As Senior Guardian of the Braidwood camp, I was in receipt of every
document issued from head-quarters, and through me many of these
found their way to Mr. Anderson on the English side of the water.
My work in connection with these documents taxed all my powers of
resource; and had it not been for the popular and trusted position
which I held, I could have accomplished very little in regard to
them. A stringent regulation of the Executive required that all
documents—when not returned to head-quarters, as many had to
be—should be burned in view of the camp, in order that the most
perfect secrecy should be secured. It was, of course, impossible for
me to retain the originals of those which had to be returned, and of
them I could only keep copies. With those requiring destruction in
the presence of my camp, I was enabled to act differently. Always
prepared for the emergency, I was, by a sleight-of-hand performance,
enabled to substitute old and unimportant documents for those which
really should have been burnt, and to retain in my possession, and
subsequently transmit to England, the originals of all the most
important. I was, of course, shaking hands with danger and discovery
at every turn, and yet so marvellous was my success that I not only
escaped betrayal, but that which would undoubtedly have led to it,
namely, suspicion.
To this end, I was much assisted by the confidence reposed in me
by my fellow-officials, the Junior Guardians, who exhibited their
trust to the extent of giving me possession of their keys of the
strong-box, of which they held possession during their period of
office. This contained all the papers of the camp; and with a view to
its safety, one key was given to the Senior Guardian, and the other
to the Junior Guardian, the locks being different in construction,
so that the box could only be opened by the concurrence of both
officials. Had I not been able to obtain the confidence of my Junior
Guardians to the extent of possessing their keys, I could never have
brought my designs to such a successful issue. Strangely enough,
when I appeared in the witness-box at the Commission—for I was even
then Senior Guardian of my Clan-na-Gael camp—I had both keys of our
strong-box in my possession, which I jokingly offered to Mr. Houston
as a memento of our strange and unlooked-for meeting.
XXV.
Meantime, events had been developing themselves in a strange
and unlooked-for way. O’Donovan Rossa—speaking to the Irish in
America through the columns of the _Irish World_—had advocated the
establishment of a Skirmishing Fund in the following style:—
“Five thousand dollars will have to be collected before the
campaign can be started. England will not know how or where she
is to be struck. A successful stroke or any stroke that will do
her 500,000 dollars’ worth of damage will bring us funds enough to
carry on the work: and by working on incessantly and persistently,
the patient dirt and powder shock will bring out enough perhaps to
carry on the war.”
In the same issue of the _Irish World_, Patrick Ford, in the course
of a commendatory article, said—
“What will this irregular warfare of our Irish Skirmishers effect?
It will do this much. It will harass and annoy England. It will
help to create her difficulty and hasten our opportunity. It will
not only annoy England, but it will hush her too. This is what we
look for from the Skirmishers. One hundred dollars expended on
skirmishing may cause to England a loss of 100,000,000 dollars.
That would be a damaging blow to the enemy; and what is to prevent
the dealing one of three or four such blows every year?”
Here I shall drop Rossa and his Skirmishing Fund for the moment,
to say a few words about Ford. The opportunity seems a favourable
one for dealing with a man whose name has been so prominent of late
years, and clearing up a few of the many misconceptions which appear
to exist regarding him. Like O’Donovan Rossa, his colleague at this
time in skirmishing matters, Ford’s position in Irish revolutionary
affairs has been quite misunderstood in British quarters outside the
Parnellite party. As a matter of fact Ford is not, and never has
been, a member of the Clan-na-Gael. True it is that he was a member
of the old Fenian organisations which preceded it—as, for instance,
the Irish Confederation, but in the membership of the last and most
powerful of all the branches of the Irish-American conspiracy, the
editor of the _Irish World_ has had no place. The secret of his
position and influence lies in his paper. This, from the very moment
of its start, has been a pronounced success, reaching a high-water
mark of influence and circulation, which threw the puny efforts
of its competitors completely into the shade. The paper came into
existence at the proper moment for itself; it was well edited, well
printed, and splendidly equipped with news from every quarter, and on
every point. It caught the public fancy and “went” amazingly. Ford,
originally a printer and a man of no mean attainment, gathered round
him a staff of equally clever writers, established correspondents at
every important centre, and working at very high pressure, was on the
point of failing on several occasions, only to escape through the
assistance of friends, politicians, or capitalists, willing to oblige
for certain considerations. Indeed, if I am not very much in error,
matters are not in the most favourable way for the paper at this very
time.
