The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-04-02

=. Inc IftouHSSt Speciil correspondent aI
Dublin gives the following account of the be-
hayior of the f'men in the gapp in the slyir-
mishes which have have occurred since The
rising. The Letter is Gated March Is. His
. information is To a considerable extent desiv-
ed from eye-witncsses of the scenes referred
to-; 4l u1 Aaat ali0 .a h.ae..s s4s..b aa
- Small as the result Of their fightmg is, the
men in every instance acted as vel as men
under such circumstances could be expected
to do. The chief cause OF their failure was
their want cf acquaintance with the use of
arms. American readers win please bear in
mind that the best part of Ireland is kept al
most continuously subject TO the operation OF
Arms acts which make ii 4 crime to keep
arms without q license from the Government,
the consequence OF which is that She peasant
ry know scarcely anything OF guns and pis-
tolls save. what can be learned ffon seeing
them in the hands OF the military, the con:
stabulaly, aud the gentry The Fenians have
distributed firearms TO some extent among
them but the possessors were unable TO fire
shot out of them until they actually took the
field in open rebellion! Such being the tact,
it is easy TO guess what sort OF practice they
Their firing
Gentlemen who watched the aitiay at. kil-
mallocb from q hotel window, stated thai the
Fenian party did not appear TO be in the
slightest degree troubled about the bullets
coming from the constabulary many OF them
seemed 70 be more afraid of the guns they
had in their own hands. Some used to kneel
and put tile butts Of tlleirrifes on the ground
when discharging them at the barracks, slop-
ing the weapons as infantry do when about
SO receive charge OF cavalry; others, when
about to fire, instead OF sighting their rifles
used to turn away their faces from them. In
short, there was any amount OF awkwardness
among those unframed men; but of personal
intrepidity there was an abundance.
Again, it is a positive fact that numbers of
the rifle cartridges picked up in the neighbor-
hood of Ialla1ht, near this city, were found
on examination to have been wrongly made
up, the pointed end of the bullet being turned
down to the powder. Such cartridges were,
of course, little better than useless. As re-
CARDS drill, a proportion OF the men could
probably walk in step and perform some sim
pie eyolutions on pdf0de, but under fire and
in company with number OF others who had
received no drilling at all, whatever proficien-
cy they had acquired was quite useless tn
them, and they became simply Il crowd. What
could such men do against experienced sol
diers or police force who are an army under
another name? g.les. -.iI -lsaf.si
BUTT may be said they would learn very
quickly. There is truth in the remark =
lrishmen are apt scholars in military matters
and If on this occasion the weather had per
mitted them TO keep to the hills, it is very
likely that every man of the insurgents would
soon know how to handle his rifle, and that
in future Conflicts with the soldiery or police
their firing would not be quite SO tnnocuous.
Another curious TACT in connection with
/. these skirrDishes remains 10 be noticed. What
the insurgents most dreaded when coming in
to conflict with the police was not their rifles
and bayonets for the time being, but subse-
duent identification at their hands before the
legal tribunals, They would much rather
have faced the soldiery than those blood
hounds Of the law; aud when the Fenian
party at Glencullen discussed the propriety of
shooting the police whom they had made
prisoners, it was this consideration that was
urged in favor of the proposition. III you
don't do il" said some OF the party, "tho5e fell
lows will be getting every man OF you hanged
by-and-by" For a time it seemed as ii This
view OF the case would prevail. The Feiiians
determined TO shoot them, as a military ne
cesSty. First, however, they would give
them an opportunity of preparing ior
the next world. A priest whom they
had met on their way was present,
and they compelled the policemen, who Were
Catholics, to go to confession to him. The
compliance ofthc policemen with this order
was perhaps what saved their lives, for mean
time the subject was again debated, and q res
olution to spare their lives was arrived at,
mainly in consequence the earnest and in
dignant remonstrance of the leader of the
band, who was an Irish American.
And here let me remark ON the vjllainous
way in which, the English press and theirimi-
tators in this country leler to the service
which these lrish-ADericans have seen i'm the
Federal war. You believe their REPRESENT
atons, the armies Of the Union were not civ
ilized conIbatants at all, but were, merely a
horde of boodthirsty savages. whose opera
tons consisted entirely OF ''rapine and mur-
der" / regret that / have not cillled from
those papers number of the flowers OF
speech winch they fling upon''be Federal ar
my--upoD the forces who carried on u great
war with degree OF chiyary and humanity
previously all but unknown III such eFefa
tons. NWe must" they say, make examples
of those Irish Americans we must dcter ,roli
coming into this country those men VINO nave
been trained 10 I7lpine and slaughter turing
Tho American war "Our safety Is endan-
gered by the presence among US Oh u gang OF
desneradocs who have been united ior hon
est pursuits by years OF service N me Aheii-
c.,, army. under such men as Butler and
Sherman." "No mercy must be shown o1he
rufians who, since the disbandment of the
Federal armies, are swarniing over here in
the hope OF resuming the work Of pillage and
murder 10 which they have served so good an
apprenticeship III some such words the sol
ders orthe Union are being every day spoken
ofby the English press, and by Enslishmen
who, one might think, ought to first call to
mind the doinss OF their own troops in India.
China, Japan, and, in fact, wherever they had
opportunities Of displaying their style ofmoral-
ity and humanity!
tNFnlI NO fbe..,,1 6
those men who served in the Federal war, or
| perhaps, to a great extent, because of that
| same leadership, the Irish Insurgents through
out att these troubles have conducted theh,-
| selves in Almost honorable manner IN relo, n;7,
| ence TO private life and property NOT ~ SUI,
gle act OF wantonmischef or pure il,'ia,o
be laid to their charge. on the eon'rs shsa,ve5 Cd
The Times itself has confessed .nes noeted Sno
mercy where mercy could have Deen eAPye,eu '',
from them. Their "r,ising" has done at least
this much good--it has proved that their de-
signs Were not anarchical, that their object