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THE IRISH PEOPLE AND THE TRIAL OF O’DONOVAN ROSSA

In 1863, the IRB began to publish its own newspaper called The Irish People. In quite an audacious move, the IRB had established the newspaper at No. 12 Parliament Street, within walking distance of Dublin Castle, the British Headquarters. The establishment of the newspaper was enthusiastically supported by James Stephens as a propaganda medium and to disseminate Fenian ambitions. The establishment of the newspaper was a calculated risk, however, considering it would bring attention to the IRB.1 At the time, O’Donovan Rossa recalled that there was much consultation over the newspaper’s establishment, with many leading figures fearing it could be ‘injurious rather than serviceable to the society’.2 He remembered how those who had supported the newspaper argued it was a practical necessity and apart from the desire to spread the Fenian ideal, the establishment of the newspaper was also grounded in an urgent need to raise funds so that the IRB would not be entirely reliant on the Fenian Brotherhood. He also recalled how others had suggested that a Fenian newspaper could become a means of offering an alternative perspective to the moderate nationalism of the dominant nationalist paper, The Nation, owned by A. M. O’Sullivan. O’Donovan Rossa agreed with the establishment of a newspaper, and while in America he received an invitation from Stephens to come to Dublin and act as the newspaper’s business manager. Eagerly accepting the invitation to return to Ireland, he left America in July and moved permanently to Dublin. His role as business manager meant that he was responsible for the circulation and dispatching of the newspaper at home and abroad, paying the staff and ensuring that the paper arrived at newsagents promptly. Later he would write articles under the pseudonym ‘Anthony the Jobbler’ and produce poetry, such as his famous ‘The Soldier of Fortune’. He wrote several leading articles for the newspaper including ‘Do-nothings’, ‘As good as any when the time comes’, ‘The first man to handle a pike’ and ‘The martyr nation’. The latter article, ‘The martyr nation’, gives a good example of O’Donovan Rossa’s beliefs at the time of writing:

The fact that the Irish people are being today destroyed – some of them in soul and body stares us in the face … instead of flying, we believe it to be our duty to remain in the old land, face the evil, and meet the destroyer with his own weapons … we do not contemplate Ireland Catholic or Protestant – we contemplate her free and independent; and we extend the love and fellowship, to everyman, of every class and creed who would endeavour to make it so.3

O’Donovan Rossa was joined at the newspaper by Thomas Clarke Luby, who functioned as the newspaper’s proprietor; John O’Leary and Charles Kickham who were editors; and James O’Connor as book-keeper. These men effectively formed a secret, central committee within the Fenian executive.4 Other members of the IRB working for the newspaper included Denis Dowling Mulcahy and John Haltigan.

Registering the newspaper on 31 May 1863, its first issue was published on 28 November of that year and consisted of sixteen pages and cost three pence stamped or two pence unstamped. In America, one reader was so enthralled by The Irish People that he sought to congratulate Irishmen for producing such a medium, and writing a letter to the newspaper, he commended its staff. Saluting the team behind The Irish People, but only O’Donovan Rossa was signalled out by its author, the American felt that by placing the management of the newspaper in O’Donovan Rossa’s hands, ‘we may judge that the tone of the paper will be one of uncompromising loyalty of the only kind that should pass current among true Irishmen’.5 As suggested by the American correspondent, the tone of the newspaper was uncompromisingly republican and mirrored Fenian political ambition and ideology, setting itself the task of becoming the organ of the IRB. It examined the American Civil War and detailed the activities of the Fenian Brotherhood in America. It was never reticent in its nationalist views, even declaring in one article the wish for ‘the liberation of Ireland from the yoke of England’.6 The newspaper was decidedly in favour of a democratic republic and advocated the principle of Irish independence. As to how this was to be achieved, in common with Fenian ideology, the newspaper rejected constitutionalism and carried an article noting ‘true national independence never was and never will be anywhere achieved save by the sword’.7 Representing British rule within Ireland as the alien, the newspaper claimed that ‘enslaved’ people had the right to achieve their national independence.8 In the same vain, the following year a further edition used more aggressive language, commenting how ‘another Patrick’s day has passed and Ireland is still in chains’.9

The newspaper was equally anti-clerical and decidedly secular; this was particularly noticeable with the writing of Charles Kickham. The newspaper argued that many within the Roman Catholic priesthood, and particularly amongst the hierarchy, were ‘West Britons’, contented with the established order.10 In April 1864, the newspaper had condemned the Catholic Church in the most vocal terms and had signalled out the influential Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Paul Cullen, who had earlier denounced Fenianism, describing the Archbishop as ‘an individual enemy of Irish liberty’.11 Later that year, The Irish People published a letter which commented on ‘the propensity of the priesthood to tyranny,’ and denounced the Catholic Clergy as ‘a serious obstacle’ to advanced nationalism.12 This marked anti-clericalism hurt the business strategy of the newspaper as the Clergy strenuously piled pressure on its agents within several of its dioceses, making it the case that retailers were forced to withdraw its sale for fear of clerical denunciation.

