Brigadier-General Thomas Francis Meagher: his political and military career

Front matter

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PRICE ONE SHILLING.

Dedication

Meagher was a soldier before lie girded on the sword. He was a soldier in the cause ©f liberty from the time when be stood upon the battlements of Antwerp, as he described in that famous speech, delivered in Dublin, July 28, 1846, when he declined to stigmatize the sword, because " at its blow a giant nation started from the waters of the Atlantic, and by its redeeming magic, and in the quivering of its crimson light, the crippled Colony sprang into the attitude of a proud Republic— prosperous, limitless, and invincible The fortunes and the honour of the brave men of his race who took up arms all the world over, " in any good cause at all," were always dear and near to his heart.

In sympathy with this feeling, therefore, I dedicate this volume to

W. F. LYONS.

CHAPTER I. His early Career— Tlie Revolutionary Movement of 1 48, ... ... 9

CHAPTER XL

Meagher's Social and Personal Character— His Wit and Courage, 26 CHAPTER HI.

Convict Life in Tan Dieman's Land— Escape, and Arrival in America, 37 CHAPTER IV.

Meagher as a Soldier— He raises and takes command of the Irish Brigade, ... 41

CHAPTER V.

The Boston Speech at Music Hall, 50

CHAPTER VI.

The General at the head of his Brigade — Appointment by President

Lincoln, and Confirmation by the Senate — The First Battle, ... 68

CHAPTER VII.

The Brigade goes into Action vrith eclat — Perils of the Rear-guard — Meagher in the thick of the Eight, 84 vi.

coy TEXTS.

CHAPTER Yin.

PAGE

The Battle of Chancellors ville — Decimation of the Brigade — Meagher's Farewell, 91

CHAPTER IX.

The Etowah Command— Defence of Chattanooga— -Recognition of Meagher's Services, ... 93

CHAPTER X.

His Career in Montana Territory — Meagher appointed Secretary and Acting Governor — He fights the Politicians— Raising the Militia — Journey to Port Benton — His Death, 101

APPEXDIX.

Speech on the Transportation of Mitchel, ... 112

Speech on American Benevolence — Irish Gratitude, ... ... ... 118

Speech at the Mitchel Banquet in the Broadway Theatre, New York,

Catholicism and Republicanism, 142

Extracts from Holidays in Costa Rica, ... ... ... ... ... 148

Meagher's Last Hours, ... ... 183

Introduction

Why the life of Thomas Francis Meagher should be written requires no explanation. The career of a man who has made so interesting a part of the history of twenty remarkable years, who participated prominently in two revolutionary struggles — a bloodless one in the Old World, and a sanguinary one in the New — whose eloquence has thrilled two peoples by a fervour not common to the orators of our time, but almost peculiar to himself, and by a redundancy of classic beauty, both in thought and language, which distinguished his oratorical efforts from those of any contemporary; the career of such a man should not be left to the mere memory of his words and works.

Thousands who watched his course, from his first entry into public life in the very flush and exuberance of early manhood, down to the hour of his death ; — who saw with what self-sacrifice he flung behind him the pleasures and honours of a wealthy home, to share in the labours and dangers of the patriots then battling for the cause of his country; and who remember how manfully he faced all the buffets of ill-fortune which followed — the disasters of defeat, the solemnity of condemnation to the scaffold, and the penalty of eternal exile : all these thousands living in two hemispheres who loved him for the grand chivalry which clothed via. IN TROD UCTION.

him like the armour of a knight, and the tenderness which permeated every fibre of his genial nature, will, perchance, appreciate this volume, however imperfectly its pages may present the story of a remarkable, and not fruitless life.

How it comes to pass that the author has undertaken the task can be briefly stated. It is, with him, a work of love and duty. A tribute to a friendship cemented in years gone by, and enduring all days, even to the sorrowful end.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL

THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.

CHAPTER I.

