The Felon's Track: a narrative of '48. Embracing the leading events in the Irish struggle from the year 1843 to the close of 1848 ... Second edition

Front matter

• /tot its / COL. MICHAEL DOHENY. THE FELON'S TRACK: A NARRATIVE OF '48. EMBRACING THE LEADING EVENTS IN THE HUSH STRUGGLE FROM THE TEAR 1843 TO THE CLOSE OF 1848. BY MICHAEL DOHENY, AUTHOR OF THE "AMERICAN REVOLUTION." " Hurrah for the mountain side ! Hurrah for the bivouac ! Hurrah for the heaving tide, If rocking the Felon's Track !"— Davis. SECOND EniTION. NEW TORE: FARRELL & SON, PUBLISHERS, 107 FULTON STREET. 1867. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Clerk's Office for the Southern DIstrlot Court of New York, Bi MICHAEL DOHENY, In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine. JOHN G. SHEA, Stereotypes, 60 Centre Stbeet. Itfonaiifln. To the noble martyrs who are Buffering the torture of British dungeons for their fidelity to principles of Forty-eight ; to Irish men the world over, who, through all trials, have remained true to them, and who still labor earnestly for our country's independence, I dedicate the second edition of the "Felon's Track."

MARY JANE DOHENY. 29 Si. Mark's Place, New York, January Slst, 1867. HUbication. TO GENERAL JAMES SHIELDS, UNITED STATES SENATOR, &c-, &c. Dear Sir: In dedicating to you this narrative, I have been influenced by one consid eration only. I have no title to your friendship. I cannot claim the most remote affinity with your career in arms. There is nothing connected with this sad fragment of history, either in fact or hope, to suggest any association with your name or achievements. But as my main object is to show that Ireland's failure was not owing to native recreancy or cowardice, I feel sat isfied, that of all living men, your position and character will best sustain the sole aim of my present labor and ambition. In past history, Ireland holds a high place ; but her laurels were won on foreign fields, and the jealous literary ambition which raised adequate monu ments to these stormy times, denied to her swords the distinction they vin dicated for themselves in the hour of combat.

The most brilliant, unscrupulous, and daring historian of France degraded the niggard praise he accorded them, by making it the medium of a false and contemptible sneer. " The Irish soldier," says Voltaire, "fights bravely everywhere but in his own country." Without pausing here to vindicate that country from such ungrateful dlander, it is enough to say that you were not placed in the same unhappy position as the illustrious exiles from the last Irish army — soldiers of fortune in the service of a foreign prince. You were a citizen of this free Republic, and a volunteer in its ranks ; it was your country, and you and four compatriots, who followed the same standard, did no dishonor to those who were bravest among the brave on the best debated fields in Europe. In the wreck of every hope, all who yet cherish the ambition of realizing for Ireland an independent destiny, point to your career as an encouraging augury, if not a complete justification for not despairing of their country.

Preface

. I NEVER intended that this history should be repub lished in its present form. It was written hurriedly ; and from want of sufficient materials for a fuller record of events at the time, had to be greatly condensed ; and were its author living to-day, he would feel bound to change it in some particulars. However, as I am satis fied that when the entire history of Ireland's struggles for freedom is written (which I trust it soon will for a Free People), full justice will be rendered to every one who has at any time engaged in them, I feel that I may permit this fragment to reappear unaltered. M. J. D.

Introduction

. There are few facts detailed in the following pages that need explanation here. If my motive in writing them were personal gratification, or simply a desire to preserve a memorial of scenes in which I took an anxious part, I might labor to make the narration more interesting to my readers, without any care for future consequences. But through every disaster I preserved unbroken faith in the purpose and courage of my country. I believed, and still believe, that her true heart is faithful to liberty and hopeful for the future ; and this conviction involved me in a struggle with the apparently opposite tendency of the facts I was bound to narrate. Had I to write for a new generation, upon whom these facts could have made no false impressions, my task would be easy. I am persuaded that a simple statement of all that occurred, would satisfy any candid mind, that no disgrace attached to Ireland in her recent discom fiture.

