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.