=Source.=--_Annual Register_, 1865; _English History_, pp. 172–174.
The new conspiracy, commonly known by the name of “Fenian,” was only
another development of that deep-seated disaffection and alienation
from England which had been in past times the source of so many crimes
and outrages, so many secret societies and smouldering insurrections,
which had made coercive laws and a standing garrison the indispensable
instruments of government in Ireland. The conspiracy which was this
year brought to light, but was happily checked before it arrived at any
outbreak, was larger in extent, more daring in its objects and, in some
respects, more formidable in nature than any similar movement of late
years. Of the name by which it was distinguished, various explanations
have been given, but the most probable is that it was derived from
Fionn, a celebrated chieftain who lived before the conversion of
Ireland to Christianity, and who is the same as the hero of Macpherson,
Fingal. By the modern Irish this individual is styled Finn Mac Cool.
The Fenians were the men or people of Finn. They formed in the period
above mentioned a sort of standing militia or warlike caste, whose
office it was to protect the country from aggression, and support
the power of the kings, in return for which service they received a
certain allotment of land and other privileges. The leaders of the
present movement, no doubt, saw an advantage in connecting their party
with the historical and traditionary glories of Ireland. But whatever
may have been the origin of the name, the thing itself was simply a
scheme of rebellion against the English Government, organised in the
United States, having its centre of rule and administration there,
and intended to combine the numerous Irish settlers in that country,
men for the most part bitterly hostile to English rule, with the
disaffected in various parts in Ireland, in a great effort to throw off
by force the yoke of the British Crown, and to take the whole power and
property of the island into their own hands....
The Fenian Society had its chiefs, its officers, both civil and
military, its common funds and financial agencies, its secret oaths,
passwords, and emblems, its laws and penalties, its stores of concealed
arms and weapons, its nightly drills and trainings of men, its
correspondents and agents in various quarters, its accredited journals,
and even its popular songs and ballads, all designed to extend its
influence and to gain adherents from various quarters, not excepting
the soldiers in the British army, and the warders in the gaols.... By
their vain parade, their boastful language, and the unseemly squabbles
among their rival factions, the Fenian leaders in America exposed
their association to no little ridicule and contempt.... There was one
feature in this form of disaffection which distinguished it in a marked
manner from preceding combinations. Most of the plots and fraternities
which have for some time back menaced the peace of Ireland have had
more or less of a theological character. They have been animated by a
fierce hostility to the Protestant Church and its partisans, while they
have professed submission and respect to the Roman Catholic faith and
priesthood. But the Fenian movement made no such profession. It did
not seek any countenance from the spiritual authorities of the popular
creed, nor any aid from religious zeal and fanaticism. On the contrary
its members openly proclaimed their enmity to the Romish hierarchy and
priesthood, including them as well as all holders of political power,
and all owners of property, of whatever creed in their denunciations,
as the enemies of the nation, who were to be swept away and destroyed.