CHAPTER XXXIV

THE FENIANS OR IRISH REPUBLICAN BROTHERHOOD
In the ’forties of the last century the left or advanced wing of the Irish political party working for the repeal of the Union with England became known as Young Ireland. On the 15th October, 1842, it published the first number of a journal, the Nation, under the editorship of Charles Gavan Duffy, assisted by Thomas Osborne Davis and other brilliant writers, which has been famous ever since, not only as the organ of the political movement but also as having produced some of the finest Anglo-Irish poetry that has ever been written. As a party Young Ireland had genius, enthusiasm, birth, position, and the courage of its convictions ; but its efforts to remould the State were expended in writing and oratory, poetry instead of pikes, declamations instead of drilling, and consequently, its final despairing effort to raise a rebellion in the year 1848 was as crudely conceived as easily suppressed.
Young Ireland, though it had formed clubs all over Ireland, was no secret society, and the only reason why it has to be mentioned here is that it won the support of most of the young and patriotic Irish of every class, amongst others of two men who were later responsible for establishing the much more dangerous and powerful instrument of revolt, the Irish Republican Brotherhood or Fenian Society.
Towards the close of 1848 two Young Irelanders, John O’Mahony and James Stephens, found themselves exiles in Paris as a result of the parts they had taken in the un¬ successful rebellion. The former was a member of one of the oldest Irish families in Munster, the latter came of unnoteworthy Kilkenny folk, but difference in class did not
272
THE FENIANS
273
prevent the two from becoming friends and fellow- conspirators. In Paris they lived together for several years, Stephens employed as a journalist, O’Mahony as a teacher, and plotting all the time how they could best reverse the result of the unfortunate year ’48.
In 1853 the friends decided that the time for action had come, and that preparations for an Irish revolution should be set on foot on both sides of the Atlantic; so O’Mahony departed for New York, and Stephens for Dublin. They seem to have agreed to work in double harness, but apparently each was free to make what use he could of the means he found at his disposal ; the connecting bond was the determina¬ tion to bring about a revolution in Ireland.
O’Mahony’s early days in New York can be told very briefly. He got in touch with Irish exiles there, and dis¬ cussed with them the situation in Ireland; it is probable, too, that he became connected with a body of Irishmen known as the Emmett Monument Association, 1 promising material as a nucleus for subsequent plots in favour of Irish freedom, but this is by no means certain. His important achievement was that he made the expatriated Irish in the States acquainted with the name of Stephens and with what he had gone to Ireland prepared to do. Towards the close of 1857 a messenger was sent to Stephens from those who were plotting in New York to urge him to launch
1 In a most unreliable book, The Secret History of the Fenian Conspiracy, by John Rutherford, London, 1877, to this association is attributed an organiza¬ tion in every respect similar to what the Fenian Society adopted on its for¬ mation in 1858. The unlikelihood of the statement is increased to absurdity, when the author goes on to say that O’Mahony found this organization in existence on his arrival in America; had he been credited with founding such an organization, his close association with Stephens would make the story seem more plausible, for the two friends may well have been in agreement about the form their conspiracy was to take; but it would have been impossible for Stephens to establish in Ireland a very complicated system of which he had had no personal experience. That is, however, the miracle with which Mr. Rutherford credits him. The Emmett Monument Association was certainly secret and oath-bound, and consisted of men who wished to bring about a revolution in Ireland. Pigott, in his Recollections, says that as early as 1849 a secret revolutionary society existed in Dublin of which T. C. Luby and others, who later became prominent Fenians, were members, and that this Irish body was affiliated to an Irish-American organization set on foot just about the same time, the military branch of which later became known as the Emmett Monument Association. So accounts differ!
274 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
a conspiracy to win Irish independence, but, according to John O’Leary,1 this communication did not come from any one society, though he credits the Emmett Monument Association with having been the precursor of the Fenian Brotherhood in America. Stephens replied demanding uncontrolled power and a subvention of money. To this demand the New York committee agreed; some money, a mere £90, was sent; and Stephens who had already been preparing his ground at once set about establishing his new secret society.2
On the 17th March, 1858, Stephens swore in his first recruit, T. C. Luby, who thereupon administered the same oath to his leader. Thus came into existence the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, popularly known as the Fenian Brotherhood.3
Recruiting began at once, and Circles were rapidly formed. Stephens and his trusted friends travelled through Leinster and Munster spreading the society. Ulster at first remained untouched, and Connaught was unapproach¬ able, because the old Ribbon Societies still had a hold on that province and desired to have no rivals.