Within a year of the newspaper’s establishment, O’Donovan Rossa had married Mary Jane Irwin, who he had met at a wake. Mary was originally from Clonakilty in County Cork; her family, similar to the Buckleys, had earlier been opposed to the relationship which forced the couple to get engaged in secret. Her parents, Maxwell and Margaret, had felt that O’Donovan Rossa was too old for their daughter and was burdened by a large family and a continual police interest in his career. Her father, who was a veteran of the 1848 Rebellion, was also horrified to learn that O’Donovan Rossa was scheduled to make for England before his wedding on business of James Stephens and had insisted on bringing the wedding forward. Accompanied by James Hopper, Stephens’ brother-in-law, he had sought to get a licence for his marriage from his church in Skibbereen, but on account of his politics, the priest found he could not give him his license. The priest argued with O’Donovan Rossa, citing the fact that he would have to come to confession and as a member of a secret society, he could not give him absolution unless he renounced Fenianism. Eventually unable to secure a formal licence from the church, he announced that he had not been to confession and had not met the Church’s requirements for marriage. He then left for Cork City.

Arriving in Cork City he had speculated that he could get confession from a priest who did not know him. The priest, however, had a suspicion about his politics and asked him if he belonged to a secret society, where Rossa accordingly told him he belonged to a movement ‘sworn to fight for Ireland’s freedom’. His confessor refused to give O’Donovan Rossa absolution on account of his membership, and before leaving the confession box he angrily told the priest: ‘I do not want absolution for it…. Tis for my sins I seek absolution, not for my virtues.’13 Unable to receive confession and a formal licence he made for Clonakilty, where he found that Mary Jane’s father had relented in his opposition to the marriage. As at Skibbereen and Cork, however, there were more difficulties with the Church, as the priest, Fr Leader, would not marry the couple, stressing that O’Donovan Rossa needed to see the Bishop before the priest could relent. As he needed to leave for England on Fenian business the following day, he could not consent to a meeting with the Bishop and threatened to marry Mary Jane in Cork City, which Fr Leader felt would set a bad example for local girls, as she was leaving the parish with an unmarried man. Eventually forcing an order for the marriage from the Curate of the parish, the couple were married in the Parish Hall on 22 October 1864 and set off for England on what O’Donovan Rossa termed ‘a honeymoon conspiracy tour’.14

Spending a month in Britain, O’Donovan Rossa and his new wife travelled through Liverpool, Blackburn, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Recalling his travels as ‘the honeymoon life of an Irish traveling conspirator’,15 he met with Irish centres throughout Irish hamlets and districts. Returning to Ireland from Scotland, O’Donovan Rossa made a tour of Belfast and then returned to Dublin with Mary Jane. Mary Jane was an active poet and contributed regularly to The Irish People, using the pseudonym, Cliodhna. Mary Jane was a soul mate for the twice-widowed O’Donovan Rossa and mirrored his love of songs, poetry and politics. Within their family life they had endearing nicknames for each other, with O’Donovan Rossa calling his wife ‘Mollis’, an Irish language term of endearment, and Mary referring to him by the sobriquets of Dear, Cariss or Rossa.16 Writing a poem about her husband, Mary Jane recalled how:

When first he called me ‘Mollis,’ he sighed,

And told me he loved one –

One other who was already his bride,

And I should love her for him – I cried;

Then he told me that other was Erin,

Oh! But my love is fair to see!

And, Erin, his fairness is all to thee –

Strong with a lion’s strength is he,

And gentle with doveling’s gentleness he,

My loved and Thine, Oh! Erin.

She was also a republican and staunchly supported her husband’s involvement in the IRB; she soon became a regular acquaintance of the secret central committee and of James Stephens. On account of her gender, Mary Jane was not entitled to membership, but she was active within the movement and regularly delivered and hid messages. Like many of the women associated with the IRB in the late nineteenth century, her involvement within republican politics was brushed aside within historiography and lost in the passage of time. According to John Devoy, women like Mary Jane were instrumental to the success of the evolution of the movement in Ireland, asserting:

They took no pledge, but were trusted by the men without one, were the keepers of important secrets, travelled from point to point bearing important messages… Not one woman betrayed a secret, proved false to the trust reposed in her, or by carelessness or indiscretion was responsible for any injury to the cause. It was a fine record for Irish womanhood.17

