our
commerce which brought on the War of 1812, with the burn-
ing down — an event unparalleled save in British history — of
the Capitol in Washington, before we succeeded by force in
bringing them to respect our rights. We have seen our coun-
try euchred by English diplomacy of territory of vast area
and boundless wealth while our hands were tied by our old
quarrel with Mexico; we know to our cost of the savage
blows struck at us by England during the Civil War in the
efforts to divide the country; of the aid given to the Con-
federacy; of the sweeping of our flag from the sea by the
commerce raiders, built, manned, and armed in England,
and the destruction of our mercantile marine, in the interest
of England, so that we now pay to her a toll of nearly
$300,000,000 a year in freight charges upon our sea-borne
commerce. And we have seen the efforts, unsuccessful but
adroit, in the recent Spanish War, made through the British
Ambassador to embroil us with all the nations of Europe and
prevent us from bringing liberty to Cuba. England for years
past has worked, openly and secretly, to rewrite our history;
to teach us to forget the past, and to make us believe that the
leopard had changed his spots and that England had become
the friend of America.
"For a generation past we have been flooded with litera-
ture, overrun with lecturers, thundered at from pulpits, and
hectored from controlled editorial sanctums to convince us
that we could not, or should not, stand alone, and that we
had a divine mission, in common with England, to spread
452
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
the gospel of Anglo-Saxon civilization, and the cult of British
world supremacy. It would be idle to assert that many
Americans have not been carried away by this new doctrine
or to deny that English agents have not largely succeeded
in rewriting American history.
"But England never for one moment during this time has
swerved from her changeless course of hostility and antago-
nism to America and to the old teachings of Americanism.
"Never more strongly than at this moment has she been
prepared for armed conflict against these United States
whenever the moment for action shall seem to her to have
arrived.
"To-day she is armed and prepared for aggression against
us at three of the four corners of our country. At Halifax,
at Esquimault and at Bermuda her huge naval stations and
fortifications are aimed directly at these United States. For
thousands of miles along the Canadian front her military
railroad stands as a continuing menace to us in time of war.
Her fleets patrol our coasts, violate our neutrality and may,
on an hour's notice, menace our great cities. In her interest
powerful influences have within the last two years obtained
for her from the hands of a reluctant Congress joint control
over the Panama Canal, planned by American genius, built
by American labor, and financed with American millions, and
to-day Canada is an armed camp actually at war with
European countries with which we are at peace — looking to
us, in case of defeat, for protection under the Monroe Doc-
trine, and with a War Minister who has just openly pro-
claimed that within the near future he may be called upon to
lead his fellow-colonists 'against a tyrant in Washington'.
Nor is this new doctrine for England, for as Chamberlain,
her chosen spokesman, said less than twenty years ago,
'England must regard the existence of republican institutions
in territory contiguous to hers as a menace to her Empire.'
If that were true of the two little republics which she de-
stroyed in South Africa, what must be her feeling towards a
country whose frontier touches hers for thousands of miles?
"But it is in her conduct of the present war that she has
flung caution to the winds and openly and brazenly ridden
roughshod over our neutral rights and our self-respect as a
nation.
"Vitally dependent upon us for food and for all resources
of war, she has whined for assistance from us while getting
our supplies and at the same time boldly invaded the rights
whose recognition was wrung from her by our fearless mar-
iners in the War of 1812; cried out to us in one voice for help
and aid and in another sneeringly taunted us with taking
gold for our merchandise. She has, in violation not alone
of our rights, but of all the unquestioned rules of interna-
tional law, changed the laws of contraband in her own favor;
she has, without establishing a blockade, seized, detained,
and injured cargoes sent by us to neutral countries; stopped,
censored and destroyed mail matter protected by treaty
rights, by custom and by American stamps; delayed, de-
flected, or prevented trade between neutral countries and us
unless upon permits given by the British Board of Trade;
stopped with an armed cruiser an unarmed ship of our coun-
try flying our flag, and taken passengers therefrom upon
the high seas; prevented the importation of wool, tin, rubber
and other products of the British Empire, vitally needed by
our industries, except upon the humiliating condition that
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
453
she should pass upon the distribution and final destination
of such material; carried, despite law and custom, great
quantities of munitions of war upon passenger ships, thus
attempting to shield her floating arsenals and munition
transports behind the skirts of American women and chil- '
dren; and, in a word, she has turned the broad oceans, given
by God to all mankind, into a private waterway over which
she has attempted to exercise all the rights of private own-
ership, while permitting no one to travel without her consent
or to trade without paying tribute to her.
"Such a state of affairs is intolerable to a freeborn and
high-spirited people. Therefore, we demand, in the name of
American citizenship and by the memory of the sacrifices
and deeds of those who in other days guarded American
interests and upheld American rights, that such acts must
be stopped; that our neutral rights must be respected and
restored, and that all the force and power of this Govern-
ment must be used if necessary to uphold the freedom of
the seas against British aggression, and selfishness, as it was
against Barbary piracy.
"We call upon the President and Congress of the United
States to do all that may be necessary to place the American
flag, both upon the navy and the mercantile marine, in a
position of equality with every other flag upon the seven
seas. We insist, with our thousands of miles of undefended
coastways and with our great seaports, that our national
interests demand the development of all weapons of defense
against aggression, and we therefore demand that no mis-
guided action be taken to minimize the power and effective-
ness of the submarine and of the vessels of the air — both
vital weapons of defense to the United States in time of
war — in any effort to aid any country in the present conflict
upon either side of the struggle.
"We demand that American passengers shall be warned
not to travel upon ships carrying munitions of war, or upon
armed vessels of any belligerent, endangering by their action
not alone American lives, but the peace and dignity of our
country, and we insist that every armed vessel of any bel-
ligerent visiting our ports shall be placed upon a common
footing; received with uniform custom, and either compelled
to disarm, to depart in definite and stated time, or be in-
terned for the term of the war.
"We demand that our neutrality laws be enforced with
fairness and impartiality; that Britain, no more than Austria,
be not permitted to enlist men for her armies in this country;
to provision her warships from our ports, or to violate with
impunity our shipping laws and transportation rules.
"We point out to the President and the Congress that
without going to war, without shedding American blood or
wasting American treasure — ready as the people are for
sacrifices if these be required — we can, by the threat of an
embargo upon food and munitions of war, compel the ob-
servance of international law, restore to neutrals the free-
dom of the seas, and teach the belligerents, in the dreadful
struggle which is now endangering the supremacy of the
white race, that their blows must be struck against one
another and that they shall not be permitted to destroy
commerce between neutral nations or invade the rights of
countries which are now and which desire to remain at
peace.
454
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
"But it is to Ireland we must turn in order to see the
most finished result of English misgovernment and selfish-
ness.
"For centuries past, except for one brief period, England
has been in complete control of the government of that
unfortunate country, and where on this broad earth or in
the annals of recorded time can we find a duplicate of the
picture presented to us in that unhappy island? We have
been charged with dwelling too much upon the wrongs of
the past. Let us therefore pass over the long centuries of
tyranny and infamy, the nameless outrages, the confiscations
and the deportations, the massacres and spoliations, the de-
struction of churches and schools, which transcend a hun-
dredfold even those charged by England against her foes in
this present war; the ruin of every means of education, and
the enforcement for nearly two centuries of the Penal Laws
described by the great Edmund Burke as a code of laws 'well
digested and well disposed in all its parts; a machine of wise
and elaborate contrivance and as well fitted for the oppres-
sion, impoverishment and degradation of a people and the
debasement in them of human nature itself as ever pro-
ceeded from the perverted ingenuity of mankind'.
"Well indeed did the great French statesman, Montes-
quieu, say of that code, 'It must have been contrived by
devils; it ought to have been written in blood; and the only
place to register it is in hell.'
"Let us come, so that we may not be accused of talking
of ancient things and of dwelling upon old wrongs — let us
come to the recent history of Ireland, to those days within
the recollection of many who are now living.
"The population of Ireland about the middle of the last
century was more than one-half that of England; to-day
that of England is more than eight times as large. At that
time the population of Ireland was about twice that of Scot-
land; to-day for the first time in recorded history the popu-
lation of Scotland exceeds that of Ireland. Is this the
result of natural laws? No— a thousand times no. It is the
result of the horrors of those years in the middle of the last
century when a Government-made famine, in the midst of
bounteous crops, sent to their deaths by the roadside more
than a million and a quarter of people by starvation and
disease and drove from their homes other millions, without
means of education, to seek on foreign shores the livelihood
of which they were deprived at home. It is the result of
that relentless policy of England that no land and no people
thought by her to be a danger to her may live or thrive
unless she be overthrown. It is the result of that tyranny,
cold, merciless, inhuman, which has strangled liberty wher-
ever her meteor flag has been carried in conquest; has bru-
talized humanity and stifled conscience in order that her
ruling classes may thrive and live in luxury and wealth, even
though her unskilled working classes be the most degraded
and poverty-stricken people of all Europe. Ireland, two-
thirds as large as England, blessed by a Beneficent Creator
with an equable climate, with the most fertile of soils; with
wonderful natural resources; with harbors unrivalled in
Europe; stands between England and the broad ocean, and
for that reason has been, in the opinion of English states-
men for centuries past, vitally necessary to England, if the
latter is to control the seas. Basing her entire power and
position upon her lordship of the ocean, England has sub-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
455
ordinated to that control every interest which interfered
with it and has by open force or secret guile weakened or
destroyed every power which menaced her dominance or
threatened her control. Limitless in her pretensions and
gorgeless in her greed, she has, in the name of liberty, swept
one opponent after another from the seas, while she has
filched the fairest portions of the globe, and in the name
of civilization carried her rum and opium and shoddy to the
weaker peoples of the earth. She has in succession driven
the flags of Spain, of Holland, of France, of America, from
the seas, and now is in a death grapple with Germany to
retain her trident and to drive her most successful competi-
tor and rival from every ocean.
"Success in those other fights meant much to her, but
over and above all, as the essential condition of her Empire,
was her continued control of that land which barred her
from the oceans and whose possession by a free and unallied
Power would mean that her World Empire would come
tumbling. With the aid of subsidies paid to the press of
Ireland; with Government-controlled schools to teach the
notion of the invincibility of England; with the active as-
sistance of those false teachers who had ceased to be the
representatives of Ireland in England, and had become the
pensioners of England in Ireland; and finally, with the infa-
mous Defence of the Realm Act, which sought to do away
with every vestige of free speech and to stifle discussion and
freedom of action, England seemed for a time to have de-
ceived public opinion and to have convinced the people that
for once she was battling on the side of right and justice,
and was engaged in a holy struggle to protect the weak
against the aggressions of the strong. But the scales have
fallen from the eyes of the people, and to-day, despite the
English control of the press, of the cables, of her pensioned
spokesmen and her purchased agents; despite the fact that
she has cut Ireland off completely from communication with
the outside world except through England, Ireland seems to
have awakened and taken her rightful place.