In the conspiracy, Stephens was the Chief Organizer of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and was known as the C.O.I.R.B. He was assisted in deliberation, if he so pleased, by four Vice-Organizers, one for each of the Irish provinces, who were known as the Vs. Each V had to organize his province, which he did by picking for each district or place where it was a desirable to form a Circle a suitable man as Centre, known as the A or Colonel. The A, having taken the oath of the society and agreed to act as Centre, was instructed to choose and swear in nine Bs to act as his Captains. Similarly each B had to select nine Cs as his Sergeants; while each C recruited nine Ds or Privates.
1 Recollections of Fenians and Fenianism, 1896.
2 For this see O’Leary, Op. cit. This author’s account of the conspiracy has been followed in preference to any other, whenever possible.
3 The name Fenian was O’Mahony’s choice and not bestowed till 1859. In its early days the society was known to the members as, “Our Body,” “Our Movement,” “The Organization,” “The Brotherhood.” Stephens usually spoke of it as the “Army” or the “Irish Revolutionary (or Republican) Brotherhood.”
THE FENIANS
275
“In theory an A should only be known to his Bs; a B to his Cs; and a C to his Ds; but this rule was often violated ”h It was originally intended that no Circle should contain more than eight hundred and twenty men, but in practice the numbers were often twice as many.
When a new recruit was to be initiated, he was told to attend at a certain time with the rest of the squad he was to join. He was then handed over to an officer with the words : “Here is a friend.” The officer took him to some place where they could not be overheard, questioned him about his principles, and administered the oath. He then brought him back to the squad, and introduced him as: “This is my friend.” If the oath had not been administered, he brought him back and left him with the others, saying: “This is your friend.”
The original form of test or oath in Ireland was:
“I, A. B., do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God, that I will do my utmost at every risk, while life lasts, to make Ireland an independent democratic Republic ; that I will yield implicit obedience, in all things not con¬ trary to the law of God, to the commands of my superior officers; and that I shall preserve inviolable secrecy re¬ garding all the transactions of this secret society that may be confided to me. So help me God. Amen!”
This test was very soon simplified and abbreviated:
“I, A. B., in the presence of Almighty God, do solemnly swear allegiance to the Irish Republic, now virtually established; and that I will do my very utmost, at every risk, while life lasts, to defend its independence and integ¬ rity; and, finally, that I will yield implicit obedience in all things, not contrary to the laws of God, to the commands of my superior officers. So help me God. Amen!”
Circles were also formed in the British Army. In such a case regimental rank was respected. The senior non¬ commissioned officer belonging to the Brotherhood became the A, and so on. The I.R.B. attached great importance
1 O'Leary, Op. cit.
276 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
not only to forming such Circles in the regiments, but also to inducing seasoned soldiers to desert, for the purpose of acting as drill-instructors, etc.1
About the numbers who joined the society it would be futile to speculate. Stephens, speaking in New York in 1866, claimed 200,000 in Ireland alone, but his habit of constantly exaggerating was notorious. To the forces available in Ireland had to be added those in England, where the society had been introduced at an early date, and was powerful in London, Lancashire, Glasgow, Shef¬ field, and wherever Irish labourers might congregate. In Canada, also, it soon got a footing, finding that the ground had been prepared for it by another secret society, an offshoot of Ribbonism, known as the Hibernian Society, which had been established there some years previously by the Roman Catholic Irish emigrants as a means of countering the aggressive Orange Order. Australia, too, had its Fenians. None of the bodies outside Ireland was, however, responsible to Stephens, but each managed its own concerns and, when necessary, communicated with America direct.
The Fenian movement, whatever the reason, did not attract the intelligentsia and well-to-do middle classes in Ireland. Its supporters were mainly peasantry, shop- assistants, artizans. While a certain amount of drilling was done, the provision of arms for the members was never undertaken on anything approaching an adequate scale, largely owing, no doubt, to lack of funds, and in consequence the final attempt at revolt in 1867 never had a chance of succeeding.
In 1858 Stephens, having established the society in Ireland, went to America, when the American Fenian Brotherhood was formed. Its name was supplied by John O’Mahony, who was a profound Gaelic scholar, and he took it from the ancient Irish national militia known as the Fiana-h-Erionn from Fionn MacCumhail their commander.
