John Redmond, the man and the demand; a biographical study in Irish politics

Contents

CHAP. I'AGB

Introduction ...... v

I. — Family — Birth — Education (1857-1880) . 1 II.— First Years in Parliament (1880-1890).

Chapter I

F?OR those who seek an explanation of the characteristics and sentiments of the Irish people at the present day and wish to study what might be called the evolution of the Nationalist mind, there is nothing that serves their purpose better than an account of the career of Mr. John Redmond. He not only represents, as Leader of the Irish Party, the politics, but his family to a great extent represents the history, of the Irish problem. Just as the career of many an English county family illustrates one phase or another of the history of England, so the story of the Redmonds may be said to present one whole aspect of the history of Ireland.

To begin with, the Redmonds are not of the old Irish stock ; but like the Fitzgeralds and many others of Anglo-Norman descent, they have become Hibemior Hibernis ipsis. For who are so Irish as the Wexford men ? And Wexford blood flows in John Redmond's veins, and the Wexford spirit is in his heart. The family have always been in one way or another connected with the town of Wexford from the first day the Normans landed on Irish shores, when Wexford was but a small seaport and the townsfolk half Danish.

The Redmonds are, therefore, one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, of the Anglo-Norman families. John Redmond (who, upon the death of the late General Redmond, became the head of the family and heir to the family estates) is the lineal descendant of one of the Fitzwilliams, known as Raymund le Gros, one of the ablest lieutenants of Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, and descended — according to a tradition in the family — from the same stock as the celebrated Raymunds, Counts of Toulouse, in France, who figure so prominently in Church history, one of them having led a Crusade, the other, during the Albigenses heresy, having had a crusade preached against him. Strongbow, it will be remembered, had been invited to Ireland by Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster (whose daughter he afterwards married), and it was this incident that prepared the way for the English invasion of Ireland in 1 172. Raymund le Gros was sent over as a kind of advance guard and landed on the first of May, 11 70, at Baginbun, a little promontory in the barony of Shelburne, in Wexford. A deep moat and rampart — portion of Raymund's defences — are still to be seen marking the place where he and his little army of ten menat-arms and seventy archers had entrenched themselves.

But the conquest of the town was no easy matter. The inhabitants defended themselves stoutly, and the whole incident is the subject of an old ballad, called " The Song of Dermot," which relates that :

" At the creeke of Banginbunne, Ireland was lost and won."

The strangers, however small in numbers, were evidently vigorous in the exercise of their power, and soon cowed the inhabitants into surrender. Several of the prisoners, including many of the chief citizens of Wexford, were hurled from the tops of the rugged cliffs into the sea beneath ! The town once taken was kept for the King, and upon the arrival of Henry II. was yielded up to him. He in turn granted it to Strongbow, and some of the estates passed into the family of the Raymunds as part of the dowry of the Lady Basilea, sister of the Earl of Pembroke, who afterwards became the wife of Raymund le Gros. An old twohanded sword of gigantic size was for a long time preserved in the Redmond family as a relic and was said to have been the weapon with which Strongbow had actually cut his son in twain for the crime of cowardice, the weapon being handed down as an heirloom in the family of the "Redmonds of the Hall." About a century ago, however, the sword was brought to London, since when all trace of it has been lost.

The history of the family from the death of Raymund to the Reformation belongs to county history, but by continual intermarriage they practically became identified with the causes and interests of Ireland. Though loyal, in the political sense of the word, they were not so in the religious sense, and remained true to the faith of their ancestors ; and the ruins of the Monastery at Churchtown, near Hook, in Wexford, was for centuries the burial place of the Redmonds, the name, " Eques Hospitabilis " (given to a Sir John Redmond of the sixteenth century), being probably the recognition of a debt of gratitude to their patron on the part of the little community of Canons Regular.

Alexander Redmond, the last to be buried there, was the Alexander Redmond who in 1642 resisted Captain Thomas Aston, who was besieging the castle. He was an old man of about seventy at the time, but, together with his sons and retainers, he defended the Hall " so stoutly that many of the English leaped from the rocks and were drowned." And it remained in their possession till Cromwell arrived, when they capitulated upon honourable terms.

This Alexander Redmond died about 1650, and the greater part of his lands were transferred by the Act of i

Settlement from the Papist owner to the Protestant, Sir Nicholas Loftus, by letters patent of August 30th, 1666, and the old castle took the name of Loftus Hall. It was only one of a large number of confiscations, but it is a typical example, and explains the feeling of deep attachment to the Catholic Church which to this day exists in many an Anglo-Irish family, and shows at what a sacrifice the people have kept the faith.

