we were treading a path that had already been sung (for even bitterness has its song) but we trod it in greater comfort. above all we had one another’s company. the boon of this might conceivably have been blurred a little, as with the passage of months it became difficult in our cramped space to avoid treading on one another’s toes. and certainly it was impossible for each man not to know each other at his best and worst. the knowledge so gained had its value for future days. for at bottom the solidity with which we began was only cemented with the passage of time.
yet our company was first to be revised, by a process of addition and subtraction, before it took its final shape. one friday in august we were informed that on the monday and tuesday following we were to be taken in two parties before the advisory committee. we were asked to give our word that we would [117]make no attempt to escape. if we gave that pledge we would be sent to london with warders in plain clothes; otherwise it would be necessary to send us handcuffed together. on this a keen discussion took place; for while the majority was content to give the undertaking there were some who would give no pledge, who would leave it to the authorities to decide for themselves on any action they pleased. finally the governor, who was very anxious to avoid handcuffs, assumed an undertaking, and so the issue was muffled. two warders in plain clothes accompanied each party to wormwood scrubbs jail; and nothing was done to advertise the fact that we were prisoners travelling. had the question arisen a few months later hardly a man would have given the undertaking, or even have suffered it to be implied. the public display of handcuffs would have been coveted rather than avoided; for it was certainly not to comfort us that the offer was made, whatever the governor’s personal inclinations might have been. for jails but straighten the back and harden the mind.
we also differed in our attitude towards the advisory committee. none of us differed in [118]our opinion of its function. it sat, so the purport ran, to decide which of us might be liberated; or rather, more technically, in respect of which of us our internment orders should be confirmed; but these things, as we know, would be decided by political considerations quite outside the review of the committee. none of us doubted that its main function was to check and complete our leabhrain, as far as possible, by question and cross reference. but we differed in our attitude. some refused to recognise the committee in any way, as being a body set up by a foreign government, having no authority over irishmen. these, when brought before the committee, firmly defined their attitude, and were promptly escorted again into the outside air. others answered the brief interrogatory to which they were submitted, and went their way in a matter of minutes. my own attitude was somewhat different.
in the first place, i had now been in prison for some months, without much chance of enlivenment. the opportunity of a debate through the labyrinth of the defence of the realm regulations seemed too good a thing to be lightly put by. moreover, i was anxious [119]to discover some of the items that furnished my leabhran. i was not disappointed. as i had expected, deftly mixed among the questions put to me about my own doings were a number of questions that involved others. also, as i had expected, a week’s study of the regulations left the rather interesting legal debate not altogether a one-sided matter; for a number of points were conceded to me, which, when i afterwards sought to take advantage of them, proved to have been made without any deep knowledge of the possibilities the regulations offered. one or two matters of interest emerged, however.
for instance, the committee had some little difficulty in explaining exactly why, if i as an irishman was to be interned as an
this, i was told, was a political matter. strangely enough, it was exactly so i had conceived it. then i was informed that i was only considered as an alien for the purposes of that particular act, that in other matters my citizenship under the law was not disputed. by which it appeared that i was an alien when my imprisonment was desired, but not an alien when my [120]personal and national freedom was to be consulted.
then, among other questions, i was asked if i had or had not endeavoured to get irish farm labourers into touch with irish farmers in order to stay their migrating to england, where they could be taken under the military service act. on my asking on what authority the question was put, i was answered that it was so alleged in the local police report. my answer was an admission of the charge. i suggested that it might have a bearing that the assurance had been made in parliament that farm labourers from ireland could not be taken under the military service act. but it was interesting to discover that a benefit intended to ireland was made the basis of a charge; and it was interesting to discover the furniture that found its way into police reports.[a]
when i came out and explained how it was i had remained so long, when all the others had been dispatched in two minutes or three, i was told that i had at least ensured continued internment. the price was not exhorbitant.
