The Life Story of an Old Rebel Part 19

One effect of the disturbance in political work caused by the split seemed to be the impetus given to existing movements which, so far as politics were concerned, were neutral ground. Chief amongst these was the Gaelic League, which from its foundation advanced by leaps and bounds and brought to the front many fine characters.

Francis Fahy was one of the first Presidents of the Gaelic League of London, and there is no doubt but the Irish language movement in the metropolis owes much to his influence and indefatigable exertions.

I first made his acquaintance over twenty-five years ago, when he was doing such splendid Irish propagandism in the Southwark Irish Literary Club, of which, although he had able and enthusiastic helpers, he was the life and soul. He has written many songs and poems, which have been collected and published. What is, perhaps, one of the raciest and most admired of his songs, "The Quid Plaid Shawl," first appeared in the "Nationalist" for February 7th, 1885, a weekly periodical which I was publishing at the time. Several stirring songs of great merit by other members of the society also appeared in its pages. Indeed, the members came to look upon the "Nationalist" as their own special organ, and ably written and animated accounts of their proceedings appeared regularly in its columns. I also published a song book for them, compiled by Francis Fahy, chiefly for the use of their younger members.

An active Gaelic Leaguer, who did much for the success of the movement in London, was William Patrick Ryan. He wrote a "Life of Thomas Davis"

for "Denvir's Monthly," a sort of revival of my "Irish Library." This book was very favourably received by the press. The "Liverpool Daily Post" gave it more than a column of admirable criticism, evidently from the pen of the editor himself, Sir Edward Russell. In it was the following kindly reference to myself: "Our present pleasing duty is to recognise the labours of Mr. Denvir--efforts in such a cause are always touchingly beautiful--as an inculcator of national sentiment; to ill.u.s.trate the genuine literary interest and value of the first booklet of his new library; and to wish the library a long and useful, and in every way successful vogue."

Another active man in the language movement in London, whose acquaintance I was glad to renew when I first came to the metropolis, is Doctor Mark Ryan.

It is nearly forty years since we first knew each other in connection with another organisation. He then lived in a North Lancashire town, and was studying medicine, not being at that time a fully qualified doctor. If I remember rightly, our interview had no connexion with the healing art, indeed quite the contrary, for besides qualifying for the medical profession, he was graduating in the same school as Rickard Burke, Arthur Forrester, and Michael Davitt, but, like myself, was more fortunate than Burke and Davitt, inasmuch as he escaped their fate of being sent into penal servitude. Although Mark Ryan was for a long time resident in Lancashire, he there lost nothing, nor has he since, of the fluent Gaelic speech of his native Galway, for I heard him quite recently delivering an eloquent speech in Irish at a gathering of the Gaelic League.

Speaking of Dr. Mark Ryan reminds me of how often I have noticed in my travels through Great Britain, what a number of Irish doctors there are, and also that they are almost invariably patriotic. They are of great service to the cause, for it frequently happens that, in some districts, they are almost the only men of culture, and are not generally slow to take the lead among their humbler fellow-countrymen.

One of the finest Irish scholars in the Gaelic League was Mr. Thomas Flannery. He, too, was a valued contributor to my "Monthly Irish Library," two of the best books in the series, "Dr. John O'Donovan," and "Archbishop MacHale," being from his pen. In fact, he and Timothy MacSweeny I might almost look upon as having been the Gaelic editors of the "Monthly."

I once, when in business in Liverpool, printed a Scottish Gaelic Prayer-Book for Father Campbell, one of the Jesuit priests of that city, for use among the Catholic congregations in the highlands and islands of Scotland. John Rogers, like Timothy MacSweeny, a ripe Irish scholar, called on me while it was in progress, and was delighted to know that such a book was being issued. To Mr. MacSweeny I also sent a copy, and they both could read the Scottish Gaelic easily, showing, of course, how closely the Irish and Scottish Gaels were, with the Manx, united in one branch of the Celtic race, as distinguished from the Bretons and Welsh.

