The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-19 00:00:00

THE FENIAN RAID IN KERRY.

om the Times' Special Correspondent.)
KILLARNEY, Sunday Evening.
This town now shows few signs of the panic
which prevailed here last week. Yesterday was
market day, and the country people came in much
as usual, gazing curiously at the soldiers, but sell-
ing their small produce, and buying such wares as
the shopkeepers have to offer, pretty much as usual.
I am told that some of the peasantry showed an
anxiety to change bank notes, which they offered
timidly, in payment for trifling purchases, as though
the tradespeople might possibly think that the sta-
bility of the British Government, and the conse-
quent value of bank notes, were not quite beyond
question. This mingled ignorance and credulity
seem to have prevailed also among others who, from
their position as small farmers or traders, ought to
have known better. I have heard of more than one
case in the district around here, in which persons of
this class have drawn mcney from the bank, and
have not hesitated to run the risk of keeping large
sums in their homes, in order to avoid what ap-
peared to them a still greater risk—the collapse, I
suppose, of most Irish institutions, financial as well
as political. As something else has collapsed, and
that not the Imperial Government, one would na-
turally expect the poor people hereabout to lose
faith in the Fenian enterprise. No doubt that faith
has received a shock, for there was much prelimi-
nary boasting among the local Fenians of what was
going to be done last week under the Irish-Ame-
rican leaders ; but the history of human credulity
forbids us to expect that even the events of the last
week will crush out all faith where so much igno-
rance accompanies credulity.
Killarney is the seat of a Roman Catholic
bishopric, and near the demesne of Lord Castlerosse
is a handsome Roman Catholic cathedral of Gothic
design. The Bishop's residence and a monastery are
situated close by. The cathedral seems large out of
all proportion to the wants of Killarney proper,
but a walk in the outskirts of the town this morn-
ing showed that it is attended by the country popu-
lation,who were hastening towards it in considerable
numbers. There was another proof that the district
is no longer much disturbed ; at all events that the
peasantry, if they ever felt distrust, once more con-
fide in the powers that be. About a mile from the
town I met a marriage party, who numbered at least
60, and made up a most picturesque procession.
First came an Irish car, in which were the principal
personages—Norah smiling a pretty smile and giv-
ing timid looks at the bridegroom, who seemed as
bashful as she was. Then tollowed, crowded with
wedding guests, three or four of the country carts,
jolting, springless vehicles, which almost make your
bones ache as you watch them pass. A greater no-
velty still were a dozen or 15 couples on horseback,
riding Darby and Joan fashion, and still more coun-
try carts brought up the rear. The women all wore
clean white caps; I don't think there was a bonnet
among the whole of them. Bright coloured 'kerchiefs,
or the hoods of the comfortable peasant cloaks, pro-
tected the head; and as one turned to see the gay
procession wind along the road, and heard their
merry laughter when they were hid from view, it
was difficult to believe that a rebellion, which men
of this class were expected to join, was imminent
here only a few days back. Evidently, though Fe-
nians might come and Fenians might go, marrying
and giving in marriage were not things to be hin-
dered by a rising.
All my inquiries tend to the conclusion that ridi-
culous as the outbreak now appears, and hopeless
as in any case it must have proved, the timely mea-
sures taken by the authorities here have really saved
perhaps the whole of the south of Ireland from
bloodshed and disorder. I mentioned yesterday the
receipt of an anonymous letter which led to the
arrest of Captain Moriarty on his way to Killarney.
This was really the turning point of the whole
movement, for there is no doubt that under his
leadership the Fenian sympathisers in Killarney
were to have been organised and made ready for the
approach of the insurgents who were to come from
Cahirciveen. This Moriarty is a repulsive-looking
fellow, who has fought in the American war, and is
there said to have lost his nose. He has lost his
nose indeed, but not in the warfare of Mars. It is
not true that Fenian despatches were found upon
him, together with a commission signed by Stephens.
The only suspicious letter in his possession was one
addressed to a man named Sheehan, a clerk in a
draper's shop at Killarney. It was a letter of in-
troduction, written on the very day of his arrest,
Feb. 12, and signed by a known Fenian, "Colonel"
or " General" O'Connor, another of the Irish-Ame-
rican soldiers alluded to yesterday. The letter,
which was guardedly worded, stated that the bearer
would be likely to prove of much assistance to Shee-
han ; and added that " private spys" were about
that morning, but " unless they 'smell a rat, the
thing will be done without much trouble." Upon
this information Sheehan, who fought in the Papal
Brigade—at least he served in it—was arrested, to-
gether with a tradesman named Gard, a person in a
respectable position, with a good and growing busi-
ness. When these arrests were made there was not
a soldier in Killarney, nor nearer than Cork, and if
the small constabulary force of 20 or 30 men then
in Killarney had been taken by surprise, they could
not have held out in their barrack against the num-
bers that would have been opposed to them.
This Killarney barrack is one which should never
have been selected for occupation in such a country
by a quasi-military force. It is a wretched building,
at one end of the long street that makes up the
greater part of Killarney " town, " is connected
with the other houses in the street, and is perfectly
indefensible. Again, it is commanded by the high
ground in the rear, or if the assailants were too
cowardly to attack it they might set fire to the ad-
joining houses on either side and it would soon
have been in a blaze. Mr. Colomb, in charge of the
constabulary here, took his measures at once,
and showed at a moment of great danger a mili-
tary promptitude and energy which were happily
rewarded with success. He ordered the evacuation
of the barrack, and removed his men to the Royal
I I otel, an isolated building close to the station, and
from its situation and substantial construction
capable of being stoutly defended. It is of great
importance, as showing the feeling in the town, not
only among the idle and disorderly characters—the
Killarney " roughs"—but among people who should
know better, that the police as they retired towards
the hotel through the street were groaned at and
hooted ; and I am told that seditious songs and cries
were afterwards heard throughout the town. Not
unnaturally, perhaps, some of the respectable in-
habitants and tradespeople complain of this retreat
of the constabulary, who, they say, thus left the
town to its fate. But, having closely examined the
police barrack inside and out, I am quite sure that
its abandonment was an act of the most obvious
prudence, and that, even in the interests of the
town, this strategic movement was the best that
could have been devised.
I have already told you how promptly troops
arrived from Cork and afterwards from the Curragh.
Before this, however, a despatch had been sent by
Capt. Colomb to warn the police at Cahirciveen.
They, however, had already received timely notice
from another of the informers, whom the Fenian
movement fortunately produces with such profusion.
As you have already heard, the insurgents shot the
mounted orderly, who was carrying the despatch
sent from Killarney, and who behaved with a gal-
lantry and devotion which I hope will not go un-
rewarded. But nothing could have been better cal-
culated to discourage the insurgents than the very
despatch which thus fell into their hands, which
showed that the authorities at Killarney were fore-
warned, in which there was an allusion to the
Fenian leader O'Connor, then in command of
the party. It was this which disconcerted the
advancing insurgents and induced them to take to
the mountains. Instead of surprising Killarney,
and, by the help of Moriarty and their friends in
the town, obtaining an easy conquest there, they
themselves were surprised and disheartened. So
the first success which was to have roused the whole
country was never achieved.

