Chapter XLIII

Peace - but not for Ireland (1918-20)

The Government proposals on Home Rule took the shape of nominating members of a "Conference" to be held between Orangemen and Nationalists to see could they sink their differences. This was an unlikely prospect, even in war-time. Bonar Law, heckled by his supporters as to whether they were to be bound by its decision, frankly replied, "No." Thus ended any chance of the Conference doing good, even before it assembled. I wrote my brother:

Holyhead,
17th May, 1917.
"The Orange Party may not have their decision as to the Convention ready for Monday, and may ask for an adjournment. Subject to that, I returned to London on Sunday night, in consequence of the Franchise debate being fixed for Tuesday and Wednesday. I should not like to be absent from a division in favour of a democratic franchise and woman's suffrage. I fancy you are of the same way of thinking.

I appeared to-day in London before Sir James Woodhouse's Commission for Alderman Kelly, who was shabbily treated by the Irish Rebellion Comission. F. E. Smith was on the other side, and acted extremely well. He suggested a settlement, which I accepted, and drove him afterwards to Downing Street to settle the amount in the taxi.

I was congratulated by my English junior and solicitor on the way I presented the case, which was technically a difficult one to state. My clerk told me of a word which I never heard before, which is now in vogue, that I was a good man to "wangle." I understand it means, between court work and private pressure, to effect a settlement."

Chapelizod,
2nd June, 1917.
"I met Duke [Chief Secretary] by chance in the Phoenix Park, as I was driving home. He is dead against Partition, and convinced me that the English don't want it, and regard it as no settlement. . . .

I gather that the Ulstermen are unwilling to attend a Convention, making it a condition precedent that the prisoners are not to be amnestied. This is paltry, but I am not sure of it."

Chapelizod,
3rd June, 1917.
"I believe we have accomplished what O'Brien wanted, that Partition should not emerge from this Convention. If Duke becomes Chairman such a result will not take place.

I dined with Murphy last night. Duke had seen him to invite him to become a member of the Convention, so that the Independtnt will be less hostile. Horace Plunkett had previously called on Murphy to try to secure a blander note from his paper, but Murphy was not to be moved.

The blunders of the Redmondites have filled the North with suspicion. The Freeman had some explanation of their abstention from voting for the Franchise Bill to the effect that they knew there would be a large majority, and went away.

Redmond's entourage, who were in the House, abstained from voting. P. O'Brien, W. Archer Redmond, John O'Connor and others would not have this without a hint, as they were on the premises. Devlin left for Dublin that evening. I don't know what became of the rest. The Division Lists will tell tales against such "democrats.""

* * * *

The Convention was constituted by Lloyd George from representatives of the Irish Party, and of the Orange Lodges, with influential Bishops of the Catholic and Protestant Churches. He appointed Sir Francis Hopwood, now Lord Southwell, Secretary - a most persuasive official - with the late Erskine Childers as assistant. The summons to Childers reached him by wireless while he was fighting in the air against the Germans. The Sinn Feiners were left unrepresented, and Wm. O'Brien declined to join. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
14th July, 1917.
"Murphy has accepted Duke's invitation to attend the Convention. Horace Plunkett told him the reason the Government did not openly agree to the Referendum was that the Orangemen were getting restive, and would not attend the Convention if it was granted, as it might be regarded as an encroachment on Bonar's pledge to them.

The Tories in South Dublin made some bargain with the Irish Party, agreeing not to oppose Hearne in that constituency.

The loss of ships and the Mesopotamia debate have left the Government weaker. The concession by the Kaiser of the Prussian franchise extension will make it harder to exclude Ireland from the new Bill, as it would leave Lloyd George open to gibes."

Chapelizod,
7th August, 1917.
"James O'Connor, as Solicitor-General, has no power in the Castle. He is never consulted on policy. The seizure of the Kilkenny paper and the prohibition of the Beresford Place meeting, when the police inspector was killed, were done without his knowledge. The Castle gang are hostile even to Duke, and there was never a time when Orangemen were more dominant.

Murphy sent me a pamphlet containing a plan for Home Rule to be circulated by Sir Horace Plunkett and "AR." as theirs. A central parliament, four provincial councils, and no Imperial taxation or representation. I sent it to O'Brien.

Denis Henry told me he heard Carson and Redmond were in agreement, but the country has now gone beyond their pacts and compromises."

* * * *

Sir Horace Plunkett, instead of Duke, the Chief Secretary; was made Chairman of the Convention. The Orangemen appointed "watchmen" to picket the Northern members and "hear their confessions" daily. Accommodation or composition was thus made impossible, as nothing against Orange consent would be allowed. I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
29th August, 1917.
"There is a rumour that Duke wanted to arrest De Valera, but that Horace Plunkett said he would resign if he did so. Yet it is hard to see how they can go on prosecuting the small fry and letting the Tritons slip the net.

From Dillon's speech to-day and the note Gwynn sent to Galway, I think the "Party" dodge is to have a Dissolution before the Franchise Bill can pass. They have a complete understanding with the Orangemen, who are fooling the Redmondites with the pretence that they are yielding something towards Home Rule. But if the Orangemen secure, by a Dissolution on the old register, a majority of the Ulster seats, they will assign this as a reason in the new Parliament for doing nothing about Home Rule.

If the Mountjoy hunger-strike ends in the death of any of the prisoners it will lead to further mischief. The Redmondites will be beaten as a Party at the polls, but they will have lost us Ulster. The Sinn Feiners won't attend Parliament, and Ireland will be represented by 20 Orangemen in the House.

I feel that Carson has again befooled Redmond, and very little would make me come out publicly on the subject. Dillon's praise for the Convention which he refused to attend, and his demanding further time for its deliberations, is absurd. Their insincerity and folly make me prefer the Sinn Feiners."

Chapelizod,
6th September, 1917.
"O'Brien is back, and kept up lively interchanges with me from Parknasilla as to the Convention.

I met on legal business this week a brother of MacDonagh who was shot, and afterwards Dr. Hayes, accompanied by the new M.P. for Kilkenny, Cosgrave, with Corrigan, solicitor - all jail-birds! I found them very reasonable and pleasant fellows. . . .

My clients told me that after the Longford election their cards in Lewes Jail were marked "M" for misdemeanour, which is absurd, as they were convicted of treason and sentenced to death."

Now the persons convicted of rebellion and those interned in Frongoch were set free. Reports from America, coupled with the clement spirit shown by Bonar Law, under the advice of Duke, Irish Secretary, helped towards their release. I told Maurice:

Chapelizod,
12th September, 1917.
"Murphy is not hopeful of the Convention, and thinks it no better than a waste of time. On the other hand, he says Sir Francis Hopwodd and Sir Horace Plunkett are hopeful, and that the Ulstermen's talk in private is different from their public utterances. . . .

It seems a pity that no record of the debates will be preserved, though Provost Mahaffy strongly contended for it.

Cosgrave's speeches show moderation."

The "Cosgrave "so mentioned is now President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. The temptation to released prisoners to make "showy" speeches then was great, and it is pleasant to light upon a private record that it was resisted by at least one leader.

Chapelizod,
15th September, 1917.
"It seems to me that James O'Connor's appointment as Solicitor-General has led to more petty smarts by the military and police than would have taken place under a Tory regime.

I see, to-day, the arrest of a labourer in Clones, and his lodgment in Armagh Jail on suspicion, because he was born in America.

The Mitchelstown proclamation, and the way it was carried out, appalled me. I cannot think Duke is responsible."

Dublin Castle then housed enemies opposed to anything like kindly administration. Officials and military chiefs met at the Kildare Street Club, and there policy was shaped. The late Sir Henry Robinson, head of the Local Government Board, who published two volumes of reminiscences after his retirement, was the most plausible opponent the Nationalists had.

Of the "Convention," I informed my brother:

Chapelizod,

19th September, 1917.

"Sharman Crawford, M.P., stopped me in the street yesterday, and the following conversation ensued. "How are things going on at the Convention?" I asked.

"Damn badly," said he.

"I always thought you fellows would never yield," I replied. He nodded assent, and passed on.

Murphy's speech (printed in reply to the criticisms on his opening remarks) was good. He was more extreme than I expected-not the "extremeness" of a wrecker, but representing the genuine opinion of a man who feels that half-measures would be worse than useless.

From all I hear, the people have turned with positive hatred from Redmond and his Party, not merely because of the failure of Home Rule, but for their attitude about the prisoners and the executions."

Written every few days to my brother, my letters reflected the wavering notions conveyed to me from day to day. Lord and Lady Granard took a splendid town house to entertain the members of the Convention and other friends, and did everything that courtesy and hospitality could do to make the gathering a success. Lord Dunraven, in spite of his age, was a constant attendant and stood always firmly on the side of full Home Rule.

Chapelizod,
24th September, 1917.
"Lord Granard told me on Thursday that the Southern Unionists in the Convention were "all right," and that the Ulstermen were less hostile than was supposed. Granard's view is that the Convention will agree to a scheme, and that this will be carried into law. He made the statement that the Government were going to provide ninety millions for the completion of Land Purchase, and were going to do so on the old Wyndham terms. I wrote this to O'Brien,

Hugh Barrie referred in a recent speech to O'Brien's proposition of 1914 to safeguard the Ulstermen, and wrote me to-day for a copy of O'Brien's plan, issued as a Manifesto when he resigned.

Until I met Lord Granard, I felt that the obstinacy of the Orangemen would make the Convention hopeless, whereas now the idea seems to be that there will be such a "majority" report that its influence will overbear opposition."

Now came an event which moved Ireland more even than the executions of the previous year, or than anything since the hanging of Allen, Larkin and O'Brien in Salford in 1867. It was the death caused by forcible feeding of a hunger~striking prisoner, Thomas Ashe, a former national schoolmaster, who had defeated a large body of police in the rebellion of 1916. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
26th September, 1917.
"The death of poor Ashe in jail is a bad business. It is a misfortune for Duke that he has no law adviser of more weight than James O'Connor. A big funeral procession will breed excitement not to speak of the inquest itself.

I was retained by the next -f-kin to appear at the inquest on poor Ashe."

Chapelizod,
13th October, 1917.
"The Ashe inquest will persist throughout next week. Without having a scrap of information when we began, I have driven the prison authorities from pillar to post.

Isn't it extraordinary that the German naval mutiny was two months old before we heard of it?

I hear Kevin O'Higgins is a very clever speaker. His father tells me the Queen's County M.P.'s will go the way of the rest of the Party at the polls."

The Convention in Trinity College was still running at this time, and the Sub-Committee now decided to proceed to London for guidance. I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
19th October, 1917.
"The sub-committee of the Convention meets in London on Wednesday, and Murphy thinks it will end in the refusal of the Orangemen to make any concession, and lead to its collapse.

You did well over the Franchise Bill. The Party have not dared to chuck it because of the threat of Redistribution, but they will yet do so if they can.

We have not much to grumble at if we get the Bill, provided a fair Boundary Commission is appointed. If just men are nominated, the Tories cannot secure a majority of the Northern seats.

At the Ashe inquest we have twisted the Jail officials into a black knot."