"Anxious to have the neutral world believe that the
British Empire was united in favor of the war, and particu-
larly desirous to have the Irish Race throughout the world
believe that Ireland had forgiven the past and was fighting
on her side, England has exerted every influence within her
power, from coercion to bribery, from cajolery to flattery,
to bring the people of Ireland to her side. But all her efforts
have in the end proved to be in vain. To-day, in spite of her
work and that of her accredited and discredited agents,
England is forced to admit that recruiting in Ireland is and
has been a failure; that Ireland sees that this is England's
and not Ireland's war, and that she dare not, because of the
mutterings all over the land, enforce Conscription in Ireland
or leave the country without the huge garrison whose ser-
vices she needs so badly in many other quarters, but which
she dare not remove from that land which she has for so
many centuries robbed and oppressed.
"To-day once more, as in the days of Grattan and Charle-
mont, the Irish Volunteers have saved Ireland, have stepped
into the breach between their country and the tyranny of
England and served notice upon the latter that the young
manhood of Ireland must be kept at home to defend the
rights of Ireland and to take issue with any Power which
would attempt to harm their country.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
"The monster meetings held within the last three months
in the Mansion House in Dublin, in the City Hall in Cork,
and in other sections of the land; the large Volunteer gath-
erings of armed and disciplined men in Dublin, in Cork, in
Athenry, in Limerick, and other places; the spirited stand
made by the Hierarchy of Ireland and by public bodies all
over the country against the arbitrary cutting off of grants
given for Irish education; the protests against the imposi-
tion of new taxation of over $40,000,000 placed upon the
country in the last year; the statesmanlike and patriotic
pronouncement made by the courageous Bishop of Limerick;
the results of jury trials in the attempts of the Government
to force convictions under the Defence of the Realm Act,
show that Ireland is filled with the spirit of indignation
and of protest.
"To-day the alert and masterful enemies of England
realize that for the peace of the world England must be
deprived of mastery and dominion over Ireland. To-day the
far-seeing men who control the destinies of England's ene-
mies see that a free Ireland means the freedom of the seas
and the practical dismemberment of the British Empire, with
its tyrannical and intolerant control of the seas. In this
war Ireland has been again discovered and seen to be, as far
as Europe is concerned, not an island behind an island, but
the outpost of the Continent of Europe — the connecting link
between America and Europe, the country whose freedom
means as does nothing else the end of Navalism, the de-
struction of world tyranny and the restoration to all nations
of the world of the use of the oceans which a Beneficent
Creator made for all men, but which England has seized
and used for her own selfish and vindictive purpose.
"England to-day is fighting for her Empire against foes
whom she cannot overcome by force or cajole by bribery or
fraud. In this hour of her extremity she calls out in dis-
tress for aid and assistance to the country which for cen-
turies has been the victim of her tyranny and oppression.
Were Ireland to allow herself to be again deceived or cajoled
she would merit the burdens of taxation and oppression
which would inevitably be placed upon her by a victorious
England. We point out that if England were sincere in any
of her promises to Ireland the Home Rule Bill — weak and
ineffective as are its provisions to give real self-government —
would have been put into operation at the outbreak of the
war, and that the repeated adjournments of its proposed
time of enforcement justify the belief that the Ruling Classes
of England intend that it shall never be put into operation.
May we hope that Ireland will emerge from this situation
proud and free, to take her place again among the nations
of the world; to resume her old work, with her old language
and her old methods, for liberty and education, and human-
ity; and to demonstrate again to an admiring world that
there is need of, and room for the small nations, to the end
that each may work out its destiny according to its gifts, and
each may in its own way make its various contributions to
civilization and progress. Therefore we hail with great satis-
faction the reawakened spirit of Nationality which has ap-
peared in so many forms in Ireland, and we congratulate
the Irish people upon what the Volunteers have already ac-
complished.
"We point out to the people of Ireland the danger of
permitting the food supplies of the country to be depleted
while there is probability of interference with communica-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
457
tion at sea, and to remind them that bitter experience has
shown that if there had to be a shortage of food in either
country, England would choose starvation for Ireland, rather
than inconvenience for herself.
"We call upon them, therefore, to see that no food is
taken out of Ireland, until ample provision is made for
taking care of themselves.
"Finally, we appeal to the Concert of the Powers — and
particularly to America, if she be represented in such Coun-
cil— to recognize that Ireland is a European, and not a
British Island; to appreciate that its complete Independence
and its detachment from the British Empire are vital to the
freedom of the seas and to their restoration to the use of
all the peoples of the earth, and we ask in the name of the
Irish Race — unconquered and unconquerable — for a seat at
the Congress of the Nations to present the case of Ireland,
to show its vital interest to Europe and to the world at large,
and to demand in the name of liberty and of the small
nationalities — for which England says the war is being
waged — that Ireland may be cut off from England and re-
stored to her rightful place among the nations of the earth."
The foregoing was one of the most notable pronouncements
that ever emanated from a gathering of men and women of the
Irish Race in this country. It was an opportune Declaration of
Irish Independence which the stifled voice of Ireland itself could
not then utter to the world, and a re-assertion of the principles on
which the American Republic was founded. It exerted a power-
ful influence on the people of the United States. After its adop-
tion, the great Convention was formally brought to a close; the
furtherance of the policy enunciated thereat having been en-
trusted to the "Friends of Irish Freedom" organization.
CHAPTER LXI.
IRELAND DECIDES ON INSURRECTION.
Date Set for 1916 Rising in Code Message to Clan-na-Gael — Re-
quest for Shipload of Arms Communicated to German Gov-
ernment— Germans Made Definite Offer — Irish Leaders Did
Not Realize Limitations of Submarine Operation — The "Aud"
Captured and Sunk.
On or about February 5, 1916, we received a communication
from the Supreme Council of the I. R. B. announcing that they
had decided on an insurrection. It was brought by Tommy
O'Connor, was in a cipher that I did not know, and was neither
dated nor signed.
By arrangement, after hearing that he wanted to see me, I
met O'Connor in Haan's Restaurant on Park Row. He wrote
down the cipher key for me, and decoded two sentences. As the
second sentence said "Nobody but the Revolutionary Directory
and the chief German representative must know the contents
of this", I stopped him and undertook to do the rest of the
decoding myself, with the aid of James Reidy, my assistant,
with whom I lived at the time.
The message in a few preliminary sentences described the Brit-
ish military strength in Ireland, and stated that they could not
expect the British Government to remain inactive much longer;
so they had "decided to strike on Easter Sunday, April 23". Then
it proceeded to state that they wanted us to "send a shipload of
arms to Limerick Quay" between April 20 and 23.
The communication also said they wanted German military
help after they had struck the first blow, and did not in any way
request it before they themselves had "risen". This is a very
important point which sets at rest all the charges that had been
made of bad faith on the part of the Germans. Their plan was
distinctly stated: to start the fight alone and obtain German
assistance later.
Next morning I communicated with the two other members
of the Clan-na-Gael Executive — and a meeting of that body
was held immediately. The decision taken by the Supreme
Council of the I. R. B. (or rather by the "Military Committee")
was a great surprise to all, as we had no expectation that it
would be taken until the war situation became more favorable.
458
SEAN MacDERMOTT
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
459
But the communication stated definitely that the time named
was more favorable than they could expect it to be later. They
did not ask our advice; they simply announced a decision already
taken; so, as we had already recognized the right of the Home
Organization to make the supreme decision, our plain duty
was to accept it and give them all the help we could. The title
"Military Committee" was a camouflaged one — this body was
in fact the Revolutionary Council, the existence and personnel of
which were known to very few. It consisted of the seven men
who signed the Proclamation of Independence issued on Easter
Monday, and were the real leaders and strategists of the Insur-
rection. In future references to them I shall use the term
"Revolutionary Council", which I think will make for clarity.
I may also state that Clarke and MacDermott represented a
majority of the "Executive" of the Supreme Council of the I. R.
B.; they therefore acted and spoke with full power and authority
for the I. R. B. on the Revolutionary Council.
This request to "send a shipload of arms" was, of course, in-
tended to be transmitted to Germany. The men in Ireland knew
that all funds in the possession of the Clan-na-Gael had been
sent to them and that consequently we in the United States
were unable to purchase such armament as they required. Even
if we held special funds for that purpose, it would be practically
impossible to load and clear such a cargo in face of Wilson's Secret
Service, which was watching us very keenly and was in closest
touch with the English, communicating to them everything even
of the slightest importance. The two Secret Services worked in
the most intimate co-operation, and there was no real neutral-
ity, either in the public service or in the press. There was a
Council of Twelve which regulated the joint policy of the New
York newspapers in favor of the Allies — which in this case meant
England.
I made a typewritten copy of the decoded message, enclosed
it with a letter briefly stating the circumstances and handed it
to Captain von Papen next morning. He at once notified the
Ambassador, and the message was wirelessed to Berlin imme-
diately.
In about a week from our receipt of the message, Miss Philo-
mena Plunkett (daughter of Count Plunkett) , arrived with a
duplicate of the original message (also in code) and supple-
mented it with a lot of other information, including arrange-
ments for wireless signals to be sent in when the arms-laden vessel
got close to the Irish coast, which information I promptly conveyed
to the German embassy officials. If all was well the arms ship
460
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
was to send out the word "Fionn", and if there was any mis-
hap, or danger of one, the word "Brann" was to be substituted.
From the fact that Padraic Pearse was steeped to the lips in
old Gaelic lore, I came to the conclusion that he was the author
of the signals. Fionn, of course, was the Chief of the Fianna
Eireann, and his dog Brann always scented danger first and
gave warning.
The signal "Aisling" was for use if a submarine reached
Dublin Bay. The provision for signalling and the expectation of
a submarine indicated a misconception of naval conditions under
which German submarines operated. The Revolutionary Council
assumed that it was a comparatively easy matter for a sub-
marine to reach Dublin Bay and proceed to the inner harbor.