In March 1864, Pierce Nagle had been appointed to The Irish People as a part-time paper folder, making parcels for agents and suppliers. He had been vouched for by Denis Dowling Mulcahy and had worked at St Lawrence’s Chapel, Dublin, and was a teacher of English at the Mechanics Institute. Nagle, however, was working for Dublin Castle as an informer, handled by Sub-Inspector Hughes and Daniel Ryan of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and their intelligence unit, G-Division. Nagle was a walk-in informant and had approached Ryan as to the potential of working within Fenianism to recover good and reliable intelligence. He had warned Ryan, he later claimed, ‘about the danger of Fenianism and that the government ought to prevent it’.18 Despite having a man within The Irish People, Nagle was, initially, of little use. For all means and purposes he was a low-ranking Fenian activist who did not enjoy the confidence of the secret central committee at The Irish People and only worked two days a week at the newspaper. While Nagle could inform the Castle of who was behind the paper, and of conversations he had had with the newspaper’s management, his information was of little value. He had even been dismissed from the newspaper by James O’Connor, but upon the insistence of Thomas Clarke Luby, he was reinstated. Dublin Castle were eager to keep him on their payroll, however, and evidence exists that he was paid £41 by the State for a little over a year’s work. While Nagle’s information was insignificant, it did provide a means for the Castle to bring a low-intensity counter strategy against The Irish People, and learning of who was on its staff, they began a process of detailed surveillance of O’Donovan Rossa and his colleagues. From this they sought to build up an extensive profile of the Fenian movement. While The Irish People was operating and Nagle was keeping the Castle abreast of developments within the newspaper, the American Civil War was coming to a bloody conclusion. Irish-Americans, who were now demobilised, returned to their earlier activities within the Fenian Brotherhood and pressed for a rebellion in Ireland. To meet the demand of his members, on 10 August 1865 John O’Mahony had announced The Final Call of the Fenian Brotherhood, and this had dispatched hundreds of Irish-Americans to Ireland in what was increasingly looking like preparations for a rebellion. O’Donovan Rossa remembered that as a result of the Final Call, he met with hundreds of Irish-Americans including Colonel Michael Kirwin, and General Denis Burke. He was later introduced to Colonel Thomas Kelly, a native of Galway who had fought in the Union Army during the Civil War, and would become the future leader of the IRB, and General Frank Millen, a veteran of the Mexican Army, who became a key informant within the British counter-Fenian movement the following year.

In July 1865, Stephens had again sent O’Donovan Rossa to America where he was entrusted with dispatches for O’Mahony, James Stephens, Thomas Kelly and General Frank Millen. He sailed for America aboard the SS Cuba, and when he arrived in America he witnessed the continuous demobilisation of soldiers and remembered how he knew many of them through the Fenian Brotherhood. Listening to the accents of the soldiers as he waited for a train from Boston to New York City, he commented how someone unfamiliar with the American Civil War, on hearing the men speak, could be forgiven for thinking it to have been ‘an Irish war’.19 Finally meeting O’Mahony in New York, the Fenian leader questioned O’Donovan Rossa as to Irish politics and the current state of Ireland. Far removed from the realities of Irish life, O’Mahony asked him to stay in America and work as a representative of the Fenian Brotherhood. O’Mahony told O’Donovan Rossa that he was constantly asked about Ireland and the IRB but he could never adequately respond to his inquisitors. Resisting O’Mahony’s appeals, O’Donovan Rossa announced that his place was in Ireland, and despite the fact that his life would be significantly better in America, if a rebellion took place in Ireland he could not bear to miss it. Recalling his conversation with the Fenian leader, in 1885, he wrote: ‘If I stayed in America and the fight took place in Ireland. All the water between here and Ireland would not wash me from the stain of cowardice.’20 Before returning to Ireland, O’Mahony asked O’Donovan Rossa to accompany Fenian activists PJ Meehan, P. W. Dunne, and his sister, to Ireland.

Meehan had been given a letter by O’Mahony that requested the return of O’Donovan Rossa to America. Boarding the SS Cuba for a second time, O’Donovan Rossa, under the alias of Mr O’Donnell, recommended that Meehan passed O’Mahony’s letter to Dunne’s sister. Dunne would rather not include his sister in the conspiracy, however, and had argued that the dispatches would not be found as they were stitched into the sole of one of Meehan’s slippers. While Meehan had smuggled the dispatches into Ireland, he had lost them when he went to deliver them to James Stephens. Having lost the letters, there was, as a result, an internal tribunal on Meehan as many within the secret Executive Council believed he had lost the letters intentionally. O’Donovan Rossa provided the defence for Meehan and argued it was an unintentional mistake; Meehan was found innocent of the charges, but unbeknownst to the committee, and to Meehan, the letters had fallen into the hands of the British State.

Growing progressively anxious as to Fenian activity, it was by now inevitable that the British Government was going to move against Fenianism. Turning to Nagle, his handlers stressed upon him the necessity of finding clear and accurate information as to what the IRB planned. On this occasion, Nagle provided value for money: within one month of O’Mahony’s Final Call, Nagle produced a letter signed by James Stephens stating ‘there is no time to be lost. This year – and let there be no mistake about it – must be the year of action. I speak with a knowledge and authority to which no other man could pretend; and I repeat the flag of Ireland – of the Irish Republic – must this year be raised.’21 Nagle had received the letter from a Clonmel Fenian who was the worse for alcohol after he had called to the offices of the Irish People. The production of the letter delighted Ryan, considering that Nagle, as an informant, could not be used for evidence against the IRB. Taking the letter to Dublin Castle, Ryan demanded immediate action from his superiors lest they lost the opportunity to move against the Fenians. The letter unnerved the Castle so much that the Irish Privy Council was summoned and agreed to suppress The Irish People and arrest leading Fenian activists.

