REMINISCENCES IN THE LIFE OF A COLONIAL JOURNALIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XI, Issue 4045, 29 October 1874, Page 5

REMINISCENCES IN THE LIFE OF A COLONIAL JOURNALIST.

No. XVII. [By "Snyder."] the fenian alarm. —(Concluded.) More than a quarter of a century had passed over without hearing anything of Manning. He had, in fact, quite dropped out of memory, w\>en early one morning, towards the close of l2f>7, while sitting in my office, absorbed in the. contents of the morning journal, 1 glanced upwards from the sheet, when, standing full uefore me, was John Maiming, the man who so many years back had, by his humorous and comic delineations of character, convulsed the people with laughter; whose droll phrases, rich pleasantry, and curious insight into the lighter side of human nature made his writings eminently readable, and certainly not uninstruetive. There ho stood before me, but little different in appearance to what he was nigh upon twenty-six long years ago. The same settled melancholy upon him, the same sombre but intellectual east of countenance, the same attenuated frame. 11c had not altered so much as a little bit. Wc shook hands, and then in a few sentences he gave in brief and rapid outline what had happened him since he left mc in Victoria without note or intimation. Ho had gone into the bush and engaged as tutor in a squatter's family. After a time ho left and sailed away for Sydney, where he gave a series of lectures upon Irish wit and humour, which were well received and much appreciated. Then he sailed back to Victoria, aud went on to the diggings, whore he took a leading part in the Eureka Stockade riota against, the military. Here he was wounded, a musket ball having lodged in his right arm. He was taken care of by some diggers, and carefully nursed and tended. When sufficiently recovered, lie wandered far into the interior of the country, where, in long unemployed hours of the solitary evenings, he devoted his time to writing a novel, which, for want of means and friends, he was unable to get published. Then lie once more took sliix> to Sydney, and went inland some 300 miles, where lie started a bush school, which he retained for some time, until, having saved a- small sum of money, he went back once again to Victoria by way of Tasmania. He had engaged in various occupations—had been shepherd on a sheep-station ; had done splitting and post-and-rail work. Went teaching again. Went once more to Sydney, and was now for the first time in Hokitika. He had heard that 1 edited a newspaper. He was glad of it. Could I offer him any literary employment'! I said I could not, and lie looked grieved. He had a little money, but not much. Living on the West •' oast was expensive, and it would soon go.

Then it was, after reflecting a fewminutes, I said, "Manning, why don't you start a newspaper ? An Irish paper, you know ; one that will make your countrymen laugh, and keep them in good humour. It's bound to pay, with the amount of funny devilment you will bo able to infuse into it. Start a paper, my dear fellow, and your fortune's made." And as he sat opposite, his mild blue eyes settled on me, lie said, " f thank you for your suggestion. My capital is a few shillings in exccss of rive pounds, and 1 have a watch worth quite twenty- five shillings. Oh, yes ; it will be better to start a paper. The advice is so very, very excellent indeed. A good large paper, you know—a daily paper, with sixty columns of solid reading matter in it. That's what 1 must go in for, of course. But perhaps it would be as well, before 1 do this tiling, that 1 should engage a family mansion and furnish it handsomely, and give dinners to those who intend to support me. And 1 think it would be. as well if I set up a carriage with two high-stepping bay horses, full of blood. Became you see," said Manning, resting his forehead on the palm of his right hand, and soliloquising, as it were, to himself, "after the mansion has been furnished, and the high-stepping horses, full of blood, have been purchased, and the liveries have conic home, there will be plenty of change out of my five pounds to start a tirst-class journal, with a full editorial stuff to conduct it." And then, looking up to me, he quietly said, "You see it all, don't you '! Quite easj', isn't it ? Five pounds, you know, besides a twenty-five shilling watch, and start a daily paper. But when you go about dialling a man, don't do it at the expense of a poor devil down on his luck. It isn't kind, you know. Not the thing by any means ; especially to a man you once did a good turn for, and who don't forget it because it was when your boy, who is now a man, sat on my knee as a baby."

"Manning," I said, "I had no intention of wounding you, I really mean what I say. I know you have no means of your own, but yourcountrymen arc liberaland many of them hereabouts are rich and well-to-do." Then it was, I suppose, that the suggestion took root, shortly to grow into something practicable. He went his way, and in somewhere about a fortnight returned, and said he had been successful beyond anything he could have anticipated. His countrymen and coreligionists had agreed to find him in sufficient money to pay for the printing of a newspaper. Would I, having abundant printing material, presses, type, and convenience, print the paper for him ? And it was so agreed upon ; and the agreement was drawn up by a lawyer, duly signed and attested. After this we went into details. Manning asked what name I would recommend he should give his paper, and 1, never having anything else in my mind than that he intended to produce a journal of fun and humour, and droll yarns, and pleasant extracts from Irish journals, with light-hearted leading matter —-I say, 1 never having any other thought in my head, said, as I lit my pipe and leaned hack in iny chair, what do you say Manning to calling it the Kprij of Shilh'lai/h ? He shook his head iu dissent. "Well,'"' I said, "call it Erui-jo-Brarjh.'' Another shake. " Won't do, won't it? Well, what do you say to the Wild Irish Boy Another shake. Then I felt that my powers of invention were getting used up, and, in desperation, I suggested Kathleen 'Mamwtneen, or Cuchla Machre.e, or Teddy the Tyler.