At that inquest the police selected the coroner's jury - a mixed tribunal which embraced all shades of politics and religion. The Morgue was crowded every day and room and seats were almost fought for. The Press reported every word which fell from counsel or witnesses, and the Crown was ably represented by the present Judge Hanna. To secure a unanimous finding from such a jury containing many supporters of the Government and enemies of Sinn Fein seemed impossible, but the impossible happened, and a verdict condemning the treatment of Ashe was returned after a hearing that lasted nearly a fortnight.

Chapelizod,
15th November, 1917.
"The Ulster Tories are pretending as to the Redistribution Bill contrary to what Skeffington, solicitor, writes, that Tyrone will not yield them a seat. Throwing part of Newry into South Armagh is bad, and is intended to steal a seat from us in Down. If Skeffington is wrong about Tyrone the Ulster controversy will turn on the arrangements in Down, Antrim, and Armagh, including Belfast.

The L.G.B. have played into the hands of the Orange extremists by its Boundary arrangements."

Sir Henry Robinson, Vice-President of the Local Government Board (already mentioned), was in constant conference with the Ulster Tories as to the shape the Redistribution Bill should take.

A joke of one of them was that a Tyrone Tory slept in his office.

Carson's resignation from the Admiralty now created a stir. He and I remained friendly, despite political conflict, and I asked him why he retired. The Serbian d�bacle had just taken place, and his answer was that he could not get Asquith to decide anything.

"If he would only do something," he complained, "I would have held on, but he will not come to any decision." Carson was a favourite at the Admiralty and with the Navy.

Chapelizod,
23rd December, 1917.
"The Convention is at a deadlock, as far as the Ulstermen are concerned, but Lord Midleton, for the Southern Unionists, favours a scheme of Home Rule on the basis that Ireland surrenders Customs to England as its contribution - about eight millions a year!"

The end of the tedious Convention was now approaching, It was hopeless from the start, being framed on false and shallow lines. I could not blame either Lloyd George or Duke for this. The Redmond Party, swollen with importance after 18 years' dominancy, could not believe they were routed. Neither could the British Government, whose slaves they had been. O'Brien, like myself knew that they were dead, but the Cabinet could not be persuaded of this, as it had been so long upheld by Irish votes. All were blind to the fact that the new voters - men and women under the extended franchise would be mainly on the side of the extremists. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
4th January, 1918.
The Ulstermen have not budged in the Convention, and won't yield an inch. From this it would seem that Lord Midleton's scheme would not extend to Ulster, but Redmond hinted that it would be imposed on them if they did not accept it.

I asked Murphy what was the difference between it and the Home Rule Act of 1914, and he said it gave us more than the Act as it conferred powers over internal taxation. He thinks that the Government or the House of Lords will whittle down anything that the Convention by a majority passes.

As I write, Horace Plunkett telephoned urging me to see him to-morrow. Lord Granard tried to get me last night to his Reception, so you will see that the compromise of Lord Midleton's has been carefully planned. I Suppose it imports that the Government means to do something."

I saw Sir Horace Plunkett as he asked. He was thoroughly genuine in his desire for settlement, but Murphy complained that he "gave too much rope" to certain speakers.

Chapelizod,
6th January, 1918.
"Sir Horace Plunkett is not hopeful about the result of the Convention, as the Ulstermen will agree to nothing. They hold by Bonar Law's guarantee that nothing will be done to which they do not assent. . . .

At dinner, I found Duke interested about the Shakespeare controversy. He thinks Shakespeare did not write the plays, but that Nicholas Bacon, who, he said, was a "recusant" and an exile, was largely their author. Duke said "Venus and Adonis" could only have been written by a classical scholar, and this no one suggested Shakespeare to be. He could not however, explain Ben Jonson's contemporary poem in praise of Shakespeare."

Chapelizod,
8th January, 1918.
"Lord Dunraven called on me to-day and spent an hour. I wrote O'Brien that his conversation amounted to this: That a Home Rule Act would pass in 1918 for all Ireland, and that the Government had already made structural arrangements for the assembly of the new legislature! He said peace was near-hand in France.

Lord Granard is expected to be Viceroy in a new Irish administration. I found him a courageous man when he was Assistant P.M.G. He always defied the London officials in favour of Ireland."

My allusion to Lord Granard was guess-work. If the rumour had come true, the appointment would have been highly acceptable.

Lord Dunraven's belief that the defeat of the Germans was near at hand turned out to be more accurate. Yet it was founded on faulty information, for in the following March Ludendorff's push advanced his army many miles. But for the wisdom of Lloyd George in uniting the allied command, no one could have forecast or hindcast the problems of that time. I wrote Maurice:

On board the Leinster,
16th January, 1918.
"Murphy yesterday was in great blood because Devlin and Bishop O'Donnell threw Redmond over in the Convention as to Customs taxes and hoisted colours for Murphy's demand.

Redmond set down a sort of preamble to Lord Midleton's resolution after the first word, "that," accepting it; but he was forced to withdraw it, and to declare that his previous speech was made solely on his own behalf. Redmond said, had the event taken place in public, his leadership must have ended.

This explains the paragraphs in to-day's Times. The Ulstermen are as inflexible as even and the question is, what Lord Midleton will do if an amendment containing a demand for Customs is inserted in his resolution!

Murphy was strong against Redmond's jelly-fishness, and said he was continually giving away one thing after another, until in the end nothing was left!"

Redmond's physical collapse came when Devlin and the Northern bishops sided with Murphy on the question of taxation.

The inability of the "Leader" to gauge the change in public feeling amazed both friends and opponents. He would not be warned. A predominant figure in Ireland for 18 years, he now could not realize that his throne was crumbling. Surrounded by rivals lusting for ascendancy, the last thing he presaged was downfall.

Eighteen years before, on being elected Chairman of the reunited Party, he begged me to get Murphy to buy the Independent. Murphy provided �17,000 to save him, but he kicked away the ladder on which he had climbed.

America had been assured by T. P. O'Connor that, "when a Dublin street-railroad proprietor named Murphy got tired of wasting his money on newspapers all would come right." Murphy never got tired.

At the Convention he opposed every compromise on Irish fiscal claims. He would not trim. He never got vexed. His Bible was Erskine Childers's Finance of Home Rule,

The fiscal controversy raised by Childers as to Home Rule was new to Murphy, immersed in business as he was. Never captured when sentimental ideals were presented, he rejected peaches painted on canvas. Anchored on realities, he could not be flustered or driven from his purpose.

Following the extension of the franchise, a Redistribution Scheme, framed in 1918 by Sir Henry Robinson of the Irish Local Government Board, was so unjust that Bonar Law conceded its re-consideration. Robinson re-considered it, and decided that it was perfect. Of his decision I told Maurice:

London,
18th January, 1918. (1 a.m.)
"Nothing is to be changed in the Redistribution of Seats in Ulster from the recommendations of Sir Henry Robinson.

The attitude of the Speaker in backing the Ulstermen proves what a humbug the Dublin Convention is. If there was to be a Home Rule settlement, no one would care about Redistribution.

The Speaker's arrangements will result in leaving the Carsonites in a permanent majority of three in Ulster, viz.:

There has therefore been no gain and no result from the Convention, except possibly the securing of a seat in East Down. If we lose it we shall be in a minority of five in the Province, which we hitherto held by a majority of one.

Young Redmond travelled in the boat with me, but did not appear in the House, and it seemed as if he was on a "mission" to the Government to tell them the Convention was "bust," unless help came by Tuesday next. An effort will be made to keep it going till then.

Sinn Fein has proved unexpectedly right."

I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
28th January, 1918.
"A priest who is stationed beside Newry writes that Dillon and Devlin got a warm time in S. Armagh on Sunday, and that "Long John" was in tears over this "ingratitude." The hopeless Unionist candidature looks like a camouflage to enable the Orangemen to come to the poll for the Redmondite."

Memory does not carry me back to this election, nor to the name of the man whom Dillon started. whoever he was, he captured the seat and the Party rejoiced. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
2nd February, 1918.
"Griffith this week publishes in Nationality the following telegram from Jerry MacVeagh to Redmond, sent on the 17th January:

"Chairman (Mr. Speaker), wishes make adverse majority North Fermanagh. Have refused to agree. He will wire you.

"I suggest you reply that if we lost our rights in Belfast, Antrim, and S. Derry, we should have compensation in East Down, Tyrone and Fermanagh. Agree moreover make S. Tyrone safe and give up Wicklow. Jer."

This shows that the Speaker consulted Redmond, and that Griffith alleged that MacVeagh's suggestion as to Tyrone meant that they should give up a safe Nationalist seat in Wicklow to make a safe seat for a Tory in S. Tyrone. This is not my interpretation of the message.

James O'Connor is to get Barton's judgeship on 1st March. He has come to the conclusion that Murphy is right about Customs, and has so reported to Duke, but the defeat of the Sinn Feiners in South Armagh must worsen matters as to Home Rule."

During the War Europe was like an aspen tree fluttering at every breeze. Each nationality amongst the conflicting countries rightly regarded its own claims as foremost. I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
10th February, 1918.
"I have not heard from Murphy since he went to London, but the S. Armagh election has finished the hope of an undivided Ireland.

The Sinn Feiners may have blundered, but I wish them success. The Cardinal refused to receive de Valera, but received Count Plunkett.

His Eminence is against Republics and Revolutions, but his priests are against the Party, and he is in a dilemma.

There is not now the smallest chance of the Convention agreeing to a Home Rule scheme, and the Government are in a hobble about America."

Chapelizod,
17th February, 1918.
"Yesterday I saw O'Brien at the Shelbourne Hotel. He mentioned that John MacNeill had been with him, but said, in reply to my inquiry, that he would not adopt the Sinn Fein policy, and would not again stand for Cork. I said this represented my own feelings.

He would not fight a Sinn Feiner any more than I would, but if a" Party" candidate only had to be faced he would hardly shrink from the ordeal I That is my own state of mind.

As to the T.C.D. Convention, F, E. Smith's "Why don't they go on talking?" is as worthy of a place in history as Larkin's "To hell with contracts"!

No one touches the Irish question without getting his fingers burnt."

Soon after this, I heard for the first time, and with great regret, that Redmond was in bad health. He was never one to complain, and outwardly appeared as robust as ever. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
1st March, 1918.
"Murphy says John Redmond was seriously operated on in a London nursing home, and that Surgeon MacArdle and Dr. Cox have gone over. I am sorry for the poor mane

Murphy's account of the Convention is not cheerful. He said Lloyd George's letter asked that all fiscal questions, save direct taxation, should be left over until after the War, when they could be reconsidered.

Lord Midleton's scheme, Murphy said, was far better than this, but now the Southern Unionists want to withdraw it, and adopt Lloyd George's. He says Sir Horace Plunkett, being anxious to secure something from the wreckage, blocked his speeches and motions several times, but that he is going to get to grips with him and try to have a definite vote on Colonial Home Rule. I asked him why, if he was being toyed with, he did not withdraw altogether, and he replied because he could not trust the Party-men to remain firm after he left.

The Ulstermen favour everything to delay matters, yet Murphy sees no advantage in bringing things to a head by resignation. I see nothing clear in the situation, nor any hopeful sign. Lloyd George's letter promised to support Land Purchase and increased housing grants, but Murphy said they should get these in any case."

Lloyd George's letter was a bombshell for the Nationalists in the Convention, and had its terms been published before it assembled they would never have agreed to take part in it.

