Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-05-19

1erAl1 hu1 ElAm OeAA1I
Advertisements in LzABEa e1eeea Herald
and Plain Dealer
Ih~reby certify that the aboFsiA 3 correct state
menf Of the amount Of Advertising reported UNpEK
OATH to this once by the shove newspapers for
nine months. saAiEg April I Oh ~ =. HuRLBur.
Dated Cleveland. AErl q, 'ss. o. S. assessor
The Epeeeh Of mr.. stephens ga
American readers, CHANGING at the above
heading, will be apt TO associate it at once
with some recent utterance OF that noble
old Roman, Thad. Stevens, or that willy
traitor, Alexander h. Stephens, But we
ha7e q third aspirant for o~rAtorical honors
of the tame of Stsphens-the famous
Chief Organizer Of the Irish Republic,
the head, in Ireland and America both, OF
the movement for the liberation Of Ire
land, who has labored for the last eighsor
nine years with this as his sole object, and
whose recent arbitrary arrest and myste-
rious escape nave made him noted in both
hemispheres. Mr.. James Stephens arriv-
ed in this country from Paris about two
weeks ago. He found the Fenian cause at
its lowest ebb. The organization was
divided into two rival factions, each of
which spent more energy in denouncing
the other than in efforts for their common
aim, and one Of which had just drawn
down on itself the well-merited denuncia-
lions of its adherents by 3 hostile demon
strstien which had ended in o miserable
fssco. It is due to Mr.. Stephens to say
that his course, under these discouraging
circumstances, has displayed, in az extra
ordinary degree, the qualities of frmness,
Pzudancestact and sagacity. We wonder
muchless at the magnificent proportions
which the Fenian conspiracy has assumed
when we recognize james Stephens - its
leader than when we saw at its head only
such respectable nobodies as Roberts, or
such p~retentious incompetents as o'Maho-
ny. Acting upon the principle which he
boldly enunciates in his recent speech,
that one man must have supreme control
in order to render the organization sue
cessful, he has assumed to himself, as of
right. the power of dictator, and proposes
to the rival Fenian chiefs,as a c~ompromise,
that they both abdieato in his favor.
OMahony, already practically deposedby
his indignant followers has gladly con-
scented to this arrangement, but Roberts is
still recusant and will probably remain So
Matters had progressed to this situstion
when the great Stephens meeting came of
at Jones Wood, in New York city, on
Tuesday last. The Roberts partizans re-
fused to be present, but the affair was
nevertheless a success in numbers and en-
thusiasm. The chief speaker of the meet
ing was Stephens himself who, in calm
and moderate language, rohearsed the his
tory Of the movement for Irish inaepend-
ence, and explained his present intentions.
It seems that the conspiracy was set on
foot in 1857, in America and Ireland sim
ultaneously, with 0Mahony as its Amer
lean and Stephens as its Irish chief. Mr..
Stephens has twice visited America in
furtherance Of it. once in 1858, and again
in 1864. His account ofthe history of the
OIkd11Lh1lDu III AmbIlCa A6NbdAn 4AbbA6 AOt /
already known. He complains bitterly of
the want Of spirit shown by the Irish
American population, asserting that Ire
land, poor as she is, has already given ten
times as much money as America, and
that, Eerethe same freedom allowed there
as here in making collections, Ireland
would need no help from America. He
declares that he needs no men from Amer
lea, but only money to equip the two hun
drod thousand Irish Fenians who are only
awaiting TIE word to rise against Great
Britain. He says;
"From the middle of September, last
year, to the end Of December, all we want
ed in Ireland was arms to put into the hands
of our men. The men were there we only
wanted arms. But in that hour, the very
hour Of our strength at home, there came 70
Ireland the melancholy news Of your dis
ruption here" L
The following extract illustrates well
the tone of authority in which he speaks
and the excelIant quality of the man as
an arbitrary leader of a population like
the Irish: |
al have come to America to establish
harmony in this organization, and woe to /:
the man who says or does anything 70 pre- !
vent that loud and continued cheering |
and waving Of hats Let there be no cries 9
against Doran Killian, John 0,Mahony, :
Col Roberts; let there be no cries
here against any man. If you have come 7
here in q spirit Of brotherhood, well; if you !
have not, woe 70 you, and woe to Ireland !
- =
to bring discordo into eur ranks, 10 widen l
the breach which 90. u~nhappily has been !
made-let such . man go hone. (Cheers.l !
Let him 60 10 England, that is the place5or 5
him. fLEughtef and eheers.l Let him 20 i
TO the British Ainister-there be will be :
well received but let aim not stand here
with Irishmen, who a sworn before God
and man they viii free their country or die" !
Of the present strength and prospects Z
of the Fenisn organization, he spoke as i
"But I tell you that organization In Ire !
scRd, to-day, Is stronger than Il seer has been !
stronger in numbers, in discipline, in all { e z
requirements Of an army, save only war I
material. The organization in Ireland, TO- :
wardthe close of last year, numbered 20O,- Z
600 mea. fGreat cheering-l that force, /
50, 600 men were thoroughly drilled, with a 5
large EIORO[EO1 o. mCA WIZ AAA SCcA WAT l. :
had smelt powder on the battlefield,
veterans, in short Fifty thousand more are 5
partially drilled men. The other l00, GOO are
undrilled but if there is q man among you
who thinks that 81, 900 Irishmen thoroughly &,
drilled, and $4,000 more partially drilled, 70 /:
begin with, would not constitute a force SUI !
fcient to meet anything that England could 1
bring against Us in I~relana,then he is wofully .
ignorant of the available resources of Eng :
land. What army could be brought against {
US in Irelsnd by England. What is tho ]
military force in Ireland st present. There Z;
are now IN Ireland some 0 loco or 22,000
men. There are in the United Kingdom, ]
Is it Is called, some 81 200 effective men. Il ]
would take England so or 40 days 70 eOneen-
trate $4,000 % 10000 men in Ireland. It 1
would take her three months 70 Concentrate
10000, and it Is very likely that she would
never be able to concentrate s larger force :
there IA Voice-HThat she may never be J
ahle.s Laughter aadeheeral 0four feree3
we could concentrate in Irelsds on four oris :
FIVE GIVEN points I00,e0o men in txenty=f0ur
hours" Sz4 ~ :
ConceEning his arrest he makes the fol- f
lowing Thoroughly Irish statement: 6
al determined to DO arrested, because
bound b take action last yezr, an6d
lhouoht that i'll deTOtsd myself 10 the 0