MF – 1865.12.12 – The Fenian Scare – St. Croix Courier – #128 – F12250
The Fenian Scare.
We copy to-day in full from the St. Croix Courier, the report of the meeting held at St. Stephen, to make provision for the defence of that part of the frontier from any Fenian raid that may be attempted. The people, it would appear, were not in the least alarmed, and with a prudence that is crowning proof of their perfect coolness, they determined to know who was to bear the cost before they resolved to make any preparations whatever. When told that if their Volunteers were called out the Province would defray the expense, they showed some alacrity in passing resolutions, and the Courier says that active measures have been taken to raise a second Volunteer Company.
The Governor, in a speech, the report of which, as the Courier states, was revised by himself, gives some idea of the character of the danger to be apprehended. It would seem not to be of a formidable nature, as he calculates that the mere show of such preparations as can be made in that small town will effectually ward it off, and he declared expressly that it is at worst not so great an evil as that caused by setting class against class, as is done – he more than hinted – by some who are not themselves so credulous as to believe such stories, and who are doing “a work that he did not think could be too harshly characterized.â€
It would be well if this complaint and remonstrance made by the Queen’s representative, in the discharge of what he believed to be his duty to his Sovereign and her subjects in this Province, had the effect he intended it should have; but the men who are engaged in the wicked work he so describes will persevere in it while it promises to be profitable, and yet profess to have no desire to array class against class, or to inflict on the community whose interests they profess to guard, that evil, the enormity of which the Governor so well [pourtrays].
The Journal is evidently one of those of whom the Governor speaks as engaged in this wicked work. Yet, commenting on the speech, it employs its usual hypocrisy, and says:
“The Lieutenant Governor’s remarks on the guilt of exciting class against class and race against race may be deemed unquestionably sound in principle, and yet we are not sure that they are fitted to produce the good effects which we are confident his Excellency had in view. It was not with a mere abstract topic that the was dealing, but with some occurrence of the day. It being conceded that it is very reprehensible to excite class against class, it must be admitted that the persons obnoxious to such a charge should be so well [defined], and the time or manner of their committing the offence so well specified, as to leave no doubt as to the persons who were intended. We very much regret that his Excellency’s remarks on this subject have not been more explicit.â€
Any one who knows how Mr. Fisher and Mr. Tilley and their friends canvassed York, how the Journal and Intelligencer and News and Reporter strive to excite alarm about Fenianism, and by [inuendoes] and hints and other such crafty means, as well as by more open assertions, to create the impression that Fenianism has [sympathisers] in this Province, and that the only way to save the Province from being gobbled up by them is to elect Mr. Fisher and the other nominees of the Canadian party, can not fail to understand precisely what the Governor [means]. The Journal betrays its consciousness of being amenable to the charge, and at the same time assuming a bullying tone, shows that it will persist in the same course. – It says:
“For our own part we have had no hesitation, from first to last, in chronicling the Fenian movements, so far as known, in the United States, Canada and Ireland, and in declaring that, mad and reckless as are these men, they may work a great deal of mischief, mulcting us in the expenses of defence, embroiling us with the United States, especially if the Fenians should get any privateers afloat, and in doing what in them lies to prevent the union and consolidation of the [Brish] North American Provinces. Their organs and advocates avow this object, and a section of the French Canadians opposed to the Government and to union, join the Fenians in their designs, declare they will ‘liberate’ Canada and extinguish Confederation.â€
To this no one would object; but when it says:
“It is well known that the publication of such an estimate of Fenianism is very distasteful to some of his Excellency’s advisers, but the feeling is surely not shared by his Excellency.â€
Then it employs falsehood of the most gross and unqualified kind to convert what would have been a comparatively harmless statement of facts, and surmises into a most flagitious attempt to alarm the public and destroy their confidence in those to whom, should danger really threaten, they must look for guidance and counsel. And when it pretends, as in the subjoined paragraph, that those who question the accuracy of its extravagant statements sympathise with the Fenians, and that those who naturally resent the infamous attempts of the party to represent them as identified with Fenianism, only feel hurt because of the animadversions made on it, the Journal labours most cunningly to excite the very felling of class against class, the growth of which His Excellency has reason to deplore:
“If our people generally, as it is to be hoped is the case, are free from the taint of Fenianism or any sympathy with it, except what crops out in one or two of our newspapers, they will not feel hurt by the animadversions made on Fenianism and its leaders, of whose traitorous and fraudulent designs his Excellency, himself, spoke very freely. Those, on the other hand, whose susceptibilities are wounded by such remarks, if any such there be, are hardly worth propitiating. They would make poor defenders of his Excellency and of the honor of our Queen. Considering the movements that are now going on in the United States and in Canada, and the tone of the press which either propagates or sympathizes with, Fenianism, the duty of all loyal men of all creeds and classes is plain. They should not be at all backward in expressing their sentiments, and they should take good care not to encourage the diffusion of disloyal and traitorous anti-British publications.â€
The Journal knows well that sympathy with Fenianism has never cropped out in any paper in the Province, and that itself and its fellows are the only papers that diffuse “disloyal and traitorous anti-British publications,†such as the Fenian Constitution and speeches of Fenian orators and articles from Fenian newspapers. The Journal is incorrigible. At its very start a career of falsehood, misrepresentation, and treachery was deliberately adopted; from this it can not be turned by any feeling of shame or remorse, and remonstrance is quite thrown away on it. Its proprietor is only to be influenced by more substantial considerations.
