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.