But a submarine small enough to get into the shallow waters
there, could not make the long roundabout voyage up the west-
ern coast of Norway, along the north coast of Scotland and to
the Irish Sea. The submarines engaged in such work had to
be big enough to carry sufficient supplies of fuel, torpedoes and
food to enable them to make long voyages and operate for some
time before returning to Germany. None of this type could
enter Dublin Bay submerged.
Mrs. Plunkett was in New York at the time of her daughter's
arrival, seeking aid of the Catholic Church in America for the
canonization of Oliver Plunkett, who belonged to the same
branch of the family, so that the coming of Philomena seemed
a natural thing, and the British Government had no suspicion
of her real object. She was a bright, intelligent and alert girl,
and performed her task with efficiency.
Her brother Joseph Plunkett had come to New York in 1915,
en route to Berlin on a special mission in behalf of the Revolu-
tionary Council, but on arrival here was detained at Ellis Island
because of glandular tuberculosis. I visited him at the Island,
where I had long talks with him. His condition was so plainly
one justifying the immigration authorities in barring his admis-
sion that no fight for him was possible, but I appealed to United
States Senator James A. O'Gorman and he succeeded in pro-
curing permission for him to land, under a thousand dollar cash
bond, and remain in New York for two months "to do literary
work". I provided the thousand dollars, and during his stay
ashore introduced him to all the men whom it was necessary
for him to see. The decision to fight in Easter Week had not
then been taken, but he was able to give us a better idea of the
situation in Ireland than we had yet received. In due course
he proceeded to Germany via Spain, Italy and Switzerland, and
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
461
from unofficial information which reached me later I believe
he performed his mission satisfactorily in laying the military
plans of the Irish leaders before officers of the German General
Staff, by whom they were approved. He attempted to make a
second visit to Berlin but was unable to get further than the
Swiss frontier.
References to the Plunkett family would not be complete with-
out mentioning that Count Plunkett at a critical time visited
Rome, where he was in good standing at the Vatican, and did
excellent service in counteracting the evil influence of the pes-
tiferous group of English Catholic aristocrats whose incessant
activities there against Ireland were notorious for many years.
These English Catholic reactionaries devoted their chief ener-
gies to keeping Ireland, the most faithful daughter of the
Church, under the heel of the greatest Protestant Power in the
world, while the Irish Orangemen were deluded into the belief
that under any kind of Self-Government the Pope would veritably
be King of Ireland. I was informed that the Count's work was
very successful. This was a fitting prelude to the canonization
of Oliver Plunkett.
The services of the Plunkett family at that time were inval-
uable. Had the English Government known of them fully, it
would have realized what a sweet revenge it wreaked when after
Easter Week it executed Joseph, sent his two brothers to convict
prisons, and detained the father and mother for some time.
The German reply came in nine days after the Irish message
reached them and was given to me at once by Von Papen.
Another meeting of the Clan Executive was called to pass upon
it. I then put it into the I. R. B. code and gave it to Miss
Plunkett, who took the next steamer for Liverpool and delivered
it safely in Dublin. Our arrangement with her was that if the
Supreme Council accepted the German offer no reply would be
necessary, and only in the event of its rejection or the sugges-
tion of any change would a cable be required. For the latter
purpose a perfectly safe and innocent looking code of a few
words was adopted; the parties to send and receive it were
selected, and we waited anxiously for results.
The German message was as follows:
"It is possible to send two or three small fishing steamers,
with about ten machine guns, twenty thousand rifles, am-
munition and explosives, to Fenit Pier in Tralee Bay. Irish
pilots should wait north of Inishtooskert Island from before
dawn of April 20, displaying at intervals three green lights.
Disembarkation must be effected immediately. Let us know
if this can be done."
462
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Within a week or so another message came from Berlin
saying:
"Instead of three fishing vessels, we will send one mercan-
tile steamer of 1,400 tons"
and adding that lighters must be provided, but making no
change in the character or size of the cargo. Notification of
this was carried to Dublin by O'Connor on his next trip a few
days later.
It will be noted that the message from Ireland gave Lime-
rick as the destination of the arms, whereas the German reply
specified Fenit, and a word of explanation may not be amiss.
In the late Fall of 1915, Diarmuid Lynch was entrusted by Pearse
with the duty of making a survey of the situation in Kerry to
ascertain the most advantageous spot for such a landing. The
point Pearse had then in mind was Ventry Harbor, but Lynch
after consultation with the leading I. R. B. men in Tralee, Dingle,
Listowel, etc., reported in favor of Fenit, where there was a deep
water quay and from which a narrow gauge rail, used by import-
ers of Indian corn, ran to Tralee. There was a strong force of
Volunteers in Tralee to cover the landing, and regular railroad
communication was available there for despatch to Cork in one
direction and to Limerick in the other. When Monteith came
to New York soon after, on his way to Germany, Tom Clarke
sent a letter by him setting forth the advantages of Fenit for
this particular purpose, and also sent sections of the Ordnance
Map of Ireland with which I was familiar from Fenian times. I
could not spare any of these, but I took a county map of Kerry,
drew a blue pencil mark around Fenit Pier, enclosed it with a
memorandum containing Clarke's information, and Captain Von
Papen forwarded it to Berlin by messenger. When, therefore,
the Irish code message received in New York early in February,
1916, had been transmitted to Berlin, the Germans who had
some months previously got Clarke's message regarding Fenit,
and who of course had their own information on conditions
around the Irish coast, realized that it was a much more ad-
vantageous point than Limerick, as was evident from the substi-
tution of Fenit in their offer by wireless.
After the German reply had been forwarded to Ireland, the
Clan-na-Gael Executive held frequent meetings and provided as
far as possible for any emergency that might turn up. Nothing
of any consequence happened until the afternoon of Friday,
April 14, when, to my great surprise, Miss Plunkett walked into
the office of the Gaelic American. We could not talk with suf-
ficient privacy there, so I had her escorted to Reidy's office a few
blocks away, and followed her immediately. There she handed
me the following message in code:
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
463
"Arms must not be landed before night of Sunday, 23rd.
This is vital. Smuggling impossible. Let us know if sub-
marine will come to Dublin Bay."
By the time I had the message decoded it was 5 o'clock, at
which hour the German Embassy Office closed promptly and
everybody left. Next morning I carried a typewritten copy of the
message down to Wall Street, handed it to Von Papen, and, the
Ambassador happening to be in town, it was wirelessed to Berlin
that evening (April 15) .
On Tuesday, April 18, U. S. Secret Service men raided the
office in New York of the German Embassy contrary to recog-
nized international procedure, and seized all the documents they
could lay hands on. Here, I will deal only with the particular
phase of the raid which affected Ireland, but further on will give
details of the utterly illegal proceeding. Among the documents
seized was the communication from Dublin which I had handed
in on the previous Saturday, with a covering note from our
Revolutionary Directory. The Secret Service men reported that
they also found an unsigned typewritten note to the effect that
Judge Cohalan recommended action by the German Fleet in
the North Sea, Zeppelin raids and submarine operations simul-
taneously with the sending of arms to Ireland. I am satisfied
that that memorandum was surreptitiously added to the von Igel
papers to furnish a pretext for attacks on Judge Cohalan. It
was used for that purpose, and the attacks were intensified a
year later when the United States entered the World War. A
crusade was started against Cohalan through which it was
sought to have him removed from the Bench, arrested and im-
peached; the Administration at Washington made every effort
to secure evidence that would incriminate or place him in a false
light. But these tactics failed because no such evidence existed.
The Irish portion of the seizure was on three type-written
pages, pinned together. The first sheet contained the words:
"This was handed in by Mr. John Devoy." The second had a
copy of the second Dublin message with the words, "goods must
not be delivered" substituted for "arms must not be landed."
The third sheet gave a copy of the message with the German
code for each word written over it. So, to that extent it was a
revelation of the German official cipher. It was obvious, of
course, that the message referred to a shipment of arms to be
sent to Ireland on Sunday, the 23rd of that month, though the
typewritten memorandum did not give full particulars. It was
sufficiently clear to the English Government, to whom the infor-
mation was at once conveyed.
Prior to April 14, the day we received the message from Ire-
464
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
land which specified a change of date for the landing of the arms,
the Aud was already well on her way to Tralee Bay. She was
not equipped with wireless, with the result that the Germans on
receipt of the revised instructions could not communicate them
to her captain, and the vessel accordingly reached Inishtooskert
Island on the earlier date originally set by the Irish leaders.
The final orders given by the Revolutionary Council to Austin
Stack in command of the Tralee Volunteers called for the re-
ception and distribution of the cargo on Easter Sunday night —
by which time the Dublin men would be under arms and in oc-
cupation of their strategic positions. I was never informed as to
the exact nature of these orders, or of the arrangements which
had been made by Stack, as after Easter Week all the members
of the Revolutionary Council had been executed, and every other
man who knew of the plans at Fenit and Tralee was in prison.
I criticized Stack for not having mobilized the Volunteers, im-
mediately after receiving word of the Aud's arrival, to cover the
landing of the arms. From information which I obtained re-
cently, however, I now appreciate that he could not have done
so, even had he tried, in the few hours that elapsed between the
time Monteith reached Tralee with advices regarding the arrival
of Casement and the Aud and the arrest of Stack himself.
As the situation actually developed, Wimborne, the English
Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, Birrell the Chief Secretary, and
Nathan the Under Secretary, were completely surprised by the
outbreak of hostilities on Easter Monday, April 24. They subse-
quently testified before the Royal Commission that they had
received no advance information whatever, and that the first in-
timation they had of the Insurrection was conveyed to them by
shots fired outside the gates of Dublin Castle. This incidentally
proves that their Secret Service had been unable to get any data
on the real situation, and — a further fact of which we are par-
ticularly proud — that there were no informers among the Irish
Volunteers or the I. R. B.
This question might now occur to those not conversant with
developments in Ireland at that period: Were not the British
advised from the United States that a ship load of arms was
due for delivery in Ireland on Easter Sunday, and was not that
a sufficient intimation of trouble? Well, Lord Wimborne ad-
mitted that he had been informed by the General in command
of the Cork area that the latter had received word from the
Admiral of the fleet that his patrols were on the lookout for
an arms-laden ship, but that he, the Lord Lieutenant, attached
little importance to that bit of information. He and his Council
JAMES CONNOLLY
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
465
evidently came to the conclusion that with the British Admiralty
forewarned, there was not a possible chance of the arms ship
eluding its naval patrols. And, of course, they had no means
of knowing that the arms expedition of which they had learned,
was on a scale far beyond any previously attempted by the Irish
Volunteers, or that a successful landing would be followed by
anything of a more serious nature than that which attended the
gun-running at Howth and Wicklow two years earlier. The
actual arrival in Tralee Bay, notwithstanding the alertness of
the British Navy, of a vessel bearing a large consignment of arms
did, however, disturb the serenity of the English officials — even
though the Aud had been eventually captured by a British patrol
boat, and subsequently sunk by her own crew.
