24 chapters
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24 chapters
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
I owe both the title of this book and the existence of the book itself to the suggestion of friends. I suppose a man of 76 may be called "old," although I have by no means given up the idea that I can still be of use to my country. And a Rebel? Yes! Anything of the nature of injustice or oppression has always stirred me to resentment, and—is it to be wondered at?—most of all when the victims of that injustice and oppression have been my own people. And why not? If there were no rebels against wr
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
I have met, as I have said elsewhere, most of the Irish political leaders of my time in Liverpool, but I will always remember with what pleasure I listened to a distinguished Irishman of another type, Samuel Lover, when he was travelling with an entertainment consisting of sketches from his own works and selections from his songs. Few men were more versatile than Lover, for he was a painter, musician, composer, novelist, poet, and dramatist. When I saw him in one of the public halls he sang his
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
I was a boy of about 12 when I first re-visited Ireland; and, as the steamer entered Carlingford Lough, which to my mind almost equals Killarney's beauty—but that, perhaps, is a Northman's prejudice—with the noble range of the Mourne mountains on the one side and the Carlingford Hills on the other, it seemed to my young imagination like a glimpse of fairy land. Carlingford reminded me of what my old masters, the Christian Brothers, used to teach us, that those places ending in "ford" had at one
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
O'Connell, when passing through Liverpool on his way to Parliament, always made the Adelphi Hotel his headquarters, and used to hear Mass not far off at the Church of St. Nicholas, or, as it was more generally called, "Copperas Hill Chapel," where I used to serve as an altar boy. I must have been a very small boy at the time when I first remember the Liberator coming to Mass at our Church, for, on one occasion, on stretching up to the altar to remove the Missal it was so difficult for me to reac
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
The restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy, September 29th, 1850, brought on what appeared to us one of John Bull's periodical fits of lunacy. I witnessed many scenes of mob violence at the time, when, in deference to the prevailing bigotry in opposing what they termed "Papal Aggression" a part of the Penal Laws were revived in Lord John Russell's Ecclesiastical Titles Act. In due course John got over his paroxysm, and the Act was repealed. But for a time the storm of bigotry raged fiercely, and,
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
The trials in 1859, following the arrests in connection with the Phœnix movement, with which the name of Jeremiah O'Donovan (called also "Rossa," after his native place) was identified, were the first public manifestations of what developed into the great organisation known in America as the Fenian Brotherhood, and, on this side of the Atlantic as the I.R.B., or Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood. Many years afterwards "Rossa" called at the office of the Irish National League in London, to see his
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
Although the Rising of 1867 had somewhat the character of "a flash in the pan," there were some heroic incidents in connexion with it. With one of the Fenian leaders, James Francis Xavier O'Brien, I was brought into intimate connection many years after the Rising, when we were both officials, he as General Secretary and I as Chief Organiser, of the Home Rule organisation in Great Britain. When put upon his trial there was evidence against him in connection with the taking of a police barrack, he
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
If it were for nothing else, it will be sufficient fame for T.D. Sullivan for all time that he is the author of "God Save Ireland." He had no idea himself, as he used to tell me, that the anthem would have been taken up so instantaneously and enthusiastically as it was. A National Anthem can never be made to order. It must grow spontaneously out of some stirring incident of the hour. Never in those days were our people so deeply moved as by the Manchester Martyrdom. There is no grander episode i
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
I have referred to Michael Breslin in speaking of his brother John. Michael was not suspected of any complicity with the revolutionary movement until after the rising on the 5th of March, 1867, when he found it prudent to get out of the country. He was, as the saying is, "on his keeping," and stayed with me at my father's house in Liverpool for a short time, until he found a favourable opportunity of getting away to America. This was by no means an easy task, as all the ports were closely watche
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
Before concluding the section of my Recollections connected with Fenianism, I must re-introduce John Breslin, the rescuer of James Stephens. Though the episode I am about to describe took place some six years after the commencement of the constitutional Home Rule agitation, I think it well, as it was connected with Fenianism, for the sake of compactness, to introduce it here. My excuse for introducing it as part of my recollections will be seen further on. It will be remembered that John Breslin
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
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 seem
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, the sympathy of Ireland was naturally, for historic reasons, on the side of France. It was not surprising, then, that many young Irishmen who had served in America, or in the ranks of the Papal Volunteers, or had borne a share in the Fenian movement, were anxious to show their sympathy in a practical way, and at the same time to gratify the national propensity for a fight —in any good cause at all. I happened to number among my friends some of these young