The Governor was not mistaken when he said:
“For himself he could only say that, were any attack made, there was no class on whose loyalty and readiness to defend their homes and their country he could more certainly rely than Her Majesty’s Roman Catholic subjects in this Province.
The Catholics who have chosen this Province as their home regard it as truly their country, in whose welfare they are as deeply interested as any other class of its inhabitants. They have done as much as any other to [develope] its resources, promote its prosperity and increase its wealth. In attachment to its free institutions, in ready and cheerful obedience to its wise, equitable and beneficent laws and in honest and faithful allegiance to its Government, they yield to no class of Her Majesty’s subjects. A better form of government they could not desire, and even if no higher or better motives influenced them, they assuredly would be as ready as others to protect the property which many of them have acquired by many years of incessant toil and strict frugality. Irish Catholics, semper et ugbique fideles, are loyal in this Province, for the best of all reasons – because loyalty here is reason and justice and common sense; is love of liberty and of independence, and the French Catholics are quite as loyal as the Irish. Did danger really threaten, they would be found in the van when the editor of the Journal and his faction, frightened like curs – valorous and noisy while danger was distant – fled howling to the rear.
MF – 1865.12.09 – Common Council – The Fenians – #127 – F12250
The Mayor read the following letter from the Lieut. Governor. It shows how causeless all the alarm and escapement of Wednesday were:
ST. ANDREWS, Dec. 7. 1865.
Dear Sir – I am sorry to perceive from the newspapers that general alarm appears to prevail at St. John in consequence of its being imagined there that I have received intelligence from Her Majesty’s Minister at Washington, of the intention on the part of the so-called Fenian Association to invade the Province and attack St. John. I have received no such information, and I do not believe that any ground exists for such an apprehension. It is certainly true that intelligence has reached me which leads me to fear that a plundering raid may possibly be made upon the frontier under cover of the Fenian organization – but, although a few armed men might do much mischief, destroy much property, and imperil many valuable lives in a small frontier town, close to the border, no attack of such a description could possibly be made on the City of St. John. A descent on St. John, to have the slightest chance of success must be made by a body of a very different character; and even were such an enterprise contemplated no force without a vessel at its command could attempt mischief there. Had I reason to entertain any [aprehensions] of such a character as those which appear to prevail, I need hardly say that it is to Saint John and not to the frontier that I should have at once repaired. I trust that you will take every means in your power to abate the excitement, which has been, in my opinion, to needlessly created. Here and at Saint Stephen the matter is perfectly understood and not the slightest alarm prevails. It is recognized that although there might be some danger were no precautions taken, the danger ceases as soon as the community is alive to its existence.
You have my permission to make this letter public.
I am, Yours very truly,
ARTHUR GORDON.
His Worship THE MAYOR St. John:
The majority of the Council seemed disposed to treat the alarm very lightly.
Several accounts passed. Mr. Jones asked authority to get the regulations drawn up by the Chief for the use of the Police Force printed. This created quite a discussion. The Mayor pointed out that the instructions seemed to provide for the creation of a new officer – a Superintendent or Inspector. Mr. Jones said that this was only to be one of the Sergeants selected by the Chief to take command in his absence, and that no additional expense would be caused; but several members thought the rules should be examined before they adopted them so far, and as Mr. Jones said he spent three hours in examining them, the majority refused to devote so much time to them at the Board, and after several motions they were referred to the Police Commission, although Mr. Jones said the Committee does not meet when he summons them.