The number of shakes which followed I did not count. There were a good many of them.

Then Manning tokl me that lie had asked me as much out of compliment as anything else, to suggest a name ; for lie hail some days batik determined to baptize it Th-s Celt.

I said, "beit so but to my fancy the name was neither comic nor side-splitting enough by a great long w.iy.

Now it had so happened that when the agreement was drawn up, stipulating for me to print a newspaper, tile lawyers—they are such cunning, clever dogs are these lawyers —had inserted a clause that the printer should hold the power to refuse to print any matter which lie might consider libellous. And I afterwards thanked that lawyer. In a few days Manning handed in as much copy and reprint as was sulfieient for the first issue. I had never troubled to look at it, but meroly said to the overseer of the office, "If you should happen to see anything intended for the CW< a little too strong, although it's not at all likely, perhaps you will be good enough to let me see it ?" and lie said lie would, and within two hours afterwards brought me some six or eight proof-sheets. Thunder and lightning and snow-capped mountains ! It was the most terrific combination of deadly writing I think I ever read. There was a tirade against the late Prince Consort, in which lie was called a German showman ; there were articles, extracts, and quotations, all calculated to breed rancour between the two nationalities. There wasn't a joke, or a yam, or anything comic or humorous about the whole thing. There was, in faet, everything I never expected to see, and nothing which I had looked for. *All rights rtserved.

Then I went ta Manning, and spoke out my mind, and asked the meaning of it all, and whether the fun had departed from him, and the spirit of anarchy had taken its place ? He told me his object was to redress the grievances of his country. I said, " In this colony your countrymen have no grievances but what are common to us all. The law applies to one equally with another, and no more favour is shewn to an Englishman or a Scotchman than to .an Irishman." Manning admitted it all, but insisted that lie had a mission to fulfil, and he intended to fulfil it.

I couldn't get out of my contract for the three months during which it was to hold good, but 1 made no hesitation in exercising my right to exclude all matter I considered libellous. And then there arose an angry feeling on the part of Manning against mo. At the end of that three months, which had brought me more grey hairs than I had been able to cultivate the previous years of my life, Manning, with the aid of his friends, bought a printing-plant to his own uses. He was now at liberty to write and print what he liked, and lie liked nothing but what was hot, and strong, and peppery, and highly combustible. Copies of the Cell were forwarded to Wellington for the opinion of the law officers, but a huge latitude was allowed, and no steps, at that time, were taken to bring the editor to account. Then it cam" about that the Celt advocated that a cross should lj U erected in the Hokitika cemetery to U lo memory of Allen, Larkin, and O Lricu, tv.rco men who had been executed in Manchester for aiding and abetting m tlie killing of an Tuspeetor of Police, lkuow not that, if these men who suffered by the law, were from some stand-point, which 1 don't pretend to understand, whether considered as martyrs, why it should have been looked upon by the authorities any great harm for their countrymen to plant a cross to their memory ; because as, w.-w ovplniiiud .it Uic time to the municipal officers, it was quite common in Roman Catholic countries to erect in graveyards and cemeteries mementoes to the dead, although the body was absent.

Howbeit, leave was of the authorities, and the authorities refused. Whereupon the Cell newspaper urged defiance oi the law, and the planting of the cross in opposition to expressed authority.

Then there arose among the inhabitants a strong feeling of alarm, for threats were held out that unless the cross and the procession which was to accompany it were allowed to proceed uninterruptedly there wouldbe bloodshed ; that the police on attempting to interfere would be met with armed resistance. The authorities at Wellington, on being appealed to, recommended that the whole of the peaceably-disposed inhabitants should be sworn in as special constables. This being announced, over eight hundred burgesses were sworn in, provided with batons, and instructed in evolutionary drill. The citizens were told oil' into companies and kept watch and watcli throughout the day and night. The then proprietor of the Couxt Timet!, who subsequently established a newspaper at the Thames, together with his family, lodged in a part of the Government Buildings, around -which a guard of special constables patrolled throughout the night. Many people buried their money and other valuables on the sands or in out-of-the-way places in the bush. Still it was determined that the cross to the memory of O'Brien, Larkin, and Allen should be planted in the graveyard of llokitika. Sunday, the Stli March, was fixed for the procession. A programme of the order of it was published, with the hour at which those taking part were to meet. The men were dressed in their ordinary clothing, decorated with green sashes. The llev. Father Larkin, who led the procession, was in full canonicals. The men, to the number of S4O, inarched in Hie two and two abreast, the procession starting from the Cc/t ollice, and marehingat a slow, measured pace, proceeded to the burial ground. The ail'air was very correctly described by a witness who was called on to give evidence, when seven of those who took part in that day's proceedings where subsequently charged with riot. He said, "1 was myself a little ahead of the procession. There were banners and music. I was at the cemetery when the procession arrived there. It was headed by the Kev. Father Larkin. After him came a trestle carried by men bearing the cross. A hearse was in the procession in town, but it was not at the cemetery. When the procession entered the gates, which had been removed, it proceeded to the Roman Catholic reserve, and a funeral cere mony was gone through. Afterwards a wooden cross was planted on a monnd. There was nothing to be seen in the procession calculated to produce fear in any but the most timid."

