Twenty-five years in the Secret Service

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE
SECRET SERVICE.

In the midst of all my soldiering, I wooed and won my wife. She is the principal legacy left me of those old campaigning days of mine, as bonny a wife and as sympathetic and valuable a helpmate as ever husband was blessed with in this world. Many years have gone by since we first met away in Tennessee, where she, a bright-eyed daring horsewoman, and I, a happy-go-lucky cavalry officer, scampered the plains together in pleasant company. Little thought either of us then what the future years held in store. Yet when these years came, and with them the anxious moments, the uncertain intervals, and the perilous hours, none was more brave, more sympathetic than she. Carrying the secret of my life close locked up in that courageous heart of hers, helping me when need be, silent when nought could be done, she proved as faithful an ally and as perfect a foil as ever man placed like me could have been given by Heaven. A look, a gasp, a frightened movement, an uncertain turn might have betrayed me, and all would have been lost; a jealous action, a curious impulse, and she might have wrecked my life; a letter misplaced, a drawer left open, a communication miscarried, and my end was certain. But those things were not to be. Brave, affectionate, and fearless, frequently beseeching me to end this terrible career in which each moment of the coming hours was charged with danger if not death, she tended her family lovingly, and faced the world with a countenance which gave no sign, but a caution which never slumbered.

I had not to wait for these later years, however, to prove her readiness and resource. These had been shown me long ere marriage was dreamt of by either of us, and when, in one of the most exciting episodes of my military career, she gave me my freedom and my life. For our wooing was not without its romance. Our first meeting was quite a casual one. An officer in charge of a party of thirty, engaged in scouting duty, I stopped my little troop one night, in the winter of 1862, at a house some fifteen miles from Nashville, Tennessee, in order to rest our horses and prepare our supper. We selected the house, and stopped there without any prearrangement. This, however, was in no way extraordinary. It was quite the common practice to stop en route and buy hospitality from the residents. The house was the property of my wife’s uncle, and here she lived. While our supper was being prepared, we chatted agreeably together, and the time swept pleasantly along, We were in fancied security, and gave no thought to immediate danger. In a moment, however, all was confusion. The house was suddenly surrounded by a band of irregular troops, calling themselves Confederates, but in reality nothing more or less than marauders, and soon the fortunes of war were turned against us.

Half my little command, fortunately, escaped, owing to their being with the horses at the time of the enemy’s approach, and so enabled to take to flight. The other half, however, with myself, were not so fortunate. We were in the house, surprised, and immediately taken prisoners. A large log smoke-house was improvised for a prison, and in this my comrades and myself were placed, tortured with indignation and hunger, as the riotous sounds which followed proclaimed to us that our captors were partaking of the supper which had been originally intended for ourselves. Our position altogether was anything but a happy one. Death was very near. Irregular troops like those with whom we had to deal seldom gave quarter. If we escaped immediate death, it would be only to be brought within the Southern line to be condemned to a living death in prison.

We sat and pondered; and as the probabilities of the future loomed heavily and darkly before us, the sounds of revelry in the adjoining house gradually died away. Our captors, filled with the good things provided for us, gradually dropped to sleep, and soon nothing was heard but the measured movement and breathing of the guard stationed at our door. In a little time, however, there was perfect silence, and our watchful ears detected the absence of our sentry’s person. Curious but silent we anxiously waited, and soon heard the withdrawal of the bolt by some unknown hand. Opening the door, we found the pathway clear. My brave Tennessee girl, finding the gang of irregulars all steeped in heavy slumber, had decoyed our guard away on pretence of his obtaining supper, and returning, had unbolted our prison-house, prepared to face the consequences when the sleeping ruffians awoke. Through her action our safety was assured, and after walking fifteen miles, we reached camp in the morning to join our comrades, who had given us up for lost.

This happened on Christmas Eve 1862; and it was not until April 1864—sixteen months afterwards—that I again met the girl who had done so much for me, and who was subsequently to become my wife.

The house in which these exciting events had taken place had meantime been totally destroyed by the ravages of war, and she was now living with her aunt in Nashville itself. I was stationed in camp, there awaiting my examination before a board of officers for further promotion, and here occurred the most eventful engagement in which I ever took part, where, conquering yet conquered, I ignored all the articles of war and subscribed to those of marriage, entering into a treaty of peace freighted with the happiest of results.

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The war was now over and done, a thing of the past. I was situated in Nashville with my wife and family, and with my savings, happy in the enjoyment of the moment, and the pleasant reminiscences of the past. Henri le Caron, the agent of the British Government in the camps of American Fenianism, did not exist, and I had not the shadow of a conception as to what the future held in store for me. The future indeed troubled me not one whit. Looking back, as I do now, upon all that has happened since then, I am filled with astonishment as great and sincere as that which affected the world when I first told my story in its disjointed way before the Special Commission. It may be that I am somewhat of a fatalist—I know not what I may be called—but my ideas, strengthened by the experience of my life, are very clear on one point. We may be free agents to a certain extent; but, nevertheless, for some wise purpose matters are arranged for us. We are impelled by some unknown force to carry out, not of our own volition or possible design, the work of this life, indicated by a combination of circumstances, to which unconsciously we adapt ourselves. In such a manner did I become connected with Fenianism and the Irish Party in America. For I never sought Fenianism; Fenianism rather came to me.

I use the phrase Fenianism as one that is familiar, and requires no explanation from me. All the world must surely know by this that almost from time out of mind there has existed in America a body of discontented and rebellious Irish known as Fenians, who, working in harmony with so-called Nationalists in this country, seek the repeal of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland. It will, however, be necessary for me to say something about the position of Fenianism at this time—I speak, of course, of the year 1865—in order that what follows may be quite clearly understood.

Fenianism at this period was in a rather bad way. Its adherents in America and Ireland were divided into two hostile camps, and its most recent effort had been of a very poor and depressing character. In fact, the division of forces had been brought about by the failure of this selfsame effort, an attempt at the emancipation of Ireland, which is known as “the ’65 movement.” It was organised by the Fenians in Ireland and America, under the direction of James Stephens; and for the purpose of its development very many officers and men crossed to Ireland from American soil. The attempted rising, however, proved, like almost all Fenian efforts, a fiasco. It was found that Stephens had wofully misrepresented the state of affairs at home, both as regards preparation and enthusiasm; and those who had come from America returned to their homes, disgusted and indignant at the way in which they had been sold.

In the result disaffection quickly spread, and the organisation in America broke up into hostile camps, the majority, under the leadership of Colonel W. R. Roberts, revolting from the leadership of Stephens and Mahoney, and declaring their belief that “no direct invasion or armed insurrection in Ireland would ever be successful in establishing an Irish Republic upon Irish soil, and setting her once more in her proper place as a nation amongst the nations of the earth.” Not content, however, with the situation, the seceders met in convention in September 1865 in Cincinnati, and formed themselves into what was known for the next eventful five years of its existence as the Senate Wing of the Fenian Brotherhood. They scoffed at the idea of invading Ireland successfully, but by no means advocated a policy of inaction. They simply sought to change the base of operations. “The invasion of Canada” became their cry; and with this as their programme they succeeded in gaining the allegiance of some thousands of the disaffected Irish, whose support was attracted by the familiar device of a de facto civil and military Irish Government upon paper, framed upon the model of the United States. A good deal of money was subscribed, and with funds so obtained ammunition was purchased and shipped along the Canadian border.

The methods of obtaining money were many and varied, but none was more successful than the issue of Fenian bonds. The following is a reproduction of a twenty-dollar bond in my possession. These bonds were given in exchange for ready money to the many simple souls who believed in the possibility of an Irish republic, and who were quite ready to part with their little all, in the belief that later on, when their country was “a nation once again,” they would be repaid with interest. Very many of the persons displaying this credulity were Irish girls in service in the States, and thus came into vogue the sneering reference to the agitation being financed by the servant-girls of New York.

A curious feature of the intended invasion was the publicity given to the design, and, more remarkable still, the action, or rather want of action, of the United States Government in regard to it. This latter, indeed, was the subject of very angry comment at the time on the part of Englishmen resident in the States. It certainly seemed strange, and passing all comprehension, that the United States Government, although in full possession of the facts, and quite peaceful in its relations with England, could have permitted the organisation of a raid upon a portion of English possessions without movement or demur on their part of any kind whatever. Yet such is the deplorable fact. From the commencement of the preparations till five days after the Fenians had crossed at Black Rock, the government of President Andrew Johnson did nothing whatever to prevent this band of marauders from carrying out their much-talked-of invasion.

Let it not be thought that I exaggerate or draw on my imagination. I do not. If evidence in support of my statement be needed, it is to be found in the speeches made from public platforms, in open meetings, fully reported throughout the country at the time.

It was during this period that I was brought into close acquaintance with Fenianism and its workings. Strangely enough, it was my army associations which formed the medium. Through an old companion-in-arms, the man O’Neill mentioned above, by whose side I had served and fought, I learnt, at first casually, and in broken conversation, what was transpiring in the circles of the conspiracy. Indignant as I was at learning what was being done against the interest of my native country, I knew not how to circumvent the operations of the conspirators, and did nothing publicly in the matter. Without my own knowledge, however, I was to become one of the instruments for upsetting all these schemes. Writing as I regularly did to my father, I mentioned simply by way of startling news the facts I learned from O’Neill. My letters, written in the careless spirit of a wanderer’s notes, were destined to become political despatches of an important character. Without reference to me, my father made immediate and effective use of them. Startled and dismayed at the tidings I conveyed, he, true Briton that he was, could not keep the information to himself, but handed over my letters immediately to John Gurdon Rebow, the sitting member for Colchester.

Mr. Rebow, fully concurring with my father as to the importance of my news, proposed that he should, without delay, communicate with the Government of the day, to which my father agreed. In this way my first connection with the Government was brought about. So keenly alive to the position of affairs did the Home Secretary show himself, that he, as I learnt subsequently, in the most earnest way requested my father to correspond with me on the subject, and to arrange for my transmitting through him to the Government every detail with which I could become acquainted. This I did, and continued so doing until the raid into Canada had been attempted, and attended with failure.

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Before proceeding further, I had perhaps better give some idea of what the raid was like. The details should prove of interest, if for no other purpose than that of contrast with those of the second attempted invasion, of which I shall have to speak more fully later on. This, which was the first invasion of Canada by the Fenian organisation, took place upon the morning of the 1st of June 1866. As I have already stated, the design had been flourished in the face of government and people for six months previously. All this time active preparations were proceeding, and thousands of stands of arms, together with millions of rounds of ammunition, had been purchased from the United States Government and located at different points along the Canadian border; while during the spring of the year, military companies, armed and uniformed as Irish Fenian soldiers, were drilled week by week in many of the large cities of the United States.

No opposition was offered to the proceedings; indeed, John F. Finerty, the editor of the Chicago Citizen, in a public speech made by him at Chicago so late as February 5, 1886, declared with great glee that Andrew Johnson, the then President of the United States, openly encouraged the movement for the purpose of turning it to political account in the settlement of the Alabama claims. Be the blame whose it may, however, the result was not unsatisfactory. The attempt proved a complete failure. The Fenians were driven out of Canada, sixty of them killed and two hundred taken prisoners, with the loss of but six lives in the Canadian ranks. All the same, however, the unsatisfactory condition of things I speak of existed, while, to make matters worse, not a single one of the defeated invaders was called to account by the United States for the violation of the Neutrality Laws.

The whole affair, viewed from any but an imaginative Fenian standpoint, was of a ludicrous character. The time for the operation was chosen by the Fenian Secretary for War, General T. W. Sweeny, then commanding the 16th United States Infantry stationed at Nashville, Tennessee. A particular route had been selected, but when the amount of funds came to be questioned, the original idea of carrying the men by steamer to Goodrich, Canada, had to be abandoned for the less romantic but more economical process of crossing the Niagara River in flat boats with a steam tug called into requisition. Under the command of General John O’Neill, and a number of other gentlemen of high-sounding ranks, and distinctly Irish patronymics, the raid actually came off on the morning of the 1st of June, when about 3 A.M. some 600 or 800 Irish patriots, full of whisky and thirsting for glory, were quietly towed across the Niagara River to a point on the Canadian side called Waterloo!

At 4 A.M. the Irish flag was planted on British soil by Colonel Owen Starr, commanding the contingent from Kentucky, one of the first to land. Unfortunately no Canadian troops were in the vicinity, and O’Neill’s command, which had by the next day decreased to some 500, marched upon and captured Fort Erie, containing a small detachment of the Welland battery. Matters, however, were not long allowed to go in favour of the invaders. In a very little time the 22nd Battalion of Volunteers of Toronto—a splendid band of citizen-soldiers—appeared upon the scene, and at Ridgeway, a few miles inland, there occurred a fair stand-up fight, in which the Fenians in the end got the worst of the day’s work. Ridgeway has frequently since been claimed by the Fenian orators as a glorious victory, but without justification. It is true that at first, flushed with their almost bloodless victory at Fort Erie, the Fenians advanced fiercely upon their opponents, and for the moment repulsed them; but in the end the Canadians triumphed, and succeeded in putting the invaders to flight, driving them back to Fort Erie a frenzied, ungovernable mob, only too thankful to be taken as prisoners by the United States war steamer Michigan, and protected from total annihilation at the hands of the, by this time, thoroughly aroused and wrathful Canadian citizens.

The following extracts from the official report made by General O’Neill to Colonel William R. Roberts, President of the Fenian Brotherhood, though very highly coloured, admits the defeat:—

Thus fought the Irish patriots of 1866. Thus ended the first Fenian raid upon Canada. Not a glorious achievement, by any means. Quite the reverse, in fact. Even the leader of the expedition himself has to subscribe to failure and defeat. And yet there have been, and are to-day, men who boast of all this as a glorious victory, and proudly vaunt the statement that they were present at and participated in it.

Lucky it was that the movement was thus defeated at its very start. If it had not, the consequences might have been very different indeed. The news of the temporary victory at Fort Erie had a wonderful effect, and by the 7th of June not less than 30,000 men had assembled in and around Buffalo. The defeat of their comrades, however, and the tardy issue of Andrew Johnson’s proclamation enforcing the Neutrality Laws, left them no opening, and so the whole affair fizzled out in the most undignified manner. Undignified indeed it was for all parties concerned. The prisoners were, without a single exception, released on their own recognisances, and sent home by the United States authorities; while the arms seized by the United States Government, through General Meade, commanding in Buffalo, were returned to the Fenian organisation, only to be used for the same purpose some four years later.

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Meantime the conditions of peace, in purely American matters, had set in, and the army was reduced to a nominal footing. I took advantage of the state of affairs to settle down to a civilian style of life. The first question that called for thought and care was my future vocation in life. The father of a family, it became necessary for me to look out for some means of obtaining a settled income. Acting under the advice of an old comrade, now a Senator of Illinois, I finally determined to study medicine, and set to work in this direction without delay.

While so engaged, I paid my first visit to Europe in the autumn or “fall” of 1867, and once more met my father and mother in the flesh. My letters regarding Fenian matters were naturally a topic of interesting conversation between us, and my father with much pride showed me the written acknowledgments he had received for his action in the matter. Poor old father! Never was Briton prouder than he of the service he had been enabled to do his country—services unpaid and as purely patriotic as ever Englishman rendered. No payment was ever made—none was asked or expected—for whatever little good I had been enabled to accomplish up to this time. Matters, however, were now to develop in a new and unexpected way. Mr. Rebow expressed a desire to see me, and, accompanied by my father, I visited him at his seat, Wyvenhoe Park. He subsequently visited me on several occasions at my father’s house, and had many chats on the all-absorbing topic of Fenianism. Learning from me that the organisation was still prosperous and meant mischief—my friend O’Neill having succeeded Colonel Roberts as president—he gained my consent to enter into personal communication with the English Government. In a few days I received through him an official communication requesting me to attend at 50 Harley Street. To Harley Street I went, and there met two officials, by whom a proposition was made that I should become a paid agent of the Government, and that on my return to the United States I should ally myself to the Fenian organisation, in order to play the rôle of spy in the rebel ranks. I knew that this proposal was coming. I had thought over the whole matter carefully, and I had come to the conclusion that I would consent, which I did. My adventurous nature prompted me to sympathy with the idea; my British instincts made me a willing worker from a sense of right, and my past success promised good things for the future.

I returned, therefore, to the States in the Government service; and, taking advantage of an early meeting with O’Neill in New York, I proffered him my services as a military man in case of active warfare. O’Neill, delighted at the idea, promised me a position in the near future, and I returned to my home in the West, pledged to help the cause there meantime.[1]

And now a few words as to O’Neill. Taking the prominent part he did in Fenian affairs at this time, he certainly proved a very interesting personality. General O’Neill, Irish by birth, was born on the 8th of March 1834, in the town of Drumgallon, parish of Clontifret, Co. Monaghan. He emigrated when young with his family to the United States, and settled at Elizabeth, New Jersey. Enlisting in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry as a private soldier in 1857, he was engaged in fighting Indians in the Far West for some three years. Upon the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, he was commissioned as lieutenant in the 5th Indiana Cavalry. From this he received promotion in the 15th U.S. Coloured Infantry, with which regiment he continued to the end of the war. Resigning his command at the conclusion of hostilities, he commenced business as a United States Claim Agent in Nashville, Tennessee, where, it will be remembered, I was stationed with my regiment for a long time after the cessation of active operations.

When freed from the discipline of his military service, O’Neill—ardent Fenian that he was—threw himself heart and soul into the Irish rebel movement in the States. He raised and commanded the Tennessee contingent in the movement upon Canada in 1866, taking command of the entire expedition by reason of his seniority of rank and his proved knowledge of military tactics. I have already quoted his report of the termination of this “invasion.”

At the Cleveland Convention of September 1867, he was elected a senator of the Fenian Brotherhood; and on the 31st of December 1867, owing to the resignation of Colonel W. R. Roberts, he was elected President of the Brotherhood.

In personal appearance O’Neill was a very fine-looking man. Nature had dealt kindly with him. Within a couple of inches of six feet in height, possessing a fine physique and a distinctive Celtic face, he combined an undoubted military bearing with a rich sonorous voice, which lent to his presence a certain persuasive charm. He had one fault, however—a fault which developed to the extremest point when he attained the presidency of the Fenian Brotherhood. This was his egotism. He was the most egotistical soul I ever met in the whole course of my life. In his belief, the Irish cause lived, moved, and had its being in John O’Neill; and this absurd self-love contributed to many disasters, which a more even-headed leader would never have brought about.

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On my return to my Western home, I lost no time in commencing my double life. I organised a Fenian “circle” or camp in Lockport, Illinois, and took the position of “centre” or commander of it, thus becoming the medium for receiving all official reports and documents issued by O’Neill, the contents of which documents were, of course, communicated by me to the Home Government. I went to work with a will, and was soon in the very thick of the conspiracy, organised a military company for the Irish Republican Army, and eventually attended the Springfield Convention in the position of a delegate.

While so engaged, I entered the Chicago Medical College, and commenced my medical studies in earnest. I was much assisted in this direction by the kindly help of an old friend, Dr. Bacon, who had been attached to my regiment in war times as surgeon. He was then surgeon to the Illinois State Penitentiary, and through him I obtained the position created at this time of Hospital Steward, or, in other words, Resident Medical Officer in that institution. There was a comfortable salary attached to the office, which I found to be in every sense a useful post. Although, as matters turned out, I was only to spend some few months there, I gained even in this short time a vast amount of experience in almost every branch of medical study.

Life, indeed, in the Illinois Penitentiary gave me experience in many ways. It brought me for the first time into direct contact with many of the evils which then affected official administration. Things, of course, are different now, though it must be confessed still anything but perfect; but when compared with the usages of olden times, the shortcomings of the present system are of no account whatever. At the time of which I speak, money could accomplish everything, from the obtaining of luxuries in prison to the purchase of pardon and freedom itself. Everything connected with the prison administration was rotten to the core. Corruption was in every place. The penitentiary contained some fifteen hundred prisoners, and the whole management of affairs affecting these men was vested in three Commissioners, as they were styled, whose proceedings were of the most flagrant and jobbing character. So great did the scandals of their doings become at one period, that one of the three had to abscond; but so demoralised was the condition of affairs that no attempt was made to arrest and bring him back. These three men had no object save that of gaining money. They were the proprietors of a general shop inside the prison, from which the prisoners purchased luxuries at usurious rates; and the work of the prisoners themselves was let out to contractors, who paid heavily for the privilege of remaining undisturbed in their monopoly. Everything was turned to money. In one case I knew of a prisoner, failing to win his cause on appeal, and having thereby to undergo a period of seven years’ imprisonment, being offered his release for a sum of 10,000 dollars, which offer he refused, stating in the most business-like way that he would only give 7000. This was not considered satisfactory, and so the negotiations fell through.

No popular idea of prison life now indulged in at all fits in with the actual condition of affairs five-and-twenty years ago. Money was useful for the purpose of commerce in the Commissioners’ interest, and therefore was allowed free circulation amongst those confined. Those who could afford it, and whose cases were not finally decided—appeals were constantly being heard—were allowed to board at the Governor’s table, to wear their own clothes, and in every way conduct themselves as if in a private house. In those days the prisoners were not shaved—they wore their hair and whiskers as they pleased. Those who could not afford to live the lives of gentlemen had the store to go to for petty luxuries; and so, no matter how matters turned, the Commissioners were the gainers. The Governor, or Warden, as he was called, was their nominee, dependent upon them for office; and everything was governed by their wishes and desires.

In such a vast assembly of criminals there were many whose characters and careers formed subjects for very interesting study to me. I was fortunate in being connected with the prison at a time when some more than usually clever and facile scoundrels were temporarily resident there. Towering head and shoulders over the whole crowd was that king of forgers, Colonel Cross, perhaps the most daring, successful, and expert penman of our time. About forty years of age at this period, a man of fine commanding presence, splendid diction, and gentlemanly demeanour, Cross attracted me from the first day I was brought into contact with him. The son of one of the most prominent Episcopalian clergymen in the United States, he was possessed of a wide classical education, and discoursed with intelligence and wondrous fluency on theology, medicine, and every kind of science.

He was no ordinary criminal. Even in prison he commanded admiration from his fellows, and I was often amazed to see how respectful were the salutations accorded him as he moved about. He boasted, I learned afterwards with truth, that he had never robbed a poor man; and, strange being that he was, he had borne almost all the cost of the education of his brother’s children. Indeed, at the time I met him, he was educating in the most expensive manner a poor little girl whom, in a moment of generous caprice, he had adopted as his daughter.

When I was first brought into contact with him, Cross had his case before the courts on appeal, and, pending the decision, he was living in the most expensive way in prison, boarding at the Governor’s table, dressing in the most fashionable way, and smoking the best of cigars. Having no work to do, he interested himself in the affairs of his fellow-prisoners; and so clever and capable was he, and so great a knowledge of law did he possess, that he succeeded in preparing the cases of many of them for appeal in such a way as to allow of their regaining their liberty.

I had not been in the prison very long before he appealed to me to take him as my assistant in the hospital; and attracted by the man as I was, I acceded to his request, to discover subsequently that I had a most valuable attendant, whose knowledge of medicine was both extensive and practical.

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The career of Cross would supply material for a most exciting novel. He always went in for “big things,” as he phrased it. Nothing troubled him more than the fact that he was then undergoing punishment for a small affair which he contemptuously referred to as being too paltry altogether for association with him. Perhaps the “biggest thing” he ever did was the forgery of a cheque for £80,000 in Liverpool, and his escape with the booty. Like many other talented criminals, if he had but turned his ability to proper account, he would undoubtedly have won a place and name in the foremost ranks of honest men to-day. He planned his enterprises with the most consummate care, and worked them out for months before reaching the final stage. An illustration of his method was very well afforded by his forgery on the Park National Bank of New York.

