“War Department, Fenian Brotherhood,
“No. 10 West Fourth Street,
“New York, December 29, 1868.
“P. O. Box 5141,
“Major H. le Caron,
“Box 1004,
“Chicago, Ill.
“Major,—Your letter tendering your resignation as an officer of the I.R.A. came duly to hand, but I delayed answering until such time as I could submit it to the President, who was out of town, as without his instructions I could give you nothing definite in reply. He now directs me to say that it is his wish you should remain an officer of the organisation, and that if you require a leave of absence for a month or more, you can have it. He further says he hopes it will not be long before the opportunity you refer to may be granted. Your services have been thoroughly appreciated both by him and the officials of both Departments, civil and military, therefore you should not notice the inuendoes or taunts of parties who cannot value your services. If the officers of the organisation who have been vilified and calumniated were to resign on that account, some of its best officers would not now be at their post. The ‘Patriot’s meed is bitter;’ they must bear with much, even from those who should be the first to defend and sustain them.
“Personally, I would advise you to act on the suggestions of the President, and hope you will.
“The President will write you in a few days. Whatever course you may decide upon pursuing in this matter, you shall always carry with you the best wishes of
“Your friend and brother,
“J. Whitehead Byron,
“Col. & A.A.G., F.B.”
I got thus safely out of my awkward position, and learnt one good lesson. I never kept a pocket-book again.
XIII.
The Annual Convention to which I have made reference in connection with the Roche incident took place in Philadelphia, “the city of brotherly love,” in the month of December 1868. It was made the occasion of an immense demonstration, no less than 6000 armed and uniformed Fenian soldiers parading the streets. The convention itself was numerically a large one, and was attended by over 400 properly qualified delegates. The proceedings were of the usual kind. Brag and bluster were the order of the day. The determination to invade Canada once more was still upheld by the vote of the assembly, and the position of O’Neill and his colleagues was as fixed and satisfactory as ever—that of myself, of course, being included in this reference.
The report of the envoy to the sister organisation in Ireland—Daniel Sullivan, Secretary of Civil Affairs—was an interesting document, and contained full details of the Clerkenwell Explosion of the previous year. This was the attempt to blow up Clerkenwell Prison which Mr. Parnell subsequently described in reply to Mr. Gladstone—the old Mr. Gladstone, I mean, not the new one—as “a practical joke.” It was, however, as we in Philadelphia were to learn, anything but a practical joke. It was rather as cool and carefully planned a scheme as ever Fenianism indulged in to spite the British Government. If the attempt failed to accomplish all that was expected of it, it was yet very fruitful in drawing from Mr. Gladstone a confession about its effect being “to bring the Irish question within the range of practical politics,” which has ever since proved the most effective and popular argument advanced on behalf of dynamite in the United States.