The American society was established on a more demo¬ cratic basis. John O’Mahony was appointed Head Centre
1 There was also a project of importing drill-instructors from America.
THE FENIANS
277
for North America, an office corresponding to that of Chief Organizer in Ireland, and he had the right of appointing two treasurers and secretaries to carry on the business affairs of the order; but, apart from this, most of the officers in the Centres were elected by vote. The American oath, too, differed from the Irish and ran:1
“I solemnly pledge my oath as a Christian and an Irish¬ man, that I will labour with earnest zeal for the liberation of Ireland from the yoke of England, and for the establish¬ ment of a free and independent Government on Irish soil; that I will implicitly obey the commands of my superior officers in the Fenian Brotherhood, in all things pertaining to my duties as a member thereof; that I will do my best 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.”2
In 1863 at a convention held in Chicago the American society was remodelled, and the position of every officer from the highest to the lowest was made subject to yearly election. Other changes were made whereby the Brother¬ hood claimed to have ceased to be a secret society and to have become an open movement, which claim was not conceded by its opponents, among whom were some Ameri¬ can Roman-Catholic prelates. It may be added that in Ireland the Roman-Catholic Church as a body was greatly opposed to the Fenian movement.
This hostility of the Priesthood was impartially directed against all secret oath-bound societies; but it was accused by the Fenians of unduly favouring other societies equally secret that had sprung from the Ribbonmen. The Irish Republican Brotherhood of course did not follow the
1 The mildness of the language used in all these Fenian oaths is noteworthy. The absence of blood-curdling penalties has not prevented the Order’s being charged with organized assassination. Undoubtedly informers were murdered on several occasions; but such deeds were never authorized by any leader, says O’Leary.
2 Richard Pigott, Personal Recollections of an Irish National Journalist , Dublin, 1882. O’Leary, Oft- cit., has commended this book for the accuracy of the information it contains about the Fenian movement.
278 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
example of America, but continued to be secret in the strictest sense, as did its offshoots in England, Canada, and elsewhere.
Broadly speaking, the activities of the American society were to be directed towards two objects, providing funds and training the immigrant Irish as soldiers, while the Irish society prepared the ground at home for a revolution. The second of the American projects was much better realized than the first, for the Irish joined the State militias in droves; and when the American Civil War broke out in 1861, it has been calculated that 200,000 Irish soldiers took part in the struggle. This same war prevented much money from being sent to Ireland. The total sum that reached the hands of the executive there from America during the period 1858-67 was some £25,000 1, ludicrously inadequate for the work of recruiting to say nothing of arming the levies. In fact, so pressed were Stephens and his fellow-conspirators for funds that in November, 1863, they started a newspaper, the Irish People , as the organ of Fenian- ism and a means of replenishing the war-chest. The paper, however, did not pay. It was finally suppressed in Septem¬ ber, 1865, when the leaders of the conspiracy were arrested. As an instrument of propaganda its main effect had probably been to make the British Government keep a sharper eye on the Brotherhood, which had already become the object of close attention from the same quarter.
The suspicions of the Government had been aroused as early as December, 1858, when a complete Centre of young men was arrested in County Cork for illegal drilling, arming, and so forth. One of the prisoners was found guilty and sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude, but afterwards set free on his associates’ agreeing to plead guilty when brought to their trials. Though the authorities had learnt very little about the new movement from this occurrence, they had been made uneasy enough to issue a proclamation offering a reward of £100 for the conviction of any person guilty of administering an oath in any illegal secret society, or £50 for securing conviction on the charge of being a 1 These are John O’Leary’s figures.
THE FENIANS
279
member of such a society. Their feelings of uneasiness must have been increased in 1859 by reports received from America that a “secret envoy” from Ireland had landed in New York and received a public welcome, hailed by brass bands and floods of oratory hostile to England. What was his mysterious mission? The British Government naturally took steps to get better information about what was brewing; there is no doubt that their spies were soon busily at work within the ranks of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
At the close of i860 O’Mahony paid a visit to Ireland, and disagreements arose between him and Stephens about the management of the conspiracy. Stephens returned the visit in 1864. On this occasion he found the American Fenians totally misinformed about the true state of Ireland’s unpre¬ paredness to rise, and chafing at the inaction of the C.O.I. R.B.; while O’Mahony had no comfort to offer but merely the advice that was tantamount to a command : “ Rebel or disband ! ” The upshot of the visit was a complete estrange¬ ment between the leaders on either side of the Atlantic. Stephens returned to Ireland determined to bring about a rising, despite his better judgment.
