Whatever censure may be attached to any portion of the career of the
founders of Fenianism, after the organization had become a recognized
power on both sides of the Atlantic, we cannot divest ourselves of the
settled impression, that the men who were mainly instrumental in calling
it into existence and sustaining its infancy, were actuated by the
purest motives. To be sure, Fenianism can scarcely be said to be the
embodiment of a new idea, or the exponent of new principles; but, then,
there was a masterly grouping of energies and sentiments in connection
with it, which possessed the merit of originality, and which tended so
largely, not only to popularize it, but to give it a foothold on every
Irish national hearthstone. In the selection of the name by which the
organization was to be distinguished, there was a clearness of judgment
as well as a thorough acquaintance with the necessities of the case,
that cannot fail to strike any impartial observer. Had the Brotherhood
been organized under any commonplace appelation, or under any of
the various names that had characterized the previous revolutionary
societies of Ireland, the probability is, it would have long since
fallen into line with those convivial associations, which content
themselves with an annual exposition of the grievances of Ireland, over
the short leg of a turkey, a “bumper of Burgundy,” and that roar of
lip artillery, against the usurper, which dies away in a few maudlin
hiccups, about two o’clock in the morning, to be revived only at the
expiration of another twelve months. Under the burden of any commonplace
name, such, we say, might have been the fate of the organization ere
this; and so we regard the knowledge and genius which obviated the
possibility or rather the probability of failure in this relation, as
entitled to prominent consideration and respect. To the superficial
observer, this may appear of very little moment in connection with
a subject of such magnitude; but let it be understood, that we are
influenced by seeming trifles and the surface of things to an extent far
greater than we ourselves are willing to confess. Notwithstanding the
oft repeated query, “what’s in a name?” there is a great deal in a name.
Let two strangers, Mr. Harold Bloomfield and Mr. John Smith send in
their cards together to an important official, of whom they expect to
get an audience separately, and the chances are nine out of ten in
favor of Mr. Bloomfield’s being granted an interview first. This, we
apprehend, holds good in a thousand kindred instances, and in no way has
the supposition been more clearly verified than in relation to the name
bestowed upon the organization under consideration.
The name “Fenian” is of very remote antiquity, and appears to be most
comprehensive in its signification, and to be peculiarly adapted to
the great confraternity of patriots which now engrosses so much of the
history of passing events. There seems to be nothing sectional in it.
It is national in the broadest sense of the term, and primative and
forcible to intensity. In some annotations to the Annals of the Four
Masters we find that the ancient Fenians were called by the Irish
writers _Fianna Eirionn_ signifying the Fenians of Ireland, and
mentioned under the name of Fene, or Feine, which, according to Dr.
O’Conor, signifies the Phenicians of Ireland, as Feine, according to Dr.
