initial commit of ebook 16559HEADmain

10 files changed, 26048 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/16559-8.txt b/16559-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a0eabe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16559-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8804 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life Story of an Old Rebel, by John Denvir
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life Story of an Old Rebel
+
+Author: John Denvir
+
+Release Date: August 20, 2005 [EBook #16559]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL
+
+
+BY JOHN DENVIR
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE IRISH IN BRITAIN" "THE BRANDONS" ETC.
+
+
+
+DUBLIN SEALY, BRYERS & WALKER 86 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET 1910
+
+[Illustration: John Denvir]
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAP.
+
+
+I.--Early Recollections--"Coming Over" from Ireland
+
+II.--Distinguished Irishmen--"The Nation" News-paper--"The Hibernians"
+
+III.--Ireland Revisited
+
+IV.--O'Connell in Liverpool--Terence Bellew MacManus and the Repeal
+Hall--The Great Irish Famine
+
+V.--The "No-Popery" Mania--The Tenant League--The Curragh Camp
+
+VI.--The Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood--Escape of James
+Stephens--Projected Raid on Chester Castle--Corydon the Informer
+
+VII.--The Rising of 1867--Arrest and Rescue of Kelly and Deasy--The
+Manchester Martyrdom
+
+VIII.--A Digression--T.D. Sullivan--A National Anthem--The Emerald
+Minstrels--"The Spirit of the Nation"
+
+IX.--A Fenian Conference at Paris--The Revolvers for the Manchester
+Rescue--Michael Davitt sent to Penal Servitude
+
+X.--Rescue of the Military Fenians
+
+XI.--The Home Rule Movement
+
+XII.--The Franco-Prussian War--An Irish Ambulance Corps--The French
+Foreign Legion
+
+XIII.--The Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain
+
+XIV.--Biggar and Parnell--The "United Irishman"--The O'Connell Centenary
+
+XV.--Home Rule in Local Elections--Parnell succeeds Butt as President
+of the Irish Organisation in Great Britain
+
+XVI.--Michael Davitt's Return from Penal Servitude--Parnell and the
+"Advanced" Organisation
+
+XVII.--Blockade Running--Attempted Suppression of "United
+Ireland"--William O'Brien and his Staff in Jail--How Pat Egan kept the
+flag flying
+
+XVIII.--Patrick Egan
+
+XIX.--General Election of 1885--Parnell a Candidate for Exchange
+Division--Retires in favour of O'Shea--T.P. O'Connor elected for
+Scotland Division of Liverpool
+
+XX.--Gladstone's "Flowing Tide"
+
+XXI.--The "Times" Forgeries Commission
+
+XXII.--Disruption of the Irish Party--Home Rule carried in the
+Commons--Unity of Parliamentary Party Restored--Mr. John Redmond becomes
+Leader
+
+XXIII.--The Gaelic Revival--Thomas Davis--Charles Gavan
+Duffy--Anglo-Irish Literature--The Irish Drama, Dramatists, and Actors
+
+XXIV.--"How is Old Ireland and how does She Stand?"
+
+
+
+
+
+~THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL~
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+EARLY RECOLLECTIONS--"COMING OVER" FROM IRELAND.
+
+
+I owe both the title of this book and the existence of the book itself
+to the suggestion of friends. I suppose a man of 76 may be called "old,"
+although I have by no means given up the idea that I can still be of use
+to my country.
+
+And a Rebel? Yes! Anything of the nature of injustice or oppression has
+always stirred me to resentment, and--is it to be wondered at?--most of
+all when the victims of that injustice and oppression have been my own
+people. And why not? If there were no rebels against wrong-doing,
+wrong-doing would prosper. To an Irishman, who is a fighter by
+temperament, and a fighter by choice against those in high places, life
+is sure to provide plenty of excitement; and that, no doubt, is why my
+friends have thought my recollections worth printing. The curious thing
+is that my share in the struggle for Irish self-government has been
+almost entirely what I might call outpost work, for I have lived all my
+life in England.
+
+Indeed, it seemed but a stroke of good luck that I was born in Ireland
+at all. My father (John, son of James Denvir, of Ballywalter, Lecale)
+came to England in the early part of the last century, and settled in
+Liverpool, where my eldest brother was born. It was during a brief
+period, when our family returned to Ireland, that I and a younger
+brother were born there. My father was engaged for about three years as
+clerk of the works for the erection of a castle for Sir Francis
+Macnaghten, near Bushmills, County Antrim. This must be one of the least
+Catholic parts of Ireland, for there was no resident priest, and I had
+to be taken a long distance to be christened. There was a decent
+Catholic workman at the castle, James MacGowan, who was my god-father,
+and my Aunt Kitty had to come all the way from "our own place" in the
+County Down to be my god-mother.
+
+Brought to England, my earliest remembrances are of Liverpool, which has
+a more compact and politically important Irish population than any other
+town in Great Britain.
+
+Anyone who has mixed much among our fellow-countrymen in England,
+Scotland and Wales knows that, generally, the children and grandchildren
+of Irish-born parents consider themselves just as much Irish as those
+born on "the old sod" itself. No part of our race has shown more
+determination and enthusiasm in the cause of Irish nationality. As a
+rule the Irish of Great Britain have been well organised, and, during
+the last sixty years and more, have been brought into constant contact
+with a host of distinguished Irishmen--including the leaders of the
+constitutional political organisations--from Daniel O'Connell to John
+Redmond.
+
+I have taken an active part in the various Irish movements of my time,
+and it so happens that, while I know so little personally of Ireland
+itself, there are few, if any, living Irishmen who have had such
+experience, from actual personal contact with them, as I have had of our
+people in every part of Great Britain. As will be seen, too, in the
+course of these recollections, circumstances have brought me into
+intimate connection with most of the Irish political leaders.
+
+My father came to England in one of the sloops in which our people used
+to "come over" in the old days. They sometimes took a week in crossing.
+The steamers which superseded them, though an immense improvement as
+regards speed, had often less accommodation for the deck passengers than
+for the cattle they brought over.
+
+Most of the Irish immigration to Liverpool came through the Clarence
+Dock, where the steamers used to land our people from all parts. Since
+the Railway Company diverted a good deal of the Irish traffic through
+the Holyhead route, there are not so many of these steamers coming to
+Liverpool as formerly.
+
+The first object that used to meet the eyes of those who had just "come
+over," as they looked across the Clarence Dock wall, was an effigy of
+St. Patrick, with a shamrock in his hand, as if welcoming them from "the
+old sod." This was placed high upon the wall of a public house kept by
+a retired Irish pugilist, Jack Langan. In the thirties and forties of
+the last century, up to 1846, when he died, leaving over £20,000 to his
+children, Langan's house was a very popular resort of Irishmen, more
+particularly as, besides being a decent, warm-hearted, open-handed man,
+he was a strong supporter of creed and country.
+
+I am old enough to remember hearing Mass in what was an interesting
+relic in Liverpool of the Penal days. This was the old building known to
+our people as "Lumber Street Chapel." Of course, the present Protestant
+Church of St. Nicholas (known as "the old church") is a Catholic
+foundation. Lumber Street chapel was not, however, the first of our
+places of worship built during the Penal days, for the Jesuits had a
+small chapel not far off, erected early in the eighteenth century, but
+destroyed by a No-Popery mob in 1746. St. Mary's, Lumber Street, too,
+was originally a Jesuit mission, but, in 1783, it was handed over to the
+Benedictines, who have had charge of it ever since. Father John Price,
+S.J., built a chapel in Sir Thomas's Buildings in 1788. I can recollect
+this building since my earliest days, but Mass was never said in it
+during my time.
+
+Lancashire is the only part of England where there are any great number
+of the native population who have always kept the faith. I once spent a
+few weeks in one of these Catholic districts. My employer had an
+alteration to make in the house of a gentleman at Lydiate, near
+Ormskirk. I used to come home to Liverpool for the Sundays, but for the
+rest of the week I had lodgings in the house of a Catholic family at
+Lydiate.
+
+There was an old ruin, which they called Lydiate Abbey, but I found it
+was the chapel of St. Catherine, erected in the fifteenth century. The
+priest of the mission had charge of the chapel which, though unroofed,
+was the most perfect ecclesiastical ruin in Catholic hands in South
+Lancashire. During the time I was at Lydiate there came a Holiday of
+Obligation, when I heard Mass in the house of a Catholic farmer named
+Rimmer. This was a fine old half-timbered building of Elizabethan days,
+and here, all through the Penal times, Mass had been kept up, a priest
+to say it being always in hiding somewhere in the district.
+
+The priest in charge of Lydiate at the time I was there told me he was
+collecting for a regular church or chapel, and hoped soon to make a
+commencement of the building. Some years later he was able to do so. Our
+church choir at Copperas Hill, Liverpool, was then considered one of the
+best in the diocese. The choirmaster and organist, John Richardson, was
+a distinguished composer of Catholic church music, and held in such high
+esteem that, for any important celebration, he could always secure the
+services of the chief members of the musical profession in and about
+Liverpool. In this way, on one occasion Miss Santley came to help us.
+She was accompanied by her brother, then a boy, who has since risen to
+the highest position in the musical world--the eminent baritone, Sir
+Charles Santley.
+
+St. Nicholas' was, as it is yet, the pro-Cathedral of the diocese, and
+whenever a new church had to be opened, or there was any important
+ceremonial anywhere in Lancashire, our choir was generally invited. In
+this way I was delighted to go to the opening of the new church at
+Lydiate, so that I was taking part in the third stage of the Catholic
+history of the diocese--having said a prayer in the old ruin, and
+attended Mass in Rimmer's, and now assisting at the solemn High Mass at
+the opening of the Church of our Lady, not far from the old chapel of
+St. Catherine.
+
+At the time I went to Mass in Lumber Street Chapel, Liverpool, which is
+nearly 70 years since, there were but four other _chapels_, as they were
+generally called then, in the town--Copperas Hill (St. Nicholas'), Seel
+Street (St. Peter's), St. Anthony's and St. Patrick's. It must have been
+a custom acquired in the Penal days to call the older Catholic places of
+worship rather after the names of the streets in which they were
+situated than of the saint to whom they were dedicated. During the
+Famine years the bishops and clergy must have found it extremely
+difficult to provide for the tremendous influx of our people. I have
+seen them crowded out into the chapel yards and into the open streets;
+satisfied if they could get even a glimpse of the inside of the sacred
+building through an open window. I see by the Catholic Directory there
+are at the time I now write thirty-nine churches and chapels in
+Liverpool. The schools have increased in a like proportion.
+
+The progress in numbers, wealth and influence of the Irish people may
+be pretty well marked by the gradual increase in the number of churches
+and schools, which have been built for the most part by the Irish and
+their descendants. All honour to the noble-hearted, hard-handed toilers
+who have contributed to such work, and greater glory still to the humble
+men who, after a hard week's work in a ship's hold at the docks, or
+perhaps in the "jigger loft" of a warehouse eight stories high, turn
+out every Sunday morning to act as "collectors," and go in pairs from
+door to door, one with the book and the other with the bag in hand, to
+raise the means of erecting the noble churches and schools that
+everywhere meet our view in Liverpool to-day.
+
+With regard to the social position our people occupy in Liverpool, there
+have been many Irishmen who have come well to the front in the race of
+life, some of whom have occupied the foremost positions in connection
+with the public life of the town. On the other hand; a large number of
+our fellow-countrymen in Liverpool are by no means in that enviable
+condition. Many of them have set out from Ireland, intending to go to
+America, but, their little means failing them, have been obliged to
+remain in Liverpool. Here they considered themselves fortunate if they
+met someone from the same part of the country as themselves to give them
+a helping hand, for it is a fine trait in the Irish character--and
+"over here in England" the trait has not been lost--that, however poor,
+they are always ready to befriend what seems to them a still poorer
+neighbour. Those who have lived here some time are glad to see someone
+from their "own place," and, amid the squalor of an English city, the
+imaginative Celt--as he listens to the gossip about the changes, the
+marriages, and the deaths that have taken place since he left "home
+"--for a brief moment lives once more upon "the old sod," and sees
+visions of the little cabin by the wood side where dwelt those he loved,
+of the mountain chapel where he worshipped, of a bright-eyed Irish girl
+beloved in the golden days of youth. These and a host of other
+associations of the past come floating back upon his memory, as he hears
+the tidings brought by Terence, or Michael, or Maurya, who has just
+"come over." It often so happens that, from the very goodness of the
+Irish heart, the newcomers are frequently drawn into the same miserable
+mode of life as the friends who have come to England before them may
+have fallen into.
+
+Irish intellect and Irish courage have in thousands of cases brought our
+people to their proper place in the social scale, but it is only too
+often the case that adverse circumstances compel the great bulk of them
+to have recourse to the hardest, the most precarious, and the worst paid
+employments to be found in the British labour market.
+
+In the large towns, in the poorer streets in which our people live, a
+stranger would be struck by the swarms of children, and of an evening,
+at the number of grown-up people sitting on the doorsteps of their
+wretched habitations. John Barry once told me that a friend of his
+asked one of these how they could live in such places? "Because," was
+the reply, "we live so much _out_ of them." The answer showed, at any
+rate, that their lot was borne cheerfully.
+
+Nevertheless, there are Irishmen too--men who know how to keep what they
+have earned--who, by degrees, get into the higher circles of the
+commercial world, so that I have seen among the merchant princes "on
+'Change" in Liverpool men who, themselves, or whose fathers before them,
+commenced life in the humblest avocations.
+
+Liverpool has, on the whole, been a "stony-hearted stepmother" to its
+Irish colony, which largely built its granite sea-walls, and for many
+years humbly did the laborious work on which the huge commerce of the
+port rested. But, perhaps, in years to come Liverpool will realise the
+value of the wealth of human brains and human hearts which it held for
+so long unregarded or despised in its midst.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+DISTINGUISHED IRISHMEN--"THE NATION" NEWSPAPER--"THE HIBERNIANS."
+
+
+I have met, as I have said elsewhere, most of the Irish political
+leaders of my time in Liverpool, but I will always remember with what
+pleasure I listened to a distinguished Irishman of another type, Samuel
+Lover, when he was travelling with an entertainment consisting of
+sketches from his own works and selections from his songs. Few men were
+more versatile than Lover, for he was a painter, musician, composer,
+novelist, poet, and dramatist. When I saw him in one of the public halls
+he sang his own songs, told his own stories, and was his own
+accompanist.
+
+His was one of a series of performances, very popular in Liverpool for
+many years, called the "Saturday Evening Concerts." He was a little man,
+with what might be called something of a "Frenchified" style about him,
+but having with it all a bright eye and thoroughly Irish face which,
+with all his bodily movements, displayed great animation. I can readily
+believe his biographers, who say he excelled in all the arts he
+cultivated, for his was a most charming entertainment.
+
+Lover undoubtedly had patriotism of a kind, and some of his songs show
+it. It certainly was not up to the mark of the "Young Irelanders," one
+of whom attacked him on one occasion, when he made the clever retort
+that "the fount from which _he_ drew his patriotism was a more genuine
+source than a fount of Irish type"--alluding to the plentiful use of the
+Gaelic characters in "The Spirit of the Nation," the world-famed
+collection of songs by the Young Ireland contributors to the "Nation"
+newspaper. There are passages in Lover's novel of "Rory O'More" and his
+"He Would be a Gentleman" that show he was a sincere lover of his
+country. I agree in the main with what the "Nation" said of him in
+1843--"Though he often fell into ludicrous exaggerations and burlesques
+in describing Irish life, there is a good national spirit running
+through the majority of his works, for which he has not received due
+credit."
+
+One of his stories, "Rory O'More," achieved universal popularity also as
+a play, a song and an air. In it there is a passage which, when I first
+read it, I looked upon as an exaggeration, and as somewhat reflecting
+upon the dignity of a great national movement like that of the United
+Irishmen. Lover brings his hero, Rory, into somewhat questionable
+surroundings in a Munster town--intended for Cork or some other
+seaport--to meet a French emissary. One would think that a struggle for
+the freedom of Ireland should be carried on amongst the most lofty
+surroundings. But I found in after life that the incidents described by
+Lover were not so exaggerated as might be supposed, for, as "necessity
+has no law," during a later revolutionary struggle we had often to meet
+in strange and unromantic places, as I shall describe later, for most
+important projects.
+
+Lover's wit was spontaneous, and bubbled over in his ordinary
+conversation with friends. An English lady friend, deeply interested in
+Ireland, once said to him--"I believe I was intended for an Irishwoman."
+Lover gallantly replied--"Cross over to Ireland and they will swear you
+were intended for an Irishman."
+
+A famous Irishman, whom I saw in Liverpool when I was a boy, was the
+Apostle of Temperance, Father Mathew.
+
+At this time he visited many centres of Irishmen in Great Britain, and
+administered the pledge of total abstinence from intoxicating drink to
+many thousands of his fellow-countrymen. In London alone over 70,000
+took the pledge. As in Ireland, this brought about a great social
+revolution. The temperance movement certainly helped O'Connell's Repeal
+agitation, which was in its full flood about this time.
+
+My remembrance of Father Mathew was that of a man of portly figure,
+rather under than above the middle height, with a handsome, pleasant
+face. He had a fine powerful voice, which could be heard at the furthest
+extremity of his gatherings, which often numbered several thousands. As
+he gave out the words of the pledge to abstain, with the Divine
+assistance, from all intoxicating liquors, he laid great emphasis on the
+word "liquors," pronouncing the last syllable of the word with almost
+exaggerated distinctness. After this he would go round the ring of those
+kneeling to take the pledge, and put round the neck of each the ribbon
+with the medal attached.
+
+I ought to remember his visit to Liverpool, for I took the pledge from
+him three times during his stay in the town.
+
+My mother took the whole family, and, wherever he was--at St. Patrick's,
+or in a great field on one side of Crown Street, or at St.
+Anthony's--there she was with her family. She was a woman with the
+strong Irish faith in the supernatural, and in the power of God and His
+Church, that can "move mountains." A younger brother of mine had a
+running in his foot which the doctors could not cure. She determined to
+take Bernard to Father Mathew and get him to lay his hands on her boy.
+
+At St. Patrick's, with her children kneeling around her, she asked the
+good Father to touch her son. He, no doubt thinking it would be
+presumptuous on his part to claim any supernatural gift, passed on
+without complying with her request. Father Mathew's next gathering was
+in the Crown Street fields. I was a boy of about nine years, attending
+Copperas Hill schools. Mr. Connolly, who was in charge, was a very good
+master, but there was nothing very Irish in his teaching. Some idea of
+this may be formed when I mention that--though there were not a dozen
+boys in the school who were not Irish or of Irish extraction--the first
+map of Ireland I ever saw was on the back of one of O'Connell's Repeal
+cards.
+
+It was not until the Christian Brothers came, a few years afterwards,
+that this was changed. I shall always be grateful to that noble body of
+men, not only for the religious but for the national training they gave.
+We had Brothers Thornton and Swan--the latter since the Superior of the
+Order in Ireland.
+
+Under them we not only had a good map of Ireland, but they taught us, in
+our geography lessons, the correct Irish pronunciation of the names of
+places, such as (spelling phonetically) "Carrawn Thooal," "Croogh
+Phaudhrig," and similar words.
+
+But our old master, Mr. Connolly, was a good man too, according to his
+lights. Hearing of Father Mathew's visit, he asked how many of the boys
+would go to Crown Street to "take the pledge"--their parents being
+willing? Out of some 250 boys there were about a dozen who did not hold
+up their hands.
+
+It is unnecessary for me to say that my mother was there again with her
+afflicted boy and the rest of her children, and again she pleaded in
+vain. She was a courageous woman, with great force of character--and a
+_third_ time she went to Father Mathew's gathering. This was in St.
+Anthony's chapel yard, and amongst the thousands there to hear him and
+to take the pledge she awaited her turn. Again she besought him to touch
+her boy's foot. He knew her again, and, deeply moved by her importunity
+and great faith he, at length, to her great joy, put his hand on my
+brother's foot and gave him his blessing. My mother's faith in the
+power of God, through His minister, was rewarded, for the foot was
+healed.
+
+I had an aunt--my mother's sister--married to a good patriotic Irishman,
+Hugh, or, as he was more generally called, Hughey, Roney, who kept a
+public house in Crosbie Street. The street is now gone, but it stood on
+part of what is now the goods station of the London & North Western
+Railway. Nearly all in Crosbie Street were from the West of Ireland,
+and, amongst them, there was scarcely anything but Irish spoken. I have
+often thought since of the splendid opportunity let slip by O'Connell
+and the Repealers in neglecting to revive, as they could so easily have
+then done, so strong a factor in nationality as the native tongue of our
+people. My Aunt Nancy could speak the Northern Irish fluently, and, in
+the course of her business, acquired the Connaught Irish and accent.
+
+After a time Hughey Roney retired, and the house was carried on by his
+daughter and her husband, John McArdle, a good, decent patriotic
+Irishman, much respected by his Connaught neighbours, though he was from
+the "Black North." It used to be a great treat to hear John McArdle, on
+a Sunday night, reading the "Nation," which then cost sixpence, and was,
+therefore, not so easily accessible, to an admiring audience, of whom I
+was sometimes one, and his son, John Francis McArdle, another. This
+younger McArdle, originally intended for the Church, became in after
+life a brilliant journalist, and was for a time on the staff of the
+"Nation," the teaching of which he had so early imbibed. The elder
+McArdle was a big, imposing looking man, with a voice to match, who gave
+the speeches of O'Connell and the other orators of Conciliation Hall
+with such effect that the applause was always given exactly in the right
+places, and with as much heartiness as if greeting the original
+speakers.
+
+After Father Mathew's visit, their trade fell away to such an extent
+that John McArdle, determined to hold his ground--while still keeping
+the public house open, though the business was all but gone--broke
+another door into the street, and made his parlour into a grocery and
+provision store. This enterprise on his part was only necessary for a
+short time, as the abnormal enthusiasm in the cause of temperance which,
+for the time being, had swept all before it, had subsided to such an
+extent that McArdle, after a time, turned the room to its original
+purpose, and was able to resume his readings from the "Nation" to
+admiring audiences, as heretofore.
+
+Yet, though so many fell away from their temporary exaltation, there
+were still large numbers who remained firm, and the lasting good from
+Father Mathew's work was undeniable.
+
+So popular was John McArdle's house, that it was used as one of the
+lodges of the Ancient Order of Hibernians--then very strong in
+Liverpool, and stout champions of country and creed. In regard to this
+organisation, I find in the "Irish World" of New York a high tribute
+paid to them by the Very Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, of the Catholic
+University of America. In his paper on "Hibernianism" he said there was
+a tradition in the Ancient Order that they first started in Ireland in
+the Penal days as a bodyguard to their poor parish priest when he said
+Mass in the open air. Anyone who has spent most of his life in England,
+as I have done, can well understand that this is not simply an effort of
+this good priest's imagination, for, over and over again I have seen the
+Hibernians among the first to come forward in defence of their priests
+and churches when these were threatened. In the course of his paper Dr.
+Shahan quoted a letter from the Brethren in Ireland, Scotland and
+England to the Brethren in New York. It sent instructions and authority
+to the few brothers in New York to establish branches of their Society
+in America.
+
+These were the qualifications laid down: Members must be Catholic and
+Irish, or of Irish descent. They must be of good moral character, and
+were not to join in any secret societies contrary to the laws of the
+Catholic Church. They were to exercise hospitality towards their
+emigrant brothers and to protect their emigrant sisters from all harm
+and temptation, so that they should still be known for their chastity
+all over the world. The members of the Order in America were to be at
+liberty to make laws for the welfare of the Society, but these must be
+in accord with the teaching of the Church, and their working must be
+submitted to a Catholic priest. The letter says--"We send you these
+instructions, as we promised to do, with a young man that works on the
+ship and who called on you before." Directing that a copy of the
+document should be sent to another friend, then working in
+Pennsylvania, the letter concluded--"Hoping the bearer and this copy
+will land safe and that you will treat him right, we remain your
+brothers in the true bond of friendship this 4th day of May, in the year
+of our Lord, 1837"--
+
+  "PATRICK M'GUIRE, County Fermanagh.
+  "JOHN REILLY, County Cavan.
+  "PATRICK M'KENNA, County Monaghan.
+  "JOHN DURKIN, County Mayo.
+  "PATRICK REILLY, County Derry.
+  "PATRICK DOYLE, County Sligo.
+  "JOHN FARRELL, County Meath.
+  "THOMAS O'RORKE, County Leitrim.
+  "JAMES M'MANUS, County Leitrim.
+  "JOHN M'MAHON, County Longford.
+  "PATRICK DUNN, County Tyrone
+  "PATRICK HAMILL, County Westmeath.
+  "DANIEL GALLAGHER, Glasgow.
+  "JOHN MURPHY, Liverpool."
+
+It will be noticed that of the twelve Irish counties represented above,
+six are in the province of Ulster, three in Connaught, and three in
+Leinster, so that the Hibernians appear to have had their stronghold in
+the Northern province and the adjoining counties in Connaught and
+Leinster. This is exactly as one might expect, seeing the necessity for
+a defensive organisation against the Orangemen of Ulster. The Order took
+deep root in Glasgow and Liverpool on account of the convenience of
+access by sea from Ireland to these cities.
+
+I was too young to have known John Murphy, who signed the letter for the
+Liverpool Hibernians, but, from what I knew of these afterwards, it is
+likely that he was a dock labourer. As I will show, these men, over and
+over again, to my own knowledge, gave splendid proofs of their courage
+and love of creed and country. Their love of learning, too, has been
+equal to that of their fathers in the days when our country was "The
+Island of Saints and Scholars." Some of these poor men may not have had
+much learning themselves, but they made great and noble sacrifices that
+their children should have it. I noted with interest in the Irish papers
+recently that the name of the Secretary of the Hibernian Order at the
+Bridge of Mayo, County Down, was "Brother Denvir."
+
+Our country sent over to Liverpool, besides sterling Nationalists, as
+bitter a colony of Irishmen--I suppose we can scarcely deny the name to
+men born in Ireland--as were, perhaps, to be found anywhere in the
+world. These were the Orangemen. If there was one place more obnoxious
+to them than another it was the club room of the Hibernians in Crosbie
+Street. But though in their frequent conflicts with the "Papishes" they
+wrecked houses and even killed several Irishmen--for they frequently
+used deadly weapons against unarmed Catholics--they were never able to
+make a successful attack on McArdle's. One of my earliest experiences
+was being on the spot on the occasion of a contemplated assault on the
+Hibernian club room on the day of an Orange anniversary. This was in
+1843.
+
+Parallel to Crosbie Street, where the club room was situated, was
+Blundell Street, where my uncle, Hughey Roney, lived in a house
+immediately behind McArdle's--the back door of the one house facing the
+back door of the other. This side of the street, with the whole of
+Crosbie Street, has long since been absorbed by the railway company
+before mentioned.
+
+I cannot imagine why my mother chose this particular day to take me to
+see our relatives, except it was the inveterate longing which her early
+surroundings and training had given her to assist at the "batin' of an
+Orangeman," or why I should have been the chosen one of the family to
+come, unless it was that she thought I was the one most after her own
+heart in her warlike propensities. However this may have been, there we
+were in the first-floor front room of my Uncle Hughey's. Every room,
+from cellar to garret, was crowded with stalwart dock labourers--at that
+time these were almost to a man Irish--prepared to support another
+contingent of Hibernians who garrisoned McArdle's in a similar manner.
+Hearing outside the cry--"he Orangemen!" I looked out of the window and
+up the street, and there, sure enough, was a strong body of them
+marching down, armed with guns, swords, and ship carpenters' hatchets.
+At once the word was passed to the contingent in Crosbie Street to be
+prepared to meet the threatened attack.
+
+Nearer and nearer the Orangemen came. They had got within some thirty
+yards of Roneys when, between them and the object of their attack, out
+of Simpson street, which at this point crosses Blundell Street at right
+angles, there intervened the head of a column of police, under the
+Liverpool Chief Constable, an Irishman, Michael James Whitty. There was
+a desperate engagement, but, notwithstanding their murderous weapons,
+the Orangemen were utterly routed, flying before the disciplined charge
+of the police, who freely used their batons on their retreating
+opponents.
+
+A few words about Michael James Whitty, who led the charge with right
+good will, may not be inappropriate here. Many years afterwards, when we
+were both engaged in the profession of journalism, I had the pleasure of
+making his acquaintance through my reviewing in the "Catholic Times" a
+very able book of his, a "Life of Robert Emmet." He asked Mr. Thomas
+Gregson, his private secretary, a friend of mine: Who had written this
+review? Upon hearing who it was, he asked Mr. Gregson to bring us
+together. When we met, he told me how pleased he was with my review, and
+that there was somebody on the "Catholic Times" who could appreciate his
+book.
+
+He became Chief Constable of Liverpool in 1828. About this time Messrs.
+Rockliffs published a weekly newspaper called the "Liverpool Journal,"
+which came into the hands of Mr. Whitty after he had resigned the office
+of head constable. An offshoot of the "Journal" was the "Daily Post,"
+which, in Mr. Whitty's hands was (and indeed has been ever since under
+the direction of Sir Edward Russell, who still holds the reins) a
+powerful organ of Liberalism. One of Whitty's sub-editors on the "Daily
+Post" was Stephen Joseph Meany, a somewhat prominent figure in the Young
+Ireland and Fenian movements.
+
+As showing the power of the Press, there is no doubt that Whitty and
+Meany, in the "Journal" and "Post," and through their influence
+otherwise, did much to secure recognition of a great Irish actor. This
+was Barry Sullivan, who was, I think, the finest tragedian I have ever
+seen. He is still remembered with appreciation by many in England, and,
+I am sure, in Ireland too.
+
+He was a patriotic Irishman, and once offered himself to our committee
+as a Nationalist candidate for the Parliamentary representation of
+Liverpool. This was in the days when it was a three-membered
+constituency. It was only the belief that the sacrifice which he thus
+offered to make for his country would have injured his career as an
+actor that prevented us from accepting his offer.
+
+In my boyhood a great feature in Liverpool was the annual procession of
+one or other of the local societies.
+
+The great Irish and Catholic procession, of which the Hibernians formed
+the largest contingent, was, of course, on St. Patrick's Day. A
+considerable portion of the processionists were dock labourers; a fine
+body of men, who were at this time, as I have already said, mostly
+Irish.
+
+The Orange processions in Liverpool were often the occasion of
+bloodshed, for in them they carried guns, hatchets, and other deadly
+weapons, as if they were always prepared for deeds of violence. The
+ship carpenters were the most numerous body in the Orange processions.
+Indeed, they formed such a large proportion that, by many, the 12th of
+July was called "Carpenter's Day." Shipbuilding used to flourish in
+Liverpool, and, as none of the firms engaged in it would take a Catholic
+apprentice, it was quite an Orange preserve. This became somewhat
+changed when the Chalenors, an English Catholic family, who were already
+extensive timber merchants, commenced ship-building, and, of course,
+took Catholic apprentices.
+
+The Orange ring was thus gradually broken up, and, as iron ships
+superseded wooden ones, ultimately the shipbuilding trade almost
+vanished from Liverpool. The ship carpenters, for the most part, found
+their occupation gone, and many of them ended their days in the
+workhouse.
+
+A further instance of the decline of rabid Orangeism might be cited. It
+was not an altogether uncommon thing for people to be fired at from the
+windows of Orange lodges. I see, according to the "Nation" of July 20th,
+1850, that "an innkeeper of Liverpool named Wright fired out of his
+house and wounded three people." In justification of this he stated that
+"a crowd of Ribbonmen assembled round his house." At one time there used
+to be a notorious Orange lodge held in a public house called "The Wheat
+Sheaf" in Scotland Road. The members of this body thought nothing of
+firing upon an unarmed and peaceable crowd from the windows, and I
+remember an Irishman being shot dead upon one of these occasions. The
+change that has taken place in this district can be best realized from
+the facts that, in after years, the landlord of "The Wheatsheaf" bore
+the name of Patrick Finegan, that, at the present moment, Scotland Road
+is, as it has been for many years, represented in the City Council by a
+sterling body of Irish Nationalists, and that the Scotland Division of
+the Borough of Liverpool is the _one_ place in Great Britain where an
+Irish Home Ruler, _as such_, can be returned to Parliament against all
+comers, as Mr. T.P. O'Connor has been, ever since the Division became a
+separate constituency.
+
+To return to the St. Patrick's Day processions. I used to look forward
+to them with delight in my childhood, and, even now, cannot help
+lingering lovingly on their memory. They were splendid displays, which I
+can remember much better than many things which occurred, so to speak,
+but yesterday.
+
+"Our street," which was close to Russell Street, Rodney Street, and
+other thoroughfares through which the procession passed, was by no means
+what you would call an Irish street. Indeed, the most influential man in
+it was a retired sea captain named Jamieson, who, if not an Orangeman
+"all out," was certainly at one time an Orange sympathiser. He and my
+mother often had political discussions, which usually ended in fierce
+quarrels, and when he would swear he would have us "run out of the
+street," she used to threaten to bring up the men from the docks and
+leave not a stone upon a stone of his house. Whether it was through his
+being impressed by her terrible earnestness as a member of the Church
+militant, or whatever else was the reason, Jamieson in the end became a
+Catholic, and died a most edifying death.
+
+Before his conversion, however, as well as after--Jamieson to the
+contrary notwithstanding--"our street" always took a lively and
+neighbourly interest in the St. Patrick's procession, and used to turn
+out to a man, to a baby it would, perhaps, be more correct to say, for
+was not one of the chief sights of the procession their decent
+neighbour, Timothy, or, as he was more generally called, "Thade"
+Crowley, the pork butcher, at the corner? There were splendid pictures
+and devices on the banners--I can see them all most vividly now--St.
+Patrick, Brian Bora, Sarsfield, O'Connell, the Irish Wolf Dog, with the
+motto "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked," and harps and
+shamrocks _galore_, but Thade Crowley was in all our eyes the finest
+figure in the procession.
+
+Among his greatest admirers were a Jewish family named Hyman, who lived
+next door to him. Though the Jews are supposed to hold what was
+Crowley's stock-in-trade in abomination, the two old ladies--Mrs.
+Crowley, who used to say she was of "Cork's own town and God's own
+people," and Mrs. Hyman, who came from Cork, too, though, needless to
+say, without a drop of Irish blood in her veins--were great cronies.
+
+As a consequence, the Hymans were among the most eager of the spectators
+to get the first glimpse of honest Thade Crowley as he walked in front
+of his own particular lodge of the Hibernians. He was a portly,
+well-built man, of ruddy complexion, and open, genial countenance. He
+wore buckskin breeches, top boots, green tabinet double-breasted
+waistcoat, bottle-green coat with brass buttons, and beaver hat. The
+Crowleys were very popular in the neighbourhood, as they never had but a
+kindly word for everybody.
+
+When I was a small boy, about 9 or 10 years old, I often listened with
+delight to Mrs. Crowley, who had a fluent tongue, expatiating on the
+glories of her native city--
+
+     By the pleasant waters of the River Lee.
+
+and I have heard her exclaiming, I at the time believing it most
+implicitly:
+
+"Sin, is it? Sure. I never heard of sin till I came to Liverpool;
+there's no sin in Cor-r-k!"
+
+And she rattled the "r" with a strong rising inflexion, greatly
+impressing me with the high character of Ireland and of Cork in
+particular.
+
+At that time I had never seen Ireland but as an infant at my mother's
+breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+IRELAND RE-VISITED.
+
+
+I was a boy of about 12 when I first re-visited Ireland; and, as the
+steamer entered Carlingford Lough, which to my mind almost equals
+Killarney's beauty--but that, perhaps, is a Northman's prejudice--with
+the noble range of the Mourne mountains on the one side and the
+Carlingford Hills on the other, it seemed to my young imagination like a
+glimpse of fairy land.
+
+Carlingford reminded me of what my old masters, the Christian Brothers,
+used to teach us, that those places ending in "ford" had at one time
+been Norse settlements. There is not the slightest trace, I should say,
+of people of Norse descent along this coast now, unless we accept the
+theory that would regard as such the descendants of the Norman De
+Courcy's followers, who can be recognised by their names, and are still
+to be found, side by side, and intermingling with those of the original
+Celtic children of the soil in the barony of Lecale. It is astonishing,
+by the way, how you still find in Ireland, after centuries of successive
+confiscations, the old names in their old tribal lands, mingled in
+places, as in Lecale, with the Norman names; the two races being now
+thoroughly amalgamated--as distinguished from the case of King James's
+Planters in Ulster, who, to this day are, as a rule, as distinct from
+the population amongst whom they live--whether of pure Celtic strain or
+with a Norman admixture--as when first they came.
+
+There was an idea in our family that I had a vocation for the
+priesthood, and I was being sent to my uncle, Father Michael O'Loughlin,
+parish priest of Dromgoolan, County Down, who placed me in charge of Mr.
+Johnson, a somewhat noted classical teacher in the neighbouring little
+town of Castlewellan.
+
+I have seen but little of Ireland, but during the few months I was here
+on this occasion I made the best use of my time. I could have had no
+better guide and preceptor than "Priest Mick," as my mother used to call
+my uncle. I imagine that the term "Priest," which, in the North of
+Ireland, was formerly so much used as a prefix to the name of the
+Catholic clergyman, must have arisen amongst those not of his own flock,
+and was probably not intended to have exactly a respectful meaning.
+
+Father Michael sometimes came to see his relatives in Liverpool, who
+were very numerous. He called them the "Tribe of Brian" (his father's
+name) and he made a point of visiting them all, down to the very latest
+arrival--indeed, I think he was the only one who knew the whole of the
+ramifications of "the Tribe."
+
+He used to say that his father--the aforesaid Brian--had one of the
+largest noses in the country. There was only another man, he said, who
+could approach him in that respect. If the two men met in a very narrow
+"loanan "--what they call a "boreen" in other parts of Ireland--the
+other man, who was a bit of a wag, would put his hand to his nose, and
+make a motion of putting it aside, as if there was not sufficient room
+for two such organs, and call out with a kind of snuffle: "Pass, Brian!"
+
+The late Mgr. O'Laverty, in his "History of the Dioceses of Down and
+Connor," says: "From a government official survey in 1766 there were
+fifteen families in Castlewellan, of whom two only (Hagans and
+O'Donnells) were Catholics." Up to that date there must have been,
+during this century, a considerable clearance of the Catholic population
+from the best land of this district, for I should say--judging from King
+James's Army List and other authorities--that the Magennises (who, with
+the MacCartans, were the chief territorial families of the old race in
+Down) still held land in the neighbourhood up to the end of the
+seventeenth century. As still further showing this, it will be found
+that "Eiver Magennis of Castlewellan" was one of the members for the
+County Down in what Thomas Davis truly describes as "The Patriot
+Parliament" of 1689.
+
+The learned historian of Down and Connor gives an interesting account of
+the only Norman colony of any extent in the province of Ulster. I have
+already spoken of this. Notwithstanding the very small Norman
+admixture, in the main the Catholics of the North are the most
+pure-blooded Celts in Ireland. And even in the case of Lecale, the
+original Celtic population intermingled with the descendants of the
+Norman settlers, who, like the older native population have ever
+remained true to the old faith. The preponderance of the Celtic element
+in the Catholics of Ulster must be overwhelming. What is called
+"Protestant Ulster" is practically a foreign importation, which the
+native population never absorbed, as they did the earlier invaders.
+
+Speaking of the Rev. Cornelius (or, as he was oftener called, Corney)
+Denvir, a relative of ours, who afterwards became Bishop of Down and
+Connor, Father O'Laverty says: "The Denvirs are a Norman race, brought
+to Lecale by De Courcy. The late bishop observed the name in several of
+the towns in Normandy."
+
+I only met Bishop Denvir once, when my father--who was his second
+cousin--took me to see him at the Grecian Hotel, Liverpool, when he was
+on his way either to or from Rome. I once, when a small boy, incurred my
+father's displeasure by criticising adversely (from what I had read in
+the "Nation") Dr. Denvir's support of what was called the "Bequest
+Bill." There were some strictures in the "Nation" on the favour shown to
+this Bill by three of the Irish Hierarchy, Archbishops Crolly and
+Murray, and Bishop Denvir. The last was a man of great learning. An
+edition of the Bible was published under his auspices by Sims and
+McIntyre, of Belfast.
+
+During my stay in Ireland, I lived in the house of my uncle, Owen (or
+Oiney, as he was commonly called) Bannon, in the townland of
+Ballymagenaghy, where my mother was born.
+
+No boy could have had a better object lesson in the part of Irish
+history embracing the Plantation of Ulster than Ballymagenaghy. It is
+eminently typical of the kind of rocky and barren land to which the
+children of the soil were driven--land which would hardly bear
+cultivation. I need scarcely say that the people were "Papishes" to a
+man.
+
+There was a hill behind my Uncle Oiney's house called Carraig
+(pronounced "Corrig"), in English "rock," and the name might well apply
+to most of the townland, in which the chief productions seemed to be
+stones and rocks. Carraig was a kind of shoulder of what I heard the
+people calling "My lord's mountain." This was part of Lord Annesley's
+domain, and separated from Carraig and several small farms by a wall,
+which ran down to a sheet of water at the foot--Castlewellan Lough. I,
+as a student of the "Nation," was not at all satisfied that an Irish
+mountain should be called by such a name, which spoke volumes for the
+state of serfdom into which the people had fallen. I was not long in
+finding the real name--Sliab na Slat (mountain of Rods).
+
+I often looked with admiration at the view from its highest point.
+Underneath, the side of the mountain was clothed with trees down to the
+edge of the lough, which mirrored the wooded eminences of exquisite
+beauty surrounding it. Looking eastward you could see Dundrum Bay and
+the white sails of the fishing boats.(They used to sing a mournful
+lament around the turf fires of Ballymagenaghy of "The loss of the
+Mourne Fishermen" in a great storm off this coast). Further off you
+might see an occasional large sailing vessel or steamer, and, further
+still, in the dim distance, you could just discern the Isle of Man.
+Southward the eye took in the noble range of the Mourne mountains,
+running from east to west, from where, at Newcastle, the Irish sea comes
+to kiss the foot of the lofty Slieve Donard, towering in majesty over
+all his fellows--rugged sentinels of the hills and vales of Down.
+
+Lying, as if nestling under the Mourne range, was a small, well-wooded
+hill, part of the domain of Lord Roden, who held high rank among the
+Orange ascendancy faction, and, as will be seen later, may be said to
+have held the lives and liberties of his Catholic fellow-countrymen in
+this district in his hands.
+
+In Ballymagenaghy I was oftener called by my mother's name than my
+father's. In those days, as often as not, when a girl got married she
+was still called by her friends by her maiden name. So, on the first
+Sunday after my arrival, when I was taken over to Leitrim chapel, where
+I served my uncle's Mass, I found myself referred to as "Peggy
+Loughlin's wee boy." It did not seem at all strange to me, for I
+scarcely ever heard her called by any other name. Indeed, some forty
+years afterwards--when I was organising for the Irish National
+League--I met a County Down man in Cumberland. He was, as I soon found,
+from "our own place," as they affectionately call it. He was trying to
+trace out what family I belonged to. At last he had it--"Oh" he said,
+"You would be a son of Margaret O'Loughlin?" I hesitated for moment,
+when Edward McConvey, the local organiser--a County Down man, too--who
+had introduced us, laughed heartily as he said: "Here's a quare man;
+doesn't know his own mother's name!" In fact, I had so seldom heard my
+mother called anything else but "Peggy" that the proper name sounded
+strange for the moment. Indeed, it had evidently taken our friend some
+time to remember the name of "Margaret," which he, no doubt, thought the
+more polite one to use in speaking of my mother.
+
+Her family did not generally use the prefix "O" in her younger days. It
+was only after her two brothers, Bernard and Michael, became priests,
+and always called and signed themselves "O'Loughlin," that the prefix
+was resumed. This is a common experience in other Irish families.
+
+Many of the small holdings in Ballymagenaghy would not support in
+anything approaching to comfort the large families with which the sturdy
+and industrious people were blessed. This was certainly the case with
+the Bannons, but they were not entirely dependent on the land they
+tilled, as several of the family were employed in weaving in a portion
+of the house, the looms being their own. I have often admired the
+beautiful damask table-cloths produced in the homes of these
+"mountainy" people, the webs, when finished, being taken to Banbridge,
+to the warehouses of the manufacturers, and the yarn and the patterns
+for the next lot being brought back on the return journey.
+
+I believe that these cottage industries no longer exist, and that the
+beautiful fabrics, for which our northern province is famous, are now
+produced by steam power in Banbridge and other Ulster towns.
+
+As the young men and boys of the Bannons worked at their looms, and the
+women and girls at their spinning and "flowering," when not wanted to
+help on the land, the father, Oiney, would occasionally go over to
+England as a travelling packman, and so increase the family store. I
+have known in late years other Ulstermen doing this--amongst others my
+old friend Bernard MacAnulty, of whom I shall have more to say later.
+
+I had often, at my home in Liverpool, heard of Irish hospitality. Here
+in Ballymagenaghy I had many practical illustrations of this in the way
+they treated the "poor man" or "poor woman" as they called them--they
+never called them beggars--who came to their doors. Indeed, it seemed
+to me that these had no occasion to _ask_ for help, for more than once I
+have seen a "poor woman" coming in with her bed upon her back, putting
+it down in the warmest corner behind the chimney breast, and making
+herself at home as a matter of course, without going through the
+formality of asking for a night's lodging.
+
+Of the enormous number of harvestmen who passed every year through
+Liverpool, except from the County Donegal, there were not so many from
+the northern province. The majority were from Connaught. They generally
+landed at the Clarence Dock, Liverpool, a wiry, hardy-looking lot, with
+frieze coats, corduroy breeches, clean white shirts with high collars,
+and blackthorn sticks. I have seen them filling the breadth of Prescot
+Street, as they left the town, marching up like an army on foot to the
+various parts of England they were bound for. This was before special
+cheap trains were run for harvestmen.
+
+At night, in my Irish mountain home, after I had prepared my Latin
+lessons for the following day, and my uncle, aunt, and cousins had left
+off work, I joined with great enjoyment in the family group around the
+turf fire, and listened with rapt attention to songs and stories; my
+favourite among the latter being the adventures of Barney Henvey among
+the fairies in the old rath, or "forth," as they called it, of
+Ballymagenaghy.
+
+I may say that, up to this moment, I have a certain liking for such
+stories--of course _as_ fairy stories. But, being a boy of enquiring
+mind, I wanted to get at the whole theory of the existence of these
+beings, and, accordingly, this is what I gathered as to the origin,
+present existence, and future state of the "good people," as they called
+them. In "The Irish Fairy Legends," a number of my "Penny Irish
+Library," I find I have dealt with the subject. As the passage gives the
+explanation I got at my uncle Oiney's more correctly than I can trust
+to my memory to give it now, after a lapse of some sixty years, I may be
+excused for giving the following extract:--
+
+     The belief is that, in the great rebellion of Lucifer, of the
+     spirits who fell from heaven, some, not so guilty as those who
+     "went further and fared worse," fell upon our earth, and into the
+     air and water that surround it. These are the _Fairies_, who have
+     their various dispositions, like mortals, and like them, at the day
+     of judgment, will be rewarded or punished according to their
+     deserts.
+
+In the "Fairy Legends" I have also given the story of "Barney Henvey"
+mentioned above. There is something like it in the "Ingoldsby Legends,"
+and, no doubt, in the fairy mythologies of other nations, but my story
+is of Irish origin. Heaven only knows through how many ages it has been
+handed down to us. It is one of the fairy stories my mother and
+grandmother used to tell us as long ago as I can remember. I have a
+little grandson who, when smaller, used sometimes to insist when put to
+bed after he had said his "lying-down prayers," upon hearing "Barney
+Henvey" before he went to sleep; and so it will, no doubt, go on, and
+such stories may be told in ages to come, not only in Ireland--"A Nation
+once again"--but in every settlement of the Clan-na-Gael throughout the
+world.
+
+Friends and neighbours would come to my uncle Oiney's from beside
+Castlewellan Lough, and over from Dolly's Brae and Ballymagrehan, who,
+after the day's work, enjoyed going "a cailey." I hope my Gaelic League
+friends will forgive me if I don't give the correct sound of this word,
+but that is my remembrance of how they pronounced it some sixty years
+ago in the County Down.
+
+Sometimes at our little gatherings, the "wee boy from England," as the
+neighbours called me, would be asked to read from the "Nation" a speech
+of the Liberator--the title his countrymen gave O'Connell after Catholic
+emancipation. I was always delighted with this; entering as fully and
+enthusiastically into the spirit of what I read as any of the company.
+
+As often as not, in Ballymagenaghy there would be sung, to the
+accompaniment of fiddle, flute or clarionet, one of those stirring songs
+which, week after week, appeared about this time in the "Nation" from
+the pens of Thomas Davis, and the brilliant young men in O'Connell's
+movement known as the "Young Irelanders "--songs "racy of the soil,"
+like the "Nation" itself, which stirred the hearts of the Irish race
+like the blast of a trumpet, songs which are still sung by Irish
+Nationalists the world over.
+
+On the Sundays, the Bannons and their next neighbours, the Finegans,
+MacCartans, and MacKays, with their fiddles, flutes, and clarionets,
+supplied the chief part of the instrumental music of the choir--for
+there was no organ--at the little mountain chapel at Leitrim, where my
+uncle, Father Michael, officiated. The happy remembrances of those
+Sundays of my boyhood are always brought back to me whenever I read
+T.D. Sullivan's "Dear Old Ireland," which is equally characteristic of
+this corner of the "black North" as of the raciest part of Munster--more
+especially where he sings:--
+
+  And happy and bright are the groups that pass
+    From their peaceful homes for miles,
+  O'er fields, and roads, and hills to Mass,
+    When Sunday morning smiles;
+      And deep the zeal their true hearts feel
+        When low they kneel and pray!
+          Oh, dear old Ireland!
+          Blest old Ireland!
+        Ireland, boys, hurrah!
+
+But nothing excited my boyish enthusiasm more than the stories of the
+Insurrection of 1798. I was too young to understand much of what my
+grandmother used to tell us about these times before she died. My mother
+was born in 1799, and was the youngest daughter of her family, but her
+eldest sister, my Aunt Mary, wife of Oiny Bannon, was 12 or 14 years old
+at the time of the Rising, and could describe more vividly what she saw
+connected with it than I can now recall incidents in the Repeal and
+Young Ireland Movements.
+
+Listening to her, I could almost fancy I could see my grandfather, Brian
+O'Loughlin, leaving his home with the other Ballymagenaghy men, with
+their pikes and such guns as they could muster, to join the United Irish
+forces previous to the battles of Saintfield and Ballinahinch. At the
+time of my visit to my mother's birthplace, my grandfather's house was
+in the occupation of the family of his youngest son, Edward, and, as a
+pilgrim visiting a sacred spot, I have stood on its floor, as I
+afterwards did on the field of Ballinahinch itself.
+
+My Aunt Mary used to speak of an incident which I have never read of in
+any account of the battle, but I am inclined to believe there was some
+foundation for what she used to tell us. In one part of the engagement
+it seemed as if the bravery of the insurgents would have been crowned
+with a victory as decisive as they had gained at Saintfield, when, by
+some untoward circumstance, the fortunes of the day turned, and, in the
+end, the United Men were defeated. Perhaps what my Aunt Mary told me may
+be some explanation of the turn in the tide of battle. She used to say
+that when it looked as if the United Men were carrying all before them,
+a portion of their forces called out for a "Presbyterian ('Prispatairan'
+she used to call it) Government," that this caused some hesitation among
+the Catholics, that after this the battle went against them, and that
+the day ended in disaster.
+
+The story seems somewhat improbable, as it might be asked how, in the
+excitement of a battle, men of one religion could be distinguished from
+those of another? But this will not seem so unlikely if the
+circumstances arising out of the Ulster Plantation of King James I. be
+remembered. As a consequence of this you will find townlands and
+parishes and whole districts, where the soil is poorest, where the
+people are almost exclusively Catholic, and others where the
+non-Catholic population are in an overwhelming majority. In the United
+forces the men of each locality would have been drilled and trained
+together, and, in the same way would, no doubt, act together on the
+field of battle, so that, without any actual arrangement for that
+purpose, the Catholic or the Presbyterian would, most likely, find
+himself among his own co-religionists.
+
+It is wonderful how the memories of '98 were handed down from one
+generation to another, not only in Ireland, but wherever our people have
+made their homes.
+
+This has been brought home to me in the most forcible possible manner by
+a circumstance which has come to my knowledge only a few months
+since--so to speak--after a lapse of over a hundred years.
+
+This is that General James William Denver--after whom, for his
+distinguished career, the capital of the State of Colorado was called
+Denver City--had for his grandfather Patrick Denvir, who did a man's
+share in the insurrection of '98, and, for his connection with it, had
+to fly from his native Down to America.
+
+This information I had from General Denver's daughter, replying on
+behalf of her brother, to whom I had written to find if the family were
+of Irish origin. I had some doubt about this, seeing that they spell
+their name with an "e" in the last syllable, whereas we and all of the
+name in the County Down use an "i." The lady's letter was not only
+interesting but most welcome, as showing that they were not only of
+Irish but of patriotic origin. They evidently continue to take an
+interest in the land from which they have sprung, for the lady made
+some enquiries about the late Bishop Denvir, of whom I have already
+spoken.
+
+Most of the United Irish leaders and a large proportion of the rank and
+file in the '98 Rising were Presbyterians, and fought and bled for
+Ireland with the same heroism as their Catholic neighbours, amongst whom
+no name is more cherished in the County Down than that of the Protestant
+General Monroe, who, my Aunt Mary used to tell us, was hanged at his own
+door in 1798. How is it that the sons of the men of 1782 and of
+Grattan's Parliament, and of 1798 were not as good Irishmen as their
+fathers? I think I can give a kind of explanation.
+
+It must be remembered that the era of Grattan's Parliament and of the
+Volunteer movement of 1782, of which present-day Nationalists are so
+proud, was also the era of the Penal laws. Since then the Protestants
+have seen the Irish Catholic rising from the dust of serfdom and
+standing in the attitude of manhood. They have seen him gradually
+obtaining a share in the making of the laws of the land, and, naturally,
+becoming the predominant political power in Ireland--the Catholics being
+the majority of the population. I may be wrong, but I have a theory that
+many of the Protestants of Ireland--who once had all the political power
+in their hands, and did not always use it too mercifully in their
+treatment of the rest of their countrymen--are afraid that if they
+assisted in getting self-government for Ireland the power in the hands
+of the enfranchised majority might be used against them.
+
+That this is a groundless fear is shown from the fact that no men have
+been more honoured in Ireland than such Protestant leaders as William
+Smith O'Brien, Thomas Davis, John Mitchel, John Martin, Isaac Butt, and
+Charles Stewart Parnell. The same feeling is constantly shown at this
+moment towards distinguished Protestants among the present Irish
+Parliamentary Party.
+
+What has fostered the Anti-Irish feeling among Irish Protestants for the
+last hundred years has undoubtedly been the fell system of Orangeism,
+which has caused so much hatred and bloodshed among men who, whatever
+their race or creed, are now children of the one common soil. The
+Orangeman looked upon himself as part of a foreign garrison, holding the
+"Papishes" in subjection. He was armed with deadly weapons;
+consequently, the defenceless Catholic was almost entirely at his mercy,
+and the Orangeman was but too often backed up in his lawlessness by the
+law and its administrators.
+
+This almost necessitated the existence, as a kind of defence against
+Orangeism, of a body I used to hear them speaking of when I was a boy in
+Ballymagenaghy, called the "Thrashers," which, I imagine, must have been
+some kind of a secret society.
+
+It must have been a sort of survival of these "Thrashers" that my
+friend, Michael Davitt, many years afterwards, came across somewhere in
+the North of England. The incident, as described by him, was both
+amusing and saddening. He addressed them in his capacity as a Fenian
+Organiser. After they had heard him patiently, an old man, the
+spokesman, said:
+
+"Tell me--do you have Prodestans in this Society of yours?"
+
+"Certainly," Davitt answered. "We invite all Irishmen."
+
+"Then we'll have nothing to do with yez!"
+
+As my Aunt Mary could relate thrilling stories of '98, so could my own
+mother tell me all about the savagery of Orangemen in her days. She used
+to describe to me the attempts of an Orange procession to pass through
+Dolly's Brae, when she was a young girl, before she left Ireland.
+Dolly's Brae is a kind of rugged defile through which passes the road
+from the town of Castlewellan, which, running westward, divides the
+townlands of Ballymagenaghy and Ballymagrehan. It is an entirely
+Catholic district, and not at all on the ordinary route by which the
+processionists would reach their homes. Yet, in a spirit of aggression,
+and well-armed, as usual, with Orange banners waving, drums beating, and
+bands playing "Croppies lie down," "The Boyne Water," and similar airs,
+this was the district they sought to march through.
+
+It so happened that the proposed hostile parade was not altogether
+unexpected. In any case, their approach was heralded by the firing over
+"Papish" houses, as the processionists came towards Dolly's Brae. From
+the heights above they were seen--my mother being one of the
+watchers--in sufficient time to have the people of the immediate
+neighbourhood warned of the threatened Orange incursion.
+
+The defenders of Dolly's Brae had no firearms, as their opponents had,
+but they gathered up any weapons they could to repel the invaders. The
+Orangemen came on, expecting an easy victory. They had got well into the
+defile, and were firing at their opponents, who were in sight before
+them at some distance on the road, and into the houses on each side,
+when they were thrown into confusion by a storm of large stones and
+pieces of rock hurled down the steep sides of the defile upon them by
+assailants who had been up till then invisible.
+
+According to the description of my mother, who was always a militant
+Catholic of the most orthodox description, and a strong physical force
+Irishwoman as well, the Dolly's Brae engagement must have borne some
+resemblance to the battle of Limerick, as described by Thomas Davis:--
+
+  "The women fought before the men;
+  Each man became a match for ten;
+  So back they pushed the villains then
+    From the city of Luimneach Lionnglas".
+
+She ought to know, for she was in the thick of the fight. The confusion
+of the Orangemen was turned into a complete rout, and they fled, leaving
+their banners and other trophies in the hands of the mountainy men.
+
+For many years the Orangemen never attempted to go near the place, but,
+with the connivance and active aid of the guardians of the peace, they
+did at last, many years afterwards, appear on the scene again. The
+Orange anniversary was celebrated at Tollymore Park, the seat of Lord
+Roden, who was a sort of Orange deity at the time. Tollymore Park is
+some four or five miles south-east of Dolly's Brae, which is in the
+heart of the Catholic district, and, as I have said, far out of the
+direct road of the Orangemen returning to their own homes.
+
+Yet they deliberately took this route. They were a formidable body, well
+armed with guns. At their head was one Beers, the agent of Lord Roden,
+and a magistrate who, for the "protection" of the Orangemen, had under
+his command a strong body of the constabulary and a detachment of
+soldiers. The ordinary Englishman, who knows the police as they are in
+his country as the guardians of the public peace, must not confound them
+with those in Ireland. The Irish constabulary are simply the permanent
+British army of occupation, well armed and drilled, and, physically, as
+fine a body of men as any in the world. These were the forces under the
+command of Lord Roden's agent, for the invasion, for such it was, of a
+peaceful Catholic district.
+
+When the people sought to defend themselves from this invasion as best
+they could, Beers, in his capacity as a magistrate, gave the police and
+soldiers under his command the order to fire--which they did--upon the
+people and into their houses. Consequently, what followed was nothing
+short of a butchery, under cover of which the Orangemen wrecked the
+Catholic houses in the glen.
+
+I shall never forget the grief of my mother, at this time residing in
+Liverpool, at reading in the newspapers the names of the victims who
+had been murdered outright or wounded. They were all her next door
+neighbours "at home"--people she had known from childhood.
+
+The horrible outrage roused universal indignation. In Parliament the
+Irish members demanded a full official enquiry as to how this murderous
+business came to be carried out by a Government official. As a result
+Lord Roden and his agent were deprived of the Commission of the
+Peace--their offence was too glaring to be entirely overlooked. But to
+the friends of those who had been legally murdered, and the innocent
+people whose houses had been wrecked, this was a cruel mockery. Had the
+criminals been Catholic peasants, they would have been put upon their
+trial for their lives, and, at the very least, sent into penal
+servitude. What confidence could the Catholics of Ulster have in the
+administration of the law, knowing, as they did, that even where they
+were more than able to hold their own against the Orangemen, they were
+sure to be sufferers in the long run, seeing that their opponents would
+be backed up by the forces that should go to preserve law and order.
+
+It is thirty-five years since I last re-visited the County Down. I took
+my son with me. He was nearly of the same age as I was myself when I
+lived in Ballymagenaghy, but I could only show him the site of Oiney
+Bannon's house. It was not the too common case of an eviction, for the
+Annesleys had the reputation of being tolerably good landlords. The
+land, as I have said, was very poor, in fact, if the people got it for
+nothing it would hardly repay cultivation. But it was picturesque, and
+therefore Lord Annesley took some of it into his domain, and these
+barren hills and rocks, when planted with trees, added to the beauty of
+the scenery. The dispossessed tenants got land from him in Clarkhill,
+not far off.
+
+Since that time, judging from the Irish newspapers, there seems to have
+been progress in the right direction, for the little town of
+Castlewellan, where for a short time I went to school, from being a
+place where, in the Penal days, a Catholic was scarcely allowed to live,
+seems to have become a strong Nationalist centre for South Down. This
+was my mother's part of the country. I have seen similar paragraphs
+which proved to me that, in the barony of Lecale, County Down, my
+father's part, the people, though not so demonstrative as the "mountainy
+men," can still, as ever, be relied upon to stand as firm as Slieve
+Donard itself for creed and country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+O'CONNELL IN LIVERPOOL--TERENCE BELLEW MACMANUS AND THE REPEAL HALL--THE
+GREAT IRISH FAMINE.
+
+
+O'Connell, when passing through Liverpool on his way to Parliament,
+always made the Adelphi Hotel his headquarters, and used to hear Mass
+not far off at the Church of St. Nicholas, or, as it was more generally
+called, "Copperas Hill Chapel," where I used to serve as an altar boy. I
+must have been a very small boy at the time when I first remember the
+Liberator coming to Mass at our Church, for, on one occasion, on
+stretching up to the altar to remove the Missal it was so difficult for
+me to reach that I let it fall over my head.
+
+Without being by any means what is termed a "votheen," O'Connell was a
+faithful and devout son of the Catholic Church. During the many years
+when he was passing through Liverpool, going to and returning from
+Parliament, and on other occasions when he came to Irish gatherings in
+the town, he attended Mass daily whenever possible, and frequently
+approached Holy Communion.
+
+O'Connell spoke several times from the balcony of the Adelphi Hotel.
+From my earliest days I was an earnest politician, and one of my most
+cherished remembrances is of having been brought by my father to one of
+these gatherings. The Liberator addressed a great multitude, who filled
+the whole square in front, and overflowed into the adjoining streets. My
+recollection of him on this occasion is that of a big man, in a long
+cloak, wearing what appeared to me some kind of a cap with a gold band
+on it. This must have been the famous "Repeal Cap" designed by the Irish
+sculptor, Hogan, who, when investing O'Connell with it at the great
+gathering at Mullaghmast, said: "Sir, I only regret this cap is not of
+gold."
+
+As in our later Irish movements, we frequently had meetings in one or
+other of the Liverpool theatres. O'Connell was, as often as his
+attendance could be secured, the central figure, and drew enormous
+gatherings. At one of these meetings at the Royal Amphitheatre there was
+an attempt by an armed body of Orangemen to storm the platform, on which
+were all our leading Irishmen. Among the most active of these was
+Terence Bellew MacManus, who had all his lifetime been a devoted
+follower and admirer of O'Connell. On this particular night, which was
+long before the unfortunate split into "Old Ireland" and "Young
+Ireland," he had a fine opportunity of displaying his "physical force"
+proclivities in defence of the "moral force" leader.
+
+The Orange attack was of short duration. They were simply cleared out as
+if by an irresistible whirlwind. We have always been able to hold our
+own in Liverpool, when it came to physical encounters against all
+comers. We have generally had some organisation or another--whether
+constitutional or unconstitutional--but, apart from this, the nature of
+the employment of our working-men, especially in O'Connell's time,
+brought them together in such a way that large numbers of them knew each
+other, and could act together in case of emergency.
+
+MacManus, who had command of the stewards on the night of the attack,
+knew a number of men like Mick Digney, who was what was called a
+"lumper"--that is, a contractor in a small way who took work in the
+"lump" and employed men for loading and unloading ships. Digney and
+other friends would find their way for consultation and the making of
+the necessary arrangements beforehand on occasions like this to
+MacManus, whose place of business--he was an extensive forwarding
+agent--was one of those half-offices, half-warehouses, which used to be
+in North John Street.
+
+Another class of men who were reliable for such occasions were the
+bricklayers' labourers. Of course, it is different now--and a sure sign
+that our people are rising in the social scale--but in those years, and
+long afterwards, I never knew a bricklayers' labourer who was not an
+Irishman.
+
+The frequent mention at these gatherings of a sterling Irishman I knew
+well in after years, Patrick O'Hanlon, reminds me of two friends of my
+father of the same name who belonged to another class of men, the
+wood-sawyers, who, at that time, were mostly Irish. They had not
+exactly the same name as Patrick, for it was not so customary to use the
+O' or Mac in those days as it has since become. Not that Hughey and Ned
+Hanlon did not know that they were entitled to the honourable Gaelic
+prefix, but, with the good nature which is rather too characteristic of
+Irishmen sometimes, those who had preceded them had allowed other people
+to drop the O' in using their name, until it became rather difficult to
+resume it.
+
+Needless to say that Hughey and Ned Hanlon, John Green, Mike Doolan, and
+other wood-sawyers were at the Royal Amphitheatre among MacManus's
+volunteers. The Hanlons, in particular, were fine lathy men, without an
+ounce of spare flesh, but they had sinews of iron. Hughey used to come
+to our house with other neighbours every week to hear the "Nation" read,
+and the songs in it sung to the accompaniment of Harry Starkey's or my
+Uncle John's fiddle. The Hanlons were North of Ireland men, and Hughey
+often used to proudly tell us that the O'Hanlons were the Ulster
+standard-bearers.
+
+At that time, besides the Amphitheatre, where during those years several
+Irish demonstrations were held, a popular place for our gatherings was
+the Adelphi Theatre (previously the "Queen's"), which was in somewhat
+better standing then than afterwards, though it, too, has had within its
+walls most of the Irish leaders of the last half century.
+
+I remember one occasion in particular when O'Connell was, of course, the
+hero of the day, which impressed itself upon my youthful mind the more
+forcibly on account of the presence on the platform of Jack Langan--of
+whom I have already spoken--a warm-hearted and generous supporter of the
+great Dan, and the Cause of Repeal. Indeed, we boys regarded the Irish
+champion boxer with the admiration we would have bestowed upon Finn
+MacCool or some other of the ancient Fenians, could they have appeared
+in bodily form amongst us.
+
+Little we then thought that we should be welcoming on the same platform
+the Fenians of our own days.
+
+That meeting in the Adelphi has also been frequently brought back to my
+mind since, because for a long time the "leading man" in the stock
+company at that theatre was Edmond O'Rourke (stage name Falconer), a
+sterling Nationalist, with whom I made a closer acquaintance in later
+years.
+
+I was often brought by my father to the weekly gatherings in the Repeal
+Hall, Paradise Street, where, among the speakers on the Sunday nights I
+can best remember were Terence Bellew MacManus, Patrick O'Hanlon, Dr.
+Reynolds, George Smyth, and George Archdeacon.
+
+MacManus and Smyth (the latter of whom I knew well in after years),
+besides being prominent workers in O'Connell's agitation for Repeal of
+the Union between Ireland and Great Britain, took active parts in the
+"Young Ireland" movement. Dr. Reynolds was another of the Young
+Irelanders. So also was Archdeacon, who, in addition, still showed his
+belief in physical force by his connection with Fenianism, for which he
+suffered imprisonment.
+
+Young as I was, I shall never forget the days of the Famine, for
+Liverpool, more than any other place outside of Ireland itself, felt its
+appalling effects. It was the main artery through which the flying
+people poured to escape from what seemed a doomed land. Many thousands
+could get no further, and the condition of the already overcrowded parts
+of the town in which our people lived became terrible, for the wretched
+people brought with them the dreaded Famine Fever, and Liverpool became
+a plague-stricken city. Never was heroism greater than was shown by the
+devoted priests--English as well as Irish--in ministering to the sick
+and dying. So terrible was the mortality amongst them that several of
+the churches lost their priests twice over. Our own family were nearly
+left orphans, for both father and mother were stricken down by the
+fever, but happily recovered.
+
+It will not be wondered at that one who saw these things, even though he
+was only a boy, should feel it a duty stronger than life itself to
+reverse the system of misgovernment which was responsible.
+
+There was, no doubt, a good deal of English sympathy for the
+famine-stricken people, and there were some remedial measures by
+Parliament--totally inadequate, however, but I am afraid that the
+"Times" and "Punch," two great organs of public opinion, but too
+faithfully represented the feelings of many of our rulers. The "Times"
+actually gloated over what appeared to be the impending extinction of
+our race. Young as I then was, but learning my weekly lessons from the
+"Nation," I can remember how my blood boiled one day when I saw in a
+shop window a cartoon of "Punch"--a large potato, which was a caricature
+of O'Connell's head and face, with the title--"The Real Potato Blight."
+
+At the time of the Rising of 1848 I was commencing my apprenticeship
+with a firm of builders, who were also my father's employers. They were
+successors to the firm through whose agency he had been sent to Ireland
+as clerk of the works, just previous to my birth there. It was the
+custom of the firm, when a boy came to commence his apprenticeship to be
+a joiner, to keep him in the office for a time as office boy. I was
+employed in the office at the time of the Rising, but one of the
+partners in this firm of builders, who was also an architect, seeing
+that I had had a good education, and, through attending evening classes
+at the Catholic Institute and Liverpool Institute, had a considerable
+knowledge of mathematics and architectural drawing, gave me employment
+which was more profitable to the firm and congenial to me than that of
+an ordinary office boy or junior clerk. Besides helping in the ordinary
+clerical work in the office, I was put to copying and making tracings of
+ground plans, elevations and sections of buildings, and working drawings
+for the use of the artizans, besides assisting in surveying. I was about
+three years employed in this way before entering into the joiners'
+workshop. The firm was most anxious that I should remain in the office
+altogether, and I have often thought since that my father made a
+mistake in insisting that I should learn the trade of a joiner, which
+he considered a more certain living than that of an architect or
+draughtsman, unless one had influential connections.
+
+It was from the upper window of the office where I was at the work I
+have described that I could see the men belonging to our firm drilling
+as special constables in the school yard opposite, in anticipation of
+trouble in connection with an Irish Rising.
+
+The authorities were evidently preparing for a formidable outbreak in
+Liverpool, for there was a large military camp at Everton--a suburb of
+the city--and three gunboats in the river ready for action, in case any
+part of the town fell into the hands of the Irish Confederates. Special
+constables, as in the case of our own firm, were being sworn in all over
+the town, and the larger firms were putting pressure upon their
+employees to be enrolled. Indeed, some 500 dock labourers were
+discharged because they would not be sworn in. My father declined to be
+a special constable, but suffered no further from this than becoming a
+suspect--his services being too valuable to be dispensed with by his
+employers.
+
+He was a genuinely patriotic Irishman, steadfast in his political creed,
+though unostentatious in his professions, being more a man of action
+than of words. My mother, as I think I have already sufficiently
+indicated, was, on the other hand, more demonstrative. I think she must
+have had a positive genius for conspiracy. Whatever the movement was she
+must have a hand in it. On one occasion--I forget exactly what it
+was--some compromising documents had to be got out of the way for the
+time being. In those days sloops used to come over from Ireland with
+potatoes, and the cargoes used to be sold on the quay at the King's
+Dock. She often bought a load of potatoes here to supply a small general
+shop which she kept to help out my father's earnings. It was under such
+a load of potatoes that she had brought home that she concealed the
+dangerous documents.
+
+It was in June, 1848, in the columns of the "Nation" that I first met
+with the name of Bernard MacAnulty. In after years I worked in
+successive national movements with him, and ever found him a dear friend
+and most active and enthusiastic colleague. As showing that he was a man
+of advanced proclivities, I may mention that he wrote to the "Nation"
+suggesting the formation of the "Felon Repeal Club" in
+Newcastle-on-Tyne. From then up to the last day of his life he was the
+same generous whole-souled Irishman he had been from the beginning. His
+stalwart frame and pleasant, genial face were well known during the
+whole of the Home Rule movement, in which I was thrown into frequent
+contact with him, when we were both members of the Executive of the Home
+Rule Confederation of Great Britain.
+
+He was a North man, from the County Down, a successful merchant--having
+started life as a packman--in Newcastle-on-Tyne, and so won the respect
+of all classes that he was elected a member of the Town Council, in
+which he served with great credit. The northern Catholic, who is so
+often a pure Celt, is sometimes credited with having acquired some of
+the qualities of his Presbyterian neighbours of Lowland Scots
+extraction. But this is only on the surface, and Bernard MacAnulty was a
+typical example of this. No braver or more generous Irishman ever
+breathed, and he had a fund of humour which would have done credit to
+the quickest-witted Connaughtman or Munsterman that ever lived. Though
+the Ulster accent is generally regarded as a hard one, I never thought
+it was so with my friend. Perhaps this is owing to my partiality as a
+County Down man, which, though born in Antrim, I always consider myself,
+Down being the native place of my people from time immemorial. I have
+always thought that the people born and reared, as Bernard was, among
+the Mourne Mountains and their surroundings have anything but an
+unmusical accent.
+
+In connection with the Fenian movement my dear old friend was a strong,
+active, and generous sympathiser. His purse was always available for
+every good National object, whether "legal" or "illegal," and I know as
+a fact that many a good fellow "on the run" found shelter under his
+roof, and never went away empty-handed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE "NO-POPERY" MANIA--THE TENANT LEAGUE--THE CURRAGH CAMP.
+
+
+The restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy, September 29th, 1850, brought
+on what appeared to us one of John Bull's periodical fits of lunacy. I
+witnessed many scenes of mob violence at the time, when, in deference to
+the prevailing bigotry in opposing what they termed "Papal Aggression" a
+part of the Penal Laws were revived in Lord John Russell's
+Ecclesiastical Titles Act. In due course John got over his paroxysm, and
+the Act was repealed.
+
+But for a time the storm of bigotry raged fiercely, and, as the
+following incident will show, while the mania lasted even the police
+were not entirely free from it.
+
+The site of the noble Gothic edifice, Holy Cross Church, Great Crosshall
+Street, Liverpool, was, at this time, occupied by a ramshackle place
+made into a temporary chapel out of a number of old houses. It was so
+constructed that from any part you could see the altar, if you could not
+always hear Mass.
+
+This was not, however, an unusual thing in Liverpool in the old days,
+particularly in the Famine years, when our panic-stricken people came
+into Liverpool like the wreck of a routed army.
+
+The chief feature of the old Holy Cross Chapel was a long narrow flight
+of stairs, leading from Standish Street, the side street off Great
+Crosshall Street, up to a higher part of the building which served the
+purpose of a gallery.
+
+The famous Dr. Cahill came to Holy Cross to preach, and every part of
+the building was crowded to suffocation. In the middle of the sermon an
+alarm was raised of a broken beam or something of the kind, and the
+people commenced to rush down the narrow stairs in a state of panic.
+
+Such of them as could crush their way out, instead of being assisted,
+were set upon and assaulted with their batons by several policemen, who
+were in the street outside. So great was the indignation in the town,
+that a public inquiry was held, and it was proved that the police not
+only brutally struck men, women and children, but even a blind man who
+was trying to grope his way out. They also used foul expressions about
+"Popery" and the "bloody Papists," and it was afterwards proved that
+these very men had themselves raised the alarm, apparently to get an
+excuse for breaking the heads of the unfortunate people. An honest
+police official, whose duty it afterwards became to make a report of
+what had occurred, came upon the scene, and did what he could to stop
+the brutality.
+
+When Dowling, the head constable, came to the police office next
+morning, and saw the official report in the book kept for the purpose,
+he caused the leaf containing it to be torn out, and another report by
+one Sergeant Tomlinson to be substituted for it. Mr. Mansfield, the
+stipendiary magistrate, who conducted the inquiry, denounced Dowling and
+Tomlinson for what he called "the disgraceful and discreditable
+suppression of the report which," he added, "was no doubt true. He had
+never heard of more disgraceful proceedings in his life."
+
+Pending a fuller investigation, the police office books were impounded,
+and, as a result of the inquiry, several of the police were suspended.
+Dowling was dismissed from his post as head constable of Liverpool, and
+lost a retiring pension which, if all had been well with him, he would
+have come in for a short time afterwards.
+
+An amusing story is told of a Liverpool daily paper in those days. It
+was struggling with adversity, and the manager, a worthy Scotsman, sat
+in his office on Monday morning with the weekly statement before him,
+showing increasing expense and decreasing revenue.
+
+To him entered a Liverpool parson--very determined and very menacing. He
+had asked for the editor, but that gentleman had not yet come down, and
+the manager was the only person in authority visible, so he had to make
+shift with him.
+
+"I am here," the parson said, "as the mouthpiece of a large number of
+people who are not satisfied with the attitude of the 'Liverpool ----'
+on the great question of the hour--Whether Popery is to dominate our
+liberties or are we to crush Popery?"
+
+"Yes," said the manager, wearily, his mind still on the balance sheet.
+"What do you complain of?"
+
+"I wish to tell you, sir," said the parson, with impressive emphasis,
+"that only this morning I have heard the belief expressed by merchants
+on 'Change that the 'Liverpool ----' is actually in the pay of the Pope
+of Rome!"
+
+In a second a ray of light seemed to irradiate the gloom of the
+manager's soul, as he contemplated in a flash of thought the untold
+treasures of the Vatican--
+
+"Man!" he exclaimed fervently, "I wish to Heaven it was!"
+
+But the numerous exhibitions of bigotry stirred up in connection with
+Lord John Russell's Ecclesiastical Titles Act were of trifling
+consequence compared with the injury done to the Irish people arising
+out of the same Act. For it led to the ruin of the Tenant Right
+agitation in Ireland, in which the Irish people, Protestant as well as
+Catholic, had been united as they had not been since 1798 and the days
+of Grattan's Parliament.
+
+For the Tenant League and the Irish Party in Parliament had in their
+ranks some of the greatest rascals who had ever disgraced Irish
+politics. These, while posing as the champions of Catholicity in
+opposing Lord John Russell's bill, were simply working for their own
+base ends, and were afterwards known and execrated as the Sadlier-Keogh
+gang.
+
+Their infamous betrayal of the Irish tenantry dashed the hopes and
+destroyed the union of North and South from which so much was expected,
+besides creating a distrust in constitutional agitation which lasted for
+nearly a generation.
+
+The after fate of the Sadlier-Keogh gang--including the suicide of John
+Sadlier and the scarcely less wretched end of Keogh--have ever since
+been terrible object-lessons to the Irish people.
+
+In his later years I enjoyed the friendship of one of the most
+distinguished of the Tenant Right leaders, who had also played a
+prominent and honourable part in the Repeal and Young Ireland movements.
+This was Charles Gavan Duffy, whom I met after his return from
+Australia.
+
+It was the Sadlier-Keogh treason, their selling themselves to the
+Government after the most solemn promises to the contrary, and the way
+in which their conduct had been condoned by so many of the hierarchy,
+clergy and people of Ireland, that caused Gavan Duffy to lose heart for
+the time, and to declare, as he left the country, in memorable
+words--"that there was no more hope for Ireland than for a corpse on the
+dissecting table."
+
+But, as I learned from his own lips on his return to this country, he
+never lost sight of the National movement while in Australia, where he
+became first Minister of the Crown in a self-governing colony; and, on
+his return, his old hope for the success of our Cause had, he assured
+me, revived.
+
+Charles Gavan Duffy having sailed for Australia on the 6th of November,
+1855, John Cashel Hoey succeeded him as editor of the "Nation," he
+having, as one of his colleagues, Alexander Martin Sullivan, who
+afterwards became sole proprietor and responsible editor.
+
+"A.M." Sullivan, as he was always called, was an upright man, who had a
+very clear conception of his own policy in Irish matters. He frankly
+accepted the British constitution, and worked inside those lines. To me,
+when my country was concerned, the British constitution (with the making
+of which neither I nor my people had ever had anything to do) was a
+matter of very little moment. Any work for Ireland that commended itself
+to my conscience and was practicable was good enough. Nevertheless, it
+will ever be to me a source of pride that, from the moment when we first
+knew each other to the hour of his death, we were the closest friends.
+
+In connexion with the "Papal aggression" mania, Cardinal Wiseman was the
+central figure against whom the storm of bigotry was chiefly directed. I
+remember with pleasure that I took part in the reception given to him in
+Liverpool by Father Nugent and the students of the Liverpool Catholic
+Institute, by whom the Cardinal's fine play of "The Hidden Gem" was
+performed in the Hall of the Institute during his stay in town. The
+bringing of the Cardinal to Liverpool was only one of the many occasions
+when the good Father was the medium through whom, from time to time, a
+number of distinguished Catholics and Irishmen were brought into
+intimate contact with their co-religionists and fellow-countrymen in the
+town for the advancement of some worthy object connected with creed or
+nationality--most frequently with both.
+
+I have described the St. Patrick's Day annual processions in Liverpool.
+Notwithstanding some grand features in connection with them, they were,
+unfortunately, sometimes the occasion of rioting and intemperance.
+Father Nugent was of Irish parentage and sympathies, and possessed of
+great zeal, capacity, energy and eloquence. He determined to make a new
+departure in celebrating the national anniversary, for though the
+processions were magnificent displays, and it was not the fault of their
+promoters if ever there was any scandal arising out of them, still there
+was much that was inconsistent with a worthy celebration of the feast of
+the national saint of Ireland. Calling a number of young Irishmen
+together, of whom I was one, he, with their help, organised on a grand
+scale a festival which was held in one of the large public halls of the
+town. So successful was the first of these that they became an annual
+institution, which superseded the previous out-door celebrations.
+
+On these occasions there were selections of Irish music and song, and
+oratory from some distinguished Irishman, with an eloquent and stirring
+panegyric on St. Patrick from Father Nugent himself, making a more
+creditable and enjoyable celebration of the national festival than had
+ever been held in the town before.
+
+Such celebrations as these (which have for many years past been held
+under the auspices of the Irish national political organisation of the
+day), have become common in the Irish centres of Great Britain. Indeed,
+it has become one of the recognised duties of the members of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party to hold themselves in readiness to be drafted off to
+one or another of these gatherings, which are the means of keeping
+steadily burning the fire of patriotism in the breasts of our people.
+And what is of consequence from a financial point of view, the proceeds
+of these gatherings help to provide the sinews of war for carrying on
+the Home Rule campaign in Great Britain. For over half a century, from
+the time when I assisted Father Nugent with his first celebration, I
+took an active part in organising these gatherings in many places.
+
+I said at the commencement that I knew little of Ireland from personal
+contact with it. Born there, I was too young to remember being brought
+to England. For some months I was there again, as I have already
+mentioned, as a boy of twelve, under the care of my uncle, the Rev.
+Michael O'Loughlin. I had often desired to see more of Ireland, and,
+singularly enough, it was the Crimean War that gave me the opportunity
+of spending another three months there in the summer of 1855.
+
+A large firm in Liverpool had part of the contract for erecting the
+wooden houses and other buildings at the camp being erected on the
+Curragh of Kildare at the time of the war. I made application, and, with
+my brother Bernard, was employed to go there. Reaching the Curragh, we
+found that many of the men slept in the huts they were erecting, being
+supplied by the contractors with the requisite bed and bedding. The
+contractors also erected a large "canteen," to be used afterwards by the
+military where the workmen could be supplied with food and drink--too
+much drink sometimes. These arrangements for food and sleeping were
+somewhat necessary, as the nearest towns, Kildare, Kilcullen, and
+Newbridge were each some three miles off.
+
+But we were anxious to see as much of the country and of the people as
+we could, and, besides, did not care for the mixed company sleeping in
+the huts. We therefore managed to secure lodgings with the Widow Walsh,
+on the road leading from the Curragh to Suncroft. The widow's husband
+had but recently died, leaving her a pretty good farm, and, with the aid
+of her family--one of them a fine, grown-up young man--she was able to
+hold on to the land. But the ready cash she got from the Curragh men who
+came to lodge with her was useful too. It was a good big house of the
+kind, and the widow made use of every available inch of it, so that she
+had about a dozen of us in all. Mrs. Walsh, though an easy-going soul
+herself, had a fine bouncing girl to help her, but, with a dozen hungry
+men coming with a rush at night, it used to be a scramble for the
+cooking utensils, as we were largely left to our own devices. We used to
+leave early in the morning for our work on the Curragh, taking with us
+the materials for our breakfasts and dinners. As to the cooking, some
+went to the canteen, while others got their meals wherever they happened
+to be working. As there were plenty of chips and small cuttings of wood,
+only fit for that purpose, we used to make of these big fires on the
+short grass, and we boiled our water for tea or coffee and our eggs, and
+frizzled our chops or bacon at the end of a long stick.
+
+I have mentioned before that whenever one finds work particularly
+laborious he is fairly certain to find Irishmen at it. It was so at the
+Curragh. When a carpenter or joiner lays down the boarding of a floor,
+if there is only a small quantity of it he planes it down himself to
+make an even surface. But if there is a large quantity this does not
+pay, and the contractor brings in another artist called a "flogger,"
+who, in nine cases out of ten, in my time, was an Irishman. It was
+generally given out as "piece work" to one man, the "master-flogger," as
+you might term him, who employed the others. One of these, a very decent
+Irishman, Tom Cassidy, whom I had known in Liverpool, had the contract
+for the work at the Curragh Camp, and he had about a score of his
+fellow-countrymen working for him.
+
+Going back to Liverpool for a holiday, while my brother and I were still
+at the Curragh, honest Tom called on my father and mother, who knew him
+well. They were glad to hear that he was lodging at the Widow Walsh's,
+and could tell them all about their boys. This he could do most
+truthfully without letting his imagination run away with him. "Aye,
+indeed," he said, "Barney and John are lodging in the one house with me,
+with a decent widow woman, and many a glass we had together at Igoe's."
+Tom had put in this bit of "local colouring" about Igoe's to show the
+good fellowship between us, but as their sons were both teetotalers,
+the old people knew that this could not be true, and the rest of his
+story was somewhat discredited in consequence.
+
+Igoe's was a public house just on the corner of the road leading from
+the Curragh to Suncroft. What between the workmen at the Camp and the
+soldiers and the militia, Igoe's must have been doing a roaring trade at
+this time. Which reminds me that I one day saw John O'Connell (son of
+the Liberator), then a captain in the Dublin militia, trying to get a
+lot of his men, who were the worse for liquor, out of Igoe's. It could
+not be said that he did not give an edifying example to his men, for I
+saw him, on another occasion, going to Holy Communion, at the Soldiers'
+Mass, where the altar was fixed up under a verandah in the officers'
+quarter, the men being assembled in the open square in front. He was a
+well-meaning man, and tried to carry on the Repeal Association after his
+father's death, but it soon collapsed, for the mantle of Dan was
+altogether too big for John.
+
+Although he generally showed himself bitterly opposed to the Young
+Irelanders, he was a poetical contributor to the "Nation," where I find
+him represented by two very fine pieces--"Was it a Dream?" and "What's
+my Thought Like?" In the latter piece he pictures Ireland--
+
+  No longer slave to England! but her sister if she will--
+  Prompt to give friendly aid at need, and to forget all ill!
+  But holding high her head, and, with serenest brow,
+  Claiming, amid earth's nations all, her fitting station now.
+
+I never met his brother Maurice, but I could imagine his a more
+congenial spirit with the "Young Irelanders" than any other of the
+O'Connell family. He, too, is represented in "The Spirit of the Nation"
+by his rousing "Recruiting Song of the Irish Brigade" which, sung to the
+air of "The White Cockade," has always been a favourite of mine.
+
+A fine, genial old priest, full of gossip and old-time stories, was
+Father MacMahon, of Suncroft. If he met one of us on the road he would
+stop to have a gossip, and was always delighted when he found, as he
+often did, along with an English tongue an Irish heart. From him it was
+I heard the legend of St. Brigid's miraculous mantle and the origin of
+the Curragh--how the saint, to get "as much land as would graze a poor
+man's cow" made the very modest request from the king for as much ground
+as her mantle would cover; how he agreed, and she laid her mantle down
+on the "short grass;" how, to the king's astonishment, it spread and
+spread, until it covered the whole of the ground of what is now the
+Curragh; and how it would have spread over all Ireland but that it met
+with a red-haired woman, and that, as everybody knows, is unlucky.
+Whenever, in our rambles along the country roads we afterwards met a
+red-haired woman, we used to wonder was she a descendant of the female
+who stopped the growth of the Curragh of Kildare.
+
+Father MacMahon could also tell us of the gallant fight made by the men
+of Kildare, and the massacre of the unarmed people on the Curragh in
+1798. Many of the men from the Curragh used to come to Mass on Sundays
+at Suncroft, and often in his sermons--which were none the less edifying
+because they were given in the same free and easy style as his gossips
+with us on the road--he would tell his people of the talks he had had
+with the men from the Camp, and what good Irishmen he found among them.
+They, in their turn, were very fond of the good father, and most of them
+took a practical way of showing their feeling when it came to the
+offertory.
+
+Dear old Father MacMahon! I took up an Irish Church Directory the other
+day and looked for the little village of Suncroft, in the dioceses of
+Kildare and Leighlin, to see if your name was still there, foolishly
+forgetting that it is over fifty years since we met--you an old man and
+I a young one. I am an old man now, and you--you dear good old
+soul--must have gone to your reward long ago, where you in your turn
+will be hearing from St. Brigid herself, and from the fine old Irish
+king who gave the Curragh, the true story of the miraculous mantle; and
+how the king did not make such a bad bargain after all, for, in exchange
+for his gift, he now, doubtless, has what St. Brigid promised, a kingdom
+far greater than even her mantle would cover--the Kingdom of Heaven.
+
+On Sundays we used to have long walks. We did not often go near
+Newbridge--it was too much like an ordinary English military station. We
+preferred going to Kildare, where stands the first Irish Round Tower I
+ever saw, and where the fine old ruined church of St. Brigid put us in
+mind of the patron saint of Ireland; or to Kilcullen, where the brave
+Kildare pikemen routed General Dundas in 1798; and to others of the
+neighbouring places. We reviewed, too, every part of the famous Curragh
+itself, so full of memories--glorious and sad--of Irish history.
+
+As fast as we finished them, the huts we were building were occupied by
+the military, and, whether regulars or militia, I found among them,
+driven to wear the uniform by stress of circumstances, as good Irishmen
+as I ever met. Coming home from work one evening, I met on the road to
+the Curragh a party of them, carrying, for want of a better banner, a
+big green bush, and singing "The Green Flag." Then, as they came in
+sight of the famous plain itself, a man struck up:--
+
+  Where will they have their camp?
+                 Says the _Shan Van Voct_
+
+When, as if moved by one impulse, all joined in:--
+
+  On the Curragh of Kildare,
+  And the boys will all be there,
+  With their pikes in good repair--
+                 Says the _Shan Van Voct_!
+
+"Igoe's porter!" a cynic might say. True, there may have been a glass or
+two and a little harmless rejoicing, but this was too spontaneous to be
+anything but the outpouring of the good, honest warm hearts of the poor
+fellows, burning with love for the land that bore them.
+
+Peter Maughan, who, like myself, was a house joiner, working at the
+Curragh, had similar experiences. Indeed, you might say that he was then
+qualifying himself for the part he very efficiently filled some years
+later in the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, as recruiting officer
+among the soldiery of Britain. Of course, he found scoundrels amongst
+them too, for, as the history of the Fenian movement shows, he was
+himself betrayed and sent to penal servitude.
+
+Before I returned to England I had a most interesting tour through the
+South of Ireland, that being, I may say, the most I have ever actually
+seen of my own country. Having a taste for drawing, I took sketches of
+the various noted places I visited, which I preserved for many
+years--the most cherished remembrances of my visit to the "old sod."
+
+After returning from the Curragh to Liverpool, I married there and
+carried on business on my own account for several years as a joiner and
+builder, before taking service with Father Nugent, first as secretary of
+his Boy's Refuge, and then as conductor for some three years of his
+newspaper, the "Northern Press and Catholic Times."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE IRISH REVOLUTIONARY BROTHERHOOD--ESCAPE OF JAMES STEPHENS--PROJECTED
+RAID ON CHESTER CASTLE--CORYDON THE INFORMER.
+
+
+The trials in 1859, following the arrests in connection with the Phoenix
+movement, with which the name of Jeremiah O'Donovan (called also
+"Rossa," after his native place) was identified, were the first public
+manifestations of what developed into the great organisation known in
+America as the Fenian Brotherhood, and, on this side of the Atlantic as
+the I.R.B., or Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood.
+
+Many years afterwards "Rossa" called at the office of the Irish National
+League in London, to see his old fellow-conspirator, James Francis
+Xavier O'Brien, then General Secretary of the constitutional
+organisation for the attainment of "Home Rule." As I was chief organiser
+for the League in Great Britain, and was in the, office at the time, I
+was introduced to his old comrade (who had, he said, often heard of me)
+by "J.F.X.," as we used to call him, and it was to me a delightful
+experience to hear the two old warriors, who had done and suffered so
+much for Ireland, fighting their battles over again.
+
+I was sitting in my office in Father Nugent's Refuge one day, about the
+beginning of 1866, when my old friend, John Ryan, was shown in to me.
+
+As we had not seen each other for several years, our greeting was a most
+cordial one. Though we had not met, I had heard of him from mutual
+friends from time to time as being actively connected with the physical
+force movement for the freedom of Ireland.
+
+During this time I had often wished to see him, and I found that exactly
+the same idea had been in _his_ mind regarding me; our object being the
+same--my initiation into the ranks of the Irish Revolutionary
+Brotherhood, of which he was an organiser.
+
+A word perhaps is due here--for I wish to pay respect to the opinion of
+every man--to those Irishmen who call themselves loyalists. On close
+analysis their language and arguments appear to me to be meaningless. A
+study of the history of the world and of the origins of civil power show
+that there is only one thing that is recognisable as giving a good and
+stable title to any government, and that is the consent of the governed.
+
+A man who is a member of a community owes a duty to the community in
+return for the benefit arising out of his membership, but his
+duty--which he may call loyalty if he pleases--is proportionate to the
+share which he possesses in the imposition of responsibilities upon
+himself. The application of this to Ireland is obvious, and it explains
+why in so many cases a man who has been a rebel in Ireland has
+afterwards risen to the highest place in the self-governing communities
+which are called British colonies. To put it in another way, a community
+of intelligent men must be self-governing, or else it will be a
+forcing-house for rebels. I don't see any third way.
+
+As I have before suggested, the two questions that have always presented
+themselves to me in connection with work for Ireland have been--first,
+is it right? Second, is it practicable? In joining the I.R.B. I had no
+doubt on either ground. As to the first, the misgovernment of Ireland,
+of which I had seen the hideous fruits in the Famine years and
+emigration, was ample justification. As to the second, there was every
+likelihood of the success of the movement. It will be remembered that
+during these years the great Civil War in America was going on, in which
+many thousands of our fellow-countrymen, were engaged on both sides,
+mostly, however, for the North. A great number of these had entered into
+this service chiefly with the object of acquiring the military training
+intended to be used in fighting on Irish soil for their country's
+freedom. Such an opportunity seemed likely to arise, for during this
+time the "Alabama Claims" and other matters brought America and England
+to the verge of war. Had such a conflict arisen, one result of it, as
+Mr. Gladstone and other British statesmen could not but have foreseen,
+would probably be the severance of the connexion, once for all, between
+Ireland and Great Britain.
+
+John Ryan, knowing me so well, felt tolerably assured that no argument
+from him would be required to induce me to join the I.R.B.;
+consequently, one of the first things he did was, at my request, to
+administer to me the oath of allegiance to the Irish Republic, as the
+saying went, "now virtually established."
+
+After this we had a long _seanchus_, I telling him of all that had
+happened among our friends during his frequent absences from Liverpool,
+and he describing to me many of the adventures of himself and other
+prominent men in the movement, which were to me both interesting and
+exciting. Among these were his assistance in the escape of James
+Stephens, of which I will speak later.
+
+Before we parted, he arranged with me for my acting in Liverpool as a
+medium of communication in the organisation. In this way I was, for
+several years, brought into constant contact with the leaders, nearly
+all of whom I met from time to time.
+
+I think the most capable Irishmen I ever met were the various members of
+the Breslin family, with several of whom I was intimately acquainted.
+Bravest among the brave, as they proved themselves at many a critical
+moment, there were none more prudent. John Breslin was hospital steward
+in Richmond Prison when James Stephens, the Fenian chief, was imprisoned
+there awaiting his trial.
+
+John Devoy was the man who successfully carried through, under the
+direction of Colonel Kelly, the outside arrangements in connection with
+the escape of the C.O.I.R. (Chief Organiser of the Irish Republic), as
+he was called, in the early morning of the 24th of November, 1865.
+
+But John Breslin it was who, with the assistance of Daniel Byrne, night
+watchman, actually set Stephens free. Byrne was arrested and put upon
+his trial for aiding the escape of Stephens, but nothing could be
+brought home to him, and, after two successive juries had disagreed on
+his case, he was released. Breslin, the chief instrument in the rescue,
+was not suspected. He simply bided his time until he took his annual
+holiday, from which he never returned, leaving the country before there
+was any suspicion of him. Michael Breslin, his brother, held a
+responsible position in the Dublin police, and was the means of
+frustrating many a well-laid scheme of the Castle, so that if the
+Government had its creatures in the revolutionary camp, the I.R.B. had
+agents in theirs.
+
+Another, as I have already mentioned, who took part in the Stephens
+rescue was my friend John Ryan, better known in the Brotherhood as
+Captain O'Doherty. At our interview in Liverpool on the occasion of my
+initiation, he gave me a full account of this among other incidents. He
+was, like Peter Maughan, an old schoolfellow of mine with the Christian
+Brothers in Liverpool. He was one of the men picked out by Colonel Kelly
+to be on guard when the "old man"--one of Stephens' pet nick-names--came
+over the prison wall. Ryan was a fine type of an Irishman, morally,
+intellectually and physically. As Stephens slipped down from the wall,
+holding on to the rope, he came with such force on my friend's
+shoulders as almost to bear him to the ground. In my "Irish in Britain"
+I have described in detail how Breslin got a key made for Stephens'
+cell, and how he and Byrne helped the C.O.I.R. over the prison wall to
+where his friends awaited him, and also the adventures of the Fenian
+leader after his escape from Richmond.
+
+The man who made the key for Stephens' cell, from a mould taken by John
+Breslin, was Michael Lambert, a trusted member of the I.R.B. Though his
+name was well known to the initiated at the time, it never was mentioned
+until later years, he being always referred to previously as "the
+optician."
+
+After remaining in concealment several months Stephens got away from
+Ireland. The craft in which he escaped was one of a fleet of fishing
+hookers which sailed from Howth and Kinsale when engaged in their
+regular work. The owner, who was delighted to have a hand in such an
+enterprise, was a warm-hearted and patriotic Irishman, Patrick De Lacy
+Garton, for whom I acted as conducting agent, when he was returned by
+the votes of his fellow-countrymen to the Liverpool Town Council, where
+he sat as a Home Ruler.
+
+I met several times, during 1866 and later, one of the most remarkable
+men connected with the organisation. He was known as "Beecher," and was
+a man of singular astuteness, as he required to be, particularly at the
+time when, unknown to his colleagues, Corydon was giving information to
+the police. If at any time Beecher had fallen into their hands, they
+might have made a splendid haul, which would have paralysed the movement
+on this side of the Atlantic, for he was the "Paymaster." Captain
+Michael O'Rorke--otherwise "Beecher"--was a well-balanced combination of
+sagacity, cautiousness and daring, as you could not fail to see, if
+brought into contact with him a few times. Stephens had the most
+abounding confidence in him, and it was well deserved. A native of
+Roscommon, he emigrated to America when a boy of thirteen. When the
+Civil War broke out he joined the Federal Army, and served with much
+distinction. He was a member of the Fenian Brotherhood, and was greatly
+pleased to be called upon for active service in Ireland, and, sailing
+from New York, he reached Dublin on the 27th of July, 1865, when he
+reported himself to the C.O.I.R. He was entrusted with the payment of
+the American officers then in Ireland and Great Britain, which duty, I
+need scarcely say, involved his keeping in constant touch with them. In
+this way I, from time to time, came in contact with him in Liverpool,
+and was much impressed with the perfect way in which he carried out his
+arduous duties. Before Stephens left for America, in March, 1866, he
+directed Captain O'Rorke to send all the officers not arrested, and then
+in Ireland, over to England. This was a proper measure of prudence, as
+the Irish Americans would be less objects of suspicion, and less liable
+to arrest here than in Ireland. He had fifty officers, and sometimes
+more, to provide for as Paymaster, or, as the informers and detectives
+had it, the "Fenian Paymaster." He had to visit in this way at various
+times all parts of the British organisation, sometimes paying his men
+personally, and at other times by letter, forwarded through trusted
+Irishmen in various places who had not laid themselves open to
+suspicion. But he had to run his head into the lion's mouth
+occasionally, too, for it was part of his duty to visit Dublin at least
+once a month. As a matter of precaution, there were but few who knew of
+any address where he might be found. At a time when Corydon had started
+to give information, but before "Beecher" actually knew of it, the
+informer gave an address of his where he thought the "Paymaster" was to
+be found to the Liverpool police. Major Greig, the chief constable, and
+a strong body of his men, surrounded the house, but the bird had flown.
+After that, he was more cautious than ever, only letting his whereabouts
+be known when it was absolutely necessary.
+
+A noted man among the Fenians was "Pagan O'Leary." Jack Ryan told me of
+how he rather surprised the prison officials when they came to classify
+him under the head "Religion." Being asked what he was, he said he was a
+Pagan. No, they said, they could not accept that--they had headings _in
+their books_, "Roman Catholic," "Protestant," and "Presbyterian," but
+not "Pagans." "Well," he said, "You have two kinds, the 'Robbers'
+(meaning Protestants) and the 'Beggars' (Catholics), and if I must
+choose, put me down a 'Beggar.'"
+
+A startling incident in connection with the Fenian movement, the daring
+plan to seize Chester Castle, will enable me to introduce two
+exceedingly interesting characters with whom I came in contact at this
+time. The idea was to bring sufficient men from various parts of
+England, armed with concealed revolvers, to overpower the garrison,
+which at the time was a very weak one, and to seize the large store of
+arms then in the Castle. In connection with this, arrangements had been
+made for the cutting of wires, the taking up of rails, and the seizure
+of sufficient engines and waggons to convey the captured arms to
+Holyhead, whence, a steamer having been seized there for the purpose,
+the arms were to be taken to Ireland, and the standard of insurrection
+raised. Of John Ryan, one of the leaders of this raid, I have already
+spoken. Another of them, Captain John McCafferty, was one of the
+Irish-American officers who had crossed the Atlantic to take part in the
+projected rising in Ireland. I met him several times in Liverpool in
+company with John Ryan, and, from his own lips, got an account of his
+adventurous career up to that time.
+
+Most of the American officers I came in contact with during these years
+had served in the Federal Army, but McCafferty fought on the side of the
+South in the American Civil War. He was a thorough type of a guerilla
+leader. With his well-proportioned and strongly-knit frame, and handsome
+resolute-looking bronzed face, you could imagine him just the man for
+any dashing and daring enterprise.
+
+I frequently met John Flood, too, whose name, with that of McCafferty,
+is associated with the Chester raid. He was then about thirty years of
+age, a fine, handsome man, tall and strong, wearing a full and flowing
+tawny-coloured beard. He had a genial-looking face, and, in your
+intercourse with him, you found him just as genial as he looked. He was
+a man of distinguished bearing, who you could imagine would fill with
+grace and dignity the post of Irish Ambassador to some friendly power.
+He was a Wexford man, full of the glorious traditions of '98. He took an
+active part in aiding the escape of James Stephens from Ireland. With
+Colonel Kelly he was aboard the hooker in which the C.O.I.R. escaped,
+and to his skill and courage and rare presence of mind was largely due
+the fact that Stephens did not again fall into the hands of his enemies.
+
+From then up to the time immediately preceding the Chester raid, he
+frequently called on me in Liverpool in company with John Ryan.
+
+Father McCormick, of Wigan, a patriotic Irish priest, used to tell me,
+too, of the men coming to confession to him on their way to Chester, and
+afterwards to Ireland, for the rising on Shrove Tuesday. And yet these
+were the kind of men for whom, according to a certain Irish bishop,
+"Hell was not hot enough nor Eternity long enough."
+
+When John Ryan informed me of the plans that were being matured for the
+seizure of the arms and ammunition in Chester Castle, I volunteered for
+any duty that might be allotted to me. It was settled that I should hold
+myself in readiness to carry out when called upon certain mechanical
+arrangements in connection with the raid with a view to prevent
+reinforcements from reaching Chester.
+
+These arrangements were to consist of the taking up of the rails on
+certain railway lines and the cutting of the telegraphic wires leading
+into Chester. I, therefore, surveyed the ground, and besides the
+required personal assistance, had in readiness crowbars, sledges, and,
+among other implements, the wrenches for unscrewing the nuts of the
+bolts fastening the fishplates which bound together the rails, end to
+end. I now held myself prepared for the moment when the call to action
+would reach me.
+
+This, however, never came, for I found afterwards that the leaders had
+learned in time of Corydon's betrayal of the project, and made their
+arrangements accordingly.
+
+I heard nothing further of the projected Chester expedition until
+Monday, February 11th, 1867.
+
+My employment was at this time in Liverpool, but I lived on the opposite
+bank of the Mersey, at New Ferry. Anybody who has to travel in and out
+of town, as I did by the ferry boat, to his employment gets so
+accustomed to his fellow-passengers that he knows most of them by sight.
+But this morning it was different. In a sense some of those I saw were
+strangers to me, but I had a kind of instinct that they were my own
+people. They were fine, athletic-looking young men, and had a
+travel-stained appearance, as if they had been walking some distance
+over dusty roads.
+
+When I reached the landing stage and saw the morning's papers I got the
+explanation--the police had heard of the projected raid.
+
+These were our men returning from Chester, having been stopped on the
+road by friends posted there for the purpose, and turned back--and were
+now on their way through Liverpool to their homes in various parts of
+Lancashire and Yorkshire. It seemed that the information of the project
+being abandoned had not reached them in time to prevent many of the men
+leaving their homes for Chester.
+
+I heard from John Ryan, whom I saw a few days afterwards, that the word
+had been sent round to a certain number of circles in the North of
+England and the Midlands to move a number of picked men, some on the
+Sunday night and some early on the Monday morning, and that the
+promptness and cheerfulness with which the order was obeyed was
+astonishing; so that, probably, not less than two thousand men were, by
+different routes, quietly converging on Chester. Among these was Michael
+Davitt and others, from Haslingden as well as from several other
+Lancashire towns.
+
+But it was promptly discovered that information had been given to the
+police authorities almost at the last moment. Those, therefore, who had
+already reached Chester were sent back, and men were placed at the
+railway stations and on the roads leading to Chester to stop those who
+were coming. In this way the whole of the men forming the expedition
+dispersed as silently as they had come.
+
+Corydon had given the information to Major Greig, the Liverpool Head
+Constable, who at once communicated with Chester, where prompt measures
+were taken to meet the threatened invasion.
+
+According to his own evidence in the subsequent trial, Corydon had been
+giving information to the police since the previous September. There had
+been some suspicious circumstances in connection with him. A man
+resembling him in appearance, and evidently disguised, had been seen in
+company with individuals supposed to be police agents. But as there was
+a man belonging to the organisation named Arthur Anderson, who strongly
+resembled Corydon, the real informer, suspicion fell upon Anderson.
+
+After Corydon had thrown off the mask and openly appeared as an
+informer, I had an opportunity of seeing him, and, so far as my memory
+serves me, this is what he was like: At first sight you might set him
+down as a third-rate actor or circus performer. He wore a frock coat,
+buttoned tightly, to set off a by no means contemptible figure, and
+carried himself with a jaunty, swaggering air, after the conventional
+style of a theatrical "professional." He was about the middle height, of
+wiry, active build, with features clearly cut, thin face, large round
+forehead, a high aquiline nose, thick and curly hair, decidedly "sandy"
+in colour, and heavy moustache of the same tinge. His cheeks and chin
+were denuded of beard.
+
+It was in the Liverpool Police Court I saw John Joseph Corydon, as the
+newspapers spelled his name--if it were his name, which is very
+doubtful, for it was said in Liverpool that he was the son of an
+abandoned woman of that town.
+
+There was at that time a reporter named Sylvester Redmond, whom I knew
+very well, a very decent Irishman, who made a special feature of giving
+humorous descriptions of the cases in the police court. I was told by
+someone in Court that the man whose hand Sylvester was so cordially
+shaking was the noted informer, Corydon. I was very much disgusted with
+the old gentleman, until I heard afterwards that some wag among the
+police had introduced the informer to him as a distinguished
+fellow-countryman.
+
+After the collapse of the Chester scheme, McCafferty and Flood made
+their way to Ireland to be ready for the Rising, but were arrested in
+Dublin, charged with being concerned in the raid on Chester. They were
+both in due course put upon their trials, and sent into penal servitude.
+
+I find, from a graphic sketch written for my "Irish Library" by William
+James Ryan, that in the convict ship that took John Flood into penal
+servitude was another distinguished Irishman, John Boyle O'Reilly, whose
+offence against British rule was his successful recruiting for the
+I.R.B. among the soldiery. Another lieutenant of John Devoy, who had
+charge of the organisation of the British army, was an old schoolfellow
+of mine with the Liverpool Christian Brothers, Peter Maughan, of whom I
+have already spoken as a fellow-workman at the Curragh.
+
+Before joining the I.R.B. Peter had been a member of the "Brotherhood of
+St. Patrick," an organisation which furnished many members to the "Irish
+Revolutionary Brotherhood."
+
+Most of the Fenian prisoners were amnestied before the completion of
+their full terms. I have a letter in my possession from John McCafferty
+to our mutual friend, William Hogan, written from Millbank Prison, 6th
+June, 1871. In this he regrets that the terms of his release will not
+allow of his paying Hogan a visit. He says:--
+
+     I know there are many who would like to shake my hand and bid me a
+     kind farewell. God bless you before my departure. My route will
+     afford me no opportunity of seeing the iron-bound coast of the home
+     of my forefathers. Still God may allow me to see that isle
+     again--Yes, and then perhaps I may meet somebody on the hills.
+
+He concludes with love to William Hogan's family and "Kind regard to
+each and every friend."
+
+McCafferty did, I know, see the "iron-bound" coast of Ireland again, for
+a few years after this an extremely mild and inoffensive-looking,
+dark-complexioned person, with black side whiskers, came into my
+place--I was carrying on a printing and newsagency business--in Byron
+Street, Liverpool, and, though I did not recognise him at first, I was
+pleased to find that this Mr. Patterson, as he called himself, was no
+other than my old friend John McCafferty.
+
+The mission he was engaged on was one that can only be described by the
+word amazing. So daring was it, so hedged around with apparent
+impossibilities, that to the ordinary man its very conception would be
+incredible. But McCafferty was perfectly serious and determined about
+it, and to him it seemed practicable enough, provided only he could get
+a few more men like himself: and indeed if the collection of just such a
+company of conspirators _were_ practicable, no doubt the impossible
+might become possible enough. But the hypothesis is fatal, for the
+McCafferty strain is a rare one indeed, so that his project never got
+further than an idea. I think, however, that I cannot be accused of
+exaggeration in saying that if he had been successful in carrying out
+his idea, his achievement would have formed the most extraordinary
+chapter in English history--for it was no less than the abduction of the
+then Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII., and the holding of
+him as a hostage for a purpose of the Fenian organisation.
+
+The plan was to take him to sea in a sailing vessel, and to keep him
+there, until the Fenian prisoners still at that time unreleased were set
+at liberty. He was to be treated with the utmost consideration and--the
+recollection is not without its humorous side--McCafferty had a
+memorandum to spare no pains in finding what were the favourite
+amusements of the Prince, so that he might have a "real good time" on
+board.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE RISING OF 1867--ARREST AND RESCUE OF KELLY AND DEASY--THE MANCHESTER
+MARTYRDOM.
+
+
+Although the Rising of 1867 had somewhat the character of "a flash in
+the pan," there were some heroic incidents in connexion with it. With
+one of the Fenian leaders, James Francis Xavier O'Brien, I was brought
+into intimate connection many years after the Rising, when we were both
+officials, he as General Secretary and I as Chief Organiser, of the Home
+Rule organisation in Great Britain. When put upon his trial there was
+evidence against him in connection with the taking of a police barrack,
+he being in command of the insurgents. It was proved that he not only
+acted with courage, but with a humanity that was commended by the judge,
+in seeing that the women and children were got out safely before the
+place was set on fire.
+
+This, however, did not save him from being condemned to death--he was
+the last man sentenced in the old barbarous fashion to be hanged, drawn
+and quartered--this sentence being afterwards commuted to penal
+servitude. Certainly, whether on the field or facing the scaffold for
+Ireland there was no more gallant figure among the Fenian leaders than
+James Francis Xavier O'Brien.
+
+Few knew of his sterling worth as I did. For several years after his
+return to liberty I was in close daily contact with this white-haired
+mild-looking old gentleman--still tolerably active and supple,
+though--who could blaze up and fight to the death over what he
+considered a matter of principle. The most admirable feature in his
+character was that, in all things you found him _straight_.
+
+One of the Fenian chiefs I met in Liverpool was General Halpin, who, on
+the night of the Rising, was in command of the district around Dublin.
+The first of the insurgents who reached Tallaght, the place of
+rendezvous on the night of the 5th of March, 1867, were received by a
+volley from the police and dispersed. One party had captured the police
+barracks at Glencullen and Stepaside, and disarmed the police, but on
+approaching Tallaght, and hearing that all was over, they too dispersed.
+
+While most of the Irish-American officers bore the marks of their
+profession rather too prominently for safety against the observance of a
+trained detective, General Halpin was the last man in the world anyone
+would, from his appearance, take to be a soldier. He looked far more
+like a comfortable Irish parish priest. And yet he was, perhaps, the
+most thoroughly scientific soldier of all those that crossed the
+Atlantic at this time.
+
+Reading the evidence of Corydon in one of the trials, I find he
+described Edmond O'Donovan as helping Halpin to make maps for use when
+the Rising would take place. Knowing both men so well, I can say that
+none better could be found for planning out a campaign. They were
+thoroughly scientific men, and always anxious to impart their knowledge
+to other Irishmen for the good of the Cause.
+
+I remember Halpin one night, at what was a kind of select social
+gathering, giving a number of us enthusiastic young men a lecture on the
+construction of fortifications and earthworks.
+
+We bade him farewell when he was leaving Liverpool after the Rising, and
+thought he had got safely away to America, but, unfortunately, he was
+identified at Queenstown in the outgoing steamer. He was arrested, put
+upon his trial, and met the same fate as so many of his comrades.
+
+Among the men I knew long ago, who afterwards became connected with
+Fenianism, was Stephen Joseph Meany. He was for many years a journalist
+in Liverpool, having been sub-editor of the "Daily Post" under Michael
+James Whitty. He was an earnest and active Repealer and Young Irelander.
+When I first came in contact with him he was starting the "Lancashire
+Free Press," which, after passing through several hands and several
+changes, of name, ultimately became the "Catholic Times," which was for
+three years, when Father Nugent became the proprietor, under my
+direction. Meany was a man of fine presence and handsome countenance, a
+brilliant writer and an eloquent speaker. He went to America in 1860,
+where he followed his original profession of journalism for several
+years. He returned to this country again, and was arrested in 1867 on a
+charge of Fenianism, and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment.
+
+Liverpool was flooded with refugees after the Rising, and it took us all
+our time to find employment for them, or to get them away to America. We
+had then in Liverpool a corps of volunteers known as "The Irish
+Brigade." Whatever Nationalist organisation might exist in the town
+always strongly condemned young Irishmen for joining the corps. All we
+could urge against it, however, could not prevent our young men who were
+coming over from Ireland at this time from joining the "Brigade" for the
+purpose, they said, of learning and perfecting themselves in the use of
+arms. Colonel Bidwell and the officers must have had a shrewd suspicion
+of the truth, and there was a common remark in the town upon the
+improved physical appearance of the "Brigade." This was, of course,
+owing to the number of fine soldier-like young Irishmen who at this time
+filled its ranks.
+
+During the two years that followed the escape of Stephens, I met Colonel
+Kelly several times in Liverpool. When I first saw him he would be about
+thirty years of age. This is my remembrance of his personal appearance:
+His forehead was broad and square, with the thick dark hair carefully
+disposed about it. He had somewhat high cheek bones, and wore a pointed
+moustache over a tolerably full beard. The general impression of his
+face seemed to me slightly cynical, and he had a constant smile that
+betokened self-possession and confidence. He sometimes wore a frock
+coat, a light waistcoat buttoned high up, a black fashionable necktie,
+and light well-made trousers. After surveying him in detail, you would
+come to the conclusion that he was a man of daring enough to involve
+himself in danger of life, and with sufficient address to extricate
+himself from the peril. He was undoubtedly a man capable of winning the
+confidence and even devotion of others, as was shown when, falling into
+the hands of the Government, he was snatched from their grasp in the
+open day on the streets of Manchester.
+
+I met him some weeks after the Rising. The place of meeting reminded me
+of the incident in one of Samuel Lover's stories--"Rory O'More"--to
+which I have already alluded, for, in our later revolutionary movements,
+as in 1798, projects of great importance had sometimes to be discussed
+in public houses.
+
+A few of the Liverpool men came to meet the leaders in a very humble
+beer shop, kept by a decent County Down man, Owen McGrady, in one of the
+poorer streets off Scotland Road. Here were met on this particular night
+a notable company, which included, if I remember rightly, Colonel Kelly,
+Colonel Rickard Burke, Captains Condon, Murphy, Deasy and O'Brien, all
+American officers who had crossed the Atlantic for the Rising, and still
+remained, hoping for another opportunity. There were about half a dozen
+of the Liverpool men there. Of these I can remember a tall, fine-looking
+young man, a schoolmaster from the North of Ireland, whom I then met for
+the first time, my old school-fellow, John Ryan, and John Meagher, a
+tailor, possessing the amount of eloquence you generally find in Irish
+members of the craft. There was also present, if I remember rightly, Tom
+Gates, of Newcastle.
+
+Although the Rising had collapsed almost as soon as it commenced, the
+determination to fight on Irish soil had by no means been given up by
+the leaders in America. That was why the American officers on this side
+remained at their posts, ready for active service at a moment's notice.
+At the meeting we learned that there was at that moment an "Expedition,"
+as it was termed, on the sea to co-operate with and bring arms for
+another Rising in Ireland, should such be found practicable. It was
+notorious that, notwithstanding all the efforts of active agents,
+comparatively few arms had been got into Ireland. Indeed, my friend John
+Ryan, who was in a position to know, estimated that there were not more
+than a couple of thousands of rifles in Ireland at the time of the
+Rising.
+
+Let us see what became of the Expedition. This was, of course, what has
+since become a matter of history--the secret despatch from New York of
+the brigantine "Erin's Hope," having on board several Irish-American
+officers, 5,000 stand of arms, three pieces of field artillery, and
+200,000 cartridges. About the middle of May the vessel arrived in Irish
+waters, agents going aboard at various points off the coast, including
+Sligo Bay, which she reached on the 20th of May, 1867. By that time it
+was found that the chances of another Rising were but slender, and the
+"Erin's Hope" returned to America with her cargo, entirely unmolested
+by the British cruisers, which were plentiful enough around the Irish
+coast.
+
+The expedition certainly proved that sufficient weapons to commence an
+insurrection with could be thrown into Ireland, providing there was the
+necessary co-operation at the time and places required.
+
+I have often thought since of what became of those present in Owen
+McGrady's beer house the night we met there to prepare for the reception
+of the "Erin's Hope."
+
+The arrest and rescue of Kelly and Deasy, two of these, in the following
+September, and the fate of their gallant rescuers, formed the most
+striking and startling chapter of Irish history during the nineteenth
+century.
+
+That such a scheme as the rescue of the two Fenian chiefs should be
+successfully carried out, not in Ireland amid sympathisers, but in the
+heart of a great English city, surrounded by a hostile population,
+showed unexpected capacity and daring on the part of the revolutionary
+organisation, and produced consternation in the British Government.
+
+At this time the organisation of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood in
+Great Britain had been placed in the hands of three of the
+Irish-American officers, Captain Murphy, who had charge in Scotland,
+Colonel Rickard Burke in the southern part of England, and Captain
+Edward O'Meagher Condon in the northern counties.
+
+Previous to the arrest of the two leaders on the morning of September
+11th they, with Captain Michael O'Brien, had been staying with Condon,
+upon whom now devolved the command, the capture of Kelly and Deasy
+having taken place in his district.
+
+He at once arranged for their food while in prison, for their defence in
+the law courts, and for their rescue, in which latter enterprise he was
+enthusiastically supported by the chief men of the Manchester circles.
+
+But, whatever their good will and courage, they were deficient both in
+money and arms for such a daring undertaking. Condon had, therefore, a
+difficult task to accomplish. Money was soon raised, for our people are
+ever generous and equal to the occasion when it arises. Daniel
+Darragh--about whom I shall have more to say later--was sent to
+Birmingham, where by the aid of William Hogan he purchased and brought
+back with him sufficient revolvers to arm the volunteers for the rescue.
+These last were picked men, the cream of the Manchester circles, and
+there was some jealousy afterwards among many who had not been selected.
+I need scarcely say that the utmost secrecy was required in connection
+with such a perilous enterprise.
+
+To Edward O'Meagher Condon belongs the credit of having organised,
+managed, and carried out the Manchester Rescue, at the cost to himself,
+as it turned out, of years of penal servitude, and almost of his life.
+Though with the aid of Michael O'Brien and his Manchester friends he had
+made all the arrangements, selecting the spot where the prison van was
+to be stopped, assigning to every man his post, and providing for every
+contingency, including the possibility of the rescuing party being taken
+in the rear from Belle Vue prison, he wired for the assistance of
+Captain Murphy and Colonel Burke, the message being that "his uncle was
+dying."
+
+Murphy was from home, but Burke came on to Manchester, and with Michael
+O'Brien accompanied Condon on September 17th, the night before the
+rescue, to meet the men chosen for the daring enterprise, when the arms
+were distributed, each man's post on the following day allotted to him,
+and the final arrangements made.
+
+The two Fenian chiefs stayed with Condon that night, fighting their old
+campaigns over again, e'er they retired to rest, not to meet again till
+eleven years after the Manchester Rescue, when Condon and Burke came
+across each other in New York, each having suffered in the interval a
+long term of imprisonment, and it was the last night that Burke and
+Condon passed on earth with Michael O'Brien, whose memory Irishmen, the
+world over, honour as one of the "noble-hearted three"--the Manchester
+Martyrs--who died for Ireland on the scaffold.
+
+The secret of the intended rescue was closely guarded, and though the
+Mayor of Manchester did get a warning wire from Dublin Castle, it
+reached too late, and the birds had flown. When Kelly and Deasy were
+brought before the city magistrates they were remanded. "They were,"
+said the "Daily News," "placed in a cell with a view to removal to the
+city jail at Belle Vue. At this time the police noticed outside the
+court house two men hanging about whom they suspected to be Fenians, and
+a policeman made a rush at one of them to arrest him, in which he
+succeeded, but not until the man had drawn a dagger and attempted to
+stab him, the blow being warded off. The other made his escape."
+
+As to the incident just related, it seems that a patriotic but imprudent
+man belonging to one of the Manchester circles had got to hear of the
+intended rescue, and was indignant at being left out. His suspicious
+conduct outside the court house drew the attention of the police--as we
+have seen--with the result, as the paper said, that the authorities
+became alarmed. Kelly and Deasy were put in irons on their removal, and
+a strong body of police were sent with the van intended to take them to
+Belle Vue Prison.
+
+It was the custom for a policeman to ride outside the van, on the step
+behind, but, on this occasion, owing to the incident just described,
+Brett, the officer in charge, went _inside_ the van. The door was then
+locked, and the keys handed to him through the ventilator.
+
+It is certain that, up to this point, the Manchester police had no
+suspicion of the intended rescue, and it was only the imprudent
+behaviour of the man whom the police had arrested that caused additional
+precautions to be taken. Certain it is that if the Manchester
+authorities had had any information of the probability of an attempted
+rescue there would have been a formidable escort of the police and
+military.
+
+With so much false swearing at the trials with regard to the facts of
+the Manchester Rescue, it is important that the information given in
+books for the benefit of the present and future generations of Irishmen
+should be correct. It is serious that in some of our best books so
+important a matter as the actual scene of the rescue is incorrectly
+given. One book says: "The van drove off for the _County jail at
+Salford_." In another description it is stated: "Just as the van passed
+under the arch that spans Hyde Road at Belle Vue, a _point midway
+between the city police office and the Salford Jail,_ etc." Following
+this, one of our ablest writers, apparently quoting from the previous
+descriptions, falls into the same error. I can readily understand how
+these errors have arisen--the writers concerned have confounded the
+place of the execution of the Manchester Martyrs, Salford Jail, with the
+prison, Belle Vue, to which the prisoners were being taken on being
+remanded.
+
+The point chosen by Condon as the most suitable for the attack was
+certainly where the railway bridge crosses Hyde Road, but if the van had
+been going to Salford Jail it would have been in a totally different
+direction.
+
+Since writing the above, I find it still more necessary I should correct
+the mis-statement as to the scene of the rescue, for the error seems to
+be getting perpetuated. I find in one of the leading Irish-American
+newspapers, in a description of the death of Colonel Kelly on February
+5, 1909, the scene of the rescue is given as "_midway between the
+police office and Salford Jail_." This is evidently taken from the
+erroneous statement in the books I have referred to.
+
+After this slight digression, may I resume my narrative.
+
+At the police court a man appointed for the purpose took a cab in
+advance of the van. When sufficiently close to them he waved a white
+handkerchief as a signal to the men in ambush. Just as the van passed
+under the railway arch two men with revolvers barred the way.
+
+"Stop the van!" one cried. But the driver took no heed. A bullet fired
+over his head and another into one of the horses effectually stopped the
+van. At the sound of the shots the rest of the rescuers came from their
+ambush behind the walls that lined the road, and from the shadow of the
+abutments of the railway arch.
+
+The police fled panic-stricken at the first volley fired over their
+heads by the Fenians, for these wanted to release their chiefs without
+bloodshed if possible. One portion of the assailants, carrying out a
+pre-arranged plan, formed an extended circle around the van, and kept
+the police and mob who had rallied to their assistance at bay, while a
+second party set themselves to effecting an entrance to the van. This
+was more difficult than had been expected, for had Brett ridden on the
+step behind as usual the keys could readily have been taken from him.
+The rescuing party were, however, equal to the occasion, and the
+military precision with which the work was carried out displayed the
+discipline of the men and the able direction of the leaders.
+
+Indeed, the fullest testimony is borne to this by a great English
+newspaper, the "Daily News," which, while showing the most intense
+hostility to the men and their daring act, is thus compelled to
+recognise the courage and discipline of the devoted band of
+Fenians:--"The more astonishing, therefore, is it to read of the
+appearance of the public enemy in the heart of one of our greatest
+cities, organised and armed, overpowering, wounding and murdering the
+guardians of public order, and releasing prisoners of state. There is a
+distinctness of aim, a tenacity of purpose, a resolution in execution
+about the Fenian attack upon the police van which is very impressive.
+The blow was sudden and swift, and effected its object. In the presence
+of a small but compact body of Fenians, provided with repeating
+firearms, the police were powerless, and the release of Kelly and Deasy
+was quickly effected."
+
+An unfortunate accident was the killing of Brett, the policeman, by a
+shot fired with the intention of breaking the lock of the van. A female
+prisoner then handed out the keys on the demand of the Fenians outside,
+and the door was quickly opened, and the two leaders brought out, their
+safe retreat being guarded by their rescuers.
+
+As Captain Condon had anticipated and provided for, some of the warders
+from Belle Vue quickly came upon the scene, as it was but a short
+distance across what were then brickfields from the prison to the scene
+of action. But, when they saw the determined men who were guarding the
+leaders' retreat, they, too, like the police, kept at a safe distance
+from the Fenian revolvers, and devoted themselves to picking up any
+stragglers who had got separated from the main body of Irishmen.
+
+In this way a number of arrests were made, and, later on, Condon himself
+was taken, but the main object had been accomplished, and Kelly and
+Deasy got safely away, and, ultimately, as we shall see, out of the
+country.
+
+Following the rescue, there was a perfect reign of terror, the police
+authorities striking out wildly in all directions to gather into their
+net enough Irish victims to satisfy their baffled vengeance. There were
+numerous arrests and no lack of witnesses to swear anything to secure
+convictions. Every detail of the attack on the van while on the way from
+the courthouse to the prison, and of the release of the prisoners was
+sworn to with the utmost minuteness, as the witnesses professed to
+identify one after another of the men in the dock, some of whom had no
+connection or sympathy with the rescue at all.
+
+In Liverpool, men whom I knew were arrested who were at work all that
+day at the docks, and yet were sworn to by numerous witnesses as having
+assisted in the attack on the van in Hyde Road, Manchester, the most
+minute details being given.
+
+I have mentioned a case of the kind in my "Irish in Britain." William
+Murphy, of Manchester, a man whom I knew well, was convicted and sent
+into penal servitude as having taken part in the rescue. On his
+liberation I was surprised to learn from his own lips that, although he
+would gladly have borne his part if detailed for the duty, he was not
+present at the rescue of the Fenian leaders. With the authorities in
+such a panic, it can readily be understood that it behoved any of us in
+Lancashire who were in any way regarded as "suspects" to be ready with
+very solid testimony as to where we were on the day in question.
+
+In a recent letter I have had from Captain Condon--from whom
+communications reach me from all parts of America, for he is constantly
+travelling, holding as he does the post of Inspector of Public Buildings
+in connection with the Treasury Department of the U.S.A.--he tells me
+something about William Murphy that I never heard before. He says: "When
+Allen, Larkin, O'Brien, myself, and the other men were sentenced, Digby
+Seymour (one of the counsel for the prisoners) went down to a large cell
+in the court house basement where all the others were kept together. He
+urged them all to plead 'guilty' and throw themselves upon the mercy of
+the court, declaring that, if they refused to do this all would be
+convicted and executed.
+
+"There was an instant's hesitation among the prisoners, but William
+Murphy, who was later sentenced to seven years penal servitude,
+addressed his comrades, urging them to stand fast together, imitate our
+example, and die like men, rather than live like dogs, for as such they
+would be regarded by all true Irishmen if they pleaded 'guilty.'
+
+"To a man the whole twenty-two shouted out--'We will never plead
+guilty!'
+
+"And Seymour, baffled and irritated, went away without accomplishing his
+purpose."
+
+Of the men convicted for taking part in the rescue, five--Allen, Larkin,
+O'Brien, Condon and Maguire--were sentenced to death. Condon was
+reprieved, really on account of his American citizenship, and Maguire,
+who was a marine, because the authorities discovered in time that the
+evidence against him was false. A number of others were sent to penal
+servitude for various terms.
+
+The execution of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, so far from striking terror,
+but gave new life to the cause of Irish Freedom, and to-day, over the
+world, no names in the long roll of those who have suffered and died for
+Ireland are more honoured than those of the "Manchester Martyrs," while
+the determination has become all the stronger that, in the words of our
+National Anthem--founded on Condon's defiant shout in the dock of "God
+Save Ireland!":--
+
+     On the cause must go
+     Amidst joy or weal or woe,
+  Till we've made our isle a Nation free and grand.
+
+It is not generally known how Colonel Kelly got out of the country after
+the rescue. He lay concealed in the house of an Irish professional man
+for some weeks, and then, all the railway stations being closely and
+constantly watched night and day, he was driven in a conveyance by road
+all the way from Manchester to Liverpool.
+
+It was a patriotic foreman ship-joiner, whom I knew well, who actually
+got him away to America. My friend Egan had charge of the fitting up of
+the berths aboard the steamer in which Colonel Kelly sailed. In emigrant
+steamers the usual practice was for temporary compartments to be made
+and taken down at the end of the voyage. I had fitted up such berths
+myself, and therefore perfectly understood what my friend had done to
+secure Colonel Kelly's escape when he described it to me afterwards at
+my place in Byrom Street. Egan actually built a small secret
+compartment, so constructed as to attract no notice, and when Kelly was
+smuggled aboard at the last moment--he might be supposed to be one of
+Egan's men--he was put into it and actually boarded up, sufficient
+provisions being left with him, until the steamer got clear of British
+waters, when he could come out with safety.
+
+Deasy also made his way to America.
+
+In speaking of the after-career of those assembled that night at
+McGrady's, I have sufficiently accounted for Michael O'Brien.
+
+Rickard Burke, who also assisted at the same gathering, was a remarkable
+personality, and one of the most astute men I ever met. He was a
+graduate of Queen's College, Cork, and an accomplished linguist. He was
+a skilful engineer, and had served with distinction in the American
+Civil War. When I knew him he was about thirty-five years of age, tall
+and of fine presence. To him was deputed the work of purchasing arms
+for the intended Rising in Ireland.
+
+After many adventures, he fell into the hands of the police, was
+convicted, and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. It was with the
+idea of effecting his rescue that the Clerkenwell Prison wall was blown
+up on December 13th, 1867, this insane plan causing the death and
+mutilation of a number of people. Burke himself would probably have been
+killed had he happened to be confined in that part of the jail that was
+blown up.
+
+While in Chatham prison he was reported as having lost his reason, and
+was removed to Woking. The matter was brought before the House of
+Commons by Mr. McCarthy Downing, who suggested that Burke's insanity had
+been caused by his treatment in prison. He was released on Sunday, July
+9th, 1871.
+
+Captain Murphy, another of the company in our Scotland Road rendezvous,
+whom I had often met before, was a gentlemanly, genial man of portly
+presence, and an exceedingly pleasant companion. After some time he
+found his way back to America.
+
+Edward O'Meagher Condon was one of the American officers I most
+frequently came in contact with in Liverpool, previous to and after the
+Rising. Since his return to America, after his release from penal
+servitude in 1878, we have frequently corresponded with each other. From
+a report of a Manchester Martyr's Commemoration in a newspaper which
+accompanied one of his letters, and conversations I had with him when I
+was delighted to have him as my guest during his recent visit to this
+country, I find he has just the same sanguine temperament as on that
+night at McGrady's, when the chances of another Rising were being
+discussed. In the report I refer to he says, "Had the Irish people been
+furnished with the necessary arms and munitions of war, which ought and
+could have been provided, they would have proved victors in the
+contest."
+
+I have no doubt but that, in propounding this view, he had in his mind
+the probability there was at one point of England being embroiled in a
+quarrel with America. None knew better than he, at the time, of the
+enormous number of Irishmen in the American armies, on both sides,
+during the Civil War who, with their military training, longed for the
+task of sweeping English rule from the soil of Ireland. It will be
+remembered that it was Condon who, when sentenced to death, concluded
+his speech in the dock with the prayer, "God save Ireland!" the words
+which have since become the rallying cry of the whole Irish race, and
+have given us a National Anthem.
+
+In his letters to me since his first return to America, I have been
+gratified to hear that he always took a warm interest in my
+publications. I am pleased, too, to find from the newspaper reports he
+has sent me that he is, as ever, an eminently practical man, and
+believes in using the means nearest to hand for the advancement of the
+Irish Cause.
+
+While giving his experiences in connection with the revolutionary
+movement, he declares that no one can blame the Irish people for having
+recourse to any means which may enable them to remain on their native
+soil. They have, he says, to use whatever means have been left to save
+themselves from extermination and Ireland from becoming a desert. He,
+therefore, declares his sympathy with the later movements of the Irish
+people--the Land League, the National League, and the United Irish
+League, while never abandoning the principles of '98, '48 and '67.
+
+I referred to two Liverpool men as being present at the meeting at
+McGrady's. One of these, John Ryan, my dear old schoolfellow, one of the
+rescuers of James Stephens, has been dead many years--God rest his soul!
+He was a noble character, and would have risen to the top in any walk of
+life, but though he had a good home--his father was a prosperous
+merchant of Liverpool--he gave his whole life to Ireland. I often heard
+from him of his adventures, for he always looked me up whenever he came
+to Liverpool, and how, sometimes, he and his friends had to fare very
+badly indeed.
+
+It was most extraordinary that, while constantly Tunning risks, for he
+was a man of great daring, he never once was arrested, though he had
+some hair-breadth escapes. On one occasion, about the time of the
+Rising, a good, honest, Protestant member of the Brotherhood, Sam
+Clampitt, was taken out of the same bedroom in which he was sleeping
+with Ryan, who was left, the police little thinking of the bigger fish
+they had allowed to escape from their net, the noted Fenian leader,
+"Captain O'Doherty." I forget his precise name at this particular time,
+but it was a very Saxon one, for he was supposed to be an English
+artist sketching in Ireland. Questioned by the police, he was able to
+satisfy them of his _bona fides_. He had a friend in Liverpool, an old
+schoolfellow like myself, Richard Richards--"Double Dick" we used to
+call him--a patriotic Liverpool-born Irishman. He was an exceedingly
+able artist, making rapid progress in his profession, and, about this
+time, having some very fine pictures, for which he got good prices, on
+the walls of the Liverpool Academy Exhibition. Richards supplied all the
+trappings for the part that Ryan was playing, and also sent him letters
+of a somewhat humorous character, which he sometimes read to me before
+sending off. In these he was anticipating all sorts of adventures for
+his friend in the then disturbed state of Ireland. As John Ryan had much
+artistic taste, and was himself a fair draughtsman, and well up in all
+the necessary technicalities, and as Richards' letters, which he always
+carried for emergencies like this, were strong evidences in his favour,
+he had not much difficulty in convincing the Dublin police he was what
+he represented himself to be.
+
+Some of Jack Ryan's reminiscences had their droll sides, for he had a
+keen sense of humour. One of his stories was in connection with the
+well-known old tradition of the Gaels--both Irish and Scottish--that
+wherever the "_Lia Fail_" or "Stone of Destiny" may be must be the seat
+of Government. There is some doubt, as is well known, as to where the
+real stone now is. At all events, the stone which is under the
+Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey is that which was taken from
+Scone by King Edward, and that on which the Scottish monarchs were
+crowned, having been originally brought from Ireland, the cradle of the
+Gaelic race. The tradition is still, as it happens, borne out by the
+fact that Westminster is _now_ the seat of Government.
+
+Now two of John Ryan's Fenian friends, Irish-American officers, stranded
+in London--a not unusual circumstance--just when affairs looked very
+black indeed, conceived the brilliant idea of _stealing the stone_,
+bringing it over to Ireland, and, once for all, settling the Irish
+question. This, notwithstanding their oath to "The Irish _Republic_ now
+virtually (virtuously some of our friends used to say) established," for
+it did not seem to strike them that they were proposing to bring to
+Ireland an emblem of royalty.
+
+I never heard if they took any actual steps to accomplish their object.
+Perhaps they were impressed by the mechanical difficulties, as I was
+myself one day, when standing with David Barrett, an Irish National
+League organiser, in Edward the Confessor's Chapel, in front of the
+famous "_Lia Fail_." It is a rough-hewn stone, about two feet each way,
+and ten inches deep. I was telling my friend the story of the plot to
+carry off the "Stone of Destiny," and was making a calculation, based on
+the weight of a cubic foot of stone, of what might be its weight.
+
+"We'll soon see," said David, and, in a moment, he had vaulted over the
+railing, and taken hold of a corner of the stone.
+
+But, so closely is this national treasure watched, that instantaneously
+a couple of attendants appeared, and broke up peremptorily our proposed
+committee of enquiry. An archaeological friend of mine suggests that,
+one day, when Ireland is making her own laws and able to enter on equal
+terms into a contract with England, a reasonable stipulation would be
+the restoration of that stone--unless the Scottish Gaels can prove a
+stronger claim to it.
+
+From John Ryan I heard of the mode of living of many of the Fenian
+organisers and of the Irish-American officers,--very different from the
+slanderous statements of their "living in luxury upon the wages of Irish
+servant girls in America." John was of a cheery disposition, never
+complaining, but always sanguine, and loving to look at the bright side
+of things. Yet I could see for myself, each time I saw him, how the life
+of hardship he was leading was telling upon his once splendid
+constitution, and, I felt sure, shortening his days. John Ryan, I have
+often said, is dead for Ireland, for though he did not perish on the
+battlefield or on the scaffold, as would have been his glory, I most
+certainly believe he would have been alive to-day but for the hardships
+suffered in doing his unostentatious work for Ireland.
+
+There is one other friend I mentioned as having been present that night
+at Owen McGrady's--the school master. You will ask what became of him?
+Almost the last time I spoke to him--not very long before these lines
+were written--was in the inner lobby of the British House of Commons,
+for he has been for many years a member of Parliament. Now some of my
+most cherished friends are or have been members of Parliament, and I
+would be sorry to think any of them worse Irishmen than myself on that
+account. Their taking the oath of allegiance to the British sovereign
+was a matter for their own consciences, but I never could bring myself
+to do it. Mr. Parnell would, I know, have been pleased to see me in
+Parliament, but he knew that I never would take the oath, and respected
+my conscientious objections to swear allegiance to any but my own
+country.
+
+With the exception of a few, whose names I forget, I have accounted for
+the whole of the company comprising the Council of War at McGrady's
+public house. Summed up as follows, nothing in the pages of romance
+could be more startling than the after fate of these men:--
+
+     CAPTAIN MICHAEL O'BRIEN.--Hanged at Manchester. R.I.P.
+
+     COLONEL RICKARD BURKE.--Sent to Penal Servitude--Returned to
+     America.
+
+     COLONEL THOMAS KELLY, CAPTAIN TIMOTHY DEASY.--Rescued from Prison
+     Van in Manchester.
+
+     CAPTAIN EDWARD O'MEAGHER-CONDON.--Sentenced to death for the
+     Manchester Rescues, but reprieved and sent to Penal
+     Servitude--Returned to America.
+
+     CAPTAIN MURPHY.--Returned to America. Died a few years since.
+
+     THE SCHOOLMASTER.--A Member of Parliament.
+
+     JOHN RYAN.--Dead--God rest his soul.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A DIGRESSION--T.D. SULLIVAN--A NATIONAL ANTHEM--THE EMERALD
+MINSTRELS--"THE SPIRIT OF THE NATION."
+
+
+If it were for nothing else, it will be sufficient fame for T.D.
+Sullivan for all time that he is the author of "God Save Ireland." He
+had no idea himself, as he used to tell me, that the anthem would have
+been taken up so instantaneously and enthusiastically as it was.
+
+A National Anthem can never be made to order. It must grow spontaneously
+out of some stirring incident of the hour. Never in those days were our
+people so deeply moved as by the Manchester Martyrdom. There is no
+grander episode in all Irish history. The song of "God Save Ireland,"
+embodying the cry raised by Edward O'Meagher Condon, and taken up by his
+doomed companions in the dock, so expressed the feelings of all hearts
+that it was at once accepted by Irishmen the world over as the National
+Anthem.
+
+I sympathise with the ground taken up by our friends of the Gaelic
+League that a National Anthem should be in the national tongue. That
+objection has to some extent been met by the very fine translation of
+"God Save Ireland" into Gaelic by Daniel Lynch. This appeared in one of
+my publications, and is the version now frequently sung at Irish
+patriotic gatherings.