MF – 1865.11.25 – Hon. T. D. McGee – Speech on the Fenians – #126 – F12250
When the Hon. T. D. M’Gee went to Ireland, nominally as one of the Commissioners to the Dublin Exhibition, he made a speech at Wexford which gave great offence to Irishmen everywhere. For the purpose of gaining the applause of the London Times, the Dublin Evening Mail, and the other papers which ever delight in representing the Irish as an inferior race, and to earn admission to the banquettings in London, Oxford, &c., of which he afterwards was proud to boast, he described the millions of Irish in the United States as utterly corrupt and degraded, depicting the very worst type of the worst class, the pot-house politician and electioneering rowdy, as the true representative of the great mass of the Irish Americans – the sensible, sober, prudent, and really patriotic being, according to him, the few who were exceptions to the almost universal rule. In a speech made some time after in London, before some parties connected with the Grand Trunk, he made similar statements, although he did not venture to go quite so far. The Times of course praised him and lauded the courage which he showed in telling what is called wholesome if unpleasant truths to the Irish people, and all the other known enemies of that people joined in his praise.
Of the Irishmen of Montreal who had sent Mr. M’Gee to the Legislature, very many naturally felt indignant at this wanton attack on their countrymen in the United States, and the gross calumnies poured upon them in their name, and some two hundred of them published an address in which they repudiated all participation in the disgraceful conduct of their representative. Mr. M’Gee and his immediate friends and followers felt that he had gone too far, and that something must be done to recover the ground he had lost. On his return to Montreal they tried to get up a demonstration of welcome at the Railway Station; but elaborate as had been their preparations, the hisses and groans drowned the cheers. After that they proposed to get up a dinner for him, but the political hacks and time servers were, some engaged at Quebec preparing for the Session, the others so far scattered that they would not be easily assembled, and as the dinner was at first intended as a sort of counter demonstration of the Irish of Montreal themselves, and it was found that few of these could be induced to attend the banquet – after some little flourish about Mr. M’Gee’s duties as a member of the Government, was postponed. Some time after he delivered an ill-digested lecture on “Cardinal Wiseman,” which every one knew was got up in a hurry in order to win back the Irish Catholics if possible.
Mr. M’Gee’s unpopularity among the people to whom he owes everything seems to be unabated and in order to counteract this as much as possible, his adherents determined to try to effect of the dinner which they had originally contemplated, and accordingly a dinner was given at the St. Lawrence Hall, Montreal, a few days ago, and all the influence of the Government and of the Grand Trunk was employed to procure the attendance of guests. It was desirable that as many men with Irish names as possible should be present, and place-holders were summoned from all parts of the two Provinces – yet the “Irish element,” as far as we can judge from reading the list of about two hundred names, was but poorly represented after all. Members of the Government were there; officials of the Grand Trunk were here; place-holders and jobbers were there: – but very few besides.
Mr. M’Gee made quite as good a use of Fenianism in his speech at this dinner as Mr. Fisher made of it in York. When Mr. M’Gee made his Wexford speech Fenianism was little thought of by any body. It was generally despised and disregarded, and Mr. M’Gee made but a passing allusion to it; but those who judge from the speech he made at the dinner must suppose that Mr. M’Gee’s sole offence is that he denounced Fenianism. Deliberately, [wilfully], with malice [prepense] and aforethought, to serve his own ends, he calumniated the whole Irish population of the United States, and now with an air of sweetest innocence, much injured, he pretends that he attacked only the Fenians. This he perhaps thinks a very clever dodge, and no doubt his colleagues and his adherents enjoyed it exceedingly; but they were all much mistaken if they supposed that any one could be deceived by such means, or that this attempt to shift his ground could be successful.
The greater part of Mr. M’Gee’s speech was an attack on the Fenians. The report of this part of his speech occupies several columns, and if his description be not an exaggeration, that body of Irishmen are not merely a an association of fools and knaves, or traitors, as others represent them, but the greatest fiends incarnate that ever cursed the earth with their presence. Himself an Irish Yankee who lived long with and upon the class he so describes, perhaps much weight is due to his evidence. – But with this we are little concerned.