I have always had an intense admiration for the poetry of "Young Ireland." I used to call it Irish literature until I found myself corrected, very properly, by my Gaelic League friends, who maintained that, not being in the Irish tongue, its proper designation was Anglo-Irish literature.

I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of one of the leading young Irelanders, Charles Gavan Duffy, after his return to this country, when he a.s.sisted at the inauguration of our London Irish Literary Society, which has been a credit to the Irishmen of the metropolis. Much of the success of the Society is due to Alfred Perceval Graves, author of the well-known song "Father O'Flynn," a faithful picture of a genuine Irish _soggarth_. Among others of the members of the society who have made their mark in Irish literature is Mr. Richard Barry O'Brien, the President, the author of several valuable works of history and biography.

It was at the opening of our Literary Society that I first met Duffy in the flesh, but I had known and admired him in spirit from my earliest boyhood. I was greatly pleased when he told me he had been much interested in my publications, not only those issued more recently, but those of many years before. I afterwards had a letter from him in reference to my "Irish in Britain," in which he said: "I saw long ago some of the little Irish books you published in Liverpool, and know you for an old and zealous worker in the national seed field."

His son, George Gavan Duffy, is a solicitor, practising in London, and an active worker in the national cause. His wife is a daughter of the late A.M. Sullivan, and is as zealous a Nationalist as was her father, and as patriotic as her husband.

The first book of National poetry I ever read was one compiled by Charles Gavan Duffy--"The Ballad Poetry of Ireland." I should say that this has been one of the most popular books ever issued. There are none of his own songs in this volume. The few he did write are in the "Spirit of the Nation" and other collections. These make us regret he did not write more, for, in the whole range of our poetry, I think there is nothing finer or more soul-stirring than his "Inishowen," "The Irish Rapparees," and "The Men of the North."

It is unfortunate that we have nothing from the pen of Thomas Davis on the subject of the Irish drama and dramatists, for among the most delightful and valuable contributions to the Anglo-Irish literature of the nineteenth century were his "Literary and Historical Essays."

For students, historians, journalists, lecturers, and public speakers, they have been an inexhaustible mine, since they first appeared week by week in the "Nation" during the Repeal and Young Ireland movements. As sources of inspiration they have been of still more practical value to the Irish poet, painter, musician and sculptor.

Though he was apparently in good health up to a few days of his death, which was quite unexpected, Davis, in giving to his country these unsurpa.s.sed essays, might have had some idea that his life would not be a long one, and that, if he could not himself accomplish all he had projected, he would at least sketch out a programme for his brother workers in the national field, and for those coming after them.

A glance at the contents of Davis's Essays will show how fully he has covered almost every field in which Irishmen are or ought to be interested. We have Irish History, Antiquities, Monuments, Architecture, Ethnology, Oratory, Resources, Topography, Commerce, Art, Language, Our People of all cla.s.ses, Music and Poetry dealt with in an attractive as well as in a practical manner. Anyone who has ever gone to these Essays, as I have over and over again, for information, has always found Davis completely master of every subject that he touched. His "Hints to Irish Painters" are ill.u.s.trations of the value of the advice he gives in connection with his varied themes. Those of the generations since his time who have profited by his teaching know best how valuable would have been his views in connection with the Irish Drama.

Knowing as we do how _thorough_ Davis was in everything he took up, the reason he did not deal with it was, probably, that he had not had the same opportunities of getting information on this as upon the other wonderfully varied subjects in his Essays.

I have in my mind at this moment one Irish dramatist, Edmond O'Rourke, who would have appreciated anything Davis would have written on the subject, and would certainly have profited by it.

O'Rourke, better known by his stage name of Falconer, was an actor as well as a dramatist. He was "leading man" when I first saw him in the stock company of the Adelphi Theatre, Liverpool, and used to play the whole round of Shakespearean characters, his favourite parts being the popular ones of Macbeth, Hamlet, and Richard the Third. He was a dark-complexioned man of average height, somewhat spare in form and features. Though his performances were intellectual creations, we boys used to make somewhat unfavourable comparisons between him and Barry Sullivan, another of our fellow-countrymen. Barry was by no means superior to Falconer in his conception of the various parts, but he greatly surpa.s.sed him in voice, physique, and general bearing on the stage, in which respects I think he had no equal in our times.