+
+With regard to the objection that the air--"Tramp, tramp, the boys are
+marching"--to which T.D. wrote the song is of American origin, I was
+under the impression that Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, the famous
+Irish-American bandmaster, was the composer of it, and that, therefore,
+we could claim the air of "God Save Ireland" as being Irish as well as
+the words. To place the matter beyond doubt, Gilmore himself being dead,
+I wrote to his daughter, Mary Sarsfield Gilmore, a distinguished
+poetical contributor to the "Irish World," to ascertain the facts. I got
+from her a most interesting reply, in which she said, "I am more than
+sorry to disappoint you by my answer, but my father was _not_ the
+composer of the air you mention."
+
+I have heard it suggested that McCann's famous war song "O'Donnell
+Aboo!" should be adopted as our National Anthem instead of "God Save
+Ireland," and I have heard of it being given as a _finale_ at Gaelic
+League concerts.
+
+Without doubt it is a fine song, and the air to which it is generally
+sung is a noble one. A distinguished Irish poet tells me he is of
+opinion that "what will be universally taken up as the Irish National
+Anthem has never yet been written." My friend may be right, but let us
+see what claim "O'Donnell Aboo!'"--song or air--has upon us for adoption
+as our National Anthem.
+
+To do this I must go back in my narrative to the time when I made the
+acquaintance of Mr. Michael Joseph McCann, its author. This was a few
+years before "God Save Ireland" was written, and over twenty years after
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" appeared in the "Nation."
+
+A party of young Irishmen from Liverpool engaged the Rotunda, Dublin,
+for a week. They called themselves the "Emerald Minstrels," and gave an
+entertainment--"Terence's Fireside; or the Irish Peasant at Home." I was
+one of the minstrels. The entertainment consisted of Irish national
+songs and harmonized choruses, interspersed with stories such as might
+be told around an Irish fireside. There was a sketch at the finish,
+winding up with a jig.
+
+At my suggestion, one of the pieces in our programme was "O'Donnell
+Aboo!" which first appeared in the "Nation" of January 28th, 1843, under
+the title of "The Clan-Connell War Song--A.D. 1597," the air to which it
+was to be sung being given as "Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu," This was the
+name of the boat song commencing "Hail to the Chief," from Sir Walter
+Scott's poem of "The Lady of the Lake." This was published in 1810, and
+set to music for three voices soon afterwards by Count Joseph Mazzinghi,
+a distinguished composer of Italian extraction, born in London.
+
+As "Roderigh Vich Alpine" was the air given by Mr. McCann himself as
+that to which his song was to be sung, we, of course, used Mazzinghi's
+music in our entertainment.
+
+One night--I think it was our first--at the close of our entertainment
+in Dublin, a gentleman came behind to see us. It was Mr. McCann. He was
+pleased, he said, we were singing his song, but would like us to use an
+air to which it was being sung in Ireland, and which _he had put to it
+himself_. He also told us he had made some alterations in the _words_ of
+the song, and was good enough to write into my "Spirit of the Nation"
+the changes he had made. This copy is the original folio edition, with
+music, published in 1845. It was presented to me by the members of St.
+Nicholas's Boys' Guild, Liverpool. I have that book still, and value it
+all the more as containing the handwriting of the distinguished poet. (I
+should say, however, that most of my friends do not consider the
+alterations in the song to be improvements.)
+
+The measure and style of "O'Donnell Aboo!" were evidently imitated from
+Sir Walter Scott's boat song. Besides this strong resemblance, there is
+the fact that Mr. McCann gave as the air to which his song was to be
+sung, "Roderigh Vich Alpine," part of the burden of Sir Walter's song.
+
+But not only is there a resemblance in the words and general style, but
+in the music. Indeed, it seems to me that most of the fine air of
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" as it is now sung is based on Mazzinghi's
+music--either that for the first, second, or bass voice, or upon the
+concerted part for the three voices at the end of each verse.
+
+Another fact is worthy of mention. Since meeting Mr. McCann I have often
+noticed in Irish papers that when the air, as adapted by him, was played
+at national gatherings, it was often given by the name of Scott's song
+and Mazzinghi's composition. And when Mr. Parnell was in the height of
+his popularity and attended demonstrations in Ireland, the air used to
+be played as being applicable to the Irish leader, and given in some
+papers as "Hail to the Chief," while others described the same air as
+"O'Donnell Aboo!"
+
+But if we cannot claim as an original Irish air McCann's song as it is
+now sung, the same critical examination which brings out its resemblance
+to Mazzinghi's music, also shows that the Italian composer most probably
+got his inspiration from the music of the Irish or Scottish Gaels, as
+being most suitable for his theme. So that, perhaps, we may take the
+same pride in the present air as our island mother might in some of her
+children who had been on the _shaughraun_ for a time, but had again come
+back to the "old sod."
+
+It may be that even before the era of Irish independence some inspired
+poet may write, to some old or new Irish melody, a song which, by its
+transcendent merits, may spring at once into the first place. But until
+that happens, or till "we've made our isle a nation free and grand" I
+think we may very well rest content with "God Save Ireland."
+
+It has been suggested to me that it might form an interesting portion of
+these recollections if I were to give some account of how we came to
+start the "Emerald Minstrels," and what we did while that company was in
+existence. I may say without hesitation that we got our inspiration from
+the teaching of Young Ireland and the "Spirit of the Nation." We called
+our entertainment "Terence's Fireside; or The Irish Peasant at Home."
+
+We had most of us been boys in the old Copperas Hill school, then in the
+Young Men's Guild connected with the church, and some of us members of
+the choir. At the Guild meetings on Sunday nights, the chaplain, Father
+Nugent, an Irishman, but, like most of ourselves, born out of his own
+country, used to delight in teaching us elocution, and encouraging us to
+write essays, besides putting other means of culture in our way.
+
+After a time he founded an educational establishment, the Catholic
+Institute, where, when he left Copperas Hill, many of us followed him
+and joined the evening classes. About this good priest I shall have more
+to say in this narrative, and, though he was no politician, I don't
+think any man ever did so much to elevate the condition of the Irish
+people of his native town, and make them both respectable--in the best
+sense--and respected, as Father Nugent.
+
+We started the "Emerald Minstrels" at a time when there was a lull in
+Irish politics; our objects being the cultivation of Irish music, poetry
+and the drama; Irish literature generally, Irish pastimes and customs;
+and, above all, Irish Nationality.
+
+Father Nugent's training from the time we were young boys had been
+invaluable. We numbered ten, the most brilliant member of our body, and
+the one who did most in organising our entertainments, being John
+Francis McArdle. Besides our main objects, already stated, we considered
+we were doing good work by elevating the tastes of our people, who had,
+through sheer good nature, so long tolerated an objectionable class of
+so-called Irish songs, as well as the still more objectionable "Stage
+Irishman."
+
+Some items from the programme will give an idea of our entertainment. We
+opened with a prologue, originally written by myself, but re-cast and
+very much improved by John McArdle. I may say that we two often did a
+considerable amount of journalistic work in that way in after years. I
+can just remember a little of the prologue. These were the opening
+lines:--
+
+  Sons of green Erin, we greet you this night!
+  And you, too, her daughters--how welcome the sight!
+  We come here before you, a minstrel band,
+  To carol the lays of our native land.
+
+There was one particularly daring couplet in it, the contribution of
+John McArdle:--
+
+  In your own Irish way give us one hearty cheer.
+  Just to show us at once that you welcome us here.
+
+Had mine been the task to speak these lines, I must inevitably have
+failed to get the required response, but in the mouth of the regular
+reciter they never once missed fire. This was Mr. Barry Aylmer. He
+afterwards adopted the stage as a profession, and became recognised as a
+very fine actor, chiefly in Irish parts, as might be expected. He also
+travelled with a very successful entertainment of his own, and it is but
+a short time since he informed me that he spoke our identical "Emerald
+Minstrel" prologue in New York and other cities in America, adapting it,
+of course, to the circumstances of the occasion. I found that during the
+many years which had elapsed since I had previously seen him until I met
+him again quite recently he had been a great traveller, not only in this
+country and America, but also in South Africa and Australia.
+
+We had a number of harmonized choruses, including several of Moore's
+melodies, Banim's "Soggarth Aroon," "Native Music," by Lover; McCann's
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" and others. "Killarney," words by Falconer, music by
+Balfe, was sung by James McArdle, who had a fine tenor voice. Richard
+Campbell was our principal humorous singer. He used chiefly to give
+selections from Lover's songs, and one song written for him by John
+McArdle, "Pat Delany's Christenin'."
+
+John had an instinctive grasp of stage effect. A hint of the
+possibilities of an idea was enough for him. On my return from the
+Curragh I told him of how I had heard the militia men and soldiers
+singing the "Shan Van Vocht" on the road. He decided that this should be
+our _finale_, the climax of the first part of our minstrel
+entertainment.
+
+We had a drop scene representing the Lower Lake of Killarney. When it
+was raised it disclosed the interior of the living room of a comfortable
+Irish homestead, with the large projecting open chimney, the turf fire
+on the hearth, and the usual pious and patriotic pictures proper to such
+an interior--Terence's Fireside.
+
+Ours was a very self-contained company. Each had some special line as
+singer, musician, elocutionist, story teller or dancer.
+
+John Clarke was our chief actor. He excelled in "character parts," and,
+when well "made up" as an old man made a capital "Terence" in the first
+part of the entertainment, besides giving a fine rendering of Lefanu's
+"Shemus O'Brien" between the parts.
+
+In the miscellaneous part there was a rattling Irish jig by Joseph Ward
+and Barry Aylmer. The latter, being of somewhat slight figure and a
+good-looking youth, made a bouncing Irish colleen. These two made a
+point of studying from nature, not only in their dancing, but in their
+acting and singing, so that their performances were always true to life,
+without an atom of exaggeration. They were always received with great
+enthusiasm, particularly by the old people, who seemed transported back,
+as by the touch of a magic wand, to the scenes of their youth.
+
+We finished the evening with a sketch, written by John McArdle, called
+"Phil Foley's Frolics"--he was fond of alliteration. Noticing that
+Joseph Ward had made a special study of the comfortable old Irish
+_vanithee_, and had many of her quaint and humorous sayings, he added to
+the characters a special part for him--"Mrs. Casey,"--to which he did
+full justice. Indeed, so incessant was the laughter that followed each
+sally, that he and Barry Aylmer, who was the Phil Foley, sometimes found
+it difficult to get the words of the dialogue in between. We had
+another sketch, "Pat Houlahan's Ghost," which used to go very well.
+
+The first part of the entertainment, showing old Terence in the chimney
+corner and the others singing songs and telling stories, almost
+necessitated our sitting around in a semi-circular formation. This gave
+us much the appearance of a nigger troupe. To depart from this somewhat,
+we occasionally introduced a trifling plot. We made it that one of the
+sons of the house entered while the family were engaged in their usual
+avocations, having unexpectedly returned from America. Then came the
+affectionate family greeting, and the bringing in of the friends and
+neighbours, who formed a group sitting around the turf fire, making a
+merry night of it.
+
+The services of the "Emerald Minstrels" were in great demand, and were
+always cheerfully given for Catholic, National and charitable objects.
+
+While our own people mostly furnished our audiences, our entertainment
+was appreciated by the general public. The best proof of this was that
+Mr. Calderwood, Secretary of the Concert Hall, Lord Nelson Street, gave
+us several engagements for the "Saturday Evening Concerts," in which,
+from time to time, Samuel Lover, Henry Russell, The English Glee and
+Madrigal Union, and other well-known popular entertainers, appeared. Mr.
+Calderwood told us he was well pleased to have in the town a company
+like ours, upon whom he could always rely for a successful
+entertainment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A FENIAN CONFERENCE AT PARIS--THE REVOLVERS FOR THE MANCHESTER
+RESCUE--MICHAEL DAVITT SENT TO PENAL SERVITUDE.
+
+
+I have referred to Michael Breslin in speaking of his brother John.
+Michael was not suspected of any complicity with the revolutionary
+movement until after the rising on the 5th of March, 1867, when he found
+it prudent to get out of the country.
+
+He was, as the saying is, "on his keeping," and stayed with me at my
+father's house in Liverpool for a short time, until he found a
+favourable opportunity of getting away to America. This was by no means
+an easy task, as all the ports were closely watched, and as, like his
+brother John, he was a fine handsome man, of splendid physique, and well
+known, of course, to the Irish police, it required all his caution
+successfully to run the gauntlet; but this eventually he did.
+
+The next I heard from him was that he was coming to Paris to a
+conference between the representatives of the two parties of American
+Fenians--what were known as the Stephens and Roberts wings. Michael
+Breslin was sent as a representative of the Stephens party. There were
+prominent members of the I.R.B. in this country, also friends of
+Breslin, who were anxious that the two parties should join. I wrote to
+him on their behalf, asking him to work towards that end. For greater
+safety the letters for Breslin were sent under cover through my cousin,
+Father Bernard O'Loughlin, Superior of the Passionist Fathers in Paris.
+He, of course, knew nothing of the nature of the communications he was
+handing to Breslin, who did his best to bring about the desired unity;
+but his action was repudiated by his principals in America.
+
+He came over to England, and had a narrow escape from falling into the
+hands of the police. When William Hogan was arrested in Birmingham,
+charged with supplying the arms used in the Manchester Rescue, Michael
+Breslin was in the house at the time. Questioned by the police, he
+described himself as a traveller in the tea trade for Mr. James Lysaght
+Finigan, of Liverpool. As he had his proper credentials (samples, etc.,
+from James Finigan, who, anticipating an emergency of this kind, had
+given them for this express purpose), he was allowed by the police to go
+on his way.
+
+James Lysaght Finigan was a good type of the Liverpool-born Irishman,
+educated by the Christian Brothers. With other members of his family he
+was at the time engaged in the tea trade; but he was of an adventurous
+disposition, and afterwards served in the French Foreign Legion in the
+Franco-Prussian War. Later still he became a member of the Irish Party
+in the House of Commons.
+
+In connection with Breslin's narrow escape, the sequel, as regards our
+friend Hogan, is worth relating. Those who ever met William Hogan will
+agree with me that a more warm-hearted and enthusiastic Irishman never
+lived. He was a good-looking man, of imposing presence--a director of an
+Insurance Company, for which he was also the resident manager in
+Birmingham. Living in that town, he was of great assistance to the
+various agents entrusted with the task of procuring arms for the
+revolutionary movement. It speaks much for his sagacity that a man of
+his impulsive and generous temperament should so long have escaped
+arrest in connection with such hazardous undertakings. Hogan, however,
+like Shemus O'Brien, "was taken at last."
+
+Some of the revolvers brought from Birmingham by Daniel Darragh, which
+had been used at the Hyde Road action, had been picked up from the
+ground afterwards by the police. It was for supplying these that Hogan
+was put upon his trial. The maker of the revolvers was brought from
+Birmingham, and put in the witness box. He swore that a revolver
+produced was one of his own make, which he had sold to the prisoner.
+Thus, fortunately for Hogan, the whole case against him turned on this
+point--not a very strong one, as it was obviously possible for the Crown
+witness to be mistaken.
+
+Hogan's counsel produced a similar revolver, and asked the witness if he
+could identify it as his manufacture? The witness unhesitatingly did so.
+The counsel, when his turn came, called another witness--a
+decent-looking man of the artizan class. The barrister handed him the
+revolver.
+
+"Do you recognise it?" he asked.
+
+"I do--I made it myself."
+
+The Court was astonished. The prosecuting counsel asked:--
+
+"How do you know it is yours?"
+
+"By certain marks on it," the man replied, and these he proceeded to
+describe. As the description was found to be correct, and as the other
+witness, who had sworn that _he_ had made the weapon, had not described
+any such marks, the case against Hogan broke down, and he was acquitted.
+
+A few days afterwards he called on me, and explained how the thing had
+happened. When he was arrested, his friends in Birmingham, having still
+on hand some of the revolvers he had purchased, had an exact copy of one
+of them made by a gunsmith whom they could trust, with instructions to
+put his own private marks upon it, which he could afterwards identify.
+It was this weapon that had deceived the witness for the prosecution to
+such an extent that he wrongly swore to it as being his own manufacture.
+
+Daniel Darragh, who was also put upon his trial for supplying the
+weapons for the Manchester Rescue, was not so fortunate as his friend
+Hogan, for he was convicted. He was sent into penal servitude on April
+15th, 1869, but, being in delicate health, did not long survive, for he
+died in Portland Prison on June 28th of the following year. William
+Hogan, as the fulfilment of a sacred duty, brought the body of his
+friend home to Ireland, to be buried among his own kith and kin, in the
+Catholic cemetery of Ballycastle, Co. Antrim; and Edward O'Meagher
+Condon, when recently visiting this country, considered it a no less
+sacred duty to visit the grave.
+
+It will be seen that William Hogan, with all his acuteness, had a very
+narrow escape from falling into the hands of the law and suffering its
+penalties. Still, it has been my experience, that men like him, who have
+stood their ground, following their usual legitimate occupations, were
+always less liable to be molested than what might be termed birds of
+passage, such as Rickard Burke, Arthur Forrester, or Michael Davitt.
+
+Such, I consider, was the case of my friend, John Barry, when he was a
+resident in Newcastle-on-Tyne, in connection with an incident which he
+related to me a short time since. Some arms were addressed to him "to be
+called for," under the name of "Kershaw," a well-known north-country
+name, not at all likely to be borne by an Irishman. By some means the
+police got wind of the nature of the consignment, and the arms were held
+at the station, waiting for Mr. Kershaw to claim them. But it was a case
+of plot and counterplot; and when John was actually on the way to the
+railway station, he was warned in time by a railway employé, an Irish
+Protestant member of the I.R.B., and did not finish his journey. As
+"Kershaw" did not turn up, the case of arms was sent off to London to be
+produced at a trial then impending.
+
+_John Barry_ was at that time a commercial traveller, and, strangely
+enough, on one of his trips, he found himself in the same railway
+carriage with two detectives who were in charge of the arms on their way
+to the metropolis. John, as everybody acquainted with him knows, "has
+the music on the tip of his tongue;" the racy accent acquired in his
+childhood in his native Wexford. But he can put it off when the occasion
+requires it; and the two police officers were quite charmed with the
+social qualities of the genial commercial "gent" who was their
+fellow-traveller, never suspecting him to be an Irishman. They chatted
+together in the most agreeable manner, making no secret of their mission
+to London, and letting drop a few facts which proved useful to the
+counsel for the defence in the subsequent trial. Reaching London, they
+asked the commercial "gent" to spend a social evening with them and some
+of the witnesses in the case, which had some connection with the arms
+intended for "Mr. Kershaw." He could not do so, he said, as he had a
+previous engagement--which happened to be with Arthur Forrester and some
+witnesses on the other side. But, he continued, he would be glad to see
+them on the following day. Where could he see them? At Scotland Yard;
+and at Scotland Yard, accordingly, he met them, where they showed him,
+as an evidence of the desperate characters they had to deal with--his
+own case of arms!
+
+They told him of the pleasant evening he had missed, the only drawback
+being, they said, that one of the witnesses, named Corydon, got drunk
+and was very troublesome.
+
+This reminds me of another case, in connection with which I, at the
+time, fully expected to be arrested. The reader can form his own
+conclusion, but my impression was, and is, that I owed my safety to a
+gentleman I shall now introduce. Detective Superintendent Laurence
+Kehoe, of Liverpool, was a very decent man in his way. He was by no
+means of the type of John Boyle O'Reilly or the Breslins, who have shown
+that in the British army and in the police force there have been men,
+mostly compelled by adverse circumstances, who have for a time worn the
+blue, or green, or scarlet coat of Britain without changing the Irish
+heart beneath.
+
+No; Larry (as he was generally called) was nothing of the kind. Still, I
+believe he faithfully did his duty according to his lights, in the
+service in which he was engaged. He was a conscientious Catholic, and a
+son of his is a most respected priest in the diocese of Liverpool. He
+was a kind-hearted, charitable man, always ready to do a good turn,
+particularly for a fellow-countryman. If an Irish policeman called his
+attention to some poor waif of an Irish child who had lost its parents,
+or was in evil surroundings--having parents worse than none, or in
+danger of losing its faith--Laurence Kehoe would take the matter in
+hand. He would not always go through the formality of bringing the case
+of such child under the notice of the managers of one or other of the
+Catholic orphanages. When I was Secretary of Father Nugent's Boys'
+Refuge, he brought one of these waifs to the Brother Director, and
+claimed admittance for him. The place was full, the Brother said--it
+could not be done. Without another word Kehoe left the child on the
+doorstep, and simply saying, "Good-night," left Brother Tertullian
+sorely perplexed, but with no alternative but to take the child in.
+
+Now, Laurence Kehoe must have known that I was a notorious suspect--for
+it was his duty to know--but we were good friends, never, however,
+talking politics by any possible chance. I cannot, of course, state for
+certain how it was, but the reader, from what I am going to describe,
+may possibly come to the conclusion that Detective Superintendent Kehoe
+may have shut both eyes and ears in my particular case.
+
+To Rickard Burke was entrusted the critical and dangerous task of buying
+and distributing arms for the revolutionary movement. _Exit_ Rickard
+Burke, in the usual way, through the prison gate. _Enter_ Arthur
+Forrester, who, in due course, found his way also--though but for a
+short time--within prison walls. Then, following in quick succession,
+came Michael Davitt, engaged in the same task as Burke and Forrester.
+
+Forrester was a young man of great eloquence, and, like his mother and
+sister, a poet. Mrs. Ellen Forrester's "Widow's Message to her Son" is,
+I think, one of the finest and most heart-stirring poems we possess. I
+have often listened with pleasure to Arthur Forrester, when he used to
+come to address the "boys" in Liverpool. On one of those occasions
+Michael Davitt was with him, a modest, unassuming young man, with but
+little to say, although he was to make afterwards a more important
+figure in the world than his friend. Forrester was a young fellow full
+of pluck, and made a desperate resistance when, a boy, he was first
+arrested in Dublin.
+
+One night, just before Christmas, 1869, he left fifty revolvers with me.
+Early next morning I read in a daily paper that he had been arrested the
+previous night in a Temperance Hotel where he had been staying. There
+were no arms found upon him or among his belongings. He had left them
+with me;--indeed, as I read the account of his arrest, they were still
+in my possession. You may depend upon it I quickly got them into safer
+hands than my own. Some compromising documents were found in Forrester's
+possession, including a certain letter with which Michael Davitt's name
+was connected. This same letter was brought forward in evidence some
+years afterwards, in the famous "_Times_ Forgeries Commission," with a
+view to showing that the Irish leaders had incited to murder. As I
+expected, I was not long without a visit from Laurence Kehoe's
+lieutenants. Horn and Cousens, detective officers, called upon me to
+make enquiries about the revolvers which, they said, "Arthur had left
+with me." I need scarcely say they gained nothing by their visitation. I
+fully expected that the matter would not end here, and that I was likely
+to find myself in the dock along with Forrester.
+
+The same evening I had a visit from my sister-in-law, Miss Naughton.
+She had a friend, a Miss Cameron, who was sister to the wife of Lawrence
+Kehoe. Miss Cameron lived in the house of the Detective Superintendent,
+along with her sister, Mrs. Kehoe. In the middle of the previous
+night--Miss Cameron told Miss Naughton--her room being on the same
+landing as Kehoe's--she heard him called, and a man's voice saying:--
+
+"We've taken Forrester. Shall we go to Denvir?" There was a pause; then
+Kehoe said, "No," adding some words to the effect that he did not think
+that I was implicated.
+
+I dare say, after the manner of some pious people I know, he had
+persuaded himself that such was the case. After he had worked out his
+full term in Purgatory (for he is dead many years, God rest his soul!),
+I don't think St. Peter can have kept the Heavenly gates closed on Larry
+Kehoe for whatever he said about me that night. Nay, let us hope that it
+was even put down to his credit.
+
+Forrester's explanation, when he was arrested, as to his employment was
+that he was a hawker. He had his licence, all quite regular, to show.
+Under this he could sell his revolvers. There was nothing illegal in
+that, unless a connection were established with the revolutionary
+movement.
+
+This, it appeared, they were not able to make out; but he was kept in
+custody, evidently with a view to gain time to establish such a
+connection. In fact, his case was the same as Davitt's, who took up the
+work of procuring and distributing arms, after Forrester had become too
+well known to the police in connection with it. Davitt, too, had a
+hawker's licence; and, at first, there was really no evidence to connect
+him with the Fenian movement. The farce was gone through of bringing
+Corydon to identify him--not a very difficult task in the case of a
+one-armed man--though this was the first time Corydon had ever seen
+Davitt.
+
+The evident explanation of Forrester being kept in custody, and
+remanded, as he was, from day to day, without being charged with any
+offence, was that a similar connection might be established, to prove
+which a little perjury would not stand in the way.
+
+Michael Davitt, who had not yet come under the notice of the police,
+came to me, along with Arthur Forrester's mother, on hearing of the
+arrest. They had tea with us, and, I need scarcely say, were warmly
+welcomed in our little family circle, those in the house who were but
+small children then being in after years proud to remember that they had
+had such noble characters under their roof.
+
+Mrs. Ellen Forrester was a homely, sweet-looking, little North of
+Ireland woman. She was a native of the County Monaghan, and, at this
+time, about forty years of age. Her maiden name was Magennis. Her father
+was a schoolmaster, which would, no doubt, account for her literary
+tastes. Songs and poems of hers appeared in the "Nation" and "Dundalk
+Democrat." She was quite young when she came to England, and settled
+first in Liverpool, and then in Manchester. She married Michael
+Forrester, a stonemason, and had five children. It was quite evident
+there was a poetic strain in the Magennis blood, for two of her
+daughters, and her son Arthur, inherited the gift, which her brother
+Bernard also possessed. She produced "Simple Strains" and (in
+conjunction with her son Arthur) "Songs of the Rising Nation," and other
+poems. She was a frequent contributor to the English press, her work
+being much appreciated.
+
+Arthur Forrester, whose release we were trying to effect, was, at this
+time, only nineteen years old, though he looked much older. Besides the
+poetic strain which he inherited from his mother, he must also have had
+that fiery and unconquerable spirit which displayed itself in the
+determined resistance he made against the police who came to arrest him
+in 1867, in Dublin, where he had found his way for the projected rising.
+He was a young Revolutionist truly--being then only seventeen. He was
+not long kept in prison that time, there being no evidence to connect
+him with Fenianism, nor, indeed, was there now, when he had fallen into
+the hands of the police in Liverpool, though they were doing their best
+to manufacture some.
+
+His warlike proclivities seem to have been ever uppermost, as will be
+seen later, where we find him joining the French "Foreign Legion" during
+the Franco-Prussian War. Besides the "Songs of the Rising Nation" in
+connection with his mother, he produced "An Irish Crazy Quilt," prose
+and verse, and was a frequent contributor to the "Irish People" and
+other papers over the signature of "Angus" and "William Tell."
+
+It is too bad of me to be keeping poor Arthur in durance vile while I
+am going into these particulars; but I want to show what kind of people
+these Forresters were, and what the rebelly Ulster Magennis strain in
+their blood let them into.
+
+Together, Davitt and I called upon several Liverpool Irishmen to get
+bail for Forrester. There was no difficulty--we could easily get the
+necessary security; but, name after name, good, substantial bail, was
+refused by the police on one pretence or another.
+
+Ultimately, on Christmas Eve, when the prisoner was again brought before
+the stipendiary magistrate, Mr. Raffles, a very just and high-minded
+man, Dr. Commins, barrister, acting for Forrester, claimed that no
+charge, but a mere matter of suspicion, being forthcoming against him,
+the bail offered should be accepted. The magistrate agreed to accept two
+sureties of £100 each, "to keep the peace for one year," and Arthur
+Forrester was released.
+
+It is interesting to know that while one of the bails was William
+Russell, a patriotic Irishman, having an extensive business, the other
+was Arthur Doran, a wholesale newsagent. He was a decent Irishman, of
+Liverpool birth, who took no part in politics. He had been induced to go
+bail by one of the greatest scoundrels Ireland ever produced--Richard
+Pigott, Doran being an agent for Pigott's papers, the "Irishman" and
+"Flag of Ireland." Let this one good act, at all events, be put down to
+Pigott's credit.
+
+To return to Forrester. After such a close shave as he had in
+Liverpool, with the eyes of the police now upon him, his occupation was
+gone, and Michael Davitt took up the work. I am afraid that Davitt's
+visit to Liverpool on this occasion brought him under the notice of the
+police, and may probably have led to his arrest a few months afterwards.
+
+This took place on May 14th, 1870, at Paddington Station, London, with
+him being arrested also John Wilson, a Birmingham gunsmith. Davitt had
+£150 in his possession, and Wilson had fifty revolvers, it being
+suggested that the gunsmith was about to deliver the weapons in exchange
+for the money. So far--Davitt having a hawker's licence, as in the case
+of Forrester--this would have been perfectly legitimate. What was wanted
+by the authorities was evidence to show a connection with the Fenian
+conspiracy. They really had no such evidence, but as Davitt was a marked
+man, and as it was necessary to have him removed, Corydon was brought to
+identify him, and, of course, had no difficulty, when a number of men
+were brought into the corridor, in picking out the one-armed man from
+among them.
+
+At the trial Corydon swore, among other things, that Davitt took part in
+the Chester raid. Now, Michael himself told me afterwards that Corydon
+had never seen him before he "identified" him in prison; and that though
+he really was at Chester, Corydon could not have known this. Michael
+Davitt and John Wilson were convicted of treason-felony. As showing the
+man's noble character, it should not be forgotten that the Irishman made
+an earnest appeal for the Englishman, declaring that Wilson knew
+nothing of the object for which the weapons were wanted, and asking that
+whatever sentence was to be passed on the gunsmith might be added to his
+own. This was quite worthy of Davitt's chivalrous and unselfish nature,
+and I can well imagine his tall and commanding figure in the dock, with
+his strongly marked features and dark, bright eyes--while utterly
+defiant of what the law might do to himself--making this appeal for the
+man who stood beside him. Davitt was, on July 11th, 1870, sentenced to
+fifteen years, and Wilson to seven years penal servitude.
+
+Michael Davitt will appear in these pages as the founder of another
+organisation, the results of which seem likely to make the Irish people
+more the real possessors of their own soil than they have ever been
+since the Norman invasion.
+
+About this time I had started a printing and publishing business in
+Liverpool, and commenced to realise what I had long projected as a
+useful work for Ireland. This was the issue of my "Irish Library,"
+consisting chiefly of penny books of biographies, stories, songs, and
+stirring episodes of Irish history.
+
+In their production and afterwards, when I continued the issue of these
+booklets in London, I had valuable assistance from various friends,
+including Rev. Father Ambrose, Rev. Father O'Laverty, Michael Davitt,
+Daniel Crilly, T.D. Sullivan, Timothy McSweeney, Hugh Heinrick, William
+J. Ryan, Francis Fahy, William P. Ryan, Alfred Perceval Graves, Michael
+O'Mahony, John J. Sheehan, Thomas Boyd, Thomas Flannery, John Hand,
+James Lysaght Finigan, and other well-known writers on Irish subjects.
+Some of the penny books were from my own pen, in addition to which I
+wrote "The Brandons," a story of Irish life in England, and other books,
+of which my most ambitious work was "The Irish in Britain."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+RESCUE OF THE MILITARY FENIANS.
+
+
+Before concluding the section of my Recollections connected with
+Fenianism, I must re-introduce John Breslin, the rescuer of James
+Stephens.
+
+Though the episode I am about to describe took place some six years
+after the commencement of the constitutional Home Rule agitation, I
+think it well, as it was connected with Fenianism, for the sake of
+compactness, to introduce it here.
+
+My excuse for introducing it as part of _my_ recollections will be seen
+further on.
+
+It will be remembered that John Breslin, when a warder in Richmond
+Prison, was the man who actually opened the door of James Stephens's
+cell, and, with the aid of Byrne, another warder, helped the Head Centre
+over the prison wall, and left him in charge of John Ryan and other
+friends outside.
+
+It was no wonder, then, that, when a similar perilous and even more
+arduous undertaking was projected, John Breslin should be the man chosen
+as the chief instrument to carry it out.
+
+This was the rescue of six military Fenians from Freemantle, in Western
+Australia, which was ultimately effected on Easter Monday, 17th April,
+1876.
+
+The enterprise was projected in America, among its most active
+promoters being John Devoy. Associated with him were John Boyle O'Reilly
+(himself an escaped Fenian convict) and Captain Hathaway, City Marshal
+of New Bedford. An American barque, of 202 tons, the _Catalpa_, was
+bought, and converted into a whaler, but was intended to be used in
+carrying off the convicts. She was ready for sea in March, 1875. It was
+more than a year before she took the prisoners away from Australia, and
+a further four months before she reached New York with the rescued men.
+The ship was taken out by Captain S. Anthony, an American, to whom was
+confided the object of the mission. The only Irishman on board among the
+crew was Denis Duggan, the carpenter, a sterling Nationalist, to whom
+also was made known the mission on which they were bound.
+
+As John Breslin was now in America, obviously he was the man of all
+others to entrust with the command of the daring project of carrying off
+the prisoners. Happily he was available for the work, and entered into
+it heartily. He sent me the narrative of the rescue himself--through his
+brother Michael--on his return to America, after having successfully
+accomplished his mission.
+
+He and Captain Desmond sailed from San Francisco on the 13th of
+September, 1875, and reached Freemantle on 16th of November. They were
+not long in opening up communications with the prisoners, so as to be in
+readiness for the arrival of the _Catalpa_. In the meantime two more men
+joined the expedition--John King, who brought a supply of money from
+New Zealand, which was most useful, and Thomas Brennan, who arrived at
+the last moment, just as the _Catalpa_ appeared off the coast, and had
+got into communication with Breslin.
+
+Everything being arranged, it was determined to carry off the following
+prisoners--Martin Harrington, Thomas Darragh, James Wilson, Martin
+Joseph Hogan, Robert Cranston, and Thomas Henry Hassett. They were at
+work outside the prison walls, or at other employment equally
+accessible, when they were taken away in two traps from Freemantle,
+about nine o'clock in the morning of the 17th of April, 1876. By the
+time the news of their flight, and of the direction they had taken, was
+known in the prison, the party had reached Rockingham, and were on the
+sea in the whale-boat which was to take them to the _Catalpa_.
+
+The gunboat _Conflict_, which was usually stationed at King George's
+Sound, was telegraphed for by the authorities, but it was found that the
+wires had been cut the previous night, and by the time they were
+repaired the vessel had gone on a cruise.
+
+After some hours' delay, the governor engaged the passenger steamer
+_Georgette_ to go in pursuit. It was nine o'clock that evening before
+she left Freemantle. The police boat was cruising about also, looking
+for the whaler and her boat. The _Georgette_ came up with the _Catalpa_
+about 8 o'clock on the following (Tuesday) morning. A demand to go on
+board and search the barque was refused. As it was found there was a
+short supply aboard the _Georgette_, she returned to Freemantle to coal,
+leaving the police boat to watch the _Catalpa_, and to look out for the
+whale boat containing the rescued men, which had not yet appeared,
+although, as it turned out, not far off at the time. The boat had been
+vainly searching for the _Catalpa_ all night, and had only now
+discovered her. The party in the boat had actually seen the _Georgette_
+overhauling the _Catalpa_, and had yet themselves remained undiscovered.
+In order to keep clear of falling into the hands of the _Georgette_ they
+stood off from the ship, and it was about half-past two o'clock in the
+afternoon before the boat containing the rescued men approached the
+_Catalpa_ again. They then saw the police boat making for the ship at
+about the same distance from her on the land side as the whale boat was
+to the seaward. The men scrambled aboard just as the police boat was
+coming up on the other side.
+
+Breslin says:--"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 (this was the name Breslin went by); 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 seamanlike manner."
+
+The police boat did not attempt to board the vessel, but made its way
+back to Freemantle to report. There the _Georgette_ had been fully
+coaled and provisioned, and had taken aboard, in addition to the
+pensioners and police, a twelve-pounder field-piece. At 11 o'clock the
+same night (Tuesday) she steamed out once more. At daylight on the
+following morning she came up with the _Catalpa_ again, and fired a
+round shot across her bows. After some parleying, Captain Anthony being
+prompted by Breslin, the _Georgette_ hailed that if the _Catalpa_ did
+not heave to, the masts would be blown out of her.
+
+"Tell them," said Breslin to the captain, "that's the American flag; you
+are on the high seas; and if he fires on the ship, he fires on the
+American flag."
+
+Preparations were made to give the armed party on the _Georgette_ a warm
+reception should they attempt to board the whaler. But the pursuers had
+a wholesome fear of coming into conflict with a vessel sailing under the
+Stars and Stripes, and, after some further parleying, left the _Catalpa_
+to pursue her homeward voyage unmolested.
+
+I was fortunate enough to get the account of _both_ expeditions--for
+there were two--for the rescue of the military Fenians in each case
+direct from the man having the command.
+
+I have already given John Breslin's account, which, it will, perhaps, be
+remembered I published at the time as a number of my penny "Irish
+Library."
+
+I had the pleasure of hearing John Walsh, who had charge of the
+expedition from this country, relating the part he and his friend bore
+in assisting the Irish-American rescuers. He told the story at a very
+select gathering in Liverpool, at which I was present. On the 13th of
+January, he said, two men, of whom he was one, left this country with
+money and clothing to carry out the rescue. They landed on the 28th of
+February at King George's Sound, whence a sailing vessel took them to
+Freemantle.
+
+They soon got into communication with the two men who had come from
+America, and had been on the spot since November, 1875--John Breslin and
+J. Desmond, the latter of whom worked as a coach-builder at Perth. Walsh
+and his friend offered their co-operation to the men from America in any
+capacity, and arrangements were made accordingly. They lent the
+Americans arms, and they cut the telegraph wires from Perth to King
+George's Sound, where a man-of-war was stationed.
+
+It will be seen from Breslin's account that this was why the man-of-war
+was not available to deal with the _Catalpa_; for when the telegraphic
+communication was restored, it was found that the gunboat _Conflict_ had
+left on a cruise.
+
+Walsh and his friend were on the ground on the morning when the
+prisoners started to escape, and if a fight took place, they were to
+fight and fly with their friends. If there was no fight, they were to
+remain behind. If the _Catalpa_ failed, they were to fly to the bush,
+with the exception of some who were to remain behind to succour those in
+the bush.
+
+John Walsh described how, when the rescued men were being driven in two
+traps from Freemantle to Rockingham, to be taken on the whale-boat to
+the _Catalpa_, which was lying off the coast awaiting them, he and his
+friend started with them, and remained behind to stop pursuit. He also
+described the attempt to recapture the escaped men, as told in Breslin's
+narrative, and how the attempt failed.
+
+My own connection with this incident was that the funds, or some part
+of them, for John Walsh's expedition passed through my hands between
+their collection and their distribution.
+
+On Monday, August 21st, 1876, while we were holding the Annual
+Convention of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, in the
+Rotunda, Dublin, the joyful news reached us that the _Catalpa_, having
+on board the rescued men and their rescuers, had safely reached New
+York. The news was received with the wildest enthusiasm. The terrible
+strain of the last four months had passed, and we were relieved from the
+constant dread that, after the gallant rescue, the men might again fall
+into the hands of the enemy.
+
+A few more words about the Breslins before finishing this chapter.
+Michael went back to America after his escape from arrest in Birmingham.
+I have corresponded with him from time to time ever since. A letter of
+mine to Michael, written after he finally went to America, came back to
+me in a very curious manner. A gentleman came into my place of business
+in Liverpool one day, and presented to me, as an introduction, a letter
+I had sent to my friend about a month previously. I was somewhat
+suspicious about this. I told him there was nothing to show that my
+letter had ever been in Breslin's hands at all. The gentleman agreed
+that I was right, and said he would merely ask to be allowed to leave
+his luggage for a short time.
+
+I got a careful watch kept on his movements in Liverpool, but nothing
+more suspicious was reported than that he had been seen to enter a
+Catholic church, where he had gone to Confession.
+
+My friend William Hogan was in my place when my messenger returned, and
+when he heard this, exclaimed, in his usual impetuous style--"He's a
+spy!"
+
+The deduction might not seem obvious, but, doubtless Hogan had in his
+mind one or two of the worst cases of the anti-Fenian informers, who
+made a parade of great piety a cloak for their treachery.
+
+The gentleman returned and reclaimed his luggage, and I heard nothing
+further of him for about a month afterwards, when I had a letter from
+Michael Breslin, saying that his friend, whom I had treated with such
+suspicion and such scant hospitality, was Mr. John B. Holland, the
+famous submarine inventor. He was, I believe, in this country in
+connection with his invention.
+
+It may be asked, after all, what did Fenianism do for Ireland? To those
+who ask the question I would answer that no honest effort for liberty
+has ever been made in vain. If Fenianism did nothing else, it kept alive
+the tradition and the spirit of freedom among Irishmen, and handed them
+on to the next generation. In so far as the men who took part in it were
+unselfish, were whole-souled lovers of their country, and prepared to
+risk life and liberty for their country's sake--and I think with pride
+of the thousands of such men I knew or knew of--then the whole Irish
+race was ennobled and lifted up from the mire of serfdom.
+
+But it did more than merely make martyrs. Its strength, its spontaneity,
+and the devotion of its adherents were such that they undoubtedly
+awakened not merely some alarm, but also some sense of justice in
+England.
+
+Gladstone admitted that what first prompted him to set in motion the
+movement for the disestablishment of the Irish Church was "the intensity
+of Fenianism." But the result did not end there. For many an Englishman
+was moved to the belief that surely there must be something wrong with a
+system which provoked such a movement, something not wholly bad about a
+cause for which men went with calm, proud confidence to the felon's cell
+or the scaffold. And, even to-day, England--with all her secret service
+facilities--does not know one-half of the danger from which she escaped;
+nor can I repeat much of what I myself could say of Fenianism in
+England.
+
+There are men who have made large fortunes in business; there are
+eminent men in many of the professions, whose former connection with
+Fenianism is unsuspected, who, at the time, if the call had been made
+upon them, would cheerfully have thrown aside their careers and taken
+their places in the ranks.
+
+Once again "a soul came into Ireland," and men were capable then of high
+enterprises which to-day seem to belong to another age.
+
+Even for myself, I have many times marvelled how light-heartedly in
+those days I took the risks of conspiracy--how little it troubled me
+that there were dozens of men who bore my liberty, and perhaps my life,
+in their hands. But I never doubted them--and I was right!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE HOME RULE MOVEMENT.
+
+
+It now becomes my business to record the formation and progress of
+another organisation--one which appealed to me precisely on the same
+grounds as Fenianism, namely, first, that it was based on justice; and,
+secondly, that it was practicable.
+
+This was the constitutional movement for what was known as Home Rule. My
+principles have never altered, and I can see nothing inconsistent in my
+adapting myself to changed conditions. I and those who thought like me
+were driven into Fenianism because it seemed likely to achieve success,
+and what was call "constitutional agitation" seemed hopeless. Now the
+position was reversed. On the one hand Fenianism had collapsed, and on
+the other there seemed a prospect, partly owing to the change wrought by
+Fenianism, that a constitutional movement might succeed.
+
+This constitutional movement had been going on for some six years
+previous to the rescue of the military Fenians, having been inaugurated
+at a meeting in the Bilton Hotel, Dublin, on the 19th May, 1870, five
+days after the arrest of Michael Davitt, and his disappearance for a
+season from the stage of Irish history.
+
+In the pages which are to follow I shall have occasion to introduce
+some of those who took part in that first Home Rule gathering in Dublin.
+It was a hopeful beginning, as there were assembled men who were of
+various creeds and politics--Catholics, Protestants, Fenian
+sympathisers, Repealers, Liberals, and Tories--but all of whom had in
+view the happiness and prosperity of their common country. There they
+established the "Home Government Association of Ireland," the first
+resolution passed being:--
+
+     This Association is formed for the purpose of attaining for Ireland
+     the right of self-government by means of a National Parliament.
+
+The fact was that the "intensity of Fenianism" had forced thinking men
+of every shade of opinion to realise that government of Ireland by
+outsiders was an abject failure. Even Englishmen themselves began to
+realise that they were engaged in an impossible task, or, at all events,
+one in which they were quite at sea. A humorous story is attributed to
+Mr. T.W. Russell on this point. It is that a certain Englishman, who was
+appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, went to an English official of
+experience in Dublin, and said--
+
+"You know what I mean to do first of all, is to get at the facts--the
+facts--then I shall be on sure ground."
+
+"My dear sir," said the official wearily, "there are no facts in
+Ireland."
+
+The conclusion was not a surprising one for a man who had for years
+been in touch with the "official sources" of information.
+
+While all honour is due to the men who initiated the new movement, the
+names of those who carried on the constitutional struggle during the
+years that preceded this date should not be forgotten. Of all the men I
+ever came into contact with in the course of my experience of
+constitutional agitation, I think the Sullivans--especially T.D. and
+A.M.--deserve the most credit, for they kept the flag flying in the
+columns of the "Nation" and in other ways during all the gloomy years
+that followed after Charles Gavan Duffy left the country in despair. I
+am always proud to have reckoned these two men among my dearest and most
+trusted friends.
+
+Another great admirer of the Sullivans was Alfred Crilly, brother to
+Daniel Crilly, and father of Frederick Lucas Crilly, the present
+respected and able General Secretary of the United Irish League of Great
+Britain. Alfred was one of the most brilliant Irishmen we ever had in
+Liverpool, and no man did better service for the cause in that city
+during his lifetime. It was always a pleasure to me to work in harness
+with him, as I did on many public occasions; for whatever was the
+national organisation going on in Ireland for the time being we
+two--Alfred Crilly and myself--always did our best to have its
+counterpart in Liverpool. Indeed it became the case that for many years
+our people there invariably looked to us to take the initiative in every
+national movement. Whenever A.M. Sullivan came over to our
+demonstrations it did not need our assurance to convince him that every
+pulsation of the national heart in Ireland was as warmly and as strongly
+felt on this side of the Channel as though we still formed part of our
+mother island. Indeed, the evidence of his own eyes, the enthusiasm he
+saw when he came amongst us, caused him to declare at a vast gathering
+in the Amphitheatre that he felt as if he were not out of Ireland at
+all, but on a piece cut from the "old sod" itself.
+
+I felt proud when two young men of my training, John McArdle, who had
+been with me on the "Catholic Times"; and afterwards Daniel Crilly, on
+the "United Irishman," were appointed to the literary staff of the
+"Nation," for which they were well fitted, seeing that, with their
+brilliant gifts, they had, from their earliest days, been imbued with
+the doctrines of that newspaper.
+
+T.D., like his brother, often came to Liverpool, and used to be equally
+delighted with the enthusiastic receptions he got from his
+fellow-countrymen. On one occasion he said to me he was at a loss how to
+show his appreciation. I told him how to do this. "Write us a song," I
+said. He did so; and with that admirable tact which is so characteristic
+of him he chose for his theme--"Erin's Sons in England," a song which,
+written to the air of "The Shamrock," has, for many years, been sung at
+our Irish festivals in Great Britain. As a personal favour to myself he
+wrote it for one of the penny books of my "Irish Library".
+
+I need make no apology for introducing T.D. Sullivan's song here. It
+will be seen that he sings our praise with no uncertain note; and, in
+return, I may say on their behalf that he had no warmer admirers than
+among the Irish of England.
+
+    ERIN'S SONS IN ENGLAND.
+
+   _Air--"Oh, the Shamrock_."
+
+  On every shore, the wide world o'er,
+    The newest and the oldest,
+  The sons are found of Erin's ground
+    Among the best and boldest.
+  But soul and will are turning still
+    To Ireland o'er the ocean,
+  And well I know where aye they glow
+    With most intense devotion.
+
+  CHORUS:--Over here in England,
+           Up and down through England,
+             Fond and true and fearless too,
+           Are Erin's sons in England.
+
+  Where toil is hard, in mill and yard,
+    Their hands are strong to bear it;
+  Where genius bright would wing its flight,
+    The mind is theirs to dare it;
+  But high or low, in joy or woe,
+    With any fate before them,
+  The sweetest bliss they know, is this--
+    To aid the land that bore them.
+
+  CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.
+
+  By many a sign from Thames to Tyne,
+    From Holyhead to Dover,
+  The eye may trace the deathless race
+    Our gallant land sent over.
+  Midst beech and oak, midst flame and smoke.
+    Up springs the cross-tipped steeple
+  That, far and wide, tells where abide
+    The faithful Irish people.
+
+  CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.
+
+  And this I say--on any day
+   That help of theirs is needed,
+  Dear Ireland's call will never fall
+   On their true hearts unheeded
+  They'll plainly show to friend and foe.
+   If e'er the need arises
+  Her arm is long, and stout and strong,
+   To work some strange surprises!
+
+  CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.
+
+It will be remembered that T.D. never allowed himself to be bound by
+conventionalities. There was always a refreshing thoroughness and
+heartiness in what he did. For instance, when he was Lord Mayor of
+Dublin, he on one occasion "opened" a public bath by stripping and
+swimming round it--the Town Clerk and other officials following his
+example.
+
+I have mentioned the good work done in Liverpool by Father Nugent, and
+that I had the pleasure of co-operating with him in some of his
+undertakings.
+
+At the time of the Home Rule movement connected with the name of Isaac
+Butt, and for some years previously, I had been brought into still
+closer contact with him, first, as secretary of his refuge for destitute
+and homeless boys, and then as manager and acting editor of the
+"Northern Press and Catholic Times," after that paper had come into his
+hands. I also assisted him in the temperance movement which he started
+in Liverpool.
+
+When Father Nugent asked me to take charge of the "Catholic Times," I
+entered upon the work literally single-handed, like some of the editors
+we read of a generation or so ago in the Western States of America;
+for, when he left me for a nine months' tour in the States, I
+constituted in my own person the whole staff. We afterwards had some
+able men on the paper. Among these was John McArdle, who left us, as I
+have said, to join the "Nation." He became later a well-known dramatic
+author, his chief works being burlesques and pantomimes. We also had
+James Lysaght Finigan, of whom I speak elsewhere.
+
+While Father Nugent was in America, we used to get great help from a
+fine old Jesuit priest and good Irish Nationalist, Father James
+McSwiney, then of St. Francis Xavier's, Liverpool. He was never happier
+than when smoking his short pipe by the fire in our inner office. With
+his help we created a much admired feature in the "Catholic Times" in
+our "Answers to Correspondents." With the view of drawing on real
+enquiries, he used to concoct and then answer questions on points of
+doctrine, etc. Some people were astonished at the profound
+knowledge--and others at what they considered "the impudence"--displayed
+by Jack McArdle and John Denvir in answering any theological posers that
+might be put to us, never dreaming we had behind us one of the ablest
+theologians of the Jesuit order.
+
+When Father Nugent took the paper in hands, the readers had such
+confidence in it that, from being merely a local paper, we were able
+before long to make it a leading Catholic organ for the whole country.
+
+The reverend father was chaplain of the Liverpool Borough jail. He was
+respected by all classes, Protestant as well as Catholic, not only for
+what he did for the unfortunate creatures who came under his
+ministrations, but as a public-spirited citizen and benefactor of the
+town. It would be wrong if I did not pay a high tribute to the splendid
+service done by him in Liverpool towards elevating the condition of our
+own people. I would be ungrateful, too, if I failed to recognise the
+great educational work he did in giving opportunities for culture to
+many Liverpool Irishmen, myself among the number, which afterwards aided
+their advancement in the battle of life. That is why I never regretted
+that I gave Father Nugent, when conducting the "Catholic Times" for him,
+three of the best years of my life. I never regretted my experiences in
+connection with that paper, particularly in the reporting department,
+for they were often very pleasant ones. Among these was my having been
+introduced to the great Archbishop MacHale, when I went to St.
+Nicholas's to report his sermon.
+
+I have many vivid remembrances arising out of my connection with the
+"Catholic Times."
+
+It was during the time I was in charge of it that we started the Irish
+national organisation on this side of the Channel--the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, formed at our first annual convention
+held in Manchester, at which I was elected as the first General
+Secretary of the organisation.
+
+I was at the same time secretary of the Liverpool Catholic Club, and in
+that capacity I assisted in entertaining the Canadian Papal Zouaves when
+passing through Liverpool on their way home, after their gallant but
+unsuccessful struggle to uphold the power of the Pope against the
+revolutionaries.
+
+In the same way it became my duty as secretary of the club to organise
+the Catholic vote in Liverpool on the occasion of the first School Board
+Election. The Irish and those of Irish extraction in Liverpool being
+reckoned as about one-third of the population, the Catholic body is
+correspondingly numerous. We surprised both friend and foe in the
+results. There were fifteen members to be elected, and we asked our
+people to give three votes for each of our five candidates. They were
+not only elected, but the votes actually given for them--on the
+cumulative principle--could have elected eight out of the fifteen
+members of the Board.
+
+Father Nugent, though immensely popular with all classes, was not, I
+think, a _persona grata_, any more than myself, with Canon Fisher, the
+Vicar-General of the diocese, who was very anti-Irish, and, so far as he
+could, prevented anyone connected with the "Catholic Times" coming into
+personal contact with Bishop Goss, who was a typical Englishman of the
+best kind. The bishop had a blunt, hitting-out-from-the-shoulder style
+of speaking in his sermons that compelled attention. But you could
+hardly call them sermons at all; they were rather powerful discourses
+upon social topics, which, from a newspaper point of view, made splendid
+"copy." Accordingly, during the year before his death, I followed him
+all over the diocese to get his sermon for each week's paper. There is
+no doubt that Dr. Goss's sermons helped materially to put a backbone
+into the "Catholic Times" and greatly to increase its circulation.
+
+In one of the rural districts the bishop was giving an illustration of
+the meaning of "Tradition," and, very much to my embarrassment, I found
+him taking me for his text. He said--"So far as I know, there were no
+newspapers in Our Lord's days; there was nobody taking down _His_
+sermons, as there is to-day taking mine; so that _His_ teaching had to
+be by word of mouth, and much of it has come down to us as Tradition."
+
+In the interest of the paper, Father Nugent was anxious that I should be
+introduced to the Bishop. But he knew, as well as I did, that the
+difficulty in the way of this was what might be called the Grand Vizier,
+Canon Fisher. "You should push forward, Denvir," Father Nugent would
+say, "after Mass is over, and ask to see the Bishop." Over and over
+again I did so, but was always met at the vestry door by Canon Fisher,
+with his suave smile. "Well, Mr. Denvir, what can I do for you?" "I
+would like to see his lordship," I would say. No use. The Canon would
+say--"No, no; don't trouble the Bishop; I can give you all the
+information you want;" and so it went on, and I was baffled in my
+attempts.
+
+I ought to say that, though Canon Fisher was able to keep me from coming
+into personal contact with Bishop Goss, Father Nugent was too strong for
+him in the end; for, eventually, we got into communication with the
+Bishop regularly every week on the subject of his sermons. Each Monday
+as soon as my copy was set up, we sent him a proof, which he would read
+and correct and return. But his "corrections" often included the
+addition of altogether new matter, which made the sermon the more
+interesting and valuable to us. Indeed, on several occasions, we used
+his new matter, with slight alterations, as leaders. The very week he
+died we had one of these leaders in type, and it appeared in the same
+issue which announced his death.
+
+When Cardinal Vaughan became Bishop of Salford, Father Nugent succeeded
+in getting his support and influence for the "Catholic Times," a most
+valuable thing for us, seeing that Manchester, though with a smaller
+Catholic population than Liverpool, was of more importance from a
+publishing point of view, as from that city can be more readily reached
+a number of large manufacturing towns, of which it is the centre. Again
+it was--"Denvir, you must see the Bishop." But this time there was no
+difficulty, as an appointment had been made for me. Accordingly, by
+arrangement, I reached Manchester one morning between six and seven
+o'clock, that being the most convenient time for him that Bishop Vaughan
+could give me, and together we discussed the best means of forwarding
+the interests of the paper in the diocese of Salford. I found him,
+besides being a man of courtly presence, as we all know, most
+broad-minded and genial, and keenly alive to the influence which a good
+newspaper would have upon his people.
+
+Whenever I see the "Catholic Times," I feel gratified at its very
+existence, as a proof that my three years with Father Nugent were not
+altogether spent in vain. For when he placed its control in my hands on
+his departure for America, I found it with a very small circulation, and
+anything but a paying concern; whereas, when I yielded up the trust into
+his hands, I had the satisfaction of handing over to him a substantial
+amount of cash in hand, a statement of assets and liabilities showing a
+satisfactory balance on the right side, and a paper with a largely
+increased and paying circulation.
+
+For many years previous to his death, I did not come into contact with
+him. Indeed it was only the year before he died that I had the
+pleasure--and it was all the more a pleasure as we had differed strongly
+during previous years on some points--of meeting him at his house in
+Formby. This was before his last visit to America, where he contracted
+the illness which terminated in his death soon after his return to
+England.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR--AN IRISH AMBULANCE CORPS--THE FRENCH FOREIGN
+LEGION.
+
+
+When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, the sympathy of Ireland was
+naturally, for historic reasons, on the side of France. It was not
+surprising, then, that many young Irishmen who had served in America, or
+in the ranks of the Papal Volunteers, or had borne a share in the Fenian
+movement, were anxious to show their sympathy in a practical way, and at
+the same time to gratify the national propensity for a fight
+
+                --in any good cause at all.
+
+I happened to number among my friends some of these young Irishmen, of
+whom I may mention Captain Martin Kirwan, James Lysaght Finigan, Edmond
+O'Donovan, Arthur Forrester, Frank Byrne, and James O'Kelly. There was a
+strong feeling in Ireland to send a considerable body of men to France,
+but the law stood in the way. It was evaded by the formation of an
+Ambulance Corps, and for this generous subscriptions flowed in, along
+with numerous applications from volunteers. These were all medically
+examined, as if for a regular army, and in this way as fine a body of
+young men as ever left Ireland was picked from those who had
+volunteered. The ambulance service was equipped in the most perfect
+manner, and presented to the French nation. On arriving in France, there
+were (as was, of course, intended) more men than were required for the
+ambulance duties, and these at once volunteered for service as soldiers.
+They were formed into a company under the command of Captain Kirwan, one
+of the sergeants being Frank Byrne, who was afterwards Kirwan's
+colleague as an official of the Irish constitutional organisation in
+Great Britain. The company might have developed into a regiment, and
+even into a brigade, had the movement started earlier to get men over to
+France by various means. This could have been done, notwithstanding the
+Foreign Enlistment Act; and towards the end of the war, French agents
+were in this country providing for the sending over of large numbers of
+men to France, when the capitulation of Paris caused the collapse of
+their arrangements.
+
+The men of the Irish Ambulance Corps did their work so well as to show
+that not only did Irishmen make good soldiers, but that, possessing the
+sympathetic Celtic nature, their services were highly appreciated by the
+wounded who fell to their charge. Captain Kirwan's company fought
+bravely, sustaining the credit of their country through the whole
+campaign, and, under Bourbaki, were among those who actually struck the
+last blow the Germans received on French soil.
+
+Arthur Forrester, who joined the French Foreign Legion, was severely
+wounded in the foot. After the war he came into the office of the
+"Catholic Times," when I was manager and John McArdle editor of that
+paper. We welcomed him, of course, not only as an old friend and brother
+journalist, but as one who had been fighting for France.
+
+In his "Camp Fires of the Legion" written for my "Irish Library," James
+Lysaght Finigan tells of his adventures in the war. He found his way to
+Lille, in the north of France, and, with several hundreds of other
+Irishmen became enrolled in the ranks of the Foreign Legion. In
+Lieutenant Elliott he was delighted to recognise Edmond O'Donovan, who
+had figured so prominently in the Fenian movement, and whose
+incarceration in Ireland and exile in America were fresh in his memory.
+"The Legion," Finigan says, "showed itself worthy of its predecessors,
+the Irish Brigades of former days, during the reverses that constantly
+befel the armies of France." He gives graphic accounts of the battles
+they were engaged in, and how, in the defence of Orleans, he and a
+number of his comrades were taken prisoners, among those being his
+friend O'Donovan, who had been wounded by a piece of shell.
+
+The Foreign Legion must have borne the brunt of the fighting. The fourth
+battalion was cut to pieces at Woerth, Gravelotte, and Sedan; the fifth
+battalion was reduced from 3,000 to some 300; the sixth battalion retook
+Orleans, was compelled to abandon it, and covered itself with glory at
+Le Mans and elsewhere; and the seventh was interned with Bourbaki in
+Switzerland until the end of the war.
+
+Although I often heard from him afterwards, the last time I met Edmond
+O'Donovan, if I remember rightly, was in a North Lancashire town, in
+which John O'Connor Power had been lecturing the same night. I forget
+exactly who else of the "boys" were there--I think William Hogan was
+one--but there were some choice spirits, and we made just such an Irish
+night of it as Finigan describes they had when he and O'Donovan fought
+in the Foreign Legion.
+
+Edmond O'Donovan was the son of the famous Irish scholar and antiquary,
+John O'Donovan, the translator from the Gaelic--with O'Curry and
+Petrie--of that great Irish history, "The Annals of the Four Masters,"
+and other manuscripts. The elder O'Donovan had made the acquaintance of
+Sir Thomas Larcom, when both were young men together on the staff of the
+Ordnance Survey. John O'Donovan appointed his friend Larcom to be
+guardian of his children in case of his death.
+
+It was Larcom's duty, as an official of the Government, to hunt down the
+Fenians, both native and foreign, so that he had undertaken a serious
+and perplexing charge. For O'Donovan's elder sons were strong
+Nationalists and Fenians; so that, on the death of his old friend,
+Larcom was like an old hen having charge of a brood of ducklings who
+could not be kept from the troubled waters of Fenianism. There is no
+doubt that Larcom's influence kept them from or saved them from a lot
+of trouble. The O'Donovans were an accomplished family, the one I knew
+best, besides Edmond, being Richard, who has held a responsible
+mercantile position for some years, and who furnished me with much
+valuable information about his father, when Thomas Flannery--one of our
+best Gaelic scholars--was writing a life of Dr. John O'Donovan for my
+"Irish Library" series.
+
+Besides being thoroughly acquainted with several languages, Edmond
+O'Donovan had an excellent scientific training, which was brought into
+requisition in connection with the projected Fenian military movements
+in Ireland. While a thorough classical scholar, the poems he liked best
+were the songs of Thomas Davis and the Young Irelanders. He was slender
+of figure and had a handsome oval face. In speaking, whether in private
+or before an audience, he had an animated and expressive manner, with a
+good deal of gesture, such as a Frenchman or Italian would use. I have
+heard him singing songs like "Clare's Dragoons" with much fire and
+fervour, throwing his whole soul into it in a way I can never forget.
+
+In 1877-1878 he was a special correspondent in the Russo-Turkish war
+with the Turkish army, and he sent home powerful and graphic accounts of
+every battle and siege.
+
+His intimate knowledge of Arabic stood to him in these and in the
+Egyptian campaigns in which he afterwards took part. In 1879 he went
+through Russia to the shores of the Caspian Sea, travelled through the
+north of Persia and the adjacent territory of Khorassan, to the land of
+the Tekke Turcomans, and to Merv, thus penetrating the mysteries of
+Central Asia as no European traveller had ever done so perfectly before.
+In 1881 he returned to England, and published his book, "The Merv
+Oasis," and afterwards read a paper before the Royal Geographical
+Society on "Merv and its surroundings."
+
+Finally, in 1883, he went as special correspondent to the Soudan, and
+there this brilliant Irishman perished with the whole of Hicks Pasha's
+army. No tidings ever came of how Edmond O'Donovan met his death, but
+those who knew him best feel that he must have yielded up his gallant
+spirit to its Creator with a courage and fortitude worthy of an
+Irishman.
+
+In January, 1906, I had occasion to call upon his brother Richard in
+Liverpool, and asked if they had ever got any trace of Edmond. Nothing
+had been heard of how he had actually perished, but an authentic relic
+of him had fallen into the hands of a priest in the Soudan. This was a
+blood-stained garment, which was proved beyond doubt to have belonged to
+him.
+
+I have mentioned another name in connection with the Franco-Prussian
+War--that of James O'Kelly. His career, like that of O'Donovan, had been
+stormy and adventurous. I had previously met him in connection with the
+Fenian movement.
+
+He had been in the French army, and served in the campaign which was so
+disastrous to the Mexican Emperor Maximilian. His adventurous
+temperament led him again to join the French service during the
+Franco-Prussian war. He was employed on the confidential mission of
+raising a force of Irishmen for the war. I have described the formation
+of the company under Kirwan, which was the outcome of the Ambulance
+Corps. It will be seen, too, that there were a considerable number of
+Irishmen in the Foreign Legion. But, after all, these did not amount to
+a number sufficient to have much appreciable result on the ultimate
+fortunes of the war. The French military authorities, knowing what
+splendid fighting materials Irishmen would make, commissioned O'Kelly to
+raise a large force. For this purpose he made Liverpool his
+headquarters, and I was pleased to see him again when he called upon me
+at the office of the "Catholic Times" My sympathies were strongly with
+France, and I gave him what assistance I could in furthering the object
+of his mission. At my suggestion, therefore, he took up his abode at the
+hotel opposite our office, at the corner of Moorfields and Dale Street.
+A large number of volunteers were got from among the advanced element in
+Liverpool and surrounding towns, who wanted to learn the use of arms in
+real warfare--their ultimate object I need not mention. From other
+quarters in Ireland as well as England there were volunteers for the
+French army. I had arranged through an emigration agent, Mr. Michael
+Francis Duffy, a much respected and patriotic Irishman of singular
+culture, for the charter of two steamers to take the men to Havre; but
+just then Paris fell, after a long siege; the war ended, and the Irish
+Legion project collapsed.
+
+In 1872 James O'Kelly turned his attention to journalism as a
+profession. He got his first opening on the "New York Herald," partly
+through his thorough knowledge of the military profession, but still
+more by that singular tact that never failed him under the most trying
+circumstances.
+
+Some years after, he called on me again in Liverpool, and I heard from
+him of some stirring incidents in his career. Amongst those were his
+perilous experiences in connection with the fighting in Cuba, from which
+he narrowly escaped with his life.
+
+Since then he has entered Parliament. He was a staunch supporter from
+the first of Mr. Parnell. When the unfortunate "split" came, he took the
+side of the "Chief," but none is more pleased than he to be a member of
+the now re-united Irish Party.
+
+In connection with the Franco-Prussian war I may be allowed to refer
+here to a non-combatant, who, with his brother priests, remained at
+their post during the terrible siege of Paris, ministering to the sick
+and dying. This was my cousin, Father Bernard O'Loughlin, Superior of
+the Passionist Order in Paris.
+
+And yet, notwithstanding their noble services to humanity on this and
+other occasions, the Passionist Fathers have since been driven out of
+the country by the French Government. The announcement of the danger of
+this, when it was first threatened, caused consternation in the foreign
+Catholic colony of Paris, to whom the Passionist Fathers had endeared
+themselves by their labours on behalf of needy and stranded
+English-speaking people, and their devoted spiritual ministrations.
+
+The Passionist mission in Paris was founded some forty years ago by
+Father Bernard, with his friend, Father Ignatius Spencer, also a
+Passionist, and uncle of the present Earl Spencer.
+
+The Archbishop of Paris had invited the Passionists to establish a
+church in Paris, on account of the number of Irish, American, and
+English Catholics requiring religious ministrations, few of the French
+clergy being able to speak English. Father O'Loughlin first commenced
+his labours in the Church of St. Nicholas, in the Rue Saint Honoré,
+where he remained three years. After this a sum of 200,000 francs was
+subscribed, chiefly by Irish, American, and English residents, for the
+site and building of a church. Father Bernard was soon joined by several
+other members of the order sent from England, and there were always four
+or five Passionist Fathers attached as chaplains to the church. The
+following distinguished prelates have preached in this Church--Cardinal
+Manning, Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Richard, Archbishop Ireland,
+Archbishop Spalding, and Archbishop Passadière.
+
+Mrs. Mackay was the most generous of the supporters of the order in
+Paris; and, in 1903, when the fathers found themselves unable to pay the
+tax created by the French "Loi d'accroissement," she paid down the
+20,000 francs required to save the church.
+
+Their devotion in remaining faithful to their flock during the long and
+terrible siege of Paris in 1870 ought to have recommended them to the
+sympathies of all patriotic Frenchmen. The Passionists not only
+ministered to the spiritual but to the temporal wants of those coming
+under their charge. They visited the sick and poor, relieved the age in
+need, provided for orphans, and assisted stranded Irish and English
+governesses, irrespective of creed, who had come to Paris in search of
+situations. Those who suffered most from the withdrawal of the
+Passionists were the poor and afflicted.
+
+The Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, the American Embassy, and the British
+Ambassador, addressed the French Government on their behalf, pointing
+out that the services of the Passionists were indispensable--but in
+vain. It is humiliating that the government of what is supposed to be a
+great Catholic nation like France should be appealed to in such a cause,
+fruitlessly, by the ambassador of non-Catholic England.
+
+Father Bernard O'Loughlin's name in the world was John, after his
+father, my mother's brother, John O'Loughlin. The elder John was a
+brewer's traveller, and often came to our house in Liverpool, bringing
+his violin with him. He had a wide knowledge of old Irish airs, and to
+his accompaniment we had many a genuine Irish night, singing the
+stirring songs then appearing in the "Nation."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE HOME RULE CONFEDERATION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+
+In the previous chapter it will be seen that I have somewhat anticipated
+the course of events described in this narrative in order to give brief
+sketches of some of my friends who took part, in various capacities, in
+the Franco-Prussian war, and incidents arising out of it. I have also,
+for the sake of compactness, briefly touched on their subsequent
+careers.
+
+I shall here now resume my recollections of the Home Rule movement from
+its inception in 1870.
+
+From the first everything pointed to Isaac Butt as its leader. His
+splendid abilities, even when ranged against us in the celebrated debate
+in the Dublin Corporation with O'Connell, excited the admiration of his
+fellow-countrymen; but now, when he had come over to the popular side,
+he was welcomed with acclamation, the more so that his genial and
+loveable nature was bound to win the hearts of a susceptible people like
+ours. Moreover, his joining the popular side was due to the impression
+made upon him by the Fenian leaders, so many of whom he defended in the
+trials from '67 onward; and he has left on record a remarkable testimony
+to the purity of their principles and the nobility of their ideals.
+
+He was lacking in certain qualities, the want of which in his character
+prevented him being such a strong leader as O'Connell or Parnell. But,
+all the same, while he led he gave splendid services--which can never be
+forgotten--to the cause.
+
+As I have said, Alfred Crilly and I were generally expected to take the
+initiative in any new Irish movement in Liverpool. Accordingly, towards
+the end of 1871, we were asked to make a move in connection with the new
+organisation in Ireland. We formed a small committee, and invited Isaac
+Butt to our projected opening demonstration. He was not able to come to
+our first gathering, but we had many opportunities during the years that
+followed of making his acquaintance; and, personally, I received many
+kindnesses at his hands. With Alfred Crilly I was sent to Dublin by the
+Committee to find influential speakers for our public inaugural
+Liverpool demonstration, to be held on the 3rd of January, 1872, our
+association having been opened some months previously. We secured the
+services of Mr. A.M. Sullivan and Professor Galbraith of Trinity
+College.
+
+When we returned to Liverpool it became our duty to find a chairman for
+our meeting worthy of the occasion. Mr. Charles Russell, who was first
+asked, suggested that we should get some one of more influence than
+himself. "Why not ask Dr. Commins?" he said.
+
+Dr. Commins was a barrister on the same circuit as Charles Russell. We
+did ask him. He cheerfully consented, and from that hour he was for a
+long time the leading figure in the struggle for Home Rule in Great
+Britain, being for several years President of the organisation. There is
+no more homely and unassuming man, ever accessible to the humblest of
+his fellow-countrymen, than "the Doctor," as his friends affectionately
+call him.
+
+He had a brilliant university career, and was a man of such wide
+attainments that I think there was a general belief amongst Liverpool
+Irishmen that he knew _everything_. Accordingly, they used frequently to
+go to him to settle some knotty point beyond the ordinary conception,
+and they seldom came away unsatisfied.
+
+Dr. Commins is an accomplished poet, and was for many years a
+contributor to the columns of the "Nation" and the "United Irishman" (of
+Liverpool). In 1876 he was elected as a Home Ruler to represent Vauxhall
+Ward in the Liverpool Town Council. He has ever since been a member of
+that body, being now an Alderman of the city. In due time he became a
+member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, of which several other
+Liverpool Irishmen have been members.
+
+Liverpool was not alone in forming its Home Rule Association; most of
+the large towns had them in due course, but for some time there was no
+bond of union between them. This, however, was formed in due time, the
+man to take the first step in bringing us together being John Barry,
+then residing in Manchester, and the chief man in our organisation
+there.
+
+John was, therefore, practically the founder of the great organisation
+which, under its various names--of the Home Rule Confederation of Great
+Britain. Irish National Land League of Great Britain, Irish National
+League of Great Britain, and United Irish League of Great Britain--has
+been in existence since 1873, working in accordance with and taking the
+name of whatever has been the recognised organisation for the time being
+in Ireland.
+
+John Barry, who had borne an active share in the struggle for
+self-government--irrespective of the methods being constitutional or
+unconstitutional--was a man of attractive personality and an
+indefatigable worker and organiser. He was the Secretary of the
+Manchester Home Rule Association, and, seeing the want of some body in
+which the various associations in Great Britain would be represented,
+he, in the name and with the authority of his branch, issued invitations
+to the associations then known to exist to send delegates to a
+Convention to be held in Manchester. To give importance to the occasion,
+and the necessary authority, Isaac Butt was invited to preside, and to
+attend a great demonstration in the Free Trade Hall, on the night of the
+Convention, January 18th, 1873.
+
+Although I bore an active part in the organising of that first Home Rule
+Convention of Great Britain, it is only a short time since, after a
+lapse of over thirty years, that I heard from John Barry himself the
+difficulty he had in securing the presence of the Home Rule leader. It
+was a long time since we had seen each other, but I found him the same
+cheery, warm-hearted, generous, and patriotic John Barry as ever. It
+was in the office of his firm in London we met, and took advantage of
+the opportunity to fight our battles over again; and he reminded me of
+the sort of inner circle of the I.R.B. to which he and I, and others who
+have since been prominent in Irish politics, belonged.
+
+He was always, however, a practical patriot, and would use every
+legitimate method to serve Ireland. That was why he threw himself with
+such ardour into the Home Rule movement.
+
+He told me of how he went over to Dublin to secure the promise of Isaac
+Butt to preside at the projected Convention, and to attend the
+demonstration in the evening. He got the requisite promise, and the
+announcement was made in all good faith in Manchester. So far all looked
+promising; but what was his alarm to hear, within three days of the
+event, that Isaac Butt's professional engagements would prevent his
+being able to attend. Added to this he had heard that Butt, who was of a
+somewhat irresolute temperament, was being warned that he was falling
+into the hands of a "Fenian gang."
+
+Barry spent all the money he had in sending to the Irish leader a
+telegram as earnest, hot, and forcible as he was capable of, beseeching
+him to come, and pointing out to him the serious consequences to the
+Cause in Great Britain of his failure to do so. This telegraphic budget
+reached Butt in Court; and, as he turned over leaf after leaf of the
+message, he said to a friend sitting alongside of him--"This man's in
+earnest, at any rate," and immediately wired back--"Will go, if alive."
+
+Apart from the offensiveness of styling us a "gang," those who had
+warned Butt of the hands into which he was falling may not, probably,
+have been far astray as regards some of those from whom he had received
+the invitation; seeing that when the organisation for Great Britain was
+duly formed, John Barry, John Ryan, John Walsh, and myself were elected
+on the Executive; but, at all events, Isaac Butt turned up.
+
+Some twenty Home Rule Associations responded to the invitation by
+sending delegates to the Convention. There is a remarkable contrast
+between this, the first of these Conventions, and those held every year
+since; for, at some of those, several hundreds of branches have been
+represented--showing the growth of the organisation since 1873.
+
+At this Manchester Convention, at which Mr. Butt presided, it was
+resolved to form a central body from the existing local associations, to
+be called the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain. Isaac Butt
+himself was elected the first President. I was elected the first General
+Secretary, and it became my duty to find out the existing associations
+which had not sent delegates to Manchester, and to invite them, as well
+as those who had been represented at the present gathering, to a
+supplementary convention. It was decided to hold this in Birmingham, to
+complete the arrangements made in Manchester for the future working of
+the organisation.
+
+On the night of the Manchester Convention Mr. Butt was the chief speaker
+at the public demonstration. Mr. John Ferguson, of Glasgow, was our
+Chairman. He was a sterling Ulster Protestant Nationalist. Many used to
+think he was a Scot. Indeed, I thought at one time myself he must be of
+Scottish extraction at all events, there being, I thought, more Scottish
+Fergusons than Irish. Speaking to him on the subject, I was reminded by
+him of the Irish king, Fergus, the founder of the Scottish monarchy; and
+he claimed to be of genuine Irish descent.
+
+He often used to call on me when I was conducting the "Catholic Times."
+At that time he was travelling for his firm of Cameron & Ferguson, who
+published a good many popular works on Irish subjects. We were both
+pleased to hear of the initiative John Barry had taken towards the
+formation of the Irish organisation of Great Britain. If I remember
+rightly, John Ferguson was in Liverpool at the time, and we went to
+Manchester together to attend this our first Annual Convention.
+
+After the Manchester Convention, I found there were considerably more
+Home Rule Associations in existence than had been represented at our
+first gathering. As a consequence we had a much larger and more
+representative attendance at our adjourned Convention in Birmingham. Mr.
+Butt presided in the morning and Mr. A.M. Sullivan in the afternoon.
+
+The Chairman at the public demonstration at night was Father Sherlock,
+one of the finest specimens of the good old "soggarth aroon" type it has
+ever been my privilege to meet. Several years afterwards, when I was
+organiser for the League in the Birmingham district, I was right glad
+to have the opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with him. The very
+contact with Father John Sherlock was elevating and inspiring, so
+transparent were the simplicity and purity of his life. Here was a
+saint, I thought, if ever there was one on earth.
+
+In my experience I have generally found that the men who have taken the
+lead in most places have been professional men rather than traders. This
+was true of Birmingham as well as elsewhere. There were no men who did
+better service than Hugh Heinrick, an able journalist (who afterwards
+became editor of the "United Irishman," the organ of our Confederation),
+and Professor Bertram Windle. I was glad to see in the newspapers the
+announcement of such a genuine Irishman as Dr. Windle being appointed
+President of the University College, Cork.
+
+Professor Windle is an honour to his new position, and is as devoted to
+the cause of creed and country as he was when one of the Professors of
+the Queen's University, Birmingham.
+
+During the years when I was organiser for the League in Birmingham; I
+became intimately acquainted with him. I found him not only a man of
+great learning, but an earnest Catholic and devoted Irish Nationalist.
+No man in our organisation did better service, and he was always ready
+to go at a moment's notice to speak or lecture wherever required.
+
+As a further illustration of what I have said about the aid given to the
+cause by professional men, I ought to mention Dr. James Mullin, of
+Cardiff. He was a leading and active man in his district when I
+travelled in South Wales as an organiser. His talent as a poet has made
+him well known in Wales, and his accounts of travels in many lands have
+found many admiring readers. His heart is as warm as his brain is
+active, which is saying much.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+BIGGAR AND PARNELL--THE "UNITED IRISHMAN "--THE O'CONNELL CENTENARY.
+
+
+The General Election of 1874 was remarkable as the first since the Union
+which had clearly and distinctly returned a majority of Irish members of
+Parliament as Home Rulers. Previously most of them had been returned as
+Liberals or Tories. It is memorable in my eyes, as it was the occasion
+when two of my personal friends, Alexander Martin Sullivan and Joseph
+Gillis Biggar, first entered Parliament. It was in the year after he was
+elected that Mr. Biggar made his _debut_ as an "obstructionist."
+
+Charles Stewart Parnell having been, in the spring of 1875, elected as
+successor in the representation of Meath to "honest John Martin," it was
+not long before the famous "Biggar and Parnell" combination, which was
+destined to revolutionize the whole system of Parliamentary procedure,
+was created.
+
+Feeling the necessity for a newspaper representing the views of the Home
+Rule Confederation and chronicling its work from week to week, the
+Executive promoted the formation of a limited liability company for the
+purpose, and the outcome was the issue of the "United Irishman," the
+first number of which appeared on June 4th, 1875. I was appointed
+manager, and was also the publisher, the paper being produced at my
+place of business, 68 Byrom Street, Liverpool. The following were the
+Directors--Andrew Commins, LL.D., Chairman; and John Barry, Joseph
+Gillis Biggar, M.P., John Ferguson, Richard Mangan, Bernard MacAnulty,
+and Peter McKinley. William John Oliver was Honorary Secretary, with
+Hugh Heinrick as Editor at the commencement, and Daniel Crilly
+afterwards.
+
+The newspaper was fortunate in its Honorary Secretary, for William John
+Oliver was one of the most enthusiastic workers we ever had in the Home
+Rule movement. He was at this time engaged in commerce in Liverpool,
+having previously been an officer in the Royal Navy. He was ever willing
+to be "the man in the gap" in case of an emergency, and that was how he
+became for a time the Honorary General Secretary of the Home Rule
+Confederation. He was always a cheery and, at the same time, an
+eminently practical man. He took a leading part in our local elections
+in Liverpool from the time we began to fight them on Home Rule
+principles--when the necessity arose, as I have elsewhere explained, to
+have public men who were not afraid to identify themselves with the
+national cause.
+
+Hugh Heinrick, our editor, was a brilliant writer, who had, for several
+years, been a strenuous worker in the Home Rule cause. He was a frequent
+contributor of poetry to the "Nation" and other national journals,
+generally over the signature of "Hugh Mac Erin." He was born in the
+County Wexford in 1831. Before taking up the editorship of the "United
+Irishman" he was for many years resident in Birmingham, where he was a
+schoolmaster. He died in 1887.
+
+Daniel Crilly, one of the most active and eloquent advocates of the
+Irish cause in Liverpool, succeeded him--this being his maiden effort in
+journalism. He was afterwards on the staff of the "Nation," and also did
+good service while a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
+
+Among other contributors to the "United Irishman" were Isaac Butt, Dr.
+Commins, Frank Hugh O'Donnell, Michael Clarke, Captain Kirwan, and Frank
+Byrne. Our poetry was a strong point with us--Dr. Commins, Frank Fox,
+John Hand, Patrick Clarke, Heber MacMahon, and Miss Bessie Murphy being
+among the contributors.
+
+When the "United Irishman" was started, the offices of the Home Rule
+Confederation, which had previously been in Manchester, were for
+convenience removed to my place of business. As the executive meetings
+and the meetings of the newspaper directors were held there, I
+frequently had the pleasure of meeting under my own roof Irishmen who
+either then were or afterwards became prominent members of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party, including Isaac Butt, Charles Stewart Parnell, and
+Joseph Biggar.
+
+Mr. Biggar and I were always great friends. He had the reputation of
+being close-fisted and penurious; but that this was not so I knew from
+many circumstances, though it is quite true he would not allow himself
+to be defrauded of a penny.
+
+He became a Catholic in his later days. Though such of us as were of
+the household of the faith welcomed him into the fold, his conversion
+did not increase his value in our eyes--indeed, from a political point
+of view, he was of more service to the cause as an Irish Protestant,
+there being too few of them in our ranks. He had a fresh, pleasant,
+shrewd-looking face, and spoke with a decided northern accent, which had
+somewhat of a metallic ring. Some of his brother Members of Parliament
+thought his "obstruction" methods highly ungentlemanly, but he believed
+in fighting England with her own weapons. If good Irish measures were
+not allowed to pass, he would throw every obstacle in the way of English
+measures being carried. The tempest of rage that assailed him in the
+"House" only added to his popularity outside. Not only was he an immense
+favourite amongst Irishmen, but with democratic Englishmen also; and at
+great mass meetings of English miners and agricultural labourers he
+could always get resolutions carried by the honest, hard-handed sons of
+toil in favour of the restoration of Ireland's rights.
+
+Biggar used to get many letters approving of the attitude he and Parnell
+had taken up in Parliament. One in particular, from a warm admirer, he
+used to show to his friends with great glee. It was a song in the old
+"Come-all-ye" style. A few lines I can remember sang in words of high
+commendation of--
+
+  --Joseph Biggar,
+  That man of rigour,
+  Whose form and figure
+    Do foes appal!
+
+My place being the head-quarters of the Confederation at this time, the
+fact of my being known to be generally on the spot made me a kind of
+"man in the gap," to fill up engagements likely to fall through for want
+of a speaker. In this way I was often rushed off to distant parts of the
+country at the shortest notice.
+
+The most important Irish event in 1875 was the celebration of the
+O'Connell Centenary in Dublin, on Friday, August 6th. Our Confederation
+was well represented in the processions, there being, as might be
+expected from its proximity, a large contingent from Liverpool. So great
+was the rush to cross the Channel for the celebration that we chartered
+several of the fine steamers of the City of Dublin Company, and kept
+them for several days fully employed in crossing and recrossing.
+
+The pity of it was that there should be two processions--the magnificent
+display organised by the official Centenary Committee and the procession
+got up by the Amnesty Association.
+
+The speeches of Messrs. Butt, Sullivan, and Power on the platform
+erected in what was then Sackville Street, when the outdoor display
+broke up, explained why the Amnesty Committee and their friends
+considered that a protest was necessary and justifiable--hence the
+second procession. The chief objections to the action of the official
+committee were that, while all honour was to be paid to the memory of
+O'Connell as the Liberator of his Catholic fellow-countrymen, his
+services as the champion of the political freedom of the Irish people
+were being kept in the background. Also--and that was why the Amnesty
+Association for the release of political prisoners took the initiative
+in the protest against the action of the Centenary Committee--because,
+on a great national occasion like this, the very existence of the
+martyrs for freedom, who were suffering in English prisons, appeared to
+be forgotten. Such forgetfulness was considered at the least highly
+inappropriate.
+
+There was much indignation, too, that Lord O'Hagan should have been
+chosen to speak the panegyric on O'Connell, seeing that he had actually
+sentenced some of those very prisoners.
+
+The Irish organisation in Great Britain sympathised with these views,
+and the various branches sending contingents showed their feelings by
+throwing in their part with the Amnesty Association.
+
+The contingent from Great Britain was, on the proposition of Mr. Patrick
+Egan, given the place of honour in front of the amnesty procession
+which, on the morning of the Centenary celebration, the 6th of August,
+1875, started from Beresford Place, near the Custom House. The banners
+of the three Liverpool branches were a picturesque feature in the
+procession, as also was the Sarsfield Band, a body of fine young
+Liverpool Irishmen who headed our contingent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+HOME RULE IN LOCAL ELECTIONS--PARNELL SUCCEEDS BUTT AS PRESIDENT OF THE
+IRISH ORGANISATION IN GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+
+It was at the Liverpool Municipal Elections of 1875 that we first
+introduced the question of Home Rule into local politics. When we were
+holding our inaugural meeting to establish the Home Rule organisation in
+the town, we could not get any of our Irish public men to take the
+chair. The reason was that these had not been elected as Irishmen but as
+Liberals. As a matter of fact, we had in Dr. Commins a man immensely
+superior to any of them. But we thought that men who had been elected to
+public positions mainly by Irish votes should not refuse to identify
+themselves with the national movement, and to help it by whatever
+influence they possessed. We therefore decided to _make_ some public
+men. In Scotland and Vauxhall Wards we had a clear majority, but though
+the Irish vote in these wards was expected for Liberal candidates, who
+were not Irish or Catholic, in no other ward could a Catholic or
+Irishman be elected. We, therefore, commenced to make a change by
+putting forward for Scotland Ward one of our own men, Lawrence Connolly,
+as a Home Ruler, and elected him _as such_. He afterwards sat in the
+Imperial Parliament for an Irish constituency. His election was followed
+in succeeding years by that of other Home Rulers, so that there was soon
+a considerable Nationalist Party in the City Council, and no lack of
+public men to do the honours for the Irishmen of Liverpool when any
+distinguished fellow-countryman came amongst them. Their civic utility
+was very great.
+
+Though I have been over twenty years out of Liverpool, I have never lost
+sight of what has been going on there, and I am pleased to find that the
+younger generation--men whom we, the elders, have borne some share in
+training--have improved upon our work, and that there are now
+considerably more aldermen and city councillors than in our time.
+
+That they are doing good work I am well satisfied, and nothing gives me
+greater pleasure than to read from time to time in the papers such items
+as a recent one--the presentation of a congratulatory address from the
+local branches of the United Irish League to Councillor Thomas Burke on
+the occasion of his being made a magistrate of the city of Liverpool. I
+am somewhat proud of Tom Burke. I remember having charge of some
+election that was going on, and his coming to me, a very small boy, from
+Blundell Street, to offer his services. I put him in harness at once,
+and he has been at work in the Cause ever since, and it is with pleasure
+that I recognise the fact that he is a good type of numerous Irishmen
+who were either born in Liverpool or spent most of their lives in that
+city.
+
+There was a dear old _Soggarth_ at St. Joseph's, who did good service
+for us in our first municipal election in Scotland Ward. He had,
+previous to this, been a fellow priest with my uncle, Father Bernard
+O'Loughlin, in the Isle of Man. As Father Peter McGrath was a good Irish
+scholar, he was soon able to make himself understood by such of the Manx
+people as still retained their native speech, its basis being, like the
+language spoken in the Scottish Highlands, practically--making allowance
+for provincialisms--the Gaelic spoken in Ireland. This was a great help
+to him and his brother priest in disarming prejudice.
+
+Before I met Father McGrath in Liverpool I had heard from my uncle of
+his delightful and saintly character. He was a ministering angel among
+our people in his district, which was one of the poorest in Liverpool.
+His charity was unbounded. Going on a sick call and being at the end of
+his monetary resources--for let his friends give him ever so much he
+would never leave himself a penny--he had been known to give away his
+own underclothing, and even to carry away his bed-clothes to relieve
+some case of abject poverty.
+
+He was a thorough Nationalist, and was delighted when we first raised
+the banner of Home Rule in Scotland Ward and made honest Lawrence
+Connolly our standard bearer. As part of the Ward was in his district,
+he was by far the best canvasser we had. Day by day he used to call on
+me to hear of the progress we were making. With the active personal
+help and the prayers of a saintly man like Father McGrath how could we
+lose?
+
+The return of a Home Ruler at an English municipal election was the
+forerunner of a still greater victory won in the same Scotland Ward,
+which as a Division of the Parliamentary Borough of Liverpool returned
+to Parliament some ten years afterwards the only Irish Home Ruler who,
+_as such_, sits for a British constituency--Mr. T.P. O'Connor.
+
+At the Annual Convention of the Home Rule Confederation, held in the
+Rotunda, Dublin, August 21st, 1876, Dr. Commins in the chair, a vote of
+confidence in Mr. Butt was passed. At the same time what was known as
+the "Obstruction" policy was endorsed, though Mr. Butt had given its
+chief exponents, Biggar and Parnell, no countenance. It was also
+resolved to remove the headquarters of the Confederation from Liverpool
+to London.
+
+Although, out of respect for his distinguished services, Mr. Butt was
+allowed to remain as the nominal leader up to the time of his death, it
+is quite evident that our people favoured the more active policy of the
+younger men.
+
+At a banquet given on the night of this Convention in the Ancient
+Concert Room, Mr. Butt, as chairman, gave the toast of "The Queen, Lords
+and Commons of Ireland." It will be seen elsewhere that I have always
+objected to join in this toast on the ground that it implies an
+acceptance of the existing condition of government in Ireland. Finding
+it on the list, I remained away, but I am afraid my friends, who knew my
+views, were scandalized at seeing in the newspaper report my name given
+as having been present. How it occurred was through the reporter,
+desiring, no doubt, to save himself the trouble of making out a new
+list, giving the names of those who had been present at the Convention
+as having attended the banquet. I had a somewhat similar experience at a
+Newcastle-on-Tyne Convention--sixteen years later. The Newcastle men, in
+the interval between the Convention and the banquet, asked my opinion
+about the toast list. I gave them a sketch of what I thought a good one,
+but said, "Don't have the Queen." They said they wouldn't, and I went to
+the banquet. I was surprised to hear the chairman giving "The Queen,
+Lords and Commons of Ireland." There was nothing for me to do but walk
+out.
+
+In Mr. Parnell Mr. Biggar found a colleague after his own heart in
+working the "Obstruction" policy. From the time when I made the
+acquaintance of Parnell, when he came amongst us, a shy-looking young
+man, under the wing of Isaac Butt, we were drawn towards each other--he
+because he looked upon me, from my life-long experience of them, as an
+authority upon our people in this country, and I because I was impressed
+by the terrible earnestness that I soon recognised underlying the young
+man's apparently impassive and unemotional exterior. I was one of the
+first he came in contact with in this country, and I believe he unbent
+himself and showed more of his really enthusiastic nature to me than he
+did to most men. He used to speak unreservedly to me. He knew my views
+as to Irishmen taking the oath of allegiance and entering the British
+Parliament, of which he was at that time a member. He knew that, holding
+these views, I could not enter the British Parliament myself, though he
+would have liked to see me there. With me it was a matter of conscience;
+I could not take an oath of allegiance to any but an Irish Government.
+At the same time, I have always been practical, and willing to fight
+Ireland's battles with the weapons that come readiest to my hand. I,
+therefore, always gave what support I could to the Irish Parliamentary
+Party, who could conscientiously enter the House of Commons, and to the
+recognised Irish organisations for the time being.
+
+It is not to be expected that every Irishman, even every Irish
+Nationalist, will be of one mind as to which way his duty lies in
+serving his country. After all, a man who can honestly say "I am an
+Irishman and I love my country" is already nine-tenths of the way to
+being a Nationalist. If such a man tries to do his best, according to
+his lights, for Ireland, he is entitled to all possible sympathy from
+even those who are working on other lines.
+
+On one occasion, when Parnell had returned from a special mission to
+America, I had a long discussion with him on these points, and was bound
+to admit that the British Government would have been much better pleased
+to encounter an insurrection in Ireland, which they could easily put
+down, than the policy of the so-called "Obstructionists" in Parliament.
+Again, I said, there was another fact which I recognised. This was that
+his being sent on a mission to America, whence he was then returning,
+showed the value of having a man holding such a well-recognised position
+as a member of Parliament, elected by the votes of his
+fellow-countrymen, in case we had to send a representative to speak in
+the name of Ireland to some other nation, a circumstance which had
+happened before and might again. I said this, even taking into account
+the apparent failure of the mission to America, from which he was
+returning, for circumstances might arise in which the head of a State
+might be glad to recognise an embassy like theirs. He told me that was
+exactly how he viewed the subject.
+
+It was in Dr. Commins' office that we had this conversation, and at our
+request Mr. Parnell postponed his departure to Ireland in order to
+attend a celebration we were having that night of Home Rule victories we
+had achieved in two wards of the town, in Vauxhall by the return of Dr.
+Commins to the Town Council, and in Scotland Ward by the election of Dr.
+Alexander Bligh. Parnell's appearance at our festival, which was held on
+Monday, November 13th, 1876, was a pleasing surprise to those present,
+who were not aware of his return from America, and this added to the
+intensity of the outburst of joy and enthusiastic applause which greeted
+him.
+
+One of the most important of our Annual Conventions in Great Britain was
+that held in Liverpool on 27th August, 1877. Everything showed that,
+while our people in Ireland and here still loved the old leader, they
+favoured the policy of "Obstruction." At this Convention there was no
+intention of displacing Mr. Butt from his position as President of the
+organisation. They would have retained him on account of his
+distinguished services and eminently lovable character. But the old man
+himself could see plainly enough that the people wanted to move faster
+than he was willing to lead, and, notwithstanding the appeals made to
+him, insisted upon resigning his position. The Convention being
+compelled to accept his resignation, Charles Stewart Parnell was elected
+President of the organisation in his place. This was an indication of
+what was likely to follow, for though Mr. Butt retained the nominal
+leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party up to the time of his death,
+Parnell was the real leader, and eventually, after a short interval,
+when Mr. Shaw held the office, became the Chairman of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party.
+
+John Ferguson was, I think, the first man publicly to indicate Parnell
+as the probable successor of Butt. But so great is the dread in our
+people of even the semblance of disunion, that many, myself among the
+number, expostulated with him for this. Events, however, showed he was
+right, and Mr. Butt himself plainly felt that it was inevitable. But at
+the Convention, when Butt had distinctly refused to hold the office of
+President any longer, nothing could be finer than the tribute paid to
+our retiring leader by Mr. John Ferguson in proposing the election of
+Mr. Parnell as his successor. As I was asked to take the official
+account of that Convention, and have kept a record of it, I here give a
+few words of his and some of the other speeches. He said:--
+
+     It is my intention to propose Mr. Parnell as the head of the
+     Confederation. At the same time I feel the greatest possible regret
+     that our grand old chieftain who, in trying times, raised the Irish
+     banner, who has so long guided us, and who has been with us in so
+     many hard fights, is to retire from amongst us. We are grateful to
+     Issac Butt for leading us so far, but we are going to try a more
+     determined policy, and Mr. Butt holds views different from those we
+     are determined to carry out. I hope, though, he will take counsel
+     with the true and earnest men of the Party, and that, after a time,
+     he will return to lead us at this side of the water.
+
+Mr. John Barry, Mr. Biggar and others spoke in the same strain.
+
+So also did Mr. Parnell, who, concluding his speech seconding the vote
+of thanks to Mr. Butt, said:--
+
+     I must confess to not having Mr. Butt's confidence in English
+     justice and sense of right. It is not too late for him to see a way
+     to deal with England that will obtain freedom for our country--a
+     way that will show England that, if she will dare to trifle with
+     Irish demands, it will be at the risk of endangering those
+     institutions she feels so proud of, but which Irishmen have no
+     reason to respect. To Mr. Butt is due a debt of gratitude by the
+     Irish people which they can never repay, for he has taught them
+     self-reliance and knowledge of their power. If I have felt it my
+     duty to put myself in antagonism with Mr. Butt I hope he will
+     forgive me. If I have said or written harsh things I have never
+     said more nor less than was due to the gravity of the occasion.
+
+Mr. O'Donnell, who expressed a wish that the next session might find Mr.
+Butt at the head of a United Irish Party, supported the vote of thanks
+to Mr. Butt, which was carried unanimously, and with all sincerity and
+depth of feeling.
+
+Mr. Butt replied, saying he would be ashamed of himself if he were
+unmoved by that vote, and the manner in which it had been passed. He
+hoped that the wish expressed by Mr. O'Donnell might be realized, and it
+would not be his fault if they had not a United Irish Party in the House
+of Commons. After expressing his good wishes for the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, which he hoped might long continue to
+assert the power of the Irish people in this country, he took his
+farewell.
+
+Mr. Parnell was then elected President.
+
+The Convention of 1877 ended with the adoption of a resolution, on the
+motion of Mr. Peter Mulhall (Liverpool), seconded by Mr. Ryan (Bolton):--
+
+     That this Convention of the Home Rule Confederation of Great
+     Britain hereby endorses the vigorous policy of the Home Rule
+     Parliamentary Party who are termed "Obstructionists."
+
+Mr. Mulhall just mentioned was an active worker in the National ranks in
+Liverpool, and even a more valuable adherent a little later was his
+younger brother James, one of the most thorough, sincere, and upright of
+our young men, who never spared himself when there was good work to do.
+
+Before the venerable figure of Isaac Butt disappears from the scene, let
+me say a few words about his eminently agreeable personality.
+
+There was not an atom of selfishness about him. I remember his making
+little of the difficulties some people used to raise in connection with
+the planning of a Home Rule Bill, and saying, "Three men sitting round a
+table could in a short time draw up a plan of Home Rule for Ireland that
+would act, providing people all round meant honestly."
+
+He used to tell us humorous anecdotes of his experiences in the courts,
+of which I can recollect the following one: "A man came before a
+magistrate to have a neighbour bound over to keep the peace. In his
+deposition he stated after the usual preamble: 'That said Barney Trainor
+at said time and place threatened to send said deponent's soul to the
+lowest pit of Hell, and this deponent veribly believes that had it not
+been for the interference of the bystanders the aforesaid Barney Trainor
+would have accomplished his horrible purpose.'"
+
+Another story that I remember him telling was as to the origin of "Bog
+Latin." A sheriff's officer was sent to serve a writ, but the object of
+his search took refuge in a bog. The sheriff's officer, determined to do
+the thing properly, endorsed his writ "Non comeatibus in swampo," and in
+Irish legal circles the term "Bog Latin" was thereafter used to describe
+any mode of caricature of the ancient tongue.
+
+In something less than two years after Charles Stewart Parnell had
+succeeded him as our President, Isaac Butt died, on the 5th of May,
+1879, mourned by Ireland as one of the most brilliant, patriotic, and
+self-sacrificing men she had ever nurtured.
+
+Of the members of Parliament and embryo members present at the 1877
+Convention, I should say a word of Tim Healy, by which name he is most
+frequently known, who, since then, has been on many occasions one of the
+most prominent figures in Irish politics.
+
+From the day when I first met him, a keen, quick-witted, enthusiastic
+Irish lad of about 18, from Newcastle-on-Tyne, until this 1877
+Convention and later, he did good work for the Cause. Great as is my
+affection for him, my pain at his attitude in recent years has been as
+great.
+
+From the time we began to work together in the Home Rule movement I
+should say that Timothy Healy had not left his native place, Bantry,
+more than a couple of years.
+
+He is related to the Sullivan family, the connection being still closer
+from the fact that his wife is a daughter of our veteran poet, T.D.
+Sullivan, for whom I have always had the warmest admiration.
+
+Like myself, Healy had a leaning towards journalism, and we had a common
+ground in our admiration of the "Nation" newspaper, not only the
+"Nation" of O'Connell and the Young Irelanders, but of the Sullivans.
+
+Nothing, therefore, could be more congenial to him than to fill the post
+of London letter writer to that paper.
+
+He made his mark at once, as being a worthy scholar of the "Nation"
+school, both past and present, and no one recognised this more quickly
+than Charles Stewart Parnell. It was no doubt this appreciation that
+prompted the new Irish leader to ask Tim Healy to become his private
+secretary.
+
+Parnell possessed in a remarkable degree a gift which was of great
+service to him during his political career as the successor of Isaac
+Butt. This was the faculty of weighing up the special qualities of the
+various members of the Irish Party and using them accordingly. Without
+attempting for a moment to underrate Parnell as a great leader of men, I
+must say that there were members of the Party far abler in many respects
+than he was, and, no doubt, in looking around for someone to supply the
+qualities in which he, himself, was wanting, he could see that Healy was
+the very man for his purpose.
+
+When he was in America he wired to Tim offering him the post, which
+offer was at once accepted, and, in the shortest possible time,
+Parnell's new secretary had crossed the Atlantic, and was by his side
+ready to be put in harness at once. It was an excellent combination, and
+there can be no doubt but that, during the time that the connection
+existed between them, Parnell owed much towards the successful carrying
+on of the national struggle to his young secretary's inspiration.
+
+Michael Davitt, in his "Fall of Feudalism," pays a high tribute to
+Healy's splendid service in connection with Gladstone's Land Act.
+Undoubtedly his was the credit for what became known as the "Healy
+Clause," which provided that no rent should be payable for land on
+improvements made by the tenant himself or his immediate predecessor.
+Not only was this credit conceded to him of being the author of this
+clause by distinguished fellow-countrymen like Michael Davitt and Lord
+Russell of Killowen, but by Mr. Gladstone himself.
+
+As I have referred to the opinions expressed on Healy in Michael
+Davitt's book, perhaps I may be forgiven if I go out of my way somewhat
+in referring to another passage in the same book, in which he pays a
+well-deserved tribute to a noble Irishman, Patrick Ford, of the New York
+"Irish World," with which, in common with Irish Nationalists the world
+over, I cordially agree. There are some men whom you may never have seen
+in the flesh, but whom you feel, through correspondence with them and in
+other ways, that you know none the less thoroughly all the same. Such a
+man is Patrick Ford. It is nearly forty years since I first made his
+acquaintance, and the years that have passed have only increased my
+regard for him.
+
+I had the pleasure of welcoming in the columns of the "Catholic Times,"
+which was then under my direction, the first number of the "Irish
+World." I could feel at once that the paper and the man who edited it
+had for me a congenial ring about them. I am deeply indebted for the
+kindly and generous interest which Patrick Ford has so long personally
+and in the columns of the "Irish World" shewn in the success of my Irish
+publications, and I am delighted to have the opportunity of joining in
+the tribute paid to him by Michael Davitt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+MICHAEL DAVITT'S RETURN FROM PENAL SERVITUDE--PARNELL AND THE "ADVANCED"
+ORGANISATION.
+
+
+In the year following the Liverpool Home Rule Convention of 1877, I had
+the pleasure of welcoming back to freedom my old friend, Michael Davitt,
+after he had been in penal servitude close upon eight years. He had been
+released, along with other Fenian prisoners, and, with Corporal
+Chambers, came on April 28th, 1878, to a gathering we organised and held
+in the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, for the benefit of the liberated men,
+John O'Connor Power being the lecturer for the occasion, and Dr. Commins
+our chairman.
+
+Michael Davitt, on rising to speak, was received with a terrific
+outburst of cheering, again and again repeated.
+
+I was sitting immediately behind him on the platform, and I noticed,
+while he was speaking, a constant nervous twitching of his hand, which
+he held behind his back, and he was evidently in a state of
+highly-strung excitement. I was not surprised when we had that day a
+painful proof of how the prison treatment had undermined his
+constitution. After the gathering we brought the released prisoners and
+the principal speakers to be entertained at the house of Patrick Byrne,
+a warm-hearted, patriotic Irishman, and were much alarmed when Davitt
+fell into a deep faint, from which he only recovered through the
+ministrations of one of our most respected Liverpool Nationalists, Dr.
+Bligh, who fortunately was present. For a few moments it seemed as if he
+never would revive.
+
+There is no doubt but that their treatment during their long term of
+penal servitude seriously affected the health of several of the Irish
+political prisoners. It was only three months previous to his visit to
+us in Liverpool that Davitt reached Dublin, with three others of the
+released prisoners--Sergeant McCarthy, Corporal Chambers, and John
+O'Brien. To the consternation of his friends, McCarthy died suddenly at
+Morrison's Hotel, on January 15th, the cause, it was believed, being
+heart disease. This caused such a shock to Chambers that his life, too,
+was put in danger. I was pleased to see him restored to health after
+this when he called on me in Liverpool with his brother, with whom I was
+well acquainted. The shock of the sudden death of his friend McCarthy
+must have affected Michael Davitt too, as we found from the report of
+our friend, Dr. Bligh, in what a precarious state of health he must have
+been at the time. It will be remembered that Rickard Burke became
+insane, it was thought, and stated in Parliament, owing to his treatment
+while in Chatham Prison.
+
+Following our Liverpool gathering, we had on Sunday, May 5th, a meeting
+in the St. Helens Theatre for the same object. At this Parnell as well
+as Davitt was present. Speaking that day by desire of our St. Helens
+friends, I called attention to the appropriateness of our addressing the
+assembly from the boards of a theatre on which there had been the mimic
+representation of many a stirring drama. But no play the audience had
+ever witnessed on those boards could exceed in dramatic interest the
+life of the released convict, Michael Davitt. Nay, more, the grudging
+terms on which he had been released enabled him to appear that day in
+the real living character of a "Ticket-of-Leave-Man," which, no doubt,
+they had seen impersonated on those boards by some clever actor in the
+play of the same name.
+
+I am reminded of that St. Helens meeting by a passage in Michael
+Davitt's book "The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland." I travelled from
+Liverpool to St. Helens to attend the meeting in the same carriage with
+Mr. Parnell. As I could always speak unreservedly to him I knew that
+though he would not actually join the advanced organisation, he regarded
+it as a useful force behind the constitutional movement. In the
+carriage, which it so happened we had to ourselves, we discussed the
+probabilities of the result of a resort to physical force for securing
+Irish freedom, should circumstances justify such a course, for Parnell
+would not have shrunk from taking the field if there had been a
+reasonable hope of success. Singularly enough, I find in Michael
+Davitt's book that he himself, on the day of that same St. Helens
+meeting, made an advance to Parnell with a view to getting him to join
+the revolutionary organisation, should the conditions be somewhat
+modified. Up till then I had seen more of Parnell than Davitt had and
+had enjoyed his full confidence. I had, therefore, come to the
+conclusion, from my conversations with him, that he was of far more
+service to the Irish cause as he was than if he had actually joined the
+revolutionary movement. I am not surprised, therefore, at Parnell's
+answer to Davitt: "No, I will never join any political secret society,
+oath bound or otherwise. My belief is that useful things for our Cause
+can be done in the British Parliament."
+
+Nevertheless, I remember one public utterance of his which always struck
+me as most statesmanlike. After a frank statement that he was in favour
+of constitutional Home Rule, he, with equal frankness, declined to
+subscribe to the entire finality of that solution of the Irish problem.
+How, he asked, could he or any man put bounds to the progress of a
+nation?
+
+Seeing that Gladstone gave as one reason for the disestablishing of the
+Irish Church "the intensity of Fenianism," so, in the same way, no one
+recognised more than Parnell did that the existence of a physical force
+movement was a strong argument for those engaged in the moral force
+agitation. Therefore he was always anxious to conciliate and even
+cultivate the advanced element. Of this I will here give one
+illustration, out of many I could mention, and this in connection with
+the custom of drinking what was called "the loyal toast," which at one
+time used to be observed at some Home Rule celebrations. It is a matter
+on which I have already explained my point of view.
+
+On one occasion Mr. Parnell was invited by the Liverpool branches to a
+St. Patrick's Day banquet at the Adelphi Hotel, where the drinking of
+the "loyal" toast was part of the programme. With the rest of the
+committee I met him at the railway station on his arrival, and came with
+him to the hotel. After some conversation I was bidding him
+"good-night!" when he asked, as he took my hand, "Where are you going,
+Denvir? Are you not going to stay for the banquet?" I had not intended
+mentioning it, but as he asked me so pointedly, I felt bound to tell him
+my objection to being present. He did not attempt to controvert what I
+said, but still asked where I was going. I then told him I had been
+invited to a St. Patrick's celebration where the toast was _not_ to be
+drunk, the gathering being one of our advanced Nationalist friends.
+
+He at once said "I should like to go there." I told him I was sure they
+would be delighted to see him, and that, as theirs was a dance, and it
+would be kept up pretty late, I would come back for him after the
+banquet, and take him to the other celebration. Our friends were well
+pleased at his wish to attend, and asked me to go back and bring him to
+where a hearty _cead mile failte_ awaited him. In due time I brought him
+over, and they gave him an enthusiastic reception, he being quite as
+delighted to be present as they were to receive him, and they were
+still more pleased when he addressed a few words to them.
+
+But that was as far as Parnell would go, and his answer to Davitt that
+day at St. Helens pretty well indicated the course he intended to pursue
+in connection with the cause of Ireland.
+
+Indeed, it is on record that in later years Michael Davitt altered his
+own view to such an extent that he would no longer have made that
+proposition to Parnell.
+
+There was no man whose regard I more valued than that of Michael Davitt.
+Amongst all the vicissitudes of Irish politics our friendship was an
+unbroken one. He was little more than a boy when I first met him at a
+small gathering to which none but the initiated were admitted. From the
+first I was strongly drawn towards that tall, dark-complexioned,
+bright-eyed, modest youth, with his typical Celtic face and figure. He
+was in company with Arthur Forrester, who was a fluent speaker and
+writer, and who on this occasion did most of the talking, Davitt only
+throwing in some shrewd remark from time to time. We know since that he
+had in him the natural gift of oratory, though it was not that so much
+as other qualities which gave him the commanding position in Irish
+politics which he afterwards reached.
+
+He had then spent several of the best years of his life in penal
+servitude for his connection with the physical force movement. Thinking
+long and hard in the solitude of his prison cell, Davitt resolved that
+the first vital need of Ireland was to plant firmly in the soil of
+Ireland the people who were being uprooted--in other words, the land
+system must be changed.
+
+The result of his convictions was the formation of the Irish National
+Land League, which dated its birth from the great meeting projected by
+Davitt and held at Irishtown in April, 1879. Mr. Parnell was elected
+President of the new organisation, Mr. Patrick Egan treasurer, and
+Michael Davitt was one of the secretaries. He has been justly called the
+"Father" of the Land League.
+
+One of the earliest acts of the Land League was to endeavour to stop the
+tide of emigration from Ireland. In this connection, as certain
+emigration schemes had been set on foot in England, a branch of the
+League was founded in Liverpool at my request by Parnell and Davitt.
+
+In consequence of the prevailing distress and impending famine, Mr.
+Parnell was asked by the Irish National League to go to America to get
+the assistance of our people there, and Mr. John Dillon was asked to
+accompany him.
+
+Though there was little done by the Government to relieve the distress,
+the Irish people could always get coercion without stint, and Messrs.
+Davitt, Daly and Killen were arrested for "seditious" speeches in
+connection with the Land League agitation.
+
+To protest against this, Mr. Parnell, previous to his departure for
+America, attended a great open-air demonstration in Liverpool. The
+gathering was held in the open space in front of St. George's Hall, and
+it was computed that about 50,000 people were present. When the meeting
+was publicly announced, there was a proclamation from the Orange
+Society, calling upon the brethren to put down the "Seditious
+gathering." Upon this our committee took the precaution of enrolling
+stalwart "stewards" to preserve order. Among those who offered their
+services were a large number of the Irish Volunteer Corps, under the
+command of Sergeant James MacDonnell, a County Down man of fine
+proportions and shrewd brain. To him was entrusted the direction of the
+whole body of our men on the day of the meeting. The advanced party also
+gave their services, and non-commissioned officers and men of the other
+volunteer corps besides the Irish, skilled in military movements, gave
+valuable help. Round the platform were a select body of nearly a
+thousand men, many of them carrying revolvers in their pockets, ready
+for action.
+
+The Orange body must have heard of our elaborate preparations, and
+finding "discretion the better part of valour," they countermanded their
+proclamation to break up the meeting.
+
+The authorities of the town made full preparations to cope with possible
+disturbances, and inside St. George's Hall they had, carefully kept out
+of view, a large body of the town police, armed with revolvers in
+addition to their batons. In a window of the North Western Hotel,
+overlooking the meeting, was the chief constable, and with him were
+magistrates, prepared to read the Riot Act if necessary.
+
+It was arranged that as I was at that time probably the best known man
+in the Irish body in Liverpool, I should be stationed on a prominent
+part of the platform, which consisted of two lorries, in view of all,
+and alongside me, our general, Sergeant MacDonnell. As showing how well
+in hand was that immense body of people it was remarked that when the
+carriage of Dr. John Bligh, whose guest Mr. Parnell was, drew up in the
+street, facing the platform, and when I made a motion with both hands,
+to show where a passage was to be made for Mr. Parnell from the street
+to the platform, how quickly and accurately the opening was made in that
+dense and apparently impenetrable body of people.
+
+In Ireland, at this time, men were being prosecuted for what were termed
+"seditious" speeches. When Mr. Parnell stood up to speak he stepped upon
+a chair, that he might be the better seen, and said "I am going to make
+a seditious speech." A strong motion was passed at this meeting
+condemnatory of coercion in Ireland. On the same evening a great
+demonstration was held in the League Hall.
+
+The authorities must have considered the St. George's Hall meeting a
+very serious business, and it was evidently made note of by the police
+for use afterwards.
+
+At the "_Times_ Forgeries Commission," Mr. Parnell was questioned about
+this gathering, and about several on the platform who were mentioned by
+name. Asked if this one or that one were connected with the Fenian
+movement, he generally answered he did not think so. When my name was
+put to him by the Attorney-General (now the Lord Chief Justice), who was
+cross-examining him, he replied "He might have been."
+
+In a short time after the Liverpool demonstration Messrs. Parnell and
+Dillon went to America, as had been arranged. They were everywhere
+received with enthusiasm, and obtained sympathy and substantial help as
+the ambassadors of Ireland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+BLOCKADE RUNNING--ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION OF "UNITED IRELAND"--WILLIAM
+O'BRIEN AND HIS STAFF IN JAIL--HOW PAT EGAN KEPT THE FLAG FLYING.
+
+
+"United Ireland suppressed" was the chief headline in the morning papers
+on the Friday before the Christmas of 1881.
+
+In point of fact, what had happened was that the detectives, acting
+under the extraordinary powers given by the special "law" in force in
+Ireland, had invaded the offices of the Land League organ the night
+before, and seized all the copies of the paper found on the premises.
+
+It was a bungled job, for the country edition had already gone out,
+including the supplies for England and Scotland, so that the only copies
+seized were those intended for Dublin and the suburbs.
+
+Nothing indicated the intensity of the struggle going on between the
+government and the people more than the dead set which was being made
+against "United Ireland." Its editor was in jail, its sub-editor was in
+jail, most of its contributors were in jail, even the commercial and
+mechanical staffs had been seized, one by one, and in the paper each
+week the names and descriptions of the victims appeared, prominently
+set out in tabular form, in the place where the first leading article
+had previously been printed.
+
+But, in spite of these difficulties, the paper appeared regularly each
+week, its fiery spirit not a whit abated, and its outspoken exposure of
+Mr. "Buckshot" Forster and his methods in no way curtailed. Confronted
+with this open failure, the government swallowed the last vestige of its
+regard for appearances, and made the bold attack on the liberty of the
+press involved in the seizure and attempted suppression of "United
+Ireland."
+
+It was not the first time (nor has it been the last) in Ireland that a
+national organ was thus attacked. From the days of the United Irishmen,
+towards the close of the 18th century, to those of 1867, there had been
+a long series of suppressions, of which, perhaps, John Mitchel's "United
+Irishman" (1847) and the Fenian "Irish People" are the best remembered
+instances.
+
+In this case, however, the leaders of the popular movement determined
+that they would not be put down, but would use all "the resources of
+civilization"--to quote Mr. Gladstone's famous phrase--to keep the flag
+flying. I am very proud of the fact that they invited me to be their
+instrument.
+
+What happened was that two members of the printing staff, Mr. Edward
+Donnelly, foreman, and Mr. William MacDonnell, assistant foreman,
+escaped to England, taking with them stereo plates of the "suppressed"
+issue. From these plates, my own jobbing machines not being big enough
+to print a full-sized newspaper, I got a local firm to print sufficient
+copies to cover the Dublin supply, which, as I have explained, had been
+the only part of the issue which fell into the hands of the police. A
+quantity of these papers, made up in innocent looking parcels, my son,
+then a schoolboy, took over with him in the steamer from Liverpool to
+Dublin, as personal luggage. He was to take them to the address which
+had been given to him of a member of the staff who was then "on his
+keeping." I was alarmed the following morning, Christmas Eve, 1881, to
+read in the newspapers of the arrest of this gentleman, and feared that
+my son would also fall into the hands of the police. But he had acted
+with wariness. Leaving the luggage behind him in the steamer, until he
+found how the land lay, he saw the people of the house, heard of the
+arrest, and at once made his own arrangements for supplying the Dublin
+newsagents, in which task he received invaluable help from two gentlemen
+on the "Nation" staff, Daniel Crilly and Eugene O'Sullivan.
+
+Thus the _whole_ of the issue of the "suppressed" number actually
+reached its destination. For future issues arrangements were made
+between my old friend Mr. Patrick Egan, Treasurer of the Land League,
+who was then in Paris, and myself. Our letters were never addressed
+direct, but always through third persons, the intermediary in Paris
+being Mr. James Vincent Taaffe, and, in Liverpool, Miss Kate Swift. Mr.
+Egan had been sent to Paris to keep the League Funds out of the hands of
+Dublin Castle, and to maintain intact the machinery of the League, for,
+it must be remembered, Parnell, Davitt, William O'Brien, and most of our
+prominent men were at the time in jail.
+
+Although illegal in Ireland, there was nothing in the ordinary law to
+prevent the printing and circulation of "United Ireland" in Great
+Britain. Arrangements were, therefore, made with the Metropolitan
+Printing Works, London, for the future production of the paper. For
+several weeks the papers were printed by that firm, and sent to my place
+of business in Byrom Street, Liverpool.
+
+As I had, in ordinary course, to supply the whole of the newsagents in
+England, Wales and Scotland, the police, by whom my place was, by day
+and night, closely watched, could not know if in the quantity sent to me
+from London I was getting a supply for Ireland.
+
+The parcels for Ireland I could not send direct from Byrom Street, as
+they would be followed by the police and traced. Therefore, for packing
+and forwarding to Ireland, we used a fish-curing shed, not far from
+Byrom Street, lent for the purpose by a patriotic Irishman, Patrick De
+Lacy Garton, at that time a member of the Liverpool City Council.
+
+With so many friends in Liverpool willing to assist, it was not
+difficult to get the parcels of papers, through one channel or another,
+into our depot each week.
+
+I engaged the services of Mr. Michael Wolohan, to go to Ireland, and act
+as forwarding agent. It was his task to get people in various parts of
+the country to receive parcels of "United Ireland," the papers being
+packed in such fashion as to correspond with the business of the person
+to whom each consignment was made.
+
+For instance, the edition for the week ending December 31st was packed
+in hampers provided by Mr. Garton, who advised me to send the lot as
+dried fish, and found a reliable consignee for them in Ireland. The
+"dried fish" arrived safely, and then the most arduous part of Michael
+Wolohan's work began. For it was difficult to get the actual parcels of
+"United Ireland" into the hands of the agents and sub-agents unknown to
+the police, but this he did with consummate address, and on the whole
+very successfully.
+
+On one occasion Michael wrote me he had a good consignee for "woollen
+goods." Nothing easier, for here was Edward Purcell, a clothier, one of
+our own young men, who afterwards became a city alderman, having a good
+business in Byrom Street, Liverpool. Besides helping actively with the
+"blockade running" in other ways, he at once gave us the necessary
+wrappers in which he had got his own goods from his woollen merchants,
+and assisted in packing our "woollen goods" in the correct fashion.
+Needless to say, these safely reached the consignee in Ireland.
+
+Although there was no illegality in printing "United Ireland" in London,
+the printers were perpetually harassed by the police to frighten them
+into giving up the job. The parcels for the British newsagents could not
+legally be stopped, but with the watchful eye of the police all over
+Ireland on the look-out for the proscribed paper, it is not surprising
+that individual parcels fell into their hands. For that reason we took
+care to send the various kinds of goods in the names of mercantile firms
+whose loyalty was unquestionable. I should say that to this day these
+firms have no idea of the large Irish trade they were doing at this
+particular time.
+
+But Liverpool became much too suspicious a place to send from. I
+therefore adopted the plan of sending parcels, made up as various kinds
+of merchandise, to friends in Manchester, from which city there was
+regular communication with inland towns in Ireland, and these friends
+sent on the parcels to their destinations more safely than if going
+direct from Liverpool.
+
+This scheme was working smoothly enough, but eventually the London
+printers were frightened into giving up the contract, and the printing
+had to be transferred to Paris.
+
+It is needless to say that, during this time, Michael Wolohan, our agent
+in Ireland (whose name had for the time being become Brownrigg), had the
+utmost difficulty in escaping the attention of the police. Some parcels
+he was sending by the Broadstone terminus were detected and seized. What
+troubled him most was that, as he paid a considerable sum for carriage
+on these, and as the railway company had not forwarded them, he was
+entitled to have the money returned, But the police were on the look out
+for the so-called Brownrigg, and it was thought best that he should not
+venture near the station. It happened that week that my son arrived in
+Dublin with some more of the kind of luggage he had brought over at
+Christmas, and, with the recklessness of youth, he went to the station,
+and, as Brownrigg, got the money returned.
+
+"United Ireland" for the week ending January 28th, 1882, was printed in
+Paris, in a section of a printing office rented by Patrick Egan, and
+sent, addressed to me, for circulation in Ireland and Great Britain. The
+parcels were seized on their arrival at Folkestone and Dover, and though
+the seizure was illegal and I applied for the parcels as being my
+property (a question being also asked in Parliament) we could get no
+satisfaction.
+
+But, notwithstanding the seizures made from time to time, it was
+determined to keep the flag flying, and no matter what might be the
+difficulty encountered in the production of "United Ireland," not an
+issue was missed. Of course, as a natural consequence of these
+difficulties, the paper was sometimes hard to be got, so that, taking
+advantage of this, some of the newsvendors and all the newsboys in
+Dublin were reaping a rich harvest, as, owing to the anxiety of the
+people to get copies, they were frequently sold on the streets of the
+cities and towns in Ireland at from 6d. to 2s. 6d. a copy. The continued
+presence of the paper all over Ireland did perhaps more than anything
+else to keep heart in the people. Accordingly, it must be kept going at
+all hazards. The type for the paper continued to be set up in Paris,
+and, after a certain quantity had been printed off each week, for
+transmission by post and otherwise, the matrices from the type were
+brought over to me by carefully selected agents from Paris. From these
+stereotype plates of the pages were cast. As my own machine was not big
+enough, I arranged with a Liverpool firm of printers to machine the
+paper for me each week. Accordingly, they printed the papers for the
+week ending February 4th, and delivered the bulk of them to us, so that
+we got our parcels for that week sent off.
+
+The police must have got one of the copies being sold by the Liverpool
+agents, and finding it had no imprint (which was illegal) went to the
+printers referred to, who, on this being pointed out, handed over to
+them the few remaining copies.
+
+As every printing firm was now afraid to touch "United Ireland," it only
+remained for me to endeavour to print it with my own somewhat limited
+appliances. It was now, therefore, reduced in size to four pages. Every
+week, as before, the matrices were brought to me, and, from the castings
+taken from these, I printed the papers on my own small machine, and sent
+them to their various destinations.
+
+And so the fight with the police went on with varying fortune. It was
+true, as regards size, half our flag had in a manner been shot away, but
+we still kept it flying, and the Government, with their standing army of
+police, were never able to suppress "United Ireland."
+
+As I expected, I was prosecuted for printing and publishing without an
+imprint. Mr. Poland, Q.C., chief prosecuting counsel to the Treasury,
+was sent down to conduct the case against me for the technical breach of
+the law involved in the matter of the imprint, and I was fined a sum
+amounting with costs to £25. I announced my intention in court of
+continuing the publication, so the Government got very little
+satisfaction out of their action.
+
+Of the various editions of the paper produced in Ireland at this time I
+shall not speak in detail, as in this narrative I only describe what
+came within my own personal knowledge. Mr. William O'Brien in a later
+issue referred to the mysterious and unconquerable fashion in which one
+town after another saw its edition of "United Ireland" appear, and then,
+when police and spies were hot upon its track, as mysteriously pass
+away. This was, of course, a picturesque exaggeration, but it had a
+considerable basis of truth. The paper was actually printed more than
+once in the old office in Dublin under the noses of the police, and on
+one occasion Mr. Wolohan set up a printing machine in a private house in
+Derry, and, assisted by my son, actually worked off the copies of the
+paper next door to the house of the resident magistrate.
+
+Ultimately, there came the period of the "Kilmainham Treaty," and most
+of the political prisoners were released. The issue of "United Ireland"
+for March 11th did not appear as on previous occasions. I produced an
+issue, which I sent in charge of my son to Dublin, putting it at the
+disposal of Mr. O'Brien. It was not, however, published, though I
+received a long and interesting letter from Mr. William O'Brien--still
+in Kilmainham jail--expressing the appreciation of the Irish leaders for
+the work I had done in these words:--
+
+~We are all deeply sensible of your extraordinary energy and courage in
+this matter.~
+
+I am prevented from giving this letter, which explains the reasons for
+the stoppage of the paper, as Mr. O'Brien has endorsed it "Private and
+Confidential."
+
+A few weeks later "United Ireland" appeared in its old publishing office
+in Abbey Street. Mr. O'Brien was set free on April 15th, Messrs.
+Parnell, Dillon and O'Kelly were released on May 2nd, and Michael Davitt
+and others soon afterwards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+PATRICK EGAN.
+
+
+It will be seen that when "United Ireland" was "on the shaughraun"
+during the time that William O'Brien was in prison, though he was able
+to send communications out regularly, the direction very largely
+devolved upon Patrick Egan, who had taken up his quarters in Paris for
+that and other purposes of the Land League. I may say that I have been
+in frequent communication with Mr. Egan ever since, and it is but
+recently that I got a letter from him touching upon this matter. In
+making some valuable suggestions as to the contents of this book, he
+says, "There just occurs to me as I write, a point that you might
+introduce as an added feature, namely--all the leading articles that
+appeared in 'U.I.' during those fateful months (or almost all of them)
+were written by William O'Brien _in Kilmainham Prison, smuggled out by
+the underground railroad, which ran upon regular scheduled time_, and
+were despatched by trusty messengers to me in Paris, which messengers
+brought back on their return journey the matrices to which you refer for
+the next issue of 'United Ireland.'
+
+"There were four messengers, in order to avoid attracting attention--two
+of them the Misses Stritch, whose father had been a resident magistrate
+in Ireland. They were fine patriotic girls, and active members of Miss
+Anna Parnell's Ladies' Land League. Both are now dead."
+
+After a time Patrick Egan returned from Paris to Ireland, calling upon
+me in Liverpool on his way home.
+
+On more than one occasion he has visited me at my home in Liverpool. It
+was always with sincere pleasure that I saw the alert figure, the keen
+yet smiling eyes, the trim moustache and beard, which were the first
+impressions one got of his personality. His unvarying suavity and
+politeness might have deceived a casual observer into supposing that he
+was not a man of abnormal strength of character; they were only the
+silken glove to conceal the hand of iron. Emphatically a man of
+determination and practical common sense, he united to these qualities a
+remarkable degree of tact. In addition to much routine matter, which
+need not be specified here, although grave enough at the time, our
+meetings were concerned with important work in which we were engaged,
+as, for instance, the O'Connell Centenary, the political prisoners, and
+combating the measures being taken to swell the tide of emigration from
+Ireland.
+
+In dealing with the eventful career of Patrick Egan may I be allowed to
+go both backward and forward in my dates, in order to bring the story of
+his life into, as far as possible, one consecutive narrative.
+
+Born in County Longford, he was brought to Dublin by his parents when
+quite young. His shrewd business qualities enabled him to make his mark
+early in life, and his fine administrative abilities admirably fitted
+him for the post he attained as managing director to the most extensive
+flour milling company in Ireland.
+
+He has always been a practical patriot, always ready to work for Ireland
+by every honourable means that came to his hand, whether the means were
+those of moral or physical force. Consequently, he was an active worker
+in the ranks of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood from the early
+sixties. He was one of the founders of the Amnesty Movement for the
+release of the political prisoners of '65 and '67.
+
+When the Home Rule movement was started in Ireland he entered into it
+heartily, and was elected a member of the Council. He enjoyed the
+confidence of Butt, John Martin, Justin McCarthy, and all the other
+leaders of the movement, besides being trusted by Nationalists of all
+shades of opinion. Like most of us, without abating in the least his
+love and esteem for Isaac Butt, he soon recognised the coming leader in
+Charles Stewart Parnell, who used to refer to him in private
+conversation as his "political godfather" on account of the prominent
+part he had played in securing his first election to Parliament for the
+County Meath, in succession to John Martin.
+
+During the early part of the Land League agitation he was three times
+nominated, for King's County, Meath, and Tipperary, for Parliament, but
+he refused election, on the ground of being an advanced Nationalist. I
+have more than once talked this matter over with Pat Egan, and, as I may
+say in everything else, we were in complete accord; we neither of us
+could bring ourselves to swear allegiance to what we considered a
+foreign power. At the same time, as practical patriots, we helped every
+movement, inside the constitution as well as outside of it, calculated
+to benefit Ireland.
+
+When the Land League movement was started in 1879, Egan became at once
+one of the most prominent figures in it, and, besides acting as Trustee
+along with Joseph Biggar and William H. O'Sullivan, he was Honorary
+Treasurer.
+
+In the famous trial of the Land League Executive, in 1880-1881, he and
+Mr. Parnell and eleven others were prosecuted, the jury being ten to two
+for acquittal.
+
+In February, 1881, when coercion was so rampant in Ireland, he left his
+business in the sole charge of his partner, James Rourke, and went to
+Paris, by desire of Parnell, Dillon and the other leaders, to keep the
+League Funds out of the hands of the enemy. While he was there I was
+brought into close relations with him in my endeavours, as I have
+already described in this narrative, to carry out the honourable part
+allotted to me by our leaders of keeping "United Ireland" in circulation
+in every corner of the land, notwithstanding the watchfulness of the
+entire British garrison.
+
+In October, 1882, a National Convention passed a unanimous vote,
+thanking him for his distinguished services and sacrifices as Treasurer
+of the League, he having given gratuitously to the Cause three entire
+years of his life, something like a million and a quarter of dollars
+having passed through his hands during that time. These and many other
+circumstances that came to my knowledge abundantly prove that no man has
+more deserved the confidence and gratitude of the Irish race.
+
+In February, 1883, Michael Davitt tells us "In order to avoid the
+machinations of agents in the pay of Dublin Castle, he left Ireland."
+
+I don't know if I shall ever meet my friend again, and for that reason I
+shall always remember, as I am sure he will, our last meeting in
+Liverpool on his return from Paris, when we fought our battles with the
+forces of the Government over again, and had many a hearty laugh at some
+of the humorous episodes that cropped up in connection with it. Neither
+of us then thought that, before long, he would have to leave his home
+again for another period of exile.
+
+Up to this point I can include the chief incidents in Patrick Egan's
+career, either directly or indirectly, in my own personal recollections.
+In order not to break the continuity of this sketch of a noble life, I
+will briefly speak of his career in America. It will be found,
+therefore, that in some particulars I have had to anticipate the
+ordinary course of this narrative.
+
+On arriving in America in 1883, he settled in Nebraska, where he soon
+established a large and prosperous business in grain.
+
+In 1884, at a Convention in Faneuil Hall, Boston, surrounded by some of
+the most distinguished of our race in America, he was presented with a
+service of plate sent from Ireland, with a beautifully illuminated
+address, paying tribute to the magnificent services he had given to his
+country, and signed by three hundred of the national leaders in Ireland,
+including the Lord Mayor of Dublin (Charles Dawson), Parnell, Davitt,
+Dillon, Biggar. Justin McCarthy, Healy, William O'Brien, Sexton,
+Harrington and others.
+
+From 1884 to 1886 he was President of the Irish National League of
+America, during which time 360,000 dollars were collected and sent to
+Ireland. The salary of the President of the League was 3,000 dollars a
+year. At the end of his term Patrick Egan returned to his successor in
+the office 6,000 dollars as his personal contribution to the Fund.
+
+His career in America has been no less honourable than his services to
+the Irish Cause on this side of the Atlantic. Irishmen everywhere felt
+proud when he was sent to represent the great American Republic as
+Ambassador to Chili. They took it not only as an honour to the man
+himself, but to his nationality. We who knew him best followed with
+confidence his record during the four years of storm and stress in
+Chili, the most troublous, perhaps, that country had ever seen.
+
+That our confidence in him was not misplaced was proved by the tribute
+of admiration paid him by President Harrison in his message to Congress
+in December, 1891, for the splendid manner in which he had protected
+the important interests confided to his care, and for his defence of the
+honour of the flag of the United States, and the rights and dignity of
+American citizenship.
+
+All this was endorsed in the most emphatic manner by the leading
+statesmen and naval and military commanders of America, including
+Secretary of State James G. Blaine, Rear Admiral Evans, Admiral Brown,
+Rear-Admiral McCann, and numerous other officers of the army and navy.
+
+The strongest eulogies of Mr. Egan's conduct of the Chilian legation
+were written by the ex-President of the United States, Theodore
+Roosevelt, who, in 1892, gave a dinner at his home in Washington, D.C.,
+in his honour. In a public letter Mr. Roosevelt said, "Minister Egan has
+acted as an American representative in a way that proves that he
+deserves well of all Americans, and I earnestly hope that his career in
+our diplomatic service may be long, and that in it he may rise to the
+highest positions."
+
+When I started a new series of my "Irish Library" in January, 1902, I
+received words of encouragement from John Redmond, from Michael Davitt,
+and from other distinguished Irishmen, but there was none I valued more
+highly than the letter of appreciation of my works from Pat Egan. Of
+these he asked me to send him a set, including my "Irish in Britain."
+
+In a letter he sent me in the May following, I could see the yearning of
+the exile for news from the "old sod" when he said "Write me a line to
+say how you are, and how goes the good old cause. I often think with
+much interest of the last time I had the pleasure of seeing you in
+Liverpool."
+
+I have made my references to Patrick Egan somewhat lengthy, perhaps, but
+it is because in no work that I have ever seen has an adequate tribute
+been paid to his services to Ireland. Unlike other men who are better
+known, he was little seen and not much heard of in the Land League
+movement, but his influence in shaping the movement was second only to
+that of Davitt. He was eminently the practical patriot, and his motto
+was "deeds not words." If she had had in the past many men like Egan,
+Ireland would be both free and prosperous to-day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+GENERAL ELECTION OF 1885--PARNELL A CANDIDATE FOR EXCHANGE
+DIVISION--RETIRES IN FAVOUR OF O'SHEA--T.P. O'CONNOR ELECTED FOR
+SCOTLAND DIVISION OF LIVERPOOL.
+
+
+The Franchise and Re-Distribution Acts of 1884 and 1885, besides
+placing, for the first time, the Parliamentary representation in the
+hands of the great bulk of the people of Ireland, added greatly to our
+political power in England, Scotland and Wales. Many thousands of Irish
+householders obtained votes where formerly, under the restricted
+franchise, such a thing as an Irish county voter was extremely rare.
+
+At the General Election of 1885, Mr. Parnell made Liverpool his
+headquarters. The Re-Distribution Act had given Liverpool nine
+Parliamentary Divisions, in one of which (Scotland Division) we had
+sufficient votes to return a Nationalist. As Mr. T.P. O'Connor was the
+candidate chosen, and was, besides, the President of the organisation in
+Great Britain, he, also, was on the spot.
+
+A central committee room was engaged in the North-Western Hotel, where
+Mr. Parnell and Mr. T.P. O'Connor were staying. I was detailed to act as
+secretary to them, and, as the electoral campaign all over the country
+was directed from this centre, I was kept busy from early morning until
+late in the night answering the letters which poured in from all parts
+of the country. Mr. T.P. O'Connor having recently been married, Mrs.
+O'Connor also was staying in the North-Western. She presided at our
+luncheon every day, and made a charming hostess.
+
+I have some pleasant remembrances of those days in Liverpool, when I was
+assisting Mr. Parnell in carrying on the electoral campaign. One day, as
+we stood together looking out of the window across Lime Street, he
+pointed to the hotel on the opposite side of the street, reminding me
+that it was there we first met. This was when he came amongst us, a
+promising young recruit, under the wing of Isaac Butt. I remembered it
+well, and the number of questions he asked me about the condition of our
+people, social and political, in this country, for he knew that I had
+had opportunities of acquiring a closer knowledge of them than most
+people. He often afterwards sought from me such information. To me, from
+first to last, he was always most open and friendly, and I never found
+him so "stand-off" and unapproachable as was the very common opinion
+about him.
+
+In the Exchange Division of Liverpool, a Mr. Stephens, the official
+Liberal candidate, had, for some reason, been replaced by Captain
+O'Shea, who got the full support of the Liberal party. Following
+instructions from headquarters, the Irish Nationalists had denounced the
+candidate of the Liberals, who, when recently in power, had coerced
+Ireland, and O'Shea was condemned more unmercifully than any of them, as
+being, besides, a renegade Irishman.
+
+When Parnell himself came on the scene as a candidate for Exchange
+Division, Captain O'Shea was denounced more fiercely than ever. Mr.
+Parnell, however, withdrew on the nomination day, and at a great meeting
+on the same night, much to the astonishment of all, asked, in a very
+halting and hesitating manner, that O'Shea's candidature should be
+supported. So great was his power and prestige at the time that,
+whatever apprehension might be felt, no attempt was made to question his
+action.
+
+On the morning of the election I went to the North-Western. Mr. O'Connor
+was somewhat late in getting to work. Parnell, noticing, I suppose, that
+I seemed uneasy about something, asked, "What's amiss with you, Denvir?"
+"We would like to see Mr. O'Connor on the ground in Scotland Division,"
+I said. He shook his head: "Ah, that's the way with him since he got
+married." I smiled and observed "We'll be losing you that way some
+time." "No," he replied, as I thought somewhat sadly, "I lost my chance
+long ago."
+
+All that day Parnell worked with desperate energy for O'Shea. He even
+took some of our men from Scotland Division to help in Exchange. I
+expostulated with him, saying, "You'll be losing T.P.'s election for
+us." As a matter of fact, we won Scotland Division by 1,350 votes.
+
+In point of fact, if O'Shea had got the whole Irish vote he would have
+won, but Mr. Parnell's vehement efforts could kindle no enthusiasm among
+the Irish electors, and there was a small but determined section
+which--while unwilling to let any public evidence of disagreement with
+Mr. Parnell appear--absolutely refused to support O'Shea. This lost him
+the seat.
+
+There was great jubilation in the League Hall that night at the winning
+of a seat in England by an Irish Home Ruler, elected _as such_, Mr. T.P.
+O'Connor having been returned that day for the Scotland Division of
+Liverpool.
+
+Since that time there have been several Home Rulers, Irish by birth or
+descent, returned to Parliament for English constituencies. These belong
+to the Labour Party.
+
+Besides T.P. O'Connor, Liverpool has provided for Parliament quite a
+number of men who at one time or another have represented or still
+represent Irish constituencies. These are Dr. Commins, Daniel Crilly,
+Lawrence Connolly, Michael Conway, Joseph Nolan, Patrick O'Brien,
+William O'Malley, James Lysaght Finigan, and Garrett Byrne.
+
+At the League Hall demonstration on the night of the election, Mr.
+Parnell appeared to have caught the high spirit and enthusiasm of his
+audience, and in a more powerful address than I had ever before heard
+from him, he said:--
+
+     Ireland has been knocking at the English door long enough with kid
+     gloves. I tell the English people to beware, and be wise in time.
+     Ireland will soon throw off the kid gloves, and she will knock with
+     a mailed hand.
+
+In this General Election, the Irish vote of Great Britain, in
+accordance with the League manifesto, generally went for the Tories, who
+came into office, but with a majority so small that they were turned out
+at the opening of the Session of 1886, and Mr. Gladstone again came into
+power. Seeing that 85 out of the 103 Irish members of Parliament had
+been returned pledged to National self-government, he came to the
+conclusion to drop coercion, and no longer to attempt to rule the
+country against the wishes of the people. He, therefore, introduced his
+Home Rule Bill on the 8th of April, 1886, but, failing to carry the
+whole of his party with him, he was defeated on the second reading by 30
+votes. His defeat at the polls at the General Election which followed
+seemed even more crushing than his defeat in Parliament, for, of the
+members elected, there was a majority against him of 118.
+
+Mr. Gladstone, looking more closely into the figures of the General
+Election, was not disheartened, and as the British public became
+educated on the Irish question, bye-election after bye-election proved
+triumphantly the truth of his famous saying that the "Flowing Tide" was
+carrying the cause of Home Rule on to victory.
+
+Nor were _we_ disheartened, for, counting up the whole of about two and
+a half millions of votes given, we found that the Unionists, as the
+Tories and Dissentient Liberals called themselves, had a majority of
+less than 80,000 votes at the polls. During this time I had become
+general organiser of the recognised Irish political organisation of
+Great Britain, and upon me chiefly devolved the duty of directing the
+work of registration of our Irish voters. A close study of the local
+conditions in the various constituencies showed that the mere bringing
+up of the neglected Irish vote to something approaching its proper
+strength would _alone_ be sufficient to effect the necessary gain. We
+threw ourselves into the task--and we succeeded.
+
+I shall always remember with pride my share in increasing and organising
+the Irish vote throughout Great Britain, and its result in bringing Mr.
+Gladstone back to power, and enabling him to carry the Home Rule Bill
+through the House of Commons.