As the Convention was about to break up, John Redmond died in London, a disappointed man. When his remains reached Kingstown for burial (in Wexford) no clergyman of the Archdiocese of Dublin met the coffin - so intense was the bitterness against his policy. Great honour, however, was done it at Westminster Cathedral, and in his native town.

Although Redmond was more than 18 years Chairman of the Irish Party, the section which wished Dillon to occupy that post never felt cordial towards him. He was seldom allowed his own way, or given their confidence. His brother William, on his last appearance in the House of Commons, said to a friend, "I hate the gang trying to control my brother, and I am going back to France to get killed."

John Redmond's temper was nearly imperturbable. when he met annoyance through the action or inaction of his so-called "colleagues" he retired to the smoke-room and silently consumed a cigar.

The position he, held required a dominant and daring mind, but this he did not possess. William O'Doherty, M.P., one of my opponents, told me that when he reproached Redmond for not standing up to me, Redmond answered, "Healy would wipe the floor with me."

House of Commons,
15th March, 1918.
"O'Brien sent me his article on Redmond's death in the National News. . .

Lord Dunraven cheerily said to me to-day that the Convention would come to an agreement within a week. "Including Ulster?" I asked. "Oh, no," said he, "but the Southern fellows."

I don't think he realizes that Murphy's attitude has since been backed by Devlin and Bishop O'Donnell.

There is great annoyance amongst Ministers that Lloyd George's letter to the Convention should have been put in circulation - I don't know by whom."

I cannot think there were good grounds for Ministerial annoyance at the publication of Lloyd George's letter. The Cabinet may have been annoyed with Lloyd George for over-frankness, but how could they suppose that the letter would not see the light? It was a State Paper of high significance. On getting back from Parliament, I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
23rd March, 1918.
"Asquith sent his secretary, Sir John Barran, to me on the Monday when the debate was raised about the Press. Asquith afterwards came to where I was on the second bench, and chatted about Spencer Leigh Hughes's speech, which was indeed brilliant.

Oddly enough, I had a note from Lord Northcliffe thanking me for my speech on the occasion. This Government is like the "Hunted Hind," oft doomed to death, yet fated not to die!

Duke has returned to Ireland, and the farcical Convention proceeds proceeding!

Murphy told me on Tuesday that they carried by six votes a motion of Sir Anthony MacDonnell's to accept the proposals outlined in Lloyd George's letter. In the minority were Murphy, Bishop O'Donnell and the Orangemen! In the majority were Stephen Gwynn and Lord Midleton's crowd. The Orangemen then for the first time demanded the exclusion of Ulster.

I don't know how long this absurdity will continue. We have a Ministry capable de tout!"

Dillon was elected Chairman of the Irish Party after Redmond's death. This made small improvement in the political situation. I wrote:

Chapelizod,
1st April, 1918.
"I have not seen Murphy for a fortnight but am sure Horace Plunkett's efforts can only lead to some half-baked unacceptable scheme. If the Government are so foolish as to accept the demand for Irish conccription it can be met by the alternative demand for full Home Rule. As the Orangemen will never let them grant this, it would be safe to say "tit for tat.""

The Convention finally dissolved in nothingness, and afterwards it came to light that arrangements had been made by the Post Office to tap the correspondence of its members. Dr. Mahaffy, Provost of Trinity College, provided accommodation in the University for its sittings, and the postal authorities, without arousing his suspicions, apparently vied with him in courtesy. Free postal and telegraphic privileges, denied to the British Houses of Parliament, had been conferred unsought on the Convention. A fully-staffed and equipped post office was set up inside Trinity College, with a posting receptacle, from which collections were made.

Such elaborate and expensive provisions for a body whose deliberations might conceivably have ended in a few days displayed uncanny forethought. For there was a postal pillar-box close to the entrance gate of T.C.D., and a head telegraphic office in College Green within a few minutes' walk. The prodigal arrangements for the correspondence and telegrams of the members of the Convention seemed considerate, but a signed "frank" in each case was required. Thus it befell that a typed copy of a private letter from a member of the Convention to a parliamentary colleague in South America reached Dublin Castle before its abortive labours ended.

Downing Street daily learnt the prevailing atmosphere in Dublin, and as the mercury in the bulb at T.C.D. rose or fell, the Cabinet was advised as to how it could vary its proposals.

War conditions prevailed. Under the "Defence of the Realm Act" the Censor was entitled to open letters. Still, it was a convenience to the Government to know what letters to examine. Those posted in T.C.D. under the franking privilege needed not to be tapped where the ''franker" was on the Orange side.

The Post Office Acts authorize the opening of specified letters, under warrant from the Postmaster-General, but that official was no party to violating the correspondence.

The Chairman of the Convention, Sir Horace Plunkett, wrote daily accounts of its proceedings to His Majesty. Tired of Ireland, Lloyd George sent a letter withdrawing a promise of concession which he had made before it assembled.

A scandal later arose as to a letter of Mr. Asquith's after the intrigue to oust him from the Premiership had succeeded. Put in the bag of the American Ambassador, the ex-Premier's communication arrived marked "Opened by Censor." Lord Balfour, the Foreign Minister, apologized; but the girl who broke the seal was told by her Chief that she had acted rightly.

The correspondents of members of the Convention got no warning such as is given by the words "Opened by Censor" on their envelopes.

The leading Nationalist who attended, His late Eminence Cardinal O'Donnell, posted nothing in T.C.D.

In 1918 Ireland had got no farther towards Home Rule than when the Tories went out in 1905. Increased taxation came with the Liberals, who also made the Wyndham Purchase Act a dead letter.

Then the Government, of which Lloyd George had become Prime Minister, determined to impose "Conscription" on a people smarting under the failure of their rulers to redeem their promises.

In Britain compulsory service was introduced by stages, but Ireland was suddenly told that her whole male population from 18 to 50 years must become soldiers, without any offsetting advantage. 300,000 Irishmen had volunteered for war service, but the Censor allowed no newspaper to tell the tale. The official clement opposed to Home Rule spread the story that only "Ulster" had done its part

The Lord Mayor of Dublin in May, 1918, summoned a conference to devise plans to resist conscription, composed of Messrs. Dillon, Devlin, de Valera, Arthur Griffith, William O'Brien, and myself, with three Labour representatives.

We came together at the Mansion House, Dublin, and there for the first time I met de Valera and Griffith. The latter were unlike in type - Griffith, a silent, solid, impressive and highly-educated man; de Valera, tall, spare, spectacled, schoolmasterly, of Jewish cast, and as chatterful as Griffith was reserved. He could not pronounce either the thick or thin "th," and his "dats" and "tinks" grated on the ear. Still, a resourceful fellow.

To him belongs the credit of proposing that the Conference should send a deputation to Maynooth, where the Irish bishops were sitting. When this was agreed to, the problem arose as to who should go. On my name being suggested, I demurred, saying I was unaccustomed to meeting bishops or archbishops. "Oh" said de Valera, "there's nothing in that. I have lived all my life among priests." I asked, "Have you lived all your life among bishops?

Ultimately, as William O'Brien persisted in refusing to go, I yielded, and to Maynooth we hied, de Valera and I in the same car. As we left the Mansion House the street in front was packed with young men, who cheered frenziedly. De Valera got an equally warm welcome at Maynooth from the students, and thus I got an inkling of the mood of a new generation.

We addressed the bishops, over whom Cardinal Logue presided. Then we retired to allow their lordships to deliberate. On being recalled we learnt that a resolution against Conscription had been agreed to unanimously. This was a great event, and made Conscription in Ireland impossible. Distrust of the War Office as well as the refusal to grant Home Rule were main ingredients in the decision. Added thereto was the rumour that Irish regiments would be flung into the forefront, deprived of Irish officers, and would be sacrificed to spare the soldiers of other countries. The delay in sending Carson's Ulster Volunteers to France after they had enjoyed a longer training than other recruits increased suspicion. Besides, the impression left by the treatment of the insurgents of 1916 in prison was intense. For Michael Collins was "created" by his internment in Frongoch. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
3rd May, 1918.
"Much history has been made since we parted in London. The bishops at Maynooth were extremely cordial, and it is extraordinary how the English Press misconceive the position. The Archbishop of Dublin has been especially staunch, but he is getting old, like the rest of us, although thoroughly sound, The appearance of Dr. Fogarty struck me very much amongst his fellow-prelates. The universal cessation of work on Tuesday week in protest against Conscription was remarkable. . . .

Bonar Law and his friends must regret the way they treated us in the Conscription debates. There was nothing in O'Connell's time to compare with Irish unanimity against Conscription. For the first time Nationalists have all the selfish elements on their side, which were heretofore the buttress of Castle rule."

While the Conference was sitting at the Mansion House, a vacancy occurred in the representation of Cavan. Arthur Griffith stood as the Sinn Fein candidate and Dillon opposed him. Griffith was arrested before the polling day, but was triumphantly returned while in prison.

I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
7th May, 1918.
"Dillon's Party had a great chance of reviving their influence by standing aside in the Cavan election, and letting Griffith be returned unopposed. John's folly will spell obliteration, although we shall disappear with them. We had it out at the Mansion House Conference, but Dillon was adamant.

Lord French is alleged by his detractors to be stupid. Probably they wanted to get rid of him in England, and pitchforked him here. Happy the Isle of Man and Sark, so free from intrigue!"

Lord French, although not allowed to show it, was a sterling friend of Ireland. He loved the country and the people, and would never permit a word to be uttered at his table in detraction of the Irish priests. A soldier with little knowledge of politics, and simple at heart, he accepted every story told him by the officials of Dublin Castle. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
11th May, 1918.
"Although machine-guns are mounted on the Bank of Ireland, I do not believe there is the smallest prospect of a rising. Yet a handful of extremists have succeeded in subtracting soldiers from France by causing a military panic,

Lord French reported to Lloyd George that Conscription would be successful, and that the soldiers would only have a "cake-walk" to squelch resistance. Lloyd George is furious with the Catholic bishops, and his Nonconformist conscience" is aroused. Neither of them understands this country.

In Cavan both candidates expect to win, but I think the odds are on the Sian Feiner. Nearly all the priests are on Griffith's side.

I had a letter from Mgr. O'Riordon from Rome, thanking me about the Irish College. I replied that the suggestion came from you.

Until there is an election on the extended franchise, no one can tell what is the right policy for Ireland, and by that time you or I will not have responsibility for affairs. If the Sinn Feiners win Cavan, they will carry everything. It was silly of Dillon not to make a virtue of necessity, and say he would not oppose a member of the Mansion House Committee. This reservation would prevent its being drawn into a precedent in view of his small chances before the final crash comes.

I regard the Asquith cycle as over, yet feel sure Devlin can still be fooled by Lloyd George."

Chapelizod,
17th May, 1918.
"Anti-conscription" is the most remarkable movement that over swept Ireland. Your apprentice [Kevin O'Higgins] was handcuffed by police before his father and mother to take him in the train to prison, and all Tullamore turned out to See him off, including the priests and Christian Brothers. His mother kissed his handcuffs.

Travellers in the train so put the police out of countenance that the handcuffs were taken off until Dublin was reached, when they replaced them to stow him in Mountjoy. He is to be brought to-morrow to Portarlington for trial. Seeing that his brother was killed in France, and that another brother is in the Navy, the police might have spared his parents such indignity.