But "Dublin Castle" concluded that there was no immediate
necessity for their intended arrest of the leaders of the Irish
Volunteers and the Citizen Army. They were confirmed in
that decision by MacNeill's countermand on Saturday of the
proposed Easter Sunday "manoeuvres", but they underestimated
the calibre of the men who comprised the Revolutionary Coun-
cil: their complacency was shattered at noon on Easter Mon-
day, April 24, by the rifle fire of the insurgents.
I reiterate that the change of date made by the Revolutionary
Council for the landing of the arms, was responsible for turn-
ing what would have been the most formidable insurrection in
Irish history, with a reasonable hope of success, into one which
was confined almost solely to Dublin over the period of one
week, and foredoomed to military defeat.
Had the original decision, and the message to America in-
forming us of it, called for arrival of the arms ship on Easter
Sunday night, there would have been no necessity for the second
despatch which got here on April 14; the latter would not have
been in the German office in New York to be seized by Secret
Service men in pursuance of Wilson's sham neutrality, and its
contents relayed to the British Government. The English Admi-
ralty, and England's minions in Ireland, would have been abso-
lutely oblivious of the arms expedition or any other portent of
insurrection. The Aud, which was able to hoodwink the British
Navy, and not alone reached Tralee Bay in safety but remained
there unmolested for twenty-two hours, could have been equally
successful in arriving there on the night of Sunday, April 23rd,
and the Insurrection of 1916 — glorious even as it was — would then
have assumed immense proportions, with international repercus-
sions of a far-reaching nature, and would almost certainly have
resulted in the secure establishment of an independent Irish
Republic.
CHAPTER LXII.
GERMAN PREROGATIVES VIOLATED.
U. S. Secret Service Illegally Raided Embassy's New York Office
— Contents of Seized Documents Divulged to the British —
German Red Tape and Overconfidence — Persecution of Ire-
land's Friends in the United States.
From the very start of the World War, the Administration of
President Wilson and the attitude of most of the American press
was inimical to Germany. As the war progressed, the insin-
cerity of Wilson's proclamation of neutrality became more and
more apparent; the British propaganda campaign under Lord
Northcliffe acquired more momentum daily with the acquiescence
of the Government at Washington. Finally, the mistaken policy
which Germany early in 1917 pursued at this side of the Atlantic
provided Wilson with the excuse for which he had been looking
and he put America into the war on the side of England.
More than a year before that event, we had been warning the
officials of the New York office of the German Embassy that they
were likely to be raided by the Secret Service at any moment
and all their papers seized, but von Papen and von Igel insisted
that such would be a gross violation of international law and was
therefore impossible. I said to them: "They don't care a damn
about international law or American law. They want your
papers for the information of the English, and will get them if
they can, law or no law." Other men, including competent law-
yers, gave them the same warning.
Von Igel was a young man (a former lieutenant of the German
army) , courageous and resolute, but he could not be made to
fully realize the danger. Von Skal, who had lived for several
years in New York and had much experience as a journalist, urged
him to keep the door to his private office locked, but he paid no
heed.
The office was on one of the high floors of a tall building on
Wall Street. There were four rooms, one a sort of anteroom reach-
ing the whole length of the suite, and the other three smaller
ones having doors opening on the anteroom. Von Igel's private
office was on the left, von Skal's in the centre, and the other,
on the right, was used only for private interviews. As von Skal
was a correspondent for several German papers, his door was
466
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
467
always open and everyone who called naturally came to him first.
There were inside connecting doors between all the rooms. A
stalwart, powerfully built German, who had been an officer on one
of the German passenger steamers, sat at a desk in a corner of the
outside room, and strangers coming in were supposed to give their
names to him before entering any of the inside rooms. An alert
Irishman in his place would undoubtedly have become suspicious
of any group of strangers entering the office and going without
notice to one of the inner doors, and would have at once asked
them their business. But the unsuspecting sailor assumed when
he saw several well dressed men do this, that they had an ap-
pointment with his employers.
On Tuesday, April 18, 1916, von Igel having at last appre-
ciated the force of our warnings, was preparing his papers for
removal, had his table covered with them, the safe open and his
door unlocked, when six or seven Secret Service men entered the
outer room, said something about wanting to see Mr. von Igel,
went to his door, turned the handle and went in. They rushed
on von Igel and seized hold of his arms. The door between his
room and von Skal's was closed, and the first inkling of trouble
received by the latter was a shout from von Igel. The old soldier
of the Franco-Prussian War at once went to his assistance and
gave one of the men who were holding von Igel a kick in the
abdomen, which made him relax his hold on the younger man's
arm. Von Igel wrenched himself partly loose, reached out and
managed to slam the door of the open safe. The Secret Service
men then tackled von Skal, who had gone to the telephone, and
in the struggle broke the connection.
Von Skal then attempted to get out in order to reach a tele-
phone on a lower floor, but the Secret Service men, who had al-
ready drawn their revolvers, attempted to stop him by violence,
and told him they would shoot if he did not obey their orders.
"Shoot and be damned," replied von Skal, "I am an American
citizen and you have no right to meddle with me." He had previ-
ously asked to see their warrant, but they had not a scrap of
paper to show, and informed him that they were acting on orders
of Mr. Marshall, the United States District Attorney. They then
allowed von Skal to go to the other telephone, but it was too late
to do any good.
In spite of von Igel's protest that he was an attache of the
German Embassy, they placed him under arrest, and held him
until they had gathered and taken possession of all the papers on
his table. It was an utterly illegal raid, but they got the papers
they wanted and their contents were immediately made known
468
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
to the British Government. Count Von Bernstorff at once made
a formal protest and demanded the return of the seized
papers, but he never got any satisfaction. It was a high-handed
act that would have precipitated war between the United States
and Germany then if the latter had been in a position to assert
her rights, but, of course, she was not.
On the following day I called on the German officials of the
Embassy to learn the particulars of the raid. A considerable
number of Secret Service men were in the vicinity of both the
Wall and Pine Street entrances to the building, and others were
in the corridor of the floor on which the office was located. One
of them came up in the elevator with me, and the operator, who
was Irish (and whom I knew very well) , gave me a warning
wink. They all tried to look innocent and I ignored their
presence.
The morning newspapers of April 19 had published only the
Secret Service version of the raid, which was wholly misleading
and in many respects false. Of course, there was no admis-
sion that the raid was illegal, and the documents were described
as revealing a dangerous plot against the United States, in which
citizens of Irish blood were in league with the Germans and
there were threats of arresting and bringing to trial a number
of Irishmen who were not named. These threats were repeated
every day for more than a week, especially in the Washington
despatches obviously emanating from the Department of Justice,
and giving Attorney General Gregory's personal views, for the
evident purpose of scaring us. Nearly all the daily papers had
editorial homilies on the enormity of the crime of violating
President Wilson's Proclamation of Neutrality which the Gov-
ernment officials were making a mockery of every day, evidently
with the President's full consent, but according to them nobody
else had a right to infringe. The Neutrality Proclamation was
binding only on England's enemies, but her friends were free to
violate it at will.
In my experience during that trying period I found the Ger-
man military officer to be a fine type of man, frank and manly In
manner, precise in his statements and always true to his word.
The officers had a poor opinion of the German civilians resident
in America and little respect for the German-American organiza-
tions. My experience caused me to share this opinion to some
extent.
But, even the military men had the defect of keeping written
evidence of everything — note books containing minute items of
expenditure, check stubs and receipts— so that when a raid was
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
469
made, legally or otherwise, their enemies were provided with valu-
able data. When Herr Albert succeeded Dernburg as Agent of
the German Government he was robbed one day of a satchel full
of papers which he had incautiously placed beside him on the
seat of a train in New York, by a thief hired by the English
Secret Service. The papers in the satchel, or portfolio, gave much
valuable information to the English, but no mishap of this kind
served as a warning for the future. The habit of keeping papers
was incurable.
When Captain von Papen was ordered back to Germany by
President Wilson, on evidence procured illegally, Mr. George Free-
man of the Gaelic American warned him not to take any valuable
documents with him, the Captain replied that he was provided
with a "Safe Conduct" which amply protected his papers. Mr.
Freeman assured him that the Britishers would ignore the "Safe
Conduct", but von Papen disregarded the warning and took with
him documents which he could safely have left behind in New
York. When he got to Falmouth the British seized every scrap
of paper he had, and these were later read both in England and
America, in trials of Germans. The "Safe Conduct" was only a
worthless "scrap of paper".
But, to return to the raid made on April 18: Though the
seized papers did not contain the full particulars of the Irish-
German message, the knowledge obtained by the Secret Service
men proved of special value to the English. Friendly journalists
at once informed me that it was well known in the newspaper
offices that the information was conveyed immediately to the Brit-
ish Government. The accepted version of how the secret was
passed along was that copies of the papers were given to the
New York World and conveyed by it to the British. Frank Irving
Cobb, the Editor-in-Chief of the World (to be distinguished from
Irvin S. Cobb) was probably the most malignant enemy of the
Irish Cause on the American press, and the policy of the paper
was bitterly and maliciously anti-Sinn-Fein. But, irrespective of
the method by which the contents of the documents were trans-
mitted to the British, it was through an official of the Wilson
Administration and with the full approval of the President.
I stated this openly in an article in the next issue of the
Gaelic American, and the State Department, without mentioning
the paper or me, contradicted a charge that nobody had made
by denying that the Department had given any of the seized
documents to the English, and virtuously protested that the De-
partment never did such things. Of course, it was the Depart-
ment of Justice, of which Attorney General Gregory (an anti-
470
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Irish and anti-Catholic bigot) was the head, that had made the
seizure and kept control of the seized papers until final dis-
position was made of them. Mr. Lansing, who had replaced Wil-
liam Jennings Bryan as Secretary of State, was normally a very
straight man, but he doubtless made these absurd denials on
orders from the White House. Such crooked and treacherous
things are never done officially or through regular channels, a
fact which gives plausibility to the newspapermen's story that
the dirty work was done through the World. But the document
could not have reached the World or the British Government
without the consent of Mr. Marshall, the Federal District At-
torney, and it is inconceivable that he would have taken such
action without orders, or the consent of his superiors in Washing-
ton, or that they, in turn, would act in a matter of international
importance without the knowledge or consent of the President.