But I must needs confess that it is a task of extreme difficulty to reconcile her fall with the preconceived notions or present prejudices of those who read her story through the false medium of the press : nor do I hope for more than partial success from the details I have been able to give of the circumstances of which she was the victim and the dupe. It is impossible fully to appreciate the pernicious effect of Mr. O'Connell's teaching, without reviewing in minute detail the leading circumstances of his -wonderful career, and the matchless and countless resources with which he upheld his fatal system. In dealing with this part of my subject, my difficulties have been multiplied and enhanced, by a strong desire to do him no injustice, and to leave untouched by doubt or suspicion a character so entertwined with my country's love.

But it became necessary to refer to those acts which chiefly tended to increase the obstacles which beset our en deavors. In doing this, whether here or elsewhere in my narrative, if I use phrases which would seem to imply harshness to his memory, I wish them to be understood as applied in reference to the attempt to effect the deliv erance of Ireland by force of arms, and establishing her entire and perfect independence. I have avoided this question, assuming that I wrote only for those who agreed with me in the belief that such is her true destiny, and the end for which her children ought to strive. In this view of her recent struggle, there can be no doubt of the tendency of Mr. O'Connell's policy to demoralize, disgrace, enfeeble, and corrupt the Irish people, and it is in that.sense, and that only, I have always spoken of him.

Another subject, of perhaps greater delicacy and difficulty, was the part taken by the Catholic clergy. On my arrival in America, I found a fierce contest agitating, dividing, and enfeebling the Irish-American population. It was asserted on one side, that the entire failure was attributable to the Catholic priests, and that, in opposing the liberation of Ireland, they acted in accordance with some recognized radical principle of the Church. I could not assent to either of these propositions. I knew several priests who were fully prepared to take their share in an armed conflict ; in fact, the vast majority of those I met at the time. And again, with respect to such as did interfere, and opposed the efforts of the people's chiefs, I do not believe that one man was influenced by considerations connected with, or emanating from the Church in its corporate capacity. Of Mr. O'Connell's

INTRODUCTION.

. policy already referred to, none were blinder victims than some of the priests. It had made such an impression on them, that they scarcely could believe any thing was real, or any sentiment was true ; and when they ad mitted its truth, it was only to prove its madness. Of other and more ques tionable motives I shall say nothing here. But while I feel the injustice of the sweeping charge made against the whole body of the priesthood, I would be unfaithful to my purpose, and my convictions, if I concealed the acts and language of those among them, who interposed and unhappily exercised baneful influence on the abortive at tempt of their unfortunate country. I shall only say further, that what relates to them, is the only part of my narrative which gave me shame to tell. I have only a word to add in reference to certain proceedings in the Com mittee of the Association, now made public for the first time.

It may be said, and I doubt not will be said, that these were matters which we were mor ally pledged to keep secret. I readily admit that, although there was no obligation whatever, either expressed or implied, as to any subject discussed in Committee any more than in the public hall ; still, I should not disclose any part of its proceedings, if I were not compelled by an imperative necessity. Upon one subject, and that the most important to the character of my illustrious friend, no other proof was available. And the tacit understanding, in virtue of which I would be disposed to admit any obligation of secrecy, does not and could not extend beyond such matters as would, if divulged, endan ger the safety, or impair the efficiency of the Association. What I tell of the proceedings of the Committee, even if it yet existed, would scarcely have any such effect.

But every one knows it not only does not exist, but that it has left no memory which it would be possible to degrade. Its physical ex istence long survived the last spark of moral vitality, and its efficiency now consists in this, if it warn all men against the species of terrorism which finally prevailed in its councils, and effected its overthrow. In certain circumstances which I relate, I may possibly make some mistakes in the dates, owing to the difficulty of finding those dates in odd num bers and broken volumes of the journals to which alone I have had access. I may be permitted to take this opportunity to assure all those of whom I have not spoken, that no name has been omitted by me from any feelifigs of dislike, or any desire to depreciate the services and sacrifices of a single man among the hundreds whose exile or ruin attests the sincerity of their convictions and the purity of their patriotism.

