Book: Ridgeway

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When, however, our hero found himself the plighted lover of the being
he adored, and discovered himself simultaneously separated from her
toy the most cruel, unexpected and perverse fate, he bent, as
previously observed, every energy towards effecting his release from
the bonds he had assumed for her sake. He consequently, instead of
wasting his hours in sullen and useless repining, set actively to work
and kept both his mind and his body in a healthy condition; never
losing confidence for a moment, in his own ability to secure freedom or
permitting the hope to be shaken, that he should ultimately join the
woman of his love in the new world, and there realize an independence
for both. And here we may observe, that this feature in the character
of Nicholas was one of the noblest and most dignified that could
possibly distinguish any member of the race to which we belong. The
world has been lost to many a man, from the fact of his not sitting
down to look circumstances fairly in the face, with a full
determination to grapple with them and give them a tussel for if
wherever a good man and true places any reasonable and legitimate
object before him, no matter how dark the clouds that surround him,
in nine cases out often he achieves it. The grave error in this
connection is, that finding our inability to move the great mass of
our difficulties out of our road _en bloc_ and at once, ignoring the
lesson taught by the constant drop that wears the stone, we sit down
overwhelmed, and never set sturdily about trying to remove it
piecemeal. The most profusely illustrated lesson that heaven has yet
taught to man, is that of industry and perseverence. Whether within
the fragrant chambers of the golden hive, or in the kingdoms of the
busy ant, or mid the curious nests that swing from forest boughs, we
roam in thought, we find what perseverence can accomplish, and that
too, by steps almost imperceptible in themselves. It is the individual
atoms that build up the mighty and effective aggregate that overawes
all opposition, and like an avalanche sweeps all resistance before it.
The loftiest pyramid that throws its shadow over the desert to-day,
and that dwarfs at its foot the beholder into the most incomparable
insignificance, incapable of being removed in fragments not larger
than a pea, from its present site to the other side of the globe; and
the grandest structure ever erected by human hands, has been built up
from almost imperceptible beginnings, into the imposing dimensions
which so overshadow the admirer and excite in his bosom feelings of
almost superstitious awe. So that look where we may, throughout the
whole range of nature, of science or of art, we find tee lesson of
industry and perseverence inculcated in the most impressive manner,
and in a language that should reach and influence our spirit struggles
to the core.

If less distinct than we have here delineated them, such were the
sentiments and convictions that influenced the actions and conduct of
our hero and heroine when fate had separated them. Moved by the same
impulses, they both set about accomplishing the same end, and in the
same manner. Barry's pen and Kate's needle flew at intervals; and the
result, as already intimated, was, that each had accumulated a sum
sufficient to effect this release from the army, and that it now was
to be brought into requisition for the purpose of accomplishing that
end.

Had Nicholas been made of that sort of stuff which, with the greatest
possible degree of coolness, lays a friend or relative under
contribution, he might have been able, through its instrumentality, to
realize a sufficient sum to have taken him to America, at the period
that Kate sailed, without having had recourse to the dreadful
alternative of enlisting in the English army; but not being built of
such questionable material, he bowed beneath the heavy yoke,
believing, as he did, that however distasteful and derogatory to his
feelings, it was more honorable and independent to be indebted to
himself, even at so great a sacrifice, for the means of joining his
beloved on the other side of the Atlantic, than to be constrained to
traverse its trackless waste, weighed down with the conviction, that,
for the purpose of accomplishing an object that could at least be
honestly attained otherwise, he had deprived those whom he had left
behind of that of which they themselves stood sorely in need. Besides,
he felt satisfied from what he knew of himself, and the prospects open
to even an industrious soldier on the shores of Canada, he should soon
be able to relieve himself of his bondage, and stand erect once more,
freed from the humiliation of the uniform he wore. But, as already
seen, the fates were against him in the first moments of his military
career; and for the time every fibre of his being was almost crushed
beneath the most frightful tension to which could have been possibly
subjected. How dreadful must have been the appalling intelligence of
the countermand of his regiment to the Mediteranean, when it first
fell upon his ear; and how sufficient was the awful announcement to
crush any ordinary mortal. Yet, with the elasticity which is ever
inseparable from a true and noble spirit, when the first crash of the
news bore him almost to the earth, he steadily began to brace himself
against it, and ultimately, though by slow and painful degrees,
straightened himself beneath it, and, although it was not the less
heavy, stood erect under it at last, and bore it squarely upon his
shoulders.