Determining to commit a forgery on this bank, he set to work to obtain the needful introduction and guarantee for his accomplice, who should eventually present the forged cheque. He, by the way, never presented a forged cheque himself—this was always the work of an accomplice. In order, therefore, to obtain the introduction to the bank, he opened some business with a certain firm of brokers in Wall Street who happened to “deposit” at the particular bank in question. In this way he ran up an account for a respectable sum, to obtain the repayment for which he one day went to the office in Wall Street accompanied by one Simmons, the accomplice in the future forgery. The cheque—a draft for twelve hundred dollars—was duly drawn, when Cross asked his friend Simmons to go to the bank to cash it, requesting in a free-and-easy way that the broker might send one of his clerks with him to identify Simmons, he being a stranger. No suspicion was indulged in—there was no ground for such, and the request was willingly complied with. Simmons, coached by Cross beforehand, had a hundred-dollar bill in his pocket, the use for which will be apparent in a moment. When the clerk and he reached the bank, the necessary introduction took place; and in reply to the usual question how he wished the money, Simmons replied, “In hundred-dollar bills.” As the clerk counted the notes, Simmons drew his bill out of his pocket, and mixing all up as he stood aside to check his payment, he recalled the clerk’s attention by the announcement that he had given him thirteen instead of twelve bills. The clerk indignantly protested he had made no mistake. Simmons, playing the rôle of honest man, became distressed, the manager was appealed to, one of the notes eventually received back, and Simmons retired, the recipient of most fulsome thanks, his character and reputation fully established in the minds of the banking officials. Of course the clerk was one hundred dollars to the good at the end of the day, but Simmons’ claim to honesty in no way suffered by the fact, as no one for a moment thought of a plot.

Content to lose the hundred-dollar bill, in the promise of things to come, Cross continued his legitimate traffic with the brokers, Simmons, on the most friendly terms at the bank, cashing the cheques, which increased in amount as the time passed. Months had passed, and nothing of an illegal nature had been attempted, when at the end of the fifth month a genuine cheque for thirty dollars was by Cross changed to 30,000, and cashed by Simmons without the slightest hesitation or suspicion at the bank, both Cross and he escaping with the booty.

Many and varied as were Cross’s tricks with his pen, none was more daring or successful than that which led to his escape from Sing-Sing Prison, that famous home of criminals in New York. Obtaining through outside agency a printed and properly headed sheet of note-paper and envelope from the Governor of the States’ Office at Albany, he actually forged the order for his own release, had it posted formally from Albany, and, on its receipt, obtained his freedom without provoking the slightest suspicion or inquiry.

I am glad to say that Colonel Cross still lives, and is now working out an honest existence under another name in the north-west of America.

My life at the Illinois Penitentiary was crowded with incidents, and little leisure was left me. Where real sickness did not exist, shamming and malingering in their most ingenious phases were resorted to. I was amazed at the talent brought to bear upon their attempts to escape work by those with whom I had to deal. Some of the methods adopted were simply marvellous in their conception and execution. A more quick-witted lot of men it has never been my fate to meet. Every twist and turn of daily life was subordinated to the needs of the trickster, and not one single daily incident seemed to be without its possibility of application, either to assist in the attempt to shirk work or to escape from imprisonment altogether. Nothing in this way impressed me more than the case of a man known as Joe Devine, an eminent hotel sneak thief, some two-and-thirty years of age, and of very distinguished appearance.

It happened that one afternoon about five o’clock a negro prisoner died of consumption. It was the practice to bury the dead immediately the coffin was made ready; but, owing to the fact that the coffin in this case was not ready till after the prison gates had been locked for the night, the burial had to be postponed till the following morning.

Under the circumstances, I arranged that the coffin with the body enclosed should remain for the night in the prison bath-room. This Joe Devine of whom I speak happened to be in charge of the bath-room at this period, and it therefore became his duty to see that proper arrangements were made for the disposal of the coffin for the night. Early the next morning, as was customary, Devine and some of his fellow-prisoners were allowed out of their cells some little time before the others, in order to prepare the bath-room and other places for their use. With assistance Devine unscrewed the coffin, took the dead negro out, and concealed himself in his place, not, however, before he had worn down the thread of the screws in the lid, so that they could be thrust out with a heavy push from the inside. The time for the funeral arrived in due course, and the coffin was removed in a little cart accompanied by two prisoners whose time was nearly expired, and who were therefore trusted outside the gates of the prison (being known by the name of “trusties”), together with the clergyman of the jail.

Nothing happened till the grave was reached, when Devine, presumably concluding that it would be dangerous to remain longer where he was, burst the lid of the coffin and jumped out, immediately starting off at a run. The clergyman and “trusties” being too horrified to offer any resistance, he escaped without molestation. The first I heard of the matter was on the return of the clergyman and the “trusties” with the news that the man had come to life; but, as they explained in their horrified way, he was white, not a nigger! The roll was called, and Devine was missing; so we concluded he was the white man in question. We then set to work to find the corpse of the poor negro. For two hours the prisoners searched up and down without any result. Eventually, however, the body was discovered underneath a pile of towels in one of the box-seats of the bath-room, the corpse being doubled up in two, the head and feet meeting, in order to permit of its being concealed in its narrow hiding-place.

Another escape equally effective, for the moment at least, was that of a man known as Bill Forester, a notorious bank robber, and one of the suspected murderers of Nathan the Jew, whose death in New York created a profound interest at the time. Forester, fortunately for himself, selected as his medium of exit one of the many boxes employed by Mack & Co., contractors for shoe-making, who employed some four hundred of the convicts. Surrounded and hedged in between boots and shoes, in one of the large boxes used for their transport, Forester passed through the prison gates in one of Mack’s vans, and not till he had got a distance of a mile and a half from the jail did he venture to emerge from his hiding-place. His liberty, however, proved to be only of a temporary character, for, caught in another State a little later, the enterprising burglar was again arrested, and carried back to the Penitentiary to complete his term of imprisonment.

His method had many imitations. None was more novel or disastrous than that employed by a fellow-convict whose name I cannot at the moment recall. This poor fellow hit upon the ingenious idea of getting out of durance vile inside a load of horse-manure, and when the load was half-way packed, he lay at full length with a breathing space arranged, while the remainder of the loading was completed. His intention, of course, was to be freed from his uncomfortable position within an hour, when the manure would be discharged at the quay adjoining the prison. To his horror, however, he discovered, when the cart reached the quay, that a gang of fellow-convicts were engaged unloading a boat under the charge of armed wardens or sentries. To attempt escape meant instant death, and there he lay for hours with the heavy weight of the upper portion of the cart’s load pressing upon him. Six o’clock came and with it the return of the men and sentries to prison. Through the long weary hours of the night the poor fellow lay, unable now to move from the consequences of his continued prostration in the manure; and when the morning arrived he was found but too willing a captive. He was immediately placed under my charge, but his recovery proved by no means a rapid affair.

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In the midst of all these exciting incidents of prison life, I received a telegram from O’Neill in New York, as follows: “Come at once, you are needed for work.” To comply was to surrender my pleasant and interesting position, and to lose for the moment all chance of pursuing my medical study. On the other hand, however, the opportunity of doing good service to my native land presented itself. I did not hesitate. Communicating immediately with the “Warden” or Governor, I resigned my position, much to his disgust. He sought an explanation. I could give none. He offered an increased salary. I was unable to explain why even this could not tempt me, and so I left in a way which was misunderstood, and under circumstances which, by the very reason for their existence, could not be appreciated.

Hurrying to New York, I soon presented myself in person to O’Neill at the headquarters of the Fenian Brotherhood, then situated in the mansion at 10 West Fourth Street. Here I found the President of the Brotherhood, surrounded by his staff of officials, transacting the duties of their various positions with all the pomp and ceremony usually associated with the representatives of the greatest nations on earth. I was not long left in suspense as to what was required of me. Commissioned at the very outset as Major and Military Organiser of the Irish Republican Army (at a salary of sixty dollars per month, with seven dollars per day expenses), I was instructed to proceed to the Eastern States in company with a civil organiser, in order to visit and reorganise the different military bodies attached to the rebel society. To my unhappy amazement, I learned that I was, while engaged on this work, to address public meetings in support of the cause, and my miserable feelings were accentuated by O’Neill’s desire that I should accompany him, the very evening of my arrival, to a large demonstration being held at Williamsburg, a suburb of Brooklyn. I was in a regular mess, for if called on to speak—as I feared—I should be found absolutely ignorant of Irish affairs. There was nothing for it, however, but to keep a brave face, for I had undertaken my work, and in its lexicon there was no such word as fail.

The evening came, and with it our trip to Williamsburg. On arrival there, in the company of O’Neill and some brother officers, I found several thousands of persons assembled. We were greeted with the greatest enthusiasm, and given the seats of honour to the right and left of the chairman. My position was a very unhappy one. I was in a state of excessive excitement, for I greatly feared what was coming. Seated as I was next to O’Neill, I could hear him tell the chairman on whom to call, and how to describe the speakers; and, as each pause took place between the speeches, I hung with nervous dread on O’Neill’s words, fearing my name would be the next. The meeting proceeded apace; some four or five of my companions had already spoken, and I was beginning to think that, after all, the evil hour was postponed, and that for this night at least I was safe. Not so, however. All but O’Neill and myself had spoken, when, to my painful surprise, I heard the General call upon the chairman to announce Major Le Caron. The moment was fraught with danger; my pulses throbbed with maddening sensation; my heart seemed to stop its beating; my brain was on fire, and failure stared me in the face. With an almost superhuman effort I collected myself, and as the chairman announced me as Major M‘Caron, tickled by the error into which he had fallen, and the vast cheat I was playing upon the whole of them, I rose equal to the occasion, to be received with the most enthusiastic of plaudits.

The hour was very late, and I took advantage of the circumstance. Proud and happy as I was at being with them that evening, and taking part in such a magnificent demonstration, they could not, I said, expect me to detain them long at so advanced an hour. All had been said that could be said upon the subject nearest and dearest to their hearts. (Applause.) If what I had experienced that night was indicative of the spirit of patriotism of the Irish in America—(tremendous cheering)—then indeed there could be no fears for the result. (Renewed plaudits.) And now I would sit down. They were all impatiently waiting, I knew, to hear the stirring words of the gallant hero of Ridgeway, General O’Neill—(thunders of applause)—and I would, in conclusion, simply beg of them as lovers of liberty and motherland—(excited cheering)—to place at the disposal of General O’Neill the means (cash) necessary to carry out the great work on which he was engaged. This work, I was confident, would result in the success of our holy cause, and the liberation of dear old Ireland from the thraldom of the tyrant’s rule, which had blighted and ruined her for seven hundred years.

These last words worked my hearers up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, and amidst their excited shouts and cheers I resumed my seat, with the comforting reflection that if it took so little as this to arouse the Irish people, I could play my rôle with but little difficulty. And as time passed on, and my experience widened, the justice of the reflection was fully assured. With a little practice and scarce any labour, save that necessitated by the use of a pair of scissors and some paste, I succeeded in hoodwinking the poor and deluded, together with the unprincipled, blatant, professional Irish patriots.

Before, however, starting on my travels as organiser, I had an experience which went far to justify all I had previously thought and heard as regards the part played by Andrew Johnson in connection with the first Canadian raid. I recall the incident as important, as showing to what extremes American political exigencies have carried men in catering for the Irish vote in America. About American politics generally I shall have something to say later on; but as this matter fits in chronologically here, I think it better to deal with it now. Johnson, it must be remembered, was not by any means a man above suspicion. In 1868, so great was the disaffection with his administration of the Presidency, that he was impeached, though unsuccessfully, by the Senate.

It was in this year—1868—that, at O’Neill’s request, I accompanied him to the White House to have an interview with Johnson. O’Neill and he had been personal friends from ’62, when Johnson had acted as Military Governor in Tennessee. The precise object of our visit was the securing of Johnson’s influence in the return of the arms to the Fenian Brotherhood, previously seized by the American Government. It will be remembered that I mentioned, some pages back, that every gun taken by the United States Government, after the first raid in 1866, was returned to the Fenian organisation by this government under a promise, only made to be broken, that they should not be used in any unlawful enterprise; and in consideration of certain worthless bonds.

Our reception at the White House was a cordial one, O’Neill’s distinctly so. During the conversation the President used some remarkable words. So strange did they sound in my ears, that they impressed themselves upon my memory, and are even now fresh in my recollection.

“General,” said Johnson, addressing O’Neill, “your people unfairly blame me a good deal for the part I took in stopping your first movement. Now I want you to understand that my sympathies are entirely with you, and anything which lies in my power I am willing to do to assist you. But you must remember that I gave you five full days before issuing any proclamation stopping you. What, in God’s name, more did you want? If you could not get there in five days, by God, you could never get there; and then, as President, I was compelled to enforce the Neutrality Laws, or be denounced on every side.”

Such was the language used, such the position assumed, and such the apology tendered to the Fenian leader of 1868 by the President of the United States Government. Can any comment of mine point the moral and adorn the tale of all this better than the incident itself can do when left in its naked and startling significance? I think not.

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It was during the autumn of 1868 that, in the course of my travels on behalf of the organisation, I first met Alexander Sullivan. Alexander Sullivan is a well-known man to-day, but if by any chance his identity has to be marked, little else need be mentioned beyond the words, “The Cronin affair.” He was a young man then, but then as now he was the same Alexander Sullivan, clever, unscrupulous, careful only of himself, subordinating everything to his personal ambition, using Irish politics as a stepping-stone to advancement in American affairs, and reckless who or what suffered if but he did succeed.

The “Arch Fiend” of Irish-American politics, as he has been dubbed, and the alleged chief conspirator in the brutal murder of Dr. Cronin, is no ordinary man; he is an individual with a history, and that not by any means a creditable one. The son of a British pensioner, born in Canada some forty-five years ago, he left that country under a cloud, and settled down in Detroit, where he started a boot-and-shoe store in the Bresler Block, Michigan Avenue. On the night of the 12th May 1868 a fire totally destroyed his shop and its contents. The occurrence had its suspicious features, and Sullivan was arrested on a charge of arson. Although the over-insurance of his goods and other questionable proceedings were proved at the trial, he gained his liberty through an alibi, sustained by the evidence of Margaret Buchanan, a teacher in the public school of Detroit, who afterwards became his wife. A man, as I have said, of stirring ambition, he had from the outset of his career in Detroit taken a prominent part in political affairs, and his status as an Irish leader (he was then a State “Centre” for Michigan) lent his position and views a certain importance. He took an active part in the then pending national campaign upon the side and in the interests of General Grant and Schyler Colfax, who in that year were nominated as the respective Republican candidates for President and Vice-President of the republic.

It was at this time that Sullivan commenced his political tricks in the manipulation of the Irish vote in American party interests, and it was in consequence of his action in this respect that I was first brought into contact with him. Previous to this date, the Irish vote had been almost exclusively Democratic; but, from the loud and frequent complaints which reached headquarters, Sullivan was found to be using his influence in the organisation for political purposes, and seeking to bring about a change of policy in the organisation itself, which threatened a serious schism amongst our members.

I was despatched by the President to Detroit in order to investigate the case, and if possible settle the difficulty. I found ample proof of Sullivan’s guilt of the charges alleged against him, and, after repeated interviews between us, he agreed that the best thing he could do would be to hand in his resignation as State “Centre” of the Brotherhood, which he accordingly did. My intercourse with him at this time left no doubt on my mind as to his great ability. His line of defence was an exceedingly clever one, and is well worth recording here, as showing how in these early days Sullivan had carefully mapped out his policy in regard to Irish affairs, and their connection with American matters. He contended that, in all he had done, he had had the best interests of Ireland at heart. He did not, he said, consider that the Irish people in America had ever occupied the position in the body politic to which they were fairly entitled. The Irish vote, argued he, had been hitherto solidly cast for the Democratic party. Only a division of that vote would cause them to be a potent power in politics. With that position and influence to which they were entitled assured to them, they could make terms with the American Government for the cause of Ireland.

The history of the past twenty years shows how cleverly Sullivan worked out these views of his, and gained acceptance for them at the hands of his fellow-patriots. The pity of it is, however, that in the result Ireland has gained not at all, while Irish patriots like Sullivan and Egan have filled their pockets and reaped their harvests in Chili and elsewhere.

Sullivan’s immediate reward was his appointment as United States Collector of Internal Revenue at Santa Fé, New Mexico. His resignation of his official position in the Brotherhood had come too late; his work bore fruit in the Presidential election, the vote was split, and so he earned his wage. It is worthy of note that this was the first time the Irish vote was split, and that Sullivan was the primary cause of it. Ever since the vote has so remained, to the advantage of the Irish leaders of both sides, who, in the scramble for office, barter the adhesion of their followers in the public market-place.

Santa Fé, however, did not hold Sullivan long. His shady methods compelled him to make an inglorious exit; and so he was to be found in the year 1873 working with his wife, née Buchanan, in a reporting capacity on Chicago newspapers.

Here for the present, however, I must leave Sullivan. I have dealt thus fully with the man at this early stage, because of the strange influence he from this time forth wielded over Irish politics in America; and in order to properly represent his character, I have somewhat anticipated events in his life which are far ahead of the time with which I am at present dealing. I have done so advisedly, for Sullivan will play a large part in the chapters to which I must now proceed. Where his personality will not thrust itself upon the scene, his shadow will darken every act and incident. From this time onward, for a period of twenty years, I used the man as my dupe. Feeding his vanity, assisting his ambition, helping him in the hundred and odd ways in which it was possible for me to do, I gained his friendship and his confidence to such an extent, that no man in the whole course of my career in the Secret Service proved a more valuable, albeit an unconscious, ally than he.

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Before continuing my narrative, I will stop to relate one of the few cases in which I was forced into a very narrow place, and faced with the near possibility of complete exposure. The incident is useful as illustrating the dangers by which I was surrounded, and the requirements of the position in which I was placed. At a council of war held in Troy House, Troy, New York, in the month of November 1868, I came in contact with John Roche, well known as one of the shining lights of Irish nationality in that city. Roche was one of those hypercritical and over-suspicious individuals who were constantly recognising British detectives in every stranger whom they met. He had been, I discovered, originally a resident of Montreal, and as I had been instructed by O’Neill to visit and study the enemy’s country, I indicated to Roche my desire of ascertaining the names of a few reliable brothers whom I could visit. The truth was that the Canadian Government were at this time particularly anxious to find out the extent of the organisation which they knew existed in several of their large cities, notably Montreal, Kingstown, and Toronto; and I thought this a good opportunity of getting some useful hints.

Roche furnished me with the names of several leading members. Unluckily for me, I foolishly wrote the particulars down in a note-book in his presence. The act, in his opinion, was a suspicious one. He watched me closely, and evidently conceived the idea that my patriotism was of a very incautious character, if not worse. On the eighth of the following month, at the Annual Convention held in the Masonic Hall, Philadelphia, to which he was a delegate, I found his suspicions solidified in the form of a set of charges against me, imputing carelessness, dangerous conduct, and suspicious acts. My friends, and they were legion, together with myself, indignantly denied the allegations, and virtuously demanded an inquiry, which was granted, and a committee was appointed to lay the charges. Roche was duly heard, injured innocence was largely en evidence on my part, and very quickly a unanimous verdict was reported back to the Convention, asserting that the charges were scandalous and without the slightest foundation, it being fully demonstrated by the following letter that I was authorised to visit and acquaint myself with the other side, as I represented to Roche:—

I did not, however, deem it prudent to let matters rest even here, feeling that my ultimate success in the interests of the Government depended upon absolute confidence on the part of the ruling powers. Accordingly I sat down and immediately wrote out my resignation as an officer of the Irish Republican Army, giving this want of confidence as my reason, and couching my letter in indignant terms. As I hoped and anticipated, my letter brought the following welcome response, which placed me on a surer footing than ever, and brought me into even more confidential relations with the head of the organisation than I had hitherto enjoyed:—

I got thus safely out of my awkward position, and learnt one good lesson. I never kept a pocket-book again.

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The Annual Convention to which I have made reference in connection with the Roche incident took place in Philadelphia, “the city of brotherly love,” in the month of December 1868. It was made the occasion of an immense demonstration, no less than 6000 armed and uniformed Fenian soldiers parading the streets. The convention itself was numerically a large one, and was attended by over 400 properly qualified delegates. The proceedings were of the usual kind. Brag and bluster were the order of the day. The determination to invade Canada once more was still upheld by the vote of the assembly, and the position of O’Neill and his colleagues was as fixed and satisfactory as ever—that of myself, of course, being included in this reference.

The report of the envoy to the sister organisation in Ireland—Daniel Sullivan, Secretary of Civil Affairs—was an interesting document, and contained full details of the Clerkenwell Explosion of the previous year. This was the attempt to blow up Clerkenwell Prison which Mr. Parnell subsequently described in reply to Mr. Gladstone—the old Mr. Gladstone, I mean, not the new one—as “a practical joke.” It was, however, as we in Philadelphia were to learn, anything but a practical joke. It was rather as cool and carefully planned a scheme as ever Fenianism indulged in to spite the British Government. If the attempt failed to accomplish all that was expected of it, it was yet very fruitful in drawing from Mr. Gladstone a confession about its effect being “to bring the Irish question within the range of practical politics,” which has ever since proved the most effective and popular argument advanced on behalf of dynamite in the United States.

About this time, John Boyle O’Reilly, a very well-known Irishman, late editor of the Boston Pilot, a poet and novelist, and author of a delightfully written novel, “Moondyne,” the material for which was obtained during his confinement in Australia as a Fenian prisoner, first arrived in New York, having succeeded in making his escape from the convict settlement at Freemantle. With his appearance came the idea of rescuing his fellow-prisoners. The proposal, first mooted in uncertainty, was eventually taken up with the greatest enthusiasm, and carried to a most successful conclusion. For the purpose a whaler was chartered by the organisation and fitted out at New Bedford, Massachusetts, with the ostensible object of whaling in the South Seas, but, in reality, for bringing the convicts off from Australia. The boat was partially manned by trusted men of the organisation, though, to keep up the deception, a certain number of well-known whalers’ men went to make up the crew. On arrival at Australia, some of the most trusted Fenians were landed with instructions to open up communication with the convicts, while the vessel cruised about on the high seas. It was not anticipated that the task set the men left on shore would be a difficult one, because the convicts were hired out as labourers during the day, and communication with them was not by any means a trying matter. As affairs turned out, it was quite easy. The men from the whaler, however, had not been landed more than a day or two, when they found that they were not the only persons arranging the convicts’ rescue. Two men—M‘Carthy and Gray—were already at work in this direction, having been sent out by the Supreme Council of the Fenian Brotherhood in Ireland, at the instigation, as he claimed to me subsequently, of Patrick Egan. M‘Carthy and Gray had, it appeared, already established communications with the convicts; and so, in order to expedite matters, the two sections of rescuers joined forces. On a given day, the plot was carried to a successful termination, and the rescued men were placed on board the whaler, which immediately set out for the States. Although an armed cruiser was immediately despatched to stop it, and some firing took place, the whaler succeeded in getting out of Australian waters and on the high seas in safety.