Lord French has come round against Conscription. On his original visit to London he reported to Lloyd George that he could round up all the cities in a week. Then they had Sir William Byrne, the Under-Secretary, before the Cabinet, and he warned them against it, but they were indignant, and told him he had "cold feet." It is alleged that his berth is now in jeopardy, although he gave honest advice.

Lloyd George came back from France raging to attack the bishops. Possibly this inspired the "No Popery" cry in The Times. The French Ambassador, Cambon, wept over the prospects in Ireland, and said it was madness to waste troops there when the French reserves were almost exhausted.

Lord French is represented to be in a mood of desiring a quiet time, and not to allow his name to be handed down to history as another Lord Carhampton. There is no faction here favourable to Conscription. James Campbell was summoned to London to answer Sir William Byrne's arguments, but he confirmed them. Then the Government hit on the plan of a triumvirate, consisting of James Campbell, Lord Midleton, and Judge Ross, but not one of them accepted - Midleton saying he would act, provided his views about the future Government of Ireland were accepted, but even this the Cabinet would not agree to.

Then they sent over Lord French and dismissed Sir Bryan Mahon as Commander-in-Chief without the formality of as much notice as would be given a butler. Mahon was against Conscription, and if French takes the same line after a week's experience, it will be a "drop" for Lloyd George. The Government cannot agree on any form of Home Rule, and are in the devil's mess."

On the day I left London to attend the Mansion House Conference against Conscription, I was in negotiation with Lloyd George as to the proposed Home Rule Bill, He said, when I told him I was starting for Ireland, "Stay, and I will show you my Bill to-morrow." I replied. "Send it to my home address." "I could not," he replied. "The Sinn Feiners would intercept it in the post." "Well," I answered, "that is a tribute to their ingenuity, but I am going to Dublin to-night, to confer as to Conscription." Our unanimity alarmed Dublin Castle, and de Valera and Arthur Griffith were soon arrested and deported to England."

I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
21st May, 1918,
"You are right in saying that Ireland did not see our arguments against the Party, but has hearkened to men like de Valera. What of that?, In the end the people have come round to our opinions, and I don't care by what road or by what reasoning. Our enemies are in the dust, and snigs at Dillon and Devlin at the Mansion House Conference have made them squeal.

Once Dillon stood up to de Valera there, asking, "Do you mean to drive me out of public life?" De Valera stood up, too, and disclaimed such an intention. So the scene ended.

After the arrests of de Valera and Griffith they wanted not to admit the Sinn Fein twain (Kelly and MacNeill) on Monday, nominated as alternatives to the imprisoned pair, and maintained that the Lord Mayor should nominate two other men. "Tame cats, or Sinn Feiners?" said I, and Dillon was furious. Then the two "substitutes" for Griffith and de Valera marched in, and he, hadn't a word.

The Sinn Feiners will make war on us in due time, but meanwhile I enjoy myself! Walter Long is coming here to-morrow to try to patch up some Home Rule settlement. Only for him, there would have been universal arrests in Ireland. He told Lloyd George and Bonar Law that he would not only resign, if the repressive campaign was begun, but would go into violent opposition against them. This alone saved the situation.

They have no evidence to implicate the Sinn Feiners whom they arrested, yet condemn them to that hell-hole, Frongoch, fuller of rats than St. Helena was alleged to be.

Duke was forced out because he was honest about Home Rule. I was asked by James O'Connor [Solicitor-General] to meet Shortt at dinner before the arrests, and refused."

Shortt was the only Chief Secretary up to that who declined the hospitality or membership of the Kildare Street Club - the chief Unionist meeting ground. Walter Long had been member for South Dublin, and chairman of the Irish Unionists. He was a relative of a Wicklow landlord, Fitzwilliam Dick, and had a great affection for the country. Broadened by his English upbringing, he never supported the narrow leanings of the Orangemen, although at one with them in his main object of upholding the Act of Union. He had been rejected by an English constituency on some obscure question about Protestant ritual, but the Irish Tories in South Dublin gladly accepted him as an opponent of Sir Horace Plunkett, who was condemned for his unpardonable efforts to improve Irish agriculture at the behest of Arthur Balfour. Balfour saw Plunkett's merits, but when he first nominated him as a member of the newly-created Congested Districts Board none of us had heard of him, and asked each other what Tory device this was.

Walter Long and his secretary, Sir William Bull-another bluff Tory-came to my house at Chapelizod on a wet day and went over my electrical gadgets with as much interest as if they were their own. They were most kindly in speech towards the prisoners, which affected me much. When I told Lung of the sad details of the deportation of Mrs. Clarke, whose husband had been shot in 1916, he cursed the Trish Government. Yet so staunch was he to the Unionist cause that when he left Ireland to become Colonial Secretary a special wire was laid from Dublin Castle to Downing Street to enable him to observe every emanation from the Castle vat. The day he came to see me was one of the darkest of the Great War. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
24th May, 1918.
"The arrests are stupid. The denial of the cloak offered to Mrs. Clarke by a friend on Kingstown pier when she was to cross the Channel, and the taking her away from her five children, days after others had been arrested, doesn't improve one's temper. It should have been enough for them to shoot her husband and her brother, without depriving her children of their mother.

At the Mansion House Conference, before de Valera's arrest, he had been deputed to draft an address to President Wilson, to be taken to America by the Lord Mayor. On Wednesday we were all given copies of that document. On its consideration yesterday Dillon vowed he would never agree to it. That night I sat up until 6 a.m. excising and amending it. I thought O'Brien was at the same job, and appointed to meet him at his hotel at 2 p.m. yesterday. When I read my version for him he warmly approved, but said Dillon would object to anything. So I asked him to propose as his own what I had cobbled. He refused.

We met at four o'clock yesterday at the Mansion House, and Dillon denounced de Valera's production afresh, and said nothing would induce him to agree to it. I remarked that I had spent the night trying to reconcile his views with de Valera's by a paper of my own. This did not mollify him, nor did he accept my offer to read it. At length either Egan or the Lord Mayor said, "Could we not hear Mr. Healy^ts document?"

By this time I was reluctant to consent, and said unless it was a unanimous wish I did not care to read it. The Lord Mayor, however, took silence for consent, and called on me to go on. When I had finished, I expected the usual "bucket of cocoa slops" made famous by Lloyd George. There was a pause for a few seconds, and then Dillon broke silence with the astonishing remark, "That is a magnificent State Paper. It is one of the best I have ever heard."

I kept silent, and Dillon added, "I move that it be given a provisional second reading, and that it be circulated and considered at our nest meeting," saying that he assured me, on account of the differences of feeling between us, of the sincerity of his admiration! I thanked him and said that anything good in the document was of de Valera's inspirers (principally those of a University professor who helped him).

A weird incident then happened. Alderman Kelly objected to a passage about the deaths of the Irish soldiers and their gallantry in the War. I replied that it was one which I had at first struck out of de Valera's draft, but restored after reflection, in order that it might gratify the families of the dead, coming from such a source! I went round to where Alderman Kelly sat and showed him the manuscript with de Valera's words obliterated by me, and then marked "stet" [stand]. He was instantly mollified!

Professor MacNeill next objected to a paragraph as to the possibility of an Irish Parliament consenting to Conscription. I replied that these words were also textually taken from de Valera's document! Thus the only criticism of my handiwork came from two Sinn Feiners₁ and related to phrases employed by their own leader!

William O'Brien whispered in my ear, "This is a terrific triumph." I asked him to recall what Talleyrand said when he heard of the illness of the Austrian ambassador, "I wonder what he means by it?"

O'Brien cannot attend next Tuesday as he is writing a book, but said that "after the unanimity of the reception of Mr. Healy's paper, of course, my presence is unnecessary."

The arrested Sinns all had notice of their intended capture, but decided, out of deference to the bishops, that there should be no resistance, on the ground that Conscription had not yet been enforced - otherwise bloodshed would have drenched the opening steps of the Government."

These were tense moments for Ireland, deceived as it was by politicians ignoring or not knowing the Gladstone tradition.

Chapelizod,
15th June, 1918.
"I have applied for a passport to travel to London for Wednesday.

It is a nice commentary on the "Sessional Order" of the House against obstructing the passage of members to Westminster that a policeman in Ireland can hold up its entire representation.

William Murphy spoke to me twice very warmly in praise of my American "address," which is a great thing from so cold a man, We are getting it printed on parchment for the Lord Mayor to take with him to the American Embassy next Wednesday for dispatch in the President's post-bag from London, They cannot stop it there unless they cable Wilson for instructions and for permission to open it. The Embassy might refuse to accept the letter, but as it is American soil I don't see how they could throw it out after the messenger who delivered it.

Lord French is now against Conscription, but the Government hope to enforce it in October; if his voluntary scheme fails.

The Protestants won't come forward to help to make up the voluntary quota demanded."

Chapelizod,
21st June, 1918.
"I went to London with the Lord Mayor on Tuesday night. He wired me yesterday that everything passed off well as to the delivery of the Address at the American Embassy,

The Ambassador, Page, was on his holidays, but when the Lord Mayor was announced on Wednesday the Charg� d'Affaires fixed yesterday morning to receive it.

It was well the document was delivered before the announcement of Curzon in the House of Lords last night!

Griffith's victory in Cavan gives Dillon his death-stroke. Griffith's arrest made his return a certainty. Yet Dillon could not see the portents."

President Wilson did not even acknowledge the Address, although he replied to a rebuttal thereof by Sir Edward Carson and his Belfast Committee. The President's blindness to the Irish situation was later on a factor in his downfall. The Senate of the United States printed the Address amongst its records on the motion of Senator Phelan of California. On the 6th August, 1918, as I was reminded nine years later (Sunday Express, 22nd May, 1927), I made what was practically my last appearance in the House of Commons. It took the shape of a parliamentary prank which Lord Beaverbrook indulgently recalled to celebrate my 72nd birthday:

"Like most other people who have sat in the House of Commons, I am sometimes asked who was the greatest parliamentarian of my time,

"If the term is used in its widest possible sense, it would be a complex task to give a correct answer. But if 'parliamentarian' means the greatest master of the forms of Parliament the greatest artist in getting things to happen there in the way he wanted, then I would always answer unhesitatingly, 'Tim Healy'

He knew not only every form of the House and every trick in the game, but he also knew humanity, and he could play on the House as a musician would on the organ - just putting in or taking out the stops while the instrument responded.

"When I first went into the House of Commons I was fortunate enough to make a friend of him, and sensible enough to realize my good luck.

"I sat at his feet and studied his methods with close attention. Writers make an ideal picture of the leader of an Opposition, considering long the state of opinion in the country on an issue - connecting with his colleagues - sounding the Whips-asking after local opinion in the constituencies, and finally putting down a vote of censure pressed in the terms of a most resounding eloquence!

"Anything less like Healy's way of doing business it would be difficult to imagine.

"I don't think he ever deliberately prepared anything - even a speech-in advance. Of course, he read widely and pondered deeply, but conduct in the House of Commons was guided by his instincts as applied to the situation as it developed at any given moment.

"His were the tactics of the sally and the surprise, the assault from the flank, or what I shall call the Method of the 'Red Herring.' He realized better than any other member of his day that the House of Commons is an unruly pack of hounds, with strong primitive instincts.

"The Party Whips may arrange a certain hunt but once anyone comes along with the red herring and drags it across the trait the hounds will follow his way and let the predestined fox go home quietly.

