tour in America, and returned to Ireland to resume his work there.
He did not return alone, however, for in his wake there travelled
his new colleague, Devoy, who, journeying as one of the secret
agents of the Clan-na-Gael, went to Ireland to inspect and report
on the condition of the Revolutionary organisation there to the
V.C. Convention, to be held in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in July
1879. Associated with Devoy in this work of inspection was General
Millen, acting in the capacity of military envoy. Devoy, while in
Ireland, made good use of his time. While he organised the Irish
Republican Brotherhood in their secret meetings, he openly advocated
the proposed alliance with all his might and main. In Ireland,
however, as the report which he afterwards made to the Clan-na-Gael
showed, the Fenians were not so ripe as his colleagues in America for
giving up, even temporarily, their secret methods for constitutional
agitation; and the work which he was to accomplish was not destined
to bear too early fruit.
As the report which Devoy presented of the visit thus made gave an
interesting account of how matters stood in Fenian circles there at
this period, I give a few extracts. They are important as showing the
condition of the Revolutionary forces, which gave Mr. Parnell so much
trouble a year or two later, when, through me, he appealed to Devoy
to come over and cripple the opposition he was receiving from this
quarter:—
“Three of the best organised counties—Dublin, Louth, and
Wexford—seceded from the S.C. (Supreme Council or Executive of
the Irish Republican Brotherhood), and believing the statements,
so often repeated, that the American organisation supported Mr.
Stephens, transferred their allegiance to that gentleman. There
still remained with the S.C. (Supreme Council), Ulster, Connaught,
Munster, a portion of Leinster, Scotland, and South of England; but
the work in these districts was almost paralysed, and the attention
of the men distracted by repeated visits and communications of a
conflicting nature from contending factions, who all claimed to
be ‘working for Ireland.’ The numbers stood at this time (1878)
as follows:—About 19,000 men stood by the S.C., some 3000 acted
independently in the North of England, and not more than 1500,
chiefly in Leinster, followed Mr. Stephens. No real work could be
done; it was a struggle for existence, and ultimately the majority
prevailed. When your former envoy arrived in Ireland, this was the
state of things he found existing. As you have been informed, he
succeeded, with the help of another member of the V.C. residing in
Ireland, in first gaining over the Leinster men to the S.C., by
telling them the real truth about the state of things in America.
* * * * *
“A reorganisation of the S.C. satisfactory to all parties concerned
was then effected, and an efficient secretary elected, who has
since then rendered invaluable service in repairing the damage
done during the short period of turmoil and contention. Some years
before the organisation had been a compact body of over 40,000 men,
acting under its elected council, and making commendable efforts to
arm its members in spite of the most discouraging difficulties. At
the beginning of last year, after the S.C. had triumphed over the
difficulties above mentioned, it was reduced to about 24,000 men,
the confidence of many of its members greatly shaken, and much of
the material accumulated during past years badly damaged through
neglect or entirely lost.
“It was deemed better to endeavour to weld into a solid mass the
united fragments than to increase its size by the addition of new
members. Some mistakes were made, but, upon the whole, the action
of the S.C. seemed to me judicious and safe. Some 17,000 dollars
had been sent by the F.C. (10,000 dollars came from the National
Fund for arms) for the purpose of introducing arms into the
country; but it was left in the hands of the R.D. until my arrival,
in the belief that the machinery of the movement had undergone too
great a strain to be able to bear much pressure, and the hands
of the S.C. were too full with the work of restoration to allow
them to undertake any more. The organisation was just beginning
to breathe a little freely, and to feel that it was again a solid
living body, when I arrived to confer with the S.C. as to the best
means to infuse new life and vigour into it.
* * * * *
“I began with Tipperary, Limerick, and Clare, and continued my tour
till I had a fair idea of the condition of the organisation in all
of the seven provinces.... Besides county and circle meetings, I
attended provincial conventions in Munster, Ulster, Connaught,
North of England, and South of England, and local district meetings
in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Derry, Ennis, Glasgow, Dundalk, and
other towns.