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The year 1869 saw O’Neill still at the helm of Fenian affairs, and large sums of money rolling in to the coffers of the organisation; although, as always the case with Irish movements, dissensions reigned within the ranks. The Stephens section, now presided over by John Savage, who had succeeded John O’Mahony, was constantly attacking the Senate wing, and many and bitter were the feuds which raged. In my position as Inspector-General of the Irish Republican Army, I was fully engaged in my old work of inspecting the companies, and directing the location of arms along the Canadian country for coming active operations. In this way I distributed fifteen thousand stands of arms and almost three million rounds of ammunition in the care of the many trusted men stationed between Ogdensburg and St. Albans. Some thousands of these guns were breech-loaders, which had been re-modelled from United States Government “Springfields” at the arms factory, leased, and “run” by the organisation at Trenton, New Jersey. The depôt from which the bulk were packed and shipped was “Quinn and Nolan’s” of Albany. Quinn was a United States Congressman and Senator of the Fenian Brotherhood; and Nolan, that very Mayor Nolan so prominently mentioned by Mr. Parnell in his evidence as one of the eminently conservative (!) gentlemen who received him in America. Constantly the recipient of compliments for the admirable way in which I discharged my duty, I was now promoted to the office of Assistant Adjutant-General, with the rank of Colonel; and my new position enabled me not only to become possessed of the originals of every document, plan of proposed campaign, &c., but also specimens of the Fenian army commissions and uniforms of the time, which of course I conveyed to the officials of the Canadian Government.

Successful as I was in evading detection through all this work, those assisting me in my Secret Service capacity were not always destined to share in my good luck. This was particularly the case on one occasion. I was at the time shipping arms at Malone, N.Y., and attended, on behalf of the Canadian Government, by one of the staff of men placed at my disposal for the purposes of immediate communication and the transit of any documents requiring secrecy and despatch, as well as for personal protection, should such prove necessary. This man, John C. Rose, was one of the most faithful and trusted servants of the Canadian administration, and for months he followed me along the whole border. Though stopping at the same hotels, and in constant communication with me, no suspicion was aroused, until his identity was disclosed by a visitor from the seat of Government at Ottawa to G. J. Mannix, the head-centre of that Gibraltar of Fenianism, Malone. Men were immediately set to watch him without my knowledge, and the fact of his being found always in my wake on my visits to and return from several towns led to the belief that he was spying upon my actions. A few nights after this belief had been formed, poor Rose, on his return from sending a despatch from the post-office, was waylaid, robbed, and brutally beaten, and subsequently brought back to the hotel in as sorry a plight as I ever saw. I was immediately advised by my Fenian friends as to the dangerous character of this mutual enemy of ours, as he was termed; and though shocked and embittered by the treatment accorded to the poor devoted fellow, I had, for politic reasons, to applaud their cowardly assault, and to denounce my brave friend, who was bearing all his sufferings in silence and with a splendid spirit. For months poor Rose was quite prostrated, and through this act of my brother Fenians, I was deprived of the services and co-operation of as faithful and capable an ally as ever was given me.

In the winter of 1869, the Fenian Senate announced the completion of the arrangements for the invasion; and in the month of December the Ninth Annual Convention was called in New York. In connection with this convention, I was called upon to perform a little act which served to more closely knit the bonds of friendship between O’Neill and myself, and, if possible, to obtain for me an even larger share of his confidence than I had hitherto enjoyed. O’Neill, as was customary in Irish revolutionary circles, had, in his capacity of leader, been making free with the funds of the organisation. In a word, he had been spending for personal purposes monies received from the circles or camps. Professor Brophy, the Treasurer, one of the few honest deluded Irish patriots of the time, refused to cook the accounts in order to cover the President’s delinquencies. The books had to be submitted to the Convention, and O’Neill was in a frightful difficulty. In his embarrassment he came to me, and, to my surprise, made a clean breast of the whole matter. The opportunity was too good a one to be lost. I advanced the money, and took his note of hand, thus saving his reputation before the Convention.

Need I say that money was never repaid me. Surely not! The only memento which I have of my dollars is O’Neill’s note of hand, which, as a curiosity, I have preserved to this date. It is certainly an interesting document, so I give it here.

A council of war followed, and all was now activity. In view of active operations in Canada, all monies were called in, and orders were issued from head-quarters to have in readiness all the military organisations. The final order was issued in April as follows:—

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Careless of consequences, I waited to see what would happen. As I stood on the brow of the hill where our company was situated, the scene was indeed worthy of my study. Ludicrous as were many of the elements which went to make it up, the charm of nature was superior to them all, and commanded my tribute of respect and admiration. Right below me was a pretty valley, down the very centre of which flowed a little creek marking the boundary of Canadian territory, and dividing by its narrow course the Canadian from American soil. A soft pleasant sward sloped gracefully down from where I stood to its bank, while on the other side there rose in graceful outlines the monarchs of a Canadian forest, overtopped by a rocky cliff standing out in bold and picturesque relief. The soft sweet breezes of the spring morning played upon our faces, while the brilliant sunlight sent its rays flashing upon our bayonets, and dancing on the waters underneath.

Nature was in her very best and sweetest mood, and yet little room for appreciation of her charms existed in the breasts of those who, sweeping down the valley’s side beneath me, were seeking, in their own foolish way, to make “Ireland a nation once again.” They were a funny crowd. All were armed, but few were uniformed. Here and there a Fenian coat, with its green and grey faced with gold, caught the eye, but only to stand out in contrast with the surrounding garments of more sombre hue and everyday appearance. The men marched with a certain amount of military precision, for all had received some degree of military training. At last they reached the little wooden bridge by which the water was crossed, and deploying as skirmishers in close order, they advanced with fixed bayonets, cheering wildly. Not a soul appeared in front. The dark Canadian trees hid from their view the ambushed Canadian volunteers; and, fixed in their belief that nothing was known of their coming, they advanced in a spirit of effervescent enthusiasm. But not very far, however.

A few paces, and on their startled ears came the ringing ping, ping, of the ambushed rifles, as the Canadians poured a deadly volley straight into their ranks. Utterly taken aback, they stopped, broke rank, and fled as in 1866, an ungovernable mob, to return for a moment in order to pour a volley on their almost invisible enemy, and to finally retreat up the hill to where I stood, still under the fire of their adversaries, leaving their dead to be subsequently buried by the Canadians.

On the slope of the hill was a large structure known as Richard’s Farm, to which the invaders retreated and continued their firing, ineffective as it was.

Seeing that all was over here, for a time at least, I hurried off to the point where the St. Albans contingent had by now arrived, and were arming. The process took some time, and while engaged in superintending it, I was afforded practical evidence of the termination of O’Neill’s part in the fight. Standing in the middle of the public road where the men were forming into line—it was now half-past one, the “battle” which I have just described having taken place about 11.30—I was startled by the cry, “Clear the road, clear the road!” and almost knocked down by a furiously driven team of horses, to which was attached a covered carriage. As the conveyance flashed by me, I caught through the carriage window a hurried glimpse of the dejected face of O’Neill, who was seated between two men. I understood the situation in a moment, but said nothing. To have given the command to shoot the horses as they turned an adjacent corner would have been the work of an instant, but it was no part of my purpose to restore O’Neill to his command. I learned subsequently that O’Neill was in the custody of the United States marshal, General Foster, who, acting with that precision so peculiar to General Grant’s administration, when contrasted with that of Andrew Johnson’s, had, in consequence of the information furnished, arrived on the scene of the battle immediately after I left, and arrested O’Neill for a breach of the Neutrality Laws. O’Neill, who was in the company of his comrades, had at first refused submission, and threatened force, but on General Foster placing a revolver at his head, he gave in.

When the news of O’Neill’s arrest reached us later on in the afternoon, a council of war was held, presided over by John Boyle O’Reilly, of whom I have already spoken, the council being held in a meadow, where we all stood in a circle. Contingents were hourly arriving, and a strong attempt was made to get Boyle O’Reilly to take command, and lead the attack at some other point, but in the end nothing was done.

Next morning, General Spear, the Secretary of War of the Fenian Brotherhood, arrived at St. Albans, and sought to do something practical in the way of continuing the invasion. Through his aide-de-camp, Colonel Brown, and subsequently in person, he appealed to me to supply him with 400 or 500 stands of arms and ammunition within twenty-four hours. Of course, it would never have done for me to have allowed further operations, and so I pleaded it was impossible under the condition of affairs then developed. Thousands of Canadian troops had arrived on the border, and the arms being located in places difficult to get at, they were out of reach for the moment. Luckily for me, the appearance of United States troops in the vicinity put any further attempt at war operations out of the question, for in order to avoid arrest for breach of the Neutrality Laws, the Fenians had to disappear with alacrity. I left this point with the rest of them, and hurrying to Malone, another of the places where rendezvous had been arranged, I found a similar state of things prevailing here, although the arrest of O’Neill, and the unexpected appearance of the United States troops, filled the invaders with dismay, and utter demoralisation was the result.

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On Friday, April 27th, under the excuse that I was going to Burlington to see about O’Neill, I went round by way of Rouses Point to Montreal. I was elated with my success, and wanted to report myself at head-quarters without delay. It would not, however, have been safe for me to have gone direct to Ottawa, and so I travelled in a roundabout way. On the Friday night I stopped with Judge Coursel, the Commissioner of the Quebec police, and the following morning took train to Ottawa. Before my journey concluded, I found I had been altogether too premature in my self-congratulations. In fact, that journey brought me even closer to discovery than I had ever been before.

Nothing unusual happened till we got to Cornwall, where there was the usual half-hour’s delay for dinner. Taking full advantage of it, I was enjoying a hearty meal, when both my meal and peace of mind were disturbed by an unlooked-for incident. Struck by an unusual commotion at the door of the dining-room, I looked round to find advancing towards me two men, one remarkable for his tall military appearance, and the other for his clerical attire. All eyes were turned upon them, and as I ceased eating for the moment to look up, I heard the clerical-looking person say, as he pointed his finger towards me, “That is the man.” Advancing, the tall man, who subsequently turned out to be the mayor of Cornwall, speaking with a Scotch accent, said, “You are my prisoner,” accompanying the words with a grasp of my shoulder. I imagined there was some mistake, and laughed as I turned to resume my dinner, asking at the same time what was the matter. Not a movement, however, disturbed the solidity of my Scotch friend’s face as he solemnly repeated the words, “You are my prisoner,” adding, “you must come with me at once.”

As I learned subsequently, the priestly looking person was a wandering preacher, who had happened to be in the vicinity of Malone when I was locating arms there, and I had been pointed out to him then as the leading Fenian agent. His memory was a very good one, and he immediately recognised me when we met again.

Matters were beginning to look serious; but still I could not comprehend what all this meant, and being still hungry I said, “But won’t you let me finish my dinner?” “No,” was the sharp reply; “come.” “For what reason?” quoth I, indignantly. “Why am I arrested?” “You are a Fenian,” came the reply, the words falling clearly and distinctly on the hushed room, where those present began to show signs of anger and indignation towards me. I hurried out with my captors, and was taken to a room adjoining the ticket-office, there to have demanded of me my luggage and my keys, with everything on my person. I had no luggage save a hand-bag, yet I had with me documents which would reveal everything, if made public. My position was dangerous—distinctly dangerous. The prospect before me was that of disclosure and imprisonment amongst a strange people, where I had no friend. Prompt action was called for, and so I asked the mayor for a few minutes’ private conversation. Suspicious, and yet curious, he brought me into the ticket-office, where we were left alone. Here I told him the exact situation. It was true, I said, that I was a Fenian, but also a Government agent. I was even then on my way to Ottawa to see Judge M‘Micken. To delay or expose me would mean serious difficulty for the Government. Let him send me on to Ottawa under guard, if he liked, and then he would prove my statements true. Did he want immediate proof, then here were my papers, and there a telegram to Judge M‘Micken, advising him of my coming, which he himself would despatch.

My manner must have impressed him, for he decided to adopt my suggestion, and send me on by the same train in which I had been travelling (which had not yet gone, all this occupying but a few minutes), under the escort of a lieutenant who, with his Canadian regiment, was then returning from the scene of the invasion. The details of my arrest as a Fenian quickly spread amongst my fellow-passengers, and travelled before me on the route, and the reception I met with along my journey was most disagreeable. For safety’s sake, the lieutenant transferred me to the care of a sergeant and couple of soldiers, and the carriage in which we travelled was the sole point of attraction in the train. Crowding round this carriage, the infuriated Canadians would hiss and hoot me, while their cries of “Hang him,” “Lynch him,” gave me a very uncomfortable idea of what would happen to me if left alone amongst them. So careful were my guardians of me, that they would not even allow me to have the window raised, so that I might smoke, fearing that in some way I might take advantage of the open window to escape. This was really a serious grievance with me, for they could not possibly have inflicted a greater deprivation than that in the matter of smoking. All through my life, even down to the present time, I have been a great smoker, sometimes consuming as many as sixteen cigars in the day, a statement which will probably puzzle some people who hold that tobacco ruins the nerves.

On reaching Prescott Junction, I found that the news of my capture—of course my name and rank never transpired—had created such a sensation that a special correspondent of the Toronto Globe had travelled to meet me, in order to find out who and what I was, and everything about me. He was doomed to be disappointed, however, for I could not be got to speak. When, eventually, we arrived at Ottawa, I found my telegram to Judge M‘Micken had brought his representative to the station, and by him, myself and my guards were immediately conveyed to the police-office, where the Commissioner was awaiting us. Pretty certain of my safety now, I was quite prepared to smile, and really did laugh when brought into the presence of my friend the judge. Not so he, however. With proverbial soberness and solemnity he heard the details of my capture, received possession of my person, and gave a formal receipt for my custody. Armed with this, my guardians left, and then the old man’s genial kindly nature asserted itself. By his instructions I remained in his office till nightfall, when, in a cab under cover of the darkness, I accompanied him to the club to take up my quarters there for the night.

In the club the Fenian prisoner of a few hours previously was made a most welcome guest, and had an exceedingly good time. My identity being known to some of the officers who crowded the club-house after their return from Franklin, I found myself quite the hero of the hour, and had most interesting chats over the experiences of the raid on both sides of the fight. Amongst the pleasant people whose acquaintance I then made was Dr. Grant, the physician to Prince Arthur, who was in Ottawa at that time.

With the following day came arrangements for my departure for home, and it was decided that, in order to avoid travelling over the same line again, I should be driven during the night to Ann Prior terminus—a distance of some forty miles from Ottawa—from which place I could take a branch line to my destination. Fortunate though I thought myself, my troubles were not at an end. This trip of mine to Ottawa was a chapter of misfortunes. As I was on the point of starting, I discovered that I had not sufficient money to bring me home. Accordingly, Judge M‘Micken had to supply me with the needful funds. This, however, did not prove by any means an easy thing to do. A cheque was duly drawn, but of course I could not cash it, and the judge had to have recourse to a friend. The amount was a large one—three hundred and fifty dollars—and it was beyond the resources of the club at the moment. The services of the club porter therefore had to be utilised for the purpose of obtaining the money. Here, unknown to us, seed was being sown which was to bear evil fruit. The porter knew, of course, that I was the Fenian prisoner, although nothing more; and, gossip that he was, he let out the secret a little later. It became public property; and the Canadian press published the fact that an important Fenian had been in Ottawa immediately after the raid, and received a very large sum of money from the Government official with whom he was in communication, adding that the Fenians must have been nicely duped all through. This was bringing danger very, very near to me again; yet, marvellous to relate, suspicion never rested upon me in connection with the paragraph. I drove from Ottawa in the night, got safely home, and was never troubled further by my eventful visit. But, for a long time, I treasured very unchristian-like feelings towards that porter.

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The arguments were well put, and what was more, they were well timed. They proved successful. Everything appeared in favour of the new move; and the re-establishment of the Fenian organisation in Great Britain on a more compact secret basis, under the title of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, was one of the many satisfactory features of the moment. Matters, however, moved slowly; and, although actually established in 1869, it was not until the year 1873 that the movement became in any way general. Then it was that, merging almost all other societies in itself, the Clan, now known as the V.C. or United Brotherhood, established subordinate bodies or “Camps,” as they were called, almost simultaneously in all the leading centres of the United States. Secrecy was the text preached in every direction. Every member was bound by the most solemn of oaths to keep secret all knowledge of the order and its proceedings which might come to him, under penalty of death. A Masonic form of ritual was adopted; grips, passwords, signs, and terrorising penalties were decided upon; and all the pomp and circumstance of mystery, so dear to the Irish heart and so effective in such a conspiracy, were called to the aid of those who now inculcated this new doctrine.

Undoubtedly, there was no secret made amongst its members as to the treasonable character of the organisation. The official printed Constitution set forth the truth of the matter in no uncertain way. “The object,” it stated, “is to aid the Irish people in the attainment of the complete and absolute independence of Ireland, by the overthrow of English domination: a total separation from that country, and the complete severance of all political connection with it; the establishment of an independent republic on Irish soil, chosen by the free votes of the whole Irish people, without distinction of creed or class, and the restoration to all Irishmen of every creed and class of their natural privileges of citizenship and equal rights. It shall prepare unceasingly for an armed insurrection in Ireland.”

The Ritual and forms of initiation were framed entirely upon Masonic precedent; and, to the vast majority of the members of the Clan, the statement will come no doubt as a great surprise that the much vaunted secret forms of the Masonic order need be secret to them no longer, inasmuch as that, when being admitted to a Clan-na-Gael club, they were going through the same forms and ceremonies as attached themselves to that great source of mystery and wonderment in the eyes of the non-elect, the Masonic Brotherhood. I have often laughed to myself at the surprise shown by some Masons on the occasion of their initiation to Clan-na-Gael clubs—for there are Masons in the Clan—at being brought once more into contact with the familiar procedure. One great feature of similarity exists between the two ceremonies. In both the candidate is impressed with a deep sense of awe and respect, to learn subsequently that nothing very mysterious or wonderful is to come within his knowledge. Though the effect is the same, however, the causes are very different. In one case, that of the Mason, nothing very strange happens or is committed to his secrecy, for the simple reason that the practice of brotherly love and charity requires no unusual strain either on his powers of wonder or reserve; while in the other the poor confiding Irishman is simply intended to play the part of a dupe, to move and subscribe to order, but to be trusted in no single regard, until by jobbery or manipulation he works his way to the higher ranks of the organisation.

The candidates for membership were balloted for in the usual club manner, three black balls excluding. The successful ones having answered different queries regarding their age, belief in God, &c. &c., were, after being blindfolded and shut out from view of their future associates, brought forward and addressed by the Vice-President of the meeting as follows:—

The answer being satisfactory, the candidates were next placed opposite the President, and addressed by him as follows:—

At the conclusion of the address, the questions having been put, and correctly replied to, the candidate took the oath as follows:—

And then, in conclusion, the President made the following remarks:—

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Up to the year 1881, when the administration of the conspiracy underwent a change, with which I will deal at its proper time, the Clan-na-Gael was governed by an executive body (known in the cypher as F.C.), presided over by a Chairman elected by the body at the annual conventions, and a Revolutionary Directory known without any regard to the cypher by its initial letters R.D. This Revolutionary Directory was composed of seven men, three of whom were nominated by the Executive, three by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (known as the J.S.C.) in Ireland, and a seventh selected by the six when appointed. The Revolutionary Directory was, as its name implies, a body dealing directly with revolutionary matters, and it was chiefly characterised by the autocratic power possessed by its members, about whose action no detailed information was supplied, and against whose proceedings there was, in consequence, no basis for appeal. The names of all these officers were known only to the delegates who elected them, and to the Presiding Officer of each camp, known as Senior Guardian.

To the Executive (or F.C.) was intrusted, amongst other things, the arrangements regarding the places and dates for holding the biennial and annual conventions of the order; and their decision in this respect was carefully guarded, and only at the very last moment communicated to the high officials, in order to prevent any spies or agents of the British Government from becoming acquainted with their proceedings. The head of each subordinate body was informed a week in advance of the date and place of the convention; and he was instructed to arrange for the immediate election of a delegate from his camp. So close was the secret kept, that the delegate, if other than the presiding officer, did not know till the very hour of his starting where he was bound for. Like convicts, the members were known by numbers, never by names. Camps (known as D.’s) were also numbered; and, in order the better to cover their doings from the outside world, each camp had a public name by which it was known. For instance, my own camp was known as the “Emmet Literary Association.”

During the early years of its existence I was not a member of the Clan-na-Gael. Although, as I have stated, I was one of the “Knights of the Inner Circle,” I did not take any prominent part in the early days, when the V.C. succeeded, or rather absorbed it. There were reasons for my not doing so. My prominence and action in the ill-fated Canadian raid had not been altogether forgotten, and I was still held responsible, in certain minds, for the premature undertaking of it. Another reason affecting my action was the difficulty introduced by a clause in the new constitution in regard to the question of nationality. This clause read as follows:—

In view of the whole situation, I determined that I should live down any ill-feeling which might exist regarding my previous exploits, and that I should take advantage of the interval thus brought about by arranging some plan for my election later, on the ground of my partial Irish descent. I had, of course, hitherto passed myself off as a Frenchman, strongly sympathising with Irish affairs, though never laying any claim to connection with the country. Now I had to change my tactics a little, and so I gradually got it put about that my mother—poor lady, she is living to-day, and will probably never know till she reads this of the liberty I took with her birthright—was of Irish descent. Of course, as the people out there had never seen or heard of my mother, and it was quite a common thing for French and Irish to intermarry, the deception was not likely to be discovered, as indeed it never was.

There was still yet another reason for my being cautious. The most insane and implacable enemy of O’Neill’s—and through my friendship for O’Neill, of myself—Major William M‘Williams, of old Fenian fame, was now high in the councils of the new organisation. In the O’Neill régime, presumably jealous of my position, he had denounced me as an adventurer, and the ill-feeling he had for me had culminated during the sittings of a Fenian congress in an open attack, reported in the New York papers as follows:—

The altercation, I may add, on this occasion involved the use of revolvers, and created too pronounced a feeling between us to allow of my ever after expecting anything but the bitterest opposition from M‘Williams. To my relief, however, M‘Williams eventually got into a personal altercation with a fiercer antagonist than myself, by whom he was shot in Columbia, S.C., being killed on the spot. His exit cleared the way of the only difficulty which existed at the time of his death, and so I considered it prudent to accept the invitation, often extended to me, to join the Clan-na-Gael. I joined, and an appointment upon the Military Board of the organisation quickly followed. It must not, however, be thought that I had been “out of things” meantime. Not at all. Possessed, as I was, of more than one confiding friend, I secured information about everything that took place.

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Slowly but surely the Clan-na-Gael was gaining ground, despite all the forces arrayed against it. Triumphing over Church opposition, conscientious scruple on the score of joining secret societies, and the single opposing Revolutionary faction still faithful to the memory of Stephens, it had, in 1876, a membership exceeding 11,000, which included amongst its leading names those of Alexander Sullivan, John Devoy, O’Donovan Rossa, Thomas Clarke Luby, Thomas F. Burke, Dr. Carroll, James Reynolds, Frank Agnew, Colonel Clingen, Wm. J. Hynes, P. W. Dunne, Michael Boland, Denis Feeley, J. J. Breslin, Michael Kirwen, and General Millen.

These were the men who in the after years were to be in the front rank of the Clan-na-Gael, and by their position and influence to model and direct the policy of the organisation. Of them and their position at this time I shall now have some little to say.

With Sullivan I have already dealt, and here I need only state that, having established himself in Chicago, he had taken to the study of law, in which branch of the profession he was now—in 1876—preparing to practise. He had been maintaining his questionable reputation, for he had shot a man in cold blood; and though twice tried, had been successful in escaping the consequences of his act, owing to the employing of that process so frequently charged against the Government in Ireland—packing the jury. Of Devoy and O’Donovan Rossa I have also spoken before. The former, drifting to New York, had since we parted with him been engaged on some two or three American papers, and he was now, if I remember aright, engaged on the New York Herald staff. Rossa, very much to the front for the moment, in consequence of his “skirmishing” theory, had meantime been living on the proceeds of the fund raised for himself and his fellow-exiles on their arrival in 1871, and a special subscription for himself, which Ford inaugurated in the Irish World. Luby had been a well-known patriot since 1865, when, in company with John O’Leary and Charles J. Kickham, he had been sentenced to a long term of penal servitude for the part he played in Ireland as one of the editors of the Irish People. General Thomas Fras. Burke had served with the Confederate Army, and had been amongst those who, in 1867, left America to lead in that most disheartening of fiascos, the Irish rising of 1865, as the result of his part in which he was sentenced to death, but subsequently amnestied.

