“Head-Quarters, K.,
“November 21, 1881.
“S.G. of D.
“Dear Sir and Brother,—It is the desire of the F.C. that as many members of the V.C. as can possibly attend the Irish National Convention at Chicago, November 30, 1881, will do so without entailing expense on the organisation.
“You will therefore make every effort to get the members of the V.C. elected as delegates from any Irish society that may have an existence in your neighbourhood, whether it be as representative of the Land League Club, the A.O.H., or any other organisation.
“The F.C. particularly desires your presence as a delegate, if it is possible for you to attend as such.
“Fraternally yours,
“K.G.N. of the V.C.”
I thoroughly knew what this meant. Under the new régime of Sullivan there was to be no more of the “Buffalo business,” and to prevent it things were to to done in a thoroughly practical manner. The members of the secret revolutionary organisation were to capture the representation at the coming Land League Convention, to act unitedly in the development of a policy in harmony with the Clan-na-Gael, and to officer the future executive in such a way as to prevent further misunderstanding. In order to do all this, the Clan-na-Gael men were to obtain election as League, or Ancient Order of Hibernian, delegates, the latter organisation being a purely benevolent body, whose branches had largely affiliated with the League or open movement from the start. This was accordingly done; and thus it came about that, when I met my fellow-delegates to the open Land League Convention of 1881, I found almost every second man a brother from the camps of the Clan-na-Gael.
The whole scheme worked in the most perfect manner. On arrival in Chicago each Clan-na-Gael man reported himself to the chief officer of the district, to whom credentials were presented. Official intimation was then given as to what would happen, and each conspirator learned that, prior to the sessions of the convention, caucuses of the Brotherhood would be held in the hall of Camp 16, Twenty-second Street, Chicago. The usual precautions were taken, and admission only gained by passwords exchanged on each occasion. As the chairman at the first gathering—the Rev. George C. Betts—humorously put it, “our object was to make things easy for the Land Leaguers, and to save them as much trouble as possible.” At each meeting the plan of procedure at the coming session was decided upon, and the election of temporary and permanent officers arranged. Nominations for various committees were fixed, and no opportunity neglected for adapting the constitution and officials to our requirements. The resolutions subsequently adopted in open convention were drafted by our committees.
It therefore came about that John F. Finerty of Chicago, the well-known dynamite advocate and prominent member of the Clan, “called the convention to order,” and made the opening speech. William J. Hynes of the Revolutionary Directory, and the chairman of the late Clan-na-Gael Convention, was appointed temporary chairman, and Joseph E. Ronayne, who had acted in a similar capacity at the Dynamite Convention, was appointed secretary, while T. V. Powderly of the Clan Executive, whose fiery speech at the same Convention was given a few pages back, was nominated assistant-secretary. The nomination of these men led to a trial of strength between the two forces of the Convention, but the real tug of war was reserved for the second day, when resolutions previously adopted at the Gael’s caucus were proposed, nominating the Rev. George C. Betts of St. Louis as permanent chairman, and Patrick Ford, John Devoy, Mrs. Parnell, and a number of priests as vice-presidents. Of course the priests were put forward for politic reasons. The vice-presidents were not objected to, but the appointment of the Rev. George C. Betts, a Protestant clergyman, was strongly opposed by the priestly party. A very excited debate took place, but in the end the opposition to Betts was withdrawn at the instigation of the Irish visitors—Messrs. T. P. O’Connor, M.P., T. M. Healy, M.P., and Father Sheehy—and so at the close this Vice-President of the Clan-na-Gael was elected, and the secret organisation triumphed all along the line.
The Irish political controversy was darkened the following year by the sad event in the Phœnix Park, Dublin, when Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke met their deaths at the hands of the Irish Invincibles. As regards the Invincible conspiracy, I have little or nothing to say. It was in no sense an American affair, and no matter how little or how much certain sympathisers in the States may have known of the murderous conspiracy, nothing was said on the subject in public or in secret to connect the Clan-na-Gael in any way with the proceedings of Carey and his friends. There was, of course, a certain amount of sympathy with the affair, as was shown by the attitude taken up by John Devoy in his paper the Irish Nation, which was, by the way, the official organ of the Clan-na-Gael at this time, and subsidised from its fund. Devoy gave great prominence to the refusal of Egan to offer a reward for the discovery of the murderers, printing the following telegram in his issue of 13th May 1882:—