All things considered, the conspiracy had up till then progressed as well as could have been expected. Edward Duffy had been made V for Connaught and had induced the Ribbon Societies in that province to give some sort of support to the new movement, which had also spread into Ulster. The Brotherhood, however, was still hampered by lack of funds and the opposition of the Roman-Catholic Church. Drilling went on continuously, but little or nothing had been done in the way of providing arms. As an outlet to their suppressed energies, when occasion offered, the Brotherhood demonstrated its hostility to England in the most public manner.
The Government observed these demonstrations, kept its spies well employed, and bided its time.
In July, 1865, an emissary from O’Mahony to Stephens dropped in Kingstown, near Dublin, some compromising documents which were picked up and handed over to the authorities. This fresh evidence, coupled with that already in
280
FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
its possession, enabled the Government to lay its plans for a simultaneous arrest of the leaders of the movement in Ireland, and this was carried out on the 14th September. Stephens, lying concealed in disguise, escaped arrest till 1 ith November, when he, too, was captured. He did not remain long in custody, for on the night of the 24th November he escaped from his prison in Dublin, having been assisted by a warder who was sworn of the Brotherhood. He eventually reached America by way of France some months later. The other prisoners were tried and sentenced to long terms of penal servitude.
In February, 1866, the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended for Ireland, and hundreds of suspects arrested. A general search for concealed arms was carried on throughout the country, and the bulk of those that had been acquired for the Brotherhood were seized. In such circumstances to hazard a rising was madness, but this was actually attempted at the beginning of 1867, on the urging of some Irish- American officers who had been enlisted and sent over by Stephens for this purpose. The campaign began in February in England with a futile attempt to seize Chester Castle, where a large supply of arms was stored. On Shrove Tuesday, the 5th March, the day fixed for the revolt, isolated and abortive attempts at a rising took place in Ireland, all of which were hopeless from the very outset. The insurgents felt, says a contemporary writer,1 “that any disaster would be preferable to the disgrace of defeat involved in submission without striking a blow. They rose then at the command of their leaders to save their honour, knowing that their enterprise was foredoomed to inevitable disaster.” The rising, such as it was, confined its violence to struggles with the armed forces of the Crown; no civilian was sub¬ jected to plunder or outrage.
Several hundreds of the participants in this rebellion were subsequently found guilty of treason and sentenced to death or penal servitude; the major penalty was in every case commuted.
With this fiasco ended for some years the outward and
1 Pigott, Op. cit.
THE FENIANS
28l
visible signs of the existence of the I.R.B. in Ireland. It is doubtful if a central organization survived, though the Brotherhood itself was certainly kept alive.
Two events happened in England to keep the name of Fenian from being forgotten with the suppression of the Irish unrest. In September, 1867, a band of Fenians rescued one of their leaders from a prison-van in Manchester; a policeman was killed in the melee, and three men, sub¬ sequently hanged for the deed, have been known since then as the “Manchester Martyrs.” Then on the 13th December an attempt to blow down the wall of Clerkenwell Gaol to rescue another Fenian prisoner caused a ghastly loss of life.
This was the last notable exploit of the Brotherhood in the British Isles, for the time being.
In America, however, the society continued to be active. When Stephens arrived in New York in May, 1866, he found a different state of affairs. At a convention held in Philadelphia in October, 1865, great changes had been made in the society. Supreme authority had been taken from the Head Centre, and was now vested in a Senate. The former Head Centre was now known as the President, and O’Mahony had been elected to this office. In January, 1866, a split took place in the society; one portion re- adopted the Chicago constitution of 1863, and chose O’Mahony Head Centre; the other section chose Colonel Roberts as its President. This split prevented the scheme to supply arms and money for the projected rising in Ireland from becoming really effective.
In April, 1866, the O’Mahony wing made a half-hearted raid on Campo Bello Island, New Brunswick, but the small force despatched was not able to effect a landing. In May the Roberts wing, not to be outdone, made a raid into Canada, near the city of Buffalo, and some bloodshed occurred. The only result of this raid was the arrest, trial and conviction of a number of Canadian Fenians for complicity. Some of these, including a priest, Father McMahon, were sentenced to death, but this penalty was commuted.