"There are hundreds of stories of his adroitness. The most famous of his stratagems is perhaps the way in which he managed to discuss the grievances of Irish farmers - for which the Nationalists had been refused a day - by making the whole of his observations perfectly relevant to the state of agriculture in Uganda.

"I can supply from my own experience a war-time instance of the Red-Herring Method which occurred when Healy was sitting in his last Parliament.

"I was, during 1918, told that a violent attack was going to be launched against me as Minister of Information, in the House of Commons, on the motion of Mr. Leif Jones. Many others were to join in the assault and attack was fixed for 5th August.

"Having been attacked twice before in a brief period of office, I rather resented the injustice. The post was difficult enough in any case, and I had reluctantly taken it and did not want to keep it. The motive of the assault was apparently to be based on some charges made in the Westminster Gazette that I was 'a capitalist' and that my heads of departments were capitalists.'

"Bonar Law would not take up the task of replying for me on the ground that our friendship was so close that his remarks might not seem impartial. He deputed the business to Stanley Baldwin, in whose parliamentary experience I had no confidence. As it turned out I was wrong here, for Baldwin made a very good speech in my defence.

"Feeling, therefore, thoroughly worried about the whole business, I wired to Tim Healy in Dublin to come over and help me. He reached my country house on Sunday, 4th August, having kept me in suspense by wiring that he would arrive 'shortly after Mass' - a phrase which meant nothing to me.

"When at last he came, he gave me small comfort. I wanted to show him all the documents I had accumulated for my defence. Healy would not look at them-but continued to discuss my gardens and my children.

"I pressed him hard to discuss the matter seriously, and asked what line he intended to take.

"He brushed my defence aside.

"Whatever line I take to-morrow,' he said, 'will have nothing to do with a prepared case. I shall watch the House and decide.'

"He laughed at my anxiety.

"'Lief Jones,' he said, 'is a teetotaller and can't hurt a fly. He's one of those who tried to stop the tot of rum to the soldiers in the trenches. I killed that move, and I'll checkmate him to-morrow.'

"'But how?' I inquired.

"'Well,' he said, 'Neil Primrose once was angry with Lord Loreburn, the Lord Chancellor, and felt sure he would force him to resign over the non-appointment of Liberal magistrates. As Lloyd George was behind Neil, Loreburn telegraphed for me as you have done, and laid all his cards on the table at breakfast before the debate came on, and though Neil had a good case, and many Liberals were strongly with him, I beat them, for Loreburn had stood by Ireland in the old days.'

"I got little satisfaction out of this and had to wait for next day.

"Leif Jones made his attack on the expected lines, and was followed with some pretty wild accusations by Mr. Pringle and Mr. Swift MacNeill.

"As a matter of fact, most of what they tried to lay at my door had happened when Lord Carson from the War Cabinet had general control of propaganda.

"Tim would occasionally interject, 'That was done in Carson's time,' which seemed to disconcert the assailant. Otherwise he did nothing.

"Both Mr. McCurdy and Mr. Baldwin made good speeches for me, but as the debate was going it was likely to do me harm, because if a whole debate turns on one man, more charges are made than can possibly be answered - and a kind of general bad atmosphere is created.

"When Mr. Baldwin sat down Healy struck - and utterly side-tracked the debate.

"He wanted to know what all this nonsense was about - �5 being spent on cigars and �20. on drinks on a mission to Dublin. Such a point was frivolous, and it was a waste of time in war. Anyhow, this was done by an emissary of Carson's, and if that was all Carson had done it would not have mattered much.

"But Carson had made his department an organ for anti-Irish propaganda and filled it with his nominees from Trinity College, Dublin. The result had been .the absolute ruin of Irish recruiting.

"Immediately on this the vials of inter-Irish wrath were poured forth. Mr. Ronald McNeil intervened to defend Carson. Mr. Shortt, as Home Secretary, was technically responsible for this propaganda in Ireland and was brought up to make a lengthy reply on behalf of the Government.

"The debate was abruptly switched off from the discussion of my supposed iniquities, and a regular Irish debate ensued. By the time Mr. Devlin had summed up for the Nationalists all the earlier speeches had been completely forgotten, and the question of the Ministry of Information and its chief had faded out of the picture.

"Healy's performance was a perfect exhibition of parliamentary tactics,

"Sir Henry Dalziel (now Lord Dalziel) immediately afterwards gave me a highly amusing account of the proceedings.

"'Tim,' he said, 'was at his best in tactics and in debate. He turned the whole onslaught on you into a ridiculous debate.'

"Later Healy himself came to me at the Hyde Park Hotel and remarked characteristically enough, 'Get me some pea-soup and a steak, and I will tell you the fun.'"

During the War, side-issues were not pressed on Parliament save by Temperance leaders. The War Office Librarian, Hudlestone ("Burgoyne," page 199), jests; "The rum ration, according to a British Army doctor who gave evidence before a committee, had much to do with winning the War. "

I wrote my brother:

In Train to Holyhead.
9th August, 1918.
"There will be a General Election in November. Hayes Fisher, M.P., told me yesterday the electoral lists would be ready in October. There has been some change in the Government attitude this week towards Ireland, due to Lord Reading's return from Washington,

I was dining to-night with Carville at the Reform Club when Shortt [Chief Secretary] came in and sat near our table. Carville introduced me, and Shortt afterwards drove me to Euston on his own suggestion. He had been sent for by Lord Reading, and vaguely said there was "confusion," which I construe to mean that the Americans have sickened at the repressive Irish policy.

I also found from Moreton Frewen, when lunching with Lord Dunraven, that there is something on. Lord French is evidently a Home Ruler, and Shorrt openly says he himself is. At the same time, the arrest of Mrs. Sheehy Skeffington is of evil omen. She was to have visited me, to-morrow . . . .

The Party men (who now show me civility) agree with my view that the Government intend to concoct some scheme of, Home Rule, giving the Ulster-men their Own fueros. I said it was impossible we could accept it, Dunraven to-day was of this mind, but I could see Moreton Frewen was to the contrary.

Strange to say, in the Temple on Wednesday, I saw a man crossing the street to accost me. It was Carson, who showed himself friendly. I fear they are determined to reject any plan which would involve Belfast men coming to Dublin for discussion. Carson did not say this, but he turned down whatever I, on the spur of the moment, suggested as a concession to the Protestants. They seem resolved on having their own local control, and this is the key to the situation.

If they would be content to remain under the British Government the matter would be simplified, but they insist on a separate local administration which, in my opinion, would result in creating vested interests which would long be impossible to extinguish, and would be fruitful in breeding animosity. All signs of Ulster moderation depend on the surrender to six counties of a separate statehood. I think this hopeless, yet I am informed Knox, K.C., is for it."

Large sums were raised in Ireland to help the movement to resist Conscription. The Mansion House Committee did not call them in as it was felt that defeat had already overtaken the policy of the Government. Ten per cent of the amount raised in each parish was earmarked by the Conference to sustain the families of the prisoners. Except in the case of Cork this was willingly forwarded.

Dillon wished to enlist the Conference in a propaganda for "unity" after Conscription had been beaten. Unarrested Sinn Feiners also wanted to keep it going for their own purposes. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
17th August, 1918.
"The Mansion House Conference will be resumed soon, and we shall hear of the plans which Dillon has been maturing for his Convention to unify all Ireland.

The Independent story of his talk with T.P. and Bonar Law in the lobby is true, and I shall be surprised if the "Party" does not perform some dying wriggle."

Chapelizod,
22nd August, 1918.
"At the Mansion House Committee on Monday nothing was done. Dillon said he did not know if the American Address had reached President Wilson, as T. P. O'Connor had left New York beforehand. Alderman Kelly stated that a Freeman man told him that the American papers of the 4th and 5th July wore not allowed to reach Ireland!

The Sinn Feiners recently surprised the sentries in Amiens Street Station goods-yard, shut off the electric light, and captured over a ton of gelignite. The Government suspended traffic and had thousands of police and soldiers hunting for it, without success. I believe the Sinns' intention is, if anything happens to the prisoners, to take reprisals."

Lord French made several efforts to conciliate those whom he knew were not pro-German. His Secretary, Edward Saunderson, son of the famous member for Armagh, called on me with a request that I would visit the Viceroy. I felt like a lady who was being wooed without the prospect of lawful espousal, and declined to visit His Excellency. It was a day or two after de Valera escaped from Lincoln Prison, and Saunderson told me how surprised the Government were. Knowing Lord French to be a cheery soldier, I said it might amuse him if he were told that a Sinn Feiner in the Four Courts remarked to me, "There's nothing wonderful in the escape. We sent over our Director of Escapes!" At this Saunderson laughed heartily, and said the Lord-Lieutenant would be amused. I learned after the Treaty that it was Michael Collins who in person contrived de Valera's release from Lincoln Jail.

Chapelizod,
6th September, 1918.
"The sentence by a court-martial of two years' hard labour on some player for singing the "Felons of our Land," makes my blood boil. It has been sung for 50 years - since Arthur Forrester wrote it.

I had a letter from O'Brien saying that the decision of the Sinn Feiners to oppose our men everywhere at elections did not matter to him, as "my mind is long ago made up," yet that my case is wholly different.

I replied that I told the Sinn Feiners I would sink or swim in O'Brien's pond, and that I thought the seat in North-East Cork belonged to him if he cared to have it. . . .

The Castle Executive was never in such a plight as at present. French has quarrelled with Shorrt, who is not admitted to his councils. The Crown Solicitor, Sir Henry Wynne, has been the power behind the throne, seconded by Samuels [Attorney-General]. . . .

Mrs. Sheehy Skeffington was here yesterday, and was very interesting on her American trip. There is evidently a strong anti-war party in U.S.A., and we get little truth from there. She says the Irish are as solid as ever for us and that T.P. and Hazleton could not get a hearing anywhere, and never addressed a meeting in public in two years.

Party officials, like Ryan of Philadelphia, refused to meet them. From New York to San Francisco, she says, all the Irish are Sinn Feiners, including the priests."

Possibly my brother had done as much to help on the new Franchise Bill as any other member of the Speaker's Conference. He was acquainted with every decision on suffrage points in England, Ireland, or Scotland, as well as with the Statutes. I wrote him:

Chapelizod,
6th September, 1918.
"Whatever the Sinn Feiners do has been provoked by the Government, and I will not sit in judgment against them.

Carson and the Orangemen are the root of the trouble, and it is idle to argue against the developments they have engendered. The punishment of the Irish Party, and knocking it out of existence, is a reform in itself.

So was the downfall of the Czar, though great evils followed. If you think otherwise, you should not have been so active for the Franchise Bill."

Chapelizod,
10th October, 1918.
"I heard in London of Shortt's intention to introduce some kind of Home Rule to offset Conscription.

Horace Plunkett was there recommending the re-assembling of the Convention.

Lord French left without securing a definite decision from Lloyd George, who is furious against Ireland, though fearful of offending the Catholics throughout the world-only for which we should be made mincemeat of by the military.

Lord French, since the Bulgarian surrender and the cry for peace from Germany, admits that the Irish situation has changed, and that soldiers are no longer required as before. It now has been suggested that an Order in Council enacting Conscription should be laid on the table of the House pro forma₃ but that the Government will assent to the demand of the Irish members to annul it. This is to be availed of as another nail in the coffin of Rome Rule.