Poor Kate, although brave, too, had at first almost given up hope,
when, a few days after her arrival at Quebec, she learned the fatal
intelligence contained in the letter already referred to; but soon
perceiving, as he did, that nothing was to be achieved by useless
murmuring or hopeless inactivity, she shook herself, as free as her
strength would permit, from the dreadful incubus of the sorrow that
bowed her to the earth, and turned whatever talents she possessed to
good account; working night and day to accomplish the great and only
desire of her heart, and trusting to heaven for the rest. In this way
her constant and unwearied exertions lightened much of the load that
could not have failed under less favorable promptings, to have crushed
her completely, and have, in all human probability, consigned her to a
premature grave.

And thus, we see, that these two brave young spirits had all but
accomplished the wish of their hearts, at the period at which our
story opens, and that they were now but simply awaiting the hour when
Nicholas should be able to exchange the hated red jacket that he wore,
for a dress more in consonance with not only his own feelings, but
those of the being he so faithfully loved.




CHAPTER VI.


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. To be sure, Fenianism can scarcely be said to be
the embodiment of a new idea, or the exponent of new principles; but,
then, there was a masterly grouping of energies and sentiments in
connection with it, which possessed the merit of originality, and
which tended so largely, not only to popularize it, but to give it a
foothold on every Irish national hearthstone. In the selection of the
name by which the organization was to be distinguished, there was a
clearness of judgment as well as a thorough acquaintance with the
necessities of the case, that cannot fail to strike any impartial
observer. Had the Brotherhood been organized under any commonplace
appelation, or under any of the various names that had characterized
the previous revolutionary societies of Ireland, the probability is,
it would have long since fallen into line with those convivial
associations, which content themselves with an annual exposition of
the grievances of Ireland, over the short leg of a turkey, a "bumper
of Burgundy," and that roar of lip artillery, against the usurper,
which dies away in a few maudlin hiccups, about two o'clock in the
morning, to be revived only at the expiration of another twelve
months. Under the burden of any commonplace name, such, we say, might
have been the fate of the organization ere this; and so we regard the
knowledge and genius which obviated the possibility or rather the
probability of failure in this relation, as entitled to prominent
consideration and respect. To the superficial observer, this may
appear of very little moment in connection with a subject of such
magnitude; but let it be understood, that we are influenced by seeming
trifles and the surface of things to an extent far greater than we
ourselves are willing to confess. Notwithstanding the oft repeated
query, "what's in a name?" there is a great deal in a name. Let two
strangers, Mr. Harold Bloomfield and Mr. John Smith send in their
cards together to an important official, of whom they expect to get an
audience separately, and the chances are nine out of ten in favor of
Mr. Bloomfield's being granted an interview first. This, we apprehend,
holds good in a thousand kindred instances, and in no way has the
supposition been more clearly verified than in relation to the name
bestowed upon the organization under consideration.

The name "Fenian" is of very remote antiquity, and appears to be most
comprehensive in its signification, and to be peculiarly adapted to
the great confraternity of patriots which now engrosses so much of the
history of passing events. There seems to be nothing sectional in it.
It is national in the broadest sense of the term, and primative and
forcible to intensity. In some annotations to the Annals of the Four
Masters we find that the ancient Fenians were called by the Irish
writers _Fianna Eirionn_ signifying the Fenians of Ireland, and
mentioned under the name of Fene, or Feine, which, according to Dr.
O'Conor, signifies the Phenicians of Ireland, as Feine, according to
Dr. O'Brien, in his dictionary, at the word Fearmiugh, signifies
Phenicians; as they were probably called so from the tradition that
Phenicians came to Ireland in the early ages. They are also called by
the Irish writers _Clann-Ua-Baois-gine_, and so named, according to
Keating and others, from Baoisgine, who was chief commander of these
warriors, and ancestor of the famous hero Fionn, the son of Cumhall;
but according to O'Conor, in his notes to the Four Masters, they were
called Baoisgine, as being descended from the Milesians who came from
Basconia, in Spain, now Biscay, in the country anciently called
Cantabria. The Fenian warriors were a famous military force, forming
the standing national militia, and instituted in Ireland in the early
ages, long before the Christian era, but brought, to the greatest
perfection in the reign of the celebrated Cormac, monarch of Ireland
in the third century. None were admitted into this military body but
select men of the greatest activity, strength, stature, perfect form,
and valor, and, when the force was complete, it consisted of
thirty-five _Catha_, that is, battalions or legions, each battalion
containing three thousand men, according to O'Halloran and various
other historians, making twenty-one thousand for each of the five
provinces, or about one hundred thousand fighting men in time of war
for the entire kingdom. The _Ardrigh_, or head king of Ireland, had,
for the time being, chief control over these forces, but they often
resisted his authority. A commander was appointed over every thousand
of these troops, and the entire force was completely armed and
admirably disciplined, and each battalion had their own bands of
musicians and bards to animate them in battle, and celebrate their
feats of arms. In the reign of the monarch Cormac, the celebrated
Fionn MacCumhaill, who was descended from the Heremonian kings of
Leinster, was the chief commander of the Fenian warriors, and his
great actions, strength and valor are celebrated in the Ossianic
poems, and various other productions of the ancient bards; he is
called Fingal in MacPherson's Poems of Ossian; but it is to be
observed that these are not the real poems of Ossian, but mostly
fictions fabricated by Mac Pherson himself, and containing some
passages from the ancient poems. Fionn had his chief residence and
fortress at Almhuim, now either the hill of Allen, near Kildare, or
Ailinn, near old Kilcullen, where a great rath still remains, which
was a residence of the ancient kings of Leinster. The Fenians were the
chief troops of Leinster, and were Milesians of the race of Heremon;
and their renowned commander Fionn, according to the Four Masters, was
slain by the cast of a javelin, or, according to others, by the shot
of an arrow, at a place called _Ath Brea_, on the river Boyne, A.D.
283, the year before the battle of Gaura, by the Lugnians of Tara, a
tribe who possessed the territory now called the barony of Lune, near
Tara, in Meath; and the place mentioned as Ath Brea, or the Ford of
Brea, was situated somewhere on the Boyne, between Trim and Navan.

