FENIANS 125 impulse in both countries. The Fenian broth- erhood, when O'Mahony was first placed at its head, numbered 40 members, all in New York city ; it now extended its ramifications all over the United States, and even into British America and Australia, while in Great Britain it estab- lished " circles " wherever Irishmen were to be found. Stephens divided his followers into four classes : A, colonels, in command of battal- ions ; B, captains, commanding companies of 100 men ; 0, sergeants, at the head of 20 men ; D, privates. " Unreserved obedience to orders, absolute discretion in communicating with out- siders, and active zeal in extending the organ- ization," were the main principles inculcated on all. Catholics in Ireland were prohibited by law from possessing firearms ; hence one of the great difficulties of carrying out any ag- gressive movement. But smithies for the man- ufacture of pikes were stealthily established in many places. This deficiency of firearms, and the want of preconcerted action among the leaders, combined with other reasons, caused the failure of the enterprise in Ireland. In the United States up to 1863 the Fenian or- ganization was but little known and less un- derstood. Americans saw men assembling by night, and quietly drilling ; but they were con- founded with the military organizations every- where existing, and were supposed to be made up of working men who could meet for drill at no other time. The " circles " established in all American cities furnished not a few regi- ments at the commencement of the civil war. After the first battle of Bull Run, and the re- turn to New York of the 69th regiment, the "Irish Brigade " under Thomas Francis Meagher was formed ; the movement was imitated else- where, even in the south, and the Fenian ele- ment was active in filling up the ranks of volunteer regiments. "When in 1862 Michael Corcoran was liberated from a southern prison, his prominent position as a Fenian leader served not a little to draw the organization into the Union ranks, with, the ulterior hope of using the military experience thus acquired in the cause of Ireland. This raised the hopes of Stephens and his confederates in Ireland. Early in 1863, T. 0. Luby, one of the Irish leaders, came to America, and not only visited in com- pany with O'Mahony the principal Fenian cen- tres in the United States, but was allowed to penetrate the lines of the Union army, and to hold meetings at the headquarters of Irish regi- ments. This tour raised on both sides of the Atlantic expectations of speedy success. On 3, 1863, the American organization, or Fenian brotherhood, held its first "national congress " in Chicago, the delegates represent- ing 15.000 enrolled Fenians, one half of whom were in the Union army. This assembly pro- claimed the Fenian brotherhood to be strictly in accordance with the laws of the United States, ignored partisan politics and differences in religion, and declared the Irish people to be a distinct nationality, with James Stephens as its head, to whom, with central officers elected by an annual congress, state officers elected by state organizations, and " centres " elected by circles, the direction of affairs should be in- trusted. A grand fair, ostensibly for the re- lief of Irish sufferers, but in reality to aid the Fenian brotherhood, was held in Chicago at the close of this congress, and contributed a large amount to the treasury. The cause had hitherto had no official organ in Ireland. Im- mediately on his return to that country, how- ever, was published the first number of the " Irish People " in Dublin, Nov. 28, 1863. The bold utterances of this sheet caused the police to watch every movement at the various cen- tres of Fenian activity. On Feb. 23, 1864, a riot occurred at a public meeting in the Rotun- da, Dublin, in which Mr. A. M. Sullivan, who had openly attacked the "I. R. B.," was, to- gether with his adherents, " the national party," ejected by the Fenians. The numbers of the latter, and the perfect discipline with which they acted in their attack on the opposing fac- tion, were a revelation to the authorities, while the victory itself was to the friends of Ireland prophetic of the dissensions destined to mar every attempt at revolution. Stephens again returned to the United States in March, 1864, and visited the different corps of the Union armies, under the pseudonyme of Captain Daly. The prudence and secrecy which always char- acterized the movements of this leader found but few imitators among his followers. The bravado with which the Irish press in America and the " Irish People " in Dublin spoke of the near liberation of Ireland, and the enthu- siasm expressed by the Irish masses at home and abroad, served the British government effectively. Stephens left New York at the end of July, his presence having given an extraordinary impulse to the spread of the brotherhood. When the second Fenian con- gress assembled in Cincinnati, Jan. 17; 1865, the circles had increased five fold, and the financial receipts exceeded the total of the seven previous years. A report from an agent sent to Ireland stated that the masses were desi- rous of revolution, and that the middle classes, though hesitating, would in extremity act with the patriots. The surrender of the confeder- ate armies and the disbandment of the Union forces left free those Irish officers and soldiers on whom were centred mainly the expectations of the revolutionists. Many of these officers now went to Great Britain; and about this time disaffection began to spread among the Irish troops in the British service. It was no longer a secret that the " Fenian conspiracy " had its ramifications all over Great Britain as well as Ireland. On Sept. 8 a proclamation from Stephens was circulated among the circles in Ireland, announcing that the time for action had come. " I speak with a knowledge and authority to which no other man could pre- tend," he says, in concluding; "the flag of Ireland, of the Irish republic, must this year
