The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-18 00:00:00

711 E FENIAN OUTRAGES.

Early yesterday morning two of the Thames police,
on duty near Vauxhall-bridge, immediately above Mill-
bank, saw a small boat coming up the river, and stopping
opposite the end of the prison next the bridge. Watch-
ing the movements of the boat, they observed two
men leaving it, and curious to know what the latter
were about at that time and place, they made for them,
in order to question them. The men had no sooner
noticed the police, than they entered the boat, pulled
off the river bank, evidently intending to make off,
but, after a moment's hesitation, evidently deeming
terra firma safer for them, they pulled back to the shore,
and fled down the river side, soon disappearing in
the darkness. The constables, seeing pursuit useless,
took possession of the boat. On searching it, underneath
some tarpaulin, a keg of gunpowder containing about
Mb. was found. Their discovery was communi-
cated at once to their superior officers, and an instant
search was ordered of every spot of ground around the
prison. The hunt for fresh traces was continued for some
time, when a constable who had entered an old and dis-
used sewer announced another discovery. He had come
upon a keg of the same siie, and containing the same
quantity of gunpowder as the first, concealed a few yards
from the mouth of the sewer. The mystery of the men and
tbe boat was at once explained. This sewer, which falls
into the river, formed at one time the main drainage of
Millbank Prison. For some time, however, it has been
blocked up, the sewage being conveyed now into one of the
drains of the metropolitan system. It had evidently
been prospected' as far as the conspirators could go,
and their purpose probably was to mine through the
wall that blocked it up, and then at some suitable time
blow up the prison. So far as we know, there is small
chance of tracing those engaged in the plot. There is no
name on the boat, but it is expected that the owner of it
will be found. Should the clue fail here, the sagacity of
the police, having nothing to work upon, will be baffled,
as they seem in this instance to have had no warning of
any intention to attack the prison.
A strong body of police, armed with cutlasses and re-
volvers, are now en guard within the octagon, and outside
the walls.

The police on duty at the Bank of England have been
considerably strengthened, and on all sides of the building
the constables walk in pairs during the night. It is
stated that the prisoners Desmond and Allen, and also
Burke and Casey, are not tlken after their examination
at Bow-street Police-court to the House of Detention, as
is usual in the case cf prisoners under remand or returned
for trial, but to a polica-station which is situate in the
vicinity of a military barracks, but the name of which
ought not, for obvious reasons, to be stated. A number
of constables, armed with cutlasses, are on duty in the
station, in case their services to repel an attack mizht be
required.

A meeting of the Paddington Vestry was held yester-
day, when the chair was taken by the Dean of Exeter,
and Mr. Roche, the vestry representative at the Metropo-
litan Board of Works, drew attention to some remarks
made by the Common Serjeant at the Central Criminal
Court on the previous day, which remarks have
already appeared. Mr. Roche expressed concurrence
in the views which were embodied in the words
quoted by him ; and said he hoped that the vestry
would tender to the Government the whole of
their energies, as good and loving subjects, to vindi-
cate the laws. For the future, he argued, to be lenient
would be to be criminal. Mercy must stand on one side,
and justice be brought to the front. The Rev. Dr. Burns
followed with some observations of the same purport.
He said he did not believe that the Fenian outrage at
Olerkenwell, which was one of the most atrocious and
terrible on record, was the act of British subjects,
but he thought rather it was ascribable to a gang
of miscreants who had come to this country on a
filibustering expedition, and who cry havoc, kill, and
destroy. The deeds of these men were the deeds of
licentiousness, and were in no way directed to the remedy
of political grievance ; therefore, to permit their con-
tinuance would be a sign of weakness in Government,
and a great injustice to a law-loving community. He
therefore begged to move, "That the attention of this
vestry having been called to the atrocious outrage which
was perpetrated on Friday last, the 13th instant, at
Clerkenwell, they desire to express their utter horror
of the same, and also their readiness to co-operate with
the Government in all necessary measures for the main-
tenance of the order and peace of the metropolis." Mr.
Kemshead, J.P., said he had great pleasure in seconding
the motion, for a more dastardly, horrible crime had
never been committed. Serjeant Gaselee, M.P., ex-
pressed his gladness that Government had at last begun
to exert itself. The motion was then put and carried
unanimously.

Dublin correspondents state that even the Fenians must
deeply regret the occurrence, inasmuch as it has inflicted
the severest blow on Fenianism which the conspiracy
has yet received. Tho press have begun to speak out.
Tho Freeman's Journal speaks of the "horrible out-
rage " as " more like the work of maniacs than of rational
men." The Cork Reporter laments that Fenianism is,
to all appearances, fated to brand an indelible stain
on the Irish name, and says that the last intelligence
of their evil doings " fills to the brim the misery and
degradation they have inflicted on the unfortunate country
that has been cursed with such misguided and recreant
children. No provocation, no circumstance that we can
conceive, can for a moment palliate such a reckless ands
fiend-like atrocity. Men that would sacrifice life in this
manner must be regarded as enemies to human society.
To talk of patriotism in connection with such evil and
bloody doings is a horrid burlesque and prostitution
of the term. It is a horrid crime, and, we fear, inflicts
great injury on the interests of this country; and the
wretched miscreants who caused it must be classed among
-our worst foes." The Cork Examiner is not less emphatic
in its denunciation of the outrage, which it speaks of as
" a crime of enormous magnitude," a " gloomy, awful
piece of carnage, for which there cannot be presented
the shadow of -palliation. The actual number
of Fenians in Ireland," continues the Examiner,
"is not perhaps very great the number of those
who would countenance reckless deeds of any sort is,
probably, very few. The real strength of Fenianism
lies in the hold it has gained upon the sympathy of masses
who have never enrolled themselves in its organisation,
but who believe they see in its ranks a band of patriots
that, whether wisely or unwisely, is struggling in the
cause' of a common country. Much of this sympathy
cannot fail to be shaken by the outrage which has
ehatterel so many pour dwellings in Corporation-
row. The iris 'a masses do not care to be identifisd
with crime. It is quite irac that the merits of a cause
are not determined by the wicked acts of some of those
who arc engaged in it, but it is no less true that the pub-
lic views and sympathies will be immediately influenced
by their demeanour. The Manchester executions gained
for the cause sv?.th which they are identified a multitude
of sympathisers who are not unlikely to be alienated by
the dreadful event which has sent a thrill of dismay
through Ireland."

THE PBINCE IMPERIAL.—The Abbe Duguerry
continues to give religious instruction twice a week to the
Princo Imperial. The curd of the Madeleine goes to St.
Cloud after the ten o'clock mass, and returns to Paris at
noon, The Empress is regularly present during the
lessons. and the Emperor himself occasionally looks in.