The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-25 00:00:00

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from the railways which would bring the
soldiers, while by breaking the telegraphic wire
the district could be isolated at once, until the
whole population had turned out. Some influence
may have been exercised by the fact that O'Connel
was born near this place—the house is now an ivy-
covered ruin --a nd from Cahirciveen the people
would receive a new Liberator. There is no suffi-
cient evidence to show that this Kerry raid was con-
nected with any other concerted movement in Ire-
land, for the mere fact that O'Connor's followers
expressed disappointment that there was no general
outbreak only proves that he bade them expect one.
Ambition, and a wish to be first in striking the blow
that was to free Ireland, a belief that the means
taken in Kerry would insure a first success, and that,
this was all which would be necessary to produce a
national rising,—these are sufficient motives to ac-
count for what has happened, and we need not
guess at. the existence of other causes.
Cahirciveen was, at all events, the starting point
of this abortive conspiracy. The Fenian movement
does not seem to have been watched by the chief of
the constabulary here with the vigilance which has
been shown by his colleagues in Other places. A
number of hot brained, half-educated young men,
some of them hardly more than boys, had long
banded themselves together under the leadership of
O'Connor, who had been l'tving in the country for
-
some time—openly before suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act and. secretly after that time—
when the police, who kneirliiin to be a dangerous
character, searched his house in vain 'Atlast came the •
day which O'Connor had fixed for' his mad attempt.
He had despatched Captain Moriarty to Killarney
to raise the Fenians there. Then he arranged for a
rising on his native bog at Cahirciveen. I have
before mentioned the information furnished to the
authorities elsewhere by Fenians of Fenian plans.
Exactly the same thing happened here, only that,
instead of anonymous letters, the information, I
believe, was conveyed verbally by some one who
was to share in the enterprise, but who had strong
personal reasons for desiring its failure. Ile made
an alarming statement respecting the plot, and said
that. the Fenians intended to destroy the police
barrack, phinder the bank, and there would be
robbertaid bloodshed. His statement of these
blood-thirsty intentions is not supported by other
evidence, nor is it borne out by the subsequent be-
haviour of the insurgents when, on their road to-
wards Glenbeigh, they had it in their power re-
peatedly to have fired and murdered all around
them. It is, of course, impossible to say what might
have happened in Cahirciveen if the Fenian blood
had been roused in au attack on the barrack, fatal
perhaps to some of their number, but successful at
last. Providentially, any question of this sort was
avoided by the promptitude with which the informa-
tion was acted upon. On hearing late in the after-
noon of Tuesday a hurried account of what was ex-
pected, Capt. White, of the Coastguard station here,
immediately went on board the Gladiator, which
most fortunately was then in the bay. On his way
to the boat he met several suspicious-looking per-
sons, apparently proceeding towards a common ren-
dezvous. This strengthened the suspicions previ-
ously aroused, and Capt. Aplin decided at once to
send a force of Marines for the protection of the
town. Meanwhile, the would-be insurgents, per-
ceiving probably that - the authorities were on- the
alert, moved off outside the town, left the police
barrack untouched, but took the sword, rifle, and
revolver belonging to one of the police force who
had left them in a house in the town, and moved off
on the high road towards Killarney. They disarmed
a Co.lstguardinan at Kells in the name of " the Irish
Republic ;" they took five rifles and five sword bayo-
nets with some 50 rounds of ammunition from the
Coastguar I station there. You have already had the
details of the shooting of the mounted orderly. In
addition to the published accounts of that incident.,
I may say that I saw to-day a bullet taken from the
cottage roof and fired into it when the wounded man
was taking refuge there, or after he had entered. This
was a cowardly act, and you have already heard
that " Colonel" O'Connor disapproved it, and gave
Duggan some brandy and water. He also took the
hand of the wounded man iu his own, and bade him
cheer up, telling him that he (O'Connor) had been
far more seriously wounded in the American war.
At the house of Mr. Shea, bailiff to Mr. Winn, a
landowner at Gleubeigh, the insurgents asked for
refreshment, and proposed at first to leave it unpaid
for. They had previously drank a good deal of
liquor in a roadside house without making payment.
Mr. Shea asked them to leave the name of some one
who would be answerable for the money hereafter,
and the leader wrote his name on a slip of paper,
"J. J. O'Connor, Colonel Irish Republic." Soon
afterwards, however, he paid for what the party had
had, and asking for the paper tore it up.
The resources of Cahirciveen, never very large,
are severely taxed just now to support the troops
stationed here under the command of Major Fors-
ter, 14th Regiment. The other evening a small
farmer, living in the neighbourhood, was arrested
for attempting to tamper with a private in the 14th
and to adminster a Fenian oath. The farmer and
soldier were drinking in a publichouse in the town,
and the farmer was under the influence of liquor at
the time. The soldier pretended to accept his ad-
vances, but informed the Sergeant-Major at the
barrack, and when the prisoner was arrested a Tes-
tament was found in his possession, upon which it
is supposed he meant to swear his convert. Yes-
terday morning this man and three prisoners, who
had been identified as concerned in plundering the
Coastguard station at }Cells, were sent off from here
under an escort of soldiers and constabulary. A
crowd of persons assembled to witness their de-
parture, and there were loud demonstrations of
grief among the women and evident marks of sym-
pathy among the people. Not the slightest oppo-
sition, however, was offered to the removal of the
prisoners, who were conveyed in safety along a most
exposed road, without any molestation to the escort
or attempt at rescue, and have been safely lodged
in the prison of Tralee. Captain Segrave is the
resident magistrate now stationed at Cahirciveen to
act in concert with the military as the representative
of the civil power.

KILLARNEY, Saturday iguruing.
I returned to this place last night from Cahirci-
veen. General Horsford and Staff are expected to
return to-day from their visit to the out-stations.
Colonel Budd is, meanwhile, in command of the
troops here. Mr. 'Tracy, a reporter of the Cork
Herald, has been arrested; during my absence for
offering at the station here a telegraphic message of
rumoured disaffection among the troops. There is
no reason whatever to suppose that disaffection
exists among the troops. But, in the absence of
much solid information respecting the Fenian out-
break, sensational intelligence and vague, unauthen-
ticated rumours have too often been circulated by
a small section of the Irish press. At the same
time, I think it was unwise on the part of the
authorities to arrest Mr. Tracy, who, by virtue of
this arrest, will probably be made a martyr.
A party of troops and constabulary went yester-
day in search of arms or rebels to Glenflesk. In
this glen is a spot known as Filedown, or Robber's
Cliff, and a cave called Leabey Owen, or Oiven'a
Bed, which will hold 60 men with ease. The place
is extremely difficult of access, and the situation
most romantic. But neither Fenian men nor
Fenian arms were found, and no trace of any.

KILLARNEY, Sunday Evening.
An unsucces.sful search for arms was made to-day
in Killarney and in various farmhouses in the
neightourhood.

General llorcford and his Staff returned on Satur-
day from their tour of inspection.
The supposed signal fires on the mountains on
Friday night are believed to be satisfactorily ac-
counted for. •