The event is commemorated in the Redmond arms to this day by three woolsacks which — according to the story — had been placed in the windows of the castle, during the struggle. Another topographical point which occurs in the crest of the family is a blazing beacon, such as must often have been seen round the coast of Wexford before the days of Tuscar Lighthouse.

From the times of Cromwell to those of " '98," the family suffered still further from the severity of the penal laws, when an Irish Papist could not possess a horse over five pounds in value, and much of the property of Catholics was held by trust in Protestant hands. The main branch, too, became reduced in one generation to three heiresses, among whom the greater part of the property was divided, and passed into the hands of three baronet families, the " Talbots," the " Powers," and the " Seagraves."

During the rebellion of "'98," Wexford became the centre of the revolt, and the name of Redmond appears several times in the records. One old print (in two blocks) can still be seen in ancient Wexford houses showing " the beautiful and accomplished Miss Redmond " on horseback leading the rebels. We also hear that a Father Francis Redmond, who had once been the companion of Napoleon's schooldays and shared his room as a student at Bas Poicton, and had even saved him on one occasion from drowning, subsequently suffered death on the scaffold (though apparently a loyalist and a close relative of Lord Mountmorres, whose property he had endeavoured to persuade the rebels to yield up) ; while several ancestors in the maternal branches of the family were hanged in the cause for which Lord Edward Fitzgerald shed his blood.

From the days when a political career became open to Catholics, the family were always politicians of the type one might call " moderate " Home Rulers, and the first member of Parliament was old John Edward Redmond, to whom a monument was afterwards erected in the town of Wexford, and who was returned in 1859 unopposed, the two rival candidates (Mr. Devereux and Sir Frederick Hughes) having retired in his favour. He, again, was a typical example of the Catholic gentry. He was introduced by the mayor in one of those typical old-fashioned speeches which usually took place

on such occasions, but from which we see that he was above all a representative citizen of a representative family. His father, Walter Redmond, had been the first to deal the fatal blow to the market tithes, which in the case of Wexford were particularly oppressive. Moreover, the family had built a small pier for the vessels in the harbour, had abolished the bridge tolls, and reclaimed much of the low waste land, and were at the time eagerly negotiating for the extension of the railway to open up the West and South as well as to establish the new route now being opened at Rosslare. John Edward Redmond was a Liberal in politics, and an advocate of the removal of all civil and religious disabilities, as well as for a revision of the conditions of the tenants' position, who in those days were not entitled to compensation for improvements.

A generation later, William Archer Redmond, the son of Patrick Walter Redmond (a deputy lieutenant for the County of Wexford), and father of the Leader of the Irish Party, was returned for the borough of Wexford in 1872.

" I can well remember the elder Redmond," writes Mr. Justin McCarthy. " He was a man of the most courteous bearing, polished manners, a man, in fact, of education and extraordinary capacity, who, when he spoke in debate, spoke well and very much to the point, and he was highly esteemed by all parties in the House."

He was educated at Stonyhurst College, also at Bonn, and took his degree at Trinity, Dublin. He was an ardent " Home Ruler," and attended the famous Home Rule Conference of 1873, at which he proposed many of the important resolutions. He was also a temperance reformer. He seconded the resolution in favour of the re-enactment and extension of the Sunday Closing Act in Ireland, and was a constant attendant at the meetings in London of the " League of the Cross," a total abstinence organization founded by Cardinal Manning. He was a continuous and valuable contributor to the Tablet, which review, when he died in November, 1880, wrote of him : —

" He was a man of large and cultivated intellect, refined and sensitive nature, and his fearless assertion of principle was ever combined with a heart ever sensible of warm and generous emotions."

" In reference to the question of legislative independence," he wrote in his election address in 1872, "which now occupies the attention of the country under the name of Home Rule, I will at once declare my conviction that Ireland possesses the indefeasible right to be governed by an Irish Parliament. That right has never been forfeited or surrendered, and I hold that the restoration of Home Rule is absolutely essential to the good government of the country, to the development of its resources, to the removal of the wasting curse of absenteeism and to the final establishment in peace and liberty of the Irish race upon Irish soil. I am convinced that ample means exist to achieve this result within the limits of the Constitution, and without infringing upon our loyalty to the throne, I differ entirely from those who would say that union amongst Irishmen is impossible, and that they do not possess sufficient public virtue to enable them to manage their own affairs."