Yet the military have everything in readiness to enforce Conscription, but they will be baffled by the politicals. There must have been awful slaughter on both sides in France last week. It has been the most terrible week of the War. I hope your boy and mine are alive."

The Mansion House Conference was still meeting at intervals, but its members knew that Conscription had been defeated. The War with Germany was reaching its last stages, yet the military in Dublin were anxious to grapple with the local situation by enforcing conscription.

The resignation of my seat in Parliament was tendered as a protest against the convictions for trivial causes by courts-martial. The Sinn Feiners desired to strengthen this protest by obtaining the withdrawal from Parliament of the whole O'Brien Party. I advised my brother:

Chapelizod,
11th October, 1918.
"The Sinn Feiners sent two men to O'Brien yesterday to propose - on the lines of White's letter to Dillon - that the Independent Nationalists should resign in a body before the Dissolution.

Lloyd George has been to France collecting information as to the situation, and if he can announce the certain defeat of the Germans next week, he would get a thumping majority at the polls.

Lord Dunraven, who is staying with Lord French, called on me yesterday.

I asked him no question, and never referred to the Viceroy, but as he was leaving he said there would not be "Conscription."

Dillon, at the Mansion House Conference yesterday, said that there would be neither Conscription nor Home Rule. I saw a draft of the scheme the Ministry had planned, which was mere "partition" grafted on the existing Home Rule Act of 1914.

Dr. Morrisroe, the bishop of Dillon's constituency, said this week that Dillon hadn't the ghost of a chance in East Mayo."

When returning home from the House of Commons for the last time, I met on the steamer Bishop Morrisroe, in whose diocese Dillon's constituency lay. His prophecy recorded in the preceding letter proved true, but it surprised me at the time. De Valera promised during the Mansion House Conference not to drive Dillon out, yet later that year opposed him personally. Dillon, however, provoked this to some extent by trying to prevent the election of Arthur Griffith in Cavan after he had been arrested.

Dublin,
12th October, 1918.
"The Irish Government to-day decided to arrest 270 more men, including Alderman Kelly, Professor MacNeill, and William O'Brien, the Trades Council delegate.

They are cramming Trinity College with military stores. The prohibition of motor-bicycles is to prevent communication when the Order in Council is law. Yet I don't think the London people will sanction the enforcement of Conscription. The Daily Chronicle would never write as it has done to-day if they so intended, as Dalziel is in charge. He knows the mind of Lloyd George, who is back from France."

Towards the end of 1918 a General Election on an extended franchise was approaching. I had then made my final appearance in the House of Commons, after being 37 years there. I knew that it was not at Westminster that further dividends for Ireland could be won.

Chapelizod,
7th November, 1918.
"Dillon's taunt to the Sinns in Cavan, that they allowed their leaders to be arrested without a move, has rankled sorely.

John MacNeill gave notice to the Lord Mayor of a resolution at the Mansion House Conference in favour of "self-determination." Two men who are on the run "[Collins and Boland] called on me last Sunday, and one of them suggested that, following the example of the Yugo-Slavs, et al, we should form a Provisional Government! They said they had 80,000 men to back us, and that they would force Dillon and Devlin to agree! This was spoken very menacingly as regards Dillon.

Anyhow, Dillon has secured a loophole for not acquiescing in the project of allowing the Conference to he turned aside from any purpose save resistance to Conscription."

My runagate visitors were friendly but, I thought, unpractical. Long after the truce Boland said to me, "We thought we could bluff Dillon and the Lord Mayor, but we knew we could not bluff you.

The military and political forces of the Government were slack when they should have been taut, and taut when they should have been slack, They had small conception of the political position. 1 told my brother:

Chapelizod,
10th November, 1918.
"I saw O'Brien yesterday at the Mansion House. He has his retiring address ready to issue the moment the Dissolution is announced. Things may change up to the last hour for Nominations, with the probable release of the leading Sinn Feiners. I wish they were out, for I am afraid some of their followers have the idea of compelling England to enter the Peace Conference with her hands dripping with their blood.

Unless restrained by good leadership they may get themselves shot down in some hopeless protest. Whether it "thrills "or not, it will be a sorrowful business. If Cork-men, as you say, are of less heroic mould, then the Dublin "jackeen" has at last come into his own in the city which John Mitchel in '48 peopled with "bellowing slaves and genteel dastards.""

The Armistice was signed by Germany the day after the above was written, but President Wilson's publications had made it evident earlier that peace was in sight.

Chapelizod,
23rd November, 1918.
"I take the gloomiest view of President Wilson's proposed visit to France. His brother has pronounced favourably towards Carson, and the President never acknowledged our Manifesto against Conscription, while acknowledging Carson's.

Three months ago I wrote O'Brien forecasting a Wilson visit, and American journalists are here to glean every item possible for Partition.

Sheehy's rejection by the Meath Convention of Dillonites was due, I am told, to his having sat in court to hear me in the Portobello murder inquiry, and not having sufficiently pressed his daughter (Mrs. Skeffington) to employ another counsel! Within the last month Muldoon warned O'Shaughnessy [the Recorder] not to be seen speaking to me. O'Shaughnessy told me this himself.

The prisoners will not be released until after the elections."

Dublin,
29th November, 1918.
"I met Archbishop Walsh in Ring's Inns Library yesterday and said I was delighted with his letter on the elections. "I am sure of that," was his reply He seems quite well, but is deaf somewhat. He was reading up the law on Charities!

I have been asked to address a meeting in Rathmines for the Sinn Fein candidate, and although I have to give a lecture the night before to the National Literary Society on the Lough Neagh case, and don't like two such reappearances, I have consented."

At the General Election of December, 1918; the Irish Party was blotted out. De Valera defeated Dillon in East Mayo - a stronghold he had occupied unopposed for 33 years. Save for a few Ulster seats, the Party was no more.

Dillon, who felt bitterly his defeat, died unexpectedly in August, 1927. His last political acts were to send his son to speak against candidates of the Free State Government, and to draw up for Captain Redmond a manifesto to be read to the latter's followers after the Irish General Election of June, 1927.

Churchill at Dundee (10th December, 1918) revealed: "Before the War we (the Coalition Government) definitely reached an agreement with the leaders of the Nationalist Party that Ulster was not to be forced."

The new Sinn Fein M.P.'s decided not to attend the House of Commons. The few Ulster Nationalists there might as well have imitated them for all the good they did.

De Valera, whose foreign name and aspect lent him interest, now became Ireland's leader. Born in New York, he was brought to Co. Limerick as an infant. When he opposed the Treaty of 1921 he boasted that he grew up in a Labourer's cottage there. As he was in youth ineligible for prizes under the Irish Intermediate Education Act, 1879, being an alien, the Christian Brothers of Charleville were moved to approach a local gentleman, brother to Her Majesty's Tory Attorney-General, John Atkinson (late a Lord of Appeal), to get the rule relaxed. An exception was therefore contrived, and the boy was treated as a British citizen.

When he entered College, it is said his father was described as "an actor." On finishing his course he applied for the post of Junior Inspector of National Schools, and circulated amongst Unionists appreciative testimonials testifying to his fitness.

He failed to secure preferment from the British and became a teacher. After the insurrection of 1916 he was sent to penal servitude and served 18 months. In 1918, when Conscription was enacted, he was (as already stated) again interned.

The extended suffrage led in 1918 to the greatest electoral d�bacle of my time. I described the situation to my brother;

Chapelizod,
29th December, 1918.
"Practically not a single Cabinet Minister responsible for the war, except Lloyd George, has been re-elected! Considering that under the old franchise, Scotland was so much against Lloyd George that he could not return his man for Edinbnrgh [Sir George Macrae], the new results are extraordinary.

Devlin's Hibernians made a deal in Past Down to secure his own scat in W. Belfast, and allowed the Orangemen to get in, though we had the majority. The Cardinal's arbitration decision counted for nothing with them. Carson was made a present of three seats that could have been won by the Nationalists - South Dublin, North Fermanagh, and Fast Down.

Shorrt is in favour of the release of the prisoners. Before Parliament assembles I think they will be out. Senator Lodge, the leader of the Republican Party in America, has endorsed the Irish demand, which is a serious business for Wilson and the Democrats.

Something will come out of present developments, as matters can't remain as they are."

East Down could have been won by the Nationalists but for the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Cardinal Logue had been invoked to compose the division between that body and Sinn Fein respecting the allocation of seats in the North. His Eminence decided that East Down should be allotted to a Sinn Feiner and gave counter-allocations to the Hibernians. The latter defied his arrangements, and by a secret pact with the Orangemen) voted for a Tory there in order to secure Devlin's election in Belfast, where he was victorious, as the Tory was in East Down. I do not believe Devlin was privy to the defiance of the Cardinal or the defeat of the Sinn Feiner.

The position of the United States now became one of intense concern for Nationalists. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
27th February, 1919.
"This last speech of Wilson makes it impossible for him to ignore the Irish case. It was an extraordinary pronouncement. His private secretary, Creel, who has been here, is favourably disposed. Senator Phelan got our Mansion House Address to the President printed by the Senate, and it was sent to me as a Congressional paper last month.

I think Wilson will either please the Irish or be smashed by them. The Republican Party in U.S.A. are inclined to take up the Irish demand.

I pressed F. E. Smith for the release of the prisoners, and gathered that they might soon be out. Lord French's illness alone, I think, delayed the release.

The military game ill Ireland is to provoke disorder. I told F. E. more Secret Service money was now being expended here than in any previous time, and that it was cash thrown away."

During the Versailles Peace negotiations the Irish in America who had supported Wilson for President sent a deputation to interview him in Paris. Wilson obtained from Lloyd George permission for them to visit Ireland, including the jails where the Sinn Feiners were confined. By this time many of their leaders had been set free. I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
11th May, 1919.
"The stars in their courses fight in favour of the Sinn Feiners. Nothing that the wit of man could devise equalled in folly the raid of the military on the Mansion House.

Mrs. Duffy had a lunch yesterday for the Irish-American Envoys, and one of them remarked to me that they would have left Ireland without seeing a taste of "martial law" only for this performance, as all military presentations were hidden away on their visit to Limerick. There the soldiers sympathized with the people, and were not relied on by the officers.

In Dublin I saw from a tramcar the gathering of the soldiers in Nassau Street, and thought from their cheering and faces that they had been given drink. I had no idea what was up, nor did I think of Dail Eireann or the American delegates, but formed the view that some offensive was intended.

The tram passed on and I telephoned that night for news. You saw the result in the Press.

Every fool seems to be in the employment of this Government.

Father Michael O'Flanagan said "grace" at Mrs. Duffy's lunch-a pleasant-faced young man, modest but with some lack of jaw (not words). There also lunched with the American delegates de Valera, Griffith, and John MacNeill.

I heard that at Dail Eireann the day previous MacNeill devoted some time to praising Stolen Waters, and recommended every one to read it.

The three American delegates are, I think, lawyers. One of them, Dunne, of Chicago, reminded me that I met his father, P. W. Dunne, of Peoria, in 1881. Another, Ryan, was in the FitzGerald case, about which I visited America in T906. The third, Walsh, is the central man of the trio. I had little talk with him, but on leaving he said he had always been an admirer, and was complimentary.

