The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-09 00:00:00

FENIANISM.

The Times congratulates the country on a quiet
St. Patrick's-day in Canada. It does not regard
the danger as past, however. It has much confi-
dence in the existing rulers of the United States,
and cannot think it possible that such men as the
President and his friends would use a set of rebels

and conspirators as a cat's paw to make mischief
and create complications favourable to the interest
or designs of the Union. But no country in the
world, certainly neither the United States nor our-
selves, can answer for the men that may be in
power five years hence. We know not what prin-
ciples, what policy, or what designs may find favour
in Westminster in the year 1870 ; and we certainly
have as little means of forecasting the dominant

politics of Washington at that date. So the
British Americans would be simply indulging in a
Fool's Paradise if they were to proceed on the

hypothesis of perpetual peace and quiet. It is not
the hypothesis of their fellow-subjects at home.
Our contemporary therefore congratulates them
most heartily on their present more martial attitude,
and thanks the Fenians for having stirred them up
to it. That these latter are in earnest may well be
doubted, for they have shown no signs of earnest-
ness yet. They have only vapoured, harangued,
exchanged horrid oaths, filled their cellars with
arms, collected subscriptions, had a newspaper, paid
agents, and done everything that could be done
without either drawing blood or having much of it
in their own veins. But where there is all this
smoke there may be fire. When thousands are
flinging about brands in all directions, a spark may
light up a general conflagration.
The New York Herald says there is nothing in
the spirit of this Government to lead us into oppo-
sition to the efforts of any people desiring to obtain
their freedom, when they regard the Government
under which they live as an insupportable oppres-
sion. Therefore it is that we are willing to let the
Fenians carry out their designs in behalf of the
freedom of Ireland, so long as they do not commit
any overt act which transgresses the law or may
complicate our Government with any foreign power.
We have plenty of affairs on hand to attend to in
connection with our foreign relations without being

involved in any new question. It was generally
reported that a movement was to have been made
on Canada by General Sweeney on St. Patrick's-day,
and Canada was apparently ready for the assault ;
but St. Patrick's-day has come and gone without
any revolutionary demonstration on either side of
the line. Whether there was ever any intention
on the part of the Fenians to show their hand in
Canada on that day of course we do not know.
Probably they only raised the cry of " wolf " in
order to put the watch-dogs of the flock off their
guard, and they may introduce the wolf when the
dogs are not prepared. At all events, up to this
time Fenianism has done nothing demanding the
interference of the authorities. It has fitted out no
armies, set on foot no military expedition, char-
tered no privateers, nor molested anybody. But
when any overt acts are committed, such as those
defined in the neutrality law of 1818 as misde-
meanours, and punishable with fine and imprison-
ment, it will be the proper time for the Government
to interpose its authority in defence of that proud
and magnanimous position which it has always
assumed, of strict neutrality towards nations at
peace with the United States.
The New York Times remarks what would any-one
have had our Government do ? It could unques-
tionably have got up a real sensation, and pro-
bably have precipitated a heavy quarrel, by making a
tremendous show of counteracting Fenian projects.
Had it issued proclamations prohibiting Fenian
raids—had it called out the militia to enforce our
public obligations—had it stationed a heavy mili-
tary force along the border, we have no doubt that
amid the prevailing excitement that would have
been aroused, and in the divided sentiment of the
people, the Fenians would have been sharp enough
to get a few hundred men through the lines
somewhere, who would have pitched into the first
place they could find in genuine Irish style, and
then, when once the rumpus had opened, who can
tell what would have been its developments and
termination ? There is no question that under
these circumstances the public excitement would
have become general and deep, and Fenianism
would quickly have gone forth in practical action,
had our Government gone furiously to work to
crush its shadow, as some desired. It was far the
most sensible thing for the Government to act pre-
cisely as it did. It saw no signs of any violation
of our neutrality, and it certainly could not be ex-
pected to believe or act upon the windy nonsense
published by newspaper reporters.
The same journal, speaking of St. Patrick's-day
says this anniversary was celebrated in the usual
manner by parades, dinners, and speeches. Owing
to the reckless lying of two New York daily papers,
which have been for months working up a factitious
excitement, some nervous people apprehended that
the Fenians would make a demonstration upon
Canada. Nothing of the kind occurred, nor was
there any undue disturbance either in the States or
the Province& In Montreal, where there was really
serious apprehension, caused by the persistent
falsehoods of the journals we have alluded to, there
was a great but perfectly orderly turn out of Irish-
men, who called upon the Governor-General and
heard a speech from him, and were afterwards ad-
dressed by the Hon. D'Arcy M'Gee. Not a man
in the vast crowd hesitated to express his loyalty
to the British Government, and his willingness to
fight in its support. In Vermont and in Michigan,
where the mischief-makers had located their mythi-
cal armies, all was quiet, even to dullness. And so
it was all along the border. From New Brunswick
to Lake Superior there was not the slightest sign of
Fenian invasion, and it will take much better evi-
dence than the lying despatches printed in sensa-
tional papers to make any sensible man believe that
f any considerable raid was ever seriously eontern-
dated.

TIIE SPEAKER OF TILE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—
The right hon. gentleman, though somewhat improved in
health, by the advice of his medical attendants has not yet
left his official residence at Westminster for the seaside.
It is therefore thought that a further cessation from his
official duties will be considered necessary at all events till
after the Whitsuntide recess.