Such, then, is the history of the family from which John Edward Redmond sprang. The eldest son of W. A. Redmond, the member for Wexford, who had married a daughter of General Hoey, he was born in 1857, and spent most of his early years at Ballytrent House, an old family mansion on the coast of Wexford, overlooking the sea and facing Tuscar Lighthouse. They were a family of four, comprising two daughters, one of whom became a nun of the Order of Marie Reparatrice at Harley House, while the other married an English Australian of New South Wales, Mr. Louis George Howard (the present writer's father), and two sons — John, the eldest, and another, William Hoey Kearney Redmond, who at first served in the Army, and later became the member for East Clare.

From boyhood to manhood, therefore, John Redmond lived in Wexford, and the history of his own family, as well as the history of the county, furnish the best explanation of his mental attitude towards England and all things English.

He feels precisely as a member of an English county family feels, a personal pride in his country. Each of the great political movements has a special personal meaning to him. The attitude he takes, therefore, is greatly, as I have said, representative : that is, it is the attitude of those who starved for a principle and suffered for a principle. If he is looked upon as a revolutionist, even as a bigot, the cause is not to be sought in the individual but lies at the root of the System that has caused that revolution and that bigotry. And if this principle were only borne in mind and the Irish grievances were examined instead of being denounced, it would be found that nearly every Nationalist sentiment is at the bottom but the statement of an economic truth.

" For myself," he says (speaking of the influence of

history upon his character), "the rising of Wexford

County in '98 is one which from my very earliest youth

has exercised a powerful fascination upon my mind.

This is but natural. I had been reared and nurtured in

the midst of the hills and valleys that witnessed the

struggles of '98 ; I had been taught to regard every

scene as a monument of the heroism of our forefathers,

and to remember that well nigh every sod beneath my feet marked a hero's sepulchre. My boyish ears had listened to the tales of '98 from the lips of old men who had themselves witnessed the struggles, and I scarcely know a family who cannot tell of a father or grandfather or some near relative who died fighting at Wexford, at Oulart, or Ross. Every scene most familiar to my early youth was associated with some tale of heroism or suffering, and one of my proudest recollections has ever been, as it is to-day, that in that dark hour of trial, there were not wanting men of my race and name who attested by their lives to their devotion to Ireland ! "

From the very first John Redmond showed signs of exceptional ability. He was very fond of literature, as well as sports and hunting, and became the object of his father's special care and attention, who, as soon as he was sufficiently prepared, sent him to the Irish Jesuit College of Clongowes, in Kildare. " All I am I owe to the Jesuit fathers," Redmond once declared at a public banquet at the Hotel Cecil.

At Clongowes he is well remembered by his old masters even to this day. The recollections of one of them I am now allowed to include. His debates used to empty the billiard-rooms then as they often now do the smoking-rooms of the House of Commons !

"All through his time in Clongowes," writes the aforesaid mentor, " there was no more prominent boy.

At the very beginning the high compliment was paid him of getting through two classes in one year. Even then he gave promise of excellence in speaking and writing English. Even in his elocution (and he was the best of all Professor Bell's pupils) his action was well nigh perfect. He impressed one with what he was saying — he caught one. And on the stage these peculiar gifts were seen to far greater advantage. In Charles XII., for instance, in The Iron Chest, Macbeth, and Hamlet he always took the leading parts and played and looked these parts to the life. The present Judge Barry was a contemporary of his and made an excellent and effective Macduff to Redmond's Macbeth ! "

" He had a very kind and easy way about him," writes a schoolfellow. " I never knew of anyone to dislike him, and as his old school is proud of him, so he has ever been loyal to his Alma Mater. Also, I may add, he had the reputation of being one of the most religious boys in the school ! "

An interview which I had with his old master, however, will, perhaps, give more insight into his character than any mere abstract analysis.

" When I went to Clongowes myself as a master,"

said Father Kane — the old mentor in question — " in

the autumn of 1870, John Redmond was in the fourth

Form. He had been at Clongowes for some years before I

had charge of his class. It was a large class and, I may say, a rowdy class. And when I say ' rowdy,' I mean rowdy even for an Irish class. In fact, they had already had twelve respective masters, and so I had to be severe. Indeed, there was continual disorder, and they were somewhat out of hand. But not so John Redmond. He was always a gentleman, and he was extremely courteous to me.

" For instance, I remember once we had trouble in the class. I forget exactly what the occasion was. Perhaps, no practical grievance, but merely the old spirit. And, after all, boys love a 'lark.' This time, however, it had gone beyond a lark, the boy having openly revolted and been downright insolent. The class looked on to see what would happen, evidently expecting a crisis. There was none, since I reduced the culprit to tears by my subsequent lecture.

" But my self-restraint had evidently impressed them, and that the young fellow's impudence had evidently lost him the sympathy of his class-mates was evident from the fact that John Redmond came up to me afterwards and said almost reproachfully — ' Why didn't you knock him down, sir ? ' "

" What sort of a student was he ? " I asked.