Dr. William Carroll, one of the principal physicians in Philadelphia, whose name will appear prominently in the future, and who stood one of the sponsors for Mr. Parnell on the occasion of his arrival in America, was best known as the admirer, friend, and associate of John Mitchell, and was himself nothing if not a Revolutionist. James Reynolds of New Haven, Conn., whom I first met in connection with the secret organisation, was by profession a gas- and brass-fitter, and an avowed advocate of “extreme” measures. He was in fact a member of the Revolutionary Directory of this period. Frank Agnew had a Fenian record extending as far back as the Senate period of the Fenian Brotherhood. Strangely enough, I first came in contact with him when, on an inspecting tour, I had occasion to inspect a Fenian Company of which he was captain in Chicago. He was one of those who arrived too late to be of use in connection with the Fenian raid of ’70. He was now a contractor of some importance in Chicago, and a great friend and ally of Sullivan’s. Of Colonel Clingen I need not say much, save that he had been an old Fenian ally of mine in days gone by, and had sat with myself on the Military Board during O’Neill’s régime.

Of the others I have mentioned, Hynes and Dunne perhaps deserve the most prominent place, by reason of the part they have recently played in the Cronin affair. Both these men, it will be remembered, came out as very strong opponents of Alexander Sullivan, whom they roundly accused of causing Dr. Cronin’s death. Hynes I knew as far back as 1865, when, as a clerk to John O’Neill, he took a very active part in the work of the Fenian Brotherhood. Owing to a row between O’Neill and himself, he severed his connection with active Fenianism, and obtained a clerkship in one of the departments at Washington, finding his way, after a little time, to Arkansas. Although returned as a carpet-bag Congressman for the State, he failed to prosper, and at last he found himself without a dollar in Chicago. Here the first man to help him was Alexander Sullivan, against whom he is now arrayed. Through Sullivan’s political influence, Hynes was engaged as professional juryman at a fee of two dollars a day, from which position he worked himself forward to that of a prominent politician and a well-known member of the bar at which he practises.

P. W. Dunne proved to be a duplicate of O’Donovan Rossa, in appearance and in many other ways, with this one strong exception, that, whereas Rossa never sacrificed any of his means for the good of his countrymen, but rather lived upon them in fact, Dunne sacrificed an almost princely fortune. In early years he had been a prominent distiller (a very lucrative business) in Peoria, Illinois; and he was one of the leading seceders from the Stephens wing of the Fenian Brotherhood, after the failure of 1865, in which he himself participated, in company with P. J. Meehan, editor of the Irish American. He was now situated in Chicago, occupying the position of Superintendent of Streets, and had preceded Sullivan and Clingen upon the Executive of the Clan-na-Gael.

As for the remainder, Boland, once a lieutenant in the United States Army, was now a practising lawyer in Kentucky, having meantime taken part in the ’66 raid on Canada. He was also one of the most prominent of Clan-na-Gael officials, and an advocate of extreme measures. Feeley, also an attorney-at-law, had been a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary in his early days, and was now, as of yore, one of the most prominent and bloodthirsty of rebels in the States. Kirwen had been Brigadier-General and Fenian Secretary of War during the Canadian raid of 1870, and had preserved his Revolutionary record unbroken; while Breslin, chiefly remarkable for the part he had played in helping James Stephens to escape from Richmond prison (Ireland) in 1866, now, as ever since then, a prominent and avowed Revolutionist, was occupying his public life in some municipal office of an important character, while, in secret, playing his part on the Revolutionary Directory of the Clan-na-Gael.

One name I have left to the last, and that is General Millen’s. The discredited hero of the Jubilee Explosion Scheme of 1887 was at this time engaged on the editorial staff of the New York Herald. Unlike almost every one whom I have named, his military title was neither of Fenian nor of American extraction. He had, according to his own account, gained both his military knowledge and his rank when, out in Mexico on the part of the New York Herald, he had thrown in his lot with Juarez prior to the overthrow of the government of Maximilian and the establishment of the First Republic, of which Juarez was President. Be the claims to military knowledge which he advanced good or bad, they were accepted with a certain amount of good faith by the Clan leaders; and his usefulness in this regard being appreciated, he held a position of some importance at this time, being in fact Chairman of the Military Board.

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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:—

In the same issue of the Irish World, Patrick Ford, in the course of a commendatory article, said—

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.

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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.

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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:—

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:—

---

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.

---

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.

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.

---

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.

“The two brave men,” said he, “brave men and true, who were instrumental in releasing me were J. J. Breslin and Daniel Byrne. Breslin was a man of great expediency, or he never could have procured the impression of the key which opened my cell, and which was hung on a nail in the Governor’s safe. He had to distract the Governor’s attention; steal the key, putting another in its place; get the impression, and then return the key to its proper place again. The most singular circumstance connected with my escape was that while Kickham, who was deaf, occupied the cell on my right, M‘Leod, a thief, was in the cell on my left. A gong was placed in his cell communicating with the Governor’s office, in order to allow of his giving the alarm if necessary; and he could not have helped hearing me get out, when Breslin and Byrne, at one o’clock in the morning, stood beside my cell. He did hear me; but that thief, base as he was, was not base enough to sell me to the British Government. But then my trouble began. We had only a few minutes to do our work in. It was pitch dark, and the storm howled furiously. The ladder provided for my scaling the wall proved too short. Breslin, who was chief hospital warden, and Byrne, who was night-watchman and ‘lock up,’ were armed with two revolvers each. They had also provided for me. Our intention was to fight, if discovered, until killed.

“The short ladder nearly proved fatal. I could not reach the top of the wall, which was twenty feet high, so Byrne got a table out of the dining-room and placed the ladder upon it. Even then it was too short. I had to come down again. Breslin was fairly wild. Another table was procured, and again I tried. After a dreadful struggle, I succeeded in getting outside of the wall. It was no joke to jump twenty feet into the darkness. I had to do it, however, or be caught. Breslin gave me directions where to go if I did not break my neck in falling; and he and Byrne returned to their duty. I let go my hold, and down I went, fortunately falling on soft ground.

“My directions were to follow a gravel walk (for I was in a garden) until I came to another wall twenty feet high, where I was to throw a stone over as a signal to eleven men, all armed, who were waiting outside to receive me.

“I had some difficulty in finding the walk, and could get no stone of any size in the dark. At last I reached the garden wall, and threw over a handful of gravel. A rope with a weight attached was thrown over the wall. I climbed up by its aid, and soon found myself in the arms of my body-guard. We embraced with joy, and I soon made them disperse. I went to a house in sight of the jail, and remained there fourteen days. I afterwards went to a fashionable boarding-house in the finest part of Dublin and stayed two months. I left Dublin in the brigantine Concord, in company with Flood and Kelly, on the 12th of March, and landed in Ardrossan on the afternoon of the 15th.”

Poor Stephens now lives in his humble garret in Paris, an exile broken in fortune, health, and hope, smoking his short black pipe and brooding over these days that are no more.

---

Making my way down to the House on the occasion of my next appearance in London, I obtained admission to the Lobby—admission was then an easier matter than now—and encountered Mr. J. J. O’Kelly in my search for Mr. Parnell. The late envoy of the Clan-na-Gael, who, unfaithful to his trust, had got into Parliament with skirmishing money instead of attending to the shipping of arms for “active” work, had a long chat with me over the situation, before the Irish leader put in an appearance. While we talked in this way, O’Kelly complained bitterly of the opposition which the open or constitutional movement known as the Land League was still receiving from the Irish Republican Brotherhood or secret organisation in Ireland, and he stoutly advocated coercion on the part of the directors of the American branch of the conspiracy in order to bring the Irish malcontents into line.

His remarks, however, were cut short by the appearance of Mr. Parnell, who, leading the way, conducted us to a corridor outside the Library of the House, where an interview of over an hour took place, O’Kelly remaining for a little until the conversation was well under way. O’Kelly, while he remained, did almost all the talking. His remarks were a repetition of what he had already said to me in private. When he left, Mr. Parnell adopted the same line of complaint, speaking in low tones, as we walked up and down the corridor, to prevent any one being continually within ear-shot. I was told detectives were watching us, and that spies held a place in every corner. As I afterwards learnt, the statement was not without foundation, for every movement of myself and my companion was noted, with details as regards time, and duly reported to Government officials within twenty-four hours.

The whole matter, said Mr. Parnell, following up O’Kelly’s remarks, rested in our hands in America. We had the money, he said, and if we stopped the supplies the home organisation would act as desired. He expressed his belief that Devoy could do more than any one else to bring about a clear understanding and alliance; and he commissioned me to use my influence with Devoy, and to arrange for his presence in Paris at as early a date as possible. So anxious was he to bring Devoy over that he undertook to pay all his expenses. Still speaking in this connection, he asked me to at once proceed from New York, after seeing Devoy, to other prominent members of the organisation, mentioning particularly the names of Alexander Sullivan and William J. Hynes, the presence of either of whom, upon this side of the water, he desired for the purpose of bringing about a thorough understanding and complete harmony of working. Special reference was also made to Dr. William Carroll of Philadelphia, and his attitude towards the open movement. Dr. Carroll, I may here explain, had been elected Chairman of the Executive Body at the Wilkesbarre Convention of 1879, but had resigned in 1880 in consequence of his opposition to the way in which the New Departure was being worked, and the treatment he received. This was the same Dr. Carroll who had spent the previous year in Europe, having been specially charged with the carriage of negotiations between the V.C. and the Russian Government.

After arranging these matters with me, Mr. Parnell entered into details regarding the position of the Irish Question at this time. His remarks on this point were a veritable bombshell to me. He started off by stating that he had long since ceased to believe that anything but the force of arms would accomplish the final redemption of Ireland. He saw no reason why, when we were fully prepared, an open insurrectionary movement could not be brought about. He went carefully into the question of resources and necessaries. He stated what the League could furnish in the way of men and money, and informed me as to the assistance which he looked for from the American organisation. He spoke of having in the League Treasury at the end of that year an available sum of £100,000. He discussed with me the details of the position occupied by the home and American Revolutionary organisations, and defended the American policy for the time being. I parted with him with the assurance that I would do all he wished.

The interview had certainly proved a startling one for me; and as I proceeded to my seat under the gallery of the House, I pondered over the manner and method of my late companion, to discover, if I could, any incident in the course of our hour’s talk which would materially affect all that he had said. But there was none. The manner of the League chief had been grave and impassive, as was his wont; he had been business-like all through; there was no uncertainty, no indistinctness in his utterance. He had certainly made a plunge, but it was a plunge taken with all deliberation and premeditation. I went over all the points in my own mind again, carefully impressed them on my memory, and took my seat in the house beside General Roberts, with whom I had an interesting talk in an undertone, and to whom I pointed out some of the celebrities on both sides. If I remember aright, it was the occasion of a vote of thanks to General Roberts for his march on Candahar; and when the vote had been recorded, a large number of members crowded round to speak to him, whereupon I left.

Reaching the street, I called a hansom at once, and late hour though it was, I drove direct to Mr. Anderson’s private house in order to acquaint him with what had happened, while the facts were fresh in my memory. Carefully I went into every detail, and as carefully Mr. Anderson followed, taking a note as I went along of the principal points. The early dawn had crept upon us ere my report was finished, and concluding at last, I took my departure, to lose no time in getting that sleep for which I commenced to pine, and which I considered I had very fairly earned.

---

I reached New York somewhere in the month of June 1881. Devoy was not there when I arrived, and so I had to telegraph to him at New Haven, Conn., in order to arrange an interview. My telegram was followed by a written report of all that had happened; and as Devoy was detained at New Haven, a lengthy correspondence took place between us. Though at first reluctant to go to Europe, he eventually undertook to do so. His consent, however, was conditional on his colleagues agreeing to the undertaking, and with them he promised to confer immediately on his return. Later on he telegraphed me to lay his correspondence before Sullivan and Hynes, when I discussed the matter with them. The following is one of the letters I had from Devoy in connection with this matter. It is, unfortunately, the only one I retained in my possession, the others having been forwarded with my despatches at this period, as they were of a far more important character.

Before proceeding to Sullivan and Hynes, I took a trip to Philadelphia, in order to see Dr. Carroll and convey Mr. Parnell’s views to him. With him I found very little sympathy for the proposal. He was as antagonistic to the open movement as possible. As for Davitt, he had lost all faith in him. “When Davitt ceases to be a Revolutionist,” he remarked, “I have no further use for him.” As for any practical alliance between the two forces, his idea was that no two or three people should take upon themselves to decide, but that the whole question should be brought up before the coming Convention. Altogether, Dr. Carroll appeared anything but an enthusiast on Mr. Parnell’s behalf, although in the end he went the length of saying that he was glad to find by Mr. Parnell’s attitude that there was a returning sense of reason on his part. From Philadelphia I journeyed to Chicago, where I saw Alexander Sullivan and William J. Hynes. I dealt with them separately at first, but in the end a conference took place between the three of us. The news I brought them appeared to be a source of gratification. They apparently fully realised the importance of the situation, and determined in the end that one of them at least should go.

I had now completed my part of the work, and so, content with my labours, I returned home, wrote a full account of my proceedings to Mr. Anderson, and turned my attention to my business. I communicated fully with Egan in two lengthy letters, but I did not write Mr. Parnell, for Egan had purposely asked that I should not communicate direct with his chief. As far as any further public action on my part was concerned, I dropped out of the affair at this point. I knew that I should learn everything in time, and I was quite content to wait.

As I had anticipated, I did hear the result, and on no less an authority than that of Sullivan himself. He informed me some time later that the sanction of the executive body of the Clan-na-Gael or V.C. had been given to the bringing about of an “understanding.” Sullivan, however, did not anticipate that it would be all plain sailing. Even then he expected trouble from the members of the home organisation, but he pointed out that their opinion was not that of the organisation in its collective capacity. On one point he was very strong, and that was the getting rid of poor old O’Leary. The old man’s independence of mind and speech was not by any means relished, and so it was determined that he should go. There could be no radical change brought about, Sullivan confessed, while O’Leary was there, and, I might depend upon it, a change of the representative was certain to come very soon. As he talked, Sullivan grew quite enthusiastic over the new move, and he showed me by his manner that he had given the subject a great deal of thought.

“I feel morally certain,” he continued, “that the propositions I will make will be approved of. I for one am opposed to bringing up this matter openly at the coming Convention. I shall most certainly object to Parnell or any of his friends compromising themselves by allowing such a course. The whole matter must be left to the Revolutionary Directory and the F.C.” (Executive Body). [As it will be seen later, this is exactly what happened. There was no public discussion of the proposal in open convention, but matters were satisfactorily arranged in the quiet caucuses of the responsible committees.] Sullivan, continuing, said, “They (that is, the Parnellites) seem to misunderstand our dissatisfaction here. Our quarrel is not with their action in Ireland, but with the action they allow their friends here to take in their name. I know there is but little difference about essential points, but we cannot tolerate the kind of thing begun in Buffalo.”

This reference to Buffalo dealt with some proceedings in connection with the first American Land League Convention of a few weeks previously, which had attracted a good deal of attention and comment at the time. I had no personal knowledge of what took place, owing to the Convention having been held while I was in Europe, but I heard fully of the affair on my return. The whole thing was nothing more or less than an attempt on the part of the clerical element to gain the controlling power in the League Councils, to the exclusion of the Clan-na-Gael influence. Certain speeches had been made and action taken with this view, and although the result had not weakened them, the Clan-na-Gael leaders felt very bitter on the point.

---

The month of August at length arrived, and with it the Great Dynamite Convention of 1881. It was pretty well known that “active” work was to be the order of the day, when the future plans and schemes of the organisation came to be discussed. Nothing was talked of throughout the camps but the utter lack of practical effort which had characterised the past few years; and now, when funds were pretty large, and the organisation itself in a very flourishing condition in every way, it was determined that some outward and visible sign should be given England of its power of doing mischief. The stories which were daily reaching America of the alleged brutalities being practised by the British Government, only served to inflame the blood of the rank and file of the conspirators, and to make them the more eager to force on some exhibition of their strength. The leaders, however, were in no sense behindhand in the way of bloodthirsty sentiment; indeed, as will be seen by what I have already stated about Devoy and others, arrangements had ere this been completed for giving expression to the popular desire.

The Convention, which assembled in the club-room of the Palmer House, Chicago, lasted from the 3rd to the 10th of August 1881; and although the word dynamite finds no single place in the official records of the assembly, it was in the air and in the speeches from start to finish. The whole question of active operations came up and was debated at great length in connection with the statement of accounts furnished by the trustees of the Skirmishing Fund. Many of the delegates present attacked both the Revolutionary Directory and the Executive Body for having practically done nothing, while an enormous amount of money had been spent from this fund; and wild demands were made for particulars. The fight raged so fiercely that disclosures were made compromising people on the Irish side of the water; and, in order to prevent a complete exposé, a resolution was suddenly passed forbidding the mention of names and other compromising particulars. Explanations were, however, tendered as to the schemes which had been discussed and in part arranged. These included the treaty with Russia, the supply of officers to the Boers, the torpedo-boat, the hand-grenade, the purchase and shipment of arms, the purchase of 200 six-pound cannons at $25 each, and the attempt to rescue Michael Davitt on two occasions.

In the end a resolution in the following terms was adopted which, read by the light of the many and excited debates, was a clear instruction to the Executive Body to be up and doing at once in the way of “active” warfare:—

This, however, was not the only important resolution they recorded. While the fight over an active policy was being engaged in, I secretly attended by request before the Committee of Foreign Relations, and explained to them the views of Mr. Parnell and Patrick Egan. As the result of what took place in connection with this matter, the following resolution was proposed and adopted in open convention:—

---

In this way did both of Mr. Parnell’s ideas receive recognition and support. In the first place, the Revolutionary Directory was instructed to prepare for the rising of which he spoke, while, in the second, a pretty strong hint was given to the home organisation that members in their individual capacity should join the League and support its programme. It is only right that I should state at this point that I was not the only one charged with representing Mr. Parnell’s views. My attendance before the Foreign Relations Committee brought me into contact with John O’Connor, alias Dr. Clarke, alias Dr. Kenealy, the travelling agent of the Clan-na-Gael in Europe, who informed me that he specially attended in his representative capacity to support the “understanding.” This was not my first meeting with O’Connor by any means. When in Paris I had been introduced to him by O’Leary, and had frequently met him in the company of Egan, with whom he was on the most confidential terms, and working in perfect harmony. O’Connor’s statement was followed by one on the part of Devoy, who informed me that “the matter was now all right.”

This Convention saw the initiation of the Sullivan régime, Alexander Sullivan, ere its close, being elected to the position of president of the organisation, with head-quarters at Chicago. His election was attended by many changes in the constitution. Up to this the executive body, or “F.C.” as it was termed, had consisted of a chairman, secretary, and treasurer, with eleven district members or “E.N.’s,” elected to control the society in their several districts. The Convention now reconstituted the “F.C.” by excluding these eleven “E.N.’s,” and limiting the number to six, including the secretary, who was ex-officio, but without a vote. This was quite a revolution in the management of affairs, and Sullivan, in his new position, acquired a power and prominence never enjoyed by any previous president. It was after gaining possession of this important and powerful post that he visited Europe, in accordance with the arrangement I had been the means of first proposing to him. Of course it was not publicly announced that Sullivan was in Europe. By some he was understood to be ill, by others in Florida. It would never have done for him to have publicly admitted or allowed the fact to be known that he was so far east as Paris.

I had very many interesting conversations at this Convention, but none more so than those with Dr. Gallaher, now in Portland Prison for complicity in the dynamite outrages, and Mackay Lomasney, who had just returned from Ireland, where, like Devoy in 1879, he had been acting as the inspecting envoy of the Clan-na-Gael. Gallaher, at the time I speak of, was making experiments in the manufacture of explosives, and advocating their use. He was quite enthusiastic in their praise, and so carried away by his subject that he expressed his willingness to personally undertake the carriage of dynamite to England and to superintend its use there. Lomasney was an equally ardent dynamitard, not foreseeing then the fate which awaited him under London Bridge.

I think I cannot better conclude this chapter than by quoting the following statement of accounts, furnished at this Convention, of the Skirmishing Fund, which, in all its details, even to the amount stolen by the messenger of the Irish World, should prove of interest.

RECEIPTS, &c.
Total receipts by Irish World up to May 31, 1881	$88,306	32
Received by trustees from other sources	1,603	50
Interest	1,072	50
Profits on Exchange	471	25
	————
			$91,453	57
			—————
EXPENSES, &c.
Purchase of bonds	$31,488	87
Lent per F.C. to S.C. for tools	10,000	0
Lent to F.C.	5,875	0
Irish volunteers	1,000	0
J. J. O’Mahony’s burial	2,030	0
O’D. Rossa’s defalcations	1,321	90
Old submarine vessel	4,042	97
New submarine vessel	23,345	70
Miscellaneous expense	321	4
Lent Dr. Carroll	860	0
Luby and Burke	100	0
Cheques dishonoured	78	68
Reception, Condon and Meledy	249	79
Allowed A. Ford on old money, Rossa’s not cashed	41	90
Irish World overcharged	5	4
Subsidising foreign newspapers (J. J. O’Kelly)	2,000	0
Land League trial (Davitt)	1,532	0
Special to O’Kelly	177	63
Author, New Departure	1,003	90
Stolen by messenger of Irish World	27	50
Reception of Parnell	165	0
	————
			$85,666	92
			—————
ASSETS.
Balance in bank	$5,745	82
Balance on hands	40	83
	————
			$5,786	65
			————

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At last we turn to business again. Luckily the topic is an exciting one—nothing less indeed than the Skirmishing Fund discussion—and so matters will be interesting. O’Meagher Condon is on his feet, and he is launching forth in vehement style against the whole of the governing powers. Condon is one of those men who were mixed up in the Manchester Martyr affair, and since his arrival here a couple of years since, on being amnestied, he has been quite a hero. He has now a position in a Government department at Washington, and is much esteemed in the ranks of the Gaels. How his face works with excitement and passion as he attacks Devoy and his fellows on the Revolutionary Directory for their want of practical work. He finishes at last, and up jumps Devoy, more sour-looking than ever, with the perpetual scowl growing heavier and heavier. As he proceeds, the author of the New Departure has recourse to the usual method of controversy. He asserts that Condon is a coward, and was guilty of the grossest neglect at Manchester. If Condon had but distributed the twenty odd pounds which were found on him on his arrest, many of the men would have escaped, instead of being captured with empty pockets. Gruffer and gruffer becomes Devoy’s voice, as losing partial control of himself he trembles with excitement and flings charge after charge across the floor.

We are in for another personal quarrel, and so have to wait patiently while Condon, for the hundredth time, recites the threadbare narrative of his glorious deeds in Manchester. Matters are very electrical when the Rev. George C. Betts of St. Louis craves a hearing, and with his well-known smile seeks the suffrages of his fellow-patriots for the moment. Truly, a strange figure in a strange place. Tall, erect, in the black garb of the Church, with priest-like face and priest-like form, he woos the assembly to a strange quietness as his clerical style of utterance falls upon the audience. He is as hot a dynamitard as any, but he wants no personalities. If they are to accomplish anything, they really must be more practical. And so he proceeds, winning applause and spreading enthusiasm, till Devoy and Condon, and their personalities, are swept into forgetfulness, and all are engaged in applauding revolutionary sentiment spiced with religious quotation, and served up in the most orthodox of fashions.