On the evening of Friday 18 September 1865, Dublin Castle authorised the suppression of The Irish People. The task was to be carried out by the B Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, assisted by Daniel Ryan, Nagle’s handler in G-Division. The police had placed a cordon around Parliament Street and quickly cleared the area of all civilians. Having done so, G-Division detectives approached the offices of The Irish People and there was a standoff of sorts when the occupiers of the office refused to allow them enter the premises. Eventually forcing in the door, the G-men stormed the building, where they found a number of Fenians, including Pierce Nagle. At the time of the suppression, O’Donovan Rossa had been drinking at No.82 Dame Street, and had learned of the suppression through a colleague, Patrick Kearney. Kearney and Rossa mulled over the possibility of fighting the police, but O’Donovan Rossa urged caution as they had few weapons with which to take on the G-men. O’Donovan Rossa left for the offices of The Irish People, and searching his pockets, he removed some letters and a pistol which could incriminate him when he would be eventually searched. Arriving in Parliament Street, he was immediately arrested and taken through Dublin Castle to Chancery Lane Police Station. G-Division detectives then smashed up the printing press, seized the typeset and forensically searched the building, including the pulling of floorboards and chimneys – nothing was to be left for granted. Newspapers, legers and bank books were also seized and taken to the headquarters of the B Division in the nearby lower Castle Yard, within the Dublin Castle complex. Finally, the state issued a freeze on the newspaper’s bank account, which was a stifling blow to the Fenian movement. The Irish People newspaper had come to an abrupt end.

O’Donovan Rossa had lived at No. 62 Camden Street, within a stone’s throw of The Irish People offices, and had previously given his wife, Mary Jane, instructions to destroy any materials that connected him to Fenianism if he were arrested. When her husband had been arrested she had been packing his bag, as O’Donovan Rossa was due to leave for America on a Fenian errand ordered by James Stephens. Mary Jane was heavily pregnant and she was due to leave with her husband the following day for Cork as he departed for America. She had learned of his arrest through James O’Callaghan, who had been sent to the O’Donovan Rossa home to clarify that she had no documents which could subvert the IRB and be used against her husband. O’Donovan Rossa had given her a letter from James Stephens for Fenian activists in Carlow. The activists had requested his presence at the Ballybar Races in the first week of September, but Stephens had forbidden Rossa from going and instructed him to go to America instead. On O’Callaghan’s suggestion, Mary Jane burned the letter; shortly afterwards her house was raided. Overall, ten individuals including Thomas Clarke Luby, John O’Leary, Pierce Nagle and O’Donovan Rossa were arrested during the suppression of The Irish People. It was necessary that the state arrested Nagle with the others for reasons of cover and to protect his. However, O’Donovan Rossa’s suspicions had been roused when the prisoners had asked to see their wives. The authorities declined, but O’Donovan Rossa commented that Nagle had been allowed to see his wife. He initially put this down to Nagle being friendly with a police officer, until he realised the real reason and became aware of the deception. The prisoners were charged with Treason Felony and attempting to levy war upon the Queen, but later their sentence was increased to High Treason, an offence punishable by death. On learning this, O’Donovan Rossa became convinced that he was going to be hanged by the state, and preparing himself for death, he recalled how he was ready to die, pledging to ‘defy them to the bitter end’.22 Eventually brought before a Magistrates Court, O’Donovan Rossa and his comrades were taken to Richmond Prison in the outer Dublin suburbs to await trial as prisoners on remand. He was concerned for Mary Jane and wrote her a letter suggesting she should leave for America. Explaining why she should emigrate, he suggested that her life in Ireland, due to his imprisonment, would be frightening: ‘I would rather have you live there than die, or (what is much the same to you or me) be dependent upon anyone here.’23

Arriving at Richmond Prison, O’Donovan Rossa remembered his time in Cork Prison. He noted, however, that the experience in Dublin was far worse – he recalled that upon entry to the institution, ‘they stripped me naked, took my clothes… I was told I would be allowed to pay for my board, but if I did not pay I should work’.24 Once in prison, he was treated to a system of silence, supervision and separation, where prisoners were not allowed to speak to each other and were held in separate cells. He was allowed one hour of exercise in the prison yards, supervised by prison authorities. He recalled that ‘the most rigid precautions were taken lest we should carry on any kind of conversation during this hour’.25 As previously mentioned, O’Donovan Rossa was worried about Mary Jane’s welfare, as well as that of his family. O’Donovan Rossa strongly believed that he was going to be convicted and sentenced to either imprisonment or execution, and in this vein recommended to Mary Jane the importance of taking the family to America. He concluded that while in Ireland, there would be a vendetta against his family because of their convict father, and they would have a greater chance of survival in America within the Irish-American network. He told Mary Jane to use whatever resources she had to leave Ireland and suggested she come to Richmond Prison and collect his watch and chain for pawning. While Mary Jane resolved to go to America while he was in prison, she was determined to remain in Ireland for the duration of her husband’s trial and actively played a leading role in the establishment of a Ladies Committee seeking the release of the arrested Fenian prisoners.

