The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-06-16
COLUMBIA.
Saturday Morning, June 16, 1855.
The Fcn1an Movement.


try for the liberation of their native
land Not that our sympathies were
not with them, or with any people
who seek to throw off what they con-
slider an unjust rule, but because
early in the Fenian movement No
saw the elements of discord, inimical
TO any concerted or effectual mode OF
action towards the accomplishment of
the great object of the organization.
For short time we did indulge the
hope that wisdom and prudence
would govern the counsels of the
brotherhood, and that no premature
blow would be struck to involve the
whole cause in disaster and ruin
But these hopes were doomed to dis
appointments; divided counsels, bick-
crings and petty iealousies have done
their work, and what might have
been an invincible army of liberia
tion, are demoraEzed and scattered,
their large revenues misappropriated
and wasted, and their leaders war;
ring on each other with the spirit of
a petty animosity unworthy of the
great and noble cause in which they
were engaged.
But such has ever been the evil
genius that presides in the counsels
of any organization of Irishmen,
from the most important to the most
trivial. In the present organization,
at its incipiency, We thought this
spirit had been banished-that, wait
ing a fitting time and opportunity, the
mass of the Irish Americans would
have struck blow which would have
eventuated in the independence of
their native land. The experience of
the past should have taught them a
lesson of patience and perseverance
in organization; the futile attempt of
Mitchell and Meagher was warning
that should not have been unheeded,
as to premature action, but it was in
vain. With an immense revenue.
and tens of thousands pledged to
take arms i'll the cause, they madly
overleaped the boundaries of pru-
dence and common sense, and rushed
into conflict, which, from the very
nature of the surroundings, any man
of common sense could predict would
be failure.
What the obstacles were to this ILL
advised movement on Canada are so
very apparent, that it seems super
fiuous to make any particular note
or comment thereon. In the first
place, the United States had to main
tain their neutrality, under treaty
stipulations with Great Britain, and,
therefore, it ought to have been OBJ
Nous to the Fenian leaders that any
sufficient force to penetrate Canada
could not have been permitted, armed
and equipped, to leave our borders
for the purpose of invasion. 1t is
true that the Government of the
United States moved tardily in this
matter, and that the Fenian rulers
had reason to believe that no serious
interruption or obstacle would be laid
in their way. They took the ground,
and evidently with good reason, that
ii the Government intended to inter
fere at all with their movements.
good faith to the Irish Americans de-
manded that it should have interfercd
by warning proclamations, &c, long
ago. The whole country was advised
OF this movement-a regular govern
ment was organized; n competent mi
litary bureau was discharging its du-
ties; arms hsa beeA purchased openly,
some from Governmel agents; drills
were held, and, in Snort, the condi-
ton of apathy manifested by the au-
thorities, reasonbly indicated that the
Government connived at, if it did
not sanction, the whole movement.
But the leaders and the men were
deceived in the opinion they enter
tanned of the feeling of the Govern
ment towards them. The procloma