" Well, it is rather hard to say. He had many interests. He loved literature, he could recite poems and quote passages of Byron and Shelley, and especially Shakespeare, by heart, but John Gannon, who came to

Clongowes about this time, was more of a plodder, and eventually ' took him down.' In fact, comparing them, one might describe Jack as being ' almost lazy ' — not idle but dreamy, ' literary ' and dilettante. Towards the ' exams,' however, he would make up for lost time, and by sheer ability account for his apparent lack of industry during previous terms.

" In English he was by far at his best, and his essays were always well ahead of those of the other scholars. It was not mere superficial knowledge (for he always had an extraordinary memory), so much as the elevated and dignified way he had of looking at any given subject which struck me. And when there was a 'Consultatio,' or public display, I often made him read out his own essays publicly, some of which I still have among my papers."

" What would you say was the chief point in his character ? " I inquired.

" I should say his ' maturity.' He had been matured by his home life and his devotion to both his parents and sisters. His father, William Archer Redmond, who was the member for Wexford, used often to come to see his son, and was always full of interest in his doings. And ' Jack ' always seemed to have a grand, old-fashioned respect for his father, and thus he acquired part of his father's refinement and polish, and the close intimacy between them gave him a maturity of mind which at once^i placed him in a different category to that of his companions.

" About the same time he began to make his mark on the stage and in the debate. As to the stage, he was the greatest actor that was ever seen at Clongowes. It was in the year 1871 that he first played Macbeth. The next year he played Hamlet, which was even a more marked success than his Macbeth of the year before.

" His other forte — though he was an all-round-man — was essentially the debate. He was awarded the Clongowes debate medal — which, as you know, is given every year to the best speaker — and if ever anyone deserved it and had proved himself worthy of it, it was John Redmond. The Debating Society was much what it is everywhere in colleges all the world over — semi-parliamentary, semiacademic. Daniel O'Connell had been a great admirer of the Clongowes Debating Society, and no doubt the memory of his stirring words had encouraged many young aspirants like Jack. He was wont to come down from Dublin to listen and to take the chair. He would sometimes speak, too, and the records of his words must have been still in existence in the days of Redmond. They all perished, however, in the great fire when the study hall was burnt down and the Minutes Book was destroyed. Father Fegan, who was later higherline Prefect, was Redmond's chief rival, and both these fiery leaders would wax eloquent anent the respective merits of Cicero or Demosthenes, and rouse their followers to equal pitches of enthusiasm. Later, however, under the guidance of John Redmond, the debates ceased to have that mere academic value, and their energies were turned into more useful directions, and questions of Irish history, as well as topics of current politics, were introduced ; and not a little of Redmond's experience and skill is due to the training which he received in the Clongowes Debating Society, before he sailed forth to measure swords with the mighty orators of the British House of Commons.

" Besides the ordinary debates there were also the public debates. For example, on Academy Day, when all the guests and parents would come down to Clongowes, then John Redmond really shone. In addition to the public debate I would induce him to recite a Latin ode or declaim one of Cicero's speeches.

" Redmond was also exceedingly good at games, and was greatly loved and respected by his companions, as, indeed, he was by his superiors. A first-rate bowler and a smart batsman, he was, in his last year, elected Vice- Captain of the school. His father, whom I knew very well, used often to come down. Once I met the twain and found Jack sporting some magnificent cigars, a present from his father. Being then in my private and

not my official capacity, I ventured to suggest that if he wished to enjoy them to the full he had better smoke them then and there, despite the immediate proximity of the school. He took my advice ; though I firmly believe it was the only advice of mine he ever repented of taking.

" Another point strikes me, now that I am talking of advice. He was the favourite and pet pupil of Bell, the great elocutionist. Bell was a big, pompous man who wore his hair down on his shoulders, and walked with a martial strut. He was the regular type of the old-fashioned school of a century ago, the reductio ad absurdum of Burke, a regular pompous orator, who would no doubt have gone down very well with our grandfathers, but who to-day would be looked upon as a mere bombastic nonentity. Bell was always fond of getting John Redmond under his direction, and probably much of the former's elocution had been rehearsed between them.

'"Listen to all he's got to say, John,' I often told him, ' and don't do anything he says. You do it better yourself.' And I believe he did.

" It is hard to say whether any of us ever dreamed that he might acquire the position he now occupies. It was only the other day I read in one of the leading political papers that were he to throw in his lot with Liberal or Conservative, he would most certainly become Prime Minister of England ! But, of course, all that is

17 2 mere speculation, and to me is only significant as a tribute to the character and the abilities of the dearest of my old pupils.