In the autumn of 1866 O’Mahony resigned his post as Head Centre, and was succeeded by Stephens. Since the
282 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
latter’s arrival in America he had been expressing his determination to return to Ireland to lead the insurrection there; but apparently he was convinced in his own mind of the hopelessness of the project; for he made no effort to leave America. This disgusted his followers, and towards the end of the year he was deposed from his position. Then, indeed, he left America, but made his way to France, not Ireland, leaving his friends to meet the disaster they had chosen in preference to the disgrace of a tame submission; thus was his chapter closed.
The Fenian Society, having split into several wings, continued to exist in America. In May, 1870, one of these wings undertook another raid into Canada with some 2,000 men, which was easily repulsed. By this time the British Government had perfected a system of espionage within the American Brotherhood, and was well informed in advance of every move that was contemplated.
An Englishman, Thomas Beach, who had assumed the name of Henri Le Caron, was facile princeps in this kind of service. In the book which he published later describing his exploits1 will be found the most authentic account of what became the next most important event in the Fenian movement, the formation of the Clan-na-Gael :
“Away back towards the end of the ’sixties, there came into existence one of those temporal societies, an off-shoot of the permanent conspiracy, known under the name of ‘Knights of the Inner Circle,’ which was joined by many Irish conspirators, myself among the number. With its members there became associated, in the latter end of 1869, some three hundred members of the ‘Brian Boru’ Circle of the Fenian Brotherhood in New York City, who . . . seceded from their original body; and by these men, acting in concert with others under the name of ‘United Irishmen,’ what were really the first camps of the Clan-na-Gael were founded.”
Le Caron goes on to say that this association had for its object the same ideal which governed all Irish con-
1 Twenty-five Years in the Secret Service.
THE FENIANS
283
spiracies in America — the freeing of Ireland by armed force from English domination. It was to differ from the others in being of an essentially secret character.
It was not till 1873 that the new movement became in any way general, when by merging almost all other societies in itself the United Brotherhood established Camps in all the leading centres of the United States.
“Secrecy was the text preached in every direction. Every member was bound by the most solemn of oaths to keep secret all knowledge of the order and its proceedings which might come to him, under penalty of death. A Masonic form of ritual was adopted; grips, pass-words, signs, and terrorising penalties were decided upon. . . .
“The ritual and forms of initiation were framed entirely upon Masonic precedent. . . . One great feature of similarity exists between the two ceremonies. In both the candidate is impressed with a deep sense of awe and respect, to learn subsequently that nothing very mysterious or wonderful is to come within his knowledge.’’1
The Clan was originally known as the United Brother¬ hood. One of its peculiarities was to make use of a simple letter-cipher in its written transactions, using the next letter instead of the one really meant; thus Ireland was referred to as Jsfmboe, the United Brotherhood itself as the V.C., and the I.R.B. as the S.C.
The original oath taken on initiation was as follows 2 :
“I, A. B., do solemnly and sincerely swear in the presence of Almighty God, that I will labour while life is left to me to establish and defend a republican form of government in J - . That I will never reveal the secrets of this organiz¬
ation to any person or persons not entitled to know them. That I will obey and comply with the constitution and laws of the V. C. and promptly and faithfully execute all con¬ stitutional orders coming to me from the proper authorities to the best of my ability. That I will foster a spirit of unity, nationality, and brotherly love among the friends of J— .
1 1.e Caron, Op. cit. What purports to be a Clan-na-Gael ritual is printed in The Secret Societies of Ireland , by H. B. C. Pollard, 1922. This book has a certain value for such facts as came within the author’s own experience.
2 Ibid.
284 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
I furthermore swear that I do not belong to any other J -
revolutionary society antagonistic to this organization, and that I will not become a member of such a society while connected with the V. C.; and finally I swear that I take this obligation without mental reservation and that any violation hereof is infamous and merits the severest punish¬ ment. So help me God.”
The Clan was divided into camps, always referred to as D’s. The presiding officer of a D was known as the S.G., Senior Guardian.