They have created a new situation, but I warned them that Lloyd George had no more power in England than Wilson had in the U.S.A. I suggested that perhaps he might remind England of the American concession of Home Rule to the Philippinos, but I don't know the terms of their Act. They are an able bunch, and the secretary, a man named Lee, is from Lismore! I think he is a Protestant. He told me they were received by the French Government at Havre with all ceremony and hospitality, and given a motor. . . .

Wilson's question to the delegates in Paris (from a Princetown professor), "Are you going to put me in bad?" is comic.

Samuels [Attorney-General] asked me to his cabin on the boat last week, and told me about some publication of the secret Press of the Sinn Feiners, called the Volunteer, which the Lord Chancellor referred to in the House of Lords. I have not seen it."

The report issued by the American delegates on Irish conditions angered the Coalition Press. I thought it overdrawn on one point, but I have forgotten what this was. I wrote Maurice:

Dublin,
7th June, 1919.
"The American delegates have alarmed the Tories. The Irish Times, Mail, and the Belfast papers are furious, while the London Times takes its revenge on Lloyd George over their passports.

It is hard to see how they can imprison Irishmen for demanding a Republic when they allow three envoys from America to visit Ireland for the purpose of establishing it! The Sinn Feiners have had some surprising stunts."

Being in 1919 retained for the defence of what were called the Silvermines prisoners, I wrote my brother:

Dublin,
17th June, 1919.
"The conduct of the Censor in Ireland is worse than during the War. He recently said he was acting on "instructions" - an extraordinary confession. He would not allow mention of the Silvermines murder-trial in any paper for the last week! No reporters were admitted into court to-day, but we got an amateur to take a shorthand note.

The exclusion of the American delegates' report from the Irish Press is comic, as it can be read in the London papers. The Executive are a lot of donkeys.

Northcliffe's action about Dominion Home Rule is plucky, and he has Lloyd George on the hip."

After the defeat of the Parliamentary Party at the polls in 1918 they were not without hope of resurrection, and their organs, the Freeman and Evening Telegraph, kept up a sniping campaign against the victors. In September, 1919, these organs collapsed and went into liquidation.

They were bought up by a Dublin merchant, the late Martin FitzGerald.

The Freeman ceased publication in December, 1924, and its premises and plant were sold on the 13th February, 1925, for �24,000 to the owners of the Independent. Five years before this I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
4th September, 1919.
"The Freeman collapse came because Michael Hearne, M.P., had been induced to buy debentures, and then, feeling himself on a sinking ship, pressed to be rescued. He acted as anyone would have done.

Dillon, having given him a seat in South Dublin last year, supposed that he would bear the loss, but Hearne, after taking opinion on the debenture deed, moved in court, and quite rightly.

The bank stopped the wages cheque because the directors could not provide "cover." Dillon had given the bank a lien on the �7,000 of the Party funds, but that was exhausted. Now Dillon has little funds, no Party, and no newspaper.

In three years the Freeman lost the �60,000 "Rebellion losses" money, �10,000 from Maguire of Liverpool (who found �1,000 himself and collected the rest from others), and �10,000 which T.P. sent from America, so that they have lost �80,000 in that time.

They have got leave from the Court to spend a "salvage" �5,000 in front of the debentures without a meeting of shareholders or debenture-holders.

It seems monstrous to put anything in front of the debentures without consulting them. I doubt whether, if resisted, it would be allowed on appeal.

I wrote O'Brien, as he holds �1,500 debentures, and their value has thus been reduced by one-seventh. It gives two months' additional existence to Dillon's politics, without hope of benefit to the stockholders.

The Liberals are in such low water that I doubt capital can be raised from them for the resurrection of the Freeman.

Dillon's funds are engulfed, and I don't see how he can raise anything. He and Redmond asked the man who was known as "Wyndham's trustee" of the Freeman shares for proxies to oust Sexton.

Its late solicitor, Scallan, was never at one with Dillon as to policy, and the debacle came with the bank "squeeze." Possibly Sexton chuckles."

The fate of the Freeman was a flaming portent at the time in Irish politics. That organ had for a century controlled opinion in Ireland.

Chapelizod,
8th September, 1919.
"The Freeman Receiver is an independent officer. Tully printed a brisk account of the collapse in his Roscommon Herald, stating that the �10,000 found by T.P. in America came from the President's secret service fund. No denial followed.

The Freeman is now inclined to give Sinn Fein news. I don't know what will become of it but think its continuance in decent hands would be best for the public.

President Wilson is trying to fool the Irish in America exactly as the Liberals have been doing with the Irish Party.

One of Dillon's late Party was in Dublin this week, and drew a comic picture of John waiting "to be sent for."

Sir Edward Goulding lunched here last Sunday. I agreed with him that his brother William should be an element in any conference. All the old Tories are practically converts to the idea of "self-determination."

It is painful that arson and slaughter should be an element in such change of heart, but Ireland is not an isolated example of this miracle. The plagues of Egypt won Pharaoh round! Reformers are only believed to be in earnest when they get killed or wounded. Then their theses are examined slowly!

Accept this alleged "bon mot" - arson and Carson!"

It appears from the next letter to my brother that I visited Lord Beaverbrook in an effort to soften British politicians towards an Irish settlement

Leatherhead,
5th October, 1919.
"I have been marooned here by the railway strike since Friday week. The Cabinet was prepared to fight even a general strike, and had all preparations made to meet the emergency. The troops and police were dependable, and they had tens of thousands of volunteers. No one suffered any inconvenience as to food, and the London public were against the strikers.

There is no early probability of an attempt at an Irish settlement. Statesmen are too full of their own business to think of Ireland.

I spoke strongly to F. E. Smith as to the treatment of the prisoners, to which I largely attribute "reprisals" in Ireland.

I heard that the Dublin detective, Hoey, who was shot, arrested the late Sean MacDermot, as he was shipping after the Rebellion, although MacDermot saved his life when Hoey was a prisoner in the G.P.O. Hoey knew that his own life was to be taken in consequence, and was a daily Communicant.

A Kerry policeman, who was fired at, called on me to intercede for him with the Government, so that he might not be sent out of the depot in Dublin, where he was given refuge for some months. I gave him a letter to an official but they sent him forth. The decision to compel this man to undertake duty, even in Ulster, so soon, seems heartless, but he is a "Papist.""

The policeman whose case I mentioned deserved better of the Government. Those who conspired with the notorious and dismissed Sergeant Sheridan to convict innocent men were given pay and shelter at the depot. The man I refer to had risked his life in the discharge of his duty. Yet he was less generously treated than the wretches who connived at Sheridan's malpractices in maiming cattle.

On the political situation I next wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
1st November, 1919.
"The Cabinet Committee on Home Rule is split! Walter Long and his friends, supported by Lord French, now favour two Parliaments in Ireland. The Liberal-Labour section proposed "county option," with practically Dominion Home Rule. Lloyd George is to decide between them, but will take Carson's instructions, and may propose a block-vote for the six counties, which he knows the Irish will reject."

The Government thought that the right thing done after the right time had sped, was as good as the right thing done at the right moment.

In August, 1919, Michael Collins risked much to contrive, as already mentioned, the escape of de Valera to America from Lincoln Jail. On the 6th February, 1920, de Valera in New York gave an interview to the correspondent of the Westminster Gazette which had far-reaching consequences. He said, "why doesn't Britain do with Ireland as the United States did with Cuba? " He little knew that Uncle Sam lands troops in Cuba to secure order and otherwise actively intervenes. So his American supporters charged him with "hauling down the flag." Resenting criticism, he committed a greater blunder. 1920 was a "Presidential year" in the United States, and Republicans and Democrats sought the Irish vote. Traditionally the Democrats were in sympathy with Ireland, while the Republicans were supposed to trend more to British views.

Both parties were soon to meet in Convention to select a candidate for the Presidency-the Republicans in Chicago, and the Democrats a month later at San Francisco. To the amazement of every one, the Republican "Committee on Resolutions" recommended the following "plank" in their "platform":

"That this Republican Convention desires to place on record its sympathy with all oppressed peoples and its recognition of the principle that the people of Ireland have the right to determine freely, without dictation from outside, their own governmental institutions and their own international relations with other States and peoples."

If this had been accepted, every one knew that the Democratic Convention would be obliged to "go one better." De Valera, however, hastened from Washington by special train to announce his rejection of the "plank."

Cardinal Mundelein assembled his suffragans with the ablest lawyers of his flock to plead with de Valera, in vain. That night an immense Irish gathering assembled in the largest building in Chicago to rejoice at the acceptance by the Republicans of the proposed "plank," but the "leader" declared he would accept nothing but the recognition of an "Irish Republic." Thanks to this folly, the Convention refused to adopt any "plank" in favour of Ireland. Naturally, when the Democrats met in San Francisco they took a like course. Then Lloyd George's advisers in Washington reported that the Irish cause was "down and out," and he let loose the "Black-and-Tans" on Ireland. Had the Chicago Convention been allowed to adopt the "plank" drafted by its Committee (which was a certainty only for de Valera) it would have been as notable a triumph as the Home Rule proposal by Gladstone in 1886.

De Valera returned to Ireland to hide his chagrin. Yet his supporters at home carried on unflinchingly in spite of his wrong-headedness. I wrote my brother:

Dublin,
18th November, 1919.
"I am going to London on Saturday for the court-martial on Father O'Donnell on Monday before the Australian officers.

Lardner, who was in London lately, says the Government are determined to press their "settlement" of Home Rule."

Chapelizod,
11th December, 1919.
"I stayed over Sunday in London to meet a great man, but he sent word that the American Ambassador was lunching with him, and would I join? I did not.

Since then he sent for Judge James O'Connor, whose plan of "county option" had been championed by Secretary Shortt, but was lost in the Committee of the Cabinet, which adopted Long's Carsonite scheme of a separate Parliament for the six counties.

Lloyd George said that, if he could get support for a plan whereby the six counties would be left as they are, he would be ready to give the rest of the country Dominion Home Rule, free from Imperial taxation, and with control of the Customs and Excise.

The Ulster bishops assembled in Dublin on Monday under the presidency of the Cardinal, and believed the excluded area would soon join the rest under the bait of freedom from English burdens. The reason for L.G. being disposed to treat the matter seriously is the attitude of Earl Grey at Washington. He is said to have informed the Cabinet that he would not stay his 12 months there as he was powerless for good, owing to the universal sentiment in favour of Ireland, and that this could not be treated as a "pandering to the Irish vote," but was a national sentiment common to all Americans, and threatened to make his views known as soon as he returned to England. This is said to have made up Lloyd George's mind.

I was told by one who little knows Lloyd George, that he is ready to throw over both the minority and the majority reports of the Cabinet Committee on Home Rule, if he could be promised support for this expedient. Looking at the matter as a means of getting free from the British Treasury and British budgets, it would be a plan we might swallow; but unless Lloyd George is determined to break with Carson and the Tories (which I cannot suppose), and defy the Treasury, I do not believe he would make such a proposal. Archbishop Walsh expressed himself in the same way as I did.

The American situation may have frightened the Cabinet, but, as I pointed out, we could not be asked to accept anything, or give any opinion about a scheme in the air, or until it reaches the Statute Book, seeing that the Act passed in 1914 has not been treated seriously by the Government.

