Twenty-five years in the Secret Service: The recollections of a spy

by Henri Le Caron

The names of the trustees will, of course, be familiar, as being amongst those regarding whom I gave some details some few pages back, and who were all remarkable for their past Fenian records and present prominence in the Clan-na-Gael ranks.

XXVII.

While the Skirmishing Fund and its custodians were engaging public attention in this way, the secret work of the organisation was by no means being neglected. The ordinary work of shipping arms to Ireland, and communicating with the sister society as regards members, organisation, &c., was conducted with regularity and precision; while operations of an extraordinary character were indulged in as opportunity offered. Amongst these latter must be classed the negotiations, commenced about this time, for an alliance between the Revolutionary party in America and the Russian Government. Wild and absurd as the idea may at first appear, it is nevertheless an undoubted fact that these negotiations were not alone started in sober earnest, but they were in the end finally completed and developed to the stage of a regular diplomatic compact at headquarters in Russia. As is well known, the relations between England and Russia were for some three or four years previous to 1880 of a distinctly strained character, and war at many times appeared imminent. Filled with the idea that war would actually take place, the Clan-na-Gael Executive caused overtures to be made to the representative of the Russian Government, proposing that they in America should fit out privateers which, sailing with letters of marque from Russia, should worry English vessels and assist in every way possible in furthering the designs of Russia, in return for which Russia should pledge assistance to the Irish in their attempt to wrest Ireland from English domination.

The matter assumed the proportions of a really serious proposal, and Dr. William Carroll, of Philadelphia, about whom I have already spoken, and who was one of the trustees of the Skirmishing Fund, as well as Chairman of the Executive Body of the Clan-na-Gael, was delegated by the Executive to represent their interests in the negotiation. Dr. Carroll, through the assistance of Senator Jones of Florida, was placed in communication with the Russian minister at Washington, and to this gentleman the Clan-na-Gael ambassador represented that some millionaires—the names of two were mentioned—were prepared to subsidise the undertaking, and that several points had been fixed upon for fitting out the privateers, San Francisco being notably one of them. So satisfactorily did the negotiations progress for the Clan-na-Gael people, that in a few months Dr. Carroll left America for the Russian capital, where, it was subsequently reported in an official way, the treaty between the Russian Government and the Revolutionary organisation was formally ratified.

It was a significant fact that shortly after this the Russian minister at Washington was recalled. The report in the official ranks of the Clan-na-Gael was that the proceeding was the result of an action taken by the British Government in consequence of what had occurred. Of course, regarding this view of the occurrence, as far as I can speak, there was neither definite information nor proof.

This was but one of the many wild schemes indulged in at this period. Another had to do with the manufacture of a submarine torpedo-boat, with which it was intended to inflict terrific damage on the British navy under water. After one failure, the boat was actually built at the shipyard on the Jersey side of the North River at a cost of some 37,000 dollars; but nothing ever came of it, for it was apparently completed only to be towed to New Haven, where it lay, and where, for aught I know, it may be rotting at the present day. Its principal use, as far as I could make out, was in supplying a certain number of patriots, charged with the control of its construction, some five dollars a day each as recognition for their invaluable services.

On the other plots and schemes I can only touch in the lightest possible way. They included the assassination of Queen Victoria, the kidnapping of the Prince of Wales or Prince Arthur, an attack on Portland Prison, with the rescue of Michael Davitt therefrom, and a hundred and one odd schemes in which Dhuleep Singh, General Carroll Thevis, Aylward, and other soldiers of fortune or discontent all figured.

XXVIII.

The month of September ’78 was remarkable for the arrival in America of Michael Davitt. He had been released from Portland Prison on ticket-of-leave several months previously, and having travelled through Ireland in the meantime, now came to the States with the ostensible object of lecturing. This first visit of his differed from the second one paid in 1880 by reason of the change which his opinions underwent in the interval. When in September 1878 Davitt landed in America to be met by Devoy and others, and welcomed in an effusive address, he took pains, in replying, to state he was still faithful to the principles of his youth, for which he had suffered imprisonment, and that the dungeon had not changed his political convictions in the least. Apparently not, for during his visit Davitt put in an appearance at several Clan-na-Gael camps, and took part in their proceedings as a duly accredited brother and representative. Contact with Devoy, however, and with the theories on the subject of the “New Departure,” to which Devoy at this time was giving prominence, must have changed Davitt’s views somewhat, for references to past principles, life-long convictions, &c., soon made way for pleasant pictures and prophecies of the development known as the “New Departure,” which was at last to bring the Irish political plotter within sight of his Mecca.

There is no need for me at this late day to deal at any great length with what has since been known as the “New Departure.” It proved to be nothing more or less than the scheme which found its development and outcome in the Parnellite movement, viz., the bringing together the two forces of Irish discontent—the Constitutional and the Revolutionary sections—and, while allying them for strategic and financial purposes, yet so arranging the compact that each was allowed to work in its own way for the accomplishment of the object which all had in view—the repeal of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland.