he claimed to be of genuine Irish descent.

He often used to call on me when I was conducting the "Catholic Times."
At that time he was travelling for his firm of Cameron & Ferguson, who
published a good many popular works on Irish subjects. We were both
pleased to hear of the initiative John Barry had taken towards the
formation of the Irish organisation of Great Britain. If I remember
rightly, John Ferguson was in Liverpool at the time, and we went to
Manchester together to attend this our first Annual Convention.

After the Manchester Convention, I found there were considerably more
Home Rule Associations in existence than had been represented at our
first gathering. As a consequence we had a much larger and more
representative attendance at our adjourned Convention in Birmingham. Mr.
Butt presided in the morning and Mr. A.M. Sullivan in the afternoon.

The Chairman at the public demonstration at night was Father Sherlock,
one of the finest specimens of the good old "soggarth aroon" type it has
ever been my privilege to meet. Several years afterwards, when I was
organiser for the League in the Birmingham district, I was right glad
to have the opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with him. The very
contact with Father John Sherlock was elevating and inspiring, so
transparent were the simplicity and purity of his life. Here was a
saint, I thought, if ever there was one on earth.

In my experience I have generally found that the men who have taken the
lead in most places have been professional men rather than traders. This
was true of Birmingham as well as elsewhere. There were no men who did
better service than Hugh Heinrick, an able journalist (who afterwards
became editor of the "United Irishman," the organ of our Confederation),