The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-15 00:00:00

THE FENIAN INSURRECTION.

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)
LIMERICK JUNCTION, Wednesday Night.,
I suppose that outside the steppes of Tartary and
the Polar regions it would be hard to find any colder
bit of table land than this Limerick Junction Sta-
tion. Just now the scene,is wintry indeed. The
snow, is_lying thick 'on the gt:ound, a keen north-,
east wind sweeps the platform, and in the distance
the mountains are frosted over, so that it is not easy
to tell where cloud begins and mountain summit
ends. The people themselves say that the sky fights
against the Fenians. " That is the best flying
column," said my carman to-day, pointing to the
snow-scud on the hill-side. " Those poor people
must be dead with cold and hunger ; in such wea-
ther no one could live upon the mountains." This.
is the popular opinion, often repeated by those one
meets. Even the soldiers, though well-fed and
tolerably well-housed, suffer a good deal when on
patrol duty ; and the sentries who pace the platform
of the station night and day must have a terribly
cold billet. Here and in the neighbouring garrison
of Tipperary the men are of necessity huddled to-
gether with very little sleeping room, and for many
nights together never take their clothes off. The
goods' station here, open to all the winds that blow,
is so occupied. In mild weather it would make not
unpleasant quarters, but men and horses now must
find the cold hard to bear. In Tipperary the mar-
ket-house, national school, and poorhouse afford
more comfortable lodgings ; but all the conveniences
of barrack life are of course absent. Still the men
are cheerful, and submit to these small privations
with great good temper. A grumbler is a great nui-
as he is anywhere else ; and in
special mischief. As far as I
shcaaaninvcepeasieingennaintrhgeegrbiemeisdenovtesery little grumbling among the
troops, except at enemies, who keep out of sight
and give no end of trouble, " just for nothing at
all."

A Tipperary, to-day, I met with Captain C.
Massey, a
gentleman
of Grantstown, four miles from
t
this place, who was taken prisoner by the Fenians
on the night of the rising. They first called at his
residence about midnight and demanded arms. After
some demurs, seeing that the men were determined,
he gave them an old gun, but contrived to throw it
out to them with such force as broke the stock in
pieces. They then retired, and Captain Massey
thought he was rid of them, but in a short time they
returned, and asked whether be had not a blunder-
buss. They also inquired for one of the stable lads,
whom they wanted to impress, and said they must
search the house for him. Captain Massey opened
the door, but they did not search the house ; they
only said he must go with them to their leader. He
was accordingly conducted by two men across
several ploughed fields a distance of over two miles,
until they joined a considerable body of insurgents,
who were bivouacking along a hedge-side. There
he was kept in close custody for about four hours.
His captors were perfectly civil, and fulfilled the pro-
mise they had made him that he should not be mo-
lested. They said little, but spoke of their determina-
tion to have an Irish Republic. The British Govern-
ment, they declared, was a bad Government, and
the people could not stand it any longer. The Fenian
leader, who had ordered the prisoner's arrest, did
not take any further notice of him; and at the end
of the four hours Captain Massey was released un-
conditionally-. The object of detainingj him wao

probably to prevent him from giving any informa-
tion to the constabulary until the Fenian plans were
matured. He fared better than another gentle-
man I have heard of, the son of a Protestant
clergyman. The Fenians called at his father's
house and demanded arms. He came to the door
and handed out the arms to them ; and with a
certain grim humour they said he was a likely
young man, and would make a capital Fenian
leader. Si they force I him by threats to go on his
knees and take the Fenian oath, after which he was
made to accompany them to the houses of several of
his friends, the gentry in the neiighbourhood, one
being the house of his own aunt, and collect the arms
from all. If he hesitate! or hung back, half a dozen
pike-points were in unpleasant proximity to his body
directly. When the houses for miles round had been
thus visited, he being the spokesman- and active
agent by compulsion at all, the Fenians said he had
done.very well that night, and allowed him to go
home, telling him that they might, perhaps, require
his services again. It does not surprise one to hear
that this gentleman has placed a very long distance
between himself and the Fenians who played this
unpleasant practical joke upon him. '
A copy of the Fenian oath was %Wad Upon Bourke,
the man who led the insurgents at Ballyhurst, near
Tipperary, and who, being on horseback, came to
grief at his firstditch. "In thepresence of Almighty
God"—so the oath runs—" I solemnly swear that I
will not bear arms against, or by Word or act give
information, aid, or comfort to the enemies of the
Irish Republic until regularly relieved of this obli-
gation. So help me God !" The form of oath is not
badly conceived, if the object be to procure its wide
acceptance. According to its strict grammatical
construction, the undertaking exacted is not to bear
arms against the enemies of the Irish Republic—a
droll way of advancing Fenianism indeed. But even
as it would be generally understood, it does not
pledge those who take it to anything more than Dr.
Johnson thought was meant by subscription to the
Thirty-nine Articles. " You are not supposed to
assent to every one ; but you undertake not to
preach against them." So this oath merely calls for
something like neutrality, and probably, therefore,
it is not the Fenian oath, but merely one or two ;
the other relating to active support, and requiring
from the neophyte a promise of obedience when
he is called to arms. The. unwillingness of the
people to supply information may be accounted for in
part by the extent to which the oath above given
has been taken. Among other things found upon
Bourke—l believe he was called General Bourke—
were some photographs of ladies and some doggrel
verses, amatory and sentimental, which are bad
enough to be original, and, if they refer to the
career of the hero of Ballyhurst, are not very cre-
ditable to him.

