"COLONEL" ARTHUR LYNCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11854, 4 January 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

"COLONEL" ARTHUR LYNCH.

JOURNALIST, CONSPIRATOR; AND RENEGADE. 'A jotovalist writes as follows in the London Express:— Arthur Lynch has come curi- .;■/■* ously before the public daring the past few days. Hitherto he was not known to the '■.multitude. Vf :.' : ,"- ■:v • He is a dreamer, a poet, a champion of, • lost causes, and half-forgotten beliefs. Those who know him, who appreciate his fine qualities, hi-* ardour, his sheer .■■impossible-., ness, will never confound him with the scum of degenerate Irishmen who contrive to fill the advertising poster. To begin with, I hardly regard Lynch as an Irishman. He was, I believe, born in Australia certainly bred there. His people occupied a good position, and, at an early age (he is now about thirty-four), he ■ was sent to Vienna to study medicine. ; He j learnt something of the healing art, but he took more interest in Socialism and poetry than in anatomy. To him every i sort"; of sham was hateful, so he boldly tokl his . relatives that he had pitched physic to the dogs, and taken to literature via Bohemia. Resultparental remonstrances and a threat ■■-. of being cut off with a parental shilling. " ■;■■•■■■;■■ As-:if a shilling, ':'. or a million shillings, :.. could 'wean him from the muse. See, then, j , ; this youthful visionary, tall, lanky, a typi- i ,• cal Cornstalk in appearance, with a keen; -'■>: -,', hatchet-like face, high forehead, and large, • closely-set eyes, fiercely resentful; of pressure ; that would - keep him to the beaten! ■:' path, setting out for Paris, the Mecca of . •genius. *■■ . There ." he undoubtedly encountered the agents' of the Fenian organisation. What a -splendid recruit he was! A .thinker, a writer, perhaps an orator, an "enthusiast ■'■ who preferred a crust and his ideal to wealth and compromise. ; What a contrast to the tin patriots who lived by plundering Irish- ' American servant girls! ;- • " '.'.,'.'■ Clearly such a man would be 'an acquisi- ";' tion to the Irish Parliamentary party. .So ■'.. ; .' he went to Galway, but his fine-tempered ;>.,'•;: blade was quickly blunted against the shield of Parnellism.- Lynch could not stomach the servitude,demanded by. the autocrat, and the result was seen in a fiercely-contested :; : .election. in which the" young free-lance was ~" ; beaten by some .fifty votes. I first met Lynch "in 1893. It was my duty to examine and ; pronounce on literary contributions to the Sun when that journal v. burst upon modern London. One day he walked in and offered an article on some topic. It was excellent. . '-' _ • ■ • : After a very brief, novitiate he practically >.'■■'. became a member of the staff, as my colleague, the news editor of those days, shared ;. .'"' my. belief in Lynch's capabilities. ■■'<• Once he was sent 1 to "interview • Mascagni. ; He found that " distinguished personage in bed. ■ The. '-.'■ ' resultant . conversation, written' in broken ;. , English. French. : German, and Italian, was t;. ■■'■ "one of the best things I ever read..... ,' Lynch, too, dabbled in poetry, and published two volumes of verse, clever, wolfishly satirical of society, inspired in lines, and well written. One of these; volumes, if I remember aright, described certain phases of modern life so unblushing-'; 1 v that the - publisher stopped its ' circula- :■., ';.-, tion. • . ■ "- '• -. , -.-'•' : " '..v..;'": • 'Early in 1894 Lynch came to me and asked for a month's holiday. He had ur- ' gent business in the United States. J He : \ must go, even; if compelled to resign his ' ■ position. I argued with him, even tempted ;■■■. him with a bait of more and highly-paid work, but he was obdurate. -";•■■ ■".-.,- I guessed that his journey was connected with the silly propaganda of physical force employed by the O'Donovan Rossa type of humbug, and I parted -from, him with regret, for Lynch was a very lovable.fellow. In three weeks he returnedso the busi- | mess did not take long—and .my chaffing comments on his secret mission surprised him into earnestness. His eyes lit up,; his thin face; glowed with passion as he de- < scribed:to me bombs of such potency that; they s would wreck London Bridge, yet five of )-\."•': them could be carried in a cigar-case. -' Poor Lynch!; ; The pity of it that this: splendid / * literary : career should be destroyed by such "■■;■.. bombs ■ ■ ■ ■ . : ■■■■•'•.■ ,: No one could have tried harder than I did '■■:■'.■'■ to pull him back from the abyss. We saw much of each other, discussed mutual projects in novels and plays,-but oh that one topic of revolution, of hatred to England, of an insane desire to wrest the Irish race from Av: the ; : grip of the ", detestable''; Saxon,; he , would j . hot listen to me. Yet I was a Saxon, and ' certainly a close friend of his, and we jointly; ■ : made a few pounds in a West Australian ; :tnining deal! .-•■•' . . / Then we drifted apart, wholly by accident. :; I heard of him as one marked " dangerous" %■■; ,by.the special department of Scotland Yard i .which deals with dvcamitards, as Paris cor- "-'■" -respondent for a London daily paper, .as author of more poems, and, finally, as colonel".' in the Boer army. He has been down there in the Transvaal, • herding with men against whom his very soul must revolt, fighting against men whose every sympathy, save one, is . in harmony With; him- : ' ■.■■_