The Mutin

The following is the substance of the official re-
port of the inquiry into the conduct of Captain
Campbell :

" The charges against the master are for gross miscon-
duct, tyranny, and drunkenness, and aro preferred against
him under the following circumstances. The Scotland left
London for Calcutta on Dec. 1, 18G4. During that voyage
the. master, for some cause not explained, seems to hate
taken up a hostile feeling against the officers of the ship,
particularly the first mate, Joseph Singleton, who makes
the following entry in the ship's log of tho date Jan. 25,
1865 :—"The master turned me away from the tea-table,
calling me a wretch, a brute, and thief, &T.,
and told the steward to serve out my allowance the same as

the men ' About three or four weeks after this the mas-
ter's animosity against the first mate, Singleton, bi oke forth
in an act of great and illegal violence, which is thus de-
scribed by one of the witnesses, Alexander Sangster, the
sailmaker, the substance of whose evidence is briefly as
follows : —lle says that Singleton was ordered by the mas-
ter to go over the ship's side and scrape barnacles off the
ship; that on his refusal to do so the master ordered him
to be put in irons, and he was handcuffed and placed in a
water-closet off the cabin, where he remained from 4 p.m.
till midnight, when he contrived to release himself, and
was found lying in the cabin, when the master took a piece
of rattlin and rove it round the mate's arms, and gripped
both elbows behind him, put the iron handcuffs on again,
and tied the line to a staple in the stanchion, and lashed
him up with his hands flush with his shoulders, and his
toes just touching the deck ; that the first mate was cry-
ing all the time, and in this state he was left for several
hours in the water-closet, the master saying he would
tame him there,' and that ' be would not refuse him again
in a hurry.' No entry of the alleged offences or of the
punishment appears in the official log, nor is there any
notice of the fact in the ship's log, nor indeed any notice
whatever either of misconduct by the crew, or ill-treatment
by the master on the outward voyage. On the arrival of
the ship, however, at Calcutta, charges and counter-charges
seem to have been made, and several appearances before
magistrates, but nothing decided by them until the dis-
putes ended in an assualt upon the master by some of the
crew, for NN hich several of them were sentenced to various
terms of imprisonment. Eventually the officers and all
the crew, with the exception of four, were paid off, and the
Scotland, having taken in her cargo and obtained a fresh
crew, commenced her homeward voyage on the 21st of
July, 1865. Before the ship got out of the River Hooghly
the master seems to have given way to his irritable humour,
' behaving,' as the first mate, Peterson, says, more like a
madman than a Christian, calling the pilot a name of the
most offensive kind, and running about the deck to get the
men to work, but I answered it was interrupting the
work.' In one of these fits of excitement he obstinately
put himself in the way of the hawser, which being strained
flew up and broke his leg. This injury no doubt increased
the irritability of his temper, and caused him to use the
threatening expressions and behave in such a manner as,
coupled with what they hal heard of his conduct on the
previous voyage, to excite the apprehensions or resentment
of the crew, and led to their committing an act of insubor-
dination by taking possession of the ship, and insisting
upon going to Madras or back to Calcutta. No violence,
however, was offered or threatened by them, and by the
inference of the officers and one or two of the crew the
matter was arranged, the crew agreeing to abandon their
intention of returning to Calcutta on condition that the
master signed a paper exculpating them, and destroyed
the entries against them in the official log. This
was agreed to, and the pages of the official log con-
taining those entries were torn out by the master, and
the ship proceeded on her voyage. No further outbreak oc-
curred, though a feeling of dissatisfaction existed, and the
master's threats and irritating behaviour were occasionally
repeated. On the arrival of the ship at the Island of Ascen-
sion a formal charge of insubordination was preferred by
the master against six of the seamen, and a naval court was
held to investigate the charge, who advised that the persons
accused should be sent to England for trial, 'the Court con-

sidering the offence so grave that no punishment they could

an ard would be sufficient.' The six prisoners were accord-
ingly sent to England, and indicted at the last February

sessions of the Central Criminal Court for piratically and
feloniously making a revolt on board the ship,' when evi-
dence to the effect hereinbefore mentioned as to the conduct
of the master towards his crew, and particularly in refer-
encd to his treatment of the first mate, Singleton, on the

outward voyage, was produced, and a verdict of acquittal
was returned as to two of the prisoners, and a formal con-
viction of the other four, one of whom was discharged on
recognisances to appear to receive judgment when called
upon ; and the other three were sentenced t) one week's
imprisonment each. So slight, a punishment for an offence
so grave as that charged was virtually an acquittal, and an
inquiry was, in consequence, ordered to be held, under the
Merchant Shipping Act, upon the charge of gross miscon-
duct, tyranny, and drunkenness on the part of the master.
On this inquiry, the witnesses whose evidence accom-
panies this report have been examined, and upon their
testimony we have come to the following conclusions :
First, that though the habitual drunkenness has not been
proved, the free use of spirituous liquors by a man of
such an excitable and violent temper is to be condemned.
Secondly, that the putting the first mate, Joseph Singleton,
in irons in the manner and for the reasons alleged was
illegal and tyrannical, and that the master shows his
consciousness that it was so by his not making an
entry of the fact in the official log. Thirdly, that the irri-
tating language and behaviour of the master towards the
crew on the homeward -voyage were acts of gross miscon-
duct, and calculated to produco a mutiny in his ship. Fur
these reasons we have suspended his certificate for two
years from this date, and transmit the same to your lord-
ships."