O’Brien, in his dictionary, at the word Fearmiugh, signifies Phenicians;
as they were probably called so from the tradition that Phenicians came
to Ireland in the early ages. They are also called by the Irish writers
_Clann-Ua-Baois-gine_, and so named, according to Keating and others,
from Baoisgine, who was chief commander of these warriors, and ancestor
of the famous hero Fionn, the son of Cumhall; but according to O’Conor,
in his notes to the Four Masters, they were called Baoisgine, as being
descended from the Milesians who came from Basconia, in Spain, now
Biscay, in the country anciently called Cantabria. The Fenian warriors
were a famous military force, forming the standing national militia, and
instituted in Ireland in the early ages, long before the Christian era,
but brought, to the greatest perfection in the reign of the celebrated
Cormac, monarch of Ireland in the third century. None were admitted into
this military body but select men of the greatest activity, strength,
stature, perfect form, and valor, and, when the force was complete, it
consisted of thirty-five _Catha_, that is, battalions or legions, each
battalion containing three thousand men, according to O’Halloran and
various other historians, making twenty-one thousand for each of the
five provinces, or about one hundred thousand fighting men in time of
war for the entire kingdom. The _Ardrigh_, or head king of Ireland,
had, for the time being, chief control over these forces, but they often
resisted his authority. A commander was appointed over every thousand
of these troops, and the entire force was completely armed and admirably
disciplined, and each battalion had their own bands of musicians and
bards to animate them in battle, and celebrate their feats of arms. In
the reign of the monarch Cormac, the celebrated Fionn MacCumhaill,
who was descended from the Heremonian kings of Leinster, was the chief
commander of the Fenian warriors, and his great actions, strength
and valor are celebrated in the Ossianic poems, and various other
productions of the ancient bards; he is called Fingal in MacPherson’s
Poems of Ossian; but it is to be observed that these are not the real
poems of Ossian, but mostly fictions fabricated by Mac Pherson himself,
and containing some passages from the ancient poems. Fionn had his chief
residence and fortress at Almhuim, now either the hill of Allen,
near Kildare, or Ailinn, near old Kilcullen, where a great rath still
remains, which was a residence of the ancient kings of Leinster. The
Fenians were the chief troops of Leinster, and were Milesians of the
race of Heremon; and their renowned commander Fionn, according to the
Four Masters, was slain by the cast of a javelin, or, according to
others, by the shot of an arrow, at a place called _Ath Brea_, on the
river Boyne, A.D. 283, the year before the battle of Gaura, by the
Lugnians of Tara, a tribe who possessed the territory now called the
barony of Lune, near Tara, in Meath; and the place mentioned as Ath
Brea, or the Ford of Brea, was situated somewhere on the Boyne, between
Trim and Navan.
In the reign of king Cairbre Liffeachair, son of the monarch Cormac,
the Fenian forces revolted from the service of Cairbre, and joined the
famous Mogh Corb, King of Munster, of the race of the Dalcassians. After
the death of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the Fenians were commanded by his son
Oisin or Ossian, the celebrated warrior and bard; and at the time of
the battle of Gaura, Osgar, another famous champion, the son of Oisin,
commanded the Fenian forces. The army of Munster, commanded by Mogh
Corb, a name which signifies the Chief of the Chariot, and by his son
Fear Corb, that is, the man or warrior of the chariot, was composed of
the Clanna Deagha and Dalcassian troops, joined by the Fenians and their
Leinster forces; and it is stated in the Ossianic poems, and in Hanmer’s
Chronicle, from the Book of Howth, that a great body of warriors from
North Britain. Denmark and Norway, came over and fought on the side of
the Fenians at Gaura. The army of the monarch Cairbre was composed
of the men of Heath and Ulster, together with the Clanna Morna, or
Connaught warriors, commanded by Aodh or Hugh, King of Connaught, son of
Garadh, grandson of Moraa of the Damnonian race. The Munster forces, and
Fenians, marched to Meath, where they were met by the combined troops of
the monarch Cairbre, and fought one of the most furious battles recorded
in Irish history, which continued throughout the whole length of a
summer’s day. The greatest valor was displayed by the warriors on each
side, and it is difficult to say which army were victors or vanquished.
The heroic Osgar was slain in single combat by the valiant monarch
Cairbre, but Cairbre himself soon afterwards fell by the hand of
the champion Simon, the son of Ceirb, of the race of the Fotharts of
Leinster. Both armies amounted to about fifty thousand men, the greatest
part of whom were slain; of the Fenian forces, which consisted of twenty
thousand men, it is stated that eighteen thousand fell, and on both
sides, thirty thousand warriors were slain. In the following year,
Hugh, king of Connaught, according to O’Flaherty’s Ogygia, defeated the
Munsters forces in battle at Spaltrach, near the mountain Senchua, in
Muscry, in which he slew Mogh Corb, king of Munster. The tremendous
battle of Gaura is considered to have led to the subsequent fall of
the Irish monarchy, for after the destruction of the Fenian forces, the
Irish kings never were able to muster a national army equal in valor
and discipline to those heroes, either to cope with foreign foes, or to
reduce to subjection the rebellious provincial kings and princes; hence
the monarchy became weak and disorganized, and the ruling powers were
unable to maintain their authority or make a sufficient stand against
the Danish and Anglo-Norman Invaders of after time.