“When Leinster and Munster shall have been thoroughly reorganised,
which will take some time, I hope to see 50,000 good members in
Ireland alone, and I should not care to see many more. In Ulster,
Connaught, Tipperary, and Clare the great bulk of the men are small
farmers or farmers’ sons, and, on the whole, there is a much better
representation than in ’65. I am glad to be able to report also the
presence in the organisation, and in positions of trust, of a few
of the smaller landed gentry, a few professional men, and a large
sprinkling of comfortable business men.”
Nothing calls for further attention in connection with this visit
of Devoy and Millen to Ireland, beyond the fact that the expenses
of it were defrayed out of a sum of 10,000 dollars taken from the
Skirmishing Fund for the purpose. Nor need I speak in any detail of
the proceedings of the Wilkesbarre Convention to which the delegates
reported. There was no incident connected therewith which calls for
any special mention, as particularly affecting events at this period.
XXX.
Though lacking official recognition and support, the scheme of the
“New Departure” was creating a good deal of enthusiasm throughout
the ranks of the Gaels; and the reports which continued to come from
Ireland as to the condition of the Land Question kept the matter
fully alive. The arrival, too, of Mr. Parnell in New York in the
month of January 1880 gave a fresh impetus to the whole thing. And
whatever doubt had heretofore existed as to the possibility of
working the new move, and making it subservient to the requirements
of the Revolutionary organisation, took immediate flight after a
week’s experience of Mr. Parnell in America. In the view of the
conspirators scattered throughout the States, Mr. Parnell had given
himself over, body and soul, to the chiefs of the Clan-na-Gael. At
every point, under every circumstance, without a single exception,
well-known and trusted men of the secret councils were by his
side and at his elbow, pushing him forward into prominence here,
bespeaking a welcome for him there, and answering for his thorough
fealty to the grand old cause at all manner of times. Nor did his
own utterances leave any room for question. Brimful of references of
deep meaning, and constantly lit up with the flashing of bayonets
and rattling of musketry, his speeches breathed the sounds of war
and the policy of the hill-side in every note, till men listening to
his accents thought that at last the hour and the man had come. Poor
fools! They knew not that his enthusiasm was the enthusiasm of the
dollar, or its equivalent in English coin when totted up to £40,000,
and his only weapon the House of Commons lie!
Mr. Parnell’s efforts in America to collect funds for the
famine-stricken Irish—this was the ostensible object of his
visit—were cut short by the general election which took place in
Ireland in the spring of 1880, and he left hurriedly, but not before
he had laid the foundations of the Land League, and played into the
hands of the secret conspirators by giving them a very leading share
in its control. Exit therefore Mr. Parnell to give way to Michael
Davitt, and enter Mr. Davitt once more on the American stage in quite
a new _rôle_. Flushed with the triumphs of his recent proceedings
in Ireland in the establishment of the Land League organisation,
and the position he had suddenly sprung into, he now came out as
a Constitutionalist pure and simple. There were no more visits to
Clan-na-Gael camps, for the time at least. All was open and above
board. He had his fad; that fad was the Land League; and his fad was
to win in the political race, hands down. No matter where he went,
it was the same story. Travelling Braidwood-way in order to lecture
in my district, he spent three days in my company, part of which
time he was my guest, and fell ill on my hands, when I honestly and
successfully ministered to his needs. In our intercourse at this
period we had many talks over the situation, and with me as with
everybody else, he could only speak of the new movement. At his
request, I told him the whole story of the second Canadian raid;
and so great was his enthusiasm in his new _rôle_, that he seized
upon the fiasco I related as yet another proof for me of the utter
impossibility of doing anything in the way of active operations.
Amused and interested, I watched the dark determined face glowing
with light and enthusiasm, and wondered within me how long this born
conspirator would be content to walk in the trammels of a truly
constitutional path. The opportunity, however, was too good to be
neglected, and I improved it by getting some very useful information
unawares from my patient and guest.
I was quite _au courant_ with Land League matters, for as an official
of the Clan-na-Gael I had been instructed to develop the movement in
my district, which I accordingly did, following the usual practice
of enrolling my colleagues of the Clan-na-Gael as members of the
League Branch, and thus keeping the control in our own hands. At
public meetings held in favour of the open movement—it will be noted
I speak of the Land League as the “open,” and the Clan-na-Gael as
the “secret” movement—I frequently presided, and when the occasion
arose, introduced Davitt and Devoy.