Patrick Ford, according to Michael Davitt, is a most worthy disciple
of the Christian principles, and a man whose life would serve as a
model for very many of those who criticise this dynamite advocate’s
character in no enthusiastic vein. Speaking of the man simply “on
the view” as the American phrase has it, Davitt’s observations are
not so far-fetched as they would appear to be at the first blush.
In appearance and manner, the editor of the _Irish World_ is quite
the opposite of the man you would figure to yourself after reading
his dynamite appeals and exordiums in his own journal. Quiet and
unobtrusive alike in look and speech, he is as mild a mannered man
as ever scuttled a ship. Of medium height, spare of build and spare
of feature, without any ferocity whatever marking the outer man, he
gives the observer the idea of being a quiet, sedate, and rather
retiring business person. Although a vigorous and effective writer,
he is not remarkable for his platform utterances, and while a good
talker, is by no means an orator.
Associated with Patrick Ford in his connection with Irish-American
affairs have been his brother Augustine and his nephew Austin.
Augustine, whose name comes into prominence with Rossa in the
Skirmishing Fund affair, was the publisher, as distinct from the
editor, of the _Irish World_; while Austin, then a young fellow, was
afterwards to become a member of the Clan-na-Gael, and to serve as
the medium of communication between the leaders of the Revolutionary
organisation and his uncle, the editor of what was undoubtedly,
though unofficially, their mouthpiece, the _Irish World_. There were
many reasons for an alliance, unofficial though it might be, existing
between the _Irish World_ and those charged with the conduct of the
vast secret conspiracy known to the initiated as the V.C. For what
the _Irish World_, with its extended popularity, its great influence,
and its enormous circulation, championed in public, the Clan-na-Gael
worked for in private. Ford and his fellow-workers, in a different
path, understood each other full well; and when, within a year after
the establishment of the Skirmishing Fund, it became desirable that
the Clan-na-Gael should take charge of it, there was no more ardent
advocate of the change than he. And as in the early, so in the
later years. When the new departure came to the front, Ford and his
Clan-na-Gael friends were of the same mind as to its importance,
and the necessity for supporting it. When dynamite came to be the
order of the day, he was its loud-tongued apostle; and when, later
still, “martyrs” like Brady and Curley suffered in Ireland the just
consequences of their fiendish part in the Phœnix Park murders, the
editor of the _Irish World_ was first to fill the gap with a fund on
behalf of their families, excluding from its benefits all connected
with those who had had the good sense, though bad patriotism, to
plead “guilty” to their part in the fell transaction.
XXVI.
To return, however, to Rossa and his Skirmishing Fund. As a prominent
Fenian of “the old guard,” and a member of the Clan-na-Gael, Rossa’s
influence, backed up by Ford’s advocacy, succeeded in getting
together no less than 23,350 dollars by the 14th March following the
issue of the appeal—in something less than twelve months in fact.
Although, however, this large sum had been accumulating during this
period, and portions of it had been ready at different times for use
if required, no skirmishing or pretence at skirmishing had taken
place, and some little dissatisfaction commenced to manifest itself
at the non-fruition of the many promises which had been held out of
“hurting England.” There then occurred the transfer of the fund to
the Clan-na-Gael under very mysterious circumstances, which have
never been thoroughly explained or understood. The nearest approach
to an explanation was afforded by a communication from Rossa, which
appeared in the _Irish World_ of the 21st April 1877, which, I think,
I cannot do better than quote here.
“When I started this Skirmishing Fund, the council-men of the two
Irish revolutionary societies in America—the Fenian Brotherhood
and the Clan-na-Gael—took it into their heads that I was going to
interfere with the regular revolutionary work, that I was going to
play the deuce with everything, and they gave me no friendly help.