We almost expected as we read, to find that after he had worked up his audience to the proper pitch of horror, &c., he would denounce those Irishmen in Montreal who signed the Address, or at least those who got it up, as Fenians; but he is too cunning for that. He had offended them too deeply already, and he knew that if members of the Executive and officials of the Grand Trunk had assembled to do him honour, it was because he was supposed to have some influence with the Irish, and that if by other calumnies, directed more immediately at themselves, he further alienated the Irish of Montreal, he would find few in Canada or in England to do him reverence. So with all the airs of a most indulgent patron, he assured his audience that the Canadian Irish are not quite so low or so depraved as their American cousins. For the comfort of those who may be inclined to place more reliance in the statement of so great a Confederate than on their own reasons and commonsense – of which their stock must be rather small – we publish this part of his speech in full:
“I think they set down their force in British America at the exact figure of 45,000 men. Well, Sir, all I can say is, that if the rest of their figures are as near the mark as these, they are a very formidable body of enemies – to the Truth! My reverend friend, the Archbishop of Halifax who was here the other day, assured me that Fenianism was entirely unknown within his jurisdiction. In Lower Canada it has neither a local habitation nor a name; and though, as I said at Wexford, there may be some of the species somewhere among us, since the number of fools, we are assured on good authority, is infinite, yet compared to the great, orderly, law-abiding, religious mass of the Provincial Irish, they are not a drop in the bucket, nor a bucket in Lake Ontario. Our friends from a distance, if they think it worth while, can speak for their own sections. I speak in presence of Irish gentlemen from almost every section of the country, and I say as to the alleged sympathy existing here, in the City and District of Montreal. I say all the statements that have appeared are shameful falsifications. What, I ask, is the character and position of the Irish Catholic inhabitants of this city and district? do not flatter them – I respect them too much to flatter them, but I believe every administrator of the law in this vicinity will bear me out when I say there is generally no more orderly or law-abiding portion of our population. Like the Western wheat when shipped through our cooler northern waters they avoided fermentation by taking the Canadian route. But if they are not so easily fermented as they are in New York, neither are they so apt to get damaged. They are a religious people, blessed with an exemplary clergy whom they honor and obey. No good cause appeals to them in vain, and I question it there are congregations in the city which, according to their means, more liberally respond to the call of every charity. Large numbers of them – about 2,000 in this city alone, are tax-paying proprietors. Another portion have stock in our Banks or deposits in the Savings Banks; still another are what we call in Canada, where no man denies his nativity, “Irishmen born here” – And these are the people – industrious, gainful, and generally respected – who are expected by the speculators in disaffection to change their nature in a night, to destroy trade, to stop employment, and rush into a general pillage and massacre of their friends and neighbors. We who know them, know that, having made their homes by hard labor, they will be found ready to defend them, if need be, by hard blows; that having a large and growing interest in Canada, they feel it to be their own country, and will guard it as their own. We know that, having full freedom in all matters, civil and religious, they need no new light from the dark lantern of the Fenian Know-Nothings. I call these Fenians Know-Nothings, for they are as far as we are concerned, a genuine duplicate of the original Know-Nothings. And they would no doubt, be backed up in their designs on Canada by the other Know-Nothings for purposes of their own. ‘To the Banks’ would be the cry of one set; ‘to the Convents’ of the other. The hate of Cain, and the cupidity of Judas, and the lust of Belial, would be the inspiration of these well sorted allies, for the objects of all would be plunder, and all kinds of outrage. Who for a moment supposes that any man dwelling among us, buying, selling, and mingling freely with his fellow-citizens, would lend himself to such villainy. I repeat for the Irish inhabitants of this section of Canada that there are no grounds for so foul a slander, and I am happy in this respect to echo the declaration of our national Society at its last monthly meeting, in the resolution proposed by our Secretary, Mr. Clarke, and seconded by Mr. O’Mears, ‘That the Irish-Catholics of this Province, in the event of any emergency requiring their assistance, will be found in the future, as they have been in the past, ever ready and willing to defend the cause of law and order.’ There was not a dissentient voice to that resolution, and there would not have been had it been put to the whole of the class represented by the Society. It is well the true state of feeling should be known; nothing ought and nothing can (if the facts alone are needed) shake our mutual confidence in each other.”