XXXI.
So matters progressed and developed, the only important incident of
the interval being the discovery that James J. O’Kelly, late M.P. for
Roscommon, after being despatched by the Revolutionary Directory of
the Clan-na-Gael to England with moneys to attend to the shipping of
arms to Ireland, had thrown in his lot with the advocates of the New
Departure in Ireland, and been returned to Parliament with the funds
placed at his disposal by the Revolutionary chiefs in New York. This,
of course, was not the only occasion on which the moneys subscribed
for blowing up England went to subsidise the New Departure. Davitt
and Devoy had both drawn upon them to a large extent, though Davitt
conscientiously paid every farthing of his share back in 1882.
In the month of November 1880, John Devoy issued a very peculiar
circular to the Senior Guardians of the V.C., or Clan-na-Gael camps,
which was remarkable as showing how loyal after all this author of
the New Departure was to the methods of revolutionary work, and
how he regarded the Land League but as the stepping-stone to more
decisive things. This is how he put the matter:—
P.O. BOX 4, 479.
NEW YORK, _November 1, 1880_.
“DEAR SIR AND BROTHER,—I propose to give a course of lectures this
winter on the subject of “The Irish National Cause and the Present
Crisis,” with a view to stirring up our people here and increasing
the resources of the National movement. I will stipulate beforehand
that the proceeds shall either go to the Revolutionary Fund of the
V.C. or to the National Fund, so that we may be better prepared to
meet any emergency that may be forced upon us by England. While
believing that all our efforts should be directed to restraining
the people in Ireland from any premature insurrectionary movement,
I think the excitement at home should be utilised for the purpose
of procuring the funds necessary to enable the National party to
complete the preparations for the struggle for independence. The
_time_ for that struggle must be selected by us and not by England;
but one must not forget that our hand may be forced in spite of all
our endeavours; and it therefore behoves us to commence stirring
up our people in America now. I think the Land League has now
money enough for present purposes, and that the state of things
prevailing in Ireland demands that all money that can be got from
our people here should be devoted to revolutionary purposes. I am
convinced, in fact, that the doing of this is the best help we can
at present give the Land League. The prosecutions have already
given the agitation a more decidedly national tone. Let us help to
broaden it into a truly national movement, and make it serviceable
to the cause of independence.
“If you agree with this view of the situation, I should be glad to
receive your assistance in organising lectures in your vicinity,
_provided your doing so would not be detrimental to the interests
of the V.C._
“I intend to begin in the New England States, then to go through a
portion of New York State and Penna, and thence west. Communicate
to the P.O. Box mentioned.—Fraternally yours,
“JOHN DEVOY.”
I was only too willing to arrange for such a lecture as Devoy wanted,
for thereby I should be bringing Devoy and myself into contact, with
every probability of getting useful information. Accordingly, Devoy
lectured for me somewhere about January or February ’81, and during
his stay visited and addressed my camp. He made a visit of some three
or four days to my district, and as I had hoped and anticipated,
we had many and long confidential chats together. The position of
affairs was fully discussed. Devoy was very pronounced in his views
about money subscribed for Land League purposes. What had been only
hinted at in his letter, he gave very plain utterance to in his
speech. The money subscribed for the Land League, he contended,
should not all go for bread, and in this connection he outlined to
me the ideas of the Revolutionary Directory of the Clan-na-Gael (of
which he was a member) at this time. These were, to put it shortly,
to strike and damage the British Government where and when they
could. “The organisation on this side,” said he, meaning America,
“have agreed to furnish the means, and the organisation in Ireland
have signified their willingness to carry out a system of warfare,
characterised by all the rigours of Nihilism.”