In 1883 a split took place in the Clan, the seceding body becoming known as the U.S., governed by a directorate of three called the “Triangle.” 1 Whether united or divided, the Clan since its formation has exercised a dominating influence in all schemes evolved in America for effecting revolution in Ireland. The avowed champion of physical force in revolution, it was content to refrain from inter¬ ference with the progress of the Land League and Home Rule movements. A circular issued in December, 1885, by the Clan executive explains the psychology of this conduct.2
“The achievement of a National Parliament gives us a footing upon Irish soil; it gives us the agencies and instru¬ mentalities of a Government de facto at the very commence¬ ment of the Irish struggle. It places the government of the land in the hands of our friends and brothers. It removes the Castle’s rings, and gives us what we may well express as the plant of an armed revolution.”
The aims of the Clan-na-Gael to-day are probably the same as when this circular was issued fifty years ago.
To return to the Irish branch of the Republican Brother¬ hood: it has undoubtedly continued to exist to the present day.
For some years after 1867 it gave few signs of life, for Parnell’s Home Rule movement and Davitt’s Land League
1 Pollard, Op. cit.
2 Quoted by Pollard, Op. cit.
THE FENIANS
285
were the matters that occupied Irishmen’s minds most in the ’eighties. Isolated incidents occurred from time to time, however, to show that the I.R.B. was still in the land.
Pigott in his Recollections tells a curious story of a visit paid him by a deputation from the Dublin branch of the I.R.B. in 1880, who ordered him to change the policy of his newspaper The Irishman, on penalty of death. He refused, and nothing happened.
A more dubious instance is the evidence given in a crim¬ inal trial in 1882 by a Moonlighter who turned Queen’s Evidence. He swore that money was received from Dublin for organizing outrages, and that an oath had been adminis¬ tered to his associates in the terms: “I swear to be true and faithful to the Irish Republic, to obey my superiors, and to take up arms when required. Death to the traitor. So help me God.”1
However, it may be stated with a fair degree of certainty, that up to the beginning of the present century the I.R.B. as a body in Ireland, either from necessity or choice, had made up its mind to remain passive, and let the Irish Parliamentary Party do the best it could to secure a National Government by constitutional methods.
The I.R.B. was, moreover, not responsible for the secret society of the Invincibles, founded in December, 1881, 2 by P. J. Tynan, known as “Number One.” This was the body which perpetrated the Phoenix Park murders in May, 1882.
The resuscitation of the I.R.B. as an active party in the State was to spring from a most unexpected cause. In 1899, Arthur Griffiths, a Welshman resident in Dublin, established his paper The United Irishman, an organ in which he proceeded to attack the proceedings of the Nationalist Parliamentary Party and to advocate a scheme of passive resistance which would make the administration of Ireland by England impossible. So arose the famous Sinn Fein idea, which, however, did not actually become the war-cry of a definite political party until 1905. Then what seemed of
1 Pollard, Op. cit.
2 The date is taken from Pollard, Op. cit.
286 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
all things the most unexpected happened. The party of passive resistance, Sinn Fein 1, saw its policy adopted by the I.R.B. and the Clan-na-Gael. The spokesman of the latter announced:
“It is because Ireland is to-day unable to overcome England on the battlefield we preach the Sinn Fein Policy.” 2
It is not the purpose of this book to deal with events that must still be fresh in men’s minds, and were but the early scenes in a drama the last act of which has not yet been played; but to round off the story it is necessary to stress the reminder that the Irish Rebellion of Easter Week,
1916, was an I.R.B. or Irish Republican Army undertaking. This, with a surprising unanimity of misinformed journalism, was broadcast all over the world as a Sinn Fein Rebellion. A little known movement suddenly became famous. With its fame Sinn Fein accepted new responsibilities, including the abandonment of the policy of passive resistance and the consequent adherence of the I.R.B. In October,
1917, Eamonn de Valera was elected its President instead of Griffiths. From a passive-resistance body it blossomed into one whose promulgated constitution contained the clauses :
“Sinn Fein aims at securing the International recognition of Ireland as an independent Irish Republic.
“This object shall be attained through the Sinn Fein Organization which shall . . . make use of any and every means to render impotent the power of England to hold Ireland in subjection by military force or otherwise.”
It would seem as if the Oath of Allegiance included in the 1922 treaty were now, some ten years later, to be relegated to the limbo of this “otherwise.”
1 It seems hardly necessary to say that these Irish words mean “We our¬ selves,” and are usually translated as “Ourselves alone.”
2 R. M. Henry, The Evolution of Sinn Fein.