“Let no man attempt to embody us, at any time, by sect or class, or race or society – such distinctions will and must exist, but in the presence of those who speculate on our divided interest – of those who would be the only gainers by such divisions – let all such distinctions be buried and forgotten. The care of Canada is no man’s monopoly but every man’s equal and bounden duty; in the discharge of that duty, if called upon actively to discharge it, we shall know, till it is over, neither Orangemen nor Catholics nor any other distinction but one, who are, and who are not, ready to defend their country. The Fenians in the United States feeling in their hearts for all their fustian about the glorious republic, that they are not really at home there; feeling that they have not conquered for themselves a new country in the New-World, may try to solace themselves with a conspiracy in lieu of a country. I am sorry that there has been some needless discussion couched in a different spirit; let it pass; let it be forgotten; but the Irish in Canada who (looking back to their small beginnings a few years ago) who have already made such headway – who already exercise by common consent so large a share of legitimate influence – they have a position to guard, and guard it they will, with national ardor and resolution. Mr. Chairman, in holding this language, I am morally certain I speak [speak] for 999 out of a thousand of all my countrymen in Canada; for all but a handful of those who are known as skeddadlers – runaways from the first and second American draft, who would not fight for the United States when they were in it, and who would be satisfied nowhere, under any form of government, that required duties to be discharged, in return for rights conceded. If there are any Fenian sympathizers among us, they are altogether of this class, and the Americans ought to know by this time what reliance to place upon them and their reports.”
We hope that this will console the editors of the Journal and Intelligencer, and their friend Mr. Fisher, and restore their peace of mind.
MF – 1865.10.31 – The Fenians – #125 – F12250
The Journal is suffering dreadfully in spirit – and its groanings are quite affecting – because we copied from the Dublin Nation a review of the Registrar General’s report on the condition of Ireland. The statistics in that article are the important part of it, and these are all taken from the public official report. The Journal should therefore blame the Imperial Government rather for having published such startling dreadful statements at such a time to show the world why, though they must think Fenianism madness, they can not regard it as madness wholly without a cause. The wasting away of the Irish nation in its population, its industry, its wealth and even in the productions of its oil, and in the very number of the cattle, to make room for which men are removed, all reasonable men admit to be an evil, the remedy for which not even the sudden alarm about Fenianism prevents the leading English as well as Irish papers from discussing, precisely as our knowledge of the plottings of the Confederation conspirators should not prevent us from considering what would improve the condition of New Brunswick. IF in either case it were possible that the conspiracy could succeed, such discussions and considerations would be useless.
The Journal and its associates would fain use the Fenian scare for their own purposes. They would be delighted if it could be made useful in the York election next week. It is almost a wonder that they have not begun to assert that Fenianism exists in this Province, and that a rising ought to be dreaded. To be sure there is not the slightest grounds for making such an assertion, and perhaps they shrink from trying the credulity of their readers so far, and are afraid of the laugh that would be raised against them; but if they saw the slightest chance of gaining votes for Mr. Fisher by such means, they would not hesitate to say that all the Anti Confederates, Protestants as well as Catholics, Blue Noses as well as Irishmen, are Fenians and worse than Fenians.
MF – 1865.10.26 – The Fenians – #124 – F12250
We have read carefully all the reports we could find of the sayings and doings of the Fenian Congress held last week at Philadelphia, in order, if possible, to form some opinion of their real strength, resources and objects, and we must confess that we are somewhat puzzled. The reporters describe the seven or eight hundred delegates who assembled as intelligent, thoughtful, respectable men, and assert that they were all in high spirits and hopeful, and that is about all. A Mr. Meehan, who had just returned from Ireland, is said to have reported that the [organisation] in that country is wide spread and perfect, and that the recent arrests have not disturbed or weakened it in the least; but it was very easy to say all this. It is also said that a loan is to be raised immediately in the United States by the issue of Bonds of the Irish Republic, but they must be very sanguine indeed who invest their money in such securities, which will be quite as [unsaleable] as the Bonds of the Mexican Republic, now about to be issued for Thirty Millions of Dollars. One of the most remarkable features of the Convention was the attendance of a large number of United States officers in uniform, the principal of whom is Major General Sweeny of the regular army. We are surprised also to see it stated that a Canadian delegation attended. The persons composing that delegation can hardly expect to escape arrest and punishment if they return to Canada, against the Government of which they certainly have little cause of complaint. The detectives who watched the proceedings as closely as possible probably knew all about the Canadians on the very day of their arrival in Philadelphia, and the Canadian Government, we presume, are quite prepared to do their duty.
The following brief telegram contains nearly all that is publicly known of the work of the Convention:
“NEW YORK, Oct. 21. – The Herald’s Philadelphia dispatch says it was evident yesterday that the Fenian Congress had decided upon some important measure from the glad faces and earnest hand shakings of the delegates. Funds are promised the movement in abundance. The members of the Congress are personally to subscribe $500,000.”
