The Convention, which assembled in the club-room of the Palmer House, Chicago, lasted from the 3rd to the 10th of August 1881; and although the word dynamite finds no single place in the official records of the assembly, it was in the air and in the speeches from start to finish. The whole question of active operations came up and was debated at great length in connection with the statement of accounts furnished by the trustees of the Skirmishing Fund. Many of the delegates present attacked both the Revolutionary Directory and the Executive Body for having practically done nothing, while an enormous amount of money had been spent from this fund; and wild demands were made for particulars. The fight raged so fiercely that disclosures were made compromising people on the Irish side of the water; and, in order to prevent a complete exposé, a resolution was suddenly passed forbidding the mention of names and other compromising particulars. Explanations were, however, tendered as to the schemes which had been discussed and in part arranged. These included the treaty with Russia, the supply of officers to the Boers, the torpedo-boat, the hand-grenade, the purchase and shipment of arms, the purchase of 200 six-pound cannons at $25 each, and the attempt to rescue Michael Davitt on two occasions.
In the end a resolution in the following terms was adopted which, read by the light of the many and excited debates, was a clear instruction to the Executive Body to be up and doing at once in the way of “active” warfare:—
“That it is the sense of this Convention that, while we do not dictate to the F.C., whatever action they may inaugurate, however decisive, will meet the full approval of the delegates present and the V.C. at large.”
This, however, was not the only important resolution they recorded. While the fight over an active policy was being engaged in, I secretly attended by request before the Committee of Foreign Relations, and explained to them the views of Mr. Parnell and Patrick Egan. As the result of what took place in connection with this matter, the following resolution was proposed and adopted in open convention:—
“That it is the sense of this Convention that both branches of the S.E. (i.e., the Irish and the American members of the Revolutionary Directory), in so far as they can give their time and energies to it, should devote themselves to the work of revolution; and if such bodies cannot give their approval to public movements that are intended to promote the political and social regeneration of Jsfmboe (Ireland) when they are supported by a large proportion of the Jsjti (Irish) people, they will at least refrain from antagonising them, and that the members of the I.S.C. (the Irish Republican Brotherhood) and the V.C. (Clan-na-Gael) should not arbitrarily be prevented from exercising liberty of action in regard to such movements.”
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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.