The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-14 00:00:00

THE FENIAN INSURRECTION. 1
4

Fenians who were killed, the jury found the
police justified in what they did " and that they de-
serve the greatest praise for their gallant conduct on
the occasion." One of the witnesses who saw a
good deal of Capt. Dunne, the Fenian leader, during
the attack, describes him as going about " like a
harlequin," in his green uniform, slouched hat and
feather. I gather from the description given that
he must have looked more like one of the Foresters
who are so fearfully and wonderfully disguised for
their annual fete at the Crystal Palace. The Rev.
Thos. Fitzgerald, C.C., said in his evidence that
none of the Fenians whom he saw firing seemed to
be much of marksmen, fur when they put their guns
to their shoulders they turned away their heads,
until the discharge, so that "it was a mere chance
if they shot any one." This evidence is borne out
by the result, for you may remember, that though
the firing went on for more than three hours, only
one of the police was wounded, and he received a
mere graze. Witnesses, however, spoke of one
Fenian who was evidently looked upon by the rest
as a marksman of the first order, and who was sup-
plied with loaded rifles pretty nearly as fast as he
could discharge them. This may be the ci-decant
militiaman mentioned in a previous letter, who de-
voted himself so assiduously to the picking off of the
head-constable Adams, and who really did succeed
in smashing his washhand basin. lam glad to hear
that Mr. Bourne, the manager of the Union Bank,
at Kilmallock, is slowly recovering from his wound.
LIMERICK JUNCTION, Wednesday Evening.