The reverend dynamitard concludes, and resumes his seat amidst most enthusiastic evidences of his popularity. He gives way to an equally inharmonious figure in this motley gathering. The man who now rises is one of medium height, whose every movement bespeaks the professional man, as awhile back the picture presented by the Rev. Dr. Betts bespoke the cleric. A young man too is this, with his neat attire, trim beard, and gold-headed cane. No less a person is he than Dr. Gallaher, who, in this year of 1892, in the convict suit of grey with its regulation arrows, works out his weary life in Portland prison. As you watch, and as he speaks in that quiet gentlemanly fashion of his, you can well believe that he is a man of whom it might be afterwards boasted that he was introduced to Mr. Gladstone himself. Save in his sentiments there is nothing of the dynamitard about him, but in the matter of his speech there is no room for doubt. Quiet and self-controlled though he be, his talk is the talk of war, and the enthusiasm which lights up his countenance is that strong steady flame which will steadily burn till England’s dungeon doors close upon him and cut short his career of recklessness.

Following him on the floor is the familiar form of Denis Feeley, the fellow “Triangler” of Sullivan in later days, and with him the object of attack on the part of Cronin’s friends. Cool, calm, and deliberate, he carries his audience with him as he advocates “a secret blow at the enemy”; while his big form shakes with indignation as he works himself up to an excited pitch over “the wrongs of their beloved country.” At last Feeley concludes, and there rises another well-known figure, that of T. V. Powderly, for years the chief of the largest working-men’s organisation in America, known as “The Knights of Labour.” Little doubt can there be as to his views. Listen to what he says:—

And so the talk goes on, and seven hundred years of grievances find expression from the lips of excited patriots, while quarrelsome delegates destroy all decorum. There is little purpose in our waiting further. One hour will be but the repetition of the other. As we rise to leave, however, one figure catches the eye and impresses itself upon us. It is that of the arch-plotter Sullivan, who, through all this din and turmoil, sits and makes no sign. He knows that later on he will be the candidate for the highest place amongst them, and so he takes no side. There is no possibility of your missing him as you pass him by. There he sits, quiet, watchful, and alert. You cannot mistake the man. There is a sense of power and intelligence in that clean cut, clean shaven face of his, lit up by its bright daring eyes. Had you but heard him speak, the lesson of his presence would have been complete. His clear trumpet voice, rising and falling with the play of a practised orator, his choice finished diction, his well-reasoned, well-arranged argument, and the graceful gesture and movement of his whole body would prove to you that there at least was a man gifted to command and competent to control.

And so we terminate our flying visit to the Eighty-one Convention of the Clan-na-Gael, wherein there were assembled forty lawyers, eight doctors, two judges, clergymen of both leading religions, merchants, manufacturers, and working men, all mixed up in glorious confusion, almost all reduced to the level of the whisky bottle, and none removed from the struggles of personal avarice and ambition.

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Nothing of a very stirring character happened for the next couple of months, and so, much to my satisfaction, I was permitted to attend for a little without interruption to my private affairs. They sadly lacked some notice on my part, for business was growing, my drug-stores were increasing in number, and so was my family. Patients were very numerous too, but expenses were not without their increase, for I had to employ a regularly qualified M.D. to take my place in my absence. If I could have settled down and simply minded my own business from this henceforth, I would have been in a very satisfactory position to-day. But ’twas not to be. I was constantly on the move, and living at high pressure right through. To keep myself thoroughly posted I had to be here, there, and everywhere, and, in the end, my ordinary business had to take a very secondary place. Even at this time my leisure from political affairs was to be of very short duration, for, in my capacity as Senior Guardian, I received the following in the month of November 1881:—

I thoroughly knew what this meant. Under the new régime of Sullivan there was to be no more of the “Buffalo business,” and to prevent it things were to to done in a thoroughly practical manner. The members of the secret revolutionary organisation were to capture the representation at the coming Land League Convention, to act unitedly in the development of a policy in harmony with the Clan-na-Gael, and to officer the future executive in such a way as to prevent further misunderstanding. In order to do all this, the Clan-na-Gael men were to obtain election as League, or Ancient Order of Hibernian, delegates, the latter organisation being a purely benevolent body, whose branches had largely affiliated with the League or open movement from the start. This was accordingly done; and thus it came about that, when I met my fellow-delegates to the open Land League Convention of 1881, I found almost every second man a brother from the camps of the Clan-na-Gael.

The whole scheme worked in the most perfect manner. On arrival in Chicago each Clan-na-Gael man reported himself to the chief officer of the district, to whom credentials were presented. Official intimation was then given as to what would happen, and each conspirator learned that, prior to the sessions of the convention, caucuses of the Brotherhood would be held in the hall of Camp 16, Twenty-second Street, Chicago. The usual precautions were taken, and admission only gained by passwords exchanged on each occasion. As the chairman at the first gathering—the Rev. George C. Betts—humorously put it, “our object was to make things easy for the Land Leaguers, and to save them as much trouble as possible.” At each meeting the plan of procedure at the coming session was decided upon, and the election of temporary and permanent officers arranged. Nominations for various committees were fixed, and no opportunity neglected for adapting the constitution and officials to our requirements. The resolutions subsequently adopted in open convention were drafted by our committees.

It therefore came about that John F. Finerty of Chicago, the well-known dynamite advocate and prominent member of the Clan, “called the convention to order,” and made the opening speech. William J. Hynes of the Revolutionary Directory, and the chairman of the late Clan-na-Gael Convention, was appointed temporary chairman, and Joseph E. Ronayne, who had acted in a similar capacity at the Dynamite Convention, was appointed secretary, while T. V. Powderly of the Clan Executive, whose fiery speech at the same Convention was given a few pages back, was nominated assistant-secretary. The nomination of these men led to a trial of strength between the two forces of the Convention, but the real tug of war was reserved for the second day, when resolutions previously adopted at the Gael’s caucus were proposed, nominating the Rev. George C. Betts of St. Louis as permanent chairman, and Patrick Ford, John Devoy, Mrs. Parnell, and a number of priests as vice-presidents. Of course the priests were put forward for politic reasons. The vice-presidents were not objected to, but the appointment of the Rev. George C. Betts, a Protestant clergyman, was strongly opposed by the priestly party. A very excited debate took place, but in the end the opposition to Betts was withdrawn at the instigation of the Irish visitors—Messrs. T. P. O’Connor, M.P., T. M. Healy, M.P., and Father Sheehy—and so at the close this Vice-President of the Clan-na-Gael was elected, and the secret organisation triumphed all along the line.

The Irish political controversy was darkened the following year by the sad event in the Phœnix Park, Dublin, when Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke met their deaths at the hands of the Irish Invincibles. As regards the Invincible conspiracy, I have little or nothing to say. It was in no sense an American affair, and no matter how little or how much certain sympathisers in the States may have known of the murderous conspiracy, nothing was said on the subject in public or in secret to connect the Clan-na-Gael in any way with the proceedings of Carey and his friends. There was, of course, a certain amount of sympathy with the affair, as was shown by the attitude taken up by John Devoy in his paper the Irish Nation, which was, by the way, the official organ of the Clan-na-Gael at this time, and subsidised from its fund. Devoy gave great prominence to the refusal of Egan to offer a reward for the discovery of the murderers, printing the following telegram in his issue of 13th May 1882:—

And commenting upon it in the following vein:—

It was in this year, too, that O’Donovan Rossa was finally expelled from the Clan-na-Gael. He had been in very bad odour for a long time previously, owing to his unsatisfactory connection with the Skirmishing Fund; and at last, after a couple of attempts to get rid of him, he was summarily kicked out, and from henceforth repudiated by the recognised officials of the secret organisation.

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Eighteen hundred and eighty-three proved a very busy time with me. There was another Land League Convention: Egan, Sheridan, Frank Byrne, and other Invincibles “on the run” arrived in the country, and altogether my time was pretty well occupied in obtaining information and passing it on to my chief. The year opened amidst rumours in the public press of the secret movement having captured the open organisation of the League. Mr. Parnell himself had taken action previously in connection with the Kilmainham Treaty, and in other ways which were not understood or appreciated, and, as a consequence, a partial breach had occurred. So strained were matters becoming that in February it was announced that both Mr. Parnell and Egan would come to America in April for the purpose of discussing the whole situation and fixing upon some new mode of operations for the future which, while equally effective as regards joint working, would not impair Mr. Parnell’s usefulness. Many weeks, however, had not passed ere the fight between the clerical and revolutionary elements in the States began to wax exceedingly hot, and, changing his plans, Mr. Parnell determined not to interfere, and so failed to put in his promised appearance.

Egan, however, thanks to the revelations of Carey, had to make a speedy and somewhat undignified exit from Dublin, and not waiting till the month of April, he put himself en evidence in American life in the month of March. I met him a week or two after his arrival, when he was the guest of Alexander Sullivan, the President of the Clan-na-Gael, at Chicago. We renewed our cordial friendship, and the same close intimacy prevailed between us as had been the case in Paris. Egan told me that the programme now to be proposed would give full satisfaction in America; while, as for Sullivan, he (Sullivan) remarked to me significantly about this time that, though he had never doubted Egan, he was now more than satisfied.

The public Convention of the Land League, henceforth to be known as the National League of America, took place at Philadelphia on the 26th April and following days. The same plan of campaign as had been developed in 1881 was put in force by the Clan-na-Gael. A secret circular was issued instructing the camps to send delegates, and these delegates when assembled in Philadelphia pursued the same line of policy in their caucus gatherings. The whole thing worked like an exquisite piece of mechanism, and produced the most satisfactory results for the Clan leaders. Of course I was a delegate, and of course I attended all the secret caucuses. Well for Egan that it was so. He considered it impolitic to appear at any of the secret gatherings, and so, much to my satisfaction, he asked me to acquaint him daily with what transpired, which I did, and received in return many interesting pieces of private information. The Convention was remarkable for the presence of Egan and Brennan, the runaway treasurer and secretary of the Irish Land League, both of whom took part in the proceedings, and of Frank Byrne and his wife, who were accommodated with seats on the platform.

In accordance with the arrangements made at one of the caucus meetings, Alexander Sullivan was appointed president of the new organisation. He played his part well on the occasion, and succeeded in entirely overcoming the scruples of those opposed to him in consequence of his being chief of the Clan-na-Gael. Not once but twice did this prince of intriguers decline the honour respectfully but firmly; and not till after repeated appeals from Mrs. Parnell, the mother of the Irish Home Rule leader, did he consent to take the office. Another leading Gael was appointed secretary, and out of the Executive Committee of seven, five were members of the Clan-na-Gael.

Although Mr. Parnell did not make his promised appearance, he sent a lengthy and significant telegram, in which he asked that the platform should be so framed as to enable himself and his friends to continue to receive help from America, and to work in such harmony as would allow of their achieving those great objects for which, through many centuries, the Irish race had struggled.

This was a pretty plain hint from the leading spirit on the Irish side to keep matters moderate in appearance, and it was not lost on those charged with the conduct of affairs, as the following extracts from my official report to my camp on my return will show:—

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Philip H. Cronin was born in Ireland, but when very young emigrated to Canada. From thence when a young man he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he studied medicine at the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons. Before this he had been clerk in a chemist’s store, and had thus acquired a very considerable practical knowledge of medicine. He graduated with high honours, and became eventually Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the college. He also attended a medical college from which he secured the degree of M.A. Cronin was a man of fine presence, good looking, almost six feet in height, and very well formed. He was a clever man in every way, and a good forcible speaker, though in style aggressive and combative to a degree. Very ambitious, like his future enemy Alexander Sullivan, he was never happy in a back seat, always thrusting himself forward and fighting for the place of leader. In fact, so pronounced were his ideas in favour of his supremacy, that where he could not rule he was quite prepared to ruin.

He moved to Chicago in the latter part of 1881, and immediately entered upon the practice of medicine, taking up his residence at 351 Clark Street, at the corner of Oak Street. At this time he was about thirty-two years of age, so that he was only some forty years old at the time of his murder. From the moment of his arrival in Chicago, he went in enthusiastically for Irish politics, and took a leading part in both Revolutionary and Land League matters. He identified himself with the Clan-na-Gael, and was prominent at all gatherings of the Irish of every kind. He was strong in social instincts, and was quite a figure at social gatherings, where he used to great advantage the fine tenor voice of which he was possessed, singing national songs especially with great spirit and enthusiasm. As a consequence he rapidly came to the front in Chicago, and in six months was better known than an ordinary resident would have been in ten years. Towards the Land League movement he was especially sympathetic, and he took a very large part indeed in building it up. He was in a short time elected President of the 18th Ward League, then known as the “Banner League” of Chicago. Equally active in the secret movement, he was a guiding spirit of Camp No. 96 of the Clan in Chicago, publicly known as the “Columbia Literary Association,” and so great was his influence that, on the appointment of the notorious Frank Agneau to the position of district member, Cronin succeeded him as Senior Guardian of the camp. This was the camp which held its weekly meetings in the well-known Turner Hall on the north side of the city.

It was at this time that the policy of dynamite had been decided upon, and that the campaign against English Government buildings and persons was being inaugurated. Cronin (who was anything but a saint in character) was an ardent advocate of the policy; and, owing to his scientific attainments, he was appointed as chief instructor in the use and handling of explosives, acting all this time, be it marked, as the President of the Banner League (or Chicago branch of the Land League) as well. In fact, he held the position of President of the Land League branch down to the year 1888. Cronin, unfortunately for himself, succeeded at a very early stage in falling foul of Alexander Sullivan. Living as he did till 1887 at the corner of Clark and Oak Streets, within a few doors of Sullivan himself, he gained such an amount of prominence that he was rapidly throwing Sullivan into the shade. He threatened to become more powerful than Sullivan, and this Sullivan, equally ambitious and more unscrupulous, could not brook. In a short time Sullivan and his adherents came to detest the Doctor, and as I found—for I lived within a stone’s throw of each, knew them both intimately, and saw them continuously—the relations between them were becoming more strained and bitter every day.

In June 1881, as I have related, Sullivan obtained a victory over all his rivals by being chosen President of the Clan-na-Gael, or Revolutionary organisation, at the Dynamite Convention held that year at the Palmer House, Chicago. It was after this that Cronin gave the first pronounced sign of his enmity in public. The opportunity for its display was brought about by the attack made by O’Meagher Condon upon John Devoy, the principal of the three members of the Revolutionary Directory, Devoy with his colleagues being charged with responsibility for the failure of the many schemes of active warfare proposed by Condon. Devoy, evidently jealous of Sullivan’s election, indulged in a good deal of incrimination, not confining his attacks to Condon alone, and he was afterwards supported by Cronin, who was possessed of the same grievance. The two joined forces, but without any effect, for Sullivan’s position was assured. From the dispute, however, which occurred at this Convention, dates the commencement of undisguised hostility between Sullivan and Cronin.

Early in 1883, when the call was issued for the Philadelphia Convention (at which was formed the first branch of the American National League as distinct from the Land League), a meeting of Cronin’s branch of the League took place in Chicago for the election of delegates to the Convention. Sullivan and his friends, determining to crush Cronin if they could, packed this meeting, and had elected as delegates Alexander Sullivan himself, his brother, and other personal adherents, much to the disgust of Cronin and his supporters.

Sullivan was equally successful later on when, under the new constitution, the Executive called district Conventions in lieu of the general convention they had managed to postpone. The Convention in Cronin’s district was held in Millionaire Smythe’s Hall in Chicago—Smythe being Senior Guardian of Camp 458; Cronin, as Senior Guardian of his own camp, attended in the capacity of delegate therefrom. Mackay Lomasney, my old friend from Detroit, also attended from his district in a like capacity. Although an attempt was made to impeach Sullivan’s action, it was not successful. His friends were in the majority, and his conduct was upheld. All attempts on the part of Cronin to bring about a different state of things—and they were not a few—were voted down, and Alexander Sullivan, in company with Mackay Lomasney, the London Bridge dynamitard, was elected delegate to the Triangle Convention of 1884.

Cronin, filled with fury, returned to his camp and made a series of most sweeping charges against the Triangle. In return charges were preferred against him of being a traitor, liar, &c. &c., Sullivan of course being the instigator. A Trial Committee, of which I was one, was appointed, and by it Cronin was promptly found guilty and formally expelled. I voted, as I always did, on the side of the winning party. Cronin on his expulsion immediately joined the ranks of the seceders, which by this time included such well-known men as Devoy, Dillon, M‘Cahey, and others, and he immediately obtained a seat on the executive of the new body. And here, for the moment, I must leave him.

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While the contest raged between the opposing factions, I was up and doing, travelling about, and gaining as much information as I possibly could. I made many trips to various points of the country, and so was enabled to gauge pretty accurately the condition of public feeling and the probabilities of the future. My pretexts for all this travelling were admirably adapted to divert suspicion from my real object. When a journey for my health’s sake was not possible, I got appointed (through Irish political influence) to a seat on the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Commission; and when no more work was to be done under this cover, I connected myself with one of the largest pharmaceutical houses in the States, and travelled as their representative in whatever direction suited me. So successful was I in combining business development with my secret work, that I had great difficulty in resigning this latter connection, the proprietors strongly urging my continuance in it, and only parting with me after many fruitless attempts to change my decision. When at home I was of course an ardent politician, and a volunteer on every committee in the Democratic interest. So prominent was I in local politics, that on one occasion I ran for election for the House of Representatives, only being defeated by a majority of 128 votes on a poll of several thousands. It was the cry of “The Fenian General” that lost me the seat with the English voters.

I was frequently in communication with Egan through all this period, for he made many trips to Chicago, both for business purposes—he had now embarked in the grain trade—and with the object of consulting with Alexander Sullivan, whose worthy fidus Achates he proved. It was as the result of one of my interviews with him that I received the following passport to the faithful, which proved of such service in the way of corroboration when I appeared before the Special Commission:—

Alexander Sullivan meantime occupied himself very busily in purely American politics, and for the purpose of making his position in this regard the more favourable, he caused it to be understood that he had withdrawn from the Clan-na-Gael. This, of course, was only a blind, for as a matter of fact, for twelve months at least after he had so announced his withdrawal, his name continued to appear on circulars and documents. This, however, is immaterial. What is important to note is that Sullivan warmly advocated the election of J. F. Blaine to the Presidency, and that he in secret circles made much of the fact that Blaine’s foreign policy would do all that the Clan-na-Gael desired. Mr. Blaine paid a high tribute in the public prints to the services rendered him by Sullivan.

The year 1886 saw the introduction of the Home Rule Bill by Mr. Gladstone, and consequent inactivity on the part of the American conspirators. I therefore had rather an easy time of it. Enthusiasm ran pretty high, because it was thought that with Home Rule granted the way to complete separation would be cleared in a wondrous degree, and that at last we were in sight of the point for which all had struggled and many had bled, “the making of Ireland a nation once again.” Mr. Parnell now appeared to have a distinct claim upon Irish American indulgence, and particular pains were taken to prevent anything happening which might unfairly affect his position in any way. So complaisant were “the men beyond the sea” in America, that the open Convention called for January 1886 was postponed in order that Mr. Parnell might be present. The gathering eventually took place in the month of August 1886, but there was no Mr. Parnell, his place being taken by no less than four of the leading Parnellites from the English side—Messrs. Michael Davitt, John E. Redmond, M.P., John Deasy, M.P., and William O’Brien, M.P. As usual, the whole proceedings were governed by the Sullivanite wing of the secret organisation. I was myself a delegate, attended the secret caucuses presided over by Patrick Egan, and assisted in developing affairs in the interests of the conspirators.

The fact that Devoy, Cronin, and others were now in opposition was an element of danger in connection with the satisfactory working of the intrigue to “nobble” the open movement; but by a system of proxy voting success was achieved, and the adherents of the Croninites driven from the field. The way in which this was accomplished was remarkable, and very suggestive of the position which Egan, the ex-Land League official, and friend and adviser of Mr. Parnell, held in the Revolutionary organisation. By a circular issued by the “Triangle” on the eve of the Convention, it was ordered that each Senior Guardian should secure proxies for all branches of the National League in his vicinity unable to send delegates to the open Convention, and immediately forward such proxies to Patrick Egan. Here was a clear confession of the close connection between the two movements—open and secret—existing in the person of the present United States minister to Chili, the then President of the Irish National League of America.

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I have already touched at several points on the Dynamite Campaign, and I will now pause in my narrative for the purpose of dealing in some detail with the incidents attending the development of the plot to “blow up England.” Although there had been several attempts made by O’Donovan Rossa’s adherents to damage public buildings, notably the Mansion House, London, the barracks at Chester, the police-station and the Town Hall at Liverpool in 1881 and 1882, the Dynamite Campaign as organised by the Clan-na-Gael did not really commence till the latter end of 1882, or rather the beginning of 1883. Indeed the attempts on the part of Rossa’s people were simply gunpowder explosions, and had no connection with dynamite at all. They were of a very miserable character, and quite in keeping with O’Donovan Rossa’s reputation in the States. With him experience proved that it was always, as the homely phrase has it, a case of “great cry and little wool.”

To Dr. Gallaher, our friend of the professional appearance and gold-headed cane, was intrusted the task of inaugurating the work undertaken by the Revolutionary Directory of the Clan-na-Gael. At the time he set out all was enthusiasm in the ranks of the Clan, and great things were promised. In one secret circular the F.C. (or governing body) had informed the members “that it had no delicacy or sentimentality about how it would strike the enemy, or when or where.... They meant war, they meant that war to be unsparing and unceasing. They meant it to be effective. Their policy would be to make assaults in all directions, so that the suffering, bitterness, and desolation which followed active measures should be felt in every place.”

Under the pretence of taking a voyage to Europe for his health’s sake, Gallaher set out in the steamship Alaska on the 15th October 1882, reaching Liverpool in good time, and from thence travelling to Glasgow, in order, as he explained, to see some relatives. Glasgow, by the way, has always had a prominent representative of the British branch of the Fenians in residence there. From Glasgow he came on to the London Wall Hotel, and here he remained for a month spying out the land and making the preliminary arrangements for the work which was to follow. His work finished, he took a trip to Dublin, where at the Gresham Hotel he lived as befitted a man of his position. From thence he proceeded to Donegal to visit more “relatives.” From Donegal he eventually made his way to Queenstown, where in the Bosnia he took passage for home on the 10th December, having, as he subsequently reported, made all necessary arrangements for commencing his branch of the “active work.”

He was with Sullivan in Chicago in the following month, and here he and I met and had many chats together. We were fellow-doctors, and we “chummed” together in a fashion very agreeable to me. He soon wearied me, however, for I found he could talk of nothing but dynamite, its production, its effectiveness, and the great weapon it was soon to prove against the British Government. He spent the next couple of months in communication with the powers that were, and placed them in full possession of all he had done and all he hoped to do. They took an equally sanguine view of the possibilities of success, and no time was lost in enlisting the first dynamite band which visited Europe. By the middle of March there were eight men embarked on the dangerous enterprise, Gallaher being the leader and paymaster; and at this date the first of them set out for England in the Cunarder Parthia. Every precaution was taken to avert suspicion, and so much care was exercised that some travelled as steerage passengers, while the rest, like Gallaher, journeyed in gentlemanly fashion. The band was made up of Gallaher and his brother Bernard, Dowd, Wilson, O’Connor, Curtin, Whitehead, and Norman, all being Clan-na-Gael men, though none save the doctor held any important position in the organisation.