+
+It was my duty to visit every part of Great Britain to see that the
+various districts and branches were kept in a high state of efficiency,
+and at the end of that period of hard and unremitting work from 1886 to
+1892 I was able to show our Executive from the books and figures in our
+possession that we had accomplished our aim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+GLADSTONE'S "FLOWING TIDE."
+
+
+I was present at most of the bye-elections that led up to Gladstone's
+great victory at the General Election of 1892.
+
+In this way I was brought to many places interesting to us as Catholics
+as well as Irishmen.
+
+No spot in Great Britain is more sacred to us than Iona, an island off
+the West coast of Scotland, which our great typical Irish saint,
+Columba, made his home and centre when bringing the light of faith to
+those regions. It will, therefore, be one of the memories of my life
+most dear to me that I had the blessing of taking part in the famous
+Pilgrimage to Iona on June 13th, 1888. The town of Oban, on the mainland
+of Scotland, is generally made the point of departure for Iona, which is
+not far off.
+
+Oban is one of the five Ayr burghs which, combined, send a member to
+Parliament, and it was singular that, at this time, there was a
+bye-election going on. As creed and country have always gone together
+with me, I did not think it at all inappropriate that I should do a
+little work for Irish self-government while on this Pilgrimage. On the
+contrary. Was not St. Columba himself a champion of Home Rule, for was
+it not through his eloquent advocacy of their cause before the great
+Irish National Assembly that the Scots of Alba, as distinguished from
+the Scots of Erin, obtained the right of self-government?
+
+One of the best numbers of my Irish Library was the "Life of St.
+Columbkille," written for me by Michael O'Mahony, one of a band of young
+Irishmen, members of the Irish Literary Institute of Liverpool, who did
+splendid service for the Cause in that city. Michael was, of these,
+perhaps the one possessing the most characteristic Irish gifts. He has
+written some admirable stories of Irish life, and is a poet, although he
+has not written as much as I would like to see from his pen.
+
+There are no Irish residents in Iona itself, but I found a few in Oban,
+on whom I called to secure their votes for Home Rule.
+
+To hear Mass on the spot made sacred by the feet of our great Irish
+saint, in the building, then a ruin, erected by his successors to
+replace that which he himself had raised here as a centre of his great
+missionary labours, was an experience to treasure until one's latest
+day. What made the celebration the more memorable was the sermon in
+Gaelic by Bishop MacDonald of Argyll and the Isles. I had the pleasure,
+after Mass, of having dinner with him, and some most interesting
+conversation.
+
+I told him I had read with great interest a pastoral of his, issued some
+five years before, in which he said that an interesting peculiarity of
+his diocese, in respect of which it stood almost alone in the country,
+was that its Catholicity was almost exclusively represented by districts
+which had always clung to the faith, places where in the Penal days no
+priest dared show himself in public, but visited the Catholic centres in
+turn as a layman by night and gathered the children together to instruct
+them as far as he was able. This was, he said, of extraordinary interest
+on a day like that, when we were specially honouring the memory of the
+great saint who had sown the seeds which had continued to bear fruit
+through so many centuries. We also spoke of the singular fact that he
+had that day preached on the spot on which St. Columba himself had
+stood, and in the same language that he spoke, a language which had been
+in existence long before the present English tongue was spoken. As
+showing that the Scottish and Irish Gaelic were practically the same, as
+distinguished from the Celtic tongue spoken by the Welsh and Bretons,
+Bishop MacDonald told me he could read quite easily a book printed in
+the Irish characters.
+
+As a bye-election brought me to the sacred scene of the labours of our
+great Irish saint, Columba, so did another bye-election bring me to the
+spot where a martyr for Ireland suffered in 1798--Father O'Coigly. There
+was a bye-election at Maidstone, where the martyr priest had been tried
+for treason, and near it is Pennenden Heath, where he was executed, so
+that both places will for ever be held sacred by patriotic Irishmen.
+Besides securing a pledge for Home Rule from one of the candidates, and
+organising the small Irish vote in his favour, I took the opportunity of
+inaugurating a movement for the erection of a memorial to Father
+O'Coigly. With the co-operation of the London branches of the United
+Irish League the movement was brought to a successful issue. On two
+succeeding years there were Pilgrimages to the spot where Father
+O'Coigly was executed, at which Mr. James Francis Xavier O'Brien, who
+himself had been sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, was the
+chief speaker one year, and Mr. John Murphy, M.P., on the other.
+
+Besides this, chiefly through the exertions of Mr. John Brady, District
+Organiser, funds were raised, and there have been erected in the
+Catholic Church at Maidstone a Celtic Cross and three beautiful
+stained-glass windows, of Irish manufacture, to commemorate the
+martyrdom of Father O'Coigly.
+
+A gratifying thing in connection with our Pilgrimage was, I reminded
+those I addressed on Pennenden Heath, that a man pledged to support
+self-government for Ireland, the Cause for which Father O'Coigly had
+suffered, had been elected to Parliament for Maidstone.
+
+In the bye-elections about this time, we often got the most satisfactory
+results from places where the Irish vote was but small. I have before my
+mind the Carnarvon Boroughs bye election of 1890. Here the seat had been
+held by a Tory, and the Irish vote in the five towns, all told, was not
+much more than 50. I was sent to the constituency by our Executive to
+use every exertion to get our people to poll for David Lloyd-George, a
+thorough-going Home Ruler, at that time an unknown man, though he has
+since risen to the first political and ministerial rank. It was then I
+made his acquaintance, and time has only increased the friendly feeling
+between us.
+
+Our meeting happened rather curiously. While on my round I came across
+an unpretentious-looking young man who, I discovered, was also working
+on the same side. We had chatted together for some time when I happened
+to make some reference to the candidate. "Oh," he said, with a laugh, "I
+am the candidate." It was Mr. Lloyd-George. We worked together with all
+the more ardour being brother Celts. I frequently expressed to him my
+admiration for a striking feature in their great meetings during the
+election campaign. This was the singing in their native tongue of songs
+calculated to rouse the enthusiasm of an emotional people like the
+Welsh, the climax being reached at the end of each meeting with their
+noble national anthem, sung in the native tongue of course, "Land of my
+Fathers."
+
+Since that time it is gratifying to realize the great progress which has
+been made in the revival of _our_ native tongue through the
+instrumentality of the Gaelic League. The success of our friends in this
+direction ought to be an encouragement to us. The old Cymric tongue is
+almost universal throughout Wales, side by side with the English, so
+that it is not all visionary to think that a day may come when ours,
+too, may become a bi-lingual people.
+
+Mr. Edmund Vesey Knox, an Ulster Protestant Home Ruler, who was then a
+member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, came to assist in the return of
+Mr. Lloyd-George. At one of their great gatherings he told his audience
+how much he was impressed by the enthusiasm created by their native
+music and song. This reminded him, he said, that one of their great
+Irish poets, Thomas Davis, was partially of Welsh descent, which no
+doubt inspired one of his noblest songs "Cymric Rule and Cymric Rulers,"
+written to their soul-stirring Welsh air, "The March of the Men of
+Harlech." After Mr. Knox, more singing, and then came a delightful
+address from a distinguished Irish lady, Mrs. Bryant, who did splendid
+service at many of these bye elections. Doctor Sophie Bryant, to give
+her full title, is a lady of great learning and eloquence, and not only
+a thorough Nationalist in sentiment, but an energetic worker in the
+Cause. A literary lady colleague thus sums up her chief qualities: "She
+is more learned than any man I know; more tender than any woman I have
+ever met."
+
+Mr. Lloyd-George was elected by the bare majority of 18 votes, so that
+without the small Irish vote in the Carnarvon Boroughs he could not have
+been returned at his first election for the constituency. Nor did he
+forget the fact. On one occasion we were speaking together in the lobby
+of the House of Commons when a friend of his came up. "This," said Mr.
+Lloyd-George, slapping me on the shoulder, "is the man who brought me
+here." In a sense it was true, so that I might claim to have assisted in
+making a British Chancellor of the Exchequer.
+
+I have spoken of the series of bye-elections which Mr. Gladstone
+described as the "Flowing Tide" which had set in for Home Rule. I
+remember with special pleasure one of these--that for the Rossendale
+Division of Lancashire. It was a sample of all the other bye-elections
+in 1892. The registration had been well done, and we knew to a man the
+strength of the Irish vote. We had 438 on the Register. This was no mere
+estimate, and we could give the figures at the time with equal accuracy
+for most places where we had an Irish population. Every voter of ours
+living in Rossendale had been visited. If he had removed from place to
+place inside the district it was noted. If he had gone out of the
+district he was communicated with, if possible through the medium of the
+branch of his new location. We knew where to find them all, and it was
+astonishing from what distant places men turned up to vote on the
+election day, through the agency of the local branches of the places to
+which the voters had gone.
+
+In this Rossendale election I had two of the most capable lieutenants a
+man need wish to have, Patrick Murphy and Daniel Boyle, both then
+organisers of our League. Dan Boyle (now Alderman Boyle, M.P.) took the
+Bacup end of the Division; Pat Murphy took Rawtenstall; and I made my
+headquarters at Haslingden, for I had a _grah_ for the place, on
+account of its connection with my old friend, Michael Davitt.
+
+There can be no better test of a man's sterling qualities than the
+opinions held of him by the friends of his youth. Several times I had
+had occasion to visit Haslingden, the little factory town in North-East
+Lancashire, where Martin Davitt, the father of Michael, and his family
+lived when they came to this country after being evicted from their home
+in Mayo. Here I met Mr. Cockcroft, the bookseller, who gave Michael
+employment after he had lost his arm in the factory, and he and his
+family bore the Irish lad in kindly remembrance. But it was among his
+own people--those who had been the companions and friends of his
+youth--that I found the greatest admiration for "Mick," as they
+familiarly called him. I need scarcely say that they watched with pride
+the noble career of one who had grown to manhood in their midst.
+
+I was able to turn that feeling to good account on the occasion of this
+Rossendale election. I asked the Liberal candidate, Mr. Maden, a young
+and wealthy cotton spinner of Rossendale, who had given us satisfactory
+pledges on Home Rule, to invite Michael Davitt's assistance. He did so.
+I backed up the request by a personal appeal, which he never refused if
+it lay in his power to do what I wished. He came, and words fail to
+describe his loving and enthusiastic reception by his own people.
+
+I have alluded to the perfect way in which the Irish Vote had been
+organised. Michael Davitt came into our committee room one day, and it
+was with intense pride he turned over the leaves of our books to show
+Mr. Maden, the candidate, how well we were prepared to poll every Irish
+vote on the election day. Davitt was a tower of strength to us in this
+election, not only amongst our own people, but amongst the English
+factory operatives, who form the majority in Rossendale. As in other
+bye-elections which had preceded it, we won the Division by a handsome
+majority.
+
+I was at once amused and amazed some time ago to hear of a so-called
+biography of Davitt, the keynote of which was a suggestion that he was,
+first and foremost, an "Anti-Clerical." The idea is an absurd one. He
+was an intense lover of right, and one who scorned to be an opportunist.
+Consequently, he never hesitated to speak out, no matter who opposed
+him, priest or layman. But none knew better than he that there have been
+times when the priests were the only friends the Irish peasantry had;
+and no one knew better than he that the influence they have had they
+have, on the whole, used wisely. If individual clerics have gone out of
+their proper sphere of influence it is certain they would have found
+Davitt in opposition to them where he thought them wrong. I have been
+placed in the same unpleasant position myself, but I too have always
+carefully distinguished between the individual priest who needed
+remonstrance, and his wiser colleague; and also between the legitimate
+use of a priest's influence and its abuse. So that to classify Davitt as
+an "Anti-cleric" deserves a strong protest from one who loved him as
+well and as long as I did.
+
+As I have said, when I asked him to come to Rossendale to help to
+further the cause of self-government for Ireland, he never refused a
+request of mine if it lay in his power to grant it, and, in this way, he
+wrote for me one of the books of my "Irish Library"--"Ireland's Appeal
+to America."
+
+Michael has gone to his reward, and there are two things I shall always
+cherish as mementoes of him. One is a bunch of shamrocks sent to me,
+with the message:
+
+                          "With Michael Davitt's compliments,
+                           "Richmond Prison, Patrickstide, 1883"
+
+The other is his last letter to me, written not long before his death.
+It was dated "St. Justin's, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, 7th March, 1906." In
+this he said: "I hope you are in good health and not growing too old. I
+shall be 60! on the 25th inst.!!!" Was this a premonition that his end
+was near? He died on May 31st, within three months of the time he wrote
+the letter.
+
+I have spoken of the necessity for our organisation doing registration
+work at least as effectually as the Liberals and Tories do. It is not
+always men of the highest intellectual attainments who make the best
+registration agents. This fact came home to me very forcibly when
+reading a biography of Thomas Davis. It was stated that in the Revision
+Court he was not able to hold his own against the Tory agent. It is just
+what I would have imagined, considering the sensitive nature of Davis.
+A man with a face of brass, who _might_ be an able man, but who, on the
+other hand, might be some low ignorant fellow, might easily do better
+than Thomas Davis with his fine intellect and varied learning.
+
+At the same time, I have known men of the highest attainments who have
+made excellent agents, such a man as John Renwick Seager, who has for
+many years been connected with the London Liberal organisation. Just
+such another we have in our own ranks in Daniel Crilly who, before he
+became a journalist or entered Parliament, was a very successful agent
+in the Liverpool Courts.
+
+One of the most efficient and conscientious of registration and
+electioneering agents I ever met was John Mogan, of Liverpool. Besides
+the annual registration work he was engaged on our side in nearly every
+election of importance in Liverpool for over 30 years. He was so
+engrossed in his work that, during an election he would, if required,
+sit up several nights in succession to have his work properly done;
+indeed, I was often tempted to think that John never considered any
+election complete without at least _one_ "all night sitting."
+
+We believed in fighting the enemy with his own weapons. On election days
+in Liverpool there were shipowners who made it a practice of getting
+their vessels coaled in the river. As, unlike the Liffey at Dublin or
+the Thames at London, the Mersey at Liverpool is over a mile wide, and
+as most of the coal heavers were Irishmen, this move of the shipowners
+was to keep our men from voting. We were successful, to some extent, in
+counteracting this, for owing to the patriotism of a sterling Irishman,
+John Prendiville, the steam tugs which he owned were often used, on the
+day of an election, to take our men ashore.
+
+Sometimes the Revision Courts gave us the opportunity of teaching a
+little Irish history. In South Wales most of our people hail from
+Munster. In one of the Courts there was the case of Owen O'Donovan being
+objected to, on the ground that he had left the qualifying property, and
+that _Eugene_ O'Donovan was now the occupier. I explained to the
+Barrister that in the South of Ireland the names of Owen and Eugene were
+often applied to the same man, Eugene being the Latinized form of Owen.
+I gave as an illustration our national hero, Owen Roe O'Neill, who, in
+letters written to him in Latin, was styled Eugenius Rufus. A Welsh
+official in Court suggested that O'Donovan was anxious to become a
+Welshman by calling himself Owen. I replied that the name Owen was just
+as Irish as it was Welsh, coming no doubt from the same Celtic stock,
+and that, as a matter of fact, our man preferred being on the Register
+as Owen. The Barrister, being satisfied that both names applied to the
+same man, allowed the vote, and our voter would appear on the Register
+as Owen O'Donovan.
+
+In looking up our people to have them put upon the Register, or in
+connection with an election, our canvassers are often able to form a
+good judgment of the creed, or nationality, or politics of the people
+of the house they are calling at by the pictures on the walls. If they
+see a picture of St. Patrick, or the Pope, or Robert Emmet, they assume
+they are in an Irish house of the right sort. One of my own apprentices,
+when I was in business, came across a bewildering complication on one
+occasion, for on one side of the room was the Pope, which seemed all
+right, but facing him was a gorgeous picture of King William crossing
+the Boyne. It was the woman of the house he saw, a good, decent
+Irishwoman and a Catholic, who explained the apparent inconsistency. Her
+husband was an Orangeman, "as good a man as ever broke bread" all the
+year round, till it came near the twelfth of July, when the Orange fever
+began to come on. (Our people at home in the County Down, as my father
+used to tell us, often found it so with otherwise decent Protestant
+neighbours.) He would come home from a lodge meeting some night, a
+little the worse for drink, and smash the Pope to smithereens. The wife
+was a sensible body, and knew it was no use interfering while the fit
+was on him. When she knew it had safely passed away, she would take King
+William to the pawnshop round the corner and get as much on him as would
+buy a new Pope. He was too fond of his wife, "Papish" and all as she
+was, to make any fuss about it, and would just go and redeem his idol,
+and set him up again, facing the Pope, for another twelve months at all
+events.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE "TIMES" FORGERIES COMMISSION.
+
+
+When the "Times" on the 18th of April, 1887 published what purported to
+be the _fac simile_ of a letter from Mr. Parnell, and suggested that it
+was written to Mr. Patrick Egan in justification of the Phoenix Park
+assassinations, I at once, like many others, guessed who the forger must
+be. I had from time to time come into contact with Pigott, and I was
+satisfied that he was the one man capable of such a production.
+
+When the company was formed in 1875 for the starting of a newspaper in
+connection with the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, there was
+an idea of buying Pigott's papers, "The Irishman," "Flag of Ireland,"
+and "Shamrock," which always seemed to be in the market, whether to the
+Government or the Nationalists after events showed to be a matter of
+perfect indifference to him. Mr. John Barry and I were sent over to
+Dublin to treat with him. Mr. Barry went over the books and I went over
+the plant. What he wanted seemed reasonable enough, we thought.
+
+The Directors of our Company did not, however, close with Pigott, but
+concluded to start a paper of their own, "The United Irishman," the
+production and direction of which, as I have stated, they placed in my
+hands.
+
+During these years I had many opportunities of getting a knowledge of
+Pigott's true character. From time to time money had been subscribed
+through Pigott's papers for various national funds. Michael Davitt told
+me that when the political prisoners were released the committee
+appointed to raise a fund for them, to give them a start in life,
+applied for what had been sent through the "Irishman" and "Flag," that
+the whole of the funds subscribed through the various channels might be
+publicly presented to the men. There was considerable difficulty in
+getting this money from Pigott, but ultimately it was squeezed out of
+him.
+
+An employe of the "Irishman," David Murphy, was shot--he survived his
+wound--in a mysterious manner. This was ascribed, and from all we know
+of the man, correctly, to Pigott, who, it was thought, fearing that
+Murphy might know too much about the sums coming into his hands and the
+sources whence they came, had tried to get him put out of the way. There
+was a still more serious aspect of this attempted assassination. The
+revelations of the "Times" Forgeries Commission afterwards proved that
+all this time Pigott was giving information to the police and getting
+paid for it. To my own personal knowledge David Murphy held an important
+position in the advanced organisation, for I once brought a young friend
+of mine, a printer, a sterling Irishman I had known from his early
+boyhood in Liverpool, from Wexford, where he was at the time employed,
+specially to introduce him to Murphy.
+
+From the information given to the police by Pigott, it would soon be
+found there was some leakage, which would, no doubt, be traced to the
+"Irishman" office. It would, of course, be Pigott's cue to put the blame
+on the shoulders of Murphy, hence probably his attempted assassination.
+
+It was not unreasonable, then, in looking round for the actual forger of
+the famous _fac simile_ letter, that I and others who knew him should
+single out a man with such a bad record as Richard Pigott as the actual
+criminal.
+
+The collapse of the conspiracy against the Irish leaders, and the
+suicide of the wretched Pigott on the 1st of March, 1889, are matters of
+history.
+
+For the complete way in which the conspiracy was smashed up great credit
+was due to the distinguished Irish advocate, Sir Charles Russell. In his
+early days I knew him well, and was often thrown into contact with him,
+when he was a young barrister practising on the Northern circuit, and
+making Liverpool his headquarters. He was a member of the Liverpool
+Catholic Club when I was secretary of that body. The Club, before the
+Home Rule organisation superseded it in Liverpool, generally supported
+the Liberals in Parliamentary elections, but on one occasion there was,
+from a Catholic point of view, a very undesirable Liberal candidate,
+whom it was determined not to support. Pressure had, therefore, to be
+put upon the Liberals to withdraw this man. They were obstinate, though
+they had not the ghost of a chance without the Irish and Catholic vote,
+which formed fully half the strength they could generally count upon. On
+the other hand, _we_ could not carry the seat by our own unaided vote.
+But, to show the Liberals that we would not have their man under any
+circumstances, it was arranged that if he were willing we should put
+Charles Russell forward as our candidate. As secretary it became my duty
+to ask him to place himself in our hands. He agreed, on the
+understanding that he was to be withdrawn if our action had the effect
+of forcing the Liberals to get a candidate more acceptable to us. We
+succeeded, and, of course, withdrew our man.
+
+When we started the Home Rule organisation in Liverpool, we asked
+Charles Russell to be chairman of our inaugural public meeting. He had
+been contesting Dundalk as a Home Ruler, so we thought he was the very
+man to preside at our meeting, and gave that as our reason for asking
+him. He received the deputation--my friend, Alfred Crilly and
+myself--with that geniality and courtesy which were so characteristic of
+him. As it happened that the three of us were County Down men, who are
+somewhat clannish, we soon got talking about the people "at home." He
+knew both our families in Ireland, and had served his time with a
+solicitor of my name in Newry, Cornelius Denvir, before he had entered
+the other branch of the legal profession. We also got talking of the
+barony of Lecale, which he, as well as my own people, had sprung from,
+and how it had been the only Norman colony in Ulster; how many of the
+descendants of De Courcy's followers were still there, as might be seen
+from their names--Russells, Savages, Mandevilles. Dorrians, Denvirs, and
+others, whose fathers, intermarrying with the original Celtic
+population, MacCartans, Magennises, MacRorys, and so on, had become like
+the Burkes, Fitzgeralds, and other Norman clans, "More Irish than the
+Irish themselves."
+
+This was all very well, and very interesting, but it did not get us our
+chairman. Charles Russell was too wary, and, perhaps, too far-seeing,
+who can tell? for that. It was quite true, he said, he had contested
+Dundalk as a Home Ruler, and, of course, he was a Home Ruler, but he
+advised us to ask Dr. Commins to be our chairman, as being so much
+better known than himself. We did ask "The Doctor," and, kindly and
+genial as we ever found him, he at once consented.
+
+Nearly forty years have passed since then, and I really believe that
+these two, then comparatively young men, practically made choice of
+their respective after-careers on that occasion.
+
+Dr. Commins, who, like Charles Russell, was a practising barrister on
+the Northern circuit, held for some years the highest position his
+fellow-countrymen could give him as President of the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, and became a member of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party.
+
+Charles Russell, though always a Home Ruler and sincere lover of his
+country, made a brilliant career for himself as a great lawyer and
+Liberal statesman. I have often wondered since, if he had become
+chairman of our meeting in 1872, and had then identified himself with
+the Home Rule movement, if his statue would be to-day as it is in the
+London Law Courts, or if he would ever have been Lord Chief Justice of
+England and Lord Russell of Killowen? I think not.
+
+The "Times" Forgeries Commission, though got up to do deadly damage to
+the Irish Cause, had not, even before the final collapse of the
+conspiracy, had that effect, as bye-election after bye-election proved.
+For instance, when the Commission appointed to deal with the "Times"
+charges against the Irish leaders re-opened, after a short vacation at
+Christmas, the Govan election was going on, and, on the 19th of January,
+1889, the Liberal Home Ruler won the seat by a majority of over 1,000.
+
+After the exposure of the plot, Mr. Gladstone's "Flowing Tide" swept on
+with increased velocity, and, wherever there was a bye-election, there
+was an enormous demand for our members of Parliament. During this
+period, when the Irish vote in Great Britain was more fully organised
+than it ever had been before, I attended most of these elections. It was
+keenly felt, as had been proved on several occasions, that _no_ place,
+however small the number of Irish voters, should be overlooked,
+especially at a time when British parties had become once more pretty
+evenly balanced.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+DISRUPTION OF THE IRISH PARTY--HOME RULE CARRIED IN THE COMMONS--UNITY
+OF PARLIAMENTARY PARTY RESTORED--MR. JOHN REDMOND BECOMES LEADER.
+
+
+There is nothing more bitter than a family quarrel.
+
+The unfortunate disruption in the Irish Parliamentary Party and the
+fierce quarrel that arose among the Irish people near the end of 1890,
+would be to me such a painful theme that I must ask my readers to pardon
+me if I pass on as quickly as possible towards the happier times which
+find us practically a re-united people, while the Irish Party in
+Parliament is a solid working force under the able leadership of Mr.
+John Redmond.
+
+In accordance with the demands of the branches of the Irish organisation
+in Great Britain, a special Convention was called and held in
+Newcastle-on-Tyne on Saturday, 16th May, 1891. Delegates from all parts
+of Great Britain attended, and elected a new Executive in harmony with
+the bulk of the League, with Mr. T.P. O'Connor, President, as before.
+
+Provision was also made for carrying on the fight for Home Rule in the
+constituencies, which had been somewhat relaxed by the unhappy split in
+our ranks. This was imperative, in view of the necessity for assisting
+to return to Parliament a sufficient majority to enable Mr. Gladstone to
+carry his Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons.
+
+The result of the General Election of 1892 was the return to power of
+Mr. Gladstone. His majority was the best proof to friend and foe of the
+value of the work done by our organisation during the previous years in
+adding to the Irish vote in Great Britain. It also showed we had the
+power and the influence in the constituencies we had claimed. Indeed,
+the books in the offices of the League could show, by the figures for
+every constituency, that without the Irish vote Mr. Gladstone would have
+had no majority at all.
+
+When we come to consider the terrible crisis we were passing through,
+the result was magnificent.
+
+Although, as we all expected, Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill was thrown
+out by the House of Lords, the fact that a Bill conferring
+self-government on Ireland had been passed in the Commons was recognised
+as a step towards that end which could never be receded from, and that
+it was but a question of time when the Home Rule Cause would be won.
+
+Moreover, the event proved that our grievance was no longer against the
+English democracy, but against the class which misgoverned us, just as
+it, to a lesser extent, misgoverned them.
+
+Most of us have, no doubt, taken part in a family gathering on some
+joyous occasion when the mother realizes that _all_ her children are
+not around her, and is overcome with sadness. So it was with us. Well
+might mother Ireland ask why were not _all_ her children in the one
+fold, to be one with her and with each other in the hour of rejoicing,
+as they had been loyally with her in all her sorrows? Why was the bitter
+feud over the leadership of the Irish Party so long kept up? Why was the
+happy reconciliation so long delayed?
+
+While the majority, it is true, were arrayed on one side, the fact
+remained that on the other side there were men of undoubted patriotism
+and great ability, not only members of Parliament such as John and
+William Redmond or Timothy Harrington, but some of our best men all over
+the country, who had done splendid service for the Cause, and were
+either in fierce antagonism or holding aloof.
+
+It was during this sad time that I met that distinguished orator, Thomas
+Sexton, to whom John Barry was good enough to introduce me. Sexton came
+specially from Ireland on this occasion in the interests of peace.
+Actuated by the same motive was Patrick James Foley, another member of
+the Party and of the Executive of the League, who, while holding
+strongly to his own conscientious opinions, was always most courteous to
+those differing from him.
+
+I attended the great Irish Race Convention, held in the Leinster Hall,
+Dublin, on the first three days of September, 1896. The Most Reverend
+Patrick O'Donnell, Bishop of Raphoe, a noble representative of old
+Tyrconnell, and a tower of strength to our Cause, presided, and it was,
+undoubtedly, one of the most representative gatherings of the Irish race
+from all parts of the world ever held.
+
+Two admirable resolutions were passed with great enthusiasm and perfect
+unanimity, and there is no doubt but that this Convention was the first
+great step towards the reunion of the Irish Parliamentary Party, which
+has been since so happily effected.
+
+It was more than three years after the Race Convention before the
+long-desired re-union of the Irish Party and the Irish people all over
+the world was accomplished at a Conference of members of Parliament of
+both parties held in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons, on
+Tuesday, January 30th, 1900.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE GAELIC REVIVAL--THOMAS DAVIS--CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY--ANGLO-IRISH
+LITERATURE--THE IRISH DRAMA--DRAMATISTS AND ACTORS.
+
+
+One effect of the disturbance in political work caused by the split
+seemed to be the impetus given to existing movements which, so far as
+politics were concerned, were neutral ground. Chief amongst these was
+the Gaelic League, which from its foundation advanced by leaps and
+bounds and brought to the front many fine characters.
+
+Francis Fahy was one of the first Presidents of the Gaelic League of
+London, and there is no doubt but the Irish language movement in the
+metropolis owes much to his influence and indefatigable exertions.
+
+I first made his acquaintance over twenty-five years ago, when he was
+doing such splendid Irish propagandism in the Southwark Irish Literary
+Club, of which, although he had able and enthusiastic helpers, he was
+the life and soul. He has written many songs and poems, which have been
+collected and published. What is, perhaps, one of the raciest and most
+admired of his songs, "The Quid Plaid Shawl," first appeared in the
+"Nationalist" for February 7th, 1885, a weekly periodical which I was
+publishing at the time. Several stirring songs of great merit by other
+members of the society also appeared in its pages. Indeed, the members
+came to look upon the "Nationalist" as their own special organ, and ably
+written and animated accounts of their proceedings appeared regularly in
+its columns. I also published a song book for them, compiled by Francis
+Fahy, chiefly for the use of their younger members.
+
+An active Gaelic Leaguer, who did much for the success of the movement
+in London, was William Patrick Ryan. He wrote a "Life of Thomas Davis"
+for "Denvir's Monthly," a sort of revival of my "Irish Library." This
+book was very favourably received by the press. The "Liverpool Daily
+Post" gave it more than a column of admirable criticism, evidently from
+the pen of the editor himself, Sir Edward Russell. In it was the
+following kindly reference to myself: "Our present pleasing duty is to
+recognise the labours of Mr. Denvir--efforts in such a cause are always
+touchingly beautiful--as an inculcator of national sentiment; to
+illustrate the genuine literary interest and value of the first booklet
+of his new library; and to wish the library a long and useful, and in
+every way successful vogue."
+
+Another active man in the language movement in London, whose
+acquaintance I was glad to renew when I first came to the metropolis, is
+Doctor Mark Ryan.
+
+It is nearly forty years since we first knew each other in connection
+with another organisation. He then lived in a North Lancashire town,
+and was studying medicine, not being at that time a fully qualified
+doctor. If I remember rightly, our interview had no connexion with the
+healing art, indeed quite the contrary, for besides qualifying for the
+medical profession, he was graduating in the same school as Rickard
+Burke, Arthur Forrester, and Michael Davitt, but, like myself, was more
+fortunate than Burke and Davitt, inasmuch as he escaped their fate of
+being sent into penal servitude. Although Mark Ryan was for a long time
+resident in Lancashire, he there lost nothing, nor has he since, of the
+fluent Gaelic speech of his native Galway, for I heard him quite
+recently delivering an eloquent speech in Irish at a gathering of the
+Gaelic League.
+
+Speaking of Dr. Mark Ryan reminds me of how often I have noticed in my
+travels through Great Britain, what a number of Irish doctors there are,
+and also that they are almost invariably patriotic. They are of great
+service to the cause, for it frequently happens that, in some districts,
+they are almost the only men of culture, and are not generally slow to
+take the lead among their humbler fellow-countrymen.
+
+One of the finest Irish scholars in the Gaelic League was Mr. Thomas
+Flannery. He, too, was a valued contributor to my "Monthly Irish
+Library," two of the best books in the series, "Dr. John O'Donovan," and
+"Archbishop MacHale," being from his pen. In fact, he and Timothy
+MacSweeny I might almost look upon as having been the Gaelic editors of
+the "Monthly."
+
+I once, when in business in Liverpool, printed a Scottish Gaelic
+Prayer-Book for Father Campbell, one of the Jesuit priests of that city,
+for use among the Catholic congregations in the highlands and islands of
+Scotland. John Rogers, like Timothy MacSweeny, a ripe Irish scholar,
+called on me while it was in progress, and was delighted to know that
+such a book was being issued. To Mr. MacSweeny I also sent a copy, and
+they both could read the Scottish Gaelic easily, showing, of course, how
+closely the Irish and Scottish Gaels were, with the Manx, united in one
+branch of the Celtic race, as distinguished from the Bretons and Welsh.
+
+I have always had an intense admiration for the poetry of "Young
+Ireland." I used to call it Irish literature until I found myself
+corrected, very properly, by my Gaelic League friends, who maintained
+that, not being in the Irish tongue, its proper designation was
+Anglo-Irish literature.
+
+I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of one of the leading
+young Irelanders, Charles Gavan Duffy, after his return to this country,
+when he assisted at the inauguration of our London Irish Literary
+Society, which has been a credit to the Irishmen of the metropolis. Much
+of the success of the Society is due to Alfred Perceval Graves, author
+of the well-known song "Father O'Flynn," a faithful picture of a genuine
+Irish _soggarth_. Among others of the members of the society who have
+made their mark in Irish literature is Mr. Richard Barry O'Brien, the
+President, the author of several valuable works of history and
+biography.
+
+It was at the opening of our Literary Society that I first met Duffy in
+the flesh, but I had known and admired him in spirit from my earliest
+boyhood. I was greatly pleased when he told me he had been much
+interested in my publications, not only those issued more recently, but
+those of many years before. I afterwards had a letter from him in
+reference to my "Irish in Britain," in which he said: "I saw long ago
+some of the little Irish books you published in Liverpool, and know you
+for an old and zealous worker in the national seed field."
+
+His son, George Gavan Duffy, is a solicitor, practising in London, and
+an active worker in the national cause. His wife is a daughter of the
+late A.M. Sullivan, and is as zealous a Nationalist as was her father,
+and as patriotic as her husband.
+
+The first book of National poetry I ever read was one compiled by
+Charles Gavan Duffy--"The Ballad Poetry of Ireland." I should say that
+this has been one of the most popular books ever issued. There are none
+of his own songs in this volume. The few he did write are in the "Spirit
+of the Nation" and other collections. These make us regret he did not
+write more, for, in the whole range of our poetry, I think there is
+nothing finer or more soul-stirring than his "Inishowen," "The Irish
+Rapparees," and "The Men of the North."
+
+It is unfortunate that we have nothing from the pen of Thomas Davis on
+the subject of the Irish drama and dramatists, for among the most
+delightful and valuable contributions to the Anglo-Irish literature of
+the nineteenth century were his "Literary and Historical Essays."
+
+For students, historians, journalists, lecturers, and public speakers,
+they have been an inexhaustible mine, since they first appeared week by
+week in the "Nation" during the Repeal and Young Ireland movements. As
+sources of inspiration they have been of still more practical value to
+the Irish poet, painter, musician and sculptor.
+
+Though he was apparently in good health up to a few days of his death,
+which was quite unexpected, Davis, in giving to his country these
+unsurpassed essays, might have had some idea that his life would not be
+a long one, and that, if he could not himself accomplish all he had
+projected, he would at least sketch out a programme for his brother
+workers in the national field, and for those coming after them.
+
+A glance at the contents of Davis's Essays will show how fully he has
+covered almost every field in which Irishmen are or ought to be
+interested. We have Irish History, Antiquities, Monuments, Architecture,
+Ethnology, Oratory, Resources, Topography, Commerce, Art, Language, Our
+People of all classes, Music and Poetry dealt with in an attractive as
+well as in a practical manner. Anyone who has ever gone to these Essays,
+as I have over and over again, for information, has always found Davis
+completely master of every subject that he touched. His "Hints to Irish
+Painters" are illustrations of the value of the advice he gives in
+connection with his varied themes. Those of the generations since his
+time who have profited by his teaching know best how valuable would have
+been his views in connection with the Irish Drama.
+
+Knowing as we do how _thorough_ Davis was in everything he took up, the
+reason he did not deal with it was, probably, that he had not had the
+same opportunities of getting information on this as upon the other
+wonderfully varied subjects in his Essays.
+
+I have in my mind at this moment one Irish dramatist, Edmond O'Rourke,
+who would have appreciated anything Davis would have written on the
+subject, and would certainly have profited by it.
+
+O'Rourke, better known by his stage name of Falconer, was an actor as
+well as a dramatist. He was "leading man" when I first saw him in the
+stock company of the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, and used to play the
+whole round of Shakespearean characters, his favourite parts being the
+popular ones of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Richard the Third. He was a
+dark-complexioned man of average height, somewhat spare in form and
+features. Though his performances were intellectual creations, we boys
+used to make somewhat unfavourable comparisons between him and Barry
+Sullivan, another of our fellow-countrymen. Barry was by no means
+superior to Falconer in his conception of the various parts, but he
+greatly surpassed him in voice, physique, and general bearing on the
+stage, in which respects I think he had no equal in our times.
+
+After Falconer went to London he became manager of the Lyceum Theatre,
+where several of his pieces were performed, including the well-known
+Irish drama, "Peep o' Day," which had an enormously successful run. With
+this he also produced a magnificent panorama of Killarney, to illustrate
+which he wrote the well-known song of "Killarney" which, with the music
+of Balfe, our Irish composer, at once became very popular, as it ever
+since has been. Madame Anna Whitty, the distinguished vocalist, who
+first sang "Killarney," was a daughter of Michael James Whitty, of whom
+I have spoken elsewhere. In going through my papers I have just come
+across a letter from O'Rourke, dated from the Princess's Theatre,
+Manchester, August 19th, 1872, in which he tells me of the great success
+in Manchester of another play of his, "Eileen Oge." This also he
+produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, where it had a long and
+successful run. Edmund O'Rourke was a patriotic Irishman, and in this
+respect I could never have made the same comparison between the
+patriotism of the two men, Barry Sullivan and him, as I did between them
+as actors. _Both_ were patriotic Irishmen. It will be remembered that in
+an early chapter of this book I have mentioned that Barry Sullivan once
+offered himself to our committee as an Irish Nationalist candidate for
+the parliamentary representation of Liverpool.
+
+Dion Boucicault, too, is one, I am sure, who would have profited by
+anything Thomas Davis might have written on the subject of the drama. I
+am quite satisfied that though he was severely criticised for the wake
+scene in his play of "The Shaughraun" at the time it was first produced,
+the objectionable features in this were more the fault of the actors
+than of the dramatist; but the subject was an exceedingly risky one,
+even for a man like Boucicault, and would have been better avoided
+altogether.
+
+Besides Barry Sullivan and Falconer, other Irish actors I knew were
+Barry Aylmer, James Foster O'Neill, and Hubert O'Grady. They were
+impersonators of what were known as "Irish parts," and being genuine
+Irish Nationalists, as well as actors, did much to elevate the character
+of such performances. For with them, all the wit and drollery were
+retained, while they helped, by their example, to banish the buffoonery
+that used to characterise the "Stage Irishman."
+
+I am reminded by a criticism on one of his pieces in a London daily
+paper that we can claim, as a fellow-countryman, perhaps the most
+brilliant writer at the present time for the British stage--George
+Bernard Shaw. From a conversation I had with him once, I would certainly
+gather that he was a patriotic Irishman.
+
+I have done something in the way of dramatic production myself, one of
+the pieces I wrote being at the request of Father Nugent, to assist him
+in the great temperance movement he had started in Liverpool. He engaged
+a large hall in Bevington Bush, where every Monday night he gave the
+total abstinence pledge against intoxicating liquors to large numbers of
+people. I was then carrying on the "Catholic Times" for him, and he
+asked me to be the first to take the pledge from him at his public
+inauguration of the movement. Although, as he was aware, I was already a
+pledged teetotaler to Father Mathew, I was greatly pleased to agree to
+assist him all I could in his great work.
+
+He believed in providing a counter-attraction to the public house, and
+each Monday night, in the Bevington Hall, he provided a concert or some
+other kind of entertainment; giving, in the interval between the first
+and second part a stirring address and the temperance pledge. As there
+was a stage and scenery in the hall, we often had dramatic sketches. The
+drama I wrote for Father Nugent had a temperance moral. It was called
+"The Germans of Glenmore." It was played several Monday nights in
+succession, and was well received.
+
+Some years afterwards I made it into a story, calling it "The Reapers of
+Kilbride." This appeared over a frequent signature of mine, "Slieve
+Donard," in the "United Irishman," the organ of the Home Rule
+Confederation.
+
+Singularly enough, I found that part of it had been changed back again
+into the first act of a drama by Mr. Hubert O'Grady, the well-known
+Irish comedian.
+
+That gentleman was giving a performance for the benefit of the newly
+released political prisoners at one of our Liverpool theatres. Being
+somewhat late, I was making my way upstairs in company with Michael
+Davitt, and the play had commenced. I could hear on the stage part of
+the dialogue, which seemed familiar to me, and, sure enough, when I
+took my seat and listened to the rest of the act, the dialogue was
+pretty nearly, word for word, from "The Reapers of Kilbride." The
+compiler of the play being acted had also drawn upon another drama of
+mine for his last act, "Rosaleen Dhu, or the Twelve Pins of Bin-a-Bola."
+The play we were witnessing was very cleverly constructed, for Mr.
+O'Grady, with his strong dramatic instincts and experience, could tell
+exactly what would go well, and could use material accordingly. The
+transformation of the story as it appeared in the "United Irishman" back
+again into a play would be easily effected, as, leaving out the
+descriptive part, the dialogue itself, with the necessary stage
+directions, told the story. This, no doubt, Mr. O'Grady had perceived.
+
+Later still, I carried out a similar transformation with another of my
+own productions. I have a piece in three acts which, as a play, has
+never been published or performed. It is called "The Curse of
+Columbkille." This drama I changed into a story, which has appeared in
+the series of 6d. novels published by Messrs. Sealy, Bryers and Walker.
+The most striking character in it is Olaf, a Dane, who believes himself
+to be a re-incarnation of one of the old Danish sea rovers. A member of
+the firm, the late Mr. George Bryers, a sterling Irishman, called my
+attention to the opinion of the professional reader to the firm that it
+would be advisable to call the story "Olaf the Dane; or the Curse of
+Columbkille." I accepted the suggestion, and accordingly the book has
+been published with that title.
+
+I have seen with much interest the movement inaugurated by the Irish
+Theatre Company in Dublin, and have been present at some of their
+performances in London. In spite of some false starts and a tendency to
+imitate certain undesirable foreign influences, the movement should
+certainly help to foster the Irish drama.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+"HOW IS OLD IRELAND AND HOW DOES SHE STAND?"
+
+
+Summing up these pages, how shall I answer the question asked by Napper
+Tandy in "The Wearin' of the Green" over a hundred years ago--"How is
+old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
+
+Let us see what changes, for the better or for the worse, there have
+been during the period--nearly seventy years--covered by these
+recollections.
+
+Catholic Emancipation had, five years before I was born, allowed our
+people to raise their voices, and give their votes through their
+representatives in an alien Parliament.
+
+I am not one to say that no benefit for Ireland has arisen through
+legislation at Westminster, but the system that allowed our people to
+perish of starvation has always been, to my mind, the one great
+justification for our struggle for self-government by every practicable
+method. It has been a struggle for sheer existence.
+
+If Ireland had had the making of her own laws when the potato crop
+failed, not a single human being would have perished from starvation.
+That I am justified in introducing the terrible Irish Famine and its
+consequences into these recollections as part of my own experiences I
+think I have shown in my description of its effects upon our people
+when passing through Liverpool as emigrants or as settlers in England.
+
+I have always endeavoured to look upon the most hopeful aspects of the
+Irish question. But with the appalling tragedy of the Famine half way in
+the last century, with half our people gone and the population still
+diminishing, one is bound to admit that the nineteenth century was one
+of the most disastrous in Irish history.
+
+Is it surprising that, during my time, driven desperate at the sight of
+a perishing people in one of the most fruitful lands on earth, we should
+have made two attempts at rebellion?
+
+In 1848 the means were totally inadequate.
+
+In 1867 the movement looked more hopeful in many respects. The
+revolutionary organisation had a large number of enrolled members on
+both sides of the Atlantic. Among them were hundreds in the British
+army, and many thousands of Irish-American veterans trained in the Civil
+War, eager to wipe off the score of centuries in a conflict, on
+something like equal terms, with the olden oppressor of their race.
+
+But the real hope of success lay in the prospect of a war between
+America and England, which at one time seemed imminent, and justified
+the action of the Fenian chiefs in their preparations.
+
+It was, however, the very existence of Fenianism which, more than any
+other cause, prevented war. For none knew better than far-seeing
+statesmen like Mr. Gladstone (who declared that he was prompted to
+remedial measures for Ireland by "the intensity of Fenianism") that
+within a month of the commencement of a war between America and England,
+Ireland would be lost to the British crown for ever. That is why English
+statesmen would have grovelled in the dust before America, rather than
+engage in a conflict with her.
+
+The generous way in which the Irish exiles in America have poured their
+wealth into the lap of their island mother, and the determination they
+have shown to shed their blood for her just as freely, should the
+opportunity only come, are the features which to some extent
+counterbalance the tragedy of the Famine. For that terrible calamity, by
+driving our people out in millions, raised a power on the side of
+Ireland which her oppressors could not touch, a power which is no doubt
+among the means intended by Providence to hasten our coming day of
+freedom.
+
+Nevertheless, emigration, the most unanswerable proof of English
+misgovernment, is a terrible drain on our country's life-blood, and no
+entirely hopeful view of Ireland's future can be held until this is
+stopped.
+
+What, however, are the reflections which bring encouragement?
+
+One is that the time cannot be far distant when some statesman of the
+type of Gladstone will try to avert the danger threatening the British
+empire through an ever-discontented Ireland, by conceding to her at
+least the amount of self-government possessed by Canada and Australia.
+
+To this one section of Englishmen will say "Never!" Students of history
+have many times heard the "Never" of English statesmen, and know how
+often it has proved futile. Before I was born they were saying "Never"
+to Catholic Emancipation. Later on they said "Never" to the demand for
+tenant-right. A few years ago, when fighting the Boers, they said
+"Never" to the suggestion that the war should be ended on conditions.
+Even now economic causes and the competition of rival powers are at work
+in such a way that it is plain that the existence of the British Empire
+is at stake. England's one chance lies in the possibility of the
+friendship of the free democratic commonwealths which are at present her
+colonies--and of Ireland.
+
+The establishing of County Councils in Ireland and Great Britain was an
+acceptance of the principle of Home Rule. Their successful working has
+caused the belief in that principle to gain ground. Their administration
+in Ireland has shown that in no part of the British empire does there
+exist a greater capacity for self-government. All creeds and classes
+there have found the material benefit arising from them, for instead of
+their finances being managed by irresponsible boards, the money of the
+people is now wisely spent by their elected representatives.
+
+Moreover, if there is one thing that is certain, it is that the _future_
+is on our side. In my own time I have seen a most startling change come
+over the attitude of the working classes of England towards Ireland as
+they progressed in knowledge and political power themselves. They are
+the certain rulers of England to-morrow, the men whose democratic ideals
+are our own, and who have in fact largely been trained by us. Their rise
+means the fall of the system that has mis-governed Ireland. Thus every
+day brings nearer the triumph of our ideal, the ideal of freedom, which
+will probably be worked out in the form of Ireland governing herself and
+working harmoniously with a democratic self-governing England.
+
+The unquestionable growing desire among the people of Wales and Scotland
+to manage their own affairs proceeds largely from their having felt the
+benefits of _local_ self-government in their County Councils. Their
+prejudice against _National_ self-government for Ireland, and for
+themselves, too, should they desire it, is rapidly breaking down. In
+this connection, too, we must never forget what an enormous power we
+have in the two millions and more of Irishmen and men of Irish
+extraction in Great Britain, and that, under ordinary circumstances,
+they hold the balance of power between British parties in about 150
+Parliamentary constituencies.
+
+With regard to the Irish land question, we have every reason to be
+hopeful of the final and complete success of the great movement
+commenced by the organisation founded by Michael Davitt.
+
+We have had, since the days of Strongbow, many conquests and
+confiscations and settlements, the main object of each being the
+acquisition of the land of Ireland. Is it not marvellous,
+notwithstanding all the attempts to destroy our people, how they have
+clung to the soil and so absorbed the foreign element that you still so
+often find the old tribal names in the old tribal lands? Apart from
+this, we have, in the descendants of the various invaders, what would be
+a most valuable element in a self-governing Ireland, for whatever be the
+creed or the race from which men have sprung, it is but natural that all
+should love alike the land of their birth. As a result of Michael
+Davitt's labours, that land is to-day more nearly than it has been for
+centuries the property of the people, and it seems now, humanly
+speaking, impossible that they should ever be dispossessed of it again.
+
+Then there is the improvement in education. At one time it was banned
+and hunted along with religion and patriotism. Then it was permitted,
+with a view of turning it into a lever against the other two elements.
+Concessions have so far been wrung from the British parliament that
+there is now a university to which Irish youths can be sent. Here there
+is a great factor for good, for while, on the one hand, knowledge is
+power, on the other hand the thirst for knowledge has always been
+ineradicable in the Irish character. There are also the beginnings of
+technical training so long badly needed. Under self-government we should
+have been a couple of generations earlier in the race than we are, but
+it is not too late.
+
+Lastly, in reckoning up the conditions from which we can take hope and
+comfort there is this: In the darkest hour we have never lost faith in
+ourselves and our Cause. To find a parallel for such tenacity in the
+pages of the history of any land would be difficult.
+
+We come of a race that, through the long, dreary centuries, has never
+known despair, nor shall we despair now. I am assured that, before long,
+the drain on our life blood that has gone on for sixty years will stop,
+and that we shall stand on solid ground at last, ready for an upward
+spring.
+
+And so, to the young men of Ireland I would say: Be true to yourselves;
+hold fast to the ideals which your fathers preserved through the
+centuries, in spite of savage force and unscrupulous statecraft. The
+times are changing; new impulses are constantly shaping the destinies of
+the nations; have confidence in God and your country; and who shall dare
+to say that the future of Ireland may not yet be a glorious recompense
+for the heroism with which she has borne the sufferings of the past.
+
+                                   THE END.
+
+
+
+
+  INDEX.
+
+
+  A.
+
+  Alabama Claims, 75.
+
+  Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien condemned and executed, 104.
+
+  Ambulances, Irish, for Franco-Prussian War, 160, 161.
+
+  Amnesty Association and O'Connell Centenary, 183.
+
+  Ancient Fenians, 52.
+
+  Anderson, Arthur, resembled Corydon, 85.
+
+  "Annesley's Mountain, Lord," 31, 47.
+
+  Answers to Correspondents, 154.
+
+  Antrim, my birthplace, 2.
+
+  Archbishops Crolly and Murray support the Bequest Act, 30.
+
+  Archdeacon, George, 52.
+
+  Architectural Drawing and Surveying, employed at these, 54.
+
+  Arms for Rising of 1867. Inadequate supply, 94.
+
+  Arrest and rescue of Kelly and Deasy, 95.
+
+  Aunt Kitty, my godmother, 2.
+  ----Mary, 38.
+  ----Nancy, 15.
+
+  Aylmer, Barry, adopts the stage as profession, 119.
+
+
+  B.
+
+  Ballad Poetry of Ireland, 260.
+
+  Ballymagenaghy, my mother's birthplace, 31.
+  ----rocky soil, 31.
+
+  Ballymagenaghy, "Papishes to a man," 31.
+  ----cottage industries, 33, 34.
+  ----large families, 33.
+
+  Ballymagrehan, 36.
+
+  Ballywalter, my father's birthplace, 2.
+
+  Ballinahinch, Battle of, 38, 39.
+
+  Banbridge, weaving industries by steam, 34.
+
+  Bannon, Oiney, 31.
+
+  Barrett, David, examines the _Lia Fail_, 110.
+
+  "Barney Henvey" and the Fairies, 35, 36.
+
+  Barry, John, 8, 127.
+  ----calls us together to form Home Rule Confederation of
+  ----Great Britain, 173.
+
+  Barry Sullivan, a great Irish actor, 22.
+
+  Beers, Lord Roden's agent in Dolly's Brae massacre, 45.
+
+  Beecher (Captain Michael O'Rorke), "The Fenian Paymaster," 78, 79.
+
+  Belle Vue Prison, Manchester, near the scene of rescue, 101.
+
+  Benedictines, 4.
+
+  Biggar, Joseph, 180, 181, 193.
+  ----Catholic, becomes a, 181.
+  ----"Obstruction." enters upon, 182.
+  ----Parliament, enters, 179.
+  ----Parnell, combination with, 179.
+
+  Birmingham, supplementary Convention, 176.
+  "Black North," The, 15.
+
+  Bligh, M.D., Alderman Alexander, 200.
+
+  Bligh, M.D., John, 207.
+
+  Blockade, running of "United Ireland," 209, 215.
+
+  Boer War, The, 271.
+
+  "_Bog Latin_," Mr. Butt gives the origin of it, 195.
+
+  Boucicault, Dion, 263.
+
+  Bourbaki, our men in Foreign Legion with him struck last blow in
+  --Franco-German War, 161.
+
+  Boyle, M.P., Alderman Daniel, 239.
+
+  Brady, John, 236.
+
+  Breslin, John, 76.
+  ----aids in escape of military Fenians, 140.
+
+  Breslin, Michael, "on his keeping," 77, 123.
+
+  Breslin, Michael, narrowly escapes arrest, 124.
+
+  Brett (sergeant of police) shot in Manchester rescue, 101.
+
+  "Brian, Tribe of," 28.
+
+  Brian O'Loughlin in '98, 38.
+
+  Brotherhood of St. Patrick, the forerunner of Fenianism and
+  --Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 87.
+
+  Bryant, Mrs. Dr. Sophie, 238.
+
+  Bryers, George, 266.
+
+  "Buckshot Foster," 210.
+
+  Burke, Rickard, meets a notable company, 93.
+  ----purchases arms, 105.
+  ----Clerkenwell explosion an attempt to rescue him, 106.
+  ----sent to penal servitude, 106.
+  ----returned to America, 112.
+
+  Burke, Thomas, J.P., of Liverpool, 186.
+
+  Bushmills, Co. Antrim, my birthplace, 2.
+
+  Butt, Isaac, presides at the first Annual Convention of the
+  Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, and becomes its
+  --first President, 173.
+  ----a contributor to "United Irishman," 181.
+  ----gives no countenance to obstruction, 188.
+  ----1876 Convention votes confidence in him, 188.
+  ----resigns presidency of organisation, and succeeded by Parnell, 192.
+  ----his death, 195.
+
+  Byrom Street, Liverpool, my house for a time the headquarters of
+  Home Rule Confederation
+  of Great Britain, 181.
+  ----frequently met Butt, Parnell, Biggar, and other leaders there, 181.
+
+  Byrne, Daniel, Richmond Prison warder, 77.
+
+  Byrne, Frank, 160, 181.
+
+  Byrne, M.P., Garrett, 230.
+
+  Byrne, Patrick, 199.
+
+
+  C.
+
+  Cahill, Rev. Dr., a great preacher, 59.
+
+  Camp in Everton, in view of expected rising in Liverpool, 55.
+
+  Campbell, Richard, a humorous Irish singer, 120.
+
+  "Camp Fires of the Legion," by James Finigan, 162.
+
+  Carlingford Lough, vies with Killarney in beauty, 27.
+
+  Carnarvon Borough election, where I first met Lloyd George, 237.
+
+  _Carraig_ Mountain, 31
+
+  Cassidy, Tom, "a flogger," 67.
+
+  Castlewellan, Eiver Magennis its member in King James's Parliament, 29.
+
+  Castlewellan, a Nationalist centre for South Down, 47.
+
+  "Catalpa" carries off the military Fenians, 140.
+  ----lands them safely in New York, 145.
+
+  Catholic Emancipation, 268.
+
+  Catholic Hierarchy, Restoration of, 58.
+
+  Catholic Institute, 54.
+
+  "Catholic Times," I review in it "Life of Robert Emmet,"
+  by Michael James Whitty, 21.
+  ----carrying it on single-handed, 153.
+
+  Celtic Race, the Catholics of Ulster the most Celtic part of
+  --Ireland, 30. 57.
+
+  Chambers, Corporal, 200.
+
+  Chester Castle, plot to seize, 81.
+  ----I volunteer for the raid, 82.
+
+  Christian Brothers, The, 14, 27.
+
+  Churches, increase rapidly in Liverpool, 6.
+
+  Clampit, Sam, a good, honest Protestant Fenian, is arrested, 108.
+
+  Clan Connell War Song--O'Donnell Aboo, 115.
+
+  Clan na nGael, 36.
+
+  Clarence Dock, Liverpool, 3.
+  ----where the harvest men landed, 35.
+
+  Clarke, Michael, 180.
+
+  Clarke, Patrick, 180.
+
+  Clarkhill, Co. Down, 47.
+
+  Coming over from Ireland, 3.
+
+  Commins, Dr. Andrew, his record, 172.
+  ----becomes head of Home Rule Organisation in Great Britain, 171, 172.
+
+  Conciliation Hall, Dublin, 16.
+
+  Condon, Captain Edward O'Meagher, 93.
+
+  Condon, plans rescue of Kelly and Deasy, 96.
+  ----is himself arrested, 102.
+
+  Condon, his defiant shout in the dock of "God save Ireland," 104.
+  ----returned to America, and has been since helping the Cause there and
+  here, 106, 107, and 112.
+
+  Confederates, Irish, 55.
+
+  Connolly, Lawrence, 185.
+
+  Connaught, 35.
+
+  Convention of 1876 votes confidence in Isaac Butt, 188.
+
+  Copperas Hill Chapel, 5.
+  ----Schools, 13.
+
+  Cork, "No sin in Cor-r-r-k," 26.
+
+  Corydon, the informer, what he was like, 85.
+  ----throws off the mask, 85.
+
+  Cottage Industries in Ulster, 33.
+
+  Council of Fenian Leaders, 93.
+
+  Cousens, a Liverpool detective, 131.
+
+  Cranston, Robert, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Crilly, Alfred, a brilliant Irishman, who did good service for the
+  Cause, 150, 171.
+
+  Crilly, Daniel, brother of Alfred, 150, 211.
+  ----on staff of "Nation," 151.
+  ----registration agent, 243.
+  ----editor of "United Irishman," 180.
+  ----Member of Parliament, 180.
+
+  Crilly, Frederick Lucas, General Secretary of United Irish League
+  --of Great Britain, 150.
+
+  Crimean War, The, 65.
+
+  Crosbie Street, mostly spoke Connaught Irish, 15.
+
+  Crowley, Thade, the Cork pork butcher, 25, 26.
+
+  Cumberland, 33.
+
+  Curragh of Kildare, I help at the building of camp there, 65.
+
+
+  D.
+
+  "Daily News," The, describes the rescue of Kelly and Deasy,
+  and acknowledges the courage and skill of the rescuers, 101.
+
+  "Daily Post," Liverpool, 21.
+
+  Darragh, Daniel, brings the arms from Birmingham for Manchester Rescue, 96.
+  ----dies in Portland Prison, 126.
+  ----Hogan brings his remains to Ireland, and Condon visits his grave, 127.
+
+  Darragh, Thomas, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Davis, Thomas, as registration agent, 242.
+  ----his "Literary and Historical Essays," 261.
+
+  Davitt, Martin, father of Michael, 240.
+
+  Davitt, Michael, takes up Forrester's work of supplying arms, 132.
+  ----is arrested and convicted on Corydon's testimony, 136.
+  ----returns from penal servitude, 199.
+  ----formation of the Land League, 205.
+  ----his "Fall of Feudalism," 197.
+  ----tries to get Parnell to join advanced movement, 202.
+
+  "Dear Old Ireland," T.D. Sullivan's Song, 38.
+
+  Denvir's "Monthly" and "Irish Library," 257.
+
+  De Courcy, 27, 29.
+
+  Denvir, Bishop, Bible, 30.
+  ----see Father O'Laverty, 30.
+  ----I met him with my father, 3.
+
+  Denvir, General Denver's daughter enquires after him, 41.
+
+  Denver City, the Capital of Colorado, named after General James
+  --William Denver, descended from Patrick Denvir, a '98 Insurgent, 40.
+
+  Desmond, Captain, one of the rescuers of the military Fenians, 140.
+
+  Devoy, John, he aided the escape of James Stephens, 76, and of the
+  --military Fenians, 140.
+
+  Dillon, John, M.P., 205.
+
+  Distinguished Irishmen I have met, 10.
+
+  Disestablishment of the Irish Church prompted by Gladstone's recognition
+  --of "the intensity of Fenianism," 147.
+
+  Disruption of the Irish Party, 252.
+
+  Doctors and other professional men excellent helpers in the
+  National Cause, 177, 258.
+
+  Dock labourers' love of learning, 19.
+
+  Dolly's Brae Fight, 44.
+  ----massacre, 45.
+
+  Donnelly, Edward, foreman printer of "United Ireland," brings me the
+  --stereos, 210.
+
+  Doran, Arthur, an Irish newsagent, becomes bail for Forrester, 135.
+
+  Dowling, chief constable of Liverpool, dismissed, 60.
+
+  Down, County, 2, 29, 47.
+  ----cottage industries, 33.
+
+  Drumgoolan, my uncle's parish, 28.
+
+  Dublin Castle wires warning of Manchester Rescue--too late, 97.
+
+  Duffy, Michael Francis, 166.
+
+  Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, loses heart for a time, 62.
+
+  Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, his old hopes revive, 62.
+
+  Dundas, General, routed by the Kilcullen pikemen in '98.
+
+  Dundrum Bay, 32.
+
+
+  E.
+
+  Egan, Patrick, 184.
+  ----sustains "United Ireland" against attempted suppression, 215.
+  ----his life story, 219.
+  ----always a practical patriot, 221.
+  ----attitude towards Parliament, 221.
+  ----President of Irish National League of America, 224.
+  ----American ambassador to Chili, 224.
+  ----President Harrison's tribute, 224.
+
+  Elizabethan days, 5.
+
+  "Emerald Minstrels," The, 115, 116, 117.
+   ----inspired by "Spirit of the Nation," 118.
+
+  "Erin's Hope," with Irish-American officers, arms, and ammunition,
+   --reaches Sligo Bay, 94.
+   ----returns to America, 95.
+
+  "Erin's Sons in England," racy song by T.D. Sullivan, 152.
+
+
+  F.
+
+  Fahy, Francis, poet. 137
+
+  Falconer (Edmond O'Rourke), a famous Irish actor and dramatist,
+  --author of "Peep o' Day," "Killarney," etc., 52, 263.
+
+  Famine, The great Irish, 6.
+  ----heroism of the clergy, 53.
+  ----the greatest disaster in Irish history, 269.
+
+  "Felon Repeal Club" in Newcastle-on-Tyne, 56.
+
+  Fenian Brotherhood, The, 52, 73.
+  ----the two wings, 123.
+  ----Conference in Paris, Michael Breslin attends, 123.
+  ----gathering, which Parnell attends at my invitation, 203.
+
+  "Fenian Paymaster" (Captain O'Rorke), known as "Beecher," 78.
+
+  Fenian leaders in England take counsel, 93.
+
+  Fenianism.--What did it do for Ireland? 146.
+
+  Ferguson, John, assists at foundation of Home Rule Confederation of
+  --Great Britain, 176.
+  ----indicates Parnell as future leader, 192.
+  ----director of "United Irishman," 180.
+
+  Finigan, James Lysaght, his adventurous career, 124.
+  ----in the Franco-German War, 160.
+
+  Finn MacCool and the ancient Fenians, 52.
+
+  Flannery, Thomas, an able Irish scholar, 164, 258.
+
+  Flood, John, and the Chester raid, 82.
+
+  "Flowering," girls employed at, 34.
+
+  "Flowing Tide," 233.
+
+  Foley, Patrick James, 254.
+
+  Ford, Patrick, Michael Davitt's tribute to him, 198.
+  ----I welcome the "Irish World" in the "Catholic Times," 198.
+
+  Forrester, Arthur, he brings me revolvers, 131.
+  ----I am visited by detectives, 131.
+  ----they can make out no case against him, and he is released, 135.
+
+  Forrester, Arthur, he joins the French Foreign Legion, 134, 160, 162.
+
+  Forrester, Mrs. Ellen, comes with Michael Davitt, 133.
+  ----like others of her family, she wrote poetry, 134.
+
+  Fox, Frank, one of our poets, 181.
+
+  "Fount of patriotism," 11.
+
+  Franco-Prussian War, 160.
+
+  Freemantle, rescue from of the military Fenians, 139.
+
+  "Frolics of Phil Foley," a sketch by John F. McArdle, 121.
+
+
+  G.
+
+  Gaelic characters, the, 11.
+
+  Gaelic League Revival, 256.
+
+  Gaelic Prayer Book (Scotch), printed by me for Father Campbell, S.J.,
+  for use in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 259.
+
+  Garton, Patrick De Lacy, Stephens escapes in his hooker, 78.
+  ----he helps the blockade-running of "United Ireland." "Georgette,"
+  ----passenger steamer, pursues the military Fenians, 143.
+  ----fires a round shot across the bows of the "Catalpa," in which they
+  ----are escaping, 143.
+
+  Gilmore, Patrick Sarsfield, a distinguished Irish-American composer
+  --and musician, 114.
+
+  Gilmore, Mary Sarsfield, his daughter, an able contributor to
+  --"Irish World," 114.
+
+  Gladstone, William Ewart, introduces Home Rule Bill, 231.
+  ----"Flowing Tide," 233.
+  ----returned to power through aid of Irish vote, 232.
+
+  "God Save Ireland," Condon gives us a rallying cry and a
+  --National Anthem, 104.
+
+  "Gormans of Glenmore," The, 265.
+
+  Goss, Bishop, a typical Englishman of the best kind.
+  Blunt-hitting-out-from-the-shoulder style of speaking, 156.
+
+  Grattan's Parliament, 41.
+
+  Graves, Alfred Perceval, 138, 259.
+
+  Gunboats in river Mersey in view of expected rising in Liverpool, 55.
+
+
+  H.
+
+  "Hail to the Chief" (from the "Lady of the Lake"), 118.
+   ----played as salute to Parnell, 117.
+
+  Halpin, General, a scientific soldier, 90.
+  ----in command at the rising, 90.
+  ----gives us lecture on fortifications and earthworks, 91.
+  ----arrested at Queenstown, 91.
+
+  "Hamlet" played by Falconer, 262.
+
+  Hand, John, one of our poets, 181.
+
+  Hanlons, Hughey and Ned, 51.
+
+  Harrington, Martin, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Harvestmen from Connaught and Donegal, a hardy lot, 35.
+
+  Haslingden, the home of Davitt, 84.
+
+  Hassett, Thomas Henry, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Healy, T.M., when I first met him, 196.
+  ----becomes Parnell's secretary, 197.
+
+  Heinrick, Hugh, editor of "United Irishman," 180.
+
+  Hibernians, Ancient Order of, strong in Liverpool, and stout champions
+  --of country and creed, 16.
+  ----a bodyguard for the priests in penal days, 17.
+  ----their stronghold in northern Irish counties and counties adjoining, 18.
+  ----in America, Rev. Thomas Shahan pays tribute to the Order, 16, 17.
+
+  "Hidden Gem," a play by Cardinal Wiseman, 63.
+
+  Hierarchy restored, 58.
+
+  Highlands of Scotland, the Gaelic spoken there, 187.
+
+  Hints from Thomas Davis to Irish painters, students, historians,
+  --lecturers, journalists, public speakers, and others, 261.
+
+  Hogan, the Irish sculptor, crowns O'Connell with Repeal cap, 49.
+
+  Hogan, Martin Joseph, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Hogan, William, a friend of Captain John M'Cafferty, 87.
+  ----helps Darragh to get the revolvers for Manchester rescue, 96.
+  ----is arrested for this, tried, and acquitted, 124, 125.
+
+  Holyhead, wagons and carriages for there to be seized, 81.
+
+  Holy Cross Chapel, Liverpool, as it was, 58.
+  ----the chief of police countenances the getting up of a panic there, 60.
+
+  Holland, of the submarine, 145.
+
+  Home Rule Organisation, formation in Ireland, various sections assist, 148.
+  ----John Barry calls us together to form Home Rule Confederation
+  ----of Great Britain, 173.
+
+  Home Rule Organisation, I become its first secretary, 155.
+
+  Hyde Road, the scene of the Manchester rescue, 99.
+
+  Hymans, Jewish admirers of Thade Crowley, 25.
+
+
+  I.
+
+  Igoe's publichouse at the Curragh, 67.
+
+  "Inishowen," noble song by Charles Gavan Duffy, 260.
+
+  Insurrection in Ireland considered easier to put down
+  than "Obstruction," 190.
+
+  Iona Pilgrimage, 233.
+
+  Irish-American officers to leave Ireland for England, 79.
+
+  Irish Brigade of Liverpool, 92.
+
+  "Irish Library," I start it, 35.
+
+  "Irish in Britain," The, 78, 102.
+
+  Irish National League organiser, Edward M'Convey, 33.
+
+  Irish Parliamentary Party, disruption and reunion of, 252.
+
+  Irish Race Convention, 254.
+
+  "Irish Rapparees," by Gavan Duffy, 260.
+
+  Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 73. 74.
+
+  Irish of Great Britain compact and politically important, 2.
+
+  "Irish World," The, 198.
+
+  Isle of Man, 32, 187.
+
+
+  J.
+
+  Jack Langan, an Irish boxer, 4.
+
+  "Jigger Loft," where our men work, 7.
+
+  Journalism, 21.
+
+  Johnson, my classical teacher, 28.
+
+
+  K.
+
+  Kehoe, Inspector Lawrence.--Did he shut his eyes in my case? 129.
+
+  Kelly, Col. Thomas, his personal appearance, 92.
+  ----directs rescue of James Stephens, 76, 77, 78.
+  ----I meet him in Liverpool, 92, 93.
+  ----his arrest in Manchester with Captain Deasy, 95.
+  ----rescue, 100, 101.
+  ----how he escaped from the country, 105.
+
+  Kildare, gallant fight of the men of Kildare in '98, 69.
+
+  King Edward VII., plot for his abduction when Prince of Wales, 88.
+
+  Kirwan, Captain Martin Walter, in the Franco-Prussian War, 160.
+  ----afterwards general secretary of Irish organisation in Great Britain.
+
+  Knox, Edmund Vesey, a Protestant Member of Parliament, who did
+  --good service at Lloyd George's election and elsewhere, 238.
+
+
+  L.
+
+  Lambert, Michael, makes key to fit James Stephens' cell, 78.
+
+  "Lancashire Free Press," 91.
+
+  Land League, The, its formation in April, 1879, with Davitt recognised
+  --as its "Father," 205.
+
+  Larkin, Michael, 103, 104.
+
+  Lecale, Celtic and Norman admixture since De Courcy's time, 27.
+
+  Leitrim Chapel, where I served Mass for my uncle, 32.
+  ----band of fiddles, flutes, and clarionets, 37.
+
+  _Lia Fail_ (Stone of Destiny), 109, the stone to be stolen, 110.
+
+  _Lia Fail_, David Barrett, League organiser, tries to test its weight.
+  --Is stopped by its guardians, 111.
+
+  Liberator, The (O'Connell), frequently passed through Liverpool, 43.
+
+  Lloyd-George, David, Chancellor of the Exchequer, I help
+  --in his first Election, 237.
+
+  London Irish Literary Society, 259.
+
+  Lost opportunity for Irish tongue, 15.
+
+  Lover, Samuel, painter, poet, musician, composer, novelist,
+  --and dramatist, 10.
+  ----his patriotism, 10, 11.
+  ----his wit, 12.
+
+  Loyal toasts, 188, 189, 203.
+
+  Lumber Street Chapel, 4.
+
+  Lynch,. Daniel, translates "God Save Ireland" into Irish, 113.
+
+
+  M.
+
+  McAnulty, Bernard, a strong Home Ruler and Fenian sympathiser, 34, 56, 180.
+
+  McArdle, John, 15, 16.
+
+  McArdle, John F., the most brilliant of the Emerald Minstrels, 118.
+
+  McCann, Michael Joseph, author of "O'Donnell Aboo," I make
+  --his acquaintance, 114, 115.
+
+  McCafferty, John, had fought for the South in the American Civil War.
+  --His plot to seize Chester Castle, 81.
+  ----his scheme (as Mr. Patterson) to abduct the Prince of Wales, 88.
+
+  McCartans, The, 29.
+
+  McCarthy, Sergeant, his sudden death, 200.
+
+  M'Cormick, Father, of Wigan, men on way to Chester raid go to Confession
+  --to him, 82.
+
+  McDonald, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, preached at Iona in Gaelic
+  --on the life of St. Columbkille, 234.
+
+  McDonnell, Sergeant James, 206
+
+  McGrady, Owen, conference at his house to arrange for reception of
+  --expedition then on the sea, 93.
+
+  McGrath, Father Peter, 187.
+
+  McGowan, James, my godfather, 2.
+
+  McHale, Archbishop, I report his sermon, 155.
+
+  McKinley, Peter, 180.
+
+  MacMahon, Father, of Suncroft, gives the Curragh men a good character, 70.
+  ----he tells us of St. Brigid's miraculous mantle, 69.
+  ----and of the gallant Kildare men in '98, 69.
+
+  McMahon, Heber, 181.
+
+  MacManus, Terence Bellew, 49, 52.
+
+  McNaghten, Sir Francis, 2.
+
+  McSwiney, Father, S.J., and the "Catholic Times," 154.
+
+  "Macbeth" played by Falconer, 262.
+
+  Magennis, Eiver (see Castlewellan), 29.
+
+  Maguire, the marine, wrongly charged at Manchester, 104.
+
+  Manchester, first Convention of Home Rule Confederation held there, 173.
+
+  Manchester Martyrs, place of rescue confounded with place of execution, 99.
+
+  Mangan, Richard, 180.
+
+  Mass in Penal times, 5.
+
+  Massacre at Dolly's Brae, 45.
+
+  Mathew, Father, Apostle of Temperance, what he was like, 13.
+
+  Maughan, Peter, recruiting agent for the I.R.B. among
+  --the British soldiery, 72, 86.
+
+  Mazzinghi, Count, composer of "Hail to the Chief," 115.
+
+  Meany, Stephen Joseph, a journalist, 91.
+  ----in Young Ireland movement, 22.
+  ----starts "Lancashire Free Press," 91.
+  ----imprisoned for Fenianism, 91.
+
+  "Men of the North, The," stirring ballad by Charles Gavan Duffy, 260.
+
+  Military Fenians, their rescue, chiefly by John Breslin,
+  --going from America, and John Walsh from this side, 139 to 145.
+
+  Millbank Prison, M'Cafferty writes from there to William Hogan, 87.
+
+  Mogan, John, a capable man at registration and electioneering, 243.
+
+  Monroe, General, a Presbyterian leader, hanged at his own door in '98, 41.
+
+  Mourne Mountains, 27, 32, 57.
+
+  Mulhall, Peter and James, 194.
+
+  Mullaghmast, 49.
+
+  Mullin, Dr. James, 177, 178.
+
+  Murphy, Bessie, 181.
+
+  Murphy, Captain, 93, 112.
+
+  Murphy, David, supposed to have been shot by connivance of Pigott, 247.
+
+  Murphy, Patrick, 239.
+
+  Murphy, William, sent to penal servitude for attack on the van
+  --at Manchester, though not there, 102.
+
+  Murray, Archbishop, 30.
+
+
+  N.
+
+  "Nation" newspaper, readings from it, 15.
+  ----"O'Donnell Aboo" appears in it, 115.
+
+  "Nation once again, A," 36.
+
+  National Anthem of "God Save Ireland," Condon's defiant shout
+  --in the dock the origin of it, 104.
+
+  "Nationalist" The, 256.
+
+  Naughton, Miss, 132.
+
+  "Ninety-eight" memories, many of the leaders Presbyterians, 41.
+
+  "No Popery" mob, A, 4.
+
+  "No Popery" mania over "Papal aggression," 58.
+
+  Normans in Ireland, The, 27.
+
+  "Northern Press and Catholic Times," 72.
+
+  Norse settlements, 27.
+
+  Nugent, Father, and the Catholic Institute, 63.
+  ----St. Patrick's celebrations, 64.
+  ----proprietor of "Catholic Times," which I conducted for him, 91.
+  ----after a long interval, am pleased to meet him just before
+  ---- his death, 159.
+
+
+  O.
+
+  Oates, Tom, of Newcastle, 94.
+
+  Oath of allegiance, Parnell and my view on this, 112.
+
+  "O," the prefix, 33.
+
+  O'Brien, Captain Michael, is hanged at Manchester, 104, 112.
+
+  O'Brien, John, released prisoner, 200.
+
+  O'Brien, James Francis Xavier, introduces me to O'Donovan (Rossa), 73.
+  ----No more gallant figure among the Fenian leaders than J.F.X. O'Brien.
+  ----In all things _straight_, 89, 90.
+
+  O'Brien, M.P., Patrick, 230.
+
+  O'Brien, Richard Barry, 259.
+
+  O'Brien, William, 212, &c.
+
+  "Obstruction," the 1877 Convention endorses the policy, 104.
+
+  O'Coigly, Father, Pilgrimage, 235.
+
+  O'Connell Centenary, 183, 184.
+
+  O'Connell in Liverpool, 48.
+  ----a faithful son of the Church, 48.
+  ----enormous attendance at his meetings, 49.
+  ----Orange attack repelled by McManus and his friends, 49.
+
+  O'Connell, John (son of the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell),
+  --a British militia officer at the Curragh; gives good example
+  --to his men by going to Holy Communion, 68.
+  ----he wrote fine verses, 68.
+
+  O'Connell, Maurice, wrote "Recruiting Song of the Irish Brigade," 69.
+
+  O'Connell Centenary, 183.
+
+  O'Connor, M.P., T.P., the only Home Rule Member of Parliament for
+  --Great Britain elected _as such_, 24, 188, 230.
+
+  O'Donovan, Edmund, son of John O'Donovan, 90.
+  ----in French Foreign Legion, 160, 162.
+  ----special correspondent in Russo-Turkish War, 164.
+  ----Merv, 165.
+  ----perishes in the Soudan, 165.
+
+  O'Donovan, Jeremiah (Rossa), 73.
+
+  O'Donovan, John, the distinguished Irish scholar, 163.
+  ----memoir of him by Thomas Flannery, 164.
+
+  O'Donnell, Bishop, 254.
+  "O'Donnell Aboo" as our national anthem? 114, 115.
+  ----no claim, 116.
+
+  O'Donnell, F.H., 181, 193.
+
+  O'Grady, Hubert, 265.
+
+  O'Hagan, Lord, 184.
+
+  O'Hanlons, The, the Ulster standard bearers, 51.
+
+  O'Kelly, James, in Mexican campaign, 165.
+  ----recruits for the French army until fall of Paris, 166.
+  ----adopts journalism, 167.
+  ----enters Parliament, 167.
+
+  "Olaf, the Dane, or the Curse of Columbkille," 266.
+
+  Oliver, William John, 180.
+
+  O'Laverty, Father, historian of Down and Connor, 29, 30.
+
+  O'Loughlin, Brian, 38.
+
+  O'Loughlin, Father Bernard, my uncle, 33.
+  ----Father Bernard. Passionist, of Paris 169.
+  ----John, my uncle, 169.
+  ----Michael, Father, my uncle, 28, 33.
+  ----Margaret, my mother, 33.
+
+  O'Mahony, Michael, writes "Life of St. Columbkille" for me, 234.
+
+  O'Malley, M.P., William, 230.
+
+  Opening of a bath by swimming in it, by T.D. Sullivan, when
+  --Lord Mayor of Dublin, 153.
+
+  Orangeism, 19, 20, 22, 23.
+
+  O'Reilly, John Boyle, his "Life" in our Library, 86.
+  ----helps escape of the military Fenians, 140.
+
+  O'Rorke, Captain Michael (Beecher), the Fenian paymaster, 78, 79.
+
+  O'Rourke, Edmund (Falconer), actor and dramatist, 52, 263.
+
+  O'Shea, Captain, a candidate for Parliament, 228.
+
+  O'Sullivan, Eugene, 211.
+  ----Eugene or "Owen," a Welsh registration case, 244.
+
+
+
+  P.
+
+  Packmen from Ulster, Oiney Bannon, Bernard McAnulty, 34.
+
+  "Pagan O'Leary," "Beggars and Robbers," 80.
+
+  "Papal aggression," 58.
+
+  Papal Volunteers, we entertain them, 155.
+
+  "Papishes," 19.
+
+  Parnell, Charles Stewart, enters Parliament, 179, 181.
+  ----becomes chairman of Irish Parliamentary Party, 192.
+  ----could weigh men's capabilities, 197.
+  ----Davitt cannot induce Parnell to join the advanced organisation, 202.
+  ----Parnell and the I.R.B. men, 203.
+  ----with Dillon, goes to America for relief of Irish distress, 208.
+  ----collapse of the "Times" Forgeries against Parnell, 248.
+  ----disruption in the Party, 252.
+  ----reunion, January 30th, 1900, 255.
+
+  "Patriot Parliament of 1689," by Thomas Davis, 29.
+
+  Patterson, Mr. (Captain McCafferty), calls on me, 88.
+
+  "Peggy Loughlin's wee boy," 32.
+
+  Penal days in Liverpool, 4, 5.
+
+  Phoenix movement and trials, 73.
+
+  Pictures at election times, "the Pope," "Robert Emmet," "King William," 245.
+
+  Plantation of Ulster, 31, 39.
+
+  Power, John O'Connor, lectures at Davitt's meeting, 199.
+
+  "Punch" and "Times" seemed to gloat over probable extinction of
+  --Irish race, 53.
+
+  "Punch's" caricature of O'Connell, 54.
+
+  Purcell, Edward, helps blockade running of "United Ireland," 213.
+
+  Prendiville, John, his steamers used to bring voters from the river, 244.
+
+  "Presbyterian Government," was there a call for this at Ballinahinch? 39.
+
+  Price, Father John, S.J., 4.
+
+  "Protestant Ulster" chiefly an importation, 30.
+
+
+  Q.
+
+  "Quare man doesn't know his own mother's name," 33.
+
+
+  R.
+
+  Race Convention in Ireland, 254.
+
+  Rails to Chester to be taken up, 81.
+
+  "Rapparees, The Irish," Charles Gavan Duffy's fine song, 260.
+
+  Readings from the "Nation," 15.
+
+  "Reapers of Kilbride," 265, 266.
+
+  "Rebel, An Old," 1.
+
+  Red-haired woman stops the growth of the Curragh, 69.
+
+  Redmond, John, 3, 252.
+
+  Redmond, Sylvester, 86.
+
+  Refugees of the '67 Rising, 92.
+
+  Repeal Hall, 52.
+
+  "Repeal Cap," 49.
+
+  Rescue of Kelly and Deasy.
+  ----Incidents of the arrest and rescue described in page 95
+  ----and following pages.
+
+  Reunion of the Parliamentary Party, January 30th, 1900, 255.
+
+  Revisiting Ireland, 27.
+
+  Revolvers for Manchester, 96.
+
+  Revolvers from Forrester, 131.
+
+  Reynolds, Dr., 52.
+
+  Ribbonmen, 23.
+
+  Richards, Richard ("Double Dick"), 109.
+
+  Richardson, John, 5.
+
+  "Richard III." played by Falconer, 262.
+
+  Rising of 1848, drilling to oppose it, 55.
+
+  Rising of 1867, 89.
+
+  Roden, Lord, 32.
+  ----Dolly's Brae massacre, 45.
+
+  "Roderick Vich Alpine Dhu," 115.
+
+  Rogers, John, a Gaelic scholar, 259.
+
+  Roney, Hughey, his house threatened by Orangemen, 15, 20.
+
+  "Rory O'More," by Lover, 11.
+  ----a scene from it reenacted, 12.
+
+  "Rosaleen Dhu," 266.
+
+  Rotunda, Dublin, 155.
+
+  Round Towers, Kildare, &c., 70.
+
+  Russell, Lord John, his Ecclesiastical Titles Act, 58, 61.
+
+  Russell, Charles (Lord Russell of Killowen), willing to become our candidate
+  --for Parliament to induce Liberals to withdraw objectionable man.
+  --This has desired effect, 249.
+  ----we ask him to take the chair for our first Home Rule meeting.
+  ----He advises us to get Dr. Commins, 171.
+
+  Russell, Sir Edward, of "Liverpool Daily Post," 21, 257.
+
+  Ryan, John (Capn. O'Doherty), calls on me; I join the I.R.B., 74.
+
+  Ryan, John (Capn. O'Doherty),
+  ----he describes to me the escape of Stephens, in which he assisted, 77, 78.
+  ----now dead many years, 68, 112.
+
+  Ryan, Wm. James, his "Life of John Boyle O'Reilly," 86.
+
+  Ryan, William Patrick, 257.
+
+  Ryan, Dr. Mark, an Irish scholar, 257.
+
+
+  S.
+
+  Sadlier, John, his suicide, 62.
+
+  Sadlier-Keogh gang, their betrayal of the cause of the Irish
+  --tenants, 61, 62.
+
+  Saintfield, battle, in '98, 38.
+
+  Salford Gaol, 99.
+
+  Santley, Sir Charles, 5.
+
+  Sarsfield Band, 184.
+
+  Saturday Evening Concerts, 10.
+
+  School Board Election, Liverpool, our votes enough to elect 8 out of
+  --the 15 members, 156.
+
+  Schoolmaster, The, 93, 111.
+
+  Scone, 110.
+
+  Scott, Sir Walter, author of "Hail to the Chief," 115.
+
+  Scotland Ward and Division in Liverpool, an Irish stronghold,
+  --both Municipal and Parliamentary, 24, 185.
+
+  Seager, John Renwick, 243.
+
+  Servant girls, Irish-American, 111.
+
+  Sexton, Thomas, 254.
+
+  Shahan, Father, on "Hibernianism," 16, 17.
+
+  "Shan Van Vocht," on the "Curragh of Kildare," sung by the
+  --"Emerald Minstrels," 71.
+
+  Shaw, George Bernard, 264.
+
+  "Shemus O'Brien," 121.
+
+  Sherlock, Father, a saintly man, presides at our first Birmingham Convention
+  --demonstration, 175, 177.
+
+  Slieve Donard, 32, 265.
+
+  Slieve na Slat ("Mountain of rods"), 31.
+
+  Sloops from Ireland, 3.
+
+  Smyth, George, 52.
+
+  "Spirit of the Nation," 11.
+
+  Stephens, James, his escape from Richmond, 76, 77.
+
+  St. Brigid's mantle, Father MacMahon tells the legend of, 69.
+
+  "Stage Irishman," discountenanced, 119, 264.
+
+  Strongbow, 272.
+
+  Saint Columbkille, 233.
+
+  St. George's Hall, Liverpool, great gathering addressed by Parnell, 206.
+
+  St. Helens meeting, Parnell and Davitt attend, 201.
+
+  St. Mary's, Lumber Street, 4.
+
+  St. Nicholas's, Liverpool, 4, 6.
+
+  St. Patrick's effigy, as if addressing our people from Ireland, 3.
+
+  St. Patrick's Day processions, 22, 24, 64.
+  ----celebrations, 64, 65.
+
+  Steamers for O'Connell Centenary, 183.
+
+  Sullivan Brothers, 150.
+
+  Sullivan, A.M. becomes proprietor and editor of the "Nation," 63.
+  ----presides at adjourned initial Convention of Home Rule Confederation
+  ----of Great Britain, 176.
+
+  Sullivan, T.D., author of our national anthem, 113.
+  ----he writes, "Erin's Sons in England" for me, 152.
+
+  Supernatural, Irish faith in the, 13.
+
+  Swift, Miss Kate, 211.
+
+
+  T.
+
+  Taaffe, James Vincent, 211.
+
+  Tenant Right Agitation, 62.
+
+  "Terence's Fireside," 115.
+
+  "Thrashers," The, 42.
+
+  "Times" Forgeries Commission, 207, 246.
+
+  Tollymore Park, seat of Lord Roden, 45.
+
+  Tribal names still in tribal lands, 27, 273.
+
+  "Tribe of Brian," 28.
+
+  Tragedy of the Famine, The, 6.
+
+
+  U.
+
+  Ulster Catholics, the most pure-blooded Celts in Ireland, 30.
+
+  Ulster, plantation of in King James I.'s time, 39.
+
+  "United Ireland," attempted suppression, 210.
+  ----sent out as "dried fish," 212.
+  ----not an issue missed, 215.
+  ----I am prosecuted by Government, 216.
+  ----printed once in Derry, 217.
+  ----re-appeared in old office, 218.
+
+  Union of North and South destroyed, 61.
+
+  "United Irishman," organ of Home Rule Confederation of
+  --Great Britain, 177, 181, 265.
+
+  United Irishmen of 1798, 11, 41.
+
+
+  V.
+
+  Vaughan, Cardinal, Bishop of Salford, I get his support for
+  --"Catholic Times," 158.
+
+  Vauxhall Ward, Liverpool, 185.
+
+  Volunteers of 1782, The, 41.
+
+  "Vatican, The Treasures of," 61.
+
+
+
+  W.
+
+  Walsh, John, informs a select gathering how he and a friend from this
+  --side helped to rescue the military Fenians, 143.
+
+  Warders from Belle Vue Prison interfere in the Manchester
+  --Rescue--no use, 101.
+
+  Ward, Joseph, 121.
+
+  Widow Walsh welcomes her lodgers at the Curragh of Kildare, 66.
+
+  Whitty, Michael James, Liverpool head Constable, afterwards editor
+  --of the "Daily Post," 20, 21, 22, 91.
+
+  Wilson, James, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Wilson, John, a Birmingham gunsmith, 136.
+
+  Windle, Dr. Bertram, President of University College, Cork, 177.
+
+  Wiseman, Cardinal, "Papal aggression" mania directed against him, 63.
+  ----his fine play of "The Hidden Gem" given by Father Nugent's students
+  ----at the Catholic Institute, Liverpool, 63.
+
+  Wolohan, Michael, the "blockade runner" for "United Ireland," 212.
+
+  "Woollen Goods" (for "United Ireland"), 213.
+
+
+  Y.
+
+  "Young Ireland," 11, 52.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Life Story of an Old Rebel, by John Denvir
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL ***
+
+***** This file should be named 16559-8.txt or 16559-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/5/16559/
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+
diff --git a/16559-8.zip b/16559-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..376b202
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16559-8.zip
diff --git a/16559-h.zip b/16559-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f97741
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16559-h.zip
diff --git a/16559-h/16559-h.htm b/16559-h/16559-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ad1407
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16559-h/16559-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,8424 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL, BY JOHN DENVIR
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         }
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+    hr { width: 33%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+    .linenum  {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */
+    .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .pagenum  {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */
+    .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em;
+               padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em;
+               float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em;
+               font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;}
+
+    .bb       {border-bottom: solid 2px;}
+    .bl       {border-left: solid 2px;}
+    .bt       {border-top: solid 2px;}
+    .br       {border-right: solid 2px;}
+    .bbox     {border: solid 2px;}
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+    .u        {text-decoration: underline;}
+
+    .caption  {font-weight: bold;}
+
+    .figcenter   {margin: auto; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figleft     {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top:
+                 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figright    {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;
+                 margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .footnotes        {border: dashed 1px;}
+    .footnote         {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;}
+    .footnote .label  {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;}
+    .fnanchor         {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;}
+
+    .poem             {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;}
+    .poem br          {display: none;}
+    .poem .stanza     {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+    .poem span.i0     {display: block; margin-left: 0em;}
+    .poem span.i2     {display: block; margin-left: 2em;}
+    .poem span.i4     {display: block; margin-left: 4em;}
+    // -->
+    /* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life Story of an Old Rebel, by John Denvir
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life Story of an Old Rebel
+
+Author: John Denvir
+
+Release Date: August 20, 2005 [EBook #16559]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<p><a name="Page_-4" id="Page_-4"></a></p>
+
+<h3>THE</h3>
+
+<h2>LIFE STORY</h2>
+
+<h4>OF</h4>
+
+<h2>AN OLD REBEL</h2><p><a name="Page_-3" id="Page_-3"></a></p>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h3>JOHN DENVIR</h3>
+
+<h4>AUTHOR OF "THE IRISH IN BRITAIN" "THE BRANDONS" ETC.</h4>
+
+<h4>DUBLIN</h4>
+<h4>SEALY, BRYERS &amp; WALKER 86 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET</h4>
+<h4>1910</h4>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/image01.png" alt="John Denvir" title="John Denvir" /></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_-2" id="Page_-2"></a></p><p><a name="Page_-1" id="Page_-1"></a></p>
+<h3>CONTENTS.</h3>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="4" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'>CHAPTER</td><td align='left'>PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>I.&mdash;Early Recollections&mdash;"Coming Over" from Ireland</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'><b>1</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>II.&mdash;Distinguished Irishmen&mdash;"The Nation" News-paper&mdash;"The Hibernians"</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_10'><b>10</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>III.&mdash;Ireland Revisited</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_27'><b>27</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>IV.&mdash;O'Connell in Liverpool&mdash;Terence Bellew MacManus and the</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Repeal Hall&mdash;The Great Irish Famine</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_48'><b>48</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>V.&mdash;The "No-Popery" Mania&mdash;The Tenant League&mdash;The Curragh Camp</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_58'><b>58</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>VI.&mdash;The Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood&mdash;Escape of James Stephens&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Projected Raid on Chester Castle&mdash;Corydon the Informer</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_73'><b>73</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>VII.&mdash;The Rising of 1867&mdash;Arrest and Rescue of Kelly and Deasy&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">The Manchester Martyrdom</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_89'><b>89</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>VIII.&mdash;A Digression&mdash;T.D. Sullivan&mdash;A National Anthem&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">The Emerald Minstrels&mdash;"The Spirit of the Nation"</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_113'><b>113</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>IX.&mdash;A Fenian Conference at Paris&mdash;The Revolvers for the</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">ManchesterRescue&mdash;Michael Davitt sent to Penal Servitude</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_123'><b>123</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>X.&mdash;Rescue of the Military Fenians</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_139'><b>139</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XI.&mdash;The Home Rule Movement</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_148'><b>148</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XII.&mdash;The Franco-Prussian War&mdash;An Irish Ambulance Corps&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">The French Foreign Legion</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_160'><b>160</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XIII.&mdash;The Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_170'><b>170</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XIV.&mdash;Biggar and Parnell&mdash;The "United Irishman"&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">The O'Connell Centenary</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_179'><b>179</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XV.&mdash;Home Rule in Local Elections&mdash;Parnell succeeds Butt as President</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">of the Irish Organisation in Great Britain</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_185'><b>185</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XVI.&mdash;Michael Davitt's Return from Penal Servitude&mdash;Parnell and the</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">"Advanced" Organisation</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_199'><b>199</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XVII.&mdash;Blockade Running&mdash;Attempted Suppression of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">"United Ireland"&mdash;William O'Brien and his Staff in Jail&mdash;How Pat Egan</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">kept the flag flying</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_209'><b>209</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XVIII.&mdash;Patrick Egan</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_219'><b>219</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XIX.&mdash;General Election of 1885&mdash;Parnell a Candidate for Exchange</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Division&mdash;Retires in favour of O'Shea&mdash;T.P. O'Connor elected for</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Scotland Division of Liverpool</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_227'><b>227</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XX.&mdash;Gladstone's "Flowing Tide"</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_233'><b>233</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XXI.&mdash;The "Times" Forgeries Commission</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_246'><b>246</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XXII.&mdash;Disruption of the Irish Party&mdash;Home Rule carried in the</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Commons&mdash;Unity of Parliamentary Party Restored&mdash;</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Mr. John Redmond becomes Leader</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_252'><b>252</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XXIII.&mdash;The Gaelic Revival&mdash;Thomas Davis&mdash;Charles Gavan</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Duffy&mdash;Anglo-Irish Literature&mdash;The Irish Drama, Dramatists,</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">and Actors</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_256'><b>256</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>XXIV.&mdash;"How is Old Ireland and how does She Stand?"</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_268'><b>268</b></a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<h5>EARLY RECOLLECTIONS&mdash;"COMING OVER" FROM IRELAND.</h5>
+
+
+<p>I owe both the title of this book and the existence of the book itself
+to the suggestion of friends. I suppose a man of 76 may be called "old,"
+although I have by no means given up the idea that I can still be of use
+to my country.</p>
+
+<p>And a Rebel? Yes! Anything of the nature of injustice or oppression has
+always stirred me to resentment, and&mdash;is it to be wondered at?&mdash;most of
+all when the victims of that injustice and oppression have been my own
+people. And why not? If there were no rebels against wrong-doing,
+wrong-doing would prosper. To an Irishman, who is a fighter by
+temperament, and a fighter by choice against those in high places, life
+is sure to provide plenty of excitement; and that, no doubt, is why my
+friends have thought my recollections worth printing. The curious thing
+is that my share in the struggle for Irish self-government has been
+almost entirely what I might call outpost work, for I have lived all my
+life in England.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>Indeed, it seemed but a stroke of good luck that I was born in Ireland
+at all. My father (John, son of James Denvir, of Ballywalter, Lecale)
+came to England in the early part of the last century, and settled in
+Liverpool, where my eldest brother was born. It was during a brief
+period, when our family returned to Ireland, that I and a younger
+brother were born there. My father was engaged for about three years as
+clerk of the works for the erection of a castle for Sir Francis
+Macnaghten, near Bushmills, County Antrim. This must be one of the least
+Catholic parts of Ireland, for there was no resident priest, and I had
+to be taken a long distance to be christened. There was a decent
+Catholic workman at the castle, James MacGowan, who was my god-father,
+and my Aunt Kitty had to come all the way from "our own place" in the
+County Down to be my god-mother.</p>
+
+<p>Brought to England, my earliest remembrances are of Liverpool, which has
+a more compact and politically important Irish population than any other
+town in Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>Anyone who has mixed much among our fellow-countrymen in England,
+Scotland and Wales knows that, generally, the children and grandchildren
+of Irish-born parents consider themselves just as much Irish as those
+born on "the old sod" itself. No part of our race has shown more
+determination and enthusiasm in the cause of Irish nationality. As a
+rule the Irish of Great Britain have been well organised, and, during
+the last sixty years and more, have been brought into constant contact
+<a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>with a host of distinguished Irishmen&mdash;including the leaders of the
+constitutional political organisations&mdash;from Daniel O'Connell to John
+Redmond.</p>
+
+<p>I have taken an active part in the various Irish movements of my time,
+and it so happens that, while I know so little personally of Ireland
+itself, there are few, if any, living Irishmen who have had such
+experience, from actual personal contact with them, as I have had of our
+people in every part of Great Britain. As will be seen, too, in the
+course of these recollections, circumstances have brought me into
+intimate connection with most of the Irish political leaders.</p>
+
+<p>My father came to England in one of the sloops in which our people used
+to "come over" in the old days. They sometimes took a week in crossing.
+The steamers which superseded them, though an immense improvement as
+regards speed, had often less accommodation for the deck passengers than
+for the cattle they brought over.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the Irish immigration to Liverpool came through the Clarence
+Dock, where the steamers used to land our people from all parts. Since
+the Railway Company diverted a good deal of the Irish traffic through
+the Holyhead route, there are not so many of these steamers coming to
+Liverpool as formerly.</p>
+
+<p>The first object that used to meet the eyes of those who had just "come
+over," as they looked across the Clarence Dock wall, was an effigy of
+St. Patrick, with a shamrock in his hand, as if welcoming them from "the
+old sod." This was placed <a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>high upon the wall of a public house kept by
+a retired Irish pugilist, Jack Langan. In the thirties and forties of
+the last century, up to 1846, when he died, leaving over &pound;20,000 to his
+children, Langan's house was a very popular resort of Irishmen, more
+particularly as, besides being a decent, warm-hearted, open-handed man,
+he was a strong supporter of creed and country.</p>
+
+<p>I am old enough to remember hearing Mass in what was an interesting
+relic in Liverpool of the Penal days. This was the old building known to
+our people as "Lumber Street Chapel." Of course, the present Protestant
+Church of St. Nicholas (known as "the old church") is a Catholic
+foundation. Lumber Street chapel was not, however, the first of our
+places of worship built during the Penal days, for the Jesuits had a
+small chapel not far off, erected early in the eighteenth century, but
+destroyed by a No-Popery mob in 1746. St. Mary's, Lumber Street, too,
+was originally a Jesuit mission, but, in 1783, it was handed over to the
+Benedictines, who have had charge of it ever since. Father John Price,
+S.J., built a chapel in Sir Thomas's Buildings in 1788. I can recollect
+this building since my earliest days, but Mass was never said in it
+during my time.</p>
+
+<p>Lancashire is the only part of England where there are any great number
+of the native population who have always kept the faith. I once spent a
+few weeks in one of these Catholic districts. My employer had an
+alteration to make in the house of a gentleman at Lydiate, near
+Ormskirk. I used <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>to come home to Liverpool for the Sundays, but for the
+rest of the week I had lodgings in the house of a Catholic family at
+Lydiate.</p>
+
+<p>There was an old ruin, which they called Lydiate Abbey, but I found it
+was the chapel of St. Catherine, erected in the fifteenth century. The
+priest of the mission had charge of the chapel which, though unroofed,
+was the most perfect ecclesiastical ruin in Catholic hands in South
+Lancashire. During the time I was at Lydiate there came a Holiday of
+Obligation, when I heard Mass in the house of a Catholic farmer named
+Rimmer. This was a fine old half-timbered building of Elizabethan days,
+and here, all through the Penal times, Mass had been kept up, a priest
+to say it being always in hiding somewhere in the district.</p>
+
+<p>The priest in charge of Lydiate at the time I was there told me he was
+collecting for a regular church or chapel, and hoped soon to make a
+commencement of the building. Some years later he was able to do so. Our
+church choir at Copperas Hill, Liverpool, was then considered one of the
+best in the diocese. The choirmaster and organist, John Richardson, was
+a distinguished composer of Catholic church music, and held in such high
+esteem that, for any important celebration, he could always secure the
+services of the chief members of the musical profession in and about
+Liverpool. In this way, on one occasion Miss Santley came to help us.
+She was accompanied by her brother, then a boy, who has since risen to
+the highest position in the musical world&mdash;the eminent baritone, Sir
+Charles Santley.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>St. Nicholas' was, as it is yet, the pro-Cathedral of the diocese, and
+whenever a new church had to be opened, or there was any important
+ceremonial anywhere in Lancashire, our choir was generally invited. In
+this way I was delighted to go to the opening of the new church at
+Lydiate, so that I was taking part in the third stage of the Catholic
+history of the diocese&mdash;having said a prayer in the old ruin, and
+attended Mass in Rimmer's, and now assisting at the solemn High Mass at
+the opening of the Church of our Lady, not far from the old chapel of
+St. Catherine.</p>
+
+<p>At the time I went to Mass in Lumber Street Chapel, Liverpool, which is
+nearly 70 years since, there were but four other <i>chapels</i>, as they were
+generally called then, in the town&mdash;Copperas Hill (St. Nicholas'), Seel
+Street (St. Peter's), St. Anthony's and St. Patrick's. It must have been
+a custom acquired in the Penal days to call the older Catholic places of
+worship rather after the names of the streets in which they were
+situated than of the saint to whom they were dedicated. During the
+Famine years the bishops and clergy must have found it extremely
+difficult to provide for the tremendous influx of our people. I have
+seen them crowded out into the chapel yards and into the open streets;
+satisfied if they could get even a glimpse of the inside of the sacred
+building through an open window. I see by the Catholic Directory there
+are at the time I now write thirty-nine churches and chapels in
+Liverpool. The schools have increased in a like proportion.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>The progress in numbers, wealth and influence of the Irish people may
+be pretty well marked by the gradual increase in the number of churches
+and schools, which have been built for the most part by the Irish and
+their descendants. All honour to the noble-hearted, hard-handed toilers
+who have contributed to such work, and greater glory still to the humble
+men who, after a hard week's work in a ship's hold at the docks, or
+perhaps in the "jigger loft" of a warehouse eight stories high, turn
+out every Sunday morning to act as "collectors," and go in pairs from
+door to door, one with the book and the other with the bag in hand, to
+raise the means of erecting the noble churches and schools that
+everywhere meet our view in Liverpool to-day.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the social position our people occupy in Liverpool, there
+have been many Irishmen who have come well to the front in the race of
+life, some of whom have occupied the foremost positions in connection
+with the public life of the town. On the other hand; a large number of
+our fellow-countrymen in Liverpool are by no means in that enviable
+condition. Many of them have set out from Ireland, intending to go to
+America, but, their little means failing them, have been obliged to
+remain in Liverpool. Here they considered themselves fortunate if they
+met someone from the same part of the country as themselves to give them
+a helping hand, for it is a fine trait in the Irish character&mdash;and
+"over here in England" the trait has not been lost&mdash;that, however poor,
+they are always <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>ready to befriend what seems to them a still poorer
+neighbour. Those who have lived here some time are glad to see someone
+from their "own place," and, amid the squalor of an English city, the
+imaginative Celt&mdash;as he listens to the gossip about the changes, the
+marriages, and the deaths that have taken place since he left "home
+"&mdash;for a brief moment lives once more upon "the old sod," and sees
+visions of the little cabin by the wood side where dwelt those he loved,
+of the mountain chapel where he worshipped, of a bright-eyed Irish girl
+beloved in the golden days of youth. These and a host of other
+associations of the past come floating back upon his memory, as he hears
+the tidings brought by Terence, or Michael, or Maurya, who has just
+"come over." It often so happens that, from the very goodness of the
+Irish heart, the newcomers are frequently drawn into the same miserable
+mode of life as the friends who have come to England before them may
+have fallen into.</p>
+
+<p>Irish intellect and Irish courage have in thousands of cases brought our
+people to their proper place in the social scale, but it is only too
+often the case that adverse circumstances compel the great bulk of them
+to have recourse to the hardest, the most precarious, and the worst paid
+employments to be found in the British labour market.</p>
+
+<p>In the large towns, in the poorer streets in which our people live, a
+stranger would be struck by the swarms of children, and of an evening,
+at the number of grown-up people sitting on the doorsteps of their
+wretched habitations. John Barry once told me <a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>that a friend of his
+asked one of these how they could live in such places? "Because," was
+the reply, "we live so much <i>out</i> of them." The answer showed, at any
+rate, that their lot was borne cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, there are Irishmen too&mdash;men who know how to keep what they
+have earned&mdash;who, by degrees, get into the higher circles of the
+commercial world, so that I have seen among the merchant princes "on
+'Change" in Liverpool men who, themselves, or whose fathers before them,
+commenced life in the humblest avocations.</p>
+
+<p>Liverpool has, on the whole, been a "stony-hearted stepmother" to its
+Irish colony, which largely built its granite sea-walls, and for many
+years humbly did the laborious work on which the huge commerce of the
+port rested. But, perhaps, in years to come Liverpool will realise the
+value of the wealth of human brains and human hearts which it held for
+so long unregarded or despised in its midst.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<h5>DISTINGUISHED IRISHMEN&mdash;"THE NATION" NEWSPAPER&mdash;"THE HIBERNIANS."</h5>
+
+
+<p>I have met, as I have said elsewhere, most of the Irish political
+leaders of my time in Liverpool, but I will always remember with what
+pleasure I listened to a distinguished Irishman of another type, Samuel
+Lover, when he was travelling with an entertainment consisting of
+sketches from his own works and selections from his songs. Few men were
+more versatile than Lover, for he was a painter, musician, composer,
+novelist, poet, and dramatist. When I saw him in one of the public halls
+he sang his own songs, told his own stories, and was his own
+accompanist.</p>
+
+<p>His was one of a series of performances, very popular in Liverpool for
+many years, called the "Saturday Evening Concerts." He was a little man,
+with what might be called something of a "Frenchified" style about him,
+but having with it all a bright eye and thoroughly Irish face which,
+with all his bodily movements, displayed great animation. I can readily
+believe his biographers, who say he excelled in all the arts he
+cultivated, for his was a most charming entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>Lover undoubtedly had patriotism of a kind, and some of his songs show
+it. It certainly was <a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>not up to the mark of the "Young Irelanders," one
+of whom attacked him on one occasion, when he made the clever retort
+that "the fount from which <i>he</i> drew his patriotism was a more genuine
+source than a fount of Irish type"&mdash;alluding to the plentiful use of the
+Gaelic characters in "The Spirit of the Nation," the world-famed
+collection of songs by the Young Ireland contributors to the "Nation"
+newspaper. There are passages in Lover's novel of "Rory O'More" and his
+"He Would be a Gentleman" that show he was a sincere lover of his
+country. I agree in the main with what the "Nation" said of him in
+1843&mdash;"Though he often fell into ludicrous exaggerations and burlesques
+in describing Irish life, there is a good national spirit running
+through the majority of his works, for which he has not received due
+credit."</p>
+
+<p>One of his stories, "Rory O'More," achieved universal popularity also as
+a play, a song and an air. In it there is a passage which, when I first
+read it, I looked upon as an exaggeration, and as somewhat reflecting
+upon the dignity of a great national movement like that of the United
+Irishmen. Lover brings his hero, Rory, into somewhat questionable
+surroundings in a Munster town&mdash;intended for Cork or some other
+seaport&mdash;to meet a French emissary. One would think that a struggle for
+the freedom of Ireland should be carried on amongst the most lofty
+surroundings. But I found in after life that the incidents described by
+Lover were not so exaggerated as might be supposed, for, as "necessity
+has no law," during a later revolutionary <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>struggle we had often to meet
+in strange and unromantic places, as I shall describe later, for most
+important projects.</p>
+
+<p>Lover's wit was spontaneous, and bubbled over in his ordinary
+conversation with friends. An English lady friend, deeply interested in
+Ireland, once said to him&mdash;"I believe I was intended for an Irishwoman."
+Lover gallantly replied&mdash;"Cross over to Ireland and they will swear you
+were intended for an Irishman."</p>
+
+<p>A famous Irishman, whom I saw in Liverpool when I was a boy, was the
+Apostle of Temperance, Father Mathew.</p>
+
+<p>At this time he visited many centres of Irishmen in Great Britain, and
+administered the pledge of total abstinence from intoxicating drink to
+many thousands of his fellow-countrymen. In London alone over 70,000
+took the pledge. As in Ireland, this brought about a great social
+revolution. The temperance movement certainly helped O'Connell's Repeal
+agitation, which was in its full flood about this time.</p>
+
+<p>My remembrance of Father Mathew was that of a man of portly figure,
+rather under than above the middle height, with a handsome, pleasant
+face. He had a fine powerful voice, which could be heard at the furthest
+extremity of his gatherings, which often numbered several thousands. As
+he gave out the words of the pledge to abstain, with the Divine
+assistance, from all intoxicating liquors, he laid great emphasis on the
+word "liquors," pronouncing the last syllable of the word with <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>almost
+exaggerated distinctness. After this he would go round the ring of those
+kneeling to take the pledge, and put round the neck of each the ribbon
+with the medal attached.</p>
+
+<p>I ought to remember his visit to Liverpool, for I took the pledge from
+him three times during his stay in the town.</p>
+
+<p>My mother took the whole family, and, wherever he was&mdash;at St. Patrick's,
+or in a great field on one side of Crown Street, or at St.
+Anthony's&mdash;there she was with her family. She was a woman with the
+strong Irish faith in the supernatural, and in the power of God and His
+Church, that can "move mountains." A younger brother of mine had a
+running in his foot which the doctors could not cure. She determined to
+take Bernard to Father Mathew and get him to lay his hands on her boy.</p>
+
+<p>At St. Patrick's, with her children kneeling around her, she asked the
+good Father to touch her son. He, no doubt thinking it would be
+presumptuous on his part to claim any supernatural gift, passed on
+without complying with her request. Father Mathew's next gathering was
+in the Crown Street fields. I was a boy of about nine years, attending
+Copperas Hill schools. Mr. Connolly, who was in charge, was a very good
+master, but there was nothing very Irish in his teaching. Some idea of
+this may be formed when I mention that&mdash;though there were not a dozen
+boys in the school who were not Irish or of Irish extraction&mdash;the first
+map of Ireland I ever saw was on the back of one of O'Connell's Repeal
+cards.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>It was not until the Christian Brothers came, a few years afterwards,
+that this was changed. I shall always be grateful to that noble body of
+men, not only for the religious but for the national training they gave.
+We had Brothers Thornton and Swan&mdash;the latter since the Superior of the
+Order in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Under them we not only had a good map of Ireland, but they taught us, in
+our geography lessons, the correct Irish pronunciation of the names of
+places, such as (spelling phonetically) "Carrawn Thooal," "Croogh
+Phaudhrig," and similar words.</p>
+
+<p>But our old master, Mr. Connolly, was a good man too, according to his
+lights. Hearing of Father Mathew's visit, he asked how many of the boys
+would go to Crown Street to "take the pledge"&mdash;their parents being
+willing? Out of some 250 boys there were about a dozen who did not hold
+up their hands.</p>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary for me to say that my mother was there again with her
+afflicted boy and the rest of her children, and again she pleaded in
+vain. She was a courageous woman, with great force of character&mdash;and a
+<i>third</i> time she went to Father Mathew's gathering. This was in St.
+Anthony's chapel yard, and amongst the thousands there to hear him and
+to take the pledge she awaited her turn. Again she besought him to touch
+her boy's foot. He knew her again, and, deeply moved by her importunity
+and great faith he, at length, to her great joy, put his hand on my
+brother's foot and gave him his blessing. My mother's faith in <a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>the
+power of God, through His minister, was rewarded, for the foot was
+healed.</p>
+
+<p>I had an aunt&mdash;my mother's sister&mdash;married to a good patriotic Irishman,
+Hugh, or, as he was more generally called, Hughey, Roney, who kept a
+public house in Crosbie Street. The street is now gone, but it stood on
+part of what is now the goods station of the London &amp; North Western
+Railway. Nearly all in Crosbie Street were from the West of Ireland,
+and, amongst them, there was scarcely anything but Irish spoken. I have
+often thought since of the splendid opportunity let slip by O'Connell
+and the Repealers in neglecting to revive, as they could so easily have
+then done, so strong a factor in nationality as the native tongue of our
+people. My Aunt Nancy could speak the Northern Irish fluently, and, in
+the course of her business, acquired the Connaught Irish and accent.</p>
+
+<p>After a time Hughey Roney retired, and the house was carried on by his
+daughter and her husband, John McArdle, a good, decent patriotic
+Irishman, much respected by his Connaught neighbours, though he was from
+the "Black North." It used to be a great treat to hear John McArdle, on
+a Sunday night, reading the "Nation," which then cost sixpence, and was,
+therefore, not so easily accessible, to an admiring audience, of whom I
+was sometimes one, and his son, John Francis McArdle, another. This
+younger McArdle, originally intended for the Church, became in after
+life a brilliant journalist, and was for a time on the staff of the
+"Nation," the teaching of which he had so <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>early imbibed. The elder
+McArdle was a big, imposing looking man, with a voice to match, who gave
+the speeches of O'Connell and the other orators of Conciliation Hall
+with such effect that the applause was always given exactly in the right
+places, and with as much heartiness as if greeting the original
+speakers.</p>
+
+<p>After Father Mathew's visit, their trade fell away to such an extent
+that John McArdle, determined to hold his ground&mdash;while still keeping
+the public house open, though the business was all but gone&mdash;broke
+another door into the street, and made his parlour into a grocery and
+provision store. This enterprise on his part was only necessary for a
+short time, as the abnormal enthusiasm in the cause of temperance which,
+for the time being, had swept all before it, had subsided to such an
+extent that McArdle, after a time, turned the room to its original
+purpose, and was able to resume his readings from the "Nation" to
+admiring audiences, as heretofore.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, though so many fell away from their temporary exaltation, there
+were still large numbers who remained firm, and the lasting good from
+Father Mathew's work was undeniable.</p>
+
+<p>So popular was John McArdle's house, that it was used as one of the
+lodges of the Ancient Order of Hibernians&mdash;then very strong in
+Liverpool, and stout champions of country and creed. In regard to this
+organisation, I find in the "Irish World" of New York a high tribute
+paid to them by the Very Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, of the Catholic
+University of America. In his paper on "Hibernian<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>ism" he said there was
+a tradition in the Ancient Order that they first started in Ireland in
+the Penal days as a bodyguard to their poor parish priest when he said
+Mass in the open air. Anyone who has spent most of his life in England,
+as I have done, can well understand that this is not simply an effort of
+this good priest's imagination, for, over and over again I have seen the
+Hibernians among the first to come forward in defence of their priests
+and churches when these were threatened. In the course of his paper Dr.
+Shahan quoted a letter from the Brethren in Ireland, Scotland and
+England to the Brethren in New York. It sent instructions and authority
+to the few brothers in New York to establish branches of their Society
+in America.</p>
+
+<p>These were the qualifications laid down: Members must be Catholic and
+Irish, or of Irish descent. They must be of good moral character, and
+were not to join in any secret societies contrary to the laws of the
+Catholic Church. They were to exercise hospitality towards their
+emigrant brothers and to protect their emigrant sisters from all harm
+and temptation, so that they should still be known for their chastity
+all over the world. The members of the Order in America were to be at
+liberty to make laws for the welfare of the Society, but these must be
+in accord with the teaching of the Church, and their working must be
+submitted to a Catholic priest. The letter says&mdash;"We send you these
+instructions, as we promised to do, with a young man that works on the
+ship and who called on you before." Directing that a copy of the
+document <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>should be sent to another friend, then working in
+Pennsylvania, the letter concluded&mdash;"Hoping the bearer and this copy
+will land safe and that you will treat him right, we remain your
+brothers in the true bond of friendship this 4th day of May, in the year
+of our Lord, 1837"&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">"Patrick M'Guire</span>, County Fermanagh.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"John Reilly</span>, County Cavan.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"Patrick M'Kenna</span>, County Monaghan.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"John Durkin</span>, County Mayo.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"Patrick Reilly</span>, County Derry.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"Patrick Doyle</span>, County Sligo.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"John Farrell</span>, County Meath.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"Thomas O'Rorke</span>, County Leitrim.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"James M'Manus</span>, County Leitrim.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"John M'Mahon</span>, County Longford.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"Patrick Dunn</span>, County Tyrone.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"Patrick Hamill</span>, County Westmeath.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"Daniel Gallagher</span>, Glasgow.<br />
+<span class="smcap">"John Murphy</span>, Liverpool."<br /></p></div>
+
+
+<p>It will be noticed that of the twelve Irish counties represented above,
+six are in the province of Ulster, three in Connaught, and three in
+Leinster, so that the Hibernians appear to have had their stronghold in
+the Northern province and the adjoining counties in Connaught and
+Leinster. This is exactly as one might expect, seeing the necessity for
+a defensive organisation against the Orangemen of Ulster. The Order took
+deep root in Glasgow and Liverpool on account of the convenience of
+access by sea from Ireland to these cities.</p>
+
+<p>I was too young to have known John Murphy, who signed the letter for the
+Liverpool Hibernians, but, from what I knew of these afterwards, it is
+<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>likely that he was a dock labourer. As I will show, these men, over and
+over again, to my own knowledge, gave splendid proofs of their courage
+and love of creed and country. Their love of learning, too, has been
+equal to that of their fathers in the days when our country was "The
+Island of Saints and Scholars." Some of these poor men may not have had
+much learning themselves, but they made great and noble sacrifices that
+their children should have it. I noted with interest in the Irish papers
+recently that the name of the Secretary of the Hibernian Order at the
+Bridge of Mayo, County Down, was "Brother Denvir."</p>
+
+<p>Our country sent over to Liverpool, besides sterling Nationalists, as
+bitter a colony of Irishmen&mdash;I suppose we can scarcely deny the name to
+men born in Ireland&mdash;as were, perhaps, to be found anywhere in the
+world. These were the Orangemen. If there was one place more obnoxious
+to them than another it was the club room of the Hibernians in Crosbie
+Street. But though in their frequent conflicts with the "Papishes" they
+wrecked houses and even killed several Irishmen&mdash;for they frequently
+used deadly weapons against unarmed Catholics&mdash;they were never able to
+make a successful attack on McArdle's. One of my earliest experiences
+was being on the spot on the occasion of a contemplated assault on the
+Hibernian club room on the day of an Orange anniversary. This was in
+1843.</p>
+
+<p>Parallel to Crosbie Street, where the club room was situated, was
+Blundell Street, where my uncle,<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a> Hughey Roney, lived in a house
+immediately behind McArdle's&mdash;the back door of the one house facing the
+back door of the other. This side of the street, with the whole of
+Crosbie Street, has long since been absorbed by the railway company
+before mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot imagine why my mother chose this particular day to take me to
+see our relatives, except it was the inveterate longing which her early
+surroundings and training had given her to assist at the "batin' of an
+Orangeman," or why I should have been the chosen one of the family to
+come, unless it was that she thought I was the one most after her own
+heart in her warlike propensities. However this may have been, there we
+were in the first-floor front room of my Uncle Hughey's. Every room,
+from cellar to garret, was crowded with stalwart dock labourers&mdash;at that
+time these were almost to a man Irish&mdash;prepared to support another
+contingent of Hibernians who garrisoned McArdle's in a similar manner.
+Hearing outside the cry&mdash;"he Orangemen!" I looked out of the window and
+up the street, and there, sure enough, was a strong body of them
+marching down, armed with guns, swords, and ship carpenters' hatchets.
+At once the word was passed to the contingent in Crosbie Street to be
+prepared to meet the threatened attack.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer the Orangemen came. They had got within some thirty
+yards of Roneys when, between them and the object of their attack, out
+of Simpson street, which at this point crosses<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a> Blundell Street at right
+angles, there intervened the head of a column of police, under the
+Liverpool Chief Constable, an Irishman, Michael James Whitty. There was
+a desperate engagement, but, notwithstanding their murderous weapons,
+the Orangemen were utterly routed, flying before the disciplined charge
+of the police, who freely used their batons on their retreating
+opponents.</p>
+
+<p>A few words about Michael James Whitty, who led the charge with right
+good will, may not be inappropriate here. Many years afterwards, when we
+were both engaged in the profession of journalism, I had the pleasure of
+making his acquaintance through my reviewing in the "Catholic Times" a
+very able book of his, a "Life of Robert Emmet." He asked Mr. Thomas
+Gregson, his private secretary, a friend of mine: Who had written this
+review? Upon hearing who it was, he asked Mr. Gregson to bring us
+together. When we met, he told me how pleased he was with my review, and
+that there was somebody on the "Catholic Times" who could appreciate his
+book.</p>
+
+<p>He became Chief Constable of Liverpool in 1828. About this time Messrs.
+Rockliffs published a weekly newspaper called the "Liverpool Journal,"
+which came into the hands of Mr. Whitty after he had resigned the office
+of head constable. An offshoot of the "Journal" was the "Daily Post,"
+which, in Mr. Whitty's hands was (and indeed has been ever since under
+the direction of Sir Edward Russell, who still holds the reins) a
+powerful organ of Liberalism. One of Whitty's sub-editors on the "Daily<a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>
+Post" was Stephen Joseph Meany, a somewhat prominent figure in the Young
+Ireland and Fenian movements.</p>
+
+<p>As showing the power of the Press, there is no doubt that Whitty and
+Meany, in the "Journal" and "Post," and through their influence
+otherwise, did much to secure recognition of a great Irish actor. This
+was Barry Sullivan, who was, I think, the finest tragedian I have ever
+seen. He is still remembered with appreciation by many in England, and,
+I am sure, in Ireland too.</p>
+
+<p>He was a patriotic Irishman, and once offered himself to our committee
+as a Nationalist candidate for the Parliamentary representation of
+Liverpool. This was in the days when it was a three-membered
+constituency. It was only the belief that the sacrifice which he thus
+offered to make for his country would have injured his career as an
+actor that prevented us from accepting his offer.</p>
+
+<p>In my boyhood a great feature in Liverpool was the annual procession of
+one or other of the local societies.</p>
+
+<p>The great Irish and Catholic procession, of which the Hibernians formed
+the largest contingent, was, of course, on St. Patrick's Day. A
+considerable portion of the processionists were dock labourers; a fine
+body of men, who were at this time, as I have already said, mostly
+Irish.</p>
+
+<p>The Orange processions in Liverpool were often the occasion of
+bloodshed, for in them they carried guns, hatchets, and other deadly
+weapons, as if they were always prepared for deeds of violence.<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a> The
+ship carpenters were the most numerous body in the Orange processions.
+Indeed, they formed such a large proportion that, by many, the 12th of
+July was called "Carpenter's Day." Shipbuilding used to flourish in
+Liverpool, and, as none of the firms engaged in it would take a Catholic
+apprentice, it was quite an Orange preserve. This became somewhat
+changed when the Chalenors, an English Catholic family, who were already
+extensive timber merchants, commenced ship-building, and, of course,
+took Catholic apprentices.</p>
+
+<p>The Orange ring was thus gradually broken up, and, as iron ships
+superseded wooden ones, ultimately the shipbuilding trade almost
+vanished from Liverpool. The ship carpenters, for the most part, found
+their occupation gone, and many of them ended their days in the
+workhouse.</p>
+
+<p>A further instance of the decline of rabid Orangeism might be cited. It
+was not an altogether uncommon thing for people to be fired at from the
+windows of Orange lodges. I see, according to the "Nation" of July 20th,
+1850, that "an innkeeper of Liverpool named Wright fired out of his
+house and wounded three people." In justification of this he stated that
+"a crowd of Ribbonmen assembled round his house." At one time there used
+to be a notorious Orange lodge held in a public house called "The Wheat
+Sheaf" in Scotland Road. The members of this body thought nothing of
+firing upon an unarmed and peaceable crowd from the windows, and I
+remember an Irishman being shot dead upon one of these occasions. The
+<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>change that has taken place in this district can be best realized from
+the facts that, in after years, the landlord of "The Wheatsheaf" bore
+the name of Patrick Finegan, that, at the present moment, Scotland Road
+is, as it has been for many years, represented in the City Council by a
+sterling body of Irish Nationalists, and that the Scotland Division of
+the Borough of Liverpool is the <i>one</i> place in Great Britain where an
+Irish Home Ruler, <i>as such</i>, can be returned to Parliament against all
+comers, as Mr. T.P. O'Connor has been, ever since the Division became a
+separate constituency.</p>
+
+<p>To return to the St. Patrick's Day processions. I used to look forward
+to them with delight in my childhood, and, even now, cannot help
+lingering lovingly on their memory. They were splendid displays, which I
+can remember much better than many things which occurred, so to speak,
+but yesterday.</p>
+
+<p>"Our street," which was close to Russell Street, Rodney Street, and
+other thoroughfares through which the procession passed, was by no means
+what you would call an Irish street. Indeed, the most influential man in
+it was a retired sea captain named Jamieson, who, if not an Orangeman
+"all out," was certainly at one time an Orange sympathiser. He and my
+mother often had political discussions, which usually ended in fierce
+quarrels, and when he would swear he would have us "run out of the
+street," she used to threaten to bring up the men from the docks and
+leave not a stone upon a stone of his house. Whether it was through his
+being <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>impressed by her terrible earnestness as a member of the Church
+militant, or whatever else was the reason, Jamieson in the end became a
+Catholic, and died a most edifying death.</p>
+
+<p>Before his conversion, however, as well as after&mdash;Jamieson to the
+contrary notwithstanding&mdash;"our street" always took a lively and
+neighbourly interest in the St. Patrick's procession, and used to turn
+out to a man, to a baby it would, perhaps, be more correct to say, for
+was not one of the chief sights of the procession their decent
+neighbour, Timothy, or, as he was more generally called, "Thade"
+Crowley, the pork butcher, at the corner? There were splendid pictures
+and devices on the banners&mdash;I can see them all most vividly now&mdash;St.
+Patrick, Brian Bora, Sarsfield, O'Connell, the Irish Wolf Dog, with the
+motto "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked," and harps and
+shamrocks <i>galore</i>, but Thade Crowley was in all our eyes the finest
+figure in the procession.</p>
+
+<p>Among his greatest admirers were a Jewish family named Hyman, who lived
+next door to him. Though the Jews are supposed to hold what was
+Crowley's stock-in-trade in abomination, the two old ladies&mdash;Mrs.
+Crowley, who used to say she was of "Cork's own town and God's own
+people," and Mrs. Hyman, who came from Cork, too, though, needless to
+say, without a drop of Irish blood in her veins&mdash;were great cronies.</p>
+
+<p>As a consequence, the Hymans were among the most eager of the spectators
+to get the first glimpse of honest Thade Crowley as he walked in front
+of <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>his own particular lodge of the Hibernians. He was a portly,
+well-built man, of ruddy complexion, and open, genial countenance. He
+wore buckskin breeches, top boots, green tabinet double-breasted
+waistcoat, bottle-green coat with brass buttons, and beaver hat. The
+Crowleys were very popular in the neighbourhood, as they never had but a
+kindly word for everybody.</p>
+
+<p>When I was a small boy, about 9 or 10 years old, I often listened with
+delight to Mrs. Crowley, who had a fluent tongue, expatiating on the
+glories of her native city&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>By the pleasant waters of the River Lee. </p></div>
+
+<p>and I have heard her exclaiming, I at the time believing it most
+implicitly:</p>
+
+<p>"Sin, is it? Sure. I never heard of sin till I came to Liverpool;
+there's no sin in Cor-r-k!"</p>
+
+<p>And she rattled the "r" with a strong rising inflexion, greatly
+impressing me with the high character of Ireland and of Cork in
+particular.</p>
+
+<p>At that time I had never seen Ireland but as an infant at my mother's
+breast.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<h5>IRELAND RE-VISITED.</h5>
+
+
+<p>I was a boy of about 12 when I first re-visited Ireland; and, as the
+steamer entered Carlingford Lough, which to my mind almost equals
+Killarney's beauty&mdash;but that, perhaps, is a Northman's prejudice&mdash;with
+the noble range of the Mourne mountains on the one side and the
+Carlingford Hills on the other, it seemed to my young imagination like a
+glimpse of fairy land.</p>
+
+<p>Carlingford reminded me of what my old masters, the Christian Brothers,
+used to teach us, that those places ending in "ford" had at one time
+been Norse settlements. There is not the slightest trace, I should say,
+of people of Norse descent along this coast now, unless we accept the
+theory that would regard as such the descendants of the Norman De
+Courcy's followers, who can be recognised by their names, and are still
+to be found, side by side, and intermingling with those of the original
+Celtic children of the soil in the barony of Lecale. It is astonishing,
+by the way, how you still find in Ireland, after centuries of successive
+confiscations, the old names in their old tribal lands, mingled in
+places, as in Lecale, with the Norman names; the two races being now
+thoroughly <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>amalgamated&mdash;as distinguished from the case of King James's
+Planters in Ulster, who, to this day are, as a rule, as distinct from
+the population amongst whom they live&mdash;whether of pure Celtic strain or
+with a Norman admixture&mdash;as when first they came.</p>
+
+<p>There was an idea in our family that I had a vocation for the
+priesthood, and I was being sent to my uncle, Father Michael O'Loughlin,
+parish priest of Dromgoolan, County Down, who placed me in charge of Mr.
+Johnson, a somewhat noted classical teacher in the neighbouring little
+town of Castlewellan.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen but little of Ireland, but during the few months I was here
+on this occasion I made the best use of my time. I could have had no
+better guide and preceptor than "Priest Mick," as my mother used to call
+my uncle. I imagine that the term "Priest," which, in the North of
+Ireland, was formerly so much used as a prefix to the name of the
+Catholic clergyman, must have arisen amongst those not of his own flock,
+and was probably not intended to have exactly a respectful meaning.</p>
+
+<p>Father Michael sometimes came to see his relatives in Liverpool, who
+were very numerous. He called them the "Tribe of Brian" (his father's
+name) and he made a point of visiting them all, down to the very latest
+arrival&mdash;indeed, I think he was the only one who knew the whole of the
+ramifications of "the Tribe."</p>
+
+<p>He used to say that his father&mdash;the aforesaid<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a> Brian&mdash;had one of the
+largest noses in the country. There was only another man, he said, who
+could approach him in that respect. If the two men met in a very narrow
+"loanan "&mdash;what they call a "boreen" in other parts of Ireland&mdash;the
+other man, who was a bit of a wag, would put his hand to his nose, and
+make a motion of putting it aside, as if there was not sufficient room
+for two such organs, and call out with a kind of snuffle: "Pass, Brian!"</p>
+
+<p>The late Mgr. O'Laverty, in his "History of the Dioceses of Down and
+Connor," says: "From a government official survey in 1766 there were
+fifteen families in Castlewellan, of whom two only (Hagans and
+O'Donnells) were Catholics." Up to that date there must have been,
+during this century, a considerable clearance of the Catholic population
+from the best land of this district, for I should say&mdash;judging from King
+James's Army List and other authorities&mdash;that the Magennises (who, with
+the MacCartans, were the chief territorial families of the old race in
+Down) still held land in the neighbourhood up to the end of the
+seventeenth century. As still further showing this, it will be found
+that "Eiver Magennis of Castlewellan" was one of the members for the
+County Down in what Thomas Davis truly describes as "The Patriot
+Parliament" of 1689.</p>
+
+<p>The learned historian of Down and Connor gives an interesting account of
+the only Norman colony of any extent in the province of Ulster. I have
+already spoken of this. Notwithstanding the very <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>small Norman
+admixture, in the main the Catholics of the North are the most
+pure-blooded Celts in Ireland. And even in the case of Lecale, the
+original Celtic population intermingled with the descendants of the
+Norman settlers, who, like the older native population have ever
+remained true to the old faith. The preponderance of the Celtic element
+in the Catholics of Ulster must be overwhelming. What is called
+"Protestant Ulster" is practically a foreign importation, which the
+native population never absorbed, as they did the earlier invaders.</p>
+
+<p>Speaking of the Rev. Cornelius (or, as he was oftener called, Corney)
+Denvir, a relative of ours, who afterwards became Bishop of Down and
+Connor, Father O'Laverty says: "The Denvirs are a Norman race, brought
+to Lecale by De Courcy. The late bishop observed the name in several of
+the towns in Normandy."</p>
+
+<p>I only met Bishop Denvir once, when my father&mdash;who was his second
+cousin&mdash;took me to see him at the Grecian Hotel, Liverpool, when he was
+on his way either to or from Rome. I once, when a small boy, incurred my
+father's displeasure by criticising adversely (from what I had read in
+the "Nation") Dr. Denvir's support of what was called the "Bequest
+Bill." There were some strictures in the "Nation" on the favour shown to
+this Bill by three of the Irish Hierarchy, Archbishops Crolly and
+Murray, and Bishop Denvir. The last was a man of great learning. An
+edition of the Bible was published under his auspices by Sims and
+McIntyre, of Belfast.</p>
+
+<p>During my stay in Ireland, I lived in the house <a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>of my uncle, Owen (or
+Oiney, as he was commonly called) Bannon, in the townland of
+Ballymagenaghy, where my mother was born.</p>
+
+<p>No boy could have had a better object lesson in the part of Irish
+history embracing the Plantation of Ulster than Ballymagenaghy. It is
+eminently typical of the kind of rocky and barren land to which the
+children of the soil were driven&mdash;land which would hardly bear
+cultivation. I need scarcely say that the people were "Papishes" to a
+man.</p>
+
+<p>There was a hill behind my Uncle Oiney's house called Carraig
+(pronounced "Corrig"), in English "rock," and the name might well apply
+to most of the townland, in which the chief productions seemed to be
+stones and rocks. Carraig was a kind of shoulder of what I heard the
+people calling "My lord's mountain." This was part of Lord Annesley's
+domain, and separated from Carraig and several small farms by a wall,
+which ran down to a sheet of water at the foot&mdash;Castlewellan Lough. I,
+as a student of the "Nation," was not at all satisfied that an Irish
+mountain should be called by such a name, which spoke volumes for the
+state of serfdom into which the people had fallen. I was not long in
+finding the real name&mdash;Slia&#7683; na Slat (mountain of Rods).</p>
+
+<p>I often looked with admiration at the view from its highest point.
+Underneath, the side of the mountain was clothed with trees down to the
+edge of the lough, which mirrored the wooded eminences of exquisite
+beauty surrounding it. Looking east<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>ward you could see Dundrum Bay and
+the white sails of the fishing boats.(They used to sing a mournful
+lament around the turf fires of Ballymagenaghy of "The loss of the
+Mourne Fishermen" in a great storm off this coast). Further off you
+might see an occasional large sailing vessel or steamer, and, further
+still, in the dim distance, you could just discern the Isle of Man.
+Southward the eye took in the noble range of the Mourne mountains,
+running from east to west, from where, at Newcastle, the Irish sea comes
+to kiss the foot of the lofty Slieve Donard, towering in majesty over
+all his fellows&mdash;rugged sentinels of the hills and vales of Down.</p>
+
+<p>Lying, as if nestling under the Mourne range, was a small, well-wooded
+hill, part of the domain of Lord Roden, who held high rank among the
+Orange ascendancy faction, and, as will be seen later, may be said to
+have held the lives and liberties of his Catholic fellow-countrymen in
+this district in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>In Ballymagenaghy I was oftener called by my mother's name than my
+father's. In those days, as often as not, when a girl got married she
+was still called by her friends by her maiden name. So, on the first
+Sunday after my arrival, when I was taken over to Leitrim chapel, where
+I served my uncle's Mass, I found myself referred to as "Peggy
+Loughlin's wee boy." It did not seem at all strange to me, for I
+scarcely ever heard her called by any other name. Indeed, some forty
+years afterwards&mdash;when I was organising for the<a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a> Irish National
+League&mdash;I met a County Down man in Cumberland. He was, as I soon found,
+from "our own place," as they affectionately call it. He was trying to
+trace out what family I belonged to. At last he had it&mdash;"Oh" he said,
+"You would be a son of Margaret O'Loughlin?" I hesitated for moment,
+when Edward McConvey, the local organiser&mdash;a County Down man, too&mdash;who
+had introduced us, laughed heartily as he said: "Here's a quare man;
+doesn't know his own mother's name!" In fact, I had so seldom heard my
+mother called anything else but "Peggy" that the proper name sounded
+strange for the moment. Indeed, it had evidently taken our friend some
+time to remember the name of "Margaret," which he, no doubt, thought the
+more polite one to use in speaking of my mother.</p>
+
+<p>Her family did not generally use the prefix "O" in her younger days. It
+was only after her two brothers, Bernard and Michael, became priests,
+and always called and signed themselves "O'Loughlin," that the prefix
+was resumed. This is a common experience in other Irish families.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the small holdings in Ballymagenaghy would not support in
+anything approaching to comfort the large families with which the sturdy
+and industrious people were blessed. This was certainly the case with
+the Bannons, but they were not entirely dependent on the land they
+tilled, as several of the family were employed in weaving in a portion
+of the house, the looms being their own. I have often admired the
+beautiful damask <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>table-cloths produced in the homes of these
+"mountainy" people, the webs, when finished, being taken to Banbridge,
+to the warehouses of the manufacturers, and the yarn and the patterns
+for the next lot being brought back on the return journey.</p>
+
+<p>I believe that these cottage industries no longer exist, and that the
+beautiful fabrics, for which our northern province is famous, are now
+produced by steam power in Banbridge and other Ulster towns.</p>
+
+<p>As the young men and boys of the Bannons worked at their looms, and the
+women and girls at their spinning and "flowering," when not wanted to
+help on the land, the father, Oiney, would occasionally go over to
+England as a travelling packman, and so increase the family store. I
+have known in late years other Ulstermen doing this&mdash;amongst others my
+old friend Bernard MacAnulty, of whom I shall have more to say later.</p>
+
+<p>I had often, at my home in Liverpool, heard of Irish hospitality. Here
+in Ballymagenaghy I had many practical illustrations of this in the way
+they treated the "poor man" or "poor woman" as they called them&mdash;they
+never called them beggars&mdash;who came to their doors. Indeed, it seemed
+to me that these had no occasion to <i>ask</i> for help, for more than once I
+have seen a "poor woman" coming in with her bed upon her back, putting
+it down in the warmest corner behind the chimney breast, and making
+herself at home as a matter of course, without going through the
+formality of asking for a night's lodging.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>Of the enormous number of harvestmen who passed every year through
+Liverpool, except from the County Donegal, there were not so many from
+the northern province. The majority were from Connaught. They generally
+landed at the Clarence Dock, Liverpool, a wiry, hardy-looking lot, with
+frieze coats, corduroy breeches, clean white shirts with high collars,
+and blackthorn sticks. I have seen them filling the breadth of Prescot
+Street, as they left the town, marching up like an army on foot to the
+various parts of England they were bound for. This was before special
+cheap trains were run for harvestmen.</p>
+
+<p>At night, in my Irish mountain home, after I had prepared my Latin
+lessons for the following day, and my uncle, aunt, and cousins had left
+off work, I joined with great enjoyment in the family group around the
+turf fire, and listened with rapt attention to songs and stories; my
+favourite among the latter being the adventures of Barney Henvey among
+the fairies in the old rath, or "forth," as they called it, of
+Ballymagenaghy.</p>
+
+<p>I may say that, up to this moment, I have a certain liking for such
+stories&mdash;of course <i>as</i> fairy stories. But, being a boy of enquiring
+mind, I wanted to get at the whole theory of the existence of these
+beings, and, accordingly, this is what I gathered as to the origin,
+present existence, and future state of the "good people," as they called
+them. In "The Irish Fairy Legends," a number of my "Penny Irish
+Library," I find I have dealt with the subject. As the passage gives the
+explanation<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a> I got at my uncle Oiney's more correctly than I can trust
+to my memory to give it now, after a lapse of some sixty years, I may be
+excused for giving the following extract:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The belief is that, in the great rebellion of Lucifer, of the
+spirits who fell from heaven, some, not so guilty as those who
+"went further and fared worse," fell upon our earth, and into the
+air and water that surround it. These are the <i>Fairies</i>, who have
+their various dispositions, like mortals, and like them, at the day
+of judgment, will be rewarded or punished according to their
+deserts. </p></div>
+
+<p>In the "Fairy Legends" I have also given the story of "Barney Henvey"
+mentioned above. There is something like it in the "Ingoldsby Legends,"
+and, no doubt, in the fairy mythologies of other nations, but my story
+is of Irish origin. Heaven only knows through how many ages it has been
+handed down to us. It is one of the fairy stories my mother and
+grandmother used to tell us as long ago as I can remember. I have a
+little grandson who, when smaller, used sometimes to insist when put to
+bed after he had said his "lying-down prayers," upon hearing "Barney
+Henvey" before he went to sleep; and so it will, no doubt, go on, and
+such stories may be told in ages to come, not only in Ireland&mdash;"A Nation
+once again"&mdash;but in every settlement of the Clan-na-Gael throughout the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>Friends and neighbours would come to my uncle Oiney's from beside
+Castlewellan Lough, and over from Dolly's Brae and Ballymagrehan, who,
+after <a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>the day's work, enjoyed going "a cailey." I hope my Gaelic League
+friends will forgive me if I don't give the correct sound of this word,
+but that is my remembrance of how they pronounced it some sixty years
+ago in the County Down.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes at our little gatherings, the "wee boy from England," as the
+neighbours called me, would be asked to read from the "Nation" a speech
+of the Liberator&mdash;the title his countrymen gave O'Connell after Catholic
+emancipation. I was always delighted with this; entering as fully and
+enthusiastically into the spirit of what I read as any of the company.</p>
+
+<p>As often as not, in Ballymagenaghy there would be sung, to the
+accompaniment of fiddle, flute or clarionet, one of those stirring songs
+which, week after week, appeared about this time in the "Nation" from
+the pens of Thomas Davis, and the brilliant young men in O'Connell's
+movement known as the "Young Irelanders "&mdash;songs "racy of the soil,"
+like the "Nation" itself, which stirred the hearts of the Irish race
+like the blast of a trumpet, songs which are still sung by Irish
+Nationalists the world over.</p>
+
+<p>On the Sundays, the Bannons and their next neighbours, the Finegans,
+MacCartans, and MacKays, with their fiddles, flutes, and clarionets,
+supplied the chief part of the instrumental music of the choir&mdash;for
+there was no organ&mdash;at the little mountain chapel at Leitrim, where my
+uncle, Father Michael, officiated. The happy remembrances of those
+Sundays of my boyhood are always brought <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>back to me whenever I read
+T.D. Sullivan's "Dear Old Ireland," which is equally characteristic of
+this corner of the "black North" as of the raciest part of Munster&mdash;more
+especially where he sings:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And happy and bright are the groups that pass</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">From their peaceful homes for miles,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O'er fields, and roads, and hills to Mass,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">When Sunday morning smiles;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And deep the zeal their true hearts feel</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">When low they kneel and pray!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Oh, dear old Ireland!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Blest old Ireland!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Ireland, boys, hurrah!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>But nothing excited my boyish enthusiasm more than the stories of the
+Insurrection of 1798. I was too young to understand much of what my
+grandmother used to tell us about these times before she died. My mother
+was born in 1799, and was the youngest daughter of her family, but her
+eldest sister, my Aunt Mary, wife of Oiny Bannon, was 12 or 14 years old
+at the time of the Rising, and could describe more vividly what she saw
+connected with it than I can now recall incidents in the Repeal and
+Young Ireland Movements.</p>
+
+<p>Listening to her, I could almost fancy I could see my grandfather, Brian
+O'Loughlin, leaving his home with the other Ballymagenaghy men, with
+their pikes and such guns as they could muster, to join the United Irish
+forces previous to the battles of Saintfield and Ballinahinch. At the
+time of my visit to my mother's birthplace, my grandfather's house was
+in the occupation of the family of his youngest son, Edward, and, as a
+pilgrim <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>visiting a sacred spot, I have stood on its floor, as I
+afterwards did on the field of Ballinahinch itself.</p>
+
+<p>My Aunt Mary used to speak of an incident which I have never read of in
+any account of the battle, but I am inclined to believe there was some
+foundation for what she used to tell us. In one part of the engagement
+it seemed as if the bravery of the insurgents would have been crowned
+with a victory as decisive as they had gained at Saintfield, when, by
+some untoward circumstance, the fortunes of the day turned, and, in the
+end, the United Men were defeated. Perhaps what my Aunt Mary told me may
+be some explanation of the turn in the tide of battle. She used to say
+that when it looked as if the United Men were carrying all before them,
+a portion of their forces called out for a "Presbyterian ('Prispatairan'
+she used to call it) Government," that this caused some hesitation among
+the Catholics, that after this the battle went against them, and that
+the day ended in disaster.</p>
+
+<p>The story seems somewhat improbable, as it might be asked how, in the
+excitement of a battle, men of one religion could be distinguished from
+those of another? But this will not seem so unlikely if the
+circumstances arising out of the Ulster Plantation of King James I. be
+remembered. As a consequence of this you will find townlands and
+parishes and whole districts, where the soil is poorest, where the
+people are almost exclusively Catholic, and others where the
+non-Catholic population are in an overwhelming majority. In the United
+forces <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>the men of each locality would have been drilled and trained
+together, and, in the same way would, no doubt, act together on the
+field of battle, so that, without any actual arrangement for that
+purpose, the Catholic or the Presbyterian would, most likely, find
+himself among his own co-religionists.</p>
+
+<p>It is wonderful how the memories of '98 were handed down from one
+generation to another, not only in Ireland, but wherever our people have
+made their homes.</p>
+
+<p>This has been brought home to me in the most forcible possible manner by
+a circumstance which has come to my knowledge only a few months
+since&mdash;so to speak&mdash;after a lapse of over a hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>This is that General James William Denver&mdash;after whom, for his
+distinguished career, the capital of the State of Colorado was called
+Denver City&mdash;had for his grandfather Patrick Denvir, who did a man's
+share in the insurrection of '98, and, for his connection with it, had
+to fly from his native Down to America.</p>
+
+<p>This information I had from General Denver's daughter, replying on
+behalf of her brother, to whom I had written to find if the family were
+of Irish origin. I had some doubt about this, seeing that they spell
+their name with an "e" in the last syllable, whereas we and all of the
+name in the County Down use an "i." The lady's letter was not only
+interesting but most welcome, as showing that they were not only of
+Irish but of patriotic origin. They evidently continue to take an
+interest in the land from which they have sprung, for the <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>lady made
+some enquiries about the late Bishop Denvir, of whom I have already
+spoken.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the United Irish leaders and a large proportion of the rank and
+file in the '98 Rising were Presbyterians, and fought and bled for
+Ireland with the same heroism as their Catholic neighbours, amongst whom
+no name is more cherished in the County Down than that of the Protestant
+General Monroe, who, my Aunt Mary used to tell us, was hanged at his own
+door in 1798. How is it that the sons of the men of 1782 and of
+Grattan's Parliament, and of 1798 were not as good Irishmen as their
+fathers? I think I can give a kind of explanation.</p>
+
+<p>It must be remembered that the era of Grattan's Parliament and of the
+Volunteer movement of 1782, of which present-day Nationalists are so
+proud, was also the era of the Penal laws. Since then the Protestants
+have seen the Irish Catholic rising from the dust of serfdom and
+standing in the attitude of manhood. They have seen him gradually
+obtaining a share in the making of the laws of the land, and, naturally,
+becoming the predominant political power in Ireland&mdash;the Catholics being
+the majority of the population. I may be wrong, but I have a theory that
+many of the Protestants of Ireland&mdash;who once had all the political power
+in their hands, and did not always use it too mercifully in their
+treatment of the rest of their countrymen&mdash;are afraid that if they
+assisted in getting self-government for Ireland the power in the hands
+of the enfranchised majority might be used against them.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>That this is a groundless fear is shown from the fact that no men have
+been more honoured in Ireland than such Protestant leaders as William
+Smith O'Brien, Thomas Davis, John Mitchel, John Martin, Isaac Butt, and
+Charles Stewart Parnell. The same feeling is constantly shown at this
+moment towards distinguished Protestants among the present Irish
+Parliamentary Party.</p>
+
+<p>What has fostered the Anti-Irish feeling among Irish Protestants for the
+last hundred years has undoubtedly been the fell system of Orangeism,
+which has caused so much hatred and bloodshed among men who, whatever
+their race or creed, are now children of the one common soil. The
+Orangeman looked upon himself as part of a foreign garrison, holding the
+"Papishes" in subjection. He was armed with deadly weapons;
+consequently, the defenceless Catholic was almost entirely at his mercy,
+and the Orangeman was but too often backed up in his lawlessness by the
+law and its administrators.</p>
+
+<p>This almost necessitated the existence, as a kind of defence against
+Orangeism, of a body I used to hear them speaking of when I was a boy in
+Ballymagenaghy, called the "Thrashers," which, I imagine, must have been
+some kind of a secret society.</p>
+
+<p>It must have been a sort of survival of these "Thrashers" that my
+friend, Michael Davitt, many years afterwards, came across somewhere in
+the North of England. The incident, as described by him, was both
+amusing and saddening. He addressed them in his capacity as a Fenian
+Organiser. After <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>they had heard him patiently, an old man, the
+spokesman, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me&mdash;do you have Prodestans in this Society of yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," Davitt answered. "We invite all Irishmen."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we'll have nothing to do with yez!"</p>
+
+<p>As my Aunt Mary could relate thrilling stories of '98, so could my own
+mother tell me all about the savagery of Orangemen in her days. She used
+to describe to me the attempts of an Orange procession to pass through
+Dolly's Brae, when she was a young girl, before she left Ireland.