It was a case like that of Sir George Grahame, the English Post-
master General, betraying the Bandiera brothers, the Italian
patriots, into the hands of the Austrians.
No public attempt has ever been made to deny my charge,
frequently repeated since, but in private some friends of Wood-
row Wilson claim that he was a man of too high character to be
guilty of such foul work, and because he was President many
were disposed to take this view. Their theory has not a leg to
stand upon. Woodrow Wilson was the meanest and most malig-
nant man who ever filled the office of President of the United
States. His enmities were implacable and they grew with time.
He pursued with unrelenting hatred every man who incurred his
dislike, and resorted to the meanest methods in wreaking ven-
geance. Above all men in America he hated Daniel F. Cohalan,
who had very nearly frustrated his Presidential ambition and
would have succeeded in preventing his nomination at the Demo-
cratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1912, but for the
treachery of Roger Sullivan.
The mention of Cohalan's name in the seized documents, al-
though there was no proof whatever that the Judge knew any-
thing about it, was enough to rouse Wilson's wrath, and he doubt-
less saw in it a chance to "get square" for Baltimore. The pub-
lication later by the official Press Bureau, with wholly unjusti-
fiable comment, and Wilson's public insult to Cohalan on the eve
of his second trip to Paris proved the depth and malignity of his
personal hatred. Cohalan handled this incident in masterly
fashion and Wilson lost ground and standing by his action.
It may be said that I was too unimportant a person for the
President to bother about, but the subsequent barring of the Gaelic
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
471
American from the mails, done by Postmaster-General Burleson
on Wilson's instructions, showed undoubted personal enmity.
That he read the paper every week, or such portions as were
marked for him, I was informed on good authority.
The United States entered the World War just a year after the
raid on von Igel's office, and the enemies of the Irish Cause from
Wilson down were then in a stronger position to penalize any man
who still persisted in maintaining Ireland's right to national in-
dependence. The campaign against us was intensified, and knew
no bounds; neither our persons nor our properties were safe for
an instant. Our loyalty to the United States was as abiding as
theirs; in fact, it was more so because we were opposed to the
sacrifice of American manhood and American wealth for the
purpose of pulling the chestnuts of any European power out of
the hell-fire of the war. Even so, our motives were impugned,
and opinions expressed by us years before this country declared
war on Germany were pounced on and distorted in the endeavor
to prove the contentions of our enemies. Faced with such con-
ditions, I handed over all documents pertaining to Easter Week
to others for safe keeping. But, no one in open sympathy with
Ireland's struggle against her oppressor during 1917-1918 was im-
mune to raids, and the documents were retransferred more than
once. By the time the bundles were eventually returned to me
some papers were missing, among the latter being a few impor-
tant ones which I would like to quote verbatim or reproduce in
this volume. I have a good recollection of the contents of them,
however, and where referred to in the foregoing chapters their
substance is correctly stated.
CHAPTER LXIII.
CASEMENT EXECUTED BY THE ENGLISH.
Sir Roger Returned from Germany to Ireland to Stop the Rising
— Arrested on Arrival — Convicted in London of "Treason" and
Hanged — MacNeill's Countermanding Order to the Irish Vol-
unteers Almost Made the Insurrection Impossible.
The fact that the submarine with Casement, Monteith and
Bailey on board arrived at Tralee Bay almost simultaneously with
the shipload of arms led to the general belief that both vessels
were part of the same expedition. Such was not the fact, how-
ever. They were both on separate errands. The And went to aid
the projected insurrection by supplying the arms to fight the
English; Casement went to stop the insurrection if he could, be-
lieving that a fight at that time must end in disaster and that
it ought to be postponed to await a better opportuniy.
Knowing that the Revolutionary Council had irrevocably fixed
the date for the Rising and having reason to believe that Case-
ment would surely endeavor to get them to alter their plans and
thus bring confusion, I asked the German Government to request
him to remain in Germany to look after Irish interests when the
expedition started. He was in a sanitarium in Munich when the
news of the decision to fight on Easter Sunday was brought to
him. He labored under the false impression that the Germans
had forced the hands of the men in Ireland for the mere pur-
pose of making a military diversion. Nothing could be further
from the truth. The decision was made in Dublin in January,
1916; it took us completely by surprise, and the Germans learned
of it only when we transmitted to them a copy of the announce-
ment we had received from the Supreme Council of the I. R. B.
Casement, in placing his own opinions above those of the
Revolutionary Council in Ireland, left the British out of his cal-
culations. He should not have attempted to thwart the plans of
the leaders in Dublin who were conversant with the facts of the
situation. They were men of sound judgment whose decisions
would naturally have been reached only after the fullest consid-
eration. In the early months of 1916, the English Government
could not help being cognizant of the increasing efficiency of the
forces which later were proclaimed as comprising the Irish Re-
publican Army, or of recognizing that these forces constituted the
472
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEff
473
most serious obstacle to its purpose to conscript the manhood of
Ireland for service in her armies on the Continent and else-
where. Accordingly, the British determined to crush the Irish
Volunteers and the Citizen Army, by the arrest not alone of the
prominent leaders thereof but all the members of their govern-
ing bodies as well, and this fact became publicly known in Dublin
shortly before Easter time. The Irish leaders, therefore, had to
fight at the time arranged or see their military organization
smashed. Had they failed to act, the opportunity for which they
had so long and so earnestly planned would have passed with-
out a blow being struck in the cause of Irish Independence during
the duration of the World War. Postponement would have been
disastrous.
The Germans refused to permit Casement to leave for Ire-
land on the Aud, but he, as he admitted later, deceived them into
the belief that his desire to go was solely for the purpose of par-
ticipating in the fight. Finally they yielded to his entreaties and
furnished him with a submarine for the trip. He desired to be
put ashore at Galway in order to reach Dublin at the earliest
moment possible, but the Captain insisted on disembarking him
and his companions near Tralee. Thus it transpired that their
arrival and that of the Aud became known at practically the
same time, and color was lent to the wrong conclusion men-
tioned above.
After landing in a collapsible boat, Casement, when captured
by the police in the old fort where his companions had to leave
him while they went into Tralee to effect communication with
the Volunteers, was in a state of almost complete exhaustion. His
letter to Eoin MacNeill was despatched promptly to Dublin, and
MacNeilFs action on it came near making the Insurrection an
utter impossibility. The contents of that communication have
never been published, but there is no doubt as to their general
purport. Casement impugned the good faith of the Germans, and
asked that the Rising be postponed. The charge of deception
against Germany was wholly unfounded. The Aud arrived in
Tralee Bay on the first of the days specified in the original mes-
sage from Dublin, and she had on board the exact number of
rifles and machine guns agreed on. This fact was confirmed by the
testimony of the English diver sent to examine the vessel after
she had been sunk by her crew. The evidence is on record in
the Blue Book of the Royal Commission which investigated the
insurrection shortly afterwards.
MacNeill, though President of the Provisional Committee of
the Irish Volunteers, had been kept in ignorance of the projected
474
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Rising on Easter Sunday, and he first learned of it early in Holy
Week from Bulmer Hobson (who had acquired the knowledge
through his connection with the Dublin Centres Board of the
I. R. B.) . In this MacNeill had a genuine grievance, but the under-
lying reason for leaving him uninformed was that, though a fine
scholar and patriotic Irishman, he was wholly lacking the quali-
ties of a military commander, and while his headship of the Vol-
unteers was of great advantage to that organization in the pecu-
liar political conditions in Ireland under which it sprang into ex-
istence and continued to function, he was not a member of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood and Tom Clarke and Sean Mac-
Dermott had reason to believe that he would not agree to the
starting of a Revolution.
Padraic Pearse was "Director of Organization" of the Volun-
teers, and acting in that capacity he, with the sanction of Mac-
Neill and the rest of the Provisional Committee, as early as
February, 1916, had publicly ordered the mobilization of all Vol-
unteer Battalions and specified the points at which they were
to hold "manoeuvres" on Easter Sunday, April 23rd. The English
Government at that period, while restive at the increasing activi-
ties of the Irish Volunteers, had tolerated the holding of such
manoeuvres lest an attempt to stop them might result in armed
conflicts (the Volunteers had orders to defend their arms with
their lives) , and produce an unfavorable reaction on Irish public
opinion which they did not want to risk just then. This situation
was appraised at its full value by the members of the Revolu-
tionary Council. They shrewdly calculated that as all orders
issued by the Provisional Committee of the Volunteers for
manoeuvres were usually published in its weekly organ, Oglaigh
na h-Eireann, a similar announcement for Easter Sunday would
disarm any possible suspicion on the part of the English as to the
real purpose of that particular mobilization. Thus they planned
to get all battalions of the Irish Volunteers and Citizen Army
into their respective strategic positions throughout the country on
the appointed day, without encountering any opposition whatever
from either the English soldiers or the police. Their plan worked
to perfection in so far as the English forces were concerned, but
other complications followed.
When MacNeill learned the real purpose of the Easter Sun-
day "manoeuvres", he, as the elected head of the Volunteers, is-
sued an order superseding Padraic Pearse as Director of Organi-
zation. This move was effected without the knowledge of the
Revolutionary Council (Pearse and some other members of which
were also members of the Volunteer Provisional Committee) , but
a copy of the order reached the Council late Holy Thursday
PADRAIC PEARSE
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
475
night. Immediately members of the Council interviewed MacNeill
and "put all their cards on the table" with this result: MacNeill
abdicated his position of Commander-in-Chief, and handed over
the control of the Irish Volunteers to the Revolutionary Council.
All the Battalion Commanders were once more notified on Good
Friday that Pearse's orders were to be obeyed: the stage was again
set.
Within twenty-four hours thereafter Casement's letter reached
MacNeill, and in the meantime news had arrived in Dublin that
the Aud had been sunk; also, that certain motorists who were
actually on their way to Tralee to co-operate in the proposed
landing of the arms on Sunday night, and do other special work
in connection with the Rising, had been accidentally drowned.