Even with men who do not take the same view of last year's history as I do, their names and characters will go far to redeem its darkest traces from shame and obloquy. They are now scattered over the wide earth, and there is not one among them, from the highest to the humblest, whom I do not hold in the utmost honor and esteem. THE AUTHOR. New York, September 21, 1849. «

Chapter I

4 RETROSPECT — COMMENCEMENT OF THE REPEAL STRUGGLE — EARLT DATS OF THK ASSOCIATION. THE appearance of this narrative will surprise no one. For apology, if any be needed, the writer may trust to his own share in the transactions with which it deals ; and still more so perhaps to the misrepresentation to which, during their progress, he had been personally subjected. But personal vindication imparts neither interest nor importance to history, while it necessarily detracts from its dignity and good faith. Besides, time, with the disastrous events marking its more recent course, have silenced the voice of calumny; and the writer undertakes his task with no personal feeling to gratify or even to consult. The character of others, uow unable to be heard, is far dearer to him than his own; and while he aspires to justify, before the world, their singular career, distinguished throughout by generous and lofty passions, surpassing intellect, and measureless love of their country and couutrymen — a career so brilliant and instructive even in the last hours of gloom — he will endeavor to infuse into the history of their struggles and their fate that generous tenderness towards others, that spirit of self-sacrifice and supreme love of truth, which were among their noblest characteristics.

The undertaking suggests but one painful consideration — the impossibility of treating the subject fully and fairly without investigating facts far anterior to the late struggle, but coincident in their effect with its progress and development, and stamping their pernicious and fatallnfluence upon the spirit and conduct that led to a final overthrow. This will necessarily involve an inquiry into the late conduct and teaching of Mr. O'Connell, which the writer would most willingly avoid. Mr. O'Connell's name and character fill a mighty space in history. They are the most cherished recollections in his country's memory, and she clings to them with loving pride in this her hour of utter desolation. The hand that traces these recollections would be the last to aim a blow at the object of her sacred affections ; and if in obedience to a more binding obligation, Mr. O'Connell's policy be questioned and condemned, his influencing motive shall be unchallenged and unarraigned.

What his final purpose was, and how he had determined to effect it, had his life been spared and his course left unimpeded, now rest with him in his grave. It is for others to write his history and vindicate his career. By me even his mistakes shall be treated with forbearance. A brief reference to the struggle for Catholic emancipation be comes here imperative. That struggle has had no equal in history — not for its moral grandeur, nor for its triumph, but for the singular difficulties which the position of the Irish Catholic imposed on those who engaged in it. It is an error to call it emancipation. It was neither the first nor the last, nor even the most important in the train of concessions, which are entitled to the name of emancipation. The pains and penalties of the " penal laws" had been long abolished, and that barbarous code had been compressed jpto cold and stolid exclu siveness.

But the vices which a long and unrelenting slavery had burned into the character of the country remained. The lie of law, which assumed the non-existence of the Catholic, had infused itself into his nature, and while it was erased from the statute book, it was legible on his heart. That terrible necessity of denying his feelings, his property, his religion, and his very being, had stamped its degrad ing influence on his nature. In a moral sense the law had become a truth — there was no people. The Catholic gentry, giddy by their recent elevation, had only changed for that semblance of liberty their old stern spirit of resistance and revenge. Their new concessions hung gracefully around them, but they were like grafts on an ash stock — their growth was downward, and they wanted the stature and dignity of the native tree.

Such were the means at Mr. O'Con nell's disposal. His enemies, on the other hand, were false, powerful, dexterous, and unscrupulous. His efforts necessarily partook of the character both of the weapons he was obliged to wield and the foes he struck down. As he advanced to eminence and strength, means the most crafty and cruel were taken to overthrow him, every one of which he foiled by a sagacity infinitely above that of his op pressors. So successful had he been in deceiving the champions of intolerance, that of all the great qualities displayed in that wonder ful struggle, that which was most prized was the cunning of eva sion. It left behind it an enduring and destructive influence. Dis simulation in political action began to be regarded as a public virtue, and long afterwards, when men sought to assert the dignity of truth' their candor was charged against them .as a heinous crime.