+Dolly's Brae is a kind of rugged defile through which passes the road
+from the town of Castlewellan, which, running westward, divides the
+townlands of Ballymagenaghy and Ballymagrehan. It is an entirely
+Catholic district, and not at all on the ordinary route by which the
+processionists would reach their homes. Yet, in a spirit of aggression,
+and well-armed, as usual, with Orange banners waving, drums beating, and
+bands playing "Croppies lie down," "The Boyne Water," and similar airs,
+this was the district they sought to march through.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that the proposed hostile parade was not altogether
+unexpected. In any case, their approach was heralded by the firing over
+"Papish" houses, as the processionists came towards Dolly's Brae. From
+the heights above they were seen&mdash;my mother being one of the
+watchers&mdash;in sufficient time to have the people of the immediate
+neighbourhood warned of the threatened Orange incursion.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>The defenders of Dolly's Brae had no firearms, as their opponents had,
+but they gathered up any weapons they could to repel the invaders. The
+Orangemen came on, expecting an easy victory. They had got well into the
+defile, and were firing at their opponents, who were in sight before
+them at some distance on the road, and into the houses on each side,
+when they were thrown into confusion by a storm of large stones and
+pieces of rock hurled down the steep sides of the defile upon them by
+assailants who had been up till then invisible.</p>
+
+<p>According to the description of my mother, who was always a militant
+Catholic of the most orthodox description, and a strong physical force
+Irishwoman as well, the Dolly's Brae engagement must have borne some
+resemblance to the battle of Limerick, as described by Thomas Davis:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"The women fought before the men;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Each man became a match for ten;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So back they pushed the villains then</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">From the city of Luimnea&#267;h Lionnglass." </span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>She ought to know, for she was in the thick of the fight. The confusion
+of the Orangemen was turned into a complete rout, and they fled, leaving
+their banners and other trophies in the hands of the mountainy men.</p>
+
+<p>For many years the Orangemen never attempted to go near the place, but,
+with the connivance and active aid of the guardians of the peace, they
+did at last, many years afterwards, appear on the scene again. The
+Orange anniversary was celebrated at<a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a> Tollymore Park, the seat of Lord
+Roden, who was a sort of Orange deity at the time. Tollymore Park is
+some four or five miles south-east of Dolly's Brae, which is in the
+heart of the Catholic district, and, as I have said, far out of the
+direct road of the Orangemen returning to their own homes.</p>
+
+<p>Yet they deliberately took this route. They were a formidable body, well
+armed with guns. At their head was one Beers, the agent of Lord Roden,
+and a magistrate who, for the "protection" of the Orangemen, had under
+his command a strong body of the constabulary and a detachment of
+soldiers. The ordinary Englishman, who knows the police as they are in
+his country as the guardians of the public peace, must not confound them
+with those in Ireland. The Irish constabulary are simply the permanent
+British army of occupation, well armed and drilled, and, physically, as
+fine a body of men as any in the world. These were the forces under the
+command of Lord Roden's agent, for the invasion, for such it was, of a
+peaceful Catholic district.</p>
+
+<p>When the people sought to defend themselves from this invasion as best
+they could, Beers, in his capacity as a magistrate, gave the police and
+soldiers under his command the order to fire&mdash;which they did&mdash;upon the
+people and into their houses. Consequently, what followed was nothing
+short of a butchery, under cover of which the Orangemen wrecked the
+Catholic houses in the glen.</p>
+
+<p>I shall never forget the grief of my mother, at this time residing in
+Liverpool, at reading in the <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>newspapers the names of the victims who
+had been murdered outright or wounded. They were all her next door
+neighbours "at home"&mdash;people she had known from childhood.</p>
+
+<p>The horrible outrage roused universal indignation. In Parliament the
+Irish members demanded a full official enquiry as to how this murderous
+business came to be carried out by a Government official. As a result
+Lord Roden and his agent were deprived of the Commission of the
+Peace&mdash;their offence was too glaring to be entirely overlooked. But to
+the friends of those who had been legally murdered, and the innocent
+people whose houses had been wrecked, this was a cruel mockery. Had the
+criminals been Catholic peasants, they would have been put upon their
+trial for their lives, and, at the very least, sent into penal
+servitude. What confidence could the Catholics of Ulster have in the
+administration of the law, knowing, as they did, that even where they
+were more than able to hold their own against the Orangemen, they were
+sure to be sufferers in the long run, seeing that their opponents would
+be backed up by the forces that should go to preserve law and order.</p>
+
+<p>It is thirty-five years since I last re-visited the County Down. I took
+my son with me. He was nearly of the same age as I was myself when I
+lived in Ballymagenaghy, but I could only show him the site of Oiney
+Bannon's house. It was not the too common case of an eviction, for the
+Annesleys had the reputation of being tolerably good landlords. The
+land, as I have said, was very poor, in fact, if <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>the people got it for
+nothing it would hardly repay cultivation. But it was picturesque, and
+therefore Lord Annesley took some of it into his domain, and these
+barren hills and rocks, when planted with trees, added to the beauty of
+the scenery. The dispossessed tenants got land from him in Clarkhill,
+not far off.</p>
+
+<p>Since that time, judging from the Irish newspapers, there seems to have
+been progress in the right direction, for the little town of
+Castlewellan, where for a short time I went to school, from being a
+place where, in the Penal days, a Catholic was scarcely allowed to live,
+seems to have become a strong Nationalist centre for South Down. This
+was my mother's part of the country. I have seen similar paragraphs
+which proved to me that, in the barony of Lecale, County Down, my
+father's part, the people, though not so demonstrative as the "mountainy
+men," can still, as ever, be relied upon to stand as firm as Slieve
+Donard itself for creed and country.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<h5>O'CONNELL IN LIVERPOOL&mdash;TERENCE BELLEW MACMANUS AND THE REPEAL HALL&mdash;THE
+GREAT IRISH FAMINE.</h5>
+
+
+<p>O'Connell, when passing through Liverpool on his way to Parliament,
+always made the Adelphi Hotel his headquarters, and used to hear Mass
+not far off at the Church of St. Nicholas, or, as it was more generally
+called, "Copperas Hill Chapel," where I used to serve as an altar boy. I
+must have been a very small boy at the time when I first remember the
+Liberator coming to Mass at our Church, for, on one occasion, on
+stretching up to the altar to remove the Missal it was so difficult for
+me to reach that I let it fall over my head.</p>
+
+<p>Without being by any means what is termed a "votheen," O'Connell was a
+faithful and devout son of the Catholic Church. During the many years
+when he was passing through Liverpool, going to and returning from
+Parliament, and on other occasions when he came to Irish gatherings in
+the town, he attended Mass daily whenever possible, and frequently
+approached Holy Communion.</p>
+
+<p>O'Connell spoke several times from the balcony of the Adelphi Hotel.
+From my earliest days I <a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>was an earnest politician, and one of my most
+cherished remembrances is of having been brought by my father to one of
+these gatherings. The Liberator addressed a great multitude, who filled
+the whole square in front, and overflowed into the adjoining streets. My
+recollection of him on this occasion is that of a big man, in a long
+cloak, wearing what appeared to me some kind of a cap with a gold band
+on it. This must have been the famous "Repeal Cap" designed by the Irish
+sculptor, Hogan, who, when investing O'Connell with it at the great
+gathering at Mullaghmast, said: "Sir, I only regret this cap is not of
+gold."</p>
+
+<p>As in our later Irish movements, we frequently had meetings in one or
+other of the Liverpool theatres. O'Connell was, as often as his
+attendance could be secured, the central figure, and drew enormous
+gatherings. At one of these meetings at the Royal Amphitheatre there was
+an attempt by an armed body of Orangemen to storm the platform, on which
+were all our leading Irishmen. Among the most active of these was
+Terence Bellew MacManus, who had all his lifetime been a devoted
+follower and admirer of O'Connell. On this particular night, which was
+long before the unfortunate split into "Old Ireland" and "Young
+Ireland," he had a fine opportunity of displaying his "physical force"
+proclivities in defence of the "moral force" leader.</p>
+
+<p>The Orange attack was of short duration. They were simply cleared out as
+if by an irresistible whirlwind. We have always been able to hold <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>our
+own in Liverpool, when it came to physical encounters against all
+comers. We have generally had some organisation or another&mdash;whether
+constitutional or unconstitutional&mdash;but, apart from this, the nature of
+the employment of our working-men, especially in O'Connell's time,
+brought them together in such a way that large numbers of them knew each
+other, and could act together in case of emergency.</p>
+
+<p>MacManus, who had command of the stewards on the night of the attack,
+knew a number of men like Mick Digney, who was what was called a
+"lumper"&mdash;that is, a contractor in a small way who took work in the
+"lump" and employed men for loading and unloading ships. Digney and
+other friends would find their way for consultation and the making of
+the necessary arrangements beforehand on occasions like this to
+MacManus, whose place of business&mdash;he was an extensive forwarding
+agent&mdash;was one of those half-offices, half-warehouses, which used to be
+in North John Street.</p>
+
+<p>Another class of men who were reliable for such occasions were the
+bricklayers' labourers. Of course, it is different now&mdash;and a sure sign
+that our people are rising in the social scale&mdash;but in those years, and
+long afterwards, I never knew a bricklayers' labourer who was not an
+Irishman.</p>
+
+<p>The frequent mention at these gatherings of a sterling Irishman I knew
+well in after years, Patrick O'Hanlon, reminds me of two friends of my
+father of the same name who belonged to another class of men, the
+wood-sawyers, who, at that time, <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>were mostly Irish. They had not
+exactly the same name as Patrick, for it was not so customary to use the
+O' or Mac in those days as it has since become. Not that Hughey and Ned
+Hanlon did not know that they were entitled to the honourable Gaelic
+prefix, but, with the good nature which is rather too characteristic of
+Irishmen sometimes, those who had preceded them had allowed other people
+to drop the O' in using their name, until it became rather difficult to
+resume it.</p>
+
+<p>Needless to say that Hughey and Ned Hanlon, John Green, Mike Doolan, and
+other wood-sawyers were at the Royal Amphitheatre among MacManus's
+volunteers. The Hanlons, in particular, were fine lathy men, without an
+ounce of spare flesh, but they had sinews of iron. Hughey used to come
+to our house with other neighbours every week to hear the "Nation" read,
+and the songs in it sung to the accompaniment of Harry Starkey's or my
+Uncle John's fiddle. The Hanlons were North of Ireland men, and Hughey
+often used to proudly tell us that the O'Hanlons were the Ulster
+standard-bearers.</p>
+
+<p>At that time, besides the Amphitheatre, where during those years several
+Irish demonstrations were held, a popular place for our gatherings was
+the Adelphi Theatre (previously the "Queen's"), which was in somewhat
+better standing then than afterwards, though it, too, has had within its
+walls most of the Irish leaders of the last half century.</p>
+
+<p>I remember one occasion in particular when O'Connell was, of course, the
+hero of the day, which impressed itself upon my youthful mind the <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>more
+forcibly on account of the presence on the platform of Jack Langan&mdash;of
+whom I have already spoken&mdash;a warm-hearted and generous supporter of the
+great Dan, and the Cause of Repeal. Indeed, we boys regarded the Irish
+champion boxer with the admiration we would have bestowed upon Finn
+MacCool or some other of the ancient Fenians, could they have appeared
+in bodily form amongst us.</p>
+
+<p>Little we then thought that we should be welcoming on the same platform
+the Fenians of our own days.</p>
+
+<p>That meeting in the Adelphi has also been frequently brought back to my
+mind since, because for a long time the "leading man" in the stock
+company at that theatre was Edmond O'Rourke (stage name Falconer), a
+sterling Nationalist, with whom I made a closer acquaintance in later
+years.</p>
+
+<p>I was often brought by my father to the weekly gatherings in the Repeal
+Hall, Paradise Street, where, among the speakers on the Sunday nights I
+can best remember were Terence Bellew MacManus, Patrick O'Hanlon, Dr.
+Reynolds, George Smyth, and George Archdeacon.</p>
+
+<p>MacManus and Smyth (the latter of whom I knew well in after years),
+besides being prominent workers in O'Connell's agitation for Repeal of
+the Union between Ireland and Great Britain, took active parts in the
+"Young Ireland" movement. Dr. Reynolds was another of the Young
+Irelanders. So also was Archdeacon, who, in addition, still showed his
+belief in physical force by his connection with Fenianism, for which he
+suffered imprisonment.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>Young as I was, I shall never forget the days of the Famine, for
+Liverpool, more than any other place outside of Ireland itself, felt its
+appalling effects. It was the main artery through which the flying
+people poured to escape from what seemed a doomed land. Many thousands
+could get no further, and the condition of the already overcrowded parts
+of the town in which our people lived became terrible, for the wretched
+people brought with them the dreaded Famine Fever, and Liverpool became
+a plague-stricken city. Never was heroism greater than was shown by the
+devoted priests&mdash;English as well as Irish&mdash;in ministering to the sick
+and dying. So terrible was the mortality amongst them that several of
+the churches lost their priests twice over. Our own family were nearly
+left orphans, for both father and mother were stricken down by the
+fever, but happily recovered.</p>
+
+<p>It will not be wondered at that one who saw these things, even though he
+was only a boy, should feel it a duty stronger than life itself to
+reverse the system of misgovernment which was responsible.</p>
+
+<p>There was, no doubt, a good deal of English sympathy for the
+famine-stricken people, and there were some remedial measures by
+Parliament&mdash;totally inadequate, however, but I am afraid that the
+"Times" and "Punch," two great organs of public opinion, but too
+faithfully represented the feelings of many of our rulers. The "Times"
+actually gloated over what appeared to be the impending extinction of
+our race. Young as I then was, but learning my weekly lessons from the<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>
+"Nation," I can remember how my blood boiled one day when I saw in a
+shop window a cartoon of "Punch"&mdash;a large potato, which was a caricature
+of O'Connell's head and face, with the title&mdash;"The Real Potato Blight."</p>
+
+<p>At the time of the Rising of 1848 I was commencing my apprenticeship
+with a firm of builders, who were also my father's employers. They were
+successors to the firm through whose agency he had been sent to Ireland
+as clerk of the works, just previous to my birth there. It was the
+custom of the firm, when a boy came to commence his apprenticeship to be
+a joiner, to keep him in the office for a time as office boy. I was
+employed in the office at the time of the Rising, but one of the
+partners in this firm of builders, who was also an architect, seeing
+that I had had a good education, and, through attending evening classes
+at the Catholic Institute and Liverpool Institute, had a considerable
+knowledge of mathematics and architectural drawing, gave me employment
+which was more profitable to the firm and congenial to me than that of
+an ordinary office boy or junior clerk. Besides helping in the ordinary
+clerical work in the office, I was put to copying and making tracings of
+ground plans, elevations and sections of buildings, and working drawings
+for the use of the artizans, besides assisting in surveying. I was about
+three years employed in this way before entering into the joiners'
+workshop. The firm was most anxious that I should remain in the office
+altogether, and I have often thought since that my father made a
+<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>mistake in insisting that I should learn the trade of a joiner, which
+he considered a more certain living than that of an architect or
+draughtsman, unless one had influential connections.</p>
+
+<p>It was from the upper window of the office where I was at the work I
+have described that I could see the men belonging to our firm drilling
+as special constables in the school yard opposite, in anticipation of
+trouble in connection with an Irish Rising.</p>
+
+<p>The authorities were evidently preparing for a formidable outbreak in
+Liverpool, for there was a large military camp at Everton&mdash;a suburb of
+the city&mdash;and three gunboats in the river ready for action, in case any
+part of the town fell into the hands of the Irish Confederates. Special
+constables, as in the case of our own firm, were being sworn in all over
+the town, and the larger firms were putting pressure upon their
+employees to be enrolled. Indeed, some 500 dock labourers were
+discharged because they would not be sworn in. My father declined to be
+a special constable, but suffered no further from this than becoming a
+suspect&mdash;his services being too valuable to be dispensed with by his
+employers.</p>
+
+<p>He was a genuinely patriotic Irishman, steadfast in his political creed,
+though unostentatious in his professions, being more a man of action
+than of words. My mother, as I think I have already sufficiently
+indicated, was, on the other hand, more demonstrative. I think she must
+have had a positive genius for conspiracy. Whatever the movement was she
+must have a hand in it. On one <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>occasion&mdash;I forget exactly what it
+was&mdash;some compromising documents had to be got out of the way for the
+time being. In those days sloops used to come over from Ireland with
+potatoes, and the cargoes used to be sold on the quay at the King's
+Dock. She often bought a load of potatoes here to supply a small general
+shop which she kept to help out my father's earnings. It was under such
+a load of potatoes that she had brought home that she concealed the
+dangerous documents.</p>
+
+<p>It was in June, 1848, in the columns of the "Nation" that I first met
+with the name of Bernard MacAnulty. In after years I worked in
+successive national movements with him, and ever found him a dear friend
+and most active and enthusiastic colleague. As showing that he was a man
+of advanced proclivities, I may mention that he wrote to the "Nation"
+suggesting the formation of the "Felon Repeal Club" in
+Newcastle-on-Tyne. From then up to the last day of his life he was the
+same generous whole-souled Irishman he had been from the beginning. His
+stalwart frame and pleasant, genial face were well known during the
+whole of the Home Rule movement, in which I was thrown into frequent
+contact with him, when we were both members of the Executive of the Home
+Rule Confederation of Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>He was a North man, from the County Down, a successful merchant&mdash;having
+started life as a packman&mdash;in Newcastle-on-Tyne, and so won the respect
+of all classes that he was elected a member of the Town Council, in
+which he served with great <a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>credit. The northern Catholic, who is so
+often a pure Celt, is sometimes credited with having acquired some of
+the qualities of his Presbyterian neighbours of Lowland Scots
+extraction. But this is only on the surface, and Bernard MacAnulty was a
+typical example of this. No braver or more generous Irishman ever
+breathed, and he had a fund of humour which would have done credit to
+the quickest-witted Connaughtman or Munsterman that ever lived. Though
+the Ulster accent is generally regarded as a hard one, I never thought
+it was so with my friend. Perhaps this is owing to my partiality as a
+County Down man, which, though born in Antrim, I always consider myself,
+Down being the native place of my people from time immemorial. I have
+always thought that the people born and reared, as Bernard was, among
+the Mourne Mountains and their surroundings have anything but an
+unmusical accent.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with the Fenian movement my dear old friend was a strong,
+active, and generous sympathiser. His purse was always available for
+every good National object, whether "legal" or "illegal," and I know as
+a fact that many a good fellow "on the run" found shelter under his
+roof, and never went away empty-handed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+
+<h5>THE "NO-POPERY" MANIA&mdash;THE TENANT LEAGUE&mdash;THE CURRAGH CAMP.</h5>
+
+
+<p>The restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy, September 29th, 1850, brought
+on what appeared to us one of John Bull's periodical fits of lunacy. I
+witnessed many scenes of mob violence at the time, when, in deference to
+the prevailing bigotry in opposing what they termed "Papal Aggression" a
+part of the Penal Laws were revived in Lord John Russell's
+Ecclesiastical Titles Act. In due course John got over his paroxysm, and
+the Act was repealed.</p>
+
+<p>But for a time the storm of bigotry raged fiercely, and, as the
+following incident will show, while the mania lasted even the police
+were not entirely free from it.</p>
+
+<p>The site of the noble Gothic edifice, Holy Cross Church, Great Crosshall
+Street, Liverpool, was, at this time, occupied by a ramshackle place
+made into a temporary chapel out of a number of old houses. It was so
+constructed that from any part you could see the altar, if you could not
+always hear Mass.</p>
+
+<p>This was not, however, an unusual thing in Liverpool in the old days,
+particularly in the Famine <a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>years, when our panic-stricken people came
+into Liverpool like the wreck of a routed army.</p>
+
+<p>The chief feature of the old Holy Cross Chapel was a long narrow flight
+of stairs, leading from Standish Street, the side street off Great
+Crosshall Street, up to a higher part of the building which served the
+purpose of a gallery.</p>
+
+<p>The famous Dr. Cahill came to Holy Cross to preach, and every part of
+the building was crowded to suffocation. In the middle of the sermon an
+alarm was raised of a broken beam or something of the kind, and the
+people commenced to rush down the narrow stairs in a state of panic.</p>
+
+<p>Such of them as could crush their way out, instead of being assisted,
+were set upon and assaulted with their batons by several policemen, who
+were in the street outside. So great was the indignation in the town,
+that a public inquiry was held, and it was proved that the police not
+only brutally struck men, women and children, but even a blind man who
+was trying to grope his way out. They also used foul expressions about
+"Popery" and the "bloody Papists," and it was afterwards proved that
+these very men had themselves raised the alarm, apparently to get an
+excuse for breaking the heads of the unfortunate people. An honest
+police official, whose duty it afterwards became to make a report of
+what had occurred, came upon the scene, and did what he could to stop
+the brutality.</p>
+
+<p>When Dowling, the head constable, came to the police office next
+morning, and saw the official report in the book kept for the purpose,
+he caused <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>the leaf containing it to be torn out, and another report by
+one Sergeant Tomlinson to be substituted for it. Mr. Mansfield, the
+stipendiary magistrate, who conducted the inquiry, denounced Dowling and
+Tomlinson for what he called "the disgraceful and discreditable
+suppression of the report which," he added, "was no doubt true. He had
+never heard of more disgraceful proceedings in his life."</p>
+
+<p>Pending a fuller investigation, the police office books were impounded,
+and, as a result of the inquiry, several of the police were suspended.
+Dowling was dismissed from his post as head constable of Liverpool, and
+lost a retiring pension which, if all had been well with him, he would
+have come in for a short time afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>An amusing story is told of a Liverpool daily paper in those days. It
+was struggling with adversity, and the manager, a worthy Scotsman, sat
+in his office on Monday morning with the weekly statement before him,
+showing increasing expense and decreasing revenue.</p>
+
+<p>To him entered a Liverpool parson&mdash;very determined and very menacing. He
+had asked for the editor, but that gentleman had not yet come down, and
+the manager was the only person in authority visible, so he had to make
+shift with him.</p>
+
+<p>"I am here," the parson said, "as the mouthpiece of a large number of
+people who are not satisfied with the attitude of the 'Liverpool &mdash;&mdash;'
+on the great question of the hour&mdash;Whether Popery is to dominate our
+liberties or are we to crush Popery?"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>"Yes," said the manager, wearily, his mind still on the balance sheet.
+"What do you complain of?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to tell you, sir," said the parson, with impressive emphasis,
+"that only this morning I have heard the belief expressed by merchants
+on 'Change that the 'Liverpool &mdash;&mdash;' is actually in the pay of the Pope
+of Rome!"</p>
+
+<p>In a second a ray of light seemed to irradiate the gloom of the
+manager's soul, as he contemplated in a flash of thought the untold
+treasures of the Vatican&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Man!" he exclaimed fervently, "I wish to Heaven it was!"</p>
+
+<p>But the numerous exhibitions of bigotry stirred up in connection with
+Lord John Russell's Ecclesiastical Titles Act were of trifling
+consequence compared with the injury done to the Irish people arising
+out of the same Act. For it led to the ruin of the Tenant Right
+agitation in Ireland, in which the Irish people, Protestant as well as
+Catholic, had been united as they had not been since 1798 and the days
+of Grattan's Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>For the Tenant League and the Irish Party in Parliament had in their
+ranks some of the greatest rascals who had ever disgraced Irish
+politics. These, while posing as the champions of Catholicity in
+opposing Lord John Russell's bill, were simply working for their own
+base ends, and were afterwards known and execrated as the Sadlier-Keogh
+gang.</p>
+
+<p>Their infamous betrayal of the Irish tenantry dashed the hopes and
+destroyed the union of North <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>and South from which so much was expected,
+besides creating a distrust in constitutional agitation which lasted for
+nearly a generation.</p>
+
+<p>The after fate of the Sadlier-Keogh gang&mdash;including the suicide of John
+Sadlier and the scarcely less wretched end of Keogh&mdash;have ever since
+been terrible object-lessons to the Irish people.</p>
+
+<p>In his later years I enjoyed the friendship of one of the most
+distinguished of the Tenant Right leaders, who had also played a
+prominent and honourable part in the Repeal and Young Ireland movements.
+This was Charles Gavan Duffy, whom I met after his return from
+Australia.</p>
+
+<p>It was the Sadlier-Keogh treason, their selling themselves to the
+Government after the most solemn promises to the contrary, and the way
+in which their conduct had been condoned by so many of the hierarchy,
+clergy and people of Ireland, that caused Gavan Duffy to lose heart for
+the time, and to declare, as he left the country, in memorable
+words&mdash;"that there was no more hope for Ireland than for a corpse on the
+dissecting table."</p>
+
+<p>But, as I learned from his own lips on his return to this country, he
+never lost sight of the National movement while in Australia, where he
+became first Minister of the Crown in a self-governing colony; and, on
+his return, his old hope for the success of our Cause had, he assured
+me, revived.</p>
+
+<p>Charles Gavan Duffy having sailed for Australia on the 6th of November,
+1855, John Cashel Hoey succeeded him as editor of the "Nation," he
+having, as one of his colleagues, Alexander Martin Sullivan, <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>who
+afterwards became sole proprietor and responsible editor.</p>
+
+<p>"A.M." Sullivan, as he was always called, was an upright man, who had a
+very clear conception of his own policy in Irish matters. He frankly
+accepted the British constitution, and worked inside those lines. To me,
+when my country was concerned, the British constitution (with the making
+of which neither I nor my people had ever had anything to do) was a
+matter of very little moment. Any work for Ireland that commended itself
+to my conscience and was practicable was good enough. Nevertheless, it
+will ever be to me a source of pride that, from the moment when we first
+knew each other to the hour of his death, we were the closest friends.</p>
+
+<p>In connexion with the "Papal aggression" mania, Cardinal Wiseman was the
+central figure against whom the storm of bigotry was chiefly directed. I
+remember with pleasure that I took part in the reception given to him in
+Liverpool by Father Nugent and the students of the Liverpool Catholic
+Institute, by whom the Cardinal's fine play of "The Hidden Gem" was
+performed in the Hall of the Institute during his stay in town. The
+bringing of the Cardinal to Liverpool was only one of the many occasions
+when the good Father was the medium through whom, from time to time, a
+number of distinguished Catholics and Irishmen were brought into
+intimate contact with their co-religionists and fellow-countrymen in the
+town for the advancement of some worthy object connected <a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>with creed or
+nationality&mdash;most frequently with both.</p>
+
+<p>I have described the St. Patrick's Day annual processions in Liverpool.
+Notwithstanding some grand features in connection with them, they were,
+unfortunately, sometimes the occasion of rioting and intemperance.
+Father Nugent was of Irish parentage and sympathies, and possessed of
+great zeal, capacity, energy and eloquence. He determined to make a new
+departure in celebrating the national anniversary, for though the
+processions were magnificent displays, and it was not the fault of their
+promoters if ever there was any scandal arising out of them, still there
+was much that was inconsistent with a worthy celebration of the feast of
+the national saint of Ireland. Calling a number of young Irishmen
+together, of whom I was one, he, with their help, organised on a grand
+scale a festival which was held in one of the large public halls of the
+town. So successful was the first of these that they became an annual
+institution, which superseded the previous out-door celebrations.</p>
+
+<p>On these occasions there were selections of Irish music and song, and
+oratory from some distinguished Irishman, with an eloquent and stirring
+panegyric on St. Patrick from Father Nugent himself, making a more
+creditable and enjoyable celebration of the national festival than had
+ever been held in the town before.</p>
+
+<p>Such celebrations as these (which have for many years past been held
+under the auspices of the Irish national political organisation of the
+day), <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>have become common in the Irish centres of Great Britain. Indeed,
+it has become one of the recognised duties of the members of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party to hold themselves in readiness to be drafted off to
+one or another of these gatherings, which are the means of keeping
+steadily burning the fire of patriotism in the breasts of our people.
+And what is of consequence from a financial point of view, the proceeds
+of these gatherings help to provide the sinews of war for carrying on
+the Home Rule campaign in Great Britain. For over half a century, from
+the time when I assisted Father Nugent with his first celebration, I
+took an active part in organising these gatherings in many places.</p>
+
+<p>I said at the commencement that I knew little of Ireland from personal
+contact with it. Born there, I was too young to remember being brought
+to England. For some months I was there again, as I have already
+mentioned, as a boy of twelve, under the care of my uncle, the Rev.
+Michael O'Loughlin. I had often desired to see more of Ireland, and,
+singularly enough, it was the Crimean War that gave me the opportunity
+of spending another three months there in the summer of 1855.</p>
+
+<p>A large firm in Liverpool had part of the contract for erecting the
+wooden houses and other buildings at the camp being erected on the
+Curragh of Kildare at the time of the war. I made application, and, with
+my brother Bernard, was employed to go there. Reaching the Curragh, we
+found that many of the men slept in the huts they were erecting, being
+supplied by the contractors with the requisite bed <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>and bedding. The
+contractors also erected a large "canteen," to be used afterwards by the
+military where the workmen could be supplied with food and drink&mdash;too
+much drink sometimes. These arrangements for food and sleeping were
+somewhat necessary, as the nearest towns, Kildare, Kilcullen, and
+Newbridge were each some three miles off.</p>
+
+<p>But we were anxious to see as much of the country and of the people as
+we could, and, besides, did not care for the mixed company sleeping in
+the huts. We therefore managed to secure lodgings with the Widow Walsh,
+on the road leading from the Curragh to Suncroft. The widow's husband
+had but recently died, leaving her a pretty good farm, and, with the aid
+of her family&mdash;one of them a fine, grown-up young man&mdash;she was able to
+hold on to the land. But the ready cash she got from the Curragh men who
+came to lodge with her was useful too. It was a good big house of the
+kind, and the widow made use of every available inch of it, so that she
+had about a dozen of us in all. Mrs. Walsh, though an easy-going soul
+herself, had a fine bouncing girl to help her, but, with a dozen hungry
+men coming with a rush at night, it used to be a scramble for the
+cooking utensils, as we were largely left to our own devices. We used to
+leave early in the morning for our work on the Curragh, taking with us
+the materials for our breakfasts and dinners. As to the cooking, some
+went to the canteen, while others got their meals wherever they happened
+to be working. As there were plenty of chips and small cuttings of wood,
+only fit for that purpose, we used <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>to make of these big fires on the
+short grass, and we boiled our water for tea or coffee and our eggs, and
+frizzled our chops or bacon at the end of a long stick.</p>
+
+<p>I have mentioned before that whenever one finds work particularly
+laborious he is fairly certain to find Irishmen at it. It was so at the
+Curragh. When a carpenter or joiner lays down the boarding of a floor,
+if there is only a small quantity of it he planes it down himself to
+make an even surface. But if there is a large quantity this does not
+pay, and the contractor brings in another artist called a "flogger,"
+who, in nine cases out of ten, in my time, was an Irishman. It was
+generally given out as "piece work" to one man, the "master-flogger," as
+you might term him, who employed the others. One of these, a very decent
+Irishman, Tom Cassidy, whom I had known in Liverpool, had the contract
+for the work at the Curragh Camp, and he had about a score of his
+fellow-countrymen working for him.</p>
+
+<p>Going back to Liverpool for a holiday, while my brother and I were still
+at the Curragh, honest Tom called on my father and mother, who knew him
+well. They were glad to hear that he was lodging at the Widow Walsh's,
+and could tell them all about their boys. This he could do most
+truthfully without letting his imagination run away with him. "Aye,
+indeed," he said, "Barney and John are lodging in the one house with me,
+with a decent widow woman, and many a glass we had together at Igoe's."
+Tom had put in this bit of "local colouring" about Igoe's to show the
+good fellowship <a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>between us, but as their sons were both teetotalers,
+the old people knew that this could not be true, and the rest of his
+story was somewhat discredited in consequence.</p>
+
+<p>Igoe's was a public house just on the corner of the road leading from
+the Curragh to Suncroft. What between the workmen at the Camp and the
+soldiers and the militia, Igoe's must have been doing a roaring trade at
+this time. Which reminds me that I one day saw John O'Connell (son of
+the Liberator), then a captain in the Dublin militia, trying to get a
+lot of his men, who were the worse for liquor, out of Igoe's. It could
+not be said that he did not give an edifying example to his men, for I
+saw him, on another occasion, going to Holy Communion, at the Soldiers'
+Mass, where the altar was fixed up under a verandah in the officers'
+quarter, the men being assembled in the open square in front. He was a
+well-meaning man, and tried to carry on the Repeal Association after his
+father's death, but it soon collapsed, for the mantle of Dan was
+altogether too big for John.</p>
+
+<p>Although he generally showed himself bitterly opposed to the Young
+Irelanders, he was a poetical contributor to the "Nation," where I find
+him represented by two very fine pieces&mdash;"Was it a Dream?" and "What's
+my Thought Like?" In the latter piece he pictures Ireland&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">No longer slave to England! but her sister if she will&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Prompt to give friendly aid at need, and to forget all ill!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But holding high her head, and, with serenest brow,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Claiming, amid earth's nations all, her fitting station now.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>I never met his brother Maurice, but I could imagine his a more
+congenial spirit with the "Young Irelanders" than any other of the
+O'Connell family. He, too, is represented in "The Spirit of the Nation"
+by his rousing "Recruiting Song of the Irish Brigade" which, sung to the
+air of "The White Cockade," has always been a favourite of mine.</p>
+
+<p>A fine, genial old priest, full of gossip and old-time stories, was
+Father MacMahon, of Suncroft. If he met one of us on the road he would
+stop to have a gossip, and was always delighted when he found, as he
+often did, along with an English tongue an Irish heart. From him it was
+I heard the legend of St. Brigid's miraculous mantle and the origin of
+the Curragh&mdash;how the saint, to get "as much land as would graze a poor
+man's cow" made the very modest request from the king for as much ground
+as her mantle would cover; how he agreed, and she laid her mantle down
+on the "short grass;" how, to the king's astonishment, it spread and
+spread, until it covered the whole of the ground of what is now the
+Curragh; and how it would have spread over all Ireland but that it met
+with a red-haired woman, and that, as everybody knows, is unlucky.
+Whenever, in our rambles along the country roads we afterwards met a
+red-haired woman, we used to wonder was she a descendant of the female
+who stopped the growth of the Curragh of Kildare.</p>
+
+<p>Father MacMahon could also tell us of the gallant fight made by the men
+of Kildare, and the massacre of the unarmed people on the Curragh in
+1798.<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a> Many of the men from the Curragh used to come to Mass on Sundays
+at Suncroft, and often in his sermons&mdash;which were none the less edifying
+because they were given in the same free and easy style as his gossips
+with us on the road&mdash;he would tell his people of the talks he had had
+with the men from the Camp, and what good Irishmen he found among them.
+They, in their turn, were very fond of the good father, and most of them
+took a practical way of showing their feeling when it came to the
+offertory.</p>
+
+<p>Dear old Father MacMahon! I took up an Irish Church Directory the other
+day and looked for the little village of Suncroft, in the dioceses of
+Kildare and Leighlin, to see if your name was still there, foolishly
+forgetting that it is over fifty years since we met&mdash;you an old man and
+I a young one. I am an old man now, and you&mdash;you dear good old
+soul&mdash;must have gone to your reward long ago, where you in your turn
+will be hearing from St. Brigid herself, and from the fine old Irish
+king who gave the Curragh, the true story of the miraculous mantle; and
+how the king did not make such a bad bargain after all, for, in exchange
+for his gift, he now, doubtless, has what St. Brigid promised, a kingdom
+far greater than even her mantle would cover&mdash;the Kingdom of Heaven.</p>
+
+<p>On Sundays we used to have long walks. We did not often go near
+Newbridge&mdash;it was too much like an ordinary English military station. We
+preferred going to Kildare, where stands the first Irish Round Tower I
+ever saw, and where the fine old ruined <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>church of St. Brigid put us in
+mind of the patron saint of Ireland; or to Kilcullen, where the brave
+Kildare pikemen routed General Dundas in 1798; and to others of the
+neighbouring places. We reviewed, too, every part of the famous Curragh
+itself, so full of memories&mdash;glorious and sad&mdash;of Irish history.</p>
+
+<p>As fast as we finished them, the huts we were building were occupied by
+the military, and, whether regulars or militia, I found among them,
+driven to wear the uniform by stress of circumstances, as good Irishmen
+as I ever met. Coming home from work one evening, I met on the road to
+the Curragh a party of them, carrying, for want of a better banner, a
+big green bush, and singing "The Green Flag." Then, as they came in
+sight of the famous plain itself, a man struck up:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Where will they have their camp?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14em;">Says the <i>Shan Van Voct</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>When, as if moved by one impulse, all joined in:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">On the Curragh of Kildare,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">And the boys will all be there,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">With their pikes in good repair&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14em;">Says the <i>Shan Van Voct</i>!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"Igoe's porter!" a cynic might say. True, there may have been a glass or
+two and a little harmless rejoicing, but this was too spontaneous to be
+anything but the outpouring of the good, honest warm hearts of the poor
+fellows, burning with love for the land that bore them.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>Peter Maughan, who, like myself, was a house joiner, working at the
+Curragh, had similar experiences. Indeed, you might say that he was then
+qualifying himself for the part he very efficiently filled some years
+later in the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, as recruiting officer
+among the soldiery of Britain. Of course, he found scoundrels amongst
+them too, for, as the history of the Fenian movement shows, he was
+himself betrayed and sent to penal servitude.</p>
+
+<p>Before I returned to England I had a most interesting tour through the
+South of Ireland, that being, I may say, the most I have ever actually
+seen of my own country. Having a taste for drawing, I took sketches of
+the various noted places I visited, which I preserved for many
+years&mdash;the most cherished remembrances of my visit to the "old sod."</p>
+
+<p>After returning from the Curragh to Liverpool, I married there and
+carried on business on my own account for several years as a joiner and
+builder, before taking service with Father Nugent, first as secretary of
+his Boy's Refuge, and then as conductor for some three years of his
+newspaper, the "Northern Press and Catholic Times."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+
+<h5>THE IRISH REVOLUTIONARY BROTHERHOOD&mdash;ESCAPE OF JAMES STEPHENS&mdash;PROJECTED
+RAID ON CHESTER CASTLE&mdash;CORYDON THE INFORMER.</h5>
+
+
+<p>The trials in 1859, following the arrests in connection with the Ph&oelig;nix
+movement, with which the name of Jeremiah O'Donovan (called also
+"Rossa," after his native place) was identified, were the first public
+manifestations of what developed into the great organisation known in
+America as the Fenian Brotherhood, and, on this side of the Atlantic as
+the I.R.B., or Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood.</p>
+
+<p>Many years afterwards "Rossa" called at the office of the Irish National
+League in London, to see his old fellow-conspirator, James Francis
+Xavier O'Brien, then General Secretary of the constitutional
+organisation for the attainment of "Home Rule." As I was chief organiser
+for the League in Great Britain, and was in the, office at the time, I
+was introduced to his old comrade (who had, he said, often heard of me)
+by "J.F.X.," as we used to call him, and it was to me a delightful
+experience to hear the two old warriors, who had done and suffered so
+much for Ireland, fighting their battles over again.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>I was sitting in my office in Father Nugent's Refuge one day, about the
+beginning of 1866, when my old friend, John Ryan, was shown in to me.</p>
+
+<p>As we had not seen each other for several years, our greeting was a most
+cordial one. Though we had not met, I had heard of him from mutual
+friends from time to time as being actively connected with the physical
+force movement for the freedom of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>During this time I had often wished to see him, and I found that exactly
+the same idea had been in <i>his</i> mind regarding me; our object being the
+same&mdash;my initiation into the ranks of the Irish Revolutionary
+Brotherhood, of which he was an organiser.</p>
+
+<p>A word perhaps is due here&mdash;for I wish to pay respect to the opinion of
+every man&mdash;to those Irishmen who call themselves loyalists. On close
+analysis their language and arguments appear to me to be meaningless. A
+study of the history of the world and of the origins of civil power show
+that there is only one thing that is recognisable as giving a good and
+stable title to any government, and that is the consent of the governed.</p>
+
+<p>A man who is a member of a community owes a duty to the community in
+return for the benefit arising out of his membership, but his
+duty&mdash;which he may call loyalty if he pleases&mdash;is proportionate to the
+share which he possesses in the imposition of responsibilities upon
+himself. The application of this to Ireland is obvious, and it explains
+why in so many cases a man who has been a rebel in<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a> Ireland has
+afterwards risen to the highest place in the self-governing communities
+which are called British colonies. To put it in another way, a community
+of intelligent men must be self-governing, or else it will be a
+forcing-house for rebels. I don't see any third way.</p>
+
+<p>As I have before suggested, the two questions that have always presented
+themselves to me in connection with work for Ireland have been&mdash;first,
+is it right? Second, is it practicable? In joining the I.R.B. I had no
+doubt on either ground. As to the first, the misgovernment of Ireland,
+of which I had seen the hideous fruits in the Famine years and
+emigration, was ample justification. As to the second, there was every
+likelihood of the success of the movement. It will be remembered that
+during these years the great Civil War in America was going on, in which
+many thousands of our fellow-countrymen, were engaged on both sides,
+mostly, however, for the North. A great number of these had entered into
+this service chiefly with the object of acquiring the military training
+intended to be used in fighting on Irish soil for their country's
+freedom. Such an opportunity seemed likely to arise, for during this
+time the "Alabama Claims" and other matters brought America and England
+to the verge of war. Had such a conflict arisen, one result of it, as
+Mr. Gladstone and other British statesmen could not but have foreseen,
+would probably be the severance of the connexion, once for all, between
+Ireland and Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>John Ryan, knowing me so well, felt tolerably assured that no argument
+from him would be required to induce me to join the I.R.B.;
+consequently, one of the first things he did was, at my request, to
+administer to me the oath of allegiance to the Irish Republic, as the
+saying went, "now virtually established."</p>
+
+<p>After this we had a long <i>seanchus</i>, I telling him of all that had
+happened among our friends during his frequent absences from Liverpool,
+and he describing to me many of the adventures of himself and other
+prominent men in the movement, which were to me both interesting and
+exciting. Among these were his assistance in the escape of James
+Stephens, of which I will speak later.</p>
+
+<p>Before we parted, he arranged with me for my acting in Liverpool as a
+medium of communication in the organisation. In this way I was, for
+several years, brought into constant contact with the leaders, nearly
+all of whom I met from time to time.</p>
+
+<p>I think the most capable Irishmen I ever met were the various members of
+the Breslin family, with several of whom I was intimately acquainted.
+Bravest among the brave, as they proved themselves at many a critical
+moment, there were none more prudent. John Breslin was hospital steward
+in Richmond Prison when James Stephens, the Fenian chief, was imprisoned
+there awaiting his trial.</p>
+
+<p>John Devoy was the man who successfully carried through, under the
+direction of Colonel Kelly, the outside arrangements in connection with
+the escape of the C.O.I.R. (Chief Organiser of <a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>the Irish Republic), as
+he was called, in the early morning of the 24th of November, 1865.</p>
+
+<p>But John Breslin it was who, with the assistance of Daniel Byrne, night
+watchman, actually set Stephens free. Byrne was arrested and put upon
+his trial for aiding the escape of Stephens, but nothing could be
+brought home to him, and, after two successive juries had disagreed on
+his case, he was released. Breslin, the chief instrument in the rescue,
+was not suspected. He simply bided his time until he took his annual
+holiday, from which he never returned, leaving the country before there
+was any suspicion of him. Michael Breslin, his brother, held a
+responsible position in the Dublin police, and was the means of
+frustrating many a well-laid scheme of the Castle, so that if the
+Government had its creatures in the revolutionary camp, the I.R.B. had
+agents in theirs.</p>
+
+<p>Another, as I have already mentioned, who took part in the Stephens
+rescue was my friend John Ryan, better known in the Brotherhood as
+Captain O'Doherty. At our interview in Liverpool on the occasion of my
+initiation, he gave me a full account of this among other incidents. He
+was, like Peter Maughan, an old schoolfellow of mine with the Christian
+Brothers in Liverpool. He was one of the men picked out by Colonel Kelly
+to be on guard when the "old man"&mdash;one of Stephens' pet nick-names&mdash;came
+over the prison wall. Ryan was a fine type of an Irishman, morally,
+intellectually and physically. As Stephens slipped down from the wall,
+holding on to the rope, he came with such <a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>force on my friend's
+shoulders as almost to bear him to the ground. In my "Irish in Britain"
+I have described in detail how Breslin got a key made for Stephens'
+cell, and how he and Byrne helped the C.O.I.R. over the prison wall to
+where his friends awaited him, and also the adventures of the Fenian
+leader after his escape from Richmond.</p>
+
+<p>The man who made the key for Stephens' cell, from a mould taken by John
+Breslin, was Michael Lambert, a trusted member of the I.R.B. Though his
+name was well known to the initiated at the time, it never was mentioned
+until later years, he being always referred to previously as "the
+optician."</p>
+
+<p>After remaining in concealment several months Stephens got away from
+Ireland. The craft in which he escaped was one of a fleet of fishing
+hookers which sailed from Howth and Kinsale when engaged in their
+regular work. The owner, who was delighted to have a hand in such an
+enterprise, was a warm-hearted and patriotic Irishman, Patrick De Lacy
+Garton, for whom I acted as conducting agent, when he was returned by
+the votes of his fellow-countrymen to the Liverpool Town Council, where
+he sat as a Home Ruler.</p>
+
+<p>I met several times, during 1866 and later, one of the most remarkable
+men connected with the organisation. He was known as "Beecher," and was
+a man of singular astuteness, as he required to be, particularly at the
+time when, unknown to his colleagues, Corydon was giving information to
+the police. If at any time Beecher had fallen into <a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>their hands, they
+might have made a splendid haul, which would have paralysed the movement
+on this side of the Atlantic, for he was the "Paymaster." Captain
+Michael O'Rorke&mdash;otherwise "Beecher"&mdash;was a well-balanced combination of
+sagacity, cautiousness and daring, as you could not fail to see, if
+brought into contact with him a few times. Stephens had the most
+abounding confidence in him, and it was well deserved. A native of
+Roscommon, he emigrated to America when a boy of thirteen. When the
+Civil War broke out he joined the Federal Army, and served with much
+distinction. He was a member of the Fenian Brotherhood, and was greatly
+pleased to be called upon for active service in Ireland, and, sailing
+from New York, he reached Dublin on the 27th of July, 1865, when he
+reported himself to the C.O.I.R. He was entrusted with the payment of
+the American officers then in Ireland and Great Britain, which duty, I
+need scarcely say, involved his keeping in constant touch with them. In
+this way I, from time to time, came in contact with him in Liverpool,
+and was much impressed with the perfect way in which he carried out his
+arduous duties. Before Stephens left for America, in March, 1866, he
+directed Captain O'Rorke to send all the officers not arrested, and then
+in Ireland, over to England. This was a proper measure of prudence, as
+the Irish Americans would be less objects of suspicion, and less liable
+to arrest here than in Ireland. He had fifty officers, and sometimes
+more, to provide for as Paymaster, or, as the informers and detectives
+had it, the<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a> "Fenian Paymaster." He had to visit in this way at various
+times all parts of the British organisation, sometimes paying his men
+personally, and at other times by letter, forwarded through trusted
+Irishmen in various places who had not laid themselves open to
+suspicion. But he had to run his head into the lion's mouth
+occasionally, too, for it was part of his duty to visit Dublin at least
+once a month. As a matter of precaution, there were but few who knew of
+any address where he might be found. At a time when Corydon had started
+to give information, but before "Beecher" actually knew of it, the
+informer gave an address of his where he thought the "Paymaster" was to
+be found to the Liverpool police. Major Greig, the chief constable, and
+a strong body of his men, surrounded the house, but the bird had flown.
+After that, he was more cautious than ever, only letting his whereabouts
+be known when it was absolutely necessary.</p>
+
+<p>A noted man among the Fenians was "Pagan O'Leary." Jack Ryan told me of
+how he rather surprised the prison officials when they came to classify
+him under the head "Religion." Being asked what he was, he said he was a
+Pagan. No, they said, they could not accept that&mdash;they had headings <i>in
+their books</i>, "Roman Catholic," "Protestant," and "Presbyterian," but
+not "Pagans." "Well," he said, "You have two kinds, the 'Robbers'
+(meaning Protestants) and the 'Beggars' (Catholics), and if I must
+choose, put me down a 'Beggar.'"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>A startling incident in connection with the Fenian movement, the daring
+plan to seize Chester Castle, will enable me to introduce two
+exceedingly interesting characters with whom I came in contact at this
+time. The idea was to bring sufficient men from various parts of
+England, armed with concealed revolvers, to overpower the garrison,
+which at the time was a very weak one, and to seize the large store of
+arms then in the Castle. In connection with this, arrangements had been
+made for the cutting of wires, the taking up of rails, and the seizure
+of sufficient engines and waggons to convey the captured arms to
+Holyhead, whence, a steamer having been seized there for the purpose,
+the arms were to be taken to Ireland, and the standard of insurrection
+raised. Of John Ryan, one of the leaders of this raid, I have already
+spoken. Another of them, Captain John McCafferty, was one of the
+Irish-American officers who had crossed the Atlantic to take part in the
+projected rising in Ireland. I met him several times in Liverpool in
+company with John Ryan, and, from his own lips, got an account of his
+adventurous career up to that time.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the American officers I came in contact with during these years
+had served in the Federal Army, but McCafferty fought on the side of the
+South in the American Civil War. He was a thorough type of a guerilla
+leader. With his well-proportioned and strongly-knit frame, and handsome
+resolute-looking bronzed face, you could imagine him just the man for
+any dashing and daring enterprise.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>I frequently met John Flood, too, whose name, with that of McCafferty,
+is associated with the Chester raid. He was then about thirty years of
+age, a fine, handsome man, tall and strong, wearing a full and flowing
+tawny-coloured beard. He had a genial-looking face, and, in your
+intercourse with him, you found him just as genial as he looked. He was
+a man of distinguished bearing, who you could imagine would fill with
+grace and dignity the post of Irish Ambassador to some friendly power.
+He was a Wexford man, full of the glorious traditions of '98. He took an
+active part in aiding the escape of James Stephens from Ireland. With
+Colonel Kelly he was aboard the hooker in which the C.O.I.R. escaped,
+and to his skill and courage and rare presence of mind was largely due
+the fact that Stephens did not again fall into the hands of his enemies.</p>
+
+<p>From then up to the time immediately preceding the Chester raid, he
+frequently called on me in Liverpool in company with John Ryan.</p>
+
+<p>Father McCormick, of Wigan, a patriotic Irish priest, used to tell me,
+too, of the men coming to confession to him on their way to Chester, and
+afterwards to Ireland, for the rising on Shrove Tuesday. And yet these
+were the kind of men for whom, according to a certain Irish bishop,
+"Hell was not hot enough nor Eternity long enough."</p>
+
+<p>When John Ryan informed me of the plans that were being matured for the
+seizure of the arms and ammunition in Chester Castle, I volunteered <a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>for
+any duty that might be allotted to me. It was settled that I should hold
+myself in readiness to carry out when called upon certain mechanical
+arrangements in connection with the raid with a view to prevent
+reinforcements from reaching Chester.</p>
+
+<p>These arrangements were to consist of the taking up of the rails on
+certain railway lines and the cutting of the telegraphic wires leading
+into Chester. I, therefore, surveyed the ground, and besides the
+required personal assistance, had in readiness crowbars, sledges, and,
+among other implements, the wrenches for unscrewing the nuts of the
+bolts fastening the fishplates which bound together the rails, end to
+end. I now held myself prepared for the moment when the call to action
+would reach me.</p>
+
+<p>This, however, never came, for I found afterwards that the leaders had
+learned in time of Corydon's betrayal of the project, and made their
+arrangements accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>I heard nothing further of the projected Chester expedition until
+Monday, February 11th, 1867.</p>
+
+<p>My employment was at this time in Liverpool, but I lived on the opposite
+bank of the Mersey, at New Ferry. Anybody who has to travel in and out
+of town, as I did by the ferry boat, to his employment gets so
+accustomed to his fellow-passengers that he knows most of them by sight.
+But this morning it was different. In a sense some of those I saw were
+strangers to me, but I had a kind of instinct that they were my own
+people. They were fine, athletic-looking young men, and had a
+travel-<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>stained appearance, as if they had been walking some distance
+over dusty roads.</p>
+
+<p>When I reached the landing stage and saw the morning's papers I got the
+explanation&mdash;the police had heard of the projected raid.</p>
+
+<p>These were our men returning from Chester, having been stopped on the
+road by friends posted there for the purpose, and turned back&mdash;and were
+now on their way through Liverpool to their homes in various parts of
+Lancashire and Yorkshire. It seemed that the information of the project
+being abandoned had not reached them in time to prevent many of the men
+leaving their homes for Chester.</p>
+
+<p>I heard from John Ryan, whom I saw a few days afterwards, that the word
+had been sent round to a certain number of circles in the North of
+England and the Midlands to move a number of picked men, some on the
+Sunday night and some early on the Monday morning, and that the
+promptness and cheerfulness with which the order was obeyed was
+astonishing; so that, probably, not less than two thousand men were, by
+different routes, quietly converging on Chester. Among these was Michael
+Davitt and others, from Haslingden as well as from several other
+Lancashire towns.</p>
+
+<p>But it was promptly discovered that information had been given to the
+police authorities almost at the last moment. Those, therefore, who had
+already reached Chester were sent back, and men were placed at the
+railway stations and on the roads leading to Chester to stop those who
+were coming. In this way the whole of the men forming the <a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>expedition
+dispersed as silently as they had come.</p>
+
+<p>Corydon had given the information to Major Greig, the Liverpool Head
+Constable, who at once communicated with Chester, where prompt measures
+were taken to meet the threatened invasion.</p>
+
+<p>According to his own evidence in the subsequent trial, Corydon had been
+giving information to the police since the previous September. There had
+been some suspicious circumstances in connection with him. A man
+resembling him in appearance, and evidently disguised, had been seen in
+company with individuals supposed to be police agents. But as there was
+a man belonging to the organisation named Arthur Anderson, who strongly
+resembled Corydon, the real informer, suspicion fell upon Anderson.</p>
+
+<p>After Corydon had thrown off the mask and openly appeared as an
+informer, I had an opportunity of seeing him, and, so far as my memory
+serves me, this is what he was like: At first sight you might set him
+down as a third-rate actor or circus performer. He wore a frock coat,
+buttoned tightly, to set off a by no means contemptible figure, and
+carried himself with a jaunty, swaggering air, after the conventional
+style of a theatrical "professional." He was about the middle height, of
+wiry, active build, with features clearly cut, thin face, large round
+forehead, a high aquiline nose, thick and curly hair, decidedly "sandy"
+in colour, and heavy moustache of the same tinge. His cheeks and chin
+were denuded of beard.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>It was in the Liverpool Police Court I saw John Joseph Corydon, as the
+newspapers spelled his name&mdash;if it were his name, which is very
+doubtful, for it was said in Liverpool that he was the son of an
+abandoned woman of that town.</p>
+
+<p>There was at that time a reporter named Sylvester Redmond, whom I knew
+very well, a very decent Irishman, who made a special feature of giving
+humorous descriptions of the cases in the police court. I was told by
+someone in Court that the man whose hand Sylvester was so cordially
+shaking was the noted informer, Corydon. I was very much disgusted with
+the old gentleman, until I heard afterwards that some wag among the
+police had introduced the informer to him as a distinguished
+fellow-countryman.</p>
+
+<p>After the collapse of the Chester scheme, McCafferty and Flood made
+their way to Ireland to be ready for the Rising, but were arrested in
+Dublin, charged with being concerned in the raid on Chester. They were
+both in due course put upon their trials, and sent into penal servitude.</p>
+
+<p>I find, from a graphic sketch written for my "Irish Library" by William
+James Ryan, that in the convict ship that took John Flood into penal
+servitude was another distinguished Irishman, John Boyle O'Reilly, whose
+offence against British rule was his successful recruiting for the
+I.R.B. among the soldiery. Another lieutenant of John Devoy, who had
+charge of the organisation of the British army, was an old schoolfellow
+of mine with the Liverpool Christian Brothers, Peter Maughan, of <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>whom I
+have already spoken as a fellow-workman at the Curragh.</p>
+
+<p>Before joining the I.R.B. Peter had been a member of the "Brotherhood of
+St. Patrick," an organisation which furnished many members to the "Irish
+Revolutionary Brotherhood."</p>
+
+<p>Most of the Fenian prisoners were amnestied before the completion of
+their full terms. I have a letter in my possession from John McCafferty
+to our mutual friend, William Hogan, written from Millbank Prison, 6th
+June, 1871. In this he regrets that the terms of his release will not
+allow of his paying Hogan a visit. He says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I know there are many who would like to shake my hand and bid me a
+kind farewell. God bless you before my departure. My route will
+afford me no opportunity of seeing the iron-bound coast of the home
+of my forefathers. Still God may allow me to see that isle
+again&mdash;Yes, and then perhaps I may meet somebody on the hills. </p></div>
+
+<p>He concludes with love to William Hogan's family and "Kind regard to
+each and every friend."</p>
+
+<p>McCafferty did, I know, see the "iron-bound" coast of Ireland again, for
+a few years after this an extremely mild and inoffensive-looking,
+dark-complexioned person, with black side whiskers, came into my
+place&mdash;I was carrying on a printing and newsagency business&mdash;in Byron
+Street, Liverpool, and, though I did not recognise him at first, I was
+pleased to find that this Mr. Patterson, as he called himself, was no
+other than my old friend John McCafferty.</p>
+
+<p>The mission he was engaged on was one that <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>can only be described by the
+word amazing. So daring was it, so hedged around with apparent
+impossibilities, that to the ordinary man its very conception would be
+incredible. But McCafferty was perfectly serious and determined about
+it, and to him it seemed practicable enough, provided only he could get
+a few more men like himself: and indeed if the collection of just such a
+company of conspirators <i>were</i> practicable, no doubt the impossible
+might become possible enough. But the hypothesis is fatal, for the
+McCafferty strain is a rare one indeed, so that his project never got
+further than an idea. I think, however, that I cannot be accused of
+exaggeration in saying that if he had been successful in carrying out
+his idea, his achievement would have formed the most extraordinary
+chapter in English history&mdash;for it was no less than the abduction of the
+then Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII., and the holding of
+him as a hostage for a purpose of the Fenian organisation.</p>
+
+<p>The plan was to take him to sea in a sailing vessel, and to keep him
+there, until the Fenian prisoners still at that time unreleased were set
+at liberty. He was to be treated with the utmost consideration and&mdash;the
+recollection is not without its humorous side&mdash;McCafferty had a
+memorandum to spare no pains in finding what were the favourite
+amusements of the Prince, so that he might have a "real good time" on
+board.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+
+<h5>THE RISING OF 1867&mdash;ARREST AND RESCUE OF KELLY AND DEASY&mdash;THE MANCHESTER
+MARTYRDOM.</h5>
+
+
+<p>Although the Rising of 1867 had somewhat the character of "a flash in
+the pan," there were some heroic incidents in connexion with it. With
+one of the Fenian leaders, James Francis Xavier O'Brien, I was brought
+into intimate connection many years after the Rising, when we were both
+officials, he as General Secretary and I as Chief Organiser, of the Home
+Rule organisation in Great Britain. When put upon his trial there was
+evidence against him in connection with the taking of a police barrack,
+he being in command of the insurgents. It was proved that he not only
+acted with courage, but with a humanity that was commended by the judge,
+in seeing that the women and children were got out safely before the
+place was set on fire.</p>
+
+<p>This, however, did not save him from being condemned to death&mdash;he was
+the last man sentenced in the old barbarous fashion to be hanged, drawn
+and quartered&mdash;this sentence being afterwards commuted to penal
+servitude. Certainly, whether on the field or facing the scaffold for
+Ireland there was no more gallant figure among the Fenian leaders than
+James Francis Xavier O'Brien.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>Few knew of his sterling worth as I did. For several years after his
+return to liberty I was in close daily contact with this white-haired
+mild-looking old gentleman&mdash;still tolerably active and supple,
+though&mdash;who could blaze up and fight to the death over what he
+considered a matter of principle. The most admirable feature in his
+character was that, in all things you found him <i>straight</i>.</p>
+
+<p>One of the Fenian chiefs I met in Liverpool was General Halpin, who, on
+the night of the Rising, was in command of the district around Dublin.
+The first of the insurgents who reached Tallaght, the place of
+rendezvous on the night of the 5th of March, 1867, were received by a
+volley from the police and dispersed. One party had captured the police
+barracks at Glencullen and Stepaside, and disarmed the police, but on
+approaching Tallaght, and hearing that all was over, they too dispersed.</p>
+
+<p>While most of the Irish-American officers bore the marks of their
+profession rather too prominently for safety against the observance of a
+trained detective, General Halpin was the last man in the world anyone
+would, from his appearance, take to be a soldier. He looked far more
+like a comfortable Irish parish priest. And yet he was, perhaps, the
+most thoroughly scientific soldier of all those that crossed the
+Atlantic at this time.</p>
+
+<p>Reading the evidence of Corydon in one of the trials, I find he
+described Edmond O'Donovan as helping Halpin to make maps for use when
+the Rising would take place. Knowing both men so <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>well, I can say that
+none better could be found for planning out a campaign. They were
+thoroughly scientific men, and always anxious to impart their knowledge
+to other Irishmen for the good of the Cause.</p>
+
+<p>I remember Halpin one night, at what was a kind of select social
+gathering, giving a number of us enthusiastic young men a lecture on the
+construction of fortifications and earthworks.</p>
+
+<p>We bade him farewell when he was leaving Liverpool after the Rising, and
+thought he had got safely away to America, but, unfortunately, he was
+identified at Queenstown in the outgoing steamer. He was arrested, put
+upon his trial, and met the same fate as so many of his comrades.</p>
+
+<p>Among the men I knew long ago, who afterwards became connected with
+Fenianism, was Stephen Joseph Meany. He was for many years a journalist
+in Liverpool, having been sub-editor of the "Daily Post" under Michael
+James Whitty. He was an earnest and active Repealer and Young Irelander.
+When I first came in contact with him he was starting the "Lancashire
+Free Press," which, after passing through several hands and several
+changes, of name, ultimately became the "Catholic Times," which was for
+three years, when Father Nugent became the proprietor, under my
+direction. Meany was a man of fine presence and handsome countenance, a
+brilliant writer and an eloquent speaker. He went to America in 1860,
+where he followed his original profession of journalism for several
+years. He returned to this country again, <a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>and was arrested in 1867 on a
+charge of Fenianism, and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment.</p>
+
+<p>Liverpool was flooded with refugees after the Rising, and it took us all
+our time to find employment for them, or to get them away to America. We
+had then in Liverpool a corps of volunteers known as "The Irish
+Brigade." Whatever Nationalist organisation might exist in the town
+always strongly condemned young Irishmen for joining the corps. All we
+could urge against it, however, could not prevent our young men who were
+coming over from Ireland at this time from joining the "Brigade" for the
+purpose, they said, of learning and perfecting themselves in the use of
+arms. Colonel Bidwell and the officers must have had a shrewd suspicion
+of the truth, and there was a common remark in the town upon the
+improved physical appearance of the "Brigade." This was, of course,
+owing to the number of fine soldier-like young Irishmen who at this time
+filled its ranks.</p>
+
+<p>During the two years that followed the escape of Stephens, I met Colonel
+Kelly several times in Liverpool. When I first saw him he would be about
+thirty years of age. This is my remembrance of his personal appearance:
+His forehead was broad and square, with the thick dark hair carefully
+disposed about it. He had somewhat high cheek bones, and wore a pointed
+moustache over a tolerably full beard. The general impression of his
+face seemed to me slightly cynical, and he had a constant smile that
+betokened self-possession and confidence. He sometimes wore a frock
+coat, <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>a light waistcoat buttoned high up, a black fashionable necktie,
+and light well-made trousers. After surveying him in detail, you would
+come to the conclusion that he was a man of daring enough to involve
+himself in danger of life, and with sufficient address to extricate
+himself from the peril. He was undoubtedly a man capable of winning the
+confidence and even devotion of others, as was shown when, falling into
+the hands of the Government, he was snatched from their grasp in the
+open day on the streets of Manchester.</p>
+
+<p>I met him some weeks after the Rising. The place of meeting reminded me
+of the incident in one of Samuel Lover's stories&mdash;"Rory O'More"&mdash;to
+which I have already alluded, for, in our later revolutionary movements,
+as in 1798, projects of great importance had sometimes to be discussed
+in public houses.</p>
+
+<p>A few of the Liverpool men came to meet the leaders in a very humble
+beer shop, kept by a decent County Down man, Owen McGrady, in one of the
+poorer streets off Scotland Road. Here were met on this particular night
+a notable company, which included, if I remember rightly, Colonel Kelly,
+Colonel Rickard Burke, Captains Condon, Murphy, Deasy and O'Brien, all
+American officers who had crossed the Atlantic for the Rising, and still
+remained, hoping for another opportunity. There were about half a dozen
+of the Liverpool men there. Of these I can remember a tall, fine-looking
+young man, a schoolmaster from the North of Ireland, whom I then met for
+the first time, my old school-fellow,<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a> John Ryan, and John Meagher, a
+tailor, possessing the amount of eloquence you generally find in Irish
+members of the craft. There was also present, if I remember rightly, Tom
+Gates, of Newcastle.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Rising had collapsed almost as soon as it commenced, the
+determination to fight on Irish soil had by no means been given up by
+the leaders in America. That was why the American officers on this side
+remained at their posts, ready for active service at a moment's notice.
+At the meeting we learned that there was at that moment an "Expedition,"
+as it was termed, on the sea to co-operate with and bring arms for
+another Rising in Ireland, should such be found practicable. It was
+notorious that, notwithstanding all the efforts of active agents,
+comparatively few arms had been got into Ireland. Indeed, my friend John
+Ryan, who was in a position to know, estimated that there were not more
+than a couple of thousands of rifles in Ireland at the time of the
+Rising.</p>
+
+<p>Let us see what became of the Expedition. This was, of course, what has
+since become a matter of history&mdash;the secret despatch from New York of
+the brigantine "Erin's Hope," having on board several Irish-American
+officers, 5,000 stand of arms, three pieces of field artillery, and
+200,000 cartridges. About the middle of May the vessel arrived in Irish
+waters, agents going aboard at various points off the coast, including
+Sligo Bay, which she reached on the 20th of May, 1867. By that time it
+was found that the chances of another Rising were but slender, and the
+"Erin's Hope"<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a> returned to America with her cargo, entirely unmolested
+by the British cruisers, which were plentiful enough around the Irish
+coast.</p>
+
+<p>The expedition certainly proved that sufficient weapons to commence an
+insurrection with could be thrown into Ireland, providing there was the
+necessary co-operation at the time and places required.</p>
+
+<p>I have often thought since of what became of those present in Owen
+McGrady's beer house the night we met there to prepare for the reception
+of the "Erin's Hope."</p>
+
+<p>The arrest and rescue of Kelly and Deasy, two of these, in the following
+September, and the fate of their gallant rescuers, formed the most
+striking and startling chapter of Irish history during the nineteenth
+century.</p>
+
+<p>That such a scheme as the rescue of the two Fenian chiefs should be
+successfully carried out, not in Ireland amid sympathisers, but in the
+heart of a great English city, surrounded by a hostile population,
+showed unexpected capacity and daring on the part of the revolutionary
+organisation, and produced consternation in the British Government.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the organisation of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood in
+Great Britain had been placed in the hands of three of the
+Irish-American officers, Captain Murphy, who had charge in Scotland,
+Colonel Rickard Burke in the southern part of England, and Captain
+Edward O'Meagher Condon in the northern counties.</p>
+
+<p>Previous to the arrest of the two leaders on the <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>morning of September
+11th they, with Captain Michael O'Brien, had been staying with Condon,
+upon whom now devolved the command, the capture of Kelly and Deasy
+having taken place in his district.</p>
+
+<p>He at once arranged for their food while in prison, for their defence in
+the law courts, and for their rescue, in which latter enterprise he was
+enthusiastically supported by the chief men of the Manchester circles.</p>
+
+<p>But, whatever their good will and courage, they were deficient both in
+money and arms for such a daring undertaking. Condon had, therefore, a
+difficult task to accomplish. Money was soon raised, for our people are
+ever generous and equal to the occasion when it arises. Daniel
+Darragh&mdash;about whom I shall have more to say later&mdash;was sent to
+Birmingham, where by the aid of William Hogan he purchased and brought
+back with him sufficient revolvers to arm the volunteers for the rescue.
+These last were picked men, the cream of the Manchester circles, and
+there was some jealousy afterwards among many who had not been selected.
+I need scarcely say that the utmost secrecy was required in connection
+with such a perilous enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>To Edward O'Meagher Condon belongs the credit of having organised,
+managed, and carried out the Manchester Rescue, at the cost to himself,
+as it turned out, of years of penal servitude, and almost of his life.
+Though with the aid of Michael O'Brien and his Manchester friends he had
+made all the arrangements, selecting the spot where the prison <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>van was
+to be stopped, assigning to every man his post, and providing for every
+contingency, including the possibility of the rescuing party being taken
+in the rear from Belle Vue prison, he wired for the assistance of
+Captain Murphy and Colonel Burke, the message being that "his uncle was
+dying."</p>
+
+<p>Murphy was from home, but Burke came on to Manchester, and with Michael
+O'Brien accompanied Condon on September 17th, the night before the
+rescue, to meet the men chosen for the daring enterprise, when the arms
+were distributed, each man's post on the following day allotted to him,
+and the final arrangements made.</p>
+
+<p>The two Fenian chiefs stayed with Condon that night, fighting their old
+campaigns over again, e'er they retired to rest, not to meet again till
+eleven years after the Manchester Rescue, when Condon and Burke came
+across each other in New York, each having suffered in the interval a
+long term of imprisonment, and it was the last night that Burke and
+Condon passed on earth with Michael O'Brien, whose memory Irishmen, the
+world over, honour as one of the "noble-hearted three"&mdash;the Manchester
+Martyrs&mdash;who died for Ireland on the scaffold.</p>
+
+<p>The secret of the intended rescue was closely guarded, and though the
+Mayor of Manchester did get a warning wire from Dublin Castle, it
+reached too late, and the birds had flown. When Kelly and Deasy were
+brought before the city magistrates they were remanded. "They were,"
+said the "Daily News," "placed in a cell with a view to <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>removal to the
+city jail at Belle Vue. At this time the police noticed outside the
+court house two men hanging about whom they suspected to be Fenians, and
+a policeman made a rush at one of them to arrest him, in which he
+succeeded, but not until the man had drawn a dagger and attempted to
+stab him, the blow being warded off. The other made his escape."</p>
+
+<p>As to the incident just related, it seems that a patriotic but imprudent
+man belonging to one of the Manchester circles had got to hear of the
+intended rescue, and was indignant at being left out. His suspicious
+conduct outside the court house drew the attention of the police&mdash;as we
+have seen&mdash;with the result, as the paper said, that the authorities
+became alarmed. Kelly and Deasy were put in irons on their removal, and
+a strong body of police were sent with the van intended to take them to
+Belle Vue Prison.</p>
+
+<p>It was the custom for a policeman to ride outside the van, on the step
+behind, but, on this occasion, owing to the incident just described,
+Brett, the officer in charge, went <i>inside</i> the van. The door was then
+locked, and the keys handed to him through the ventilator.</p>
+
+<p>It is certain that, up to this point, the Manchester police had no
+suspicion of the intended rescue, and it was only the imprudent
+behaviour of the man whom the police had arrested that caused additional
+precautions to be taken. Certain it is that if the Manchester
+authorities had had any information of the probability of an attempted
+rescue there <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>would have been a formidable escort of the police and
+military.</p>
+
+<p>With so much false swearing at the trials with regard to the facts of
+the Manchester Rescue, it is important that the information given in
+books for the benefit of the present and future generations of Irishmen
+should be correct. It is serious that in some of our best books so
+important a matter as the actual scene of the rescue is incorrectly
+given. One book says: "The van drove off for the <i>County jail at
+Salford</i>." In another description it is stated: "Just as the van passed
+under the arch that spans Hyde Road at Belle Vue, a <i>point midway
+between the city police office and the Salford Jail,</i> etc." Following
+this, one of our ablest writers, apparently quoting from the previous
+descriptions, falls into the same error. I can readily understand how
+these errors have arisen&mdash;the writers concerned have confounded the
+place of the execution of the Manchester Martyrs, Salford Jail, with the
+prison, Belle Vue, to which the prisoners were being taken on being
+remanded.</p>
+
+<p>The point chosen by Condon as the most suitable for the attack was
+certainly where the railway bridge crosses Hyde Road, but if the van had
+been going to Salford Jail it would have been in a totally different
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>Since writing the above, I find it still more necessary I should correct
+the mis-statement as to the scene of the rescue, for the error seems to
+be getting perpetuated. I find in one of the leading Irish-American
+newspapers, in a description of the death of Colonel Kelly on February
+5, 1909, <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>the scene of the rescue is given as "<i>midway between the
+police office and Salford Jail</i>." This is evidently taken from the
+erroneous statement in the books I have referred to.</p>
+
+<p>After this slight digression, may I resume my narrative.</p>
+
+<p>At the police court a man appointed for the purpose took a cab in
+advance of the van. When sufficiently close to them he waved a white
+handkerchief as a signal to the men in ambush. Just as the van passed
+under the railway arch two men with revolvers barred the way.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop the van!" one cried. But the driver took no heed. A bullet fired
+over his head and another into one of the horses effectually stopped the
+van. At the sound of the shots the rest of the rescuers came from their
+ambush behind the walls that lined the road, and from the shadow of the
+abutments of the railway arch.</p>
+
+<p>The police fled panic-stricken at the first volley fired over their
+heads by the Fenians, for these wanted to release their chiefs without
+bloodshed if possible. One portion of the assailants, carrying out a
+pre-arranged plan, formed an extended circle around the van, and kept
+the police and mob who had rallied to their assistance at bay, while a
+second party set themselves to effecting an entrance to the van. This
+was more difficult than had been expected, for had Brett ridden on the
+step behind as usual the keys could readily have been taken from him.
+The rescuing party were, however, equal to the occasion, and the
+military precision <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>with which the work was carried out displayed the
+discipline of the men and the able direction of the leaders.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the fullest testimony is borne to this by a great English
+newspaper, the "Daily News," which, while showing the most intense
+hostility to the men and their daring act, is thus compelled to
+recognise the courage and discipline of the devoted band of
+Fenians:&mdash;"The more astonishing, therefore, is it to read of the
+appearance of the public enemy in the heart of one of our greatest
+cities, organised and armed, overpowering, wounding and murdering the
+guardians of public order, and releasing prisoners of state. There is a
+distinctness of aim, a tenacity of purpose, a resolution in execution
+about the Fenian attack upon the police van which is very impressive.
+The blow was sudden and swift, and effected its object. In the presence
+of a small but compact body of Fenians, provided with repeating
+firearms, the police were powerless, and the release of Kelly and Deasy
+was quickly effected."</p>
+
+<p>An unfortunate accident was the killing of Brett, the policeman, by a
+shot fired with the intention of breaking the lock of the van. A female
+prisoner then handed out the keys on the demand of the Fenians outside,
+and the door was quickly opened, and the two leaders brought out, their
+safe retreat being guarded by their rescuers.</p>
+
+<p>As Captain Condon had anticipated and provided for, some of the warders
+from Belle Vue quickly came upon the scene, as it was but a short
+distance across what were then brickfields from the prison to the <a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>scene
+of action. But, when they saw the determined men who were guarding the
+leaders' retreat, they, too, like the police, kept at a safe distance
+from the Fenian revolvers, and devoted themselves to picking up any
+stragglers who had got separated from the main body of Irishmen.</p>
+
+<p>In this way a number of arrests were made, and, later on, Condon himself
+was taken, but the main object had been accomplished, and Kelly and
+Deasy got safely away, and, ultimately, as we shall see, out of the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>Following the rescue, there was a perfect reign of terror, the police
+authorities striking out wildly in all directions to gather into their
+net enough Irish victims to satisfy their baffled vengeance. There were
+numerous arrests and no lack of witnesses to swear anything to secure
+convictions. Every detail of the attack on the van while on the way from
+the courthouse to the prison, and of the release of the prisoners was
+sworn to with the utmost minuteness, as the witnesses professed to
+identify one after another of the men in the dock, some of whom had no
+connection or sympathy with the rescue at all.</p>
+
+<p>In Liverpool, men whom I knew were arrested who were at work all that
+day at the docks, and yet were sworn to by numerous witnesses as having
+assisted in the attack on the van in Hyde Road, Manchester, the most
+minute details being given.</p>
+
+<p>I have mentioned a case of the kind in my "Irish in Britain." William
+Murphy, of Manchester, a <a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>man whom I knew well, was convicted and sent
+into penal servitude as having taken part in the rescue. On his
+liberation I was surprised to learn from his own lips that, although he
+would gladly have borne his part if detailed for the duty, he was not
+present at the rescue of the Fenian leaders. With the authorities in
+such a panic, it can readily be understood that it behoved any of us in
+Lancashire who were in any way regarded as "suspects" to be ready with
+very solid testimony as to where we were on the day in question.</p>
+
+<p>In a recent letter I have had from Captain Condon&mdash;from whom
+communications reach me from all parts of America, for he is constantly
+travelling, holding as he does the post of Inspector of Public Buildings
+in connection with the Treasury Department of the U.S.A.&mdash;he tells me
+something about William Murphy that I never heard before. He says: "When
+Allen, Larkin, O'Brien, myself, and the other men were sentenced, Digby
+Seymour (one of the counsel for the prisoners) went down to a large cell
+in the court house basement where all the others were kept together. He
+urged them all to plead 'guilty' and throw themselves upon the mercy of
+the court, declaring that, if they refused to do this all would be
+convicted and executed.</p>
+
+<p>"There was an instant's hesitation among the prisoners, but William
+Murphy, who was later sentenced to seven years penal servitude,
+addressed his comrades, urging them to stand fast together, imitate our
+example, and die like men, rather than <a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>live like dogs, for as such they
+would be regarded by all true Irishmen if they pleaded 'guilty.'</p>
+
+<p>"To a man the whole twenty-two shouted out&mdash;'We will never plead
+guilty!'</p>
+
+<p>"And Seymour, baffled and irritated, went away without accomplishing his
+purpose."</p>
+
+<p>Of the men convicted for taking part in the rescue, five&mdash;Allen, Larkin,
+O'Brien, Condon and Maguire&mdash;were sentenced to death. Condon was
+reprieved, really on account of his American citizenship, and Maguire,
+who was a marine, because the authorities discovered in time that the
+evidence against him was false. A number of others were sent to penal
+servitude for various terms.</p>
+
+<p>The execution of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, so far from striking terror,
+but gave new life to the cause of Irish Freedom, and to-day, over the
+world, no names in the long roll of those who have suffered and died for
+Ireland are more honoured than those of the "Manchester Martyrs," while
+the determination has become all the stronger that, in the words of our
+National Anthem&mdash;founded on Condon's defiant shout in the dock of "God
+Save Ireland!":&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">On the cause must go</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">Amidst joy or weal or woe,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Till we've made our isle a Nation free and grand.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It is not generally known how Colonel Kelly got out of the country after
+the rescue. He lay concealed in the house of an Irish professional man
+for some weeks, and then, all the railway <a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>stations being closely and
+constantly watched night and day, he was driven in a conveyance by road
+all the way from Manchester to Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>It was a patriotic foreman ship-joiner, whom I knew well, who actually
+got him away to America. My friend Egan had charge of the fitting up of
+the berths aboard the steamer in which Colonel Kelly sailed. In emigrant
+steamers the usual practice was for temporary compartments to be made
+and taken down at the end of the voyage. I had fitted up such berths
+myself, and therefore perfectly understood what my friend had done to
+secure Colonel Kelly's escape when he described it to me afterwards at
+my place in Byrom Street. Egan actually built a small secret
+compartment, so constructed as to attract no notice, and when Kelly was
+smuggled aboard at the last moment&mdash;he might be supposed to be one of
+Egan's men&mdash;he was put into it and actually boarded up, sufficient
+provisions being left with him, until the steamer got clear of British
+waters, when he could come out with safety.</p>
+
+<p>Deasy also made his way to America.</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of the after-career of those assembled that night at
+McGrady's, I have sufficiently accounted for Michael O'Brien.</p>
+
+<p>Rickard Burke, who also assisted at the same gathering, was a remarkable
+personality, and one of the most astute men I ever met. He was a
+graduate of Queen's College, Cork, and an accomplished linguist. He was
+a skilful engineer, and had served with distinction in the American
+Civil War. When I knew him he was about thirty-five years of age, tall
+<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>and of fine presence. To him was deputed the work of purchasing arms
+for the intended Rising in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>After many adventures, he fell into the hands of the police, was
+convicted, and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. It was with the
+idea of effecting his rescue that the Clerkenwell Prison wall was blown
+up on December 13th, 1867, this insane plan causing the death and
+mutilation of a number of people. Burke himself would probably have been
+killed had he happened to be confined in that part of the jail that was
+blown up.</p>
+
+<p>While in Chatham prison he was reported as having lost his reason, and
+was removed to Woking. The matter was brought before the House of
+Commons by Mr. McCarthy Downing, who suggested that Burke's insanity had
+been caused by his treatment in prison. He was released on Sunday, July
+9th, 1871.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Murphy, another of the company in our Scotland Road rendezvous,
+whom I had often met before, was a gentlemanly, genial man of portly
+presence, and an exceedingly pleasant companion. After some time he
+found his way back to America.</p>
+
+<p>Edward O'Meagher Condon was one of the American officers I most
+frequently came in contact with in Liverpool, previous to and after the
+Rising. Since his return to America, after his release from penal
+servitude in 1878, we have frequently corresponded with each other. From
+a report of a Manchester Martyr's Commemoration in a newspaper which
+accompanied one of his letters, and conversations I had with him when I
+was delighted to have him as my guest during his recent visit to this
+<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>country, I find he has just the same sanguine temperament as on that
+night at McGrady's, when the chances of another Rising were being
+discussed. In the report I refer to he says, "Had the Irish people been
+furnished with the necessary arms and munitions of war, which ought and
+could have been provided, they would have proved victors in the
+contest."</p>
+
+<p>I have no doubt but that, in propounding this view, he had in his mind
+the probability there was at one point of England being embroiled in a
+quarrel with America. None knew better than he, at the time, of the
+enormous number of Irishmen in the American armies, on both sides,
+during the Civil War who, with their military training, longed for the
+task of sweeping English rule from the soil of Ireland. It will be
+remembered that it was Condon who, when sentenced to death, concluded
+his speech in the dock with the prayer, "God save Ireland!" the words
+which have since become the rallying cry of the whole Irish race, and
+have given us a National Anthem.</p>
+
+<p>In his letters to me since his first return to America, I have been
+gratified to hear that he always took a warm interest in my
+publications. I am pleased, too, to find from the newspaper reports he
+has sent me that he is, as ever, an eminently practical man, and
+believes in using the means nearest to hand for the advancement of the
+Irish Cause.</p>
+
+<p>While giving his experiences in connection with the revolutionary
+movement, he declares that no one can blame the Irish people for having
+recourse <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>to any means which may enable them to remain on their native
+soil. They have, he says, to use whatever means have been left to save
+themselves from extermination and Ireland from becoming a desert. He,
+therefore, declares his sympathy with the later movements of the Irish
+people&mdash;the Land League, the National League, and the United Irish
+League, while never abandoning the principles of '98, '48 and '67.</p>
+
+<p>I referred to two Liverpool men as being present at the meeting at
+McGrady's. One of these, John Ryan, my dear old schoolfellow, one of the
+rescuers of James Stephens, has been dead many years&mdash;God rest his soul!
+He was a noble character, and would have risen to the top in any walk of
+life, but though he had a good home&mdash;his father was a prosperous
+merchant of Liverpool&mdash;he gave his whole life to Ireland. I often heard
+from him of his adventures, for he always looked me up whenever he came
+to Liverpool, and how, sometimes, he and his friends had to fare very
+badly indeed.</p>
+
+<p>It was most extraordinary that, while constantly Tunning risks, for he
+was a man of great daring, he never once was arrested, though he had
+some hair-breadth escapes. On one occasion, about the time of the
+Rising, a good, honest, Protestant member of the Brotherhood, Sam
+Clampitt, was taken out of the same bedroom in which he was sleeping
+with Ryan, who was left, the police little thinking of the bigger fish
+they had allowed to escape from their net, the noted Fenian leader,
+"Captain O'Doherty." I forget his precise name at this particular time,
+<a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>but it was a very Saxon one, for he was supposed to be an English
+artist sketching in Ireland. Questioned by the police, he was able to
+satisfy them of his <i>bona fides</i>. He had a friend in Liverpool, an old
+schoolfellow like myself, Richard Richards&mdash;"Double Dick" we used to
+call him&mdash;a patriotic Liverpool-born Irishman. He was an exceedingly
+able artist, making rapid progress in his profession, and, about this
+time, having some very fine pictures, for which he got good prices, on
+the walls of the Liverpool Academy Exhibition. Richards supplied all the
+trappings for the part that Ryan was playing, and also sent him letters
+of a somewhat humorous character, which he sometimes read to me before
+sending off. In these he was anticipating all sorts of adventures for
+his friend in the then disturbed state of Ireland. As John Ryan had much
+artistic taste, and was himself a fair draughtsman, and well up in all
+the necessary technicalities, and as Richards' letters, which he always
+carried for emergencies like this, were strong evidences in his favour,
+he had not much difficulty in convincing the Dublin police he was what
+he represented himself to be.</p>
+
+<p>Some of Jack Ryan's reminiscences had their droll sides, for he had a
+keen sense of humour. One of his stories was in connection with the
+well-known old tradition of the Gaels&mdash;both Irish and Scottish&mdash;that
+wherever the "<i>Lia Fail</i>" or "Stone of Destiny" may be must be the seat
+of Government. There is some doubt, as is well known, as to where the
+real stone now is. At all events, the stone which is under the
+Coronation Chair in Westminster<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a> Abbey is that which was taken from
+Scone by King Edward, and that on which the Scottish monarchs were
+crowned, having been originally brought from Ireland, the cradle of the
+Gaelic race. The tradition is still, as it happens, borne out by the
+fact that Westminster is <i>now</i> the seat of Government.</p>
+
+<p>Now two of John Ryan's Fenian friends, Irish-American officers, stranded
+in London&mdash;a not unusual circumstance&mdash;just when affairs looked very
+black indeed, conceived the brilliant idea of <i>stealing the stone</i>,
+bringing it over to Ireland, and, once for all, settling the Irish
+question. This, notwithstanding their oath to "The Irish <i>Republic</i> now
+virtually (virtuously some of our friends used to say) established," for
+it did not seem to strike them that they were proposing to bring to
+Ireland an emblem of royalty.</p>
+
+<p>I never heard if they took any actual steps to accomplish their object.
+Perhaps they were impressed by the mechanical difficulties, as I was
+myself one day, when standing with David Barrett, an Irish National
+League organiser, in Edward the Confessor's Chapel, in front of the
+famous "<i>Lia Fail</i>." It is a rough-hewn stone, about two feet each way,
+and ten inches deep. I was telling my friend the story of the plot to
+carry off the "Stone of Destiny," and was making a calculation, based on
+the weight of a cubic foot of stone, of what might be its weight.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll soon see," said David, and, in a moment, he had vaulted over the
+railing, and taken hold of a corner of the stone.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>But, so closely is this national treasure watched, that instantaneously
+a couple of attendants appeared, and broke up peremptorily our proposed
+committee of enquiry. An archaeological friend of mine suggests that,
+one day, when Ireland is making her own laws and able to enter on equal
+terms into a contract with England, a reasonable stipulation would be
+the restoration of that stone&mdash;unless the Scottish Gaels can prove a
+stronger claim to it.</p>
+
+<p>From John Ryan I heard of the mode of living of many of the Fenian
+organisers and of the Irish-American officers,&mdash;very different from the
+slanderous statements of their "living in luxury upon the wages of Irish
+servant girls in America." John was of a cheery disposition, never
+complaining, but always sanguine, and loving to look at the bright side
+of things. Yet I could see for myself, each time I saw him, how the life
+of hardship he was leading was telling upon his once splendid
+constitution, and, I felt sure, shortening his days. John Ryan, I have
+often said, is dead for Ireland, for though he did not perish on the
+battlefield or on the scaffold, as would have been his glory, I most
+certainly believe he would have been alive to-day but for the hardships
+suffered in doing his unostentatious work for Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>There is one other friend I mentioned as having been present that night
+at Owen McGrady's&mdash;the school master. You will ask what became of him?
+Almost the last time I spoke to him&mdash;not very long before these lines
+were written&mdash;was in the inner lobby of the British House of Commons,
+for he <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>has been for many years a member of Parliament. Now some of my
+most cherished friends are or have been members of Parliament, and I
+would be sorry to think any of them worse Irishmen than myself on that
+account. Their taking the oath of allegiance to the British sovereign
+was a matter for their own consciences, but I never could bring myself
+to do it. Mr. Parnell would, I know, have been pleased to see me in
+Parliament, but he knew that I never would take the oath, and respected
+my conscientious objections to swear allegiance to any but my own
+country.</p>
+
+<p>With the exception of a few, whose names I forget, I have accounted for
+the whole of the company comprising the Council of War at McGrady's
+public house. Summed up as follows, nothing in the pages of romance
+could be more startling than the after fate of these men:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Captain Michael O'Brien</span>.&mdash;Hanged at Manchester. R.I.P.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel Rickard Burke</span>.&mdash;Sent to Penal Servitude &mdash;Returned to
+America.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Colonel Thomas Kelly, Captain Timothy Deasy</span>.&mdash;Rescued from Prison
+Van in Manchester.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Captain Edward O'Meagher-Condon</span>.&mdash;Sentenced to death for the Manchester Rescues,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">but reprieved and sent to Penal Servitude&mdash;Returned to America.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Captain Murphy</span>.&mdash;Returned to America. Died a few years since.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Schoolmaster</span>.&mdash;A Member of Parliament.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">John Ryan</span>.&mdash;Dead&mdash;God rest his soul. </p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<h5>A DIGRESSION&mdash;T.D. SULLIVAN&mdash;A NATIONAL ANTHEM&mdash;THE EMERALD
+MINSTRELS&mdash;"THE SPIRIT OF THE NATION."</h5>
+
+
+<p>If it were for nothing else, it will be sufficient fame for T.D.
+Sullivan for all time that he is the author of "God Save Ireland." He
+had no idea himself, as he used to tell me, that the anthem would have
+been taken up so instantaneously and enthusiastically as it was.</p>
+
+<p>A National Anthem can never be made to order. It must grow spontaneously
+out of some stirring incident of the hour. Never in those days were our
+people so deeply moved as by the Manchester Martyrdom. There is no
+grander episode in all Irish history. The song of "God Save Ireland,"
+embodying the cry raised by Edward O'Meagher Condon, and taken up by his
+doomed companions in the dock, so expressed the feelings of all hearts
+that it was at once accepted by Irishmen the world over as the National
+Anthem.</p>
+
+<p>I sympathise with the ground taken up by our friends of the Gaelic
+League that a National Anthem should be in the national tongue. That
+objection has to some extent been met by the very fine translation of
+"God Save Ireland" into Gaelic by Daniel<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a> Lynch. This appeared in one of
+my publications, and is the version now frequently sung at Irish
+patriotic gatherings.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the objection that the air&mdash;"Tramp, tramp, the boys are
+marching"&mdash;to which T.D. wrote the song is of American origin, I was
+under the impression that Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, the famous
+Irish-American bandmaster, was the composer of it, and that, therefore,
+we could claim the air of "God Save Ireland" as being Irish as well as
+the words. To place the matter beyond doubt, Gilmore himself being dead,
+I wrote to his daughter, Mary Sarsfield Gilmore, a distinguished
+poetical contributor to the "Irish World," to ascertain the facts. I got
+from her a most interesting reply, in which she said, "I am more than
+sorry to disappoint you by my answer, but my father was <i>not</i> the
+composer of the air you mention."</p>
+
+<p>I have heard it suggested that McCann's famous war song "O'Donnell
+Aboo!" should be adopted as our National Anthem instead of "God Save
+Ireland," and I have heard of it being given as a <i>finale</i> at Gaelic
+League concerts.</p>
+
+<p>Without doubt it is a fine song, and the air to which it is generally
+sung is a noble one. A distinguished Irish poet tells me he is of
+opinion that "what will be universally taken up as the Irish National
+Anthem has never yet been written." My friend may be right, but let us
+see what claim "O'Donnell Aboo!'"&mdash;song or air&mdash;has upon us for adoption
+as our National Anthem.</p>
+
+<p>To do this I must go back in my narrative to the <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>time when I made the
+acquaintance of Mr. Michael Joseph McCann, its author. This was a few
+years before "God Save Ireland" was written, and over twenty years after
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" appeared in the "Nation."</p>
+
+<p>A party of young Irishmen from Liverpool engaged the Rotunda, Dublin,
+for a week. They called themselves the "Emerald Minstrels," and gave an
+entertainment&mdash;"Terence's Fireside; or the Irish Peasant at Home." I was
+one of the minstrels. The entertainment consisted of Irish national
+songs and harmonized choruses, interspersed with stories such as might
+be told around an Irish fireside. There was a sketch at the finish,
+winding up with a jig.</p>
+
+<p>At my suggestion, one of the pieces in our programme was "O'Donnell
+Aboo!" which first appeared in the "Nation" of January 28th, 1843, under
+the title of "The Clan-Connell War Song&mdash;A.D. 1597," the air to which it
+was to be sung being given as "Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu," This was the
+name of the boat song commencing "Hail to the Chief," from Sir Walter
+Scott's poem of "The Lady of the Lake." This was published in 1810, and
+set to music for three voices soon afterwards by Count Joseph Mazzinghi,
+a distinguished composer of Italian extraction, born in London.</p>
+
+<p>As "Roderigh Vich Alpine" was the air given by Mr. McCann himself as
+that to which his song was to be sung, we, of course, used Mazzinghi's
+music in our entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>One night&mdash;I think it was our first&mdash;at the close <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>of our entertainment
+in Dublin, a gentleman came behind to see us. It was Mr. McCann. He was
+pleased, he said, we were singing his song, but would like us to use an
+air to which it was being sung in Ireland, and which <i>he had put to it
+himself</i>. He also told us he had made some alterations in the <i>words</i> of
+the song, and was good enough to write into my "Spirit of the Nation"
+the changes he had made. This copy is the original folio edition, with
+music, published in 1845. It was presented to me by the members of St.
+Nicholas's Boys' Guild, Liverpool. I have that book still, and value it
+all the more as containing the handwriting of the distinguished poet. (I
+should say, however, that most of my friends do not consider the
+alterations in the song to be improvements.)</p>
+
+<p>The measure and style of "O'Donnell Aboo!" were evidently imitated from
+Sir Walter Scott's boat song. Besides this strong resemblance, there is
+the fact that Mr. McCann gave as the air to which his song was to be
+sung, "Roderigh Vich Alpine," part of the burden of Sir Walter's song.</p>
+
+<p>But not only is there a resemblance in the words and general style, but
+in the music. Indeed, it seems to me that most of the fine air of
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" as it is now sung is based on Mazzinghi's
+music&mdash;either that for the first, second, or bass voice, or upon the
+concerted part for the three voices at the end of each verse.</p>
+
+<p>Another fact is worthy of mention. Since meeting Mr. McCann I have often
+noticed in Irish papers that when the air, as adapted by him, was played
+<a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>at national gatherings, it was often given by the name of Scott's song
+and Mazzinghi's composition. And when Mr. Parnell was in the height of
+his popularity and attended demonstrations in Ireland, the air used to
+be played as being applicable to the Irish leader, and given in some
+papers as "Hail to the Chief," while others described the same air as
+"O'Donnell Aboo!"</p>
+
+<p>But if we cannot claim as an original Irish air McCann's song as it is
+now sung, the same critical examination which brings out its resemblance
+to Mazzinghi's music, also shows that the Italian composer most probably
+got his inspiration from the music of the Irish or Scottish Gaels, as
+being most suitable for his theme. So that, perhaps, we may take the
+same pride in the present air as our island mother might in some of her
+children who had been on the <i>shaughraun</i> for a time, but had again come
+back to the "old sod."</p>
+
+<p>It may be that even before the era of Irish independence some inspired
+poet may write, to some old or new Irish melody, a song which, by its
+transcendent merits, may spring at once into the first place. But until
+that happens, or till "we've made our isle a nation free and grand" I
+think we may very well rest content with "God Save Ireland."</p>
+
+<p>It has been suggested to me that it might form an interesting portion of
+these recollections if I were to give some account of how we came to
+start the "Emerald Minstrels," and what we did while that company was in
+existence. I may say without hesitation that we got our inspiration from
+the <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>teaching of Young Ireland and the "Spirit of the Nation." We called
+our entertainment "Terence's Fireside; or The Irish Peasant at Home."</p>
+
+<p>We had most of us been boys in the old Copperas Hill school, then in the
+Young Men's Guild connected with the church, and some of us members of
+the choir. At the Guild meetings on Sunday nights, the chaplain, Father
+Nugent, an Irishman, but, like most of ourselves, born out of his own
+country, used to delight in teaching us elocution, and encouraging us to
+write essays, besides putting other means of culture in our way.</p>
+
+<p>After a time he founded an educational establishment, the Catholic
+Institute, where, when he left Copperas Hill, many of us followed him
+and joined the evening classes. About this good priest I shall have more
+to say in this narrative, and, though he was no politician, I don't
+think any man ever did so much to elevate the condition of the Irish
+people of his native town, and make them both respectable&mdash;in the best
+sense&mdash;and respected, as Father Nugent.</p>
+
+<p>We started the "Emerald Minstrels" at a time when there was a lull in
+Irish politics; our objects being the cultivation of Irish music, poetry
+and the drama; Irish literature generally, Irish pastimes and customs;
+and, above all, Irish Nationality.</p>
+
+<p>Father Nugent's training from the time we were young boys had been
+invaluable. We numbered ten, the most brilliant member of our body, and
+the one who did most in organising our entertainments, being John
+Francis McArdle. Besides our main objects, already stated, we considered
+we were <a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>doing good work by elevating the tastes of our people, who had,
+through sheer good nature, so long tolerated an objectionable class of
+so-called Irish songs, as well as the still more objectionable "Stage
+Irishman."</p>
+
+<p>Some items from the programme will give an idea of our entertainment. We
+opened with a prologue, originally written by myself, but re-cast and
+very much improved by John McArdle. I may say that we two often did a
+considerable amount of journalistic work in that way in after years. I
+can just remember a little of the prologue. These were the opening
+lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sons of green Erin, we greet you this night!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And you, too, her daughters&mdash;how welcome the sight!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We come here before you, a minstrel band,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To carol the lays of our native land.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>There was one particularly daring couplet in it, the contribution of
+John McArdle:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In your own Irish way give us one hearty cheer.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Just to show us at once that you welcome us here.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Had mine been the task to speak these lines, I must inevitably have
+failed to get the required response, but in the mouth of the regular
+reciter they never once missed fire. This was Mr. Barry Aylmer. He
+afterwards adopted the stage as a profession, and became recognised as a
+very fine actor, chiefly in Irish parts, as might be expected. He also
+travelled with a very successful entertainment of his own, and it is but
+a short time since <a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>he informed me that he spoke our identical "Emerald
+Minstrel" prologue in New York and other cities in America, adapting it,
+of course, to the circumstances of the occasion. I found that during the
+many years which had elapsed since I had previously seen him until I met
+him again quite recently he had been a great traveller, not only in this
+country and America, but also in South Africa and Australia.</p>
+
+<p>We had a number of harmonized choruses, including several of Moore's
+melodies, Banim's "Soggarth Aroon," "Native Music," by Lover; McCann's
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" and others. "Killarney," words by Falconer, music by
+Balfe, was sung by James McArdle, who had a fine tenor voice. Richard
+Campbell was our principal humorous singer. He used chiefly to give
+selections from Lover's songs, and one song written for him by John
+McArdle, "Pat Delany's Christenin'."</p>
+
+<p>John had an instinctive grasp of stage effect. A hint of the
+possibilities of an idea was enough for him. On my return from the
+Curragh I told him of how I had heard the militia men and soldiers
+singing the "Shan Van Vocht" on the road. He decided that this should be
+our <i>finale</i>, the climax of the first part of our minstrel
+entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>We had a drop scene representing the Lower Lake of Killarney. When it
+was raised it disclosed the interior of the living room of a comfortable
+Irish homestead, with the large projecting open chimney, the turf fire
+on the hearth, and the usual pious and patriotic pictures proper to such
+an interior&mdash;Terence's Fireside.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>Ours was a very self-contained company. Each had some special line as
+singer, musician, elocutionist, story teller or dancer.</p>
+
+<p>John Clarke was our chief actor. He excelled in "character parts," and,
+when well "made up" as an old man made a capital "Terence" in the first
+part of the entertainment, besides giving a fine rendering of Lefanu's
+"Shemus O'Brien" between the parts.</p>
+
+<p>In the miscellaneous part there was a rattling Irish jig by Joseph Ward
+and Barry Aylmer. The latter, being of somewhat slight figure and a
+good-looking youth, made a bouncing Irish colleen. These two made a
+point of studying from nature, not only in their dancing, but in their
+acting and singing, so that their performances were always true to life,
+without an atom of exaggeration. They were always received with great
+enthusiasm, particularly by the old people, who seemed transported back,
+as by the touch of a magic wand, to the scenes of their youth.</p>
+
+<p>We finished the evening with a sketch, written by John McArdle, called
+"Phil Foley's Frolics"&mdash;he was fond of alliteration. Noticing that
+Joseph Ward had made a special study of the comfortable old Irish
+<i>vanithee</i>, and had many of her quaint and humorous sayings, he added to
+the characters a special part for him&mdash;"Mrs. Casey,"&mdash;to which he did
+full justice. Indeed, so incessant was the laughter that followed each
+sally, that he and Barry Aylmer, who was the Phil Foley, sometimes found
+it difficult to get the words of the <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>dialogue in between. We had
+another sketch, "Pat Houlahan's Ghost," which used to go very well.</p>
+
+<p>The first part of the entertainment, showing old Terence in the chimney
+corner and the others singing songs and telling stories, almost
+necessitated our sitting around in a semi-circular formation. This gave
+us much the appearance of a nigger troupe. To depart from this somewhat,
+we occasionally introduced a trifling plot. We made it that one of the
+sons of the house entered while the family were engaged in their usual
+avocations, having unexpectedly returned from America. Then came the
+affectionate family greeting, and the bringing in of the friends and
+neighbours, who formed a group sitting around the turf fire, making a
+merry night of it.</p>
+
+<p>The services of the "Emerald Minstrels" were in great demand, and were
+always cheerfully given for Catholic, National and charitable objects.</p>
+
+<p>While our own people mostly furnished our audiences, our entertainment
+was appreciated by the general public. The best proof of this was that
+Mr. Calderwood, Secretary of the Concert Hall, Lord Nelson Street, gave
+us several engagements for the "Saturday Evening Concerts," in which,
+from time to time, Samuel Lover, Henry Russell, The English Glee and
+Madrigal Union, and other well-known popular entertainers, appeared. Mr.
+Calderwood told us he was well pleased to have in the town a company
+like ours, upon whom he could always rely for a successful
+entertainment.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3>
+
+<h5>A FENIAN CONFERENCE AT PARIS&mdash;THE REVOLVERS FOR THE MANCHESTER
+RESCUE&mdash;MICHAEL DAVITT SENT TO PENAL SERVITUDE.</h5>
+
+
+<p>I have referred to Michael Breslin in speaking of his brother John.
+Michael was not suspected of any complicity with the revolutionary
+movement until after the rising on the 5th of March, 1867, when he found
+it prudent to get out of the country.</p>
+
+<p>He was, as the saying is, "on his keeping," and stayed with me at my
+father's house in Liverpool for a short time, until he found a
+favourable opportunity of getting away to America. This was by no means
+an easy task, as all the ports were closely watched, and as, like his
+brother John, he was a fine handsome man, of splendid physique, and well
+known, of course, to the Irish police, it required all his caution
+successfully to run the gauntlet; but this eventually he did.</p>
+
+<p>The next I heard from him was that he was coming to Paris to a
+conference between the representatives of the two parties of American
+Fenians&mdash;what were known as the Stephens and Roberts wings. Michael
+Breslin was sent as a representative of the Stephens party. There were
+prominent members of the<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a> I.R.B. in this country, also friends of
+Breslin, who were anxious that the two parties should join. I wrote to
+him on their behalf, asking him to work towards that end. For greater
+safety the letters for Breslin were sent under cover through my cousin,
+Father Bernard O'Loughlin, Superior of the Passionist Fathers in Paris.
+He, of course, knew nothing of the nature of the communications he was
+handing to Breslin, who did his best to bring about the desired unity;
+but his action was repudiated by his principals in America.</p>
+
+<p>He came over to England, and had a narrow escape from falling into the
+hands of the police. When William Hogan was arrested in Birmingham,
+charged with supplying the arms used in the Manchester Rescue, Michael
+Breslin was in the house at the time. Questioned by the police, he
+described himself as a traveller in the tea trade for Mr. James Lysaght
+Finigan, of Liverpool. As he had his proper credentials (samples, etc.,
+from James Finigan, who, anticipating an emergency of this kind, had
+given them for this express purpose), he was allowed by the police to go
+on his way.</p>
+
+<p>James Lysaght Finigan was a good type of the Liverpool-born Irishman,
+educated by the Christian Brothers. With other members of his family he
+was at the time engaged in the tea trade; but he was of an adventurous
+disposition, and afterwards served in the French Foreign Legion in the
+Franco-Prussian War. Later still he became a member of the Irish Party
+in the House of Commons.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with Breslin's narrow escape, the <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>sequel, as regards our
+friend Hogan, is worth relating. Those who ever met William Hogan will
+agree with me that a more warm-hearted and enthusiastic Irishman never
+lived. He was a good-looking man, of imposing presence&mdash;a director of an
+Insurance Company, for which he was also the resident manager in
+Birmingham. Living in that town, he was of great assistance to the
+various agents entrusted with the task of procuring arms for the
+revolutionary movement. It speaks much for his sagacity that a man of
+his impulsive and generous temperament should so long have escaped
+arrest in connection with such hazardous undertakings. Hogan, however,
+like Shemus O'Brien, "was taken at last."</p>
+
+<p>Some of the revolvers brought from Birmingham by Daniel Darragh, which
+had been used at the Hyde Road action, had been picked up from the
+ground afterwards by the police. It was for supplying these that Hogan
+was put upon his trial. The maker of the revolvers was brought from
+Birmingham, and put in the witness box. He swore that a revolver
+produced was one of his own make, which he had sold to the prisoner.
+Thus, fortunately for Hogan, the whole case against him turned on this
+point&mdash;not a very strong one, as it was obviously possible for the Crown
+witness to be mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>Hogan's counsel produced a similar revolver, and asked the witness if he
+could identify it as his manufacture? The witness unhesitatingly did so.
+The counsel, when his turn came, called another witness&mdash;<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>a
+decent-looking man of the artizan class. The barrister handed him the
+revolver.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you recognise it?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I do&mdash;I made it myself."</p>
+
+<p>The Court was astonished. The prosecuting counsel asked:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know it is yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"By certain marks on it," the man replied, and these he proceeded to
+describe. As the description was found to be correct, and as the other
+witness, who had sworn that <i>he</i> had made the weapon, had not described
+any such marks, the case against Hogan broke down, and he was acquitted.</p>
+
+<p>A few days afterwards he called on me, and explained how the thing had
+happened. When he was arrested, his friends in Birmingham, having still
+on hand some of the revolvers he had purchased, had an exact copy of one
+of them made by a gunsmith whom they could trust, with instructions to
+put his own private marks upon it, which he could afterwards identify.
+It was this weapon that had deceived the witness for the prosecution to
+such an extent that he wrongly swore to it as being his own manufacture.</p>
+
+<p>Daniel Darragh, who was also put upon his trial for supplying the
+weapons for the Manchester Rescue, was not so fortunate as his friend
+Hogan, for he was convicted. He was sent into penal servitude on April
+15th, 1869, but, being in delicate health, did not long survive, for he
+died in Portland Prison on June 28th of the following year. William
+Hogan, as the fulfilment of a sacred duty, brought <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>the body of his
+friend home to Ireland, to be buried among his own kith and kin, in the
+Catholic cemetery of Ballycastle, Co. Antrim; and Edward O'Meagher
+Condon, when recently visiting this country, considered it a no less
+sacred duty to visit the grave.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen that William Hogan, with all his acuteness, had a very
+narrow escape from falling into the hands of the law and suffering its
+penalties. Still, it has been my experience, that men like him, who have
+stood their ground, following their usual legitimate occupations, were
+always less liable to be molested than what might be termed birds of
+passage, such as Rickard Burke, Arthur Forrester, or Michael Davitt.</p>
+
+<p>Such, I consider, was the case of my friend, John Barry, when he was a
+resident in Newcastle-on-Tyne, in connection with an incident which he
+related to me a short time since. Some arms were addressed to him "to be
+called for," under the name of "Kershaw," a well-known north-country
+name, not at all likely to be borne by an Irishman. By some means the
+police got wind of the nature of the consignment, and the arms were held
+at the station, waiting for Mr. Kershaw to claim them. But it was a case
+of plot and counterplot; and when John was actually on the way to the
+railway station, he was warned in time by a railway employ&eacute;, an Irish
+Protestant member of the I.R.B., and did not finish his journey. As
+"Kershaw" did not turn up, the case of arms was sent off to London to be
+produced at a trial then impending.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a><i>John Barry</i> was at that time a commercial traveller, and, strangely
+enough, on one of his trips, he found himself in the same railway
+carriage with two detectives who were in charge of the arms on their way
+to the metropolis. John, as everybody acquainted with him knows, "has
+the music on the tip of his tongue;" the racy accent acquired in his
+childhood in his native Wexford. But he can put it off when the occasion
+requires it; and the two police officers were quite charmed with the
+social qualities of the genial commercial "gent" who was their
+fellow-traveller, never suspecting him to be an Irishman. They chatted
+together in the most agreeable manner, making no secret of their mission
+to London, and letting drop a few facts which proved useful to the
+counsel for the defence in the subsequent trial. Reaching London, they
+asked the commercial "gent" to spend a social evening with them and some
+of the witnesses in the case, which had some connection with the arms
+intended for "Mr. Kershaw." He could not do so, he said, as he had a
+previous engagement&mdash;which happened to be with Arthur Forrester and some
+witnesses on the other side. But, he continued, he would be glad to see
+them on the following day. Where could he see them? At Scotland Yard;
+and at Scotland Yard, accordingly, he met them, where they showed him,
+as an evidence of the desperate characters they had to deal with&mdash;his
+own case of arms!</p>
+
+<p>They told him of the pleasant evening he had missed, the only drawback
+being, they said, that <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>one of the witnesses, named Corydon, got drunk
+and was very troublesome.</p>
+
+<p>This reminds me of another case, in connection with which I, at the
+time, fully expected to be arrested. The reader can form his own
+conclusion, but my impression was, and is, that I owed my safety to a
+gentleman I shall now introduce. Detective Superintendent Laurence
+Kehoe, of Liverpool, was a very decent man in his way. He was by no
+means of the type of John Boyle O'Reilly or the Breslins, who have shown
+that in the British army and in the police force there have been men,
+mostly compelled by adverse circumstances, who have for a time worn the
+blue, or green, or scarlet coat of Britain without changing the Irish
+heart beneath.</p>
+
+<p>No; Larry (as he was generally called) was nothing of the kind. Still, I
+believe he faithfully did his duty according to his lights, in the
+service in which he was engaged. He was a conscientious Catholic, and a
+son of his is a most respected priest in the diocese of Liverpool. He
+was a kind-hearted, charitable man, always ready to do a good turn,
+particularly for a fellow-countryman. If an Irish policeman called his
+attention to some poor waif of an Irish child who had lost its parents,
+or was in evil surroundings&mdash;having parents worse than none, or in
+danger of losing its faith&mdash;Laurence Kehoe would take the matter in
+hand. He would not always go through the formality of bringing the case
+of such child under the notice of the managers of one or other of the
+Catholic orphanages. When I was Secretary of Father Nugent's Boys'
+Refuge, <a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>he brought one of these waifs to the Brother Director, and
+claimed admittance for him. The place was full, the Brother said&mdash;it
+could not be done. Without another word Kehoe left the child on the
+doorstep, and simply saying, "Good-night," left Brother Tertullian
+sorely perplexed, but with no alternative but to take the child in.</p>
+
+<p>Now, Laurence Kehoe must have known that I was a notorious suspect&mdash;for
+it was his duty to know&mdash;but we were good friends, never, however,
+talking politics by any possible chance. I cannot, of course, state for
+certain how it was, but the reader, from what I am going to describe,
+may possibly come to the conclusion that Detective Superintendent Kehoe
+may have shut both eyes and ears in my particular case.</p>
+
+<p>To Rickard Burke was entrusted the critical and dangerous task of buying
+and distributing arms for the revolutionary movement. <i>Exit</i> Rickard
+Burke, in the usual way, through the prison gate. <i>Enter</i> Arthur
+Forrester, who, in due course, found his way also&mdash;though but for a
+short time&mdash;within prison walls. Then, following in quick succession,
+came Michael Davitt, engaged in the same task as Burke and Forrester.</p>
+
+<p>Forrester was a young man of great eloquence, and, like his mother and
+sister, a poet. Mrs. Ellen Forrester's "Widow's Message to her Son" is,
+I think, one of the finest and most heart-stirring poems we possess. I
+have often listened with pleasure to Arthur Forrester, when he used to
+come to address the "boys" in Liverpool. On one of those occasions<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>
+Michael Davitt was with him, a modest, unassuming young man, with but
+little to say, although he was to make afterwards a more important
+figure in the world than his friend. Forrester was a young fellow full
+of pluck, and made a desperate resistance when, a boy, he was first
+arrested in Dublin.</p>
+
+<p>One night, just before Christmas, 1869, he left fifty revolvers with me.
+Early next morning I read in a daily paper that he had been arrested the
+previous night in a Temperance Hotel where he had been staying. There
+were no arms found upon him or among his belongings. He had left them
+with me;&mdash;indeed, as I read the account of his arrest, they were still
+in my possession. You may depend upon it I quickly got them into safer
+hands than my own. Some compromising documents were found in Forrester's
+possession, including a certain letter with which Michael Davitt's name
+was connected. This same letter was brought forward in evidence some
+years afterwards, in the famous "<i>Times</i> Forgeries Commission," with a
+view to showing that the Irish leaders had incited to murder. As I
+expected, I was not long without a visit from Laurence Kehoe's
+lieutenants. Horn and Cousens, detective officers, called upon me to
+make enquiries about the revolvers which, they said, "Arthur had left
+with me." I need scarcely say they gained nothing by their visitation. I
+fully expected that the matter would not end here, and that I was likely
+to find myself in the dock along with Forrester.</p>
+
+<p>The same evening I had a visit from my sister-<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>in-law, Miss Naughton.
+She had a friend, a Miss Cameron, who was sister to the wife of Lawrence
+Kehoe. Miss Cameron lived in the house of the Detective Superintendent,
+along with her sister, Mrs. Kehoe. In the middle of the previous
+night&mdash;Miss Cameron told Miss Naughton&mdash;her room being on the same
+landing as Kehoe's&mdash;she heard him called, and a man's voice saying:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We've taken Forrester. Shall we go to Denvir?" There was a pause; then
+Kehoe said, "No," adding some words to the effect that he did not think
+that I was implicated.</p>
+
+<p>I dare say, after the manner of some pious people I know, he had
+persuaded himself that such was the case. After he had worked out his
+full term in Purgatory (for he is dead many years, God rest his soul!),
+I don't think St. Peter can have kept the Heavenly gates closed on Larry
+Kehoe for whatever he said about me that night. Nay, let us hope that it
+was even put down to his credit.</p>
+
+<p>Forrester's explanation, when he was arrested, as to his employment was
+that he was a hawker. He had his licence, all quite regular, to show.
+Under this he could sell his revolvers. There was nothing illegal in
+that, unless a connection were established with the revolutionary
+movement.</p>
+
+<p>This, it appeared, they were not able to make out; but he was kept in
+custody, evidently with a view to gain time to establish such a
+connection. In fact, his case was the same as Davitt's, who took up the
+work of procuring and distributing arms, after Forrester had become too
+well known to the police <a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>in connection with it. Davitt, too, had a
+hawker's licence; and, at first, there was really no evidence to connect
+him with the Fenian movement. The farce was gone through of bringing
+Corydon to identify him&mdash;not a very difficult task in the case of a
+one-armed man&mdash;though this was the first time Corydon had ever seen
+Davitt.</p>
+
+<p>The evident explanation of Forrester being kept in custody, and
+remanded, as he was, from day to day, without being charged with any
+offence, was that a similar connection might be established, to prove
+which a little perjury would not stand in the way.</p>
+
+<p>Michael Davitt, who had not yet come under the notice of the police,
+came to me, along with Arthur Forrester's mother, on hearing of the
+arrest. They had tea with us, and, I need scarcely say, were warmly
+welcomed in our little family circle, those in the house who were but
+small children then being in after years proud to remember that they had
+had such noble characters under their roof.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ellen Forrester was a homely, sweet-looking, little North of
+Ireland woman. She was a native of the County Monaghan, and, at this
+time, about forty years of age. Her maiden name was Magennis. Her father
+was a schoolmaster, which would, no doubt, account for her literary
+tastes. Songs and poems of hers appeared in the "Nation" and "Dundalk
+Democrat." She was quite young when she came to England, and settled
+first in Liverpool, and then in Manchester. She married Michael
+Forrester, a stonemason, and had five children. It was quite <a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>evident
+there was a poetic strain in the Magennis blood, for two of her
+daughters, and her son Arthur, inherited the gift, which her brother
+Bernard also possessed. She produced "Simple Strains" and (in
+conjunction with her son Arthur) "Songs of the Rising Nation," and other
+poems. She was a frequent contributor to the English press, her work
+being much appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>Arthur Forrester, whose release we were trying to effect, was, at this
+time, only nineteen years old, though he looked much older. Besides the
+poetic strain which he inherited from his mother, he must also have had
+that fiery and unconquerable spirit which displayed itself in the
+determined resistance he made against the police who came to arrest him
+in 1867, in Dublin, where he had found his way for the projected rising.
+He was a young Revolutionist truly&mdash;being then only seventeen. He was
+not long kept in prison that time, there being no evidence to connect
+him with Fenianism, nor, indeed, was there now, when he had fallen into
+the hands of the police in Liverpool, though they were doing their best
+to manufacture some.</p>
+
+<p>His warlike proclivities seem to have been ever uppermost, as will be
+seen later, where we find him joining the French "Foreign Legion" during
+the Franco-Prussian War. Besides the "Songs of the Rising Nation" in
+connection with his mother, he produced "An Irish Crazy Quilt," prose
+and verse, and was a frequent contributor to the "Irish People" and
+other papers over the signature of "Angus" and "William Tell."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>It is too bad of me to be keeping poor Arthur in durance vile while I
+am going into these particulars; but I want to show what kind of people
+these Forresters were, and what the rebelly Ulster Magennis strain in
+their blood let them into.</p>
+
+<p>Together, Davitt and I called upon several Liverpool Irishmen to get
+bail for Forrester. There was no difficulty&mdash;we could easily get the
+necessary security; but, name after name, good, substantial bail, was
+refused by the police on one pretence or another.</p>
+
+<p>Ultimately, on Christmas Eve, when the prisoner was again brought before
+the stipendiary magistrate, Mr. Raffles, a very just and high-minded
+man, Dr. Commins, barrister, acting for Forrester, claimed that no
+charge, but a mere matter of suspicion, being forthcoming against him,
+the bail offered should be accepted. The magistrate agreed to accept two
+sureties of &pound;100 each, "to keep the peace for one year," and Arthur
+Forrester was released.</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting to know that while one of the bails was William
+Russell, a patriotic Irishman, having an extensive business, the other
+was Arthur Doran, a wholesale newsagent. He was a decent Irishman, of
+Liverpool birth, who took no part in politics. He had been induced to go
+bail by one of the greatest scoundrels Ireland ever produced&mdash;Richard
+Pigott, Doran being an agent for Pigott's papers, the "Irishman" and
+"Flag of Ireland." Let this one good act, at all events, be put down to
+Pigott's credit.</p>
+
+<p>To return to Forrester. After such a close shave <a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>as he had in
+Liverpool, with the eyes of the police now upon him, his occupation was
+gone, and Michael Davitt took up the work. I am afraid that Davitt's
+visit to Liverpool on this occasion brought him under the notice of the
+police, and may probably have led to his arrest a few months afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>This took place on May 14th, 1870, at Paddington Station, London, with
+him being arrested also John Wilson, a Birmingham gunsmith. Davitt had
+&pound;150 in his possession, and Wilson had fifty revolvers, it being
+suggested that the gunsmith was about to deliver the weapons in exchange
+for the money. So far&mdash;Davitt having a hawker's licence, as in the case
+of Forrester&mdash;this would have been perfectly legitimate. What was wanted
+by the authorities was evidence to show a connection with the Fenian
+conspiracy. They really had no such evidence, but as Davitt was a marked
+man, and as it was necessary to have him removed, Corydon was brought to
+identify him, and, of course, had no difficulty, when a number of men
+were brought into the corridor, in picking out the one-armed man from
+among them.</p>
+
+<p>At the trial Corydon swore, among other things, that Davitt took part in
+the Chester raid. Now, Michael himself told me afterwards that Corydon
+had never seen him before he "identified" him in prison; and that though
+he really was at Chester, Corydon could not have known this. Michael
+Davitt and John Wilson were convicted of treason-felony. As showing the
+man's noble character, it should not be forgotten that the Irishman made
+an earnest <a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>appeal for the Englishman, declaring that Wilson knew
+nothing of the object for which the weapons were wanted, and asking that
+whatever sentence was to be passed on the gunsmith might be added to his
+own. This was quite worthy of Davitt's chivalrous and unselfish nature,
+and I can well imagine his tall and commanding figure in the dock, with
+his strongly marked features and dark, bright eyes&mdash;while utterly
+defiant of what the law might do to himself&mdash;making this appeal for the
+man who stood beside him. Davitt was, on July 11th, 1870, sentenced to
+fifteen years, and Wilson to seven years penal servitude.</p>
+
+<p>Michael Davitt will appear in these pages as the founder of another
+organisation, the results of which seem likely to make the Irish people
+more the real possessors of their own soil than they have ever been
+since the Norman invasion.</p>
+
+<p>About this time I had started a printing and publishing business in
+Liverpool, and commenced to realise what I had long projected as a
+useful work for Ireland. This was the issue of my "Irish Library,"
+consisting chiefly of penny books of biographies, stories, songs, and
+stirring episodes of Irish history.</p>
+
+<p>In their production and afterwards, when I continued the issue of these
+booklets in London, I had valuable assistance from various friends,
+including Rev. Father Ambrose, Rev. Father O'Laverty, Michael Davitt,
+Daniel Crilly, T.D. Sullivan, Timothy McSweeney, Hugh Heinrick, William
+J. Ryan, Francis Fahy, William P. Ryan, Alfred<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a> Perceval Graves, Michael
+O'Mahony, John J. Sheehan, Thomas Boyd, Thomas Flannery, John Hand,
+James Lysaght Finigan, and other well-known writers on Irish subjects.
+Some of the penny books were from my own pen, in addition to which I
+wrote "The Brandons," a story of Irish life in England, and other books,
+of which my most ambitious work was "The Irish in Britain."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3>
+
+<h5>RESCUE OF THE MILITARY FENIANS.</h5>
+
+
+<p>Before concluding the section of my Recollections connected with
+Fenianism, I must re-introduce John Breslin, the rescuer of James
+Stephens.</p>
+
+<p>Though the episode I am about to describe took place some six years
+after the commencement of the constitutional Home Rule agitation, I
+think it well, as it was connected with Fenianism, for the sake of
+compactness, to introduce it here.</p>
+
+<p>My excuse for introducing it as part of <i>my</i> recollections will be seen
+further on.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that John Breslin, when a warder in Richmond
+Prison, was the man who actually opened the door of James Stephens's
+cell, and, with the aid of Byrne, another warder, helped the Head Centre
+over the prison wall, and left him in charge of John Ryan and other
+friends outside.</p>
+
+<p>It was no wonder, then, that, when a similar perilous and even more
+arduous undertaking was projected, John Breslin should be the man chosen
+as the chief instrument to carry it out.</p>
+
+<p>This was the rescue of six military Fenians from Freemantle, in Western
+Australia, which was ultimately effected on Easter Monday, 17th April,
+1876.</p>
+
+<p>The enterprise was projected in America, among <a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>its most active
+promoters being John Devoy. Associated with him were John Boyle O'Reilly
+(himself an escaped Fenian convict) and Captain Hathaway, City Marshal
+of New Bedford. An American barque, of 202 tons, the <i>Catalpa</i>, was
+bought, and converted into a whaler, but was intended to be used in
+carrying off the convicts. She was ready for sea in March, 1875. It was
+more than a year before she took the prisoners away from Australia, and
+a further four months before she reached New York with the rescued men.
+The ship was taken out by Captain S. Anthony, an American, to whom was
+confided the object of the mission. The only Irishman on board among the
+crew was Denis Duggan, the carpenter, a sterling Nationalist, to whom
+also was made known the mission on which they were bound.</p>
+
+<p>As John Breslin was now in America, obviously he was the man of all
+others to entrust with the command of the daring project of carrying off
+the prisoners. Happily he was available for the work, and entered into
+it heartily. He sent me the narrative of the rescue himself&mdash;through his
+brother Michael&mdash;on his return to America, after having successfully
+accomplished his mission.</p>
+
+<p>He and Captain Desmond sailed from San Francisco on the 13th of
+September, 1875, and reached Freemantle on 16th of November. They were
+not long in opening up communications with the prisoners, so as to be in
+readiness for the arrival of the <i>Catalpa</i>. In the meantime two more men
+joined the expedition&mdash;John King, who brought a supply <a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>of money from
+New Zealand, which was most useful, and Thomas Brennan, who arrived at
+the last moment, just as the <i>Catalpa</i> appeared off the coast, and had
+got into communication with Breslin.</p>
+
+<p>Everything being arranged, it was determined to carry off the following
+prisoners&mdash;Martin Harrington, Thomas Darragh, James Wilson, Martin
+Joseph Hogan, Robert Cranston, and Thomas Henry Hassett. They were at
+work outside the prison walls, or at other employment equally
+accessible, when they were taken away in two traps from Freemantle,
+about nine o'clock in the morning of the 17th of April, 1876. By the
+time the news of their flight, and of the direction they had taken, was
+known in the prison, the party had reached Rockingham, and were on the
+sea in the whale-boat which was to take them to the <i>Catalpa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The gunboat <i>Conflict</i>, which was usually stationed at King George's
+Sound, was telegraphed for by the authorities, but it was found that the
+wires had been cut the previous night, and by the time they were
+repaired the vessel had gone on a cruise.</p>
+
+<p>After some hours' delay, the governor engaged the passenger steamer
+<i>Georgette</i> to go in pursuit. It was nine o'clock that evening before
+she left Freemantle. The police boat was cruising about also, looking
+for the whaler and her boat. The <i>Georgette</i> came up with the <i>Catalpa</i>
+about 8 o'clock on the following (Tuesday) morning. A demand to go on
+board and search the barque was refused. As it was found there was a
+short supply aboard the <i>Georgette</i>, she returned to Freemantle to coal,
+leaving <a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>the police boat to watch the <i>Catalpa</i>, and to look out for the
+whale boat containing the rescued men, which had not yet appeared,
+although, as it turned out, not far off at the time. The boat had been
+vainly searching for the <i>Catalpa</i> all night, and had only now
+discovered her. The party in the boat had actually seen the <i>Georgette</i>
+overhauling the <i>Catalpa</i>, and had yet themselves remained undiscovered.
+In order to keep clear of falling into the hands of the <i>Georgette</i> they
+stood off from the ship, and it was about half-past two o'clock in the
+afternoon before the boat containing the rescued men approached the
+<i>Catalpa</i> again. They then saw the police boat making for the ship at
+about the same distance from her on the land side as the whale boat was
+to the seaward. The men scrambled aboard just as the police boat was
+coming up on the other side.</p>
+
+<p>Breslin says:&mdash;"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 (this was the name Breslin went by); what shall I do?' I
+replied, 'Hoist the flag, and stand out to sea;' and never was a
+man&oelig;uvre executed in a more prompt and seamanlike manner."</p>
+
+<p>The police boat did not attempt to board the vessel, but made its way
+back to Freemantle to report. There the <i>Georgette</i> had been fully
+coaled and provisioned, and had taken aboard, in addition to the
+pensioners and police, a twelve-pounder field-piece. At 11 o'clock the
+same night (Tuesday) she steamed out once more. At daylight on the
+<a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>following morning she came up with the <i>Catalpa</i> again, and fired a
+round shot across her bows. After some parleying, Captain Anthony being
+prompted by Breslin, the <i>Georgette</i> hailed that if the <i>Catalpa</i> did
+not heave to, the masts would be blown out of her.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell them," said Breslin to the captain, "that's the American flag; you
+are on the high seas; and if he fires on the ship, he fires on the
+American flag."</p>
+
+<p>Preparations were made to give the armed party on the <i>Georgette</i> a warm
+reception should they attempt to board the whaler. But the pursuers had
+a wholesome fear of coming into conflict with a vessel sailing under the
+Stars and Stripes, and, after some further parleying, left the <i>Catalpa</i>
+to pursue her homeward voyage unmolested.</p>
+
+<p>I was fortunate enough to get the account of <i>both</i> expeditions&mdash;for
+there were two&mdash;for the rescue of the military Fenians in each case
+direct from the man having the command.</p>
+
+<p>I have already given John Breslin's account, which, it will, perhaps, be
+remembered I published at the time as a number of my penny "Irish
+Library."</p>
+
+<p>I had the pleasure of hearing John Walsh, who had charge of the
+expedition from this country, relating the part he and his friend bore
+in assisting the Irish-American rescuers. He told the story at a very
+select gathering in Liverpool, at which I was present. On the 13th of
+January, he said, two men, of whom he was one, left this country with
+money and clothing to carry out the rescue. They landed on the 28th of
+February at King<a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a> George's Sound, whence a sailing vessel took them to
+Freemantle.</p>
+
+<p>They soon got into communication with the two men who had come from
+America, and had been on the spot since November, 1875&mdash;John Breslin and
+J. Desmond, the latter of whom worked as a coach-builder at Perth. Walsh
+and his friend offered their co-operation to the men from America in any
+capacity, and arrangements were made accordingly. They lent the
+Americans arms, and they cut the telegraph wires from Perth to King
+George's Sound, where a man-of-war was stationed.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen from Breslin's account that this was why the man-of-war
+was not available to deal with the <i>Catalpa</i>; for when the telegraphic
+communication was restored, it was found that the gunboat <i>Conflict</i> had
+left on a cruise.</p>
+
+<p>Walsh and his friend were on the ground on the morning when the
+prisoners started to escape, and if a fight took place, they were to
+fight and fly with their friends. If there was no fight, they were to
+remain behind. If the <i>Catalpa</i> failed, they were to fly to the bush,
+with the exception of some who were to remain behind to succour those in
+the bush.</p>
+
+<p>John Walsh described how, when the rescued men were being driven in two
+traps from Freemantle to Rockingham, to be taken on the whale-boat to
+the <i>Catalpa</i>, which was lying off the coast awaiting them, he and his
+friend started with them, and remained behind to stop pursuit. He also
+described the attempt to recapture the escaped men, as told in Breslin's
+narrative, and how the attempt failed.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>My own connection with this incident was that the funds, or some part
+of them, for John Walsh's expedition passed through my hands between
+their collection and their distribution.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday, August 21st, 1876, while we were holding the Annual
+Convention of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, in the
+Rotunda, Dublin, the joyful news reached us that the <i>Catalpa</i>, having
+on board the rescued men and their rescuers, had safely reached New
+York. The news was received with the wildest enthusiasm. The terrible
+strain of the last four months had passed, and we were relieved from the
+constant dread that, after the gallant rescue, the men might again fall
+into the hands of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>A few more words about the Breslins before finishing this chapter.
+Michael went back to America after his escape from arrest in Birmingham.
+I have corresponded with him from time to time ever since. A letter of
+mine to Michael, written after he finally went to America, came back to
+me in a very curious manner. A gentleman came into my place of business
+in Liverpool one day, and presented to me, as an introduction, a letter
+I had sent to my friend about a month previously. I was somewhat
+suspicious about this. I told him there was nothing to show that my
+letter had ever been in Breslin's hands at all. The gentleman agreed
+that I was right, and said he would merely ask to be allowed to leave
+his luggage for a short time.</p>
+
+<p>I got a careful watch kept on his movements in Liverpool, but nothing
+more suspicious was reported <a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>than that he had been seen to enter a
+Catholic church, where he had gone to Confession.</p>
+
+<p>My friend William Hogan was in my place when my messenger returned, and
+when he heard this, exclaimed, in his usual impetuous style&mdash;"He's a
+spy!"</p>
+
+<p>The deduction might not seem obvious, but, doubtless Hogan had in his
+mind one or two of the worst cases of the anti-Fenian informers, who
+made a parade of great piety a cloak for their treachery.</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman returned and reclaimed his luggage, and I heard nothing
+further of him for about a month afterwards, when I had a letter from
+Michael Breslin, saying that his friend, whom I had treated with such
+suspicion and such scant hospitality, was Mr. John B. Holland, the
+famous submarine inventor. He was, I believe, in this country in
+connection with his invention.</p>
+
+<p>It may be asked, after all, what did Fenianism do for Ireland? To those
+who ask the question I would answer that no honest effort for liberty
+has ever been made in vain. If Fenianism did nothing else, it kept alive
+the tradition and the spirit of freedom among Irishmen, and handed them
+on to the next generation. In so far as the men who took part in it were
+unselfish, were whole-souled lovers of their country, and prepared to
+risk life and liberty for their country's sake&mdash;and I think with pride
+of the thousands of such men I knew or knew of&mdash;then the whole Irish
+race was ennobled and lifted up from the mire of serfdom.</p>
+
+<p>But it did more than merely make martyrs. Its strength, its spontaneity,
+and the devotion of its <a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>adherents were such that they undoubtedly
+awakened not merely some alarm, but also some sense of justice in
+England.</p>
+
+<p>Gladstone admitted that what first prompted him to set in motion the
+movement for the disestablishment of the Irish Church was "the intensity
+of Fenianism." But the result did not end there. For many an Englishman
+was moved to the belief that surely there must be something wrong with a
+system which provoked such a movement, something not wholly bad about a
+cause for which men went with calm, proud confidence to the felon's cell
+or the scaffold. And, even to-day, England&mdash;with all her secret service
+facilities&mdash;does not know one-half of the danger from which she escaped;
+nor can I repeat much of what I myself could say of Fenianism in
+England.</p>
+
+<p>There are men who have made large fortunes in business; there are
+eminent men in many of the professions, whose former connection with
+Fenianism is unsuspected, who, at the time, if the call had been made
+upon them, would cheerfully have thrown aside their careers and taken
+their places in the ranks.</p>
+
+<p>Once again "a soul came into Ireland," and men were capable then of high
+enterprises which to-day seem to belong to another age.</p>
+
+<p>Even for myself, I have many times marvelled how light-heartedly in
+those days I took the risks of conspiracy&mdash;how little it troubled me
+that there were dozens of men who bore my liberty, and perhaps my life,
+in their hands. But I never doubted them&mdash;and I was right!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+
+<h5>THE HOME RULE MOVEMENT.</h5>
+
+
+<p>It now becomes my business to record the formation and progress of
+another organisation&mdash;one which appealed to me precisely on the same
+grounds as Fenianism, namely, first, that it was based on justice; and,
+secondly, that it was practicable.</p>
+
+<p>This was the constitutional movement for what was known as Home Rule. My
+principles have never altered, and I can see nothing inconsistent in my
+adapting myself to changed conditions. I and those who thought like me
+were driven into Fenianism because it seemed likely to achieve success,
+and what was call "constitutional agitation" seemed hopeless. Now the
+position was reversed. On the one hand Fenianism had collapsed, and on
+the other there seemed a prospect, partly owing to the change wrought by
+Fenianism, that a constitutional movement might succeed.</p>
+
+<p>This constitutional movement had been going on for some six years
+previous to the rescue of the military Fenians, having been inaugurated
+at a meeting in the Bilton Hotel, Dublin, on the 19th May, 1870, five
+days after the arrest of Michael Davitt, and his disappearance for a
+season from the stage of Irish history.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>In the pages which are to follow I shall have occasion to introduce
+some of those who took part in that first Home Rule gathering in Dublin.