MacNeill at once called into conference at Rathfarnham some
members of the Provisional Committee and others who had
no official standing in the Volunteer organization. While this
Conference was in session the majority of the Revolutionary
Council was in ignorance of it; in fact members of the Council
were that same night actively engaged making final preparations
for the morrow's fight. It was midnight of Easter Saturday
when Thomas MacDonagh brought word that MacNeill had dis-
patched The O'Rahilly and other couriers throughout the country
ordering all mobilized Volunteers to return to their homes. The
members of the Revolutionary Council were not to sleep in their
respective homes that night, but Pearse, MacDonagh and Plunkett
went to Sean MacDermott's headquarters on that occasion, and
there discussed the tragic situation. Clarke, Connolly and
Ceannt were not available at that moment, but all seven as-
sembled in conference early next morning. At this momentous
session the Council decided to ostensibly acquiesce in the can-
cellation of that day's manoeuvres, and took steps to make that
decision known throughout the country for the purpose of calm-
ing any possible suspicion the English might still retain as to
immediate trouble. But, the Council also decided to strike the
following day, and orders to this effect were despatched that Sun-
day night to the Commandants of the Volunteers. The situ-
ation was one of the most precarious that any group of men
could be called on to deal with, and though all the orders and
counter-orders spread confusion, the Revolutionary Council ac-
complished its immediate purpose — the Insurrection started at
noon on Easter Monday.
Notwithstanding Casement's letter and the sinking of the
Aud, MacNeill was not justified in issuing that last minute coun-
termanding order on Easter Saturday night over the heads of
476
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
the men to whom he had only the day before relinquished control
of the Volunteers. It made "confusion worse confounded"; it pre-
cluded the commencement of operations on Easter Sunday as
planned; it almost made the Insurrection an utter impossibility.
Had not the Revolutionary Council comprised men of extraordi-
nary resource and indomitable will, Casement's project to frus-
trate their purpose would have been accomplished.
Though Casement had succeeded in reaching Ireland, and
though Clarke, Pearse, Connolly and their comrades were not
deterred from starting the Revolution, Sir Roger was unable to
gratify his alternate purpose to "go out and fight with them",
as he had been arrested the very day of his arrival on the coast
of Kerry. The British Government had him conveyed to Lon-
don for trial, not that it was not reasonably sure of a partisan
judge and a "packed jury" to convict him in Dublin, but to make
a more spectacular impression on the world. The impression
created was, however, the reverse of what they expected. The
trial in London showed that England was in a panic and that
Ireland was still a danger to the Empire.
Casement's plea that he was an Irishman and entitled to be
tried by a jury of his countrymen was sound enough, but in so
far as his own fate was concerned, it mattered not whether his
"trial" by the British Government took place in London or Dublin.
But, in its effect, there was this difference: If he were convicted
and hanged in Ireland, the uninformed portion of the world (al-
ways the greater part) would have placed the responsibility on
the Irish people, whereas the spectacle presented in London fixed
the eyes of all peoples on England's savage and relentless pun-
ishment of her revolting Irish "subjects".
To convict Casement the English had recourse to a statute of
Edward III, and the record of the trial shows that they had to
strain the application of that law to give color to their resolve
to hang him. In addition to the operation of their courts, the
English used foul and slanderous propaganda to arouse public
opinion in America against him. They sent here men trained in
some of their colleges which are nurseries of unnatural vice,
to give broad hints both in public and private of manufactured
details which were prejudicial to Casement's character. This
campaign, however, was not essential to their purpose in Eng-
land, as the English people were war mad, and the sacrifice of
Casement was necessary to the appeasement of their lust for
Irish blood, as well as for the gratification of the panic-stricken
statesmen themselves whose plot to have him murdered in Nor-
way in 1914 he had exposed to the world.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
477
From a legal point of view there was little worthy of notice
in the trial of Casement. It is not necessary for me to dwell on
it further, as the records are in existence for anyone who wishes
to read the details. I will, however, deal with the effort which
we in America made in his defense.
All the leaders of the movement in Ireland had either been
executed or were in English prisons. The British Government
had also arrested some 2,500 suspects, who during the month of
May, 1916, were transferred to internment camps in England and
Wales, and it was endeavoring to terrorize the Irish people into
abject submission. While they failed in the latter, they suc-
ceeded in dislocating the movement for the time being, so that
organized effort in any direction was rendered extremely dif-
ficult.
Casement's defense had therefore to be financed from Amer-
ica or there would be no defense at all. But, the Treasury of
the Clan-na-Gael was exhausted by the sending of $25,000 to
Dublin immediately before Easter Week, and the money to fee
Casement's lawyers had to be procured at once.
A member of the Clan Executive and myself met in a New
York hotel adjacent to the bank in which I had deposited the
proceeds of the sale of my brother's estate in New Mexico. He
had with him Michael Francis Doyle of Philadelphia, who was
ready to go to London and do what he could for Casement with-
out charging a fee. We agreed to send $5,000 to Casement by
Doyle, and I immediately drew the money from my bank. We
told Doyle to inform the lawyers in England that we had no
more funds and that they must keep their fees and expenses
down to that figure. Doyle started for London by the next
steamer, was allowed to visit Casement in prison, presented him
with the money and got his receipt for it.
Even the ablest American lawyer would have been of no
service to Casement, except in an advisory capacity; he could
not plead in an English Court nor take any open part in the
defense. But the fact that the Clan-na-Gael was standing by
him (which was demonstrated by Doyle's presence) , and the
knowledge that the organization was paying for his defense,
had a favorable effect on Casement's spirits. He looked sur-
prised when Doyle handed him the money, and tears came into
his eyes. He had been forming hasty and wholly unjustifiable
conclusions about us and the Germans, which the receipt of the
money dissipated so far as we were concerned.
After the trial, the lawyers were constantly insisting that
Doyle should get more money from us for them, although he
478
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
had conveyed our message that we could pay no more than the
$5,000 he had brought over, — and £1,000 was a very comfortable
fee. I believe it was Mr. Sullivan who made the demands. He
wanted to appeal the case to the House of Lords, but that would
be only prolonging Casement's agony, as it was a certainty that
the Lords would confirm the sentence. Casement was taken to
London for the express purpose of hanging him, and that pur-
pose was relentlessly carried out in Pentonville Prison on the 3rd
of August, 1916.
Thus ended the career of one of Ireland's noblest sons. In
the service of his own country he not alone relinquished honors
and distinctions conferred on him by England for humane work
of exceptional merit performed while in her service, as well as
the emoluments to which he was richly entitled, but finally made
the great sacrifice as the result of his work in Germany towards
securing the Independence of his native land. In my portrayal
of prominent Fenians mentioned in these memoirs it has been
necessary to describe shortcomings as well as good points, be-
cause their mistakes had also an important bearing on the ef-
forts of countless contemporary Irish patriots. I have made no
exception in the case of Sir Roger Casement, and though I have
taken occasion to indicate wherein his methods and conclusions
were often at fault, he was withal one of the most sincere and
single-minded of Ireland's patriot sons with whom it was my
great privilege to be associated. His name will ever have a re-
vered place on the long roll of martyrs who gave their lives that
Ireland might be free.
CHAPTER LXIV.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF "EASTER WEEK".
Soldier Statesmen of the 1916 Irish Revolutionary Council
"Saved the Soul of Ireland" — Had Fortune Favored Their
Well-Laid Plans, Main Purpose Might Have Been Accom-
plished Then — Ideal of an Independent Irish Republic Will
Yet be Consummated.
Though the Rising of 1867 was a fiasco, it constituted another
link in the series of armed revolts against England's domina-
tion of Ireland and kept alive the spirit of resistance to that
alien rule. During the succeeding half century the men of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood profited by the mistakes, but per-
severed in the principles of their predecessors; they pledged
themselves to establish and maintain a free and independent
Republican Government in Ireland, and the Clan-na-Gael in
America loyally and consistently extended to them its moral and
financial support to that end. Indeed, leaders of the I. R. B.
freely acknowledged that were it not for the aid given by the
Clan, the Organization in Ireland could scarcely have maintained
its activities, or exerted the influence that it did, during decades
replete with political developments which tended to eradicate
the ideal of Independence from the hearts of the Irish people.
In other words, it was the example of '67, and the support given
by the Clan-na-Gael, which made it possible for Ireland in 1916
to reassert in arms its inalienable right to national freedom.
While both organizations realized that Irish Independence
could never be won except by physical force, it was also mani-
fest that a disarmed Ireland, shut off by barriers comprised of
the warships, bayonets and press of England from normal com-
munication with the outside world, could not hope to militarily
defeat the English invaders unless Britain should be at war
with one or more of the other powerful nations. They bided
their time, however, for the day of "England's difficulty," and
the opportunity loomed with the start of the struggle with
Germany. And, through fortuitous circumstances which I have
already sketched, the young men of Ireland, in the year before
the World War started, had been given and had grasped an oppor-
tunity, such as was denied their predecessors, to drill and carry
arms openly in defiance of English-made laws and regulations.
479
480
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The World War came, and though it found the vast majority
of the Irish people denationalized through the spineless policy
and vitiating doctrines of Redmond and his followers in the
British House of Commons and in Ireland itself, the year 1914
also found a minority in whom had been developed by the Gaelic
League, Sinn Fein, the Volunteers, and in a special manner by
the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a more virile nationalism
than had existed in Ireland for over a century.
In pursuance of Ireland's tradition of Nationhood, the I. R.
B. (which was the vitalizing force and directing factor in the
other organizations named) would not and could not let the oc-
casion of the World War pass without striking another physical
blow for the achievement of the ideal for which it existed and
to the furtherance of which its members had consecrated their
lives. Even were they to fail dismally in the fight, they would
at least have shown that Ireland was worthy of national free-
dom by the readiness of her sons to die for it. If the example
of other small nations shedding their blood for their indepen-
dence were needed to spur Ireland on, such examples were then
to be found on the continent of Europe, but the I. R. B. needed
no such incentive.
Then, too, Irish Republicans saw hundreds of thousands of
their fellow countrymen, who, blinded by Redmond's treasonable
fallacies and England's hypocrisy, were thoughtlessly enlisting
in the armies of England and lavishly laying down their lives in
Flanders, at Gallipoli and elsewhere, to maintain the supremacy
of the robber power that held their own country in bondage.
The Supreme Council of the I. R. B. and the Revolutionary
Council determined that unless Irishmen fought in Ireland for
their own freedom, the world could only conclude that the Irish
people did not desire national independence or would not risk
their lives to secure it.
These men also perceived that nothing but a stand-up fight
and the shedding of Irish blood in Ireland and for Ireland,
could clear away the noxious overgrowth of imperialistic cant
and selfishness which, through Redmond's tactics and England's
policy of petty concessions, had been smothering every ennobling
nationalistic ideal that had preserved the spirit of the Irish
people through centuries of British domination. In other words,
one phase of the Irish Republican task was to save the soul
of Ireland.
