The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-16 00:00:00

THE FENIAN INSUREEOTION.

DUBLIN, March 15.
The Fenian war has ended almost as soon as it
commenced. It is well for the future peace of the
country that the arms which had been collected so
long have been used at last. The Fenians them-
selves have been taught a lesson by bitter expe-
rience. They counted, no doubt, on being able to
seduce, intimidate, or beat the constabulary in their
isolated stations ; they thought they had corrupted
some of the military, and that the peasantry wou'd
rise as soon as they raised the green flag. They
thought, above all, that the men who had been
drilled so long would fight bravely for the Irish
Republic. They now know too well how grievously
they miscalcu!ated on all these points. Independent
observers of the highest authority have. expressed
their opinion of the attempt that hiThaen made in
language that ought to open the eyes of even the
dupes in Ametlea---not 'English or ,x6ri authori-
ties, but Roman Catholic judges and Ruin to Catito-

lic bishop.
At Kildare yesterday Chief Justice Monahan, re-
ferring to the wounding of a policeman at Leixlip,
said it was easy to show the utter folly of this
conspiracy, and how rapidly and how effectually
all such attempts can be put down :
" The constabulary alone have defended several
barracks in different parts of the country against
tenfold their numbers. It is a mercy for those
people themselves that they have everywhere met
with such signal ill-success. If these unfortunate
and infatuated men had been allowed to take
the field, and to come face to face with the soldiery,
they would have been mowed down in thousands."
Mr. Justice O'llagan, another' Catholic judge, ad-
dressing the grand jury of Kiikenny, stated yester-
day that in that county the Fenians had heendriven
back to an adjoining county,:from which they came,
by the resolution 'of the people, and the same good
spirit that baffled the mischief at Kihnoran is be-
lieved to pervade all the tenant-farmers. ,His lord
ship said :
" In dealing with this movement the tempered
energy of the Executive has been triumphant. The
constabulary have proved equal of themselves to
meet this unexpected emergency. In circumstances
of great difficulty and danger they have behaved with
a bravery and faithfulness which have covered them
with honour, and they are entitled to the gratitude
of Ireland and the empire at large. The conspirators
have demonstrated only their o ivu fatuity by a hope-
less attempt to achieve an impossible object, in sub-
jecting themselves to such a heavy punishment. Do
not take for granted all is over, nor relax unceasing
vigilance until social order is wholly beyond the
reach of assault. lam glad to see a full grand jury,
composed of most influential gentlemen in your
county. This county has long been blessed with a
resident gentry who recognize the dtities of their
position and endeavour to fulfil them. Continue in
that excellent course. Stand at your posts. Remain
in your houses and among your people. Inspire
them with courage by your union and unflinching
resolution, and you may set at defiance a conspiracy
which is as wicked in its design as it is contemptible
and impotent in action."
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel, Dr.
Leahy, in a pastoral ha has just issued expressly on
the subject, gives_a very correct view..of.-the whole
movement. He says :—" Now that excitement is
much calmed down, and people look back upon the
events of the past week, is not the retrospect one
not only to cause us grief, but also to make us
ashamed that any number of our countrymen should
have committed themselves to an enterprise which,
while it equals in folly that of 1848, exhibits far
more strikingly a want of that high quality of
courage of which Irishmen are justly proud as a
distinguishing national quality ? What is it that
happened this last week? What were the chief,
almost the only, incidents of this rising' of 1867 ?
Insurgent bands of men—hundreds in number—
attacked police barracks up and down through the
country, and almost everywhere were kept at bay,
repulsed, and put to flight by handfuls of policemen
from half a dozen to a doz2n in number.- And-this
was the rising of 1867 !" NeverthelesS, this rising
has been:most calamitous." The Archbishop pro-
ceeds :—" If we have reason to be ashahied of last
week's doings, we have but too much reason also
deeply to deplore them, as well as the whole busi-
ness which eventuated in them. What is the
actual state of things in Ireland ? General dis-
quietude, business of every description smitten with
paralysis, capital scared away, manufactories given
up, the constitution suspended, families plunged in
grief for fathers, husbands, brothers, sons torn from
them to undergo, a penal servitude worse than death
is our present condition ! Still the worst has
not come. Not much blood has been shed. There is
yet room for wholesome advice, yet time to avert
the evils which combined folly and wickedness may
bring upon a country, already, alas ! but too unfor-
tunate." He warns the Fenian dupes that they are
acting under the ban of the Church, and that the
movement must be sinful because it has not a chance
of success. And he thus places the fact before them
in the clearest possible light :—" Look at England's
resources in men and money--are they not all but
inexhaustible? She is certainly the richest country
in world, and riches, which are the sinews of war,
would go a great way towards prosecuting it to a suc-
cessful issue. Then she can bring into the field an
army, if not so large as continental armies, yet for a
theatre of hostilities so limited in extent aslrelanda
very large army, fully equipped, highly disciplined,
supplemented by an efficient body of constabulary,
and capable of being reinforced by 100,000—if need
were, 200,000—volunteers and militiamen,draughted
over from England with the utmost facility. To ren-
der it more formidable, this army wculd have the
support of a powerful fleet co-operating With it at
every point of the coast where a ship of war could
put in. This fleet,
effectually blockading the whole
line of cost, could doubly insulate an insurgent force,
cut it off from all supplies from abroad, and even-
tually starve it into submission. Against this com-
bined armament by sea and land What could the
genians do—without money, or with comparatively
but little, and that little flowing from very precari-
ous sources ; without arms except rude implernents,
or such small arms as might be stealthily imported.;
without discipline, without artillery, Without ca-
valry, without a navy, withotit supplies, without
almost any of•the iirpliances dedessary-for arrying
on war ? Behold the tremendous odds against
the Fenians. And what is the time Chosen' by them
for measuring their strength with the pOwer of Eng-
land ? As if there were not enough besides to deter-
mine the chance of war, the time chosen is not when
England's hands are full elsewhere, but when they
are disengaged everywhere else, so that she is free
to concentrate the mass of her forces in Ireland. A
trial of strength between the two opposing forces
could not be doubtful. The experience of the past
tells the result , beforehand. The Sepoy rebellion
which England crushed, though fighting at au im-
mense _disadvantage in a region thousands of miles
distant, with comparatively small forces, against an
enemy scattered over a vast extent of country,--the
rebellions that have taken place in Ireland, the rising
of '4B, the skirmishes of last week with the consta-
bulary, all tell what would be the result of a
conflict between two so unequally matehed.forces as
the Fenians on one side and the combined naval and
military power of England on the other. The strug-
gle would end in defeat and disaster for the. Fenians.
But suppose that the Feni kns could for a time make
head against England's army, against her navy,
against her volunteers and militia, against the
swarming millions of her people that would, if neces-
sary, rush forward to reinforce army and navy
suppov, contrary to all human calculation, that
the Fenians could succeed in obtaining possession
of Ireland for a time, would they be able to hold
it? Would England let them have it, and would
they be able to hold it ? No. England would
spend her last man and her last shilling sooner
than let Ireland go from her Were there nothing
else to tempt an ambitious and powerful State, the
near neighbourhood of Ireland, within- four short
hours by steam, would impel England to try at any
cost to repossess herself of Ireland. What miseries
would not the struggle entail upon this unfortunate
country ! And, after all; the issue could not be
doubtful. Another dark page would be added to
the sad history of our country, tie long as England