+It was a hopeful beginning, as there were assembled men who were of
+various creeds and politics&mdash;Catholics, Protestants, Fenian
+sympathisers, Repealers, Liberals, and Tories&mdash;but all of whom had in
+view the happiness and prosperity of their common country. There they
+established the "Home Government Association of Ireland," the first
+resolution passed being:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>This Association is formed for the purpose of attaining for Ireland
+the right of self-government by means of a National Parliament. </p></div>
+
+<p>The fact was that the "intensity of Fenianism" had forced thinking men
+of every shade of opinion to realise that government of Ireland by
+outsiders was an abject failure. Even Englishmen themselves began to
+realise that they were engaged in an impossible task, or, at all events,
+one in which they were quite at sea. A humorous story is attributed to
+Mr. T.W. Russell on this point. It is that a certain Englishman, who was
+appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, went to an English official of
+experience in Dublin, and said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"You know what I mean to do first of all, is to get at the facts&mdash;the
+facts&mdash;then I shall be on sure ground."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear sir," said the official wearily, "there are no facts in
+Ireland."</p>
+
+<p>The conclusion was not a surprising one for a man <a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>who had for years
+been in touch with the "official sources" of information.</p>
+
+<p>While all honour is due to the men who initiated the new movement, the
+names of those who carried on the constitutional struggle during the
+years that preceded this date should not be forgotten. Of all the men I
+ever came into contact with in the course of my experience of
+constitutional agitation, I think the Sullivans&mdash;especially T.D. and
+A.M.&mdash;deserve the most credit, for they kept the flag flying in the
+columns of the "Nation" and in other ways during all the gloomy years
+that followed after Charles Gavan Duffy left the country in despair. I
+am always proud to have reckoned these two men among my dearest and most
+trusted friends.</p>
+
+<p>Another great admirer of the Sullivans was Alfred Crilly, brother to
+Daniel Crilly, and father of Frederick Lucas Crilly, the present
+respected and able General Secretary of the United Irish League of Great
+Britain. Alfred was one of the most brilliant Irishmen we ever had in
+Liverpool, and no man did better service for the cause in that city
+during his lifetime. It was always a pleasure to me to work in harness
+with him, as I did on many public occasions; for whatever was the
+national organisation going on in Ireland for the time being we
+two&mdash;Alfred Crilly and myself&mdash;always did our best to have its
+counterpart in Liverpool. Indeed it became the case that for many years
+our people there invariably looked to us to take the initiative in every
+national movement. Whenever A.M. Sullivan came over to our
+demonstrations it did <a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>not need our assurance to convince him that every
+pulsation of the national heart in Ireland was as warmly and as strongly
+felt on this side of the Channel as though we still formed part of our
+mother island. Indeed, the evidence of his own eyes, the enthusiasm he
+saw when he came amongst us, caused him to declare at a vast gathering
+in the Amphitheatre that he felt as if he were not out of Ireland at
+all, but on a piece cut from the "old sod" itself.</p>
+
+<p>I felt proud when two young men of my training, John McArdle, who had
+been with me on the "Catholic Times"; and afterwards Daniel Crilly, on
+the "United Irishman," were appointed to the literary staff of the
+"Nation," for which they were well fitted, seeing that, with their
+brilliant gifts, they had, from their earliest days, been imbued with
+the doctrines of that newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>T.D., like his brother, often came to Liverpool, and used to be equally
+delighted with the enthusiastic receptions he got from his
+fellow-countrymen. On one occasion he said to me he was at a loss how to
+show his appreciation. I told him how to do this. "Write us a song," I
+said. He did so; and with that admirable tact which is so characteristic
+of him he chose for his theme&mdash;"Erin's Sons in England," a song which,
+written to the air of "The Shamrock," has, for many years, been sung at
+our Irish festivals in Great Britain. As a personal favour to myself he
+wrote it for one of the penny books of my "Irish Library".</p>
+
+<p>I need make no apology for introducing T.D.<a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a> Sullivan's song here. It
+will be seen that he sings our praise with no uncertain note; and, in
+return, I may say on their behalf that he had no warmer admirers than
+among the Irish of England.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">ERIN'S SONS IN ENGLAND.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Air&mdash;"Oh, the Shamrock</i>."</span></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">On every shore, the wide world o'er,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The newest and the oldest,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The sons are found of Erin's ground</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Among the best and boldest.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But soul and will are turning still</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To Ireland o'er the ocean,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And well I know where aye they glow</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">With most intense devotion.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">CHORUS:&mdash;Over here in England,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Up and down through England,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;">Fond and true and fearless too,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Are Erin's sons in England.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where toil is hard, in mill and yard,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Their hands are strong to bear it;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where genius bright would wing its flight,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The mind is theirs to dare it;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But high or low, in joy or woe,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">With any fate before them,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The sweetest bliss they know, is this&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To aid the land that bore them.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">CHORUS:&mdash;Over here in England, &amp;c.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">By many a sign from Thames to Tyne,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">From Holyhead to Dover,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The eye may trace the deathless race</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Our gallant land sent over.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Midst beech and oak, midst flame and smoke.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Up springs the cross-tipped steeple</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That, far and wide, tells where abide</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The faithful Irish people.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">CHORUS:&mdash;Over here in England, &amp;c.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And this I say&mdash;on any day</span><br /><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">That help of theirs is needed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Dear Ireland's call will never fall</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">On their true hearts unheeded</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They'll plainly show to friend and foe.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">If e'er the need arises</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Her arm is long, and stout and strong,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To work some strange surprises!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">CHORUS:&mdash;Over here in England, &amp;c.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that T.D. never allowed himself to be bound by
+conventionalities. There was always a refreshing thoroughness and
+heartiness in what he did. For instance, when he was Lord Mayor of
+Dublin, he on one occasion "opened" a public bath by stripping and
+swimming round it&mdash;the Town Clerk and other officials following his
+example.</p>
+
+<p>I have mentioned the good work done in Liverpool by Father Nugent, and
+that I had the pleasure of co-operating with him in some of his
+undertakings.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of the Home Rule movement connected with the name of Isaac
+Butt, and for some years previously, I had been brought into still
+closer contact with him, first, as secretary of his refuge for destitute
+and homeless boys, and then as manager and acting editor of the
+"Northern Press and Catholic Times," after that paper had come into his
+hands. I also assisted him in the temperance movement which he started
+in Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>When Father Nugent asked me to take charge of the "Catholic Times," I
+entered upon the work literally single-handed, like some of the editors
+we read of a generation or so ago in the Western States <a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>of America;
+for, when he left me for a nine months' tour in the States, I
+constituted in my own person the whole staff. We afterwards had some
+able men on the paper. Among these was John McArdle, who left us, as I
+have said, to join the "Nation." He became later a well-known dramatic
+author, his chief works being burlesques and pantomimes. We also had
+James Lysaght Finigan, of whom I speak elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>While Father Nugent was in America, we used to get great help from a
+fine old Jesuit priest and good Irish Nationalist, Father James
+McSwiney, then of St. Francis Xavier's, Liverpool. He was never happier
+than when smoking his short pipe by the fire in our inner office. With
+his help we created a much admired feature in the "Catholic Times" in
+our "Answers to Correspondents." With the view of drawing on real
+enquiries, he used to concoct and then answer questions on points of
+doctrine, etc. Some people were astonished at the profound
+knowledge&mdash;and others at what they considered "the impudence"&mdash;displayed
+by Jack McArdle and John Denvir in answering any theological posers that
+might be put to us, never dreaming we had behind us one of the ablest
+theologians of the Jesuit order.</p>
+
+<p>When Father Nugent took the paper in hands, the readers had such
+confidence in it that, from being merely a local paper, we were able
+before long to make it a leading Catholic organ for the whole country.</p>
+
+<p>The reverend father was chaplain of the Liverpool<a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a> Borough jail. He was
+respected by all classes, Protestant as well as Catholic, not only for
+what he did for the unfortunate creatures who came under his
+ministrations, but as a public-spirited citizen and benefactor of the
+town. It would be wrong if I did not pay a high tribute to the splendid
+service done by him in Liverpool towards elevating the condition of our
+own people. I would be ungrateful, too, if I failed to recognise the
+great educational work he did in giving opportunities for culture to
+many Liverpool Irishmen, myself among the number, which afterwards aided
+their advancement in the battle of life. That is why I never regretted
+that I gave Father Nugent, when conducting the "Catholic Times" for him,
+three of the best years of my life. I never regretted my experiences in
+connection with that paper, particularly in the reporting department,
+for they were often very pleasant ones. Among these was my having been
+introduced to the great Archbishop MacHale, when I went to St.
+Nicholas's to report his sermon.</p>
+
+<p>I have many vivid remembrances arising out of my connection with the
+"Catholic Times."</p>
+
+<p>It was during the time I was in charge of it that we started the Irish
+national organisation on this side of the Channel&mdash;the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, formed at our first annual convention
+held in Manchester, at which I was elected as the first General
+Secretary of the organisation.</p>
+
+<p>I was at the same time secretary of the Liverpool Catholic Club, and in
+that capacity I assisted in entertaining the Canadian Papal Zouaves when
+<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>passing through Liverpool on their way home, after their gallant but
+unsuccessful struggle to uphold the power of the Pope against the
+revolutionaries.</p>
+
+<p>In the same way it became my duty as secretary of the club to organise
+the Catholic vote in Liverpool on the occasion of the first School Board
+Election. The Irish and those of Irish extraction in Liverpool being
+reckoned as about one-third of the population, the Catholic body is
+correspondingly numerous. We surprised both friend and foe in the
+results. There were fifteen members to be elected, and we asked our
+people to give three votes for each of our five candidates. They were
+not only elected, but the votes actually given for them&mdash;on the
+cumulative principle&mdash;could have elected eight out of the fifteen
+members of the Board.</p>
+
+<p>Father Nugent, though immensely popular with all classes, was not, I
+think, a <i>persona grata</i>, any more than myself, with Canon Fisher, the
+Vicar-General of the diocese, who was very anti-Irish, and, so far as he
+could, prevented anyone connected with the "Catholic Times" coming into
+personal contact with Bishop Goss, who was a typical Englishman of the
+best kind. The bishop had a blunt, hitting-out-from-the-shoulder style
+of speaking in his sermons that compelled attention. But you could
+hardly call them sermons at all; they were rather powerful discourses
+upon social topics, which, from a newspaper point of view, made splendid
+"copy." Accordingly, during the year before his death, I followed him
+all over the diocese to get his sermon for each week's paper. There is
+no doubt that Dr.<a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a> Goss's sermons helped materially to put a backbone
+into the "Catholic Times" and greatly to increase its circulation.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the rural districts the bishop was giving an illustration of
+the meaning of "Tradition," and, very much to my embarrassment, I found
+him taking me for his text. He said&mdash;"So far as I know, there were no
+newspapers in Our Lord's days; there was nobody taking down <i>His</i>
+sermons, as there is to-day taking mine; so that <i>His</i> teaching had to
+be by word of mouth, and much of it has come down to us as Tradition."</p>
+
+<p>In the interest of the paper, Father Nugent was anxious that I should be
+introduced to the Bishop. But he knew, as well as I did, that the
+difficulty in the way of this was what might be called the Grand Vizier,
+Canon Fisher. "You should push forward, Denvir," Father Nugent would
+say, "after Mass is over, and ask to see the Bishop." Over and over
+again I did so, but was always met at the vestry door by Canon Fisher,
+with his suave smile. "Well, Mr. Denvir, what can I do for you?" "I
+would like to see his lordship," I would say. No use. The Canon would
+say&mdash;"No, no; don't trouble the Bishop; I can give you all the
+information you want;" and so it went on, and I was baffled in my
+attempts.</p>
+
+<p>I ought to say that, though Canon Fisher was able to keep me from coming
+into personal contact with Bishop Goss, Father Nugent was too strong for
+him in the end; for, eventually, we got into communication with the
+Bishop regularly every <a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>week on the subject of his sermons. Each Monday
+as soon as my copy was set up, we sent him a proof, which he would read
+and correct and return. But his "corrections" often included the
+addition of altogether new matter, which made the sermon the more
+interesting and valuable to us. Indeed, on several occasions, we used
+his new matter, with slight alterations, as leaders. The very week he
+died we had one of these leaders in type, and it appeared in the same
+issue which announced his death.</p>
+
+<p>When Cardinal Vaughan became Bishop of Salford, Father Nugent succeeded
+in getting his support and influence for the "Catholic Times," a most
+valuable thing for us, seeing that Manchester, though with a smaller
+Catholic population than Liverpool, was of more importance from a
+publishing point of view, as from that city can be more readily reached
+a number of large manufacturing towns, of which it is the centre. Again
+it was&mdash;"Denvir, you must see the Bishop." But this time there was no
+difficulty, as an appointment had been made for me. Accordingly, by
+arrangement, I reached Manchester one morning between six and seven
+o'clock, that being the most convenient time for him that Bishop Vaughan
+could give me, and together we discussed the best means of forwarding
+the interests of the paper in the diocese of Salford. I found him,
+besides being a man of courtly presence, as we all know, most
+broad-minded and genial, and keenly alive to the influence which a good
+newspaper would have upon his people.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>Whenever I see the "Catholic Times," I feel gratified at its very
+existence, as a proof that my three years with Father Nugent were not
+altogether spent in vain. For when he placed its control in my hands on
+his departure for America, I found it with a very small circulation, and
+anything but a paying concern; whereas, when I yielded up the trust into
+his hands, I had the satisfaction of handing over to him a substantial
+amount of cash in hand, a statement of assets and liabilities showing a
+satisfactory balance on the right side, and a paper with a largely
+increased and paying circulation.</p>
+
+<p>For many years previous to his death, I did not come into contact with
+him. Indeed it was only the year before he died that I had the
+pleasure&mdash;and it was all the more a pleasure as we had differed strongly
+during previous years on some points&mdash;of meeting him at his house in
+Formby. This was before his last visit to America, where he contracted
+the illness which terminated in his death soon after his return to
+England.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+
+<h5>THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR&mdash;AN IRISH AMBULANCE CORPS&mdash;THE FRENCH FOREIGN
+LEGION.</h5>
+
+
+<p>When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, the sympathy of Ireland was
+naturally, for historic reasons, on the side of France. It was not
+surprising, then, that many young Irishmen who had served in America, or
+in the ranks of the Papal Volunteers, or had borne a share in the Fenian
+movement, were anxious to show their sympathy in a practical way, and at
+the same time to gratify the national propensity for a fight</p>
+
+<p class='center'>
+&mdash;in any good cause at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>I happened to number among my friends some of these young Irishmen, of
+whom I may mention Captain Martin Kirwan, James Lysaght Finigan, Edmond
+O'Donovan, Arthur Forrester, Frank Byrne, and James O'Kelly. There was a
+strong feeling in Ireland to send a considerable body of men to France,
+but the law stood in the way. It was evaded by the formation of an
+Ambulance Corps, and for this generous subscriptions flowed in, along
+with numerous applications from volunteers. These were all medically
+examined, as if for a regular army, and in this way as fine a body of
+<a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>young men as ever left Ireland was picked from those who had
+volunteered. The ambulance service was equipped in the most perfect
+manner, and presented to the French nation. On arriving in France, there
+were (as was, of course, intended) more men than were required for the
+ambulance duties, and these at once volunteered for service as soldiers.
+They were formed into a company under the command of Captain Kirwan, one
+of the sergeants being Frank Byrne, who was afterwards Kirwan's
+colleague as an official of the Irish constitutional organisation in
+Great Britain. The company might have developed into a regiment, and
+even into a brigade, had the movement started earlier to get men over to
+France by various means. This could have been done, notwithstanding the
+Foreign Enlistment Act; and towards the end of the war, French agents
+were in this country providing for the sending over of large numbers of
+men to France, when the capitulation of Paris caused the collapse of
+their arrangements.</p>
+
+<p>The men of the Irish Ambulance Corps did their work so well as to show
+that not only did Irishmen make good soldiers, but that, possessing the
+sympathetic Celtic nature, their services were highly appreciated by the
+wounded who fell to their charge. Captain Kirwan's company fought
+bravely, sustaining the credit of their country through the whole
+campaign, and, under Bourbaki, were among those who actually struck the
+last blow the Germans received on French soil.</p>
+
+<p>Arthur Forrester, who joined the French Foreign<a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a> Legion, was severely
+wounded in the foot. After the war he came into the office of the
+"Catholic Times," when I was manager and John McArdle editor of that
+paper. We welcomed him, of course, not only as an old friend and brother
+journalist, but as one who had been fighting for France.</p>
+
+<p>In his "Camp Fires of the Legion" written for my "Irish Library," James
+Lysaght Finigan tells of his adventures in the war. He found his way to
+Lille, in the north of France, and, with several hundreds of other
+Irishmen became enrolled in the ranks of the Foreign Legion. In
+Lieutenant Elliott he was delighted to recognise Edmond O'Donovan, who
+had figured so prominently in the Fenian movement, and whose
+incarceration in Ireland and exile in America were fresh in his memory.
+"The Legion," Finigan says, "showed itself worthy of its predecessors,
+the Irish Brigades of former days, during the reverses that constantly
+befel the armies of France." He gives graphic accounts of the battles
+they were engaged in, and how, in the defence of Orleans, he and a
+number of his comrades were taken prisoners, among those being his
+friend O'Donovan, who had been wounded by a piece of shell.</p>
+
+<p>The Foreign Legion must have borne the brunt of the fighting. The fourth
+battalion was cut to pieces at Woerth, Gravelotte, and Sedan; the fifth
+battalion was reduced from 3,000 to some 300; the sixth battalion retook
+Orleans, was compelled to abandon it, and covered itself with glory at
+Le Mans and elsewhere; and the seventh was interned <a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>with Bourbaki in
+Switzerland until the end of the war.</p>
+
+<p>Although I often heard from him afterwards, the last time I met Edmond
+O'Donovan, if I remember rightly, was in a North Lancashire town, in
+which John O'Connor Power had been lecturing the same night. I forget
+exactly who else of the "boys" were there&mdash;I think William Hogan was
+one&mdash;but there were some choice spirits, and we made just such an Irish
+night of it as Finigan describes they had when he and O'Donovan fought
+in the Foreign Legion.</p>
+
+<p>Edmond O'Donovan was the son of the famous Irish scholar and antiquary,
+John O'Donovan, the translator from the Gaelic&mdash;with O'Curry and
+Petrie&mdash;of that great Irish history, "The Annals of the Four Masters,"
+and other manuscripts. The elder O'Donovan had made the acquaintance of
+Sir Thomas Larcom, when both were young men together on the staff of the
+Ordnance Survey. John O'Donovan appointed his friend Larcom to be
+guardian of his children in case of his death.</p>
+
+<p>It was Larcom's duty, as an official of the Government, to hunt down the
+Fenians, both native and foreign, so that he had undertaken a serious
+and perplexing charge. For O'Donovan's elder sons were strong
+Nationalists and Fenians; so that, on the death of his old friend,
+Larcom was like an old hen having charge of a brood of ducklings who
+could not be kept from the troubled waters of Fenianism. There is no
+doubt that Larcom's influence kept them from or saved them from a lot
+<a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>of trouble. The O'Donovans were an accomplished family, the one I knew
+best, besides Edmond, being Richard, who has held a responsible
+mercantile position for some years, and who furnished me with much
+valuable information about his father, when Thomas Flannery&mdash;one of our
+best Gaelic scholars&mdash;was writing a life of Dr. John O'Donovan for my
+"Irish Library" series.</p>
+
+<p>Besides being thoroughly acquainted with several languages, Edmond
+O'Donovan had an excellent scientific training, which was brought into
+requisition in connection with the projected Fenian military movements
+in Ireland. While a thorough classical scholar, the poems he liked best
+were the songs of Thomas Davis and the Young Irelanders. He was slender
+of figure and had a handsome oval face. In speaking, whether in private
+or before an audience, he had an animated and expressive manner, with a
+good deal of gesture, such as a Frenchman or Italian would use. I have
+heard him singing songs like "Clare's Dragoons" with much fire and
+fervour, throwing his whole soul into it in a way I can never forget.</p>
+
+<p>In 1877-1878 he was a special correspondent in the Russo-Turkish war
+with the Turkish army, and he sent home powerful and graphic accounts of
+every battle and siege.</p>
+
+<p>His intimate knowledge of Arabic stood to him in these and in the
+Egyptian campaigns in which he afterwards took part. In 1879 he went
+through Russia to the shores of the Caspian Sea, travelled through the
+north of Persia and the adjacent terri<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>tory of Khorassan, to the land of
+the Tekke Turcomans, and to Merv, thus penetrating the mysteries of
+Central Asia as no European traveller had ever done so perfectly before.
+In 1881 he returned to England, and published his book, "The Merv
+Oasis," and afterwards read a paper before the Royal Geographical
+Society on "Merv and its surroundings."</p>
+
+<p>Finally, in 1883, he went as special correspondent to the Soudan, and
+there this brilliant Irishman perished with the whole of Hicks Pasha's
+army. No tidings ever came of how Edmond O'Donovan met his death, but
+those who knew him best feel that he must have yielded up his gallant
+spirit to its Creator with a courage and fortitude worthy of an
+Irishman.</p>
+
+<p>In January, 1906, I had occasion to call upon his brother Richard in
+Liverpool, and asked if they had ever got any trace of Edmond. Nothing
+had been heard of how he had actually perished, but an authentic relic
+of him had fallen into the hands of a priest in the Soudan. This was a
+blood-stained garment, which was proved beyond doubt to have belonged to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>I have mentioned another name in connection with the Franco-Prussian
+War&mdash;that of James O'Kelly. His career, like that of O'Donovan, had been
+stormy and adventurous. I had previously met him in connection with the
+Fenian movement.</p>
+
+<p>He had been in the French army, and served in the campaign which was so
+disastrous to the Mexican Emperor Maximilian. His adventurous
+tempera<a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>ment led him again to join the French service during the
+Franco-Prussian war. He was employed on the confidential mission of
+raising a force of Irishmen for the war. I have described the formation
+of the company under Kirwan, which was the outcome of the Ambulance
+Corps. It will be seen, too, that there were a considerable number of
+Irishmen in the Foreign Legion. But, after all, these did not amount to
+a number sufficient to have much appreciable result on the ultimate
+fortunes of the war. The French military authorities, knowing what
+splendid fighting materials Irishmen would make, commissioned O'Kelly to
+raise a large force. For this purpose he made Liverpool his
+headquarters, and I was pleased to see him again when he called upon me
+at the office of the "Catholic Times" My sympathies were strongly with
+France, and I gave him what assistance I could in furthering the object
+of his mission. At my suggestion, therefore, he took up his abode at the
+hotel opposite our office, at the corner of Moorfields and Dale Street.
+A large number of volunteers were got from among the advanced element in
+Liverpool and surrounding towns, who wanted to learn the use of arms in
+real warfare&mdash;their ultimate object I need not mention. From other
+quarters in Ireland as well as England there were volunteers for the
+French army. I had arranged through an emigration agent, Mr. Michael
+Francis Duffy, a much respected and patriotic Irishman of singular
+culture, for the charter of two steamers to take the men to Havre; but
+just then Paris fell, after a long siege; the war ended, and the Irish
+Legion project collapsed.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>In 1872 James O'Kelly turned his attention to journalism as a
+profession. He got his first opening on the "New York Herald," partly
+through his thorough knowledge of the military profession, but still
+more by that singular tact that never failed him under the most trying
+circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Some years after, he called on me again in Liverpool, and I heard from
+him of some stirring incidents in his career. Amongst those were his
+perilous experiences in connection with the fighting in Cuba, from which
+he narrowly escaped with his life.</p>
+
+<p>Since then he has entered Parliament. He was a staunch supporter from
+the first of Mr. Parnell. When the unfortunate "split" came, he took the
+side of the "Chief," but none is more pleased than he to be a member of
+the now re-united Irish Party.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with the Franco-Prussian war I may be allowed to refer
+here to a non-combatant, who, with his brother priests, remained at
+their post during the terrible siege of Paris, ministering to the sick
+and dying. This was my cousin, Father Bernard O'Loughlin, Superior of
+the Passionist Order in Paris.</p>
+
+<p>And yet, notwithstanding their noble services to humanity on this and
+other occasions, the Passionist Fathers have since been driven out of
+the country by the French Government. The announcement of the danger of
+this, when it was first threatened, caused consternation in the foreign
+Catholic colony of Paris, to whom the Passionist Fathers had endeared
+themselves by their labours on behalf of needy and stranded
+English-speaking people, and their devoted spiritual ministrations.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>The Passionist mission in Paris was founded some forty years ago by
+Father Bernard, with his friend, Father Ignatius Spencer, also a
+Passionist, and uncle of the present Earl Spencer.</p>
+
+<p>The Archbishop of Paris had invited the Passionists to establish a
+church in Paris, on account of the number of Irish, American, and
+English Catholics requiring religious ministrations, few of the French
+clergy being able to speak English. Father O'Loughlin first commenced
+his labours in the Church of St. Nicholas, in the Rue Saint Honor&eacute;,
+where he remained three years. After this a sum of 200,000 francs was
+subscribed, chiefly by Irish, American, and English residents, for the
+site and building of a church. Father Bernard was soon joined by several
+other members of the order sent from England, and there were always four
+or five Passionist Fathers attached as chaplains to the church. The
+following distinguished prelates have preached in this Church&mdash;Cardinal
+Manning, Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Richard, Archbishop Ireland,
+Archbishop Spalding, and Archbishop Passadi&egrave;re.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Mackay was the most generous of the supporters of the order in
+Paris; and, in 1903, when the fathers found themselves unable to pay the
+tax created by the French "Loi d'accroissement," she paid down the
+20,000 francs required to save the church.</p>
+
+<p>Their devotion in remaining faithful to their flock during the long and
+terrible siege of Paris in 1870 ought to have recommended them to the
+<a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>sympathies of all patriotic Frenchmen. The Passionists not only
+ministered to the spiritual but to the temporal wants of those coming
+under their charge. They visited the sick and poor, relieved the age in
+need, provided for orphans, and assisted stranded Irish and English
+governesses, irrespective of creed, who had come to Paris in search of
+situations. Those who suffered most from the withdrawal of the
+Passionists were the poor and afflicted.</p>
+
+<p>The Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, the American Embassy, and the British
+Ambassador, addressed the French Government on their behalf, pointing
+out that the services of the Passionists were indispensable&mdash;but in
+vain. It is humiliating that the government of what is supposed to be a
+great Catholic nation like France should be appealed to in such a cause,
+fruitlessly, by the ambassador of non-Catholic England.</p>
+
+<p>Father Bernard O'Loughlin's name in the world was John, after his
+father, my mother's brother, John O'Loughlin. The elder John was a
+brewer's traveller, and often came to our house in Liverpool, bringing
+his violin with him. He had a wide knowledge of old Irish airs, and to
+his accompaniment we had many a genuine Irish night, singing the
+stirring songs then appearing in the "Nation."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h3>
+
+<h5>THE HOME RULE CONFEDERATION OF GREAT BRITAIN.</h5>
+
+
+<p>In the previous chapter it will be seen that I have somewhat anticipated
+the course of events described in this narrative in order to give brief
+sketches of some of my friends who took part, in various capacities, in
+the Franco-Prussian war, and incidents arising out of it. I have also,
+for the sake of compactness, briefly touched on their subsequent
+careers.</p>
+
+<p>I shall here now resume my recollections of the Home Rule movement from
+its inception in 1870.</p>
+
+<p>From the first everything pointed to Isaac Butt as its leader. His
+splendid abilities, even when ranged against us in the celebrated debate
+in the Dublin Corporation with O'Connell, excited the admiration of his
+fellow-countrymen; but now, when he had come over to the popular side,
+he was welcomed with acclamation, the more so that his genial and
+loveable nature was bound to win the hearts of a susceptible people like
+ours. Moreover, his joining the popular side was due to the impression
+made upon him by the Fenian leaders, so many of whom he defended in the
+trials from '67 onward; and he has left on record a remarkable testimony
+to the purity of their principles and the nobility of their ideals.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>He was lacking in certain qualities, the want of which in his character
+prevented him being such a strong leader as O'Connell or Parnell. But,
+all the same, while he led he gave splendid services&mdash;which can never be
+forgotten&mdash;to the cause.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, Alfred Crilly and I were generally expected to take the
+initiative in any new Irish movement in Liverpool. Accordingly, towards
+the end of 1871, we were asked to make a move in connection with the new
+organisation in Ireland. We formed a small committee, and invited Isaac
+Butt to our projected opening demonstration. He was not able to come to
+our first gathering, but we had many opportunities during the years that
+followed of making his acquaintance; and, personally, I received many
+kindnesses at his hands. With Alfred Crilly I was sent to Dublin by the
+Committee to find influential speakers for our public inaugural
+Liverpool demonstration, to be held on the 3rd of January, 1872, our
+association having been opened some months previously. We secured the
+services of Mr. A.M. Sullivan and Professor Galbraith of Trinity
+College.</p>
+
+<p>When we returned to Liverpool it became our duty to find a chairman for
+our meeting worthy of the occasion. Mr. Charles Russell, who was first
+asked, suggested that we should get some one of more influence than
+himself. "Why not ask Dr. Commins?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Commins was a barrister on the same circuit as Charles Russell. We
+did ask him. He cheerfully consented, and from that hour he was for a
+long <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>time the leading figure in the struggle for Home Rule in Great
+Britain, being for several years President of the organisation. There is
+no more homely and unassuming man, ever accessible to the humblest of
+his fellow-countrymen, than "the Doctor," as his friends affectionately
+call him.</p>
+
+<p>He had a brilliant university career, and was a man of such wide
+attainments that I think there was a general belief amongst Liverpool
+Irishmen that he knew <i>everything</i>. Accordingly, they used frequently to
+go to him to settle some knotty point beyond the ordinary conception,
+and they seldom came away unsatisfied.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Commins is an accomplished poet, and was for many years a
+contributor to the columns of the "Nation" and the "United Irishman" (of
+Liverpool). In 1876 he was elected as a Home Ruler to represent Vauxhall
+Ward in the Liverpool Town Council. He has ever since been a member of
+that body, being now an Alderman of the city. In due time he became a
+member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, of which several other
+Liverpool Irishmen have been members.</p>
+
+<p>Liverpool was not alone in forming its Home Rule Association; most of
+the large towns had them in due course, but for some time there was no
+bond of union between them. This, however, was formed in due time, the
+man to take the first step in bringing us together being John Barry,
+then residing in Manchester, and the chief man in our organisation
+there.</p>
+
+<p>John was, therefore, practically the founder of the <a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>great organisation
+which, under its various names&mdash;of the Home Rule Confederation of Great
+Britain. Irish National Land League of Great Britain, Irish National
+League of Great Britain, and United Irish League of Great Britain&mdash;has
+been in existence since 1873, working in accordance with and taking the
+name of whatever has been the recognised organisation for the time being
+in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>John Barry, who had borne an active share in the struggle for
+self-government&mdash;irrespective of the methods being constitutional or
+unconstitutional&mdash;was a man of attractive personality and an
+indefatigable worker and organiser. He was the Secretary of the
+Manchester Home Rule Association, and, seeing the want of some body in
+which the various associations in Great Britain would be represented,
+he, in the name and with the authority of his branch, issued invitations
+to the associations then known to exist to send delegates to a
+Convention to be held in Manchester. To give importance to the occasion,
+and the necessary authority, Isaac Butt was invited to preside, and to
+attend a great demonstration in the Free Trade Hall, on the night of the
+Convention, January 18th, 1873.</p>
+
+<p>Although I bore an active part in the organising of that first Home Rule
+Convention of Great Britain, it is only a short time since, after a
+lapse of over thirty years, that I heard from John Barry himself the
+difficulty he had in securing the presence of the Home Rule leader. It
+was a long time since we had seen each other, but I found him the same
+cheery, warm-hearted, generous, and patriotic John Barry <a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>as ever. It
+was in the office of his firm in London we met, and took advantage of
+the opportunity to fight our battles over again; and he reminded me of
+the sort of inner circle of the I.R.B. to which he and I, and others who
+have since been prominent in Irish politics, belonged.</p>
+
+<p>He was always, however, a practical patriot, and would use every
+legitimate method to serve Ireland. That was why he threw himself with
+such ardour into the Home Rule movement.</p>
+
+<p>He told me of how he went over to Dublin to secure the promise of Isaac
+Butt to preside at the projected Convention, and to attend the
+demonstration in the evening. He got the requisite promise, and the
+announcement was made in all good faith in Manchester. So far all looked
+promising; but what was his alarm to hear, within three days of the
+event, that Isaac Butt's professional engagements would prevent his
+being able to attend. Added to this he had heard that Butt, who was of a
+somewhat irresolute temperament, was being warned that he was falling
+into the hands of a "Fenian gang."</p>
+
+<p>Barry spent all the money he had in sending to the Irish leader a
+telegram as earnest, hot, and forcible as he was capable of, beseeching
+him to come, and pointing out to him the serious consequences to the
+Cause in Great Britain of his failure to do so. This telegraphic budget
+reached Butt in Court; and, as he turned over leaf after leaf of the
+message, he said to a friend sitting alongside of him&mdash;"This man's in
+earnest, at any rate," and immediately wired back&mdash;"Will go, if alive."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>Apart from the offensiveness of styling us a "gang," those who had
+warned Butt of the hands into which he was falling may not, probably,
+have been far astray as regards some of those from whom he had received
+the invitation; seeing that when the organisation for Great Britain was
+duly formed, John Barry, John Ryan, John Walsh, and myself were elected
+on the Executive; but, at all events, Isaac Butt turned up.</p>
+
+<p>Some twenty Home Rule Associations responded to the invitation by
+sending delegates to the Convention. There is a remarkable contrast
+between this, the first of these Conventions, and those held every year
+since; for, at some of those, several hundreds of branches have been
+represented&mdash;showing the growth of the organisation since 1873.</p>
+
+<p>At this Manchester Convention, at which Mr. Butt presided, it was
+resolved to form a central body from the existing local associations, to
+be called the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain. Isaac Butt
+himself was elected the first President. I was elected the first General
+Secretary, and it became my duty to find out the existing associations
+which had not sent delegates to Manchester, and to invite them, as well
+as those who had been represented at the present gathering, to a
+supplementary convention. It was decided to hold this in Birmingham, to
+complete the arrangements made in Manchester for the future working of
+the organisation.</p>
+
+<p>On the night of the Manchester Convention Mr. Butt was the chief speaker
+at the public <a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>demonstration. Mr. John Ferguson, of Glasgow, was our
+Chairman. He was a sterling Ulster Protestant Nationalist. Many used to
+think he was a Scot. Indeed, I thought at one time myself he must be of
+Scottish extraction at all events, there being, I thought, more Scottish
+Fergusons than Irish. Speaking to him on the subject, I was reminded by
+him of the Irish king, Fergus, the founder of the Scottish monarchy; and
+he claimed to be of genuine Irish descent.</p>
+
+<p>He often used to call on me when I was conducting the "Catholic Times."
+At that time he was travelling for his firm of Cameron &amp; Ferguson, who
+published a good many popular works on Irish subjects. We were both
+pleased to hear of the initiative John Barry had taken towards the
+formation of the Irish organisation of Great Britain. If I remember
+rightly, John Ferguson was in Liverpool at the time, and we went to
+Manchester together to attend this our first Annual Convention.</p>
+
+<p>After the Manchester Convention, I found there were considerably more
+Home Rule Associations in existence than had been represented at our
+first gathering. As a consequence we had a much larger and more
+representative attendance at our adjourned Convention in Birmingham. Mr.
+Butt presided in the morning and Mr. A.M. Sullivan in the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>The Chairman at the public demonstration at night was Father Sherlock,
+one of the finest specimens of the good old "soggarth aroon" type it has
+ever been my privilege to meet. Several years afterwards, when I was
+organiser for the League in <a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>the Birmingham district, I was right glad
+to have the opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with him. The very
+contact with Father John Sherlock was elevating and inspiring, so
+transparent were the simplicity and purity of his life. Here was a
+saint, I thought, if ever there was one on earth.</p>
+
+<p>In my experience I have generally found that the men who have taken the
+lead in most places have been professional men rather than traders. This
+was true of Birmingham as well as elsewhere. There were no men who did
+better service than Hugh Heinrick, an able journalist (who afterwards
+became editor of the "United Irishman," the organ of our Confederation),
+and Professor Bertram Windle. I was glad to see in the newspapers the
+announcement of such a genuine Irishman as Dr. Windle being appointed
+President of the University College, Cork.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Windle is an honour to his new position, and is as devoted to
+the cause of creed and country as he was when one of the Professors of
+the Queen's University, Birmingham.</p>
+
+<p>During the years when I was organiser for the League in Birmingham; I
+became intimately acquainted with him. I found him not only a man of
+great learning, but an earnest Catholic and devoted Irish Nationalist.
+No man in our organisation did better service, and he was always ready
+to go at a moment's notice to speak or lecture wherever required.</p>
+
+<p>As a further illustration of what I have said about the aid given to the
+cause by professional men, I ought to mention Dr. James Mullin, of
+Cardiff. He <a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>was a leading and active man in his district when I
+travelled in South Wales as an organiser. His talent as a poet has made
+him well known in Wales, and his accounts of travels in many lands have
+found many admiring readers. His heart is as warm as his brain is
+active, which is saying much.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h3>
+
+<h5>BIGGAR AND PARNELL&mdash;THE "UNITED IRISHMAN "&mdash;THE O'CONNELL CENTENARY.</h5>
+
+
+<p>The General Election of 1874 was remarkable as the first since the Union
+which had clearly and distinctly returned a majority of Irish members of
+Parliament as Home Rulers. Previously most of them had been returned as
+Liberals or Tories. It is memorable in my eyes, as it was the occasion
+when two of my personal friends, Alexander Martin Sullivan and Joseph
+Gillis Biggar, first entered Parliament. It was in the year after he was
+elected that Mr. Biggar made his <i>debut</i> as an "obstructionist."</p>
+
+<p>Charles Stewart Parnell having been, in the spring of 1875, elected as
+successor in the representation of Meath to "honest John Martin," it was
+not long before the famous "Biggar and Parnell" combination, which was
+destined to revolutionize the whole system of Parliamentary procedure,
+was created.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling the necessity for a newspaper representing the views of the Home
+Rule Confederation and chronicling its work from week to week, the
+Executive promoted the formation of a limited liability company for the
+purpose, and the outcome was the issue of the "United Irishman," the
+first number of which appeared on June 4th, 1875. I <a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>was appointed
+manager, and was also the publisher, the paper being produced at my
+place of business, 68 Byrom Street, Liverpool. The following were the
+Directors&mdash;Andrew Commins, LL.D., Chairman; and John Barry, Joseph
+Gillis Biggar, M.P., John Ferguson, Richard Mangan, Bernard MacAnulty,
+and Peter McKinley. William John Oliver was Honorary Secretary, with
+Hugh Heinrick as Editor at the commencement, and Daniel Crilly
+afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>The newspaper was fortunate in its Honorary Secretary, for William John
+Oliver was one of the most enthusiastic workers we ever had in the Home
+Rule movement. He was at this time engaged in commerce in Liverpool,
+having previously been an officer in the Royal Navy. He was ever willing
+to be "the man in the gap" in case of an emergency, and that was how he
+became for a time the Honorary General Secretary of the Home Rule
+Confederation. He was always a cheery and, at the same time, an
+eminently practical man. He took a leading part in our local elections
+in Liverpool from the time we began to fight them on Home Rule
+principles&mdash;when the necessity arose, as I have elsewhere explained, to
+have public men who were not afraid to identify themselves with the
+national cause.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Heinrick, our editor, was a brilliant writer, who had, for several
+years, been a strenuous worker in the Home Rule cause. He was a frequent
+contributor of poetry to the "Nation" and other national journals,
+generally over the signature of "Hugh Mac Erin." He was born in the
+County Wexford in 1831. Before taking up the editorship of the "United<a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>
+Irishman" he was for many years resident in Birmingham, where he was a
+schoolmaster. He died in 1887.</p>
+
+<p>Daniel Crilly, one of the most active and eloquent advocates of the
+Irish cause in Liverpool, succeeded him&mdash;this being his maiden effort in
+journalism. He was afterwards on the staff of the "Nation," and also did
+good service while a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party.</p>
+
+<p>Among other contributors to the "United Irishman" were Isaac Butt, Dr.
+Commins, Frank Hugh O'Donnell, Michael Clarke, Captain Kirwan, and Frank
+Byrne. Our poetry was a strong point with us&mdash;Dr. Commins, Frank Fox,
+John Hand, Patrick Clarke, Heber MacMahon, and Miss Bessie Murphy being
+among the contributors.</p>
+
+<p>When the "United Irishman" was started, the offices of the Home Rule
+Confederation, which had previously been in Manchester, were for
+convenience removed to my place of business. As the executive meetings
+and the meetings of the newspaper directors were held there, I
+frequently had the pleasure of meeting under my own roof Irishmen who
+either then were or afterwards became prominent members of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party, including Isaac Butt, Charles Stewart Parnell, and
+Joseph Biggar.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Biggar and I were always great friends. He had the reputation of
+being close-fisted and penurious; but that this was not so I knew from
+many circumstances, though it is quite true he would not allow himself
+to be defrauded of a penny.</p>
+
+<p>He became a Catholic in his later days. Though such <a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>of us as were of
+the household of the faith welcomed him into the fold, his conversion
+did not increase his value in our eyes&mdash;indeed, from a political point
+of view, he was of more service to the cause as an Irish Protestant,
+there being too few of them in our ranks. He had a fresh, pleasant,
+shrewd-looking face, and spoke with a decided northern accent, which had
+somewhat of a metallic ring. Some of his brother Members of Parliament
+thought his "obstruction" methods highly ungentlemanly, but he believed
+in fighting England with her own weapons. If good Irish measures were
+not allowed to pass, he would throw every obstacle in the way of English
+measures being carried. The tempest of rage that assailed him in the
+"House" only added to his popularity outside. Not only was he an immense
+favourite amongst Irishmen, but with democratic Englishmen also; and at
+great mass meetings of English miners and agricultural labourers he
+could always get resolutions carried by the honest, hard-handed sons of
+toil in favour of the restoration of Ireland's rights.</p>
+
+<p>Biggar used to get many letters approving of the attitude he and Parnell
+had taken up in Parliament. One in particular, from a warm admirer, he
+used to show to his friends with great glee. It was a song in the old
+"Come-all-ye" style. A few lines I can remember sang in words of high
+commendation of&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">&mdash;Joseph Biggar,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">That man of rigour,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Whose form and figure</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Do foes appal!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>My place being the head-quarters of the Confederation at this time, the
+fact of my being known to be generally on the spot made me a kind of
+"man in the gap," to fill up engagements likely to fall through for want
+of a speaker. In this way I was often rushed off to distant parts of the
+country at the shortest notice.</p>
+
+<p>The most important Irish event in 1875 was the celebration of the
+O'Connell Centenary in Dublin, on Friday, August 6th. Our Confederation
+was well represented in the processions, there being, as might be
+expected from its proximity, a large contingent from Liverpool. So great
+was the rush to cross the Channel for the celebration that we chartered
+several of the fine steamers of the City of Dublin Company, and kept
+them for several days fully employed in crossing and recrossing.</p>
+
+<p>The pity of it was that there should be two processions&mdash;the magnificent
+display organised by the official Centenary Committee and the procession
+got up by the Amnesty Association.</p>
+
+<p>The speeches of Messrs. Butt, Sullivan, and Power on the platform
+erected in what was then Sackville Street, when the outdoor display
+broke up, explained why the Amnesty Committee and their friends
+considered that a protest was necessary and justifiable&mdash;hence the
+second procession. The chief objections to the action of the official
+committee were that, while all honour was to be paid to the memory of
+O'Connell as the Liberator of his Catholic fellow-countrymen, his
+services as the champion of the political freedom of the Irish people
+were being <a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>kept in the background. Also&mdash;and that was why the Amnesty
+Association for the release of political prisoners took the initiative
+in the protest against the action of the Centenary Committee&mdash;because,
+on a great national occasion like this, the very existence of the
+martyrs for freedom, who were suffering in English prisons, appeared to
+be forgotten. Such forgetfulness was considered at the least highly
+inappropriate.</p>
+
+<p>There was much indignation, too, that Lord O'Hagan should have been
+chosen to speak the panegyric on O'Connell, seeing that he had actually
+sentenced some of those very prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish organisation in Great Britain sympathised with these views,
+and the various branches sending contingents showed their feelings by
+throwing in their part with the Amnesty Association.</p>
+
+<p>The contingent from Great Britain was, on the proposition of Mr. Patrick
+Egan, given the place of honour in front of the amnesty procession
+which, on the morning of the Centenary celebration, the 6th of August,
+1875, started from Beresford Place, near the Custom House. The banners
+of the three Liverpool branches were a picturesque feature in the
+procession, as also was the Sarsfield Band, a body of fine young
+Liverpool Irishmen who headed our contingent.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h3>
+
+<h5>HOME RULE IN LOCAL ELECTIONS&mdash;PARNELL SUCCEEDS BUTT AS PRESIDENT OF THE
+IRISH ORGANISATION IN GREAT BRITAIN.</h5>
+
+
+<p>It was at the Liverpool Municipal Elections of 1875 that we first
+introduced the question of Home Rule into local politics. When we were
+holding our inaugural meeting to establish the Home Rule organisation in
+the town, we could not get any of our Irish public men to take the
+chair. The reason was that these had not been elected as Irishmen but as
+Liberals. As a matter of fact, we had in Dr. Commins a man immensely
+superior to any of them. But we thought that men who had been elected to
+public positions mainly by Irish votes should not refuse to identify
+themselves with the national movement, and to help it by whatever
+influence they possessed. We therefore decided to <i>make</i> some public
+men. In Scotland and Vauxhall Wards we had a clear majority, but though
+the Irish vote in these wards was expected for Liberal candidates, who
+were not Irish or Catholic, in no other ward could a Catholic or
+Irishman be elected. We, therefore, commenced to make a change by
+putting forward for Scotland Ward one of our own men, Lawrence Connolly,
+as a Home Ruler, and <a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>elected him <i>as such</i>. He afterwards sat in the
+Imperial Parliament for an Irish constituency. His election was followed
+in succeeding years by that of other Home Rulers, so that there was soon
+a considerable Nationalist Party in the City Council, and no lack of
+public men to do the honours for the Irishmen of Liverpool when any
+distinguished fellow-countryman came amongst them. Their civic utility
+was very great.</p>
+
+<p>Though I have been over twenty years out of Liverpool, I have never lost
+sight of what has been going on there, and I am pleased to find that the
+younger generation&mdash;men whom we, the elders, have borne some share in
+training&mdash;have improved upon our work, and that there are now
+considerably more aldermen and city councillors than in our time.</p>
+
+<p>That they are doing good work I am well satisfied, and nothing gives me
+greater pleasure than to read from time to time in the papers such items
+as a recent one&mdash;the presentation of a congratulatory address from the
+local branches of the United Irish League to Councillor Thomas Burke on
+the occasion of his being made a magistrate of the city of Liverpool. I
+am somewhat proud of Tom Burke. I remember having charge of some
+election that was going on, and his coming to me, a very small boy, from
+Blundell Street, to offer his services. I put him in harness at once,
+and he has been at work in the Cause ever since, and it is with pleasure
+that I recognise the fact that he is a good type of numerous Irishmen
+who were either born in Liverpool or spent most of their lives in that
+city.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>There was a dear old <i>Soggarth</i> at St. Joseph's, who did good service
+for us in our first municipal election in Scotland Ward. He had,
+previous to this, been a fellow priest with my uncle, Father Bernard
+O'Loughlin, in the Isle of Man. As Father Peter McGrath was a good Irish
+scholar, he was soon able to make himself understood by such of the Manx
+people as still retained their native speech, its basis being, like the
+language spoken in the Scottish Highlands, practically&mdash;making allowance
+for provincialisms&mdash;the Gaelic spoken in Ireland. This was a great help
+to him and his brother priest in disarming prejudice.</p>
+
+<p>Before I met Father McGrath in Liverpool I had heard from my uncle of
+his delightful and saintly character. He was a ministering angel among
+our people in his district, which was one of the poorest in Liverpool.
+His charity was unbounded. Going on a sick call and being at the end of
+his monetary resources&mdash;for let his friends give him ever so much he
+would never leave himself a penny&mdash;he had been known to give away his
+own underclothing, and even to carry away his bed-clothes to relieve
+some case of abject poverty.</p>
+
+<p>He was a thorough Nationalist, and was delighted when we first raised
+the banner of Home Rule in Scotland Ward and made honest Lawrence
+Connolly our standard bearer. As part of the Ward was in his district,
+he was by far the best canvasser we had. Day by day he used to call on
+me to hear of the progress we were making. With the active <a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>personal
+help and the prayers of a saintly man like Father McGrath how could we
+lose?</p>
+
+<p>The return of a Home Ruler at an English municipal election was the
+forerunner of a still greater victory won in the same Scotland Ward,
+which as a Division of the Parliamentary Borough of Liverpool returned
+to Parliament some ten years afterwards the only Irish Home Ruler who,
+<i>as such</i>, sits for a British constituency&mdash;Mr. T.P. O'Connor.</p>
+
+<p>At the Annual Convention of the Home Rule Confederation, held in the
+Rotunda, Dublin, August 21st, 1876, Dr. Commins in the chair, a vote of
+confidence in Mr. Butt was passed. At the same time what was known as
+the "Obstruction" policy was endorsed, though Mr. Butt had given its
+chief exponents, Biggar and Parnell, no countenance. It was also
+resolved to remove the headquarters of the Confederation from Liverpool
+to London.</p>
+
+<p>Although, out of respect for his distinguished services, Mr. Butt was
+allowed to remain as the nominal leader up to the time of his death, it
+is quite evident that our people favoured the more active policy of the
+younger men.</p>
+
+<p>At a banquet given on the night of this Convention in the Ancient
+Concert Room, Mr. Butt, as chairman, gave the toast of "The Queen, Lords
+and Commons of Ireland." It will be seen elsewhere that I have always
+objected to join in this toast on the ground that it implies an
+acceptance of the existing condition of government in Ireland. Finding
+it on the list, I remained away, but I am afraid my friends, who knew my
+views, were scandalized at seeing in <a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>the newspaper report my name given
+as having been present. How it occurred was through the reporter,
+desiring, no doubt, to save himself the trouble of making out a new
+list, giving the names of those who had been present at the Convention
+as having attended the banquet. I had a somewhat similar experience at a
+Newcastle-on-Tyne Convention&mdash;sixteen years later. The Newcastle men, in
+the interval between the Convention and the banquet, asked my opinion
+about the toast list. I gave them a sketch of what I thought a good one,
+but said, "Don't have the Queen." They said they wouldn't, and I went to
+the banquet. I was surprised to hear the chairman giving "The Queen,
+Lords and Commons of Ireland." There was nothing for me to do but walk
+out.</p>
+
+<p>In Mr. Parnell Mr. Biggar found a colleague after his own heart in
+working the "Obstruction" policy. From the time when I made the
+acquaintance of Parnell, when he came amongst us, a shy-looking young
+man, under the wing of Isaac Butt, we were drawn towards each other&mdash;he
+because he looked upon me, from my life-long experience of them, as an
+authority upon our people in this country, and I because I was impressed
+by the terrible earnestness that I soon recognised underlying the young
+man's apparently impassive and unemotional exterior. I was one of the
+first he came in contact with in this country, and I believe he unbent
+himself and showed more of his really enthusiastic nature to me than he
+did to most men. He used to speak unreservedly to me. He knew my views
+as to<a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a> Irishmen taking the oath of allegiance and entering the British
+Parliament, of which he was at that time a member. He knew that, holding
+these views, I could not enter the British Parliament myself, though he
+would have liked to see me there. With me it was a matter of conscience;
+I could not take an oath of allegiance to any but an Irish Government.
+At the same time, I have always been practical, and willing to fight
+Ireland's battles with the weapons that come readiest to my hand. I,
+therefore, always gave what support I could to the Irish Parliamentary
+Party, who could conscientiously enter the House of Commons, and to the
+recognised Irish organisations for the time being.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to be expected that every Irishman, even every Irish
+Nationalist, will be of one mind as to which way his duty lies in
+serving his country. After all, a man who can honestly say "I am an
+Irishman and I love my country" is already nine-tenths of the way to
+being a Nationalist. If such a man tries to do his best, according to
+his lights, for Ireland, he is entitled to all possible sympathy from
+even those who are working on other lines.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion, when Parnell had returned from a special mission to
+America, I had a long discussion with him on these points, and was bound
+to admit that the British Government would have been much better pleased
+to encounter an insurrection in Ireland, which they could easily put
+down, than the policy of the so-called "Obstructionists" in Parliament.
+Again, I said, there was another fact which I recognised. This was that
+his <a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>being sent on a mission to America, whence he was then returning,
+showed the value of having a man holding such a well-recognised position
+as a member of Parliament, elected by the votes of his
+fellow-countrymen, in case we had to send a representative to speak in
+the name of Ireland to some other nation, a circumstance which had
+happened before and might again. I said this, even taking into account
+the apparent failure of the mission to America, from which he was
+returning, for circumstances might arise in which the head of a State
+might be glad to recognise an embassy like theirs. He told me that was
+exactly how he viewed the subject.</p>
+
+<p>It was in Dr. Commins' office that we had this conversation, and at our
+request Mr. Parnell postponed his departure to Ireland in order to
+attend a celebration we were having that night of Home Rule victories we
+had achieved in two wards of the town, in Vauxhall by the return of Dr.
+Commins to the Town Council, and in Scotland Ward by the election of Dr.
+Alexander Bligh. Parnell's appearance at our festival, which was held on
+Monday, November 13th, 1876, was a pleasing surprise to those present,
+who were not aware of his return from America, and this added to the
+intensity of the outburst of joy and enthusiastic applause which greeted
+him.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most important of our Annual Conventions in Great Britain was
+that held in Liverpool on 27th August, 1877. Everything showed that,
+while our people in Ireland and here still loved the old leader, they
+favoured the policy of "Obstruction."<a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a> At this Convention there was no
+intention of displacing Mr. Butt from his position as President of the
+organisation. They would have retained him on account of his
+distinguished services and eminently lovable character. But the old man
+himself could see plainly enough that the people wanted to move faster
+than he was willing to lead, and, notwithstanding the appeals made to
+him, insisted upon resigning his position. The Convention being
+compelled to accept his resignation, Charles Stewart Parnell was elected
+President of the organisation in his place. This was an indication of
+what was likely to follow, for though Mr. Butt retained the nominal
+leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party up to the time of his death,
+Parnell was the real leader, and eventually, after a short interval,
+when Mr. Shaw held the office, became the Chairman of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party.</p>
+
+<p>John Ferguson was, I think, the first man publicly to indicate Parnell
+as the probable successor of Butt. But so great is the dread in our
+people of even the semblance of disunion, that many, myself among the
+number, expostulated with him for this. Events, however, showed he was
+right, and Mr. Butt himself plainly felt that it was inevitable. But at
+the Convention, when Butt had distinctly refused to hold the office of
+President any longer, nothing could be finer than the tribute paid to
+our retiring leader by Mr. John Ferguson in proposing the election of
+Mr. Parnell as his successor. As I was asked to take the official
+account of that Convention, and have kept a record of it, I here <a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>give a
+few words of his and some of the other speeches. He said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>It is my intention to propose Mr. Parnell as the head of the
+Confederation. At the same time I feel the greatest possible regret
+that our grand old chieftain who, in trying times, raised the Irish
+banner, who has so long guided us, and who has been with us in so
+many hard fights, is to retire from amongst us. We are grateful to
+Issac Butt for leading us so far, but we are going to try a more
+determined policy, and Mr. Butt holds views different from those we
+are determined to carry out. I hope, though, he will take counsel
+with the true and earnest men of the Party, and that, after a time,
+he will return to lead us at this side of the water. </p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. John Barry, Mr. Biggar and others spoke in the same strain.</p>
+
+<p>So also did Mr. Parnell, who, concluding his speech seconding the vote
+of thanks to Mr. Butt, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I must confess to not having Mr. Butt's confidence in English
+justice and sense of right. It is not too late for him to see a way
+to deal with England that will obtain freedom for our country&mdash;a
+way that will show England that, if she will dare to trifle with
+Irish demands, it will be at the risk of endangering those
+institutions she feels so proud of, but which Irishmen have no
+reason to respect. To Mr. Butt is due a debt of gratitude by the
+Irish people which they can never repay, for he has taught them
+self-reliance and knowledge of their power. If I have felt it my
+duty to put myself in antagonism with Mr. Butt I hope he will
+forgive me. If I have said or written harsh things I have never
+said more nor less than was due to the gravity of the occasion. </p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. O'Donnell, who expressed a wish that the next session might find Mr.
+Butt at the head of a United Irish Party, supported the vote of thanks
+<a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>to Mr. Butt, which was carried unanimously, and with all sincerity and
+depth of feeling.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Butt replied, saying he would be ashamed of himself if he were
+unmoved by that vote, and the manner in which it had been passed. He
+hoped that the wish expressed by Mr. O'Donnell might be realized, and it
+would not be his fault if they had not a United Irish Party in the House
+of Commons. After expressing his good wishes for the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, which he hoped might long continue to
+assert the power of the Irish people in this country, he took his
+farewell.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Parnell was then elected President.</p>
+
+<p>The Convention of 1877 ended with the adoption of a resolution, on the
+motion of Mr. Peter Mulhall (Liverpool), seconded by Mr. Ryan (Bolton):&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>That this Convention of the Home Rule Confederation of Great
+Britain hereby endorses the vigorous policy of the Home Rule
+Parliamentary Party who are termed "Obstructionists." </p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Mulhall just mentioned was an active worker in the National ranks in
+Liverpool, and even a more valuable adherent a little later was his
+younger brother James, one of the most thorough, sincere, and upright of
+our young men, who never spared himself when there was good work to do.</p>
+
+<p>Before the venerable figure of Isaac Butt disappears from the scene, let
+me say a few words about his eminently agreeable personality.</p>
+
+<p>There was not an atom of selfishness about him.<a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a> I remember his making
+little of the difficulties some people used to raise in connection with
+the planning of a Home Rule Bill, and saying, "Three men sitting round a
+table could in a short time draw up a plan of Home Rule for Ireland that
+would act, providing people all round meant honestly."</p>
+
+<p>He used to tell us humorous anecdotes of his experiences in the courts,
+of which I can recollect the following one: "A man came before a
+magistrate to have a neighbour bound over to keep the peace. In his
+deposition he stated after the usual preamble: 'That said Barney Trainor
+at said time and place threatened to send said deponent's soul to the
+lowest pit of Hell, and this deponent veribly believes that had it not
+been for the interference of the bystanders the aforesaid Barney Trainor
+would have accomplished his horrible purpose.'"</p>
+
+<p>Another story that I remember him telling was as to the origin of "Bog
+Latin." A sheriff's officer was sent to serve a writ, but the object of
+his search took refuge in a bog. The sheriff's officer, determined to do
+the thing properly, endorsed his writ "Non comeatibus in swampo," and in
+Irish legal circles the term "Bog Latin" was thereafter used to describe
+any mode of caricature of the ancient tongue.</p>
+
+<p>In something less than two years after Charles Stewart Parnell had
+succeeded him as our President, Isaac Butt died, on the 5th of May,
+1879, mourned by Ireland as one of the most brilliant, patriotic, and
+self-sacrificing men she had ever nurtured.</p>
+
+<p>Of the members of Parliament and embryo <a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>members present at the 1877
+Convention, I should say a word of Tim Healy, by which name he is most
+frequently known, who, since then, has been on many occasions one of the
+most prominent figures in Irish politics.</p>
+
+<p>From the day when I first met him, a keen, quick-witted, enthusiastic
+Irish lad of about 18, from Newcastle-on-Tyne, until this 1877
+Convention and later, he did good work for the Cause. Great as is my
+affection for him, my pain at his attitude in recent years has been as
+great.</p>
+
+<p>From the time we began to work together in the Home Rule movement I
+should say that Timothy Healy had not left his native place, Bantry,
+more than a couple of years.</p>
+
+<p>He is related to the Sullivan family, the connection being still closer
+from the fact that his wife is a daughter of our veteran poet, T.D.
+Sullivan, for whom I have always had the warmest admiration.</p>
+
+<p>Like myself, Healy had a leaning towards journalism, and we had a common
+ground in our admiration of the "Nation" newspaper, not only the
+"Nation" of O'Connell and the Young Irelanders, but of the Sullivans.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing, therefore, could be more congenial to him than to fill the post
+of London letter writer to that paper.</p>
+
+<p>He made his mark at once, as being a worthy scholar of the "Nation"
+school, both past and present, and no one recognised this more quickly
+than Charles Stewart Parnell. It was no doubt this appreciation that
+prompted the new Irish <a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>leader to ask Tim Healy to become his private
+secretary.</p>
+
+<p>Parnell possessed in a remarkable degree a gift which was of great
+service to him during his political career as the successor of Isaac
+Butt. This was the faculty of weighing up the special qualities of the
+various members of the Irish Party and using them accordingly. Without
+attempting for a moment to underrate Parnell as a great leader of men, I
+must say that there were members of the Party far abler in many respects
+than he was, and, no doubt, in looking around for someone to supply the
+qualities in which he, himself, was wanting, he could see that Healy was
+the very man for his purpose.</p>
+
+<p>When he was in America he wired to Tim offering him the post, which
+offer was at once accepted, and, in the shortest possible time,
+Parnell's new secretary had crossed the Atlantic, and was by his side
+ready to be put in harness at once. It was an excellent combination, and
+there can be no doubt but that, during the time that the connection
+existed between them, Parnell owed much towards the successful carrying
+on of the national struggle to his young secretary's inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>Michael Davitt, in his "Fall of Feudalism," pays a high tribute to
+Healy's splendid service in connection with Gladstone's Land Act.
+Undoubtedly his was the credit for what became known as the "Healy
+Clause," which provided that no rent should be payable for land on
+improvements made by the tenant himself or his <a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>immediate predecessor.
+Not only was this credit conceded to him of being the author of this
+clause by distinguished fellow-countrymen like Michael Davitt and Lord
+Russell of Killowen, but by Mr. Gladstone himself.</p>
+
+<p>As I have referred to the opinions expressed on Healy in Michael
+Davitt's book, perhaps I may be forgiven if I go out of my way somewhat
+in referring to another passage in the same book, in which he pays a
+well-deserved tribute to a noble Irishman, Patrick Ford, of the New York
+"Irish World," with which, in common with Irish Nationalists the world
+over, I cordially agree. There are some men whom you may never have seen
+in the flesh, but whom you feel, through correspondence with them and in
+other ways, that you know none the less thoroughly all the same. Such a
+man is Patrick Ford. It is nearly forty years since I first made his
+acquaintance, and the years that have passed have only increased my
+regard for him.</p>
+
+<p>I had the pleasure of welcoming in the columns of the "Catholic Times,"
+which was then under my direction, the first number of the "Irish
+World." I could feel at once that the paper and the man who edited it
+had for me a congenial ring about them. I am deeply indebted for the
+kindly and generous interest which Patrick Ford has so long personally
+and in the columns of the "Irish World" shewn in the success of my Irish
+publications, and I am delighted to have the opportunity of joining in
+the tribute paid to him by Michael Davitt.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h3>
+
+<h5>MICHAEL DAVITT'S RETURN FROM PENAL SERVITUDE&mdash;PARNELL AND THE "ADVANCED"
+ORGANISATION.</h5>
+
+
+<p>In the year following the Liverpool Home Rule Convention of 1877, I had
+the pleasure of welcoming back to freedom my old friend, Michael Davitt,
+after he had been in penal servitude close upon eight years. He had been
+released, along with other Fenian prisoners, and, with Corporal
+Chambers, came on April 28th, 1878, to a gathering we organised and held
+in the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, for the benefit of the liberated men,
+John O'Connor Power being the lecturer for the occasion, and Dr. Commins
+our chairman.</p>
+
+<p>Michael Davitt, on rising to speak, was received with a terrific
+outburst of cheering, again and again repeated.</p>
+
+<p>I was sitting immediately behind him on the platform, and I noticed,
+while he was speaking, a constant nervous twitching of his hand, which
+he held behind his back, and he was evidently in a state of
+highly-strung excitement. I was not surprised when we had that day a
+painful proof of how the prison treatment had undermined his
+constitution. After the gathering we brought the <a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>released prisoners and
+the principal speakers to be entertained at the house of Patrick Byrne,
+a warm-hearted, patriotic Irishman, and were much alarmed when Davitt
+fell into a deep faint, from which he only recovered through the
+ministrations of one of our most respected Liverpool Nationalists, Dr.
+Bligh, who fortunately was present. For a few moments it seemed as if he
+never would revive.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt but that their treatment during their long term of
+penal servitude seriously affected the health of several of the Irish
+political prisoners. It was only three months previous to his visit to
+us in Liverpool that Davitt reached Dublin, with three others of the
+released prisoners&mdash;Sergeant McCarthy, Corporal Chambers, and John
+O'Brien. To the consternation of his friends, McCarthy died suddenly at
+Morrison's Hotel, on January 15th, the cause, it was believed, being
+heart disease. This caused such a shock to Chambers that his life, too,
+was put in danger. I was pleased to see him restored to health after
+this when he called on me in Liverpool with his brother, with whom I was
+well acquainted. The shock of the sudden death of his friend McCarthy
+must have affected Michael Davitt too, as we found from the report of
+our friend, Dr. Bligh, in what a precarious state of health he must have
+been at the time. It will be remembered that Rickard Burke became
+insane, it was thought, and stated in Parliament, owing to his treatment
+while in Chatham Prison.</p>
+
+<p>Following our Liverpool gathering, we had on Sunday, May 5th, a meeting
+in the St. Helens<a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a> Theatre for the same object. At this Parnell as well
+as Davitt was present. Speaking that day by desire of our St. Helens
+friends, I called attention to the appropriateness of our addressing the
+assembly from the boards of a theatre on which there had been the mimic
+representation of many a stirring drama. But no play the audience had
+ever witnessed on those boards could exceed in dramatic interest the
+life of the released convict, Michael Davitt. Nay, more, the grudging
+terms on which he had been released enabled him to appear that day in
+the real living character of a "Ticket-of-Leave-Man," which, no doubt,
+they had seen impersonated on those boards by some clever actor in the
+play of the same name.</p>
+
+<p>I am reminded of that St. Helens meeting by a passage in Michael
+Davitt's book "The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland." I travelled from
+Liverpool to St. Helens to attend the meeting in the same carriage with
+Mr. Parnell. As I could always speak unreservedly to him I knew that
+though he would not actually join the advanced organisation, he regarded
+it as a useful force behind the constitutional movement. In the
+carriage, which it so happened we had to ourselves, we discussed the
+probabilities of the result of a resort to physical force for securing
+Irish freedom, should circumstances justify such a course, for Parnell
+would not have shrunk from taking the field if there had been a
+reasonable hope of success. Singularly enough, I find in Michael
+Davitt's book that he himself, on the day of that same St. Helens
+meeting, made an <a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>advance to Parnell with a view to getting him to join
+the revolutionary organisation, should the conditions be somewhat
+modified. Up till then I had seen more of Parnell than Davitt had and
+had enjoyed his full confidence. I had, therefore, come to the
+conclusion, from my conversations with him, that he was of far more
+service to the Irish cause as he was than if he had actually joined the
+revolutionary movement. I am not surprised, therefore, at Parnell's
+answer to Davitt: "No, I will never join any political secret society,
+oath bound or otherwise. My belief is that useful things for our Cause
+can be done in the British Parliament."</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, I remember one public utterance of his which always struck
+me as most statesmanlike. After a frank statement that he was in favour
+of constitutional Home Rule, he, with equal frankness, declined to
+subscribe to the entire finality of that solution of the Irish problem.
+How, he asked, could he or any man put bounds to the progress of a
+nation?</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that Gladstone gave as one reason for the disestablishing of the
+Irish Church "the intensity of Fenianism," so, in the same way, no one
+recognised more than Parnell did that the existence of a physical force
+movement was a strong argument for those engaged in the moral force
+agitation. Therefore he was always anxious to conciliate and even
+cultivate the advanced element. Of this I will here give one
+illustration, out of many I could mention, and this in connection with
+the custom of drinking what was called "the loyal toast," which <a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>at one
+time used to be observed at some Home Rule celebrations. It is a matter
+on which I have already explained my point of view.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion Mr. Parnell was invited by the Liverpool branches to a
+St. Patrick's Day banquet at the Adelphi Hotel, where the drinking of
+the "loyal" toast was part of the programme. With the rest of the
+committee I met him at the railway station on his arrival, and came with
+him to the hotel. After some conversation I was bidding him
+"good-night!" when he asked, as he took my hand, "Where are you going,
+Denvir? Are you not going to stay for the banquet?" I had not intended
+mentioning it, but as he asked me so pointedly, I felt bound to tell him
+my objection to being present. He did not attempt to controvert what I
+said, but still asked where I was going. I then told him I had been
+invited to a St. Patrick's celebration where the toast was <i>not</i> to be
+drunk, the gathering being one of our advanced Nationalist friends.</p>
+
+<p>He at once said "I should like to go there." I told him I was sure they
+would be delighted to see him, and that, as theirs was a dance, and it
+would be kept up pretty late, I would come back for him after the
+banquet, and take him to the other celebration. Our friends were well
+pleased at his wish to attend, and asked me to go back and bring him to
+where a hearty <i>cead mile failte</i> awaited him. In due time I brought him
+over, and they gave him an enthusiastic reception, he being quite as
+delighted to be present as they were to receive him, and they <a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>were
+still more pleased when he addressed a few words to them.</p>
+
+<p>But that was as far as Parnell would go, and his answer to Davitt that
+day at St. Helens pretty well indicated the course he intended to pursue
+in connection with the cause of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, it is on record that in later years Michael Davitt altered his
+own view to such an extent that he would no longer have made that
+proposition to Parnell.</p>
+
+<p>There was no man whose regard I more valued than that of Michael Davitt.
+Amongst all the vicissitudes of Irish politics our friendship was an
+unbroken one. He was little more than a boy when I first met him at a
+small gathering to which none but the initiated were admitted. From the
+first I was strongly drawn towards that tall, dark-complexioned,
+bright-eyed, modest youth, with his typical Celtic face and figure. He
+was in company with Arthur Forrester, who was a fluent speaker and
+writer, and who on this occasion did most of the talking, Davitt only
+throwing in some shrewd remark from time to time. We know since that he
+had in him the natural gift of oratory, though it was not that so much
+as other qualities which gave him the commanding position in Irish
+politics which he afterwards reached.</p>
+
+<p>He had then spent several of the best years of his life in penal
+servitude for his connection with the physical force movement. Thinking
+long and hard in the solitude of his prison cell, Davitt resolved that
+the first vital need of Ireland was to plant <a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>firmly in the soil of
+Ireland the people who were being uprooted&mdash;in other words, the land
+system must be changed.</p>
+
+<p>The result of his convictions was the formation of the Irish National
+Land League, which dated its birth from the great meeting projected by
+Davitt and held at Irishtown in April, 1879. Mr. Parnell was elected
+President of the new organisation, Mr. Patrick Egan treasurer, and
+Michael Davitt was one of the secretaries. He has been justly called the
+"Father" of the Land League.</p>
+
+<p>One of the earliest acts of the Land League was to endeavour to stop the
+tide of emigration from Ireland. In this connection, as certain
+emigration schemes had been set on foot in England, a branch of the
+League was founded in Liverpool at my request by Parnell and Davitt.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of the prevailing distress and impending famine, Mr.
+Parnell was asked by the Irish National League to go to America to get
+the assistance of our people there, and Mr. John Dillon was asked to
+accompany him.</p>
+
+<p>Though there was little done by the Government to relieve the distress,
+the Irish people could always get coercion without stint, and Messrs.
+Davitt, Daly and Killen were arrested for "seditious" speeches in
+connection with the Land League agitation.</p>
+
+<p>To protest against this, Mr. Parnell, previous to his departure for
+America, attended a great open-air demonstration in Liverpool. The
+gathering was held in the open space in front of St. George's<a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a> Hall, and
+it was computed that about 50,000 people were present. When the meeting
+was publicly announced, there was a proclamation from the Orange
+Society, calling upon the brethren to put down the "Seditious
+gathering." Upon this our committee took the precaution of enrolling
+stalwart "stewards" to preserve order. Among those who offered their
+services were a large number of the Irish Volunteer Corps, under the
+command of Sergeant James MacDonnell, a County Down man of fine
+proportions and shrewd brain. To him was entrusted the direction of the
+whole body of our men on the day of the meeting. The advanced party also
+gave their services, and non-commissioned officers and men of the other
+volunteer corps besides the Irish, skilled in military movements, gave
+valuable help. Round the platform were a select body of nearly a
+thousand men, many of them carrying revolvers in their pockets, ready
+for action.</p>
+
+<p>The Orange body must have heard of our elaborate preparations, and
+finding "discretion the better part of valour," they countermanded their
+proclamation to break up the meeting.</p>
+
+<p>The authorities of the town made full preparations to cope with possible
+disturbances, and inside St. George's Hall they had, carefully kept out
+of view, a large body of the town police, armed with revolvers in
+addition to their batons. In a window of the North Western Hotel,
+overlooking the meeting, was the chief constable, and with him were
+magistrates, prepared to read the Riot Act if necessary.</p>
+
+<p>It was arranged that as I was at that time probably <a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>the best known man
+in the Irish body in Liverpool, I should be stationed on a prominent
+part of the platform, which consisted of two lorries, in view of all,
+and alongside me, our general, Sergeant MacDonnell. As showing how well
+in hand was that immense body of people it was remarked that when the
+carriage of Dr. John Bligh, whose guest Mr. Parnell was, drew up in the
+street, facing the platform, and when I made a motion with both hands,
+to show where a passage was to be made for Mr. Parnell from the street
+to the platform, how quickly and accurately the opening was made in that
+dense and apparently impenetrable body of people.</p>
+
+<p>In Ireland, at this time, men were being prosecuted for what were termed
+"seditious" speeches. When Mr. Parnell stood up to speak he stepped upon
+a chair, that he might be the better seen, and said "I am going to make
+a seditious speech." A strong motion was passed at this meeting
+condemnatory of coercion in Ireland. On the same evening a great
+demonstration was held in the League Hall.</p>
+
+<p>The authorities must have considered the St. George's Hall meeting a
+very serious business, and it was evidently made note of by the police
+for use afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>At the "<i>Times</i> Forgeries Commission," Mr. Parnell was questioned about
+this gathering, and about several on the platform who were mentioned by
+name. Asked if this one or that one were connected with the Fenian
+movement, he generally answered he did not think so. When my name <a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>was
+put to him by the Attorney-General (now the Lord Chief Justice), who was
+cross-examining him, he replied "He might have been."</p>
+
+<p>In a short time after the Liverpool demonstration Messrs. Parnell and
+Dillon went to America, as had been arranged. They were everywhere
+received with enthusiasm, and obtained sympathy and substantial help as
+the ambassadors of Ireland.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h3>
+
+<h5>BLOCKADE RUNNING&mdash;ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION OF "UNITED IRELAND"&mdash;WILLIAM
+O'BRIEN AND HIS STAFF IN JAIL&mdash;HOW PAT EGAN KEPT THE FLAG FLYING.</h5>
+
+
+<p>"United Ireland suppressed" was the chief headline in the morning papers
+on the Friday before the Christmas of 1881.</p>
+
+<p>In point of fact, what had happened was that the detectives, acting
+under the extraordinary powers given by the special "law" in force in
+Ireland, had invaded the offices of the Land League organ the night
+before, and seized all the copies of the paper found on the premises.</p>
+
+<p>It was a bungled job, for the country edition had already gone out,
+including the supplies for England and Scotland, so that the only copies
+seized were those intended for Dublin and the suburbs.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing indicated the intensity of the struggle going on between the
+government and the people more than the dead set which was being made
+against "United Ireland." Its editor was in jail, its sub-editor was in
+jail, most of its contributors were in jail, even the commercial and
+mechanical staffs had been seized, one by one, and in the paper each
+week the names and descriptions of the victims <a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>appeared, prominently
+set out in tabular form, in the place where the first leading article
+had previously been printed.</p>
+
+<p>But, in spite of these difficulties, the paper appeared regularly each
+week, its fiery spirit not a whit abated, and its outspoken exposure of
+Mr. "Buckshot" Forster and his methods in no way curtailed. Confronted
+with this open failure, the government swallowed the last vestige of its
+regard for appearances, and made the bold attack on the liberty of the
+press involved in the seizure and attempted suppression of "United
+Ireland."</p>
+
+<p>It was not the first time (nor has it been the last) in Ireland that a
+national organ was thus attacked. From the days of the United Irishmen,
+towards the close of the 18th century, to those of 1867, there had been
+a long series of suppressions, of which, perhaps, John Mitchel's "United
+Irishman" (1847) and the Fenian "Irish People" are the best remembered
+instances.</p>
+
+<p>In this case, however, the leaders of the popular movement determined
+that they would not be put down, but would use all "the resources of
+civilization"&mdash;to quote Mr. Gladstone's famous phrase&mdash;to keep the flag
+flying. I am very proud of the fact that they invited me to be their
+instrument.</p>
+
+<p>What happened was that two members of the printing staff, Mr. Edward
+Donnelly, foreman, and Mr. William MacDonnell, assistant foreman,
+escaped to England, taking with them stereo plates of the "suppressed"
+issue. From these plates, my own jobbing machines not being big enough
+to print <a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>a full-sized newspaper, I got a local firm to print sufficient
+copies to cover the Dublin supply, which, as I have explained, had been
+the only part of the issue which fell into the hands of the police. A
+quantity of these papers, made up in innocent looking parcels, my son,
+then a schoolboy, took over with him in the steamer from Liverpool to
+Dublin, as personal luggage. He was to take them to the address which
+had been given to him of a member of the staff who was then "on his
+keeping." I was alarmed the following morning, Christmas Eve, 1881, to
+read in the newspapers of the arrest of this gentleman, and feared that
+my son would also fall into the hands of the police. But he had acted
+with wariness. Leaving the luggage behind him in the steamer, until he
+found how the land lay, he saw the people of the house, heard of the
+arrest, and at once made his own arrangements for supplying the Dublin
+newsagents, in which task he received invaluable help from two gentlemen
+on the "Nation" staff, Daniel Crilly and Eugene O'Sullivan.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the <i>whole</i> of the issue of the "suppressed" number actually
+reached its destination. For future issues arrangements were made
+between my old friend Mr. Patrick Egan, Treasurer of the Land League,
+who was then in Paris, and myself. Our letters were never addressed
+direct, but always through third persons, the intermediary in Paris
+being Mr. James Vincent Taaffe, and, in Liverpool, Miss Kate Swift. Mr.
+Egan had been sent to Paris to keep the League Funds out of the hands of
+Dublin Castle, and to maintain intact the machinery of <a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>the League, for,
+it must be remembered, Parnell, Davitt, William O'Brien, and most of our
+prominent men were at the time in jail.</p>
+
+<p>Although illegal in Ireland, there was nothing in the ordinary law to
+prevent the printing and circulation of "United Ireland" in Great
+Britain. Arrangements were, therefore, made with the Metropolitan
+Printing Works, London, for the future production of the paper. For
+several weeks the papers were printed by that firm, and sent to my place
+of business in Byrom Street, Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>As I had, in ordinary course, to supply the whole of the newsagents in
+England, Wales and Scotland, the police, by whom my place was, by day
+and night, closely watched, could not know if in the quantity sent to me
+from London I was getting a supply for Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>The parcels for Ireland I could not send direct from Byrom Street, as
+they would be followed by the police and traced. Therefore, for packing
+and forwarding to Ireland, we used a fish-curing shed, not far from
+Byrom Street, lent for the purpose by a patriotic Irishman, Patrick De
+Lacy Garton, at that time a member of the Liverpool City Council.</p>
+
+<p>With so many friends in Liverpool willing to assist, it was not
+difficult to get the parcels of papers, through one channel or another,
+into our depot each week.</p>
+
+<p>I engaged the services of Mr. Michael Wolohan, to go to Ireland, and act
+as forwarding agent. It was his task to get people in various parts of
+the country to receive parcels of "United Ireland,"<a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a> the papers being
+packed in such fashion as to correspond with the business of the person
+to whom each consignment was made.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, the edition for the week ending December 31st was packed
+in hampers provided by Mr. Garton, who advised me to send the lot as
+dried fish, and found a reliable consignee for them in Ireland. The
+"dried fish" arrived safely, and then the most arduous part of Michael
+Wolohan's work began. For it was difficult to get the actual parcels of
+"United Ireland" into the hands of the agents and sub-agents unknown to
+the police, but this he did with consummate address, and on the whole
+very successfully.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion Michael wrote me he had a good consignee for "woollen
+goods." Nothing easier, for here was Edward Purcell, a clothier, one of
+our own young men, who afterwards became a city alderman, having a good
+business in Byrom Street, Liverpool. Besides helping actively with the
+"blockade running" in other ways, he at once gave us the necessary
+wrappers in which he had got his own goods from his woollen merchants,
+and assisted in packing our "woollen goods" in the correct fashion.
+Needless to say, these safely reached the consignee in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Although there was no illegality in printing "United Ireland" in London,
+the printers were perpetually harassed by the police to frighten them
+into giving up the job. The parcels for the British newsagents could not
+legally be stopped, but with the watchful eye of the police all over
+Ireland on <a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>the look-out for the proscribed paper, it is not surprising
+that individual parcels fell into their hands. For that reason we took
+care to send the various kinds of goods in the names of mercantile firms
+whose loyalty was unquestionable. I should say that to this day these
+firms have no idea of the large Irish trade they were doing at this
+particular time.</p>
+
+<p>But Liverpool became much too suspicious a place to send from. I
+therefore adopted the plan of sending parcels, made up as various kinds
+of merchandise, to friends in Manchester, from which city there was
+regular communication with inland towns in Ireland, and these friends
+sent on the parcels to their destinations more safely than if going
+direct from Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>This scheme was working smoothly enough, but eventually the London
+printers were frightened into giving up the contract, and the printing
+had to be transferred to Paris.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that, during this time, Michael Wolohan, our agent
+in Ireland (whose name had for the time being become Brownrigg), had the
+utmost difficulty in escaping the attention of the police. Some parcels
+he was sending by the Broadstone terminus were detected and seized. What
+troubled him most was that, as he paid a considerable sum for carriage
+on these, and as the railway company had not forwarded them, he was
+entitled to have the money returned, But the police were on the look out
+for the so-called Brownrigg, and it was thought best that he should not
+venture near <a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>the station. It happened that week that my son arrived in
+Dublin with some more of the kind of luggage he had brought over at
+Christmas, and, with the recklessness of youth, he went to the station,
+and, as Brownrigg, got the money returned.</p>
+
+<p>"United Ireland" for the week ending January 28th, 1882, was printed in
+Paris, in a section of a printing office rented by Patrick Egan, and
+sent, addressed to me, for circulation in Ireland and Great Britain. The
+parcels were seized on their arrival at Folkestone and Dover, and though
+the seizure was illegal and I applied for the parcels as being my
+property (a question being also asked in Parliament) we could get no
+satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>But, notwithstanding the seizures made from time to time, it was
+determined to keep the flag flying, and no matter what might be the
+difficulty encountered in the production of "United Ireland," not an
+issue was missed. Of course, as a natural consequence of these
+difficulties, the paper was sometimes hard to be got, so that, taking
+advantage of this, some of the newsvendors and all the newsboys in
+Dublin were reaping a rich harvest, as, owing to the anxiety of the
+people to get copies, they were frequently sold on the streets of the
+cities and towns in Ireland at from 6d. to 2s. 6d. a copy. The continued
+presence of the paper all over Ireland did perhaps more than anything
+else to keep heart in the people. Accordingly, it must be kept going at
+all hazards. The type for the paper continued to be set up in Paris,
+and, after a certain quantity had been printed off each week, <a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>for
+transmission by post and otherwise, the matrices from the type were
+brought over to me by carefully selected agents from Paris. From these
+stereotype plates of the pages were cast. As my own machine was not big
+enough, I arranged with a Liverpool firm of printers to machine the
+paper for me each week. Accordingly, they printed the papers for the
+week ending February 4th, and delivered the bulk of them to us, so that
+we got our parcels for that week sent off.</p>
+
+<p>The police must have got one of the copies being sold by the Liverpool
+agents, and finding it had no imprint (which was illegal) went to the
+printers referred to, who, on this being pointed out, handed over to
+them the few remaining copies.</p>
+
+<p>As every printing firm was now afraid to touch "United Ireland," it only
+remained for me to endeavour to print it with my own somewhat limited
+appliances. It was now, therefore, reduced in size to four pages. Every
+week, as before, the matrices were brought to me, and, from the castings
+taken from these, I printed the papers on my own small machine, and sent
+them to their various destinations.</p>
+
+<p>And so the fight with the police went on with varying fortune. It was
+true, as regards size, half our flag had in a manner been shot away, but
+we still kept it flying, and the Government, with their standing army of
+police, were never able to suppress "United Ireland."</p>
+
+<p>As I expected, I was prosecuted for printing and publishing without an
+imprint. Mr. Poland,<a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a> Q.C., chief prosecuting counsel to the Treasury,
+was sent down to conduct the case against me for the technical breach of
+the law involved in the matter of the imprint, and I was fined a sum
+amounting with costs to &pound;25. I announced my intention in court of
+continuing the publication, so the Government got very little
+satisfaction out of their action.</p>
+
+<p>Of the various editions of the paper produced in Ireland at this time I
+shall not speak in detail, as in this narrative I only describe what
+came within my own personal knowledge. Mr. William O'Brien in a later
+issue referred to the mysterious and unconquerable fashion in which one
+town after another saw its edition of "United Ireland" appear, and then,
+when police and spies were hot upon its track, as mysteriously pass
+away. This was, of course, a picturesque exaggeration, but it had a
+considerable basis of truth. The paper was actually printed more than
+once in the old office in Dublin under the noses of the police, and on
+one occasion Mr. Wolohan set up a printing machine in a private house in
+Derry, and, assisted by my son, actually worked off the copies of the
+paper next door to the house of the resident magistrate.</p>
+
+<p>Ultimately, there came the period of the "Kilmainham Treaty," and most
+of the political prisoners were released. The issue of "United Ireland"
+for March 11th did not appear as on previous occasions. I produced an
+issue, which I sent in charge of my son to Dublin, putting it at the
+disposal <a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>of Mr. O'Brien. It was not, however, published, though I
+received a long and interesting letter from Mr. William O'Brien&mdash;still
+in Kilmainham jail&mdash;expressing the appreciation of the Irish leaders for
+the work I had done in these words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class='center'><b>We are all deeply sensible of your extraordinary energy and courage in
+this matter.</b></p>
+
+<p>I am prevented from giving this letter, which explains the reasons for
+the stoppage of the paper, as Mr. O'Brien has endorsed it "Private and
+Confidential."</p>
+
+<p>A few weeks later "United Ireland" appeared in its old publishing office
+in Abbey Street. Mr. O'Brien was set free on April 15th, Messrs.
+Parnell, Dillon and O'Kelly were released on May 2nd, and Michael Davitt
+and others soon afterwards.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3>
+
+<h5>PATRICK EGAN.</h5>
+
+
+<p>It will be seen that when "United Ireland" was "on the shaughraun"
+during the time that William O'Brien was in prison, though he was able
+to send communications out regularly, the direction very largely
+devolved upon Patrick Egan, who had taken up his quarters in Paris for
+that and other purposes of the Land League. I may say that I have been
+in frequent communication with Mr. Egan ever since, and it is but
+recently that I got a letter from him touching upon this matter. In
+making some valuable suggestions as to the contents of this book, he
+says, "There just occurs to me as I write, a point that you might
+introduce as an added feature, namely&mdash;all the leading articles that
+appeared in 'U.I.' during those fateful months (or almost all of them)
+were written by William O'Brien <i>in Kilmainham Prison, smuggled out by
+the underground railroad, which ran upon regular scheduled time</i>, and
+were despatched by trusty messengers to me in Paris, which messengers
+brought back on their return journey the matrices to which you refer for
+the next issue of 'United Ireland.'</p>
+
+<p>"There were four messengers, in order to avoid attracting attention&mdash;two
+of them the Misses<a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a> Stritch, whose father had been a resident magistrate
+in Ireland. They were fine patriotic girls, and active members of Miss
+Anna Parnell's Ladies' Land League. Both are now dead."</p>
+
+<p>After a time Patrick Egan returned from Paris to Ireland, calling upon
+me in Liverpool on his way home.</p>
+
+<p>On more than one occasion he has visited me at my home in Liverpool. It
+was always with sincere pleasure that I saw the alert figure, the keen
+yet smiling eyes, the trim moustache and beard, which were the first
+impressions one got of his personality. His unvarying suavity and
+politeness might have deceived a casual observer into supposing that he
+was not a man of abnormal strength of character; they were only the
+silken glove to conceal the hand of iron. Emphatically a man of
+determination and practical common sense, he united to these qualities a
+remarkable degree of tact. In addition to much routine matter, which
+need not be specified here, although grave enough at the time, our
+meetings were concerned with important work in which we were engaged,
+as, for instance, the O'Connell Centenary, the political prisoners, and
+combating the measures being taken to swell the tide of emigration from
+Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>In dealing with the eventful career of Patrick Egan may I be allowed to
+go both backward and forward in my dates, in order to bring the story of
+his life into, as far as possible, one consecutive narrative.</p>
+
+<p>Born in County Longford, he was brought to<a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a> Dublin by his parents when
+quite young. His shrewd business qualities enabled him to make his mark
+early in life, and his fine administrative abilities admirably fitted
+him for the post he attained as managing director to the most extensive
+flour milling company in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>He has always been a practical patriot, always ready to work for Ireland
+by every honourable means that came to his hand, whether the means were
+those of moral or physical force. Consequently, he was an active worker
+in the ranks of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood from the early
+sixties. He was one of the founders of the Amnesty Movement for the
+release of the political prisoners of '65 and '67.</p>
+
+<p>When the Home Rule movement was started in Ireland he entered into it
+heartily, and was elected a member of the Council. He enjoyed the
+confidence of Butt, John Martin, Justin McCarthy, and all the other
+leaders of the movement, besides being trusted by Nationalists of all
+shades of opinion. Like most of us, without abating in the least his
+love and esteem for Isaac Butt, he soon recognised the coming leader in
+Charles Stewart Parnell, who used to refer to him in private
+conversation as his "political godfather" on account of the prominent
+part he had played in securing his first election to Parliament for the
+County Meath, in succession to John Martin.</p>
+
+<p>During the early part of the Land League agitation he was three times
+nominated, for King's County, Meath, and Tipperary, for Parliament, but
+he refused <a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>election, on the ground of being an advanced Nationalist. I
+have more than once talked this matter over with Pat Egan, and, as I may
+say in everything else, we were in complete accord; we neither of us
+could bring ourselves to swear allegiance to what we considered a
+foreign power. At the same time, as practical patriots, we helped every
+movement, inside the constitution as well as outside of it, calculated
+to benefit Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>When the Land League movement was started in 1879, Egan became at once
+one of the most prominent figures in it, and, besides acting as Trustee
+along with Joseph Biggar and William H. O'Sullivan, he was Honorary
+Treasurer.</p>
+
+<p>In the famous trial of the Land League Executive, in 1880-1881, he and
+Mr. Parnell and eleven others were prosecuted, the jury being ten to two
+for acquittal.</p>
+
+<p>In February, 1881, when coercion was so rampant in Ireland, he left his
+business in the sole charge of his partner, James Rourke, and went to
+Paris, by desire of Parnell, Dillon and the other leaders, to keep the
+League Funds out of the hands of the enemy. While he was there I was
+brought into close relations with him in my endeavours, as I have
+already described in this narrative, to carry out the honourable part
+allotted to me by our leaders of keeping "United Ireland" in circulation
+in every corner of the land, notwithstanding the watchfulness of the
+entire British garrison.</p>
+
+<p>In October, 1882, a National Convention passed a unanimous vote,
+thanking him for his distinguished <a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>services and sacrifices as Treasurer
+of the League, he having given gratuitously to the Cause three entire
+years of his life, something like a million and a quarter of dollars
+having passed through his hands during that time. These and many other
+circumstances that came to my knowledge abundantly prove that no man has
+more deserved the confidence and gratitude of the Irish race.</p>
+
+<p>In February, 1883, Michael Davitt tells us "In order to avoid the
+machinations of agents in the pay of Dublin Castle, he left Ireland."</p>
+
+<p>I don't know if I shall ever meet my friend again, and for that reason I
+shall always remember, as I am sure he will, our last meeting in
+Liverpool on his return from Paris, when we fought our battles with the
+forces of the Government over again, and had many a hearty laugh at some
+of the humorous episodes that cropped up in connection with it. Neither
+of us then thought that, before long, he would have to leave his home
+again for another period of exile.</p>
+
+<p>Up to this point I can include the chief incidents in Patrick Egan's
+career, either directly or indirectly, in my own personal recollections.
+In order not to break the continuity of this sketch of a noble life, I
+will briefly speak of his career in America. It will be found,
+therefore, that in some particulars I have had to anticipate the
+ordinary course of this narrative.</p>
+
+<p>On arriving in America in 1883, he settled in Nebraska, where he soon
+established a large and prosperous business in grain.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>In 1884, at a Convention in Faneuil Hall, Boston, surrounded by some of
+the most distinguished of our race in America, he was presented with a
+service of plate sent from Ireland, with a beautifully illuminated
+address, paying tribute to the magnificent services he had given to his
+country, and signed by three hundred of the national leaders in Ireland,
+including the Lord Mayor of Dublin (Charles Dawson), Parnell, Davitt,
+Dillon, Biggar. Justin McCarthy, Healy, William O'Brien, Sexton,
+Harrington and others.</p>
+
+<p>From 1884 to 1886 he was President of the Irish National League of
+America, during which time 360,000 dollars were collected and sent to
+Ireland. The salary of the President of the League was 3,000 dollars a
+year. At the end of his term Patrick Egan returned to his successor in
+the office 6,000 dollars as his personal contribution to the Fund.</p>
+
+<p>His career in America has been no less honourable than his services to
+the Irish Cause on this side of the Atlantic. Irishmen everywhere felt
+proud when he was sent to represent the great American Republic as
+Ambassador to Chili. They took it not only as an honour to the man
+himself, but to his nationality. We who knew him best followed with
+confidence his record during the four years of storm and stress in
+Chili, the most troublous, perhaps, that country had ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>That our confidence in him was not misplaced was proved by the tribute
+of admiration paid him by President Harrison in his message to Congress
+in December, 1891, for the splendid manner in <a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>which he had protected
+the important interests confided to his care, and for his defence of the
+honour of the flag of the United States, and the rights and dignity of
+American citizenship.</p>
+
+<p>All this was endorsed in the most emphatic manner by the leading
+statesmen and naval and military commanders of America, including
+Secretary of State James G. Blaine, Rear Admiral Evans, Admiral Brown,
+Rear-Admiral McCann, and numerous other officers of the army and navy.</p>
+
+<p>The strongest eulogies of Mr. Egan's conduct of the Chilian legation
+were written by the ex-President of the United States, Theodore
+Roosevelt, who, in 1892, gave a dinner at his home in Washington, D.C.,
+in his honour. In a public letter Mr. Roosevelt said, "Minister Egan has
+acted as an American representative in a way that proves that he
+deserves well of all Americans, and I earnestly hope that his career in
+our diplomatic service may be long, and that in it he may rise to the
+highest positions."</p>
+
+<p>When I started a new series of my "Irish Library" in January, 1902, I
+received words of encouragement from John Redmond, from Michael Davitt,
+and from other distinguished Irishmen, but there was none I valued more
+highly than the letter of appreciation of my works from Pat Egan. Of
+these he asked me to send him a set, including my "Irish in Britain."</p>
+
+<p>In a letter he sent me in the May following, I could see the yearning of
+the exile for news from the "old sod" when he said "Write me a line to
+<a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>say how you are, and how goes the good old cause. I often think with
+much interest of the last time I had the pleasure of seeing you in
+Liverpool."</p>
+
+<p>I have made my references to Patrick Egan somewhat lengthy, perhaps, but
+it is because in no work that I have ever seen has an adequate tribute
+been paid to his services to Ireland. Unlike other men who are better
+known, he was little seen and not much heard of in the Land League
+movement, but his influence in shaping the movement was second only to
+that of Davitt. He was eminently the practical patriot, and his motto
+was "deeds not words." If she had had in the past many men like Egan,
+Ireland would be both free and prosperous to-day.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h3>
+
+<h5>GENERAL ELECTION OF 1885&mdash;PARNELL A CANDIDATE FOR EXCHANGE
+DIVISION&mdash;RETIRES IN FAVOUR OF O'SHEA&mdash;T.P. O'CONNOR ELECTED FOR
+SCOTLAND DIVISION OF LIVERPOOL.</h5>
+
+
+<p>The Franchise and Re-Distribution Acts of 1884 and 1885, besides
+placing, for the first time, the Parliamentary representation in the
+hands of the great bulk of the people of Ireland, added greatly to our
+political power in England, Scotland and Wales. Many thousands of Irish
+householders obtained votes where formerly, under the restricted
+franchise, such a thing as an Irish county voter was extremely rare.</p>
+
+<p>At the General Election of 1885, Mr. Parnell made Liverpool his
+headquarters. The Re-Distribution Act had given Liverpool nine
+Parliamentary Divisions, in one of which (Scotland Division) we had
+sufficient votes to return a Nationalist. As Mr. T.P. O'Connor was the
+candidate chosen, and was, besides, the President of the organisation in
+Great Britain, he, also, was on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>A central committee room was engaged in the North-Western Hotel, where
+Mr. Parnell and Mr. T.P. O'Connor were staying. I was detailed to act as
+secretary to them, and, as the electoral <a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>campaign all over the country
+was directed from this centre, I was kept busy from early morning until
+late in the night answering the letters which poured in from all parts
+of the country. Mr. T.P. O'Connor having recently been married, Mrs.
+O'Connor also was staying in the North-Western. She presided at our
+luncheon every day, and made a charming hostess.</p>
+
+<p>I have some pleasant remembrances of those days in Liverpool, when I was
+assisting Mr. Parnell in carrying on the electoral campaign. One day, as
+we stood together looking out of the window across Lime Street, he
+pointed to the hotel on the opposite side of the street, reminding me
+that it was there we first met. This was when he came amongst us, a
+promising young recruit, under the wing of Isaac Butt. I remembered it
+well, and the number of questions he asked me about the condition of our
+people, social and political, in this country, for he knew that I had
+had opportunities of acquiring a closer knowledge of them than most
+people. He often afterwards sought from me such information. To me, from
+first to last, he was always most open and friendly, and I never found
+him so "stand-off" and unapproachable as was the very common opinion
+about him.</p>
+
+<p>In the Exchange Division of Liverpool, a Mr. Stephens, the official
+Liberal candidate, had, for some reason, been replaced by Captain
+O'Shea, who got the full support of the Liberal party. Following
+instructions from headquarters, the Irish Nationalists had denounced the
+candidate of the Liberals, <a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>who, when recently in power, had coerced
+Ireland, and O'Shea was condemned more unmercifully than any of them, as
+being, besides, a renegade Irishman.</p>
+
+<p>When Parnell himself came on the scene as a candidate for Exchange
+Division, Captain O'Shea was denounced more fiercely than ever. Mr.
+Parnell, however, withdrew on the nomination day, and at a great meeting
+on the same night, much to the astonishment of all, asked, in a very
+halting and hesitating manner, that O'Shea's candidature should be
+supported. So great was his power and prestige at the time that,
+whatever apprehension might be felt, no attempt was made to question his
+action.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the election I went to the North-Western. Mr. O'Connor
+was somewhat late in getting to work. Parnell, noticing, I suppose, that
+I seemed uneasy about something, asked, "What's amiss with you, Denvir?"
+"We would like to see Mr. O'Connor on the ground in Scotland Division,"
+I said. He shook his head: "Ah, that's the way with him since he got
+married." I smiled and observed "We'll be losing you that way some
+time." "No," he replied, as I thought somewhat sadly, "I lost my chance
+long ago."</p>
+
+<p>All that day Parnell worked with desperate energy for O'Shea. He even
+took some of our men from Scotland Division to help in Exchange. I
+expostulated with him, saying, "You'll be losing T.P.'s election for
+us." As a matter of fact, we won Scotland Division by 1,350 votes.</p>
+
+<p>In point of fact, if O'Shea had got the whole<a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a> Irish vote he would have
+won, but Mr. Parnell's vehement efforts could kindle no enthusiasm among
+the Irish electors, and there was a small but determined section
+which&mdash;while unwilling to let any public evidence of disagreement with
+Mr. Parnell appear&mdash;absolutely refused to support O'Shea. This lost him
+the seat.</p>
+
+<p>There was great jubilation in the League Hall that night at the winning
+of a seat in England by an Irish Home Ruler, elected <i>as such</i>, Mr. T.P.
+O'Connor having been returned that day for the Scotland Division of
+Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>Since that time there have been several Home Rulers, Irish by birth or
+descent, returned to Parliament for English constituencies. These belong
+to the Labour Party.</p>
+
+<p>Besides T.P. O'Connor, Liverpool has provided for Parliament quite a
+number of men who at one time or another have represented or still
+represent Irish constituencies. These are Dr. Commins, Daniel Crilly,
+Lawrence Connolly, Michael Conway, Joseph Nolan, Patrick O'Brien,
+William O'Malley, James Lysaght Finigan, and Garrett Byrne.</p>
+
+<p>At the League Hall demonstration on the night of the election, Mr.
+Parnell appeared to have caught the high spirit and enthusiasm of his
+audience, and in a more powerful address than I had ever before heard
+from him, he said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Ireland has been knocking at the English door long enough with kid
+gloves. I tell the English people to beware, and be wise in time.
+Ireland will soon throw off the kid gloves, and she will knock with
+a mailed hand. </p></div>
+
+<p><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>In this General Election, the Irish vote of Great Britain, in
+accordance with the League manifesto, generally went for the Tories, who
+came into office, but with a majority so small that they were turned out
+at the opening of the Session of 1886, and Mr. Gladstone again came into
+power. Seeing that 85 out of the 103 Irish members of Parliament had
+been returned pledged to National self-government, he came to the
+conclusion to drop coercion, and no longer to attempt to rule the
+country against the wishes of the people. He, therefore, introduced his
+Home Rule Bill on the 8th of April, 1886, but, failing to carry the
+whole of his party with him, he was defeated on the second reading by 30
+votes. His defeat at the polls at the General Election which followed
+seemed even more crushing than his defeat in Parliament, for, of the
+members elected, there was a majority against him of 118.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gladstone, looking more closely into the figures of the General
+Election, was not disheartened, and as the British public became
+educated on the Irish question, bye-election after bye-election proved
+triumphantly the truth of his famous saying that the "Flowing Tide" was
+carrying the cause of Home Rule on to victory.</p>
+
+<p>Nor were <i>we</i> disheartened, for, counting up the whole of about two and
+a half millions of votes given, we found that the Unionists, as the
+Tories and Dissentient Liberals called themselves, had a majority of
+less than 80,000 votes at the polls. During this time I had become
+general organiser of the recognised Irish political organisation of<a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>
+Great Britain, and upon me chiefly devolved the duty of directing the
+work of registration of our Irish voters. A close study of the local
+conditions in the various constituencies showed that the mere bringing
+up of the neglected Irish vote to something approaching its proper
+strength would <i>alone</i> be sufficient to effect the necessary gain. We
+threw ourselves into the task&mdash;and we succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>I shall always remember with pride my share in increasing and organising
+the Irish vote throughout Great Britain, and its result in bringing Mr.
+Gladstone back to power, and enabling him to carry the Home Rule Bill
+through the House of Commons.</p>
+
+<p>It was my duty to visit every part of Great Britain to see that the
+various districts and branches were kept in a high state of efficiency,
+and at the end of that period of hard and unremitting work from 1886 to
+1892 I was able to show our Executive from the books and figures in our
+possession that we had accomplished our aim.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h3>
+
+<h5>GLADSTONE'S "FLOWING TIDE."</h5>
+
+
+<p>I was present at most of the bye-elections that led up to Gladstone's
+great victory at the General Election of 1892.</p>
+
+<p>In this way I was brought to many places interesting to us as Catholics
+as well as Irishmen.</p>
+
+<p>No spot in Great Britain is more sacred to us than Iona, an island off
+the West coast of Scotland, which our great typical Irish saint,
+Columba, made his home and centre when bringing the light of faith to
+those regions. It will, therefore, be one of the memories of my life
+most dear to me that I had the blessing of taking part in the famous
+Pilgrimage to Iona on June 13th, 1888. The town of Oban, on the mainland
+of Scotland, is generally made the point of departure for Iona, which is
+not far off.</p>
+
+<p>Oban is one of the five Ayr burghs which, combined, send a member to
+Parliament, and it was singular that, at this time, there was a
+bye-election going on. As creed and country have always gone together
+with me, I did not think it at all inappropriate that I should do a
+little work for Irish self-government while on this Pilgrimage. On the
+contrary. Was not St. Columba himself a champion <a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>of Home Rule, for was
+it not through his eloquent advocacy of their cause before the great
+Irish National Assembly that the Scots of Alba, as distinguished from
+the Scots of Erin, obtained the right of self-government?</p>
+
+<p>One of the best numbers of my Irish Library was the "Life of St.
+Columbkille," written for me by Michael O'Mahony, one of a band of young
+Irishmen, members of the Irish Literary Institute of Liverpool, who did
+splendid service for the Cause in that city. Michael was, of these,
+perhaps the one possessing the most characteristic Irish gifts. He has
+written some admirable stories of Irish life, and is a poet, although he
+has not written as much as I would like to see from his pen.</p>
+
+<p>There are no Irish residents in Iona itself, but I found a few in Oban,
+on whom I called to secure their votes for Home Rule.</p>
+
+<p>To hear Mass on the spot made sacred by the feet of our great Irish
+saint, in the building, then a ruin, erected by his successors to
+replace that which he himself had raised here as a centre of his great
+missionary labours, was an experience to treasure until one's latest
+day. What made the celebration the more memorable was the sermon in
+Gaelic by Bishop MacDonald of Argyll and the Isles. I had the pleasure,
+after Mass, of having dinner with him, and some most interesting
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>I told him I had read with great interest a pastoral of his, issued some
+five years before, in which he said that an interesting peculiarity of
+his diocese, <a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>in respect of which it stood almost alone in the country,
+was that its Catholicity was almost exclusively represented by districts
+which had always clung to the faith, places where in the Penal days no
+priest dared show himself in public, but visited the Catholic centres in
+turn as a layman by night and gathered the children together to instruct
+them as far as he was able. This was, he said, of extraordinary interest
+on a day like that, when we were specially honouring the memory of the
+great saint who had sown the seeds which had continued to bear fruit
+through so many centuries. We also spoke of the singular fact that he
+had that day preached on the spot on which St. Columba himself had
+stood, and in the same language that he spoke, a language which had been
+in existence long before the present English tongue was spoken. As
+showing that the Scottish and Irish Gaelic were practically the same, as
+distinguished from the Celtic tongue spoken by the Welsh and Bretons,
+Bishop MacDonald told me he could read quite easily a book printed in
+the Irish characters.</p>
+
+<p>As a bye-election brought me to the sacred scene of the labours of our
+great Irish saint, Columba, so did another bye-election bring me to the
+spot where a martyr for Ireland suffered in 1798&mdash;Father O'Coigly. There
+was a bye-election at Maidstone, where the martyr priest had been tried
+for treason, and near it is Pennenden Heath, where he was executed, so
+that both places will for ever be held sacred by patriotic Irishmen.
+Besides securing a pledge for Home Rule from one of the candidates, <a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>and
+organising the small Irish vote in his favour, I took the opportunity of
+inaugurating a movement for the erection of a memorial to Father
+O'Coigly. With the co-operation of the London branches of the United
+Irish League the movement was brought to a successful issue. On two
+succeeding years there were Pilgrimages to the spot where Father
+O'Coigly was executed, at which Mr. James Francis Xavier O'Brien, who
+himself had been sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, was the
+chief speaker one year, and Mr. John Murphy, M.P., on the other.</p>
+
+<p>Besides this, chiefly through the exertions of Mr. John Brady, District
+Organiser, funds were raised, and there have been erected in the
+Catholic Church at Maidstone a Celtic Cross and three beautiful
+stained-glass windows, of Irish manufacture, to commemorate the
+martyrdom of Father O'Coigly.</p>
+
+<p>A gratifying thing in connection with our Pilgrimage was, I reminded
+those I addressed on Pennenden Heath, that a man pledged to support
+self-government for Ireland, the Cause for which Father O'Coigly had
+suffered, had been elected to Parliament for Maidstone.</p>
+
+<p>In the bye-elections about this time, we often got the most satisfactory
+results from places where the Irish vote was but small. I have before my
+mind the Carnarvon Boroughs bye election of 1890. Here the seat had been
+held by a Tory, and the Irish vote in the five towns, all told, was not
+much more than 50. I was sent to the constituency <a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>by our Executive to
+use every exertion to get our people to poll for David Lloyd-George, a
+thorough-going Home Ruler, at that time an unknown man, though he has
+since risen to the first political and ministerial rank. It was then I
+made his acquaintance, and time has only increased the friendly feeling
+between us.</p>
+
+<p>Our meeting happened rather curiously. While on my round I came across
+an unpretentious-looking young man who, I discovered, was also working
+on the same side. We had chatted together for some time when I happened
+to make some reference to the candidate. "Oh," he said, with a laugh, "I
+am the candidate." It was Mr. Lloyd-George. We worked together with all
+the more ardour being brother Celts. I frequently expressed to him my
+admiration for a striking feature in their great meetings during the
+election campaign. This was the singing in their native tongue of songs
+calculated to rouse the enthusiasm of an emotional people like the
+Welsh, the climax being reached at the end of each meeting with their
+noble national anthem, sung in the native tongue of course, "Land of my
+Fathers."</p>
+
+<p>Since that time it is gratifying to realize the great progress which has
+been made in the revival of <i>our</i> native tongue through the
+instrumentality of the Gaelic League. The success of our friends in this
+direction ought to be an encouragement to us. The old Cymric tongue is
+almost universal throughout Wales, side by side with the English, so
+that it is not all visionary to think that a day may <a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>come when ours,
+too, may become a bi-lingual people.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Edmund Vesey Knox, an Ulster Protestant Home Ruler, who was then a
+member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, came to assist in the return of
+Mr. Lloyd-George. At one of their great gatherings he told his audience
+how much he was impressed by the enthusiasm created by their native
+music and song. This reminded him, he said, that one of their great
+Irish poets, Thomas Davis, was partially of Welsh descent, which no
+doubt inspired one of his noblest songs "Cymric Rule and Cymric Rulers,"
+written to their soul-stirring Welsh air, "The March of the Men of
+Harlech." After Mr. Knox, more singing, and then came a delightful
+address from a distinguished Irish lady, Mrs. Bryant, who did splendid
+service at many of these bye elections. Doctor Sophie Bryant, to give
+her full title, is a lady of great learning and eloquence, and not only
+a thorough Nationalist in sentiment, but an energetic worker in the
+Cause. A literary lady colleague thus sums up her chief qualities: "She
+is more learned than any man I know; more tender than any woman I have
+ever met."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lloyd-George was elected by the bare majority of 18 votes, so that
+without the small Irish vote in the Carnarvon Boroughs he could not have
+been returned at his first election for the constituency. Nor did he
+forget the fact. On one occasion we were speaking together in the lobby
+of the House of Commons when a friend of his came up. "This," said Mr.
+Lloyd-George, slapping me on the shoulder,<a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a> "is the man who brought me
+here." In a sense it was true, so that I might claim to have assisted in
+making a British Chancellor of the Exchequer.</p>
+
+<p>I have spoken of the series of bye-elections which Mr. Gladstone
+described as the "Flowing Tide" which had set in for Home Rule. I
+remember with special pleasure one of these&mdash;that for the Rossendale
+Division of Lancashire. It was a sample of all the other bye-elections
+in 1892. The registration had been well done, and we knew to a man the
+strength of the Irish vote. We had 438 on the Register. This was no mere
+estimate, and we could give the figures at the time with equal accuracy
+for most places where we had an Irish population. Every voter of ours
+living in Rossendale had been visited. If he had removed from place to
+place inside the district it was noted. If he had gone out of the
+district he was communicated with, if possible through the medium of the
+branch of his new location. We knew where to find them all, and it was
+astonishing from what distant places men turned up to vote on the
+election day, through the agency of the local branches of the places to
+which the voters had gone.</p>
+
+<p>In this Rossendale election I had two of the most capable lieutenants a
+man need wish to have, Patrick Murphy and Daniel Boyle, both then
+organisers of our League. Dan Boyle (now Alderman Boyle, M.P.) took the
+Bacup end of the Division; Pat Murphy took Rawtenstall; and I made my
+headquarters at Haslingden, for I had a <i>grah</i> for <a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>the place, on
+account of its connection with my old friend, Michael Davitt.</p>
+
+<p>There can be no better test of a man's sterling qualities than the
+opinions held of him by the friends of his youth. Several times I had
+had occasion to visit Haslingden, the little factory town in North-East
+Lancashire, where Martin Davitt, the father of Michael, and his family
+lived when they came to this country after being evicted from their home
+in Mayo. Here I met Mr. Cockcroft, the bookseller, who gave Michael
+employment after he had lost his arm in the factory, and he and his
+family bore the Irish lad in kindly remembrance. But it was among his
+own people&mdash;those who had been the companions and friends of his
+youth&mdash;that I found the greatest admiration for "Mick," as they
+familiarly called him. I need scarcely say that they watched with pride
+the noble career of one who had grown to manhood in their midst.</p>
+
+<p>I was able to turn that feeling to good account on the occasion of this
+Rossendale election. I asked the Liberal candidate, Mr. Maden, a young
+and wealthy cotton spinner of Rossendale, who had given us satisfactory
+pledges on Home Rule, to invite Michael Davitt's assistance. He did so.
+I backed up the request by a personal appeal, which he never refused if
+it lay in his power to do what I wished. He came, and words fail to
+describe his loving and enthusiastic reception by his own people.</p>
+
+<p>I have alluded to the perfect way in which the Irish Vote had been
+organised. Michael Davitt <a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>came into our committee room one day, and it
+was with intense pride he turned over the leaves of our books to show
+Mr. Maden, the candidate, how well we were prepared to poll every Irish
+vote on the election day. Davitt was a tower of strength to us in this
+election, not only amongst our own people, but amongst the English
+factory operatives, who form the majority in Rossendale. As in other
+bye-elections which had preceded it, we won the Division by a handsome
+majority.</p>
+
+<p>I was at once amused and amazed some time ago to hear of a so-called
+biography of Davitt, the keynote of which was a suggestion that he was,
+first and foremost, an "Anti-Clerical." The idea is an absurd one. He
+was an intense lover of right, and one who scorned to be an opportunist.
+Consequently, he never hesitated to speak out, no matter who opposed
+him, priest or layman. But none knew better than he that there have been
+times when the priests were the only friends the Irish peasantry had;
+and no one knew better than he that the influence they have had they
+have, on the whole, used wisely. If individual clerics have gone out of
+their proper sphere of influence it is certain they would have found
+Davitt in opposition to them where he thought them wrong. I have been
+placed in the same unpleasant position myself, but I too have always
+carefully distinguished between the individual priest who needed
+remonstrance, and his wiser colleague; and also between the legitimate
+use of a priest's influence and its abuse. So that to classify Davitt as
+an "Anti-<a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>cleric" deserves a strong protest from one who loved him as
+well and as long as I did.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, when I asked him to come to Rossendale to help to
+further the cause of self-government for Ireland, he never refused a
+request of mine if it lay in his power to grant it, and, in this way, he
+wrote for me one of the books of my "Irish Library"&mdash;"Ireland's Appeal
+to America."</p>
+
+<p>Michael has gone to his reward, and there are two things I shall always
+cherish as mementoes of him. One is a bunch of shamrocks sent to me,
+with the message:</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">"With Michael Davitt's compliments,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"Richmond Prison, Patrickstide, 1883."</span></p>
+
+<p>The other is his last letter to me, written not long before his death.
+It was dated "St. Justin's, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, 7th March, 1906." In
+this he said: "I hope you are in good health and not growing too old. I
+shall be 60! on the 25th inst.!!!" Was this a premonition that his end
+was near? He died on May 31st, within three months of the time he wrote
+the letter.</p>
+
+<p>I have spoken of the necessity for our organisation doing registration
+work at least as effectually as the Liberals and Tories do. It is not
+always men of the highest intellectual attainments who make the best
+registration agents. This fact came home to me very forcibly when
+reading a biography of Thomas Davis. It was stated that in the Revision
+Court he was not able to hold his own against the Tory agent. It is just
+what I would have imagined, <a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>considering the sensitive nature of Davis.
+A man with a face of brass, who <i>might</i> be an able man, but who, on the
+other hand, might be some low ignorant fellow, might easily do better
+than Thomas Davis with his fine intellect and varied learning.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, I have known men of the highest attainments who have
+made excellent agents, such a man as John Renwick Seager, who has for
+many years been connected with the London Liberal organisation. Just
+such another we have in our own ranks in Daniel Crilly who, before he
+became a journalist or entered Parliament, was a very successful agent
+in the Liverpool Courts.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most efficient and conscientious of registration and
+electioneering agents I ever met was John Mogan, of Liverpool. Besides
+the annual registration work he was engaged on our side in nearly every
+election of importance in Liverpool for over 30 years. He was so
+engrossed in his work that, during an election he would, if required,
+sit up several nights in succession to have his work properly done;
+indeed, I was often tempted to think that John never considered any
+election complete without at least <i>one</i> "all night sitting."</p>
+
+<p>We believed in fighting the enemy with his own weapons. On election days
+in Liverpool there were shipowners who made it a practice of getting
+their vessels coaled in the river. As, unlike the Liffey at Dublin or
+the Thames at London, the Mersey at Liverpool is over a mile wide, and
+as most of the coal heavers were Irishmen, this move of the shipowners
+was to keep our men from voting. We <a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>were successful, to some extent, in
+counteracting this, for owing to the patriotism of a sterling Irishman,
+John Prendiville, the steam tugs which he owned were often used, on the
+day of an election, to take our men ashore.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the Revision Courts gave us the opportunity of teaching a
+little Irish history. In South Wales most of our people hail from
+Munster. In one of the Courts there was the case of Owen O'Donovan being
+objected to, on the ground that he had left the qualifying property, and
+that <i>Eugene</i> O'Donovan was now the occupier. I explained to the
+Barrister that in the South of Ireland the names of Owen and Eugene were
+often applied to the same man, Eugene being the Latinized form of Owen.
+I gave as an illustration our national hero, Owen Roe O'Neill, who, in
+letters written to him in Latin, was styled Eugenius Rufus. A Welsh
+official in Court suggested that O'Donovan was anxious to become a
+Welshman by calling himself Owen. I replied that the name Owen was just
+as Irish as it was Welsh, coming no doubt from the same Celtic stock,
+and that, as a matter of fact, our man preferred being on the Register
+as Owen. The Barrister, being satisfied that both names applied to the
+same man, allowed the vote, and our voter would appear on the Register
+as Owen O'Donovan.</p>
+
+<p>In looking up our people to have them put upon the Register, or in
+connection with an election, our canvassers are often able to form a
+good judgment of the creed, or nationality, or politics of <a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>the people
+of the house they are calling at by the pictures on the walls. If they
+see a picture of St. Patrick, or the Pope, or Robert Emmet, they assume
+they are in an Irish house of the right sort. One of my own apprentices,
+when I was in business, came across a bewildering complication on one
+occasion, for on one side of the room was the Pope, which seemed all
+right, but facing him was a gorgeous picture of King William crossing
+the Boyne. It was the woman of the house he saw, a good, decent
+Irishwoman and a Catholic, who explained the apparent inconsistency. Her
+husband was an Orangeman, "as good a man as ever broke bread" all the
+year round, till it came near the twelfth of July, when the Orange fever
+began to come on. (Our people at home in the County Down, as my father
+used to tell us, often found it so with otherwise decent Protestant
+neighbours.) He would come home from a lodge meeting some night, a
+little the worse for drink, and smash the Pope to smithereens. The wife
+was a sensible body, and knew it was no use interfering while the fit
+was on him. When she knew it had safely passed away, she would take King
+William to the pawnshop round the corner and get as much on him as would
+buy a new Pope. He was too fond of his wife, "Papish" and all as she
+was, to make any fuss about it, and would just go and redeem his idol,
+and set him up again, facing the Pope, for another twelve months at all
+events.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h3>
+
+<h5>THE "TIMES" FORGERIES COMMISSION.</h5>
+
+
+<p>When the "Times" on the 18th of April, 1887 published what purported to
+be the <i>fac simile</i> of a letter from Mr. Parnell, and suggested that it
+was written to Mr. Patrick Egan in justification of the Ph&oelig;nix Park
+assassinations, I at once, like many others, guessed who the forger must
+be. I had from time to time come into contact with Pigott, and I was
+satisfied that he was the one man capable of such a production.</p>
+
+<p>When the company was formed in 1875 for the starting of a newspaper in
+connection with the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, there was
+an idea of buying Pigott's papers, "The Irishman," "Flag of Ireland,"
+and "Shamrock," which always seemed to be in the market, whether to the
+Government or the Nationalists after events showed to be a matter of
+perfect indifference to him. Mr. John Barry and I were sent over to
+Dublin to treat with him. Mr. Barry went over the books and I went over
+the plant. What he wanted seemed reasonable enough, we thought.</p>
+
+<p>The Directors of our Company did not, however, close with Pigott, but
+concluded to start a paper of their own, "The United Irishman," the
+production <a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>and direction of which, as I have stated, they placed in my
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>During these years I had many opportunities of getting a knowledge of
+Pigott's true character. From time to time money had been subscribed
+through Pigott's papers for various national funds. Michael Davitt told
+me that when the political prisoners were released the committee
+appointed to raise a fund for them, to give them a start in life,
+applied for what had been sent through the "Irishman" and "Flag," that
+the whole of the funds subscribed through the various channels might be
+publicly presented to the men. There was considerable difficulty in
+getting this money from Pigott, but ultimately it was squeezed out of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>An employe of the "Irishman," David Murphy, was shot&mdash;he survived his
+wound&mdash;in a mysterious manner. This was ascribed, and from all we know
+of the man, correctly, to Pigott, who, it was thought, fearing that
+Murphy might know too much about the sums coming into his hands and the
+sources whence they came, had tried to get him put out of the way. There
+was a still more serious aspect of this attempted assassination. The
+revelations of the "Times" Forgeries Commission afterwards proved that
+all this time Pigott was giving information to the police and getting
+paid for it. To my own personal knowledge David Murphy held an important
+position in the advanced organisation, for I once brought a young friend
+of mine, a printer, a sterling Irishman I had known from his early
+boyhood in Liverpool, from Wexford, where he was <a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>at the time employed,
+specially to introduce him to Murphy.</p>
+
+<p>From the information given to the police by Pigott, it would soon be
+found there was some leakage, which would, no doubt, be traced to the
+"Irishman" office. It would, of course, be Pigott's cue to put the blame
+on the shoulders of Murphy, hence probably his attempted assassination.</p>
+
+<p>It was not unreasonable, then, in looking round for the actual forger of
+the famous <i>fac simile</i> letter, that I and others who knew him should
+single out a man with such a bad record as Richard Pigott as the actual
+criminal.</p>
+
+<p>The collapse of the conspiracy against the Irish leaders, and the
+suicide of the wretched Pigott on the 1st of March, 1889, are matters of
+history.</p>
+
+<p>For the complete way in which the conspiracy was smashed up great credit
+was due to the distinguished Irish advocate, Sir Charles Russell. In his
+early days I knew him well, and was often thrown into contact with him,
+when he was a young barrister practising on the Northern circuit, and
+making Liverpool his headquarters. He was a member of the Liverpool
+Catholic Club when I was secretary of that body. The Club, before the
+Home Rule organisation superseded it in Liverpool, generally supported
+the Liberals in Parliamentary elections, but on one occasion there was,
+from a Catholic point of view, a very undesirable Liberal candidate,
+whom it was determined not to support. Pressure had, therefore, to be
+put upon the Liberals to withdraw this man. They were obstinate, <a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a>though
+they had not the ghost of a chance without the Irish and Catholic vote,
+which formed fully half the strength they could generally count upon. On
+the other hand, <i>we</i> could not carry the seat by our own unaided vote.
+But, to show the Liberals that we would not have their man under any
+circumstances, it was arranged that if he were willing we should put
+Charles Russell forward as our candidate. As secretary it became my duty
+to ask him to place himself in our hands. He agreed, on the
+understanding that he was to be withdrawn if our action had the effect
+of forcing the Liberals to get a candidate more acceptable to us. We
+succeeded, and, of course, withdrew our man.</p>
+
+<p>When we started the Home Rule organisation in Liverpool, we asked
+Charles Russell to be chairman of our inaugural public meeting. He had
+been contesting Dundalk as a Home Ruler, so we thought he was the very
+man to preside at our meeting, and gave that as our reason for asking
+him. He received the deputation&mdash;my friend, Alfred Crilly and
+myself&mdash;with that geniality and courtesy which were so characteristic of
+him. As it happened that the three of us were County Down men, who are
+somewhat clannish, we soon got talking about the people "at home." He
+knew both our families in Ireland, and had served his time with a
+solicitor of my name in Newry, Cornelius Denvir, before he had entered
+the other branch of the legal profession. We also got talking of the
+barony of Lecale, which he, as well as my own people, had sprung from,
+and how it had been the only Norman colony in Ulster; <a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>how many of the
+descendants of De Courcy's followers were still there, as might be seen
+from their names&mdash;Russells, Savages, Mandevilles. Dorrians, Denvirs, and
+others, whose fathers, intermarrying with the original Celtic
+population, MacCartans, Magennises, MacRorys, and so on, had become like
+the Burkes, Fitzgeralds, and other Norman clans, "More Irish than the
+Irish themselves."</p>
+
+<p>This was all very well, and very interesting, but it did not get us our
+chairman. Charles Russell was too wary, and, perhaps, too far-seeing,
+who can tell? for that. It was quite true, he said, he had contested
+Dundalk as a Home Ruler, and, of course, he was a Home Ruler, but he
+advised us to ask Dr. Commins to be our chairman, as being so much
+better known than himself. We did ask "The Doctor," and, kindly and
+genial as we ever found him, he at once consented.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly forty years have passed since then, and I really believe that
+these two, then comparatively young men, practically made choice of
+their respective after-careers on that occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Commins, who, like Charles Russell, was a practising barrister on
+the Northern circuit, held for some years the highest position his
+fellow-countrymen could give him as President of the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, and became a member of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party.</p>
+
+<p>Charles Russell, though always a Home Ruler and sincere lover of his
+country, made a brilliant career for himself as a great lawyer and
+Liberal <a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>statesman. I have often wondered since, if he had become
+chairman of our meeting in 1872, and had then identified himself with
+the Home Rule movement, if his statue would be to-day as it is in the
+London Law Courts, or if he would ever have been Lord Chief Justice of
+England and Lord Russell of Killowen? I think not.</p>
+
+<p>The "Times" Forgeries Commission, though got up to do deadly damage to
+the Irish Cause, had not, even before the final collapse of the
+conspiracy, had that effect, as bye-election after bye-election proved.
+For instance, when the Commission appointed to deal with the "Times"
+charges against the Irish leaders re-opened, after a short vacation at
+Christmas, the Govan election was going on, and, on the 19th of January,
+1889, the Liberal Home Ruler won the seat by a majority of over 1,000.</p>
+
+<p>After the exposure of the plot, Mr. Gladstone's "Flowing Tide" swept on
+with increased velocity, and, wherever there was a bye-election, there
+was an enormous demand for our members of Parliament. During this
+period, when the Irish vote in Great Britain was more fully organised
+than it ever had been before, I attended most of these elections. It was
+keenly felt, as had been proved on several occasions, that <i>no</i> place,
+however small the number of Irish voters, should be overlooked,
+especially at a time when British parties had become once more pretty
+evenly balanced.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h3>
+
+<h5>DISRUPTION OF THE IRISH PARTY&mdash;HOME RULE CARRIED IN THE COMMONS&mdash;UNITY
+OF PARLIAMENTARY PARTY RESTORED&mdash;MR. JOHN REDMOND BECOMES LEADER.</h5>
+
+
+<p>There is nothing more bitter than a family quarrel.</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate disruption in the Irish Parliamentary Party and the
+fierce quarrel that arose among the Irish people near the end of 1890,
+would be to me such a painful theme that I must ask my readers to pardon
+me if I pass on as quickly as possible towards the happier times which
+find us practically a re-united people, while the Irish Party in
+Parliament is a solid working force under the able leadership of Mr.
+John Redmond.</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with the demands of the branches of the Irish organisation
+in Great Britain, a special Convention was called and held in
+Newcastle-on-Tyne on Saturday, 16th May, 1891. Delegates from all parts
+of Great Britain attended, and elected a new Executive in harmony with
+the bulk of the League, with Mr. T.P. O'Connor, President, as before.</p>
+
+<p>Provision was also made for carrying on the fight for Home Rule in the
+constituencies, which <a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a>had been somewhat relaxed by the unhappy split in
+our ranks. This was imperative, in view of the necessity for assisting
+to return to Parliament a sufficient majority to enable Mr. Gladstone to
+carry his Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons.</p>
+
+<p>The result of the General Election of 1892 was the return to power of
+Mr. Gladstone. His majority was the best proof to friend and foe of the
+value of the work done by our organisation during the previous years in
+adding to the Irish vote in Great Britain. It also showed we had the
+power and the influence in the constituencies we had claimed. Indeed,
+the books in the offices of the League could show, by the figures for
+every constituency, that without the Irish vote Mr. Gladstone would have
+had no majority at all.</p>
+
+<p>When we come to consider the terrible crisis we were passing through,
+the result was magnificent.</p>
+
+<p>Although, as we all expected, Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill was thrown
+out by the House of Lords, the fact that a Bill conferring
+self-government on Ireland had been passed in the Commons was recognised
+as a step towards that end which could never be receded from, and that
+it was but a question of time when the Home Rule Cause would be won.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the event proved that our grievance was no longer against the
+English democracy, but against the class which misgoverned us, just as
+it, to a lesser extent, misgoverned them.</p>
+
+<p>Most of us have, no doubt, taken part in a family gathering on some
+joyous occasion when the mother <a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>realizes that <i>all</i> her children are
+not around her, and is overcome with sadness. So it was with us. Well
+might mother Ireland ask why were not <i>all</i> her children in the one
+fold, to be one with her and with each other in the hour of rejoicing,
+as they had been loyally with her in all her sorrows? Why was the bitter
+feud over the leadership of the Irish Party so long kept up? Why was the
+happy reconciliation so long delayed?</p>
+
+<p>While the majority, it is true, were arrayed on one side, the fact
+remained that on the other side there were men of undoubted patriotism
+and great ability, not only members of Parliament such as John and
+William Redmond or Timothy Harrington, but some of our best men all over
+the country, who had done splendid service for the Cause, and were
+either in fierce antagonism or holding aloof.</p>
+
+<p>It was during this sad time that I met that distinguished orator, Thomas
+Sexton, to whom John Barry was good enough to introduce me. Sexton came
+specially from Ireland on this occasion in the interests of peace.
+Actuated by the same motive was Patrick James Foley, another member of
+the Party and of the Executive of the League, who, while holding
+strongly to his own conscientious opinions, was always most courteous to
+those differing from him.</p>
+
+<p>I attended the great Irish Race Convention, held in the Leinster Hall,
+Dublin, on the first three days of September, 1896. The Most Reverend
+Patrick O'Donnell, Bishop of Raphoe, a noble representative of old
+Tyrconnell, and a tower of <a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>strength to our Cause, presided, and it was,
+undoubtedly, one of the most representative gatherings of the Irish race
+from all parts of the world ever held.</p>
+
+<p>Two admirable resolutions were passed with great enthusiasm and perfect
+unanimity, and there is no doubt but that this Convention was the first
+great step towards the reunion of the Irish Parliamentary Party, which
+has been since so happily effected.</p>
+
+<p>It was more than three years after the Race Convention before the
+long-desired re-union of the Irish Party and the Irish people all over
+the world was accomplished at a Conference of members of Parliament of
+both parties held in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons, on
+Tuesday, January 30th, 1900.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3>
+
+<h5>THE GAELIC REVIVAL&mdash;THOMAS DAVIS&mdash;CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY&mdash;ANGLO-IRISH
+LITERATURE&mdash;THE IRISH DRAMA&mdash;DRAMATISTS AND ACTORS.</h5>
+
+
+<p>One effect of the disturbance in political work caused by the split
+seemed to be the impetus given to existing movements which, so far as
+politics were concerned, were neutral ground. Chief amongst these was
+the Gaelic League, which from its foundation advanced by leaps and
+bounds and brought to the front many fine characters.</p>
+
+<p>Francis Fahy was one of the first Presidents of the Gaelic League of
+London, and there is no doubt but the Irish language movement in the
+metropolis owes much to his influence and indefatigable exertions.</p>
+
+<p>I first made his acquaintance over twenty-five years ago, when he was
+doing such splendid Irish propagandism in the Southwark Irish Literary
+Club, of which, although he had able and enthusiastic helpers, he was
+the life and soul. He has written many songs and poems, which have been
+collected and published. What is, perhaps, one of the raciest and most
+admired of his songs, "The Quid Plaid Shawl," first appeared in the
+"Nationalist" for February 7th, 1885, a weekly periodical <a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a>which I was
+publishing at the time. Several stirring songs of great merit by other
+members of the society also appeared in its pages. Indeed, the members
+came to look upon the "Nationalist" as their own special organ, and ably
+written and animated accounts of their proceedings appeared regularly in
+its columns. I also published a song book for them, compiled by Francis
+Fahy, chiefly for the use of their younger members.</p>
+
+<p>An active Gaelic Leaguer, who did much for the success of the movement
+in London, was William Patrick Ryan. He wrote a "Life of Thomas Davis"
+for "Denvir's Monthly," a sort of revival of my "Irish Library." This
+book was very favourably received by the press. The "Liverpool Daily
+Post" gave it more than a column of admirable criticism, evidently from
+the pen of the editor himself, Sir Edward Russell. In it was the
+following kindly reference to myself: "Our present pleasing duty is to
+recognise the labours of Mr. Denvir&mdash;efforts in such a cause are always
+touchingly beautiful&mdash;as an inculcator of national sentiment; to
+illustrate the genuine literary interest and value of the first booklet
+of his new library; and to wish the library a long and useful, and in
+every way successful vogue."</p>
+
+<p>Another active man in the language movement in London, whose
+acquaintance I was glad to renew when I first came to the metropolis, is
+Doctor Mark Ryan.</p>
+
+<p>It is nearly forty years since we first knew each other in connection
+with another organisation. He <a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>then lived in a North Lancashire town,
+and was studying medicine, not being at that time a fully qualified
+doctor. If I remember rightly, our interview had no connexion with the
+healing art, indeed quite the contrary, for besides qualifying for the
+medical profession, he was graduating in the same school as Rickard
+Burke, Arthur Forrester, and Michael Davitt, but, like myself, was more
+fortunate than Burke and Davitt, inasmuch as he escaped their fate of
+being sent into penal servitude. Although Mark Ryan was for a long time
+resident in Lancashire, he there lost nothing, nor has he since, of the
+fluent Gaelic speech of his native Galway, for I heard him quite
+recently delivering an eloquent speech in Irish at a gathering of the
+Gaelic League.</p>
+
+<p>Speaking of Dr. Mark Ryan reminds me of how often I have noticed in my
+travels through Great Britain, what a number of Irish doctors there are,
+and also that they are almost invariably patriotic. They are of great
+service to the cause, for it frequently happens that, in some districts,
+they are almost the only men of culture, and are not generally slow to
+take the lead among their humbler fellow-countrymen.</p>
+
+<p>One of the finest Irish scholars in the Gaelic League was Mr. Thomas
+Flannery. He, too, was a valued contributor to my "Monthly Irish
+Library," two of the best books in the series, "Dr. John O'Donovan," and
+"Archbishop MacHale," being from his pen. In fact, he and Timothy
+MacSweeny I might almost look upon as having been the Gaelic editors of
+the "Monthly."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a>I once, when in business in Liverpool, printed a Scottish Gaelic
+Prayer-Book for Father Campbell, one of the Jesuit priests of that city,
+for use among the Catholic congregations in the highlands and islands of
+Scotland. John Rogers, like Timothy MacSweeny, a ripe Irish scholar,
+called on me while it was in progress, and was delighted to know that
+such a book was being issued. To Mr. MacSweeny I also sent a copy, and
+they both could read the Scottish Gaelic easily, showing, of course, how
+closely the Irish and Scottish Gaels were, with the Manx, united in one
+branch of the Celtic race, as distinguished from the Bretons and Welsh.</p>
+
+<p>I have always had an intense admiration for the poetry of "Young
+Ireland." I used to call it Irish literature until I found myself
+corrected, very properly, by my Gaelic League friends, who maintained
+that, not being in the Irish tongue, its proper designation was
+Anglo-Irish literature.</p>
+
+<p>I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of one of the leading
+young Irelanders, Charles Gavan Duffy, after his return to this country,
+when he assisted at the inauguration of our London Irish Literary
+Society, which has been a credit to the Irishmen of the metropolis. Much
+of the success of the Society is due to Alfred Perceval Graves, author
+of the well-known song "Father O'Flynn," a faithful picture of a genuine
+Irish <i>soggarth</i>. Among others of the members of the society who have
+made their mark in Irish literature is Mr. Richard Barry O'Brien, the
+President, the <a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a>author of several valuable works of history and
+biography.</p>
+
+<p>It was at the opening of our Literary Society that I first met Duffy in
+the flesh, but I had known and admired him in spirit from my earliest
+boyhood. I was greatly pleased when he told me he had been much
+interested in my publications, not only those issued more recently, but
+those of many years before. I afterwards had a letter from him in
+reference to my "Irish in Britain," in which he said: "I saw long ago
+some of the little Irish books you published in Liverpool, and know you
+for an old and zealous worker in the national seed field."</p>
+
+<p>His son, George Gavan Duffy, is a solicitor, practising in London, and
+an active worker in the national cause. His wife is a daughter of the
+late A.M. Sullivan, and is as zealous a Nationalist as was her father,
+and as patriotic as her husband.</p>
+
+<p>The first book of National poetry I ever read was one compiled by
+Charles Gavan Duffy&mdash;"The Ballad Poetry of Ireland." I should say that
+this has been one of the most popular books ever issued. There are none
+of his own songs in this volume. The few he did write are in the "Spirit
+of the Nation" and other collections. These make us regret he did not
+write more, for, in the whole range of our poetry, I think there is
+nothing finer or more soul-stirring than his "Inishowen," "The Irish
+Rapparees," and "The Men of the North."</p>
+
+<p>It is unfortunate that we have nothing from the pen of Thomas Davis on
+the subject of the Irish <a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a>drama and dramatists, for among the most
+delightful and valuable contributions to the Anglo-Irish literature of
+the nineteenth century were his "Literary and Historical Essays."</p>
+
+<p>For students, historians, journalists, lecturers, and public speakers,
+they have been an inexhaustible mine, since they first appeared week by
+week in the "Nation" during the Repeal and Young Ireland movements. As
+sources of inspiration they have been of still more practical value to
+the Irish poet, painter, musician and sculptor.</p>
+
+<p>Though he was apparently in good health up to a few days of his death,
+which was quite unexpected, Davis, in giving to his country these
+unsurpassed essays, might have had some idea that his life would not be
+a long one, and that, if he could not himself accomplish all he had
+projected, he would at least sketch out a programme for his brother
+workers in the national field, and for those coming after them.</p>
+
+<p>A glance at the contents of Davis's Essays will show how fully he has
+covered almost every field in which Irishmen are or ought to be
+interested. We have Irish History, Antiquities, Monuments, Architecture,
+Ethnology, Oratory, Resources, Topography, Commerce, Art, Language, Our
+People of all classes, Music and Poetry dealt with in an attractive as
+well as in a practical manner. Anyone who has ever gone to these Essays,
+as I have over and over again, for information, has always found Davis
+completely master of every subject that he touched. His "Hints to Irish
+Painters" are <a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a>illustrations of the value of the advice he gives in
+connection with his varied themes. Those of the generations since his
+time who have profited by his teaching know best how valuable would have
+been his views in connection with the Irish Drama.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing as we do how <i>thorough</i> Davis was in everything he took up, the
+reason he did not deal with it was, probably, that he had not had the
+same opportunities of getting information on this as upon the other
+wonderfully varied subjects in his Essays.</p>
+
+<p>I have in my mind at this moment one Irish dramatist, Edmond O'Rourke,
+who would have appreciated anything Davis would have written on the
+subject, and would certainly have profited by it.</p>
+
+<p>O'Rourke, better known by his stage name of Falconer, was an actor as
+well as a dramatist. He was "leading man" when I first saw him in the
+stock company of the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, and used to play the
+whole round of Shakespearean characters, his favourite parts being the
+popular ones of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Richard the Third. He was a
+dark-complexioned man of average height, somewhat spare in form and
+features. Though his performances were intellectual creations, we boys
+used to make somewhat unfavourable comparisons between him and Barry
+Sullivan, another of our fellow-countrymen. Barry was by no means
+superior to Falconer in his conception of the various parts, but he
+greatly surpassed him in voice, physique, and general bearing on the
+stage, in which respects I think he had no equal in our times.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a>After Falconer went to London he became manager of the Lyceum Theatre,
+where several of his pieces were performed, including the well-known
+Irish drama, "Peep o' Day," which had an enormously successful run. With
+this he also produced a magnificent panorama of Killarney, to illustrate
+which he wrote the well-known song of "Killarney" which, with the music
+of Balfe, our Irish composer, at once became very popular, as it ever
+since has been. Madame Anna Whitty, the distinguished vocalist, who
+first sang "Killarney," was a daughter of Michael James Whitty, of whom
+I have spoken elsewhere. In going through my papers I have just come
+across a letter from O'Rourke, dated from the Princess's Theatre,
+Manchester, August 19th, 1872, in which he tells me of the great success
+in Manchester of another play of his, "Eileen Oge." This also he
+produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, where it had a long and
+successful run. Edmund O'Rourke was a patriotic Irishman, and in this
+respect I could never have made the same comparison between the
+patriotism of the two men, Barry Sullivan and him, as I did between them
+as actors. <i>Both</i> were patriotic Irishmen. It will be remembered that in
+an early chapter of this book I have mentioned that Barry Sullivan once
+offered himself to our committee as an Irish Nationalist candidate for
+the parliamentary representation of Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>Dion Boucicault, too, is one, I am sure, who would have profited by
+anything Thomas Davis might have written on the subject of the drama. I
+am <a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a>quite satisfied that though he was severely criticised for the wake
+scene in his play of "The Shaughraun" at the time it was first produced,
+the objectionable features in this were more the fault of the actors
+than of the dramatist; but the subject was an exceedingly risky one,
+even for a man like Boucicault, and would have been better avoided
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Besides Barry Sullivan and Falconer, other Irish actors I knew were
+Barry Aylmer, James Foster O'Neill, and Hubert O'Grady. They were
+impersonators of what were known as "Irish parts," and being genuine
+Irish Nationalists, as well as actors, did much to elevate the character
+of such performances. For with them, all the wit and drollery were
+retained, while they helped, by their example, to banish the buffoonery
+that used to characterise the "Stage Irishman."</p>
+
+<p>I am reminded by a criticism on one of his pieces in a London daily
+paper that we can claim, as a fellow-countryman, perhaps the most
+brilliant writer at the present time for the British stage&mdash;George
+Bernard Shaw. From a conversation I had with him once, I would certainly
+gather that he was a patriotic Irishman.</p>
+
+<p>I have done something in the way of dramatic production myself, one of
+the pieces I wrote being at the request of Father Nugent, to assist him
+in the great temperance movement he had started in Liverpool. He engaged
+a large hall in Bevington Bush, where every Monday night he gave the
+total abstinence pledge against intoxicating liquors to large numbers of
+people. I was then carrying on <a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a>the "Catholic Times" for him, and he
+asked me to be the first to take the pledge from him at his public
+inauguration of the movement. Although, as he was aware, I was already a
+pledged teetotaler to Father Mathew, I was greatly pleased to agree to
+assist him all I could in his great work.</p>
+
+<p>He believed in providing a counter-attraction to the public house, and
+each Monday night, in the Bevington Hall, he provided a concert or some
+other kind of entertainment; giving, in the interval between the first
+and second part a stirring address and the temperance pledge. As there
+was a stage and scenery in the hall, we often had dramatic sketches. The
+drama I wrote for Father Nugent had a temperance moral. It was called
+"The Germans of Glenmore." It was played several Monday nights in
+succession, and was well received.</p>
+
+<p>Some years afterwards I made it into a story, calling it "The Reapers of
+Kilbride." This appeared over a frequent signature of mine, "Slieve
+Donard," in the "United Irishman," the organ of the Home Rule
+Confederation.</p>
+
+<p>Singularly enough, I found that part of it had been changed back again
+into the first act of a drama by Mr. Hubert O'Grady, the well-known
+Irish comedian.</p>
+
+<p>That gentleman was giving a performance for the benefit of the newly
+released political prisoners at one of our Liverpool theatres. Being
+somewhat late, I was making my way upstairs in company with Michael
+Davitt, and the play had commenced. I could hear on the stage part of
+the dialogue, which <a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a>seemed familiar to me, and, sure enough, when I
+took my seat and listened to the rest of the act, the dialogue was
+pretty nearly, word for word, from "The Reapers of Kilbride." The
+compiler of the play being acted had also drawn upon another drama of
+mine for his last act, "Rosaleen Dhu, or the Twelve Pins of Bin-a-Bola."