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 21. – In the Fenian Congress to-day the committees on government, constitution, military affairs and finance, reported, and the reports were taken up section by section for adoption. In the afternoon the President of the Congress announced that B. Dorrn, Killian, Esq., delegate from Missouri, who had procured the unconditional release of John Mitchel, was present. This announcement electrified the assemblage, and three cheers were given for President Johnson, three for the United States, three for Mr. Killian and three for John Mitchel. When the cheering had in some measure subsided, it was moved and seconded that the Secretaries of Congress prepare a resolution conveying the grateful thanks of this Congress to Mr. Killian for his efforts in bringing about the release of John Mitchel.
“In the evening, after some discussion, the reports of the committees, with some amendments, were adopted. An Irish banner was presented to the chairman by the Canadian delegates. The congress then adjourned until Monday morning. The session will continue until Wednesday.”
The American papers are now retorting, and with much effect, on the English press, which, during the rebellion, was so fond of lecturing the United States Government, inculcating clemency and a careful regard of the legal and constitutional rights of States and individuals, censuring the suppression of newspapers, arbitrary, arrests, &c., &c. Even the Boston Post, one of the mildest and best conducted papers in the Union, indulges in this sort of retaliation. It says:
“The English papers work up the Fenian movement to stupendous dimensions, considering how harmless they affect to think it. The old Spanish armada was not more dreaded, nor was the invasion by a French naval force more of a bugbear, to frighten men as well as children with, than the expected fleet of American vessels, laden with arms, paper money, and real troops, and coming with intent to upset the rule of the British Government in Ireland and shatter the very brittle United Kingdom into small pieces. Thus far, some four hundred arrests are reported to have been made. One man is seized for publishing a newspaper with a discoverable national tone to it. Another, because he was found with a pair of pistols on his person. A third, because he got a little tipsy and sang a jolly Irish song with allusions to ‘the Green’ in it. A fourth because he was reported to have said that it was the intention of the Fenians to murder all the gentry far and near, and have the country to themselves. And so on through the chapter.
“The charges preferred against the prisoners seem trivial enough. It is said that five have already been committed to take their trial for high treason. No doubt the British government would be happy to have the poor fellows converted, even of constructive treason, and to make an example of them for their alleged bloodthirstiness in loving their own country too well, and a second example of itself for a magnanimity which it preached with such pharisaic unction to us, when we were all but overwhelmed by a rebellion without a parallel in modern times. We judge so, from the expressions of the leading English journals, which advise that no dalliance with this new rebellious development be permitted, but that the ulcer be taken out with the knife, mercilessly and with a firm hand.
“Let the journals of London and the other leading cities say what they will, it cannot be concealed that all England is in a flame of excitement over the discovered ramifications of Fenianism in Ireland. Nor in Ireland only, for it is feared that the organization spreads its roots through such cities as Liverpool; and ‘mines unseen’ in the British army, a very large portion of which is composed of Irishmen. In Dublin, in Cork, in Kilkenny, everywhere over the surface of the [Green] Isle, the purpose [wh ] the profession of Fenianism conceals has [raised] its threatening head, – as the Government [ ] believes, – and by the aid of an armed [pol ] [ ] Government expects to cow and quell it, not merely into submission but out of existence.
“To read the English accounts, including all the little details of the summary arrests that have been made are still making, one would suppose the whole affair was but a harmless shindy of a number of idle and overgrown boys, who could by no possibility do harm if they would. If we accept this statement for the truth, it only excites us to laughter over the [senseless] panic into which a handful of roguish lads are able to plunge a great nation. If something more than such a statement is required in order to understand the matter, and it is indeed true – as why should it not be? – that there does exist a wide-spread and powerful organization of men, whose serious intent is to throw off the yoke of a hated Government and set up a free nationality of their own. – then England ought to be the last to utter a complaint, with the syllables of her advice to us about the Southern States still ringing in our ears. She ought rather to let poor Ireland go in peace sending along with her every imaginable blessing on her departure.”
This must be very annoying to those who, even up the present day, lecture the Government of the United States on its policy and conduct towards rebels. How much better it would have been if, when the Irish Government thought proper to suppress this foolish conspiracy, the existence of which was notorious from the first, it imitated what was most reprehensible in the American mode of dealing with rebels and copperheads.