Another reliable witness detailed how the procession was directed by mounted marshals. On some of the sashes were the letters I. 1!. One banner had a small cross with the names of Allen, O'Brien, and Larkin inscribed on it. There were banners with mottoes on them. Some had pictures painted. One very huge banner had the figure of a woman on one side, while on the other was painted a round tower with the letters 1. It., and a wolf-dog surrounded with shamrocks. Underneath was a harp. The woman's hands were represented as in chains, pointing towards the tower, and grasping a flag. When the procession arrived at the cemetery two men dismounted from their horses. One of these took a hammer from his pocket and bent a nail on one side, ami then handed it to the second, who did the same to one oil the opposite side, the gates being fastened together in the centre. The two gates were then lifted from their hinges and placed against a side feucc. For this proceeding seven men were arrested, charged with riot, and committed to take their trial at the next sitting of_the Supreme Court.

J'ublic feeling now rose to an intense pitch. There were two opposing parties. One insisting that the law should be vindicated ; the other that the men charged with riot had not exceeded the powers placed in the hands of the people, nml ought not to be punished. The professional services of the most eminent among Victorian barristers, Mr. Ireland, was engaged at a cost of twelve hundred pounds—the amount subscribed by the friends of the prisoners reaching two thousand pounds, which was all needed for additional professional assistance. The trial lasted several days, and resulted in the prisoners being lined each in the sum of .£2O, which was immediately paid. Mr. John Manning and the Rev. Father Larkin were then charged under indictment with the writing of a seditious libel, to which, by the advice of their counsel, Mr. Ireland, they both pleaded guilty. The Itcv. Father Larkin, in addressing the Court, said that the proceedings at the procession, so far as he was concerned, were merely of a religious character, and explained the view taken by the Roman Catholic Church in regard to persons who had died in sill. The procession was in the form of a religious ceremonial, and was entirely intended by him as such. He had no idea that the proceedings at the procession would have been offensive to anyone. If he had thought so he would not have joined it. With respect to the Celt, newspaper, he was not a partner in it. True, he might have taken an interest in that journal, and had been desirous of promoting its establishment in this part of the country ; he had, therefore, allowed his name to be used as a security ; but if the law held him to be a partner, lie bowed to that decision.

il>\ John Manning, the second defendant, •asked permission to take up the time of the Court for a few minutes. "He had," he said, "certain ideas of the freedom of discussion, which might be evinced in three methods, by acts, words, and writings ; and that so long as these opinions were expressed openly and publicly, there could be no wrong in expressing them. The procession was the expression of that opinion, by an act which he had not thought was in any way unlawful. The expression of opinions by words and writings he considered, as a journalist, it was his duty to give to the readers of a newspaper on the

condition o£ the country which, at the time, might be alluded to ; and as Ireland was the country which interested the readers of the Celt newspaper, he gave extracts and original writings descriptive of the condition of that country, but not for the purpose of exciting people to rebellion. However much he had erred in other matters, he, as the editor, had no intention of that. The Celt had been much misrepresented by the Press in this portion in New Zealand. He was, however, content to abide by the law as laid down by His Honor. That was all he had to say either to the charge of riot or sedition. He had to thank his countrymen for the princely liberality they had shewn in providing means for his defence, and also his thanks were due to the persons connected with the gaol in whose charge he had been placed.''

The two defendants were then sentenced each to one month's imprisonment. They were not sent to tlie common gaol, but were confined in the quarters occupied by the constabulary, and were permitted to receive every reasonable indulgence. Mr. Joint Manning afterwards sailed for California, and connected himself with a journal holding extreme views. It is not at all unlikely that, as I am relating the West Coast fiasco Manning will be sitting with a child oil his knee upon whom he lias spent his last shilling for a toy or some sweetmeats, while lie is inditing in eloquent and fervid language a tirade against the constituted authority of England. A more gentle, generous, tender, loveable man could not exist. Had ho refrained from politics, there is no doubt he would have obtained a high distinction as one of our best colonial essay writers and delineators of human nature.