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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: FAT-FLA |
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FENIANS, or FENIAN BROTHERHOOD , the name of a modern Irish-American revolutionary secret society, founded in America by John O'Mahony (18161877) in 1858. The name was 'derived from an anglicized version of fiann, feinne, the legendary band of warriors in Ireland led by the hero Find Mac Cumaill (see FINN MAC COOL; and CELT
York
Skibbereen
movement
was supported preached a savage vendetta against the land-owners, who were to be shot down " as we shoot robbers and rats."' The movement
It was, however, some few years after the foundation of the Fenian Brotherhood before it made much headway, or at all events before much was heard of it outside the organization itself, though it is probable that large numbers of recruits had enrolled themselves in its " circles." The Phoenix Club conspiracy in Kerry was easily crushed by the government, who had accurate knowledge from an informer of what was going on. Some twenty ringleaders were put on trial, including Donovan, and when they pleaded guilty were, with a single exception, treated with conspicuous leniency. But after a convention held at Chicago under O'Mahony's presidency in November 1863 the movement began to show signs of life. About the same time the Irish People, a revolutionary journal of extreme violence, was started in Dublin by Stephens, and for two years was allowed without molestation by the government to advocate armed rebellion, and to appeal for aid to Irishmen who had had military training in the American Civil War. At the close of that war in 1865 numbers of Irish who had borne arms flocked to Ireland, and the plans for a rising matured. The government, well served as usual by informers, now took action. In September 1865 the Irish People was suppressed, and several of the more prominent Fenians were sentenced to terms of penal servitude; Stephens, through the connivance of a prison warder, escaped to France. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended in the beginning of 1866, and a considerable number of persons were arrested. Stephens issued a bombastic proclamation in America announcing an imminent general rising in Ireland; but he was himself soon afterwards deposed by his confederates, among whom dissension had broken out. A few Irish-American officers, who landed at Cork in the expectation of commanding an army against England, were locked up in gaol; some petty disturbances in Limerick and Kerry were easily suppressed by the police. In the United States, however, the Fenian Brotherhood, now under the presidency of W. R. Roberts, continued plotting. They raised money by the issue of bonds in the name of the " Irish Republic," which were bought by the credulous in the expectation of their being honoured when Ireland should be " a nation once again." A large quantity of arms was purchased, and preparations were openly made for a raid into Canada, which the United States government took no steps to prevent. It was indeed believed that President Andrew Johnson was not indisposed to turn the movement to account in the settlement of the Alabama claims. The Fenian " secretary for war " was General T. W. Sweeny (1820-1892), who temporarily (Jan. 1865-Nov. 1.166) was struck off the American army list
secret agent of the English government, held the position of " inspector-general of the Irish Republican Army," asserts that he " distributed fifteen thousand stands of arms and almost1 William O'Connor Morris, Ireland 1798-1898, p. 195. 255 three million rounds of ammunition in the care of the many trusted men stationed between Ogdensburg and St Albans," in preparation for the intended raid. It took place in April 1870, and proved a failure not less rapid or complete than the attempt of 1866. The Fenians under O'Neill's command crossed the Canadian frontier near Franklin, Vt., but were dispersed by a single volley from Canadian volunteers; while O'Neill himself was promptly arrested by the United States authorities acting under the orders of President Grant. Meantime in Ireland, after the suppression of the Irish People, disaffection had continued to smoulder, and during the latter part of 1866 Stephens endeavoured to raise funds in America for a fresh rising planned for the following year. A bold move on the part of the Fenian " circles " in Lancashire had been concerted in co-operation with the movement in Ireland. An attack was to be made on Chester, the arms stored in the castle were to be seized, the telegraph wires cut, the rolling stock on the railway to be appropriated for transport to Holyhead, where shipping was to be seized and a descent made on Dublin before the authorities should have time to interfere. This scheme was frustrated by information given to the government by the in-former John Joseph Corydon, one of Stephens's most trusted agents. Some insignificant outbreaks in the south and west of Ireland brought " the rebellion of 1867 " to an ignominious close. Most of the ringleaders were arrested, but although some of them were sentenced to death none was executed. On the 11th of September 1867, Colonel Thomas J. Kelly, " deputy central organizer of the Irish Republic," one of the most dangerous of the Fenian conspirators, was arrested in Manchester, whither he had gone from Dublin to attend a council of the English " centres," together with a companion, Captain Deasy. A plot to effect the rescue of these prisoners was hatched by Edward O'Meaher Condon with other Manchester Fenians; and on the 18th of September, while Kelly and Deasy were being conveyed through the city from the court-house, the prison van was attacked by Fenians armed with revolvers, and in the scuffle police-sergeant Brett, who was seated inside the van, was shot dead. Condon, Allen, Larkin, Maguire and O'Brien, who had taken a prominent part in the rescue, were arrested. All five were sentenced to death; but Condon, who was an American citizen, was respited at the request of the United States government, his sentence being commuted to penal servitude for life, and Maguire was granted a pardon. Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien were hanged on the 23rd of November for the murder of Brett. Attempts were made at the time, and have since been repeated, to show that these men were unjustly sentenced, the contention of their sympathizers being, first, that as " political offenders " they should not have been treated as-ordinary murderers; and, secondly, that as they had no deliberate intention to kill the police-sergeant, the shot that caused his death having been fired for the purpose of breaking open the lock of the van, the crime was at worst that of manslaughter. But even if these pleas rest on a correct statement of the facts they have no legal validity, and they afford no warrant for the title of the " Manchester martyrs " by which these criminals are remembered among the more extreme nationalists in Ireland and America. Kelly and Deasy escaped to the United States, where the former obtained employment in the New York
In the same month, November 1867, one Richard Burke, who had been employed by the Fenians to purchase arms in Birmingham, was arrested and lodged in Clerkenwell prison in London. While he was awaiting trial a wall
in Ireland and abroad carried on the same tradition and pursued the same policy in later years. In 1879, John Devoy, a member of the Fenian Brotherhood, promoted a " new departure " in America, by which the " physical force party " allied itself with the " constitutional movement " under the leadership of C. S. Parnell (q.v.) ; and the political conspiracy of the Fenians was combined with the agrarian revolution inaugurated by the Land League. See William O'Connor Morris, Ireland from 1798 to 1898 (London, 1898) ; Two Centuries of Irish History, 1691-187o, edited by R. Barry O'Brien (London, 1907); Henri Le Caron, Twenty-five Years in the Secret Service (London, 1892) ; Patrick J. P. Tynan, The Irish National Invincibles and their Times (London, 1896); Justin M'Carthy, A History of our own Times (4 vols., London, 188o). (R. J. M.) End of Article: FENIANS, or FENIAN BROTHERHOOD If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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