The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-15 00:00:00

The 'Union League Club.

In the darkest hour of the great civil war
—at the opening of 1863—a few gentlemen met
in the rooms of the Sanitary Commission of New
York to form a body, bound by a loyal determi-
nation, to uphold and perpetuate the Union. At
that time treason was rampant in the commercial
metropolis. It was but two years before, in
January, 1861, that -the then Mayor of New
York officially proposed the city should secede both
from the Union and the State. The spirit of
revolt vaunted itself in those streets as insolently
as at Richmond, and sought by every means to
hamper and overawe the Government, and to en-
courage the rebellion and its foreign abettors.
Under these circumstances it was that the assembled
gentlemen resolved to form a club, which they
termed The Union League. The first idea was to
give it a popular form, enlisting public sympathy by
mass meetings and addresses. Mature reflection
showed that the better course was to limit the
association to the leaders of the movement, who by
deliberation might be sure that they were right
themselves before teaching the public. On the broad
principles of unqualified loyalty to the Government
of the country, and unswerving support of its efforts
for the suppression of the rebellion, the Club took
its stand, and commenced a career which bids fair
to make it the most useful political institution
ever organised by a people. There is a broad dif-
ference between this club and the stately establish-
ments that adorn Pall-mall, such as the Carlton and
Reform ; and the difference is typical of the national
character. A London club is almost invariably an
elegant lounge for idlers, and an agreeable social
rendezvous for killing time pleasantly. The New
York establishment, on the other hand, is com-
posed of earnest men, whose social intercourse
is subordinate, and directed to strong practical
measures. It is not our object here to dwell
On the aid the Union cause received from this
Club. In one sentence its President records
this :—" We drove," he said, " treason from our
public marts, churches, and drawing-rooms to its
secret haunts, and we replaced it with a healthful
sentiment that radiated from our city, and re-in-
spired the country with loyalty to the Government,
devotion to the flag, and undying faith in the Re-
public." In a time of such turmoil and convulsion
an institution, national in its character and able to
work so much good, rapidly became a power,
wielded by some of the best men in the Union, and
employed with generous and earnest zeal in the
promotion of patriotism, humanity, and justice.
The war ended in the victory of the principles con-
tended for by the Union League Club ; and this
great body found itself a power in the land, with
the main objects for which it was formed accom-
plished. But though the Union was maintained,
the promoters beheld, in the numerous wrecks
around them, work enough in the process of
restoration, to occupy their best energies. The
Executive Committee, in their report in January,
1866, observe that the efficiency of the Club will
consist iu the future, as in the past, in giving con-
tinued earnestness and scope to its advocacy of im-
portant public questions, and in promoting neces-
sary reforms; and, in view of these objects, they
recommend the following addition to the articles of
association :—" It shall be the duty of the Club to
resist and expose corruption, and promote reform in
our national, state, and municipal affairs, and to
elevate the idea of American citizenship."
We have given this sketch of a political institu-
tion which has become endeared to the American
people by vast public benefits rendered, by a gene-
rous, self-denying, and enlightened patriotism, be-
cause it has again stepped on the stage to perform
a duty which no private individual dared to face,
and through whose instrumentality only, it is pro-
bable that the end could be accomplished. The
Union League Club is pledged to withstand the
tide of corruption. That tide, like the first
trickle through the crevasse of a levee, increases
as it flows, till it tears away the embankment
and overwhelms the country. The Legislatures
of the States are each year becoming more steeped
in corruption. Men go into politics as into com-
merce, and use all the means at their command to
realise wealth. It is said that not half what is dis-
cussed in private, as known facts, appears in the
newspapers, bad as are the stories told in their
columns. It is vain to suppose that an immorality
so contagious could long be confined to the Legis-
latures. It is whispered that the courts are as cor-
rupt. Men dare not openly proclaim the fact, for
they cannot tell when they may be exposed to the
vengeance of the administrators of the law. In
the face of these circumstances it is that the Union
League Club has come into the field as the most
independent, powerful, and trusted body. It has
been remarked with great truth that politicians and
political newspapers have been in the habit of de-
nouncing their opponents in such exaggerated terms
that the force of real and deserved denunciation has
been lost on the public. Gentlemen, whose career
is known to be unstained by great crimes, have
been called " thieves" and " blackguards." Every
vice is ascribed to an obnoxious politician or to a
place-holder who has taken a prominent part in
opposition ; thus words have lost their force
and real meaning, and the people have learned
to regard with indifference, charges, which, if
known to be true, would excite the indignation
of the entire country. It is not, therefore, so easy
to rouse the people to a just sense of the evil. The
truth of )Esop's fable is being realised in this in-
stance, and the cry of " Wolf ! wolf !" when there
was no wolf, has made the people indifferent to the
real danger when a hungry and ferocious animal
really threatens the flock. It is fortunate for the
United States in thin emergency that an institution

should he in active existence, that cannot be
blinded to the real danger, willing to take the mat-
ter in hand, while it is conceded throughout the
entire country that this body is actuated only by
patriotic motives—above fear, above reproach, and
above bribery.—Anglo-American Times.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