After Falconer went to London he became manager of the Lyceum Theatre, where several of his pieces were performed, including the well-known Irish drama, "Peep o' Day," which had an enormously successful run. With this he also produced a magnificent panorama of Killarney, to ill.u.s.trate which he wrote the well-known song of "Killarney" which, with the music of Balfe, our Irish composer, at once became very popular, as it ever since has been. Madame Anna Whitty, the distinguished vocalist, who first sang "Killarney," was a daughter of Michael James Whitty, of whom I have spoken elsewhere. In going through my papers I have just come across a letter from O'Rourke, dated from the Princess's Theatre, Manchester, August 19th, 1872, in which he tells me of the great success in Manchester of another play of his, "Eileen Oge." This also he produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London, where it had a long and successful run. Edmund O'Rourke was a patriotic Irishman, and in this respect I could never have made the same comparison between the patriotism of the two men, Barry Sullivan and him, as I did between them as actors. _Both_ were patriotic Irishmen. It will be remembered that in an early chapter of this book I have mentioned that Barry Sullivan once offered himself to our committee as an Irish Nationalist candidate for the parliamentary representation of Liverpool.

Dion Boucicault, too, is one, I am sure, who would have profited by anything Thomas Davis might have written on the subject of the drama. I am quite satisfied that though he was severely criticised for the wake scene in his play of "The Shaughraun" at the time it was first produced, the objectionable features in this were more the fault of the actors than of the dramatist; but the subject was an exceedingly risky one, even for a man like Boucicault, and would have been better avoided altogether.

Besides Barry Sullivan and Falconer, other Irish actors I knew were Barry Aylmer, James Foster O'Neill, and Hubert O'Grady. They were impersonators of what were known as "Irish parts," and being genuine Irish Nationalists, as well as actors, did much to elevate the character of such performances. For with them, all the wit and drollery were retained, while they helped, by their example, to banish the buffoonery that used to characterise the "Stage Irishman."

I am reminded by a criticism on one of his pieces in a London daily paper that we can claim, as a fellow-countryman, perhaps the most brilliant writer at the present time for the British stage--George Bernard Shaw. From a conversation I had with him once, I would certainly gather that he was a patriotic Irishman.

I have done something in the way of dramatic production myself, one of the pieces I wrote being at the request of Father Nugent, to a.s.sist him in the great temperance movement he had started in Liverpool. He engaged a large hall in Bevington Bush, where every Monday night he gave the total abstinence pledge against intoxicating liquors to large numbers of people. I was then carrying on the "Catholic Times" for him, and he asked me to be the first to take the pledge from him at his public inauguration of the movement. Although, as he was aware, I was already a pledged teetotaler to Father Mathew, I was greatly pleased to agree to a.s.sist him all I could in his great work.

He believed in providing a counter-attraction to the public house, and each Monday night, in the Bevington Hall, he provided a concert or some other kind of entertainment; giving, in the interval between the first and second part a stirring address and the temperance pledge. As there was a stage and scenery in the hall, we often had dramatic sketches. The drama I wrote for Father Nugent had a temperance moral. It was called "The Germans of Glenmore." It was played several Monday nights in succession, and was well received.

Some years afterwards I made it into a story, calling it "The Reapers of Kilbride." This appeared over a frequent signature of mine, "Slieve Donard," in the "United Irishman," the organ of the Home Rule Confederation.

Singularly enough, I found that part of it had been changed back again into the first act of a drama by Mr. Hubert O'Grady, the well-known Irish comedian.