The committee had sought to bring popular attention to their case and argue on the behalf of their husbands and brothers. The committee effectively waged a propaganda campaign, albeit couched in terms of charity rather than politics, on behalf of the imprisoned Fenians through The Irishman newspaper. It had also functioned as a means of maintaining communication within the broader IRB organisation following the arrests, aided by the fact that the police were anxious not to question the women, believing such behaviour was ‘very ticklish work’.26 Commending the activities of the Ladies Committee, John Devoy later noted:

In Ireland there was no regular organisation of Fenian women, but a large number of them worked as well as if they had been organised. They took no pledge, but were trusted by the men, were the keepers of important secrets, travelled from point to point bearing important messages, and were the chief agents in keeping the organisation alive in Ireland.27

On 28 October 1865 the committee released a statement entitled ‘An Appeal to the Women of Ireland’, holding that the prisoners were innocent of any crime ‘even in the eye of English law’. The Ladies Committee asked whether Irishwomen could stand by and allow the families of the prisoners to fall into destitution.28 Mary Jane worked as secretary to the Ladies Committee and developed a strong friendship with Letitia Frazier Luby and Eileen O’Leary, wife and sister of Thomas Clarke Luby and John O’Leary respectively. The Ladies Committee had hoped to establish branches throughout the city to actively campaign for the families of the prisoners and for the release of the imprisoned men. Membership was open to all women and the committee was defined as strictly non-political, although it did not ‘seek to conceal our sympathies are wholly with the prisoners’.29 Defining itself as a charitable organisation, the Ladies Committee boldly announced that: ‘their [the Fenian prisoners] principles and aspirations were noble and unselfish. Many of them sacrificed their prospects in work to for Ireland’s freedom’.30 The ladies were successful in establishing an argument favourable to the prisoners and their families within the popular mentality, and The Irishman regularly published a list of subscribers to the fund. The subscriptions to the Ladies Committee, however, came from the poorer sections of society and regular donations were quite small. This necessitated several appeals and the organising of bazaars, raffles and rallies. The Ladies had also hoped to hold what they termed a Grand National Fancy Fair and Concert in aid of the families of the State Prisoners. The State, however, blocked the event, and refused to give the Ladies Committee permission to go ahead with the fair and concert. While the ladies could have continued with their Fair without the State’s permission, considering the experience of police harassment, Mary Jane advised the cancellation of the event fearing ‘the emptied Richmond and Kilmainham cells would have had promise of an overflow of habitants’.31

The Ladies Committee also faced the powerful influence of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. As mentioned earlier, the Irish Clergy were staunchly opposed to Fenianism. With the arrests of the Fenian prisoners in 1865, the Catholic Church only hardened its position on the movement, lauding the British Government for its stern action. The Church also continued to regularly assail Fenianism through sermons and encyclicals. Archbishop Cullen, remaining dogged in his opposition to Fenianism, welcomed the arrest of O’Donovan Rossa and his colleagues, and the suppression of The Irish People. Producing an encyclical, which was read at Masses and published in the newspapers, he stated:

They are said to have proposed nothing less than to destroy the faith of our people by circulating works like those of the impious Voltaire, to preach up socialism, to seize the property of those who have any, and to exterminate both the gentry of the country and the Catholic Clergy. Whatever is to be said of such fearful accusations – which we hope are only founded on vague report – it is too certain that the managers of the Fenian paper, called the Irish People, made it a vehicle for scandal, and circulated in its columns most pernicious and poisonous maxims … it must be admitted, that for suppressing that paper the public authorities deserve the thanks and gratitude of all those who love Ireland, its peace and its religion.32

With the Church resolutely against the Fenian prisoners, the work of the Ladies Committee was incredibly difficult and despite early fundraising success, between January to June 1866, monthly subscription totals decreased from £270 to £30.

