The following are the words of Kickham to which Mr. Tierney refers:
“As I have spoken of so many of my fellow laborers at No. 12 Parliament street, I must not forget the most devoted of them all. His name was first brought under my notice in this way: It was the end of the year 1857, a sketch of the poet Edward Walsh appeared in the Celt, a national periodical established by my lamented friend, Doctor Robert Cane, of Kilkenny. The poor poet’s story was a sad one, and it was mentioned that his widow was then living in an humble lodging in Dublin, hardly earning her own and her children’s bread, as a seamstress. This moved some generous-hearted persons to write to her, proffering pecuniary assistance; but the poet’s widow was proud, and she wished it to be announced in the Celt that she could not accept money. Mrs. Walsh sent me one of the letters she had received, and here it is:
“Skibbereen, Xmas morning, 1857.
“Dear Madam—I hoped to spend a happy Christmas Day; but before sitting down to breakfast, I took up the last number of the Celt, and read the conclusion of the memoir of your husband, by some kind writer. I now find I cannot be happy unless you will do me the favor of accepting the enclosed pound note as a small testimony of my sympathy for the widow of one of our sweetest poets. I remain dear madam,
“Yours, Sincerely,
“J. O’Donovan Rossa.”
I felt a strong desire to know more of this Mr. O’Donovan (Rossa), who could not sit down to his Christmas breakfast after reading an “o’er true tale” of suffering, till he had done something to alleviate it. And when, some months after, I saw his name in the list of prisoners arrested in Cork and Kerry, on a charge of treason-felony, I was not surprised. The first of these “Phœnix prisoners placed at the bar, Daniel O’Sullivan-agreem, was convicted and sentenced to ten years penal servitude. But before the trials proceeded further, there was a change of government, and Thomas O’Hagan, now lord-chancellor, the eloquent advocate of the prisoners, was made attorney-general. O’Donovan (Rossa) and the rest were prevailed on to go through the form of pleading guilty, having first stipulated that Daniel O’Sullivan should be set at liberty. By this step they relieved the new attorney-general of the awkward duty of becoming the prosecutors of his clients. The prisoners were released on their own recognizances to come up for judgment when called upon. It is needless to say that the fact that he could be at any moment consigned to penal servitude for life, or for any number of years the government pleased without the form of a trial, had no effect whatever upon the political conduct of O’Donovan (Rossa). After this I saw his name again in the newspapers as a candidate for the situation of Relieving Officer to the Skibbereen Union. In his letter to the Guardians he said in his manly way: ‘If you appoint me, notwithstanding my political opinions, I shall feel proud. But if you refuse to appoint me on account of my political opinions, I shall feel proud, too.’ It is to the credit of the Board of Guardians that he was unanimously elected; and the fact shows, too, the estimation in which the indomitable rebel was held by all who knew him personally, irrespective of class or creed. The scenes of misery with which he was brought into closer contact while discharging the duties of this office intensified his hatred of foreign misrule. Mr. O’Donovan was the manager of the Irish People, and while on his business tours through Ireland and England, one of its ablest correspondents. He also contributed to its leading columns, and even to the ‘poet’s corner.’”
When I come to the years 1859 and 1862 I will have something to say about that “pleading guilty” and that “Relieving Officership of the Skibbereen Union.”
After the death of Dr. Jerrie Crowley, the Phœnix men moved from the rooms they had occupied back of the drugstore into other rooms that they rented from Morty Downing—not the Morty I have spoken of before, but another Morty who was called Morty the Second.
On the 2d of January, 1858, we had an anniversary celebration in those new rooms. We had a supper, and after the supper we had speech-making. Daniel O’Crowley, now living in Springfield, Ill., was, I think, the secretary of the meeting at that time. Denis McCarthy-Dhoun, who afterward died in London, was the chairman at the supper. We were subscribing for the Irish National journals at the time. I sent a report of the meeting to the Dundalk Democrat, and I sent with it a pound note, asking the editor to send me a pound’s worth of the papers.