XXXIX.
In this way did both of Mr. Parnell’s ideas receive recognition and support. In the first place, the Revolutionary Directory was instructed to prepare for the rising of which he spoke, while, in the second, a pretty strong hint was given to the home organisation that members in their individual capacity should join the League and support its programme. It is only right that I should state at this point that I was not the only one charged with representing Mr. Parnell’s views. My attendance before the Foreign Relations Committee brought me into contact with John O’Connor, alias Dr. Clarke, alias Dr. Kenealy, the travelling agent of the Clan-na-Gael in Europe, who informed me that he specially attended in his representative capacity to support the “understanding.” This was not my first meeting with O’Connor by any means. When in Paris I had been introduced to him by O’Leary, and had frequently met him in the company of Egan, with whom he was on the most confidential terms, and working in perfect harmony. O’Connor’s statement was followed by one on the part of Devoy, who informed me that “the matter was now all right.”
This Convention saw the initiation of the Sullivan régime, Alexander Sullivan, ere its close, being elected to the position of president of the organisation, with head-quarters at Chicago. His election was attended by many changes in the constitution. Up to this the executive body, or “F.C.” as it was termed, had consisted of a chairman, secretary, and treasurer, with eleven district members or “E.N.’s,” elected to control the society in their several districts. The Convention now reconstituted the “F.C.” by excluding these eleven “E.N.’s,” and limiting the number to six, including the secretary, who was ex-officio, but without a vote. This was quite a revolution in the management of affairs, and Sullivan, in his new position, acquired a power and prominence never enjoyed by any previous president. It was after gaining possession of this important and powerful post that he visited Europe, in accordance with the arrangement I had been the means of first proposing to him. Of course it was not publicly announced that Sullivan was in Europe. By some he was understood to be ill, by others in Florida. It would never have done for him to have publicly admitted or allowed the fact to be known that he was so far east as Paris.
I had very many interesting conversations at this Convention, but none more so than those with Dr. Gallaher, now in Portland Prison for complicity in the dynamite outrages, and Mackay Lomasney, who had just returned from Ireland, where, like Devoy in 1879, he had been acting as the inspecting envoy of the Clan-na-Gael. Gallaher, at the time I speak of, was making experiments in the manufacture of explosives, and advocating their use. He was quite enthusiastic in their praise, and so carried away by his subject that he expressed his willingness to personally undertake the carriage of dynamite to England and to superintend its use there. Lomasney was an equally ardent dynamitard, not foreseeing then the fate which awaited him under London Bridge.
I think I cannot better conclude this chapter than by quoting the following statement of accounts, furnished at this Convention, of the Skirmishing Fund, which, in all its details, even to the amount stolen by the messenger of the Irish World, should prove of interest.
| RECEIPTS, &c. | ||||
| Total receipts by Irish World up to May 31, 1881 | $88,306 | 32 | ||
| Received by trustees from other sources | 1,603 | 50 | ||
| Interest | 1,072 | 50 | ||
| Profits on Exchange | 471 | 25 | ||
| ———— | ||||
| $91,453 | 57 | |||
| ————— | ||||
| EXPENSES, &c. | ||||
| Purchase of bonds | $31,488 | 87 | ||
| Lent per F.C. to S.C. for tools | 10,000 | 0 | ||
| Lent to F.C. | 5,875 | 0 | ||
| Irish volunteers | 1,000 | 0 | ||
| J. J. O’Mahony’s burial | 2,030 | 0 | ||
| O’D. Rossa’s defalcations | 1,321 | 90 | ||
| Old submarine vessel | 4,042 | 97 | ||
| New submarine vessel | 23,345 | 70 | ||
| Miscellaneous expense | 321 | 4 | ||
| Lent Dr. Carroll | 860 | 0 | ||
| Luby and Burke | 100 | 0 | ||
| Cheques dishonoured | 78 | 68 | ||
| Reception, Condon and Meledy | 249 | 79 | ||
| Allowed A. Ford on old money, Rossa’s not cashed | 41 | 90 | ||
| Irish World overcharged | 5 | 4 | ||
| Subsidising foreign newspapers (J. J. O’Kelly) | 2,000 | 0 | ||
| Land League trial (Davitt) | 1,532 | 0 | ||
| Special to O’Kelly | 177 | 63 | ||
| Author, New Departure | 1,003 | 90 | ||
| Stolen by messenger of Irish World | 27 | 50 | ||
| Reception of Parnell | 165 | 0 | ||
| ———— | ||||
| $85,666 | 92 | |||
| ————— | ||||
| ASSETS. | ||||
| Balance in bank | $5,745 | 82 | ||
| Balance on hands | 40 | 83 | ||
| ———— | ||||
| $5,786 | 65 | |||
| ———— | ||||