As a prisoner at Richmond Prison, O’Donovan Rossa rejected the silent treatment enforced upon the Fenian prisoners, not only were they a different category to ordinary prisoners, as prisoners on remand, he also argued that it undermined their defence. This objection was grounded in a consideration that as the prisoners were implicated with each other, the fact that they could not speak to each other meant that they could not prepare for Court together. O’Donovan Rossa became incredibly frustrated, and as he was processed as a prisoner he was asked his religion – deciding he would be difficult, and in an attempt to vent his frustration, when a prison warder asked him if he was Roman Catholic, he responded stating he ‘was Irish not Roman’, and refused to sign himself as Roman Catholic.33 Aggravating his jailers, O’Donovan Rossa demanded that he be registered as an Irish Catholic and continued to refuse to sign a declaration professing that he was a Roman Catholic. After much argument, the authorities decided that he would be prevented from attending Catholic Mass while a prisoner until he relented. Bringing further attention on himself, O’Donovan Rossa then demanded that the authorities provide all the evidence they had to them as to why the prisoners were arrested so that they could prepare their defence. While the prisoners were eventually allowed to speak to one another, albeit in the company of their solicitor, the State remained obstinate in allowing them to see the evidence against them. It also increasingly became known amongst the prisoners that Nagle was an informer and would eventually provide evidence against them in Court.

James Stephens now hurriedly moved to prevent rebellion in 1865. His Executive Council had been obliterated and faced imprisonment – 1865 would not be the year of action. With a bounty of £200 on his head, the Chief Organiser of the Irish Republic ensconced himself in Sandymount, Dublin with Charles Kickham, Edward Duffy and Hugh Brophy. The suppression of The Irish People had greatly undermined the IRB and Cardinal Cullen had again denounced the movement with the most vocal of terms, holding that it would be a good thing for Ireland if Fenianism were to be eradicated from the country. The Irish People newspaper, he argued, was scandalous, preached socialism and ‘circulated in its columns the most pernicious and poisonous maxims’,34 for the false education of the Irish people. Cullen continued to wax lyrical on the Fenian threat and held that the British government ‘deserve the thanks of all who love Ireland, its peace and its religion’.35 Within two months of the suppression of The Irish People, James Stephens was discovered and taken to Richmond Prison but with the help of two warders: John Breslin and Daniel Byrne, Stephens escaped from the prison. The Fenian network had supplied the warders with copied keys designed by Dublin Fenian, Michael Lambert, an instrument maker and jeweller. Breslin and Byrne helped Stephens climb over the prison wall, where he was met by John Devoy and his lieutenant, Thomas Kelly. O’Donovan Rossa remembered the night of Stephens’ escape. That day, with his solicitor, he had met with John O’Leary, Thomas Clarke Luby and Edward Duffy. Duffy had whispered to O’Donovan Rossa that Stephens was leaving the prison that evening, and seeing Stephens’ escape as a victory for the Fenian movement, Rossa had tried to stay awake to hear. Eventually falling asleep he was woken up by a prison guard who was frantically checking his cell to confirm if he were still in custody. At this, O’Donovan Rossa joyfully concluded that ‘the bird had flown’.36

Following Stephens’ escape from Richmond Prison, the government decided to move the Fenian prisoners to Kilmainham Gaol, in the Dublin countryside. To this effect it was decided that the newly built east wing of the Gaol would be used exclusively for Fenian prisoners. Instructing the Gaol Governor, Henry Price, of their plans, Dublin Castle insisted that Kilmainham was to become one of Ireland’s most secure gaols in preparation for the arrival of the Fenian prisoners. To secure Kilmainham Gaol it was decided that each cell would be double-locked by means of bolts, hasps and padlocks. There were only two master keys to the locks and these were in the possession of the Gaol management. Twelve gates were placed within the prison corridors parallel to a body of armed sentries and soldiers stationed both at the prison and adjoining courthouse. When O’Donovan Rossa arrived at Kilmainham Gaol he was stripped naked, searched, given a prison uniform and number, and taken to a small cell. He had a number of papers which he intended to use for his defence to provide to his Counsel; these papers were seized by Governor Price upon entry and were not returned until his trial. Writing to Mary Jane, he had commented how he felt about the seizure of his papers, implying that the State was acting improperly against him. He insisted to his wife that he would kick up ‘hells delights’, in Court about Governor Price’s behaviour.37

On 27 November 1865 a Special Commission was opened in Dublin to oversee the trial of the arrested Fenians. Further commissions were to take place in Cork and Limerick. In total, forty-six men including O’Donovan Rossa, John O’Leary, Charles Kickham, George Archdeacon, Patrick Haybourne, George Gillis and William Francis Roantree were tried for their part in a Fenian conspiracy in Dublin. Of the forty-six, eleven were admitted bail. Despite his earlier belief that he would be hanged by the State, O’Donovan Rossa had come to terms with the fact that he would probably receive a life sentence. The judge presiding over the Special Commission was William Keogh, an erstwhile nationalist who had presided over Rossa’s trial in 1859, despite previous assurances he would reject any official position offered him. The Fenian prisoners had been tried with Treason Felony by attempting to undermine British Rule in Ireland and were actively seeking foreign intervention in Ireland against the State. Nagle provided Crown evidence against the prisoners and taking his place within the witness box, sitting with his back to them, he explained what the Fenian society was. In his narrative the prisoners were involved in a conspiracy to ‘overthrow the Queen’s government in Ireland and when that was done the Republic was to be established’.38 He detailed his connection with The Irish People newspaper and connected O’Donovan Rossa, John O’Leary, James O’Connor, Charles Kickham and Dowling Mulcahy with James Stephens. While he claimed not to have taken an oath to the IRB, Nagle admitted that he had personally sworn men into the conspiracy, and on one occasion he had visited Clonmel where he discovered that his comrades had initiated a secret means of arming themselves in preparation for rebellion. Nagle also detailed the secret nature of the Fenian cellular system, describing the alphabetical ranking order within Fenian circles. His narrative would be repeated throughout each of the individual trials.