I have been doing all I could to convince them that I am not the
very desperate character I was in prison or out of prison; and some
six months ago, being telegraphed to visit a convention of one of
those societies, I went there. I there proposed to receive into the
trusteeship and Executive Council of the Skirmishing Fund one or
two of their body, provided that the one or two meant skirmishing
work such as was laid down in our programme. This proposition of
mine was accepted, and all passed off harmoniously.
* * * * *
“Here is how things stand now:—Mr. James J. Clancy, who acted as
treasurer of the fund, got married a few weeks ago and ceased his
connection with the _Irish World_. Then Austin Ford wrote me (on
14th March) the following note:—
“‘I told you that, at a certain Irish convention, I had
consented to admit to the trusteeship of the fund some members
of their body. They gave me several names to select from; and
looking about for men who meant work, I took the names of John
J. Breslin, who rescued the Australian prisoners, and who was
the principal actor in the rescue of James Stephens in 1865;
of Doctor William Carroll, of Philadelphia, who left his
professional business (and being a particular friend of John
Mitchell), came to New York when Mitchell was going to Ireland
two years ago, went on board the steamer to see him off, went on
the steamer with him to Ireland, having no other idea in his head
but to take care of him. The other name I took was that of James
Reynolds of Newhaven, Connecticut. He is the man in whose name
the _Catalpa_ was registered, and he mortgaged his property to
raise $4000, when it was needed at a crisis in connection with
the expedition. Now Mr. Clancy and Mr. Ford have resigned, I
have in connection with these three men I have mentioned taken
into the trusteeship John Devoy, Thomas Clarke Luby, and Thomas
Francis Bourke.’
* * * * *
“Last night Thomas Clarke Luby went to Washington, carrying
with him $17,500 in American bonds endorsed by me, to have them
transferred for safe keeping to the names of Dr. Carroll, Thomas C.
Luby, John Devoy, Tom Bourke, John Breslin, and James Reynolds....
John O’Mahony died. It was deemed well to send his remains to
Ireland. There was no money to bear the expenses. I thought I might
trespass on the skirmishing money. I consulted Mr. Ford and Mr.
Clancy about a loan. They said it could be legitimately looked upon
as within the pale of our work, and they paid me $2030 to defray
the expenses. The Clan-na-Gael and the Fenian Brotherhood have
promised to refund the money.”
No secret was made of the connection which now existed between the
“trustees” and the “fund,” for a public address was issued “to the
Irish people in the United States,” and published in the _Irish
World_ of the 21st April, containing the following passages:—
“But since the ‘skirmishing’ project was first announced,
circumstances have greatly altered.... Old Europe is threatened
with a general convulsion. War on the most tremendous scale cannot
much longer be staved off by all the artifices and subtleties of
all the diplomatists in the world. Russia and Turkey are equally
resolute to fight the inevitable fight.... The rest of the Great
Powers of Europe will be drawn by an irresistible force into the
arena. England, above all, whether she likes it or not, must draw
her sword once more or meanly confess herself a third-class power.
She is too proud of the part to yield her high place without a
blow. She must first be beaten to her knees.
“England’s difficulty then has all but come; in other words,
‘Ireland’s opportunity.’ Is Ireland prepared to seize that
opportunity?...
“In view of the altered circumstances of the time, ‘big with
fate to us and ours,’ we propose to enlarge the basis of the
‘Skirmishing Fund,’ established by Rossa, and of the plans it was
intended to further. We propose forthwith to create a ‘Special
National Fund’ to aid the work of Ireland’s deliverance.
“Action, some may think, has been postponed too long. Be this as it
may, _we_ are determined to lose as little further time as possible
ere we furnish our countrymen with practical results of our work.
But a blow must be followed up by blows. Unhesitatingly then” (they
ask for) “the means to do what may give heart and inspiration
to our brothers at home, and prepare the way for the last grand
struggle.
... “We shall only add that it is plain that ‘the Home Rule
Agitation’ has signally failed to satisfy the yearnings of the
Irish people. The O’Mahony funeral demonstration, with its
deep heroic significance, has exercised the vain misleading
phantom. Every true Irishman in Ireland (and shall we not say in
America too?) once more believes in the old creed of our gallant
fathers—that the sole way to free or regenerate Ireland is by
total separation from England; and that total separation can only
be achieved by desperate sacrifices, daring enterprises, and the
strong hand.