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)
MARYBOROUGII, Tuesday Night.
Rumours of excitement and apprehended disturb-
ance in the capital of the Queen's County brought
me here ; but, judging from its appearance this
morning, there was never a town in which excite-
ment and disturbance seemed less likely, or to
which such words were of less appropriate applica-
tion. The streets, clean and neat as those of a com-
fortable English market-town, were almost deserted,
and any excitement which might have been occa-
casioned last week by Fenian disturbances was more
than atoned for now by the general apathy and stag-
nation. To be sure, the weather all day has been
such that nobody who could help it would set fuot
out of doors. Here, as in Tipperary-, snow fell early
this morning, nod continued falling at intervals the
whole day through, so that, what with sleet and
slush, and a bleak north-easterly wind, even the
well-furnished traveller found it easy to be thoroughly
miserable. The Fenians say the elements are fight-
ing against them. They can't be allowed the poor
consolation of saying they were beaten by the ele-
ments, the fact being that they were beaten by the
police before the elements declared on one side or
the other ; but certainly such weather as I jour-
neyed to Mary-borough in will be a very powerful
auxiliary to the arms of her Majesty and the cause
of good order. As L write this it is blowing harder
and the sleet is driving more wickedly than ever.
Any Fenians on the Galtee range must find it diffi-
cult to keep even a footing if they venture out of
the mountain recesses, where at other times secret
stills were in operation, and in which the wretched
fugitives may now find any comparative warmth
and shelter.
Up to the period of the last Fenian rising the
Queen's county was looked upon as comparatively
free from treasonable taint ; but this can no longer
be said. The district is not nearly so disaffected as
that of Limerick and Tipperary, but the organisa-
tion has no doubt extended here, and on Friday in-
formation, more or less reliable—probably less—was
received of an intended attack on the town. The
constabulary force was at once concentrated, the
staff of the Queen's County Militia and the pen-
sioners were called out, and the loyal inhabitants
were provided with Enfield rifles. As the police bar-
rack was not easily defended, the whole available
force was concentrated in the courthouse, and parties
were sent out to patrol the roads. One of these par-
ties arrested two men, who had in their possession a
large number of percussion caps and 19 rounds of
cartridge. An American breech loading rifle, of
beautiful workmanship, having a range of 1,200
yards, was also found close by the spot where the
prisoners were hid. In the dark a third man, who
was with them, made his escape. As you will have
gathered, Maryborough is a quiet and rather sleepy
country town. Mountmellick, about six miles off, is
more bustling, more populous, probably more pros-
perous, and certainly more disaffected. Au unfortu-
nate incident took place there on Saturday evening.
A tipsy man, becoming valorous in his cups, walked
up to the police barrack and discharged his revolver
at it or over it—certainly not with too steady an
aim. Some of the police, perhaps naturally excited
by the attacks and rumours of attacks on barracks
elsewhere, went out into the street and returned the
fire, wounding the drunken fellow slightly in the
wrist and hip, while another ball glanced from a wall
and unfortunately killed a respectable inhabitant on
whom no suspicion of Fenianism rested. Probably
the police were hasty in firing as they did ; but this
is a point to be cleared up at the inquest, which was
begun yesterday and adjourned for further evi-
dence. The Providence that is said to watch over
drunken men and little children was conspicuous
hero, for the tipsy fellow responsible for all this mis-
chief was twice hit by rifle bullets, and in both cases
so slightly that he made a boast of his wounds.
This is the occurrence which has been magnified
into an attack upon the police barracks, gallantly
repulsed by the constables, with a 13ss to the assail-
ants of two killed and several wounded. In these
parts a newspaper correspondent who desires to be
accurate must cultivate a robust increduilty. You
have to prove all things, and sometimes even then
hold fast that which is not good. Rumour here has
more than a thousand tongues and lies through every
one. According to her, houses and barracks are at-
tacked which Penians never approached ; insurgents
are in masses of thousands, although quite invisible
to the dispassionate inquirer ; and engagements be-
tween the troops and the Fenians have had exceed-
ingly sanguinary results—on paper. The facts of
the insurrection make a poor show by the side of the
romance which is spoken and written ; neverthelef.s,
a sober-minded chronicler of events must be content
with them. In the Queen's county the facts are far
from thrilling. The Fenians have not demanded
arms at the houses of the gentry, nor have they, as
far as I can learn, impressed recruits. There has
been no run upon the Maryborough banks, but seve-
ral arrests have been made. One man named Carll
is believed to be a Head Centre, and two revolvers
were found in his possession. One is apt to do in-
justice to a man who thus carries about with him
means and appliances for killing or maiming twelve
human beings. Carll, however, is by no means the
ferocious, merciless fellow you would imagine, for
when touched on the shoulder in the usual way be
submitted meekly and gave up himself and his revol-
vers without a show of resistance. In another in-
stance a particularly diminutive policemen met two
Fenians one night last week on a lonely road, four
miles from this place, and ordered them to turn and
march back with him—an order which they obeyed
like lambs. Fenian whistles and signal calls have
been heard by the police patrols at night, and it is
supposed that unlawful meetings for drilling and
other purposes may have been held. But hitherto
the insurgents have not shown themselves in
armed bodies here. What they may or may not
do it is impossible to say, and this remark applies
to the whole Fenian movement all over Ireland.
If Fenians were reasonable people and acted in
a reasonable way, you might argue from proba-
bilities as to their doings ; but they have acted as
unaccountably, and with such absence of reason, that
you may almost as well try to predicate what a
lunatic will do next.
A detachment of the 2d Queen's and some of the
4th Dragoon Guards arrived here to-day, and an
attack is not in the least probable. A small body of
troops has also been stationed at Mountmelliek, and
the loyal inhabitants throughout the district feel
their coltfidence renewed. On Sunday information
was received that an attack would be made on Ern°
Park, the residence of Lord Portarlington, and seve-
ral houses in the neighbourhood of Ballybridges. A
company of the 2d Queen's has, therefore, been sent
there, and two men were last night arrested who, it
is said, were to have been the leaders of the band.
A singular incident happened the other night to Mr.
Gibson, a resident at Mountmellick, while driving
from Rockforest. He had arrived near Ballyfin, the
seat of Sir C. Coote, when his car was upset by the
trunk of a tree placed across the road, and he was
thrown out. Six men at once rushed upon him, but
when they saw who he was they apologised, set the
car straight again, helped him in, and sent him away,
if not rejoicing, very glad to escape so easily. It is
thought they may have been wahing to intercept the
police-patrol, though the experience of their previ-
ous fighting by no means leads one to suppose that,
if they could possibly run away, six of them would
face four constables. A movable column will shortly
operate from Maryborough if the Fenian movements
make any such precaution necessary ; and to-day
the proclamations arrived here notifying that Queen's
County along with Meath and Louth have been
placed under the Peace Preservation Act. All these
measures will certainly insure the peace of this dis-
trict.
Inquests have been held at Kilinallock upon the
bodies of the young medical student and of the
two Fenians who were shot on Wednesday during
the attack on the police-barrack there. The evi-
dence showed that, after attending to Mr. Bourne,
who was severely wounded by the Feuians for re-
fusing to surrender his arms, Mr. Cleary was walk-
ing down the street toliea his sister, when he was
accidentally shot by the police. The jury found that
at that time 'the insurgents had ceased firing, and
they also found that the deceased was in no way
connected with the insurgents. As to the two