HIS EARLY CAREER— THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

"It is held That valour is the chief est virtue, and Most dignifies the haver. If it be, The man I speak of cannot in the world Be singly counterpoised."

Shakespeare's Coeiolanusl

In writing of the life, character, and genius of Thomas Francis Meagher, we have to treat of one whose name is familiar in two hemispheres. It has made part of the history of Ireland and of America for the last twenty years. In Ireland it has been associated with events which characterized an epoch not rare in the story of that country, — an epoch of revolution. What Lord Edward Fitzgerald was to the period of '98, and Robert Emmet was to the unfruitful though gallant movement of 1803, Meagher was, in a great measure, to the revolutionary attempt of 1848.

Endowed with the same gifts of youth, fortune, and a highly cultivated mind, he was not deficient in the gallantry to lead, and the fortitude to suffer, which were conspicuous qualities in the character of Fitzgerald and Emmet. In America he has not only been recognized as a prominent representative of the genius, oratorical talent, and chivalry of his race, but he has contributed much, by the brilliancy and efficiency of his services as a soldier, to maintain the permanency of the Government.

THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.

Bom in the city of Waterford, Ireland, on the 3d of August, 1823, he was placed, at the age of 11 years, under the care of the Jesuits, in their famous college at Clongowes "Wood, in the county of Kildare. Here his .young mind received the first impressions of classic lore, and of the skill and power of oratory which afterwards made him so distinguished, and of which, even in those early days, he gave extraordinaiy evidence in his own school orations. He left Clongowes College to complete his education at that of Stoneyhurst in Lancashire, England, from which, after an * assiduous course of study, he entered upon the world in 1843, with a reputation for ripe scholarship and rare talents which his future career in public life has permanently established. The transition from the serenity of collegiate life to the busy scenes of political strife upon which the young student entered, upon his return to Ireland in 1843, was as sudden as that which the mariner, basking in the luxurious calm of the Indian Ocean, experiences when the fearful simoom sweeps down from the coast, converting the placid sea into a boiling caldron. The Repeal movement was then agitating the country. Every town and village was in a ferment. O'Connell, playing with the passions of the people, which he controlled with a potency equal to the wand of Prospero, had constructed a gigantic organization upon the hopes he inspired, which promised to the aspirations of the most enthusiastic a national life, but which, after the incarceration of O'Connell in 1844, was only redeemed from the obloquy of an ignominious collapse when the youthful vigour of the country, which had been tmcorrupted by the hackneyed ways of the politicians, stepped in, and declared that revolution, and not agitation, nationality and not " amelioration," was what the country needed. In the band of these true and earnest men who made this their Evangel, of whom John Mitchel, Thomas Davis, W. Smith O'Brien, Devin Eeilly, Doheny, John Martin, McManus* "O'Cornian, Dillon, were the leading spirits, Meagher stood in its front rank. What need to repeat the story of '48 ? I do not propose to do so here. The effort and the failure are but too sadly familiar. It had its heroes and its martyrs : the former could be numbered by thousands ; the latter, who fell directly under the bann of British " law ; ' and obtained a place in history, may be but few ; but the exiles who

IRELAND IN '4$.

staked and lost all, — whose chairs are vacant by the fireside at home, — whose family ties are dissevered, — and the sim of whose fortunes is overclouded, count by hundreds. Though their names may not be found in the honoured roll of patriot martyrs, their sacrifices are none the less.

It was at this period that J ohn Mitchel first made the acquaintance of the u Young Tribune," as people afterwards learned to call him. They met in Dublin, after Meagher's return from his English college, at the time when the marvellous effect of Thomas Davis' genius was awakening the land to a consciousness of the innate power of the people, and recalling to mind the traditions, the valorous deeds, and the civilization of ancient Ireland, in trenchant prose and musical verse. When and where Meagher and Mitchel met, John Mitchel tells in the columns of his Irish Citizen, thus : —

"It is difficult now, for those who did not know Davis, to understand and appreciate the influence which that most puissant and imperial character exerted upon the young Irishmen of his day. Meagher had never known him personally, but had been inspired, possessed by him. Ia speaking of Davis, his Lancashire accent seemed to subside ; and I could perceive, under the factitious intonations of Cockaigne, the genuine roll of the melodious Munster tongue. We became friends that evening.

