The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-13 00:00:00

THE FENIANS AT CHESTER.

Col. FRENCH said he begged to ask the right hon. gen-
tleman the Secretary of the Home Department whether
he could give the house any information relative to the
movement of 800 strangers at Chester, said to be Fenians,
and whether there was any reason to believe that they
were persons of that description. His informant said they
were principally roughs going to a prize fight. (Order,
order.)
Mr. WALPOLE said the best answer ho could give was
to state as briefly as he could the nature of the disturb-
ance, and the steps the Government had taken. On Sun-
day evening last ho received a communication stating that
there was unusual excitement in Liverpool, occasioned
by the movement of a large body of people, said to
bo Fenians. shat they had been holding meetings and
making certain movements of a suspicious nature.
He immediately sent a person down to Liverpool
to inquire into all the matters, and to report to him the
state of things as speedily as possible. On the Monday
morning, as soon as he reached the Home Office, he re-
ceived a telegram from the Mayor of Chester stating that
there was a large body of strangers in the city, and
he had reason to believe that they were Fenians,
and that he was apprehensive that an attack on
the Castle was in contemplation in order to obtain
possession • of the arms and ammunition stored there. He
stated the number of troops at that time in the town, wore,
ho thought, totally inadequate to the emergency, and he
stated that additional force was wanted as soon as possible.
Ho (Mr. Walpole) at once directed that a company of sol-
diers should be sent from Manchester to Chester. Fur-
ther in the day he received another telegram, and accord-
ing to that it appeared that a meeting of Fenians had been
held on the previous Friday, and that a resolution had
been come to to attack the Castle of Chester for the
purpose of procuring the arms he bad already mentioned.
This report corresponding with that he had received from
Liverpool he then telegraphed to the Mayor of Chester
to forward at once a statement of the condition of
the town, and also of what he stood in need. He
also directed him to telegraph to the Commander of the
North-West Division, who would at once afford him all
the military assistance possible. No answer was received
to that telegram; and he, therefore, after consulting with
his colleagues, communicated with General Pool, and a
division of Guards was at once directed to hold
themselves in readiness for instant removal, and a train
was ordered to be prepared, with steam up, ready for
immediate departure. He received another telegram at
4 a.m., stating that the number of strangers had increased
to 1,500, and that they were still pouring in from Man-
chester, Halifax, Staleybridge, and other places; that ex-
citement was increasing in the town, and that the state of
things was alarming, and that all the local means of pre-
vention of disturbance were at an end. Ho then wrote
to the Brigade-Major of the Guards, and 500 men
were at once sent off, as it was not thought wise to denude
the surrounding country of all military protection. On
the ground that prevention was better than cure, he
thought that a great deal of alarm woutd be
prevented' in
the minds of the peaceably-disposed inhabitants to find on
getting up from their beds, that the Guards had arrived
from London. He afterwards received a commu-
nication from the commander of the troops, but
he was happy that ho did not take the
gloomy view of matters that others had done, He said the