It will be seen hereafter how fatally this fact operated against their efforts. The very character of emancipation has assumed an exaggerated and false guise. The joy of the nation was boundless— its gratitude immeasurable. In the shout that hailed the deliverer, earlier deliv erers were forgotten. No one remembered the men whose stupen dous exertions wrung from the reluctant spirit of a far darker time the right of living, of worship, of enjoying property, and exer cising the franchise. All these aud more, which were once, and not very remotely, denied to the Catholics, had been before this accorded to them. Yet the interest and importance of winning access to Par liament, to the higher ranks of the army, and perhaps a stray seat at THE FELON'S TRACE. 9 the privy-council, acquired the name of emancipation, and Mr. O'Con nell monopolized its entire renown.

He was styled the " Liberator," and his achievement designated as " striking the fetters from the limbs of the slave, and liberting the altar." In truth, the import of emancipation was so exaggerated, and its history so warped, that even now, at a distance of more than twenty years, both the act and the actors are so misunderstood that it requires no little daring to approach a question involving the sensibilities, prejudices, and passions of an entire generation. A truer appreciation might have given Mr. O'Connell a different and higher destiny. Not alone the boundless exultation of the Catholic, but the mortified pride of the baffled Protestant also stamped its influence on his fortunes, prospects, and career. In proportion as he was to the former an object of adulation and pride, did the latter hoard up in his heart for • him enduring envy and insatiable hate.

Another circumstance, too, which Mr. O'Connell did not create, and could not in the beginning control, contributed to mar his future glory. This was the pecuniary compensation which the emancipated Catholics kneeled to present him. It is far from being intended here to disparage the offering or decry its acceptance. On the contrary, if this were the proper place, both would be vindicated with zealous pride. But the effect of the continued collection on Mr. O'Con nell's conduct and efficiency was baneful in the extreme. And it was among the most promiuent circumstances in shaping his career. Mr. O'Connell entered the House of Commons under auspices more flattering and encouraging than ever smiled on the advent to that assembly of any other man. In whatever light he was regarded, he was far the foremost personage of his time.

How his subsequent career might justify the hushed awe with which a proud senate received him, if he had devoted himself to the broad and comprehen sive questions of imperial jurisprudence, for which he seemed so emi nently fitted, it would be idle now to conjecture. Certain it is that no act of his after life, varied and wonderful as it was, realized the promise of that glad and glorious morning. Lord Anglesea, who had been removed from the viceroyalty for suspected treachery to the cause of intolerance, was restored to his office by more distinguished converts, and was received by the peo ple with tumultuous acclaim. His popularity was short-lived. The present Chief-justice Doherty was then Attorney-General. He incur red the wrath of Mr. O'Connell in consequence of treachery which he had exhibited in conducting a trial at Clonmel.

This led to a fierce encounter in the House of Commons — the fifst great trial of Mr. O'Connell's powers — in which Doherty's friends claimed for their champion a decisive victory. However unjust may be that judgment, Mr. O'Connell's admirers were compelled to admit that he failed in his impeachment, and principally in consequence of a letter written by Mr. Shiel, then second to no other Irishman. Mr. Shiel had been as sociated with the Attorney-General in the prosecution at Clonmel, and his letter boldly justified the conduct which the great popular tribune vehemently and indignantly impugned. This was, quite unex pected, and greatly affected Mr. O'Connell's cause. But whether Mr. Doherty failed or succeeded, he was rewarded, and almost avow edly, by the chief-justiceship of the common pleas.

