Year: 1864

Irish people, for the purpose of encourag
ing their fellow countrymen in the achieve
ment of their independence.


The society is said to number half mil
lion of the youth and vigor of Ireland on
this continent. In Ireland it is supposed
to be equally strong, and in Australia and
all the other British provinces, and all over
Europe, they are said to be equally numer-
ous, all working with perfect harmony,
and directed by the first talent of Ireland's
bravest and truest sons.


The Fenian Sisterhood ia an orgsniza-
ton of similar nature, of the daughters
Of the green Isle of St. Bridget, to coop
crate with, encourage and assist their fel-
low countrymen in the noble object for
which the F. B. are laboring, and for
which, as Spartan danes, you have assem-
bled here tonight, to transmit the glad
tidings of encouragement and of hope to
your oppressed kindred in the dear old
land of our nativity.


The sisterhood is already established in
almost all the States and in the other coun-
tries l have already enumerated. and I
am happy to say that it is browning proof
of the purity and justice of our cause
that the purity, beauty and truth of any
psople-the retiring delicacy of refined
cwomanhood-are willing to come forward
and raise their voice in the cause of human
justice, the slavery of Ireland. II were
deprived of all other hope, this alone
would be sufficient to satisfy me thae Ire
land must and shall be free.


Aud when the time comes, and surely it
will, then will be glorious day for old
Erin.


Then will her hills, her wales and plains
resound with the glad song Of liberty.
Tens of thousands of prancing steeds with
chivalrous knights in armor bright, and
legions of Erin's sons with glistening
spears and thirsty pixies shall throng the
mountain sides, the valleys and the plains,
and the white sails Of foreign ships ehall
throng the harbors of the land, bearing
their rich burthen of the necessary wants
of the people. Then will the mountain
tops of poor old Erin be lighted with the
bonfire of liberty, and her caves and ruins
shall echo with the voices of her sleeping
heroes casting off forever their fetters of
slavery. Then will the mounds that
mark the treachery of English domain in
Ireland heave and groan for vengeance
Then will the thousands of graves of the
famished children Of Saxon rule in Ireland
appear crimsoned with their innocent
blood and call for retribution, and the
English gibbet shall stand up and bear
witness to the tyranny of England.


Then will the ruined halls, abbeys,
shrines, and desecrated affairs of the land
bear witness to the fidelity of the people
and the tyranny of the ruler. Then will
the daisy clad hills and harmonious Wales
be filed with the people, and trains of
mermaids shall arise from the depths of
the Irish sea and join their fairy kindred
to assist the living daughters of Erin to
sing the anthem of the coming freedom of
the nation, and the music of the harp will
be borne on the breeze, and the song of
jubilee shall be heard, and halleluiahs shall
go up from every altar and freside of
poor old Fatherland. Then will the voices
of the sleeping patriots with whose names
you are familiar, call upon their country
men to strike the blow that will rend the
last link of Ireland's slavery forever And
the Fenians of old will burst the mountain
sides and forever make our native country
free Then, and not till then, will be a
glorious day for Erin. Then may the sa-
cred ashes of our fathers sleep in their ma
tive soil, unpolluted by the foot of foreign
foe. Then may all Irish men and women
say, "I have home and country, where
l may yet sleep in peace with the spirits of
my fathers and my kindred race"