From a Photograph] [by Beattie, Hobart.
HOBART, TASMANIA.
Tasmania, formerly known as Van Diemen’s Land, was taken possession of by the British in 1803. It was governed from Sydney until 1825, when it became an independent province; and it received its existing Constitution in 1855. Population (1895), 160,834; imports, £1,094,457; exports, £1,373,063.
From a Photograph] [by Beattie, Hobart.
LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA.
The stream of emigration westward which set in after the Irish famine in 1848 had resulted in creating a very large Irish population in the United States. All these emigrants had brought with them a bitter hatred of England, on whom they laid the blame of all the sufferings of their own people. They had found in America the true remedy for their wrongs, which, had they realised it, arose not so much from political, as from physical causes. By moving to a spacious land where labour was in demand, they escaped from the evils which must always press upon a congested population with no proper outlet for its energy. But still they loved old Ireland and hated England, and, finding themselves of political importance in the new land, for the Irish vote soon became indispensable to the Democratic party, they busied themselves with projects for the deliverance of their country. They found plenty of encouragement from Americans, for the feeling in the Northern States was very bitter against England after the close of the civil war. Thousands of Irishmen had learnt the art of war and the use of weapons in the Federal armies; a military organisation was set on foot in the belief that Great Britain and the United States were on the point of going to war. |The Fenians.| This organisation, which adopted the title of Fenian, had for its leader a man of great ability and experience, James Stephens. The Government received due warning of what was in preparation; in fact, the leaders of the movement in Ireland openly proclaimed their intention of restoring by force of arms the independence of Ireland. They had plenty of funds: every Irish man and maid in America contributed something to such a glorious purpose. A steady stream of American-Irish, most of them old soldiers of the civil war, set in from across the Atlantic, and scattered themselves among the towns and villages of Ireland. At last Stephens himself arrived, who, having been mixed up in the rising of 1848, was promptly arrested and lodged in Richmond Prison, Dublin, in November, 1865. All Ireland was convulsed with delight when, a few days later, he was found to have escaped.
The absence of Stephens from America had evil results to the Fenians there. One party was for invading Canada, a project which Stephens had never favoured. No sooner was his back turned, than a party of Fenians actually crossed the Niagara river, occupied a fort, and defeated a force of Canadian volunteers. Just as in 1838, when the Canadians were in revolt, the United States Government had saved the position for Great Britain by enforcing the neutrality of their frontier, so now it acted a similar part, and put an end to what might have become a highly dangerous state of affairs. Stephens never reappeared, but the preparations he had started were continued. With the pathetic hero-worship of the Celt, the Irish peasantry were confident that their lost leader would return among them soon and lead them to victory. But one brief taste of prison discipline had been enough for this doughty champion, and he is believed to have spent the rest of his life abroad in comparative affluence, derived from the subscriptions collected from his dupes.