Thus viewing the situation, Clarke, MacDermott, Pearse, Con-
nolly, and their confreres decided to play the part of manly men.
They faced the problem with a breadth of view worthy of states-
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
481
men and soldiers; they, with the co-operation of the Clan-na-
Gael in America, sought an alliance with England's most power-
ful enemy, and the fortunes of war might well have crowned
their efforts with unqualified success.
It is true that pedantic and superficial wiseacres condemned
the Revolutionists of 1916 as "madmen" for daring to challenge
the "irresistible might of England", but most of these critics
realized later the hollowness of their contention. Within a year,
German submarines were wiping England's shipping from the
seas in ever increasing volume, and the Field Marshal in com-
mand of England's military forces was crying out in despair
that he had "his back to the wall". Were it not for America's
entry into the war on the side of England, it takes no great
stretch of the imagination to visualize the rout of Britain's
armies, the almost complete destruction of her food and supply
ships, and the imminent starvation of her people; all tending to
one inevitable result — the collapse of the British Empire. Such
was the "irresistible might of England"!
Even though the naval conditions which prevailed by the
end of April, 1916, rendered it strategically impossible for Ger-
many to transport to Ireland any considerable number of army
officers and men and afford them competent military support
subsequently, the history of that period shows how nearly suc-
cessful was their effort to deliver 20,000 rifles, a large number
of machine guns, and a requisite supply of ammunition to the
Irish Volunteers. With these arms in the hands of the Irish, the
chaotic conditions which resulted from the sinking of the Aud
and from Casement's letter, would never have arisen; MacNeill's
final countermanding order would doubtless never have been is-
sued. The account which the Irish Republican Army, so equipped,
would have given of itself can be gauged from the magnificent
fight which a few years later, when but poorly armed, it suc-
ceeded in waging over an extended period against England's
Black and Tans — at which time England was at peace with the
rest of the world.
Had the rifles from Germany been landed and distributed in
1916, the Insurrection, instead of being practically confined to
Dublin, would have extended all over Ireland, — with the I. R. A.
occupying at the outset the strategic positions chosen in advance
by its Commanders. Had the insurrection been so extended,
who can make even an approximate guess — in the light of sub-
sequent events — as to the number of battalions which England
would not alone have had to throw into Ireland in 1916, but
would have been compelled to keep there for an indefinite
period.
482
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
Further conclusive arguments in support of the philosophy
of "Easter Week" could be cited, but they are not necessary. It
is fitting, however, that I should here quote the Proclamation
of the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, which
was promulgated by Padraic Pearse, on Easter Monday, April 24,
1916, in O'Connell Street, Dublin, after the occupation of the
General Post Office by the Republican forces:
POBLACHT NA h-EIREANN
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF THE
IRISH REPUBLIC
To the People of Ireland
Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the
dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of
nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her
flag and strikes for her freedom.
Having organised and trained her manhood through her
secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brother-
hood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish
Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected
her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to
reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her
exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but
relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full con-
fidence of victory.
We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership
of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be
sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right
by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the
right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction
of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
483
asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six
times during the past three hundred years they have asserted
it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again
asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim
the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we
pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the
cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among
the nations.
The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the alle-
giance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guar-
antees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal oppor-
tunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the
happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts,
cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious
of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government,
which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.
Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the
establishment of a permanent National Government, represen-
tative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages
of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby
constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the
Republic in trust for the people.
We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection
of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms,
and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonor it
by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the
Irish national must, by its valor and discipline and by the readi-
ness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good,
prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government.
THOMAS J. CLARKE
SEAN MacDIARMADA
THOMAS MacDONAGH
P. H. PEARSE
EAMONN CEANNT
JAMES CONNOLLY
JOSEPH PLUNKETT
434
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN IRISH REBEL
The result of all war depends largely on the element of
chance; this is more true of insurrections than of any other
kind of war. Had fortune favored the well-laid plans of the
Irish Revolutionary Council in 1916, the prospect of victory
would have been bright; but, it happened otherwise and the
"Easter Week" Insurrection was foredoomed to military failure
with the sinking of the Aud. Yet, even in attempting the im-
possible in the face of that disastrous incident,
Thomas J. Clarke,
Sean MacDiarmada,
Patrick H. Pearse,
James Connolly,
Thomas MacDonagh,
Eamonn Ceannt,
Joseph Plunkett,
and their men of the Irish Republican Army, by the gallant
fight which they made, wrote one of the most glorious chapters
in Irish History, and they
"Saved the Soul of Ireland".
The British Government executed these seven leaders and
nine of their comrades for participation in the Revolution, but
their efforts and sacrifices revivified the determination of the
Irish people to achieve National Independence. The ideal for
which they fought will yet be consummated. Though I shall
not live to see it, I will die content in the realization that Ire-
land has advanced far towards the goal of her heart's desire,
and confident that another generation will produce worthy
successors to the men of "Easter Week" who with God's help will
succeed under favorable conditions in securing the permanent
establishment of an Irish Republic — the Government of which
shall hold jurisdiction over every inch of our indivisible mother-
land, Eire.
INDEX
Note: References to certain Fenian personages mentioned
in this volume being so numerous, only those pages that chronicle
the outstanding incidents of their respective careers are indexed.
Allen, William Philip 240, 244 Casement, Sir Roger
American officers in Ireland. 57, 72,
91, 92, 96, 99, 108, 186, 203, 207,
213, 222, 229, 232, 235, 238
Anthony, Capt. George S 254
Anti-tithe Movement 7
Ashe, Thomas 393
"Aud", S. S 464, 472, 473, 475
Baines, Thomas 142, 179
Beggars Bush Barracks Ill
Bernstorff, von 403, 418, 468
Bloomfield, Patrick 240
Boland, Mrs 85
Bourke, Thomas Francis 353
Brennan, Thomas 254
Breslin, John J.. .77, 87, 255, 257, 370
Breslin, Michael 78, 204
Breslin, Niall 27, 78, 204
British Arms in Irish Depots. .90, 105
British Empire, Separation from, 1,
5, 484
Brophy, Hugh 26, 70
Brophy, William 80
Burke, Col. Denis F 91, 96
Burke, Col. Ricard O'S 105,
234, 235, 237, 248, 347
Butler, Mrs 102, 107, 275
Butt, Isaac 323, 336
Byrne, Aleck 42
Byrne, Dan (Ballitore) 60
Byrne, Daniel 77, 87
Byrne, Harry 29, 153
Byrne, Hugh 28, 44
Byrne, Oliver 17
Byron, Lt.-Col. John W 43
Caherciveen Rising 190
Cahill, James 240
Canada, Raids on 116, 270, 271
Cane, Dr 18
Carroll, Capt. Joe 30, 61
Carroll, Matt 29
Carroll, Dr. William . . .253, 283, 342
407,
410, 416, 422, 423, 431, 472
Cashman, Denis 32
Catalpa Rescue, The 251
Catholic Church and Fenianism . 11,
16, 118, 194, 316
Catholic Emancipation 3, 6
Catholic University, The 14
Caulin, Larry 28, 197
Cavanagh, Sam 38
Ceannt, Eamonn 475, 483
Chambers, James 150
Chambers, Thomas ...110, 150, 175
Chester Castle, Raid on 187
Christensen, Adler .418, 426, 438, 441
Clancy, James 336
Clan-na-Gael ... 205, 239, 253, 269,
