ARREST OF HEAD-CENTRE STEPHENS. (See p. [375].)
In the possession of one of the convicted prisoners, by name Moore, a blacksmith, was found a pamphlet containing the rules and by-laws of the Fenian Brotherhood, from which the following passages are extracted. They are sufficient to show that the abortive Fenian movement was a thing that had been undertaken in earnest by serious men.
"CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.
"1. The Fenian Brotherhood.—The Fenian Brotherhood is a distinct and independent organisation. It is composed, in the first place, of citizens of the United States of America, of Irish birth and lineage; and in the second place, of Irishmen, and of friends of Ireland, living elsewhere on the American continent, and in the provinces of the British Empire wherever situated. Its headquarters are, and shall be, within the limits of the United States of America. Its members are bound together by the following general pledge:—
"2. General Pledge.—I [...] solemnly pledge my sacred word of honour as a truthful and honest man, that I will labour with earnest zeal for the liberation of Ireland from the yoke of England, and for the establishment of a free and independent Government on the Irish soil; that I will implicitly obey the commands of my superior officers in the Fenian Brotherhood; that I will faithfully discharge my duties of membership as laid down in the constitution and by-laws thereof; that I will do my utmost to promote feelings of love, harmony, and kindly forbearance among all Irishmen; and that I will foster, defend, and propagate the aforesaid Fenian Brotherhood to the utmost of my power.
"3. Form of Organisation.—The Fenian Brotherhood shall be subdivided into state organisations, circles, and sub-circles. It shall be directed and governed by a Head Centre, to direct the whole organisation; State Centres, to direct state organisations; Centres, to direct circles; and Sub-Centres to direct sub-circles. The Head Centre shall be assisted by a central council of five; by a Central Treasurer, and Assistant Treasurer; by a Central Corresponding Secretary, and a Central Recording Secretary; and by such intermediate officers as the Head Centre may from time to time deem necessary for the efficient working of the organisation.
"4. The Head Centre shall be elected annually by a general congress of representatives of the Fenian Brotherhood, which congress shall be composed of the State Centres and the Centres, together with elected delegates from the several circles of the organisation—each circle in good standing being entitled to elect one delegate."
This document is sufficient to show the kind of organisation and the nature of the designs of the brotherhood. Although a prosecution had been resolved upon before it came into the hands of the authorities, enough was known to make severe measures not only justifiable, but necessary, if Ireland was to be saved from civil war. Lord Wodehouse (afterwards created Earl of Kimberley) was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland at the time, and the credit or responsibility of most of the measures taken rests with him. The blow of authority first fell on the press. A paper called The Irish People had for some time been published in Dublin and widely circulated, which made no secret that its design was to incite the people of Ireland to insurrection and to a forcible severance of the union with England. A Privy Council was held at the Castle on the evening of the 15th of September; Mr. Stronge, the Chief Magistrate, was instructed to draw out warrants; a strong body of police was told off for sudden duty. The warrants were given to the police and they were marched to Parliament Street to the office of The Irish People. Ten persons were arrested in the house, the principal of whom was O'Donovan Rossa; and an immense amount of letters, printed papers, type, and numerous important lists of Fenians were seized and carried off to the Castle yard. Very little disturbance and absolutely no resistance ensued. Nor was any greater difficulty encountered by the Cork police, who made a descent upon the Fenians in that city at the same time. Indeed, the Irish police in general showed themselves very active at this juncture and many of the southern towns were the scene of interesting captures. Each important arrest led to more, or gave a direction to the search, from the discovery of papers compromising other people. One person, for instance, who gave his name as Charles O'Connell, but whose real name was Rafferty, was arrested as he entered Queenstown harbour in a steamer from New York. He had been an American captain and his papers gave an illustration of the aid which Fenian agents had received from officers of high rank on the Federal side.
There were at this time two Head Centres—one in the United States (John O'Mahony), and one in Ireland (James Stephens). This latter—a personage of the highest importance in the brotherhood—was known under many names; his commonest designations being "J. Powell," and "James Stephens;" though he occupied his comfortable house in the neighbourhood of Dublin under the name of James Corbett. Stephens, it ought to be related, had passed three years in the country previous to the establishment of The Irish People. He had traversed and re-traversed the country in a variety of disguises and under a cloud of aliases, sounding the peasantry as to their readiness for rebellion and succeeding even in corrupting the loyalty of small portions of the Irish regiments. He went so far as to try his capacity for "organisation" by making overtures to the Orangemen of the North, but his advances were coldly repelled. The movement, however, was doomed to failure almost from its inception. When the long-threatened blow was on the eve of being struck, discontent broke out amongst the rank and file of the insurrectionary battalions. Hundreds of men who had worn the American uniform were starving in the garrets and kennels of Dublin and London; whilst the great Head Centre and financial fountain himself was living in an extravagant manner. Disgusted at their treatment, about fifty of the immigrants proposed to end the matter promptly by shooting him and precipitating a rebellion on their own responsibility. Stephens was warned of the plot and took steps to pacify his infuriated subordinates. He distributed money amongst them freely and to this sudden outburst of judicious liberality he probably owed his life. This generosity came too late, for America unexpectedly ceased to send supplies and the old murmurings broke out again with redoubled vehemence. This it was that broke the back-bone of the conspiracy and saved Ireland from the horrors of civil war. The police discovered that this James Corbett was the man they were in search of and accordingly surrounded his house early one morning. They met with little resistance, though Stephens and his friends were well supplied with arms. In the same house with Stephens three other prominent Fenians were arrested, one of them being the "Charles J. Kickham" who had been looked for ever since the razzia upon The Irish People newspaper. When the prisoners were brought up for examination, Stephens protested most indignantly against the very existence of the law under which he was to be tried; he refused to take measures for his defence and defied punishment. As it happened, and as perhaps he had guessed beforehand, he never came in want of legal assistance or in danger of punishment. "Bolts and bars could not hold him." He escaped from Richmond Bridewell on the night of November 24, and no amount of police activity or Government reward could secure his recapture. The naked truth is, that at a meeting of the Fenian Secret Council, held in Townsend Street, in Dublin, on the morning of November 22, it was decided to spend £250 in rescuing the imprisoned chief. The service had been offered, the reward was punctually paid, and the "General," as his followers called him, was rescued from his gaolers. It was plainly impossible that an escape of the kind, managed simply by unlocking seven of the prison doors one after another, could have been effected without collusion with some official or other. So Government thought, and suspended the governor of the gaol, and got Byrne, the turnkey, committed for trial. But Stephens never came back. It was not without reason that he had defied English punishments.