Fenian Brotherhood

“ Angus, Mider, Lêr, Manannán, and Bodb the Red, with their countless sons and daughters, loom as large in the Fenian, or so-called “Ossianic” stories as do the Fenians themselves. They fight for them, or against them; they marry them, and are given to them in marriage.
A luminous suggestion of Professor Rhys also hints that the Fenians inherited the conduct of that ancient war formerly waged between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomors. The most common antagonists of Finn and his heroes are tribes of invaders from oversea, called in the stories the Lochlannach. ”

“ There is little or no mention of the war chariot which is so important a factor in the older cycle. The Fenians fought on foot or horseback, and we meet, too, frequent mention of helmets and mail-coats, which are post-Danish touches. Things are on a smaller scale. Exaggeration does not run all through the stories, but is confined to small parts of them, and it is set off by much that is trivial or humorous.
The Fenian stories became in later times the distinctly popular ones. They were far more of the people and for the [Pg 375] people than those of the Red Branch. ”

“ After the death of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the Fenians were commanded by his son Oisin or Ossian, the celebrated warrior and bard; and at the time of the battle of Gaura, Osgar, another famous champion, the son of Oisin, commanded the Fenian forces. The army of Munster, commanded by Mogh Corb, a name which signifies the Chief of the Chariot, and by his son Fear Corb, that is, the man or warrior of the chariot, was composed of the Clanna Deagha and Dalcassian troops, joined by the Fenians and their Leinster forces ”

“ The Fenians, broken and defeated as an organization, yet still ramifying throughout the country, looked to him with the utmost gratitude and confidence. Under his presidency and guidance a society called the Amnesty Association was established for the purpose of obtaining the royal clemency for at least some of the Fenian convicts. A series of mass-meetings under its auspices were held throughout the island, and were the largest assemblages seen in Ireland since the Repeal meetings of Tara and Mullaghmast. ”

“ Father Swythe’s eyes were wet and his voice sounded hoarse and strange as he said sadly:
“You would not send me away, Ethelbald? I have always tried to do my duty to the young sons of my lord the King and have tried to make them grow into scholarly princes fit to rule the land.”
“Bah! We do not want to be scholarly!” cried Bald scornfully. “We want to learn to be brave soldiers, so that we can go forth and beat the Danes.”
“Yes,” said the monk sadly; “but, my boys, the warrior who’s a scholar as well is more brave and noble and merciful, and his name is one that lives longer in the land. ”

“ Whatever censure may be attached to any portion of the career of the founders of Fenianism, after the organization had become a recognized power on both sides of the Atlantic, we cannot divest ourselves of the settled impression, that the men who were mainly instrumental in calling it into existence and sustaining its infancy, were actuated by the purest motives. ”

“ Some of the Fenian leaders, amongst whom were Colonel Kelly and General Cluseret, came to Mr Bradlaugh for legal advice; and one of the results of the many consultations held at Sunderland Villa was the framing of the following proclamation, which was published in the Times for March 8th, 1867, at the end of two or three columns of excited accounts of the Fenian rising in Ireland:—
"I. R.—Proclamation!—The Irish People to the World.
"We have suffered centuries of outrage, enforced poverty, and bitter misery. ”

“ It perhaps does not come with good grace from a Canadian to give any credit to the Fenians, who without any ground of complaint against us invade our country, and cause the loss of valuable lives among us, but as a truthful narrator of facts, I must give them credit on the only ground on which they can claim it. ”

“ The Danes! We must get the Queen away into the woods so as to be safe.”
“Why not stop in the big house, and shut up every window and door? We must fight. You can fight, Father Swythe?”
“I, my boy?” said the monk sadly. “Yes, with my tongue. No, I am only a man of peace. All we can do is to fly for our lives. There are not twenty strong fighting-men, Fred, my son, and those who are coming against us must, from the spears and shining iron caps with wings like the Norsemen wear, be quite a thousand. Quick! You can go faster than I. Run on first and warn the good Queen that it is time to fly!” ”

“ Look at her sister—a weak, vain, foolish child more than a married woman, about whom there is bound to be some scandal soon.”
“Can the sister help that?”
“Look at the brother; that careless young ne’er-do-weel, who is to be trained up in his father’s steps.”
“Poverty seems to be their greatest sin,” replied Richard quietly.
“Then, there is another son, who quarrelled with the father and went off and enlisted. My dear Dick, is such a family one that you ought to enter?”
“My dear Colonel,” said Richard with a sad smile, “I do not seem likely to enter it. You saw the look old Denville gave me. ”