From what is here stated, it must be obvious, that no more appropriate
name than that of “Fenian” could be given to the organization which now
holds the destiny of Ireland in its hands, and which has ramified itself
throughout almost every portion of the habitable globe.
We have already observed that the selection of this name was judicious
in more than one relation. In the first place, it was far removed from
that of any of the well known cognomens which had characterized so
many of the noted revolutionary associations that had already failed
in Ireland, and, in this respect, was strong; being free from any
unpleasant reminiscences; while, from the fact of its import not being
generally known to the masses, it stimulated enquiry on the part of
the curious or weak nationalists which resulted in the most salutary
consequences. The rarity of the name led to newspaper expositions of it,
and moved the inquiring patriot to look into Irish history in relation
to it; and in this manner a knowledge of much of the ancient greatness
of Ireland became the common property of those who were formerly but
slightly acquainted with such lore. The result was, thousands of the
Irish became interested in relation to the past of their race; for, in
connection with this name there was that which was calculated to arouse
the spirit of patriotism within them and lead them on to a further
perusal of the annals of their country.
It is evident, then, that no common appelation could have been fraught
with such beneficial results; as there would have been nothing connected
with it to stimulate enquiry or research. Repealers, Irish National
Leagues, Whiteboys, Rockites, United Irishmen, &c., all had their
day, and carried their meaning upon the surface; so that it was really
necessary to give the new organization some occult, comprehensive and
characteristic name, that would separate it in this aspect from all
the Irish revolutionary bodies that had preceded it, and place it
_en rapport_ with the great past of the nation which was the grand
receptacle of its traditions and source of its pride. Here, then, we
leave this part of the subject, without presuming that we have thrown
much more light upon the matter than has already been recognized by
those who have at all looked into it; for it must, we think, be obvious
to most Irish nationalists, that the energies and sentiments of their
patriotic countrymen, could never have been grouped so successfully
under any of the appelations just named, as they have been under that
of “Fenians”--given, as we have already perceived, to the great national
army of Ireland during the days of her early glory and power, and which
alone represented the nation as a whole.
It is not our province to dwell here upon the infancy of the
Brotherhood on either side of the Atlantic, or to enter into the various
difficulties and unpleasant circumstances to which it has been subjected
by alleged want of true patriotism and economy on the part of some
of its founders. Sufficient to say, that through all such alleged
obstructions it has struggled into the greatest and most powerful
organization that has ever existed in any age of the world, and is,
to-day, the mightiest and most invincible floating power that has ever
influenced the destinies of any people. Its friends are numbered by
millions and its members by hundreds upon hundreds of thousand. To its
ranks belong soldiers, statesmen and orators, men of large pecuniary
means and cultivated minds; cool heads and strong arms, and many guiding
spirits who need but little light save that which shines within them. In
addition, the sympathies of America and of every generous nation on the
face of the earth, are with it; so that it has triumphed in advance, in
a measure; for, backed by such influences, and actuated, as it is, by
impulses so pure and holy, not a solitary doubt can obtain in relation
to its ultimate success. True, that there are those who are thoughtless
or traitorous enough to designate it as antagonistic to religion, and
subversive, of the established order of things; but these, for the most
part, are persons who reason through their pockets or their prejudices,
and who are devoid of any thorough recognition of those great principles
which are applicable to nations as well as to individuals and which are
based upon the just doctrine, that resistence to tyrants is obedience to
God--persons who are so methodical and patient under the sufferings of
_others_, that they would pause to measure the precise length of rope
that, was necessary to reach a drowning man. In the day of Ireland’s
triumph, such people, will cone to confusion; as will those who have
withheld from her, in the period of her sore travail, the pecuniary aid;
which they could have well afforded out of their ample means, with a
view to relieving their kinsmen and suffering fellow countrymen from the
grasp of a tyrant the most inexorable that ever drew breath.