+The play we were witnessing was very cleverly constructed, for Mr.
+O'Grady, with his strong dramatic instincts and experience, could tell
+exactly what would go well, and could use material accordingly. The
+transformation of the story as it appeared in the "United Irishman" back
+again into a play would be easily effected, as, leaving out the
+descriptive part, the dialogue itself, with the necessary stage
+directions, told the story. This, no doubt, Mr. O'Grady had perceived.</p>
+
+<p>Later still, I carried out a similar transformation with another of my
+own productions. I have a piece in three acts which, as a play, has
+never been published or performed. It is called "The Curse of
+Columbkille." This drama I changed into a story, which has appeared in
+the series of 6d. novels published by Messrs. Sealy, Bryers and Walker.
+The most striking character in it is Olaf, a Dane, who believes himself
+to be a re-incarnation of one of the old Danish sea rovers. A member of
+the firm, the late Mr. George Bryers, a sterling Irishman, called my
+attention to the opinion of the professional reader to the firm that it
+would be advisable to call the story "Olaf the Dane; or the Curse of
+Columbkille." I accepted the suggestion, and accordingly the book has
+been published with that title.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>I have seen with much interest the movement inaugurated by the Irish
+Theatre Company in Dublin, and have been present at some of their
+performances in London. In spite of some false starts and a tendency to
+imitate certain undesirable foreign influences, the movement should
+certainly help to foster the Irish drama.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h3>
+
+<h5>"HOW IS OLD IRELAND AND HOW DOES SHE STAND?"</h5>
+
+
+<p>Summing up these pages, how shall I answer the question asked by Napper
+Tandy in "The Wearin' of the Green" over a hundred years ago&mdash;"How is
+old Ireland, and how does she stand?"</p>
+
+<p>Let us see what changes, for the better or for the worse, there have
+been during the period&mdash;nearly seventy years&mdash;covered by these
+recollections.</p>
+
+<p>Catholic Emancipation had, five years before I was born, allowed our
+people to raise their voices, and give their votes through their
+representatives in an alien Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>I am not one to say that no benefit for Ireland has arisen through
+legislation at Westminster, but the system that allowed our people to
+perish of starvation has always been, to my mind, the one great
+justification for our struggle for self-government by every practicable
+method. It has been a struggle for sheer existence.</p>
+
+<p>If Ireland had had the making of her own laws when the potato crop
+failed, not a single human being would have perished from starvation.
+That I am justified in introducing the terrible Irish Famine and its
+consequences into these recollections as part of my own experiences I
+think I have shown <a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a>in my description of its effects upon our people
+when passing through Liverpool as emigrants or as settlers in England.</p>
+
+<p>I have always endeavoured to look upon the most hopeful aspects of the
+Irish question. But with the appalling tragedy of the Famine half way in
+the last century, with half our people gone and the population still
+diminishing, one is bound to admit that the nineteenth century was one
+of the most disastrous in Irish history.</p>
+
+<p>Is it surprising that, during my time, driven desperate at the sight of
+a perishing people in one of the most fruitful lands on earth, we should
+have made two attempts at rebellion?</p>
+
+<p>In 1848 the means were totally inadequate.</p>
+
+<p>In 1867 the movement looked more hopeful in many respects. The
+revolutionary organisation had a large number of enrolled members on
+both sides of the Atlantic. Among them were hundreds in the British
+army, and many thousands of Irish-American veterans trained in the Civil
+War, eager to wipe off the score of centuries in a conflict, on
+something like equal terms, with the olden oppressor of their race.</p>
+
+<p>But the real hope of success lay in the prospect of a war between
+America and England, which at one time seemed imminent, and justified
+the action of the Fenian chiefs in their preparations.</p>
+
+<p>It was, however, the very existence of Fenianism which, more than any
+other cause, prevented war. For none knew better than far-seeing
+statesmen like Mr. Gladstone (who declared that he was <a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a>prompted to
+remedial measures for Ireland by "the intensity of Fenianism") that
+within a month of the commencement of a war between America and England,
+Ireland would be lost to the British crown for ever. That is why English
+statesmen would have grovelled in the dust before America, rather than
+engage in a conflict with her.</p>
+
+<p>The generous way in which the Irish exiles in America have poured their
+wealth into the lap of their island mother, and the determination they
+have shown to shed their blood for her just as freely, should the
+opportunity only come, are the features which to some extent
+counterbalance the tragedy of the Famine. For that terrible calamity, by
+driving our people out in millions, raised a power on the side of
+Ireland which her oppressors could not touch, a power which is no doubt
+among the means intended by Providence to hasten our coming day of
+freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, emigration, the most unanswerable proof of English
+misgovernment, is a terrible drain on our country's life-blood, and no
+entirely hopeful view of Ireland's future can be held until this is
+stopped.</p>
+
+<p>What, however, are the reflections which bring encouragement?</p>
+
+<p>One is that the time cannot be far distant when some statesman of the
+type of Gladstone will try to avert the danger threatening the British
+empire through an ever-discontented Ireland, by conceding to her at
+least the amount of self-government possessed by Canada and Australia.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>To this one section of Englishmen will say "Never!" Students of history
+have many times heard the "Never" of English statesmen, and know how
+often it has proved futile. Before I was born they were saying "Never"
+to Catholic Emancipation. Later on they said "Never" to the demand for
+tenant-right. A few years ago, when fighting the Boers, they said
+"Never" to the suggestion that the war should be ended on conditions.
+Even now economic causes and the competition of rival powers are at work
+in such a way that it is plain that the existence of the British Empire
+is at stake. England's one chance lies in the possibility of the
+friendship of the free democratic commonwealths which are at present her
+colonies&mdash;and of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>The establishing of County Councils in Ireland and Great Britain was an
+acceptance of the principle of Home Rule. Their successful working has
+caused the belief in that principle to gain ground. Their administration
+in Ireland has shown that in no part of the British empire does there
+exist a greater capacity for self-government. All creeds and classes
+there have found the material benefit arising from them, for instead of
+their finances being managed by irresponsible boards, the money of the
+people is now wisely spent by their elected representatives.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, if there is one thing that is certain, it is that the <i>future</i>
+is on our side. In my own time I have seen a most startling change come
+over the attitude of the working classes of England towards Ireland as
+they progressed in knowledge <a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a>and political power themselves. They are
+the certain rulers of England to-morrow, the men whose democratic ideals
+are our own, and who have in fact largely been trained by us. Their rise
+means the fall of the system that has mis-governed Ireland. Thus every
+day brings nearer the triumph of our ideal, the ideal of freedom, which
+will probably be worked out in the form of Ireland governing herself and
+working harmoniously with a democratic self-governing England.</p>
+
+<p>The unquestionable growing desire among the people of Wales and Scotland
+to manage their own affairs proceeds largely from their having felt the
+benefits of <i>local</i> self-government in their County Councils. Their
+prejudice against <i>National</i> self-government for Ireland, and for
+themselves, too, should they desire it, is rapidly breaking down. In
+this connection, too, we must never forget what an enormous power we
+have in the two millions and more of Irishmen and men of Irish
+extraction in Great Britain, and that, under ordinary circumstances,
+they hold the balance of power between British parties in about 150
+Parliamentary constituencies.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the Irish land question, we have every reason to be
+hopeful of the final and complete success of the great movement
+commenced by the organisation founded by Michael Davitt.</p>
+
+<p>We have had, since the days of Strongbow, many conquests and
+confiscations and settlements, the main object of each being the
+acquisition of the land of Ireland. Is it not marvellous,
+notwith<a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a>standing all the attempts to destroy our people, how they have
+clung to the soil and so absorbed the foreign element that you still so
+often find the old tribal names in the old tribal lands? Apart from
+this, we have, in the descendants of the various invaders, what would be
+a most valuable element in a self-governing Ireland, for whatever be the
+creed or the race from which men have sprung, it is but natural that all
+should love alike the land of their birth. As a result of Michael
+Davitt's labours, that land is to-day more nearly than it has been for
+centuries the property of the people, and it seems now, humanly
+speaking, impossible that they should ever be dispossessed of it again.</p>
+
+<p>Then there is the improvement in education. At one time it was banned
+and hunted along with religion and patriotism. Then it was permitted,
+with a view of turning it into a lever against the other two elements.
+Concessions have so far been wrung from the British parliament that
+there is now a university to which Irish youths can be sent. Here there
+is a great factor for good, for while, on the one hand, knowledge is
+power, on the other hand the thirst for knowledge has always been
+ineradicable in the Irish character. There are also the beginnings of
+technical training so long badly needed. Under self-government we should
+have been a couple of generations earlier in the race than we are, but
+it is not too late.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, in reckoning up the conditions from which we can take hope and
+comfort there is this: In the darkest hour we have never lost faith in
+<a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a>ourselves and our Cause. To find a parallel for such tenacity in the
+pages of the history of any land would be difficult.</p>
+
+<p>We come of a race that, through the long, dreary centuries, has never
+known despair, nor shall we despair now. I am assured that, before long,
+the drain on our life blood that has gone on for sixty years will stop,
+and that we shall stand on solid ground at last, ready for an upward
+spring.</p>
+
+<p>And so, to the young men of Ireland I would say: Be true to yourselves;
+hold fast to the ideals which your fathers preserved through the
+centuries, in spite of savage force and unscrupulous statecraft. The
+times are changing; new impulses are constantly shaping the destinies of
+the nations; have confidence in God and your country; and who shall dare
+to say that the future of Ireland may not yet be a glorious recompense
+for the heroism with which she has borne the sufferings of the past.</p>
+
+<h4>THE END.<br /><br /><br /></h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a>INDEX.</h3>
+
+
+<p><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a></p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><b>A.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Alabama Claims,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_75'>75.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien condemned and executed,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_104'>104.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ambulances, Irish, for Franco-Prussian War,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160,</a><a href='#Page_161'>161.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Amnesty Association and O'Connell Centenary,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_183'>183.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ancient Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Anderson, Arthur, resembled Corydon,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_85'>85.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Annesley's Mountain, Lord,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_31'>31,</a><a href='#Page_47'>47.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Answers to Correspondents,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_154'>154.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Antrim, my birthplace,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_2'>2.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Archbishops Crolly and Murray support the Bequest Act,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_30'>30.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Archdeacon, George,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Architectural Drawing and Surveying, employed at these,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_54'>54.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Arms for Rising of 1867. Inadequate supply,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_94'>94.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Arrest and rescue of Kelly and Deasy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_95'>95.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Aunt Kitty, my godmother,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_2'>2.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Mary,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_38'>38.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Nancy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_15'>15.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Aylmer, Barry, adopts the stage as profession,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_119'>119.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>B.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ballad Poetry of Ireland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_260'>260.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ballymagenaghy, my mother's birthplace,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_31'>31.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;rocky soil,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_31'>31.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ballymagenaghy, "Papishes to a man,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_31'>31.</a><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;cottage industries,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33,</a><a href='#Page_34'>34.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;large families,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ballymagrehan,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_36'>36.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ballywalter, my father's birthplace,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_2'>2.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ballinahinch, Battle of,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_38'>38,</a><a href='#Page_39'>39.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Banbridge, weaving industries by steam,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_34'>34.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Bannon, Oiney,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_31'>31.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Barrett, David, examines the<i>Lia Fail</i>,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_110'>110.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Barney Henvey" and the Fairies,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_35'>35,</a><a href='#Page_36'>36.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Barry, John,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_8'>8,</a><a href='#Page_127'>127.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;calls us together to form Home Rule Confederation of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Great Britain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_173'>173.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Barry Sullivan, a great Irish actor,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_22'>22.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Beers, Lord Roden's agent in Dolly's Brae massacre,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_45'>45.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Beecher (Captain Michael O'Rorke), "The Fenian Paymaster,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_78'>78,</a><a href='#Page_79'>79.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Belle Vue Prison, Manchester, near the scene of rescue,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_101'>101.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Benedictines,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_4'>4.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Biggar, Joseph,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180,</a><a href='#Page_181'>181,</a><a href='#Page_193'>193.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Catholic, becomes a,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;"Obstruction." enters upon,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_182'>182.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Parliament, enters,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_179'>179.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Parnell, combination with,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_179'>179.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Birmingham, supplementary Convention,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_176'>176.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Black North," The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_15'>15.</a><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Bligh, M.D., Alderman Alexander,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_200'>200.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Bligh, M.D., John,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_207'>207.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Blockade, running of "United Ireland,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_209'>209,</a><a href='#Page_215'>215.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Boer War, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_271'>271.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"<i>Bog Latin</i>," Mr. Butt gives the origin of it,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_195'>195.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Boucicault, Dion,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_263'>263.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Bourbaki, our men in Foreign Legion with him struck last blow in</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Franco-German War,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_161'>161.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Boyle, M.P., Alderman Daniel,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_239'>239.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Brady, John,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_236'>236.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Breslin, John,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_76'>76.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;aids in escape of military Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_140'>140.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Breslin, Michael, "on his keeping,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_77'>77,</a><a href='#Page_123'>123.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Breslin, Michael, narrowly escapes arrest,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_124'>124.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Brett (sergeant of police) shot in Manchester rescue,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_101'>101.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Brian, Tribe of,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_28'>28.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Brian O'Loughlin in '</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_98'>98,</a><a href='#Page_38'>38.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Brotherhood of St. Patrick, the forerunner of Fenianism and</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_87'>87.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Bryant, Mrs. Dr. Sophie,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_238'>238.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Bryers, George,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_266'>266.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Buckshot Foster,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_210'>210.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Burke, Rickard, meets a notable company,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_93'>93.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;purchases arms,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_105'>105.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Clerkenwell explosion an attempt to rescue him,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_106'>106.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;sent to penal servitude,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_106'>106.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;returned to America,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_112'>112.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Burke, Thomas, J.P., of Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_186'>186.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Bushmills, Co. Antrim, my birthplace,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_2'>2.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Butt, Isaac, presides at the first Annual Convention of the<a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, and becomes its</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;first President,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_173'>173.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;a contributor to "United Irishman,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;gives no countenance to obstruction,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_188'>188.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;1876 Convention votes confidence in him,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_188'>188.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;resigns presidency of organisation, and succeeded by Parnell,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_192'>192.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his death,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_195'>195.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Byrom Street, Liverpool, my house for a time the headquarters of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Home Rule Confederation</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>of Great Britain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;frequently met Butt, Parnell, Biggar, and other leaders there,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Byrne, Daniel, Richmond Prison warder,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_77'>77.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Byrne, Frank,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160,</a><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Byrne, M.P., Garrett,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_230'>230.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Byrne, Patrick,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_199'>199.<br /></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>C.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cahill, Rev. Dr., a great preacher,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_59'>59.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Camp in Everton, in view of expected rising in Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_55'>55.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Campbell, Richard, a humorous Irish singer,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_120'>120.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Camp Fires of the Legion," by James Finigan,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_162'>162.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Carlingford Lough, vies with Killarney in beauty,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Carnarvon Borough election, where I first met Lloyd George,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_237'>237.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><i>Carraig</i>Mountain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cassidy, Tom, "a flogger,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_67'>67.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Castlewellan, Eiver Magennis its member in King James's Parliament,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_29'>29.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Castlewellan, a Nationalist centre for South Down,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_47'>47.</a><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Catalpa" carries off the military Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_140'>140.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;lands them safely in New York,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_145'>145.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Catholic Emancipation,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_268'>268.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Catholic Hierarchy, Restoration of,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_58'>58.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Catholic Institute,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_54'>54.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Catholic Times," I review in it "Life of Robert Emmet,"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>by Michael James Whitty,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_21'>21.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;carrying it on single-handed,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_153'>153.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Celtic Race, the Catholics of Ulster the most Celtic part of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Ireland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_30'>30.</a><a href='#Page_57'>57.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Chambers, Corporal,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_200'>200.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Chester Castle, plot to seize,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_81'>81.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;I volunteer for the raid,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Christian Brothers, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_14'>14,</a><a href='#Page_27'>27.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Churches, increase rapidly in Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_6'>6.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Clampit, Sam, a good, honest Protestant Fenian, is arrested,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_108'>108.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Clan Connell War Song&mdash;O'Donnell Aboo,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Clan na nGael,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_36'>36.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Clarence Dock, Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_3'>3.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;where the harvest men landed,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_35'>35.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Clarke, Michael,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Clarke, Patrick,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Clarkhill, Co. Down,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_47'>47.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Coming over from Ireland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_3'>3.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Commins, Dr. Andrew, his record,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_172'>172.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;becomes head of Home Rule Organisation in Great Britain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_171'>171,</a><a href='#Page_172'>172.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Conciliation Hall, Dublin,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_16'>16.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Condon, Captain Edward O'Meagher,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_93'>93.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Condon, plans rescue of Kelly and Deasy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_96'>96.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;is himself arrested,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_102'>102.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Condon, his defiant shout in the dock of "God save Ireland,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_104'>104.</a><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;returned to America, and has been since helping the Cause</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;there,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_106'>106,</a><a href='#Page_107'>107.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;and here,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_112'>112.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Confederates, Irish,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_55'>55.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Connolly, Lawrence,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_185'>185.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Connaught,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_35'>35.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Convention of 1876 votes confidence in Isaac Butt,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_188'>188.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Copperas Hill Chapel,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_5'>5.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Schools,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_13'>13.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cork, "No sin in Cor-r-r-k,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_26'>26.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Corydon, the informer, what he was like,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_85'>85.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;throws off the mask,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_85'>85.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cottage Industries in Ulster,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Council of Fenian Leaders,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_93'>93.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cousens, a Liverpool detective,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_131'>131.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cranston, Robert, escaped military Fenian,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_141'>141.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Crilly, Alfred, a brilliant Irishman, who did good service for the</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cause,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_150'>150,</a><a href='#Page_171'>171.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Crilly, Daniel, brother of Alfred,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_150'>150,</a><a href='#Page_211'>211.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;on staff of "Nation,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_151'>151.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;registration agent,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_243'>243.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;editor of "United Irishman,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Member of Parliament,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Crilly, Frederick Lucas, General Secretary of United Irish League</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;of Great Britain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_150'>150.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Crimean War, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_65'>65.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Crosbie Street, mostly spoke Connaught Irish,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_15'>15.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Crowley, Thade, the Cork pork butcher,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_25'>25,</a><a href='#Page_26'>26.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cumberland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Curragh of Kildare, I help at the building of camp there,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_65'>65.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>D.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Daily News," The, describes the rescue of Kelly and Deasy,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>and acknowledges the courage and skill of the rescuers,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_101'>101.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Daily Post," Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_21'>21.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Darragh, Daniel, brings the arms from Birmingham for Manchester Rescue,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_96'>96.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;dies in&nbsp; Portland Prison,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_126'>126.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Hogan brings his remains to Ireland, and Condon visits his grave,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_127'>127.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Darragh, Thomas, escaped military Fenian,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_141'>141.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Davis, Thomas, as registration agent,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_242'>242.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his "Literary and Historical Essays,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_261'>261.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Davitt, Martin, father of Michael,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_240'>240.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Davitt, Michael, takes up Forrester's work of supplying arms,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_132'>132.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;is arrested and convicted on Corydon's testimony,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_136'>136.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;returns from penal servitude,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_199'>199.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;formation of the Land League,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_205'>205.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his "Fall of Feudalism,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_197'>197.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;tries to get Parnell to join advanced movement,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_202'>202.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Dear Old Ireland," T.D. Sullivan's Song,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_38'>38.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Denvir's "Monthly" and "Irish Library,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_257'>257.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>De Courcy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27,</a><a href='#Page_29'>29.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Denvir, Bishop, Bible,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_30'>30.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;see Father O'Laverty,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_30'>30.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;I met him with my father,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_3'>3.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Denvir, General Denver's daughter enquires after him,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_41'>41.</a><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Denver City, the Capital of Colorado, named after General James</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;William Denver, descended from Patrick Denvir, a '98 Insurgent,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_40'>40.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Desmond, Captain, one of the rescuers of the military Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_140'>140.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Devoy, John, he aided the escape of James Stephens,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_76'>76,</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;and of the&mdash;military Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_140'>140.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Dillon, John, M.P.,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_205'>205.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Distinguished Irishmen I have met,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_10'>10.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Disestablishment of the Irish Church prompted by Gladstone's recognition</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;of "the intensity of Fenianism,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_147'>147.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Disruption of the Irish Party,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_252'>252.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Doctors and other professional men excellent helpers in the</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>National Cause,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_177'>177,</a><a href='#Page_258'>258.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Dock labourers' love of learning,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_19'>19.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Dolly's Brae Fight,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_44'>44.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;massacre,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_45'>45.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Donnelly, Edward, foreman printer of "United Ireland," brings me the</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;stereos,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_210'>210.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Doran, Arthur, an Irish newsagent, becomes bail for Forrester,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Dowling, chief constable of Liverpool, dismissed,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_60'>60.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Down, County,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_2'>2,</a><a href='#Page_29'>29,</a><a href='#Page_47'>47.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;cottage industries,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Drumgoolan, my uncle's parish,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_28'>28.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Dublin Castle wires warning of Manchester Rescue&mdash;too late,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_97'>97.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Duffy, Michael Francis,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_166'>166.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, loses heart for a time,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_62'>62.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, his old hopes revive,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_62'>62.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Dundas, General, routed by the Kilcullen pikemen in '98</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_71'>71.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Dundrum Bay,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_32'>32.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>E.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Egan, Patrick,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_184'>184.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;sustains "United Ireland" against attempted suppression,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_215'>215.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his life story,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_219'>219.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;always a&nbsp; practical patriot,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_221'>221.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;attitude towards Parliament,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_221'>221.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;President of Irish National League of America,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_224'>224.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;American ambassador to Chili,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_224'>224.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;President Harrison's tribute,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_224'>224.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Elizabethan days,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_5'>5.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Emerald Minstrels," The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115,</a><a href='#Page_116'>116,</a><a href='#Page_117'>117.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;inspired by "Spirit of the Nation,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_118'>118.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Erin's Hope," with Irish-American officers, arms, and ammunition,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;reaches Sligo Bay,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_94'>94.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;returns to America,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_95'>95.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Erin's Sons in England," racy song by T.D. Sullivan,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_152'>152.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>F.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Fahy, Francis, poet.</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_137'>137</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Falconer (Edmond O'Rourke), a famous Irish actor and dramatist,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;author of "Peep o' Day," "Killarney," etc.,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52,</a><a href='#Page_263'>263.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Famine, The great Irish,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_6'>6.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;heroism of the clergy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_53'>53.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;the greatest disaster in Irish history,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_269'>269.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Felon Repeal Club" in Newcastle-on-Tyne,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_56'>56.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Fenian Brotherhood, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52,</a><a href='#Page_73'>73.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;the two wings,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_123'>123.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Conference in Paris, Michael Breslin attends,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_123'>123.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;gathering, which Parnell attends at my invitation,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_203'>203.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Fenian Paymaster" (Captain O'Rorke), known as "Beecher,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_78'>78.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Fenian leaders in England take counsel,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_93'>93.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Fenianism.&mdash;What did it do for Ireland?</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_146'>146.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ferguson, John, assists at foundation of Home Rule Confederation of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Great Britain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_176'>176.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;indicates Parnell as future leader,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_192'>192.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;director of "United Irishman,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Finigan, James Lysaght, his adventurous career,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_124'>124.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;in the Franco-German War,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Finn MacCool and the ancient Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Flannery, Thomas, an able Irish scholar,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_164'>164,</a><a href='#Page_258'>258.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Flood, John, and the Chester raid,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Flowering," girls employed at,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_34'>34.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Flowing Tide,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_233'>233.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Foley, Patrick James,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_254'>254.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ford, Patrick, Michael Davitt's tribute to him,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_198'>198.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;I welcome the "Irish World" in the "Catholic Times,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_198'>198.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Forrester, Arthur, he brings me revolvers,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_131'>131.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;I am visited by detectives,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_131'>131.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;they can make out no case against him, and he is released,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Forrester, Arthur, he joins the French Foreign Legion,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_134'>134,</a><a href='#Page_160'>160,</a><a href='#Page_162'>162.</a><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Forrester, Mrs. Ellen, comes with Michael Davitt,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_133'>133.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;like others of her family, she wrote poetry,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_134'>134.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Fox, Frank, one of our poets,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Fount of patriotism,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_11'>11.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Franco-Prussian War,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Freemantle, rescue from of the military Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_139'>139.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Frolics of Phil Foley," a sketch by John F. McArdle,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_121'>121.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>G.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gaelic characters, the,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_11'>11.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gaelic League Revival,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_256'>256.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gaelic Prayer Book (Scotch), printed by me for Father Campbell, S.J.,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>for use in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_259'>259.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Garton, Patrick De Lacy, Stephens escapes in his hooker,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_78'>78.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;he helps the blockade-running of "United Ireland." "Georgette,"</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;passenger steamer, pursues the military Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_143'>143.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;fires a round shot across the bows of the "Catalpa," in which they</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;are escaping,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_143'>143.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gilmore, Patrick Sarsfield, a distinguished Irish-American composer</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;and musician,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_114'>114.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gilmore, Mary Sarsfield, his daughter, an able contributor to</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;"Irish World,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_114'>114.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gladstone, William Ewart, introduces Home Rule Bill,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_231'>231.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;"Flowing Tide,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_233'>233.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;returned to power through aid of Irish vote,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_232'>232.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"God Save Ireland," Condon gives us a rallying cry and a</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;National Anthem,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_104'>104.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Gormans of Glenmore," The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_265'>265.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Goss, Bishop, a typical Englishman of the best kind.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Blunt-hitting-out-from-the-shoulder style of speaking,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_156'>156.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Grattan's Parliament,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_41'>41.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Graves, Alfred Perceval,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_138'>138,</a><a href='#Page_259'>259.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gunboats in river Mersey in view of expected rising in Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_55'>55.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>H.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Hail to the Chief" (from the "Lady of the Lake"),</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_118'>118.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;played as salute to Parnell,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_117'>117.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Halpin, General, a scientific soldier,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_90'>90.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;in command at the rising,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_90'>90.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;gives us lecture on fortifications and earthworks,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_91'>91.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;arrested at Queenstown,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_91'>91.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Hamlet" played by Falconer,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_262'>262.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hand, John, one of our poets,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hanlons, Hughey and Ned,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_51'>51.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Harrington, Martin, escaped military Fenian,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_141'>141.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Harvestmen from Connaught and Donegal, a hardy lot,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_35'>35.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Haslingden, the home of Davitt,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_84'>84.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hassett, Thomas Henry, escaped military Fenian,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_141'>141.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Healy, T.M., when I first met him,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_196'>196.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;becomes Parnell's secretary,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_197'>197.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Heinrick, Hugh, editor of "United Irishman,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hibernians, Ancient Order of, strong in Liverpool, and stout champions</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;of country and creed,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_16'>16.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;a bodyguard for the priests in penal days,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_17'>17.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;their stronghold in northern Irish counties and counties adjoining,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_18'>18.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;in America, Rev. Thomas Shahan pays tribute to the Order,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_16'>16,</a><a href='#Page_17'>17.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Hidden Gem," a play by Cardinal Wiseman,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_63'>63.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hierarchy restored,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_58'>58.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Highlands of Scotland, the Gaelic spoken there,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_187'>187.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hints from Thomas Davis to Irish painters, students, historians,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;lecturers, journalists, public speakers, and others,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_261'>261.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hogan, the Irish sculptor, crowns O'Connell with Repeal cap,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_49'>49.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hogan, Martin Joseph, escaped military Fenian,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_141'>141.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hogan, William, a friend of Captain John M'Cafferty,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_87'>87.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;helps Darragh to get the revolvers for Manchester rescue,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_96'>96.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;is arrested for this, tried, and acquitted,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_124'>124,</a><a href='#Page_125'>125.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Holyhead, wagons and carriages for there to be seized,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_81'>81.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Holy Cross Chapel, Liverpool, as it was,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_58'>58.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;the chief of police countenances the getting up of a panic there,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_60'>60.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Holland, of the submarine,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_145'>145.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Home Rule Organisation, formation in Ireland, various sections assist,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_148'>148.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;John Barry calls us together to form Home Rule Confederation</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;of Great Britain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_173'>173.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Home Rule Organisation, I become its first secretary,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_155'>155.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hyde Road, the scene of the Manchester rescue,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_99'>99.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hymans, Jewish admirers of Thade Crowley,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_25'>25.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>I.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Igoe's publichouse at the Curragh,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_67'>67.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Inishowen," noble song by Charles Gavan Duffy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_260'>260.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Insurrection in Ireland considered easier to put down</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>than "Obstruction,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_190'>190.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Iona Pilgrimage,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_233'>233.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Irish-American officers to leave Ireland for England,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_79'>79.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Irish Brigade of Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_92'>92.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Irish Library," I start it,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_35'>35.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Irish in Britain," The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_78'>78,</a><a href='#Page_102'>102.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Irish National League organiser, Edward M'Convey,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Irish Parliamentary Party, disruption and reunion of,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_252'>252.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Irish Race Convention,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_254'>254.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Irish Rapparees," by Gavan Duffy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_260'>260.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_73'>73.</a><a href='#Page_74'>74.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Irish of Great Britain compact and politically important,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_2'>2.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Irish World," The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_198'>198.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Isle of Man,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_32'>32,</a><a href='#Page_187'>187.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>J.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Jack Langan, an Irish boxer,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_4'>4.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Jigger Loft," where our men work,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_7'>7.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Journalism,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_21'>21.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Johnson, my classical teacher,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_28'>28.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>K.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Kehoe, Inspector Lawrence.&mdash;Did he shut his eyes in my case?</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_129'>129.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Kelly, Col. Thomas, his personal appearance,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_92'>92.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;directs rescue of James Stephens,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_76'>76,</a><a href='#Page_77'>77,</a><a href='#Page_78'>78.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;I meet him in Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_92'>92,</a><a href='#Page_93'>93.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his arrest in Manchester with Captain Deasy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_95'>95.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;rescue,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_100'>100,</a><a href='#Page_101'>101.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;how he escaped from the country,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_105'>105.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Kildare, gallant fight of the men of Kildare in '98,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_69'>69.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>King Edward VII., plot for his abduction when Prince of Wales,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_88'>88.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Kirwan, Captain Martin Walter, in the Franco-Prussian War,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;afterwards general secretary of Irish organisation in Great Britain.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Knox, Edmund Vesey, a Protestant Member of Parliament, who did</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;good service at Lloyd George's election and elsewhere,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_238'>238.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>L.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Lambert, Michael, makes key to fit James Stephens' cell,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_78'>78.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Lancashire Free Press,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_91'>91.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Land League, The, its formation in April, 1879, with Davitt recognised</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;as its "Father,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_205'>205.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Larkin, Michael,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_103'>103,</a><a href='#Page_104'>104.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Lecale, Celtic and Norman admixture since De Courcy's time,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Leitrim Chapel, where I served Mass for my uncle,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_32'>32.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;band of fiddles, flutes, and clarionets,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_37'>37.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><i>Lia Fail</i>(Stone of Destiny),</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_109'>109,</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;the stone to be stolen,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_110'>110,</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><i>Lia Fail</i>, David Barrett, League organiser, tries to test its weight.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Is stopped by its guardians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_111'>111.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Liberator, The (O'Connell), frequently passed through Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_43'>43.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Lloyd-George, David, Chancellor of the Exchequer, I help</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;in his first Election,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_237'>237.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>London Irish Literary Society,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_259'>259.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Lost opportunity for Irish tongue,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_15'>15.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Lover, Samuel, painter, poet, musician, composer, novelist,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;and dramatist,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_10'>10.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his patriotism,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_10'>10,</a><a href='#Page_11'>11.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his wit,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_12'>12.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Loyal toasts,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_188'>188,</a><a href='#Page_189'>189,</a><a href='#Page_203'>203.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Lumber Street Chapel,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_4'>4.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Lynch,. Daniel, translates "God Save Ireland" into Irish,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_113'>113.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>M.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McAnulty, Bernard, a strong Home Ruler and Fenian sympathiser,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_34'>34,</a><a href='#Page_56'>56,</a><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McArdle, John,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_15'>15,</a><a href='#Page_16'>16.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McArdle, John F., the most brilliant of the Emerald Minstrels,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_118'>118.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McCann, Michael Joseph, author of "O'Donnell Aboo," I make</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;his acquaintance,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_114'>114,</a><a href='#Page_115'>115.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McCafferty, John, had fought for the South in the American Civil War.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;His plot to seize Chester Castle,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_81'>81.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his scheme (as Mr. Patterson) to abduct the Prince of Wales,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_88'>88.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McCartans, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_29'>29.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McCarthy, Sergeant, his sudden death,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_200'>200.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>M'Cormick, Father, of Wigan, men on way to Chester raid go to Confession</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;to him,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McDonald, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, preached at Iona in Gaelic</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;on the life of St. Columbkille,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_234'>234.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McDonnell, Sergeant James,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_206'>206</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McGrady, Owen, conference at his house to arrange for reception of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;expedition then on the sea,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_93'>93.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McGrath, Father Peter,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_187'>187.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McGowan, James, my godfather,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_2'>2.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McHale, Archbishop, I report his sermon,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_155'>155.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McKinley, Peter,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>MacMahon, Father, of Suncroft, gives the Curragh men a good character,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_70'>70.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;he tells us of St. Brigid's miraculous mantle,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_69'>69.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;and of the gallant Kildare men in'98,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_69'>69</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McMahon, Heber,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>MacManus, Terence Bellew,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_49'>49,</a><a href='#Page_52'>52.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McNaghten, Sir Francis,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_2'>2.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>McSwiney, Father, S.J., and the "Catholic Times,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_154'>154.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Macbeth" played by Falconer,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_262'>262.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Magennis, Eiver (see Castlewellan),</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_29'>29.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Maguire, the marine, wrongly charged at Manchester,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_104'>104.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Manchester, first Convention of Home Rule Confederation held there,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_173'>173.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Manchester Martyrs, place of rescue confounded with place of execution,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_99'>99.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mangan, Richard,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mass in Penal times,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_5'>5.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Massacre at Dolly's Brae,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_45'>45.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mathew, Father, Apostle of Temperance, what he was like,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_13'>13.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Maughan, Peter, recruiting agent for the I.R.B. among</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;the British soldiery,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_72'>72,</a><a href='#Page_86'>86.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mazzinghi, Count, composer of "Hail to the Chief,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Meany, Stephen Joseph, a journalist,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_91'>91.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;in Young Ireland movement,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_22'>22.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;starts "Lancashire Free Press,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_91'>91.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;imprisoned for Fenianism,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_91'>91.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Men of the North, The," stirring ballad by Charles Gavan Duffy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_260'>260.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Military Fenians, their rescue, chiefly by John Breslin,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;going from America, and John Walsh from this side,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_139'>139 to 145.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Millbank Prison, M'Cafferty writes from there to William Hogan,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_87'>87.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mogan, John, a capable man at registration and electioneering,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_243'>243.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Monroe, General, a Presbyterian leader, hanged at his own door in '98,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_41'>41.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mourne Mountains,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27,</a><a href='#Page_32'>32,</a><a href='#Page_57'>57.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mulhall, Peter and James,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_194'>194.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mullaghmast,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_49'>49.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mullin, Dr. James,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_177'>177,</a><a href='#Page_178'>178.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Murphy, Bessie,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Murphy, Captain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_93'>93,</a><a href='#Page_112'>112.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Murphy, David, supposed to have been shot by connivance of Pigott,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_247'>247.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Murphy, Patrick,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_239'>239.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Murphy, William, sent to penal servitude for attack on the van</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;at Manchester, though not there,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_102'>102.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Murray, Archbishop,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_30'>30.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>N.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Nation" newspaper, readings from it,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_15'>15.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;"O'Donnell Aboo" appears in it,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Nation once again, A,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_36'>36.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>National Anthem of "God Save Ireland," Condon's defiant shout</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;in the dock the origin of it,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_104'>104.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Nationalist" The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_256'>256.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Naughton, Miss,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_132'>132.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Ninety-eight" memories, many of the leaders Presbyterians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_41'>41.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"No Popery" mob, A,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_4'>4.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"No Popery" mania over "Papal aggression,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_58'>58.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Normans in Ireland, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Northern Press and Catholic Times,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_72'>72.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Norse settlements,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Nugent, Father, and the Catholic Institute,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_63'>63.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;St. Patrick's celebrations,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_64'>64.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;proprietor of "Catholic Times," which I conducted for him,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_91'>91.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;after a long interval, am pleased to meet him just before</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his death,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_159'>159.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>O.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Oates, Tom, of Newcastle,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_94'>94.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Oath of allegiance, Parnell and my view on this,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_112'>112.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"O," the prefix,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Brien, Captain Michael, is hanged at Manchester,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_104'>104,</a><a href='#Page_112'>112.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Brien, John, released prisoner,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_200'>200.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Brien, James Francis Xavier, introduces me to O'Donovan (Rossa),</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_73'>73.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;No more gallant figure among the Fenian leaders than J.F.X. O'Brien.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;In all things<i>straight</i>,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_89'>89,</a><a href='#Page_90'>90.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Brien, M.P., Patrick,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_230'>230.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Brien, Richard Barry,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_259'>259.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Brien, William,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_212'>212,&amp;c.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Obstruction," the 1877 Convention endorses the policy,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_104'>104.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Coigly, Father, Pilgrimage,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_235'>235.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Connell Centenary,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_183'>183,</a><a href='#Page_184'>184.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Connell in Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_48'>48.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;a faithful son of the Church,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_48'>48.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;enormous attendance at his meetings,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_49'>49.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Orange attack repelled by McManus and his friends,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_49'>49.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Connell, John (son of the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell),</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;a British militia officer at the Curragh; gives good example</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;to his men by going to Holy Communion,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_68'>68.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;he wrote fine verses,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_68'>68.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Connell, Maurice, wrote "Recruiting Song of the Irish Brigade,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_69'>69.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Connell Centenary,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_183'>183.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Connor, M.P., T.P., the only Home Rule Member of Parliament for</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Great Britain elected<i>as such</i>,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_24'>24,</a><a href='#Page_188'>188,</a><a href='#Page_230'>230.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Donovan, Edmund, son of John O'Donovan,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_90'>90.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;in French Foreign Legion,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160,</a><a href='#Page_162'>162.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;special correspondent in Russo-Turkish War,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_164'>164.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Merv,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_165'>165.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;perishes in the Soudan,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_165'>165.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Donovan, Jeremiah (Rossa),</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_73'>73.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Donovan, John, the distinguished Irish scholar,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_163'>163.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;memoir of him by Thomas Flannery,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_164'>164.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Donnell, Bishop,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_254'>254.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"O'Donnell Aboo" as our national anthem?</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_114'>114,</a><a href='#Page_115'>115.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;no claim,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_116'>116.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Donnell, F.H.,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181,</a><a href='#Page_193'>193.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Grady, Hubert,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_265'>265.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Hagan, Lord,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_184'>184.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Hanlons, The, the Ulster standard bearers,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_51'>51.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Kelly, James, in Mexican campaign,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_165'>165.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;recruits for the French army until fall of Paris,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_166'>166.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;adopts journalism,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_167'>167.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;enters Parliament,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_167'>167.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Olaf, the Dane, or the Curse of Columbkille,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_266'>266.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Oliver, William John,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Laverty, Father, historian of Down and Connor,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_29'>29,</a><a href='#Page_30'>30.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Loughlin, Brian,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_38'>38.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Loughlin, Father Bernard, my uncle,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Father Bernard. Passionist, of Paris</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_169'>169.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;John, my uncle,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_169'>169.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Michael, Father, my uncle,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_28'>28,</a><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Margaret, my mother,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Mahony, Michael, writes "Life of St. Columbkille" for me,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_234'>234.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Malley, M.P., William,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_230'>230.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Opening of a bath by swimming in it, by T.D. Sullivan, when</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Lord Mayor of Dublin,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_153'>153.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Orangeism,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_19'>19,</a><a href='#Page_20'>20,</a><a href='#Page_22'>22,</a><a href='#Page_23'>23.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Reilly, John Boyle, his "Life" in our Library,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_86'>86.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;helps escape of the military Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_140'>140.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Rorke, Captain Michael (Beecher), the Fenian paymaster,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_78'>78,</a><a href='#Page_79'>79.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Rourke, Edmund (Falconer), actor and dramatist,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52,</a><a href='#Page_263'>263.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Shea, Captain, a candidate for Parliament,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_228'>228.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>O'Sullivan, Eugene,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_211'>211.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Eugene or "Owen," a Welsh registration case,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_244'>244.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>P.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Packmen from Ulster, Oiney Bannon, Bernard McAnulty,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_34'>34.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Pagan O'Leary," "Beggars and Robbers,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_80'>80.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Papal aggression,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_58'>58.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Papal Volunteers, we entertain them,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_155'>155.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Papishes,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_19'>19.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Parnell, Charles Stewart, enters Parliament,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_179'>179,</a><a href='#Page_181'>181.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;becomes chairman of Irish Parliamentary Party,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_192'>192.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;could weigh men's capabilities,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_197'>197.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Davitt cannot induce Parnell to join the advanced organisation,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_202'>202.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Parnell and the I.R.B. men,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_203'>203.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;with Dillon, goes to America for relief of Irish distress,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_208'>208.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;collapse of the "Times" Forgeries against Parnell,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_248'>248.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;disruption in the Party,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_252'>252.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;reunion, January 30th, 1900,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_255'>255.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Patriot Parliament of 1689," by Thomas Davis,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_29'>29.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Patterson, Mr. (Captain McCafferty), calls on me,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_88'>88.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Peggy Loughlin's wee boy,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_32'>32.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Penal days in Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_4'>4,</a><a href='#Page_5'>5.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ph&oelig;nix movement and trials,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_73'>73.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Pictures at election times, "the Pope," "Robert Emmet," "King William,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_245'>245.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Plantation of Ulster,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_31'>31,</a><a href='#Page_39'>39.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Power, John O'Connor, lectures at Davitt's meeting,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_199'>199.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Punch" and "Times" seemed to gloat over probable extinction of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Irish race,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_53'>53.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Punch's" caricature of O'Connell,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_54'>54.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Purcell, Edward, helps blockade running of "United Ireland,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_213'>213.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Prendiville, John, his steamers used to bring voters from the river,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_244'>244.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Presbyterian Government," was there a call for this at Ballinahinch?</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_39'>39.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Price, Father John, S.J.,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_4'>4.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Protestant Ulster" chiefly an importation,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_30'>30.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>Q.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Quare man doesn't know his own mother's name,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_33'>33.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>R.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Race Convention in Ireland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_254'>254.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Rails to Chester to be taken up,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_81'>81.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Rapparees, The Irish," Charles Gavan Duffy's fine song,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_260'>260.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Readings from the "Nation,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_15'>15.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Reapers of Kilbride,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_265'>265,</a><a href='#Page_266'>266.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Rebel, An Old,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_1'>1.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Red-haired woman stops the growth of the Curragh,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_69'>69.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Redmond, John,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_3'>3,</a><a href='#Page_252'>252.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Redmond, Sylvester,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_86'>86.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Refugees of the '67 Rising,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_92'>92.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Repeal Hall,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Repeal Cap,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_49'>49.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Rescue of Kelly and Deasy.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Incidents of the arrest and rescue described in page</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_95'>95</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;and following pages.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Reunion of the Parliamentary Party, January 30th, 1900,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_255'>255.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Revisiting Ireland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Revolvers for Manchester,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_96'>96.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Revolvers from Forrester,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_131'>131.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Reynolds, Dr.,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ribbonmen,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_23'>23.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Richards, Richard ("Double Dick"),</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_109'>109.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Richardson, John,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_5'>5.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Richard III." played by Falconer,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_262'>262.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Rising of 1848, drilling to oppose it,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_55'>55.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Rising of 1867,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_89'>89.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Roden, Lord,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_32'>32.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;Dolly's Brae massacre,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_45'>45.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Roderick Vich Alpine Dhu,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Rogers, John, a Gaelic scholar,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_259'>259.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Roney, Hughey, his house threatened by Orangemen,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_15'>15,</a><a href='#Page_20'>20.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Rory O'More," by Lover,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_11'>11.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;a scene from it reenacted,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_12'>12.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Rosaleen Dhu,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_266'>266.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Rotunda, Dublin,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_155'>155.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Round Towers, Kildare, &amp;c.,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_70'>70.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Russell, Lord John, his Ecclesiastical Titles Act,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_58'>58,</a><a href='#Page_61'>61.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Russell, Charles (Lord Russell of Killowen), willing to become our candidate</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;for Parliament to induce Liberals to withdraw objectionable man.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;This has desired effect,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_249'>249.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;we ask him to take the chair for our first Home Rule meeting.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;He advises us to get Dr. Commins,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_171'>171.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Russell, Sir Edward, of "Liverpool Daily Post,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_21'>21,</a><a href='#Page_257'>257.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ryan, John (Capn. O'Doherty), calls on me; I join the I.R.B.,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_74'>74.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ryan, John (Capn. O'Doherty),</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;he describes to me the escape of Stephens, in which he assisted,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_77'>77,</a><a href='#Page_78'>78.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;now dead many years,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_68'>68,</a><a href='#Page_112'>112.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ryan, Wm. James, his "Life of John Boyle O'Reilly,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_86'>86.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ryan, William Patrick,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_257'>257.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ryan, Dr. Mark, an Irish scholar,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_257'>257.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>S.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sadlier, John, his suicide,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_62'>62.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sadlier-Keogh gang, their betrayal of the cause of the Irish</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;tenants,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_61'>61,</a><a href='#Page_62'>62.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Saintfield, battle, in '98,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_38'>38.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Salford Gaol,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_99'>99.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Santley, Sir Charles,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_5'>5.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sarsfield Band,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_184'>184.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Saturday Evening Concerts,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_10'>10.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>School Board Election, Liverpool, our votes enough to elect 8 out of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;the 15 members,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_156'>156.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Schoolmaster, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_93'>93,</a><a href='#Page_111'>111.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Scone,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_110'>110.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Scott, Sir Walter, author of "Hail to the Chief,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Scotland Ward and Division in Liverpool, an Irish stronghold,</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;both Municipal and Parliamentary,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_24'>24,</a><a href='#Page_185'>185.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Seager, John Renwick,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_243'>243.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Servant girls, Irish-American,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_111'>111.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sexton, Thomas,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_254'>254.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Shahan, Father, on "Hibernianism,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_16'>16,</a><a href='#Page_17'>17.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Shan Van Vocht," on the "Curragh of Kildare," sung by the</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;"Emerald Minstrels,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_71'>71.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Shaw, George Bernard,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_264'>264.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Shemus O'Brien,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_121'>121.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sherlock, Father, a saintly man, presides at our first Birmingham Convention</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;demonstration,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_175'>175,</a><a href='#Page_177'>177.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Slieve Donard,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_32'>32,</a><a href='#Page_265'>265.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Slieve na Slat ("Mountain of rods"),</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_31'>31.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sloops from Ireland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_3'>3.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Smyth, George,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_52'>52.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Spirit of the Nation,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_11'>11.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Stephens, James, his escape from Richmond,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_76'>76,</a><a href='#Page_77'>77.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>St. Brigid's mantle, Father MacMahon tells the legend of,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_69'>69.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Stage Irishman," discountenanced,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_119'>119,</a><a href='#Page_264'>264.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Strongbow,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_272'>272.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Saint Columbkille,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_233'>233.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>St. George's Hall, Liverpool, great gathering addressed by Parnell,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_206'>206.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>St. Helens meeting, Parnell and Davitt attend,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_201'>201.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>St. Mary's, Lumber Street,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_4'>4.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>St. Nicholas's, Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_4'>4,</a><a href='#Page_6'>6.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>St. Patrick's effigy, as if addressing our people from Ireland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_3'>3.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>St. Patrick's Day processions,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_22'>22,</a><a href='#Page_24'>24,</a><a href='#Page_64'>64.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;celebrations,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_64'>64,</a><a href='#Page_65'>65.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Steamers for O'Connell Centenary,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_183'>183.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sullivan Brothers,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_150'>150.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sullivan, A.M. becomes proprietor and editor of the "Nation,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_63'>63.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;presides at adjourned initial Convention of Home Rule Confederation</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;of Great Britain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_176'>176.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sullivan, T.D., author of our national anthem,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_113'>113.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;he writes, "Erin's Sons in England" for me,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_152'>152.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Supernatural, Irish faith in the,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_13'>13.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Swift, Miss Kate,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_211'>211.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>T.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Taaffe, James Vincent,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_211'>211.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Tenant Right Agitation,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_62'>62.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Terence's Fireside,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Thrashers," The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_42'>42.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Times" Forgeries Commission,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_207'>207,</a><a href='#Page_246'>246.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Tollymore Park, seat of Lord Roden,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_45'>45.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Tribal names still in tribal lands,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27,</a><a href='#Page_273'>273.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Tribe of Brian,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_28'>28.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Tragedy of the Famine, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_6'>6.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>U.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ulster Catholics, the most pure-blooded Celts in Ireland,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_30'>30.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ulster, plantation of in King James I.'s time,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_39'>39.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"United Ireland," attempted suppression,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_210'>210.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;sent out as "dried fish,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_212'>212.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;not an issue missed,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_215'>215.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;I am prosecuted by Government,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_216'>216.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;printed once in Derry,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_217'>217.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;re-appeared in old office,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_218'>218.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Union of North and South destroyed,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_61'>61.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"United Irishman," organ of Home Rule Confederation of</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Great Britain,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_177'>177,</a><a href='#Page_181'>181,</a><a href='#Page_265'>265.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>United Irishmen of 1798,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_11'>11,</a><a href='#Page_41'>41.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>V.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Vaughan, Cardinal, Bishop of Salford, I get his support for</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;"Catholic Times,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_158'>158.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Vauxhall Ward, Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_185'>185.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Volunteers of 1782, The,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_41'>41.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Vatican, The Treasures of,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_61'>61.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>W.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Walsh, John, informs a select gathering how he and a friend from this</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;side helped to rescue the military Fenians,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_143'>143.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Warders from Belle Vue Prison interfere in the Manchester</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;Rescue&mdash;no use,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_101'>101.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ward, Joseph,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_121'>121.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Widow Walsh welcomes her lodgers at the Curragh of Kildare,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_66'>66.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Whitty, Michael James, Liverpool head Constable, afterwards editor</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;of the "Daily Post,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_20'>20.</a><a href='#Page_21'>21,</a><a href='#Page_22'>22,</a><a href='#Page_91'>91.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Wilson, James, escaped military Fenian,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_141'>141.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Wilson, John, a Birmingham gunsmith,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_136'>136.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Windle, Dr. Bertram, President of University College, Cork,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_177'>177.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Wiseman, Cardinal, "Papal aggression" mania directed against him,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_63'>63.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;his fine play of "The Hidden Gem" given by Father Nugent's students</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&mdash;&mdash;at the Catholic Institute, Liverpool,</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_63'>63.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Wolohan, Michael, the "blockade runner" for "United Ireland,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_212'>212.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Woollen Goods" (for "United Ireland"),</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_213'>213.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><b>Y.</b></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Young Ireland,"</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_11'>11,</a><a href='#Page_52'>52.</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<p><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Life Story of an Old Rebel, by John Denvir
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL ***
+
+***** This file should be named 16559-h.htm or 16559-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/5/16559/
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/16559-h/images/image01.png b/16559-h/images/image01.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..542d4a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16559-h/images/image01.png
diff --git a/16559.txt b/16559.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..935d4f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16559.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8804 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life Story of an Old Rebel, by John Denvir
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life Story of an Old Rebel
+
+Author: John Denvir
+
+Release Date: August 20, 2005 [EBook #16559]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL
+
+
+BY JOHN DENVIR
+
+AUTHOR OF "THE IRISH IN BRITAIN" "THE BRANDONS" ETC.
+
+
+
+DUBLIN SEALY, BRYERS & WALKER 86 MIDDLE ABBEY STREET 1910
+
+[Illustration: John Denvir]
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAP.
+
+
+I.--Early Recollections--"Coming Over" from Ireland
+
+II.--Distinguished Irishmen--"The Nation" News-paper--"The Hibernians"
+
+III.--Ireland Revisited
+
+IV.--O'Connell in Liverpool--Terence Bellew MacManus and the Repeal
+Hall--The Great Irish Famine
+
+V.--The "No-Popery" Mania--The Tenant League--The Curragh Camp
+
+VI.--The Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood--Escape of James
+Stephens--Projected Raid on Chester Castle--Corydon the Informer
+
+VII.--The Rising of 1867--Arrest and Rescue of Kelly and Deasy--The
+Manchester Martyrdom
+
+VIII.--A Digression--T.D. Sullivan--A National Anthem--The Emerald
+Minstrels--"The Spirit of the Nation"
+
+IX.--A Fenian Conference at Paris--The Revolvers for the Manchester
+Rescue--Michael Davitt sent to Penal Servitude
+
+X.--Rescue of the Military Fenians
+
+XI.--The Home Rule Movement
+
+XII.--The Franco-Prussian War--An Irish Ambulance Corps--The French
+Foreign Legion
+
+XIII.--The Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain
+
+XIV.--Biggar and Parnell--The "United Irishman"--The O'Connell Centenary
+
+XV.--Home Rule in Local Elections--Parnell succeeds Butt as President
+of the Irish Organisation in Great Britain
+
+XVI.--Michael Davitt's Return from Penal Servitude--Parnell and the
+"Advanced" Organisation
+
+XVII.--Blockade Running--Attempted Suppression of "United
+Ireland"--William O'Brien and his Staff in Jail--How Pat Egan kept the
+flag flying
+
+XVIII.--Patrick Egan
+
+XIX.--General Election of 1885--Parnell a Candidate for Exchange
+Division--Retires in favour of O'Shea--T.P. O'Connor elected for
+Scotland Division of Liverpool
+
+XX.--Gladstone's "Flowing Tide"
+
+XXI.--The "Times" Forgeries Commission
+
+XXII.--Disruption of the Irish Party--Home Rule carried in the
+Commons--Unity of Parliamentary Party Restored--Mr. John Redmond becomes
+Leader
+
+XXIII.--The Gaelic Revival--Thomas Davis--Charles Gavan
+Duffy--Anglo-Irish Literature--The Irish Drama, Dramatists, and Actors
+
+XXIV.--"How is Old Ireland and how does She Stand?"
+
+
+
+
+
+~THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL~
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+EARLY RECOLLECTIONS--"COMING OVER" FROM IRELAND.
+
+
+I owe both the title of this book and the existence of the book itself
+to the suggestion of friends. I suppose a man of 76 may be called "old,"
+although I have by no means given up the idea that I can still be of use
+to my country.
+
+And a Rebel? Yes! Anything of the nature of injustice or oppression has
+always stirred me to resentment, and--is it to be wondered at?--most of
+all when the victims of that injustice and oppression have been my own
+people. And why not? If there were no rebels against wrong-doing,
+wrong-doing would prosper. To an Irishman, who is a fighter by
+temperament, and a fighter by choice against those in high places, life
+is sure to provide plenty of excitement; and that, no doubt, is why my
+friends have thought my recollections worth printing. The curious thing
+is that my share in the struggle for Irish self-government has been
+almost entirely what I might call outpost work, for I have lived all my
+life in England.
+
+Indeed, it seemed but a stroke of good luck that I was born in Ireland
+at all. My father (John, son of James Denvir, of Ballywalter, Lecale)
+came to England in the early part of the last century, and settled in
+Liverpool, where my eldest brother was born. It was during a brief
+period, when our family returned to Ireland, that I and a younger
+brother were born there. My father was engaged for about three years as
+clerk of the works for the erection of a castle for Sir Francis
+Macnaghten, near Bushmills, County Antrim. This must be one of the least
+Catholic parts of Ireland, for there was no resident priest, and I had
+to be taken a long distance to be christened. There was a decent
+Catholic workman at the castle, James MacGowan, who was my god-father,
+and my Aunt Kitty had to come all the way from "our own place" in the
+County Down to be my god-mother.
+
+Brought to England, my earliest remembrances are of Liverpool, which has
+a more compact and politically important Irish population than any other
+town in Great Britain.
+
+Anyone who has mixed much among our fellow-countrymen in England,
+Scotland and Wales knows that, generally, the children and grandchildren
+of Irish-born parents consider themselves just as much Irish as those
+born on "the old sod" itself. No part of our race has shown more
+determination and enthusiasm in the cause of Irish nationality. As a
+rule the Irish of Great Britain have been well organised, and, during
+the last sixty years and more, have been brought into constant contact
+with a host of distinguished Irishmen--including the leaders of the
+constitutional political organisations--from Daniel O'Connell to John
+Redmond.
+
+I have taken an active part in the various Irish movements of my time,
+and it so happens that, while I know so little personally of Ireland
+itself, there are few, if any, living Irishmen who have had such
+experience, from actual personal contact with them, as I have had of our
+people in every part of Great Britain. As will be seen, too, in the
+course of these recollections, circumstances have brought me into
+intimate connection with most of the Irish political leaders.
+
+My father came to England in one of the sloops in which our people used
+to "come over" in the old days. They sometimes took a week in crossing.
+The steamers which superseded them, though an immense improvement as
+regards speed, had often less accommodation for the deck passengers than
+for the cattle they brought over.
+
+Most of the Irish immigration to Liverpool came through the Clarence
+Dock, where the steamers used to land our people from all parts. Since
+the Railway Company diverted a good deal of the Irish traffic through
+the Holyhead route, there are not so many of these steamers coming to
+Liverpool as formerly.
+
+The first object that used to meet the eyes of those who had just "come
+over," as they looked across the Clarence Dock wall, was an effigy of
+St. Patrick, with a shamrock in his hand, as if welcoming them from "the
+old sod." This was placed high upon the wall of a public house kept by
+a retired Irish pugilist, Jack Langan. In the thirties and forties of
+the last century, up to 1846, when he died, leaving over L20,000 to his
+children, Langan's house was a very popular resort of Irishmen, more
+particularly as, besides being a decent, warm-hearted, open-handed man,
+he was a strong supporter of creed and country.
+
+I am old enough to remember hearing Mass in what was an interesting
+relic in Liverpool of the Penal days. This was the old building known to
+our people as "Lumber Street Chapel." Of course, the present Protestant
+Church of St. Nicholas (known as "the old church") is a Catholic
+foundation. Lumber Street chapel was not, however, the first of our
+places of worship built during the Penal days, for the Jesuits had a
+small chapel not far off, erected early in the eighteenth century, but
+destroyed by a No-Popery mob in 1746. St. Mary's, Lumber Street, too,
+was originally a Jesuit mission, but, in 1783, it was handed over to the
+Benedictines, who have had charge of it ever since. Father John Price,
+S.J., built a chapel in Sir Thomas's Buildings in 1788. I can recollect
+this building since my earliest days, but Mass was never said in it
+during my time.
+
+Lancashire is the only part of England where there are any great number
+of the native population who have always kept the faith. I once spent a
+few weeks in one of these Catholic districts. My employer had an
+alteration to make in the house of a gentleman at Lydiate, near
+Ormskirk. I used to come home to Liverpool for the Sundays, but for the
+rest of the week I had lodgings in the house of a Catholic family at
+Lydiate.
+
+There was an old ruin, which they called Lydiate Abbey, but I found it
+was the chapel of St. Catherine, erected in the fifteenth century. The
+priest of the mission had charge of the chapel which, though unroofed,
+was the most perfect ecclesiastical ruin in Catholic hands in South
+Lancashire. During the time I was at Lydiate there came a Holiday of
+Obligation, when I heard Mass in the house of a Catholic farmer named
+Rimmer. This was a fine old half-timbered building of Elizabethan days,
+and here, all through the Penal times, Mass had been kept up, a priest
+to say it being always in hiding somewhere in the district.
+
+The priest in charge of Lydiate at the time I was there told me he was
+collecting for a regular church or chapel, and hoped soon to make a
+commencement of the building. Some years later he was able to do so. Our
+church choir at Copperas Hill, Liverpool, was then considered one of the
+best in the diocese. The choirmaster and organist, John Richardson, was
+a distinguished composer of Catholic church music, and held in such high
+esteem that, for any important celebration, he could always secure the
+services of the chief members of the musical profession in and about
+Liverpool. In this way, on one occasion Miss Santley came to help us.
+She was accompanied by her brother, then a boy, who has since risen to
+the highest position in the musical world--the eminent baritone, Sir
+Charles Santley.
+
+St. Nicholas' was, as it is yet, the pro-Cathedral of the diocese, and
+whenever a new church had to be opened, or there was any important
+ceremonial anywhere in Lancashire, our choir was generally invited. In
+this way I was delighted to go to the opening of the new church at
+Lydiate, so that I was taking part in the third stage of the Catholic
+history of the diocese--having said a prayer in the old ruin, and
+attended Mass in Rimmer's, and now assisting at the solemn High Mass at
+the opening of the Church of our Lady, not far from the old chapel of
+St. Catherine.
+
+At the time I went to Mass in Lumber Street Chapel, Liverpool, which is
+nearly 70 years since, there were but four other _chapels_, as they were
+generally called then, in the town--Copperas Hill (St. Nicholas'), Seel
+Street (St. Peter's), St. Anthony's and St. Patrick's. It must have been
+a custom acquired in the Penal days to call the older Catholic places of
+worship rather after the names of the streets in which they were
+situated than of the saint to whom they were dedicated. During the
+Famine years the bishops and clergy must have found it extremely
+difficult to provide for the tremendous influx of our people. I have
+seen them crowded out into the chapel yards and into the open streets;
+satisfied if they could get even a glimpse of the inside of the sacred
+building through an open window. I see by the Catholic Directory there
+are at the time I now write thirty-nine churches and chapels in
+Liverpool. The schools have increased in a like proportion.
+
+The progress in numbers, wealth and influence of the Irish people may
+be pretty well marked by the gradual increase in the number of churches
+and schools, which have been built for the most part by the Irish and
+their descendants. All honour to the noble-hearted, hard-handed toilers
+who have contributed to such work, and greater glory still to the humble
+men who, after a hard week's work in a ship's hold at the docks, or
+perhaps in the "jigger loft" of a warehouse eight stories high, turn
+out every Sunday morning to act as "collectors," and go in pairs from
+door to door, one with the book and the other with the bag in hand, to
+raise the means of erecting the noble churches and schools that
+everywhere meet our view in Liverpool to-day.
+
+With regard to the social position our people occupy in Liverpool, there
+have been many Irishmen who have come well to the front in the race of
+life, some of whom have occupied the foremost positions in connection
+with the public life of the town. On the other hand; a large number of
+our fellow-countrymen in Liverpool are by no means in that enviable
+condition. Many of them have set out from Ireland, intending to go to
+America, but, their little means failing them, have been obliged to
+remain in Liverpool. Here they considered themselves fortunate if they
+met someone from the same part of the country as themselves to give them
+a helping hand, for it is a fine trait in the Irish character--and
+"over here in England" the trait has not been lost--that, however poor,
+they are always ready to befriend what seems to them a still poorer
+neighbour. Those who have lived here some time are glad to see someone
+from their "own place," and, amid the squalor of an English city, the
+imaginative Celt--as he listens to the gossip about the changes, the
+marriages, and the deaths that have taken place since he left "home
+"--for a brief moment lives once more upon "the old sod," and sees
+visions of the little cabin by the wood side where dwelt those he loved,
+of the mountain chapel where he worshipped, of a bright-eyed Irish girl
+beloved in the golden days of youth. These and a host of other
+associations of the past come floating back upon his memory, as he hears
+the tidings brought by Terence, or Michael, or Maurya, who has just
+"come over." It often so happens that, from the very goodness of the
+Irish heart, the newcomers are frequently drawn into the same miserable
+mode of life as the friends who have come to England before them may
+have fallen into.
+
+Irish intellect and Irish courage have in thousands of cases brought our
+people to their proper place in the social scale, but it is only too
+often the case that adverse circumstances compel the great bulk of them
+to have recourse to the hardest, the most precarious, and the worst paid
+employments to be found in the British labour market.
+
+In the large towns, in the poorer streets in which our people live, a
+stranger would be struck by the swarms of children, and of an evening,
+at the number of grown-up people sitting on the doorsteps of their
+wretched habitations. John Barry once told me that a friend of his
+asked one of these how they could live in such places? "Because," was
+the reply, "we live so much _out_ of them." The answer showed, at any
+rate, that their lot was borne cheerfully.
+
+Nevertheless, there are Irishmen too--men who know how to keep what they
+have earned--who, by degrees, get into the higher circles of the
+commercial world, so that I have seen among the merchant princes "on
+'Change" in Liverpool men who, themselves, or whose fathers before them,
+commenced life in the humblest avocations.
+
+Liverpool has, on the whole, been a "stony-hearted stepmother" to its
+Irish colony, which largely built its granite sea-walls, and for many
+years humbly did the laborious work on which the huge commerce of the
+port rested. But, perhaps, in years to come Liverpool will realise the
+value of the wealth of human brains and human hearts which it held for
+so long unregarded or despised in its midst.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+DISTINGUISHED IRISHMEN--"THE NATION" NEWSPAPER--"THE HIBERNIANS."
+
+
+I have met, as I have said elsewhere, most of the Irish political
+leaders of my time in Liverpool, but I will always remember with what
+pleasure I listened to a distinguished Irishman of another type, Samuel
+Lover, when he was travelling with an entertainment consisting of
+sketches from his own works and selections from his songs. Few men were
+more versatile than Lover, for he was a painter, musician, composer,
+novelist, poet, and dramatist. When I saw him in one of the public halls
+he sang his own songs, told his own stories, and was his own
+accompanist.
+
+His was one of a series of performances, very popular in Liverpool for
+many years, called the "Saturday Evening Concerts." He was a little man,
+with what might be called something of a "Frenchified" style about him,
+but having with it all a bright eye and thoroughly Irish face which,
+with all his bodily movements, displayed great animation. I can readily
+believe his biographers, who say he excelled in all the arts he
+cultivated, for his was a most charming entertainment.
+
+Lover undoubtedly had patriotism of a kind, and some of his songs show
+it. It certainly was not up to the mark of the "Young Irelanders," one
+of whom attacked him on one occasion, when he made the clever retort
+that "the fount from which _he_ drew his patriotism was a more genuine
+source than a fount of Irish type"--alluding to the plentiful use of the
+Gaelic characters in "The Spirit of the Nation," the world-famed
+collection of songs by the Young Ireland contributors to the "Nation"
+newspaper. There are passages in Lover's novel of "Rory O'More" and his
+"He Would be a Gentleman" that show he was a sincere lover of his
+country. I agree in the main with what the "Nation" said of him in
+1843--"Though he often fell into ludicrous exaggerations and burlesques
+in describing Irish life, there is a good national spirit running
+through the majority of his works, for which he has not received due
+credit."
+
+One of his stories, "Rory O'More," achieved universal popularity also as
+a play, a song and an air. In it there is a passage which, when I first
+read it, I looked upon as an exaggeration, and as somewhat reflecting
+upon the dignity of a great national movement like that of the United
+Irishmen. Lover brings his hero, Rory, into somewhat questionable
+surroundings in a Munster town--intended for Cork or some other
+seaport--to meet a French emissary. One would think that a struggle for
+the freedom of Ireland should be carried on amongst the most lofty
+surroundings. But I found in after life that the incidents described by
+Lover were not so exaggerated as might be supposed, for, as "necessity
+has no law," during a later revolutionary struggle we had often to meet
+in strange and unromantic places, as I shall describe later, for most
+important projects.
+
+Lover's wit was spontaneous, and bubbled over in his ordinary
+conversation with friends. An English lady friend, deeply interested in
+Ireland, once said to him--"I believe I was intended for an Irishwoman."
+Lover gallantly replied--"Cross over to Ireland and they will swear you
+were intended for an Irishman."
+
+A famous Irishman, whom I saw in Liverpool when I was a boy, was the
+Apostle of Temperance, Father Mathew.
+
+At this time he visited many centres of Irishmen in Great Britain, and
+administered the pledge of total abstinence from intoxicating drink to
+many thousands of his fellow-countrymen. In London alone over 70,000
+took the pledge. As in Ireland, this brought about a great social
+revolution. The temperance movement certainly helped O'Connell's Repeal
+agitation, which was in its full flood about this time.
+
+My remembrance of Father Mathew was that of a man of portly figure,
+rather under than above the middle height, with a handsome, pleasant
+face. He had a fine powerful voice, which could be heard at the furthest
+extremity of his gatherings, which often numbered several thousands. As
+he gave out the words of the pledge to abstain, with the Divine
+assistance, from all intoxicating liquors, he laid great emphasis on the
+word "liquors," pronouncing the last syllable of the word with almost
+exaggerated distinctness. After this he would go round the ring of those
+kneeling to take the pledge, and put round the neck of each the ribbon
+with the medal attached.
+
+I ought to remember his visit to Liverpool, for I took the pledge from
+him three times during his stay in the town.
+
+My mother took the whole family, and, wherever he was--at St. Patrick's,
+or in a great field on one side of Crown Street, or at St.
+Anthony's--there she was with her family. She was a woman with the
+strong Irish faith in the supernatural, and in the power of God and His
+Church, that can "move mountains." A younger brother of mine had a
+running in his foot which the doctors could not cure. She determined to
+take Bernard to Father Mathew and get him to lay his hands on her boy.
+
+At St. Patrick's, with her children kneeling around her, she asked the
+good Father to touch her son. He, no doubt thinking it would be
+presumptuous on his part to claim any supernatural gift, passed on
+without complying with her request. Father Mathew's next gathering was
+in the Crown Street fields. I was a boy of about nine years, attending
+Copperas Hill schools. Mr. Connolly, who was in charge, was a very good
+master, but there was nothing very Irish in his teaching. Some idea of
+this may be formed when I mention that--though there were not a dozen
+boys in the school who were not Irish or of Irish extraction--the first
+map of Ireland I ever saw was on the back of one of O'Connell's Repeal
+cards.
+
+It was not until the Christian Brothers came, a few years afterwards,
+that this was changed. I shall always be grateful to that noble body of
+men, not only for the religious but for the national training they gave.
+We had Brothers Thornton and Swan--the latter since the Superior of the
+Order in Ireland.
+
+Under them we not only had a good map of Ireland, but they taught us, in
+our geography lessons, the correct Irish pronunciation of the names of
+places, such as (spelling phonetically) "Carrawn Thooal," "Croogh
+Phaudhrig," and similar words.
+
+But our old master, Mr. Connolly, was a good man too, according to his
+lights. Hearing of Father Mathew's visit, he asked how many of the boys
+would go to Crown Street to "take the pledge"--their parents being
+willing? Out of some 250 boys there were about a dozen who did not hold
+up their hands.
+
+It is unnecessary for me to say that my mother was there again with her
+afflicted boy and the rest of her children, and again she pleaded in
+vain. She was a courageous woman, with great force of character--and a
+_third_ time she went to Father Mathew's gathering. This was in St.
+Anthony's chapel yard, and amongst the thousands there to hear him and
+to take the pledge she awaited her turn. Again she besought him to touch
+her boy's foot. He knew her again, and, deeply moved by her importunity
+and great faith he, at length, to her great joy, put his hand on my
+brother's foot and gave him his blessing. My mother's faith in the
+power of God, through His minister, was rewarded, for the foot was
+healed.
+
+I had an aunt--my mother's sister--married to a good patriotic Irishman,
+Hugh, or, as he was more generally called, Hughey, Roney, who kept a
+public house in Crosbie Street. The street is now gone, but it stood on
+part of what is now the goods station of the London & North Western
+Railway. Nearly all in Crosbie Street were from the West of Ireland,
+and, amongst them, there was scarcely anything but Irish spoken. I have
+often thought since of the splendid opportunity let slip by O'Connell
+and the Repealers in neglecting to revive, as they could so easily have
+then done, so strong a factor in nationality as the native tongue of our
+people. My Aunt Nancy could speak the Northern Irish fluently, and, in
+the course of her business, acquired the Connaught Irish and accent.
+
+After a time Hughey Roney retired, and the house was carried on by his
+daughter and her husband, John McArdle, a good, decent patriotic
+Irishman, much respected by his Connaught neighbours, though he was from
+the "Black North." It used to be a great treat to hear John McArdle, on
+a Sunday night, reading the "Nation," which then cost sixpence, and was,
+therefore, not so easily accessible, to an admiring audience, of whom I
+was sometimes one, and his son, John Francis McArdle, another. This
+younger McArdle, originally intended for the Church, became in after
+life a brilliant journalist, and was for a time on the staff of the
+"Nation," the teaching of which he had so early imbibed. The elder
+McArdle was a big, imposing looking man, with a voice to match, who gave
+the speeches of O'Connell and the other orators of Conciliation Hall
+with such effect that the applause was always given exactly in the right
+places, and with as much heartiness as if greeting the original
+speakers.
+
+After Father Mathew's visit, their trade fell away to such an extent
+that John McArdle, determined to hold his ground--while still keeping
+the public house open, though the business was all but gone--broke
+another door into the street, and made his parlour into a grocery and
+provision store. This enterprise on his part was only necessary for a
+short time, as the abnormal enthusiasm in the cause of temperance which,
+for the time being, had swept all before it, had subsided to such an
+extent that McArdle, after a time, turned the room to its original
+purpose, and was able to resume his readings from the "Nation" to
+admiring audiences, as heretofore.
+
+Yet, though so many fell away from their temporary exaltation, there
+were still large numbers who remained firm, and the lasting good from
+Father Mathew's work was undeniable.
+
+So popular was John McArdle's house, that it was used as one of the
+lodges of the Ancient Order of Hibernians--then very strong in
+Liverpool, and stout champions of country and creed. In regard to this
+organisation, I find in the "Irish World" of New York a high tribute
+paid to them by the Very Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, of the Catholic
+University of America. In his paper on "Hibernianism" he said there was
+a tradition in the Ancient Order that they first started in Ireland in
+the Penal days as a bodyguard to their poor parish priest when he said
+Mass in the open air. Anyone who has spent most of his life in England,
+as I have done, can well understand that this is not simply an effort of
+this good priest's imagination, for, over and over again I have seen the
+Hibernians among the first to come forward in defence of their priests
+and churches when these were threatened. In the course of his paper Dr.
+Shahan quoted a letter from the Brethren in Ireland, Scotland and
+England to the Brethren in New York. It sent instructions and authority
+to the few brothers in New York to establish branches of their Society
+in America.
+
+These were the qualifications laid down: Members must be Catholic and
+Irish, or of Irish descent. They must be of good moral character, and
+were not to join in any secret societies contrary to the laws of the
+Catholic Church. They were to exercise hospitality towards their
+emigrant brothers and to protect their emigrant sisters from all harm
+and temptation, so that they should still be known for their chastity
+all over the world. The members of the Order in America were to be at
+liberty to make laws for the welfare of the Society, but these must be
+in accord with the teaching of the Church, and their working must be
+submitted to a Catholic priest. The letter says--"We send you these
+instructions, as we promised to do, with a young man that works on the
+ship and who called on you before." Directing that a copy of the
+document should be sent to another friend, then working in
+Pennsylvania, the letter concluded--"Hoping the bearer and this copy
+will land safe and that you will treat him right, we remain your
+brothers in the true bond of friendship this 4th day of May, in the year
+of our Lord, 1837"--
+
+  "PATRICK M'GUIRE, County Fermanagh.
+  "JOHN REILLY, County Cavan.
+  "PATRICK M'KENNA, County Monaghan.
+  "JOHN DURKIN, County Mayo.
+  "PATRICK REILLY, County Derry.
+  "PATRICK DOYLE, County Sligo.
+  "JOHN FARRELL, County Meath.
+  "THOMAS O'RORKE, County Leitrim.
+  "JAMES M'MANUS, County Leitrim.
+  "JOHN M'MAHON, County Longford.
+  "PATRICK DUNN, County Tyrone
+  "PATRICK HAMILL, County Westmeath.
+  "DANIEL GALLAGHER, Glasgow.
+  "JOHN MURPHY, Liverpool."
+
+It will be noticed that of the twelve Irish counties represented above,
+six are in the province of Ulster, three in Connaught, and three in
+Leinster, so that the Hibernians appear to have had their stronghold in
+the Northern province and the adjoining counties in Connaught and
+Leinster. This is exactly as one might expect, seeing the necessity for
+a defensive organisation against the Orangemen of Ulster. The Order took
+deep root in Glasgow and Liverpool on account of the convenience of
+access by sea from Ireland to these cities.
+
+I was too young to have known John Murphy, who signed the letter for the
+Liverpool Hibernians, but, from what I knew of these afterwards, it is
+likely that he was a dock labourer. As I will show, these men, over and
+over again, to my own knowledge, gave splendid proofs of their courage
+and love of creed and country. Their love of learning, too, has been
+equal to that of their fathers in the days when our country was "The
+Island of Saints and Scholars." Some of these poor men may not have had
+much learning themselves, but they made great and noble sacrifices that
+their children should have it. I noted with interest in the Irish papers
+recently that the name of the Secretary of the Hibernian Order at the
+Bridge of Mayo, County Down, was "Brother Denvir."
+
+Our country sent over to Liverpool, besides sterling Nationalists, as
+bitter a colony of Irishmen--I suppose we can scarcely deny the name to
+men born in Ireland--as were, perhaps, to be found anywhere in the
+world. These were the Orangemen. If there was one place more obnoxious
+to them than another it was the club room of the Hibernians in Crosbie
+Street. But though in their frequent conflicts with the "Papishes" they
+wrecked houses and even killed several Irishmen--for they frequently
+used deadly weapons against unarmed Catholics--they were never able to
+make a successful attack on McArdle's. One of my earliest experiences
+was being on the spot on the occasion of a contemplated assault on the
+Hibernian club room on the day of an Orange anniversary. This was in
+1843.
+
+Parallel to Crosbie Street, where the club room was situated, was
+Blundell Street, where my uncle, Hughey Roney, lived in a house
+immediately behind McArdle's--the back door of the one house facing the
+back door of the other. This side of the street, with the whole of
+Crosbie Street, has long since been absorbed by the railway company
+before mentioned.
+
+I cannot imagine why my mother chose this particular day to take me to
+see our relatives, except it was the inveterate longing which her early
+surroundings and training had given her to assist at the "batin' of an
+Orangeman," or why I should have been the chosen one of the family to
+come, unless it was that she thought I was the one most after her own
+heart in her warlike propensities. However this may have been, there we
+were in the first-floor front room of my Uncle Hughey's. Every room,
+from cellar to garret, was crowded with stalwart dock labourers--at that
+time these were almost to a man Irish--prepared to support another
+contingent of Hibernians who garrisoned McArdle's in a similar manner.
+Hearing outside the cry--"he Orangemen!" I looked out of the window and
+up the street, and there, sure enough, was a strong body of them
+marching down, armed with guns, swords, and ship carpenters' hatchets.
+At once the word was passed to the contingent in Crosbie Street to be
+prepared to meet the threatened attack.
+
+Nearer and nearer the Orangemen came. They had got within some thirty
+yards of Roneys when, between them and the object of their attack, out
+of Simpson street, which at this point crosses Blundell Street at right
+angles, there intervened the head of a column of police, under the
+Liverpool Chief Constable, an Irishman, Michael James Whitty. There was
+a desperate engagement, but, notwithstanding their murderous weapons,
+the Orangemen were utterly routed, flying before the disciplined charge
+of the police, who freely used their batons on their retreating
+opponents.
+
+A few words about Michael James Whitty, who led the charge with right
+good will, may not be inappropriate here. Many years afterwards, when we
+were both engaged in the profession of journalism, I had the pleasure of
+making his acquaintance through my reviewing in the "Catholic Times" a
+very able book of his, a "Life of Robert Emmet." He asked Mr. Thomas
+Gregson, his private secretary, a friend of mine: Who had written this
+review? Upon hearing who it was, he asked Mr. Gregson to bring us
+together. When we met, he told me how pleased he was with my review, and
+that there was somebody on the "Catholic Times" who could appreciate his
+book.
+
+He became Chief Constable of Liverpool in 1828. About this time Messrs.
+Rockliffs published a weekly newspaper called the "Liverpool Journal,"
+which came into the hands of Mr. Whitty after he had resigned the office
+of head constable. An offshoot of the "Journal" was the "Daily Post,"
+which, in Mr. Whitty's hands was (and indeed has been ever since under
+the direction of Sir Edward Russell, who still holds the reins) a
+powerful organ of Liberalism. One of Whitty's sub-editors on the "Daily
+Post" was Stephen Joseph Meany, a somewhat prominent figure in the Young
+Ireland and Fenian movements.
+
+As showing the power of the Press, there is no doubt that Whitty and
+Meany, in the "Journal" and "Post," and through their influence
+otherwise, did much to secure recognition of a great Irish actor. This
+was Barry Sullivan, who was, I think, the finest tragedian I have ever
+seen. He is still remembered with appreciation by many in England, and,
+I am sure, in Ireland too.
+
+He was a patriotic Irishman, and once offered himself to our committee
+as a Nationalist candidate for the Parliamentary representation of
+Liverpool. This was in the days when it was a three-membered
+constituency. It was only the belief that the sacrifice which he thus
+offered to make for his country would have injured his career as an
+actor that prevented us from accepting his offer.
+
+In my boyhood a great feature in Liverpool was the annual procession of
+one or other of the local societies.
+
+The great Irish and Catholic procession, of which the Hibernians formed
+the largest contingent, was, of course, on St. Patrick's Day. A
+considerable portion of the processionists were dock labourers; a fine
+body of men, who were at this time, as I have already said, mostly
+Irish.
+
+The Orange processions in Liverpool were often the occasion of
+bloodshed, for in them they carried guns, hatchets, and other deadly
+weapons, as if they were always prepared for deeds of violence. The
+ship carpenters were the most numerous body in the Orange processions.
+Indeed, they formed such a large proportion that, by many, the 12th of
+July was called "Carpenter's Day." Shipbuilding used to flourish in
+Liverpool, and, as none of the firms engaged in it would take a Catholic
+apprentice, it was quite an Orange preserve. This became somewhat
+changed when the Chalenors, an English Catholic family, who were already
+extensive timber merchants, commenced ship-building, and, of course,
+took Catholic apprentices.
+
+The Orange ring was thus gradually broken up, and, as iron ships
+superseded wooden ones, ultimately the shipbuilding trade almost
+vanished from Liverpool. The ship carpenters, for the most part, found
+their occupation gone, and many of them ended their days in the
+workhouse.
+
+A further instance of the decline of rabid Orangeism might be cited. It
+was not an altogether uncommon thing for people to be fired at from the
+windows of Orange lodges. I see, according to the "Nation" of July 20th,
+1850, that "an innkeeper of Liverpool named Wright fired out of his
+house and wounded three people." In justification of this he stated that
+"a crowd of Ribbonmen assembled round his house." At one time there used
+to be a notorious Orange lodge held in a public house called "The Wheat
+Sheaf" in Scotland Road. The members of this body thought nothing of
+firing upon an unarmed and peaceable crowd from the windows, and I
+remember an Irishman being shot dead upon one of these occasions. The
+change that has taken place in this district can be best realized from
+the facts that, in after years, the landlord of "The Wheatsheaf" bore
+the name of Patrick Finegan, that, at the present moment, Scotland Road
+is, as it has been for many years, represented in the City Council by a
+sterling body of Irish Nationalists, and that the Scotland Division of
+the Borough of Liverpool is the _one_ place in Great Britain where an
+Irish Home Ruler, _as such_, can be returned to Parliament against all
+comers, as Mr. T.P. O'Connor has been, ever since the Division became a
+separate constituency.
+
+To return to the St. Patrick's Day processions. I used to look forward
+to them with delight in my childhood, and, even now, cannot help
+lingering lovingly on their memory. They were splendid displays, which I
+can remember much better than many things which occurred, so to speak,
+but yesterday.
+
+"Our street," which was close to Russell Street, Rodney Street, and
+other thoroughfares through which the procession passed, was by no means
+what you would call an Irish street. Indeed, the most influential man in
+it was a retired sea captain named Jamieson, who, if not an Orangeman
+"all out," was certainly at one time an Orange sympathiser. He and my
+mother often had political discussions, which usually ended in fierce
+quarrels, and when he would swear he would have us "run out of the
+street," she used to threaten to bring up the men from the docks and
+leave not a stone upon a stone of his house. Whether it was through his
+being impressed by her terrible earnestness as a member of the Church
+militant, or whatever else was the reason, Jamieson in the end became a
+Catholic, and died a most edifying death.
+
+Before his conversion, however, as well as after--Jamieson to the
+contrary notwithstanding--"our street" always took a lively and
+neighbourly interest in the St. Patrick's procession, and used to turn
+out to a man, to a baby it would, perhaps, be more correct to say, for
+was not one of the chief sights of the procession their decent
+neighbour, Timothy, or, as he was more generally called, "Thade"
+Crowley, the pork butcher, at the corner? There were splendid pictures
+and devices on the banners--I can see them all most vividly now--St.
+Patrick, Brian Bora, Sarsfield, O'Connell, the Irish Wolf Dog, with the
+motto "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked," and harps and
+shamrocks _galore_, but Thade Crowley was in all our eyes the finest
+figure in the procession.
+
+Among his greatest admirers were a Jewish family named Hyman, who lived
+next door to him. Though the Jews are supposed to hold what was
+Crowley's stock-in-trade in abomination, the two old ladies--Mrs.
+Crowley, who used to say she was of "Cork's own town and God's own
+people," and Mrs. Hyman, who came from Cork, too, though, needless to
+say, without a drop of Irish blood in her veins--were great cronies.
+
+As a consequence, the Hymans were among the most eager of the spectators
+to get the first glimpse of honest Thade Crowley as he walked in front
+of his own particular lodge of the Hibernians. He was a portly,
+well-built man, of ruddy complexion, and open, genial countenance. He
+wore buckskin breeches, top boots, green tabinet double-breasted
+waistcoat, bottle-green coat with brass buttons, and beaver hat. The
+Crowleys were very popular in the neighbourhood, as they never had but a
+kindly word for everybody.
+
+When I was a small boy, about 9 or 10 years old, I often listened with
+delight to Mrs. Crowley, who had a fluent tongue, expatiating on the
+glories of her native city--
+
+     By the pleasant waters of the River Lee.
+
+and I have heard her exclaiming, I at the time believing it most
+implicitly:
+
+"Sin, is it? Sure. I never heard of sin till I came to Liverpool;
+there's no sin in Cor-r-k!"
+
+And she rattled the "r" with a strong rising inflexion, greatly
+impressing me with the high character of Ireland and of Cork in
+particular.
+
+At that time I had never seen Ireland but as an infant at my mother's
+breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+IRELAND RE-VISITED.
+
+
+I was a boy of about 12 when I first re-visited Ireland; and, as the
+steamer entered Carlingford Lough, which to my mind almost equals
+Killarney's beauty--but that, perhaps, is a Northman's prejudice--with
+the noble range of the Mourne mountains on the one side and the
+Carlingford Hills on the other, it seemed to my young imagination like a
+glimpse of fairy land.
+
+Carlingford reminded me of what my old masters, the Christian Brothers,
+used to teach us, that those places ending in "ford" had at one time
+been Norse settlements. There is not the slightest trace, I should say,
+of people of Norse descent along this coast now, unless we accept the
+theory that would regard as such the descendants of the Norman De
+Courcy's followers, who can be recognised by their names, and are still
+to be found, side by side, and intermingling with those of the original
+Celtic children of the soil in the barony of Lecale. It is astonishing,
+by the way, how you still find in Ireland, after centuries of successive
+confiscations, the old names in their old tribal lands, mingled in
+places, as in Lecale, with the Norman names; the two races being now
+thoroughly amalgamated--as distinguished from the case of King James's
+Planters in Ulster, who, to this day are, as a rule, as distinct from
+the population amongst whom they live--whether of pure Celtic strain or
+with a Norman admixture--as when first they came.
+
+There was an idea in our family that I had a vocation for the
+priesthood, and I was being sent to my uncle, Father Michael O'Loughlin,
+parish priest of Dromgoolan, County Down, who placed me in charge of Mr.
+Johnson, a somewhat noted classical teacher in the neighbouring little
+town of Castlewellan.
+
+I have seen but little of Ireland, but during the few months I was here
+on this occasion I made the best use of my time. I could have had no
+better guide and preceptor than "Priest Mick," as my mother used to call
+my uncle. I imagine that the term "Priest," which, in the North of
+Ireland, was formerly so much used as a prefix to the name of the
+Catholic clergyman, must have arisen amongst those not of his own flock,
+and was probably not intended to have exactly a respectful meaning.
+
+Father Michael sometimes came to see his relatives in Liverpool, who
+were very numerous. He called them the "Tribe of Brian" (his father's
+name) and he made a point of visiting them all, down to the very latest
+arrival--indeed, I think he was the only one who knew the whole of the
+ramifications of "the Tribe."
+
+He used to say that his father--the aforesaid Brian--had one of the
+largest noses in the country. There was only another man, he said, who
+could approach him in that respect. If the two men met in a very narrow
+"loanan "--what they call a "boreen" in other parts of Ireland--the
+other man, who was a bit of a wag, would put his hand to his nose, and
+make a motion of putting it aside, as if there was not sufficient room
+for two such organs, and call out with a kind of snuffle: "Pass, Brian!"
+
+The late Mgr. O'Laverty, in his "History of the Dioceses of Down and
+Connor," says: "From a government official survey in 1766 there were
+fifteen families in Castlewellan, of whom two only (Hagans and
+O'Donnells) were Catholics." Up to that date there must have been,
+during this century, a considerable clearance of the Catholic population
+from the best land of this district, for I should say--judging from King
+James's Army List and other authorities--that the Magennises (who, with
+the MacCartans, were the chief territorial families of the old race in
+Down) still held land in the neighbourhood up to the end of the
+seventeenth century. As still further showing this, it will be found
+that "Eiver Magennis of Castlewellan" was one of the members for the
+County Down in what Thomas Davis truly describes as "The Patriot
+Parliament" of 1689.
+
+The learned historian of Down and Connor gives an interesting account of
+the only Norman colony of any extent in the province of Ulster. I have
+already spoken of this. Notwithstanding the very small Norman
+admixture, in the main the Catholics of the North are the most
+pure-blooded Celts in Ireland. And even in the case of Lecale, the
+original Celtic population intermingled with the descendants of the
+Norman settlers, who, like the older native population have ever
+remained true to the old faith. The preponderance of the Celtic element
+in the Catholics of Ulster must be overwhelming. What is called
+"Protestant Ulster" is practically a foreign importation, which the
+native population never absorbed, as they did the earlier invaders.
+
+Speaking of the Rev. Cornelius (or, as he was oftener called, Corney)
+Denvir, a relative of ours, who afterwards became Bishop of Down and
+Connor, Father O'Laverty says: "The Denvirs are a Norman race, brought
+to Lecale by De Courcy. The late bishop observed the name in several of
+the towns in Normandy."
+
+I only met Bishop Denvir once, when my father--who was his second
+cousin--took me to see him at the Grecian Hotel, Liverpool, when he was
+on his way either to or from Rome. I once, when a small boy, incurred my
+father's displeasure by criticising adversely (from what I had read in
+the "Nation") Dr. Denvir's support of what was called the "Bequest
+Bill." There were some strictures in the "Nation" on the favour shown to
+this Bill by three of the Irish Hierarchy, Archbishops Crolly and
+Murray, and Bishop Denvir. The last was a man of great learning. An
+edition of the Bible was published under his auspices by Sims and
+McIntyre, of Belfast.
+
+During my stay in Ireland, I lived in the house of my uncle, Owen (or
+Oiney, as he was commonly called) Bannon, in the townland of
+Ballymagenaghy, where my mother was born.
+
+No boy could have had a better object lesson in the part of Irish
+history embracing the Plantation of Ulster than Ballymagenaghy. It is
+eminently typical of the kind of rocky and barren land to which the
+children of the soil were driven--land which would hardly bear
+cultivation. I need scarcely say that the people were "Papishes" to a
+man.
+
+There was a hill behind my Uncle Oiney's house called Carraig
+(pronounced "Corrig"), in English "rock," and the name might well apply
+to most of the townland, in which the chief productions seemed to be
+stones and rocks. Carraig was a kind of shoulder of what I heard the
+people calling "My lord's mountain." This was part of Lord Annesley's
+domain, and separated from Carraig and several small farms by a wall,
+which ran down to a sheet of water at the foot--Castlewellan Lough. I,
+as a student of the "Nation," was not at all satisfied that an Irish
+mountain should be called by such a name, which spoke volumes for the
+state of serfdom into which the people had fallen. I was not long in
+finding the real name--Sliab na Slat (mountain of Rods).
+
+I often looked with admiration at the view from its highest point.
+Underneath, the side of the mountain was clothed with trees down to the
+edge of the lough, which mirrored the wooded eminences of exquisite
+beauty surrounding it. Looking eastward you could see Dundrum Bay and
+the white sails of the fishing boats.(They used to sing a mournful
+lament around the turf fires of Ballymagenaghy of "The loss of the
+Mourne Fishermen" in a great storm off this coast). Further off you
+might see an occasional large sailing vessel or steamer, and, further
+still, in the dim distance, you could just discern the Isle of Man.
+Southward the eye took in the noble range of the Mourne mountains,
+running from east to west, from where, at Newcastle, the Irish sea comes
+to kiss the foot of the lofty Slieve Donard, towering in majesty over
+all his fellows--rugged sentinels of the hills and vales of Down.
+
+Lying, as if nestling under the Mourne range, was a small, well-wooded
+hill, part of the domain of Lord Roden, who held high rank among the
+Orange ascendancy faction, and, as will be seen later, may be said to
+have held the lives and liberties of his Catholic fellow-countrymen in
+this district in his hands.
+
+In Ballymagenaghy I was oftener called by my mother's name than my
+father's. In those days, as often as not, when a girl got married she
+was still called by her friends by her maiden name. So, on the first
+Sunday after my arrival, when I was taken over to Leitrim chapel, where
+I served my uncle's Mass, I found myself referred to as "Peggy
+Loughlin's wee boy." It did not seem at all strange to me, for I
+scarcely ever heard her called by any other name. Indeed, some forty
+years afterwards--when I was organising for the Irish National
+League--I met a County Down man in Cumberland. He was, as I soon found,
+from "our own place," as they affectionately call it. He was trying to
+trace out what family I belonged to. At last he had it--"Oh" he said,
+"You would be a son of Margaret O'Loughlin?" I hesitated for moment,
+when Edward McConvey, the local organiser--a County Down man, too--who
+had introduced us, laughed heartily as he said: "Here's a quare man;
+doesn't know his own mother's name!" In fact, I had so seldom heard my
+mother called anything else but "Peggy" that the proper name sounded
+strange for the moment. Indeed, it had evidently taken our friend some
+time to remember the name of "Margaret," which he, no doubt, thought the
+more polite one to use in speaking of my mother.
+
+Her family did not generally use the prefix "O" in her younger days. It
+was only after her two brothers, Bernard and Michael, became priests,
+and always called and signed themselves "O'Loughlin," that the prefix
+was resumed. This is a common experience in other Irish families.
+
+Many of the small holdings in Ballymagenaghy would not support in
+anything approaching to comfort the large families with which the sturdy
+and industrious people were blessed. This was certainly the case with
+the Bannons, but they were not entirely dependent on the land they
+tilled, as several of the family were employed in weaving in a portion
+of the house, the looms being their own. I have often admired the
+beautiful damask table-cloths produced in the homes of these
+"mountainy" people, the webs, when finished, being taken to Banbridge,
+to the warehouses of the manufacturers, and the yarn and the patterns
+for the next lot being brought back on the return journey.
+
+I believe that these cottage industries no longer exist, and that the
+beautiful fabrics, for which our northern province is famous, are now
+produced by steam power in Banbridge and other Ulster towns.
+
+As the young men and boys of the Bannons worked at their looms, and the
+women and girls at their spinning and "flowering," when not wanted to
+help on the land, the father, Oiney, would occasionally go over to
+England as a travelling packman, and so increase the family store. I
+have known in late years other Ulstermen doing this--amongst others my
+old friend Bernard MacAnulty, of whom I shall have more to say later.
+
+I had often, at my home in Liverpool, heard of Irish hospitality. Here
+in Ballymagenaghy I had many practical illustrations of this in the way
+they treated the "poor man" or "poor woman" as they called them--they
+never called them beggars--who came to their doors. Indeed, it seemed
+to me that these had no occasion to _ask_ for help, for more than once I
+have seen a "poor woman" coming in with her bed upon her back, putting
+it down in the warmest corner behind the chimney breast, and making
+herself at home as a matter of course, without going through the
+formality of asking for a night's lodging.
+
+Of the enormous number of harvestmen who passed every year through
+Liverpool, except from the County Donegal, there were not so many from
+the northern province. The majority were from Connaught. They generally
+landed at the Clarence Dock, Liverpool, a wiry, hardy-looking lot, with
+frieze coats, corduroy breeches, clean white shirts with high collars,
+and blackthorn sticks. I have seen them filling the breadth of Prescot
+Street, as they left the town, marching up like an army on foot to the
+various parts of England they were bound for. This was before special
+cheap trains were run for harvestmen.
+
+At night, in my Irish mountain home, after I had prepared my Latin
+lessons for the following day, and my uncle, aunt, and cousins had left
+off work, I joined with great enjoyment in the family group around the
+turf fire, and listened with rapt attention to songs and stories; my
+favourite among the latter being the adventures of Barney Henvey among
+the fairies in the old rath, or "forth," as they called it, of
+Ballymagenaghy.
+
+I may say that, up to this moment, I have a certain liking for such
+stories--of course _as_ fairy stories. But, being a boy of enquiring
+mind, I wanted to get at the whole theory of the existence of these
+beings, and, accordingly, this is what I gathered as to the origin,
+present existence, and future state of the "good people," as they called
+them. In "The Irish Fairy Legends," a number of my "Penny Irish
+Library," I find I have dealt with the subject. As the passage gives the
+explanation I got at my uncle Oiney's more correctly than I can trust
+to my memory to give it now, after a lapse of some sixty years, I may be
+excused for giving the following extract:--
+
+     The belief is that, in the great rebellion of Lucifer, of the
+     spirits who fell from heaven, some, not so guilty as those who
+     "went further and fared worse," fell upon our earth, and into the
+     air and water that surround it. These are the _Fairies_, who have
+     their various dispositions, like mortals, and like them, at the day
+     of judgment, will be rewarded or punished according to their
+     deserts.
+
+In the "Fairy Legends" I have also given the story of "Barney Henvey"
+mentioned above. There is something like it in the "Ingoldsby Legends,"
+and, no doubt, in the fairy mythologies of other nations, but my story
+is of Irish origin. Heaven only knows through how many ages it has been
+handed down to us. It is one of the fairy stories my mother and
+grandmother used to tell us as long ago as I can remember. I have a
+little grandson who, when smaller, used sometimes to insist when put to
+bed after he had said his "lying-down prayers," upon hearing "Barney
+Henvey" before he went to sleep; and so it will, no doubt, go on, and
+such stories may be told in ages to come, not only in Ireland--"A Nation
+once again"--but in every settlement of the Clan-na-Gael throughout the
+world.
+
+Friends and neighbours would come to my uncle Oiney's from beside
+Castlewellan Lough, and over from Dolly's Brae and Ballymagrehan, who,
+after the day's work, enjoyed going "a cailey." I hope my Gaelic League
+friends will forgive me if I don't give the correct sound of this word,
+but that is my remembrance of how they pronounced it some sixty years
+ago in the County Down.
+
+Sometimes at our little gatherings, the "wee boy from England," as the
+neighbours called me, would be asked to read from the "Nation" a speech
+of the Liberator--the title his countrymen gave O'Connell after Catholic
+emancipation. I was always delighted with this; entering as fully and
+enthusiastically into the spirit of what I read as any of the company.
+
+As often as not, in Ballymagenaghy there would be sung, to the
+accompaniment of fiddle, flute or clarionet, one of those stirring songs
+which, week after week, appeared about this time in the "Nation" from
+the pens of Thomas Davis, and the brilliant young men in O'Connell's
+movement known as the "Young Irelanders "--songs "racy of the soil,"
+like the "Nation" itself, which stirred the hearts of the Irish race
+like the blast of a trumpet, songs which are still sung by Irish
+Nationalists the world over.
+
+On the Sundays, the Bannons and their next neighbours, the Finegans,
+MacCartans, and MacKays, with their fiddles, flutes, and clarionets,
+supplied the chief part of the instrumental music of the choir--for
+there was no organ--at the little mountain chapel at Leitrim, where my
+uncle, Father Michael, officiated. The happy remembrances of those
+Sundays of my boyhood are always brought back to me whenever I read
+T.D. Sullivan's "Dear Old Ireland," which is equally characteristic of
+this corner of the "black North" as of the raciest part of Munster--more
+especially where he sings:--
+
+  And happy and bright are the groups that pass
+    From their peaceful homes for miles,
+  O'er fields, and roads, and hills to Mass,
+    When Sunday morning smiles;
+      And deep the zeal their true hearts feel
+        When low they kneel and pray!
+          Oh, dear old Ireland!
+          Blest old Ireland!
+        Ireland, boys, hurrah!
+
+But nothing excited my boyish enthusiasm more than the stories of the
+Insurrection of 1798. I was too young to understand much of what my
+grandmother used to tell us about these times before she died. My mother
+was born in 1799, and was the youngest daughter of her family, but her
+eldest sister, my Aunt Mary, wife of Oiny Bannon, was 12 or 14 years old
+at the time of the Rising, and could describe more vividly what she saw
+connected with it than I can now recall incidents in the Repeal and
+Young Ireland Movements.
+
+Listening to her, I could almost fancy I could see my grandfather, Brian
+O'Loughlin, leaving his home with the other Ballymagenaghy men, with
+their pikes and such guns as they could muster, to join the United Irish
+forces previous to the battles of Saintfield and Ballinahinch. At the
+time of my visit to my mother's birthplace, my grandfather's house was
+in the occupation of the family of his youngest son, Edward, and, as a
+pilgrim visiting a sacred spot, I have stood on its floor, as I
+afterwards did on the field of Ballinahinch itself.
+
+My Aunt Mary used to speak of an incident which I have never read of in
+any account of the battle, but I am inclined to believe there was some
+foundation for what she used to tell us. In one part of the engagement
+it seemed as if the bravery of the insurgents would have been crowned
+with a victory as decisive as they had gained at Saintfield, when, by
+some untoward circumstance, the fortunes of the day turned, and, in the
+end, the United Men were defeated. Perhaps what my Aunt Mary told me may
+be some explanation of the turn in the tide of battle. She used to say
+that when it looked as if the United Men were carrying all before them,
+a portion of their forces called out for a "Presbyterian ('Prispatairan'
+she used to call it) Government," that this caused some hesitation among
+the Catholics, that after this the battle went against them, and that
+the day ended in disaster.
+
+The story seems somewhat improbable, as it might be asked how, in the
+excitement of a battle, men of one religion could be distinguished from
+those of another? But this will not seem so unlikely if the
+circumstances arising out of the Ulster Plantation of King James I. be
+remembered. As a consequence of this you will find townlands and
+parishes and whole districts, where the soil is poorest, where the
+people are almost exclusively Catholic, and others where the
+non-Catholic population are in an overwhelming majority. In the United
+forces the men of each locality would have been drilled and trained
+together, and, in the same way would, no doubt, act together on the
+field of battle, so that, without any actual arrangement for that
+purpose, the Catholic or the Presbyterian would, most likely, find
+himself among his own co-religionists.
+
+It is wonderful how the memories of '98 were handed down from one
+generation to another, not only in Ireland, but wherever our people have
+made their homes.
+
+This has been brought home to me in the most forcible possible manner by
+a circumstance which has come to my knowledge only a few months
+since--so to speak--after a lapse of over a hundred years.
+
+This is that General James William Denver--after whom, for his
+distinguished career, the capital of the State of Colorado was called
+Denver City--had for his grandfather Patrick Denvir, who did a man's
+share in the insurrection of '98, and, for his connection with it, had
+to fly from his native Down to America.
+
+This information I had from General Denver's daughter, replying on
+behalf of her brother, to whom I had written to find if the family were
+of Irish origin. I had some doubt about this, seeing that they spell
+their name with an "e" in the last syllable, whereas we and all of the
+name in the County Down use an "i." The lady's letter was not only
+interesting but most welcome, as showing that they were not only of
+Irish but of patriotic origin. They evidently continue to take an
+interest in the land from which they have sprung, for the lady made
+some enquiries about the late Bishop Denvir, of whom I have already
+spoken.
+
+Most of the United Irish leaders and a large proportion of the rank and
+file in the '98 Rising were Presbyterians, and fought and bled for
+Ireland with the same heroism as their Catholic neighbours, amongst whom
+no name is more cherished in the County Down than that of the Protestant
+General Monroe, who, my Aunt Mary used to tell us, was hanged at his own
+door in 1798. How is it that the sons of the men of 1782 and of
+Grattan's Parliament, and of 1798 were not as good Irishmen as their
+fathers? I think I can give a kind of explanation.
+
+It must be remembered that the era of Grattan's Parliament and of the
+Volunteer movement of 1782, of which present-day Nationalists are so
+proud, was also the era of the Penal laws. Since then the Protestants
+have seen the Irish Catholic rising from the dust of serfdom and
+standing in the attitude of manhood. They have seen him gradually
+obtaining a share in the making of the laws of the land, and, naturally,
+becoming the predominant political power in Ireland--the Catholics being
+the majority of the population. I may be wrong, but I have a theory that
+many of the Protestants of Ireland--who once had all the political power
+in their hands, and did not always use it too mercifully in their
+treatment of the rest of their countrymen--are afraid that if they
+assisted in getting self-government for Ireland the power in the hands
+of the enfranchised majority might be used against them.
+
+That this is a groundless fear is shown from the fact that no men have
+been more honoured in Ireland than such Protestant leaders as William
+Smith O'Brien, Thomas Davis, John Mitchel, John Martin, Isaac Butt, and
+Charles Stewart Parnell. The same feeling is constantly shown at this
+moment towards distinguished Protestants among the present Irish
+Parliamentary Party.
+
+What has fostered the Anti-Irish feeling among Irish Protestants for the
+last hundred years has undoubtedly been the fell system of Orangeism,
+which has caused so much hatred and bloodshed among men who, whatever
+their race or creed, are now children of the one common soil. The
+Orangeman looked upon himself as part of a foreign garrison, holding the
+"Papishes" in subjection. He was armed with deadly weapons;
+consequently, the defenceless Catholic was almost entirely at his mercy,
+and the Orangeman was but too often backed up in his lawlessness by the
+law and its administrators.
+
+This almost necessitated the existence, as a kind of defence against
+Orangeism, of a body I used to hear them speaking of when I was a boy in
+Ballymagenaghy, called the "Thrashers," which, I imagine, must have been
+some kind of a secret society.
+
+It must have been a sort of survival of these "Thrashers" that my
+friend, Michael Davitt, many years afterwards, came across somewhere in
+the North of England. The incident, as described by him, was both
+amusing and saddening. He addressed them in his capacity as a Fenian
+Organiser. After they had heard him patiently, an old man, the
+spokesman, said:
+
+"Tell me--do you have Prodestans in this Society of yours?"
+
+"Certainly," Davitt answered. "We invite all Irishmen."
+
+"Then we'll have nothing to do with yez!"
+
+As my Aunt Mary could relate thrilling stories of '98, so could my own
+mother tell me all about the savagery of Orangemen in her days. She used
+to describe to me the attempts of an Orange procession to pass through
+Dolly's Brae, when she was a young girl, before she left Ireland.
+Dolly's Brae is a kind of rugged defile through which passes the road
+from the town of Castlewellan, which, running westward, divides the
+townlands of Ballymagenaghy and Ballymagrehan. It is an entirely
+Catholic district, and not at all on the ordinary route by which the
+processionists would reach their homes. Yet, in a spirit of aggression,
+and well-armed, as usual, with Orange banners waving, drums beating, and
+bands playing "Croppies lie down," "The Boyne Water," and similar airs,
+this was the district they sought to march through.
+
+It so happened that the proposed hostile parade was not altogether
+unexpected. In any case, their approach was heralded by the firing over
+"Papish" houses, as the processionists came towards Dolly's Brae. From
+the heights above they were seen--my mother being one of the
+watchers--in sufficient time to have the people of the immediate
+neighbourhood warned of the threatened Orange incursion.
+
+The defenders of Dolly's Brae had no firearms, as their opponents had,
+but they gathered up any weapons they could to repel the invaders. The
+Orangemen came on, expecting an easy victory. They had got well into the
+defile, and were firing at their opponents, who were in sight before
+them at some distance on the road, and into the houses on each side,
+when they were thrown into confusion by a storm of large stones and
+pieces of rock hurled down the steep sides of the defile upon them by
+assailants who had been up till then invisible.
+
+According to the description of my mother, who was always a militant
+Catholic of the most orthodox description, and a strong physical force
+Irishwoman as well, the Dolly's Brae engagement must have borne some
+resemblance to the battle of Limerick, as described by Thomas Davis:--
+
+  "The women fought before the men;
+  Each man became a match for ten;
+  So back they pushed the villains then
+    From the city of Luimneach Lionnglas".
+
+She ought to know, for she was in the thick of the fight. The confusion
+of the Orangemen was turned into a complete rout, and they fled, leaving
+their banners and other trophies in the hands of the mountainy men.
+
+For many years the Orangemen never attempted to go near the place, but,
+with the connivance and active aid of the guardians of the peace, they
+did at last, many years afterwards, appear on the scene again. The
+Orange anniversary was celebrated at Tollymore Park, the seat of Lord
+Roden, who was a sort of Orange deity at the time. Tollymore Park is
+some four or five miles south-east of Dolly's Brae, which is in the
+heart of the Catholic district, and, as I have said, far out of the
+direct road of the Orangemen returning to their own homes.
+
+Yet they deliberately took this route. They were a formidable body, well
+armed with guns. At their head was one Beers, the agent of Lord Roden,
+and a magistrate who, for the "protection" of the Orangemen, had under
+his command a strong body of the constabulary and a detachment of
+soldiers. The ordinary Englishman, who knows the police as they are in
+his country as the guardians of the public peace, must not confound them
+with those in Ireland. The Irish constabulary are simply the permanent
+British army of occupation, well armed and drilled, and, physically, as
+fine a body of men as any in the world. These were the forces under the
+command of Lord Roden's agent, for the invasion, for such it was, of a
+peaceful Catholic district.
+
+When the people sought to defend themselves from this invasion as best
+they could, Beers, in his capacity as a magistrate, gave the police and
+soldiers under his command the order to fire--which they did--upon the
+people and into their houses. Consequently, what followed was nothing
+short of a butchery, under cover of which the Orangemen wrecked the
+Catholic houses in the glen.
+
+I shall never forget the grief of my mother, at this time residing in
+Liverpool, at reading in the newspapers the names of the victims who
+had been murdered outright or wounded. They were all her next door
+neighbours "at home"--people she had known from childhood.
+
+The horrible outrage roused universal indignation. In Parliament the
+Irish members demanded a full official enquiry as to how this murderous
+business came to be carried out by a Government official. As a result
+Lord Roden and his agent were deprived of the Commission of the
+Peace--their offence was too glaring to be entirely overlooked. But to
+the friends of those who had been legally murdered, and the innocent
+people whose houses had been wrecked, this was a cruel mockery. Had the
+criminals been Catholic peasants, they would have been put upon their
+trial for their lives, and, at the very least, sent into penal
+servitude. What confidence could the Catholics of Ulster have in the
+administration of the law, knowing, as they did, that even where they
+were more than able to hold their own against the Orangemen, they were
+sure to be sufferers in the long run, seeing that their opponents would
+be backed up by the forces that should go to preserve law and order.
+
+It is thirty-five years since I last re-visited the County Down. I took
+my son with me. He was nearly of the same age as I was myself when I
+lived in Ballymagenaghy, but I could only show him the site of Oiney
+Bannon's house. It was not the too common case of an eviction, for the
+Annesleys had the reputation of being tolerably good landlords. The
+land, as I have said, was very poor, in fact, if the people got it for
+nothing it would hardly repay cultivation. But it was picturesque, and
+therefore Lord Annesley took some of it into his domain, and these
+barren hills and rocks, when planted with trees, added to the beauty of
+the scenery. The dispossessed tenants got land from him in Clarkhill,
+not far off.
+
+Since that time, judging from the Irish newspapers, there seems to have
+been progress in the right direction, for the little town of
+Castlewellan, where for a short time I went to school, from being a
+place where, in the Penal days, a Catholic was scarcely allowed to live,
+seems to have become a strong Nationalist centre for South Down. This
+was my mother's part of the country. I have seen similar paragraphs
+which proved to me that, in the barony of Lecale, County Down, my
+father's part, the people, though not so demonstrative as the "mountainy
+men," can still, as ever, be relied upon to stand as firm as Slieve
+Donard itself for creed and country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+O'CONNELL IN LIVERPOOL--TERENCE BELLEW MACMANUS AND THE REPEAL HALL--THE
+GREAT IRISH FAMINE.
+
+
+O'Connell, when passing through Liverpool on his way to Parliament,
+always made the Adelphi Hotel his headquarters, and used to hear Mass
+not far off at the Church of St. Nicholas, or, as it was more generally
+called, "Copperas Hill Chapel," where I used to serve as an altar boy. I
+must have been a very small boy at the time when I first remember the
+Liberator coming to Mass at our Church, for, on one occasion, on
+stretching up to the altar to remove the Missal it was so difficult for
+me to reach that I let it fall over my head.
+
+Without being by any means what is termed a "votheen," O'Connell was a
+faithful and devout son of the Catholic Church. During the many years
+when he was passing through Liverpool, going to and returning from
+Parliament, and on other occasions when he came to Irish gatherings in
+the town, he attended Mass daily whenever possible, and frequently
+approached Holy Communion.
+
+O'Connell spoke several times from the balcony of the Adelphi Hotel.
+From my earliest days I was an earnest politician, and one of my most
+cherished remembrances is of having been brought by my father to one of
+these gatherings. The Liberator addressed a great multitude, who filled
+the whole square in front, and overflowed into the adjoining streets. My
+recollection of him on this occasion is that of a big man, in a long
+cloak, wearing what appeared to me some kind of a cap with a gold band
+on it. This must have been the famous "Repeal Cap" designed by the Irish
+sculptor, Hogan, who, when investing O'Connell with it at the great
+gathering at Mullaghmast, said: "Sir, I only regret this cap is not of
+gold."
+
+As in our later Irish movements, we frequently had meetings in one or
+other of the Liverpool theatres. O'Connell was, as often as his
+attendance could be secured, the central figure, and drew enormous
+gatherings. At one of these meetings at the Royal Amphitheatre there was
+an attempt by an armed body of Orangemen to storm the platform, on which
+were all our leading Irishmen. Among the most active of these was
+Terence Bellew MacManus, who had all his lifetime been a devoted
+follower and admirer of O'Connell. On this particular night, which was
+long before the unfortunate split into "Old Ireland" and "Young
+Ireland," he had a fine opportunity of displaying his "physical force"
+proclivities in defence of the "moral force" leader.
+
+The Orange attack was of short duration. They were simply cleared out as
+if by an irresistible whirlwind. We have always been able to hold our
+own in Liverpool, when it came to physical encounters against all
+comers. We have generally had some organisation or another--whether
+constitutional or unconstitutional--but, apart from this, the nature of
+the employment of our working-men, especially in O'Connell's time,
+brought them together in such a way that large numbers of them knew each
+other, and could act together in case of emergency.
+
+MacManus, who had command of the stewards on the night of the attack,
+knew a number of men like Mick Digney, who was what was called a
+"lumper"--that is, a contractor in a small way who took work in the
+"lump" and employed men for loading and unloading ships. Digney and
+other friends would find their way for consultation and the making of
+the necessary arrangements beforehand on occasions like this to
+MacManus, whose place of business--he was an extensive forwarding
+agent--was one of those half-offices, half-warehouses, which used to be
+in North John Street.
+
+Another class of men who were reliable for such occasions were the
+bricklayers' labourers. Of course, it is different now--and a sure sign
+that our people are rising in the social scale--but in those years, and
+long afterwards, I never knew a bricklayers' labourer who was not an
+Irishman.
+
+The frequent mention at these gatherings of a sterling Irishman I knew
+well in after years, Patrick O'Hanlon, reminds me of two friends of my
+father of the same name who belonged to another class of men, the
+wood-sawyers, who, at that time, were mostly Irish. They had not
+exactly the same name as Patrick, for it was not so customary to use the
+O' or Mac in those days as it has since become. Not that Hughey and Ned
+Hanlon did not know that they were entitled to the honourable Gaelic
+prefix, but, with the good nature which is rather too characteristic of
+Irishmen sometimes, those who had preceded them had allowed other people
+to drop the O' in using their name, until it became rather difficult to
+resume it.
+
+Needless to say that Hughey and Ned Hanlon, John Green, Mike Doolan, and
+other wood-sawyers were at the Royal Amphitheatre among MacManus's
+volunteers. The Hanlons, in particular, were fine lathy men, without an
+ounce of spare flesh, but they had sinews of iron. Hughey used to come
+to our house with other neighbours every week to hear the "Nation" read,
+and the songs in it sung to the accompaniment of Harry Starkey's or my
+Uncle John's fiddle. The Hanlons were North of Ireland men, and Hughey
+often used to proudly tell us that the O'Hanlons were the Ulster
+standard-bearers.
+
+At that time, besides the Amphitheatre, where during those years several
+Irish demonstrations were held, a popular place for our gatherings was
+the Adelphi Theatre (previously the "Queen's"), which was in somewhat
+better standing then than afterwards, though it, too, has had within its
+walls most of the Irish leaders of the last half century.
+
+I remember one occasion in particular when O'Connell was, of course, the
+hero of the day, which impressed itself upon my youthful mind the more
+forcibly on account of the presence on the platform of Jack Langan--of
+whom I have already spoken--a warm-hearted and generous supporter of the
+great Dan, and the Cause of Repeal. Indeed, we boys regarded the Irish
+champion boxer with the admiration we would have bestowed upon Finn
+MacCool or some other of the ancient Fenians, could they have appeared
+in bodily form amongst us.
+
+Little we then thought that we should be welcoming on the same platform
+the Fenians of our own days.
+
+That meeting in the Adelphi has also been frequently brought back to my
+mind since, because for a long time the "leading man" in the stock
+company at that theatre was Edmond O'Rourke (stage name Falconer), a
+sterling Nationalist, with whom I made a closer acquaintance in later
+years.
+
+I was often brought by my father to the weekly gatherings in the Repeal
+Hall, Paradise Street, where, among the speakers on the Sunday nights I
+can best remember were Terence Bellew MacManus, Patrick O'Hanlon, Dr.
+Reynolds, George Smyth, and George Archdeacon.
+
+MacManus and Smyth (the latter of whom I knew well in after years),
+besides being prominent workers in O'Connell's agitation for Repeal of
+the Union between Ireland and Great Britain, took active parts in the
+"Young Ireland" movement. Dr. Reynolds was another of the Young
+Irelanders. So also was Archdeacon, who, in addition, still showed his
+belief in physical force by his connection with Fenianism, for which he
+suffered imprisonment.
+
+Young as I was, I shall never forget the days of the Famine, for
+Liverpool, more than any other place outside of Ireland itself, felt its
+appalling effects. It was the main artery through which the flying
+people poured to escape from what seemed a doomed land. Many thousands
+could get no further, and the condition of the already overcrowded parts
+of the town in which our people lived became terrible, for the wretched
+people brought with them the dreaded Famine Fever, and Liverpool became
+a plague-stricken city. Never was heroism greater than was shown by the
+devoted priests--English as well as Irish--in ministering to the sick
+and dying. So terrible was the mortality amongst them that several of
+the churches lost their priests twice over. Our own family were nearly
+left orphans, for both father and mother were stricken down by the
+fever, but happily recovered.
+
+It will not be wondered at that one who saw these things, even though he
+was only a boy, should feel it a duty stronger than life itself to
+reverse the system of misgovernment which was responsible.
+
+There was, no doubt, a good deal of English sympathy for the
+famine-stricken people, and there were some remedial measures by
+Parliament--totally inadequate, however, but I am afraid that the
+"Times" and "Punch," two great organs of public opinion, but too
+faithfully represented the feelings of many of our rulers. The "Times"
+actually gloated over what appeared to be the impending extinction of
+our race. Young as I then was, but learning my weekly lessons from the
+"Nation," I can remember how my blood boiled one day when I saw in a
+shop window a cartoon of "Punch"--a large potato, which was a caricature
+of O'Connell's head and face, with the title--"The Real Potato Blight."
+
+At the time of the Rising of 1848 I was commencing my apprenticeship
+with a firm of builders, who were also my father's employers. They were
+successors to the firm through whose agency he had been sent to Ireland
+as clerk of the works, just previous to my birth there. It was the
+custom of the firm, when a boy came to commence his apprenticeship to be
+a joiner, to keep him in the office for a time as office boy. I was
+employed in the office at the time of the Rising, but one of the
+partners in this firm of builders, who was also an architect, seeing
+that I had had a good education, and, through attending evening classes
+at the Catholic Institute and Liverpool Institute, had a considerable
+knowledge of mathematics and architectural drawing, gave me employment
+which was more profitable to the firm and congenial to me than that of
+an ordinary office boy or junior clerk. Besides helping in the ordinary
+clerical work in the office, I was put to copying and making tracings of
+ground plans, elevations and sections of buildings, and working drawings
+for the use of the artizans, besides assisting in surveying. I was about
+three years employed in this way before entering into the joiners'
+workshop. The firm was most anxious that I should remain in the office
+altogether, and I have often thought since that my father made a
+mistake in insisting that I should learn the trade of a joiner, which
+he considered a more certain living than that of an architect or
+draughtsman, unless one had influential connections.
+
+It was from the upper window of the office where I was at the work I
+have described that I could see the men belonging to our firm drilling
+as special constables in the school yard opposite, in anticipation of
+trouble in connection with an Irish Rising.
+
+The authorities were evidently preparing for a formidable outbreak in
+Liverpool, for there was a large military camp at Everton--a suburb of
+the city--and three gunboats in the river ready for action, in case any
+part of the town fell into the hands of the Irish Confederates. Special
+constables, as in the case of our own firm, were being sworn in all over
+the town, and the larger firms were putting pressure upon their
+employees to be enrolled. Indeed, some 500 dock labourers were
+discharged because they would not be sworn in. My father declined to be
+a special constable, but suffered no further from this than becoming a
+suspect--his services being too valuable to be dispensed with by his
+employers.
+
+He was a genuinely patriotic Irishman, steadfast in his political creed,
+though unostentatious in his professions, being more a man of action
+than of words. My mother, as I think I have already sufficiently
+indicated, was, on the other hand, more demonstrative. I think she must
+have had a positive genius for conspiracy. Whatever the movement was she
+must have a hand in it. On one occasion--I forget exactly what it
+was--some compromising documents had to be got out of the way for the
+time being. In those days sloops used to come over from Ireland with
+potatoes, and the cargoes used to be sold on the quay at the King's
+Dock. She often bought a load of potatoes here to supply a small general
+shop which she kept to help out my father's earnings. It was under such
+a load of potatoes that she had brought home that she concealed the
+dangerous documents.
+
+It was in June, 1848, in the columns of the "Nation" that I first met
+with the name of Bernard MacAnulty. In after years I worked in
+successive national movements with him, and ever found him a dear friend
+and most active and enthusiastic colleague. As showing that he was a man
+of advanced proclivities, I may mention that he wrote to the "Nation"
+suggesting the formation of the "Felon Repeal Club" in
+Newcastle-on-Tyne. From then up to the last day of his life he was the
+same generous whole-souled Irishman he had been from the beginning. His
+stalwart frame and pleasant, genial face were well known during the
+whole of the Home Rule movement, in which I was thrown into frequent
+contact with him, when we were both members of the Executive of the Home
+Rule Confederation of Great Britain.
+
+He was a North man, from the County Down, a successful merchant--having
+started life as a packman--in Newcastle-on-Tyne, and so won the respect
+of all classes that he was elected a member of the Town Council, in
+which he served with great credit. The northern Catholic, who is so
+often a pure Celt, is sometimes credited with having acquired some of
+the qualities of his Presbyterian neighbours of Lowland Scots
+extraction. But this is only on the surface, and Bernard MacAnulty was a
+typical example of this. No braver or more generous Irishman ever
+breathed, and he had a fund of humour which would have done credit to
+the quickest-witted Connaughtman or Munsterman that ever lived. Though
+the Ulster accent is generally regarded as a hard one, I never thought
+it was so with my friend. Perhaps this is owing to my partiality as a
+County Down man, which, though born in Antrim, I always consider myself,
+Down being the native place of my people from time immemorial. I have
+always thought that the people born and reared, as Bernard was, among
+the Mourne Mountains and their surroundings have anything but an
+unmusical accent.
+
+In connection with the Fenian movement my dear old friend was a strong,
+active, and generous sympathiser. His purse was always available for
+every good National object, whether "legal" or "illegal," and I know as
+a fact that many a good fellow "on the run" found shelter under his
+roof, and never went away empty-handed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE "NO-POPERY" MANIA--THE TENANT LEAGUE--THE CURRAGH CAMP.
+
+
+The restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy, September 29th, 1850, brought
+on what appeared to us one of John Bull's periodical fits of lunacy. I
+witnessed many scenes of mob violence at the time, when, in deference to
+the prevailing bigotry in opposing what they termed "Papal Aggression" a
+part of the Penal Laws were revived in Lord John Russell's
+Ecclesiastical Titles Act. In due course John got over his paroxysm, and
+the Act was repealed.
+
+But for a time the storm of bigotry raged fiercely, and, as the
+following incident will show, while the mania lasted even the police
+were not entirely free from it.
+
+The site of the noble Gothic edifice, Holy Cross Church, Great Crosshall
+Street, Liverpool, was, at this time, occupied by a ramshackle place
+made into a temporary chapel out of a number of old houses. It was so
+constructed that from any part you could see the altar, if you could not
+always hear Mass.
+
+This was not, however, an unusual thing in Liverpool in the old days,
+particularly in the Famine years, when our panic-stricken people came
+into Liverpool like the wreck of a routed army.
+
+The chief feature of the old Holy Cross Chapel was a long narrow flight
+of stairs, leading from Standish Street, the side street off Great
+Crosshall Street, up to a higher part of the building which served the
+purpose of a gallery.
+
+The famous Dr. Cahill came to Holy Cross to preach, and every part of
+the building was crowded to suffocation. In the middle of the sermon an
+alarm was raised of a broken beam or something of the kind, and the
+people commenced to rush down the narrow stairs in a state of panic.
+
+Such of them as could crush their way out, instead of being assisted,
+were set upon and assaulted with their batons by several policemen, who
+were in the street outside. So great was the indignation in the town,
+that a public inquiry was held, and it was proved that the police not
+only brutally struck men, women and children, but even a blind man who
+was trying to grope his way out. They also used foul expressions about
+"Popery" and the "bloody Papists," and it was afterwards proved that
+these very men had themselves raised the alarm, apparently to get an
+excuse for breaking the heads of the unfortunate people. An honest
+police official, whose duty it afterwards became to make a report of
+what had occurred, came upon the scene, and did what he could to stop
+the brutality.
+
+When Dowling, the head constable, came to the police office next
+morning, and saw the official report in the book kept for the purpose,
+he caused the leaf containing it to be torn out, and another report by
+one Sergeant Tomlinson to be substituted for it. Mr. Mansfield, the
+stipendiary magistrate, who conducted the inquiry, denounced Dowling and
+Tomlinson for what he called "the disgraceful and discreditable
+suppression of the report which," he added, "was no doubt true. He had
+never heard of more disgraceful proceedings in his life."
+
+Pending a fuller investigation, the police office books were impounded,
+and, as a result of the inquiry, several of the police were suspended.
+Dowling was dismissed from his post as head constable of Liverpool, and
+lost a retiring pension which, if all had been well with him, he would
+have come in for a short time afterwards.
+
+An amusing story is told of a Liverpool daily paper in those days. It
+was struggling with adversity, and the manager, a worthy Scotsman, sat
+in his office on Monday morning with the weekly statement before him,
+showing increasing expense and decreasing revenue.
+
+To him entered a Liverpool parson--very determined and very menacing. He
+had asked for the editor, but that gentleman had not yet come down, and
+the manager was the only person in authority visible, so he had to make
+shift with him.
+
+"I am here," the parson said, "as the mouthpiece of a large number of
+people who are not satisfied with the attitude of the 'Liverpool ----'
+on the great question of the hour--Whether Popery is to dominate our
+liberties or are we to crush Popery?"
+
+"Yes," said the manager, wearily, his mind still on the balance sheet.
+"What do you complain of?"
+
+"I wish to tell you, sir," said the parson, with impressive emphasis,
+"that only this morning I have heard the belief expressed by merchants
+on 'Change that the 'Liverpool ----' is actually in the pay of the Pope
+of Rome!"
+
+In a second a ray of light seemed to irradiate the gloom of the
+manager's soul, as he contemplated in a flash of thought the untold
+treasures of the Vatican--
+
+"Man!" he exclaimed fervently, "I wish to Heaven it was!"
+
+But the numerous exhibitions of bigotry stirred up in connection with
+Lord John Russell's Ecclesiastical Titles Act were of trifling
+consequence compared with the injury done to the Irish people arising
+out of the same Act. For it led to the ruin of the Tenant Right
+agitation in Ireland, in which the Irish people, Protestant as well as
+Catholic, had been united as they had not been since 1798 and the days
+of Grattan's Parliament.
+
+For the Tenant League and the Irish Party in Parliament had in their
+ranks some of the greatest rascals who had ever disgraced Irish
+politics. These, while posing as the champions of Catholicity in
+opposing Lord John Russell's bill, were simply working for their own
+base ends, and were afterwards known and execrated as the Sadlier-Keogh
+gang.
+
+Their infamous betrayal of the Irish tenantry dashed the hopes and
+destroyed the union of North and South from which so much was expected,
+besides creating a distrust in constitutional agitation which lasted for
+nearly a generation.
+
+The after fate of the Sadlier-Keogh gang--including the suicide of John
+Sadlier and the scarcely less wretched end of Keogh--have ever since
+been terrible object-lessons to the Irish people.
+
+In his later years I enjoyed the friendship of one of the most
+distinguished of the Tenant Right leaders, who had also played a
+prominent and honourable part in the Repeal and Young Ireland movements.
+This was Charles Gavan Duffy, whom I met after his return from
+Australia.
+
+It was the Sadlier-Keogh treason, their selling themselves to the
+Government after the most solemn promises to the contrary, and the way
+in which their conduct had been condoned by so many of the hierarchy,
+clergy and people of Ireland, that caused Gavan Duffy to lose heart for
+the time, and to declare, as he left the country, in memorable
+words--"that there was no more hope for Ireland than for a corpse on the
+dissecting table."
+
+But, as I learned from his own lips on his return to this country, he
+never lost sight of the National movement while in Australia, where he
+became first Minister of the Crown in a self-governing colony; and, on
+his return, his old hope for the success of our Cause had, he assured
+me, revived.
+
+Charles Gavan Duffy having sailed for Australia on the 6th of November,
+1855, John Cashel Hoey succeeded him as editor of the "Nation," he
+having, as one of his colleagues, Alexander Martin Sullivan, who
+afterwards became sole proprietor and responsible editor.
+
+"A.M." Sullivan, as he was always called, was an upright man, who had a
+very clear conception of his own policy in Irish matters. He frankly
+accepted the British constitution, and worked inside those lines. To me,
+when my country was concerned, the British constitution (with the making
+of which neither I nor my people had ever had anything to do) was a
+matter of very little moment. Any work for Ireland that commended itself
+to my conscience and was practicable was good enough. Nevertheless, it
+will ever be to me a source of pride that, from the moment when we first
+knew each other to the hour of his death, we were the closest friends.
+
+In connexion with the "Papal aggression" mania, Cardinal Wiseman was the
+central figure against whom the storm of bigotry was chiefly directed. I
+remember with pleasure that I took part in the reception given to him in
+Liverpool by Father Nugent and the students of the Liverpool Catholic
+Institute, by whom the Cardinal's fine play of "The Hidden Gem" was
+performed in the Hall of the Institute during his stay in town. The
+bringing of the Cardinal to Liverpool was only one of the many occasions
+when the good Father was the medium through whom, from time to time, a
+number of distinguished Catholics and Irishmen were brought into
+intimate contact with their co-religionists and fellow-countrymen in the
+town for the advancement of some worthy object connected with creed or
+nationality--most frequently with both.
+
+I have described the St. Patrick's Day annual processions in Liverpool.
+Notwithstanding some grand features in connection with them, they were,
+unfortunately, sometimes the occasion of rioting and intemperance.
+Father Nugent was of Irish parentage and sympathies, and possessed of
+great zeal, capacity, energy and eloquence. He determined to make a new
+departure in celebrating the national anniversary, for though the
+processions were magnificent displays, and it was not the fault of their
+promoters if ever there was any scandal arising out of them, still there
+was much that was inconsistent with a worthy celebration of the feast of
+the national saint of Ireland. Calling a number of young Irishmen
+together, of whom I was one, he, with their help, organised on a grand
+scale a festival which was held in one of the large public halls of the
+town. So successful was the first of these that they became an annual
+institution, which superseded the previous out-door celebrations.
+
+On these occasions there were selections of Irish music and song, and
+oratory from some distinguished Irishman, with an eloquent and stirring
+panegyric on St. Patrick from Father Nugent himself, making a more
+creditable and enjoyable celebration of the national festival than had
+ever been held in the town before.
+
+Such celebrations as these (which have for many years past been held
+under the auspices of the Irish national political organisation of the
+day), have become common in the Irish centres of Great Britain. Indeed,
+it has become one of the recognised duties of the members of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party to hold themselves in readiness to be drafted off to
+one or another of these gatherings, which are the means of keeping
+steadily burning the fire of patriotism in the breasts of our people.
+And what is of consequence from a financial point of view, the proceeds
+of these gatherings help to provide the sinews of war for carrying on
+the Home Rule campaign in Great Britain. For over half a century, from
+the time when I assisted Father Nugent with his first celebration, I
+took an active part in organising these gatherings in many places.
+
+I said at the commencement that I knew little of Ireland from personal
+contact with it. Born there, I was too young to remember being brought
+to England. For some months I was there again, as I have already
+mentioned, as a boy of twelve, under the care of my uncle, the Rev.
+Michael O'Loughlin. I had often desired to see more of Ireland, and,
+singularly enough, it was the Crimean War that gave me the opportunity
+of spending another three months there in the summer of 1855.
+
+A large firm in Liverpool had part of the contract for erecting the
+wooden houses and other buildings at the camp being erected on the
+Curragh of Kildare at the time of the war. I made application, and, with
+my brother Bernard, was employed to go there. Reaching the Curragh, we
+found that many of the men slept in the huts they were erecting, being
+supplied by the contractors with the requisite bed and bedding. The
+contractors also erected a large "canteen," to be used afterwards by the
+military where the workmen could be supplied with food and drink--too
+much drink sometimes. These arrangements for food and sleeping were
+somewhat necessary, as the nearest towns, Kildare, Kilcullen, and
+Newbridge were each some three miles off.
+
+But we were anxious to see as much of the country and of the people as
+we could, and, besides, did not care for the mixed company sleeping in
+the huts. We therefore managed to secure lodgings with the Widow Walsh,
+on the road leading from the Curragh to Suncroft. The widow's husband
+had but recently died, leaving her a pretty good farm, and, with the aid
+of her family--one of them a fine, grown-up young man--she was able to
+hold on to the land. But the ready cash she got from the Curragh men who
+came to lodge with her was useful too. It was a good big house of the
+kind, and the widow made use of every available inch of it, so that she
+had about a dozen of us in all. Mrs. Walsh, though an easy-going soul
+herself, had a fine bouncing girl to help her, but, with a dozen hungry
+men coming with a rush at night, it used to be a scramble for the
+cooking utensils, as we were largely left to our own devices. We used to
+leave early in the morning for our work on the Curragh, taking with us
+the materials for our breakfasts and dinners. As to the cooking, some
+went to the canteen, while others got their meals wherever they happened
+to be working. As there were plenty of chips and small cuttings of wood,
+only fit for that purpose, we used to make of these big fires on the
+short grass, and we boiled our water for tea or coffee and our eggs, and
+frizzled our chops or bacon at the end of a long stick.
+
+I have mentioned before that whenever one finds work particularly
+laborious he is fairly certain to find Irishmen at it. It was so at the
+Curragh. When a carpenter or joiner lays down the boarding of a floor,
+if there is only a small quantity of it he planes it down himself to
+make an even surface. But if there is a large quantity this does not
+pay, and the contractor brings in another artist called a "flogger,"
+who, in nine cases out of ten, in my time, was an Irishman. It was
+generally given out as "piece work" to one man, the "master-flogger," as
+you might term him, who employed the others. One of these, a very decent
+Irishman, Tom Cassidy, whom I had known in Liverpool, had the contract
+for the work at the Curragh Camp, and he had about a score of his
+fellow-countrymen working for him.
+
+Going back to Liverpool for a holiday, while my brother and I were still
+at the Curragh, honest Tom called on my father and mother, who knew him
+well. They were glad to hear that he was lodging at the Widow Walsh's,
+and could tell them all about their boys. This he could do most
+truthfully without letting his imagination run away with him. "Aye,
+indeed," he said, "Barney and John are lodging in the one house with me,
+with a decent widow woman, and many a glass we had together at Igoe's."
+Tom had put in this bit of "local colouring" about Igoe's to show the
+good fellowship between us, but as their sons were both teetotalers,
+the old people knew that this could not be true, and the rest of his
+story was somewhat discredited in consequence.
+
+Igoe's was a public house just on the corner of the road leading from
+the Curragh to Suncroft. What between the workmen at the Camp and the
+soldiers and the militia, Igoe's must have been doing a roaring trade at
+this time. Which reminds me that I one day saw John O'Connell (son of
+the Liberator), then a captain in the Dublin militia, trying to get a
+lot of his men, who were the worse for liquor, out of Igoe's. It could
+not be said that he did not give an edifying example to his men, for I
+saw him, on another occasion, going to Holy Communion, at the Soldiers'
+Mass, where the altar was fixed up under a verandah in the officers'
+quarter, the men being assembled in the open square in front. He was a
+well-meaning man, and tried to carry on the Repeal Association after his
+father's death, but it soon collapsed, for the mantle of Dan was
+altogether too big for John.
+
+Although he generally showed himself bitterly opposed to the Young
+Irelanders, he was a poetical contributor to the "Nation," where I find
+him represented by two very fine pieces--"Was it a Dream?" and "What's
+my Thought Like?" In the latter piece he pictures Ireland--
+
+  No longer slave to England! but her sister if she will--
+  Prompt to give friendly aid at need, and to forget all ill!
+  But holding high her head, and, with serenest brow,
+  Claiming, amid earth's nations all, her fitting station now.
+
+I never met his brother Maurice, but I could imagine his a more
+congenial spirit with the "Young Irelanders" than any other of the
+O'Connell family. He, too, is represented in "The Spirit of the Nation"
+by his rousing "Recruiting Song of the Irish Brigade" which, sung to the
+air of "The White Cockade," has always been a favourite of mine.
+
+A fine, genial old priest, full of gossip and old-time stories, was
+Father MacMahon, of Suncroft. If he met one of us on the road he would
+stop to have a gossip, and was always delighted when he found, as he
+often did, along with an English tongue an Irish heart. From him it was
+I heard the legend of St. Brigid's miraculous mantle and the origin of
+the Curragh--how the saint, to get "as much land as would graze a poor
+man's cow" made the very modest request from the king for as much ground
+as her mantle would cover; how he agreed, and she laid her mantle down
+on the "short grass;" how, to the king's astonishment, it spread and
+spread, until it covered the whole of the ground of what is now the
+Curragh; and how it would have spread over all Ireland but that it met
+with a red-haired woman, and that, as everybody knows, is unlucky.
+Whenever, in our rambles along the country roads we afterwards met a
+red-haired woman, we used to wonder was she a descendant of the female
+who stopped the growth of the Curragh of Kildare.
+
+Father MacMahon could also tell us of the gallant fight made by the men
+of Kildare, and the massacre of the unarmed people on the Curragh in
+1798. Many of the men from the Curragh used to come to Mass on Sundays
+at Suncroft, and often in his sermons--which were none the less edifying
+because they were given in the same free and easy style as his gossips
+with us on the road--he would tell his people of the talks he had had
+with the men from the Camp, and what good Irishmen he found among them.
+They, in their turn, were very fond of the good father, and most of them
+took a practical way of showing their feeling when it came to the
+offertory.
+
+Dear old Father MacMahon! I took up an Irish Church Directory the other
+day and looked for the little village of Suncroft, in the dioceses of
+Kildare and Leighlin, to see if your name was still there, foolishly
+forgetting that it is over fifty years since we met--you an old man and
+I a young one. I am an old man now, and you--you dear good old
+soul--must have gone to your reward long ago, where you in your turn
+will be hearing from St. Brigid herself, and from the fine old Irish
+king who gave the Curragh, the true story of the miraculous mantle; and
+how the king did not make such a bad bargain after all, for, in exchange
+for his gift, he now, doubtless, has what St. Brigid promised, a kingdom
+far greater than even her mantle would cover--the Kingdom of Heaven.