“ It was a king who spoke, and drawing back slightly, he yielded to circumstances, feeling that his puny efforts were in vain, and guarding the door no longer, he thrust his sword back into its scabbard and stood aside.
“Ah!” cried the King, growing mollified upon seeing himself obeyed, and looking admiringly at the lad. “Not bad, Hurst, for a mere boy,” he said. “May I always be as well served by followers of mine. There,” he continued, stepping forward towards the door, and looking back at Denis, “you can follow me, and I will make your peace with your lord, for I am master here.” ”

“ Finn of the Feine himself replied, Chiefest of all both east and west; He said she saw a richer feast Than any Fenian feast in Erin. We then saw coming from the waves A warrior tall, manly, fair-haired, No man was with him but himself, And a noble man he was. When he had come near the Feine, Thus did he mildly, wisely say, “Come, Finn, come along with me, And take with thee a hundred men; Thirty sons of the great Morn, Let them be the first around thee; One man and eight of thy own sons, Take them and Oscar of the Feine’s Fians ”

“ There, Leoni, was I not right in letting these boys share our confidence? Who says that Francis of Valois has not followers in whom he can trust?”
“Not I, Sire,” said the doctor grimly; “but this is no work for them.”
“Not for Denis here,” cried Saint Simon excitedly, “but, your Majesty, for me. I would strike, and strike now. Mine be the task to do or die!”
“Silence, boy!” cried the King, laying his hand on Denis’s head as he dumbly looked up at him in protest, his eyes appealing the while that his monarch’s favour should be awarded to him alone. “No, no; emphatically no! ”

“ I said, “there’s poor Pannell; he saved me, and he has just shown us that he is too faithful to his fellow-workmen to betray them.”
Uncle Jack laid his hand upon my shoulder and gave it a hearty grip.
“You’re right, my lad,” he said. “You’re the better philosopher after all. There’s good and bad, and like so many more I think of the bad and overlook the good. But all the same, Cob, I’m very uneasy. These men have a spiteful feeling against you, and we shall not be doing right if we trust you out of our sight again.” ”

“ My faith! I would I had been there to have seen you, you stripling, standing sword in hand in that lane to meet that ruffian’s charge with three horses abreast. And you wounded him too, and saved the beasts. I should like to see the young Englishman who would do a deed like that! Why, Saint Simon, you and I must look after our laurels. We ought to be proud of our companion, eh?”
“Oh, sir,” shouted Denis, giving a cry of pain, for as he spoke the King had clapped him heartily upon the shoulder that was nearest to him—unfortunately the right. ”

“ I, a poor defenceless girl—you, a strong, savage man. I must speak now, father, Clive; God, who is my judge, hear me too. Faint and exhausted, he seized me at last, and I was at his mercy, till my poor old faithful Rollo came and set me free.”
“Yah, nonsense!” cried Sturgess triumphantly. “Perhaps you will say I did not come to your window night after night. What about that time when your father had gone up to town?”
“The wound upon your shoulder is my answer, my witness to the truth. Father, my only protector lay helpless in a drugged sleep. Poor Rollo was poisoned by this miscreant’s hand. ”

“ Tacitus is the first author who mentions the Finns (Fenni) , but whether they are Lapps, Kvæns or another race cannot be determined. He says himself: “I am in doubt whether to reckon the Peucini, Venedi and Fenni among the Germans or Sarmatians (Slavs) .” He speaks of the Fenni apparently as dwelling far to the north-east, beyond the Peucini, or Bastarnæ, from whom they are separated by forests and mountains, which the latter overrun as robbers.
“Among the Fenni amazing savagery and revolting poverty prevail. They have no weapons, no horses, no houses [‘non penates,’ perhaps rather, no homes] ”

“ It was a novelty to them, that, and the hope of meeting the Fenians the next morning, kept up their cheerfulness, and with numberless jokes on the comparative merits of their beds and the warmth of the bed clothing, the mass of them went to sleep. The cavalry men laying on the dusty road with their arms through their horses bridles, while the horses either laid down to sleep along with their riders or nibbled at the grass on the roadside. ”