That gentleman was giving a performance for the benefit of the newly released political prisoners at one of our Liverpool theatres. Being somewhat late, I was making my way upstairs in company with Michael Davitt, and the play had commenced. I could hear on the stage part of the dialogue, which seemed familiar to me, and, sure enough, when I took my seat and listened to the rest of the act, the dialogue was pretty nearly, word for word, from "The Reapers of Kilbride." The compiler of the play being acted had also drawn upon another drama of mine for his last act, "Rosaleen Dhu, or the Twelve Pins of Bin-a-Bola."

The play we were witnessing was very cleverly constructed, for Mr.

O'Grady, with his strong dramatic instincts and experience, could tell exactly what would go well, and could use material accordingly. The transformation of the story as it appeared in the "United Irishman" back again into a play would be easily effected, as, leaving out the descriptive part, the dialogue itself, with the necessary stage directions, told the story. This, no doubt, Mr. O'Grady had perceived.

Later still, I carried out a similar transformation with another of my own productions. I have a piece in three acts which, as a play, has never been published or performed. It is called "The Curse of Columbkille." This drama I changed into a story, which has appeared in the series of 6d. novels published by Messrs. Sealy, Bryers and Walker.

The most striking character in it is Olaf, a Dane, who believes himself to be a re-incarnation of one of the old Danish sea rovers. A member of the firm, the late Mr. George Bryers, a sterling Irishman, called my attention to the opinion of the professional reader to the firm that it would be advisable to call the story "Olaf the Dane; or the Curse of Columbkille." I accepted the suggestion, and accordingly the book has been published with that t.i.tle.

I have seen with much interest the movement inaugurated by the Irish Theatre Company in Dublin, and have been present at some of their performances in London. In spite of some false starts and a tendency to imitate certain undesirable foreign influences, the movement should certainly help to foster the Irish drama.

CHAPTER XXIV.

"HOW IS OLD IRELAND AND HOW DOES SHE STAND?"

Summing up these pages, how shall I answer the question asked by Napper Tandy in "The Wearin' of the Green" over a hundred years ago--"How is old Ireland, and how does she stand?"

Let us see what changes, for the better or for the worse, there have been during the period--nearly seventy years--covered by these recollections.

Catholic Emanc.i.p.ation had, five years before I was born, allowed our people to raise their voices, and give their votes through their representatives in an alien Parliament.

I am not one to say that no benefit for Ireland has arisen through legislation at Westminster, but the system that allowed our people to perish of starvation has always been, to my mind, the one great justification for our struggle for self-government by every practicable method. It has been a struggle for sheer existence.

If Ireland had had the making of her own laws when the potato crop failed, not a single human being would have perished from starvation.

That I am justified in introducing the terrible Irish Famine and its consequences into these recollections as part of my own experiences I think I have shown in my description of its effects upon our people when pa.s.sing through Liverpool as emigrants or as settlers in England.

I have always endeavoured to look upon the most hopeful aspects of the Irish question. But with the appalling tragedy of the Famine half way in the last century, with half our people gone and the population still diminishing, one is bound to admit that the nineteenth century was one of the most disastrous in Irish history.

Is it surprising that, during my time, driven desperate at the sight of a perishing people in one of the most fruitful lands on earth, we should have made two attempts at rebellion?

In 1848 the means were totally inadequate.

In 1867 the movement looked more hopeful in many respects. The revolutionary organisation had a large number of enrolled members on both sides of the Atlantic. Among them were hundreds in the British army, and many thousands of Irish-American veterans trained in the Civil War, eager to wipe off the score of centuries in a conflict, on something like equal terms, with the olden oppressor of their race.

But the real hope of success lay in the prospect of a war between America and England, which at one time seemed imminent, and justified the action of the Fenian chiefs in their preparations.

It was, however, the very existence of Fenianism which, more than any other cause, prevented war. For none knew better than far-seeing statesmen like Mr. Gladstone (who declared that he was prompted to remedial measures for Ireland by "the intensity of Fenianism") that within a month of the commencement of a war between America and England, Ireland would be lost to the British crown for ever. That is why English statesmen would have grovelled in the dust before America, rather than engage in a conflict with her.