The Fenian leaders were prompt in punishing any
breach of discipline or insubordination on the part
of their dupes. One instance which occurred near
Tipperary was told me to-day. A farmer's son; who
says he was impressed. by the insurgents, was out
with them all Tuesday night. In the morning,
feeling vary hungry as well as very tired, he said he
would go home to breakfast. As no military code,
not even the Fenian one, can recognise the right of
an army in the field to go every man his own way
to meals, the Fenian leader objected to this proposal.
However; the young recruit was unused to the rigid
discipline by 'which armies are kept together, and
being very hungry he was very wilful, and as he
weighed the assumed delights of the morning rasher
and hot tea -against the remote prospect of his ha'-
porth of bread and water from the brook, he stepped
boldly out in .the direction of home. The Irish-
American leader of the Fenian Land Went after him,
and with an oath gave him his breakfast in the
shape of a bullet through the thigh. The man is
now under the care of a surgeon, and on Sunday
Mr. Massey, a magistrate of ICI ngs will, near Tippe-
rary, went over to take his deposition. One would
suppose that anybody who had been so treated would
be anxious to bring to justice the fellow who had
maimed him. But the farmer's son would not say
a word by which either the leader or any of theparty
could be identified. It is suspected that there have
been several other victims of this brutality ; but of
course no information can be gained upon this point,
except in cases like this where surgical aid is called
for,- and the truth thereby appears.

As I write (midnight) the snow is falling heavily,
and the snow drifts on the part of the line make it
probable that the railway traffic will be seriously
retarded. No day passes without its special trains for
the conveyance of troops or commissariat stores front
one point to the other, so that any interruption of
the traffic will be exceedingly inconvenient to the
military. Mr. Tighe, the stationmaster here, is set-
ting men to work to clear away the snow from the
most exposed points, but the wind drifts it on to the
line at hundreds of others.

DUBLIN, March 14.

The case of Mr. Crofton, the young gentleman
"ebarged with having a pistol, some bullets, and a
skeleton key within the precincts of Portobello Bar-
racks on Sunday night, came again before Mr.
M'Dermott yesterday. His father deposed that the
prisoner bad a license to carry a pistol, and the key
was the key of the rear entrance to his father's
house. With respect to the bullets, they had been
cast by his father during the past week, and Mr.
Crofton, finding them in a vase in an exposed posi-
tion, and fearing they might be stolen, put them into
his pocket for safety. The Rev. G. De Butts gave
the accused and his family a high character for re-
spectability and royalty. Mr. Bradbourne, a gentle-
man in the employment of Mr. Guinness, M.P., de-
posed that Mr. Crofton was engaged in the brewery,
that he was a most respectable young man, and that
he had recently signed an address of loyalty denounc-
ing the Fenian conspiracy. Mr. M'Dermoit said
that, having fully investigated the case, he would
dismiss the charge, and observed that Mr. Crofton
left the court without the slightest stain upon his
character.

The same magistrate sent for trial to the Commis-
sion Michael Walsh, who was brought before him on
remand. He was arrested by Constable Berne on
the morning of March 6, between Clouskeagh and
Dublin, having in his possession a six-chamber re-
volver, a powder flask, and some balls.
Among the false rumours in circulation yesterday
was one to the effect that there had been disturb-
ances in the town of Arklow. On inquiry by tele-
graph the place was found to be perfectly quiet.
Similar gratifying reports have come into town from
all the railway lines.
It is stated that the 'Government have given
directions for four gunboats to be instantly de-
spatched to Dublin, and to be stationed in the
liver Liffey for the protection of the city.
. .

It is also stated that it is in contemplation to
order the closing of all public-houses in the city and
suburbs from 6 o'clock on Saturday evening next
until Monday morning.
The 89th Regiment arrived. at the North-wall
to-day from Portsmouth to reinforce the Dublin
garrison, in consequence of the demands which have
been made upon it for troops to supply the flying
columns at present going through the country.
Yesterday a large number of prisoners confined
on remand in Kilmainham Gaol were fully com-
mitted for trial by Dr. Carte, military magistrate,
on information being tendered by the military and
police of their presence at the Tallaght affair.
It is stated that the Special Commissions will be
directed to all the judges. There will be four com-
missions sitting contemporaneously—for Dublin,
Cork, Tipperary, and Limerick—two judges in each
court. The Lord Mayor is always included in the
Dublin Commission, and he attends the opening,
but takes no further part in the proceedings. The
Cork Examiner says :—" The special commission is
spoken of as likely to open in Cork so soon as the
Ist of April. It is said the judges who will preside
there will be Chief Baron Pigott and Chief Justice
Whiteside."

A large quantity of barraok stores, cousistipg of