+
+On Sundays we used to have long walks. We did not often go near
+Newbridge--it was too much like an ordinary English military station. We
+preferred going to Kildare, where stands the first Irish Round Tower I
+ever saw, and where the fine old ruined church of St. Brigid put us in
+mind of the patron saint of Ireland; or to Kilcullen, where the brave
+Kildare pikemen routed General Dundas in 1798; and to others of the
+neighbouring places. We reviewed, too, every part of the famous Curragh
+itself, so full of memories--glorious and sad--of Irish history.
+
+As fast as we finished them, the huts we were building were occupied by
+the military, and, whether regulars or militia, I found among them,
+driven to wear the uniform by stress of circumstances, as good Irishmen
+as I ever met. Coming home from work one evening, I met on the road to
+the Curragh a party of them, carrying, for want of a better banner, a
+big green bush, and singing "The Green Flag." Then, as they came in
+sight of the famous plain itself, a man struck up:--
+
+  Where will they have their camp?
+                 Says the _Shan Van Voct_
+
+When, as if moved by one impulse, all joined in:--
+
+  On the Curragh of Kildare,
+  And the boys will all be there,
+  With their pikes in good repair--
+                 Says the _Shan Van Voct_!
+
+"Igoe's porter!" a cynic might say. True, there may have been a glass or
+two and a little harmless rejoicing, but this was too spontaneous to be
+anything but the outpouring of the good, honest warm hearts of the poor
+fellows, burning with love for the land that bore them.
+
+Peter Maughan, who, like myself, was a house joiner, working at the
+Curragh, had similar experiences. Indeed, you might say that he was then
+qualifying himself for the part he very efficiently filled some years
+later in the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, as recruiting officer
+among the soldiery of Britain. Of course, he found scoundrels amongst
+them too, for, as the history of the Fenian movement shows, he was
+himself betrayed and sent to penal servitude.
+
+Before I returned to England I had a most interesting tour through the
+South of Ireland, that being, I may say, the most I have ever actually
+seen of my own country. Having a taste for drawing, I took sketches of
+the various noted places I visited, which I preserved for many
+years--the most cherished remembrances of my visit to the "old sod."
+
+After returning from the Curragh to Liverpool, I married there and
+carried on business on my own account for several years as a joiner and
+builder, before taking service with Father Nugent, first as secretary of
+his Boy's Refuge, and then as conductor for some three years of his
+newspaper, the "Northern Press and Catholic Times."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE IRISH REVOLUTIONARY BROTHERHOOD--ESCAPE OF JAMES STEPHENS--PROJECTED
+RAID ON CHESTER CASTLE--CORYDON THE INFORMER.
+
+
+The trials in 1859, following the arrests in connection with the Phoenix
+movement, with which the name of Jeremiah O'Donovan (called also
+"Rossa," after his native place) was identified, were the first public
+manifestations of what developed into the great organisation known in
+America as the Fenian Brotherhood, and, on this side of the Atlantic as
+the I.R.B., or Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood.
+
+Many years afterwards "Rossa" called at the office of the Irish National
+League in London, to see his old fellow-conspirator, James Francis
+Xavier O'Brien, then General Secretary of the constitutional
+organisation for the attainment of "Home Rule." As I was chief organiser
+for the League in Great Britain, and was in the, office at the time, I
+was introduced to his old comrade (who had, he said, often heard of me)
+by "J.F.X.," as we used to call him, and it was to me a delightful
+experience to hear the two old warriors, who had done and suffered so
+much for Ireland, fighting their battles over again.
+
+I was sitting in my office in Father Nugent's Refuge one day, about the
+beginning of 1866, when my old friend, John Ryan, was shown in to me.
+
+As we had not seen each other for several years, our greeting was a most
+cordial one. Though we had not met, I had heard of him from mutual
+friends from time to time as being actively connected with the physical
+force movement for the freedom of Ireland.
+
+During this time I had often wished to see him, and I found that exactly
+the same idea had been in _his_ mind regarding me; our object being the
+same--my initiation into the ranks of the Irish Revolutionary
+Brotherhood, of which he was an organiser.
+
+A word perhaps is due here--for I wish to pay respect to the opinion of
+every man--to those Irishmen who call themselves loyalists. On close
+analysis their language and arguments appear to me to be meaningless. A
+study of the history of the world and of the origins of civil power show
+that there is only one thing that is recognisable as giving a good and
+stable title to any government, and that is the consent of the governed.
+
+A man who is a member of a community owes a duty to the community in
+return for the benefit arising out of his membership, but his
+duty--which he may call loyalty if he pleases--is proportionate to the
+share which he possesses in the imposition of responsibilities upon
+himself. The application of this to Ireland is obvious, and it explains
+why in so many cases a man who has been a rebel in Ireland has
+afterwards risen to the highest place in the self-governing communities
+which are called British colonies. To put it in another way, a community
+of intelligent men must be self-governing, or else it will be a
+forcing-house for rebels. I don't see any third way.
+
+As I have before suggested, the two questions that have always presented
+themselves to me in connection with work for Ireland have been--first,
+is it right? Second, is it practicable? In joining the I.R.B. I had no
+doubt on either ground. As to the first, the misgovernment of Ireland,
+of which I had seen the hideous fruits in the Famine years and
+emigration, was ample justification. As to the second, there was every
+likelihood of the success of the movement. It will be remembered that
+during these years the great Civil War in America was going on, in which
+many thousands of our fellow-countrymen, were engaged on both sides,
+mostly, however, for the North. A great number of these had entered into
+this service chiefly with the object of acquiring the military training
+intended to be used in fighting on Irish soil for their country's
+freedom. Such an opportunity seemed likely to arise, for during this
+time the "Alabama Claims" and other matters brought America and England
+to the verge of war. Had such a conflict arisen, one result of it, as
+Mr. Gladstone and other British statesmen could not but have foreseen,
+would probably be the severance of the connexion, once for all, between
+Ireland and Great Britain.
+
+John Ryan, knowing me so well, felt tolerably assured that no argument
+from him would be required to induce me to join the I.R.B.;
+consequently, one of the first things he did was, at my request, to
+administer to me the oath of allegiance to the Irish Republic, as the
+saying went, "now virtually established."
+
+After this we had a long _seanchus_, I telling him of all that had
+happened among our friends during his frequent absences from Liverpool,
+and he describing to me many of the adventures of himself and other
+prominent men in the movement, which were to me both interesting and
+exciting. Among these were his assistance in the escape of James
+Stephens, of which I will speak later.
+
+Before we parted, he arranged with me for my acting in Liverpool as a
+medium of communication in the organisation. In this way I was, for
+several years, brought into constant contact with the leaders, nearly
+all of whom I met from time to time.
+
+I think the most capable Irishmen I ever met were the various members of
+the Breslin family, with several of whom I was intimately acquainted.
+Bravest among the brave, as they proved themselves at many a critical
+moment, there were none more prudent. John Breslin was hospital steward
+in Richmond Prison when James Stephens, the Fenian chief, was imprisoned
+there awaiting his trial.
+
+John Devoy was the man who successfully carried through, under the
+direction of Colonel Kelly, the outside arrangements in connection with
+the escape of the C.O.I.R. (Chief Organiser of the Irish Republic), as
+he was called, in the early morning of the 24th of November, 1865.
+
+But John Breslin it was who, with the assistance of Daniel Byrne, night
+watchman, actually set Stephens free. Byrne was arrested and put upon
+his trial for aiding the escape of Stephens, but nothing could be
+brought home to him, and, after two successive juries had disagreed on
+his case, he was released. Breslin, the chief instrument in the rescue,
+was not suspected. He simply bided his time until he took his annual
+holiday, from which he never returned, leaving the country before there
+was any suspicion of him. Michael Breslin, his brother, held a
+responsible position in the Dublin police, and was the means of
+frustrating many a well-laid scheme of the Castle, so that if the
+Government had its creatures in the revolutionary camp, the I.R.B. had
+agents in theirs.
+
+Another, as I have already mentioned, who took part in the Stephens
+rescue was my friend John Ryan, better known in the Brotherhood as
+Captain O'Doherty. At our interview in Liverpool on the occasion of my
+initiation, he gave me a full account of this among other incidents. He
+was, like Peter Maughan, an old schoolfellow of mine with the Christian
+Brothers in Liverpool. He was one of the men picked out by Colonel Kelly
+to be on guard when the "old man"--one of Stephens' pet nick-names--came
+over the prison wall. Ryan was a fine type of an Irishman, morally,
+intellectually and physically. As Stephens slipped down from the wall,
+holding on to the rope, he came with such force on my friend's
+shoulders as almost to bear him to the ground. In my "Irish in Britain"
+I have described in detail how Breslin got a key made for Stephens'
+cell, and how he and Byrne helped the C.O.I.R. over the prison wall to
+where his friends awaited him, and also the adventures of the Fenian
+leader after his escape from Richmond.
+
+The man who made the key for Stephens' cell, from a mould taken by John
+Breslin, was Michael Lambert, a trusted member of the I.R.B. Though his
+name was well known to the initiated at the time, it never was mentioned
+until later years, he being always referred to previously as "the
+optician."
+
+After remaining in concealment several months Stephens got away from
+Ireland. The craft in which he escaped was one of a fleet of fishing
+hookers which sailed from Howth and Kinsale when engaged in their
+regular work. The owner, who was delighted to have a hand in such an
+enterprise, was a warm-hearted and patriotic Irishman, Patrick De Lacy
+Garton, for whom I acted as conducting agent, when he was returned by
+the votes of his fellow-countrymen to the Liverpool Town Council, where
+he sat as a Home Ruler.
+
+I met several times, during 1866 and later, one of the most remarkable
+men connected with the organisation. He was known as "Beecher," and was
+a man of singular astuteness, as he required to be, particularly at the
+time when, unknown to his colleagues, Corydon was giving information to
+the police. If at any time Beecher had fallen into their hands, they
+might have made a splendid haul, which would have paralysed the movement
+on this side of the Atlantic, for he was the "Paymaster." Captain
+Michael O'Rorke--otherwise "Beecher"--was a well-balanced combination of
+sagacity, cautiousness and daring, as you could not fail to see, if
+brought into contact with him a few times. Stephens had the most
+abounding confidence in him, and it was well deserved. A native of
+Roscommon, he emigrated to America when a boy of thirteen. When the
+Civil War broke out he joined the Federal Army, and served with much
+distinction. He was a member of the Fenian Brotherhood, and was greatly
+pleased to be called upon for active service in Ireland, and, sailing
+from New York, he reached Dublin on the 27th of July, 1865, when he
+reported himself to the C.O.I.R. He was entrusted with the payment of
+the American officers then in Ireland and Great Britain, which duty, I
+need scarcely say, involved his keeping in constant touch with them. In
+this way I, from time to time, came in contact with him in Liverpool,
+and was much impressed with the perfect way in which he carried out his
+arduous duties. Before Stephens left for America, in March, 1866, he
+directed Captain O'Rorke to send all the officers not arrested, and then
+in Ireland, over to England. This was a proper measure of prudence, as
+the Irish Americans would be less objects of suspicion, and less liable
+to arrest here than in Ireland. He had fifty officers, and sometimes
+more, to provide for as Paymaster, or, as the informers and detectives
+had it, the "Fenian Paymaster." He had to visit in this way at various
+times all parts of the British organisation, sometimes paying his men
+personally, and at other times by letter, forwarded through trusted
+Irishmen in various places who had not laid themselves open to
+suspicion. But he had to run his head into the lion's mouth
+occasionally, too, for it was part of his duty to visit Dublin at least
+once a month. As a matter of precaution, there were but few who knew of
+any address where he might be found. At a time when Corydon had started
+to give information, but before "Beecher" actually knew of it, the
+informer gave an address of his where he thought the "Paymaster" was to
+be found to the Liverpool police. Major Greig, the chief constable, and
+a strong body of his men, surrounded the house, but the bird had flown.
+After that, he was more cautious than ever, only letting his whereabouts
+be known when it was absolutely necessary.
+
+A noted man among the Fenians was "Pagan O'Leary." Jack Ryan told me of
+how he rather surprised the prison officials when they came to classify
+him under the head "Religion." Being asked what he was, he said he was a
+Pagan. No, they said, they could not accept that--they had headings _in
+their books_, "Roman Catholic," "Protestant," and "Presbyterian," but
+not "Pagans." "Well," he said, "You have two kinds, the 'Robbers'
+(meaning Protestants) and the 'Beggars' (Catholics), and if I must
+choose, put me down a 'Beggar.'"
+
+A startling incident in connection with the Fenian movement, the daring
+plan to seize Chester Castle, will enable me to introduce two
+exceedingly interesting characters with whom I came in contact at this
+time. The idea was to bring sufficient men from various parts of
+England, armed with concealed revolvers, to overpower the garrison,
+which at the time was a very weak one, and to seize the large store of
+arms then in the Castle. In connection with this, arrangements had been
+made for the cutting of wires, the taking up of rails, and the seizure
+of sufficient engines and waggons to convey the captured arms to
+Holyhead, whence, a steamer having been seized there for the purpose,
+the arms were to be taken to Ireland, and the standard of insurrection
+raised. Of John Ryan, one of the leaders of this raid, I have already
+spoken. Another of them, Captain John McCafferty, was one of the
+Irish-American officers who had crossed the Atlantic to take part in the
+projected rising in Ireland. I met him several times in Liverpool in
+company with John Ryan, and, from his own lips, got an account of his
+adventurous career up to that time.
+
+Most of the American officers I came in contact with during these years
+had served in the Federal Army, but McCafferty fought on the side of the
+South in the American Civil War. He was a thorough type of a guerilla
+leader. With his well-proportioned and strongly-knit frame, and handsome
+resolute-looking bronzed face, you could imagine him just the man for
+any dashing and daring enterprise.
+
+I frequently met John Flood, too, whose name, with that of McCafferty,
+is associated with the Chester raid. He was then about thirty years of
+age, a fine, handsome man, tall and strong, wearing a full and flowing
+tawny-coloured beard. He had a genial-looking face, and, in your
+intercourse with him, you found him just as genial as he looked. He was
+a man of distinguished bearing, who you could imagine would fill with
+grace and dignity the post of Irish Ambassador to some friendly power.
+He was a Wexford man, full of the glorious traditions of '98. He took an
+active part in aiding the escape of James Stephens from Ireland. With
+Colonel Kelly he was aboard the hooker in which the C.O.I.R. escaped,
+and to his skill and courage and rare presence of mind was largely due
+the fact that Stephens did not again fall into the hands of his enemies.
+
+From then up to the time immediately preceding the Chester raid, he
+frequently called on me in Liverpool in company with John Ryan.
+
+Father McCormick, of Wigan, a patriotic Irish priest, used to tell me,
+too, of the men coming to confession to him on their way to Chester, and
+afterwards to Ireland, for the rising on Shrove Tuesday. And yet these
+were the kind of men for whom, according to a certain Irish bishop,
+"Hell was not hot enough nor Eternity long enough."
+
+When John Ryan informed me of the plans that were being matured for the
+seizure of the arms and ammunition in Chester Castle, I volunteered for
+any duty that might be allotted to me. It was settled that I should hold
+myself in readiness to carry out when called upon certain mechanical
+arrangements in connection with the raid with a view to prevent
+reinforcements from reaching Chester.
+
+These arrangements were to consist of the taking up of the rails on
+certain railway lines and the cutting of the telegraphic wires leading
+into Chester. I, therefore, surveyed the ground, and besides the
+required personal assistance, had in readiness crowbars, sledges, and,
+among other implements, the wrenches for unscrewing the nuts of the
+bolts fastening the fishplates which bound together the rails, end to
+end. I now held myself prepared for the moment when the call to action
+would reach me.
+
+This, however, never came, for I found afterwards that the leaders had
+learned in time of Corydon's betrayal of the project, and made their
+arrangements accordingly.
+
+I heard nothing further of the projected Chester expedition until
+Monday, February 11th, 1867.
+
+My employment was at this time in Liverpool, but I lived on the opposite
+bank of the Mersey, at New Ferry. Anybody who has to travel in and out
+of town, as I did by the ferry boat, to his employment gets so
+accustomed to his fellow-passengers that he knows most of them by sight.
+But this morning it was different. In a sense some of those I saw were
+strangers to me, but I had a kind of instinct that they were my own
+people. They were fine, athletic-looking young men, and had a
+travel-stained appearance, as if they had been walking some distance
+over dusty roads.
+
+When I reached the landing stage and saw the morning's papers I got the
+explanation--the police had heard of the projected raid.
+
+These were our men returning from Chester, having been stopped on the
+road by friends posted there for the purpose, and turned back--and were
+now on their way through Liverpool to their homes in various parts of
+Lancashire and Yorkshire. It seemed that the information of the project
+being abandoned had not reached them in time to prevent many of the men
+leaving their homes for Chester.
+
+I heard from John Ryan, whom I saw a few days afterwards, that the word
+had been sent round to a certain number of circles in the North of
+England and the Midlands to move a number of picked men, some on the
+Sunday night and some early on the Monday morning, and that the
+promptness and cheerfulness with which the order was obeyed was
+astonishing; so that, probably, not less than two thousand men were, by
+different routes, quietly converging on Chester. Among these was Michael
+Davitt and others, from Haslingden as well as from several other
+Lancashire towns.
+
+But it was promptly discovered that information had been given to the
+police authorities almost at the last moment. Those, therefore, who had
+already reached Chester were sent back, and men were placed at the
+railway stations and on the roads leading to Chester to stop those who
+were coming. In this way the whole of the men forming the expedition
+dispersed as silently as they had come.
+
+Corydon had given the information to Major Greig, the Liverpool Head
+Constable, who at once communicated with Chester, where prompt measures
+were taken to meet the threatened invasion.
+
+According to his own evidence in the subsequent trial, Corydon had been
+giving information to the police since the previous September. There had
+been some suspicious circumstances in connection with him. A man
+resembling him in appearance, and evidently disguised, had been seen in
+company with individuals supposed to be police agents. But as there was
+a man belonging to the organisation named Arthur Anderson, who strongly
+resembled Corydon, the real informer, suspicion fell upon Anderson.
+
+After Corydon had thrown off the mask and openly appeared as an
+informer, I had an opportunity of seeing him, and, so far as my memory
+serves me, this is what he was like: At first sight you might set him
+down as a third-rate actor or circus performer. He wore a frock coat,
+buttoned tightly, to set off a by no means contemptible figure, and
+carried himself with a jaunty, swaggering air, after the conventional
+style of a theatrical "professional." He was about the middle height, of
+wiry, active build, with features clearly cut, thin face, large round
+forehead, a high aquiline nose, thick and curly hair, decidedly "sandy"
+in colour, and heavy moustache of the same tinge. His cheeks and chin
+were denuded of beard.
+
+It was in the Liverpool Police Court I saw John Joseph Corydon, as the
+newspapers spelled his name--if it were his name, which is very
+doubtful, for it was said in Liverpool that he was the son of an
+abandoned woman of that town.
+
+There was at that time a reporter named Sylvester Redmond, whom I knew
+very well, a very decent Irishman, who made a special feature of giving
+humorous descriptions of the cases in the police court. I was told by
+someone in Court that the man whose hand Sylvester was so cordially
+shaking was the noted informer, Corydon. I was very much disgusted with
+the old gentleman, until I heard afterwards that some wag among the
+police had introduced the informer to him as a distinguished
+fellow-countryman.
+
+After the collapse of the Chester scheme, McCafferty and Flood made
+their way to Ireland to be ready for the Rising, but were arrested in
+Dublin, charged with being concerned in the raid on Chester. They were
+both in due course put upon their trials, and sent into penal servitude.
+
+I find, from a graphic sketch written for my "Irish Library" by William
+James Ryan, that in the convict ship that took John Flood into penal
+servitude was another distinguished Irishman, John Boyle O'Reilly, whose
+offence against British rule was his successful recruiting for the
+I.R.B. among the soldiery. Another lieutenant of John Devoy, who had
+charge of the organisation of the British army, was an old schoolfellow
+of mine with the Liverpool Christian Brothers, Peter Maughan, of whom I
+have already spoken as a fellow-workman at the Curragh.
+
+Before joining the I.R.B. Peter had been a member of the "Brotherhood of
+St. Patrick," an organisation which furnished many members to the "Irish
+Revolutionary Brotherhood."
+
+Most of the Fenian prisoners were amnestied before the completion of
+their full terms. I have a letter in my possession from John McCafferty
+to our mutual friend, William Hogan, written from Millbank Prison, 6th
+June, 1871. In this he regrets that the terms of his release will not
+allow of his paying Hogan a visit. He says:--
+
+     I know there are many who would like to shake my hand and bid me a
+     kind farewell. God bless you before my departure. My route will
+     afford me no opportunity of seeing the iron-bound coast of the home
+     of my forefathers. Still God may allow me to see that isle
+     again--Yes, and then perhaps I may meet somebody on the hills.
+
+He concludes with love to William Hogan's family and "Kind regard to
+each and every friend."
+
+McCafferty did, I know, see the "iron-bound" coast of Ireland again, for
+a few years after this an extremely mild and inoffensive-looking,
+dark-complexioned person, with black side whiskers, came into my
+place--I was carrying on a printing and newsagency business--in Byron
+Street, Liverpool, and, though I did not recognise him at first, I was
+pleased to find that this Mr. Patterson, as he called himself, was no
+other than my old friend John McCafferty.
+
+The mission he was engaged on was one that can only be described by the
+word amazing. So daring was it, so hedged around with apparent
+impossibilities, that to the ordinary man its very conception would be
+incredible. But McCafferty was perfectly serious and determined about
+it, and to him it seemed practicable enough, provided only he could get
+a few more men like himself: and indeed if the collection of just such a
+company of conspirators _were_ practicable, no doubt the impossible
+might become possible enough. But the hypothesis is fatal, for the
+McCafferty strain is a rare one indeed, so that his project never got
+further than an idea. I think, however, that I cannot be accused of
+exaggeration in saying that if he had been successful in carrying out
+his idea, his achievement would have formed the most extraordinary
+chapter in English history--for it was no less than the abduction of the
+then Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII., and the holding of
+him as a hostage for a purpose of the Fenian organisation.
+
+The plan was to take him to sea in a sailing vessel, and to keep him
+there, until the Fenian prisoners still at that time unreleased were set
+at liberty. He was to be treated with the utmost consideration and--the
+recollection is not without its humorous side--McCafferty had a
+memorandum to spare no pains in finding what were the favourite
+amusements of the Prince, so that he might have a "real good time" on
+board.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE RISING OF 1867--ARREST AND RESCUE OF KELLY AND DEASY--THE MANCHESTER
+MARTYRDOM.
+
+
+Although the Rising of 1867 had somewhat the character of "a flash in
+the pan," there were some heroic incidents in connexion with it. With
+one of the Fenian leaders, James Francis Xavier O'Brien, I was brought
+into intimate connection many years after the Rising, when we were both
+officials, he as General Secretary and I as Chief Organiser, of the Home
+Rule organisation in Great Britain. When put upon his trial there was
+evidence against him in connection with the taking of a police barrack,
+he being in command of the insurgents. It was proved that he not only
+acted with courage, but with a humanity that was commended by the judge,
+in seeing that the women and children were got out safely before the
+place was set on fire.
+
+This, however, did not save him from being condemned to death--he was
+the last man sentenced in the old barbarous fashion to be hanged, drawn
+and quartered--this sentence being afterwards commuted to penal
+servitude. Certainly, whether on the field or facing the scaffold for
+Ireland there was no more gallant figure among the Fenian leaders than
+James Francis Xavier O'Brien.
+
+Few knew of his sterling worth as I did. For several years after his
+return to liberty I was in close daily contact with this white-haired
+mild-looking old gentleman--still tolerably active and supple,
+though--who could blaze up and fight to the death over what he
+considered a matter of principle. The most admirable feature in his
+character was that, in all things you found him _straight_.
+
+One of the Fenian chiefs I met in Liverpool was General Halpin, who, on
+the night of the Rising, was in command of the district around Dublin.
+The first of the insurgents who reached Tallaght, the place of
+rendezvous on the night of the 5th of March, 1867, were received by a
+volley from the police and dispersed. One party had captured the police
+barracks at Glencullen and Stepaside, and disarmed the police, but on
+approaching Tallaght, and hearing that all was over, they too dispersed.
+
+While most of the Irish-American officers bore the marks of their
+profession rather too prominently for safety against the observance of a
+trained detective, General Halpin was the last man in the world anyone
+would, from his appearance, take to be a soldier. He looked far more
+like a comfortable Irish parish priest. And yet he was, perhaps, the
+most thoroughly scientific soldier of all those that crossed the
+Atlantic at this time.
+
+Reading the evidence of Corydon in one of the trials, I find he
+described Edmond O'Donovan as helping Halpin to make maps for use when
+the Rising would take place. Knowing both men so well, I can say that
+none better could be found for planning out a campaign. They were
+thoroughly scientific men, and always anxious to impart their knowledge
+to other Irishmen for the good of the Cause.
+
+I remember Halpin one night, at what was a kind of select social
+gathering, giving a number of us enthusiastic young men a lecture on the
+construction of fortifications and earthworks.
+
+We bade him farewell when he was leaving Liverpool after the Rising, and
+thought he had got safely away to America, but, unfortunately, he was
+identified at Queenstown in the outgoing steamer. He was arrested, put
+upon his trial, and met the same fate as so many of his comrades.
+
+Among the men I knew long ago, who afterwards became connected with
+Fenianism, was Stephen Joseph Meany. He was for many years a journalist
+in Liverpool, having been sub-editor of the "Daily Post" under Michael
+James Whitty. He was an earnest and active Repealer and Young Irelander.
+When I first came in contact with him he was starting the "Lancashire
+Free Press," which, after passing through several hands and several
+changes, of name, ultimately became the "Catholic Times," which was for
+three years, when Father Nugent became the proprietor, under my
+direction. Meany was a man of fine presence and handsome countenance, a
+brilliant writer and an eloquent speaker. He went to America in 1860,
+where he followed his original profession of journalism for several
+years. He returned to this country again, and was arrested in 1867 on a
+charge of Fenianism, and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment.
+
+Liverpool was flooded with refugees after the Rising, and it took us all
+our time to find employment for them, or to get them away to America. We
+had then in Liverpool a corps of volunteers known as "The Irish
+Brigade." Whatever Nationalist organisation might exist in the town
+always strongly condemned young Irishmen for joining the corps. All we
+could urge against it, however, could not prevent our young men who were
+coming over from Ireland at this time from joining the "Brigade" for the
+purpose, they said, of learning and perfecting themselves in the use of
+arms. Colonel Bidwell and the officers must have had a shrewd suspicion
+of the truth, and there was a common remark in the town upon the
+improved physical appearance of the "Brigade." This was, of course,
+owing to the number of fine soldier-like young Irishmen who at this time
+filled its ranks.
+
+During the two years that followed the escape of Stephens, I met Colonel
+Kelly several times in Liverpool. When I first saw him he would be about
+thirty years of age. This is my remembrance of his personal appearance:
+His forehead was broad and square, with the thick dark hair carefully
+disposed about it. He had somewhat high cheek bones, and wore a pointed
+moustache over a tolerably full beard. The general impression of his
+face seemed to me slightly cynical, and he had a constant smile that
+betokened self-possession and confidence. He sometimes wore a frock
+coat, a light waistcoat buttoned high up, a black fashionable necktie,
+and light well-made trousers. After surveying him in detail, you would
+come to the conclusion that he was a man of daring enough to involve
+himself in danger of life, and with sufficient address to extricate
+himself from the peril. He was undoubtedly a man capable of winning the
+confidence and even devotion of others, as was shown when, falling into
+the hands of the Government, he was snatched from their grasp in the
+open day on the streets of Manchester.
+
+I met him some weeks after the Rising. The place of meeting reminded me
+of the incident in one of Samuel Lover's stories--"Rory O'More"--to
+which I have already alluded, for, in our later revolutionary movements,
+as in 1798, projects of great importance had sometimes to be discussed
+in public houses.
+
+A few of the Liverpool men came to meet the leaders in a very humble
+beer shop, kept by a decent County Down man, Owen McGrady, in one of the
+poorer streets off Scotland Road. Here were met on this particular night
+a notable company, which included, if I remember rightly, Colonel Kelly,
+Colonel Rickard Burke, Captains Condon, Murphy, Deasy and O'Brien, all
+American officers who had crossed the Atlantic for the Rising, and still
+remained, hoping for another opportunity. There were about half a dozen
+of the Liverpool men there. Of these I can remember a tall, fine-looking
+young man, a schoolmaster from the North of Ireland, whom I then met for
+the first time, my old school-fellow, John Ryan, and John Meagher, a
+tailor, possessing the amount of eloquence you generally find in Irish
+members of the craft. There was also present, if I remember rightly, Tom
+Gates, of Newcastle.
+
+Although the Rising had collapsed almost as soon as it commenced, the
+determination to fight on Irish soil had by no means been given up by
+the leaders in America. That was why the American officers on this side
+remained at their posts, ready for active service at a moment's notice.
+At the meeting we learned that there was at that moment an "Expedition,"
+as it was termed, on the sea to co-operate with and bring arms for
+another Rising in Ireland, should such be found practicable. It was
+notorious that, notwithstanding all the efforts of active agents,
+comparatively few arms had been got into Ireland. Indeed, my friend John
+Ryan, who was in a position to know, estimated that there were not more
+than a couple of thousands of rifles in Ireland at the time of the
+Rising.
+
+Let us see what became of the Expedition. This was, of course, what has
+since become a matter of history--the secret despatch from New York of
+the brigantine "Erin's Hope," having on board several Irish-American
+officers, 5,000 stand of arms, three pieces of field artillery, and
+200,000 cartridges. About the middle of May the vessel arrived in Irish
+waters, agents going aboard at various points off the coast, including
+Sligo Bay, which she reached on the 20th of May, 1867. By that time it
+was found that the chances of another Rising were but slender, and the
+"Erin's Hope" returned to America with her cargo, entirely unmolested
+by the British cruisers, which were plentiful enough around the Irish
+coast.
+
+The expedition certainly proved that sufficient weapons to commence an
+insurrection with could be thrown into Ireland, providing there was the
+necessary co-operation at the time and places required.
+
+I have often thought since of what became of those present in Owen
+McGrady's beer house the night we met there to prepare for the reception
+of the "Erin's Hope."
+
+The arrest and rescue of Kelly and Deasy, two of these, in the following
+September, and the fate of their gallant rescuers, formed the most
+striking and startling chapter of Irish history during the nineteenth
+century.
+
+That such a scheme as the rescue of the two Fenian chiefs should be
+successfully carried out, not in Ireland amid sympathisers, but in the
+heart of a great English city, surrounded by a hostile population,
+showed unexpected capacity and daring on the part of the revolutionary
+organisation, and produced consternation in the British Government.
+
+At this time the organisation of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood in
+Great Britain had been placed in the hands of three of the
+Irish-American officers, Captain Murphy, who had charge in Scotland,
+Colonel Rickard Burke in the southern part of England, and Captain
+Edward O'Meagher Condon in the northern counties.
+
+Previous to the arrest of the two leaders on the morning of September
+11th they, with Captain Michael O'Brien, had been staying with Condon,
+upon whom now devolved the command, the capture of Kelly and Deasy
+having taken place in his district.
+
+He at once arranged for their food while in prison, for their defence in
+the law courts, and for their rescue, in which latter enterprise he was
+enthusiastically supported by the chief men of the Manchester circles.
+
+But, whatever their good will and courage, they were deficient both in
+money and arms for such a daring undertaking. Condon had, therefore, a
+difficult task to accomplish. Money was soon raised, for our people are
+ever generous and equal to the occasion when it arises. Daniel
+Darragh--about whom I shall have more to say later--was sent to
+Birmingham, where by the aid of William Hogan he purchased and brought
+back with him sufficient revolvers to arm the volunteers for the rescue.
+These last were picked men, the cream of the Manchester circles, and
+there was some jealousy afterwards among many who had not been selected.
+I need scarcely say that the utmost secrecy was required in connection
+with such a perilous enterprise.
+
+To Edward O'Meagher Condon belongs the credit of having organised,
+managed, and carried out the Manchester Rescue, at the cost to himself,
+as it turned out, of years of penal servitude, and almost of his life.
+Though with the aid of Michael O'Brien and his Manchester friends he had
+made all the arrangements, selecting the spot where the prison van was
+to be stopped, assigning to every man his post, and providing for every
+contingency, including the possibility of the rescuing party being taken
+in the rear from Belle Vue prison, he wired for the assistance of
+Captain Murphy and Colonel Burke, the message being that "his uncle was
+dying."
+
+Murphy was from home, but Burke came on to Manchester, and with Michael
+O'Brien accompanied Condon on September 17th, the night before the
+rescue, to meet the men chosen for the daring enterprise, when the arms
+were distributed, each man's post on the following day allotted to him,
+and the final arrangements made.
+
+The two Fenian chiefs stayed with Condon that night, fighting their old
+campaigns over again, e'er they retired to rest, not to meet again till
+eleven years after the Manchester Rescue, when Condon and Burke came
+across each other in New York, each having suffered in the interval a
+long term of imprisonment, and it was the last night that Burke and
+Condon passed on earth with Michael O'Brien, whose memory Irishmen, the
+world over, honour as one of the "noble-hearted three"--the Manchester
+Martyrs--who died for Ireland on the scaffold.
+
+The secret of the intended rescue was closely guarded, and though the
+Mayor of Manchester did get a warning wire from Dublin Castle, it
+reached too late, and the birds had flown. When Kelly and Deasy were
+brought before the city magistrates they were remanded. "They were,"
+said the "Daily News," "placed in a cell with a view to removal to the
+city jail at Belle Vue. At this time the police noticed outside the
+court house two men hanging about whom they suspected to be Fenians, and
+a policeman made a rush at one of them to arrest him, in which he
+succeeded, but not until the man had drawn a dagger and attempted to
+stab him, the blow being warded off. The other made his escape."
+
+As to the incident just related, it seems that a patriotic but imprudent
+man belonging to one of the Manchester circles had got to hear of the
+intended rescue, and was indignant at being left out. His suspicious
+conduct outside the court house drew the attention of the police--as we
+have seen--with the result, as the paper said, that the authorities
+became alarmed. Kelly and Deasy were put in irons on their removal, and
+a strong body of police were sent with the van intended to take them to
+Belle Vue Prison.
+
+It was the custom for a policeman to ride outside the van, on the step
+behind, but, on this occasion, owing to the incident just described,
+Brett, the officer in charge, went _inside_ the van. The door was then
+locked, and the keys handed to him through the ventilator.
+
+It is certain that, up to this point, the Manchester police had no
+suspicion of the intended rescue, and it was only the imprudent
+behaviour of the man whom the police had arrested that caused additional
+precautions to be taken. Certain it is that if the Manchester
+authorities had had any information of the probability of an attempted
+rescue there would have been a formidable escort of the police and
+military.
+
+With so much false swearing at the trials with regard to the facts of
+the Manchester Rescue, it is important that the information given in
+books for the benefit of the present and future generations of Irishmen
+should be correct. It is serious that in some of our best books so
+important a matter as the actual scene of the rescue is incorrectly
+given. One book says: "The van drove off for the _County jail at
+Salford_." In another description it is stated: "Just as the van passed
+under the arch that spans Hyde Road at Belle Vue, a _point midway
+between the city police office and the Salford Jail,_ etc." Following
+this, one of our ablest writers, apparently quoting from the previous
+descriptions, falls into the same error. I can readily understand how
+these errors have arisen--the writers concerned have confounded the
+place of the execution of the Manchester Martyrs, Salford Jail, with the
+prison, Belle Vue, to which the prisoners were being taken on being
+remanded.
+
+The point chosen by Condon as the most suitable for the attack was
+certainly where the railway bridge crosses Hyde Road, but if the van had
+been going to Salford Jail it would have been in a totally different
+direction.
+
+Since writing the above, I find it still more necessary I should correct
+the mis-statement as to the scene of the rescue, for the error seems to
+be getting perpetuated. I find in one of the leading Irish-American
+newspapers, in a description of the death of Colonel Kelly on February
+5, 1909, the scene of the rescue is given as "_midway between the
+police office and Salford Jail_." This is evidently taken from the
+erroneous statement in the books I have referred to.
+
+After this slight digression, may I resume my narrative.
+
+At the police court a man appointed for the purpose took a cab in
+advance of the van. When sufficiently close to them he waved a white
+handkerchief as a signal to the men in ambush. Just as the van passed
+under the railway arch two men with revolvers barred the way.
+
+"Stop the van!" one cried. But the driver took no heed. A bullet fired
+over his head and another into one of the horses effectually stopped the
+van. At the sound of the shots the rest of the rescuers came from their
+ambush behind the walls that lined the road, and from the shadow of the
+abutments of the railway arch.
+
+The police fled panic-stricken at the first volley fired over their
+heads by the Fenians, for these wanted to release their chiefs without
+bloodshed if possible. One portion of the assailants, carrying out a
+pre-arranged plan, formed an extended circle around the van, and kept
+the police and mob who had rallied to their assistance at bay, while a
+second party set themselves to effecting an entrance to the van. This
+was more difficult than had been expected, for had Brett ridden on the
+step behind as usual the keys could readily have been taken from him.
+The rescuing party were, however, equal to the occasion, and the
+military precision with which the work was carried out displayed the
+discipline of the men and the able direction of the leaders.
+
+Indeed, the fullest testimony is borne to this by a great English
+newspaper, the "Daily News," which, while showing the most intense
+hostility to the men and their daring act, is thus compelled to
+recognise the courage and discipline of the devoted band of
+Fenians:--"The more astonishing, therefore, is it to read of the
+appearance of the public enemy in the heart of one of our greatest
+cities, organised and armed, overpowering, wounding and murdering the
+guardians of public order, and releasing prisoners of state. There is a
+distinctness of aim, a tenacity of purpose, a resolution in execution
+about the Fenian attack upon the police van which is very impressive.
+The blow was sudden and swift, and effected its object. In the presence
+of a small but compact body of Fenians, provided with repeating
+firearms, the police were powerless, and the release of Kelly and Deasy
+was quickly effected."
+
+An unfortunate accident was the killing of Brett, the policeman, by a
+shot fired with the intention of breaking the lock of the van. A female
+prisoner then handed out the keys on the demand of the Fenians outside,
+and the door was quickly opened, and the two leaders brought out, their
+safe retreat being guarded by their rescuers.
+
+As Captain Condon had anticipated and provided for, some of the warders
+from Belle Vue quickly came upon the scene, as it was but a short
+distance across what were then brickfields from the prison to the scene
+of action. But, when they saw the determined men who were guarding the
+leaders' retreat, they, too, like the police, kept at a safe distance
+from the Fenian revolvers, and devoted themselves to picking up any
+stragglers who had got separated from the main body of Irishmen.
+
+In this way a number of arrests were made, and, later on, Condon himself
+was taken, but the main object had been accomplished, and Kelly and
+Deasy got safely away, and, ultimately, as we shall see, out of the
+country.
+
+Following the rescue, there was a perfect reign of terror, the police
+authorities striking out wildly in all directions to gather into their
+net enough Irish victims to satisfy their baffled vengeance. There were
+numerous arrests and no lack of witnesses to swear anything to secure
+convictions. Every detail of the attack on the van while on the way from
+the courthouse to the prison, and of the release of the prisoners was
+sworn to with the utmost minuteness, as the witnesses professed to
+identify one after another of the men in the dock, some of whom had no
+connection or sympathy with the rescue at all.
+
+In Liverpool, men whom I knew were arrested who were at work all that
+day at the docks, and yet were sworn to by numerous witnesses as having
+assisted in the attack on the van in Hyde Road, Manchester, the most
+minute details being given.
+
+I have mentioned a case of the kind in my "Irish in Britain." William
+Murphy, of Manchester, a man whom I knew well, was convicted and sent
+into penal servitude as having taken part in the rescue. On his
+liberation I was surprised to learn from his own lips that, although he
+would gladly have borne his part if detailed for the duty, he was not
+present at the rescue of the Fenian leaders. With the authorities in
+such a panic, it can readily be understood that it behoved any of us in
+Lancashire who were in any way regarded as "suspects" to be ready with
+very solid testimony as to where we were on the day in question.
+
+In a recent letter I have had from Captain Condon--from whom
+communications reach me from all parts of America, for he is constantly
+travelling, holding as he does the post of Inspector of Public Buildings
+in connection with the Treasury Department of the U.S.A.--he tells me
+something about William Murphy that I never heard before. He says: "When
+Allen, Larkin, O'Brien, myself, and the other men were sentenced, Digby
+Seymour (one of the counsel for the prisoners) went down to a large cell
+in the court house basement where all the others were kept together. He
+urged them all to plead 'guilty' and throw themselves upon the mercy of
+the court, declaring that, if they refused to do this all would be
+convicted and executed.
+
+"There was an instant's hesitation among the prisoners, but William
+Murphy, who was later sentenced to seven years penal servitude,
+addressed his comrades, urging them to stand fast together, imitate our
+example, and die like men, rather than live like dogs, for as such they
+would be regarded by all true Irishmen if they pleaded 'guilty.'
+
+"To a man the whole twenty-two shouted out--'We will never plead
+guilty!'
+
+"And Seymour, baffled and irritated, went away without accomplishing his
+purpose."
+
+Of the men convicted for taking part in the rescue, five--Allen, Larkin,
+O'Brien, Condon and Maguire--were sentenced to death. Condon was
+reprieved, really on account of his American citizenship, and Maguire,
+who was a marine, because the authorities discovered in time that the
+evidence against him was false. A number of others were sent to penal
+servitude for various terms.
+
+The execution of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, so far from striking terror,
+but gave new life to the cause of Irish Freedom, and to-day, over the
+world, no names in the long roll of those who have suffered and died for
+Ireland are more honoured than those of the "Manchester Martyrs," while
+the determination has become all the stronger that, in the words of our
+National Anthem--founded on Condon's defiant shout in the dock of "God
+Save Ireland!":--
+
+     On the cause must go
+     Amidst joy or weal or woe,
+  Till we've made our isle a Nation free and grand.
+
+It is not generally known how Colonel Kelly got out of the country after
+the rescue. He lay concealed in the house of an Irish professional man
+for some weeks, and then, all the railway stations being closely and
+constantly watched night and day, he was driven in a conveyance by road
+all the way from Manchester to Liverpool.
+
+It was a patriotic foreman ship-joiner, whom I knew well, who actually
+got him away to America. My friend Egan had charge of the fitting up of
+the berths aboard the steamer in which Colonel Kelly sailed. In emigrant
+steamers the usual practice was for temporary compartments to be made
+and taken down at the end of the voyage. I had fitted up such berths
+myself, and therefore perfectly understood what my friend had done to
+secure Colonel Kelly's escape when he described it to me afterwards at
+my place in Byrom Street. Egan actually built a small secret
+compartment, so constructed as to attract no notice, and when Kelly was
+smuggled aboard at the last moment--he might be supposed to be one of
+Egan's men--he was put into it and actually boarded up, sufficient
+provisions being left with him, until the steamer got clear of British
+waters, when he could come out with safety.
+
+Deasy also made his way to America.
+
+In speaking of the after-career of those assembled that night at
+McGrady's, I have sufficiently accounted for Michael O'Brien.
+
+Rickard Burke, who also assisted at the same gathering, was a remarkable
+personality, and one of the most astute men I ever met. He was a
+graduate of Queen's College, Cork, and an accomplished linguist. He was
+a skilful engineer, and had served with distinction in the American
+Civil War. When I knew him he was about thirty-five years of age, tall
+and of fine presence. To him was deputed the work of purchasing arms
+for the intended Rising in Ireland.
+
+After many adventures, he fell into the hands of the police, was
+convicted, and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. It was with the
+idea of effecting his rescue that the Clerkenwell Prison wall was blown
+up on December 13th, 1867, this insane plan causing the death and
+mutilation of a number of people. Burke himself would probably have been
+killed had he happened to be confined in that part of the jail that was
+blown up.
+
+While in Chatham prison he was reported as having lost his reason, and
+was removed to Woking. The matter was brought before the House of
+Commons by Mr. McCarthy Downing, who suggested that Burke's insanity had
+been caused by his treatment in prison. He was released on Sunday, July
+9th, 1871.
+
+Captain Murphy, another of the company in our Scotland Road rendezvous,
+whom I had often met before, was a gentlemanly, genial man of portly
+presence, and an exceedingly pleasant companion. After some time he
+found his way back to America.
+
+Edward O'Meagher Condon was one of the American officers I most
+frequently came in contact with in Liverpool, previous to and after the
+Rising. Since his return to America, after his release from penal
+servitude in 1878, we have frequently corresponded with each other. From
+a report of a Manchester Martyr's Commemoration in a newspaper which
+accompanied one of his letters, and conversations I had with him when I
+was delighted to have him as my guest during his recent visit to this
+country, I find he has just the same sanguine temperament as on that
+night at McGrady's, when the chances of another Rising were being
+discussed. In the report I refer to he says, "Had the Irish people been
+furnished with the necessary arms and munitions of war, which ought and
+could have been provided, they would have proved victors in the
+contest."
+
+I have no doubt but that, in propounding this view, he had in his mind
+the probability there was at one point of England being embroiled in a
+quarrel with America. None knew better than he, at the time, of the
+enormous number of Irishmen in the American armies, on both sides,
+during the Civil War who, with their military training, longed for the
+task of sweeping English rule from the soil of Ireland. It will be
+remembered that it was Condon who, when sentenced to death, concluded
+his speech in the dock with the prayer, "God save Ireland!" the words
+which have since become the rallying cry of the whole Irish race, and
+have given us a National Anthem.
+
+In his letters to me since his first return to America, I have been
+gratified to hear that he always took a warm interest in my
+publications. I am pleased, too, to find from the newspaper reports he
+has sent me that he is, as ever, an eminently practical man, and
+believes in using the means nearest to hand for the advancement of the
+Irish Cause.
+
+While giving his experiences in connection with the revolutionary
+movement, he declares that no one can blame the Irish people for having
+recourse to any means which may enable them to remain on their native
+soil. They have, he says, to use whatever means have been left to save
+themselves from extermination and Ireland from becoming a desert. He,
+therefore, declares his sympathy with the later movements of the Irish
+people--the Land League, the National League, and the United Irish
+League, while never abandoning the principles of '98, '48 and '67.
+
+I referred to two Liverpool men as being present at the meeting at
+McGrady's. One of these, John Ryan, my dear old schoolfellow, one of the
+rescuers of James Stephens, has been dead many years--God rest his soul!
+He was a noble character, and would have risen to the top in any walk of
+life, but though he had a good home--his father was a prosperous
+merchant of Liverpool--he gave his whole life to Ireland. I often heard
+from him of his adventures, for he always looked me up whenever he came
+to Liverpool, and how, sometimes, he and his friends had to fare very
+badly indeed.
+
+It was most extraordinary that, while constantly Tunning risks, for he
+was a man of great daring, he never once was arrested, though he had
+some hair-breadth escapes. On one occasion, about the time of the
+Rising, a good, honest, Protestant member of the Brotherhood, Sam
+Clampitt, was taken out of the same bedroom in which he was sleeping
+with Ryan, who was left, the police little thinking of the bigger fish
+they had allowed to escape from their net, the noted Fenian leader,
+"Captain O'Doherty." I forget his precise name at this particular time,
+but it was a very Saxon one, for he was supposed to be an English
+artist sketching in Ireland. Questioned by the police, he was able to
+satisfy them of his _bona fides_. He had a friend in Liverpool, an old
+schoolfellow like myself, Richard Richards--"Double Dick" we used to
+call him--a patriotic Liverpool-born Irishman. He was an exceedingly
+able artist, making rapid progress in his profession, and, about this
+time, having some very fine pictures, for which he got good prices, on
+the walls of the Liverpool Academy Exhibition. Richards supplied all the
+trappings for the part that Ryan was playing, and also sent him letters
+of a somewhat humorous character, which he sometimes read to me before
+sending off. In these he was anticipating all sorts of adventures for
+his friend in the then disturbed state of Ireland. As John Ryan had much
+artistic taste, and was himself a fair draughtsman, and well up in all
+the necessary technicalities, and as Richards' letters, which he always
+carried for emergencies like this, were strong evidences in his favour,
+he had not much difficulty in convincing the Dublin police he was what
+he represented himself to be.
+
+Some of Jack Ryan's reminiscences had their droll sides, for he had a
+keen sense of humour. One of his stories was in connection with the
+well-known old tradition of the Gaels--both Irish and Scottish--that
+wherever the "_Lia Fail_" or "Stone of Destiny" may be must be the seat
+of Government. There is some doubt, as is well known, as to where the
+real stone now is. At all events, the stone which is under the
+Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey is that which was taken from
+Scone by King Edward, and that on which the Scottish monarchs were
+crowned, having been originally brought from Ireland, the cradle of the
+Gaelic race. The tradition is still, as it happens, borne out by the
+fact that Westminster is _now_ the seat of Government.
+
+Now two of John Ryan's Fenian friends, Irish-American officers, stranded
+in London--a not unusual circumstance--just when affairs looked very
+black indeed, conceived the brilliant idea of _stealing the stone_,
+bringing it over to Ireland, and, once for all, settling the Irish
+question. This, notwithstanding their oath to "The Irish _Republic_ now
+virtually (virtuously some of our friends used to say) established," for
+it did not seem to strike them that they were proposing to bring to
+Ireland an emblem of royalty.
+
+I never heard if they took any actual steps to accomplish their object.
+Perhaps they were impressed by the mechanical difficulties, as I was
+myself one day, when standing with David Barrett, an Irish National
+League organiser, in Edward the Confessor's Chapel, in front of the
+famous "_Lia Fail_." It is a rough-hewn stone, about two feet each way,
+and ten inches deep. I was telling my friend the story of the plot to
+carry off the "Stone of Destiny," and was making a calculation, based on
+the weight of a cubic foot of stone, of what might be its weight.
+
+"We'll soon see," said David, and, in a moment, he had vaulted over the
+railing, and taken hold of a corner of the stone.
+
+But, so closely is this national treasure watched, that instantaneously
+a couple of attendants appeared, and broke up peremptorily our proposed
+committee of enquiry. An archaeological friend of mine suggests that,
+one day, when Ireland is making her own laws and able to enter on equal
+terms into a contract with England, a reasonable stipulation would be
+the restoration of that stone--unless the Scottish Gaels can prove a
+stronger claim to it.
+
+From John Ryan I heard of the mode of living of many of the Fenian
+organisers and of the Irish-American officers,--very different from the
+slanderous statements of their "living in luxury upon the wages of Irish
+servant girls in America." John was of a cheery disposition, never
+complaining, but always sanguine, and loving to look at the bright side
+of things. Yet I could see for myself, each time I saw him, how the life
+of hardship he was leading was telling upon his once splendid
+constitution, and, I felt sure, shortening his days. John Ryan, I have
+often said, is dead for Ireland, for though he did not perish on the
+battlefield or on the scaffold, as would have been his glory, I most
+certainly believe he would have been alive to-day but for the hardships
+suffered in doing his unostentatious work for Ireland.
+
+There is one other friend I mentioned as having been present that night
+at Owen McGrady's--the school master. You will ask what became of him?
+Almost the last time I spoke to him--not very long before these lines
+were written--was in the inner lobby of the British House of Commons,
+for he has been for many years a member of Parliament. Now some of my
+most cherished friends are or have been members of Parliament, and I
+would be sorry to think any of them worse Irishmen than myself on that
+account. Their taking the oath of allegiance to the British sovereign
+was a matter for their own consciences, but I never could bring myself
+to do it. Mr. Parnell would, I know, have been pleased to see me in
+Parliament, but he knew that I never would take the oath, and respected
+my conscientious objections to swear allegiance to any but my own
+country.
+
+With the exception of a few, whose names I forget, I have accounted for
+the whole of the company comprising the Council of War at McGrady's
+public house. Summed up as follows, nothing in the pages of romance
+could be more startling than the after fate of these men:--
+
+     CAPTAIN MICHAEL O'BRIEN.--Hanged at Manchester. R.I.P.
+
+     COLONEL RICKARD BURKE.--Sent to Penal Servitude--Returned to
+     America.
+
+     COLONEL THOMAS KELLY, CAPTAIN TIMOTHY DEASY.--Rescued from Prison
+     Van in Manchester.
+
+     CAPTAIN EDWARD O'MEAGHER-CONDON.--Sentenced to death for the
+     Manchester Rescues, but reprieved and sent to Penal
+     Servitude--Returned to America.
+
+     CAPTAIN MURPHY.--Returned to America. Died a few years since.
+
+     THE SCHOOLMASTER.--A Member of Parliament.
+
+     JOHN RYAN.--Dead--God rest his soul.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A DIGRESSION--T.D. SULLIVAN--A NATIONAL ANTHEM--THE EMERALD
+MINSTRELS--"THE SPIRIT OF THE NATION."
+
+
+If it were for nothing else, it will be sufficient fame for T.D.
+Sullivan for all time that he is the author of "God Save Ireland." He
+had no idea himself, as he used to tell me, that the anthem would have
+been taken up so instantaneously and enthusiastically as it was.
+
+A National Anthem can never be made to order. It must grow spontaneously
+out of some stirring incident of the hour. Never in those days were our
+people so deeply moved as by the Manchester Martyrdom. There is no
+grander episode in all Irish history. The song of "God Save Ireland,"
+embodying the cry raised by Edward O'Meagher Condon, and taken up by his
+doomed companions in the dock, so expressed the feelings of all hearts
+that it was at once accepted by Irishmen the world over as the National
+Anthem.
+
+I sympathise with the ground taken up by our friends of the Gaelic
+League that a National Anthem should be in the national tongue. That
+objection has to some extent been met by the very fine translation of
+"God Save Ireland" into Gaelic by Daniel Lynch. This appeared in one of
+my publications, and is the version now frequently sung at Irish
+patriotic gatherings.
+
+With regard to the objection that the air--"Tramp, tramp, the boys are
+marching"--to which T.D. wrote the song is of American origin, I was
+under the impression that Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, the famous
+Irish-American bandmaster, was the composer of it, and that, therefore,
+we could claim the air of "God Save Ireland" as being Irish as well as
+the words. To place the matter beyond doubt, Gilmore himself being dead,
+I wrote to his daughter, Mary Sarsfield Gilmore, a distinguished
+poetical contributor to the "Irish World," to ascertain the facts. I got
+from her a most interesting reply, in which she said, "I am more than
+sorry to disappoint you by my answer, but my father was _not_ the
+composer of the air you mention."
+
+I have heard it suggested that McCann's famous war song "O'Donnell
+Aboo!" should be adopted as our National Anthem instead of "God Save
+Ireland," and I have heard of it being given as a _finale_ at Gaelic
+League concerts.
+
+Without doubt it is a fine song, and the air to which it is generally
+sung is a noble one. A distinguished Irish poet tells me he is of
+opinion that "what will be universally taken up as the Irish National
+Anthem has never yet been written." My friend may be right, but let us
+see what claim "O'Donnell Aboo!'"--song or air--has upon us for adoption
+as our National Anthem.
+
+To do this I must go back in my narrative to the time when I made the
+acquaintance of Mr. Michael Joseph McCann, its author. This was a few
+years before "God Save Ireland" was written, and over twenty years after
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" appeared in the "Nation."
+
+A party of young Irishmen from Liverpool engaged the Rotunda, Dublin,
+for a week. They called themselves the "Emerald Minstrels," and gave an
+entertainment--"Terence's Fireside; or the Irish Peasant at Home." I was
+one of the minstrels. The entertainment consisted of Irish national
+songs and harmonized choruses, interspersed with stories such as might
+be told around an Irish fireside. There was a sketch at the finish,
+winding up with a jig.
+
+At my suggestion, one of the pieces in our programme was "O'Donnell
+Aboo!" which first appeared in the "Nation" of January 28th, 1843, under
+the title of "The Clan-Connell War Song--A.D. 1597," the air to which it
+was to be sung being given as "Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu," This was the
+name of the boat song commencing "Hail to the Chief," from Sir Walter
+Scott's poem of "The Lady of the Lake." This was published in 1810, and
+set to music for three voices soon afterwards by Count Joseph Mazzinghi,
+a distinguished composer of Italian extraction, born in London.
+
+As "Roderigh Vich Alpine" was the air given by Mr. McCann himself as
+that to which his song was to be sung, we, of course, used Mazzinghi's
+music in our entertainment.
+
+One night--I think it was our first--at the close of our entertainment
+in Dublin, a gentleman came behind to see us. It was Mr. McCann. He was
+pleased, he said, we were singing his song, but would like us to use an
+air to which it was being sung in Ireland, and which _he had put to it
+himself_. He also told us he had made some alterations in the _words_ of
+the song, and was good enough to write into my "Spirit of the Nation"
+the changes he had made. This copy is the original folio edition, with
+music, published in 1845. It was presented to me by the members of St.
+Nicholas's Boys' Guild, Liverpool. I have that book still, and value it
+all the more as containing the handwriting of the distinguished poet. (I
+should say, however, that most of my friends do not consider the
+alterations in the song to be improvements.)
+
+The measure and style of "O'Donnell Aboo!" were evidently imitated from
+Sir Walter Scott's boat song. Besides this strong resemblance, there is
+the fact that Mr. McCann gave as the air to which his song was to be
+sung, "Roderigh Vich Alpine," part of the burden of Sir Walter's song.
+
+But not only is there a resemblance in the words and general style, but
+in the music. Indeed, it seems to me that most of the fine air of
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" as it is now sung is based on Mazzinghi's
+music--either that for the first, second, or bass voice, or upon the
+concerted part for the three voices at the end of each verse.
+
+Another fact is worthy of mention. Since meeting Mr. McCann I have often
+noticed in Irish papers that when the air, as adapted by him, was played
+at national gatherings, it was often given by the name of Scott's song
+and Mazzinghi's composition. And when Mr. Parnell was in the height of
+his popularity and attended demonstrations in Ireland, the air used to
+be played as being applicable to the Irish leader, and given in some
+papers as "Hail to the Chief," while others described the same air as
+"O'Donnell Aboo!"
+
+But if we cannot claim as an original Irish air McCann's song as it is
+now sung, the same critical examination which brings out its resemblance
+to Mazzinghi's music, also shows that the Italian composer most probably
+got his inspiration from the music of the Irish or Scottish Gaels, as
+being most suitable for his theme. So that, perhaps, we may take the
+same pride in the present air as our island mother might in some of her
+children who had been on the _shaughraun_ for a time, but had again come
+back to the "old sod."
+
+It may be that even before the era of Irish independence some inspired
+poet may write, to some old or new Irish melody, a song which, by its
+transcendent merits, may spring at once into the first place. But until
+that happens, or till "we've made our isle a nation free and grand" I
+think we may very well rest content with "God Save Ireland."
+
+It has been suggested to me that it might form an interesting portion of
+these recollections if I were to give some account of how we came to
+start the "Emerald Minstrels," and what we did while that company was in
+existence. I may say without hesitation that we got our inspiration from
+the teaching of Young Ireland and the "Spirit of the Nation." We called
+our entertainment "Terence's Fireside; or The Irish Peasant at Home."
+
+We had most of us been boys in the old Copperas Hill school, then in the
+Young Men's Guild connected with the church, and some of us members of
+the choir. At the Guild meetings on Sunday nights, the chaplain, Father
+Nugent, an Irishman, but, like most of ourselves, born out of his own
+country, used to delight in teaching us elocution, and encouraging us to
+write essays, besides putting other means of culture in our way.
+
+After a time he founded an educational establishment, the Catholic
+Institute, where, when he left Copperas Hill, many of us followed him
+and joined the evening classes. About this good priest I shall have more
+to say in this narrative, and, though he was no politician, I don't
+think any man ever did so much to elevate the condition of the Irish
+people of his native town, and make them both respectable--in the best
+sense--and respected, as Father Nugent.
+
+We started the "Emerald Minstrels" at a time when there was a lull in
+Irish politics; our objects being the cultivation of Irish music, poetry
+and the drama; Irish literature generally, Irish pastimes and customs;
+and, above all, Irish Nationality.
+
+Father Nugent's training from the time we were young boys had been
+invaluable. We numbered ten, the most brilliant member of our body, and
+the one who did most in organising our entertainments, being John
+Francis McArdle. Besides our main objects, already stated, we considered
+we were doing good work by elevating the tastes of our people, who had,
+through sheer good nature, so long tolerated an objectionable class of
+so-called Irish songs, as well as the still more objectionable "Stage
+Irishman."
+
+Some items from the programme will give an idea of our entertainment. We
+opened with a prologue, originally written by myself, but re-cast and
+very much improved by John McArdle. I may say that we two often did a
+considerable amount of journalistic work in that way in after years. I
+can just remember a little of the prologue. These were the opening
+lines:--
+
+  Sons of green Erin, we greet you this night!
+  And you, too, her daughters--how welcome the sight!
+  We come here before you, a minstrel band,
+  To carol the lays of our native land.
+
+There was one particularly daring couplet in it, the contribution of
+John McArdle:--
+
+  In your own Irish way give us one hearty cheer.
+  Just to show us at once that you welcome us here.
+
+Had mine been the task to speak these lines, I must inevitably have
+failed to get the required response, but in the mouth of the regular
+reciter they never once missed fire. This was Mr. Barry Aylmer. He
+afterwards adopted the stage as a profession, and became recognised as a
+very fine actor, chiefly in Irish parts, as might be expected. He also
+travelled with a very successful entertainment of his own, and it is but
+a short time since he informed me that he spoke our identical "Emerald
+Minstrel" prologue in New York and other cities in America, adapting it,
+of course, to the circumstances of the occasion. I found that during the
+many years which had elapsed since I had previously seen him until I met
+him again quite recently he had been a great traveller, not only in this
+country and America, but also in South Africa and Australia.
+
+We had a number of harmonized choruses, including several of Moore's
+melodies, Banim's "Soggarth Aroon," "Native Music," by Lover; McCann's
+"O'Donnell Aboo!" and others. "Killarney," words by Falconer, music by
+Balfe, was sung by James McArdle, who had a fine tenor voice. Richard
+Campbell was our principal humorous singer. He used chiefly to give
+selections from Lover's songs, and one song written for him by John
+McArdle, "Pat Delany's Christenin'."
+
+John had an instinctive grasp of stage effect. A hint of the
+possibilities of an idea was enough for him. On my return from the
+Curragh I told him of how I had heard the militia men and soldiers
+singing the "Shan Van Vocht" on the road. He decided that this should be
+our _finale_, the climax of the first part of our minstrel
+entertainment.
+
+We had a drop scene representing the Lower Lake of Killarney. When it
+was raised it disclosed the interior of the living room of a comfortable
+Irish homestead, with the large projecting open chimney, the turf fire
+on the hearth, and the usual pious and patriotic pictures proper to such
+an interior--Terence's Fireside.
+
+Ours was a very self-contained company. Each had some special line as
+singer, musician, elocutionist, story teller or dancer.
+
+John Clarke was our chief actor. He excelled in "character parts," and,
+when well "made up" as an old man made a capital "Terence" in the first
+part of the entertainment, besides giving a fine rendering of Lefanu's
+"Shemus O'Brien" between the parts.
+
+In the miscellaneous part there was a rattling Irish jig by Joseph Ward
+and Barry Aylmer. The latter, being of somewhat slight figure and a
+good-looking youth, made a bouncing Irish colleen. These two made a
+point of studying from nature, not only in their dancing, but in their
+acting and singing, so that their performances were always true to life,
+without an atom of exaggeration. They were always received with great
+enthusiasm, particularly by the old people, who seemed transported back,
+as by the touch of a magic wand, to the scenes of their youth.
+
+We finished the evening with a sketch, written by John McArdle, called
+"Phil Foley's Frolics"--he was fond of alliteration. Noticing that
+Joseph Ward had made a special study of the comfortable old Irish
+_vanithee_, and had many of her quaint and humorous sayings, he added to
+the characters a special part for him--"Mrs. Casey,"--to which he did
+full justice. Indeed, so incessant was the laughter that followed each
+sally, that he and Barry Aylmer, who was the Phil Foley, sometimes found
+it difficult to get the words of the dialogue in between. We had
+another sketch, "Pat Houlahan's Ghost," which used to go very well.
+
+The first part of the entertainment, showing old Terence in the chimney
+corner and the others singing songs and telling stories, almost
+necessitated our sitting around in a semi-circular formation. This gave
+us much the appearance of a nigger troupe. To depart from this somewhat,
+we occasionally introduced a trifling plot. We made it that one of the
+sons of the house entered while the family were engaged in their usual
+avocations, having unexpectedly returned from America. Then came the
+affectionate family greeting, and the bringing in of the friends and
+neighbours, who formed a group sitting around the turf fire, making a
+merry night of it.
+
+The services of the "Emerald Minstrels" were in great demand, and were
+always cheerfully given for Catholic, National and charitable objects.
+
+While our own people mostly furnished our audiences, our entertainment
+was appreciated by the general public. The best proof of this was that
+Mr. Calderwood, Secretary of the Concert Hall, Lord Nelson Street, gave
+us several engagements for the "Saturday Evening Concerts," in which,
+from time to time, Samuel Lover, Henry Russell, The English Glee and
+Madrigal Union, and other well-known popular entertainers, appeared. Mr.
+Calderwood told us he was well pleased to have in the town a company
+like ours, upon whom he could always rely for a successful
+entertainment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A FENIAN CONFERENCE AT PARIS--THE REVOLVERS FOR THE MANCHESTER
+RESCUE--MICHAEL DAVITT SENT TO PENAL SERVITUDE.
+
+
+I have referred to Michael Breslin in speaking of his brother John.
+Michael was not suspected of any complicity with the revolutionary
+movement until after the rising on the 5th of March, 1867, when he found
+it prudent to get out of the country.
+
+He was, as the saying is, "on his keeping," and stayed with me at my
+father's house in Liverpool for a short time, until he found a
+favourable opportunity of getting away to America. This was by no means
+an easy task, as all the ports were closely watched, and as, like his
+brother John, he was a fine handsome man, of splendid physique, and well
+known, of course, to the Irish police, it required all his caution
+successfully to run the gauntlet; but this eventually he did.
+
+The next I heard from him was that he was coming to Paris to a
+conference between the representatives of the two parties of American
+Fenians--what were known as the Stephens and Roberts wings. Michael
+Breslin was sent as a representative of the Stephens party. There were
+prominent members of the I.R.B. in this country, also friends of
+Breslin, who were anxious that the two parties should join. I wrote to
+him on their behalf, asking him to work towards that end. For greater
+safety the letters for Breslin were sent under cover through my cousin,
+Father Bernard O'Loughlin, Superior of the Passionist Fathers in Paris.
+He, of course, knew nothing of the nature of the communications he was
+handing to Breslin, who did his best to bring about the desired unity;
+but his action was repudiated by his principals in America.
+
+He came over to England, and had a narrow escape from falling into the
+hands of the police. When William Hogan was arrested in Birmingham,
+charged with supplying the arms used in the Manchester Rescue, Michael
+Breslin was in the house at the time. Questioned by the police, he
+described himself as a traveller in the tea trade for Mr. James Lysaght
+Finigan, of Liverpool. As he had his proper credentials (samples, etc.,
+from James Finigan, who, anticipating an emergency of this kind, had
+given them for this express purpose), he was allowed by the police to go
+on his way.
+
+James Lysaght Finigan was a good type of the Liverpool-born Irishman,
+educated by the Christian Brothers. With other members of his family he
+was at the time engaged in the tea trade; but he was of an adventurous
+disposition, and afterwards served in the French Foreign Legion in the
+Franco-Prussian War. Later still he became a member of the Irish Party
+in the House of Commons.
+
+In connection with Breslin's narrow escape, the sequel, as regards our
+friend Hogan, is worth relating. Those who ever met William Hogan will
+agree with me that a more warm-hearted and enthusiastic Irishman never
+lived. He was a good-looking man, of imposing presence--a director of an
+Insurance Company, for which he was also the resident manager in
+Birmingham. Living in that town, he was of great assistance to the
+various agents entrusted with the task of procuring arms for the
+revolutionary movement. It speaks much for his sagacity that a man of
+his impulsive and generous temperament should so long have escaped
+arrest in connection with such hazardous undertakings. Hogan, however,
+like Shemus O'Brien, "was taken at last."
+
+Some of the revolvers brought from Birmingham by Daniel Darragh, which
+had been used at the Hyde Road action, had been picked up from the
+ground afterwards by the police. It was for supplying these that Hogan
+was put upon his trial. The maker of the revolvers was brought from
+Birmingham, and put in the witness box. He swore that a revolver
+produced was one of his own make, which he had sold to the prisoner.
+Thus, fortunately for Hogan, the whole case against him turned on this
+point--not a very strong one, as it was obviously possible for the Crown
+witness to be mistaken.
+
+Hogan's counsel produced a similar revolver, and asked the witness if he
+could identify it as his manufacture? The witness unhesitatingly did so.
+The counsel, when his turn came, called another witness--a
+decent-looking man of the artizan class. The barrister handed him the
+revolver.
+
+"Do you recognise it?" he asked.
+
+"I do--I made it myself."
+
+The Court was astonished. The prosecuting counsel asked:--
+
+"How do you know it is yours?"
+
+"By certain marks on it," the man replied, and these he proceeded to
+describe. As the description was found to be correct, and as the other
+witness, who had sworn that _he_ had made the weapon, had not described
+any such marks, the case against Hogan broke down, and he was acquitted.
+
+A few days afterwards he called on me, and explained how the thing had
+happened. When he was arrested, his friends in Birmingham, having still
+on hand some of the revolvers he had purchased, had an exact copy of one
+of them made by a gunsmith whom they could trust, with instructions to
+put his own private marks upon it, which he could afterwards identify.
+It was this weapon that had deceived the witness for the prosecution to
+such an extent that he wrongly swore to it as being his own manufacture.
+
+Daniel Darragh, who was also put upon his trial for supplying the
+weapons for the Manchester Rescue, was not so fortunate as his friend
+Hogan, for he was convicted. He was sent into penal servitude on April
+15th, 1869, but, being in delicate health, did not long survive, for he
+died in Portland Prison on June 28th of the following year. William
+Hogan, as the fulfilment of a sacred duty, brought the body of his
+friend home to Ireland, to be buried among his own kith and kin, in the
+Catholic cemetery of Ballycastle, Co. Antrim; and Edward O'Meagher
+Condon, when recently visiting this country, considered it a no less
+sacred duty to visit the grave.
+
+It will be seen that William Hogan, with all his acuteness, had a very
+narrow escape from falling into the hands of the law and suffering its
+penalties. Still, it has been my experience, that men like him, who have
+stood their ground, following their usual legitimate occupations, were
+always less liable to be molested than what might be termed birds of
+passage, such as Rickard Burke, Arthur Forrester, or Michael Davitt.
+
+Such, I consider, was the case of my friend, John Barry, when he was a
+resident in Newcastle-on-Tyne, in connection with an incident which he
+related to me a short time since. Some arms were addressed to him "to be
+called for," under the name of "Kershaw," a well-known north-country
+name, not at all likely to be borne by an Irishman. By some means the
+police got wind of the nature of the consignment, and the arms were held
+at the station, waiting for Mr. Kershaw to claim them. But it was a case
+of plot and counterplot; and when John was actually on the way to the
+railway station, he was warned in time by a railway employe, an Irish
+Protestant member of the I.R.B., and did not finish his journey. As
+"Kershaw" did not turn up, the case of arms was sent off to London to be
+produced at a trial then impending.
+
+_John Barry_ was at that time a commercial traveller, and, strangely
+enough, on one of his trips, he found himself in the same railway
+carriage with two detectives who were in charge of the arms on their way
+to the metropolis. John, as everybody acquainted with him knows, "has
+the music on the tip of his tongue;" the racy accent acquired in his
+childhood in his native Wexford. But he can put it off when the occasion
+requires it; and the two police officers were quite charmed with the
+social qualities of the genial commercial "gent" who was their
+fellow-traveller, never suspecting him to be an Irishman. They chatted
+together in the most agreeable manner, making no secret of their mission
+to London, and letting drop a few facts which proved useful to the
+counsel for the defence in the subsequent trial. Reaching London, they
+asked the commercial "gent" to spend a social evening with them and some
+of the witnesses in the case, which had some connection with the arms
+intended for "Mr. Kershaw." He could not do so, he said, as he had a
+previous engagement--which happened to be with Arthur Forrester and some
+witnesses on the other side. But, he continued, he would be glad to see
+them on the following day. Where could he see them? At Scotland Yard;
+and at Scotland Yard, accordingly, he met them, where they showed him,
+as an evidence of the desperate characters they had to deal with--his
+own case of arms!
+
+They told him of the pleasant evening he had missed, the only drawback
+being, they said, that one of the witnesses, named Corydon, got drunk
+and was very troublesome.
+
+This reminds me of another case, in connection with which I, at the
+time, fully expected to be arrested. The reader can form his own
+conclusion, but my impression was, and is, that I owed my safety to a
+gentleman I shall now introduce. Detective Superintendent Laurence
+Kehoe, of Liverpool, was a very decent man in his way. He was by no
+means of the type of John Boyle O'Reilly or the Breslins, who have shown
+that in the British army and in the police force there have been men,
+mostly compelled by adverse circumstances, who have for a time worn the
+blue, or green, or scarlet coat of Britain without changing the Irish
+heart beneath.
+
+No; Larry (as he was generally called) was nothing of the kind. Still, I
+believe he faithfully did his duty according to his lights, in the
+service in which he was engaged. He was a conscientious Catholic, and a
+son of his is a most respected priest in the diocese of Liverpool. He
+was a kind-hearted, charitable man, always ready to do a good turn,
+particularly for a fellow-countryman. If an Irish policeman called his
+attention to some poor waif of an Irish child who had lost its parents,
+or was in evil surroundings--having parents worse than none, or in
+danger of losing its faith--Laurence Kehoe would take the matter in
+hand. He would not always go through the formality of bringing the case
+of such child under the notice of the managers of one or other of the
+Catholic orphanages. When I was Secretary of Father Nugent's Boys'
+Refuge, he brought one of these waifs to the Brother Director, and
+claimed admittance for him. The place was full, the Brother said--it
+could not be done. Without another word Kehoe left the child on the
+doorstep, and simply saying, "Good-night," left Brother Tertullian
+sorely perplexed, but with no alternative but to take the child in.
+
+Now, Laurence Kehoe must have known that I was a notorious suspect--for
+it was his duty to know--but we were good friends, never, however,
+talking politics by any possible chance. I cannot, of course, state for
+certain how it was, but the reader, from what I am going to describe,
+may possibly come to the conclusion that Detective Superintendent Kehoe
+may have shut both eyes and ears in my particular case.
+
+To Rickard Burke was entrusted the critical and dangerous task of buying
+and distributing arms for the revolutionary movement. _Exit_ Rickard
+Burke, in the usual way, through the prison gate. _Enter_ Arthur
+Forrester, who, in due course, found his way also--though but for a
+short time--within prison walls. Then, following in quick succession,
+came Michael Davitt, engaged in the same task as Burke and Forrester.
+
+Forrester was a young man of great eloquence, and, like his mother and
+sister, a poet. Mrs. Ellen Forrester's "Widow's Message to her Son" is,
+I think, one of the finest and most heart-stirring poems we possess. I
+have often listened with pleasure to Arthur Forrester, when he used to
+come to address the "boys" in Liverpool. On one of those occasions
+Michael Davitt was with him, a modest, unassuming young man, with but
+little to say, although he was to make afterwards a more important
+figure in the world than his friend. Forrester was a young fellow full
+of pluck, and made a desperate resistance when, a boy, he was first
+arrested in Dublin.
+
+One night, just before Christmas, 1869, he left fifty revolvers with me.
+Early next morning I read in a daily paper that he had been arrested the
+previous night in a Temperance Hotel where he had been staying. There
+were no arms found upon him or among his belongings. He had left them
+with me;--indeed, as I read the account of his arrest, they were still
+in my possession. You may depend upon it I quickly got them into safer
+hands than my own. Some compromising documents were found in Forrester's
+possession, including a certain letter with which Michael Davitt's name
+was connected. This same letter was brought forward in evidence some
+years afterwards, in the famous "_Times_ Forgeries Commission," with a
+view to showing that the Irish leaders had incited to murder. As I
+expected, I was not long without a visit from Laurence Kehoe's
+lieutenants. Horn and Cousens, detective officers, called upon me to
+make enquiries about the revolvers which, they said, "Arthur had left
+with me." I need scarcely say they gained nothing by their visitation. I
+fully expected that the matter would not end here, and that I was likely
+to find myself in the dock along with Forrester.
+
+The same evening I had a visit from my sister-in-law, Miss Naughton.
+She had a friend, a Miss Cameron, who was sister to the wife of Lawrence
+Kehoe. Miss Cameron lived in the house of the Detective Superintendent,
+along with her sister, Mrs. Kehoe. In the middle of the previous
+night--Miss Cameron told Miss Naughton--her room being on the same
+landing as Kehoe's--she heard him called, and a man's voice saying:--
+
+"We've taken Forrester. Shall we go to Denvir?" There was a pause; then
+Kehoe said, "No," adding some words to the effect that he did not think
+that I was implicated.
+
+I dare say, after the manner of some pious people I know, he had
+persuaded himself that such was the case. After he had worked out his
+full term in Purgatory (for he is dead many years, God rest his soul!),
+I don't think St. Peter can have kept the Heavenly gates closed on Larry
+Kehoe for whatever he said about me that night. Nay, let us hope that it
+was even put down to his credit.
+
+Forrester's explanation, when he was arrested, as to his employment was
+that he was a hawker. He had his licence, all quite regular, to show.
+Under this he could sell his revolvers. There was nothing illegal in
+that, unless a connection were established with the revolutionary
+movement.
+
+This, it appeared, they were not able to make out; but he was kept in
+custody, evidently with a view to gain time to establish such a
+connection. In fact, his case was the same as Davitt's, who took up the
+work of procuring and distributing arms, after Forrester had become too
+well known to the police in connection with it. Davitt, too, had a
+hawker's licence; and, at first, there was really no evidence to connect
+him with the Fenian movement. The farce was gone through of bringing
+Corydon to identify him--not a very difficult task in the case of a
+one-armed man--though this was the first time Corydon had ever seen
+Davitt.
+
+The evident explanation of Forrester being kept in custody, and
+remanded, as he was, from day to day, without being charged with any
+offence, was that a similar connection might be established, to prove
+which a little perjury would not stand in the way.
+
+Michael Davitt, who had not yet come under the notice of the police,
+came to me, along with Arthur Forrester's mother, on hearing of the
+arrest. They had tea with us, and, I need scarcely say, were warmly
+welcomed in our little family circle, those in the house who were but
+small children then being in after years proud to remember that they had
+had such noble characters under their roof.
+
+Mrs. Ellen Forrester was a homely, sweet-looking, little North of
+Ireland woman. She was a native of the County Monaghan, and, at this
+time, about forty years of age. Her maiden name was Magennis. Her father
+was a schoolmaster, which would, no doubt, account for her literary
+tastes. Songs and poems of hers appeared in the "Nation" and "Dundalk
+Democrat." She was quite young when she came to England, and settled
+first in Liverpool, and then in Manchester. She married Michael
+Forrester, a stonemason, and had five children. It was quite evident
+there was a poetic strain in the Magennis blood, for two of her
+daughters, and her son Arthur, inherited the gift, which her brother
+Bernard also possessed. She produced "Simple Strains" and (in
+conjunction with her son Arthur) "Songs of the Rising Nation," and other
+poems. She was a frequent contributor to the English press, her work
+being much appreciated.
+
+Arthur Forrester, whose release we were trying to effect, was, at this
+time, only nineteen years old, though he looked much older. Besides the
+poetic strain which he inherited from his mother, he must also have had
+that fiery and unconquerable spirit which displayed itself in the
+determined resistance he made against the police who came to arrest him
+in 1867, in Dublin, where he had found his way for the projected rising.
+He was a young Revolutionist truly--being then only seventeen. He was
+not long kept in prison that time, there being no evidence to connect
+him with Fenianism, nor, indeed, was there now, when he had fallen into
+the hands of the police in Liverpool, though they were doing their best
+to manufacture some.
+
+His warlike proclivities seem to have been ever uppermost, as will be
+seen later, where we find him joining the French "Foreign Legion" during
+the Franco-Prussian War. Besides the "Songs of the Rising Nation" in
+connection with his mother, he produced "An Irish Crazy Quilt," prose
+and verse, and was a frequent contributor to the "Irish People" and
+other papers over the signature of "Angus" and "William Tell."
+
+It is too bad of me to be keeping poor Arthur in durance vile while I
+am going into these particulars; but I want to show what kind of people
+these Forresters were, and what the rebelly Ulster Magennis strain in
+their blood let them into.
+
+Together, Davitt and I called upon several Liverpool Irishmen to get
+bail for Forrester. There was no difficulty--we could easily get the
+necessary security; but, name after name, good, substantial bail, was
+refused by the police on one pretence or another.
+
+Ultimately, on Christmas Eve, when the prisoner was again brought before
+the stipendiary magistrate, Mr. Raffles, a very just and high-minded
+man, Dr. Commins, barrister, acting for Forrester, claimed that no
+charge, but a mere matter of suspicion, being forthcoming against him,
+the bail offered should be accepted. The magistrate agreed to accept two
+sureties of L100 each, "to keep the peace for one year," and Arthur
+Forrester was released.
+
+It is interesting to know that while one of the bails was William
+Russell, a patriotic Irishman, having an extensive business, the other
+was Arthur Doran, a wholesale newsagent. He was a decent Irishman, of
+Liverpool birth, who took no part in politics. He had been induced to go
+bail by one of the greatest scoundrels Ireland ever produced--Richard
+Pigott, Doran being an agent for Pigott's papers, the "Irishman" and
+"Flag of Ireland." Let this one good act, at all events, be put down to
+Pigott's credit.
+
+To return to Forrester. After such a close shave as he had in
+Liverpool, with the eyes of the police now upon him, his occupation was
+gone, and Michael Davitt took up the work. I am afraid that Davitt's
+visit to Liverpool on this occasion brought him under the notice of the
+police, and may probably have led to his arrest a few months afterwards.
+
+This took place on May 14th, 1870, at Paddington Station, London, with
+him being arrested also John Wilson, a Birmingham gunsmith. Davitt had
+L150 in his possession, and Wilson had fifty revolvers, it being
+suggested that the gunsmith was about to deliver the weapons in exchange
+for the money. So far--Davitt having a hawker's licence, as in the case
+of Forrester--this would have been perfectly legitimate. What was wanted
+by the authorities was evidence to show a connection with the Fenian
+conspiracy. They really had no such evidence, but as Davitt was a marked
+man, and as it was necessary to have him removed, Corydon was brought to
+identify him, and, of course, had no difficulty, when a number of men
+were brought into the corridor, in picking out the one-armed man from
+among them.
+
+At the trial Corydon swore, among other things, that Davitt took part in
+the Chester raid. Now, Michael himself told me afterwards that Corydon
+had never seen him before he "identified" him in prison; and that though
+he really was at Chester, Corydon could not have known this. Michael
+Davitt and John Wilson were convicted of treason-felony. As showing the
+man's noble character, it should not be forgotten that the Irishman made
+an earnest appeal for the Englishman, declaring that Wilson knew
+nothing of the object for which the weapons were wanted, and asking that
+whatever sentence was to be passed on the gunsmith might be added to his
+own. This was quite worthy of Davitt's chivalrous and unselfish nature,
+and I can well imagine his tall and commanding figure in the dock, with
+his strongly marked features and dark, bright eyes--while utterly
+defiant of what the law might do to himself--making this appeal for the
+man who stood beside him. Davitt was, on July 11th, 1870, sentenced to
+fifteen years, and Wilson to seven years penal servitude.
+
+Michael Davitt will appear in these pages as the founder of another
+organisation, the results of which seem likely to make the Irish people
+more the real possessors of their own soil than they have ever been
+since the Norman invasion.
+
+About this time I had started a printing and publishing business in
+Liverpool, and commenced to realise what I had long projected as a
+useful work for Ireland. This was the issue of my "Irish Library,"
+consisting chiefly of penny books of biographies, stories, songs, and
+stirring episodes of Irish history.
+
+In their production and afterwards, when I continued the issue of these
+booklets in London, I had valuable assistance from various friends,
+including Rev. Father Ambrose, Rev. Father O'Laverty, Michael Davitt,
+Daniel Crilly, T.D. Sullivan, Timothy McSweeney, Hugh Heinrick, William
+J. Ryan, Francis Fahy, William P. Ryan, Alfred Perceval Graves, Michael
+O'Mahony, John J. Sheehan, Thomas Boyd, Thomas Flannery, John Hand,
+James Lysaght Finigan, and other well-known writers on Irish subjects.
+Some of the penny books were from my own pen, in addition to which I
+wrote "The Brandons," a story of Irish life in England, and other books,
+of which my most ambitious work was "The Irish in Britain."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+RESCUE OF THE MILITARY FENIANS.
+
+
+Before concluding the section of my Recollections connected with
+Fenianism, I must re-introduce John Breslin, the rescuer of James
+Stephens.
+
+Though the episode I am about to describe took place some six years
+after the commencement of the constitutional Home Rule agitation, I
+think it well, as it was connected with Fenianism, for the sake of
+compactness, to introduce it here.
+
+My excuse for introducing it as part of _my_ recollections will be seen
+further on.
+
+It will be remembered that John Breslin, when a warder in Richmond
+Prison, was the man who actually opened the door of James Stephens's
+cell, and, with the aid of Byrne, another warder, helped the Head Centre
+over the prison wall, and left him in charge of John Ryan and other
+friends outside.
+
+It was no wonder, then, that, when a similar perilous and even more
+arduous undertaking was projected, John Breslin should be the man chosen
+as the chief instrument to carry it out.
+
+This was the rescue of six military Fenians from Freemantle, in Western
+Australia, which was ultimately effected on Easter Monday, 17th April,
+1876.
+
+The enterprise was projected in America, among its most active
+promoters being John Devoy. Associated with him were John Boyle O'Reilly
+(himself an escaped Fenian convict) and Captain Hathaway, City Marshal
+of New Bedford. An American barque, of 202 tons, the _Catalpa_, was
+bought, and converted into a whaler, but was intended to be used in
+carrying off the convicts. She was ready for sea in March, 1875. It was
+more than a year before she took the prisoners away from Australia, and
+a further four months before she reached New York with the rescued men.
+The ship was taken out by Captain S. Anthony, an American, to whom was
+confided the object of the mission. The only Irishman on board among the
+crew was Denis Duggan, the carpenter, a sterling Nationalist, to whom
+also was made known the mission on which they were bound.
+
+As John Breslin was now in America, obviously he was the man of all
+others to entrust with the command of the daring project of carrying off
+the prisoners. Happily he was available for the work, and entered into
+it heartily. He sent me the narrative of the rescue himself--through his
+brother Michael--on his return to America, after having successfully
+accomplished his mission.
+
+He and Captain Desmond sailed from San Francisco on the 13th of
+September, 1875, and reached Freemantle on 16th of November. They were
+not long in opening up communications with the prisoners, so as to be in
+readiness for the arrival of the _Catalpa_. In the meantime two more men
+joined the expedition--John King, who brought a supply of money from
+New Zealand, which was most useful, and Thomas Brennan, who arrived at
+the last moment, just as the _Catalpa_ appeared off the coast, and had
+got into communication with Breslin.
+
+Everything being arranged, it was determined to carry off the following
+prisoners--Martin Harrington, Thomas Darragh, James Wilson, Martin
+Joseph Hogan, Robert Cranston, and Thomas Henry Hassett. They were at
+work outside the prison walls, or at other employment equally
+accessible, when they were taken away in two traps from Freemantle,
+about nine o'clock in the morning of the 17th of April, 1876. By the
+time the news of their flight, and of the direction they had taken, was
+known in the prison, the party had reached Rockingham, and were on the
+sea in the whale-boat which was to take them to the _Catalpa_.
+
+The gunboat _Conflict_, which was usually stationed at King George's
+Sound, was telegraphed for by the authorities, but it was found that the
+wires had been cut the previous night, and by the time they were
+repaired the vessel had gone on a cruise.
+
+After some hours' delay, the governor engaged the passenger steamer
+_Georgette_ to go in pursuit. It was nine o'clock that evening before
+she left Freemantle. The police boat was cruising about also, looking
+for the whaler and her boat. The _Georgette_ came up with the _Catalpa_
+about 8 o'clock on the following (Tuesday) morning. A demand to go on
+board and search the barque was refused. As it was found there was a
+short supply aboard the _Georgette_, she returned to Freemantle to coal,
+leaving the police boat to watch the _Catalpa_, and to look out for the
+whale boat containing the rescued men, which had not yet appeared,
+although, as it turned out, not far off at the time. The boat had been
+vainly searching for the _Catalpa_ all night, and had only now
+discovered her. The party in the boat had actually seen the _Georgette_
+overhauling the _Catalpa_, and had yet themselves remained undiscovered.
+In order to keep clear of falling into the hands of the _Georgette_ they
+stood off from the ship, and it was about half-past two o'clock in the
+afternoon before the boat containing the rescued men approached the
+_Catalpa_ again. They then saw the police boat making for the ship at
+about the same distance from her on the land side as the whale boat was
+to the seaward. The men scrambled aboard just as the police boat was
+coming up on the other side.
+
+Breslin says:--"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 (this was the name Breslin went by); 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 seamanlike manner."
+
+The police boat did not attempt to board the vessel, but made its way
+back to Freemantle to report. There the _Georgette_ had been fully
+coaled and provisioned, and had taken aboard, in addition to the
+pensioners and police, a twelve-pounder field-piece. At 11 o'clock the
+same night (Tuesday) she steamed out once more. At daylight on the
+following morning she came up with the _Catalpa_ again, and fired a
+round shot across her bows. After some parleying, Captain Anthony being
+prompted by Breslin, the _Georgette_ hailed that if the _Catalpa_ did
+not heave to, the masts would be blown out of her.
+
+"Tell them," said Breslin to the captain, "that's the American flag; you
+are on the high seas; and if he fires on the ship, he fires on the
+American flag."
+
+Preparations were made to give the armed party on the _Georgette_ a warm
+reception should they attempt to board the whaler. But the pursuers had
+a wholesome fear of coming into conflict with a vessel sailing under the
+Stars and Stripes, and, after some further parleying, left the _Catalpa_
+to pursue her homeward voyage unmolested.
+
+I was fortunate enough to get the account of _both_ expeditions--for
+there were two--for the rescue of the military Fenians in each case
+direct from the man having the command.
+
+I have already given John Breslin's account, which, it will, perhaps, be
+remembered I published at the time as a number of my penny "Irish
+Library."
+
+I had the pleasure of hearing John Walsh, who had charge of the
+expedition from this country, relating the part he and his friend bore
+in assisting the Irish-American rescuers. He told the story at a very
+select gathering in Liverpool, at which I was present. On the 13th of
+January, he said, two men, of whom he was one, left this country with
+money and clothing to carry out the rescue. They landed on the 28th of
+February at King George's Sound, whence a sailing vessel took them to
+Freemantle.
+
+They soon got into communication with the two men who had come from
+America, and had been on the spot since November, 1875--John Breslin and
+J. Desmond, the latter of whom worked as a coach-builder at Perth. Walsh
+and his friend offered their co-operation to the men from America in any
+capacity, and arrangements were made accordingly. They lent the
+Americans arms, and they cut the telegraph wires from Perth to King
+George's Sound, where a man-of-war was stationed.
+
+It will be seen from Breslin's account that this was why the man-of-war
+was not available to deal with the _Catalpa_; for when the telegraphic
+communication was restored, it was found that the gunboat _Conflict_ had
+left on a cruise.
+
+Walsh and his friend were on the ground on the morning when the
+prisoners started to escape, and if a fight took place, they were to
+fight and fly with their friends. If there was no fight, they were to
+remain behind. If the _Catalpa_ failed, they were to fly to the bush,
+with the exception of some who were to remain behind to succour those in
+the bush.
+
+John Walsh described how, when the rescued men were being driven in two
+traps from Freemantle to Rockingham, to be taken on the whale-boat to
+the _Catalpa_, which was lying off the coast awaiting them, he and his
+friend started with them, and remained behind to stop pursuit. He also
+described the attempt to recapture the escaped men, as told in Breslin's
+narrative, and how the attempt failed.
+
+My own connection with this incident was that the funds, or some part
+of them, for John Walsh's expedition passed through my hands between
+their collection and their distribution.
+
+On Monday, August 21st, 1876, while we were holding the Annual
+Convention of the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, in the
+Rotunda, Dublin, the joyful news reached us that the _Catalpa_, having
+on board the rescued men and their rescuers, had safely reached New
+York. The news was received with the wildest enthusiasm. The terrible
+strain of the last four months had passed, and we were relieved from the
+constant dread that, after the gallant rescue, the men might again fall
+into the hands of the enemy.
+
+A few more words about the Breslins before finishing this chapter.
+Michael went back to America after his escape from arrest in Birmingham.
+I have corresponded with him from time to time ever since. A letter of
+mine to Michael, written after he finally went to America, came back to
+me in a very curious manner. A gentleman came into my place of business
+in Liverpool one day, and presented to me, as an introduction, a letter
+I had sent to my friend about a month previously. I was somewhat
+suspicious about this. I told him there was nothing to show that my
+letter had ever been in Breslin's hands at all. The gentleman agreed
+that I was right, and said he would merely ask to be allowed to leave
+his luggage for a short time.
+
+I got a careful watch kept on his movements in Liverpool, but nothing
+more suspicious was reported than that he had been seen to enter a
+Catholic church, where he had gone to Confession.
+
+My friend William Hogan was in my place when my messenger returned, and
+when he heard this, exclaimed, in his usual impetuous style--"He's a
+spy!"
+
+The deduction might not seem obvious, but, doubtless Hogan had in his
+mind one or two of the worst cases of the anti-Fenian informers, who
+made a parade of great piety a cloak for their treachery.
+
+The gentleman returned and reclaimed his luggage, and I heard nothing
+further of him for about a month afterwards, when I had a letter from
+Michael Breslin, saying that his friend, whom I had treated with such
+suspicion and such scant hospitality, was Mr. John B. Holland, the
+famous submarine inventor. He was, I believe, in this country in
+connection with his invention.
+
+It may be asked, after all, what did Fenianism do for Ireland? To those
+who ask the question I would answer that no honest effort for liberty
+has ever been made in vain. If Fenianism did nothing else, it kept alive
+the tradition and the spirit of freedom among Irishmen, and handed them
+on to the next generation. In so far as the men who took part in it were
+unselfish, were whole-souled lovers of their country, and prepared to
+risk life and liberty for their country's sake--and I think with pride
+of the thousands of such men I knew or knew of--then the whole Irish
+race was ennobled and lifted up from the mire of serfdom.
+
+But it did more than merely make martyrs. Its strength, its spontaneity,
+and the devotion of its adherents were such that they undoubtedly
+awakened not merely some alarm, but also some sense of justice in
+England.
+
+Gladstone admitted that what first prompted him to set in motion the
+movement for the disestablishment of the Irish Church was "the intensity
+of Fenianism." But the result did not end there. For many an Englishman
+was moved to the belief that surely there must be something wrong with a
+system which provoked such a movement, something not wholly bad about a
+cause for which men went with calm, proud confidence to the felon's cell
+or the scaffold. And, even to-day, England--with all her secret service
+facilities--does not know one-half of the danger from which she escaped;
+nor can I repeat much of what I myself could say of Fenianism in
+England.
+
+There are men who have made large fortunes in business; there are
+eminent men in many of the professions, whose former connection with
+Fenianism is unsuspected, who, at the time, if the call had been made
+upon them, would cheerfully have thrown aside their careers and taken
+their places in the ranks.
+
+Once again "a soul came into Ireland," and men were capable then of high
+enterprises which to-day seem to belong to another age.
+
+Even for myself, I have many times marvelled how light-heartedly in
+those days I took the risks of conspiracy--how little it troubled me
+that there were dozens of men who bore my liberty, and perhaps my life,
+in their hands. But I never doubted them--and I was right!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE HOME RULE MOVEMENT.
+
+
+It now becomes my business to record the formation and progress of
+another organisation--one which appealed to me precisely on the same
+grounds as Fenianism, namely, first, that it was based on justice; and,
+secondly, that it was practicable.
+
+This was the constitutional movement for what was known as Home Rule. My
+principles have never altered, and I can see nothing inconsistent in my
+adapting myself to changed conditions. I and those who thought like me
+were driven into Fenianism because it seemed likely to achieve success,
+and what was call "constitutional agitation" seemed hopeless. Now the
+position was reversed. On the one hand Fenianism had collapsed, and on
+the other there seemed a prospect, partly owing to the change wrought by
+Fenianism, that a constitutional movement might succeed.
+
+This constitutional movement had been going on for some six years
+previous to the rescue of the military Fenians, having been inaugurated
+at a meeting in the Bilton Hotel, Dublin, on the 19th May, 1870, five
+days after the arrest of Michael Davitt, and his disappearance for a
+season from the stage of Irish history.
+
+In the pages which are to follow I shall have occasion to introduce
+some of those who took part in that first Home Rule gathering in Dublin.
+It was a hopeful beginning, as there were assembled men who were of
+various creeds and politics--Catholics, Protestants, Fenian
+sympathisers, Repealers, Liberals, and Tories--but all of whom had in
+view the happiness and prosperity of their common country. There they
+established the "Home Government Association of Ireland," the first
+resolution passed being:--
+
+     This Association is formed for the purpose of attaining for Ireland
+     the right of self-government by means of a National Parliament.
+
+The fact was that the "intensity of Fenianism" had forced thinking men
+of every shade of opinion to realise that government of Ireland by
+outsiders was an abject failure. Even Englishmen themselves began to
+realise that they were engaged in an impossible task, or, at all events,
+one in which they were quite at sea. A humorous story is attributed to
+Mr. T.W. Russell on this point. It is that a certain Englishman, who was
+appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, went to an English official of
+experience in Dublin, and said--
+
+"You know what I mean to do first of all, is to get at the facts--the
+facts--then I shall be on sure ground."
+
+"My dear sir," said the official wearily, "there are no facts in
+Ireland."
+
+The conclusion was not a surprising one for a man who had for years
+been in touch with the "official sources" of information.
+
+While all honour is due to the men who initiated the new movement, the
+names of those who carried on the constitutional struggle during the
+years that preceded this date should not be forgotten. Of all the men I
+ever came into contact with in the course of my experience of
+constitutional agitation, I think the Sullivans--especially T.D. and
+A.M.--deserve the most credit, for they kept the flag flying in the
+columns of the "Nation" and in other ways during all the gloomy years
+that followed after Charles Gavan Duffy left the country in despair. I
+am always proud to have reckoned these two men among my dearest and most
+trusted friends.
+
+Another great admirer of the Sullivans was Alfred Crilly, brother to
+Daniel Crilly, and father of Frederick Lucas Crilly, the present
+respected and able General Secretary of the United Irish League of Great
+Britain. Alfred was one of the most brilliant Irishmen we ever had in
+Liverpool, and no man did better service for the cause in that city
+during his lifetime. It was always a pleasure to me to work in harness
+with him, as I did on many public occasions; for whatever was the
+national organisation going on in Ireland for the time being we
+two--Alfred Crilly and myself--always did our best to have its
+counterpart in Liverpool. Indeed it became the case that for many years
+our people there invariably looked to us to take the initiative in every
+national movement. Whenever A.M. Sullivan came over to our
+demonstrations it did not need our assurance to convince him that every
+pulsation of the national heart in Ireland was as warmly and as strongly
+felt on this side of the Channel as though we still formed part of our
+mother island. Indeed, the evidence of his own eyes, the enthusiasm he
+saw when he came amongst us, caused him to declare at a vast gathering
+in the Amphitheatre that he felt as if he were not out of Ireland at
+all, but on a piece cut from the "old sod" itself.
+
+I felt proud when two young men of my training, John McArdle, who had
+been with me on the "Catholic Times"; and afterwards Daniel Crilly, on
+the "United Irishman," were appointed to the literary staff of the
+"Nation," for which they were well fitted, seeing that, with their
+brilliant gifts, they had, from their earliest days, been imbued with
+the doctrines of that newspaper.
+
+T.D., like his brother, often came to Liverpool, and used to be equally
+delighted with the enthusiastic receptions he got from his
+fellow-countrymen. On one occasion he said to me he was at a loss how to
+show his appreciation. I told him how to do this. "Write us a song," I
+said. He did so; and with that admirable tact which is so characteristic
+of him he chose for his theme--"Erin's Sons in England," a song which,
+written to the air of "The Shamrock," has, for many years, been sung at
+our Irish festivals in Great Britain. As a personal favour to myself he
+wrote it for one of the penny books of my "Irish Library".
+
+I need make no apology for introducing T.D. Sullivan's song here. It
+will be seen that he sings our praise with no uncertain note; and, in
+return, I may say on their behalf that he had no warmer admirers than
+among the Irish of England.
+
+    ERIN'S SONS IN ENGLAND.
+
+   _Air--"Oh, the Shamrock_."
+
+  On every shore, the wide world o'er,
+    The newest and the oldest,
+  The sons are found of Erin's ground
+    Among the best and boldest.
+  But soul and will are turning still
+    To Ireland o'er the ocean,
+  And well I know where aye they glow
+    With most intense devotion.
+
+  CHORUS:--Over here in England,
+           Up and down through England,
+             Fond and true and fearless too,
+           Are Erin's sons in England.
+
+  Where toil is hard, in mill and yard,
+    Their hands are strong to bear it;
+  Where genius bright would wing its flight,
+    The mind is theirs to dare it;
+  But high or low, in joy or woe,
+    With any fate before them,
+  The sweetest bliss they know, is this--
+    To aid the land that bore them.
+
+  CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.
+
+  By many a sign from Thames to Tyne,
+    From Holyhead to Dover,
+  The eye may trace the deathless race
+    Our gallant land sent over.
+  Midst beech and oak, midst flame and smoke.
+    Up springs the cross-tipped steeple
+  That, far and wide, tells where abide
+    The faithful Irish people.
+
+  CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.
+
+  And this I say--on any day
+   That help of theirs is needed,
+  Dear Ireland's call will never fall
+   On their true hearts unheeded
+  They'll plainly show to friend and foe.
+   If e'er the need arises
+  Her arm is long, and stout and strong,
+   To work some strange surprises!
+
+  CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.
+
+It will be remembered that T.D. never allowed himself to be bound by
+conventionalities. There was always a refreshing thoroughness and
+heartiness in what he did. For instance, when he was Lord Mayor of
+Dublin, he on one occasion "opened" a public bath by stripping and
+swimming round it--the Town Clerk and other officials following his
+example.
+
+I have mentioned the good work done in Liverpool by Father Nugent, and
+that I had the pleasure of co-operating with him in some of his
+undertakings.
+
+At the time of the Home Rule movement connected with the name of Isaac
+Butt, and for some years previously, I had been brought into still
+closer contact with him, first, as secretary of his refuge for destitute
+and homeless boys, and then as manager and acting editor of the
+"Northern Press and Catholic Times," after that paper had come into his
+hands. I also assisted him in the temperance movement which he started
+in Liverpool.
+
+When Father Nugent asked me to take charge of the "Catholic Times," I
+entered upon the work literally single-handed, like some of the editors
+we read of a generation or so ago in the Western States of America;
+for, when he left me for a nine months' tour in the States, I
+constituted in my own person the whole staff. We afterwards had some
+able men on the paper. Among these was John McArdle, who left us, as I
+have said, to join the "Nation." He became later a well-known dramatic
+author, his chief works being burlesques and pantomimes. We also had
+James Lysaght Finigan, of whom I speak elsewhere.
+
+While Father Nugent was in America, we used to get great help from a
+fine old Jesuit priest and good Irish Nationalist, Father James
+McSwiney, then of St. Francis Xavier's, Liverpool. He was never happier
+than when smoking his short pipe by the fire in our inner office. With
+his help we created a much admired feature in the "Catholic Times" in
+our "Answers to Correspondents." With the view of drawing on real
+enquiries, he used to concoct and then answer questions on points of
+doctrine, etc. Some people were astonished at the profound
+knowledge--and others at what they considered "the impudence"--displayed
+by Jack McArdle and John Denvir in answering any theological posers that
+might be put to us, never dreaming we had behind us one of the ablest
+theologians of the Jesuit order.
+
+When Father Nugent took the paper in hands, the readers had such
+confidence in it that, from being merely a local paper, we were able
+before long to make it a leading Catholic organ for the whole country.
+
+The reverend father was chaplain of the Liverpool Borough jail. He was
+respected by all classes, Protestant as well as Catholic, not only for
+what he did for the unfortunate creatures who came under his
+ministrations, but as a public-spirited citizen and benefactor of the
+town. It would be wrong if I did not pay a high tribute to the splendid
+service done by him in Liverpool towards elevating the condition of our
+own people. I would be ungrateful, too, if I failed to recognise the
+great educational work he did in giving opportunities for culture to
+many Liverpool Irishmen, myself among the number, which afterwards aided
+their advancement in the battle of life. That is why I never regretted
+that I gave Father Nugent, when conducting the "Catholic Times" for him,
+three of the best years of my life. I never regretted my experiences in
+connection with that paper, particularly in the reporting department,
+for they were often very pleasant ones. Among these was my having been
+introduced to the great Archbishop MacHale, when I went to St.
+Nicholas's to report his sermon.
+
+I have many vivid remembrances arising out of my connection with the
+"Catholic Times."
+
+It was during the time I was in charge of it that we started the Irish
+national organisation on this side of the Channel--the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, formed at our first annual convention
+held in Manchester, at which I was elected as the first General
+Secretary of the organisation.
+
+I was at the same time secretary of the Liverpool Catholic Club, and in
+that capacity I assisted in entertaining the Canadian Papal Zouaves when
+passing through Liverpool on their way home, after their gallant but
+unsuccessful struggle to uphold the power of the Pope against the
+revolutionaries.
+
+In the same way it became my duty as secretary of the club to organise
+the Catholic vote in Liverpool on the occasion of the first School Board
+Election. The Irish and those of Irish extraction in Liverpool being
+reckoned as about one-third of the population, the Catholic body is
+correspondingly numerous. We surprised both friend and foe in the
+results. There were fifteen members to be elected, and we asked our
+people to give three votes for each of our five candidates. They were
+not only elected, but the votes actually given for them--on the
+cumulative principle--could have elected eight out of the fifteen
+members of the Board.
+
+Father Nugent, though immensely popular with all classes, was not, I
+think, a _persona grata_, any more than myself, with Canon Fisher, the
+Vicar-General of the diocese, who was very anti-Irish, and, so far as he
+could, prevented anyone connected with the "Catholic Times" coming into
+personal contact with Bishop Goss, who was a typical Englishman of the
+best kind. The bishop had a blunt, hitting-out-from-the-shoulder style
+of speaking in his sermons that compelled attention. But you could
+hardly call them sermons at all; they were rather powerful discourses
+upon social topics, which, from a newspaper point of view, made splendid
+"copy." Accordingly, during the year before his death, I followed him
+all over the diocese to get his sermon for each week's paper. There is
+no doubt that Dr. Goss's sermons helped materially to put a backbone
+into the "Catholic Times" and greatly to increase its circulation.
+
+In one of the rural districts the bishop was giving an illustration of
+the meaning of "Tradition," and, very much to my embarrassment, I found
+him taking me for his text. He said--"So far as I know, there were no
+newspapers in Our Lord's days; there was nobody taking down _His_
+sermons, as there is to-day taking mine; so that _His_ teaching had to
+be by word of mouth, and much of it has come down to us as Tradition."
+
+In the interest of the paper, Father Nugent was anxious that I should be
+introduced to the Bishop. But he knew, as well as I did, that the
+difficulty in the way of this was what might be called the Grand Vizier,
+Canon Fisher. "You should push forward, Denvir," Father Nugent would
+say, "after Mass is over, and ask to see the Bishop." Over and over
+again I did so, but was always met at the vestry door by Canon Fisher,
+with his suave smile. "Well, Mr. Denvir, what can I do for you?" "I
+would like to see his lordship," I would say. No use. The Canon would
+say--"No, no; don't trouble the Bishop; I can give you all the
+information you want;" and so it went on, and I was baffled in my
+attempts.
+
+I ought to say that, though Canon Fisher was able to keep me from coming
+into personal contact with Bishop Goss, Father Nugent was too strong for
+him in the end; for, eventually, we got into communication with the
+Bishop regularly every week on the subject of his sermons. Each Monday
+as soon as my copy was set up, we sent him a proof, which he would read
+and correct and return. But his "corrections" often included the
+addition of altogether new matter, which made the sermon the more
+interesting and valuable to us. Indeed, on several occasions, we used
+his new matter, with slight alterations, as leaders. The very week he
+died we had one of these leaders in type, and it appeared in the same
+issue which announced his death.
+
+When Cardinal Vaughan became Bishop of Salford, Father Nugent succeeded
+in getting his support and influence for the "Catholic Times," a most
+valuable thing for us, seeing that Manchester, though with a smaller
+Catholic population than Liverpool, was of more importance from a
+publishing point of view, as from that city can be more readily reached
+a number of large manufacturing towns, of which it is the centre. Again
+it was--"Denvir, you must see the Bishop." But this time there was no
+difficulty, as an appointment had been made for me. Accordingly, by
+arrangement, I reached Manchester one morning between six and seven
+o'clock, that being the most convenient time for him that Bishop Vaughan
+could give me, and together we discussed the best means of forwarding
+the interests of the paper in the diocese of Salford. I found him,
+besides being a man of courtly presence, as we all know, most
+broad-minded and genial, and keenly alive to the influence which a good
+newspaper would have upon his people.
+
+Whenever I see the "Catholic Times," I feel gratified at its very
+existence, as a proof that my three years with Father Nugent were not
+altogether spent in vain. For when he placed its control in my hands on
+his departure for America, I found it with a very small circulation, and
+anything but a paying concern; whereas, when I yielded up the trust into
+his hands, I had the satisfaction of handing over to him a substantial
+amount of cash in hand, a statement of assets and liabilities showing a
+satisfactory balance on the right side, and a paper with a largely
+increased and paying circulation.
+
+For many years previous to his death, I did not come into contact with
+him. Indeed it was only the year before he died that I had the
+pleasure--and it was all the more a pleasure as we had differed strongly
+during previous years on some points--of meeting him at his house in
+Formby. This was before his last visit to America, where he contracted
+the illness which terminated in his death soon after his return to
+England.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR--AN IRISH AMBULANCE CORPS--THE FRENCH FOREIGN
+LEGION.
+
+
+When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, the sympathy of Ireland was
+naturally, for historic reasons, on the side of France. It was not
+surprising, then, that many young Irishmen who had served in America, or
+in the ranks of the Papal Volunteers, or had borne a share in the Fenian
+movement, were anxious to show their sympathy in a practical way, and at
+the same time to gratify the national propensity for a fight
+
+                --in any good cause at all.
+
+I happened to number among my friends some of these young Irishmen, of
+whom I may mention Captain Martin Kirwan, James Lysaght Finigan, Edmond
+O'Donovan, Arthur Forrester, Frank Byrne, and James O'Kelly. There was a
+strong feeling in Ireland to send a considerable body of men to France,
+but the law stood in the way. It was evaded by the formation of an
+Ambulance Corps, and for this generous subscriptions flowed in, along
+with numerous applications from volunteers. These were all medically
+examined, as if for a regular army, and in this way as fine a body of
+young men as ever left Ireland was picked from those who had
+volunteered. The ambulance service was equipped in the most perfect
+manner, and presented to the French nation. On arriving in France, there
+were (as was, of course, intended) more men than were required for the
+ambulance duties, and these at once volunteered for service as soldiers.
+They were formed into a company under the command of Captain Kirwan, one
+of the sergeants being Frank Byrne, who was afterwards Kirwan's
+colleague as an official of the Irish constitutional organisation in
+Great Britain. The company might have developed into a regiment, and
+even into a brigade, had the movement started earlier to get men over to
+France by various means. This could have been done, notwithstanding the
+Foreign Enlistment Act; and towards the end of the war, French agents
+were in this country providing for the sending over of large numbers of
+men to France, when the capitulation of Paris caused the collapse of
+their arrangements.
+
+The men of the Irish Ambulance Corps did their work so well as to show
+that not only did Irishmen make good soldiers, but that, possessing the
+sympathetic Celtic nature, their services were highly appreciated by the
+wounded who fell to their charge. Captain Kirwan's company fought
+bravely, sustaining the credit of their country through the whole
+campaign, and, under Bourbaki, were among those who actually struck the
+last blow the Germans received on French soil.
+
+Arthur Forrester, who joined the French Foreign Legion, was severely
+wounded in the foot. After the war he came into the office of the
+"Catholic Times," when I was manager and John McArdle editor of that
+paper. We welcomed him, of course, not only as an old friend and brother
+journalist, but as one who had been fighting for France.
+
+In his "Camp Fires of the Legion" written for my "Irish Library," James
+Lysaght Finigan tells of his adventures in the war. He found his way to
+Lille, in the north of France, and, with several hundreds of other
+Irishmen became enrolled in the ranks of the Foreign Legion. In
+Lieutenant Elliott he was delighted to recognise Edmond O'Donovan, who
+had figured so prominently in the Fenian movement, and whose
+incarceration in Ireland and exile in America were fresh in his memory.
+"The Legion," Finigan says, "showed itself worthy of its predecessors,
+the Irish Brigades of former days, during the reverses that constantly
+befel the armies of France." He gives graphic accounts of the battles
+they were engaged in, and how, in the defence of Orleans, he and a
+number of his comrades were taken prisoners, among those being his
+friend O'Donovan, who had been wounded by a piece of shell.
+
+The Foreign Legion must have borne the brunt of the fighting. The fourth
+battalion was cut to pieces at Woerth, Gravelotte, and Sedan; the fifth
+battalion was reduced from 3,000 to some 300; the sixth battalion retook
+Orleans, was compelled to abandon it, and covered itself with glory at
+Le Mans and elsewhere; and the seventh was interned with Bourbaki in
+Switzerland until the end of the war.
+
+Although I often heard from him afterwards, the last time I met Edmond
+O'Donovan, if I remember rightly, was in a North Lancashire town, in
+which John O'Connor Power had been lecturing the same night. I forget
+exactly who else of the "boys" were there--I think William Hogan was
+one--but there were some choice spirits, and we made just such an Irish
+night of it as Finigan describes they had when he and O'Donovan fought
+in the Foreign Legion.
+
+Edmond O'Donovan was the son of the famous Irish scholar and antiquary,
+John O'Donovan, the translator from the Gaelic--with O'Curry and
+Petrie--of that great Irish history, "The Annals of the Four Masters,"
+and other manuscripts. The elder O'Donovan had made the acquaintance of
+Sir Thomas Larcom, when both were young men together on the staff of the
+Ordnance Survey. John O'Donovan appointed his friend Larcom to be
+guardian of his children in case of his death.
+
+It was Larcom's duty, as an official of the Government, to hunt down the
+Fenians, both native and foreign, so that he had undertaken a serious
+and perplexing charge. For O'Donovan's elder sons were strong
+Nationalists and Fenians; so that, on the death of his old friend,
+Larcom was like an old hen having charge of a brood of ducklings who
+could not be kept from the troubled waters of Fenianism. There is no
+doubt that Larcom's influence kept them from or saved them from a lot
+of trouble. The O'Donovans were an accomplished family, the one I knew
+best, besides Edmond, being Richard, who has held a responsible
+mercantile position for some years, and who furnished me with much
+valuable information about his father, when Thomas Flannery--one of our
+best Gaelic scholars--was writing a life of Dr. John O'Donovan for my
+"Irish Library" series.
+
+Besides being thoroughly acquainted with several languages, Edmond
+O'Donovan had an excellent scientific training, which was brought into
+requisition in connection with the projected Fenian military movements
+in Ireland. While a thorough classical scholar, the poems he liked best
+were the songs of Thomas Davis and the Young Irelanders. He was slender
+of figure and had a handsome oval face. In speaking, whether in private
+or before an audience, he had an animated and expressive manner, with a
+good deal of gesture, such as a Frenchman or Italian would use. I have
+heard him singing songs like "Clare's Dragoons" with much fire and
+fervour, throwing his whole soul into it in a way I can never forget.
+
+In 1877-1878 he was a special correspondent in the Russo-Turkish war
+with the Turkish army, and he sent home powerful and graphic accounts of
+every battle and siege.
+
+His intimate knowledge of Arabic stood to him in these and in the
+Egyptian campaigns in which he afterwards took part. In 1879 he went
+through Russia to the shores of the Caspian Sea, travelled through the
+north of Persia and the adjacent territory of Khorassan, to the land of
+the Tekke Turcomans, and to Merv, thus penetrating the mysteries of
+Central Asia as no European traveller had ever done so perfectly before.
+In 1881 he returned to England, and published his book, "The Merv
+Oasis," and afterwards read a paper before the Royal Geographical
+Society on "Merv and its surroundings."
+
+Finally, in 1883, he went as special correspondent to the Soudan, and
+there this brilliant Irishman perished with the whole of Hicks Pasha's
+army. No tidings ever came of how Edmond O'Donovan met his death, but
+those who knew him best feel that he must have yielded up his gallant
+spirit to its Creator with a courage and fortitude worthy of an
+Irishman.
+
+In January, 1906, I had occasion to call upon his brother Richard in
+Liverpool, and asked if they had ever got any trace of Edmond. Nothing
+had been heard of how he had actually perished, but an authentic relic
+of him had fallen into the hands of a priest in the Soudan. This was a
+blood-stained garment, which was proved beyond doubt to have belonged to
+him.
+
+I have mentioned another name in connection with the Franco-Prussian
+War--that of James O'Kelly. His career, like that of O'Donovan, had been
+stormy and adventurous. I had previously met him in connection with the
+Fenian movement.
+
+He had been in the French army, and served in the campaign which was so
+disastrous to the Mexican Emperor Maximilian. His adventurous
+temperament led him again to join the French service during the
+Franco-Prussian war. He was employed on the confidential mission of
+raising a force of Irishmen for the war. I have described the formation
+of the company under Kirwan, which was the outcome of the Ambulance
+Corps. It will be seen, too, that there were a considerable number of
+Irishmen in the Foreign Legion. But, after all, these did not amount to
+a number sufficient to have much appreciable result on the ultimate
+fortunes of the war. The French military authorities, knowing what
+splendid fighting materials Irishmen would make, commissioned O'Kelly to
+raise a large force. For this purpose he made Liverpool his
+headquarters, and I was pleased to see him again when he called upon me
+at the office of the "Catholic Times" My sympathies were strongly with
+France, and I gave him what assistance I could in furthering the object
+of his mission. At my suggestion, therefore, he took up his abode at the
+hotel opposite our office, at the corner of Moorfields and Dale Street.
+A large number of volunteers were got from among the advanced element in
+Liverpool and surrounding towns, who wanted to learn the use of arms in
+real warfare--their ultimate object I need not mention. From other
+quarters in Ireland as well as England there were volunteers for the
+French army. I had arranged through an emigration agent, Mr. Michael
+Francis Duffy, a much respected and patriotic Irishman of singular
+culture, for the charter of two steamers to take the men to Havre; but
+just then Paris fell, after a long siege; the war ended, and the Irish
+Legion project collapsed.
+
+In 1872 James O'Kelly turned his attention to journalism as a
+profession. He got his first opening on the "New York Herald," partly
+through his thorough knowledge of the military profession, but still
+more by that singular tact that never failed him under the most trying
+circumstances.
+
+Some years after, he called on me again in Liverpool, and I heard from
+him of some stirring incidents in his career. Amongst those were his
+perilous experiences in connection with the fighting in Cuba, from which
+he narrowly escaped with his life.
+
+Since then he has entered Parliament. He was a staunch supporter from
+the first of Mr. Parnell. When the unfortunate "split" came, he took the
+side of the "Chief," but none is more pleased than he to be a member of
+the now re-united Irish Party.
+
+In connection with the Franco-Prussian war I may be allowed to refer
+here to a non-combatant, who, with his brother priests, remained at
+their post during the terrible siege of Paris, ministering to the sick
+and dying. This was my cousin, Father Bernard O'Loughlin, Superior of
+the Passionist Order in Paris.
+
+And yet, notwithstanding their noble services to humanity on this and
+other occasions, the Passionist Fathers have since been driven out of
+the country by the French Government. The announcement of the danger of
+this, when it was first threatened, caused consternation in the foreign
+Catholic colony of Paris, to whom the Passionist Fathers had endeared
+themselves by their labours on behalf of needy and stranded
+English-speaking people, and their devoted spiritual ministrations.
+
+The Passionist mission in Paris was founded some forty years ago by
+Father Bernard, with his friend, Father Ignatius Spencer, also a
+Passionist, and uncle of the present Earl Spencer.
+
+The Archbishop of Paris had invited the Passionists to establish a
+church in Paris, on account of the number of Irish, American, and
+English Catholics requiring religious ministrations, few of the French
+clergy being able to speak English. Father O'Loughlin first commenced
+his labours in the Church of St. Nicholas, in the Rue Saint Honore,
+where he remained three years. After this a sum of 200,000 francs was
+subscribed, chiefly by Irish, American, and English residents, for the
+site and building of a church. Father Bernard was soon joined by several
+other members of the order sent from England, and there were always four
+or five Passionist Fathers attached as chaplains to the church. The
+following distinguished prelates have preached in this Church--Cardinal
+Manning, Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Richard, Archbishop Ireland,
+Archbishop Spalding, and Archbishop Passadiere.
+
+Mrs. Mackay was the most generous of the supporters of the order in
+Paris; and, in 1903, when the fathers found themselves unable to pay the
+tax created by the French "Loi d'accroissement," she paid down the
+20,000 francs required to save the church.
+
+Their devotion in remaining faithful to their flock during the long and
+terrible siege of Paris in 1870 ought to have recommended them to the
+sympathies of all patriotic Frenchmen. The Passionists not only
+ministered to the spiritual but to the temporal wants of those coming
+under their charge. They visited the sick and poor, relieved the age in
+need, provided for orphans, and assisted stranded Irish and English
+governesses, irrespective of creed, who had come to Paris in search of
+situations. Those who suffered most from the withdrawal of the
+Passionists were the poor and afflicted.
+
+The Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, the American Embassy, and the British
+Ambassador, addressed the French Government on their behalf, pointing
+out that the services of the Passionists were indispensable--but in
+vain. It is humiliating that the government of what is supposed to be a
+great Catholic nation like France should be appealed to in such a cause,
+fruitlessly, by the ambassador of non-Catholic England.
+
+Father Bernard O'Loughlin's name in the world was John, after his
+father, my mother's brother, John O'Loughlin. The elder John was a
+brewer's traveller, and often came to our house in Liverpool, bringing
+his violin with him. He had a wide knowledge of old Irish airs, and to
+his accompaniment we had many a genuine Irish night, singing the
+stirring songs then appearing in the "Nation."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE HOME RULE CONFEDERATION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+
+In the previous chapter it will be seen that I have somewhat anticipated
+the course of events described in this narrative in order to give brief
+sketches of some of my friends who took part, in various capacities, in
+the Franco-Prussian war, and incidents arising out of it. I have also,
+for the sake of compactness, briefly touched on their subsequent
+careers.
+
+I shall here now resume my recollections of the Home Rule movement from
+its inception in 1870.
+
+From the first everything pointed to Isaac Butt as its leader. His
+splendid abilities, even when ranged against us in the celebrated debate
+in the Dublin Corporation with O'Connell, excited the admiration of his
+fellow-countrymen; but now, when he had come over to the popular side,
+he was welcomed with acclamation, the more so that his genial and
+loveable nature was bound to win the hearts of a susceptible people like
+ours. Moreover, his joining the popular side was due to the impression
+made upon him by the Fenian leaders, so many of whom he defended in the
+trials from '67 onward; and he has left on record a remarkable testimony
+to the purity of their principles and the nobility of their ideals.
+
+He was lacking in certain qualities, the want of which in his character
+prevented him being such a strong leader as O'Connell or Parnell. But,
+all the same, while he led he gave splendid services--which can never be
+forgotten--to the cause.
+
+As I have said, Alfred Crilly and I were generally expected to take the
+initiative in any new Irish movement in Liverpool. Accordingly, towards
+the end of 1871, we were asked to make a move in connection with the new
+organisation in Ireland. We formed a small committee, and invited Isaac
+Butt to our projected opening demonstration. He was not able to come to
+our first gathering, but we had many opportunities during the years that
+followed of making his acquaintance; and, personally, I received many
+kindnesses at his hands. With Alfred Crilly I was sent to Dublin by the
+Committee to find influential speakers for our public inaugural
+Liverpool demonstration, to be held on the 3rd of January, 1872, our
+association having been opened some months previously. We secured the
+services of Mr. A.M. Sullivan and Professor Galbraith of Trinity
+College.
+
+When we returned to Liverpool it became our duty to find a chairman for
+our meeting worthy of the occasion. Mr. Charles Russell, who was first
+asked, suggested that we should get some one of more influence than
+himself. "Why not ask Dr. Commins?" he said.
+
+Dr. Commins was a barrister on the same circuit as Charles Russell. We
+did ask him. He cheerfully consented, and from that hour he was for a
+long time the leading figure in the struggle for Home Rule in Great
+Britain, being for several years President of the organisation. There is
+no more homely and unassuming man, ever accessible to the humblest of
+his fellow-countrymen, than "the Doctor," as his friends affectionately
+call him.
+
+He had a brilliant university career, and was a man of such wide
+attainments that I think there was a general belief amongst Liverpool
+Irishmen that he knew _everything_. Accordingly, they used frequently to
+go to him to settle some knotty point beyond the ordinary conception,
+and they seldom came away unsatisfied.
+
+Dr. Commins is an accomplished poet, and was for many years a
+contributor to the columns of the "Nation" and the "United Irishman" (of
+Liverpool). In 1876 he was elected as a Home Ruler to represent Vauxhall
+Ward in the Liverpool Town Council. He has ever since been a member of
+that body, being now an Alderman of the city. In due time he became a
+member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, of which several other
+Liverpool Irishmen have been members.
+
+Liverpool was not alone in forming its Home Rule Association; most of
+the large towns had them in due course, but for some time there was no
+bond of union between them. This, however, was formed in due time, the
+man to take the first step in bringing us together being John Barry,
+then residing in Manchester, and the chief man in our organisation
+there.
+
+John was, therefore, practically the founder of the great organisation
+which, under its various names--of the Home Rule Confederation of Great
+Britain. Irish National Land League of Great Britain, Irish National
+League of Great Britain, and United Irish League of Great Britain--has
+been in existence since 1873, working in accordance with and taking the
+name of whatever has been the recognised organisation for the time being
+in Ireland.
+
+John Barry, who had borne an active share in the struggle for
+self-government--irrespective of the methods being constitutional or
+unconstitutional--was a man of attractive personality and an
+indefatigable worker and organiser. He was the Secretary of the
+Manchester Home Rule Association, and, seeing the want of some body in
+which the various associations in Great Britain would be represented,
+he, in the name and with the authority of his branch, issued invitations
+to the associations then known to exist to send delegates to a
+Convention to be held in Manchester. To give importance to the occasion,
+and the necessary authority, Isaac Butt was invited to preside, and to
+attend a great demonstration in the Free Trade Hall, on the night of the
+Convention, January 18th, 1873.
+
+Although I bore an active part in the organising of that first Home Rule
+Convention of Great Britain, it is only a short time since, after a
+lapse of over thirty years, that I heard from John Barry himself the
+difficulty he had in securing the presence of the Home Rule leader. It
+was a long time since we had seen each other, but I found him the same
+cheery, warm-hearted, generous, and patriotic John Barry as ever. It
+was in the office of his firm in London we met, and took advantage of
+the opportunity to fight our battles over again; and he reminded me of
+the sort of inner circle of the I.R.B. to which he and I, and others who
+have since been prominent in Irish politics, belonged.
+
+He was always, however, a practical patriot, and would use every
+legitimate method to serve Ireland. That was why he threw himself with
+such ardour into the Home Rule movement.
+
+He told me of how he went over to Dublin to secure the promise of Isaac
+Butt to preside at the projected Convention, and to attend the
+demonstration in the evening. He got the requisite promise, and the
+announcement was made in all good faith in Manchester. So far all looked
+promising; but what was his alarm to hear, within three days of the
+event, that Isaac Butt's professional engagements would prevent his
+being able to attend. Added to this he had heard that Butt, who was of a
+somewhat irresolute temperament, was being warned that he was falling
+into the hands of a "Fenian gang."
+
+Barry spent all the money he had in sending to the Irish leader a
+telegram as earnest, hot, and forcible as he was capable of, beseeching
+him to come, and pointing out to him the serious consequences to the
+Cause in Great Britain of his failure to do so. This telegraphic budget
+reached Butt in Court; and, as he turned over leaf after leaf of the
+message, he said to a friend sitting alongside of him--"This man's in
+earnest, at any rate," and immediately wired back--"Will go, if alive."
+
+Apart from the offensiveness of styling us a "gang," those who had
+warned Butt of the hands into which he was falling may not, probably,
+have been far astray as regards some of those from whom he had received
+the invitation; seeing that when the organisation for Great Britain was
+duly formed, John Barry, John Ryan, John Walsh, and myself were elected
+on the Executive; but, at all events, Isaac Butt turned up.
+
+Some twenty Home Rule Associations responded to the invitation by
+sending delegates to the Convention. There is a remarkable contrast
+between this, the first of these Conventions, and those held every year
+since; for, at some of those, several hundreds of branches have been
+represented--showing the growth of the organisation since 1873.
+
+At this Manchester Convention, at which Mr. Butt presided, it was
+resolved to form a central body from the existing local associations, to
+be called the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain. Isaac Butt
+himself was elected the first President. I was elected the first General
+Secretary, and it became my duty to find out the existing associations
+which had not sent delegates to Manchester, and to invite them, as well
+as those who had been represented at the present gathering, to a
+supplementary convention. It was decided to hold this in Birmingham, to
+complete the arrangements made in Manchester for the future working of
+the organisation.
+
+On the night of the Manchester Convention Mr. Butt was the chief speaker
+at the public demonstration. Mr. John Ferguson, of Glasgow, was our
+Chairman. He was a sterling Ulster Protestant Nationalist. Many used to
+think he was a Scot. Indeed, I thought at one time myself he must be of
+Scottish extraction at all events, there being, I thought, more Scottish
+Fergusons than Irish. Speaking to him on the subject, I was reminded by
+him of the Irish king, Fergus, the founder of the Scottish monarchy; and
+he claimed to be of genuine Irish descent.
+
+He often used to call on me when I was conducting the "Catholic Times."
+At that time he was travelling for his firm of Cameron & Ferguson, who
+published a good many popular works on Irish subjects. We were both
+pleased to hear of the initiative John Barry had taken towards the
+formation of the Irish organisation of Great Britain. If I remember
+rightly, John Ferguson was in Liverpool at the time, and we went to
+Manchester together to attend this our first Annual Convention.
+
+After the Manchester Convention, I found there were considerably more
+Home Rule Associations in existence than had been represented at our
+first gathering. As a consequence we had a much larger and more
+representative attendance at our adjourned Convention in Birmingham. Mr.
+Butt presided in the morning and Mr. A.M. Sullivan in the afternoon.
+
+The Chairman at the public demonstration at night was Father Sherlock,
+one of the finest specimens of the good old "soggarth aroon" type it has
+ever been my privilege to meet. Several years afterwards, when I was
+organiser for the League in the Birmingham district, I was right glad
+to have the opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with him. The very
+contact with Father John Sherlock was elevating and inspiring, so
+transparent were the simplicity and purity of his life. Here was a
+saint, I thought, if ever there was one on earth.
+
+In my experience I have generally found that the men who have taken the
+lead in most places have been professional men rather than traders. This
+was true of Birmingham as well as elsewhere. There were no men who did
+better service than Hugh Heinrick, an able journalist (who afterwards
+became editor of the "United Irishman," the organ of our Confederation),
+and Professor Bertram Windle. I was glad to see in the newspapers the
+announcement of such a genuine Irishman as Dr. Windle being appointed
+President of the University College, Cork.
+
+Professor Windle is an honour to his new position, and is as devoted to
+the cause of creed and country as he was when one of the Professors of
+the Queen's University, Birmingham.
+
+During the years when I was organiser for the League in Birmingham; I
+became intimately acquainted with him. I found him not only a man of
+great learning, but an earnest Catholic and devoted Irish Nationalist.
+No man in our organisation did better service, and he was always ready
+to go at a moment's notice to speak or lecture wherever required.
+
+As a further illustration of what I have said about the aid given to the
+cause by professional men, I ought to mention Dr. James Mullin, of
+Cardiff. He was a leading and active man in his district when I
+travelled in South Wales as an organiser. His talent as a poet has made
+him well known in Wales, and his accounts of travels in many lands have
+found many admiring readers. His heart is as warm as his brain is
+active, which is saying much.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+BIGGAR AND PARNELL--THE "UNITED IRISHMAN "--THE O'CONNELL CENTENARY.
+
+
+The General Election of 1874 was remarkable as the first since the Union
+which had clearly and distinctly returned a majority of Irish members of
+Parliament as Home Rulers. Previously most of them had been returned as
+Liberals or Tories. It is memorable in my eyes, as it was the occasion
+when two of my personal friends, Alexander Martin Sullivan and Joseph
+Gillis Biggar, first entered Parliament. It was in the year after he was
+elected that Mr. Biggar made his _debut_ as an "obstructionist."
+
+Charles Stewart Parnell having been, in the spring of 1875, elected as
+successor in the representation of Meath to "honest John Martin," it was
+not long before the famous "Biggar and Parnell" combination, which was
+destined to revolutionize the whole system of Parliamentary procedure,
+was created.
+
+Feeling the necessity for a newspaper representing the views of the Home
+Rule Confederation and chronicling its work from week to week, the
+Executive promoted the formation of a limited liability company for the
+purpose, and the outcome was the issue of the "United Irishman," the
+first number of which appeared on June 4th, 1875. I was appointed
+manager, and was also the publisher, the paper being produced at my
+place of business, 68 Byrom Street, Liverpool. The following were the
+Directors--Andrew Commins, LL.D., Chairman; and John Barry, Joseph
+Gillis Biggar, M.P., John Ferguson, Richard Mangan, Bernard MacAnulty,
+and Peter McKinley. William John Oliver was Honorary Secretary, with
+Hugh Heinrick as Editor at the commencement, and Daniel Crilly
+afterwards.
+
+The newspaper was fortunate in its Honorary Secretary, for William John
+Oliver was one of the most enthusiastic workers we ever had in the Home
+Rule movement. He was at this time engaged in commerce in Liverpool,
+having previously been an officer in the Royal Navy. He was ever willing
+to be "the man in the gap" in case of an emergency, and that was how he
+became for a time the Honorary General Secretary of the Home Rule
+Confederation. He was always a cheery and, at the same time, an
+eminently practical man. He took a leading part in our local elections
+in Liverpool from the time we began to fight them on Home Rule
+principles--when the necessity arose, as I have elsewhere explained, to
+have public men who were not afraid to identify themselves with the
+national cause.
+
+Hugh Heinrick, our editor, was a brilliant writer, who had, for several
+years, been a strenuous worker in the Home Rule cause. He was a frequent
+contributor of poetry to the "Nation" and other national journals,
+generally over the signature of "Hugh Mac Erin." He was born in the
+County Wexford in 1831. Before taking up the editorship of the "United
+Irishman" he was for many years resident in Birmingham, where he was a
+schoolmaster. He died in 1887.
+
+Daniel Crilly, one of the most active and eloquent advocates of the
+Irish cause in Liverpool, succeeded him--this being his maiden effort in
+journalism. He was afterwards on the staff of the "Nation," and also did
+good service while a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
+
+Among other contributors to the "United Irishman" were Isaac Butt, Dr.
+Commins, Frank Hugh O'Donnell, Michael Clarke, Captain Kirwan, and Frank
+Byrne. Our poetry was a strong point with us--Dr. Commins, Frank Fox,
+John Hand, Patrick Clarke, Heber MacMahon, and Miss Bessie Murphy being
+among the contributors.
+
+When the "United Irishman" was started, the offices of the Home Rule
+Confederation, which had previously been in Manchester, were for
+convenience removed to my place of business. As the executive meetings
+and the meetings of the newspaper directors were held there, I
+frequently had the pleasure of meeting under my own roof Irishmen who
+either then were or afterwards became prominent members of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party, including Isaac Butt, Charles Stewart Parnell, and
+Joseph Biggar.
+
+Mr. Biggar and I were always great friends. He had the reputation of
+being close-fisted and penurious; but that this was not so I knew from
+many circumstances, though it is quite true he would not allow himself
+to be defrauded of a penny.
+
+He became a Catholic in his later days. Though such of us as were of
+the household of the faith welcomed him into the fold, his conversion
+did not increase his value in our eyes--indeed, from a political point
+of view, he was of more service to the cause as an Irish Protestant,
+there being too few of them in our ranks. He had a fresh, pleasant,
+shrewd-looking face, and spoke with a decided northern accent, which had
+somewhat of a metallic ring. Some of his brother Members of Parliament
+thought his "obstruction" methods highly ungentlemanly, but he believed
+in fighting England with her own weapons. If good Irish measures were
+not allowed to pass, he would throw every obstacle in the way of English
+measures being carried. The tempest of rage that assailed him in the
+"House" only added to his popularity outside. Not only was he an immense
+favourite amongst Irishmen, but with democratic Englishmen also; and at
+great mass meetings of English miners and agricultural labourers he
+could always get resolutions carried by the honest, hard-handed sons of
+toil in favour of the restoration of Ireland's rights.
+
+Biggar used to get many letters approving of the attitude he and Parnell
+had taken up in Parliament. One in particular, from a warm admirer, he
+used to show to his friends with great glee. It was a song in the old
+"Come-all-ye" style. A few lines I can remember sang in words of high
+commendation of--
+
+  --Joseph Biggar,
+  That man of rigour,
+  Whose form and figure
+    Do foes appal!
+
+My place being the head-quarters of the Confederation at this time, the
+fact of my being known to be generally on the spot made me a kind of
+"man in the gap," to fill up engagements likely to fall through for want
+of a speaker. In this way I was often rushed off to distant parts of the
+country at the shortest notice.
+
+The most important Irish event in 1875 was the celebration of the
+O'Connell Centenary in Dublin, on Friday, August 6th. Our Confederation
+was well represented in the processions, there being, as might be
+expected from its proximity, a large contingent from Liverpool. So great
+was the rush to cross the Channel for the celebration that we chartered
+several of the fine steamers of the City of Dublin Company, and kept
+them for several days fully employed in crossing and recrossing.
+
+The pity of it was that there should be two processions--the magnificent
+display organised by the official Centenary Committee and the procession
+got up by the Amnesty Association.
+
+The speeches of Messrs. Butt, Sullivan, and Power on the platform
+erected in what was then Sackville Street, when the outdoor display
+broke up, explained why the Amnesty Committee and their friends
+considered that a protest was necessary and justifiable--hence the
+second procession. The chief objections to the action of the official
+committee were that, while all honour was to be paid to the memory of
+O'Connell as the Liberator of his Catholic fellow-countrymen, his
+services as the champion of the political freedom of the Irish people
+were being kept in the background. Also--and that was why the Amnesty
+Association for the release of political prisoners took the initiative
+in the protest against the action of the Centenary Committee--because,
+on a great national occasion like this, the very existence of the
+martyrs for freedom, who were suffering in English prisons, appeared to
+be forgotten. Such forgetfulness was considered at the least highly
+inappropriate.
+
+There was much indignation, too, that Lord O'Hagan should have been
+chosen to speak the panegyric on O'Connell, seeing that he had actually
+sentenced some of those very prisoners.
+
+The Irish organisation in Great Britain sympathised with these views,
+and the various branches sending contingents showed their feelings by
+throwing in their part with the Amnesty Association.
+
+The contingent from Great Britain was, on the proposition of Mr. Patrick
+Egan, given the place of honour in front of the amnesty procession
+which, on the morning of the Centenary celebration, the 6th of August,
+1875, started from Beresford Place, near the Custom House. The banners
+of the three Liverpool branches were a picturesque feature in the
+procession, as also was the Sarsfield Band, a body of fine young
+Liverpool Irishmen who headed our contingent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+HOME RULE IN LOCAL ELECTIONS--PARNELL SUCCEEDS BUTT AS PRESIDENT OF THE
+IRISH ORGANISATION IN GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+
+It was at the Liverpool Municipal Elections of 1875 that we first
+introduced the question of Home Rule into local politics. When we were
+holding our inaugural meeting to establish the Home Rule organisation in
+the town, we could not get any of our Irish public men to take the
+chair. The reason was that these had not been elected as Irishmen but as
+Liberals. As a matter of fact, we had in Dr. Commins a man immensely
+superior to any of them. But we thought that men who had been elected to
+public positions mainly by Irish votes should not refuse to identify
+themselves with the national movement, and to help it by whatever
+influence they possessed. We therefore decided to _make_ some public
+men. In Scotland and Vauxhall Wards we had a clear majority, but though
+the Irish vote in these wards was expected for Liberal candidates, who
+were not Irish or Catholic, in no other ward could a Catholic or
+Irishman be elected. We, therefore, commenced to make a change by
+putting forward for Scotland Ward one of our own men, Lawrence Connolly,
+as a Home Ruler, and elected him _as such_. He afterwards sat in the
+Imperial Parliament for an Irish constituency. His election was followed
+in succeeding years by that of other Home Rulers, so that there was soon
+a considerable Nationalist Party in the City Council, and no lack of
+public men to do the honours for the Irishmen of Liverpool when any
+distinguished fellow-countryman came amongst them. Their civic utility
+was very great.
+
+Though I have been over twenty years out of Liverpool, I have never lost
+sight of what has been going on there, and I am pleased to find that the
+younger generation--men whom we, the elders, have borne some share in
+training--have improved upon our work, and that there are now
+considerably more aldermen and city councillors than in our time.
+
+That they are doing good work I am well satisfied, and nothing gives me
+greater pleasure than to read from time to time in the papers such items
+as a recent one--the presentation of a congratulatory address from the
+local branches of the United Irish League to Councillor Thomas Burke on
+the occasion of his being made a magistrate of the city of Liverpool. I
+am somewhat proud of Tom Burke. I remember having charge of some
+election that was going on, and his coming to me, a very small boy, from
+Blundell Street, to offer his services. I put him in harness at once,
+and he has been at work in the Cause ever since, and it is with pleasure
+that I recognise the fact that he is a good type of numerous Irishmen
+who were either born in Liverpool or spent most of their lives in that
+city.
+
+There was a dear old _Soggarth_ at St. Joseph's, who did good service
+for us in our first municipal election in Scotland Ward. He had,
+previous to this, been a fellow priest with my uncle, Father Bernard
+O'Loughlin, in the Isle of Man. As Father Peter McGrath was a good Irish
+scholar, he was soon able to make himself understood by such of the Manx
+people as still retained their native speech, its basis being, like the
+language spoken in the Scottish Highlands, practically--making allowance
+for provincialisms--the Gaelic spoken in Ireland. This was a great help
+to him and his brother priest in disarming prejudice.
+
+Before I met Father McGrath in Liverpool I had heard from my uncle of
+his delightful and saintly character. He was a ministering angel among
+our people in his district, which was one of the poorest in Liverpool.
+His charity was unbounded. Going on a sick call and being at the end of
+his monetary resources--for let his friends give him ever so much he
+would never leave himself a penny--he had been known to give away his
+own underclothing, and even to carry away his bed-clothes to relieve
+some case of abject poverty.
+
+He was a thorough Nationalist, and was delighted when we first raised
+the banner of Home Rule in Scotland Ward and made honest Lawrence
+Connolly our standard bearer. As part of the Ward was in his district,
+he was by far the best canvasser we had. Day by day he used to call on
+me to hear of the progress we were making. With the active personal
+help and the prayers of a saintly man like Father McGrath how could we
+lose?
