The Life Story of an Old Rebel Part 11

This const.i.tutional movement had been going on for some six years previous to the rescue of the military Fenians, having been inaugurated at a meeting in the Bilton Hotel, Dublin, on the 19th May, 1870, five days after the arrest of Michael Davitt, and his disappearance for a season from the stage of Irish history.

In the pages which are to follow I shall have occasion to introduce some of those who took part in that first Home Rule gathering in Dublin.

It was a hopeful beginning, as there were a.s.sembled men who were of various creeds and politics--Catholics, Protestants, Fenian sympathisers, Repealers, Liberals, and Tories--but all of whom had in view the happiness and prosperity of their common country. There they established the "Home Government a.s.sociation of Ireland," the first resolution pa.s.sed being:--

This a.s.sociation is formed for the purpose of attaining for Ireland the right of self-government by means of a National Parliament.

The fact was that the "intensity of Fenianism" had forced thinking men of every shade of opinion to realise that government of Ireland by outsiders was an abject failure. Even Englishmen themselves began to realise that they were engaged in an impossible task, or, at all events, one in which they were quite at sea. A humorous story is attributed to Mr. T.W. Russell on this point. It is that a certain Englishman, who was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, went to an English official of experience in Dublin, and said--

"You know what I mean to do first of all, is to get at the facts--the facts--then I shall be on sure ground."

"My dear sir," said the official wearily, "there are no facts in Ireland."

The conclusion was not a surprising one for a man who had for years been in touch with the "official sources" of information.

While all honour is due to the men who initiated the new movement, the names of those who carried on the const.i.tutional struggle during the years that preceded this date should not be forgotten. Of all the men I ever came into contact with in the course of my experience of const.i.tutional agitation, I think the Sullivans--especially T.D. and A.M.--deserve the most credit, for they kept the flag flying in the columns of the "Nation" and in other ways during all the gloomy years that followed after Charles Gavan Duffy left the country in despair. I am always proud to have reckoned these two men among my dearest and most trusted friends.

Another great admirer of the Sullivans was Alfred Crilly, brother to Daniel Crilly, and father of Frederick Lucas Crilly, the present respected and able General Secretary of the United Irish League of Great Britain. Alfred was one of the most brilliant Irishmen we ever had in Liverpool, and no man did better service for the cause in that city during his lifetime. It was always a pleasure to me to work in harness with him, as I did on many public occasions; for whatever was the national organisation going on in Ireland for the time being we two--Alfred Crilly and myself--always did our best to have its counterpart in Liverpool. Indeed it became the case that for many years our people there invariably looked to us to take the initiative in every national movement. Whenever A.M. Sullivan came over to our demonstrations it did not need our a.s.surance to convince him that every pulsation of the national heart in Ireland was as warmly and as strongly felt on this side of the Channel as though we still formed part of our mother island. Indeed, the evidence of his own eyes, the enthusiasm he saw when he came amongst us, caused him to declare at a vast gathering in the Amphitheatre that he felt as if he were not out of Ireland at all, but on a piece cut from the "old sod" itself.

I felt proud when two young men of my training, John McArdle, who had been with me on the "Catholic Times"; and afterwards Daniel Crilly, on the "United Irishman," were appointed to the literary staff of the "Nation," for which they were well fitted, seeing that, with their brilliant gifts, they had, from their earliest days, been imbued with the doctrines of that newspaper.

T.D., like his brother, often came to Liverpool, and used to be equally delighted with the enthusiastic receptions he got from his fellow-countrymen. On one occasion he said to me he was at a loss how to show his appreciation. I told him how to do this. "Write us a song," I said. He did so; and with that admirable tact which is so characteristic of him he chose for his theme--"Erin's Sons in England," a song which, written to the air of "The Shamrock," has, for many years, been sung at our Irish festivals in Great Britain. As a personal favour to myself he wrote it for one of the penny books of my "Irish Library".

I need make no apology for introducing T.D. Sullivan's song here. It will be seen that he sings our praise with no uncertain note; and, in return, I may say on their behalf that he had no warmer admirers than among the Irish of England.

ERIN'S SONS IN ENGLAND.

_Air--"Oh, the Shamrock_."

On every sh.o.r.e, the wide world o'er, The newest and the oldest, The sons are found of Erin's ground Among the best and boldest.

But soul and will are turning still To Ireland o'er the ocean, And well I know where aye they glow With most intense devotion.

CHORUS:--Over here in England, Up and down through England, Fond and true and fearless too, Are Erin's sons in England.

Where toil is hard, in mill and yard, Their hands are strong to bear it; Where genius bright would wing its flight, The mind is theirs to dare it; But high or low, in joy or woe, With any fate before them, The sweetest bliss they know, is this-- To aid the land that bore them.

CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.

By many a sign from Thames to Tyne, From Holyhead to Dover, The eye may trace the deathless race Our gallant land sent over.

Midst beech and oak, midst flame and smoke.

Up springs the cross-tipped steeple That, far and wide, tells where abide The faithful Irish people.

CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.

And this I say--on any day That help of theirs is needed, Dear Ireland's call will never fall On their true hearts unheeded They'll plainly show to friend and foe.

If e'er the need arises Her arm is long, and stout and strong, To work some strange surprises!

CHORUS:--Over here in England, &c.

It will be remembered that T.D. never allowed himself to be bound by conventionalities. There was always a refres.h.i.+ng thoroughness and heartiness in what he did. For instance, when he was Lord Mayor of Dublin, he on one occasion "opened" a public bath by stripping and swimming round it--the Town Clerk and other officials following his example.

I have mentioned the good work done in Liverpool by Father Nugent, and that I had the pleasure of co-operating with him in some of his undertakings.

At the time of the Home Rule movement connected with the name of Isaac b.u.t.t, and for some years previously, I had been brought into still closer contact with him, first, as secretary of his refuge for dest.i.tute and homeless boys, and then as manager and acting editor of the "Northern Press and Catholic Times," after that paper had come into his hands. I also a.s.sisted him in the temperance movement which he started in Liverpool.

When Father Nugent asked me to take charge of the "Catholic Times," I entered upon the work literally single-handed, like some of the editors we read of a generation or so ago in the Western States of America; for, when he left me for a nine months' tour in the States, I const.i.tuted in my own person the whole staff. We afterwards had some able men on the paper. Among these was John McArdle, who left us, as I have said, to join the "Nation." He became later a well-known dramatic author, his chief works being burlesques and pantomimes. We also had James Lysaght Finigan, of whom I speak elsewhere.

While Father Nugent was in America, we used to get great help from a fine old Jesuit priest and good Irish Nationalist, Father James McSwiney, then of St. Francis Xavier's, Liverpool. He was never happier than when smoking his short pipe by the fire in our inner office. With his help we created a much admired feature in the "Catholic Times" in our "Answers to Correspondents." With the view of drawing on real enquiries, he used to concoct and then answer questions on points of doctrine, etc. Some people were astonished at the profound knowledge--and others at what they considered "the impudence"--displayed by Jack McArdle and John Denvir in answering any theological posers that might be put to us, never dreaming we had behind us one of the ablest theologians of the Jesuit order.

When Father Nugent took the paper in hands, the readers had such confidence in it that, from being merely a local paper, we were able before long to make it a leading Catholic organ for the whole country.

The reverend father was chaplain of the Liverpool Borough jail. He was respected by all cla.s.ses, Protestant as well as Catholic, not only for what he did for the unfortunate creatures who came under his ministrations, but as a public-spirited citizen and benefactor of the town. It would be wrong if I did not pay a high tribute to the splendid service done by him in Liverpool towards elevating the condition of our own people. I would be ungrateful, too, if I failed to recognise the great educational work he did in giving opportunities for culture to many Liverpool Irishmen, myself among the number, which afterwards aided their advancement in the battle of life. That is why I never regretted that I gave Father Nugent, when conducting the "Catholic Times" for him, three of the best years of my life. I never regretted my experiences in connection with that paper, particularly in the reporting department, for they were often very pleasant ones. Among these was my having been introduced to the great Archbishop MacHale, when I went to St.

Nicholas's to report his sermon.

I have many vivid remembrances arising out of my connection with the "Catholic Times."

It was during the time I was in charge of it that we started the Irish national organisation on this side of the Channel--the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, formed at our first annual convention held in Manchester, at which I was elected as the first General Secretary of the organisation.

I was at the same time secretary of the Liverpool Catholic Club, and in that capacity I a.s.sisted in entertaining the Canadian Papal Zouaves when pa.s.sing through Liverpool on their way home, after their gallant but unsuccessful struggle to uphold the power of the Pope against the revolutionaries.

In the same way it became my duty as secretary of the club to organise the Catholic vote in Liverpool on the occasion of the first School Board Election. The Irish and those of Irish extraction in Liverpool being reckoned as about one-third of the population, the Catholic body is correspondingly numerous. We surprised both friend and foe in the results. There were fifteen members to be elected, and we asked our people to give three votes for each of our five candidates. They were not only elected, but the votes actually given for them--on the c.u.mulative principle--could have elected eight out of the fifteen members of the Board.