Nothing was said as to the nature of the body which would be endowed with the new powers, but the six counties were to remain governed from London. Thus no Belfast intolerance could injure the Catholics in the excluded area, which would remain under Imperial control as regards military and police. The Orangemen pretend that this is what they want."

These criticisms and apprehensions written in private to a discerning man must not be taken to exclude "extenuating circumstances" on the part of Lloyd George. He was trammelled by the parliamentary system, for the apparatus of Lords and Commons is not one from which contentious legislation is easily squeezed. Although he disliked Irish Catholics as much as he did Welsh Churchmen, he often seemed to desire fair play all round within the limits of parliamentary possibilities.

After a long break in the correspondence I foretold the success of the Sinn Feiners:

Chapelizod,
2nd July, 1920.
"The secretary of General Smuts is in Dublin, and as far as I can glean, the Colonial Prime Ministers forced Lloyd George, despite the Lord Chancellor's speech in the Lords, to take steps to promote peace.

Lloyd George will wriggle for all he is worth, but in the result nothing less will be accepted than Colonial Home Rule with Customs and Excise."

Chapelizod,
8th July, 1920.
"There are military hold-ups on our road every day, examining motors, and we are expecting, if the railways are stopped, that the Sinn Feiners will commandeer all cars for food supply, which will be "pleasant."

The Government would be willing to improve their Home Rule Bill if the Sinns would give them any guarantees for peace, but they will not do so. The men who control them have been so harried in prison and so hunted out of it, that they are out for reprisals, and care little for the consequences of the disturbance they are creating.

The Derry Orangemen, who supported the recent slaughter of Catholics, got a bad hammering from the Sinns as soon as the Volunteers arrived, and are, therefore, cowed. In Belfast some Catholics have rifles, and are not nervous.

I met Father MacKenna, who captured Tyrone County Council, a rustic sober little man with a wizened face, thoroughly acquainted with the mysteries of "proportional representation." The "Mollies" tried to defeat him, and let the Tories retain control of the Council by starting candidates, This led to two election petitions, but the Tories cannot regain their ascendancy for a while."

Political secret societies are of the "rule or ruin" brand. They must be obeyed or defied. If defied they will help anyone, however antagonistic to their "principles," to attack their opponents. They are not headed as a rule by men of brains. Business interests and sordid considerations chiefly govern their action. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,
16th July, 1920.
"We had Father Bernard Vaughan to lunch, who said he admired all the clever things the Sinn Feiners did, except the murders, and he asked was there no hope of settlement. There were prayers in the London Catholic churches for a just settlement of the Irish question

I have conveyed to the Sinns my opinion that unless they make some settlement this autumn, before the American elections, they will miss the tide.

I beat Dublin Castle in three cases this term, the Aliens' money case in the Lords, the kidnapping case from Tipperary, and getting back the money of the Sinn Fein Bank - �8,000."

Disorders now took place in the North. Murders of the unoffending were committed. Yet no culprit was punished or even prosecuted. I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
24th July, 1920.
"The Belfast riots were organized to prevent a Home Rule settlement. Belfast first got up the Derry riots, but as the Sinn Feiners smashed the Orangemen there, the venue of slaughter was changed to Belfast. For four or five days in Derry the Orangemen had it all their own way. Then the Sinns concentrated on the town and drubbed them, so they squealed for British military.

More wanton aggression was never got up. Orange rioters depend on the War Office."

Lloyd George had ousted Asquith as Prime Minister in 1916 with the help of Carson and Bonar Law, and was praised to the Orangemen by Carson. Yet Lloyd George must be taken to have accepted his predecessor's Irish obligations. He was a man of the people, boasting love of the people. The Great War was over, and, thanks largely to him, in triumph. Yet under his premiership the slaying of innocent men was carried out in Ireland by Crown forces without remorse. Asquith had granted an investigation into some of the excesses of 1916, despite military protests.

Under Lloyd George the importation of jailbirds to loot and burn Irish homes and factories commenced, in the hope of staying the vehemence of insurgency.

Many of the sufferers were Conservatives and loyalists, as General Crozier complained. Colonel Guinness, M.P., D.S.O. (now a Cabinet Minister), curbed "official reprisals" by asking, "How can you quell rebellion by burning a farmer's house worth �800 when he can burn a landlord's mansion worth �20,000?

This glimpse of good sense helped to check the malice of the "Black-and-Tans." During the Great War, jails in England had been emptied to provide soldiers for Flanders. The convicts behaved gallantly in the trenches, but was it discreet to export them to Ireland on their return? They had witnessed dreadful deeds abroad, for war, as General Sheridan said, is "Hell." Patrick Mahon, the Belfast soldier, afterwards executed for a horrible murder, was let out of jail to take service with the "Black-and-Tans." Lord Hugh Cecil described him as a "typical Sinn Feiner!"

He was not the only blossom of war's aftermath.

In December, 1925, a "Tan" ex-convict was sentenced by Mr. Justice Avory to 10 years' penal servitude and a flogging for a crime against an English lady.

In February, 1926, the London "monocle" hero, also a "Tan," came to conviction after smashing the window of a Bond Street jeweller when he had served his sentence he was re-arrested for conspiracy with a German to supply the secrets of British Services to a possible enemy Power. Blackguardism was embattled against Ireland. Local British military authorities were, in the main, fair, but they could not check the new imports.

A verdict of "wilful murder" against the "Black-and-Tans" was found by the military for the drowning of an ex-British officer, Captain Prendergast, at Fermoy. I was counsel for his widow, who was accorded compensation by the late Recorder of Cork (M. J. Bourke, K.C.).

Prendergast had been a Christian Brother, and retired from his Order to advocate the cause of the Allies in the War on recruiting platforms. Finding his appeals successful, he enlisted, and was wounded in France. Invalided home, he grew restless, and returned, to be made captain on the Italian Front. There he was again wounded. His hurts made his chance of service hopeless, and he was sent home to Fermoy. There he married a lady who kept a restaurant. In the evenings he frequented an hotel where British officers resorted, to hear the news.

One night, while he was chatting with some of the garrison officers, lorries of "Black-and-Tans" descended on Fermoy. Their cargo was set down at the Royal Hotel (close to the River Blackwater). They demanded drink from the barmaid, but paid nothing. The usual soldiers' talk went on as to the War, and the valour of British and Irish regiments in the trenches was discussed, each side maintaining the superiority of its own men. As Prendergast was retiring, he was struck down. The "Black-and-Tans" dragged him by the legs, head hindmost, to the River Blackwater, which was in spate. Appeals for mercy were disregarded, and Prendergast was flung over the parapet into the foaming flood. His corpse was found at Clondulane, three miles below Fermoy, a month later.

The murderers returned to the hotel to demand more drink, and the frightened barmaid was forced to give it. Unaware of the tragedy, she asked them to lower their voices, lest "Mr. Dooley might report them to the police."

"Who is Dooley?" they inquired. Being told he was a saddler in the next house, they battered in his door. Upstairs Dooley was found with his wife, asleep. They dragged him also to the Blackwater, and flung him in.

More fortunate than Prendergast, he was thrown up on a mill-weir, and made his way to the workhouse for shelter.

The miscreants next set fire to Dooley's house, and when the British garrison turned out to quench the blaze, the "Black-and-Tans "cut the hose, and vanished in their lorries from Fermoy. No one was arrested, or made amenable, for these "incidents." The Morning Post denied the murder of Prendergast, and when the solicitor for his widow sent copies of the depositions taken before Recorder Bourke, it refused to notice them or publish his letter.

A crime equally unprovoked shocked Bonar Law. It was the murder of Canon Magner, P.P., in Co. Cork. A Government magistrate (Mr. Brady, R.M.) was driving a motor which broke down near Bandon. Canon Magner was on the road reading his Office, and the R.M. asked him to get a lad who was passing on a bicycle to push the car. The priest complied, and as the boy began to shove it, a lorry of "Black-and-Tans" drove up. They jumped out and ordered the priest to his knees, then shot him and killed the boy who was helping Mr. Brady to start the motor. Brady ran to a cottage, pursued by the murderers, and found a hiding-place. The baffled "Tans" then flung the corpses of the priest and the lad over a fence, and went their way.

The magistrate, with the help of the cottager, then started his car, and on reaching Macroom made an entry in the R.I.C. day-book. The "Black-and-Tans," some of whom hailed from Belfast, on returning to their hotel in Bandon, sang songs in celebration of the slaughter of the priest.

The Cabinet were disturbed by the murder. Vehemently Bonar Law spoke to me about it, and vowed that the culprit should be executed. I laughed. Annoyed at this, he told me that the Commander-in-Chief General Macready, would be ordered to attend in Cork for the court-martial, and would at once confirm the sentence, so that when the accused was convicted he would be shot out of hand.

I laughed agaln, and Bonar was vexed.

General Macready did go to Cork in order that prompt justice might be done. The court-martial, however (as in Captain Colthurst's case) found the prisoner guilty, but insane! I did not chaff Bonar on the result.

Provocation to Crown forces was great at this time, but why should the factory of an English firm, founded by English capital, at Balbriggan (Deeds, Templar & Co.), have been burnt because a policeman was murdered?

The "Black-and-Tans" first avenged the crime by taking suspect-prisoners out of the Police Barracks on the night of the murder and bayoneting them. Why should they also burn English property? Similarly, a creamery at Mallow, owned by a loyalist, Sir Thomas Cleeve, was cremated. The destruction of the Cork shops, Town Hall, and Carnegie Library followed.

Then a police inspector, Swanzy, who was alleged to have headed the force which slew the Lord Mayor of Cork, was murdered in Lisburn.

I wrote my brother:

Chapelizod,
23rd August, 1920.
"The murder in Lisburn, in the heart of Orangeism, is more daring than anything that has taken place. Swanzy is accused of having organized your Lord Mayor McCurtain's murder. The Wexford District Inspector (an Englishman who used to drink) was shot because, it is said, he fired first at the Lord Mayor. Someone in the Four Courts told me that the police party who were brigaded to kill the Lord Mayor consisted of 14, and that the Sinn Feiners have their names, and intend to kill all of them. This is terrible, but explains many of the deaths of policemen scattered through the country, as they were removed from Cork, or were not stationed there.

I defended, at a court-martial in Belfast, the chauffeur who was charged with driving the party which shot Swanzy. He was convicted, but I wrote General Macready that an Orange jury would not have found him guilty, and he was reprieved.

The story is an unusual one. Leonard was employed in the garage of a Greek in Belfast. On a Sunday he was directed to take a "call" for a taxi to Lisburn. The previous Sunday, an Orange ex-soldier-driver with his taxi had been engaged in the same manner from a different garage. On the way to Lisburn the Orangeman was marooned in a field, and tied up. His car was retrieved near by in the evening badly damaged.

Much the same thing happened to Leonard, but the occupants of his car reached Lisburn, and shot Swanzy. That Leonard's car was driven to Lisburn was beyond doubt. A doctor's wife convalescing after illness saw it from her room, and scratched its number on the window-sill. General Macready, however, with merciful prudence recommended the Viceroy, Lord French, to reprieve Leonard.

As a rule, courts-martial composed of officers of the British Army make a fine tribunal. Some of the Belfast officers accompanied me nightly on the walk to my hotel (unasked) after I had pleaded before them on behalf of Sinn Feiners, lest Orange wrath should fall on me.