All, however, was not plain sailing to him, and with amazing
frankness he explained to me what his fears were. There was, he
admitted, no possibility of a rising, as the leaders in Ireland
were all against such a movement in the weak condition in which
the organisation was. But, on the other hand, all attempts made
to restrain the fire-eating elements would be met with failure,
unless something practical was done. The attitude of Rossa and his
followers had also to be considered. If no active work was done,
some of our best men would flock to Rossa’s standard and so weaken
the organisation (Rossa, I should explain, had by this time taken
up an independent attitude, and was working in connection with the
fragments that remained of the old Fenian Brotherhood). It was
thoroughly understood that work had been done by Rossa’s emissaries
or rather some of them; hence the danger. The name of Boyton, whom
I did not know at the time, but who was, as I learnt, a brother of
Boyton the swimmer, engaged as a League organiser in Ireland, then
came up, and I was informed that Boyton was one of those occupied
in developing the new policy. By this I mean active warfare _aux_
Clan-na-Gael as distinct from the constitutional work openly
advocated by the Land League. Devoy remarked regarding this active
policy that it was being well looked after, but would take time to
complete.
Devoy’s confidences were in fact most exhaustive, and enabled
me to send quite an interesting budget by the next mail to Mr.
Anderson. I learnt, as a further item of news, that much trouble
was being experienced in keeping the I.R.B. (the sister society)
men in some parts of Ireland, notably in Mayo, where they had the
best organisation and most arms, from making what Devoy described
as “fools of themselves.” He, it appeared, feared attacks on the
military when the latter were attending evictions. This striking
interview between the Clan-na-Gael leader and the Secret Service
agent concluded with the important announcement on the part of the
former that he had received a letter from Mr. Parnell, through a
friend, in which Mr. Parnell stated he was exasperated and was
willing to do anything. He (Mr. Parnell) had agreed to the calling of
the 1882 Convention, and to its being a National Movement Convention;
and, in conclusion, Devoy said Mr. Parnell’s personal attitude
towards the National (_i.e._, Revolutionary) party was well and
satisfactorily understood.
This was, indeed, a time of confidences with me. I had communications
with Alexander Sullivan and Meledy within a very short period from
this, and from them—Sullivan being one of the Executive, and
Meledy a leading member of the Clan-na-Gael—I learnt, though at
different times, that a new plan of campaign was coming into force,
nothing more or less indeed than one of cold-blooded murder and
destruction. It appeared that a man called Wheeler had invented a new
hand-grenade, and had offered a supply to the organisation. They were
of such a portable character as to be easily carried in a satchel,
and were especially adapted for the purpose in view. Meledy told me
he had offered to take part in the work of placing them in Ireland
and England.
The significance of the matter was lost upon me at the time, but
was fully appreciated by me later on, when I learnt of the informer
Carey’s evidence in connection with the Phœnix Park murders and
the Invincible conspiracy, in the course of which he confessed
that he and his confederates had arranged to kill Earl Cowper, the
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, by a hand bomb just perfected in the
organisation, which could be easily thrown from a window in a house
in Cork Hill, Dublin, which they had selected for the purpose.
XXXII.
My private affairs permitted of my taking a holiday in the early
part of the year 1881, and so I determined to make a trip to Europe.
Happening to communicate my intention to my old friend, Colonel
Clingen, now the commander of the Clan-na-Gael guards in Chicago,
and a very prominent member of the organisation, he gave me to
understand that the Executive would avail themselves of my journey
to send by me documents which could not be trusted to the mails.
Nothing could have suited me better, and I willingly consented to be
of any service I possibly could. Devoy, it subsequently transpired,
was the correspondent whose communications I was to convey, and by
an arrangement of Clingen’s a meeting took place between Devoy and
myself at the Palmer House, Chicago, in the month of March 1881.
Devoy on this occasion handed me sealed packets addressed to John
O’Leary and Patrick Egan in Paris. O’Leary was then regarded as the
representative agent and official means of communication between the
Clan-na-Gael and the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ireland; Egan
was the treasurer and accredited representative of the Irish Land
League.
Journeying by way of Liverpool, I reached England on the 12th of
April 1881, and stopping in London in order to see Mr. Anderson
and show him the packets, as well as to receive instructions, I
eventually travelled to Paris. On arrival there I drove to the
Hotel Brighton, where I had learned Egan was located, and where I
determined to take up my abode. The first person I met with in the
hotel was Egan himself. He was coming down the stairs in view of
me, as I asked for him, in company with Mrs. A. M. Sullivan (wife
of the late M.P.), both being bound for the opera, where, on their
invitation, I subsequently joined them. I made myself known to Egan
at once, only to find of course that he had received some hint of my
coming, and was quite expecting me.