All quiet to-day at Killarney, Tralee, Mallow,
Tipperary, and this district. There was an inter-
ruption of the telegraph communication this of ter-
noon near Knocklong, but this is believed to be owing
to the storm. The snow is now falling heavily, and
the mountains are covered. Workmen have been
employed to clear the snow drifts from the railway
near here. A flying column leaves Tipperary for the
mountains to-morrow.

DUBLIN, March 13.
Notwithstanding the rumours that have been rife
of bodies of Fenians appearing, or being expected to
appear, here and there about the city and county of
Dublin, for several days nothing has occurred to
disturb the public tranquillity since the shameful

break-down of the rebellion the first night on which
it ventured to show its front at Tallaght. The

suburbs are constantly patrolled at night, and the
confidence of the community is quite restored—not

because it is believed that no elements of mischie:

remain, but because they know that the powers and
precautions of Government are quite sufficient to

preserve the peace.
There was a report of an attack on the police.
barrack at Palmerstown, a village to the west oi

Dublin ; the rumour was unfounded. The barrack

was vacated on Ash Wednesday morning and has

THE SUN, LONDON, T, URSDAY EVENING, MARCH 14 1867

frontage ; and at this price the company could still
manufacture gas at a profit, provided only they get
duly paid for it. The private lighting continued to
make satisfactory progress—the amount for the
half-year being £1,397 against £1,048 of the pre-
vious account, and £653 for the corresponding
period of 1865 ; and, in fact, the private lighting,
alone was now about equal to the public and pri-
vate lighting together a year ago, which was the
most satisfactory feature the directors have to re-
port. _ _

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, which was unanimously approved, com-
mented severely upon the reports which the com-
mittee of conference had issued to the shareholders,
and to the allegations in which the directors had
replied, stating that the works had been erected and
the land and concession paid for within the £50,000
mentioned in the prospectus ; and that if the people
of Smyrna had taken gas to the extent anticipated,
and the ratepayers had paid for the public lights,
the working expenses would have been defrayed
from the first out of revenue, and there would have
been no need of debentures at all.
A motion having been made that the committee's
report be received, it was rejected by a very
large majority.
The Hon. HOWE BROWNE, having stated his
determination of retiring from the Board, moved a
resolution condemning the committee's report, and
it was unanimously:adopted.
The retiring director and auditors having been
re-elected,

Mr. KNIGHT moved and Mr. COLES seconded a
vote of thanks to the chairman and directors for
their efficient services during the past six months,
which was carried i1e172. dis.

ANCIENT HUSH CURONICIES.

(From the Westminster Gazette.)
In the invaluable series of the " Chronicles and
Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during
the Middle Ages," published by Government under

the direction of the Master of the Rolls, we have

as yet but two volumes pertaining specially to
Irish history, namely, the " Chronicum Scotorum,"

and the " Wars of the Danes." The first volume
of the " Senchu More or Brehon Laws," which

appeared nearly two years since, resembles in
eternal appearance the volumes of this series, but in
reality it was brought out under a totally distinct
commission ; and we are therefore correct in say-
ing that we have as yet got but two volumes of
_ . _

Irish history among the sixty or seventy vol-
umes already published of " Chronicles and Memo-
rials ;" a circumstance the more to be regretted as
there have been intimations that the series is fast

approaching to a close. The selection of the
work now before us for publication was highly ju-

dicious, as it consists of a very ancient and very
valuable abridgement of the native annals of Ire-
land. Its antiquity is, indeed, a matter of dis-
pute, but even its acknowledged age is sufficient
to commend it to the students of Irish history, for
the MS. which was transcribed for the printers of
this volume, was written by Donald 11IacFirbis, a

celebrated Irish antiquary, who was the contem-
porary and friend of Sir James Ware, for whom he
had made some important transcripts and collections
in the matter of Irish antiquities. It is a question
whether the " Chronicum Scotorum " was an older
work which MacFirbis only copied; or whether it was
merely a compilation made by MacFirbis from the
old annals, namely, from the Annals of Tigernach,
and others. The latter opinion has been held by
the very best authorities on the subject; but the
editor of the present volume argues that this arose

from the want of a sufficient inquiry ; and whether
this be so or not--in other words, whether Mac-

Firbis was the compiler or the copyist of the
chronicle—we think Lord Homily has most judi-

ciously sanctioned its publication, and we feel in-
debted to him for it as a valuable contribution to
our collection of historical documents.

