Thomas Meagher, Renewal of Hostilities.

Chapter XIII.

Thomas Meagher, M.P., Waterford, who died February 28th, 1874, was as remarkable for being a man of few words, as his son was famed for unbounded command of ornate vocabulary. However, he was always able by his vote in Parliament and local influence in Waterford, of which he was Mayor, to do good work for Ireland. If the son was “Meagher of the sword,” the sire, who relished the blessings of peace, was Meagher of the ploughshare. The glittering mace of office was an attribute of the first; the iron mace of war earned the eulogy of his son, who spoke like a Cicero, and dressed like a D’Orsay. [In America he rose to the rank of Major-General; his brother entered the British service, and became Lieut.-Colonel of Hussars.]

The year 1876 is remarkable in these annals for a renewal of hostilities between the Military and Golden Bridge Cemetery. A dead silence had long succeeded their previous action; but it was the silent movement of the sapper, who seeks to undermine some obnoxious stronghold. It was supposed that the Order in Council of the 6th July, 1867, had closed the contest. But one day, in the year first named, a determined *sortie *was made from Richmond barracks, designed to harass the living, and disturb the dead. War was once more proclaimed, and the men thus suddenly assailed, placed themselves in an attitude of defence. A number of missives were exchanged. One, signed, “E. Walker, Lieut.-Col.,” dated 12th December, 1875, declared the Order in Council of 3rd July, 1869, to be “practically useless for the purpose for which it was required - viz.: the stopping of burials in the Cemetery.”

The machinery of the Local Government Board was again set in motion, and a letter from Mr. Coyle, Secretary to the Catholic Cemeteries Committee, dated 21st June, 1876, set forth:- “A reference to the Order made by the Privy Council on July 3rd, 1869, will show that Lieut.-Colonel Walker is mistaken; for, although it appears that the statement then made to the Lord Lieutenant in Council by the Military authorities, was that burials in the Cemetery should be wholly discontinued, yet the arrangement agreed to, and approved of by the Privy Council, contains exceptions and qualifications as to the discontinuance of burials in the Cemetery. The Committee have instituted minute inquiries as to the manner in which burials have been carried on in the Cemetery since the date of the Order, and are satisfied that these exceptions and qualifications have been carefully attended to. It would appear that Lieut.-Colonel Walker, from ‘Departmental correspondence’ antecedent to the proceedings, had formed some ideas of his own on the condition of the Cemetery, and he expresses his anxiety to reopen the subject closed by the Order of 1869, in the hope of obtaining a fresh order to shut up the Cemetery altogether.”

In the course of the long correspondence that followed, the Local Government Board forwarded at intervals, for the perusal of the Committee, sheafs of papers that had been sent by Colonel Walker to Dublin Castle, and thence passed on to the Local Government Board. At last a letter came, dated 24th August, 1876:- “With reference to previous correspondence relative to the Golden Bridge Cemetery, the Local Government Board for Ireland desire to state, for the information of the Dublin Cemeteries Committee, that they have received a further file of papers on the subject from the Chief Secretary’s Department, and that it appears that the Military authorities regard favourably the position in which this question has been placed, by the assurance of the Committee, in the arrangement suggested by the Local Government Board’s Inspector - viz.: to restrict future interments, in any part of the Cemetery, to the cases of those persons who have existing rights of interment reserved to them by the Order in Council.” This, in fact, was the decision of the Privy Council in 1869; and in no one instance had the Catholic Cemeteries Board infringed the order then made. The aggressive attitude of the military authorities had now, seemingly, given place* *to one of “favour able” recognition. It came, perhaps, as near to “a retreat in good order” as any military officer could well sanction.

Thomas Neilson Underwood was a barrister of good family who, like Thomas Addis Emmet, threw himself into the ranks of the people. He took part in the Tenant Right movement, and in 1860, founded “St. Patrick’s Brotherhood,” a somewhat revolutionary organization. The Irishman, a leading popular organ, edited by P. J. Smyth, refused to support it, and, as a result, the circulation of the paper went down from 10,000 to 2,500. Underwood contributed prose and verse to periodical literature. Mr. O’Donoghue gives him a niche in “The Poets of Ireland.” As author of a drama, “The Youthful Martyr,” his name may also be added to the small bead roll of Irish playwrights. At his funeral, in Glasnevin, on October 15th, 1876, the burial service of the Protestant Church was read over his remains.

A letter addressed to Henry Richard, an English M.P., by A. M. Sullivan, M.P., casually mentions an incident chronologically in place here. Mr. Richard had stated publicly that the burials question was about to engage the attention of Parliament, on the motion of Lord Granville. A. M. Sullivan writes “Dublin, Apnl 20th, 1876 - Dear Mr. Richard - An hour ago standing with bared head beside the open grave of a dear and valued friend, a Protestant Dissenter, being interred in the great Catholic Cemetery of Ireland, Glasnevin, I realised more forcibly than ever I did before what the Nonconformist body in your country must feel in the matter of the burials question. I thought of you at that sad moment, and of our debate the other day on that question in the House of Commons, and I could not help thinking that if they could but have been with me just then to see and hear the truly respected Wesleyan Methodist minister discharge the last office of his sacred calling in the midst of a mourning and sympathetic crowd of Protestants, Catholics, and Dissenters, in a Catholic denominational Cemetery, many of our hon. colleagues who spoke and voted against Mr. Osborne Morgan’s motion would never so speak or vote on such a motion again. My deceased friend was Mr. Thomas L. Stirling, T.C., of Tullamore, King’s County; the Nonconformist clergyman being Rev. G. R. Wedgewood, Wesleyan minister, Tullamore.”