" Next day he came to me at the Nation office, in D'Olier Street : we walked out together, towards my house in Upper Leeson Street; through College Green, Grafton Street, Harcourt Street; and out almost into the country, near Bonnybrook. What talk! What eloquence of talk was his ! how fresh, and clear, and strong ! What wealth of imagination, and princely generosity of feeling ! To me it was the revelation of a new 7 and great nature, and I revelled in it, plunged into it, as into a crystal lake. He talked no " politics," no patriotism ; indeed he seldom interlarded his discourse with those topics ; but had much to say concerning women and all that eternal trouble, also about Stoneyhurst and his college days. We arrived at my home, and he stayed to dinner. Before he left he was a favourite with all our household, and so remained until the last.

" Soon after, bound by his allegiance to the memory of Davis, he fairly committed himself to the party nicknamed 'Young Ireland;' and that cost him, what we all know.

THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.

But, young Ireland, or old Ireland, he was always Irish, to the very marrow."

Meagher's services in the national cause of Ireland were compressed into the period of a few years. It was the stormiest time in the history of the country during all its struggles against foreign domination, since the days of the volpnteers in 1782, when Grattan and Charlemont were the master spirits, and the revolution of 1798, of which Wolfe Tone, and Fitzgerald, and Emmet, Bond, Hamilton Rowan, and the other leaders of the " United Irishmen 99 were the inspiration.

From 1845 to 1848 Meagher laboured zealously in conjunction with the other leaders of the party upon which was at first somewhat sneeringly bestowed, but of which it may feel justly proud, the title of the " Young Ireland Party," — proud of its title because its young heart presented itself as a barrier against the tide of political conuption, placehunting, and snivelling " patriotism and because it advocated the only thing known in Irish politics that rose above the genius of political tricksters — a national sovereignty. Meagher's participation in this struggle is already well known. The enthusiasm which his fervent eloquence and personal daring created in the people, contributed perhaps more than any other agency to impart vitality to a cause which was only unsuccessful because it lacked the physical strength to compete with a power untrammelled by foreign wars or diplomatic combinations, which might have reduced its capacity to resist revolution within its own borders. In the Summer of 1848 Meagher was captured, with arms in his hands, in the county of Tipperary, while engaged in an effort to array the peasantry against the authority of the British crown, after O'Brien's attempt at Ballingarry. He was tried for high treason, in conjunction with Smith O'Brien, Terence Bellew McManus, and Patrick O'Donoghue, at a special commission in Clonmel. He was convicted, of course, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, and his remains to be placed at the disposal of her majesty the Queen, to be dealt with according to her royal pleasure. His speech on the passing of this barbarous sentence will long be remembered for its unflinching spirit, its calmness, dignity, and splendid justification of the ac,ts for which he was condemned to suffer. It was as follows : — .

IRELAND IN '48.

Speech in the Dock at Olonmel.

" My Lords, it is my intention to say only a few words. I desire that the last act of a proceeding which has occupied so much of the public time, shall be of short duration. Nor have I the indelicate wish to close the dreary ceremony of a State prosecution with a vain display of words. Did I fear that hereafter when I shall be no more, the country which I have tried to serve, would think ill of me, I might indeed avail myself of this solemn moment to vindicate my sentiments and my conduct. But I have no such fear. The country will judge of those sentiments and that conduct in a light far different from that in which the jury by which I have been convicted have viewed them ; and, by the country , the sentence which you, my Lords, are about to pronounce, will be remembered only as the severe and solemn attestation of my rectitude and truth.

