The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-21 00:00:00

The Fenian Raid on Chester.

(From the Anglo:.American Times.)
The greatest Fenian feat has been the capture of
the ancient city of Chester and the general scare of
the English public. An attempt has been made to
make light of this little episode in the history of
Chester, which is neither warranted by the facts

nor wise iu the face of such an extraordinary and

audacious enterprise. The first message which
reached London reported that a body of Fenians,
numbering hundreds of men, from the manufactur-
ing towns in the vicinity, had assembled at Chester
and attacked the Castle, containing several thou-
sand stand of arms. Although the hostile move-
ment did not proceed so far, there was great danger
when the message was despatched that the attack
would immediately be made. In the vicinity of the
House, and at the clubs, the fact was known on
Monday evening, but it was not till the following
morning that London awoke to the news which the
daily papers spread far and wide to a startled and
almost incredulous public. In the middle of the
night a battalion of the Guards were roused from
their beds, and in an hour were rattling along the
North-Western in a special train to the scene of
action. A company of the 54th had been despatched
at once from Manchester, and to the timely arrival
of this company is attributed the salvation of the
town. The Fenian desperadoes appear to have laid
their plans well, counting most falsely, we be-
lieve, on the disaffection of a company of the
54th, by whom the Castle was garrisoned.
It is a fatal mistake for these people
to make if they act on the supposition
that any reliance can be placed on the assurances of
a few drunken privates. Whatever may be the feel-
ings even of these individual soldiers they are mere
cyphers in the ranks, and are compelled for self-
preservation when the moment of action arrives to
turn all their energies into the effort to defeat their
foe. When men are engaged in a life-and-death
struggle they cannot play " fast and loose." Their
annihilation will probably follow their defeat, and
the men who knocked them on the head neither
know nor care whether they ever professed Fenian
sympathy. Even the instinct of fighting when
bullets begin to fly, and blood to flow, swamps all
principles, and man becomes the savage animal he
in reality is. The training of the British soldier is
opposed to the exercise of individual action. When
he is ordered to load,—load he must, and load he
does ; and even if his first shot be wide of the mark,
when he warms up, and his comrades begin to fall,
his subsequent bullets are more truly directed.- It
will be found in the day of action—and on this we
do not hesitate to express the strongest opinion
I—that the dfficulty will be in restraining the Bri-
tish soldier, not in inducing him to act. The
Fenian
scheme was one of positive madness, but
even the more dangerous from its very desperation.
Had they sacked and burnt Chester, which might
have been accomplished at a terrible expenditure of
blood and outrage, they would have been hunted down
and shot like dogs ; and we repeat that in the
hour of trial there will bi found an element
of ferocity in the English character which only re-
quires such scenes to be roused into action, A