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.