John O’Mahony, whose father and uncle had been implicated in the Rebellion of 1798, attached himself to the Society of Young Ireland, and took the field with Smith O’Brien in 1848. He escaped to America, where he published, with copious annotations, a new translation of Keating’s “History of Ireland,” warmly praised for its accuracy by the learned Dr. Todd, and also by the author of “The Cromwellian Settlement in Ireland.” Keating’s book describes the exploits of the Ancient Fenians, which probably led to the adoption of this name for a Secret Society, inaugurated by O’Mahony, and aiming to promote the independence of Ireland. O’Mahony was Colonel of the 69th Regiment of New York Militia hence his title - and would, as is usually supposed, occupy a similar rank in the Fenian army. He died in New York on February 6th, 1877. O’Mahony is buried in the same plot with MacManus and Nally, in the south section, but no stone marks the spot. The intended monument, consisting of a group of statuary, on which Sir Thomas Farrell, P.R.H.A., personally expended £500, has not yet left his studio.

O’Mahony was followed a few days later by Professor Robertson, who had finished a book on “The Life and Writings of Burke,” from which it is manifest that among the British statesmen and literati of the eighteenth century there was certainly no purer or nobler mind. Cardinal Cullen was greatly pleased with this work. Robertson, in a dedicatory address to His Eminence, said that he sought to analyse and vindicate the political views of Burke. Those institutions and fundamental laws which Burke defended on the ground of utility and expedience, were shown by Robertson to be absolutely necessary, and to be founded on the very constitution of human society. Robertson’s translation of Schlegel’s “Philosophy of History,” and also of Moehler’s “Symbolism,” are much esteemed. He was a poet, too, and wrote, with other pieces, “The Prophet Enoch.” When Dr. Newman became Rector of the Catholic University in Dublin, Robertson accepted its chair of Modern History and English Literature. He was a prominent figure in social circles. James Burton Robertson died, unmarried, 14th February, 1877, aged 80 years.

Dr. Doyle (the famous “J. K. L.”), who had long laboured to promote a legal provision for the starving poor, died in 1834, and his mantle may be said to have fallen on Thaddeus O”Malley, a young priest from Garryowen, who, in public letters of much vigour, showed that a Poor Law would not, as alleged, dry up the springs of private bounty. Born in 1796, when the French fleet rode at anchor in Bantry Bay, his first mission was in the Pro-Cathedral of the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Murray, whose views favouring National Education he ably sustained, and thus came in collision with Dr. MacHale. O’Malley had the daring to grapple with the “Lion of the Fold of Judah,” until Dr. Murray restrained him. He was subsequently appointed by the Government Rector of the University of Malta, and Sir George Cornwall Lewis expressed a hope that, under the administration of one who wrote such excellent Saxon, the students might become less Maltese and more English.

Instead of applying himself to the task suggested, O’Malley set on foot some reforms in discipline amongst the students. Disdaining to court popularity by connivance, a cabal was the result. “He was rebuked,” writes John Cornelius O’Callaghan, “for not yielding to the high behests of Protestant laymen in matters wholly pertaining to his ecclesiastical functions,” and the virtue of “resignation,” in its most extended sense, was suggested. This worry he took good-humouredly: called it a Maltese Cross, and returned to his old post at the Pro-Cathedral, in Dublin.

He ventured to differ with O’Connell on the comparative merits of “Repeal” or Federal Parliaments. This difference of opinion brought about a passionate debate between the old Tribune and the priest. O’Malley started a newspaper called *The Federalist *- its career was brilliant and meteoric. When “Young Ireland” broke away from O’Connell, he laboured to re-cement the shattered elements of Irish agitation. Two years later he founded another journal - the *Social Economist, *which propounded bold theories. Like its editor, it was full of vivacity - one column of *facetiaw *being regularly headed: “Sips of Punch.” “Harmony in Religion” - a volume which urged some reforms in ecclesiastical discipline though published anonymously, is known to have been the outcome of that fearless mind. Cardinal Cullen did not like it, and sharply told him so.

Acting as chaplain to the Presentation nuns of George’s Hill, the ex-Rector of the University of Malta spent the prime of his manhood. Years went on, during which his active mind knew no rest. He sought to make Home Rule feasible by his book, “Home Rule on the Basis of Federalism.” He died in his 81st year, and on January the 4th, 1877, his bier was borne to Glasnevin. “An honest man, a gentleman, and a scholar,” writes Alfred Webb, M.P., “he was greatly beloved by a large circle of friends.”

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