| Title: | The Fenian Brotherhood Letter |
|---|---|
| ID | 1424 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Herbert, Henry Fitz (Fenian Brotherhood)/1 |
| Year | unknown |
| Sender | Herbert, Henry Fitz |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Springfield, Mass., USA |
| Destination | unknown |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | Mr. Herbert writes on behalf of |
| Source | The Armagh Guardian, Friday 27 January 1880 |
| Archive | The Central Library, Belfast |
| Doc. No. | 9903230 |
| Date | 27/01/1880 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 30:03:99. |
| Word Count | 958 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | FENIAN BROTHERHOOD IN AMERICA. Sir,- One of the most extraordinary developments in the intense hostility which exists among Irishmen in America to the mother country is strongly illustrated by the formation in the States of the extensive organization known as the Fenian Brotherhood. This organization, not composed exclusively of Irishmen, nor even of Catholics, now numbers over half a million of men, and has at its disposal over 1,000,000 dollars, and already forms a powerful element in American politics. The movement for the formation of this body originated in Chicago, Illinois, about three years ago, and since then the organization has spread almost universally throughout the Northern States, and even gained a foothold in Canada. It was originally intended that the objects of the body should be kept profoundly secret, but it was an Irish organisation, and little by little, the objects at which the Fenians aimed leaked out, until now no secret whatever is made of the end in view, and in a call for a general convention of Fenians to be held at Cincinatti, Ohio, a few weeks hence, it is stated that "before the necessity for another convention exists the fires of liberty will be rekindled upon the altars of Ireland, and Irishmen from all parts of the world will be flocking back to the Emerald Isle to right the many centuries of British wrong". That the organization has consistency and the strength which unanimits gives there can be no doubt; neither can we doubt that it will finally involve the entire Irish element in the States, and by uniting Irish men everywhere in this country, enable them to wield a much-more powerful influence than heretofore, and an influence which will always be intensely adverse to Great Britain. Today the Fenians are in the most active state of progression. Every Irishman who can read and write, and who has no property at stake, is an "organizer" among the Fenians, and lodges are springing up with incredible rapidity. In their published documents the Fenians state their object to be simply to restore Ireland "to an independant position, such as it was before the union with England and Scotland", but in their daily conversation they talk of the Independence of Ireland, and this object they seek to accomplish by their secret organization, either by involving Great Britian and the Northern States in war, or by lighting the fires of revolt in Ireland itself. An active correspondence is kept up with the discontented in Ireland; the poorest labourer here subscribes his dollar towards the general fund, and arms are being purchased and distributed among the members of the body, and others are being stored for shipment to Ireland as opportunity offers. Each Fenian is solemnly pledged to promote revolt in Ireland, to hasten [thither?] at the first outbreak, and to sacrifice his life for the cause. In addition to this every member of the entire Fenian body of 500,000 men is pledged by a solemn oath to instantly take up arms against Great Britain in case of war being declared between that country and the Government claiming to represent the United States. The Fenians do not, as might at first appear probable, rest their chief hopes of success upon the probability of a rupture between Great Britain and the Government of Washington. They seem to know somehow that such an essentially selfish people as the Americans will never go to war for the sake of the Irish whom they flatter, whose votes they buy and sell, and whom they despise with a depth of contempt which is perfectly astonishing when one considers to what an extent the Yankees are under obligations to the Irish; the Fenians do not rest their hopes of success on this so much as upon the feasibility of raising a revolt in Ireland. The idea that obtains among them is that it would be possible to land surreptitiously an organized body of 10,000 Fenian brothers [in?] Ireland, and then proceed to "regenerate" their beloved isle after their own fashion and to "cripple England, the enemy of democracy". It never seems to occur to those misled men that the peaceable inhabitants of Ireland might object to be regenerated, or that England might have something to say about being "crippled". Ireland, they say, is all ready; and it must be admitted that the only sources of information which most of those ignorant men possess - viz., the correspondence of their friends and relatives in Ireland, tends to confirm their decision. The American politicians carefully foster the hallucination under which these men labour. The Springfield Republican, which is about the most candid exponent of American opinion in this country and which is conducted by the first newspaper talent in New England, says of them that "the objects at which they aim will keep them on the right side of American politics." And it probably will, for "the right side" of American politics is hatred to England, not because she is the enemy of democracy, but because they consider, with a lately deceased politician, "that it is proposterous that the inhabitants of a little island in the middle of the ocean should govern one quarter of the habitable globe, and rule 150,000,000 of people." Whether the gentleman's estimate is correct or not the principle is the same. Inordinate national vanity and [?] say are the parents of bitter hatred. It is impossible for one who has watched the Fenians as the writer has no doubt their mischievous intentions or their ability to create trouble. Whatever they might attempt would, of course, result in disastrous failure for them. In the meantime it would be well to convince them beforehand of the chimerical nature of their projects, and so confound them at the start.- Yours truly, HENRY FITZ HERBERT, (in [?] Times). Springfield, Massachusets Dec.26. |