313, 330, 392, 393, 396, 400, 401,
404, 420, 442, 458, 462, 477, 479
Clarke, J. I. C 248, 336
Clarke, Thomas J. . . 327, 392, 394, 409,
412, 459, 462, 475, 480, 483
Clerkenwell Explosion 4, 248
Clune, John 32, 229
Cockran, Bourke 450
Cody, Michael 56, 80
Cohalan, Daniel F 450, 463, 470
Condon, Capt. O'Meagher . .240, 244
Condon, Capt. P. J 213
Confederate Clubs 17, 291
Conley, Col. Louis D 450
Connolly, James 475, 480, 483
Constabulary, "Royal Irish" .... 208
Cook, James 27
Costello, Augustine E 236
Courtsmartial on Fenian Soldiers 160
Coyne, Edward 30
Croke, Archbishop 118, 125, 316
Croraien, Denis 27, 138
Cromien, Joseph 102
Crowley, Peter O'Neill 213
"Cuba Five", The 330
Cullen, Cardinal 12, 118
Cullinane, John 217
Curran, Peter 65, 252
487
488
INDEX
Curry, William 99, 148, 155
Daly, John 32, 318, 327
Daly, Ned 32
Darragh, Thomas 116, 260
Davis, Thomas 9, 39, 311
Davitt, Michael 187, 284, 313
Deasy, Capt. Timothy 240, 244
Delaney, Mrs. William 86
Denieffe, Joseph 18, 23, 187
Desmond, Thomas 255
Devoy, John 26, 60, 79, 102,
107, 122, 131, 145, 159, 162, 252,
254, 284, 296, 298, 313, 330, 372,
393, 394, 403, 410, 418, 458, 463
Dillon, John Blake 11, 267
Doheny, Michael 11, 17
Doherty, Capt 91, 96
Doran, Charles G 34
Downing, Daniel 31
Downing, Denis 31
Downing, P. J 31
Duffy, Charles Gavan 9, 291, 292
Duffy, Edward 70, 103, 145, 160
Duggan, Denis 80, 147, 196, 254
Dunn, Captain 224
Dunne, P. W 58, 268, 276
"Easter Week", Philosophy of . . . 479
Ecclesiastical Titles Bill 11, 120
Ellis, Larry 28, 179
Emmet, Robert 6, 24
England "stabbed in the back" . . 402
English concessions to Ireland . 5,
25, 211, 310, 480
"Erin's Hope" Expedition 235
"Executive Document", The .... 294
Famine of 1847 3, 25
Featherstone, Timothy 240
Fenian Brotherhood 56, 90,
235, 237, 270
Fenian Movement, reorganized . . 238,
392
Fenian Oath 119, 272
Fenianism in American Army. .47, 116
Fenianism in the British Army
(Ireland) 60, 88, 99, 108, 128
133, 140, 145, 160
Fenianism in England 67, 114,
130, 187, 238
Fenianism in Scotland. .114, 130, 238
Fenianism introduced into Ire-
land 18
Fenianism started in America . . 17
Fenians and the Irish language.. 261
Fennell, Thomas McCarthy 253
Filgate, Capt. Harry 199
Finerty, John F 307, 339, 356
Fleming, Matthew 29, 233
Flood, James 69, 274
Flood, Pat 80, 274
Fogarty, Michael O'Neill 221
Foley, William 157
Ford, Robert 393, 449
Foreign military aid for Ireland 5,
397, 458, 481
Forty-eight movement 10
French expeditions 129, 398
Friends of Irish Freedom 449
Frith, Tom 74
Germany, aid of 5, 401, 481
German Embassy office raided
463, 466
German Kaiser, address to 404
Gibbons, James 268
Gladstone, Wm. E 4, 250
Goff, John W 253, 298, 450
Graham, Michael 93
Grattan's Parliament 3
Grey, Philip 30
Griffith, Arthur 443
Habeas Corpus Act suspended .89, 98
Halpin, Col. Wm. G 91, 96,
103, 109, 203, 238, 350
Haltigan, James 30
Haltigan, John 30
Hampson, William 147
Hanley, Martin 295
Harrington, Michael 161, 260
Harrison, John 80
Hassett, Thomas H 143, 260
Hathaway, Capt. Henry C. . . 158, 254
Hayburn, Patrick 73
Healy, Col. John G 229
Herbert, Victor 450
Hickey, John 27, 74
Hobson, Bulmer 410
Hoey, John Cashel 292
Hogan, Martin J 65, 252
Holland, Denis 42
Hollowed, John 75
Hopper, Charles 274
"Hue and Cry" 131
Hunt, Matthew 50
Hyde, Dr. Douglas 261
Informers 20, 34, 69, 137,
157, 175, 178, 183, 188, 194, 220,
242, 269, 302
See note on page 487
INDEX
Ireland decides on Insurrection. . 458
Ireland, Germany and the Free-
dom of the Seas 416
Irish Emigrant Aid Society 17
"Irish Nation", The (Devoy) . . . 370
"Irish People", The 42
Irish Race Convention (1916),
New York 449
I. R. B. Armament (1865-66) ... 105
I. R. B. established 19
I. R. B. Elective Council 48, 192
I. R. B. Military Council (1865) . 91
I. R. B. Total Membership 33
Irish Republic, The 272, 482
Irish Revolutionary secrets ex-
posed to England 463, 469
Irish Volunteers, The 392, 393,
407, 473
Johnson, Robert 317
Kavanagh, Captain 235
Kearney, John 189
Kearney, Patrick 27, 56, 80
Keating, Patrick 99, 143
Keeley, Joseph 240
Kelly, Thomas Hughes 450
Kelly, Col. Thomas J 57, 70,
91, 96, 103, 238, 240, 244
Kenealy, John 30, 144, 253
Kennedy, P. N 223
Kenny, John 393, 404
Keogh, William (Judge) 11, 50,
292, 323
Kerwin, Col. Michael . 38, 43, 91, 96
Kickham, Alexander 318
Kickham, Chas. J.. .31, 45, 48, 70, 304
Kickham, Rody 221
Killian, B. Doran 270
King, John 256
Kinsale, Battle of 2, 397
Kirwan, Capt. John 27, 194
Lalor, James Finton 17, 293
Lambert, Michael 80, 204
Langan, Peter 18
Larkin, Michael 240, 244
Laver.v, James 240
Lawler, Jack 80
Leonard, J. P 20
Leonard, Patrick 33
Leonard, Lt. Col 232
Lennon. Patrick 196, 339
Lomasney, William M. ("Capt.
Mackey") 194, 210, 239, 277
"Lost Documents", The 58
See note on page 487
489
Lovern, Martin 32
Luby, Thomas Clarke 20, 37,
41, 70, 288
Luby, Mrs. Thos. Clarke 113
Lucas, Frederick 11
Lynch, Diarmuid 393-462
Lynch, John 31
Lynch, Michael 233
MacDermott, Sean 393, 412,
447, 459, 475, 480, 483
MacDonagh, Thomas 475, 483
MacGuire, Dr. Constantine J. . . . 338
MacNeill, Eoin 393, 411,
465, 473, 474, 475
McAlevy, Frank 335
McCafferty, Capt. John 65, 187
McCartan, Dr. Patrick 393
McCarthy, Henry C 58, 268
McCarthy, Sergeant Charles . . 150, 161
McCartie, Dan 20
McClure, Capt. John 124, 213,
296, 330
McDonnell, P. J 149
McLaughlin, Billy 30
McManus, Terence Bellew 22
Mahon, Patrick 253
Manchester Martyrs, The 244
Manchester Rescue, The 237
Mangan, James Clarence 9
Masterson, Tom 30
Maughan, Peter 333
Meagher, Thos. Francis ... .9, 22, 34
Meehan, P. J r>8
Melvin, William 240
"Military Committee" (1916) . . . 459
Militia 130
Millen, General 73, 91, 341
Mitebel, John 9, 298
Monteith, Robert 438, 472
Moore, Geo. Henry 11, 322
Moore, John D 450
Moore, Michael 27, 56, 136
Moorehouse, Charles 240
Moran, Col. James 210
Moriarty, Patrick 335
Morris, John 28
Moynahan. Maurice 32
Moynahan, Michael 31
Moynahan, Mortimer . . .31, 103, 107
Mulcahy, Catherine 113
Mulcahy, Denis Dowling . .31, 88, 271
Mulleda, Harry 232, 330, 350
Mullen, Col. B. F 47
Mullen, Jack 80, 146
490
INDEX
Murphy, David 32, 103, 107, 229
Murphy, Edward 32
Murphy, Capt. James 238
National Petition Movement . .20, 26
"National" Schools 12
"Nation", The (Duffy) 9, 290, 292
"Nation", The (Sullivan) . .20, 26, 36
Neary, John 240
Neville, John 51
"New Departure", The 313, 344
Nolan, Andrew 28
Nolan, John 28, 103, 107, 366
O'Bolger, Thomas 240
O'Boyle, Capt. Michael 47
O'Brien, James F. X. ...44, 207, 312
O'Brien, John P 150
O'Brien, Capt. Lawrence 221
O'Brien, Capt. Michael 240, 244
O'Brien, "Rocky Mountain" .... 330
O'Brien, William 210, 345, 370
O'Brien, Wm. Smith. .10, 22, 290, 299
O'Callaghan, James J. O'C. ...26, 27
O'Callaghan, John 31
O'Clohessy, John 23, 27
O'Clohessy, Michael 132
O'Connell, Charles Underwood. . 47
281, 330, 350
O'Connell, Daniel 3, 6, 8
O'Connell, John 9
O'Connor, James 27, 312
O'Connor, John 85, 313, 346
O'Connor, Col. John J 190
O'Connor, Tommy 393, 458
O'Curry, Eugene 14
O'Donnell, John F 337
O'Donnell, P. H 450
O'Donoghue, Stephen 203
O'Donoghue, The 37, 192
O'Donovan, Daniel 371
O'Donovan, Edmund, 27, 103, 240, 363
O'Donovan, John 14, 363
O'Donovan, John, Jr 50, 363
O'Donovan, Richard 371
O'Donovan, William 240, 369
O'Farrell, Jerry 51
O'Flaherty, Edmund 11, 292
O'Gorman, Richard 11, 298
O'Kelly, James J. . .26, 234, 275, 333
O'Leary, Ellen 113
O'Leary, John 41, 70,280
O'Leary, Mary 113
O'Leary, "Pagan" 133, 140
O'Mahony, Con 41, 51
See note on page 487
O'Mahony, John. .17, 66, 235, 262, 266
O'Neill, Matthew 27, 80, 92, 147
O'Rahilly, The 414, 415
O'Reilly, John Boyle 152, 253
O'Rourke, Patrick 18
O'Shaughnessy, Garrett 27, 38
O'Sullivan (Agreem) 20
O'Sullivan, Jeremiah 248
Owens, Tom 30
Pallas, James 119
Parnell, Charles Stewart. 54, 284, 344
Parnell, Mother of 43
Pearse, Padraic 332,
474, 475, 480, 483
Penal Laws 3
Penny, William N 209
Phoenix Society 20, 321
Pigeon House Fort 105, 111
Pigott, Richard 42, 54
Plunkett, Joseph 459, 475, 483
Plunkett, Philomena 459, 462
Postponement of Fight 88, 107
Power, John O'Connor 283, 313
Prison Life of Irish
"Convicts" 295, 327, 350
Protestant Disestablishment .... 4
Protestant Repeal Associations . . 10
Redmond, John 393, 409, 480
Reidy, James 458
Reilly, Thomas Devin 9
Revolutionary Council, Irish
(1916) 459, 472, 475, 480, 483
Reynolds, James 253
Rice, James Blaney 33
Rice, Peter 240
Richardson, John T 254
Roantree, William F 27, 140
Roberts, William R 239, 268
Roche, James 17
Rooney, Frank 33
Rossa, O'Donovan ... .27, 42, 70, 319
Rossa, Mrs. Mary O'Donovan . . . 113
138, 331
Rossiter, John J 199
Ryan, John 80, 145, 240
Ryan, Dr. Mark 313
Ryan, O'Neill 400, 450
Ryan, Peter 240
Rynd, James 142, 179
Sadleir, John 11, 292
St. Clair, Edward Pilsworth . . . 147
Saint Patrick, Brotherhood of . . 34
Scanlan, Michael 303
■
INDEX
491
Shaw, Marie and Kate 113
Sixty-seven Rising 185
Smyth, P. J 17, 366
Spies (See Informers)
Stack, Austin 32, 464
Stack, William Moore 32
Stephens, James 10, 18, 19, 41,
70, 77, 90, 97, 103,
107, 238, 272, 295
Stoneham, John 240
Sullivan, A. M 21, 36, 77, 337
Sullivan, James 213
Sullivan, T. D 20, 36, 186, 385
Talbot, John C 253
Tenant Right Movement 11, 16
Thierry, Augustin 1
See note on page 4S7
Torley, John 317
"Triangle", The . . .28, 211, 299, 345
Ulster, Plantation of 2
Ulster Volunteers, The 408
Underwood, Thomas Neilson ... 34
Union, Repeal of the 3, 8
United Irishmen, The 3, 96, 128
Wall, John M 450
Walsh, Nicholas 27, 82
Warren, John 236
Williams, Richard Dalton ...9, 374
Williams, Tom 30
Wilson, Woodrow 466, 468, 469, 470
"Tear of Action, The" 55
Young Irelanders, The . 9, 22, 290
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