“ So said Uncle Dick.
“All the men are not against you,” I said. “Look at Pannell! He has come round, and,” I added, with a laugh that hurt me horribly, “I shall have some of the boys come round and help me.”
“The young scoundrels!” cried Uncle Bob. Pat—that was his fist coming down into his hand. “The young scoundrels!”
“Well, you’ve said that twenty times at least, Bob,” said Uncle Jack.
“Enough to make me!” said Uncle Bob sharply. “The young scoundrels!” Pat.
“I only wish I’d been there with a good handy riding-whip,” said Uncle Jack. ”

“ I like that,” said the old father. “Good lad!” and he laid his hand gently upon his son’s head. “I’m not a grand old patriarch,” he sighed. “What, Doctor?—not talk? Yes, I must have my say now, while there’s time. Not a good old patriarch, Clive—not a religious man; made too much of a god of money; but I said my wife and sons should never know the poverty from which I had suffered, and I think it was right; but I overdid it, boy. Don’t follow my example; there’s no need. There—my blessing for what it’s worth, boy. Now go: I want Jessop.” ”

“ They punished me.”
“But you will turn upon them for this, Pannell, will you not?”
“Nay, Mester; I went again ’em, and they knob-sticked me for it, and it’s all done and over. I shall soon be back at my stithy, if you’ll hev me again.”
“Have you! Yes, my man, of course,” said Uncle Jack. “I wish we could have more like you.”
“Cob,” said Uncle Jack as we strode on and got well out into the country, “we’ve got a very strong confederation to fight, and I do not feel at all hopeful of succeeding; but, there: we’ve put our hands to the plough, and we can’t look back. ”

“ Who did this cowardly act—was it someone in the neighbourhood, or one of our own men?”
“Yes, who was it?” said Uncle Dick.
“We are all divided in our opinions,” said Uncle Jack.
“One of our own men,” I said; “and Pannell the smith knows who it was.”
“And will he tell?”
“No. I think the men are like schoolboys in that. No one would speak for fear of being thought a sneak.”
“Yes,” said Uncle Dick, “and not only that; in these trades-unions the men are all bound together, as it were, and the one who betrayed the others’ secrets would be in peril of his life.” ”

“ Denis, my brave lad, how is it with you?”
“You took too much care of me, my lord. I am only hot.”
“Well done!” cried the King. “And you, Saint Simon?”
“A bit battered with blows, sir,” replied the young man; “and I expect when the day dawns I can show some rags.”
“No wounds?” cried the King.
“Not a scratch, sir.”
“But what of you, sir?” cried Denis eagerly, “I am afraid you must have suffered badly.”
“I have,” said the King shortly. “I feel as if my beauty is spoiled by a blow one ruffian struck at my face. But he was the one who suffered,” he added, with a low hiss suggestive of satisfaction. ”

“ Your messenger must go, and carry out his ambassage by guile.”
“And who is to be the man?” asked the King.
“I!” cried Denis, springing forward, to sink upon one knee before Francis, and so suddenly as to rouse the dog, which leaped towards him, barking furiously.
“You, my boy!” cried the King.
“No, Sire,” cried Saint Simon excitedly, following Denis’s example, to spring to the King’s feet. “I will go. It is work for a man grown, not for a puny boy.” ”

“ I should strike him down with the axe, sir.”
“But you might kill him, Swythe.”
“And if I did, sir,” said the little monk fiercely, “it would be a good thing too; for these Norsemen are wicked pagans, come to kill and slay.”
“You see, we must have fighting-men, Swythe,” said the King; and then he turned to the Queen, who was listening to what they said.
“Hah! yes, sir,” said the monk, with a sigh. “I suppose we must; and it does my heart good to see how clever the young Princes are with sword and bow; but they spend too much time learning to fight. ”

“ In fact, you have seen a good deal already, and you have learned what is the state of affairs with one of the principal families. You have heard that Richard Glaire is engaged to his cousin; that the said cousin loves him; and that this weak young man is playing fast and loose.”
“Yes.”
“Good. Well, your duty is plain; the young fellow doubtless has his good points. Make him your friend, and improve them—for her sake—gain an influence over him. You can, and you will, Murray Selwood. ”