The first arrivals of this precious assembly of dynamitards reached Liverpool on the 27th of March, and, of course, separated at once. Gallaher went to the Charing Cross Hotel, which he made his head-quarters. His men were quickly put to work, and in a very short time a nitro-glycerine factory was established in Birmingham, under the superintendence of Whitehead. From here large quantities of liquid were conveyed to some few points in London in rubber bags and rubber shooting-stockings. All the elaborate arrangements, however, were destined to come to naught, for before any “active” work could be done, thanks to the vigilance of the police in London and Birmingham, Gallaher and his associates were arrested, and the whole of the nitro-glycerine seized. The month of May 1883 saw the trial and conviction of the leader and three of his associates, Whitehead, Curtin, and Wilson, the case for the Crown being completed by the testimony of Norman, alias Lynch, who played the rôle which never lacks an exponent in the case of an Irish conspiracy—that of informer. All of the unfortunate prisoners were sentenced to penal servitude for life. An interesting feature in connection with Gallaher’s arrest was the discovery on his person of no less a sum than £1400.

What the actual designs of this dynamite band were, are not, and probably never will be known. Quite sufficient for the public must be the fact that so enormous was the quantity of nitro-glycerine discovered that according to experts, it was quite equal to the blowing up of every house and street in London, from one end to the other. Pleasant discovery this for the ordinary British citizen who laughs at dynamite and pooh-poohs the existence of any condition of things calling for a more elaborate Secret Service. The arrest and discomfiture of the Gallaher band had one very useful result. It effectively put an end to all idea of manufacturing dynamite on English soil. Unfortunately, however, it did not put an end to the Dynamite Campaign. It simply affected the weapon, not those who were prepared to employ it.

The next group of dynamitards who visited England included Cunningham, Burton, Mackay Lomasney, Luke Dillon, and a man known as Ryan of Philadelphia. These men did not all come at the same time, but they worked together in harmony so far as it was possible. During their visit to London explosions occurred in October 1883 on the Underground Railway; in February 1884, at Victoria Station; in May 1884, at Scotland Yard; in December 1884, at London Bridge; and in January 1885, at the House of Commons and the Tower. The dynamite employed in these cases was all brought from America, secreted about the persons of the conspirators, and of women who were sent over with it, as well as by an employé of one of the steamers of the National Steamship Line, who belonged to the organisation. The explosive was generally made up in slabs of Atlas powder, obtained from, amongst other sources, the Atlas Company and the Repauno Chemical Company of Philadelphia.

Of the second group, only two men were brought to trial, Cunningham and Burton; and these men, for the attempts on the House of Commons and the Tower, were sentenced to penal servitude for life. The remainder, with the exception of Lomasney, escaped to America. Lomasney, in company with a man supposed to be named Fleming, met his fate under London Bridge in his attempt to blow up that structure. Luckily for the Londoners, the bridge escaped without any injury, but Mackay and his companion apparently came to their end by the discharge of the explosive, for they were never seen more.

There were two other men whose part in the Dynamite Campaign of this period deserves mention. These were “Jack” Daly, as he was called, and his confederate, J. F. Egan, who were tried and sentenced at Warwick in 1884, the former to imprisonment for life, and the latter to penal servitude for twenty years. Daly was perhaps the most daring and desperate criminal of all, and his intended crime merits special reference. This was the blowing up of the House of Commons while in session, by the throwing of bombs on to the table in front of the Speaker. So ardent was Daly in planning this foul enterprise that he twice gained admission to the Strangers’ Gallery of the House. When arrested, some of these bombs were found upon him, and examination showed that one of them, if used, would have been quite sufficient to send every stick and stone, to say nothing of the members of the House of Commons themselves, heavenwards or thereabouts. Luckily, this desperate man was arrested in time, for assuredly his character was quite sufficient to warrant the belief that he would have carried out his intention.[3]

Of all the schemes indulged in by the dynamite men, none seems to have been more far-fetched than that of the theft of a certain stone from within the walls of Westminster Abbey. This was the famous “Stone of Scone,” which serves as the seat of the Coronation-chair in the Abbey. To an outsider the possession of such a stone as this seems of no importance whatever. Yet, ludicrous as it may appear, the idea of securing it gave rise to great enthusiasm and led to a very generous subscription with this object. According to the originators of the scheme, this “Stone of Destiny” was really the property of Ireland for a thousand years before Christ, and upon it were crowned the Irish kings, for hundreds of years, on the sacred Hill of Tara. Its restoration to the land of its original and only lawful owners, it was contended, would inspire confidence in the course then being pursued, and the people would be strengthened by the well-known tradition “that so long as this stone remained in Ireland, so long would she remain a united nation,” while its loss to the English would work wonders. Elaborate preparations were made for carrying out the scheme. Men were sent from America to work in conjunction with certain Fenians in London, and it was decided that some of the conspirators should secrete themselves in the Abbey, and at night seize the police, remove the stone, and pass it out through a window to others who would be in waiting outside to take it to a place of safety. For months these men waited and waited, but the opportunity never came, for one of the group gave the whole thing away to the police, and the detectives who surrounded the sacred edifice made the seizure impossible. In the end the three principals had to leave the country for fear of arrest, and the whole affair ended in smoke—as usual!

The close of the year 1885 brought the announcement of Mr. Gladstone’s conversion to Home Rule, and the termination of the Dynamite Campaign for the time being. How the political situation was viewed at this period, can best be represented by the following extracts from a secret circular of the Clan-na-Gael, or United Brotherhood, issued two days before Christmas:—

So, for the time, in deference to “the exigencies of the Constitutional party,” the Dynamite Campaign was brought to a close, leaving as its record little or no damage to the enemy, but no less than twenty-five of the unfortunate instruments in prison, sixteen undergoing life sentences, two, sentences of twenty years’ penal servitude, and seven, sentences of seven years each. Of course, some of these prisoners are not men from the American side. In many cases those coming from America picked up colleagues in England, and, unfortunately for these latter, the knowledge which the local police possessed proved disastrous to them.

---

The secret convention of the Revolutionary organisation—or rather, of the principal section which had remained faithful to Sullivan—met in due course, in August 1886, but as I was not a delegate, I had no personal knowledge of what took place. The spirit of the time, however, was very fairly reflected in some circulars, issued prior to its assembly, from which I take the following extracts:—

And again:—

From the official report of the secret Convention which reached me subsequently, I learnt that the votes in favour of dynamite had been in the majority, for the policy of the late Executive had been endorsed, and the new Executive given a free hand for the future. What, however, was perhaps the most important proceeding of all at this Convention of the Revolutionists, was the passing of the following resolution:—

If further proof were wanted beyond that already given of the “understanding” which existed between the open and secret organisations, it could not be supplied in a more emphatic manner than this.

Although the Executive were given full power to act as they thought best, it was apparently considered undesirable to do anything during the latter part of 1886, and so nothing of importance came to pass up to the month of April 1887, when I made another trip to Europe, without, however, any letters or credentials on this occasion. My visit was, nevertheless, not of an uneventful character. I visited the House of Commons more than once, and in the social intercourse which took place between myself and some of the Irish M.P.’s, learnt many facts of an interesting character. It was during this visit that I set myself to find out some particulars regarding Dr. James G. Fox, M.P. I was rather curious about this gentleman, who now failed to recognise me in the House of Commons lobby, although we had met on more than one occasion at Land League Conventions in the States, where we had been brother delegates. His associations, his position as State Executive for the League in New York, and his well-known National proclivities as evinced during his fifteen years’ residence at Troy and elsewhere in the States, all made me anxious to know something of the man in his new position of M.P., and of how his thoughts now inclined.

I learnt casually that he was in the habit of frequenting Gatti’s Restaurant in the Adelaide Gallery, Strand, and there I determined to renew my acquaintance with him. The opportunity for doing so was not long wanting, for on an early day I found myself seated at the same table with him, where he was deeply engaged in perusing the Irish World. Making this fact an excuse for opening a conversation with him, I asked, in an interested way, if I could obtain copies of the paper he was reading at any place in London. I spoke with a marked American accent, and my appearance did not belie the suggestion I wished to convey as regards my nationality. He replied that he thought not, explaining that he received it regularly from the other side, asking me in conclusion if I was interested in the publication. I replied in the affirmative, and then followed his query as to whether I was not from the United States. To this I made answer by producing my card, whereupon he looked intently at me as he remarked, “Why, I ought to know you; I have met you in conventions. My name is Fox.” The information was rather unnecessary as far as I was concerned, but, maintaining a quiet face, I thought for a moment, and in the end confessed to a recollection of him. We were soon on familiar terms, and discussed American matters with great freedom.

There was one fact that I wanted particularly to discover, and that was whether or not Fox was a member of the Clan-na-Gael. I had had no opportunity of learning this at the open conventions at which we had previously met, but yet my view very strongly inclined to the belief that he was. In the course of our conversation, therefore, I took occasion to give him the “hailing sign,” but he did not return it, merely remarking significantly that he was not a member of any secret society, a remark which, taken in connection with my sign, tickled me not a little. I never ascertained the truth of the matter, but I remembered the circumstance when, in June 1888, at the Clan Convention in Chicago, a burly delegate near me mounted his chair, announced himself from Troy—where Fox had lived—and in a loud voice demanded recognition by the chair. On this being accorded him, he said, holding up the Times pamphlet, “Behind the Scenes in America,” that he held in his hand a little book which had been sent to him by a Member of Parliament who was a member of his camp. This book was being sold by the thousand at the price of one penny, and the information it contained could only have been supplied by a traitor high up in the ranks of the organisation. He moved for a committee to inquire into the matter. This committee was appointed, but their inquiry ended in smoke, the “traitor,” as I was termed, having another narrow escape.

While in England on this trip, the authorities learned of the presence of General Millen in Paris, and to Paris I was despatched, in order to find out if possible what Millen was doing. I found “le brave Général” of the Clan-na-Gael very comfortably settled in the Hôtel des Anglais in the Cour de la Reine, accompanied by his wife and two interesting daughters. I called upon him, representing that I had heard of his being in Paris through the Herald office, and was anxious as an old friend to say “how do you do.” I did not, however, gain very much by my visit, for the simple reason that at this time Millen had not, as far as I believe, any close connection with the dynamite business known as the Jubilee Plot, with which his name was subsequently associated. At this point his business in Europe had to do with the bringing about of a reconciliation between the British and the American branches of the Revolutionary organisation.

The fact was, that for two or three years previously the relations between the two sections of the conspirators had been of a very strained character. Sullivan, finding that the home organisation was not in favour of dynamite, when the campaign was started, had argued that they should not have any more money to spend on organisation and arms, which, for all that was known to the contrary, were simply rusting away in Ireland; and, accordingly, supplies were stopped, and the home Fenians were not notified of the last couple of conventions, with the result that no envoys from Great Britain and Ireland attended. This led to a very bitter feeling in Ireland, and the contention was strongly urged that the conduct of the American Executive was distinctly ultra vires. Now, when dissensions raged in America, Sullivan, long-headed as usual, sought to strengthen his section by the allegiance of the home organisation; and accordingly, Millen was despatched to Europe to bring about a more satisfactory condition of affairs. His mission, in this regard at least, was unsuccessful.

As for Millen’s connection with the Jubilee explosion, I know very little. The whole undertaking was shrouded in mystery, but it is pretty certain that it was not a Clan-na-Gael affair alone. The best description that could be given of it would be that it was in its inception a Rossa undertaking financed by the Clan-na-Gael. For political reasons the secret organisation could not openly ally themselves with dynamite for the moment, because tactical considerations dictated the giving of a free and untrammelled hand to Mr. Parnell to hoodwink Mr. Gladstone and his supporters. As, however, the circulars I quoted a few pages back showed, dynamite was not by any means thrust aside; so, in order to keep a fair front to the open movement, and yet a satisfactory stand in the eyes of the fiery rank and file, Rossa was temporarily taken into the good graces of the Executive, and some of his adherents despatched with funds from the secret organisation to kick up a row in England. Millen, at the time I saw him, was not in the plot, which at that moment indeed had not been hatched; but on his return to America he fell in with the scheme and returned to Europe to work it out. His bungling, however, led to his being superseded by John J. Moroney, a tried and trusted friend of Alexander Sullivan, who was despatched to London with a large amount of money and distinct orders to show some value for it. What happened is a matter of too recent history to need recapitulation here. The introduction of Moroney and his colleagues to the House of Commons by Mr. Joseph Nolan, M.P., and the facts associated with the working of the conspiracy, are of too late a date to be forgotten so soon.[4]

I returned to the States in October, only to remain a couple of months there, and to come back again to Europe at the end of the year. This time my visit was of a purely private character, and the sluggishness of affairs allowed of my having a complete rest from all sorts of investigations and interviews. I came to Europe in connection with a business speculation which promised highly satisfactory returns, and I was successful in laying the foundation for a very encouraging enterprise. Unfortunately for me, however, I was not to reap the fruits of my work. As a consequence of my appearance in the witness-box, I was prevented from returning to the States at the time when the profits were accruing, and so had to undergo the loss of this as well as many other sources of income.

---

The following year—1888—was my last in America, and ere its close I left for the purpose of attending the dying bedside of my father. I left for England in December with the full purpose of returning in a month, but as matters turned out I really left my home for the last time. I had written twice to Mr. Anderson, offering my services in connection with the Special Commission, but nothing had come of my proposal, and I had no idea that anything would happen in connection with the matter. My idea was, as I have explained, that the Government were really prosecuting the Parnellite party, and I could not understand how all the information which I knew them to be possessed of was not appearing. The charges and allegations had made a great stir in America, and the disclosure of the whole working of the Clan-na-Gael in the “Behind the Scenes” articles had created such a sensation as seemed to me to make a full disclosure imperative, so that the American public might have accurate and complete data for arriving at a proper conclusion regarding the foul conspiracy existing in their midst.

I must not, however, travel too fast; and so shall have to go back a little, in order to complete the story of the Cronin-Sullivan dispute, which, in a way, came to a conclusion in the year of which I write. As I have already stated, the history of the Cronin affair while it lasted was the history of the Clan-na-Gael for the time being, and thus in completing my statement of it I shall be bringing the record of revolutionary matters down to the date at which they and I parted. To return, therefore, to the Cronin matter, which I left at the point in 1886 where appeals from outside quarters failed to heal the breach. As a last resort, a conference was arranged in September 1887 between committees from each organisation, the Sullivan section and the Cronin section; and a final effort was made to settle the differences. Cronin was one of the committee from his section, but he did not help the settlement. The conference continued up to April 1888, when a basis of union was arrived at. The rock upon which the disputants invariably split was the demand made by the Cronin section for the appointment of a committee to try their charges of misappropriation against the Executive, and the expulsion of the Executive from the organisation if found guilty. In the end, this was conceded; and a united Convention was called in June 1888, which, meeting first in Maddison Street Theatre, was eventually moved to Green Baum, in consequence of the allegation that British detectives had gained admission to the former place of meeting.

Here was pandemonium let loose for eight days, during which the Convention sat morning, noon, and night. I was a member of this assembly, and I never heard such a row in my life. The Sullivanites had it all their own way at first; but the seceders, with Cronin at their head, threatened to “bolt” if they did not get fair play; and they appealed to the patriotism of their countrymen to give them a chance. They were, accordingly, given a representation on all committees, but were always in a minority. Cronin perhaps took as prominent a part in the Convention as any man, and his conduct naturally incurred the enmity, and eventually the vengeance, of his opponents. He and Devoy submitted formal charges of fraud, &c., against Sullivan’s executive.[5] Strong language was used, but Sullivan’s friends defended him warmly. Finally a Trial Committee was appointed to try the parties charged. Cronin, strange to say, was a member of this Trial Committee, though he was one of the persons making the charges. There was a terrible scene when his appointment was made known, but the Convention had to put up with him in the end.

All the Trial Committee were sworn by the oath in the ritual to truly and justly try the charges submitted to them. The committee consisted of seven members, and as subsequent events showed, four of them were Sullivan’s friends. They met in November 1888. Previous to this, however, Cronin had been playing a very objectionable part. He spoke against the accused whenever occasion offered, wrote to the papers in accusation of them, and in no way showed himself the unbiassed person he had sworn himself to be. Sullivan naturally felt very bitter over all this, and he fell out with a number of friends who sided with Cronin in the claim for full investigation. When the trial came on, it was found that all the vouchers, papers, and indeed every evidence of expenditure, had been destroyed, in accordance with the resolution which had been adopted at the Boston Convention. This increased the uproar, and after two weeks of inquiry the majority, consisting of Sullivan’s friends, expressed themselves satisfied with the statements made by the accused; while the minority could only admit the proper expenditure of 33,000 dollars, which left a deficiency of 85,000 dollars, or £17,000. The result of the trial was that Michael Boland was convicted of misappropriation; Sullivan was acquitted, but censured for the loose way in which the Executive had done its business, and D. C. Feeley was likewise acquitted but censured. The details of this finding were given me, by the way, by Sullivan.

At the time I left for Europe, the Trial Committee had adjourned, and Cronin was back in Chicago. The Executive had refused to sustain the action of the Trial Committee by a majority of one, and there the affair stood. But Cronin would not let well enough alone. He had been talking very plainly, and denouncing Sullivan right and left. I figured in this trial by furnishing Sullivan with affidavits for his defence. Cronin afterwards charged Sullivan with getting me admitted into the organisation, and with putting me into a position of trust. This did not help matters, and altogether Cronin proved himself to be a very dangerous man in the eyes of Sullivan. Doubtless he possessed much information, the publication of which would damn Sullivan for ever. What followed is a matter of recent inquiry. Cronin was foully murdered, and Sullivan, with others, was charged with participation in the crime. Sullivan was released, but three men, well-known members of the Clan, were convicted, and sentenced to penal servitude for life.[6] The inquiry was fruitful in many ways, and brought to light a vast amount of corroboration of the most important portions of my testimony. There were, however, no two more sensational incidents than those produced by the report issued by Cronin after the Trial Committee had dissolved, and the positive proof now supplied for the first time of the statement frequently made, that Sullivan had in May 1882 received in his position as chief of the Clan-na-Gael a sum of £20,000 from Patrick Egan, then Treasurer of the Land League in Paris.

The report issued by Cronin stated amongst other things—

I give these extracts in order to show the reader how matters stood between Sullivan and Cronin on the eve of the latter’s murder. Into the details of the £20,000 transaction I need not enter, beyond stating the fact that banking officials were called to prove by their books that on May 15, 1882, Sullivan cashed, through Monroe and Co. of Paris, two cheques amounting to the sum I name. This, I may state, was about the date when Sullivan, in response to Mr. Parnell’s request, crossed to Paris in order to settle the difficulty with the Revolutionary body on the British side. As the following extracts will show, the matter had been one around which a great deal of controversy had raged for many years:—

---

Long before these final developments, however, I had sailed for England, and severed for all time my connection with Irish politics in the United States. I had come, as explained, to my father’s dying bedside. Unfortunately for me, I was not in time to find him conscious, and did not reach the house where he lay till the day on which he died. When the sad offices connected with his death had been fulfilled, I turned my thoughts again to home, and set about preparing for another voyage to the States. Everything had been completed for my departure, when I suddenly learned from Mr. Anderson that the Times had approached him with a view of obtaining a witness regarding the American side of the conspiracy. Before this point was reached, I had chatted over my proposal of going into the witness-box with Mr. Anderson, but he had very frankly told me that he had no intention of giving up such a useful informant of his own initiative; and as he had no connection with the Times case, he did not think it likely that any approach would be made to him on the subject.

Matters, however, turned out differently to what he expected, and on the eve of my departure for America I learned that my services might, after all, be utilised, and my desire to drive the truth home given full play. To be effective, however, my coming appearance should be kept a profound secret, and so I appealed to Mr. Anderson to make such arrangements as would allow of this being the case. As a result, I was informed a little later that the Times people had arranged that Mr. Houston should be the person with whom I should deal, and that to him alone should I be known pending my appearance in the witness-box. This was the first mention I had ever heard of Mr. Houston, and it was with no little curiosity I made my way to No. 3 Cork Street in search of the gentleman to whom I bore a single line of introduction. I remember well how, when I was first ushered into his now familiar room by his faithful “Rogers,” I gazed suspiciously at the tall youthful figure which met my view. As Mr. Houston took my letter of introduction from me and carelessly opened it, answering my suspicious glance with a slight smile hovering about his face, I could not help the remark, “Sir, you are a much younger man than I was led to believe I would meet.” The smile broadened into a laugh as the reply came back, “I am sorry, but I cannot help being young, you know. However, I am Mr. Houston.” And so we two people met for the first time.

I informed Mr. Houston that it was always an understood thing on my part that my letters to Mr. Anderson were private property, and that whenever I liked to ask for them they would be at my disposal. Accordingly I had, on learning that my evidence would be accepted, requested that Mr. Anderson should allow me to go over all my documents and select such as appeared necessary for the corroboration of my statements, as well as for the assisting of my memory. To this he had assented, excluding any of the papers which he had made official by passing them on at the time of their receipt. It was then arranged between Mr. Houston and myself that I should get the documents from Mr. Anderson, and go to work at once in the preparation of my evidence. Much to my disappointment, I learnt there was not time for me to make a last hurried trip home, and that if I was to carry out my intention of testifying I should have to be content with the many losses which would result from my stopping in England. One thing, however, I stipulated for, and that was the bringing over of all my family to England before I appeared in the box. I was willing to let all my private affairs go to ruin by my non-return; but I was not prepared to leave my wife and family to bear the brunt of the popular ill-will which would result from what was to follow.

One of the first things I did, therefore, was to cable for my wife and children; and having eased my mind on this score, I went to work with a will in the preparation of my evidence. For ten long working days, Mr. Houston and I waded through the hundreds of letters and Clan-na-Gael documents I had now at my disposal, he taking notes as he went along, and I dictating many items brought to my recollection by the letters I was perusing. We worked in this way from ten to six o’clock each day, undisturbed by visitors of any kind; and when I left him, Mr. Houston, with the assistance of his clerks, worked far into the night, copying the circulars, and transcribing the notes which remained at the end of our day’s work.

On Tuesday morning, the 5th of February 1889, the curtain was rung up, and throwing aside the mask for ever, I stepped into the witness-box and came out in my true colours, as an Englishman, proud of his country, and in no sense ashamed of his record in her service. On what followed I need not dwell. While I was under examination, my old employer, Mr. William Baber of Colchester, was brought into court by the well-known detective Meiklejohn, in order that he might identify me. Nothing, of course, came of the incident; but as I once more saw Mr. Baber, I thought to myself how little he knew of the part I had played at his father’s death-bed. It was in 1884 that I was hurriedly called one day to see a patient who was said to be dying. I found him an old man of eighty, surrounded by his family and friends. In a few minutes he was dead; and finding that all round about me were strangers to the grim monster, I performed the last offices for the body. As I was so employed, the poor people related to me their history, and then I learned to my surprise that the man whose eyes I was now closing in death was none other than the father of my former employer at Colchester, who had emigrated to America some few years previously.

Great as was the sensation produced by my strange and weird but true story, it was as nothing compared to that brought about by the perfect corroboration afforded by the assassination of poor Cronin, of whom I have said so much. Little did I think, when day after day I stood in the witness-box to tell my tale, and morning after morning read the scoffing references of those who believed it not, that in a little while the blood of a murdered Gael would cry out in judgment against those of whom I spoke, and that in the outcome truth would prevail, and the black foul conspiracy be dragged into the open light. Yet so it was; and to-day there are none who question the existence of the murderous alliance to which I testified, and of men within its ranks prepared to obey its leaders, even unto the shedding of blood.