Father Nugent, though immensely popular with all cla.s.ses, was not, I think, a _persona grata_, any more than myself, with Canon Fisher, the Vicar-General of the diocese, who was very anti-Irish, and, so far as he could, prevented anyone connected with the "Catholic Times" coming into personal contact with Bishop Goss, who was a typical Englishman of the best kind. The bishop had a blunt, hitting-out-from-the-shoulder style of speaking in his sermons that compelled attention. But you could hardly call them sermons at all; they were rather powerful discourses upon social topics, which, from a newspaper point of view, made splendid "copy." Accordingly, during the year before his death, I followed him all over the diocese to get his sermon for each week's paper. There is no doubt that Dr. Goss's sermons helped materially to put a backbone into the "Catholic Times" and greatly to increase its circulation.

In one of the rural districts the bishop was giving an ill.u.s.tration of the meaning of "Tradition," and, very much to my embarra.s.sment, I found him taking me for his text. He said--"So far as I know, there were no newspapers in Our Lord's days; there was n.o.body taking down _His_ sermons, as there is to-day taking mine; so that _His_ teaching had to be by word of mouth, and much of it has come down to us as Tradition."

In the interest of the paper, Father Nugent was anxious that I should be introduced to the Bishop. But he knew, as well as I did, that the difficulty in the way of this was what might be called the Grand Vizier, Canon Fisher. "You should push forward, Denvir," Father Nugent would say, "after Ma.s.s is over, and ask to see the Bishop." Over and over again I did so, but was always met at the vestry door by Canon Fisher, with his suave smile. "Well, Mr. Denvir, what can I do for you?" "I would like to see his lords.h.i.+p," I would say. No use. The Canon would say--"No, no; don't trouble the Bishop; I can give you all the information you want;" and so it went on, and I was baffled in my attempts.

I ought to say that, though Canon Fisher was able to keep me from coming into personal contact with Bishop Goss, Father Nugent was too strong for him in the end; for, eventually, we got into communication with the Bishop regularly every week on the subject of his sermons. Each Monday as soon as my copy was set up, we sent him a proof, which he would read and correct and return. But his "corrections" often included the addition of altogether new matter, which made the sermon the more interesting and valuable to us. Indeed, on several occasions, we used his new matter, with slight alterations, as leaders. The very week he died we had one of these leaders in type, and it appeared in the same issue which announced his death.

When Cardinal Vaughan became Bishop of Salford, Father Nugent succeeded in getting his support and influence for the "Catholic Times," a most valuable thing for us, seeing that Manchester, though with a smaller Catholic population than Liverpool, was of more importance from a publis.h.i.+ng point of view, as from that city can be more readily reached a number of large manufacturing towns, of which it is the centre. Again it was--"Denvir, you must see the Bishop." But this time there was no difficulty, as an appointment had been made for me. Accordingly, by arrangement, I reached Manchester one morning between six and seven o'clock, that being the most convenient time for him that Bishop Vaughan could give me, and together we discussed the best means of forwarding the interests of the paper in the diocese of Salford. I found him, besides being a man of courtly presence, as we all know, most broad-minded and genial, and keenly alive to the influence which a good newspaper would have upon his people.

Whenever I see the "Catholic Times," I feel gratified at its very existence, as a proof that my three years with Father Nugent were not altogether spent in vain. For when he placed its control in my hands on his departure for America, I found it with a very small circulation, and anything but a paying concern; whereas, when I yielded up the trust into his hands, I had the satisfaction of handing over to him a substantial amount of cash in hand, a statement of a.s.sets and liabilities showing a satisfactory balance on the right side, and a paper with a largely increased and paying circulation.

For many years previous to his death, I did not come into contact with him. Indeed it was only the year before he died that I had the pleasure--and it was all the more a pleasure as we had differed strongly during previous years on some points--of meeting him at his house in Formby. This was before his last visit to America, where he contracted the illness which terminated in his death soon after his return to England.

CHAPTER XII.

THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR--AN IRISH AMBULANCE CORPS--THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION.

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 Irishmen, of whom I may mention Captain Martin Kirwan, James Lysaght Finigan, Edmond O'Donovan, Arthur Forrester, Frank Byrne, and James O'Kelly. There was a strong feeling in Ireland to send a considerable body of men to France, but the law stood in the way. It was evaded by the formation of an Ambulance Corps, and for this generous subscriptions flowed in, along with numerous applications from volunteers. These were all medically examined, as if for a regular army, and in this way as fine a body of young men as ever left Ireland was picked from those who had volunteered. The ambulance service was equipped in the most perfect manner, and presented to the French nation. On arriving in France, there were (as was, of course, intended) more men than were required for the ambulance duties, and these at once volunteered for service as soldiers.