O’Donovan Rossa’s was the third trial to take place with Thomas Clarke Luby and John O’Leary preceding him. He was tried from 9 to 11 December 1865. In the case of O’Leary, it had been put to the court that O’Donovan Rossa had travelled to America in 1863 and this was ostensibly on Fenian business under the alias of Anthony O’Donnell. In O’Leary’s trial the Crown Prosecution had argued that when O’Donovan Rossa had returned to Ireland he had arrived with two Americans under the name of Dunne and Meehan. The prosecution had also alluded to the dispatches which Meehan had earlier lost, and the shipping magnate and a police detective confirmed that O’Donovan Rossa had boarded the SS Cuba at Queenstown. Nagle, in his evidence against O’Leary, had confirmed the handwriting of O’Donovan Rossa in several letters, and claimed that Rossa had asked him about swearing in other Fenians. Nagle also hinted at the existence of a secret central committee within the Fenian executive, claiming that James Stephens, O’Donovan Rossa,

John O’Leary, Charles Kickham and James O’Connor regularly held meetings in a private room in the offices of The Irish People that ordinary members of staff were not allowed to attend.39

O’Donovan Rossa had no respect for the Court and believed the Commission to be a ‘legal farce’, which was intent on securing convictions by means of packed juries.40 Brought before the Court, he was charged with being engaged in a treasonable conspiracy, which sought foreign intervention into Ireland. As a means of showing his disrespect for the Court, he had determined that he would extend his case for as long as possible, and recognising that he was going to be convicted, he had decided to make his trial, as one contemporary noted, ‘a defiance of the British Government, a merciless exposure of its utterly unfair methods in conducting political trials and of the rottenness of his judicial system in Ireland’.41 On the eve of his trial he had written to Mary Jane where he explained the course he was going to follow. O’Donovan Rossa lamented that he would probably be punished by the Court and this would result in the State taking its frustrations out on Mary Jane by blocking her from attending the Commission. O’Donovan Rossa feared his resolve would crumble without his wife and he would be ‘deprived of the happiness of [Mary Jane] sitting beside me during my conviction’.42 He also feared for the welfare of his children and implored Mary Jane to take care of them in his absence, holding: ‘I have only to say to you what I said to you before. You are Father and Mother to them while you are alive and while I am dead to the world and you will do for them what you consider best…’43

Opening his trial, the Crown Prosecution argued that O’Donovan Rossa was on intimate terms with Clarke Luby, O’Leary, John O’Mahony, and most notoriously, James Stephens, the leader of Irish conspiracy. He held that articles would be produced indicating that the Irish People newspaper was seditious and constituted a distinct act of treason felony. O’Donovan Rossa, as the business manager, he argued, must be held accountable for the newspaper. O’Donovan Rossa commented how there was no criminal act with which he could be charged with. He was also determined to bring up allegations made against him in the case of John O’Leary. While not addressing the fact that he had travelled to America under an alias, he had claimed that his American visit was on business. He next addressed the fact that Governor Price had seized a number of papers relating to his defence and he was fearful that there was a possibility that they could be given to the prosecution. Keogh addressed the prosecution, who told him that they had not seen the papers, and summoning Price to court, the Governor argued that he had seized the papers under the rules of the prison. Ordering Price to hand over the documents to O’Donovan Rossa, the prisoner next asked Keogh if he had the right to speak to his fellow prisoners. This offer was declined, despite the fact that his name had been used in their trials and allegations were made against him. Postponing the case, O’Donovan Rossa was taken back to Kilmainham on remand. Returning back to Green Street Courthouse, he announced he would defend himself and did not require a legal team. He grounded this in the fact that he believed the court remained a charade and the jury had been packed to secure a conviction. Despite continued calls from Keogh that he was out of order, he announced that: ‘I believe that this trial is a legal farce and I won’t be a party to it by being represented by counsel.’44

