Fearing one of these baton attacks in 1913, Madam, having come down to the square in her car, had just stepped out upon the sidewalk when she was struck full in the face by a policeman's club! On that same day, too, the police rushed into the adjoining streets and clubbed every person they met, even people several blocks from the square who, at the moment, were coming out of church from vesper service.
Mr. Connolly found that in any strike in Ireland the interests of England and of the employer were the same; that his strikers had to meet the two members of the opposition without any defense. Therefore he had organized the men who were fighting for better hours and wages into a "Citizen Army." It is against the law for any one to bear arms in Ireland, but in this case the authorities could do nothing because they had not disarmed the men of Ulster when the latter armed and drilled to defend themselves against Home Rule, should it become a fact. The Ulster-men were openly planning insurrection under Sir Edward Carson—insurrection against a law, a political measure desired by the majority! It was an anarchistic outbreak that Carson had in mind. Mr. Connolly, on the other hand, was organizing simply for defense against police power that had grown unbridled in its activities. No one interfered with him.
As always, this organization was under surveillance, and reports about it were sent to the authorities. But there appeared to be no more than three hundred members, a small body not dangerous to the police if it should come into conflict with them. It was not known that there were several times three hundred members, but that only this number was allowed to drill or march at any one time. This drilling baffled the police. Many a night the three hundred would be mobilized and quietly march through Dublin out into the country, the police trailing wearily and nervously after them, expecting some excitement along the line of march. Nothing ever happened. Back to town in the wee, small hours the police would come, only to see the men disperse as quietly as they had assembled and go home to bed. After this had happened many times, it no longer attracted official attention. Only perfunctory reports were made of any mobilization of the Citizen Army, and thus it came about that on Easter Sunday the mobilization was taken for nothing more than the usual drill and not reported.
The second organization, the Irish Volunteers, was brought into being by those in favor of Home Rule, and was a makeweight against the Ulster-men. Since the Irish Volunteers were organized to protect law, to uphold Home Rule should it become a fact as promised, nothing could be done by the authorities when the volunteers began to arm themselves. Besides, nothing had been done to prevent the Ulster-men from arming themselves. The conservative press in England actually supported the Ulster-men, and English army officers resigned rather than disarm them. What, then, could they be expected to do to a body of men who stood for law and order instead of opposing it as in Ulster? This situation made possible a strategic position for the leaders of the Republican movement.
Had not the authorities realized that now they would meet with armed resistance if they broke their promise about conscription, we should have had to send our brothers to France and Flanders early in the war. But the Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteers had no intention of allowing men to be carried off to fight England's battles when, for the first time in many years, there was a chance of winning freedom for Ireland. To keep this constantly in the public mind, Mr. Connolly had a large sign hung over the main entrance to Liberty Hall, his headquarters:
WE SERVE NEITHER KING NOR
KAISER, BUT IRELAND
III
The need of explosives was great, and I took part in a number of expeditions to obtain them. One night we raided a ship lying in the river. The sailors were drunk, and three or four of our men had no trouble in getting into the hold. I was standing guard on the other side of the embankment wall, holding one end of a string that served as a telegraph between our outposts in the street and our men in the boat. One jerk from me meant, "Some one coming"; two jerks, "Police"; three jerks, "Clear out as best you can."