The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-09 00:00:00

THE FENIANS.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
LIMERICK JUNCTION, Thursday Evening.

It was difficult in passing through Dublin to-day
to believe that the city had but yesterday been
threatened by an armed insurrection. The banks
were open, the jewellers' shops displayed their richest
stores, and business seemed to be carried on as if the
Fenians had been menacing Dublin as usual from
New York instead of from their " camp atTallaght,"
within half-a-dozen miles of Dublin. You saw lID
anxious, preoccupied faces, and no eager groups talk-
ing over the events of yesterday. The inhabitants
seemed disposed to treat the outbreak as a failure
which would for ever dispose of Fenian pretensions.
" They have done their best and their worst, these
people, and have shown some power of mis-
chief, along with a still greater power of
making themselves and their cause ridicu-
lous." This was the prevailing opinion among
those with whom one had an opportunity of talking.
Everybody knew that when the Fenians rose they
would be defeated ; but few, even of those who most
despised the Fenian movement, thought that the
rising would be so very contemptible as it has proved
in the neighbourhood of Dublin. I had not time to
visit the prisoners, but am told that they are mostly
lads of from 17 to 18 and upwards—apprentices,
shop assistants, clerks, and a dirty, ragged following
with which a soldier would beloth to march through
Coventry, much less Dublin. The most manly and
the best set-up among them are the Irish Americans.
It does not appear, however, that they showed the
spirit that might have been expected from men who
claim to have fought in the New World, not with-
out glory When "General" Massey was arrested by a
policeman on the platform here he swooned away,
and remained in a dead faint for ten minutes, only
reviving after liberal applications of cold water.
Massey is said to have been the generalissimo-desig-
nate of the Fenian army. He had two revolvers in
his pockets when captured ; and of course he may
have swooned, not from mortal fright, but from
mortification at so ignominious an end to his mar-
tial career.

The Fenian plan, no doubt, was for a simultane-
ous rising in the home counties and the south. Away
from Dublin, Cork and Tipperary were to take the
lead, while Clare, Limerick, and Waterford were to
assist in giving employment to the soldiers and
constabulary, and a diversion at Drogheda, north
of the capital, was to alarm the Government for
the safety of Louth and Meath. The rendezvous
for the disaffected in and around Dublin was Tal-
laght-hill, rather more than four miles to the south-
west of the city. Many hundreds left Dublin by
twos and threes on Tuesday night for this place ;
and similar gatherings took place at the small towns
or villages in the outskirts, such as Kilmainhain,
Crumlin, Dundrum, and Rathfarnham. At seine
points near the rendezvous a quantity of arms had
been provided—pikes, rifles, ammunition pouches,
and a cheap weapon of homely appearance,which has
been dignified by the title of a Fenian dirk, but is
better known among the people as a pig-sticker. As
usual, the Government were perfectly well informed
by those who were in the secrets of the brotherhood.
The constabulary either patrolled the roads or were
waiting in their barracks, and the insurgents had
no sooner formed themselves into something like
martial array than the troops were in pursuit.
There is a police barrack at Tallaght ; and near this
barrack, at midnight on Tuesday, Sub-Inspector
Burke and two constables met a party of about 40
armed men, who were convoying a cart with ammu-
nition. Not daunted by the disparity of numbers,
the sub-inspector called on them to surrender. The
leader of the insurgents aimed a blow with his sword
at one of the policemen, who parried the stroke
cleverly with his rifle and sword-bayonet, and with
the latter gave his assailant a mortal thrust in the
abdomen. The Fenians then withdrew, taking with
them their wounded leader. Soon afterwards the
sub-inspector, whose party had by this time been
re-inforced, fell in with two large bodies of insurgents,
each numbering some hundreds. As you have heard
both these parties fired upon the police without
effect, while one of the insurgents, an attorney's
clerk of Dublin, named O'Donoghue, was shot
through the lungs and is since dead, and a work-
man named Bernes received a flesh wound i❑ the
thigh. There were only about 14 policemen, and,
as the saying is, the Fenians were numerous enough
to have eaten them. But these ardent patriots
seem to have thought that personal liberty was,
after all, a thing which concerned them more nearly
than political liberty. They became panic-stricken,
threw away arms, ammunition, and such equip-
ments as they could boast of, and dispersed. The
roads were strewn with ball cartridges, percus-
sion caps, and arms of every description. I need
hardly say that the troops under the command of
Lord Strathnairn met with not the least show of
resistance. The great Fenian army which was to
have taken Dublin was scattered by a handful of
constabulary. Nearly 200 prisoners were taken by
the military and the constabulary together. These
haggard, miserable youths had not the strength or
stamina to support the fatigues of a single night's
campaign, and broke down utterly under the trial.
Around Crumlin, another point south-west of
Dublin, there was no evidence of the same panic.
among the people, and the police patrols found large
quantities of arms and ammunition, which the per
sons to whom they had been dealt out seemed to
have got rid of in this way as soon as possible. At
Glencullen the Fenians seemed to have had some-
what better heart. They summoned nine police-
men in one barrack to surrender to the Irish Repub-
lic. The policemen refused to surrender to the Irish
Republic, and the Fenians did not press the point,
but withdrew to the appropriately named village
Stepaside, where there was a barrack with less than
nine policemen,—namely, five. Here they fired a
few shots and made preparations for burning out
the garrison. Owing to the construction of the
building they were unfortunately able to do this
with impunity, and Constable M'llwaine, the com-
mander of this very pregnable citadel, then offered
to surrender, on condition that life was spared.
These terms were agreed to by the Fenian leader,
and the police accordingly delivered up their bar-
rack and their arms and ammunition, and were
marched along with the rebels, in company with
four of the metropolitan police, who had been cap-
tured near Donnybrook. A scout who had been
Rent forward to inquire into the chances of an attack
upon Bray brought back an unfavourable report,
whereupon the party seized about 200 loaves at a
baker's shop, and breakfasted without payment,
giving their prisoners a share of the bread. Another
police barrack at Glencullen was then visited. There
were five constables here, who also refused to sur-
render, whereupon, says a correspondent of the
kid' Times—

"The order was given for riflemen to advance, and
50 men, armed with rifles, came to the front. They
drew up before the barrack, and just as they fired
into it the police fired out and wounded two of the
Fenians. The Fenian riflemen were then ordered
to take cover, and having done so several volleys
were exchanged. Finding the resistance so stout,
it was proposed to place the'nine policemen who
were prisoners in front of the attacking party, and
expose them to the cross fire. Constable Al'llwaine
objected to this as a violation of the terms of sur-
render. After some discussion, in the course of
which the commander said he would force the po-
lice to the front if Constable O'Brien did not sur-
render, Constable M.'llwaine was sent forw.a.d to
communicate with O'Brien. He still refused, but
ultimately, to save the lives of the prisoners and of
his own party, agreed to surrender, on condition
that all the police were set at liberty. This was
agreed to, the release not to take place for two hours.
The arms, ammunition, &c., at the Glencullen bar-
rack were taken, and the Fenians went off through
the mountains towards Killakee. A party was left
behind to guard the prisoners, and after two hours
set them free and followed the main body. They
frequently spoke during the march of going to the
" camp atTallaght." They appeared to be all sober,
and in perfect obedience to order. The commander
was a tall, respectable looking man, about 24 years
old. lle wore a suit of dark tweed. The second in
command wore a sword, and had a feather in his
cap. The party left a green flag on the road near
Stepaside, and it is now in the poaseabion of Emma-