New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-06-17
Who Rescued the Fentans 2

The Boston Herald IS authority for the
statement that the recent rescue of Fenlan
convicts from the west coast Of Australia
was the result of well planned and care
fully executed scheme for which John Boyle
O'Reilly, editor of the Boston Pilot, fur
nished the brains and discretion, aud the
Fenian Brotherhood supplied the money.
Heretofore too many of the Fenians have
contented themselves with imagining 6es
perate feats and discoursing about them, SO
that there i. natural skepticism in the
public mind touching the responsibility of
their having known anything about plan
for rescue and held their tongues long
enough to permit the happy oocsummatiOn
of the adventure But there is q certain
fitness in the rum0red connection of John
Boyle O'Reilly with the liberation of the
Fenian convicts, and We trust that their
freedom may really be due to the sympathy
and enterprise of their former cOmrade.
He was himself one of the soldiers con-
demned to penal servitude and several
years ago set out in q small boat from
the Australian coast with the des-
perate determination to commit himself to
the great ocean in the hone of liberty. He
was picked up by a New England whale
ship, and treated with kindness that won
his gratitude. He came to this country
tunes or his heroism, and began his literary
career. Within the short time that has
elapsed since then, he has gained the con-
troll Of the foremost Irish Catholic paper in
this country aud has won q distinguished
reputation among the younger poets. Good
sense, industry and moderation have char.
acterizsd his conduct, and go cautious has
he been in obtruding himself upon public
attention, that in the dedication OF his
poems to the captain who rescued him he
merely mentions the fact that he was
picked up in an open boat off the Australian
coast under circumstances that rendered
his return to shore impossible. That such
a man should have yearned for the liberia
| tion of his old companions in arms and com
| rades in misery, and conceived the idea of
! liberating them by the means through which
he himself found freedom, is not imprOba-
| BILE. Had he undertaken the task, he
would have known enough to keep
his own counsel. We should be glad,
| therefore, to know, that the story OF TIE
| fitting out of vessel in New Bedford tit
| teen months ago under his management, to
be sent on this mission of deliverance, was
| true. 1t would add q new grace to the
| whole aft air to have him the hero of it, and
| would beside furnish q guarantee that the
escape should not be magnified into undue
significance. What is happy chance for
| individuals should not be considered mat
| ter of national consequence. If the Fenians
| have escaped, their political Importance
| ceases. They have heretofore been martyrs,
! and as such influenced very strongly the
| last Irish elections. but with their restora-
| ton to freedom they step down from the
| pedestal Of misery on which they were iso-
| lated, and we hope will soon be lost in the
crowd of active and Industrious men who
are winning peace and prosperity Tor Ire
land in either hemisphere.-Ne,c York
l IVnrII