+
+The return of a Home Ruler at an English municipal election was the
+forerunner of a still greater victory won in the same Scotland Ward,
+which as a Division of the Parliamentary Borough of Liverpool returned
+to Parliament some ten years afterwards the only Irish Home Ruler who,
+_as such_, sits for a British constituency--Mr. T.P. O'Connor.
+
+At the Annual Convention of the Home Rule Confederation, held in the
+Rotunda, Dublin, August 21st, 1876, Dr. Commins in the chair, a vote of
+confidence in Mr. Butt was passed. At the same time what was known as
+the "Obstruction" policy was endorsed, though Mr. Butt had given its
+chief exponents, Biggar and Parnell, no countenance. It was also
+resolved to remove the headquarters of the Confederation from Liverpool
+to London.
+
+Although, out of respect for his distinguished services, Mr. Butt was
+allowed to remain as the nominal leader up to the time of his death, it
+is quite evident that our people favoured the more active policy of the
+younger men.
+
+At a banquet given on the night of this Convention in the Ancient
+Concert Room, Mr. Butt, as chairman, gave the toast of "The Queen, Lords
+and Commons of Ireland." It will be seen elsewhere that I have always
+objected to join in this toast on the ground that it implies an
+acceptance of the existing condition of government in Ireland. Finding
+it on the list, I remained away, but I am afraid my friends, who knew my
+views, were scandalized at seeing in the newspaper report my name given
+as having been present. How it occurred was through the reporter,
+desiring, no doubt, to save himself the trouble of making out a new
+list, giving the names of those who had been present at the Convention
+as having attended the banquet. I had a somewhat similar experience at a
+Newcastle-on-Tyne Convention--sixteen years later. The Newcastle men, in
+the interval between the Convention and the banquet, asked my opinion
+about the toast list. I gave them a sketch of what I thought a good one,
+but said, "Don't have the Queen." They said they wouldn't, and I went to
+the banquet. I was surprised to hear the chairman giving "The Queen,
+Lords and Commons of Ireland." There was nothing for me to do but walk
+out.
+
+In Mr. Parnell Mr. Biggar found a colleague after his own heart in
+working the "Obstruction" policy. From the time when I made the
+acquaintance of Parnell, when he came amongst us, a shy-looking young
+man, under the wing of Isaac Butt, we were drawn towards each other--he
+because he looked upon me, from my life-long experience of them, as an
+authority upon our people in this country, and I because I was impressed
+by the terrible earnestness that I soon recognised underlying the young
+man's apparently impassive and unemotional exterior. I was one of the
+first he came in contact with in this country, and I believe he unbent
+himself and showed more of his really enthusiastic nature to me than he
+did to most men. He used to speak unreservedly to me. He knew my views
+as to Irishmen taking the oath of allegiance and entering the British
+Parliament, of which he was at that time a member. He knew that, holding
+these views, I could not enter the British Parliament myself, though he
+would have liked to see me there. With me it was a matter of conscience;
+I could not take an oath of allegiance to any but an Irish Government.
+At the same time, I have always been practical, and willing to fight
+Ireland's battles with the weapons that come readiest to my hand. I,
+therefore, always gave what support I could to the Irish Parliamentary
+Party, who could conscientiously enter the House of Commons, and to the
+recognised Irish organisations for the time being.
+
+It is not to be expected that every Irishman, even every Irish
+Nationalist, will be of one mind as to which way his duty lies in
+serving his country. After all, a man who can honestly say "I am an
+Irishman and I love my country" is already nine-tenths of the way to
+being a Nationalist. If such a man tries to do his best, according to
+his lights, for Ireland, he is entitled to all possible sympathy from
+even those who are working on other lines.
+
+On one occasion, when Parnell had returned from a special mission to
+America, I had a long discussion with him on these points, and was bound
+to admit that the British Government would have been much better pleased
+to encounter an insurrection in Ireland, which they could easily put
+down, than the policy of the so-called "Obstructionists" in Parliament.
+Again, I said, there was another fact which I recognised. This was that
+his being sent on a mission to America, whence he was then returning,
+showed the value of having a man holding such a well-recognised position
+as a member of Parliament, elected by the votes of his
+fellow-countrymen, in case we had to send a representative to speak in
+the name of Ireland to some other nation, a circumstance which had
+happened before and might again. I said this, even taking into account
+the apparent failure of the mission to America, from which he was
+returning, for circumstances might arise in which the head of a State
+might be glad to recognise an embassy like theirs. He told me that was
+exactly how he viewed the subject.
+
+It was in Dr. Commins' office that we had this conversation, and at our
+request Mr. Parnell postponed his departure to Ireland in order to
+attend a celebration we were having that night of Home Rule victories we
+had achieved in two wards of the town, in Vauxhall by the return of Dr.
+Commins to the Town Council, and in Scotland Ward by the election of Dr.
+Alexander Bligh. Parnell's appearance at our festival, which was held on
+Monday, November 13th, 1876, was a pleasing surprise to those present,
+who were not aware of his return from America, and this added to the
+intensity of the outburst of joy and enthusiastic applause which greeted
+him.
+
+One of the most important of our Annual Conventions in Great Britain was
+that held in Liverpool on 27th August, 1877. Everything showed that,
+while our people in Ireland and here still loved the old leader, they
+favoured the policy of "Obstruction." At this Convention there was no
+intention of displacing Mr. Butt from his position as President of the
+organisation. They would have retained him on account of his
+distinguished services and eminently lovable character. But the old man
+himself could see plainly enough that the people wanted to move faster
+than he was willing to lead, and, notwithstanding the appeals made to
+him, insisted upon resigning his position. The Convention being
+compelled to accept his resignation, Charles Stewart Parnell was elected
+President of the organisation in his place. This was an indication of
+what was likely to follow, for though Mr. Butt retained the nominal
+leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party up to the time of his death,
+Parnell was the real leader, and eventually, after a short interval,
+when Mr. Shaw held the office, became the Chairman of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party.
+
+John Ferguson was, I think, the first man publicly to indicate Parnell
+as the probable successor of Butt. But so great is the dread in our
+people of even the semblance of disunion, that many, myself among the
+number, expostulated with him for this. Events, however, showed he was
+right, and Mr. Butt himself plainly felt that it was inevitable. But at
+the Convention, when Butt had distinctly refused to hold the office of
+President any longer, nothing could be finer than the tribute paid to
+our retiring leader by Mr. John Ferguson in proposing the election of
+Mr. Parnell as his successor. As I was asked to take the official
+account of that Convention, and have kept a record of it, I here give a
+few words of his and some of the other speeches. He said:--
+
+     It is my intention to propose Mr. Parnell as the head of the
+     Confederation. At the same time I feel the greatest possible regret
+     that our grand old chieftain who, in trying times, raised the Irish
+     banner, who has so long guided us, and who has been with us in so
+     many hard fights, is to retire from amongst us. We are grateful to
+     Issac Butt for leading us so far, but we are going to try a more
+     determined policy, and Mr. Butt holds views different from those we
+     are determined to carry out. I hope, though, he will take counsel
+     with the true and earnest men of the Party, and that, after a time,
+     he will return to lead us at this side of the water.
+
+Mr. John Barry, Mr. Biggar and others spoke in the same strain.
+
+So also did Mr. Parnell, who, concluding his speech seconding the vote
+of thanks to Mr. Butt, said:--
+
+     I must confess to not having Mr. Butt's confidence in English
+     justice and sense of right. It is not too late for him to see a way
+     to deal with England that will obtain freedom for our country--a
+     way that will show England that, if she will dare to trifle with
+     Irish demands, it will be at the risk of endangering those
+     institutions she feels so proud of, but which Irishmen have no
+     reason to respect. To Mr. Butt is due a debt of gratitude by the
+     Irish people which they can never repay, for he has taught them
+     self-reliance and knowledge of their power. If I have felt it my
+     duty to put myself in antagonism with Mr. Butt I hope he will
+     forgive me. If I have said or written harsh things I have never
+     said more nor less than was due to the gravity of the occasion.
+
+Mr. O'Donnell, who expressed a wish that the next session might find Mr.
+Butt at the head of a United Irish Party, supported the vote of thanks
+to Mr. Butt, which was carried unanimously, and with all sincerity and
+depth of feeling.
+
+Mr. Butt replied, saying he would be ashamed of himself if he were
+unmoved by that vote, and the manner in which it had been passed. He
+hoped that the wish expressed by Mr. O'Donnell might be realized, and it
+would not be his fault if they had not a United Irish Party in the House
+of Commons. After expressing his good wishes for the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, which he hoped might long continue to
+assert the power of the Irish people in this country, he took his
+farewell.
+
+Mr. Parnell was then elected President.
+
+The Convention of 1877 ended with the adoption of a resolution, on the
+motion of Mr. Peter Mulhall (Liverpool), seconded by Mr. Ryan (Bolton):--
+
+     That this Convention of the Home Rule Confederation of Great
+     Britain hereby endorses the vigorous policy of the Home Rule
+     Parliamentary Party who are termed "Obstructionists."
+
+Mr. Mulhall just mentioned was an active worker in the National ranks in
+Liverpool, and even a more valuable adherent a little later was his
+younger brother James, one of the most thorough, sincere, and upright of
+our young men, who never spared himself when there was good work to do.
+
+Before the venerable figure of Isaac Butt disappears from the scene, let
+me say a few words about his eminently agreeable personality.
+
+There was not an atom of selfishness about him. I remember his making
+little of the difficulties some people used to raise in connection with
+the planning of a Home Rule Bill, and saying, "Three men sitting round a
+table could in a short time draw up a plan of Home Rule for Ireland that
+would act, providing people all round meant honestly."
+
+He used to tell us humorous anecdotes of his experiences in the courts,
+of which I can recollect the following one: "A man came before a
+magistrate to have a neighbour bound over to keep the peace. In his
+deposition he stated after the usual preamble: 'That said Barney Trainor
+at said time and place threatened to send said deponent's soul to the
+lowest pit of Hell, and this deponent veribly believes that had it not
+been for the interference of the bystanders the aforesaid Barney Trainor
+would have accomplished his horrible purpose.'"
+
+Another story that I remember him telling was as to the origin of "Bog
+Latin." A sheriff's officer was sent to serve a writ, but the object of
+his search took refuge in a bog. The sheriff's officer, determined to do
+the thing properly, endorsed his writ "Non comeatibus in swampo," and in
+Irish legal circles the term "Bog Latin" was thereafter used to describe
+any mode of caricature of the ancient tongue.
+
+In something less than two years after Charles Stewart Parnell had
+succeeded him as our President, Isaac Butt died, on the 5th of May,
+1879, mourned by Ireland as one of the most brilliant, patriotic, and
+self-sacrificing men she had ever nurtured.
+
+Of the members of Parliament and embryo members present at the 1877
+Convention, I should say a word of Tim Healy, by which name he is most
+frequently known, who, since then, has been on many occasions one of the
+most prominent figures in Irish politics.
+
+From the day when I first met him, a keen, quick-witted, enthusiastic
+Irish lad of about 18, from Newcastle-on-Tyne, until this 1877
+Convention and later, he did good work for the Cause. Great as is my
+affection for him, my pain at his attitude in recent years has been as
+great.
+
+From the time we began to work together in the Home Rule movement I
+should say that Timothy Healy had not left his native place, Bantry,
+more than a couple of years.
+
+He is related to the Sullivan family, the connection being still closer
+from the fact that his wife is a daughter of our veteran poet, T.D.
+Sullivan, for whom I have always had the warmest admiration.
+
+Like myself, Healy had a leaning towards journalism, and we had a common
+ground in our admiration of the "Nation" newspaper, not only the
+"Nation" of O'Connell and the Young Irelanders, but of the Sullivans.
+
+Nothing, therefore, could be more congenial to him than to fill the post
+of London letter writer to that paper.
+
+He made his mark at once, as being a worthy scholar of the "Nation"
+school, both past and present, and no one recognised this more quickly
+than Charles Stewart Parnell. It was no doubt this appreciation that
+prompted the new Irish leader to ask Tim Healy to become his private
+secretary.
+
+Parnell possessed in a remarkable degree a gift which was of great
+service to him during his political career as the successor of Isaac
+Butt. This was the faculty of weighing up the special qualities of the
+various members of the Irish Party and using them accordingly. Without
+attempting for a moment to underrate Parnell as a great leader of men, I
+must say that there were members of the Party far abler in many respects
+than he was, and, no doubt, in looking around for someone to supply the
+qualities in which he, himself, was wanting, he could see that Healy was
+the very man for his purpose.
+
+When he was in America he wired to Tim offering him the post, which
+offer was at once accepted, and, in the shortest possible time,
+Parnell's new secretary had crossed the Atlantic, and was by his side
+ready to be put in harness at once. It was an excellent combination, and
+there can be no doubt but that, during the time that the connection
+existed between them, Parnell owed much towards the successful carrying
+on of the national struggle to his young secretary's inspiration.
+
+Michael Davitt, in his "Fall of Feudalism," pays a high tribute to
+Healy's splendid service in connection with Gladstone's Land Act.
+Undoubtedly his was the credit for what became known as the "Healy
+Clause," which provided that no rent should be payable for land on
+improvements made by the tenant himself or his immediate predecessor.
+Not only was this credit conceded to him of being the author of this
+clause by distinguished fellow-countrymen like Michael Davitt and Lord
+Russell of Killowen, but by Mr. Gladstone himself.
+
+As I have referred to the opinions expressed on Healy in Michael
+Davitt's book, perhaps I may be forgiven if I go out of my way somewhat
+in referring to another passage in the same book, in which he pays a
+well-deserved tribute to a noble Irishman, Patrick Ford, of the New York
+"Irish World," with which, in common with Irish Nationalists the world
+over, I cordially agree. There are some men whom you may never have seen
+in the flesh, but whom you feel, through correspondence with them and in
+other ways, that you know none the less thoroughly all the same. Such a
+man is Patrick Ford. It is nearly forty years since I first made his
+acquaintance, and the years that have passed have only increased my
+regard for him.
+
+I had the pleasure of welcoming in the columns of the "Catholic Times,"
+which was then under my direction, the first number of the "Irish
+World." I could feel at once that the paper and the man who edited it
+had for me a congenial ring about them. I am deeply indebted for the
+kindly and generous interest which Patrick Ford has so long personally
+and in the columns of the "Irish World" shewn in the success of my Irish
+publications, and I am delighted to have the opportunity of joining in
+the tribute paid to him by Michael Davitt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+MICHAEL DAVITT'S RETURN FROM PENAL SERVITUDE--PARNELL AND THE "ADVANCED"
+ORGANISATION.
+
+
+In the year following the Liverpool Home Rule Convention of 1877, I had
+the pleasure of welcoming back to freedom my old friend, Michael Davitt,
+after he had been in penal servitude close upon eight years. He had been
+released, along with other Fenian prisoners, and, with Corporal
+Chambers, came on April 28th, 1878, to a gathering we organised and held
+in the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, for the benefit of the liberated men,
+John O'Connor Power being the lecturer for the occasion, and Dr. Commins
+our chairman.
+
+Michael Davitt, on rising to speak, was received with a terrific
+outburst of cheering, again and again repeated.
+
+I was sitting immediately behind him on the platform, and I noticed,
+while he was speaking, a constant nervous twitching of his hand, which
+he held behind his back, and he was evidently in a state of
+highly-strung excitement. I was not surprised when we had that day a
+painful proof of how the prison treatment had undermined his
+constitution. After the gathering we brought the released prisoners and
+the principal speakers to be entertained at the house of Patrick Byrne,
+a warm-hearted, patriotic Irishman, and were much alarmed when Davitt
+fell into a deep faint, from which he only recovered through the
+ministrations of one of our most respected Liverpool Nationalists, Dr.
+Bligh, who fortunately was present. For a few moments it seemed as if he
+never would revive.
+
+There is no doubt but that their treatment during their long term of
+penal servitude seriously affected the health of several of the Irish
+political prisoners. It was only three months previous to his visit to
+us in Liverpool that Davitt reached Dublin, with three others of the
+released prisoners--Sergeant McCarthy, Corporal Chambers, and John
+O'Brien. To the consternation of his friends, McCarthy died suddenly at
+Morrison's Hotel, on January 15th, the cause, it was believed, being
+heart disease. This caused such a shock to Chambers that his life, too,
+was put in danger. I was pleased to see him restored to health after
+this when he called on me in Liverpool with his brother, with whom I was
+well acquainted. The shock of the sudden death of his friend McCarthy
+must have affected Michael Davitt too, as we found from the report of
+our friend, Dr. Bligh, in what a precarious state of health he must have
+been at the time. It will be remembered that Rickard Burke became
+insane, it was thought, and stated in Parliament, owing to his treatment
+while in Chatham Prison.
+
+Following our Liverpool gathering, we had on Sunday, May 5th, a meeting
+in the St. Helens Theatre for the same object. At this Parnell as well
+as Davitt was present. Speaking that day by desire of our St. Helens
+friends, I called attention to the appropriateness of our addressing the
+assembly from the boards of a theatre on which there had been the mimic
+representation of many a stirring drama. But no play the audience had
+ever witnessed on those boards could exceed in dramatic interest the
+life of the released convict, Michael Davitt. Nay, more, the grudging
+terms on which he had been released enabled him to appear that day in
+the real living character of a "Ticket-of-Leave-Man," which, no doubt,
+they had seen impersonated on those boards by some clever actor in the
+play of the same name.
+
+I am reminded of that St. Helens meeting by a passage in Michael
+Davitt's book "The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland." I travelled from
+Liverpool to St. Helens to attend the meeting in the same carriage with
+Mr. Parnell. As I could always speak unreservedly to him I knew that
+though he would not actually join the advanced organisation, he regarded
+it as a useful force behind the constitutional movement. In the
+carriage, which it so happened we had to ourselves, we discussed the
+probabilities of the result of a resort to physical force for securing
+Irish freedom, should circumstances justify such a course, for Parnell
+would not have shrunk from taking the field if there had been a
+reasonable hope of success. Singularly enough, I find in Michael
+Davitt's book that he himself, on the day of that same St. Helens
+meeting, made an advance to Parnell with a view to getting him to join
+the revolutionary organisation, should the conditions be somewhat
+modified. Up till then I had seen more of Parnell than Davitt had and
+had enjoyed his full confidence. I had, therefore, come to the
+conclusion, from my conversations with him, that he was of far more
+service to the Irish cause as he was than if he had actually joined the
+revolutionary movement. I am not surprised, therefore, at Parnell's
+answer to Davitt: "No, I will never join any political secret society,
+oath bound or otherwise. My belief is that useful things for our Cause
+can be done in the British Parliament."
+
+Nevertheless, I remember one public utterance of his which always struck
+me as most statesmanlike. After a frank statement that he was in favour
+of constitutional Home Rule, he, with equal frankness, declined to
+subscribe to the entire finality of that solution of the Irish problem.
+How, he asked, could he or any man put bounds to the progress of a
+nation?
+
+Seeing that Gladstone gave as one reason for the disestablishing of the
+Irish Church "the intensity of Fenianism," so, in the same way, no one
+recognised more than Parnell did that the existence of a physical force
+movement was a strong argument for those engaged in the moral force
+agitation. Therefore he was always anxious to conciliate and even
+cultivate the advanced element. Of this I will here give one
+illustration, out of many I could mention, and this in connection with
+the custom of drinking what was called "the loyal toast," which at one
+time used to be observed at some Home Rule celebrations. It is a matter
+on which I have already explained my point of view.
+
+On one occasion Mr. Parnell was invited by the Liverpool branches to a
+St. Patrick's Day banquet at the Adelphi Hotel, where the drinking of
+the "loyal" toast was part of the programme. With the rest of the
+committee I met him at the railway station on his arrival, and came with
+him to the hotel. After some conversation I was bidding him
+"good-night!" when he asked, as he took my hand, "Where are you going,
+Denvir? Are you not going to stay for the banquet?" I had not intended
+mentioning it, but as he asked me so pointedly, I felt bound to tell him
+my objection to being present. He did not attempt to controvert what I
+said, but still asked where I was going. I then told him I had been
+invited to a St. Patrick's celebration where the toast was _not_ to be
+drunk, the gathering being one of our advanced Nationalist friends.
+
+He at once said "I should like to go there." I told him I was sure they
+would be delighted to see him, and that, as theirs was a dance, and it
+would be kept up pretty late, I would come back for him after the
+banquet, and take him to the other celebration. Our friends were well
+pleased at his wish to attend, and asked me to go back and bring him to
+where a hearty _cead mile failte_ awaited him. In due time I brought him
+over, and they gave him an enthusiastic reception, he being quite as
+delighted to be present as they were to receive him, and they were
+still more pleased when he addressed a few words to them.
+
+But that was as far as Parnell would go, and his answer to Davitt that
+day at St. Helens pretty well indicated the course he intended to pursue
+in connection with the cause of Ireland.
+
+Indeed, it is on record that in later years Michael Davitt altered his
+own view to such an extent that he would no longer have made that
+proposition to Parnell.
+
+There was no man whose regard I more valued than that of Michael Davitt.
+Amongst all the vicissitudes of Irish politics our friendship was an
+unbroken one. He was little more than a boy when I first met him at a
+small gathering to which none but the initiated were admitted. From the
+first I was strongly drawn towards that tall, dark-complexioned,
+bright-eyed, modest youth, with his typical Celtic face and figure. He
+was in company with Arthur Forrester, who was a fluent speaker and
+writer, and who on this occasion did most of the talking, Davitt only
+throwing in some shrewd remark from time to time. We know since that he
+had in him the natural gift of oratory, though it was not that so much
+as other qualities which gave him the commanding position in Irish
+politics which he afterwards reached.
+
+He had then spent several of the best years of his life in penal
+servitude for his connection with the physical force movement. Thinking
+long and hard in the solitude of his prison cell, Davitt resolved that
+the first vital need of Ireland was to plant firmly in the soil of
+Ireland the people who were being uprooted--in other words, the land
+system must be changed.
+
+The result of his convictions was the formation of the Irish National
+Land League, which dated its birth from the great meeting projected by
+Davitt and held at Irishtown in April, 1879. Mr. Parnell was elected
+President of the new organisation, Mr. Patrick Egan treasurer, and
+Michael Davitt was one of the secretaries. He has been justly called the
+"Father" of the Land League.
+
+One of the earliest acts of the Land League was to endeavour to stop the
+tide of emigration from Ireland. In this connection, as certain
+emigration schemes had been set on foot in England, a branch of the
+League was founded in Liverpool at my request by Parnell and Davitt.
+
+In consequence of the prevailing distress and impending famine, Mr.
+Parnell was asked by the Irish National League to go to America to get
+the assistance of our people there, and Mr. John Dillon was asked to
+accompany him.
+
+Though there was little done by the Government to relieve the distress,
+the Irish people could always get coercion without stint, and Messrs.
+Davitt, Daly and Killen were arrested for "seditious" speeches in
+connection with the Land League agitation.
+
+To protest against this, Mr. Parnell, previous to his departure for
+America, attended a great open-air demonstration in Liverpool. The
+gathering was held in the open space in front of St. George's Hall, and
+it was computed that about 50,000 people were present. When the meeting
+was publicly announced, there was a proclamation from the Orange
+Society, calling upon the brethren to put down the "Seditious
+gathering." Upon this our committee took the precaution of enrolling
+stalwart "stewards" to preserve order. Among those who offered their
+services were a large number of the Irish Volunteer Corps, under the
+command of Sergeant James MacDonnell, a County Down man of fine
+proportions and shrewd brain. To him was entrusted the direction of the
+whole body of our men on the day of the meeting. The advanced party also
+gave their services, and non-commissioned officers and men of the other
+volunteer corps besides the Irish, skilled in military movements, gave
+valuable help. Round the platform were a select body of nearly a
+thousand men, many of them carrying revolvers in their pockets, ready
+for action.
+
+The Orange body must have heard of our elaborate preparations, and
+finding "discretion the better part of valour," they countermanded their
+proclamation to break up the meeting.
+
+The authorities of the town made full preparations to cope with possible
+disturbances, and inside St. George's Hall they had, carefully kept out
+of view, a large body of the town police, armed with revolvers in
+addition to their batons. In a window of the North Western Hotel,
+overlooking the meeting, was the chief constable, and with him were
+magistrates, prepared to read the Riot Act if necessary.
+
+It was arranged that as I was at that time probably the best known man
+in the Irish body in Liverpool, I should be stationed on a prominent
+part of the platform, which consisted of two lorries, in view of all,
+and alongside me, our general, Sergeant MacDonnell. As showing how well
+in hand was that immense body of people it was remarked that when the
+carriage of Dr. John Bligh, whose guest Mr. Parnell was, drew up in the
+street, facing the platform, and when I made a motion with both hands,
+to show where a passage was to be made for Mr. Parnell from the street
+to the platform, how quickly and accurately the opening was made in that
+dense and apparently impenetrable body of people.
+
+In Ireland, at this time, men were being prosecuted for what were termed
+"seditious" speeches. When Mr. Parnell stood up to speak he stepped upon
+a chair, that he might be the better seen, and said "I am going to make
+a seditious speech." A strong motion was passed at this meeting
+condemnatory of coercion in Ireland. On the same evening a great
+demonstration was held in the League Hall.
+
+The authorities must have considered the St. George's Hall meeting a
+very serious business, and it was evidently made note of by the police
+for use afterwards.
+
+At the "_Times_ Forgeries Commission," Mr. Parnell was questioned about
+this gathering, and about several on the platform who were mentioned by
+name. Asked if this one or that one were connected with the Fenian
+movement, he generally answered he did not think so. When my name was
+put to him by the Attorney-General (now the Lord Chief Justice), who was
+cross-examining him, he replied "He might have been."
+
+In a short time after the Liverpool demonstration Messrs. Parnell and
+Dillon went to America, as had been arranged. They were everywhere
+received with enthusiasm, and obtained sympathy and substantial help as
+the ambassadors of Ireland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+BLOCKADE RUNNING--ATTEMPTED SUPPRESSION OF "UNITED IRELAND"--WILLIAM
+O'BRIEN AND HIS STAFF IN JAIL--HOW PAT EGAN KEPT THE FLAG FLYING.
+
+
+"United Ireland suppressed" was the chief headline in the morning papers
+on the Friday before the Christmas of 1881.
+
+In point of fact, what had happened was that the detectives, acting
+under the extraordinary powers given by the special "law" in force in
+Ireland, had invaded the offices of the Land League organ the night
+before, and seized all the copies of the paper found on the premises.
+
+It was a bungled job, for the country edition had already gone out,
+including the supplies for England and Scotland, so that the only copies
+seized were those intended for Dublin and the suburbs.
+
+Nothing indicated the intensity of the struggle going on between the
+government and the people more than the dead set which was being made
+against "United Ireland." Its editor was in jail, its sub-editor was in
+jail, most of its contributors were in jail, even the commercial and
+mechanical staffs had been seized, one by one, and in the paper each
+week the names and descriptions of the victims appeared, prominently
+set out in tabular form, in the place where the first leading article
+had previously been printed.
+
+But, in spite of these difficulties, the paper appeared regularly each
+week, its fiery spirit not a whit abated, and its outspoken exposure of
+Mr. "Buckshot" Forster and his methods in no way curtailed. Confronted
+with this open failure, the government swallowed the last vestige of its
+regard for appearances, and made the bold attack on the liberty of the
+press involved in the seizure and attempted suppression of "United
+Ireland."
+
+It was not the first time (nor has it been the last) in Ireland that a
+national organ was thus attacked. From the days of the United Irishmen,
+towards the close of the 18th century, to those of 1867, there had been
+a long series of suppressions, of which, perhaps, John Mitchel's "United
+Irishman" (1847) and the Fenian "Irish People" are the best remembered
+instances.
+
+In this case, however, the leaders of the popular movement determined
+that they would not be put down, but would use all "the resources of
+civilization"--to quote Mr. Gladstone's famous phrase--to keep the flag
+flying. I am very proud of the fact that they invited me to be their
+instrument.
+
+What happened was that two members of the printing staff, Mr. Edward
+Donnelly, foreman, and Mr. William MacDonnell, assistant foreman,
+escaped to England, taking with them stereo plates of the "suppressed"
+issue. From these plates, my own jobbing machines not being big enough
+to print a full-sized newspaper, I got a local firm to print sufficient
+copies to cover the Dublin supply, which, as I have explained, had been
+the only part of the issue which fell into the hands of the police. A
+quantity of these papers, made up in innocent looking parcels, my son,
+then a schoolboy, took over with him in the steamer from Liverpool to
+Dublin, as personal luggage. He was to take them to the address which
+had been given to him of a member of the staff who was then "on his
+keeping." I was alarmed the following morning, Christmas Eve, 1881, to
+read in the newspapers of the arrest of this gentleman, and feared that
+my son would also fall into the hands of the police. But he had acted
+with wariness. Leaving the luggage behind him in the steamer, until he
+found how the land lay, he saw the people of the house, heard of the
+arrest, and at once made his own arrangements for supplying the Dublin
+newsagents, in which task he received invaluable help from two gentlemen
+on the "Nation" staff, Daniel Crilly and Eugene O'Sullivan.
+
+Thus the _whole_ of the issue of the "suppressed" number actually
+reached its destination. For future issues arrangements were made
+between my old friend Mr. Patrick Egan, Treasurer of the Land League,
+who was then in Paris, and myself. Our letters were never addressed
+direct, but always through third persons, the intermediary in Paris
+being Mr. James Vincent Taaffe, and, in Liverpool, Miss Kate Swift. Mr.
+Egan had been sent to Paris to keep the League Funds out of the hands of
+Dublin Castle, and to maintain intact the machinery of the League, for,
+it must be remembered, Parnell, Davitt, William O'Brien, and most of our
+prominent men were at the time in jail.
+
+Although illegal in Ireland, there was nothing in the ordinary law to
+prevent the printing and circulation of "United Ireland" in Great
+Britain. Arrangements were, therefore, made with the Metropolitan
+Printing Works, London, for the future production of the paper. For
+several weeks the papers were printed by that firm, and sent to my place
+of business in Byrom Street, Liverpool.
+
+As I had, in ordinary course, to supply the whole of the newsagents in
+England, Wales and Scotland, the police, by whom my place was, by day
+and night, closely watched, could not know if in the quantity sent to me
+from London I was getting a supply for Ireland.
+
+The parcels for Ireland I could not send direct from Byrom Street, as
+they would be followed by the police and traced. Therefore, for packing
+and forwarding to Ireland, we used a fish-curing shed, not far from
+Byrom Street, lent for the purpose by a patriotic Irishman, Patrick De
+Lacy Garton, at that time a member of the Liverpool City Council.
+
+With so many friends in Liverpool willing to assist, it was not
+difficult to get the parcels of papers, through one channel or another,
+into our depot each week.
+
+I engaged the services of Mr. Michael Wolohan, to go to Ireland, and act
+as forwarding agent. It was his task to get people in various parts of
+the country to receive parcels of "United Ireland," the papers being
+packed in such fashion as to correspond with the business of the person
+to whom each consignment was made.
+
+For instance, the edition for the week ending December 31st was packed
+in hampers provided by Mr. Garton, who advised me to send the lot as
+dried fish, and found a reliable consignee for them in Ireland. The
+"dried fish" arrived safely, and then the most arduous part of Michael
+Wolohan's work began. For it was difficult to get the actual parcels of
+"United Ireland" into the hands of the agents and sub-agents unknown to
+the police, but this he did with consummate address, and on the whole
+very successfully.
+
+On one occasion Michael wrote me he had a good consignee for "woollen
+goods." Nothing easier, for here was Edward Purcell, a clothier, one of
+our own young men, who afterwards became a city alderman, having a good
+business in Byrom Street, Liverpool. Besides helping actively with the
+"blockade running" in other ways, he at once gave us the necessary
+wrappers in which he had got his own goods from his woollen merchants,
+and assisted in packing our "woollen goods" in the correct fashion.
+Needless to say, these safely reached the consignee in Ireland.
+
+Although there was no illegality in printing "United Ireland" in London,
+the printers were perpetually harassed by the police to frighten them
+into giving up the job. The parcels for the British newsagents could not
+legally be stopped, but with the watchful eye of the police all over
+Ireland on the look-out for the proscribed paper, it is not surprising
+that individual parcels fell into their hands. For that reason we took
+care to send the various kinds of goods in the names of mercantile firms
+whose loyalty was unquestionable. I should say that to this day these
+firms have no idea of the large Irish trade they were doing at this
+particular time.
+
+But Liverpool became much too suspicious a place to send from. I
+therefore adopted the plan of sending parcels, made up as various kinds
+of merchandise, to friends in Manchester, from which city there was
+regular communication with inland towns in Ireland, and these friends
+sent on the parcels to their destinations more safely than if going
+direct from Liverpool.
+
+This scheme was working smoothly enough, but eventually the London
+printers were frightened into giving up the contract, and the printing
+had to be transferred to Paris.
+
+It is needless to say that, during this time, Michael Wolohan, our agent
+in Ireland (whose name had for the time being become Brownrigg), had the
+utmost difficulty in escaping the attention of the police. Some parcels
+he was sending by the Broadstone terminus were detected and seized. What
+troubled him most was that, as he paid a considerable sum for carriage
+on these, and as the railway company had not forwarded them, he was
+entitled to have the money returned, But the police were on the look out
+for the so-called Brownrigg, and it was thought best that he should not
+venture near the station. It happened that week that my son arrived in
+Dublin with some more of the kind of luggage he had brought over at
+Christmas, and, with the recklessness of youth, he went to the station,
+and, as Brownrigg, got the money returned.
+
+"United Ireland" for the week ending January 28th, 1882, was printed in
+Paris, in a section of a printing office rented by Patrick Egan, and
+sent, addressed to me, for circulation in Ireland and Great Britain. The
+parcels were seized on their arrival at Folkestone and Dover, and though
+the seizure was illegal and I applied for the parcels as being my
+property (a question being also asked in Parliament) we could get no
+satisfaction.
+
+But, notwithstanding the seizures made from time to time, it was
+determined to keep the flag flying, and no matter what might be the
+difficulty encountered in the production of "United Ireland," not an
+issue was missed. Of course, as a natural consequence of these
+difficulties, the paper was sometimes hard to be got, so that, taking
+advantage of this, some of the newsvendors and all the newsboys in
+Dublin were reaping a rich harvest, as, owing to the anxiety of the
+people to get copies, they were frequently sold on the streets of the
+cities and towns in Ireland at from 6d. to 2s. 6d. a copy. The continued
+presence of the paper all over Ireland did perhaps more than anything
+else to keep heart in the people. Accordingly, it must be kept going at
+all hazards. The type for the paper continued to be set up in Paris,
+and, after a certain quantity had been printed off each week, for
+transmission by post and otherwise, the matrices from the type were
+brought over to me by carefully selected agents from Paris. From these
+stereotype plates of the pages were cast. As my own machine was not big
+enough, I arranged with a Liverpool firm of printers to machine the
+paper for me each week. Accordingly, they printed the papers for the
+week ending February 4th, and delivered the bulk of them to us, so that
+we got our parcels for that week sent off.
+
+The police must have got one of the copies being sold by the Liverpool
+agents, and finding it had no imprint (which was illegal) went to the
+printers referred to, who, on this being pointed out, handed over to
+them the few remaining copies.
+
+As every printing firm was now afraid to touch "United Ireland," it only
+remained for me to endeavour to print it with my own somewhat limited
+appliances. It was now, therefore, reduced in size to four pages. Every
+week, as before, the matrices were brought to me, and, from the castings
+taken from these, I printed the papers on my own small machine, and sent
+them to their various destinations.
+
+And so the fight with the police went on with varying fortune. It was
+true, as regards size, half our flag had in a manner been shot away, but
+we still kept it flying, and the Government, with their standing army of
+police, were never able to suppress "United Ireland."
+
+As I expected, I was prosecuted for printing and publishing without an
+imprint. Mr. Poland, Q.C., chief prosecuting counsel to the Treasury,
+was sent down to conduct the case against me for the technical breach of
+the law involved in the matter of the imprint, and I was fined a sum
+amounting with costs to L25. I announced my intention in court of
+continuing the publication, so the Government got very little
+satisfaction out of their action.
+
+Of the various editions of the paper produced in Ireland at this time I
+shall not speak in detail, as in this narrative I only describe what
+came within my own personal knowledge. Mr. William O'Brien in a later
+issue referred to the mysterious and unconquerable fashion in which one
+town after another saw its edition of "United Ireland" appear, and then,
+when police and spies were hot upon its track, as mysteriously pass
+away. This was, of course, a picturesque exaggeration, but it had a
+considerable basis of truth. The paper was actually printed more than
+once in the old office in Dublin under the noses of the police, and on
+one occasion Mr. Wolohan set up a printing machine in a private house in
+Derry, and, assisted by my son, actually worked off the copies of the
+paper next door to the house of the resident magistrate.
+
+Ultimately, there came the period of the "Kilmainham Treaty," and most
+of the political prisoners were released. The issue of "United Ireland"
+for March 11th did not appear as on previous occasions. I produced an
+issue, which I sent in charge of my son to Dublin, putting it at the
+disposal of Mr. O'Brien. It was not, however, published, though I
+received a long and interesting letter from Mr. William O'Brien--still
+in Kilmainham jail--expressing the appreciation of the Irish leaders for
+the work I had done in these words:--
+
+~We are all deeply sensible of your extraordinary energy and courage in
+this matter.~
+
+I am prevented from giving this letter, which explains the reasons for
+the stoppage of the paper, as Mr. O'Brien has endorsed it "Private and
+Confidential."
+
+A few weeks later "United Ireland" appeared in its old publishing office
+in Abbey Street. Mr. O'Brien was set free on April 15th, Messrs.
+Parnell, Dillon and O'Kelly were released on May 2nd, and Michael Davitt
+and others soon afterwards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+PATRICK EGAN.
+
+
+It will be seen that when "United Ireland" was "on the shaughraun"
+during the time that William O'Brien was in prison, though he was able
+to send communications out regularly, the direction very largely
+devolved upon Patrick Egan, who had taken up his quarters in Paris for
+that and other purposes of the Land League. I may say that I have been
+in frequent communication with Mr. Egan ever since, and it is but
+recently that I got a letter from him touching upon this matter. In
+making some valuable suggestions as to the contents of this book, he
+says, "There just occurs to me as I write, a point that you might
+introduce as an added feature, namely--all the leading articles that
+appeared in 'U.I.' during those fateful months (or almost all of them)
+were written by William O'Brien _in Kilmainham Prison, smuggled out by
+the underground railroad, which ran upon regular scheduled time_, and
+were despatched by trusty messengers to me in Paris, which messengers
+brought back on their return journey the matrices to which you refer for
+the next issue of 'United Ireland.'
+
+"There were four messengers, in order to avoid attracting attention--two
+of them the Misses Stritch, whose father had been a resident magistrate
+in Ireland. They were fine patriotic girls, and active members of Miss
+Anna Parnell's Ladies' Land League. Both are now dead."
+
+After a time Patrick Egan returned from Paris to Ireland, calling upon
+me in Liverpool on his way home.
+
+On more than one occasion he has visited me at my home in Liverpool. It
+was always with sincere pleasure that I saw the alert figure, the keen
+yet smiling eyes, the trim moustache and beard, which were the first
+impressions one got of his personality. His unvarying suavity and
+politeness might have deceived a casual observer into supposing that he
+was not a man of abnormal strength of character; they were only the
+silken glove to conceal the hand of iron. Emphatically a man of
+determination and practical common sense, he united to these qualities a
+remarkable degree of tact. In addition to much routine matter, which
+need not be specified here, although grave enough at the time, our
+meetings were concerned with important work in which we were engaged,
+as, for instance, the O'Connell Centenary, the political prisoners, and
+combating the measures being taken to swell the tide of emigration from
+Ireland.
+
+In dealing with the eventful career of Patrick Egan may I be allowed to
+go both backward and forward in my dates, in order to bring the story of
+his life into, as far as possible, one consecutive narrative.
+
+Born in County Longford, he was brought to Dublin by his parents when
+quite young. His shrewd business qualities enabled him to make his mark
+early in life, and his fine administrative abilities admirably fitted
+him for the post he attained as managing director to the most extensive
+flour milling company in Ireland.
+
+He has always been a practical patriot, always ready to work for Ireland
+by every honourable means that came to his hand, whether the means were
+those of moral or physical force. Consequently, he was an active worker
+in the ranks of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood from the early
+sixties. He was one of the founders of the Amnesty Movement for the
+release of the political prisoners of '65 and '67.
+
+When the Home Rule movement was started in Ireland he entered into it
+heartily, and was elected a member of the Council. He enjoyed the
+confidence of Butt, John Martin, Justin McCarthy, and all the other
+leaders of the movement, besides being trusted by Nationalists of all
+shades of opinion. Like most of us, without abating in the least his
+love and esteem for Isaac Butt, he soon recognised the coming leader in
+Charles Stewart Parnell, who used to refer to him in private
+conversation as his "political godfather" on account of the prominent
+part he had played in securing his first election to Parliament for the
+County Meath, in succession to John Martin.
+
+During the early part of the Land League agitation he was three times
+nominated, for King's County, Meath, and Tipperary, for Parliament, but
+he refused election, on the ground of being an advanced Nationalist. I
+have more than once talked this matter over with Pat Egan, and, as I may
+say in everything else, we were in complete accord; we neither of us
+could bring ourselves to swear allegiance to what we considered a
+foreign power. At the same time, as practical patriots, we helped every
+movement, inside the constitution as well as outside of it, calculated
+to benefit Ireland.
+
+When the Land League movement was started in 1879, Egan became at once
+one of the most prominent figures in it, and, besides acting as Trustee
+along with Joseph Biggar and William H. O'Sullivan, he was Honorary
+Treasurer.
+
+In the famous trial of the Land League Executive, in 1880-1881, he and
+Mr. Parnell and eleven others were prosecuted, the jury being ten to two
+for acquittal.
+
+In February, 1881, when coercion was so rampant in Ireland, he left his
+business in the sole charge of his partner, James Rourke, and went to
+Paris, by desire of Parnell, Dillon and the other leaders, to keep the
+League Funds out of the hands of the enemy. While he was there I was
+brought into close relations with him in my endeavours, as I have
+already described in this narrative, to carry out the honourable part
+allotted to me by our leaders of keeping "United Ireland" in circulation
+in every corner of the land, notwithstanding the watchfulness of the
+entire British garrison.
+
+In October, 1882, a National Convention passed a unanimous vote,
+thanking him for his distinguished services and sacrifices as Treasurer
+of the League, he having given gratuitously to the Cause three entire
+years of his life, something like a million and a quarter of dollars
+having passed through his hands during that time. These and many other
+circumstances that came to my knowledge abundantly prove that no man has
+more deserved the confidence and gratitude of the Irish race.
+
+In February, 1883, Michael Davitt tells us "In order to avoid the
+machinations of agents in the pay of Dublin Castle, he left Ireland."
+
+I don't know if I shall ever meet my friend again, and for that reason I
+shall always remember, as I am sure he will, our last meeting in
+Liverpool on his return from Paris, when we fought our battles with the
+forces of the Government over again, and had many a hearty laugh at some
+of the humorous episodes that cropped up in connection with it. Neither
+of us then thought that, before long, he would have to leave his home
+again for another period of exile.
+
+Up to this point I can include the chief incidents in Patrick Egan's
+career, either directly or indirectly, in my own personal recollections.
+In order not to break the continuity of this sketch of a noble life, I
+will briefly speak of his career in America. It will be found,
+therefore, that in some particulars I have had to anticipate the
+ordinary course of this narrative.
+
+On arriving in America in 1883, he settled in Nebraska, where he soon
+established a large and prosperous business in grain.
+
+In 1884, at a Convention in Faneuil Hall, Boston, surrounded by some of
+the most distinguished of our race in America, he was presented with a
+service of plate sent from Ireland, with a beautifully illuminated
+address, paying tribute to the magnificent services he had given to his
+country, and signed by three hundred of the national leaders in Ireland,
+including the Lord Mayor of Dublin (Charles Dawson), Parnell, Davitt,
+Dillon, Biggar. Justin McCarthy, Healy, William O'Brien, Sexton,
+Harrington and others.
+
+From 1884 to 1886 he was President of the Irish National League of
+America, during which time 360,000 dollars were collected and sent to
+Ireland. The salary of the President of the League was 3,000 dollars a
+year. At the end of his term Patrick Egan returned to his successor in
+the office 6,000 dollars as his personal contribution to the Fund.
+
+His career in America has been no less honourable than his services to
+the Irish Cause on this side of the Atlantic. Irishmen everywhere felt
+proud when he was sent to represent the great American Republic as
+Ambassador to Chili. They took it not only as an honour to the man
+himself, but to his nationality. We who knew him best followed with
+confidence his record during the four years of storm and stress in
+Chili, the most troublous, perhaps, that country had ever seen.
+
+That our confidence in him was not misplaced was proved by the tribute
+of admiration paid him by President Harrison in his message to Congress
+in December, 1891, for the splendid manner in which he had protected
+the important interests confided to his care, and for his defence of the
+honour of the flag of the United States, and the rights and dignity of
+American citizenship.
+
+All this was endorsed in the most emphatic manner by the leading
+statesmen and naval and military commanders of America, including
+Secretary of State James G. Blaine, Rear Admiral Evans, Admiral Brown,
+Rear-Admiral McCann, and numerous other officers of the army and navy.
+
+The strongest eulogies of Mr. Egan's conduct of the Chilian legation
+were written by the ex-President of the United States, Theodore
+Roosevelt, who, in 1892, gave a dinner at his home in Washington, D.C.,
+in his honour. In a public letter Mr. Roosevelt said, "Minister Egan has
+acted as an American representative in a way that proves that he
+deserves well of all Americans, and I earnestly hope that his career in
+our diplomatic service may be long, and that in it he may rise to the
+highest positions."
+
+When I started a new series of my "Irish Library" in January, 1902, I
+received words of encouragement from John Redmond, from Michael Davitt,
+and from other distinguished Irishmen, but there was none I valued more
+highly than the letter of appreciation of my works from Pat Egan. Of
+these he asked me to send him a set, including my "Irish in Britain."
+
+In a letter he sent me in the May following, I could see the yearning of
+the exile for news from the "old sod" when he said "Write me a line to
+say how you are, and how goes the good old cause. I often think with
+much interest of the last time I had the pleasure of seeing you in
+Liverpool."
+
+I have made my references to Patrick Egan somewhat lengthy, perhaps, but
+it is because in no work that I have ever seen has an adequate tribute
+been paid to his services to Ireland. Unlike other men who are better
+known, he was little seen and not much heard of in the Land League
+movement, but his influence in shaping the movement was second only to
+that of Davitt. He was eminently the practical patriot, and his motto
+was "deeds not words." If she had had in the past many men like Egan,
+Ireland would be both free and prosperous to-day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+GENERAL ELECTION OF 1885--PARNELL A CANDIDATE FOR EXCHANGE
+DIVISION--RETIRES IN FAVOUR OF O'SHEA--T.P. O'CONNOR ELECTED FOR
+SCOTLAND DIVISION OF LIVERPOOL.
+
+
+The Franchise and Re-Distribution Acts of 1884 and 1885, besides
+placing, for the first time, the Parliamentary representation in the
+hands of the great bulk of the people of Ireland, added greatly to our
+political power in England, Scotland and Wales. Many thousands of Irish
+householders obtained votes where formerly, under the restricted
+franchise, such a thing as an Irish county voter was extremely rare.
+
+At the General Election of 1885, Mr. Parnell made Liverpool his
+headquarters. The Re-Distribution Act had given Liverpool nine
+Parliamentary Divisions, in one of which (Scotland Division) we had
+sufficient votes to return a Nationalist. As Mr. T.P. O'Connor was the
+candidate chosen, and was, besides, the President of the organisation in
+Great Britain, he, also, was on the spot.
+
+A central committee room was engaged in the North-Western Hotel, where
+Mr. Parnell and Mr. T.P. O'Connor were staying. I was detailed to act as
+secretary to them, and, as the electoral campaign all over the country
+was directed from this centre, I was kept busy from early morning until
+late in the night answering the letters which poured in from all parts
+of the country. Mr. T.P. O'Connor having recently been married, Mrs.
+O'Connor also was staying in the North-Western. She presided at our
+luncheon every day, and made a charming hostess.
+
+I have some pleasant remembrances of those days in Liverpool, when I was
+assisting Mr. Parnell in carrying on the electoral campaign. One day, as
+we stood together looking out of the window across Lime Street, he
+pointed to the hotel on the opposite side of the street, reminding me
+that it was there we first met. This was when he came amongst us, a
+promising young recruit, under the wing of Isaac Butt. I remembered it
+well, and the number of questions he asked me about the condition of our
+people, social and political, in this country, for he knew that I had
+had opportunities of acquiring a closer knowledge of them than most
+people. He often afterwards sought from me such information. To me, from
+first to last, he was always most open and friendly, and I never found
+him so "stand-off" and unapproachable as was the very common opinion
+about him.
+
+In the Exchange Division of Liverpool, a Mr. Stephens, the official
+Liberal candidate, had, for some reason, been replaced by Captain
+O'Shea, who got the full support of the Liberal party. Following
+instructions from headquarters, the Irish Nationalists had denounced the
+candidate of the Liberals, who, when recently in power, had coerced
+Ireland, and O'Shea was condemned more unmercifully than any of them, as
+being, besides, a renegade Irishman.
+
+When Parnell himself came on the scene as a candidate for Exchange
+Division, Captain O'Shea was denounced more fiercely than ever. Mr.
+Parnell, however, withdrew on the nomination day, and at a great meeting
+on the same night, much to the astonishment of all, asked, in a very
+halting and hesitating manner, that O'Shea's candidature should be
+supported. So great was his power and prestige at the time that,
+whatever apprehension might be felt, no attempt was made to question his
+action.
+
+On the morning of the election I went to the North-Western. Mr. O'Connor
+was somewhat late in getting to work. Parnell, noticing, I suppose, that
+I seemed uneasy about something, asked, "What's amiss with you, Denvir?"
+"We would like to see Mr. O'Connor on the ground in Scotland Division,"
+I said. He shook his head: "Ah, that's the way with him since he got
+married." I smiled and observed "We'll be losing you that way some
+time." "No," he replied, as I thought somewhat sadly, "I lost my chance
+long ago."
+
+All that day Parnell worked with desperate energy for O'Shea. He even
+took some of our men from Scotland Division to help in Exchange. I
+expostulated with him, saying, "You'll be losing T.P.'s election for
+us." As a matter of fact, we won Scotland Division by 1,350 votes.
+
+In point of fact, if O'Shea had got the whole Irish vote he would have
+won, but Mr. Parnell's vehement efforts could kindle no enthusiasm among
+the Irish electors, and there was a small but determined section
+which--while unwilling to let any public evidence of disagreement with
+Mr. Parnell appear--absolutely refused to support O'Shea. This lost him
+the seat.
+
+There was great jubilation in the League Hall that night at the winning
+of a seat in England by an Irish Home Ruler, elected _as such_, Mr. T.P.
+O'Connor having been returned that day for the Scotland Division of
+Liverpool.
+
+Since that time there have been several Home Rulers, Irish by birth or
+descent, returned to Parliament for English constituencies. These belong
+to the Labour Party.
+
+Besides T.P. O'Connor, Liverpool has provided for Parliament quite a
+number of men who at one time or another have represented or still
+represent Irish constituencies. These are Dr. Commins, Daniel Crilly,
+Lawrence Connolly, Michael Conway, Joseph Nolan, Patrick O'Brien,
+William O'Malley, James Lysaght Finigan, and Garrett Byrne.
+
+At the League Hall demonstration on the night of the election, Mr.
+Parnell appeared to have caught the high spirit and enthusiasm of his
+audience, and in a more powerful address than I had ever before heard
+from him, he said:--
+
+     Ireland has been knocking at the English door long enough with kid
+     gloves. I tell the English people to beware, and be wise in time.
+     Ireland will soon throw off the kid gloves, and she will knock with
+     a mailed hand.
+
+In this General Election, the Irish vote of Great Britain, in
+accordance with the League manifesto, generally went for the Tories, who
+came into office, but with a majority so small that they were turned out
+at the opening of the Session of 1886, and Mr. Gladstone again came into
+power. Seeing that 85 out of the 103 Irish members of Parliament had
+been returned pledged to National self-government, he came to the
+conclusion to drop coercion, and no longer to attempt to rule the
+country against the wishes of the people. He, therefore, introduced his
+Home Rule Bill on the 8th of April, 1886, but, failing to carry the
+whole of his party with him, he was defeated on the second reading by 30
+votes. His defeat at the polls at the General Election which followed
+seemed even more crushing than his defeat in Parliament, for, of the
+members elected, there was a majority against him of 118.
+
+Mr. Gladstone, looking more closely into the figures of the General
+Election, was not disheartened, and as the British public became
+educated on the Irish question, bye-election after bye-election proved
+triumphantly the truth of his famous saying that the "Flowing Tide" was
+carrying the cause of Home Rule on to victory.
+
+Nor were _we_ disheartened, for, counting up the whole of about two and
+a half millions of votes given, we found that the Unionists, as the
+Tories and Dissentient Liberals called themselves, had a majority of
+less than 80,000 votes at the polls. During this time I had become
+general organiser of the recognised Irish political organisation of
+Great Britain, and upon me chiefly devolved the duty of directing the
+work of registration of our Irish voters. A close study of the local
+conditions in the various constituencies showed that the mere bringing
+up of the neglected Irish vote to something approaching its proper
+strength would _alone_ be sufficient to effect the necessary gain. We
+threw ourselves into the task--and we succeeded.
+
+I shall always remember with pride my share in increasing and organising
+the Irish vote throughout Great Britain, and its result in bringing Mr.
+Gladstone back to power, and enabling him to carry the Home Rule Bill
+through the House of Commons.
+
+It was my duty to visit every part of Great Britain to see that the
+various districts and branches were kept in a high state of efficiency,
+and at the end of that period of hard and unremitting work from 1886 to
+1892 I was able to show our Executive from the books and figures in our
+possession that we had accomplished our aim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+GLADSTONE'S "FLOWING TIDE."
+
+
+I was present at most of the bye-elections that led up to Gladstone's
+great victory at the General Election of 1892.
+
+In this way I was brought to many places interesting to us as Catholics
+as well as Irishmen.
+
+No spot in Great Britain is more sacred to us than Iona, an island off
+the West coast of Scotland, which our great typical Irish saint,
+Columba, made his home and centre when bringing the light of faith to
+those regions. It will, therefore, be one of the memories of my life
+most dear to me that I had the blessing of taking part in the famous
+Pilgrimage to Iona on June 13th, 1888. The town of Oban, on the mainland
+of Scotland, is generally made the point of departure for Iona, which is
+not far off.
+
+Oban is one of the five Ayr burghs which, combined, send a member to
+Parliament, and it was singular that, at this time, there was a
+bye-election going on. As creed and country have always gone together
+with me, I did not think it at all inappropriate that I should do a
+little work for Irish self-government while on this Pilgrimage. On the
+contrary. Was not St. Columba himself a champion of Home Rule, for was
+it not through his eloquent advocacy of their cause before the great
+Irish National Assembly that the Scots of Alba, as distinguished from
+the Scots of Erin, obtained the right of self-government?
+
+One of the best numbers of my Irish Library was the "Life of St.
+Columbkille," written for me by Michael O'Mahony, one of a band of young
+Irishmen, members of the Irish Literary Institute of Liverpool, who did
+splendid service for the Cause in that city. Michael was, of these,
+perhaps the one possessing the most characteristic Irish gifts. He has
+written some admirable stories of Irish life, and is a poet, although he
+has not written as much as I would like to see from his pen.
+
+There are no Irish residents in Iona itself, but I found a few in Oban,
+on whom I called to secure their votes for Home Rule.
+
+To hear Mass on the spot made sacred by the feet of our great Irish
+saint, in the building, then a ruin, erected by his successors to
+replace that which he himself had raised here as a centre of his great
+missionary labours, was an experience to treasure until one's latest
+day. What made the celebration the more memorable was the sermon in
+Gaelic by Bishop MacDonald of Argyll and the Isles. I had the pleasure,
+after Mass, of having dinner with him, and some most interesting
+conversation.
+
+I told him I had read with great interest a pastoral of his, issued some
+five years before, in which he said that an interesting peculiarity of
+his diocese, in respect of which it stood almost alone in the country,
+was that its Catholicity was almost exclusively represented by districts
+which had always clung to the faith, places where in the Penal days no
+priest dared show himself in public, but visited the Catholic centres in
+turn as a layman by night and gathered the children together to instruct
+them as far as he was able. This was, he said, of extraordinary interest
+on a day like that, when we were specially honouring the memory of the
+great saint who had sown the seeds which had continued to bear fruit
+through so many centuries. We also spoke of the singular fact that he
+had that day preached on the spot on which St. Columba himself had
+stood, and in the same language that he spoke, a language which had been
+in existence long before the present English tongue was spoken. As
+showing that the Scottish and Irish Gaelic were practically the same, as
+distinguished from the Celtic tongue spoken by the Welsh and Bretons,
+Bishop MacDonald told me he could read quite easily a book printed in
+the Irish characters.
+
+As a bye-election brought me to the sacred scene of the labours of our
+great Irish saint, Columba, so did another bye-election bring me to the
+spot where a martyr for Ireland suffered in 1798--Father O'Coigly. There
+was a bye-election at Maidstone, where the martyr priest had been tried
+for treason, and near it is Pennenden Heath, where he was executed, so
+that both places will for ever be held sacred by patriotic Irishmen.
+Besides securing a pledge for Home Rule from one of the candidates, and
+organising the small Irish vote in his favour, I took the opportunity of
+inaugurating a movement for the erection of a memorial to Father
+O'Coigly. With the co-operation of the London branches of the United
+Irish League the movement was brought to a successful issue. On two
+succeeding years there were Pilgrimages to the spot where Father
+O'Coigly was executed, at which Mr. James Francis Xavier O'Brien, who
+himself had been sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, was the
+chief speaker one year, and Mr. John Murphy, M.P., on the other.
+
+Besides this, chiefly through the exertions of Mr. John Brady, District
+Organiser, funds were raised, and there have been erected in the
+Catholic Church at Maidstone a Celtic Cross and three beautiful
+stained-glass windows, of Irish manufacture, to commemorate the
+martyrdom of Father O'Coigly.
+
+A gratifying thing in connection with our Pilgrimage was, I reminded
+those I addressed on Pennenden Heath, that a man pledged to support
+self-government for Ireland, the Cause for which Father O'Coigly had
+suffered, had been elected to Parliament for Maidstone.
+
+In the bye-elections about this time, we often got the most satisfactory
+results from places where the Irish vote was but small. I have before my
+mind the Carnarvon Boroughs bye election of 1890. Here the seat had been
+held by a Tory, and the Irish vote in the five towns, all told, was not
+much more than 50. I was sent to the constituency by our Executive to
+use every exertion to get our people to poll for David Lloyd-George, a
+thorough-going Home Ruler, at that time an unknown man, though he has
+since risen to the first political and ministerial rank. It was then I
+made his acquaintance, and time has only increased the friendly feeling
+between us.
+
+Our meeting happened rather curiously. While on my round I came across
+an unpretentious-looking young man who, I discovered, was also working
+on the same side. We had chatted together for some time when I happened
+to make some reference to the candidate. "Oh," he said, with a laugh, "I
+am the candidate." It was Mr. Lloyd-George. We worked together with all
+the more ardour being brother Celts. I frequently expressed to him my
+admiration for a striking feature in their great meetings during the
+election campaign. This was the singing in their native tongue of songs
+calculated to rouse the enthusiasm of an emotional people like the
+Welsh, the climax being reached at the end of each meeting with their
+noble national anthem, sung in the native tongue of course, "Land of my
+Fathers."
+
+Since that time it is gratifying to realize the great progress which has
+been made in the revival of _our_ native tongue through the
+instrumentality of the Gaelic League. The success of our friends in this
+direction ought to be an encouragement to us. The old Cymric tongue is
+almost universal throughout Wales, side by side with the English, so
+that it is not all visionary to think that a day may come when ours,
+too, may become a bi-lingual people.
+
+Mr. Edmund Vesey Knox, an Ulster Protestant Home Ruler, who was then a
+member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, came to assist in the return of
+Mr. Lloyd-George. At one of their great gatherings he told his audience
+how much he was impressed by the enthusiasm created by their native
+music and song. This reminded him, he said, that one of their great
+Irish poets, Thomas Davis, was partially of Welsh descent, which no
+doubt inspired one of his noblest songs "Cymric Rule and Cymric Rulers,"
+written to their soul-stirring Welsh air, "The March of the Men of
+Harlech." After Mr. Knox, more singing, and then came a delightful
+address from a distinguished Irish lady, Mrs. Bryant, who did splendid
+service at many of these bye elections. Doctor Sophie Bryant, to give
+her full title, is a lady of great learning and eloquence, and not only
+a thorough Nationalist in sentiment, but an energetic worker in the
+Cause. A literary lady colleague thus sums up her chief qualities: "She
+is more learned than any man I know; more tender than any woman I have
+ever met."
+
+Mr. Lloyd-George was elected by the bare majority of 18 votes, so that
+without the small Irish vote in the Carnarvon Boroughs he could not have
+been returned at his first election for the constituency. Nor did he
+forget the fact. On one occasion we were speaking together in the lobby
+of the House of Commons when a friend of his came up. "This," said Mr.
+Lloyd-George, slapping me on the shoulder, "is the man who brought me
+here." In a sense it was true, so that I might claim to have assisted in
+making a British Chancellor of the Exchequer.
+
+I have spoken of the series of bye-elections which Mr. Gladstone
+described as the "Flowing Tide" which had set in for Home Rule. I
+remember with special pleasure one of these--that for the Rossendale
+Division of Lancashire. It was a sample of all the other bye-elections
+in 1892. The registration had been well done, and we knew to a man the
+strength of the Irish vote. We had 438 on the Register. This was no mere
+estimate, and we could give the figures at the time with equal accuracy
+for most places where we had an Irish population. Every voter of ours
+living in Rossendale had been visited. If he had removed from place to
+place inside the district it was noted. If he had gone out of the
+district he was communicated with, if possible through the medium of the
+branch of his new location. We knew where to find them all, and it was
+astonishing from what distant places men turned up to vote on the
+election day, through the agency of the local branches of the places to
+which the voters had gone.
+
+In this Rossendale election I had two of the most capable lieutenants a
+man need wish to have, Patrick Murphy and Daniel Boyle, both then
+organisers of our League. Dan Boyle (now Alderman Boyle, M.P.) took the
+Bacup end of the Division; Pat Murphy took Rawtenstall; and I made my
+headquarters at Haslingden, for I had a _grah_ for the place, on
+account of its connection with my old friend, Michael Davitt.
+
+There can be no better test of a man's sterling qualities than the
+opinions held of him by the friends of his youth. Several times I had
+had occasion to visit Haslingden, the little factory town in North-East
+Lancashire, where Martin Davitt, the father of Michael, and his family
+lived when they came to this country after being evicted from their home
+in Mayo. Here I met Mr. Cockcroft, the bookseller, who gave Michael
+employment after he had lost his arm in the factory, and he and his
+family bore the Irish lad in kindly remembrance. But it was among his
+own people--those who had been the companions and friends of his
+youth--that I found the greatest admiration for "Mick," as they
+familiarly called him. I need scarcely say that they watched with pride
+the noble career of one who had grown to manhood in their midst.
+
+I was able to turn that feeling to good account on the occasion of this
+Rossendale election. I asked the Liberal candidate, Mr. Maden, a young
+and wealthy cotton spinner of Rossendale, who had given us satisfactory
+pledges on Home Rule, to invite Michael Davitt's assistance. He did so.
+I backed up the request by a personal appeal, which he never refused if
+it lay in his power to do what I wished. He came, and words fail to
+describe his loving and enthusiastic reception by his own people.
+
+I have alluded to the perfect way in which the Irish Vote had been
+organised. Michael Davitt came into our committee room one day, and it
+was with intense pride he turned over the leaves of our books to show
+Mr. Maden, the candidate, how well we were prepared to poll every Irish
+vote on the election day. Davitt was a tower of strength to us in this
+election, not only amongst our own people, but amongst the English
+factory operatives, who form the majority in Rossendale. As in other
+bye-elections which had preceded it, we won the Division by a handsome
+majority.
+
+I was at once amused and amazed some time ago to hear of a so-called
+biography of Davitt, the keynote of which was a suggestion that he was,
+first and foremost, an "Anti-Clerical." The idea is an absurd one. He
+was an intense lover of right, and one who scorned to be an opportunist.
+Consequently, he never hesitated to speak out, no matter who opposed
+him, priest or layman. But none knew better than he that there have been
+times when the priests were the only friends the Irish peasantry had;
+and no one knew better than he that the influence they have had they
+have, on the whole, used wisely. If individual clerics have gone out of
+their proper sphere of influence it is certain they would have found
+Davitt in opposition to them where he thought them wrong. I have been
+placed in the same unpleasant position myself, but I too have always
+carefully distinguished between the individual priest who needed
+remonstrance, and his wiser colleague; and also between the legitimate
+use of a priest's influence and its abuse. So that to classify Davitt as
+an "Anti-cleric" deserves a strong protest from one who loved him as
+well and as long as I did.
+
+As I have said, when I asked him to come to Rossendale to help to
+further the cause of self-government for Ireland, he never refused a
+request of mine if it lay in his power to grant it, and, in this way, he
+wrote for me one of the books of my "Irish Library"--"Ireland's Appeal
+to America."
+
+Michael has gone to his reward, and there are two things I shall always
+cherish as mementoes of him. One is a bunch of shamrocks sent to me,
+with the message:
+
+                          "With Michael Davitt's compliments,
+                           "Richmond Prison, Patrickstide, 1883"
+
+The other is his last letter to me, written not long before his death.
+It was dated "St. Justin's, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, 7th March, 1906." In
+this he said: "I hope you are in good health and not growing too old. I
+shall be 60! on the 25th inst.!!!" Was this a premonition that his end
+was near? He died on May 31st, within three months of the time he wrote
+the letter.
+
+I have spoken of the necessity for our organisation doing registration
+work at least as effectually as the Liberals and Tories do. It is not
+always men of the highest intellectual attainments who make the best
+registration agents. This fact came home to me very forcibly when
+reading a biography of Thomas Davis. It was stated that in the Revision
+Court he was not able to hold his own against the Tory agent. It is just
+what I would have imagined, considering the sensitive nature of Davis.
+A man with a face of brass, who _might_ be an able man, but who, on the
+other hand, might be some low ignorant fellow, might easily do better
+than Thomas Davis with his fine intellect and varied learning.
+
+At the same time, I have known men of the highest attainments who have
+made excellent agents, such a man as John Renwick Seager, who has for
+many years been connected with the London Liberal organisation. Just
+such another we have in our own ranks in Daniel Crilly who, before he
+became a journalist or entered Parliament, was a very successful agent
+in the Liverpool Courts.
+
+One of the most efficient and conscientious of registration and
+electioneering agents I ever met was John Mogan, of Liverpool. Besides
+the annual registration work he was engaged on our side in nearly every
+election of importance in Liverpool for over 30 years. He was so
+engrossed in his work that, during an election he would, if required,
+sit up several nights in succession to have his work properly done;
+indeed, I was often tempted to think that John never considered any
+election complete without at least _one_ "all night sitting."
+
+We believed in fighting the enemy with his own weapons. On election days
+in Liverpool there were shipowners who made it a practice of getting
+their vessels coaled in the river. As, unlike the Liffey at Dublin or
+the Thames at London, the Mersey at Liverpool is over a mile wide, and
+as most of the coal heavers were Irishmen, this move of the shipowners
+was to keep our men from voting. We were successful, to some extent, in
+counteracting this, for owing to the patriotism of a sterling Irishman,
+John Prendiville, the steam tugs which he owned were often used, on the
+day of an election, to take our men ashore.
+
+Sometimes the Revision Courts gave us the opportunity of teaching a
+little Irish history. In South Wales most of our people hail from
+Munster. In one of the Courts there was the case of Owen O'Donovan being
+objected to, on the ground that he had left the qualifying property, and
+that _Eugene_ O'Donovan was now the occupier. I explained to the
+Barrister that in the South of Ireland the names of Owen and Eugene were
+often applied to the same man, Eugene being the Latinized form of Owen.
+I gave as an illustration our national hero, Owen Roe O'Neill, who, in
+letters written to him in Latin, was styled Eugenius Rufus. A Welsh
+official in Court suggested that O'Donovan was anxious to become a
+Welshman by calling himself Owen. I replied that the name Owen was just
+as Irish as it was Welsh, coming no doubt from the same Celtic stock,
+and that, as a matter of fact, our man preferred being on the Register
+as Owen. The Barrister, being satisfied that both names applied to the
+same man, allowed the vote, and our voter would appear on the Register
+as Owen O'Donovan.
+
+In looking up our people to have them put upon the Register, or in
+connection with an election, our canvassers are often able to form a
+good judgment of the creed, or nationality, or politics of the people
+of the house they are calling at by the pictures on the walls. If they
+see a picture of St. Patrick, or the Pope, or Robert Emmet, they assume
+they are in an Irish house of the right sort. One of my own apprentices,
+when I was in business, came across a bewildering complication on one
+occasion, for on one side of the room was the Pope, which seemed all
+right, but facing him was a gorgeous picture of King William crossing
+the Boyne. It was the woman of the house he saw, a good, decent
+Irishwoman and a Catholic, who explained the apparent inconsistency. Her
+husband was an Orangeman, "as good a man as ever broke bread" all the
+year round, till it came near the twelfth of July, when the Orange fever
+began to come on. (Our people at home in the County Down, as my father
+used to tell us, often found it so with otherwise decent Protestant
+neighbours.) He would come home from a lodge meeting some night, a
+little the worse for drink, and smash the Pope to smithereens. The wife
+was a sensible body, and knew it was no use interfering while the fit
+was on him. When she knew it had safely passed away, she would take King
+William to the pawnshop round the corner and get as much on him as would
+buy a new Pope. He was too fond of his wife, "Papish" and all as she
+was, to make any fuss about it, and would just go and redeem his idol,
+and set him up again, facing the Pope, for another twelve months at all
+events.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE "TIMES" FORGERIES COMMISSION.
+
+
+When the "Times" on the 18th of April, 1887 published what purported to
+be the _fac simile_ of a letter from Mr. Parnell, and suggested that it
+was written to Mr. Patrick Egan in justification of the Phoenix Park
+assassinations, I at once, like many others, guessed who the forger must
+be. I had from time to time come into contact with Pigott, and I was
+satisfied that he was the one man capable of such a production.
+
+When the company was formed in 1875 for the starting of a newspaper in
+connection with the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, there was
+an idea of buying Pigott's papers, "The Irishman," "Flag of Ireland,"
+and "Shamrock," which always seemed to be in the market, whether to the
+Government or the Nationalists after events showed to be a matter of
+perfect indifference to him. Mr. John Barry and I were sent over to
+Dublin to treat with him. Mr. Barry went over the books and I went over
+the plant. What he wanted seemed reasonable enough, we thought.
+
+The Directors of our Company did not, however, close with Pigott, but
+concluded to start a paper of their own, "The United Irishman," the
+production and direction of which, as I have stated, they placed in my
+hands.
+
+During these years I had many opportunities of getting a knowledge of
+Pigott's true character. From time to time money had been subscribed
+through Pigott's papers for various national funds. Michael Davitt told
+me that when the political prisoners were released the committee
+appointed to raise a fund for them, to give them a start in life,
+applied for what had been sent through the "Irishman" and "Flag," that
+the whole of the funds subscribed through the various channels might be
+publicly presented to the men. There was considerable difficulty in
+getting this money from Pigott, but ultimately it was squeezed out of
+him.
+
+An employe of the "Irishman," David Murphy, was shot--he survived his
+wound--in a mysterious manner. This was ascribed, and from all we know
+of the man, correctly, to Pigott, who, it was thought, fearing that
+Murphy might know too much about the sums coming into his hands and the
+sources whence they came, had tried to get him put out of the way. There
+was a still more serious aspect of this attempted assassination. The
+revelations of the "Times" Forgeries Commission afterwards proved that
+all this time Pigott was giving information to the police and getting
+paid for it. To my own personal knowledge David Murphy held an important
+position in the advanced organisation, for I once brought a young friend
+of mine, a printer, a sterling Irishman I had known from his early
+boyhood in Liverpool, from Wexford, where he was at the time employed,
+specially to introduce him to Murphy.
+
+From the information given to the police by Pigott, it would soon be
+found there was some leakage, which would, no doubt, be traced to the
+"Irishman" office. It would, of course, be Pigott's cue to put the blame
+on the shoulders of Murphy, hence probably his attempted assassination.
+
+It was not unreasonable, then, in looking round for the actual forger of
+the famous _fac simile_ letter, that I and others who knew him should
+single out a man with such a bad record as Richard Pigott as the actual
+criminal.
+
+The collapse of the conspiracy against the Irish leaders, and the
+suicide of the wretched Pigott on the 1st of March, 1889, are matters of
+history.
+
+For the complete way in which the conspiracy was smashed up great credit
+was due to the distinguished Irish advocate, Sir Charles Russell. In his
+early days I knew him well, and was often thrown into contact with him,
+when he was a young barrister practising on the Northern circuit, and
+making Liverpool his headquarters. He was a member of the Liverpool
+Catholic Club when I was secretary of that body. The Club, before the
+Home Rule organisation superseded it in Liverpool, generally supported
+the Liberals in Parliamentary elections, but on one occasion there was,
+from a Catholic point of view, a very undesirable Liberal candidate,
+whom it was determined not to support. Pressure had, therefore, to be
+put upon the Liberals to withdraw this man. They were obstinate, though
+they had not the ghost of a chance without the Irish and Catholic vote,
+which formed fully half the strength they could generally count upon. On
+the other hand, _we_ could not carry the seat by our own unaided vote.
+But, to show the Liberals that we would not have their man under any
+circumstances, it was arranged that if he were willing we should put
+Charles Russell forward as our candidate. As secretary it became my duty
+to ask him to place himself in our hands. He agreed, on the
+understanding that he was to be withdrawn if our action had the effect
+of forcing the Liberals to get a candidate more acceptable to us. We
+succeeded, and, of course, withdrew our man.
+
+When we started the Home Rule organisation in Liverpool, we asked
+Charles Russell to be chairman of our inaugural public meeting. He had
+been contesting Dundalk as a Home Ruler, so we thought he was the very
+man to preside at our meeting, and gave that as our reason for asking
+him. He received the deputation--my friend, Alfred Crilly and
+myself--with that geniality and courtesy which were so characteristic of
+him. As it happened that the three of us were County Down men, who are
+somewhat clannish, we soon got talking about the people "at home." He
+knew both our families in Ireland, and had served his time with a
+solicitor of my name in Newry, Cornelius Denvir, before he had entered
+the other branch of the legal profession. We also got talking of the
+barony of Lecale, which he, as well as my own people, had sprung from,
+and how it had been the only Norman colony in Ulster; how many of the
+descendants of De Courcy's followers were still there, as might be seen
+from their names--Russells, Savages, Mandevilles. Dorrians, Denvirs, and
+others, whose fathers, intermarrying with the original Celtic
+population, MacCartans, Magennises, MacRorys, and so on, had become like
+the Burkes, Fitzgeralds, and other Norman clans, "More Irish than the
+Irish themselves."
+
+This was all very well, and very interesting, but it did not get us our
+chairman. Charles Russell was too wary, and, perhaps, too far-seeing,
+who can tell? for that. It was quite true, he said, he had contested
+Dundalk as a Home Ruler, and, of course, he was a Home Ruler, but he
+advised us to ask Dr. Commins to be our chairman, as being so much
+better known than himself. We did ask "The Doctor," and, kindly and
+genial as we ever found him, he at once consented.
+
+Nearly forty years have passed since then, and I really believe that
+these two, then comparatively young men, practically made choice of
+their respective after-careers on that occasion.
+
+Dr. Commins, who, like Charles Russell, was a practising barrister on
+the Northern circuit, held for some years the highest position his
+fellow-countrymen could give him as President of the Home Rule
+Confederation of Great Britain, and became a member of the Irish
+Parliamentary Party.
+
+Charles Russell, though always a Home Ruler and sincere lover of his
+country, made a brilliant career for himself as a great lawyer and
+Liberal statesman. I have often wondered since, if he had become
+chairman of our meeting in 1872, and had then identified himself with
+the Home Rule movement, if his statue would be to-day as it is in the
+London Law Courts, or if he would ever have been Lord Chief Justice of
+England and Lord Russell of Killowen? I think not.
+
+The "Times" Forgeries Commission, though got up to do deadly damage to
+the Irish Cause, had not, even before the final collapse of the
+conspiracy, had that effect, as bye-election after bye-election proved.
+For instance, when the Commission appointed to deal with the "Times"
+charges against the Irish leaders re-opened, after a short vacation at
+Christmas, the Govan election was going on, and, on the 19th of January,
+1889, the Liberal Home Ruler won the seat by a majority of over 1,000.
+
+After the exposure of the plot, Mr. Gladstone's "Flowing Tide" swept on
+with increased velocity, and, wherever there was a bye-election, there
+was an enormous demand for our members of Parliament. During this
+period, when the Irish vote in Great Britain was more fully organised
+than it ever had been before, I attended most of these elections. It was
+keenly felt, as had been proved on several occasions, that _no_ place,
+however small the number of Irish voters, should be overlooked,
+especially at a time when British parties had become once more pretty
+evenly balanced.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+DISRUPTION OF THE IRISH PARTY--HOME RULE CARRIED IN THE COMMONS--UNITY
+OF PARLIAMENTARY PARTY RESTORED--MR. JOHN REDMOND BECOMES LEADER.
+
+
+There is nothing more bitter than a family quarrel.
+
+The unfortunate disruption in the Irish Parliamentary Party and the
+fierce quarrel that arose among the Irish people near the end of 1890,
+would be to me such a painful theme that I must ask my readers to pardon
+me if I pass on as quickly as possible towards the happier times which
+find us practically a re-united people, while the Irish Party in
+Parliament is a solid working force under the able leadership of Mr.
+John Redmond.
+
+In accordance with the demands of the branches of the Irish organisation
+in Great Britain, a special Convention was called and held in
+Newcastle-on-Tyne on Saturday, 16th May, 1891. Delegates from all parts
+of Great Britain attended, and elected a new Executive in harmony with
+the bulk of the League, with Mr. T.P. O'Connor, President, as before.
+
+Provision was also made for carrying on the fight for Home Rule in the
+constituencies, which had been somewhat relaxed by the unhappy split in
+our ranks. This was imperative, in view of the necessity for assisting
+to return to Parliament a sufficient majority to enable Mr. Gladstone to
+carry his Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons.
+
+The result of the General Election of 1892 was the return to power of
+Mr. Gladstone. His majority was the best proof to friend and foe of the
+value of the work done by our organisation during the previous years in
+adding to the Irish vote in Great Britain. It also showed we had the
+power and the influence in the constituencies we had claimed. Indeed,
+the books in the offices of the League could show, by the figures for
+every constituency, that without the Irish vote Mr. Gladstone would have
+had no majority at all.
+
+When we come to consider the terrible crisis we were passing through,
+the result was magnificent.
+
+Although, as we all expected, Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Bill was thrown
+out by the House of Lords, the fact that a Bill conferring
+self-government on Ireland had been passed in the Commons was recognised
+as a step towards that end which could never be receded from, and that
+it was but a question of time when the Home Rule Cause would be won.
+
+Moreover, the event proved that our grievance was no longer against the
+English democracy, but against the class which misgoverned us, just as
+it, to a lesser extent, misgoverned them.
+
+Most of us have, no doubt, taken part in a family gathering on some
+joyous occasion when the mother realizes that _all_ her children are
+not around her, and is overcome with sadness. So it was with us. Well
+might mother Ireland ask why were not _all_ her children in the one
+fold, to be one with her and with each other in the hour of rejoicing,
+as they had been loyally with her in all her sorrows? Why was the bitter
+feud over the leadership of the Irish Party so long kept up? Why was the
+happy reconciliation so long delayed?
+
+While the majority, it is true, were arrayed on one side, the fact
+remained that on the other side there were men of undoubted patriotism
+and great ability, not only members of Parliament such as John and
+William Redmond or Timothy Harrington, but some of our best men all over
+the country, who had done splendid service for the Cause, and were
+either in fierce antagonism or holding aloof.
+
+It was during this sad time that I met that distinguished orator, Thomas
+Sexton, to whom John Barry was good enough to introduce me. Sexton came
+specially from Ireland on this occasion in the interests of peace.
+Actuated by the same motive was Patrick James Foley, another member of
+the Party and of the Executive of the League, who, while holding
+strongly to his own conscientious opinions, was always most courteous to
+those differing from him.
+
+I attended the great Irish Race Convention, held in the Leinster Hall,
+Dublin, on the first three days of September, 1896. The Most Reverend
+Patrick O'Donnell, Bishop of Raphoe, a noble representative of old
+Tyrconnell, and a tower of strength to our Cause, presided, and it was,
+undoubtedly, one of the most representative gatherings of the Irish race
+from all parts of the world ever held.
+
+Two admirable resolutions were passed with great enthusiasm and perfect
+unanimity, and there is no doubt but that this Convention was the first
+great step towards the reunion of the Irish Parliamentary Party, which
+has been since so happily effected.
+
+It was more than three years after the Race Convention before the
+long-desired re-union of the Irish Party and the Irish people all over
+the world was accomplished at a Conference of members of Parliament of
+both parties held in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons, on
+Tuesday, January 30th, 1900.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE GAELIC REVIVAL--THOMAS DAVIS--CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY--ANGLO-IRISH
+LITERATURE--THE IRISH DRAMA--DRAMATISTS AND ACTORS.
+
+
+One effect of the disturbance in political work caused by the split
+seemed to be the impetus given to existing movements which, so far as
+politics were concerned, were neutral ground. Chief amongst these was
+the Gaelic League, which from its foundation advanced by leaps and
+bounds and brought to the front many fine characters.
+
+Francis Fahy was one of the first Presidents of the Gaelic League of
+London, and there is no doubt but the Irish language movement in the
+metropolis owes much to his influence and indefatigable exertions.
+
+I first made his acquaintance over twenty-five years ago, when he was
+doing such splendid Irish propagandism in the Southwark Irish Literary
+Club, of which, although he had able and enthusiastic helpers, he was
+the life and soul. He has written many songs and poems, which have been
+collected and published. What is, perhaps, one of the raciest and most
+admired of his songs, "The Quid Plaid Shawl," first appeared in the
+"Nationalist" for February 7th, 1885, a weekly periodical which I was
+publishing at the time. Several stirring songs of great merit by other
+members of the society also appeared in its pages. Indeed, the members
+came to look upon the "Nationalist" as their own special organ, and ably
+written and animated accounts of their proceedings appeared regularly in
+its columns. I also published a song book for them, compiled by Francis
+Fahy, chiefly for the use of their younger members.
+
+An active Gaelic Leaguer, who did much for the success of the movement
+in London, was William Patrick Ryan. He wrote a "Life of Thomas Davis"
+for "Denvir's Monthly," a sort of revival of my "Irish Library." This
+book was very favourably received by the press. The "Liverpool Daily
+Post" gave it more than a column of admirable criticism, evidently from
+the pen of the editor himself, Sir Edward Russell. In it was the
+following kindly reference to myself: "Our present pleasing duty is to
+recognise the labours of Mr. Denvir--efforts in such a cause are always
+touchingly beautiful--as an inculcator of national sentiment; to
+illustrate the genuine literary interest and value of the first booklet
+of his new library; and to wish the library a long and useful, and in
+every way successful vogue."
+
+Another active man in the language movement in London, whose
+acquaintance I was glad to renew when I first came to the metropolis, is
+Doctor Mark Ryan.
+
+It is nearly forty years since we first knew each other in connection
+with another organisation. He then lived in a North Lancashire town,
+and was studying medicine, not being at that time a fully qualified
+doctor. If I remember rightly, our interview had no connexion with the
+healing art, indeed quite the contrary, for besides qualifying for the
+medical profession, he was graduating in the same school as Rickard
+Burke, Arthur Forrester, and Michael Davitt, but, like myself, was more
+fortunate than Burke and Davitt, inasmuch as he escaped their fate of
+being sent into penal servitude. Although Mark Ryan was for a long time
+resident in Lancashire, he there lost nothing, nor has he since, of the
+fluent Gaelic speech of his native Galway, for I heard him quite
+recently delivering an eloquent speech in Irish at a gathering of the
+Gaelic League.
+
+Speaking of Dr. Mark Ryan reminds me of how often I have noticed in my
+travels through Great Britain, what a number of Irish doctors there are,
+and also that they are almost invariably patriotic. They are of great
+service to the cause, for it frequently happens that, in some districts,
+they are almost the only men of culture, and are not generally slow to
+take the lead among their humbler fellow-countrymen.
+
+One of the finest Irish scholars in the Gaelic League was Mr. Thomas
+Flannery. He, too, was a valued contributor to my "Monthly Irish
+Library," two of the best books in the series, "Dr. John O'Donovan," and
+"Archbishop MacHale," being from his pen. In fact, he and Timothy
+MacSweeny I might almost look upon as having been the Gaelic editors of
+the "Monthly."
+
+I once, when in business in Liverpool, printed a Scottish Gaelic
+Prayer-Book for Father Campbell, one of the Jesuit priests of that city,
+for use among the Catholic congregations in the highlands and islands of
+Scotland. John Rogers, like Timothy MacSweeny, a ripe Irish scholar,
+called on me while it was in progress, and was delighted to know that
+such a book was being issued. To Mr. MacSweeny I also sent a copy, and
+they both could read the Scottish Gaelic easily, showing, of course, how
+closely the Irish and Scottish Gaels were, with the Manx, united in one
+branch of the Celtic race, as distinguished from the Bretons and Welsh.
+
+I have always had an intense admiration for the poetry of "Young
+Ireland." I used to call it Irish literature until I found myself
+corrected, very properly, by my Gaelic League friends, who maintained
+that, not being in the Irish tongue, its proper designation was
+Anglo-Irish literature.
+
+I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of one of the leading
+young Irelanders, Charles Gavan Duffy, after his return to this country,
+when he assisted at the inauguration of our London Irish Literary
+Society, which has been a credit to the Irishmen of the metropolis. Much
+of the success of the Society is due to Alfred Perceval Graves, author
+of the well-known song "Father O'Flynn," a faithful picture of a genuine
+Irish _soggarth_. Among others of the members of the society who have
+made their mark in Irish literature is Mr. Richard Barry O'Brien, the
+President, the author of several valuable works of history and
+biography.
+
+It was at the opening of our Literary Society that I first met Duffy in
+the flesh, but I had known and admired him in spirit from my earliest
+boyhood. I was greatly pleased when he told me he had been much
+interested in my publications, not only those issued more recently, but
+those of many years before. I afterwards had a letter from him in
+reference to my "Irish in Britain," in which he said: "I saw long ago
+some of the little Irish books you published in Liverpool, and know you
+for an old and zealous worker in the national seed field."
+
+His son, George Gavan Duffy, is a solicitor, practising in London, and
+an active worker in the national cause. His wife is a daughter of the
+late A.M. Sullivan, and is as zealous a Nationalist as was her father,
+and as patriotic as her husband.
+
+The first book of National poetry I ever read was one compiled by
+Charles Gavan Duffy--"The Ballad Poetry of Ireland." I should say that
+this has been one of the most popular books ever issued. There are none
+of his own songs in this volume. The few he did write are in the "Spirit
+of the Nation" and other collections. These make us regret he did not
+write more, for, in the whole range of our poetry, I think there is
+nothing finer or more soul-stirring than his "Inishowen," "The Irish
+Rapparees," and "The Men of the North."
+
+It is unfortunate that we have nothing from the pen of Thomas Davis on
+the subject of the Irish drama and dramatists, for among the most
+delightful and valuable contributions to the Anglo-Irish literature of
+the nineteenth century were his "Literary and Historical Essays."
+
+For students, historians, journalists, lecturers, and public speakers,
+they have been an inexhaustible mine, since they first appeared week by
+week in the "Nation" during the Repeal and Young Ireland movements. As
+sources of inspiration they have been of still more practical value to
+the Irish poet, painter, musician and sculptor.
+
+Though he was apparently in good health up to a few days of his death,
+which was quite unexpected, Davis, in giving to his country these
+unsurpassed essays, might have had some idea that his life would not be
+a long one, and that, if he could not himself accomplish all he had
+projected, he would at least sketch out a programme for his brother
+workers in the national field, and for those coming after them.
+
+A glance at the contents of Davis's Essays will show how fully he has
+covered almost every field in which Irishmen are or ought to be
+interested. We have Irish History, Antiquities, Monuments, Architecture,
+Ethnology, Oratory, Resources, Topography, Commerce, Art, Language, Our
+People of all classes, Music and Poetry dealt with in an attractive as
+well as in a practical manner. Anyone who has ever gone to these Essays,
+as I have over and over again, for information, has always found Davis
+completely master of every subject that he touched. His "Hints to Irish
+Painters" are illustrations of the value of the advice he gives in
+connection with his varied themes. Those of the generations since his
+time who have profited by his teaching know best how valuable would have
+been his views in connection with the Irish Drama.
+
+Knowing as we do how _thorough_ Davis was in everything he took up, the
+reason he did not deal with it was, probably, that he had not had the
+same opportunities of getting information on this as upon the other
+wonderfully varied subjects in his Essays.
+
+I have in my mind at this moment one Irish dramatist, Edmond O'Rourke,
+who would have appreciated anything Davis would have written on the
+subject, and would certainly have profited by it.
+
+O'Rourke, better known by his stage name of Falconer, was an actor as
+well as a dramatist. He was "leading man" when I first saw him in the
+stock company of the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, and used to play the
+whole round of Shakespearean characters, his favourite parts being the
+popular ones of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Richard the Third. He was a
+dark-complexioned man of average height, somewhat spare in form and
+features. Though his performances were intellectual creations, we boys
+used to make somewhat unfavourable comparisons between him and Barry
+Sullivan, another of our fellow-countrymen. Barry was by no means
+superior to Falconer in his conception of the various parts, but he
+greatly surpassed him in voice, physique, and general bearing on the
+stage, in which respects I think he had no equal in our times.
+
+After Falconer went to London he became manager of the Lyceum Theatre,
+where several of his pieces were performed, including the well-known
+Irish drama, "Peep o' Day," which had an enormously successful run. With
+this he also produced a magnificent panorama of Killarney, to illustrate
+which he wrote the well-known song of "Killarney" which, with the music
+of Balfe, our Irish composer, at once became very popular, as it ever
+since has been. Madame Anna Whitty, the distinguished vocalist, who
+first sang "Killarney," was a daughter of Michael James Whitty, of whom
+I have spoken elsewhere. In going through my papers I have just come
+across a letter from O'Rourke, dated from the Princess's Theatre,
+Manchester, August 19th, 1872, in which he tells me of the great success
+in Manchester of another play of his, "Eileen Oge." This also he
+produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, where it had a long and
+successful run. Edmund O'Rourke was a patriotic Irishman, and in this
+respect I could never have made the same comparison between the
+patriotism of the two men, Barry Sullivan and him, as I did between them
+as actors. _Both_ were patriotic Irishmen. It will be remembered that in
+an early chapter of this book I have mentioned that Barry Sullivan once
+offered himself to our committee as an Irish Nationalist candidate for
+the parliamentary representation of Liverpool.
+
+Dion Boucicault, too, is one, I am sure, who would have profited by
+anything Thomas Davis might have written on the subject of the drama. I
+am quite satisfied that though he was severely criticised for the wake
+scene in his play of "The Shaughraun" at the time it was first produced,
+the objectionable features in this were more the fault of the actors
+than of the dramatist; but the subject was an exceedingly risky one,
+even for a man like Boucicault, and would have been better avoided
+altogether.
+
+Besides Barry Sullivan and Falconer, other Irish actors I knew were
+Barry Aylmer, James Foster O'Neill, and Hubert O'Grady. They were
+impersonators of what were known as "Irish parts," and being genuine
+Irish Nationalists, as well as actors, did much to elevate the character
+of such performances. For with them, all the wit and drollery were
+retained, while they helped, by their example, to banish the buffoonery
+that used to characterise the "Stage Irishman."
+
+I am reminded by a criticism on one of his pieces in a London daily
+paper that we can claim, as a fellow-countryman, perhaps the most
+brilliant writer at the present time for the British stage--George
+Bernard Shaw. From a conversation I had with him once, I would certainly
+gather that he was a patriotic Irishman.
+
+I have done something in the way of dramatic production myself, one of
+the pieces I wrote being at the request of Father Nugent, to assist him
+in the great temperance movement he had started in Liverpool. He engaged
+a large hall in Bevington Bush, where every Monday night he gave the
+total abstinence pledge against intoxicating liquors to large numbers of
+people. I was then carrying on the "Catholic Times" for him, and he
+asked me to be the first to take the pledge from him at his public
+inauguration of the movement. Although, as he was aware, I was already a
+pledged teetotaler to Father Mathew, I was greatly pleased to agree to
+assist him all I could in his great work.
+
+He believed in providing a counter-attraction to the public house, and
+each Monday night, in the Bevington Hall, he provided a concert or some
+other kind of entertainment; giving, in the interval between the first
+and second part a stirring address and the temperance pledge. As there
+was a stage and scenery in the hall, we often had dramatic sketches. The
+drama I wrote for Father Nugent had a temperance moral. It was called
+"The Germans of Glenmore." It was played several Monday nights in
+succession, and was well received.
+
+Some years afterwards I made it into a story, calling it "The Reapers of
+Kilbride." This appeared over a frequent signature of mine, "Slieve
+Donard," in the "United Irishman," the organ of the Home Rule
+Confederation.
+
+Singularly enough, I found that part of it had been changed back again
+into the first act of a drama by Mr. Hubert O'Grady, the well-known
+Irish comedian.
+
+That gentleman was giving a performance for the benefit of the newly
+released political prisoners at one of our Liverpool theatres. Being
+somewhat late, I was making my way upstairs in company with Michael
+Davitt, and the play had commenced. I could hear on the stage part of
+the dialogue, which seemed familiar to me, and, sure enough, when I
+took my seat and listened to the rest of the act, the dialogue was
+pretty nearly, word for word, from "The Reapers of Kilbride." The
+compiler of the play being acted had also drawn upon another drama of
+mine for his last act, "Rosaleen Dhu, or the Twelve Pins of Bin-a-Bola."
+The play we were witnessing was very cleverly constructed, for Mr.
+O'Grady, with his strong dramatic instincts and experience, could tell
+exactly what would go well, and could use material accordingly. The
+transformation of the story as it appeared in the "United Irishman" back
+again into a play would be easily effected, as, leaving out the
+descriptive part, the dialogue itself, with the necessary stage
+directions, told the story. This, no doubt, Mr. O'Grady had perceived.
+
+Later still, I carried out a similar transformation with another of my
+own productions. I have a piece in three acts which, as a play, has
+never been published or performed. It is called "The Curse of
+Columbkille." This drama I changed into a story, which has appeared in
+the series of 6d. novels published by Messrs. Sealy, Bryers and Walker.
+The most striking character in it is Olaf, a Dane, who believes himself
+to be a re-incarnation of one of the old Danish sea rovers. A member of
+the firm, the late Mr. George Bryers, a sterling Irishman, called my
+attention to the opinion of the professional reader to the firm that it
+would be advisable to call the story "Olaf the Dane; or the Curse of
+Columbkille." I accepted the suggestion, and accordingly the book has
+been published with that title.
+
+I have seen with much interest the movement inaugurated by the Irish
+Theatre Company in Dublin, and have been present at some of their
+performances in London. In spite of some false starts and a tendency to
+imitate certain undesirable foreign influences, the movement should
+certainly help to foster the Irish drama.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+"HOW IS OLD IRELAND AND HOW DOES SHE STAND?"
+
+
+Summing up these pages, how shall I answer the question asked by Napper
+Tandy in "The Wearin' of the Green" over a hundred years ago--"How is
+old Ireland, and how does she stand?"
+
+Let us see what changes, for the better or for the worse, there have
+been during the period--nearly seventy years--covered by these
+recollections.
+
+Catholic Emancipation had, five years before I was born, allowed our
+people to raise their voices, and give their votes through their
+representatives in an alien Parliament.
+
+I am not one to say that no benefit for Ireland has arisen through
+legislation at Westminster, but the system that allowed our people to
+perish of starvation has always been, to my mind, the one great
+justification for our struggle for self-government by every practicable
+method. It has been a struggle for sheer existence.
+
+If Ireland had had the making of her own laws when the potato crop
+failed, not a single human being would have perished from starvation.
+That I am justified in introducing the terrible Irish Famine and its
+consequences into these recollections as part of my own experiences I
+think I have shown in my description of its effects upon our people
+when passing through Liverpool as emigrants or as settlers in England.
+
+I have always endeavoured to look upon the most hopeful aspects of the
+Irish question. But with the appalling tragedy of the Famine half way in
+the last century, with half our people gone and the population still
+diminishing, one is bound to admit that the nineteenth century was one
+of the most disastrous in Irish history.
+
+Is it surprising that, during my time, driven desperate at the sight of
+a perishing people in one of the most fruitful lands on earth, we should
+have made two attempts at rebellion?
+
+In 1848 the means were totally inadequate.
+
+In 1867 the movement looked more hopeful in many respects. The
+revolutionary organisation had a large number of enrolled members on
+both sides of the Atlantic. Among them were hundreds in the British
+army, and many thousands of Irish-American veterans trained in the Civil
+War, eager to wipe off the score of centuries in a conflict, on
+something like equal terms, with the olden oppressor of their race.
+
+But the real hope of success lay in the prospect of a war between
+America and England, which at one time seemed imminent, and justified
+the action of the Fenian chiefs in their preparations.
+
+It was, however, the very existence of Fenianism which, more than any
+other cause, prevented war. For none knew better than far-seeing
+statesmen like Mr. Gladstone (who declared that he was prompted to
+remedial measures for Ireland by "the intensity of Fenianism") that
+within a month of the commencement of a war between America and England,
+Ireland would be lost to the British crown for ever. That is why English
+statesmen would have grovelled in the dust before America, rather than
+engage in a conflict with her.
+
+The generous way in which the Irish exiles in America have poured their
+wealth into the lap of their island mother, and the determination they
+have shown to shed their blood for her just as freely, should the
+opportunity only come, are the features which to some extent
+counterbalance the tragedy of the Famine. For that terrible calamity, by
+driving our people out in millions, raised a power on the side of
+Ireland which her oppressors could not touch, a power which is no doubt
+among the means intended by Providence to hasten our coming day of
+freedom.
+
+Nevertheless, emigration, the most unanswerable proof of English
+misgovernment, is a terrible drain on our country's life-blood, and no
+entirely hopeful view of Ireland's future can be held until this is
+stopped.
+
+What, however, are the reflections which bring encouragement?
+
+One is that the time cannot be far distant when some statesman of the
+type of Gladstone will try to avert the danger threatening the British
+empire through an ever-discontented Ireland, by conceding to her at
+least the amount of self-government possessed by Canada and Australia.
+
+To this one section of Englishmen will say "Never!" Students of history
+have many times heard the "Never" of English statesmen, and know how
+often it has proved futile. Before I was born they were saying "Never"
+to Catholic Emancipation. Later on they said "Never" to the demand for
+tenant-right. A few years ago, when fighting the Boers, they said
+"Never" to the suggestion that the war should be ended on conditions.
+Even now economic causes and the competition of rival powers are at work
+in such a way that it is plain that the existence of the British Empire
+is at stake. England's one chance lies in the possibility of the
+friendship of the free democratic commonwealths which are at present her
+colonies--and of Ireland.
+
+The establishing of County Councils in Ireland and Great Britain was an
+acceptance of the principle of Home Rule. Their successful working has
+caused the belief in that principle to gain ground. Their administration
+in Ireland has shown that in no part of the British empire does there
+exist a greater capacity for self-government. All creeds and classes
+there have found the material benefit arising from them, for instead of
+their finances being managed by irresponsible boards, the money of the
+people is now wisely spent by their elected representatives.
+
+Moreover, if there is one thing that is certain, it is that the _future_
+is on our side. In my own time I have seen a most startling change come
+over the attitude of the working classes of England towards Ireland as
+they progressed in knowledge and political power themselves. They are
+the certain rulers of England to-morrow, the men whose democratic ideals
+are our own, and who have in fact largely been trained by us. Their rise
+means the fall of the system that has mis-governed Ireland. Thus every
+day brings nearer the triumph of our ideal, the ideal of freedom, which
+will probably be worked out in the form of Ireland governing herself and
+working harmoniously with a democratic self-governing England.
+
+The unquestionable growing desire among the people of Wales and Scotland
+to manage their own affairs proceeds largely from their having felt the
+benefits of _local_ self-government in their County Councils. Their
+prejudice against _National_ self-government for Ireland, and for
+themselves, too, should they desire it, is rapidly breaking down. In
+this connection, too, we must never forget what an enormous power we
+have in the two millions and more of Irishmen and men of Irish
+extraction in Great Britain, and that, under ordinary circumstances,
+they hold the balance of power between British parties in about 150
+Parliamentary constituencies.
+
+With regard to the Irish land question, we have every reason to be
+hopeful of the final and complete success of the great movement
+commenced by the organisation founded by Michael Davitt.
+
+We have had, since the days of Strongbow, many conquests and
+confiscations and settlements, the main object of each being the
+acquisition of the land of Ireland. Is it not marvellous,
+notwithstanding all the attempts to destroy our people, how they have
+clung to the soil and so absorbed the foreign element that you still so
+often find the old tribal names in the old tribal lands? Apart from
+this, we have, in the descendants of the various invaders, what would be
+a most valuable element in a self-governing Ireland, for whatever be the
+creed or the race from which men have sprung, it is but natural that all
+should love alike the land of their birth. As a result of Michael
+Davitt's labours, that land is to-day more nearly than it has been for
+centuries the property of the people, and it seems now, humanly
+speaking, impossible that they should ever be dispossessed of it again.
+
+Then there is the improvement in education. At one time it was banned
+and hunted along with religion and patriotism. Then it was permitted,
+with a view of turning it into a lever against the other two elements.
+Concessions have so far been wrung from the British parliament that
+there is now a university to which Irish youths can be sent. Here there
+is a great factor for good, for while, on the one hand, knowledge is
+power, on the other hand the thirst for knowledge has always been
+ineradicable in the Irish character. There are also the beginnings of
+technical training so long badly needed. Under self-government we should
+have been a couple of generations earlier in the race than we are, but
+it is not too late.
+
+Lastly, in reckoning up the conditions from which we can take hope and
+comfort there is this: In the darkest hour we have never lost faith in
+ourselves and our Cause. To find a parallel for such tenacity in the
+pages of the history of any land would be difficult.
+
+We come of a race that, through the long, dreary centuries, has never
+known despair, nor shall we despair now. I am assured that, before long,
+the drain on our life blood that has gone on for sixty years will stop,
+and that we shall stand on solid ground at last, ready for an upward
+spring.
+
+And so, to the young men of Ireland I would say: Be true to yourselves;
+hold fast to the ideals which your fathers preserved through the
+centuries, in spite of savage force and unscrupulous statecraft. The
+times are changing; new impulses are constantly shaping the destinies of
+the nations; have confidence in God and your country; and who shall dare
+to say that the future of Ireland may not yet be a glorious recompense
+for the heroism with which she has borne the sufferings of the past.
+
+                                   THE END.
+
+
+
+
+  INDEX.
+
+
+  A.
+
+  Alabama Claims, 75.
+
+  Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien condemned and executed, 104.
+
+  Ambulances, Irish, for Franco-Prussian War, 160, 161.
+
+  Amnesty Association and O'Connell Centenary, 183.
+
+  Ancient Fenians, 52.
+
+  Anderson, Arthur, resembled Corydon, 85.
+
+  "Annesley's Mountain, Lord," 31, 47.
+
+  Answers to Correspondents, 154.
+
+  Antrim, my birthplace, 2.
+
+  Archbishops Crolly and Murray support the Bequest Act, 30.
+
+  Archdeacon, George, 52.
+
+  Architectural Drawing and Surveying, employed at these, 54.
+
+  Arms for Rising of 1867. Inadequate supply, 94.
+
+  Arrest and rescue of Kelly and Deasy, 95.
+
+  Aunt Kitty, my godmother, 2.
+  ----Mary, 38.
+  ----Nancy, 15.
+
+  Aylmer, Barry, adopts the stage as profession, 119.
+
+
+  B.
+
+  Ballad Poetry of Ireland, 260.
+
+  Ballymagenaghy, my mother's birthplace, 31.
+  ----rocky soil, 31.
+
+  Ballymagenaghy, "Papishes to a man," 31.
+  ----cottage industries, 33, 34.
+  ----large families, 33.
+
+  Ballymagrehan, 36.
+
+  Ballywalter, my father's birthplace, 2.
+
+  Ballinahinch, Battle of, 38, 39.
+
+  Banbridge, weaving industries by steam, 34.
+
+  Bannon, Oiney, 31.
+
+  Barrett, David, examines the _Lia Fail_, 110.
+
+  "Barney Henvey" and the Fairies, 35, 36.
+
+  Barry, John, 8, 127.
+  ----calls us together to form Home Rule Confederation of
+  ----Great Britain, 173.
+
+  Barry Sullivan, a great Irish actor, 22.
+
+  Beers, Lord Roden's agent in Dolly's Brae massacre, 45.
+
+  Beecher (Captain Michael O'Rorke), "The Fenian Paymaster," 78, 79.
+
+  Belle Vue Prison, Manchester, near the scene of rescue, 101.
+
+  Benedictines, 4.
+
+  Biggar, Joseph, 180, 181, 193.
+  ----Catholic, becomes a, 181.
+  ----"Obstruction." enters upon, 182.
+  ----Parliament, enters, 179.
+  ----Parnell, combination with, 179.
+
+  Birmingham, supplementary Convention, 176.
+  "Black North," The, 15.
+
+  Bligh, M.D., Alderman Alexander, 200.
+
+  Bligh, M.D., John, 207.
+
+  Blockade, running of "United Ireland," 209, 215.
+
+  Boer War, The, 271.
+
+  "_Bog Latin_," Mr. Butt gives the origin of it, 195.
+
+  Boucicault, Dion, 263.
+
+  Bourbaki, our men in Foreign Legion with him struck last blow in
+  --Franco-German War, 161.
+
+  Boyle, M.P., Alderman Daniel, 239.
+
+  Brady, John, 236.
+
+  Breslin, John, 76.
+  ----aids in escape of military Fenians, 140.
+
+  Breslin, Michael, "on his keeping," 77, 123.
+
+  Breslin, Michael, narrowly escapes arrest, 124.
+
+  Brett (sergeant of police) shot in Manchester rescue, 101.
+
+  "Brian, Tribe of," 28.
+
+  Brian O'Loughlin in '98, 38.
+
+  Brotherhood of St. Patrick, the forerunner of Fenianism and
+  --Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 87.
+
+  Bryant, Mrs. Dr. Sophie, 238.
+
+  Bryers, George, 266.
+
+  "Buckshot Foster," 210.
+
+  Burke, Rickard, meets a notable company, 93.
+  ----purchases arms, 105.
+  ----Clerkenwell explosion an attempt to rescue him, 106.
+  ----sent to penal servitude, 106.
+  ----returned to America, 112.
+
+  Burke, Thomas, J.P., of Liverpool, 186.
+
+  Bushmills, Co. Antrim, my birthplace, 2.
+
+  Butt, Isaac, presides at the first Annual Convention of the
+  Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, and becomes its
+  --first President, 173.
+  ----a contributor to "United Irishman," 181.
+  ----gives no countenance to obstruction, 188.
+  ----1876 Convention votes confidence in him, 188.
+  ----resigns presidency of organisation, and succeeded by Parnell, 192.
+  ----his death, 195.
+
+  Byrom Street, Liverpool, my house for a time the headquarters of
+  Home Rule Confederation
+  of Great Britain, 181.
+  ----frequently met Butt, Parnell, Biggar, and other leaders there, 181.
+
+  Byrne, Daniel, Richmond Prison warder, 77.
+
+  Byrne, Frank, 160, 181.
+
+  Byrne, M.P., Garrett, 230.
+
+  Byrne, Patrick, 199.
+
+
+  C.
+
+  Cahill, Rev. Dr., a great preacher, 59.
+
+  Camp in Everton, in view of expected rising in Liverpool, 55.
+
+  Campbell, Richard, a humorous Irish singer, 120.
+
+  "Camp Fires of the Legion," by James Finigan, 162.
+
+  Carlingford Lough, vies with Killarney in beauty, 27.
+
+  Carnarvon Borough election, where I first met Lloyd George, 237.
+
+  _Carraig_ Mountain, 31
+
+  Cassidy, Tom, "a flogger," 67.
+
+  Castlewellan, Eiver Magennis its member in King James's Parliament, 29.
+
+  Castlewellan, a Nationalist centre for South Down, 47.
+
+  "Catalpa" carries off the military Fenians, 140.
+  ----lands them safely in New York, 145.
+
+  Catholic Emancipation, 268.
+
+  Catholic Hierarchy, Restoration of, 58.
+
+  Catholic Institute, 54.
+
+  "Catholic Times," I review in it "Life of Robert Emmet,"
+  by Michael James Whitty, 21.
+  ----carrying it on single-handed, 153.
+
+  Celtic Race, the Catholics of Ulster the most Celtic part of
+  --Ireland, 30. 57.
+
+  Chambers, Corporal, 200.
+
+  Chester Castle, plot to seize, 81.
+  ----I volunteer for the raid, 82.
+
+  Christian Brothers, The, 14, 27.
+
+  Churches, increase rapidly in Liverpool, 6.
+
+  Clampit, Sam, a good, honest Protestant Fenian, is arrested, 108.
+
+  Clan Connell War Song--O'Donnell Aboo, 115.
+
+  Clan na nGael, 36.
+
+  Clarence Dock, Liverpool, 3.
+  ----where the harvest men landed, 35.
+
+  Clarke, Michael, 180.
+
+  Clarke, Patrick, 180.
+
+  Clarkhill, Co. Down, 47.
+
+  Coming over from Ireland, 3.
+
+  Commins, Dr. Andrew, his record, 172.
+  ----becomes head of Home Rule Organisation in Great Britain, 171, 172.
+
+  Conciliation Hall, Dublin, 16.
+
+  Condon, Captain Edward O'Meagher, 93.
+
+  Condon, plans rescue of Kelly and Deasy, 96.
+  ----is himself arrested, 102.
+
+  Condon, his defiant shout in the dock of "God save Ireland," 104.
+  ----returned to America, and has been since helping the Cause there and
+  here, 106, 107, and 112.
+
+  Confederates, Irish, 55.
+
+  Connolly, Lawrence, 185.
+
+  Connaught, 35.
+
+  Convention of 1876 votes confidence in Isaac Butt, 188.
+
+  Copperas Hill Chapel, 5.
+  ----Schools, 13.
+
+  Cork, "No sin in Cor-r-r-k," 26.
+
+  Corydon, the informer, what he was like, 85.
+  ----throws off the mask, 85.
+
+  Cottage Industries in Ulster, 33.
+
+  Council of Fenian Leaders, 93.
+
+  Cousens, a Liverpool detective, 131.
+
+  Cranston, Robert, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Crilly, Alfred, a brilliant Irishman, who did good service for the
+  Cause, 150, 171.
+
+  Crilly, Daniel, brother of Alfred, 150, 211.
+  ----on staff of "Nation," 151.
+  ----registration agent, 243.
+  ----editor of "United Irishman," 180.
+  ----Member of Parliament, 180.
+
+  Crilly, Frederick Lucas, General Secretary of United Irish League
+  --of Great Britain, 150.
+
+  Crimean War, The, 65.
+
+  Crosbie Street, mostly spoke Connaught Irish, 15.
+
+  Crowley, Thade, the Cork pork butcher, 25, 26.
+
+  Cumberland, 33.
+
+  Curragh of Kildare, I help at the building of camp there, 65.
+
+
+  D.
+
+  "Daily News," The, describes the rescue of Kelly and Deasy,
+  and acknowledges the courage and skill of the rescuers, 101.
+
+  "Daily Post," Liverpool, 21.
+
+  Darragh, Daniel, brings the arms from Birmingham for Manchester Rescue, 96.
+  ----dies in Portland Prison, 126.
+  ----Hogan brings his remains to Ireland, and Condon visits his grave, 127.
+
+  Darragh, Thomas, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Davis, Thomas, as registration agent, 242.
+  ----his "Literary and Historical Essays," 261.
+
+  Davitt, Martin, father of Michael, 240.
+
+  Davitt, Michael, takes up Forrester's work of supplying arms, 132.
+  ----is arrested and convicted on Corydon's testimony, 136.
+  ----returns from penal servitude, 199.
+  ----formation of the Land League, 205.
+  ----his "Fall of Feudalism," 197.
+  ----tries to get Parnell to join advanced movement, 202.
+
+  "Dear Old Ireland," T.D. Sullivan's Song, 38.
+
+  Denvir's "Monthly" and "Irish Library," 257.
+
+  De Courcy, 27, 29.
+
+  Denvir, Bishop, Bible, 30.
+  ----see Father O'Laverty, 30.
+  ----I met him with my father, 3.
+
+  Denvir, General Denver's daughter enquires after him, 41.
+
+  Denver City, the Capital of Colorado, named after General James
+  --William Denver, descended from Patrick Denvir, a '98 Insurgent, 40.
+
+  Desmond, Captain, one of the rescuers of the military Fenians, 140.
+
+  Devoy, John, he aided the escape of James Stephens, 76, and of the
+  --military Fenians, 140.
+
+  Dillon, John, M.P., 205.
+
+  Distinguished Irishmen I have met, 10.
+
+  Disestablishment of the Irish Church prompted by Gladstone's recognition
+  --of "the intensity of Fenianism," 147.
+
+  Disruption of the Irish Party, 252.
+
+  Doctors and other professional men excellent helpers in the
+  National Cause, 177, 258.
+
+  Dock labourers' love of learning, 19.
+
+  Dolly's Brae Fight, 44.
+  ----massacre, 45.
+
+  Donnelly, Edward, foreman printer of "United Ireland," brings me the
+  --stereos, 210.
+
+  Doran, Arthur, an Irish newsagent, becomes bail for Forrester, 135.
+
+  Dowling, chief constable of Liverpool, dismissed, 60.
+
+  Down, County, 2, 29, 47.
+  ----cottage industries, 33.
+
+  Drumgoolan, my uncle's parish, 28.
+
+  Dublin Castle wires warning of Manchester Rescue--too late, 97.
+
+  Duffy, Michael Francis, 166.
+
+  Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, loses heart for a time, 62.
+
+  Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan, his old hopes revive, 62.
+
+  Dundas, General, routed by the Kilcullen pikemen in '98.
+
+  Dundrum Bay, 32.
+
+
+  E.
+
+  Egan, Patrick, 184.
+  ----sustains "United Ireland" against attempted suppression, 215.
+  ----his life story, 219.
+  ----always a practical patriot, 221.
+  ----attitude towards Parliament, 221.
+  ----President of Irish National League of America, 224.
+  ----American ambassador to Chili, 224.
+  ----President Harrison's tribute, 224.
+
+  Elizabethan days, 5.
+
+  "Emerald Minstrels," The, 115, 116, 117.
+   ----inspired by "Spirit of the Nation," 118.
+
+  "Erin's Hope," with Irish-American officers, arms, and ammunition,
+   --reaches Sligo Bay, 94.
+   ----returns to America, 95.
+
+  "Erin's Sons in England," racy song by T.D. Sullivan, 152.
+
+
+  F.
+
+  Fahy, Francis, poet. 137
+
+  Falconer (Edmond O'Rourke), a famous Irish actor and dramatist,
+  --author of "Peep o' Day," "Killarney," etc., 52, 263.
+
+  Famine, The great Irish, 6.
+  ----heroism of the clergy, 53.
+  ----the greatest disaster in Irish history, 269.
+
+  "Felon Repeal Club" in Newcastle-on-Tyne, 56.
+
+  Fenian Brotherhood, The, 52, 73.
+  ----the two wings, 123.
+  ----Conference in Paris, Michael Breslin attends, 123.
+  ----gathering, which Parnell attends at my invitation, 203.
+
+  "Fenian Paymaster" (Captain O'Rorke), known as "Beecher," 78.
+
+  Fenian leaders in England take counsel, 93.
+
+  Fenianism.--What did it do for Ireland? 146.
+
+  Ferguson, John, assists at foundation of Home Rule Confederation of
+  --Great Britain, 176.
+  ----indicates Parnell as future leader, 192.
+  ----director of "United Irishman," 180.
+
+  Finigan, James Lysaght, his adventurous career, 124.
+  ----in the Franco-German War, 160.
+
+  Finn MacCool and the ancient Fenians, 52.
+
+  Flannery, Thomas, an able Irish scholar, 164, 258.
+
+  Flood, John, and the Chester raid, 82.
+
+  "Flowering," girls employed at, 34.
+
+  "Flowing Tide," 233.
+
+  Foley, Patrick James, 254.
+
+  Ford, Patrick, Michael Davitt's tribute to him, 198.
+  ----I welcome the "Irish World" in the "Catholic Times," 198.
+
+  Forrester, Arthur, he brings me revolvers, 131.
+  ----I am visited by detectives, 131.
+  ----they can make out no case against him, and he is released, 135.
+
+  Forrester, Arthur, he joins the French Foreign Legion, 134, 160, 162.
+
+  Forrester, Mrs. Ellen, comes with Michael Davitt, 133.
+  ----like others of her family, she wrote poetry, 134.
+
+  Fox, Frank, one of our poets, 181.
+
+  "Fount of patriotism," 11.
+
+  Franco-Prussian War, 160.
+
+  Freemantle, rescue from of the military Fenians, 139.
+
+  "Frolics of Phil Foley," a sketch by John F. McArdle, 121.
+
+
+  G.
+
+  Gaelic characters, the, 11.
+
+  Gaelic League Revival, 256.
+
+  Gaelic Prayer Book (Scotch), printed by me for Father Campbell, S.J.,
+  for use in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 259.
+
+  Garton, Patrick De Lacy, Stephens escapes in his hooker, 78.
+  ----he helps the blockade-running of "United Ireland." "Georgette,"
+  ----passenger steamer, pursues the military Fenians, 143.
+  ----fires a round shot across the bows of the "Catalpa," in which they
+  ----are escaping, 143.
+
+  Gilmore, Patrick Sarsfield, a distinguished Irish-American composer
+  --and musician, 114.
+
+  Gilmore, Mary Sarsfield, his daughter, an able contributor to
+  --"Irish World," 114.
+
+  Gladstone, William Ewart, introduces Home Rule Bill, 231.
+  ----"Flowing Tide," 233.
+  ----returned to power through aid of Irish vote, 232.
+
+  "God Save Ireland," Condon gives us a rallying cry and a
+  --National Anthem, 104.
+
+  "Gormans of Glenmore," The, 265.
+
+  Goss, Bishop, a typical Englishman of the best kind.
+  Blunt-hitting-out-from-the-shoulder style of speaking, 156.
+
+  Grattan's Parliament, 41.
+
+  Graves, Alfred Perceval, 138, 259.
+
+  Gunboats in river Mersey in view of expected rising in Liverpool, 55.
+
+
+  H.
+
+  "Hail to the Chief" (from the "Lady of the Lake"), 118.
+   ----played as salute to Parnell, 117.
+
+  Halpin, General, a scientific soldier, 90.
+  ----in command at the rising, 90.
+  ----gives us lecture on fortifications and earthworks, 91.
+  ----arrested at Queenstown, 91.
+
+  "Hamlet" played by Falconer, 262.
+
+  Hand, John, one of our poets, 181.
+
+  Hanlons, Hughey and Ned, 51.
+
+  Harrington, Martin, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Harvestmen from Connaught and Donegal, a hardy lot, 35.
+
+  Haslingden, the home of Davitt, 84.
+
+  Hassett, Thomas Henry, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Healy, T.M., when I first met him, 196.
+  ----becomes Parnell's secretary, 197.
+
+  Heinrick, Hugh, editor of "United Irishman," 180.
+
+  Hibernians, Ancient Order of, strong in Liverpool, and stout champions
+  --of country and creed, 16.
+  ----a bodyguard for the priests in penal days, 17.
+  ----their stronghold in northern Irish counties and counties adjoining, 18.
+  ----in America, Rev. Thomas Shahan pays tribute to the Order, 16, 17.
+
+  "Hidden Gem," a play by Cardinal Wiseman, 63.
+
+  Hierarchy restored, 58.
+
+  Highlands of Scotland, the Gaelic spoken there, 187.
+
+  Hints from Thomas Davis to Irish painters, students, historians,
+  --lecturers, journalists, public speakers, and others, 261.
+
+  Hogan, the Irish sculptor, crowns O'Connell with Repeal cap, 49.
+
+  Hogan, Martin Joseph, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Hogan, William, a friend of Captain John M'Cafferty, 87.
+  ----helps Darragh to get the revolvers for Manchester rescue, 96.
+  ----is arrested for this, tried, and acquitted, 124, 125.
+
+  Holyhead, wagons and carriages for there to be seized, 81.
+
+  Holy Cross Chapel, Liverpool, as it was, 58.
+  ----the chief of police countenances the getting up of a panic there, 60.
+
+  Holland, of the submarine, 145.
+
+  Home Rule Organisation, formation in Ireland, various sections assist, 148.
+  ----John Barry calls us together to form Home Rule Confederation
+  ----of Great Britain, 173.
+
+  Home Rule Organisation, I become its first secretary, 155.
+
+  Hyde Road, the scene of the Manchester rescue, 99.
+
+  Hymans, Jewish admirers of Thade Crowley, 25.
+
+
+  I.
+
+  Igoe's publichouse at the Curragh, 67.
+
+  "Inishowen," noble song by Charles Gavan Duffy, 260.
+
+  Insurrection in Ireland considered easier to put down
+  than "Obstruction," 190.
+
+  Iona Pilgrimage, 233.
+
+  Irish-American officers to leave Ireland for England, 79.
+
+  Irish Brigade of Liverpool, 92.
+
+  "Irish Library," I start it, 35.
+
+  "Irish in Britain," The, 78, 102.
+
+  Irish National League organiser, Edward M'Convey, 33.
+
+  Irish Parliamentary Party, disruption and reunion of, 252.
+
+  Irish Race Convention, 254.
+
+  "Irish Rapparees," by Gavan Duffy, 260.
+
+  Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, 73. 74.
+
+  Irish of Great Britain compact and politically important, 2.
+
+  "Irish World," The, 198.
+
+  Isle of Man, 32, 187.
+
+
+  J.
+
+  Jack Langan, an Irish boxer, 4.
+
+  "Jigger Loft," where our men work, 7.
+
+  Journalism, 21.
+
+  Johnson, my classical teacher, 28.
+
+
+  K.
+
+  Kehoe, Inspector Lawrence.--Did he shut his eyes in my case? 129.
+
+  Kelly, Col. Thomas, his personal appearance, 92.
+  ----directs rescue of James Stephens, 76, 77, 78.
+  ----I meet him in Liverpool, 92, 93.
+  ----his arrest in Manchester with Captain Deasy, 95.
+  ----rescue, 100, 101.
+  ----how he escaped from the country, 105.
+
+  Kildare, gallant fight of the men of Kildare in '98, 69.
+
+  King Edward VII., plot for his abduction when Prince of Wales, 88.
+
+  Kirwan, Captain Martin Walter, in the Franco-Prussian War, 160.
+  ----afterwards general secretary of Irish organisation in Great Britain.
+
+  Knox, Edmund Vesey, a Protestant Member of Parliament, who did
+  --good service at Lloyd George's election and elsewhere, 238.
+
+
+  L.
+
+  Lambert, Michael, makes key to fit James Stephens' cell, 78.
+
+  "Lancashire Free Press," 91.
+
+  Land League, The, its formation in April, 1879, with Davitt recognised
+  --as its "Father," 205.
+
+  Larkin, Michael, 103, 104.
+
+  Lecale, Celtic and Norman admixture since De Courcy's time, 27.
+
+  Leitrim Chapel, where I served Mass for my uncle, 32.
+  ----band of fiddles, flutes, and clarionets, 37.
+
+  _Lia Fail_ (Stone of Destiny), 109, the stone to be stolen, 110.
+
+  _Lia Fail_, David Barrett, League organiser, tries to test its weight.
+  --Is stopped by its guardians, 111.
+
+  Liberator, The (O'Connell), frequently passed through Liverpool, 43.
+
+  Lloyd-George, David, Chancellor of the Exchequer, I help
+  --in his first Election, 237.
+
+  London Irish Literary Society, 259.
+
+  Lost opportunity for Irish tongue, 15.
+
+  Lover, Samuel, painter, poet, musician, composer, novelist,
+  --and dramatist, 10.
+  ----his patriotism, 10, 11.
+  ----his wit, 12.
+
+  Loyal toasts, 188, 189, 203.
+
+  Lumber Street Chapel, 4.
+
+  Lynch,. Daniel, translates "God Save Ireland" into Irish, 113.
+
+
+  M.
+
+  McAnulty, Bernard, a strong Home Ruler and Fenian sympathiser, 34, 56, 180.
+
+  McArdle, John, 15, 16.
+
+  McArdle, John F., the most brilliant of the Emerald Minstrels, 118.
+
+  McCann, Michael Joseph, author of "O'Donnell Aboo," I make
+  --his acquaintance, 114, 115.
+
+  McCafferty, John, had fought for the South in the American Civil War.
+  --His plot to seize Chester Castle, 81.
+  ----his scheme (as Mr. Patterson) to abduct the Prince of Wales, 88.
+
+  McCartans, The, 29.
+
+  McCarthy, Sergeant, his sudden death, 200.
+
+  M'Cormick, Father, of Wigan, men on way to Chester raid go to Confession
+  --to him, 82.
+
+  McDonald, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, preached at Iona in Gaelic
+  --on the life of St. Columbkille, 234.
+
+  McDonnell, Sergeant James, 206
+
+  McGrady, Owen, conference at his house to arrange for reception of
+  --expedition then on the sea, 93.
+
+  McGrath, Father Peter, 187.
+
+  McGowan, James, my godfather, 2.
+
+  McHale, Archbishop, I report his sermon, 155.
+
+  McKinley, Peter, 180.
+
+  MacMahon, Father, of Suncroft, gives the Curragh men a good character, 70.
+  ----he tells us of St. Brigid's miraculous mantle, 69.
+  ----and of the gallant Kildare men in '98, 69.
+
+  McMahon, Heber, 181.
+
+  MacManus, Terence Bellew, 49, 52.
+
+  McNaghten, Sir Francis, 2.
+
+  McSwiney, Father, S.J., and the "Catholic Times," 154.
+
+  "Macbeth" played by Falconer, 262.
+
+  Magennis, Eiver (see Castlewellan), 29.
+
+  Maguire, the marine, wrongly charged at Manchester, 104.
+
+  Manchester, first Convention of Home Rule Confederation held there, 173.
+
+  Manchester Martyrs, place of rescue confounded with place of execution, 99.
+
+  Mangan, Richard, 180.
+
+  Mass in Penal times, 5.
+
+  Massacre at Dolly's Brae, 45.
+
+  Mathew, Father, Apostle of Temperance, what he was like, 13.
+
+  Maughan, Peter, recruiting agent for the I.R.B. among
+  --the British soldiery, 72, 86.
+
+  Mazzinghi, Count, composer of "Hail to the Chief," 115.
+
+  Meany, Stephen Joseph, a journalist, 91.
+  ----in Young Ireland movement, 22.
+  ----starts "Lancashire Free Press," 91.
+  ----imprisoned for Fenianism, 91.
+
+  "Men of the North, The," stirring ballad by Charles Gavan Duffy, 260.
+
+  Military Fenians, their rescue, chiefly by John Breslin,
+  --going from America, and John Walsh from this side, 139 to 145.
+
+  Millbank Prison, M'Cafferty writes from there to William Hogan, 87.
+
+  Mogan, John, a capable man at registration and electioneering, 243.
+
+  Monroe, General, a Presbyterian leader, hanged at his own door in '98, 41.
+
+  Mourne Mountains, 27, 32, 57.
+
+  Mulhall, Peter and James, 194.
+
+  Mullaghmast, 49.
+
+  Mullin, Dr. James, 177, 178.
+
+  Murphy, Bessie, 181.
+
+  Murphy, Captain, 93, 112.
+
+  Murphy, David, supposed to have been shot by connivance of Pigott, 247.
+
+  Murphy, Patrick, 239.
+
+  Murphy, William, sent to penal servitude for attack on the van
+  --at Manchester, though not there, 102.
+
+  Murray, Archbishop, 30.
+
+
+  N.
+
+  "Nation" newspaper, readings from it, 15.
+  ----"O'Donnell Aboo" appears in it, 115.
+
+  "Nation once again, A," 36.
+
+  National Anthem of "God Save Ireland," Condon's defiant shout
+  --in the dock the origin of it, 104.
+
+  "Nationalist" The, 256.
+
+  Naughton, Miss, 132.
+
+  "Ninety-eight" memories, many of the leaders Presbyterians, 41.
+
+  "No Popery" mob, A, 4.
+
+  "No Popery" mania over "Papal aggression," 58.
+
+  Normans in Ireland, The, 27.
+
+  "Northern Press and Catholic Times," 72.
+
+  Norse settlements, 27.
+
+  Nugent, Father, and the Catholic Institute, 63.
+  ----St. Patrick's celebrations, 64.
+  ----proprietor of "Catholic Times," which I conducted for him, 91.
+  ----after a long interval, am pleased to meet him just before
+  ---- his death, 159.
+
+
+  O.
+
+  Oates, Tom, of Newcastle, 94.
+
+  Oath of allegiance, Parnell and my view on this, 112.
+
+  "O," the prefix, 33.
+
+  O'Brien, Captain Michael, is hanged at Manchester, 104, 112.
+
+  O'Brien, John, released prisoner, 200.
+
+  O'Brien, James Francis Xavier, introduces me to O'Donovan (Rossa), 73.
+  ----No more gallant figure among the Fenian leaders than J.F.X. O'Brien.
+  ----In all things _straight_, 89, 90.
+
+  O'Brien, M.P., Patrick, 230.
+
+  O'Brien, Richard Barry, 259.
+
+  O'Brien, William, 212, &c.
+
+  "Obstruction," the 1877 Convention endorses the policy, 104.
+
+  O'Coigly, Father, Pilgrimage, 235.
+
+  O'Connell Centenary, 183, 184.
+
+  O'Connell in Liverpool, 48.
+  ----a faithful son of the Church, 48.
+  ----enormous attendance at his meetings, 49.
+  ----Orange attack repelled by McManus and his friends, 49.
+
+  O'Connell, John (son of the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell),
+  --a British militia officer at the Curragh; gives good example
+  --to his men by going to Holy Communion, 68.
+  ----he wrote fine verses, 68.
+
+  O'Connell, Maurice, wrote "Recruiting Song of the Irish Brigade," 69.
+
+  O'Connell Centenary, 183.
+
+  O'Connor, M.P., T.P., the only Home Rule Member of Parliament for
+  --Great Britain elected _as such_, 24, 188, 230.
+
+  O'Donovan, Edmund, son of John O'Donovan, 90.
+  ----in French Foreign Legion, 160, 162.
+  ----special correspondent in Russo-Turkish War, 164.
+  ----Merv, 165.
+  ----perishes in the Soudan, 165.
+
+  O'Donovan, Jeremiah (Rossa), 73.
+
+  O'Donovan, John, the distinguished Irish scholar, 163.
+  ----memoir of him by Thomas Flannery, 164.
+
+  O'Donnell, Bishop, 254.
+  "O'Donnell Aboo" as our national anthem? 114, 115.
+  ----no claim, 116.
+
+  O'Donnell, F.H., 181, 193.
+
+  O'Grady, Hubert, 265.
+
+  O'Hagan, Lord, 184.
+
+  O'Hanlons, The, the Ulster standard bearers, 51.
+
+  O'Kelly, James, in Mexican campaign, 165.
+  ----recruits for the French army until fall of Paris, 166.
+  ----adopts journalism, 167.
+  ----enters Parliament, 167.
+
+  "Olaf, the Dane, or the Curse of Columbkille," 266.
+
+  Oliver, William John, 180.
+
+  O'Laverty, Father, historian of Down and Connor, 29, 30.
+
+  O'Loughlin, Brian, 38.
+
+  O'Loughlin, Father Bernard, my uncle, 33.
+  ----Father Bernard. Passionist, of Paris 169.
+  ----John, my uncle, 169.
+  ----Michael, Father, my uncle, 28, 33.
+  ----Margaret, my mother, 33.
+
+  O'Mahony, Michael, writes "Life of St. Columbkille" for me, 234.
+
+  O'Malley, M.P., William, 230.
+
+  Opening of a bath by swimming in it, by T.D. Sullivan, when
+  --Lord Mayor of Dublin, 153.
+
+  Orangeism, 19, 20, 22, 23.
+
+  O'Reilly, John Boyle, his "Life" in our Library, 86.
+  ----helps escape of the military Fenians, 140.
+
+  O'Rorke, Captain Michael (Beecher), the Fenian paymaster, 78, 79.
+
+  O'Rourke, Edmund (Falconer), actor and dramatist, 52, 263.
+
+  O'Shea, Captain, a candidate for Parliament, 228.
+
+  O'Sullivan, Eugene, 211.
+  ----Eugene or "Owen," a Welsh registration case, 244.
+
+
+
+  P.
+
+  Packmen from Ulster, Oiney Bannon, Bernard McAnulty, 34.
+
+  "Pagan O'Leary," "Beggars and Robbers," 80.
+
+  "Papal aggression," 58.
+
+  Papal Volunteers, we entertain them, 155.
+
+  "Papishes," 19.
+
+  Parnell, Charles Stewart, enters Parliament, 179, 181.
+  ----becomes chairman of Irish Parliamentary Party, 192.
+  ----could weigh men's capabilities, 197.
+  ----Davitt cannot induce Parnell to join the advanced organisation, 202.
+  ----Parnell and the I.R.B. men, 203.
+  ----with Dillon, goes to America for relief of Irish distress, 208.
+  ----collapse of the "Times" Forgeries against Parnell, 248.
+  ----disruption in the Party, 252.
+  ----reunion, January 30th, 1900, 255.
+
+  "Patriot Parliament of 1689," by Thomas Davis, 29.
+
+  Patterson, Mr. (Captain McCafferty), calls on me, 88.
+
+  "Peggy Loughlin's wee boy," 32.
+
+  Penal days in Liverpool, 4, 5.
+
+  Phoenix movement and trials, 73.
+
+  Pictures at election times, "the Pope," "Robert Emmet," "King William," 245.
+
+  Plantation of Ulster, 31, 39.
+
+  Power, John O'Connor, lectures at Davitt's meeting, 199.
+
+  "Punch" and "Times" seemed to gloat over probable extinction of
+  --Irish race, 53.
+
+  "Punch's" caricature of O'Connell, 54.
+
+  Purcell, Edward, helps blockade running of "United Ireland," 213.
+
+  Prendiville, John, his steamers used to bring voters from the river, 244.
+
+  "Presbyterian Government," was there a call for this at Ballinahinch? 39.
+
+  Price, Father John, S.J., 4.
+
+  "Protestant Ulster" chiefly an importation, 30.
+
+
+  Q.
+
+  "Quare man doesn't know his own mother's name," 33.
+
+
+  R.
+
+  Race Convention in Ireland, 254.
+
+  Rails to Chester to be taken up, 81.
+
+  "Rapparees, The Irish," Charles Gavan Duffy's fine song, 260.
+
+  Readings from the "Nation," 15.
+
+  "Reapers of Kilbride," 265, 266.
+
+  "Rebel, An Old," 1.
+
+  Red-haired woman stops the growth of the Curragh, 69.
+
+  Redmond, John, 3, 252.
+
+  Redmond, Sylvester, 86.
+
+  Refugees of the '67 Rising, 92.
+
+  Repeal Hall, 52.
+
+  "Repeal Cap," 49.
+
+  Rescue of Kelly and Deasy.
+  ----Incidents of the arrest and rescue described in page 95
+  ----and following pages.
+
+  Reunion of the Parliamentary Party, January 30th, 1900, 255.
+
+  Revisiting Ireland, 27.
+
+  Revolvers for Manchester, 96.
+
+  Revolvers from Forrester, 131.
+
+  Reynolds, Dr., 52.
+
+  Ribbonmen, 23.
+
+  Richards, Richard ("Double Dick"), 109.
+
+  Richardson, John, 5.
+
+  "Richard III." played by Falconer, 262.
+
+  Rising of 1848, drilling to oppose it, 55.
+
+  Rising of 1867, 89.
+
+  Roden, Lord, 32.
+  ----Dolly's Brae massacre, 45.
+
+  "Roderick Vich Alpine Dhu," 115.
+
+  Rogers, John, a Gaelic scholar, 259.
+
+  Roney, Hughey, his house threatened by Orangemen, 15, 20.
+
+  "Rory O'More," by Lover, 11.
+  ----a scene from it reenacted, 12.
+
+  "Rosaleen Dhu," 266.
+
+  Rotunda, Dublin, 155.
+
+  Round Towers, Kildare, &c., 70.
+
+  Russell, Lord John, his Ecclesiastical Titles Act, 58, 61.
+
+  Russell, Charles (Lord Russell of Killowen), willing to become our candidate
+  --for Parliament to induce Liberals to withdraw objectionable man.
+  --This has desired effect, 249.
+  ----we ask him to take the chair for our first Home Rule meeting.
+  ----He advises us to get Dr. Commins, 171.
+
+  Russell, Sir Edward, of "Liverpool Daily Post," 21, 257.
+
+  Ryan, John (Capn. O'Doherty), calls on me; I join the I.R.B., 74.
+
+  Ryan, John (Capn. O'Doherty),
+  ----he describes to me the escape of Stephens, in which he assisted, 77, 78.
+  ----now dead many years, 68, 112.
+
+  Ryan, Wm. James, his "Life of John Boyle O'Reilly," 86.
+
+  Ryan, William Patrick, 257.
+
+  Ryan, Dr. Mark, an Irish scholar, 257.
+
+
+  S.
+
+  Sadlier, John, his suicide, 62.
+
+  Sadlier-Keogh gang, their betrayal of the cause of the Irish
+  --tenants, 61, 62.
+
+  Saintfield, battle, in '98, 38.
+
+  Salford Gaol, 99.
+
+  Santley, Sir Charles, 5.
+
+  Sarsfield Band, 184.
+
+  Saturday Evening Concerts, 10.
+
+  School Board Election, Liverpool, our votes enough to elect 8 out of
+  --the 15 members, 156.
+
+  Schoolmaster, The, 93, 111.
+
+  Scone, 110.
+
+  Scott, Sir Walter, author of "Hail to the Chief," 115.
+
+  Scotland Ward and Division in Liverpool, an Irish stronghold,
+  --both Municipal and Parliamentary, 24, 185.
+
+  Seager, John Renwick, 243.
+
+  Servant girls, Irish-American, 111.
+
+  Sexton, Thomas, 254.
+
+  Shahan, Father, on "Hibernianism," 16, 17.
+
+  "Shan Van Vocht," on the "Curragh of Kildare," sung by the
+  --"Emerald Minstrels," 71.
+
+  Shaw, George Bernard, 264.
+
+  "Shemus O'Brien," 121.
+
+  Sherlock, Father, a saintly man, presides at our first Birmingham Convention
+  --demonstration, 175, 177.
+
+  Slieve Donard, 32, 265.
+
+  Slieve na Slat ("Mountain of rods"), 31.
+
+  Sloops from Ireland, 3.
+
+  Smyth, George, 52.
+
+  "Spirit of the Nation," 11.
+
+  Stephens, James, his escape from Richmond, 76, 77.
+
+  St. Brigid's mantle, Father MacMahon tells the legend of, 69.
+
+  "Stage Irishman," discountenanced, 119, 264.
+
+  Strongbow, 272.
+
+  Saint Columbkille, 233.
+
+  St. George's Hall, Liverpool, great gathering addressed by Parnell, 206.
+
+  St. Helens meeting, Parnell and Davitt attend, 201.
+
+  St. Mary's, Lumber Street, 4.
+
+  St. Nicholas's, Liverpool, 4, 6.
+
+  St. Patrick's effigy, as if addressing our people from Ireland, 3.
+
+  St. Patrick's Day processions, 22, 24, 64.
+  ----celebrations, 64, 65.
+
+  Steamers for O'Connell Centenary, 183.
+
+  Sullivan Brothers, 150.
+
+  Sullivan, A.M. becomes proprietor and editor of the "Nation," 63.
+  ----presides at adjourned initial Convention of Home Rule Confederation
+  ----of Great Britain, 176.
+
+  Sullivan, T.D., author of our national anthem, 113.
+  ----he writes, "Erin's Sons in England" for me, 152.
+
+  Supernatural, Irish faith in the, 13.
+
+  Swift, Miss Kate, 211.
+
+
+  T.
+
+  Taaffe, James Vincent, 211.
+
+  Tenant Right Agitation, 62.
+
+  "Terence's Fireside," 115.
+
+  "Thrashers," The, 42.
+
+  "Times" Forgeries Commission, 207, 246.
+
+  Tollymore Park, seat of Lord Roden, 45.
+
+  Tribal names still in tribal lands, 27, 273.
+
+  "Tribe of Brian," 28.
+
+  Tragedy of the Famine, The, 6.
+
+
+  U.
+
+  Ulster Catholics, the most pure-blooded Celts in Ireland, 30.
+
+  Ulster, plantation of in King James I.'s time, 39.
+
+  "United Ireland," attempted suppression, 210.
+  ----sent out as "dried fish," 212.
+  ----not an issue missed, 215.
+  ----I am prosecuted by Government, 216.
+  ----printed once in Derry, 217.
+  ----re-appeared in old office, 218.
+
+  Union of North and South destroyed, 61.
+
+  "United Irishman," organ of Home Rule Confederation of
+  --Great Britain, 177, 181, 265.
+
+  United Irishmen of 1798, 11, 41.
+
+
+  V.
+
+  Vaughan, Cardinal, Bishop of Salford, I get his support for
+  --"Catholic Times," 158.
+
+  Vauxhall Ward, Liverpool, 185.
+
+  Volunteers of 1782, The, 41.
+
+  "Vatican, The Treasures of," 61.
+
+
+
+  W.
+
+  Walsh, John, informs a select gathering how he and a friend from this
+  --side helped to rescue the military Fenians, 143.
+
+  Warders from Belle Vue Prison interfere in the Manchester
+  --Rescue--no use, 101.
+
+  Ward, Joseph, 121.
+
+  Widow Walsh welcomes her lodgers at the Curragh of Kildare, 66.
+
+  Whitty, Michael James, Liverpool head Constable, afterwards editor
+  --of the "Daily Post," 20, 21, 22, 91.
+
+  Wilson, James, escaped military Fenian, 141.
+
+  Wilson, John, a Birmingham gunsmith, 136.
+
+  Windle, Dr. Bertram, President of University College, Cork, 177.
+
+  Wiseman, Cardinal, "Papal aggression" mania directed against him, 63.
+  ----his fine play of "The Hidden Gem" given by Father Nugent's students
+  ----at the Catholic Institute, Liverpool, 63.
+
+  Wolohan, Michael, the "blockade runner" for "United Ireland," 212.
+
+  "Woollen Goods" (for "United Ireland"), 213.
+
+
+  Y.
+
+  "Young Ireland," 11, 52.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Life Story of an Old Rebel, by John Denvir
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE STORY OF AN OLD REBEL ***
+
+***** This file should be named 16559.txt or 16559.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/5/16559/
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+
diff --git a/16559.zip b/16559.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0c6ce7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16559.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9384ea3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #16559 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16559)