Were the Fenian organization confined entirely to Ireland, and did no
active outside sympathy obtain for that unfortunate country the day of
her redemption might be postponed to an indefinite period. So completely
are all the resources and defences of the land in the hands of the
English, that it would be difficult for the natives to make any
lengthened or effective stand against the usurper. England has her,
navy and her army to operate against any rising of the inhabitants, at
a moment’s warning; while every office in the kingdom, of the slightest
importance or trust, is in the hands of her minions. Again, among some
of the recreant sons of the soil, she has, alas too ample scope for the
use of her accursed gold; and thus it is; that to cope singled handed
with her against such fearful odds, would involve oceans of blood, both
on the field and on the scaffold. When, however, we come to dwell on
the fact, that outside and beyond her control or reach, another body
of Irish, which has been aptly termed a nation within a nation--when
it comes to be understood, we say, that on the shores of free America a
mighty and invincible Brotherhood has been built up, actuated by every
sentiment of hostility which fires the breast of the most implacable of
her enemies to-day, and that has for its aim and end an object in common
with the people of Ireland at her own doors, then we begin to perceive
how harrassed and powerless she must be. Neither her famine, fire
nor sword, can avail her here. Secure beneath the ample folds of the
glorious stars and stripes of the great Republic of America, and fired
with the love of free institutions, and taught in the great principles
of freedom by the liberty loving American people, this mighty band of
exiles, in connection with their children born beneath the folds of the
American flag, are steadily preparing to join fierce issue with her and
test, upon the open field, the prowess she has so often set forth as
superior to that of any other nation. This is what now disables and
paralyses her. Ireland is, for the time being, beneath her heel; but
what of the warlike hosts that loom in the western horizon and may soon
rush down on her like a wolf on the fold, and wedge her in between two
hostile walls? This is the great strength, of Ireland at the present
moment. Her energies are not walled in by the ocean or a British fleet
She is alive and active in other lands, and so powerful outside her own
borders, that there is no such thing as circumscribing her influence or
operations in so far as they relate to her struggles for independence.
It is, then, from America that she is to obtain her most effective aid;
and such being the case, it behooves the Irish nationalists on American
soil to be true and steady to the great purpose in which they are now so
ardently engaged; for so far, fortune has smiled upon them. The American
people sympathize with them and feel that while they are aiding them to
regain the long lost freedom of their country, they are bringing to
the dust the very self-same enemy that sought, by stealth and the most
cowardly means, to overthrow their own Commonwealth, and leave the Union
a hopeless ruin before the world. It is this which now hangs a millstone
about the neck of the British government, and which must ultimately
develope itself in active sympathy with any people who have for their
object the humiliation of the skull and cross-bones of St. George, on
this side of the Atlantic at least.
And so the ball rolls; hourly accumulating force and magnitude, and
destined, at no distant day, to sweep in upon Ireland and hurl the
invader from her shores. No power on earth can stay its onward course.
The freedom of Ireland is the creed of millions. The young lisp it;
strong men repeat it in every clime; and the old of both hemispheres
murmur it in their prayers. In short, it has taken a hold of the Irish
heart wherever a true pulse warms it to-day, and has so incorporated
itself with the hopes and aspirations of the Irish of all lands, that
fate itself must yield to its power and universality. Within the last
few years it has become part and parcel of the education of the Irish
people wherever they are found; whether beneath the burning zone, in
temperate latitudes or at the frozen poles; so that its ultimate success
is beyond any possible contingency; from the fact that there never was a
sentiment so widely spread and so religiously cultivated and cherished,
that failed to accomplish all that it would attain.