“JOHN J. BRESLIN, }
“THOMAS CLARKE LUBY, }
“JOHN DEVOY, } New York.
“THOMAS FRANCIS BOURKE, }
“JER. O’DONOVAN ROSSA, }
“WM. CARROLL, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa.
“JAMES REYNOLDS, New Haven, Conn.”
The names of the trustees will, of course, be familiar, as being
amongst those regarding whom I gave some details some few pages back,
and who were all remarkable for their past Fenian records and present
prominence in the Clan-na-Gael ranks.
XXVII.
While the Skirmishing Fund and its custodians were engaging public
attention in this way, the secret work of the organisation was
by no means being neglected. The ordinary work of shipping arms
to Ireland, and communicating with the sister society as regards
members, organisation, &c., was conducted with regularity and
precision; while operations of an extraordinary character were
indulged in as opportunity offered. Amongst these latter must
be classed the negotiations, commenced about this time, for an
alliance between the Revolutionary party in America and the Russian
Government. Wild and absurd as the idea may at first appear, it is
nevertheless an undoubted fact that these negotiations were not
alone started in sober earnest, but they were in the end finally
completed and developed to the stage of a regular diplomatic compact
at headquarters in Russia. As is well known, the relations between
England and Russia were for some three or four years previous to
1880 of a distinctly strained character, and war at many times
appeared imminent. Filled with the idea that war would actually take
place, the Clan-na-Gael Executive caused overtures to be made to
the representative of the Russian Government, proposing that they
in America should fit out privateers which, sailing with letters of
marque from Russia, should worry English vessels and assist in every
way possible in furthering the designs of Russia, in return for which
Russia should pledge assistance to the Irish in their attempt to
wrest Ireland from English domination.
The matter assumed the proportions of a really serious proposal,
and Dr. William Carroll, of Philadelphia, about whom I have already
spoken, and who was one of the trustees of the Skirmishing Fund,
as well as Chairman of the Executive Body of the Clan-na-Gael,
was delegated by the Executive to represent their interests in
the negotiation. Dr. Carroll, through the assistance of Senator
Jones of Florida, was placed in communication with the Russian
minister at Washington, and to this gentleman the Clan-na-Gael
ambassador represented that some millionaires—the names of two were
mentioned—were prepared to subsidise the undertaking, and that
several points had been fixed upon for fitting out the privateers,
San Francisco being notably one of them. So satisfactorily did the
negotiations progress for the Clan-na-Gael people, that in a few
months Dr. Carroll left America for the Russian capital, where, it
was subsequently reported in an official way, the treaty between the
Russian Government and the Revolutionary organisation was formally
ratified.
It was a significant fact that shortly after this the Russian
minister at Washington was recalled. The report in the official ranks
of the Clan-na-Gael was that the proceeding was the result of an
action taken by the British Government in consequence of what had
occurred. Of course, regarding this view of the occurrence, as far as
I can speak, there was neither definite information nor proof.
This was but one of the many wild schemes indulged in at this period.
Another had to do with the manufacture of a submarine torpedo-boat,
with which it was intended to inflict terrific damage on the British
navy under water. After one failure, the boat was actually built at
the shipyard on the Jersey side of the North River at a cost of some
37,000 dollars; but nothing ever came of it, for it was apparently
completed only to be towed to New Haven, where it lay, and where,
for aught I know, it may be rotting at the present day. Its principal
use, as far as I could make out, was in supplying a certain number
of patriots, charged with the control of its construction, some five
dollars a day each as recognition for their invaluable services.
On the other plots and schemes I can only touch in the lightest
possible way. They included the assassination of Queen Victoria, the
kidnapping of the Prince of Wales or Prince Arthur, an attack on
Portland Prison, with the rescue of Michael Davitt therefrom, and a
hundred and one odd schemes in which Dhuleep Singh, General Carroll
Thevis, Aylward, and other soldiers of fortune or discontent all
figured.
XXVIII.