,_

TIMES.—The gallant behaviour of the Irish con-
stabulary during the late Fenian attempt at insur-
rection has just been chronicled in an unpretending
little report, which ought to make their prowess as
celebrated as if it had been sung by a sacred bard.
On a dark and cold morning of early March a num-
ber of the police stations in various parts of the
country, occupied only by the usual small detach-
ments, were attacked by bands of armed Fenians,
brought together in pursuance of no less an object
than the dethronement of Queen Victoria, the esta-
blishment of an Irish Republic, and the division of
the lands of the gentry among the victorious soldiers
of the Revolution. For this purpose long and ex-
t .msive preparations had been made. A complete
Republican Government —nay. two Governments—
had been established in New York, with President,
Secretaries of Finance, War, and even Marine, with
a military organisation comprising generals and
major-generals, colonels and majors, some of these
being actually men of military experience who had
served in the late war. They had plenty of money ;
they had the great body of the Irish population of
the United States to back them, and no small num-
ber of enthusiastic and credulous people in Ireland
to believe them. They chose their time ; they
smuggled in and secreted their arms ; their chiefs
and messengers came and went pretty much as
they pleased, exhibiting, we are bound to say, much
enterprise and some degree of skill. IVhen all was
ready they began their campaign. Their generals
were prudent, if not audacious. They did not
attack the regular troops of the hostile Power
which they desired to drive from Ireland ; they
cared not for the glory of any gallant exploit
against Saxon redcoats; their design was to win at
the outset an easy victory over the scattered con-
stabulary—almost to a man Irishmen like them-
selves—and they hoped by the alarm which they
would spread to rouse an excitable population. The
result is well known, but the details will be better
understood by looking at the return which has
been published. It will there be seen how miser-
able and how ludicrous were the attempts of these
conspirators, and how completely they were
thwarted by the steadiness of a few brave men, who
knew how to do their duty. The Fenian outbreak
has even less of dignity than Mr. Smith O'Brien's
one day's campaign in 1848. 'Were it not that it
was actually attended with loss of life, and that its
instigators, though contemptible as rebel leaders,
have shown themselves dangerous agitators, we
should hardly think it worthy to be treated seriously.
It appears from the Return that at Castlemartyr,
in the county of Cork, the police-station was de-
fended successfully by six men, while the " sup-
posed number of insurgents " was 400 ; at Kilrnal-
lock, where the attack lasted for several hours, and
the Fenians used every effort to subdue their ene-
my, there were from first to last only 15 policemen
engaged against 300. At Etnly six were opposed
to 200 or 300 ; but the most extraordinary case is
that of Palmerstown, where the " number of con-
stables engaged " was one. In this memorable de-
fence Sub-constable John Blair by himself repulsed
a number of Fenians " not known, the night being
dark, but it must have been considerable." After-
wards follows a list of the stations to which parties
of police belonged who met and successfully engaged
the insurgents in places other than the police-
stations. The most notable of the adventures here
reported occurred at Mallow. Three constables are
described as encountering 300 rebels. It is
7 ex-
plainedistßegtihmaetntthey accompanied a detachment of the
" to represent the civil power when
in pursuit of the insurgents." " The military,
having their knapsacks on, were unable to proceed
as quickly as the constabulary, who arrested three
men in advance of the military (about two miles)
and brought them prisoners to Bottle Hill, on
the 6th of March, 1867." After this we
are not surprised to learn that in the neigh-
bourhood of Dublin 16 policemen successfully en-
countered 600 rebels, and that at Westgate, in
Drogheda, 27 discomfited 1,000. The conclusion
we would draw from these facts is that the Fenian
conspiracy has been shown, by its abortive out-
break and by the indifference with which its sup-
pression is regard-d, to be beneath the extreme
severity of a wise Government. The excuses made
for it by a certain class of Radicals here and in Ire-
land will, indeed, find approval with very few men
of sense. These Fenian leaders are morally as bad
as any traitors that ever suffered death. They have
come to this country intent upon murder and pil-
lage ; they have infected the most ignorant part of
I the Irish people with ideas subversive of govern-
ment, property, and national prosperity ; they have
in several cases returned to their enterprise after
being released by the Irish Executive ; they have
cost Ireland millions by the check to its prosperity
they have inflicted. They have actually " levied
war," and murder has been committed by one at
least of the bands which they called into activity. If
it were necessary to give such a warning to future
marauders as the infliction on one or more of them
of the punishment of death, the Government would
be fully justified in allowing the law to take its
i course. But there s reason to believe that the
danger is past, the strength of the British Govern-
ment understood even by the most reckless, and the
imbecility of the Fenian leaders appreciated by
nearly all their dupes. To send these men to penal
servitude will be a wiser course than to give their
memory the dignity of death in a political cause. A
factitious importance attends such a fate which has
often lifted into posthumous honour men very com-
mon-place and not very upright. There is enough
of sympathy with the Fenian cause among
the multitude for them to make a martyr of
any one who may die with decent courage,
but not enough to guild the unromantic and
obscure fa teof an ordinary convict. We may argue
also that if in Canada, where the whole province
was kept in alarm for months, and where there was
a real invasion and loss of life, the British Govern-
ment directed the commutation of the sentences, it
can hardly be necessary to execute them here. If
danger from
the conspiracy is to be apprehended,
and severity is excusable, it is rather across the
Atlantic, where armed Fenians are said to be rec-
koned by hundreds of thousands, than with us,
where they may be troublesome but can never be
formidable. The Americans, when they interceded
with our Government for the lives of wthe Fenians
convicted in Canada: did certainly not preach
where they where unprepared to practise. Since
the conclusion of the war, the North, though severe
on the Southern community, has given way to no
animosities against individuals. No one has been
put to death in America for what the North has
declared to be treason ; very few have been molested
if they chose to acquiesce in the restored rule and
to take no part in politics. The leniency of the
Government has, however, been carried to its fur-
thest point by the release on bail of Mr. Jefferson
Davis after a captivity of two years. Whether he
will ever be brought to trial seems to be still uncer-
tain ; but we may almost predict that in any case
the punishment inflicted on him will not be ex-
treme. We can see that in the case of America this
is the wisest policy, and that it is 139 st not to give re-
newed rancour to the animosities of the South by
an act of severity. A similar forbearance would
have its good effects in Ireland also.