Nobody here seems to think that the Government
reward of £.250, which has been offered for the ap-
prehension of O'Connor, or that of £5OO for the
discovery of the men who shot Constable Duggan,

will produce any effect. The Irish peasant keeps
faith in this way ; he will have nothing to do with
blood-money. But to defeat the designs of rebels
is a different thing from betraying them into the
hands of the Government ; and it is clear that some
persons well acquainted with the Fenian designs
have no scruple in thwarting them by giving timely
information to the authorities in the shape of anony-
mous letters. In the peculiar state of the country
it is wise neither to disbelieve nor to disregard these
too readily. As to a great deal of information
which comes from the peasantry when questioned
by the flying detachments, I think that not much
reliance is to be placed upon it. One point con-
tinues clear—that the Fenian numbers never ex-
ceeded, if even they reached, 100. What number
they might have mustered but for the causes I have
described no one can tell. I fear it might have been
considerable. The national impulsiveness might
have induced many lukewarm supporters of the
Fenian movement to join men who had gained even
a small triumph and who called themselves patriots.

No prisoners have been brought in by the flying
detachments, though not a day passes without its
expedition up the mountains. This morning a
party of the 48th Regiment have been pushed for-
ward to Killorglin, 13 miles from this place, on the
road to Cahirciveen, which is 38 miles distant. At
midnight on Friday a party of the 60th Rifles and
the constabulary were sent to beat up some Fenians
who were said to have taken refuge in Dunlo Gap.
This spot, known to tourists, is a wild ravine amid
the mountain ranges of the Tomies, the Purple
Mountains, and MiGillicuddy's Reeks. It is a spot
so secluded and so wild that you would hardly ex-
pect to find there any human habitations. Yet a
good many peasant cabins, with potato plots around
them, are scattered in the Gap, where one would think
there was not a yard of ground which would repay
cultivation. The troops and constabulary, who were
conveyed from Killarney in cars to the entrance of
the Gap, there dismounted, and in their passage
through the ravine surrounded and searched houses
of the peasantry, both for arms and rebels. The
search was unsuccessful, but some of the peasants
owned, after considerable equivocation, that a few
of the fugitives had taken refreshment in their
houses. The Fenians, however, managed again to
elude the search that was made for them, though the
woods were scoured in every direction. According
to the information obtained here the fugitives con-
sisted of 15 men, of whom 10 were armed with
rifles and five with revolvers.

Only one shot has been fired by the scattered
Fenians during the pursuit, and there is good reason
for supposing that that was fired not in anger, but in
fright. A party of the 60th Rifles, accompanied by
Mr. Herbert, M.P., were beating the woods on the
Tomies mountain, and came suddenly upon a few
men hidden in the thick cover. At the same moment
a rifle went off in the air. The Fenians were fleet of
foot and managed to get away, but in their hurry
left behind them some ammunition.

Monday Morning.
Rumours have come in this morning of small
parties of armed men at different points in the
mountains, but whether these rumours can be trusted
is doubtful. A strong body of troops is just setting
out to beat up the fugitives. No prisoners have yet
been made.

Night.

The troops have left to-day for Kenmare. The
country is reported perfectly quiet. The rumours of
a conflict between the soldiers and bodies, of insur-
gents are totally without foundation.
The fugitive Fenians are nowhere to be met with.