O’Donovan Rossa, true to his earlier intention of making his trial a political theatre, began cross-examining witnesses, including Pierce Nagle. Throughout the course of the Irish People trials, Nagle had kept his back to the defendants – his former comrades. This had angered O’Donovan Rossa, who insisted that Nagle should face him as he questioned the erstwhile Fenian. Nagle and the prosecution had objected to this, and as a compromise, he was placed sitting with only the left side of his face directed at O’Donovan Rossa. From the dock, O’Donovan Rossa incessantly goaded Nagle. He had asked him if he had ever seen him administering oaths to anyone – Nagle could not confirm. He had asked him if he had seen anything in The Irish People offices which he believed constituted a threat to British rule in Ireland. Nagle responded as to how he had not seen anything but believed that they were engaged in dangerous conspiracy.45 The prisoner next questioned Nagle as to handwriting and sought clarification as to entries allegedly sighed by O’Donovan Rossa that he had earlier confirmed. Questioning the character and attitude of Nagle, O’Donovan Rossa next asked the informer if he had any guilt as to his role in the imprisonment of men he had known. Nagle refused to answer. O’Donovan Rossa took this as a sign of guilt and asked him about Dowling Mulcahy, whom had got him the job at The Irish People, and Thomas Clarke Luby who fought to have him reinstated in his position when he had been discharged by James O’Connor. Judge Keogh interrupted O’Donovan Rossa and called his line of questioning out of order and asserted he was ‘wasting the public’s time’.46 Sparring with Judge Keogh, O’Donovan Rossa retorted how ‘twenty years is a long time and I want to use these few days as best I can’.47 Keogh would increasingly become a figure of odium for O’Donovan Rossa throughout the duration of his trial. Levying accusations at Keogh, O’Donovan Rossa compared him to Lord Norbury, the infamous Hanging Judge of the early nineteenth century who had sentenced the Irish rebel, Robert Emmet, to death in 1803.

O’Donovan Rossa next demanded to be allowed to look through all documents and publications that had been put against him. Initially, he examined a pamphlet produced by the Chicago Convention of the Fenian Brotherhood. In total the pamphlet consisted of eighty pages of small print, including the constitution of the Fenian Brotherhood. He did so to prove that it was irrelevant to his trial and it did not concern him. Judge Keogh was becoming more irritated with Rossa and accused him of wasting time, and that he would not tolerate much more. The Jury had equally pleaded with O’Donovan Rossa to allow them to deliberate on the pamphlet in private. To much laughter in the Court, one juror, breaking ranks, shouted up ‘occupying so much time in reading what does not concern this case is enough to stir up an armed insurrection among the persons in court’.48

Having laboriously finished reading the Fenian pamphlet to the Jury, O’Donovan Rossa, as business manager of The Irish People, charged with publishing the newspaper, noted he had a right to read the newspaper to the Jury. This involved a file including every edition of The Irish People ever published between 1863-65. One contemporary recalled ‘horror set upon the faces of the Judges, Jurymen, Sheriffs, Lawyers [and] turnkeys’.49 As a compromise he agreed that he would not read the advertisements. Shifting through the Irish People, O’Donovan Rossa had sought to obstruct the court case. Judge Keogh continuously intervened in his readings of articles, many of which he forbade from being read to the Court as he believed it was a dissemination of treasonable ideals. He also directed any reporters in the Courtroom not to transcribe or paraphrase any of the articles which O’Donovan Rossa had read. With the trial continuing until six o’clock in the evening, O’Donovan Rossa, having spoken for eight hours at length, asked Judge Keogh to postpone the case until the following day. Keogh, knowing that O’Donovan Rossa was growing tired, refused to postpone, and directed that the trial continue throughout the evening. Nearing the end of his appeal to the Jury, O’Donovan Rossa closed the file containing the editions of The Irish People, and holding it in his hands; he animatedly made a final appeal to the Jury:

And now, gentlemen, a few words. I say that indictment has been brought against me; and that man [pointing to Judge Keogh] has been placed on that bench to try me; and if there is one among you with a spark of honesty in his breast, he will resent such injustice. The article has been brought against me in the indictment; and do you all believe that man on the bench is the proper man to try me? He has been placed there to convict me.50

Dramatically, O’Donovan Rossa flung the file containing The Irish People onto a nearby table, and announced: ‘there, let the law take its dirty course’.51

On Wednesday 13 December 1865, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa was found guilty of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. In summing up his case, Judge Keogh had pointed out that he had been arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy in 1859 and was regularly in contact with James Stephens and John O’Mahony. O’Donovan Rossa interrupted the Judge, announcing: ‘I am an Irishman since I was born.’52 Keogh had evidently had enough of O’Donovan Rossa and breaking from his speech, he addressed the prisoner personally, holding: ‘He would not now waste words, by trying to bring your word to any sense of the crime of which you have been found guilty.’ O’Donovan Rossa retorted ‘You need not! It would be useless for you to try!’53 Taken from the courtroom and down towards an underground passage, O’Donovan Rossa was recorded to have smiled at his sympathisers ‘and walked with a light step from the dock’.54 Shortly afterwards he wrote to his wife:

On the whole, Mollis, I am satisfied with the course I took. I hope you are too. With a view to public good I considered it a good one to adopt, and I believe that all who would sacrifice anything for the cause of country will approve of it… May God guard and strengthen you till we meet again…55