| Title: | Henry Fitzherbert, Massachusetts to "Dear Sir" |
|---|---|
| ID | 1058 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Fitzherbert, Henry/2 |
| Year | 1865 |
| Sender | Fitzherbert, Henry |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Springfield, Mass., USA |
| Destination | The Times |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | unknown |
| Source | The Belfast News-Letter, Thursday, 19 January, 1865 |
| Archive | The Central Library, Belfast |
| Doc. No. | 106422 |
| Date | 19/01/1865 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, Td by JT, 22:06:01. |
| Word Count | 896 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | THE FENIAN BROTHERHOOD IN AMERICA. The following letter, signed " Henry Fitzherbert," and dated from Springfield, Massachusetts, December 26th, appears in the Times:- " Sir - One of the most extraordinary developments of 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 organisation known as the Fenian Brotherhood. This organisation, not composed exclusively of Irishmen, nor even of (Roman) Catholics, now numbers over half-a-million of men, and has at its disposal over 1,000,000 dols. [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 organisation 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 Cincinnati, 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 organisation has the consistency and the strength which unanimity 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 Irishmen 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. " To-day 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 'organiser' 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 independent position, such as it was before the union with England and Scotland,' but in their daily conversation they talk of the entire independence of Ireland, and this object they seek to accomplish through their secret organisation, either by involving Great Britain 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 at Washington. They seem to know somehow that such an esentially 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 organised body of some 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 these 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 these ignorant men possess - viz. the correspondence of their friends and relatives in Ireland - tends to confirm their delusion. " The American politicians carefully foster the hallucination under which these men labour. They consider, with a lately deceased American politician, 'that it is preposterous 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 jealousy are the parents of bitter hatred. " It is impossible for one who has watched the Fenians as the writer has to 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." (Transcribed by James Tuff) |
