DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16876#0009
PAGE
-♦-
VOLUME XLIX.-JULY TO DECEMBER, 1865.
THE RUSSELL CABINET.—1865.
First Lord of the Treasury-
Lord Chancellor
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster
President of-the Council
President of the Board of Trade
Lord Privy Seal ....
Home Office ....
Foreign Office . . . .
Colonial Office
War Secretary
India Secretary
Admiralty .....
Postmaster-General
Poor Law Board
Earl Russell.
Lord Cranworth.
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
Right Hon. G. J. Goschen.
Earl Granville.
Right Hon. Thomas M. Gibson.
Duke of Argyll.
Sir George Grey, Bart.
Earl of Clarendon.
Right Hon. E. Cardwell.
Earl De Grey and Ripon.
Sir Charles Wood, Bart.
Duke of Somerset.
Lord Stanley of Alderley.
Right Hon. Charles P. Villiers.
POLITICAL
T’lHE prosperity of the country was not to be without alloy.
The Rinderpest—necessarily, but briefly alluded to in the
pages of Punch—broke out in England and Wales, with what
terrible results we now know, whilst in Ireland a plague even
more destructive of prosperity and comfort developed itself in
the Fenian conspiracy.
The most stringent measures were, after a time, adopted to
stay the progress of the Rinderpest, but with small success.
By the middle of October over 14,000 head of cattle had been
either killed or had died, from the disease; in November the
number increased to over 21,000, and during the last three
weeks of the year the Commissioners reported that more than
55,000 head of cattle had perished.
Ireland had been exempt from the cattle plague, but
Fenianism was in the midst of that generous, excitable, and
easily misguided people. This important outbreak deserves
to be recorded at some length, and we therefore avail ourselves
of the following extracts from the Annual Register of 1865 :—
“ 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 its nature than any
similar movement of late years. Of the name by which it was distinguished,
various explanations have been given, hut 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,
Fjngal. 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 Govern-
ment, organised in the United States, having its centre of rule and adminis-
SUMMARY.
tration 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 evidence given on the trials of some of
the conspirators by the Special Commission, will clearly show what the aims
and designs of the insurrection were, and wbat were the means intended to
be used to effect this purpose. It appeared that 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 training of
men, its correspondents and agents in various quarters, its accredited jour-
nals, and even its popular songs and ballads, all designed to extend its
influence, and to gain adherents from various quarter’s, not excepting the
soldiers in the British army, and the warders in the gaols. It is true,
indeed, that 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; it is true, also, that a
more insane attempt than that of overthrowing the British authority by
such means as, according to their most sanguine calculations, the associated
forces on both sides of the Atlantic could command, was never engendered
in distempered brains. But it is no less true that the existence of such a
plot, so wide-spread, so fanatical, so desperate, indicated that the long-
standing disease which had for centuries sapped the vitals of Irish pros-
perity and advancement, was still as active as ever in that morbid branch of
the body politic, and that those sanguine dreams which English statesmen
had indulged, that conciliation and equity, and an impartial policy were
gradually welding the sister kingdoms into a compact and harmonious
whole, were but flattering illusions. But the wounds of centuries cannot be
healed in a few years ; and traditional repugnance[and antipathy long survive
in the breasts of nations the causes which originally produced them. There
was, indeed, one feature in this last form of disaffection which distinguished
it in a mai’ked manner from preceding combinations. Most of the plots and
fraternities which have for some time hack 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 or 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 ail owners of property, of
whatever creed, in their denunciations, as the enemies of the nation, who
were to he swept away and destroyed. In their turn the insurgents were
PACK
-♦-
VOLUME XLIX.-JULY TO DECEMBER, 1865.
THE RUSSELL CABINET.—1865.
First Lord of the Treasury-
Lord Chancellor
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster
President of-the Council
President of the Board of Trade
Lord Privy Seal ....
Home Office ....
Foreign Office . . . .
Colonial Office
War Secretary
India Secretary
Admiralty .....
Postmaster-General
Poor Law Board
Earl Russell.
Lord Cranworth.
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.
Right Hon. G. J. Goschen.
Earl Granville.
Right Hon. Thomas M. Gibson.
Duke of Argyll.
Sir George Grey, Bart.
Earl of Clarendon.
Right Hon. E. Cardwell.
Earl De Grey and Ripon.
Sir Charles Wood, Bart.
Duke of Somerset.
Lord Stanley of Alderley.
Right Hon. Charles P. Villiers.
POLITICAL
T’lHE prosperity of the country was not to be without alloy.
The Rinderpest—necessarily, but briefly alluded to in the
pages of Punch—broke out in England and Wales, with what
terrible results we now know, whilst in Ireland a plague even
more destructive of prosperity and comfort developed itself in
the Fenian conspiracy.
The most stringent measures were, after a time, adopted to
stay the progress of the Rinderpest, but with small success.
By the middle of October over 14,000 head of cattle had been
either killed or had died, from the disease; in November the
number increased to over 21,000, and during the last three
weeks of the year the Commissioners reported that more than
55,000 head of cattle had perished.
Ireland had been exempt from the cattle plague, but
Fenianism was in the midst of that generous, excitable, and
easily misguided people. This important outbreak deserves
to be recorded at some length, and we therefore avail ourselves
of the following extracts from the Annual Register of 1865 :—
“ 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 its nature than any
similar movement of late years. Of the name by which it was distinguished,
various explanations have been given, hut 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,
Fjngal. 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 Govern-
ment, organised in the United States, having its centre of rule and adminis-
SUMMARY.
tration 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 evidence given on the trials of some of
the conspirators by the Special Commission, will clearly show what the aims
and designs of the insurrection were, and wbat were the means intended to
be used to effect this purpose. It appeared that 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 training of
men, its correspondents and agents in various quarters, its accredited jour-
nals, and even its popular songs and ballads, all designed to extend its
influence, and to gain adherents from various quarter’s, not excepting the
soldiers in the British army, and the warders in the gaols. It is true,
indeed, that 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; it is true, also, that a
more insane attempt than that of overthrowing the British authority by
such means as, according to their most sanguine calculations, the associated
forces on both sides of the Atlantic could command, was never engendered
in distempered brains. But it is no less true that the existence of such a
plot, so wide-spread, so fanatical, so desperate, indicated that the long-
standing disease which had for centuries sapped the vitals of Irish pros-
perity and advancement, was still as active as ever in that morbid branch of
the body politic, and that those sanguine dreams which English statesmen
had indulged, that conciliation and equity, and an impartial policy were
gradually welding the sister kingdoms into a compact and harmonious
whole, were but flattering illusions. But the wounds of centuries cannot be
healed in a few years ; and traditional repugnance[and antipathy long survive
in the breasts of nations the causes which originally produced them. There
was, indeed, one feature in this last form of disaffection which distinguished
it in a mai’ked manner from preceding combinations. Most of the plots and
fraternities which have for some time hack 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 or 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 ail owners of property, of
whatever creed, in their denunciations, as the enemies of the nation, who
were to he swept away and destroyed. In their turn the insurgents were
PACK