---

This, then, is my story; and in it must be found the justification, if such be needed, for the part I have played. I have no apology to make for my twenty and odd years’ work in the Secret Service. I took up that work from a conscientious motive, and in a conscientious spirit I pursued it to the end. I have in no sense been an informer, as the phrase is understood. I allied myself with Fenianism in order to defeat it; I never turned from feelings of greed or gain on the men with whom I at first worked in sympathy. I never had any sympathy with Irish Revolutionists. Quite the opposite. Nor have I been an agent provocateur. Although I always voted for politic reasons on the side of the majority, even to the joining in the vote which meant dynamite, on no single occasion was I instrumental in bringing an individual to the commission of crime. True, I had to take many oaths. But what of that? By the taking of them I have saved many lives. Which counts the weightiest in the balance of life? And who is it that sneers at me for my conduct in this regard? An honest man’s criticism I can accept; but for the judgment of these double-oathed gentlemen who, having first taken the Fenian oath, then rushed to Westminster to swear allegiance to the Crown and Constitution they had aforetime sworn to destroy, I have nothing but contempt and derision. Away with such rubbish and cant as they indulge in to the regions where common-sense finds no place.

I said I have saved lives by my action as a Government agent. I hope I shall have done more by my appearance in the witness-box. To me no more satisfactory result could attend my disclosures than the realisation by the poor deluded Irish in the States of the way in which they have been tricked and humbugged in the past years. For these poor weak people, animated by the purest, if the most mistaken of patriotic motives, who give their little all in the hope and trust that the day will come in their lives when Ireland will be a land flowing with milk and honey, I have the deepest and the most sincere sympathy. To know these people, to come into contact with them, and to discuss with them the eternal subject of Irish nationality, is to respect their honesty of purpose, no matter how much we feel called upon to condemn their methods of procedure. But, for the blatant loud-voiced agitator, always bellowing forth his patriotic principles, while secretly filling his pockets with the bribe or the consequences of his theft, there can be no other feeling but that of undisguised loathing.

I speak of what I know from personal experience, when I say there is no greater fraud in this nineteenth century of ours than the modern Irish patriotic agitator in America. Gold is his god, his patriotic principles—save the mark!—his breviary and his beads, holding aloft which he stands at the corner of the market-place so that he may be seen of all men, and paid tribute to by some. By jobbery, trickery, treachery, and delusion of the meanest and most despicable type he works his way along, rising higher and higher in the ranks of his fellow-conspirators, till at last, in the position of responsibility and power, he sells the votes he can command, and pockets the funds over which he has control. Brave and blustering in speech, he advocates, in the safety of his American city, three thousand miles from the seat of danger, the most desperate of enterprises; and without the slightest pang of compunction or twinge of conscience he rushes his poor dupes across the water to their fate on the scaffold or the living death of penal servitude; while his lips unctuously mumble of the righteousness of their beloved cause, and his whisky-laden breath blasphemously calls for the blessings of Heaven upon the foul enterprise.

It has been in fighting such scoundrels as these that I have spent the last quarter of a century. From them I would fain deliver their poor dupes ere I completely efface myself from Irish affairs. I have no stronger, no sincerer wish than to see an end put once for all to the delusion which is practised upon thousands of poor Irishmen throughout the States by the men of whom I have written. With the rank and file it has assuredly been a case of “theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.” I hope it may not be so in the future. I trust that what I have penned, and what the sad murder of Cronin has writ large upon the page of history, may not be without its effect; and that to-day men may pause ere they continue in such a way as I have pictured, the mere tools of an unscrupulous faction, the miserable dupes of a reckless and improvident executive. Gallahers, Dalys, and Mackay Lomasneys there always will be—men inspired with fanatical hatred of all things English, and ready at all times to risk freedom and life in working out their designs; but, apart from them, there are thousands whose criminality reaches no further point than the paying of those subscriptions so frequently and so persistently demanded.

With such men I hope these words of mine will have weight; and if, awakening to a true sense of their situation, and realising that their combination and support help not Ireland but Ireland’s professional mendicants, they turn to a better path, and a clearer and more honest view of Irish matters as they really are, then shall I feel that I have not struggled or written in vain.

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NOTE.—The above letter was written to me by Sullivan before the trial of the charges brought against him by Cronin, and refers to evidence being collected by Sullivan to refute those charges. “D.” means division, “J. G.” and “S. G.” mean Junior Guardian and Senior Guardian; and the use of these initials peculiar to the Organization prove Sullivan’s continued participation in the Clan-na-Gael.

H. le C.

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• Agnew, Frank, details of, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael in 1876, 172.
• American Army, enlisted in, 9;
• different engagements with, 11, 12.
• American War, episodes in connection with, 13-19.
• Anderson, Mr., communications with, 60, 100;
• my reports to him regarding conversation with Mr. Parnell, 176;
• and regarding my visit to Ireland, 181;
• informs me of desire of Times for my services, 266;
• introduces me to Mr. Houston, 267;
• returns me my letters, 268;
• my tribute to, 271.
• Betts, Rev. Dr., at Dynamite Convention, 199;
• presides over Clan-na-Gael caucus prior to League conventions, 206, 227.
• Boland, Michael, details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 125;
• convicted of misappropriation of Clan-na-Gael funds, 261.
• Bourke, General Thomas, on Executive of Irish Confederation, 104;
• further details of, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 121;
• trustee of Skirmishing Fund, 137.
• Boyton, Michael, Devoy’s references to, as League organiser and Clan-na-Gael emissary, 157;
• interview with, at Kilmainham Prison, 179;
• his views on situation in Ireland, 180.
• Brennan, Thomas, Secretary of Land League in Ireland, at Philadelphia Convention, 209;
• story of his escape from Dublin, 230.
• Breslin, John J., details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 124;
• trustee of Skirmishing Fund, 136;
• assists Stephens to escape from Richmond Bridewell, Dublin, 164.
• Buffalo, the row at, 186.
• Canadian Invasion, story of the first, 31;
• story of the second, 82-85.
• Carey, James, evidence of, regarding hand-grenade, 158.
• Carroll, Dr. William, details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 122;
• trustee of Skirmishing Fund, 136;
• action in connection with proposed alliance with Russia, 140;
• visit to, on behalf of Mr. Parnell, and his views regarding position, 182.
• Clan-na-Gael, the beginning of the, 106;
• object of, 107;
• views which led to formation of, 108;
• general principles and methods of the, 110;
• form of admission to, 112;
• governing body of, 115;
• appointed on Military Board of, 119;
• leading men of the, 120;
• and the Skirmishing Fund, 136;
• work of the, 139;
• proposed alliance of, with Russia, 139;
• controls the Land League, 152;
• letter from Devoy regarding same, 154;
• Mr. Parnell on difficulties with Irish members of, 175;
• Michael Boyton on same, 180;
• Alex. Sullivan elected president of, 191;
• change of constitution of, 191;
• manipulating League organisation, 204;
• details of scheme for same, 205;
• and Phœnix Park murders, 208;
• and Philadelphia Convention of Land League, 211;
• Sullivan’s working of, 218;
• books and documents burnt, 220;
• and League Convention of 1886, 236;
• Egan and National League, 237;
• and Home Rule Bill, 246-248;
• and League movement, 250;
• finding of committee of, on Cronin charges, 261.
• Clerkenwell Explosion, references to, 71.
• Clingen, Colonel, details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 122;
• arranges for my bringing letters from Devoy to Europe, 159.
• Collins, P. A., candidature for presidency of National League in America unsuccessful, because of his offer of reward for discovery of Phœnix Park murderers, 215.
• Condon, O’Meagher, at Dynamite Convention, 198.
• Conventions, Fenian, at Philadelphia, 60;
• at New York, 76;
• Clan-na-Gael, at Pennsylvania, 146;
• at Wilkesbarre, 149;
• Land League, at Buffalo, 186;
• “Dynamite,” at Chicago, 187-194;
• Land League, at Chicago, 204;
• National League, at Philadelphia, 211;
• at Boston, 227;
• Clan-na-Gael, at Chicago, 231;
• National League, at Chicago, 236;
• Clan-na-Gael, at Chicago, 247, 259.
• Cronin, Dr. P. H., reference to, 123;
• attacks Sullivan for misappropriation of funds, 220;
• sketch of his life, 221;
• expelled from Clan-na-Gael, 226;
• development of dispute between, and Sullivan, 258;
• murder of, 262;
• corroboration of my evidence through murder of, 270;
• the story of the murder of, Appendix.
• Cross, Colonel, life and methods of, 44-48.
• Daly, “Jack,” story of, and Dynamite Campaign, 243;
• letters to Breslin on Home Office, 244.
• Davitt, Michael, release and arrival of in America, 142;
• opinions of, at this time, 143;
• visits camps of Clan-na-Gael, 143;
• meets with Devoy, 143;
• takes up “New Departure,” 143;
• returns to Ireland, 146;
• second visit to America, 151;
• advocates the Land League movement, 152;
• takes ill at Braidwood, 152;
• gives information unawares, 152;
• paid back moneys advanced from Skirmishing Fund, 153;
• Dr. Carroll’s views regarding, 183;
• speech against, by Devoy, 259.
• Devine, Joseph, story of escape of, from Illinois, 50.
• Devoy, John, arrival and sketch of, 103;
• further details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 76, 121;
• trustee of Skirmishing Fund, 137;
• and “New Departure,” 143;
• letters regarding same, 145;
• goes to Ireland as secret agent of Clan-na-Gael, 146;
• report regarding position of revolutionary forces in Ireland, 147;
• issues circular to Clan-na-Gael camps regarding Land League, 154;
• supplies details of plots and plans of Clan-na-Gael, 155;
• intrusts me with letters to Egan and O’Leary, 159;
• communication with regard to Mr. Parnell’s views, 181;
• letter from him regarding same, 182;
• at Dynamite Convention, 199;
• on Phœnix Park murders, 208;
• in opposition to Sullivan, 219;
• joins forces with Dr. Cronin, 225;
• secedes from Clan-na-Gael, 226;
• speech against Davitt, 259.
• Documents, in connection with second Canadian raid, 78;
• in connection with Clan-na-Gael, 112;
• my procedure with regard to, 128;
• telegram regarding “New Departure,” 144;
• Devoy’s letter, 145;
• Devoy’s letter re League and Clan-na-Gael, 154;
• my report to my “camp” of League Convention, 213;
• Egan’s letter of introduction to League in America, 234;
• Clan-na-Gael circulars re Home Rule Bill, 246, 247;
• Clan-na-Gael resolution re National League, 250;
• extract from Cronin report on misappropriation of funds, 263.
• Dunne, P. W., details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 123.
• Dynamite, invention of hand-grenade, 158;
• Convention of 1881, 187;
• proceedings at, 188;
• description of, 194;
• Sullivan supplies particulars of campaign of 1883, 217;
• sketch of same in England, 237;
• methods of conveying, 240-242.
• Egan, Patrick, and rescue of Australian prisoners, 73;
• Devoy intrusts me with letter to, 159;
• first meeting with, in Paris, 160;
• description of, 161;
• life with, in Paris, 167;
• as “a Land Leaguer, and something else besides,” 168;
• on Mr. Parnell as a Revolutionist, 169;
• on the Land League accounts and audit, 169;
• introduces me to M.P.’s, 171;
• Devoy on, and Phœnix Park murders, 208;
• arrival of, in America, 209;
• position as regards matters in America, 211;
• and Clan-na-Gael caucus in connection with Philadelphia Convention, 211;
• appointed president of American National League, 227;
• a tribute to, 228;
• tells the story of his escape from Dublin, 229;
• on Dr. Gallaher and Dynamite Campaign, 230;
• speech at camp meeting at Philadelphia, 231;
• supplies me with general introduction to League in America, 234;
• circulars of, as president of League, to camps of Clan-na-Gael, 237;
• charges by Rossa against, in connection with £20,000 paid to Sullivan, 264.
• England, my first visit to, 36;
• my second, 159;
• my third, 257;
• my fourth and last, 257.
• Facsimile of Fenian bond, 27.
• Fatalism, thoughts on, 24.
• Feeley, Denis, details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 124;
• at the Dynamite Convention, 201;
• acquitted but censured in connection with Cronin charges, 261.
• Fenianism, state of affairs in connection with, 25;
• methods of obtaining money for, 27;
• Andrew Johnson’s government and, 28;
• my first connection with, 29.
• Fenian Brotherhood, I join the, 38;
• I organise a “camp” or “circle” of, 40;
• appointed major and military organiser of, 54;
• my first speech to, 56;
• appointed inspector-general of, 60;
• appointed assistant-adjutant-general of, 74;
• appointed adjutant-general and brigadier-general of, 82.
• Fenian prisoners, rescue of, from Australia, 72.
• Finerty, John F., and first Canadian invasion, 31;
• at League Convention, 206.
• Ford, Austin, medium of communication between Clan-na-Gael and Irish World, 133.
• Ford, Patrick, as editor of Irish World, advocates Skirmishing Fund, 131;
• sketch of, 131;
• Irish World and Clan-na-Gael, 133.
• Forester, Bill, escape of, from Illinois, 51.
• Fox, Dr. J. G., meeting with, 251.
• Gallaher, Dr., views on dynamite, 192;
• at Dynamite Convention, 200;
• introduced to Mr. Gladstone, 218;
• organising Dynamite Campaign in England, 238;
• with Sullivan in Chicago, 230;
• sentence on, 241;
• £1400 found on, 241.
• Grant, General, and the second invasion of Canada, 88.
• Hand-grenade adopted by Clan-na-Gael, 158.
• Home Rule, effects of Mr. Gladstone’s Bill, 235.
• Houston, Mr., first meeting with, 267;
• preparation of evidence by, 269.
• Hynes, Wm. J., details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 76, 123;
• in communication with, regarding Mr. Parnell’s proposals, 184;
• at Dynamite Convention, 196;
• at Land League Convention, 206.
• Inner Circle, Knights of the, 107, 117.
• Ireland, visit to, 177.
• Irish Confederation, formation of, 101;
• executive of, 104.
• Irish Republican Brotherhood, establishment of, 109;
• John Devoy’s report on, 147;
• troubles of Mr. Parnell with, 173;
• Boyton’s references to position of, 180;
• efforts of Sullivan to capture, 254.
• Irish World, Patrick Ford in columns of, advocates Skirmishing Fund, 130;
• reference to position of, 132;
• and Clan-na-Gael, 133;
• and Skirmishing Fund, 137;
• statement of accounts, 193.
• Johnson, Andrew, and first Canadian raid, 28, 35;
• interview with, 57.
• Jubilee Explosion Plot, reference to, 254;
• Millen’s connection with, 255;
• story of the, Appendix.
• Kenny, Dr., M.P., introduced to, by Patrick Egan, 179;
• assisted by him to interviews with Boyton and others, 179.
• Kerwin, Michael, details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 78, 124.
• Land League and Clan-na-Gael. See latter.
• Lomasney, Thos., first dealings with, 100;
• description of, 101;
• views on dynamite, 192;
• dynamite work in England, 222.
• Luby, Thos. Clarke, on executive of Irish Confederation, 104;
• further details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 121;
• trustee of Skirmishing Fund, 137.
• M‘Micken, Judge, first communications with, 60;
• his kindly treatment of me, 61;
• and my troubles in connection with journey to Ottawa, 94;
• my last meeting with, 273.
• Medicine, I commence study of, 36;
• resume study of, 97;
• I enter Detroit College of, 100;
• I become a fully qualified doctor of, 105;
• I utilise my connection with, 126.
• Meledy, Joseph, supplies details of “active” work of Clan-na-Gael, 158.
• Millen, General, details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 125;
• goes to Ireland as military inspector for Clan-na-Gael, 146;
• my meeting with, in Paris, 253;
• his connection with Jubilee Explosion Plot, 254 and Appendix.
• Moroney, Joseph, and Jubilee Plot, 256;
• introduced by J. S. Nolan, M.P., to House of Commons, 256;
• in possession of £1200 for dynamite work, 274;
• his movements in connection with same, Appendix.
• New Departure, Devoy and Davitt and, 143;
• sketch of, 144;
• advocated by Devoy in Ireland, 146;
• received with enthusiasm by the Gaels, 149.
• [See also “Davitt” and “Devoy.”]
• O’Connor, John, alias Dr. Clarke, travelling agent for Clan-na-Gael in Europe and ally of Egan, 190.
• O’Donovan Rossa, arrival of, and sketch of, 102;
• further details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 121;
• advocates “Skirmishing Fund,” 130, 135;
• Devoy on difficulties regarding, 156;
• expelled from Clan-na-Gael, 209;
• work of his agents in England, 237;
• controversy with Egan regarding the £20,000, 264.
• O’Kelly, J. J., member of executive of Irish Confederation, 104;
• obtains seat in Parliament by misappropriation of Clan-na-Gael funds, 153;
• interview with, in House of Commons, 172.
• O’Leary, John, letter for, given me by Devoy, 159;
• my first meeting with, 161;
• Sullivan informs me, must be got rid of, 185.
• O’Neill, General John, and Fenianism, 29;
• commands first invasion of Canada, 32;
• extract of report regarding same, 34;
• sketch of his life, 38-40;
• my loan to, 77;
• general orders of, in connection with second invasion of Canada, 83;
• speech to the invaders, 85;
• arrest of, 88;
• sentence on, 97;
• and the Riel Rebellion, 98;
• last days of, 99.
• O’Reilly, John Boyle, arrival in America of, 72;
• at invasion of Canada, 88.
• Parnell, Mr., and the New Departure, 144;
• arrival in America, 130;
• supported everywhere by Clan-na-Gael representatives, 130;
• returns to Ireland for General Election, 151;
• Devoy on position of, with regard to Clan-na-Gael, 157;
• my first meeting with, 171;
• House of Commons interview with, 175;
• gives me his portrait, 177;
• his request to me carried out, 190;
• and Kilmainham Treaty, 210;
• cables to American supporters, 212;
• subsequent references to, 215, 235, 236, 255.
• Powderly, J. V., speech at Dynamite Convention, 201;
• at Land League Convention, 206.
• Phœnix Park murders, Clan-na-Gael and Devoy and, 207.
• Rebow, Mr. John, communicates my letters regarding Canadian invasion to Government, 30;
• arranges for my joining Secret Service, 37.
• Revolutionary Directory of Clan-na-Gael, details regarding, 116;
• Devoy supplies particulars regarding plans of, 155;
• referred to with respect to Mr. Parnell’s complaint regarding Irish Republican Brotherhood, 186;
• complaints regarding, 188.
• Reynolds, James, details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael, 122;
• trustee of Skirmishing Fund, 136.
• Russia, Clan-na-Gael alliance with, 140.
• Secret Service, I join the, 37;
• general references to, 273-276.
• Sheridan, P. J., in Kilmainham Prison, 179;
• arrival of, in America, 209.
• Skirmishing Fund and O’Donovan Rossa, 121;
• advocated in Irish World, 131;
• and Clan-na-Gael, 136;
• pays for expenses of Devoy and Millen in Ireland, 149;
• statement of accounts of, from Irish World, 193.
• Special Commission, my offer of evidence for, 259;
• I appear as a witness at, 269.
• Speech, my first Irish, 55.
• Stephens, James, brought from France for Irish Confederation, 104;
• my first meeting with, 163;
• story of his escape from Richmond Bridewell, 164.
• Stone of Destiny, plot to obtain, 224.
• Sullivan, Alexander, my first meeting with, 61;
• the early career of, 62;
• manipulation of the Irish vote in America by, 63;
• appointed collector of internal revenue at Santa Fé, 65;
• reporter in Chicago, 65;
• further details regarding, and his connection with Clan-na-Gael in 1876, 120;
• supplies details of “active” work of Clan-na-Gael, 158;
• my report to, regarding Mr. Parnell’s views, 184;
• informs me result of same, 185;
• elected president of Clan-na-Gael, 191;
• trip to Europe, 191;
• at Dynamite Convention, 203;
• elected president of Land League, 212;
• supplies particulars of Dynamite Campaign of 1883, 217;
• charged with misappropriation, 219;
• at war with Cronin and Devoy, 225;
• Mr. Sexton’s tribute to, 228;
• and J. G. Blaine’s candidature, 235;
• tried and acquitted but censured in connection with Cronin’s charges, 261;
• proved to have received £20,000 from Egan in Paris in 1882, 263;
• alleged connection with Cronin murder, Appendix.
• Sullivan, A. M., the late, reference to, 170;
• cautioned regarding, 177;
• story about Mr. Biggar, 178.
• “Times,” the, my first dealings with, 266.
• Triangle, the, formed in connection with split in Clan-na-Gael, 220;
• acknowledgments of money received by, 231;
• charges against, 232.
• Tynan, P. J., No. One of the Phœnix Park murders, present at Boston Convention, 228.
• “United Irishmen,” the, of New York, 107.
• “United Brotherhood,” reference to, 110.
• “U. S.,” formation of, 219.
• “V. C.” See “Clan-na-Gael.”
• Walsh, R. P., the father of the Clan-na-Gael, 108.

THE   END.

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PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
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Telegraphic Address:

Sunlocks, London.

21 Bedford Street, w.c.
October 1892.    

A LIST OF

Mr WILLIAM HEINEMANN’S

Publications

AND

Forthcoming Works

The Books mentioned in this List can be obtained to order by any Bookseller if not in stock, or will be sent by the Publisher post free on receipt of price.

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VICTORIA:

QUEEN AND EMPRESS.

BY

JOHN CORDY JEAFFRESON,

Author of “The Real Lord Byron,” etc.

In Two Volumes, 8vo. With Portraits.     [In October.

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TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE
SECRET SERVICE.

THE RECOLLECTIONS OF A SPY.

BY

MAJOR LE CARON.

In One Volume, 8vo. With Portraits and Facsimiles. Price, 14s.

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REMINISCENCES OF
COUNT LEO NICHOLAEVITCH
TOLSTOI.

BY

C. A. BEHRS,

TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY

PROFESSOR C. E. TURNER.

In One Volume, Crown 8vo.     [In October.

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THE REALM OF THE HABSBURGS

BY

SIDNEY WHITMAN,

Author of “Imperial Germany.”

In One Volume. Crown 8vo.     [In November.

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ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON:

A STUDY OF HIS LIFE AND WORK.

BY

ARTHUR WAUGH, B.A. Oxon.

WITH TWENTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS.

From Photographs Specially Taken for this Work, and Two Portraits.

In One Volume, Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d.

Contents:—Lincolnshire—Cambridge—Literary troubles and Arthur Hallam’s Death—Early Years in London—The Beginnings of Fame—From The Princess to In Memoriam—Maud—Idylls of the King—From the Idylls to the Dramas—Queen Mary and Harold—The Falcon and The Cup—The Promise of May and Becket—From Tiresias to Demeter—The Closing Years—The Voice of the Age.

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THE WORKS OF HEINRICH HEINE. Translated by Charles Godfrey Leland, M.A., F.R.L.S. (Hans Breitmann.) Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. per Volume.

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The Great Educators.

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Now ready.

ARISTOTLE, and the Ancient Educational Ideals. By Thomas Davidson, M.A., LL.D.

The Times.—“A very readable sketch of a very interesting subject.”

LOYOLA, and the Educational System of the Jesuits. By Rev. Thomas Hughes, S.J.

Saturday Review.—“Full of valuable information.... If a schoolmaster would learn how the education of the young can be carried on so as to confer real dignity on those engaged in it, we recommend him to read Mr. Hughes’ book.”

ALCUIN, and the Rise of the Christian Schools. By Professor Andrew F. West, Ph.D.     [In October.

In preparation.

ABELARD, and the Origin and Early History of Universities. By Jules Gabriel Compayre, Professor in the Faculty of Toulouse.

ROUSSEAU; or, Education according to Nature.

HERBART; or, Modern German Education.

PESTALOZZI; or, the Friend and Student of Children.

FROEBEL. By H. Courthope Bowen, M.A.