" Whatever be the language in which that sentence be spoken, I know my fate will meet with sympathy, and that my memory will be honoured. In speaking thus, accuse me not, my Lords, of an indecorous presumption. To the efforts I have made, in a just and noble cause, I ascribe no vain importance, nor do I claim for those efforts any high reward. But it so happens, and it will ever happen so, that they who have tried to serve their country, no matter how weak the efforts may have been, are sure to receive the thanks and blessings of its people.

" With my country then I leave my memory — my sentiments — my acts — proudly feeling that they require no vindication from me this day. A jury of my countrymen, it is true, have found me guilt} r of the crime of which I stood indicted. For this I entertain not the slightest feeling of resentment towards them. Influenced, as they must have been, by the charge of the Lord Chief Justice, they could have found no other verdict. What of that charge ? Any strong observations on it, I feel sincerely, would ill befit the solemnity of the scene; but, earnestly beseech of you, my Lord, you w T ho preside on that bench, when the passions and the prejudices of this hour have all passed away, to appeal to your conscience and ask of it, was your charge, as it ought to have been, impartial, and indifferent between the subject and the Crown ?

THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.

" My Lords, you may deem this language unbecoming in me, and perhaps it might seal my fate. But I am here to speak the truth, whatever it may cost. I am here to regret nothing I have done, — to retract nothing I have ever said. I am here to crave with no lying lip, the life I consecrate to the liberty of my country. Far from it ; even here — here, where the thief, the libertine, the murderer, have left their foot-prints in the dust ; here on this spot, where the shadows of death surround me, and from which I see my early grave, in an unanointed soil open to receive me — even here, encircled by these terrors, the hope which has beckoned me to the perilous sea upon which I have been wrecked still consoles, animates, and enraptures me. No, I do not despair of my old country, her peace, her glory, her liberty ! For that country I can do no more than bid her hope. To lift this island up, — to make her a benefactor to humanity, instead of being the meanest beggar in the world, — to restore her to her native power and her ancient constitution — this has been my ambition, and my ambition has been my crime. Judged by the law of England, I know this crime entails the penalty of death ; but the history of Ireland explains this crime, and justifies it. Judged by that history I am no criminal, — you (addressing Mr McManus) are no criminal, — you (addressing Mr O'Donoghue) are no criminal : I deserve no punishment, — we deserve no punishment. Judged by that history, the treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt ; is sanctified as a duty, will be ennobled as a sacrifice !

" With these sentiments, my Lords, I await the sentence of the Court. Having done what I felt to be my duty — having spoken what I felt to be truth, as I have done on every other occasion of my short career, I now bid farewell to the country of my birth, my passion, and my death, — the country whose misfortunes have invoked my sympathies — whose factions I have sought to still — whose intellect I have prompted to a lofty aim — whose freedom has been my fatal dream. I offer to that country, as a proof of the love I bear her, the sincerity with which I thought, and spoke, and struggled for freedom, — the life of a young heart, and with that life all the hopes, the honour, the endearments of a happy and an honourable home. Pronounce then, my Lords, the sentence which the law directs — I am prepared

HIS ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK, to hear it. I trust I snail be prepared to meet its execution. I hope to be able, with a pure heart, and perfect composure, to appear before a higher tribunal — a tribunal where a Judge of infinite goodness, as well as of justice, will preside, and where, my Lords, many — many of the judgments of this world will be reversed.''

