The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-25 00:00:00

Arotmd Cabirciveen comparatively little land is
under tillage ; it consists chiefly of bog and moun-
tain land, on which a few sheep and cattle find
pasture. Among the latter the famous milker, the
Kerry cow, ought to be found, but the pure breed
has been bought up at fancy prices by the stranger.
The peasants you meet, men and women, are mostly
barefooted. Some of them seem to show marks of
Spanish descent ; jet black hair, full, dark eyes, and
Cheeks coloured half by the olive, half by the rose,
arc by no means unfrequent. There were types
both of the Spaniard and the Celt in a troop of chil-
dren who, just dismissed from a roadside National
School, rushed after my car, 15 of them, and kept
up with it for at least two miles on the road between
Glenbeigh and Bells. They did not shout, they did
not beg, they hardly interchanged a word with each
other, perhaps because they had no breath to spare,
but kept on at tip-top speed, looking brimful of fun
and high spirits and enjoyment. It was cruel to
ask these children, just released from school, ques-
tions in mental arithmetic, but I did. English
children would have tailed at once, perhaps raising,
with one consent as they went a groan for the un-
feeling stranger who had set them lessons out of

school. But these youngsters entered into the spirit
of the thing at once, and answered, all panting as th.y
were, with a vivacity and intelligence which spoke
well both for school system and schoolmaster. More-

over, when I proposed the no-ways munificent re-
_ _ _ _

ward of Gd. for division among them, the chief
spokesboy, with a charming naivete, raised objec-
tions, because he said they lived too far apart for

such an arrangement. And so we parted.

As the

car drove, out of Cabirciveen in the dusk, it was

exceedingly difficult to edge through the country

carts that were still standing in the street or were
now being driven home. In vain my driver shouted

in civil Irish and very uncivil, at times even pro-
fane, English. The other drivers gave it him back
in a yet shriller and more ear-piecing vernacular,
and got out of the way with the most provoking
'deliberation, while pedestrians who had chosen the
middle of the road showed entire willingness to be

knocked duwn and ridden over.
Why the insurrection should have begun at Cahir-
civeen is a mystery. A story is now told to this
effect :—An insurrection had been planned and was
to have broken out all over Ireland at the same time
as the rising here. At the last moment the Fenian
plans were changed, and the rising was counter-
manded, but as Cahirciveen is difficult of access,
this order was not received by " Colonel " O'Con-
nor in time. The same mistake was committed at
Chester, though there is no want of communication
with that city, because the Fenian organisation is
not so effective in England as in Ireland. I cannot
help thinking that this is a mere blind in order to
cover a conspicuous and damaging failure. O'Connor
probably thought that, when Stephens's star was on
the wane, he would make a bold bid for the not
unprofitable post of Fenian Chief He selected
Kerry because he was a Kerry man and well known
there, and also because he knew the country,
particularly those very mountains to which his
prophetic instinct led him to Vaink he and his
following might possibly have to fly. Then,
again, Cahireiveen was distant from soldiers, and