The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-04 00:00:00

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. and Cork ? Seriously, this 44 , _ oire ..... 'A,
as it is called, is so absurd and nqepenshi
garded as a means to an end, that e ly Sed
the names of its originators and promoters to inform
us of its nationality. In another point of view
there is an ingenuity and originality about it which
deserves credit. It has been hitherto—perhaps
erroneously—supposed that those who wished to
revolutionise or subvert the government of a country
had to take the sword in hand, enter the field in
person, and imperil their lives in a cause which
they thought worth dying for. This may be all a
mistake. The age which has invented the steam-
engine and the electric telegraph may find quicker
and less perilous ways of diverting into new grooves
the destinies of nations. Earnest minds, at a
distance of 2,000 miles, desire a change of
government in Ireland, or Poland, or Hungary. It
were most unwise to make any overt attempt to en-
force the great idea on the spot. Britons are tena-
cious, Russians are fierce, and the Austrian rifles
are known to be true of aim. You may leave them
alone ; you need not beard the lion in its lair. Con-
vene your meetings ' • pass your resolutions; breathe
out rire and fury 2,000 miles away ; declare the
Government at an end ; proclaim a Republic ; issue
your bonds and get true believers to buy them. The
thing is so simple and easy ; no one has to fight ;
no one is shot or hung; no one is2in any danger at
all, except the few poor fools in that Ireland r off
who are simple enough to give themselves airs as if
that republic were already more than an idea. The
theory of all this we suppose to be that there is
nothing in the world which cannot be done by talk-
ing. Talking, ere this, has won battles and over-
thrown empires. Men may laugh at it just now, but
some day or another, if it is constantly dinned into
their ears, they may be brought to believe that there
really is an Irish Republic, or if there is not, there
ought to be one. These Fenians, however, do
wrong in naming themselves after Finn or Fingal,
the old hero of Ireland, who, if he ever existed, was
a man of action rather than a man of words, a
fighting man every inch of him, who would not have
remained at New York when he had work to do in
Dublin. If they are so impatient as to wish to realise
their grand idea within thelifetime of the present
generation we wonla recommend Colonel O'Mahony,
President of the Republic, and his friends the mem-
bers of the Cabinet, the Senate, and the House of
Representatives to come over into Ireland and try
to instal themselves in office. A file of policemen
would receive them at the landing quay of Queens-
town ; and the special commission appointed to
try the Fenians in Dublin would give the most
impartial consideration to their pretentious claims.
Disowned by the priesthood, frowned on by the
aristocracy., and shunned even by the lower classes
of the people, Fenianism in Ireland is being brought
to so ridiculous an end that it seems scarcely worth
while to punish these few crack-brained miscreants
who have secretly plotted to introduce a French
reign of terror into a happy country. The brethren
in America who have put forward these poor crea-
tures as their tools may be expected to collapse as
soon as they are certainly informed of their untimely
fate. They are far too wise to think of .risking
their own necks in the cause. They have collected,
it is said, £lOO,OOO to overthrow the Government
of Ireland. They well do well to spend it at home
without venturing on the Atlantic, where five times
as much was lost in August last in the vain attempt
to stretch the throbbing artery which should pulsate
with words of friendliness between England and
America. It is to the advantage of the re-United
States to remain on good terms with this country.
We feel sure that as soon as the attention of the
American Government is seriously directed to the
doings of these foolish persons, who are bent on
fomenting disaffection in Ireland, and are even de-
signing, it is said, an incursion into Canada, it will
find means of convincing them that the business of
levying war upon England is inconsistent with the
duties of an American citizen so long as England
and America are not at war. We cannot pretend
to be in bodily fear on account of General Sweeny,
or Colonels Murphy, Mulchy, and Mullen. We are
told that these persons hold commissions in the
United States army, and we do not doubt that the
President and the Commander-in-Chief of that
army will feel it incumbent upon them to call these
gentlemen to order, and let them know that this
childish playing at an Irish Republic is unbecoming
in men who, however they may have gained it, are
wearing an honourable uniform ; that this cowardly
+lotting will not be tolerated in the comrades of
brave men who, on many a well-fought field, have
met their foes face to face.