[Illustration: PATRICK EGAN]
As I washed and prepared to take myself to the opera, to see some
more of this strange man, I endeavoured to recall his appearance, and
to see how far he fitted in with the idea I already held regarding
him. A man of bright cheery presence, stout build, and jovial look
and voice, the latter very marked in its Irish accent, with bright
laughing eyes and warm handshake and a closely cut head of tawny
hair, he was the last person in the world you would take for a
deep conspirator, and a constructor of murder. I was puzzled and
bewildered—I could not make it out; and so giving up all thought of
trying to read the man’s character on the outward view, I determined
I should leave my further studies in this direction to a later date
and go and enjoy the opera, which I did.
The next morning saw me _en route_ for the residence of John O’Leary,
to whom I wished to deliver my second packet without delay. I
discovered him without much difficulty in his abode at the Hotel de
la Couronne, in the Quartier Latin. I found the old man surrounded by
his books and manuscripts, and from his appearance more fit for the
patient secluded life of the student than the troublous career of the
rebel. Seated in his room, and gazing affectionately on his different
treasures of old and rare editions, he seemed to have little in
common with my friends of the Clan. Yet I found him fully posted, and
as keen to talk with me as possible. At first somewhat suspicious
and uncertain in his manner, he gradually lost his appearance of
distrust, and in the end gossiped with me quite freely. As he opened
Devoy’s packet in my presence, I was enabled to discover that I had
been the bearer of a very long document, with an enclosure, to which
he paid great heed.
From the very start I found O’Leary opposed to the “active” policy.
He was as strong and bitter an opponent of the murderous idea as
one could wish to meet; and, unlike Irish patriots in general, he
was not without the courage of his convictions. He showed me a copy
of the Dublin _Irishman_ (the unfortunate Pigott’s paper), of some
date in the month previous, containing a letter over his signature,
denouncing all secret warfare. In fact, so far did this really
honest patriot go, that he refused in his official capacity to take
any responsibility for expenditure in connection with the “active”
policy. While condemning such methods, however, he avowed himself
in full accord with an open insurrectionary movement; and he spoke
in the bitterest terms of the way in which J. J. O’Kelly and others
had played false, while acting as paid members of the organisation.
Another point in connection with our talks was the opposition shown
by O’Leary to the Parnellite alliance. He would have nothing to do
with such a joining of forces as was proposed, and he was all against
mixing up the honest rebel movement with one which was, in his
opinion, worthy of great distrust.
I enjoyed my talks with O’Leary because in him I found a fine,
honest, fearless spirit. The man was old and grey, with furrowed
brow and stooped figure, the result of his long confinement in
English prisons. There was little about him then to remind one of
the bright-eyed daring prisoner who, fifteen years before, had, from
the dock of a Dublin court-house, hurled defiance at judge, jury,
and Government alike; but there still remained with him the same
fearlessness of tone and honesty of conviction which marked him out
then, as now, a prince amongst his fellows of the Irish conspiracy.
XXXIII.
In strong contrast to O’Leary was another old Irish rebel whose
acquaintance I made in Paris for the first time. He was a man whose
name was familiar to me as a household word, but with whom I had
never before been brought directly into contact. I speak of James
Stephens, the leader with whose name it was at one time possible to
conjure in Ireland, who had been the head and front of the Fenian
Brotherhood in Ireland in 1865, whose word was law to its sworn
thousands, and who, after making his escape from Richmond Bridewell
in Dublin, ended his inglorious public career by an unromantic exit
in petticoats. Curious being that he was, he inspired feelings of the
sincerest affection on the part of his immediate followers; and there
were few things that, in their regard for him, they would not seek to
accomplish on his behalf.
His escape from Richmond Prison, attended with tremendous risk as it
was for all concerned, was a case in point; and as it is a matter
about which present-day folk remember little if anything, I feel
tempted to give the story in the old man’s words, as he told it to me.