When we returned to Liverpool it became our duty to find a chairman for
our meeting worthy of the occasion. Mr. Charles Russell, who was first
asked, suggested that we should get some one of more influence than
himself. "Why not ask Dr. Commins?" he said.

Dr. Commins was a barrister on the same circuit as Charles Russell. We
did ask him. He cheerfully consented, and from that hour he was for a
long time the leading figure in the struggle for Home Rule in Great
Britain, being for several years President of the organisation. There is
no more homely and unassuming man, ever accessible to the humblest of
his fellow-countrymen, than "the Doctor," as his friends affectionately
call him.

He had a brilliant university career, and was a man of such wide
attainments that I think there was a general belief amongst Liverpool
Irishmen that he knew _everything_. Accordingly, they used frequently to
go to him to settle some knotty point beyond the ordinary conception,
and they seldom came away unsatisfied.

Dr. Commins is an accomplished poet, and was for many years a
contributor to the columns of the "Nation" and the "United Irishman" (of
Liverpool). In 1876 he was elected as a Home Ruler to represent Vauxhall
Ward in the Liverpool Town Council. He has ever since been a member of
that body, being now an Alderman of the city. In due time he became a
member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, of which several other
Liverpool Irishmen have been members.

Liverpool was not alone in forming its Home Rule Association; most of
the large towns had them in due course, but for some time there was no