Jenny Marx on Ireland
Article I
February 27, 1870
Article V
March 22, 1870 Article II
March 5, 1870
Article VI
April 2, 1870 Article III
March 16, 1870
Article VII
April 17, 1870 Article IV
March 18, 1870
Article VIII
April 19, 1870
Written under the pseudonym J. Williams for the French newspaper La
Marseillaise. The third article was co-written by Jenny Marx and her father.
These articles generated considerable public response.
Online Version: The fifth article was quoted in The Irishman No. 40 (April 20,
1870) and the sixth was reprinted in full in an English translation in No. 45
(May 7, 1870). They were first fully translated into English by Progress
Publishers in 1970. Transcribed for the Internet Jan 18 1996, by Zodiac. Present
html markup by Brian Basgen in 1999.
I
La Marseillaise, No. 71
March 1, 1870
London, February 27, 1870
The Marseillaise for February 18 quotes an article from The Daily News, in which
the English paper gives information to the French press concerning the election
of O'Donovan Rossa. Since this information is somewhat confused and since
partial explanations only serve to throw a false light on the things which they
are claiming to elucidate, I should be grateful if you would kindly publish my
comments on the article in question.
Firstly, The Daily News states that O'Donovan was sentenced by a jury, but it
omits to add that in Ireland the juries are composed of minions more or less
directly nominated by the government.
Then, in speaking with righteous horror of the treason-felony, the false
liberals of The Daily News omit to say that this new category in the English
Penal Code was expressly invented to identify the Irish patriots with the vilest
of criminals.
Let us take then the case of O'Donovan Rossa. He was one of the editors of The
Irish People. Like most of the Fenians he was sentenced for having written
so-called seditious articles. Consequently the Marseillaise was not wrong in
drawing an analogy between Rochefort and Rossa."'
Why does The Daily News, which aims at keeping France informed about the Fenian
prisoners, remain silent about the appalling treatment of them? I trust that you
will allow me to make up for this prudent silence.
Some time ago O'Donovan was put in a dark cell with his hands chained behind his
back. His handcuffs were not removed night or day so that he was forced to
crouch on the ground to lick his food, gruel made with water. Mr. Pigott, editor
of The Irishman, learnt about these facts from Rossa who described them to him
in the presence of the prison governor and another witness, and published the
information in his newspaper, encouraging Mr. Moore, one of the Irish members of
the House of Commons, to request a parliamentary enquiry into what goes on in
the prisons. The government strongly opposed this request. Thus, Moore's motion
was rejected by 171 votes to 36 -- a worthy supplement to the voting which
crushed the right to suffrage.
And this took place during the ministry of the sanctimonious Gladstone. As
you-can see the great Liberal leader knows how to mock humanity and justice.
There are also judases who do not wear glasses.
Here is another case which also does England credit. O'Leary, a Fenian prisoner
aged between sixty and seventy, was put on bread and water for three weeks
because -- the reader of the Marseillaise would never guess why -- because Leary
called himself a "pagan" and refused to say he was Protestant, Presbyterian,
Catholic or Quaker. He was given the choice of one of these religions or bread
and water. Of these five evils, O'Leary, or "pagan O'Leary" as he is called,
chose the one that he considered the least-bread and water.
A few days ago after examining the body of a Fenian who died at Spike Island
Prison the CORONER expressed his very strong disapproval of the manner in which
the deceased man had been treated.
Last Saturday a young Irishman called Gunner Hood left prison after four years
in it. At the age of 19 he had joined the English army and served England in
Canada. He was taken before a military tribunal in 1866 for having written
seditious articles and sentenced to two years' hard labour. When the sentence
was pronounced Hood took his cap and threw it into the air shouting, "Long live
the Irish republic!" This impassioned cry cost him dear. He was sentenced to an
extra two years in prison and fifty strokes for good measure. This was carried
out in the most atrocious manner. Hood was attached to a plough and two
strapping blacksmiths were armed With cat-o-nine-tails. There is no equivalent
term in French for the English knout. Only the Russians and the English know
what is meant by this. Like draws to like.
Mr. Carey, a journalist, is kept at present in the part of the prison intended
for the insane, the silence and the other forms of torture to which he has been
subjected having turned him into a mass of living flesh deprived of all reason.
The Fenian Colonel Burke, a man who has distinguished himself not only by his
military service in the American army but also as a writer and painter, has also
been reduced to a pitiful state in which he can no longer recognise his closest
relatives. I could add many more names to this list of Irish martyrs. Suffice it
to say that since 1866, when there was a raid on The Irish People's offices, 20
Fenians have died or gone mad in the prisons of humanitarian England.
J. Williams
II
La Marseillaise, No. 79
March 9 1870
London, March 5
During the meeting of the House of Commons on March 3 Mr. Stacpoole questioned
Mr. Gladstone on the treatment of Fenian prisoners. He said, among other things,
that Dr. Lyons of Dublin had recently stated that
"the discipline, diet, personal restrictions and the other punishments were
bound to cause permanent damage to the prisoners' health."
After having expressed complete satisfaction with the way in which prisoners
were treated, Mr. Gladstone crowned his little speech with this brilliantly
witty remark:
"As to the health of O'Donovan Rossa, I am glad to be able to say that during
her last visit to her husband Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa congratulated him on looking
better."
Whereupon a burst of Homeric laughter broke out from all sides of that noble
assembly. Her last visit! Note that Mrs. O'Donovan Rossa had not only been
separated from her husband for several years, but that she had travelled all
over America earning money to feed her children by giving public lectures on
English literature.
And bear in mind also that this same Mr. Gladstone, whose quips Care so pointed,
is the almost sacred author of Prayers, the Propagation of the Gospel, The
Functions of Laymen in the Church and the recently published homily Ecce homo.
Is the profound satisfaction of the head jailer shared by his prisoners? Read
the following extracts from a letter written by O'Donovan Rossa, which by some
miracle was. slipped out of the prison and arrived at its destination after an
incredible delay:
Letter from Rossa
I have already told you about the hypocrisy of these English masters who, after
placing me in a position which forced me to get down on my knees and elbows to
eat, are now depriving me of food and light and giving me chains and a Bible. I
am not complaining of the penalties which my masters inflict on me -- it is my
job to suffer -- but I insist that I have the right to inform the world of the
treatment to which I am subjected, and that it is illegal to hold back my
letters describing this treatment. The minute precautions taken by the prison
authorities to prevent me writing letters are as disgusting as they are absurd.
The most insulting method was to strip me once a day for several months and then
examine my arms, legs and all other parts of my body. This took place at
Millbank daily from February to May 1867. One day I refused, whereupon five
prison officers arrived, beat me mercilessly and tore off my clothes.
Once I succeeded in getting a letter to the outside, for which I was rewarded by
a visit from Messrs. Knox and Pollock, two police magistrates.'
How ironical to send two government employees to find out the truth about the
English prisons. These gentlemen refused to take note of anything important
which I had to tell them. When I touched upon a subject which was not to their
liking, they stopped me by saying that prison discipline was not their concern.
Isn't that so, Messrs. Pollock and Knox? When I told you that I had been forced
to ...
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