By special act of royal clemency, however, the prisoners were released from the extreme penalty, their punishment being commuted to transportation for life to the convict settlement at Van Dieman's Land. In the spring of 1852, after nearly four years of penal exile, he made his escape, and landed in New York, in the latter part of May. He was welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm by all classes. The corporation presented him with a congratulatory address, through a joint committee of both boards, at the Astor House, on the 10th of June, and tendered him, on behalf of the metropolis, a public reception. Meagher, on that occasion, made a most dignified and modest reply, declining to accept any public entertainment in his honour, but gratefully acknowledging the sympathies expressed for him and the cause he had espoused and for which he suffered. He said : " Whilst my country remains in sorrow and subjection, it would be indelicate of me to participate in the festivities you propose. When she lifts her head and nerves her arm for a bolder struggle — when she goes forth like Miriam, with song and trimbel, to celebrate her victory — I too shall lift up my head, and join in the hymn of freedom. Till then, the retirement I seek will best accord with the love I bear her, and the sadness which her present fate inspires. Is or do I forget the companions of my exile. The freedom that has been restored to me is embittered by the recollection of their captivity. My heart is with them at this hour, and shares the solitude in which they dwell. Whilst they are in prison a shadow rests upon my spirit, and the thoughts that otherwise might be free throb heavily within me. It is painful for me to speak. I should feel happy in being permitted to be silent. For these reasons you will not feel displeased with me for declining the honours you solicit me to accept."

Yv T hile the disappointment of the public was great, these noble words were received with profound admiration; nor was there any hesitancy in accepting them as evidence of a true, a manly, and a magnanimous nature.

Meagher soon became distinguished as a popular lecturer. His first subject was 4i Australia/' and was a brilliant effort of elocution. Other subjects followed, principally upon affairs relating to Ireland — her poets, orators, statesmen, and men of letters — until Meagher became a favourite lecturer in every State and city in the Union, where his voice was soon familiar to the ear of his countrymen. As a public writer and speaker, also, his reputation became very great. In September, 1855, after studying with Judge Emmet, he was admitted to the Xew York bar, where ho made at least one famous effort in the United States Court-, in the case of Fabens and the other Nicaragua w filibusters." He soon conceived the idea of undertaking an expedition to Central America, for the purpose of exploring that wild and luxuriant country, much of the wealth of which was still undeveloped, and through whose entangled forests new pathways had to be cut to facilitate the transit to the Pacific. Accordingly, accompanied by Senor Ramon Paez, son of the late venerable President of Venezuela, Meagher started for Costa Rica, and made a most valuable tour through that country, encountering vast difficulties in traversing the hitherto untrodden wilds, amidst which he discovered a new line of transit, which may be one day made available. On his return to this country, the information he had thus acquired was communicated to the public in a series of lectures admirably illustrated in panoramic form, and was subsequently published in a more permanent shape in Harper s Magazine, Some of the passages in these papers exhibit his brilliant descriptive powers.

In 1853, Meagher published, from the press of Redfield, Xew York, a volume of his speeches on u The Legislative Independence of Ireland." This collection, together with its introduction, furnished to the American public the salient points in his antecedent history, as well as the motives which impelled him to his patriotic career in his native country. The speeches were the reflex of Meagher's mind in its youthful vigour, and we know of nothing which he has since spoken or written that excels them in that ornate language so peculiar to him, or that fervour which the inspiration of '-18 only could supply. In the poesy of words

PUBLICATION OF HIS SPEECHES.

with which his eloquence clothed every idea — the fine pictorial effect and rich colouring that adorned everything he said, Meagher probably had no model. If he followed the style of Curran or Grattan — and he inclined most to the latter — he invested it with an originality of thought and expression that made his glorious eloquence all his own.

In the "Preface" to this volume of speeches Meagher not only gives the reason for publishing them, but the motives which brought them into life. He says :

"The anxiety will not be censured which induces me to save from injury the proofs of an interest early taken in the condition of my native land. Nor will it be wholly ascribed to vanity, if the hope escapes me that even yet these words of mine may conduce to her advantage. To some extent the speeches may be considered out of date. The tone inspired by a people in the attitude of resistance sounds strangely upon the ear when the chorus which hailed the coming of the contest has ceased and the fire upon the altar has been extinguished.

u To revive in Ireland the spirit which, in the summer of 1848, impetuously sought to clear a way, with an armed hand, to the destiny that lay beyond an intervening camp and throne, may be for the time forbidden. But in the pursuit of humbler blessings — in the endurance even of defeat, the vices which adversity engenders or exasperates may be resisted — hope, activity, and courage be awakened — all those virtues be restored and nourished, which, in a loftier mood, were loved so dearly for the strength and ornament they bestowed. The suppressions of sectarian feuds — the blending of the various races that have at different seasons been cast upon our soil, and have taken root therein — the love of truth, liberality, and labour — the necessity of disinterestedness, integrity, and fortitude amongst the people — the necessity of a high order of intellect, honour, and propriety amongst our public men — these were the lessons taught, — these the virtues encouraged and enforced — when, breaking through a corrupt system of politics, the young Democracy of Ireland claimed for their country the rank and title which was hers by natural law, by covenant, and prescription."