The appointment was a direct insult to Mr. O'Connell, and scarcely a less direct insult to the Irish bar and the Irish nation. Mr. Doherty was re garded as a man of great forensic ability, but no legal attainments. He had scarcely acquired any practice, and no distinction whatever ; so that his elevation to a post he was so inadequate to fill, gave uni versal dissatisfaction, and was read as evidence that the Government of Ireland was subservient to an unscrupulous and audacious faction. Soon after the date of this appointment the first Repeal Associa tion was established by Mr. O'Connell. His motives were at once bit terly assailed. By some he was charged with being influenced by personal mortification. By some his conduct was attributed to a love of turbulence and money. By some it was said he only intended the agitation as a threat, by means of which he could enforce a wiser, more liberal, and just administration of the law and govern ment in Ireland.

Few, if any, believed him to be in earnest and sin cere. But the condition of the country, and the principles of Mr. O'Connell's early life, would suggest higher motives ; and the perse verance and intensity of feeling and purpose with which he urged the deliverance of his country in after times, proves that he was a stranger to the sordid considerations which envy or fear coupled with his first labors in that direction. Certain it is, that whatever were his motives, it could be no tempting ambition that determined him to trans fer the exercise of his abilities to the tribune of angry agitation from that more legitimate and loftier arena which, with unsurpassed energy, he had won. The agitation succeeded rapidly. The Government became at once intolerant and impotent. They proclaimed down the agitation ; but this only imparted to it activity, energy, and strength.

The Govern ment gave way to a furious storm which had been long gathering elsewhere. The great reform ministry succeeded, with Earl Grey at its head ; and in the struggle for imperial parliamentary reform, Ire land and her independence were forgotten. During the intellectual conflict that followed, Mr. O'Connell asserted his pre-eminence, and won a lofty name. He made far the most successful speech on the question of Reform. It not only exceeded the ablest orations of the British leaders, but was perhaps the most tri umphant he himself had ever delivered. But his position soon changed. From being the unanswerable champion of the ministerial majority in the House of Commons, he took the lead of a small oppo sition which resisted the Government on the Irish Bill. Although the minister was the exponent and stern advocate of the widest lib erality in applying the reform to England, he undertook to defend, ou the very opposite principle, the niggard liberty he was prepared, in the same measure, to extend to Ireland.

In this unnatural and un expected turn of affairs, Mr. O'Connell took a proud and bold stand against the Government, and for his country. The ministry succeeded, but he had more than ever acquired the confidence and unbounded gratitude of his countrymen. Thenceforward he was their acknowl edged chief, and his words expressed not more his own than the public will. His remonstrances were vehement and angry, but they were vain. The ministry disregarded the claims of justice, as well as the voice of the orator. The quarrel became personal and vindictive to so great an extent, that Mr. O'Connell's support would almost insure the defeat of any measure at the hands of the English Whig faction. While this was his position in the House of Commons, he was preparing the elements of an organization which was destined to embrace the whole island.

He started the first great Repeal Association, which was at once attended with marvellous success. Forty-four members of parliament were under its control, if not in its ranks. A discussion of the merits of Repeal was forced in the House of Commons by the intemperate zeal of the member for Cork. The motion was resisted by the whole weight and influence of the min istry. But in a resolution proposed as an amendment, both houses concurred in acknowledging that Ireland's complaint was founded in justice ; and on solemnly pledging themselves to the practical redress of her grievances, the resolution was carried to the foot of the throne, and there received the sanction of royalty. But that resolution remained and remains unfulfilled. The ministry which proposed it redeemed their promise by an Algerine measure of coercion which Mr. O'Connell denounced as "base, bloody, and brutal."

His opposition, and their own recreancy of principle, tended rapidly to their overthrow. Lord Stanley, in hatred to Mr. O'Connell and his country, abandoned the Government, which he charged with truckling to the great demagogue's will. The country, on the other hand, withdrew its confidence from them, on the ground that' they truckled to their hereditary foes, and al lowed the principles of the Tories to influence Parliament in the name and through the agency of the Whigs. Division and weak ness followed ; and the result was a break-up of the administration, which was remodeled with Lord Melbourne for its chief, on the un derstanding that more liberal views should govern its future course. An alliance was entered into with Mr. O'Connell, whose support the prime minister openly claimed and as openly boasted of.

