Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-05-12
THE LEADER LEADS.
nsS,6s6 sl2,ssa SsI,a3:
The b Burst.

The Fenian bubble has been pricked-
The recent utterly senseless and very
Irish demonstration of the war-like Kill
lian at Eastport has acted on the contrib
ators of Fenian funds like a bucket
Of cold water liz the face of a sleep
ing man. Rudely awakened from
their dreams of glory and conquest,
hey are naturally quite indignant.
/ OMahony, the head of one of the Fenian
republics, has been summarily deposed
from Office. He has published a long and
pathetic defense of mis- course in reference
to tho Campobello fiasco, in which he
urges that the plan for the capture Of that
island was not approved of by him, and
It's authorization forced from him by out
side pressure. He also attributes much Of
its failure to the mismanagenent of
Secretary Killian, charging that the whole
plan was divulged in the New York
papers the next day after it was agreed
4 upon, thus giving the British ample warn
/ ing, so that when men and arms arrived
/ ;at Eastport, they found English and
Amezican troops there, ready to keep the
tpeace. OMahony hopes that the arrival
[tof Stevens from Paris will quell the rising
4 discomfort. Vain hope! The wrath of
4 the Fenians now will be intense precisely
in proportion as their faith has been gen
erous and ~undoubting. oMahony has
| been deposed, and Stevens, who as the
telegraph informs US, has arrived in this
country, will share the contempt and in
dignation felt towards his representative
and protege. The best that Stephens,
OMahony, Killian, and their co-psrtners
can do is to pack up their patent leather
boots, draw out their plethoric depO sits,and
leave for parts unknown. We should
hardly wish TO insure their personal
safety if they remain in this country.
While the brown-stone republic in In
! ion Square has thus ANONYMOUSLY come 10
grief, the opposition affair, runby Roberts
and Sweeney, is equally doomed. They
have not indeed met with any failure, as
vet, for they have attempted nothing but
if Sweeny had carried on his operations
J against Canada, as he proposed 70 do, his
fall would have been as complete as that
of the luckless 0Mahony. Nothing can
possibly await either of the brother Irish
repoAlics but dsfeas. @KilliGn was routed
without firing a gun or losing a man.
SNeeny, being a practical fighter, might
! get a few of his followers slaughtered,
or might himself achieve the seafFold.
But there is only one possible end to the
whole enian movement--utte r failure. Be
fore RObe,s now lies the terrible dilemma
on whose horns o'Mahony was impaled.
He must either make a movement against
England or remain Inactive. If he does
the latter, the widespread distrust among
the Irish will soon ripen, and he viii be
unseated if the former, his failure viii
hurl him into disgrace. The end, in
either event, cannot be far distant
We have repeatedly warned our Fenian
frinds of the folly and duplieity Of their
leaders. We have again and again point
ed out to them the hoplessness of armed
rebellion against Great Britain. We have
over and over deprecated their lavish con-
tributions of hard earned dollars, which
were either wasted in hopeless expeditions,
or placed in the plethorie pockets of swim
dlers. Now that the end has verified our
predictions, we hope that it may prove a
lesson TO the Irishmen of America. Let
them not in future be led by hair-brained
adventures into impossible and visionary
projects for the liberation of Ireland. Let
them settle down on American soil, enjoy
ing the freedom of American institutions,
ana devote their earnings TO their own
social and intellectual Improvements or,
if they must labor for the liberation of
their mother isle, let them seek their end
through the safe and sure channel ofcon-
stitutional reform, rather than by bloody
and hopeless rebellion.