The pre-Christian Annals of Ireland are only
glanced at in this chronicle, the main body of
which commenced with St. Patrick, at the end of
the fourth century; and as it breaks off some twenty
years before the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ire-
land, the whole, it covers, on in a connected
form, a period of about 700 years. This period
is one of deep interest, indeed, in the history of
the couutry. The rapid spread of Christianity,
the foundation of countless monasteries and
schools, which sent forth hosts of holy missionaries
over barbarised Europe, while every wild rock and
glen at home re-echoed with hymns of praise and
adoration, and witnessed the austerities of holy
anchorites. Such were the characteristics of the
first portion of that period ; and then came the fear-
ful descents of the Scandinavian barbarians, and the

desolating wars which extinguished learning and
piety, and reduced the country to that deplora-
ble state of anarchy which St. Bernard describes
in his Life of St. Malachy, and which afforded
such a hopeless preparation for the arrival of
Anglo-Normans on its shores.
The reader, whose ideas are only borrowed from
modern history, will very probably be disgusted
by the constant repetition of wars and murders
which he will find recorded in this chronicle.
But if we peruse an equally minute account of the
contemporary translations of the Anglo-Saxon Hep-
tarchy, or of the small kingdoms and principalities
into which France was sub-divided, we will scarcely
find a less amount of violence and bloodshed.
Unfortunately the rude system of polity which
prevailed in Ireland was particularly calculated to
perpetuate this state of things. All the petty kings
and chieftains were entitled to certain tributes and
subsidies outside their own states, rights which
generally had orginated in war, and during the
Pagan times ; and which it was necessary in almost
every instance to enforce by the sword. Such was
the Borhuma, or Boromean tribute, which the mon-
archs of the Ily Nial race claimed from the people
of Leinster, and the levying of which deluged the
country with blood periodically for centuries.
Hence the hostile " hostings " of the people of
one small territory into another, which we meet
over and over again in every page of the chronicle,
and which for the most part were nothing more
than a warlike mode of enforcing legal rights and
levying taxes. The great misfortunes of Ire-
land in those times were that no one thought of
centralising power, or was capable of carrying
out such a scheme—there was, in fact, no nation
of Ireland—no idea of unity ; and only once or
twice in the Danish wars, and perhaps one or
twice again in the course of the long wars with the
Anglo-Normans previous (to Elizabeth, did even a
few of the native chieftains seem to think of acting
in the name of Ireland as a country. This is a
point worthy of careful consideration in Irish his-
tory ; and it would be a curious investigation to
ascertain how far the chain of misfortunes by
which the country has been afflicted, may be traced
back link by link to a commencement in the ori-
ginal native institutions.
Mr. Hennessy, the editor, seems to have per-
formed his task with great care, industry, and
learning. His annotations are chiefly confined
to critical remarks on the MS., but this was ren-
dered necessary by the regulations imposed on the
editors in all the works of this series ; and the
contractions and other peculiarities of the MS.
must have often presented to him considerable
difficulties, which, however, he has most satisfac-
torily overcome.
One point in which we cannot agree with him
is that of preserving the Irish orthography of the
proper names in his translation. It was quite
sufficient, apparently, to have the Celtic form of the
names in the original text ; and some effort might
have been made to facilitate the pronunciation for
English readers, by Anglicising the orthography in
the translation, or at least by enclosing an Angli-
cised form of the words in brackets. It appears
simply absurd not to tell us that " Ua Conchob-
hair " is " O'Conor ;" MacAmhalghadha," " Mac-
Auly ;" " MacCarthaigh," "MacCarthy ;" "Ua
Ceallaigh," " O'Kelly ;" "Temhair," " Tara ;"
" Toirdhealbhach," Torlogh ;" &c., &c. This,
surely, might have been done without rendering the
book less learned, or risking the loss of the beauti-
ful and complex etymology of those Celtic names ;
while we had Gaelic original on the opposite
page. English readers would have been under
a deeper obligation to Loxd Rom illy and Mr.