The month of September ’78 was remarkable for the arrival in America
of Michael Davitt. He had been released from Portland Prison on
ticket-of-leave several months previously, and having travelled
through Ireland in the meantime, now came to the States with the
ostensible object of lecturing. This first visit of his differed
from the second one paid in 1880 by reason of the change which his
opinions underwent in the interval. When in September 1878 Davitt
landed in America to be met by Devoy and others, and welcomed in an
effusive address, he took pains, in replying, to state he was still
faithful to the principles of his youth, for which he had suffered
imprisonment, and that the dungeon had not changed his political
convictions in the least. Apparently not, for during his visit Davitt
put in an appearance at several Clan-na-Gael camps, and took part in
their proceedings as a duly accredited brother and representative.
Contact with Devoy, however, and with the theories on the subject
of the “New Departure,” to which Devoy at this time was giving
prominence, must have changed Davitt’s views somewhat, for references
to past principles, life-long convictions, &c., soon made way for
pleasant pictures and prophecies of the development known as the “New
Departure,” which was at last to bring the Irish political plotter
within sight of his Mecca.
There is no need for me at this late day to deal at any great length
with what has since been known as the “New Departure.” It proved to
be nothing more or less than the scheme which found its development
and outcome in the Parnellite movement, viz., the bringing together
the two forces of Irish discontent—the Constitutional and the
Revolutionary sections—and, while allying them for strategic and
financial purposes, yet so arranging the compact that each was
allowed to work in its own way for the accomplishment of the object
which all had in view—the repeal of the Union between Great Britain
and Ireland.
The exact terms of the treaty or alliance proposed by the American
Fenians, after consultation with Davitt, were set forth in a cable
sent to Mr. Parnell by Devoy and some of his fellow-trustees of the
Skirmishing Fund in the month of October 1878, at a time indeed
while Davitt was still in the country. As the cable has a historic
interest, I will quote it in full here:—
“The Nationalists here will support you on the following
conditions:—
“First, abandonment of the federal demand, and substitution of a
general declaration in favour of self-government.
“Second, vigorous agitation of the Land Question on the basis of a
peasant proprietary, while accepting concessions tending to abolish
arbitrary evictions.
“Third, exclusion of all sectarian issues from the platform.
“Fourth, Irish members to vote together on all imperial and home
questions, adopt an aggressive policy, and energetically resist
coercive legislation.
“Fifth, advocacy of all struggling nationalities in the British
Empire and elsewhere.”
Following up this proposal, to which, by the way, no direct public
reply was ever given, there appeared in the press letters from John
Devoy advocating the new move in arguments which I think I can best
summarise by using the following extracts from one of his epistles:—
“The question whether the advanced Irish National party—the party
of separation—should continue the policy of isolation from the
public life of the country, which was inaugurated some twenty
years ago by James Stephens and his associates, or return to
older methods—methods as old at least as the days of the _United
Irishman_—is agitating the minds of Irish Nationalists on both
sides of the Atlantic just now; and certainly no similar incident
has aroused such wide discussion in Ireland for many a day as the
publication of the views of the exiled Nationalists resident in New
York on the subject.
“The object aimed at by the Irish National party—the recovery of
Ireland’s national independence, and the severance of all political
connection with England—is one that would require the utmost
efforts and the greatest sacrifices on the part of the whole Irish
people.... I am not one of those who despair of Ireland’s freedom,
and am as much in favour of continuing the struggle to-day as
some of those who talk loudest against constitutional agitation.
I am convinced that the whole Irish people can be enlisted in
an effort to free their native land, and that they have within
themselves the power to overcome all obstacles in their way.... I
am also convinced that one section of the people alone can never
win independence; and no political party, no matter how devoted or
determined, can ever win the support of the whole people if they
never come before the public, and take no part in the everyday life
of the country. I have often said it before, and I repeat it now
again, that a mere conspiracy will never free Ireland. I am not
arguing against conspiracy, but only pointing out the necessity
of Irish Nationalists taking whatever public action for the
advancement of the National cause they may find within their reach,
such action as will place the aims and objects of the National
party in a more favourable light before the world, and help to win
the support of the Irish people.”
XXIX.