In the month of April, 1856, Meagher made his first and only essay as a journalist. On the 9th of that month

B

THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.

he published the first number of the Irish News, in New York. In this enterprise he was assisted by two worthy gentlemen, Messrs Richard J. Lalor and Gerald E. Lalor, who continued to publish the paper until its decline in July, 1860. For some time after the paper was started, John Savage was amongst its most active contributors. Meagher himself wrote much for the journal in its early days, furnishing many humorous reminiscences of his Irish life, but not exhibiting in his other articles, to any remarkable degree, that vigour of thought and richness of language with which his lectures and speeches abounded. Journalism was, in fact, not Meagher's best field of action, and I think he had become convinced of that before he abandoned it for the stormy life of the soldier and the politician.

There were many incidents in Meagher's life in Ireland which seemed to identify his future connection with the American Republic. One of them had a peculiar significance. 4 During the height of the Irish famine of 1847, the ship u Victor," from New York, arrived in Dublin, loaded wit# corn for the starving Irish. The captain of the ship was entertained at a splendid banquet in the Pillar-room of the Rotuudo, Dublin, over which the venerable Richard O'Gorman, now deceased, presided. Meagher, in proposing the health of the ladies of America, concluded his beautiful speech with these words — - ; Should the time come when Ireland will have to make the choice, depend upon it, Sir, she will prefer to be grateful to the Samaritan rather than be loyal to the Levite." These were prophetic words. The pledge they inspired, Meagher kept to the death. On one occasion during the war he happened to meet the captain of the "Victor." Meagher had then fought his brigade all through the Peninsular battles. Captain Clark was a lieutenant on one of the gunboats. Their meeting was of the heartiest kind. The captain recalled what Meagher had said in the Pillar-room, and, shaking him with both hands, exclaimed — " General, you have nobly kept the promise you then made."

During his visit to Central America, Meagher made many friends among the most distinguished men of that country ; and some of the most enthusiastic congratulations upon his gallant conduct in the war were afterwards bestowed by these gentlemen.

HIS BEARING AS A SOLDIER.

When the war in the South broke out, Meagher entered, as we have seen, promptly into the army of defence ; but he did not take this course with undue precipitancy, as from his ardent nature might be supposed. On the contrary, it was not until his conscientious judgment determined him that it was his duty, that he took up arms on the side of the Government. But, his resolution once formed, he never for an instant wavered or grew cold. Both morally and physically his support of the Union was genuine and vigorous, such as any patriot or soldier might stake his reputation upon. When he returned after his resignation of the command of the brigade, and with it his commission, the enemies of the Administration counted surely on his siding with them, — partially at all events, for it was the general opinion that neither he nor his brigade had been justly treated. * They were grievously and bitterly disappointed. At the dinner given him in the Astor House by a number of distinguished citizens, June 25th, 18 Go, on which occasion 0i magnificent gold medal was presented to him, he flung his private vexations, whatever they may have been, to the winds, and made one of his most impassioned and splendid appeals in favour of the Xational cause. It has been the positive characteristic of Meagher never to give up either a cause or friend until he found the one to be false and the other to be bad. So true did Meagher prove himself to the Xational cause, both in and cut of the field, from first to last, and all through the conflict, that President Johnson, in a communication addressed to the Adjutant-General, United States Army, setting forth Meagher's claims to promotion, urged them in the strongest language.