The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The gallant behaviour of the Irish con-
stabulary during the, late Fenian attempt at insur-
rection has just been chronicled in an unpretending
little report, which ought to make their prowess as
celebrated as if it had been sung by a sacred bard.
On a dark and cold morning of early March a num-
ber of the police stations in various parts of the
country, occupied only by the usual small detach-
ments, were attacked by b Inds of armed Fenians,
brought together in pursuance of no less an object
than the dethronement of Qtieen Victoria, the est I-
blislimeut of an Irish Republic, and the division of
the lands of the gentry among the victorious soldiers
of the Revolution. For this purpose long and ex-
tensive preparations had been made. A complete
Republican Government --nay. two Governments—
had been established in New York, with President,
Secretaries of Finance, War, and even Marine, with
a military organisation comprising generals and
major-generals, colonels and majors, some of these
being actually men of military experience who had
served in the late war. They had plenty of money;
they had the great body of the Irish population of
the United States to back them, and no small num-
ber of enthusiastic and credulous people in Ireland
to believe them. They chose their time ; they
smuggled in and secreted their arms ; their chiefs
and messengers came and went pretty much as
they pleased, exhibiting, we are bound to say, much
enterprise and some degree of skill. When all was
ready they began their campaign. Their generals
were prudent, if not audacious. They did not
attack the regular troops of the hostile Power
which they desired to drive from Ireland; they
cared not for the glory of any gallant exploit
against Saxon redcoats ; their design was to win at
the outset an easy victory over the scattered con-
stabulary—almost to a man Irishmen like them-
selves—and they hoped by the alarm which they
would spread to rouse an excitable population. The
result is well known, but the details will be better
understood by looking at the return which has
been published. It will there be seen how miser-
able and how ludicrous were the attempts of these
conspirators, and how completely they were
thwarted by the steadiness of a few brave men, who
knew how to do their duty. The Fenian outbreak
has even less of dignity than Mr. Smith O'Brien's
one day's campaign in 1848. Were it not that it
was actually attended with loss of life, and that its
instigators, though contemptible as rebel leaders,
have shown themselves dangerous agitators, we
should hardly think it worthy to be treated seriously.
It appears from the Return that at Castlemartyr,
in the county of Cork, the police-station was de-
fended successfully by six men, while the II sup-
posed number of insurgents " was 400 ; at Kilinal-
lock, where the attack lasted for several hours, and
the Fenians used every effort to subdue their ene-
my, there were from first to last only 15 policemen
engaged against 300. At Einly six were opposed
to 200 or 300 ; but the most extraordinary case is
that of Palmerstown, where the " number of con-
stables engaged" was one. In this memorable de-
fence Sub-constable John Blair by himself repulsed
a number of Fenians " not known, the night being
dark, but it must have been considerable." After-
wards follows a list of the stations to which parties
of police belonged who met and successfully engaged
the insurgents in places other than the police-
stations. The most notable of the adventures here
reported occurred at Mallow. Three constables are
described as encountering 300 rebels. It is ex-
plained that they accompanied a detachment of the
7. Ist Regiment " to represent the civil power when
in pursuit of the insurgents." " The military,
having their knapsacks on, were unable to proceed
as quickly as the constabulary, who arrested three
men in advance of the military (about t4vo miles)
and brought them prisoners to Bottle Hill, on
the 6th of March, 1867." After this we
are not surprised to learn that in the neigh-
bourhood of Dublin 16 policemen successfully en-
countered 600 rebels, and that at Westgate, in
Drogheda, 27 discomfited 1,000. The conclusion
we would draw from these facts is that the Fenian
conspiracy has been shown, by its abortive out-
break and by the indifference with which its sup-
pression is regard-d, to be beneath the extreme
severity of a wise Government. The excuses made
for it by a certain class of Radicals here and in Ire-
land will, indeed, find approval with very few men
of sense. These Fenian leaders are morally as bad
as any traitors that ever suffered death. They have
come to this country intent upon murder and pil-
lage ; they have infected the most ignorant part of
the Irish. people with ideas subversive of govern-
ment, property, and national prosperity ; they have
in several cases returned. to their enterprise after
being released by the Irish Executive ; they have
cost Ireland millions by the check to its prosperity
they have inflicted. They have actually "levied
wmurder has been committed by one at
leaasrC and
of the bands which they called into activity. If
it were necessary to give such a warning to future
marauders as the infliction on one or more of them
of the punishment of death, the Government would
be fully justified in allowing the law to take its
course. But there is reason to believe that the
danger is past, the strength of the British Govern-
ment understood even by the most reckless, and the
imbecility of the Fenian leaders appreciated by
nearly all their dupes. To send these men to penal
servitude will be a wiser course than to give their
memory the dignity of death in a political cause. A
factitious importance attends such a fate which has
often lifted into posthumous honour men very com-
mon-place and not very upright. There is enough
of sympathywith the Fenian cause among
the multitude for them to make a martyr of
any one who may die with decent courage,
but not enough to guild the unromantic and
obscure fate of an ordinary convict. We may argue
also that if in Canada, where the whole province
was kept in alarm for months, and where there was
a real invasion and loss of life, the British Govern-
ment directed the commutation of the sentences, it
can hardly be necessary to execute them here. If
danger fro in the conspiracy is to be apprehended,
and severity is excusable, it is rather across the
Atlantic, where armed Fenians are said to be rec-
koned by hundreds of thousands, than with us,
where they may be troublesome, but can never be
formidable. The Americans, when they interceded
with our Government for the lives of the Fenians
convicted in Canada: di,l certainly not preach
where they where unprepared to practise. Since
the conclusion of the war, the North, though severe
on the Southern community, has given way to no
animosities against individuals. No one has been
put to death in America for what the North has
declared to be treason ; very few have been molested
if they chose to acquiesce in the restored rule and
to take no part in politics. The leniency of the
Government has, however,i
been carried tots fur-
thest point by the release on bail of Mr. Jefferson
Davis after a captivity of two years. Whether he
will ever be brought to trial seems to be still uncer-
tain ; but we may almost predict that in any case
the punishment inflicted on him will not be ex-
treme. We can see that in the case of America this
is the wisest plicy, and that it is best not to give re-
newed rancour to the animosities of the South by
an act of severity. A similar forbearance would
have its good effects in Ireland also.