HORACE MANN, and Public Education in the United States. By Nicholas Murray Butler, Ph.D.

BELL, LANCASTER, and ARNOLD; or, the English Education of To-Day. By J. G. Fitch, LL.D., Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools.

Others to follow.

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THE GREAT WAR OF 189-. A Forecast. By Rear-Admiral Colomb, Col. Maurice, R.A., Major Henderson, Staff College, Captain Maude, Archibald Forbes, Charles Lowe, D. Christie Murray, F. Scudamore, and Sir Charles Dilke. In One Volume, 4to, Illustrated.     [Nearly ready.

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THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES. As pleasingly exemplified in many instances, wherein the serious ones of this earth, carefully exasperated, have been prettily spurred on to indiscretions and unseemliness, while overcome by an undue sense of right. By J. M‘Neil Whistler. A New Edition. Pott 4to, half cloth, 10s. 6d.     [Just ready.

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ADDRESSES. By Henry Irving. Small crown 8vo. With Portrait by J. M‘N. Whistler.     [In the Press.

STRAY MEMORIES. By Ellen Terry. 4to. With Portraits.     [In preparation.

LITTLE JOHANNES. By Frederick van Eeden. Translated from the Dutch by Clara Bell. With an Introduction by Andrew Lang. Illustrated.     [In preparation.

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THE LIFE OF HENRIK IBSEN. By Henrik Jæger. Translated by Clara Bell. With the Verse done into English from the Norwegian Original by Edmund Gosse. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.

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DE QUINCEY MEMORIALS. Being Letters and other Records here first Published, with Communications from Coleridge, The Wordsworths, Hannah More, Professor Wilson and others. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, and Narrative, by Alexander H. Japp, LL.D. F.R.S.E. In two volumes, demy 8vo, cloth, with portraits, 30s. net.

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*** Dedicated, by permission, to H.R.H. the Princess of Wales.

IMPERIAL GERMANY. A Critical Study of Fact and Character. By Sidney Whitman. New Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Crown 8vo, cloth 2s. 6d.; paper, 2s.

THE CANADIAN GUIDE-BOOK. Part I. The Tourist’s and Sportsman’s Guide to Eastern Canada and Newfoundland, including full descriptions of Routes, Cities, Points of Interest, Summer Resorts, Fishing Places, &c., in Eastern Ontario, The Muskoka District, The St. Lawrence Region, The Lake St. John Country, The Maritime Provinces, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. With an Appendix giving Fish and Game Laws, and Official Lists of Trout and Salmon Rivers and their Lessees. By Charles G. D. Roberts, Professor of English Literature in King’s College, Windsor, N.S. With Maps and many Illustrations. Crown 8vo, limp cloth, 6s.

   Part II. WESTERN CANADA. Including the Peninsula and Northern Regions of Ontario, the Canadian Shores of the Great Lakes, the Lake of the Woods Region, Manitoba and “The Great North-West,” The Canadian Rocky Mountains and National Park, British Columbia, and Vancouver Island. By Ernest Ingersoll. With Maps and many Illustrations. Crown 8vo, limp cloth.     [In preparation.

THE GENESIS OF THE UNITED STATES. A Narrative of the Movement in England, 1605-1616, which resulted in the Plantation of North America by Englishmen, disclosing the Contest between England and Spain for the Possession of the Soil now occupied by the United States of America; set forth through a series of Historical Manuscripts now first printed, together with a Re-issue of Rare Contemporaneous Tracts, accompanied by Bibliographical Memoranda, Notes, and Brief Biographies. Collected, Arranged, and Edited by Alexander Brown, F.R.H.S. With 100 Portraits, Maps, and Plans. In two volumes. Roy. 8vo, buckram, £3 13s. 6d.

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Fiction.

In Three Volumes.

THE HEAD OF THE FIRM. By Mrs. Riddell, Author of “George Geith,” “Maxwell Drewett,” &c.     [Just ready.

CHILDREN OF THE GHETTO. By I. Zangwill, Author of “The Old Maids’ Club,” &c.     [Just ready.

THE TOWER OF TADDEO. A Novel. By Ouida, Author of “Two Little Wooden Shoes,” &c.     [In October.

KITTY’S FATHER. By Frank Barrett. Author of “Lieutenant Barnabas,” &c.     [In November.

THE COUNTESS RADNA. By W. E. Norris, Author of “Matrimony,” &c.     [In January.

ORIOLE’S DAUGHTER. A Novel. By Jessie Fothergill, Author of “The First Violin,” &c.     [In February.

THE LAST SENTENCE. By Maxwell Gray, Author of “The Silence of Dean Maitland,” &c.     [In March.

In Two Volumes.

WOMAN AND THE MAN. A Love Story. By Robert Buchanan, Author of “Come Live with Me and be My Love,” “The Moment After,” “The Coming Terror,” &c.     [In preparation.

A KNIGHT OF THE WHITE FEATHER. By “Tasma,” Author of “The Penance of Portia James,” “Uncle Piper of Piper’s Hill,” &c.     [Just ready.

A LITTLE MINX. By Ada Cambridge, Author of “A Marked Man,” “The Three Miss Kings,” &c.

In One Volume.

THE NAULAHKA. A Tale of West and East. By Rudyard Kipling and Wolcott Balestier. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. Second Edition.     [Just ready.

THE SECRET OF NARCISSE. By Edmund Gosse. Crown 8vo.     [In October.

THE AVERAGE WOMAN. By Wolcott Balestier. With an Introduction by Henry James. Small crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.     [Just ready.

THE ATTACK ON THE MILL and Other Sketches of War. By Emile Zola. With an essay on the short stories of M. Zola by Edmund Gosse. Small crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.     [Just ready.

DUST. By Björnstjerne Björnson. Translated from the Norwegian. Small crown 8vo.

MADEMOISELLE MISS and Other Stories. By Henry Harland, Author of “Mea Culpa,” &c. Small crown 8vo.     [In the Press.

AVENGED ON SOCIETY. By H. F. Wood. Small crown 8vo.     [In the Press.

THE DOMINANT SEVENTH. A Musical Story. By Kate Elizabeth Clarke. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.

Speaker.—“A very romantic story.”

PASSION THE PLAYTHING. A Novel. By R. Murray Gilchrist. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.

Athenæum.—“This well-written story must be read to be appreciated.”

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The Crown Copyright Series.

Mr. Heinemann has made arrangements with a number of the First and Most Popular English, American, and Colonial Authors which will enable him to issue a series of New and Original Works, to be known as The Crown Copyright Series, complete in One Volume, at a uniform price of Five Shillings each. These Novels will not pass through an Expensive Two or Three Volume Edition, but they will be obtainable at the Circulating Libraries, as well as at all Booksellers’ and Bookstalls.

ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. By Amélie Rives, Author of “The Quick or the Dead.”

Scotsman.—“The literary work is highly artistic.... It has beauty and brightness, and a kind of fascination which carries the reader on till he has read to the last page.”

THE PENANCE OF PORTIA JAMES. By Tasma, Author of “Uncle Piper of Piper’s Hill,” &c.

Athenæum.—“A powerful novel.”

Daily Chronicle.—“Captivating and yet tantalising, this story is far above the average.”

Vanity Fair.—“A very interesting story, morally sound, and flavoured throughout with ease of diction and lack of strain.”

INCONSEQUENT LIVES. A Village Chronicle, shewing how certain folk set out for El Dorado; what they attempted; and what they attained. By J. H. Pearce, Author of “Esther Pentreath,” &c.

Saturday Review.—“A vivid picture of the life of Cornish fisher-folk. It is unquestionably interesting.”

Literary World.—“Powerful and pathetic ... from first to last it is profoundly interesting. It is long since we read a story revealing power of so high an order, marked by such evident carefulness of workmanship, such skill in the powerful and yet temperate presentation of passion, and in the sternly realistic yet delicate treatment of difficult situations.”

A QUESTION OF TASTE. By Maarten Maartens, Author of “An Old Maid’s Love,” &c.

National Observer.—“There is more than cleverness; there is original talent, and a good deal of humanity besides.”

COME LIVE WITH ME AND BE MY LOVE. By Robert Buchanan, Author of “The Moment After,” “The Coming Terror,” &c.

Globe.—“Will be found eminently readable.”

Daily Telegraph.—“We will conclude this brief notice by expressing our cordial admiration of the skill displayed in its construction, and the genial humanity that has inspired its author in the shaping and vitalising of the individuals created by his fertile imagination.”

THE O’CONNORS OF BALLINAHINCH. By Mrs. Hungerford, Author of “Molly Bawn,” &c.     [In the Press.

A BATTLE AND A BOY. By Blanche Willis Howard, Author of “Guenn,” &c.     [In preparation.

VANITAS. By Vernon Lee, Author of “Hauntings,” &c.     [In preparation.

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Heinemann’s International Library.

Edited by EDMUND GOSSE.

New Review.—“If you have any pernicious remnants of literary chauvinism I hope it will not survive the series of foreign classics of which Mr. William Heinemann, aided by Mr. Edmund Gosse, is publishing translations to the great contentment of all lovers of literature.”

Times.—“A venture which deserves encouragement.”

Each Volume has an Introduction specially written by the Editor

Price, in paper covers, 2s. 6d. each, or cloth, 3s. 6d.

IN GOD’S WAY. From the Norwegian of Björnstjerne Björnson.

Athenæum.—“Without doubt the most important and the most interesting work published during the twelve months.... There are descriptions which certainly belong to the best and cleverest things our literature has ever produced. Amongst the many characters, the doctor’s wife is unquestionably the first. It would be difficult to find anything more tender, soft, and refined than this charming personage.”

PIERRE AND JEAN. From the French of Guy de Maupassant.

Pall Mall Gazette.—“So fine and faultless, so perfectly balanced, so steadily progressive, so clear and simple and satisfying. It is admirable from beginning to end.”

Athenæum.—“Ranks amongst the best gems of modern French fiction.”

THE CHIEF JUSTICE. From the German of Karl Emil Franzos, Author of “For the Right,” &c.

New Review.—“Few novels of recent times have a more sustained and vivid human interest.”

Christian World.—“A story of wonderful power ... as free from anything objectionable as ‘The Heart of Midlothian.’”

WORK WHILE YE HAVE THE LIGHT. From the Russian of Count Lyof Tolstoy.

Liverpool Mercury.—“Marked by all the old power of the great Russian novelist.”

Manchester Guardian.—“Readable and well translated; full of high and noble feeling.”

FANTASY. From the Italian of Matilde Serao.

National Observer.—“The strongest work from the hand of a woman that has been published for many a day.”

Scottish Leader.—“The book is full of a glowing and living realism.... There is nothing like ‘Fantasy’ in modern literature.... It is a work of elfish art, a mosaic of light and love, of right and wrong, of human weakness and strength, and purity and wantonness, pieced together in deft and witching precision.”

FROTH. From the Spanish of Don Armando Palacio-Valdés.

Daily Telegraph.—“Vigorous and powerful in the highest degree. It abounds in forcible delineation of character, and describes scenes with rare and graphic strength.”

FOOTSTEPS OF FATE. From the Dutch of Louis Couperus.

Daily Chronicle.—“A powerfully realistic story which has been excellently translated.”

Gentlewoman.—“The consummate art of the writer prevents this tragedy from sinking to melodrama. Not a single situation is forced or a circumstance exaggerated.”

PEPITA JIMÉNEZ. From the Spanish of Juan Valera.

New Review (Mr. George Saintsbury):—“There is no doubt at all that it is one of the best stories that have appeared in any country in Europe for the last twenty years.”

THE COMMODORE’S DAUGHTERS. From the Norwegian of Jonas Lie.

Athenæum.—“Everything that Jonas Lie writes is attractive and pleasant; the plot of deeply human interest, and the art noble.”

THE HERITAGE OF THE KURTS. From the Norwegian of Björnstjerne Björnson.

Pall Mall Gazette.—“A most fascinating as well as a powerful book.”

National Observer.—“It is a book to read and a book to think about, for, incontestably, it is the work of a man of genius.”

In the Press.

LOU. From the German of Baron v. Roberts.

DONA LUZ. From the Spanish of Juan Valera.

WITHOUT DOGMA. From the Polish of H. Sienkiewicz.

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Popular 3s. 6d. Novels.

CAPT’N DAVY’S HONEYMOON, The Blind Mother, and The Last Confession. By Hall Caine, Author of “The Bondman,” “The Scapegoat,” &c.

THE SCAPEGOAT. By Hall Caine, Author of “The Bondman,” &c.

Mr. Gladstone writes:—“I congratulate you upon ‘The Scapegoat’ as a work of art, and especially upon the noble and skilfully drawn character of Israel.”

Times.—“In our judgment it excels in dramatic force all his previous efforts. For grace and touching pathos Naomi is a character which any romancist in the world might be proud to have created.”

THE BONDMAN. A New Saga. By Hall Caine. Twentieth Thousand.

Mr. Gladstone.—“‘The Bondman’ is a work of which I recognise the freshness, vigour, and sustained interest no less than its integrity of aim.”

Standard.—“Its argument is grand, and it is sustained with a power that is almost marvellous.”

DESPERATE REMEDIES. By Thomas Hardy, Author of “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” &c.

Saturday Review.—“A remarkable story worked out with abundant skill.”

A MARKED MAN: Some Episodes in his Life. By Ada Cambridge, Author of “Two Years’ Time,” “A Mere Chance,” &c.

Morning Post.—“A depth of feeling, a knowledge of the human heart, and an amount of tact that one rarely finds. Should take a prominent place among the novels of the season.”

THE THREE MISS KINGS. By Ada Cambridge, Author of “A Marked Man.”

Athenæum.—“A charming study of character. The love stories are excellent, and the author is happy in tender situations.”

NOT ALL IN VAIN. By Ada Cambridge, Author of “A Marked Man,” “The Three Miss Kings,” &c.

Guardian.—“A clever and absorbing story.”

Queen.—“All that remains to be said is ‘read the book.’”

UNCLE PIPER OF PIPER’S HILL. By Tasma. New Popular Edition.

Guardian.—“Every page of it contains good wholesome food, which demands and repays digestion. The tale itself is thoroughly charming, and all the characters are delightfully drawn. We strongly recommend all lovers of wholesome novels to make acquaintance with it themselves, and are much mistaken if they do not heartily thank us for the introduction.”

IN THE VALLEY. By Harold Frederic. Author of “The Lawton Girl,” “Seth’s Brother’s Wife,” &c. With Illustrations.

Times.—“The literary value of the book is high; the author’s studies of bygone life presenting a life-like picture.”

PRETTY MISS SMITH. By Florence Warden, Author of “The House on the Marsh,” “A Witch of the Hills,” &c.

Punch.—“Since Miss Florence Warden’s ‘House on the Marsh,’ I have not read a more exciting tale.”

NOR WIFE, NOR MAID. By Mrs. Hungerford, Author of “Molly Bawn,” &c.

Queen.—“It has all the characteristics of the writer’s work, and greater emotional depth than most of its predecessors.”

Scotsman.—“Delightful reading, supremely interesting.”

MAMMON. A Novel. By Mrs. Alexander, Author of “The Wooing O’t,” &c.

Scotsman.—“The present work is not behind any of its predecessors. ‘Mammon’ is a healthy story, and as it has been thoughtfully written it has the merit of creating thought in its readers.”

DAUGHTERS OF MEN. By Hannah Lynch, Author of “The Prince of the Glades,” &c.

Daily Telegraph.—“Singularly clever and fascinating.”

Academy.—“One of the cleverest, if not also the pleasantest, stories that have appeared for a long time.”

A ROMANCE OF THE CAPE FRONTIER. By Bertram Mitford, Author of “Through the Zulu Country,” &c.

Observer.—“This is a rattling tale, genial, healthy, and spirited.”

’TWEEN SNOW AND FIRE. A Tale of the Kafir War of 1877. By Bertram Mitford.

THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward.

Athenæum.—“A thrilling story.”

LOS CERRITOS. A Romance of the Modern Time. By Gertrude Franklin Atherton, Author of “Hermia Suydam,” and “What Dreams may Come.”

Athenæum.—“Full of fresh fancies and suggestions. Told with strength and delicacy. A decidedly charming romance.”

A MODERN MARRIAGE. By the Marquise Clara Lanza.

Queen.—“A powerful story, dramatically and consistently carried out.”

Black and White.—“A decidedly clever book.”

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Popular Shilling Books.

MADAME VALERIE. By F. C. Philips, Author of “As in a Looking-Glass,” &c.

THE MOMENT AFTER: A Tale of the Unseen. By Robert Buchanan.

Athenæum.—“Should be read—in daylight.”

Observer.—“A clever tour de force.”

Guardian.—“Particularly impressive, graphic, and powerful.”

CLUES; or, Leaves from a Chief Constable’s Note-Book. By William Henderson, Chief Constable of Edinburgh.

Mr. Gladstone.—“I found the book full of interest.”

A VERY STRANGE FAMILY. By F. W. Robinson, Author of “Grandmother’s Money,” “Lazarus in London,” &c.

Glasgow Herald.—“An ingeniously devised plot, of which the interest is kept up to the very last page. A judicious blending of humour and pathos further helps to make the book delightful reading from start to finish.”

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Dramatic Literature.

THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR W. PINERO.

With Introductory Notes by Malcolm C. Salaman. 16mo, Paper Covers, 1s. 6d.; or Cloth, 2s. 6d. each.

THE TIMES: A Comedy in Four Acts. With a Preface by the Author. (Vol. I.)

Daily Telegraph.—“‘The Times’ is the best example yet given of Mr. Pinero’s power as a satirist. So clever is his work that it beats down opposition. So fascinating is his style that we cannot help listening to him.”

Morning Post.—“Mr. Pinero’s latest belongs to a high order of dramatic literature, and the piece will be witnessed again with all the greater zest after the perusal of such admirable dialogue.”

THE PROFLIGATE: A Play in Four Acts. With Portrait of the Author, after J. Mordecai. (Vol. II.)

Pall Mall Gazette.—“Will be welcomed by all who have the true interests of the stage at heart.”

THE CABINET MINISTER: A Farce in Four Acts. (Vol. III.)

Observer.—“It is as amusing to read as it was when played.”

THE HOBBY HORSE: A Comedy in Three Acts. (Vol. IV.)

St. James’s Gazette.—“Mr. Pinero has seldom produced better or more interesting work than in ‘The Hobby Horse.’”

LADY BOUNTIFUL. A Play in Four Acts. (Vol. V.)

THE MAGISTRATE. A Farce in Three Acts. (Vol. VI.)

To be followed by Dandy Dick, The Schoolmistress, The Weaker Sex, Lords and Commons, The Squire, and Sweet Lavender.

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A NEW PLAY. By Henrik Ibsen. Translated from the Norwegian. Small 4to.     [In preparation.

A NEW PLAY. By Björnstjerne Björnson. Translated from the Norwegian.     [In preparation.

THE PRINCESSE MALEINE: A Drama in Five Acts (Translated by Gerard Harry), and THE INTRUDER: A Drama in One Act. By Maurice Maeterlinck. With an Introduction by Hall Caine, and a Portrait of the Author. Small 4to, cloth, 5s.

Athenæum.—“In the creation of the ‘atmosphere’ of the play M. Maeterlinck shows his skill. It is here that he communicates to us the nouveau frisson, here that he does what no one else has done. In ‘The Intruder’ the art consists of the subtle gradations of terror, the slow, creeping progress of the nightmare of apprehension. Nothing quite like it has been done before—not even by Poe—not even by Villiers.”

THE FRUITS OF ENLIGHTENMENT: A Comedy in Four Acts. By Count Lyof Tolstoy. Translated from the Russian by E. J. Dillon. With Introduction by A. W. Pinero. Small 4to, with Portrait, 5s.

Pall Mall Gazette.—“The whole effect of the play is distinctly Molièresque; it has something of the large humanity of the master. Its satire is genial, almost gay.”

HEDDA GABLER: A Drama in Four Acts. By Henrik Ibsen. Translated from the Norwegian by Edmund Gosse. Small 4to, cloth, with Portrait, 5s. Vaudeville Edition, paper, 1s. Also a Limited Large Paper Edition, 21s. net.

Times.—“The language in which this play is couched is a model of brevity, decision, and pointedness.... Every line tells, and there is not an incident that does not bear on the action immediate or remote. As a corrective to the vapid and foolish writing with which the stage is deluged ‘Hedda Gabler’ is perhaps entitled to the place of honour.”

STRAY MEMORIES. By Ellen Terry. In one volume. Illustrated.     [In preparation.

SOME INTERESTING FALLACIES OF THE Modern Stage. An Address delivered to the Playgoers’ Club at St. James’s Hall, on Sunday, 6th December, 1891. By Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Crown 8vo, sewed, 6d.

THE LIFE OF HENRIK IBSEN. By Henrik Jæger. Translated by Clara Bell. With the Verse done into English from the Norwegian Original by Edmund Gosse. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.

St. James’s Gazette.—“Admirably translated. Deserves a cordial and emphatic welcome.”

Guardian.—“Ibsen’s dramas at present enjoy a considerable vogue, and their admirers will rejoice to find full descriptions and criticisms in Mr. Jæger’s book.”

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Poetry.

LOVE SONGS OF ENGLISH POETS, 1500-1800. With Notes by Ralph H. Caine. Fcap. 8vo, rough edges, 3s. 6d.

*** Large Paper Edition, limited to 100 Copies, 10s. 6d. Net.

IVY AND PASSION FLOWER: Poems. By Gerard Bendall, Author of “Estelle,” &c. &c. 12mo, cloth, 3s. 6d.

Scotsman.—“Will be read with pleasure.”

Musical World.—“The poems are delicate specimens of art, graceful and polished.”

VERSES. By Gertrude Hall. 12mo, cloth, 3s. 6d.

Manchester Guardian.—“Will be welcome to every lover of poetry who takes it up.”

MAGONIA: A Poem. By Charles Godfrey Leland (Hans Breitmann). Fcap. 8vo.     [In the Press.

IDYLLS OF WOMANHOOD. By C. Amy Dawson. Fcap. 8vo, gilt top, 5s.

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Heinemann’s Scientific Handbooks.

MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. By A. B. Griffiths, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Edin.), F.C.S. Crown 8vo, cloth, Illustrated. 7s. 6d.

MANUAL OF ASSAYING GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, and Lead Ores. By Walter Lee Brown, B.Sc. Revised, Corrected, and considerably Enlarged, with a chapter on the Assaying of Fuel, &c. By A. B. Griffiths, Ph.D., F.R.S. (Edin.), F.C.S. Crown 8vo, cloth, Illustrated, 7s. 6d.

Colliery Guardian.—“A delightful and fascinating book.”

Financial World.—“The most complete and practical manual on everything which concerns assaying of all which have come before us.”

GEODESY. By J. Howard Gore. Crown 8vo, cloth, Illustrated, 5s.

St. James’s Gazette.—“The book may be safely recommended to those who desire to acquire an accurate knowledge of Geodesy.”

Science Gossip.—“It is the best we could recommend to all geodetic students. It is full and clear, thoroughly accurate, and up to date in all matters of earth-measurements.”

THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF GASES. By Arthur L. Kimball, of the Johns Hopkins University. Crown 8vo, cloth, Illustrated, 5s.

Chemical News.—“The man of culture who wishes for a general and accurate acquaintance with the physical properties of gases, will find in Mr. Kimball’s work just what he requires.”

HEAT AS A FORM OF ENERGY. By Professor R. H. Thurston, of Cornell University. Crown 8vo, cloth, Illustrated, 5s.

Manchester Examiner.—“Bears out the character of its predecessors for careful and correct statement and deduction under the light of the most recent discoveries.”

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LONDON:
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
21 BEDFORD STREET, W.C.

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