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
In the previous chapter it will be seen that I have somewhat anticipated the course of events described in this narrative in order to give brief sketches of some of my friends who took part, in various capacities, in the Franco-Prussian war, and incidents arising out of it. I have also, for the sake of compactness, briefly touched on their subsequent careers. I shall here now resume my recollections of the Home Rule movement from its inception in 1870. From the first everything pointed to Isaac
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
The General Election of 1874 was remarkable as the first since the Union which had clearly and distinctly returned a majority of Irish members of Parliament as Home Rulers. Previously most of them had been returned as Liberals or Tories. It is memorable in my eyes, as it was the occasion when two of my personal friends, Alexander Martin Sullivan and Joseph Gillis Biggar, first entered Parliament. It was in the year after he was elected that Mr. Biggar made his debut as an "obstructionist." Charl
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
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 p
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
In the year following the Liverpool Home Rule Convention of 1877, I had the pleasure of welcoming back to freedom my old friend, Michael Davitt, after he had been in penal servitude close upon eight years. He had been released, along with other Fenian prisoners, and, with Corporal Chambers, came on April 28th, 1878, to a gathering we organised and held in the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, for the benefit of the liberated men, John O'Connor Power being the lecturer for the occasion, and Dr. Commins
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
"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
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
It will be seen that when "United Ireland" was "on the shaughraun" during the time that William O'Brien was in prison, though he was able to send communications out regularly, the direction very largely devolved upon Patrick Egan, who had taken up his quarters in Paris for that and other purposes of the Land League. I may say that I have been in frequent communication with Mr. Egan ever since, and it is but recently that I got a letter from him touching upon this matter. In making some valuable
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Franchise and Re-Distribution Acts of 1884 and 1885, besides placing, for the first time, the Parliamentary representation in the hands of the great bulk of the people of Ireland, added greatly to our political power in England, Scotland and Wales. Many thousands of Irish householders obtained votes where formerly, under the restricted franchise, such a thing as an Irish county voter was extremely rare. At the General Election of 1885, Mr. Parnell made Liverpool his headquarters. The Re-Dist
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
I was present at most of the bye-elections that led up to Gladstone's great victory at the General Election of 1892. In this way I was brought to many places interesting to us as Catholics as well as Irishmen. No spot in Great Britain is more sacred to us than Iona, an island off the West coast of Scotland, which our great typical Irish saint, Columba, made his home and centre when bringing the light of faith to those regions. It will, therefore, be one of the memories of my life most dear to me
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CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
When the "Times" on the 18th of April, 1887 published what purported to be the fac simile of a letter from Mr. Parnell, and suggested that it was written to Mr. Patrick Egan in justification of the Phœnix Park assassinations, I at once, like many others, guessed who the forger must be. I had from time to time come into contact with Pigott, and I was satisfied that he was the one man capable of such a production. When the company was formed in 1875 for the starting of a newspaper in connection wi
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CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
There is nothing more bitter than a family quarrel. The unfortunate disruption in the Irish Parliamentary Party and the fierce quarrel that arose among the Irish people near the end of 1890, would be to me such a painful theme that I must ask my readers to pardon me if I pass on as quickly as possible towards the happier times which find us practically a re-united people, while the Irish Party in Parliament is a solid working force under the able leadership of Mr. John Redmond. In accordance wit
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CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
One effect of the disturbance in political work caused by the split seemed to be the impetus given to existing movements which, so far as politics were concerned, were neutral ground. Chief amongst these was the Gaelic League, which from its foundation advanced by leaps and bounds and brought to the front many fine characters. Francis Fahy was one of the first Presidents of the Gaelic League of London, and there is no doubt but the Irish language movement in the metropolis owes much to his influ
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Summing up these pages, how shall I answer the question asked by Napper Tandy in "The Wearin' of the Green" over a hundred years ago—"How is old Ireland, and how does she stand?" Let us see what changes, for the better or for the worse, there have been during the period—nearly seventy years—covered by these recollections. Catholic Emancipation had, five years before I was born, allowed our people to raise their voices, and give their votes through their representatives in an alien Parliament. I
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