Then was formed what was known as the " Litchfield-House Compact." This compact, if such the understanding that existed can be called, was based upon the assurance that the most liberal measures of justice should be extended to Ireland, and that in the administrative de partment the Government should apply itself diligently to the reform and purifying of all public functions and functionaries. What was the nature or extent of Mr. O'Connell's engagement, I do not pretend to know. But whether he pledged himself to abandon for ever the struggle for independence, or only to place it in abeyance for a season, to facilitate the action of the Government in reference to their good intentions and favorable promises, he so far fulfilled his engagement as to dissolve the Association. That Association was composed of various and very conflicting elements.

The motives which influenced many of its leaders, were equally varied. Many joined it merely because Mr. O'Connell was its founder and its guide. Many among the middle ranks of society had acquired a sort of interest in agitation they could not easily surrender. It had gained them local distinction, and gratified a morbid vanity. Profuse votes of thanks were their incentive and reward. To correspond with Mr. Ray, or perhaps the Liberator, consummated their ambition, and for aught beyond that they felt no concern. Others there were, corrupt by nature and cunning in design, whose political exertions had personal advancement for their sole aim ; and others still, who never believed Mr. O'Connell sincere, but joined the Association and shouted their approval because too contemptible and feeble to acquire distinction except through the echo of his voice, or under shelter of his fame.

To the false, and the sordid, and the indifferent, the dissolution of the confederacy was a, welcome event ; but the people, yet uncorrupted, looked on passively with agonized hearts. Physical contagion generally begins at the bases of society, and trails its way slowly to the upper ranks, occasionally dealing doom to some hard hearts that mocked, it may be, its first uncared-for victims. But moral corruption begins with the highest, and embraces the whole circle of society in its descent. So it was in tliis instance. Members of parliament who had solemnly pledged themselves to the disenthralment of their country, accepted the wages, and entered into the service of the government, who had one and all vowed they would prevent the fulfilment of the husting's pledge, even at the risk of a civil war.

Among them was Mr. O'Connell's son, who had taken that pledge before the assembled people of Meath ; his son-in law, Mr. Fitzimon, who had sworn it to the freeholders of the me tropolitan county; Mr. Carew O'Dwyer, who, in virtue of the same pledge, obtained the unanimous suffrage of Drogheda, and several others. Many relatives and friends of Mr. O'Connell obtained re wards adequate to their services. Agents who had been successful against Whig candidates now retired into Whig places. The cor porate towns were made over to the Whigs, who held out the understanding that the sons, nephews, and kindred of the leading and deserving citizens, would be provided for in the departments suited to their different capacities, and varying from the post of tide-waiter to that of stipendiary magistrate.

Fierce was the struggle which followed, and sore the disappointment, and many a scalding tear of baffled ambition watered the way to the aspirant's ruin. This is not said for the purpose of disparaging the legitimate ambition of those who sought advancement in the altered circum stances and sentiment of the time. " But the effect of such a state of things on the morality of the nation was incalculably injurious. The most solemn resolution was openly violated and that by the very men who were foremost in recommending the national vow. Nor would its tendency be less fatal, assuming that Mr. O'Connell was correct in supposing that the experiment would be vain, and that its failure could not fail to supply new and more urgent reasons for the nation's independence. The compact, if even entered into with that view, would shake all faith in public men ; because it would only change the parties with whom a false obligation was contracted, leaving the obligation itself and its violation exactly where they were.

Mr. O'Connell's support was doomed to be as fatal to the Whigs as his opposition. He unhappily assisted them during this period to carry one measure, against which they had recorded several solemn decisions in parliament, namely, the Tithe Bill, without an appropria tion clause, which was a direct falsification of their own resolution, whereby they defeated Sir Robert Peel's short-lived administration, in 1835. And what was still more lamentable, he supported them in renewing, in a modified form, the very coercion act for the in troduction of which he designated them as "base, bloody, and brutal." But other elements were secretly sapping the influences for which he made these sacrifices. The storm of disaffection, a long while gathering among open foes and disappointed retainers, was about to burst on the devoted heads of the Whigs.