" I can only say this — that while they are in the hands of John Redmond, the destinies of Ireland are safe, as far as ability of mind and nobility of character are concerned. I have known him from a boy, and I say again, as long as the destinies of Ireland are in his hands they are in the keeping of an honest man."

It is a pleasant remembrance, and when upon St. Patrick's Day, 1908, Father Kane stood up in the banqueting hall of the Hotel Cecil and gave a few of his recollections, the audience were moved to see the evident pride of the old master, then almost completely blind, when he spoke of his favourite pupil.

Upon leaving Clongowes John Redmond spent some

time as a " philosopher," as those students who had

passed through the curriculum and returned were called.

These privileged ones had their private rooms and were

allowed to keep their dogs, and occasionally were

permitted to shoot. But this did not last long, and he

went up to Dublin, and, entering Trinity College, took

rooms in Botany Bay. He did not stay to get his

degree. Most of his energies seem to have been devoted

to getting through his u Bar " exams, and following

the lectures at the King's Inns, at Dublin.

The following recollection is from one of his fellow students, and is given in W. T. Stead's character sketch of him :

" I first made John Redmond's acquaintance," wrote Mr. W. M. Cook in 1901, "some sixteen or eighteen years ago, when we were law students together at the King's Inns, in Dublin. It will surprise most people, I am sure, to learn that my earliest impressions of him were as a temperance reformer. The Irish National movement has always been closely associated with the drink traffic, and in the atmosphere of an Irish Protestant home the two are closely connected in thought. It is impossible to convey to anyone not brought up in that atmosphere how strict is the caste system that prevails in Ireland. There is nothing like it in England ; nothing like it anywhere in the Empire except India. It was the fact that Mr. Redmond was almost a total abstainer that first brought us together. The meeting was in this wise :

" It was the custom for the students of King's Inns

to dine in messes of six. A fixed quantity of wine

per head was allowed to each table, and thereby

students, of whom there were a few, always sought

diligently for totally abstaining acquaintances to join

their mess. As I did not drink wine, I found myself

in great demand, and on one occasion the same mess

captured John Redmond also. As he never took more

than half a glass of wine at dinner this table regarded

19 2* itself lucky as having six bottles of wine for four persons, and I had the privilege of being introduced to Mr. Redmond."

The story, though trivial, is characteristic. It shows in part the influence of the father, and it shows also the chief note in Mr. Redmond's character — i.e., an avoidance of extreme measures, of faddists and idealists, and a power of self-control that can say — " thus far and no farther."

It was some years before he was called to the Bar, nor did he at once take his degree. He proceeded to London, partly to help his father, who suffered from heart disease, and partly to prepare himself for a political career, and for a time he occupied the position of a clerk in the Vote Office in the House of Commons. Later he became a contributor to the Weekly Register, for which he used to write the Parliamentary letter. A story told by Wilfred Meynell (then editor) of Lord Russell of Killowen is amusing. There was not a little of the Tory spirit in some quarters of the Redmond family, and the late Lord Russell knew this. And when, as Attorney-General, he learned of the humble weekly sovereign that used to be John Redmond's modest reward, he exclaimed : " My God ! You don't mean to say the fellow took it ? " " Better men have taken less," was the reply of the veteran journalist ! " and worse have taken more."

CHAPTER II FIRST YEARS IN PARLIAMENT l88o— 1890

PUBLIC LIFE— ELECTION— COLONIAL TOURS

TT was probably as a clerk in the Vote Office of the House of Commons that John Redmond obtained his first lessons in parliamentary procedure. It was a position worth about £300 a year and was chiefly concerned with the preparation of documents and the distribution of the agenda papers. It was in the gift of the Speaker, and usually led to the highest positions in the official staff of the House. Here, as son of the member for Wexford as well as in his official capacity, he was brought into close touch with the Irish Party, though not perhaps with Parnell, its leader.

For when his father died, according to Mr. T. M. Healy, and he was requested by his constituents, with whom he was familiar from boyhood, to stand for the seat, Parnell, to whom he had written to announce his intention of putting up for that constituency, did not for the moment appear to remember him. Parnell showed the letter to Mr. Healy, saying, " Who is this chap ? " " Don't you remember young Redmond that hands us out the programmes ! " returned Mr. Healy. " What ! that damned fellow," was the leader's remark on the young man who was later to be his champion. Whatever the rest of the conversation was Mr. Healy does not say ; but as a result Parnell asked the aspiring member to stand aside in favour of his own friend, Mr. Healy, who was then being prosecuted for a speech in his native town supporting some evicted tenants, and his return, it was thought, would be a blow to the Government.