In the reign of king Cairbre Liffeachair, son of the monarch Cormac,
the Fenian forces revolted from the service of Cairbre, and joined the
famous Mogh Corb, King of Munster, of the race of the Dalcassians.
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; and it is stated in the Ossianic
poems, and in Hanmer's Chronicle, from the Book of Howth, that a great
body of warriors from North Britain. Denmark and Norway, came over and
fought on the side of the Fenians at Gaura. The army of the monarch
Cairbre was composed of the men of Heath and Ulster, together with the
Clanna Morna, or Connaught warriors, commanded by Aodh or Hugh, King
of Connaught, son of Garadh, grandson of Moraa of the Damnonian race.
The Munster forces, and Fenians, marched to Meath, where they were met
by the combined troops of the monarch Cairbre, and fought one of the
most furious battles recorded in Irish history, which continued
throughout the whole length of a summer's day. The greatest valor was
displayed by the warriors on each side, and it is difficult to say
which army were victors or vanquished. The heroic Osgar was slain in
single combat by the valiant monarch Cairbre, but Cairbre himself soon
afterwards fell by the hand of the champion Simon, the son of Ceirb,
of the race of the Fotharts of Leinster. Both armies amounted to about
fifty thousand men, the greatest part of whom were slain; of the
Fenian forces, which consisted of twenty thousand men, it is stated
that eighteen thousand fell, and on both sides, thirty thousand
warriors were slain. In the following year, Hugh, king of Connaught,
according to O'Flaherty's Ogygia, defeated the Munsters forces in
battle at Spaltrach, near the mountain Senchua, in Muscry, in which he
slew Mogh Corb, king of Munster. The tremendous battle of Gaura is
considered to have led to the subsequent fall of the Irish monarchy,
for after the destruction of the Fenian forces, the Irish kings never
were able to muster a national army equal in valor and discipline to
those heroes, either to cope with foreign foes, or to reduce to
subjection the rebellious provincial kings and princes; hence the
monarchy became weak and disorganized, and the ruling powers were
unable to maintain their authority or make a sufficient stand against
the Danish and Anglo-Norman Invaders of after time.

From what is here stated, it must be obvious, that no more appropriate
name than that of "Fenian" could be given to the organization which
now holds the destiny of Ireland in its hands, and which has ramified
itself throughout almost every portion of the habitable globe.

We have already observed that the selection of this name was judicious
in more than one relation. In the first place, it was far removed from
that of any of the well known cognomens which had characterized so
many of the noted revolutionary associations that had already failed
in Ireland, and, in this respect, was strong; being free from any
unpleasant reminiscences; while, from the fact of its import not
being generally known to the masses, it stimulated enquiry on the part
of the curious or weak nationalists which resulted in the most
salutary consequences. The rarity of the name led to newspaper
expositions of it, and moved the inquiring patriot to look into Irish
history in relation to it; and in this manner a knowledge of much of
the ancient greatness of Ireland became the common property of those
who were formerly but slightly acquainted with such lore. The result
was, thousands of the Irish became interested in relation to the past
of their race; for, in connection with this name there was that which
was calculated to arouse the spirit of patriotism within them and lead
them on to a further perusal of the annals of their country.

It is evident, then, that no common appelation could have been fraught
with such beneficial results; as there would have been nothing
connected with it to stimulate enquiry or research. Repealers, Irish
National Leagues, Whiteboys, Rockites, United Irishmen, &c., all had
their day, and carried their meaning upon the surface; so that it was
really necessary to give the new organization some occult,
comprehensive and characteristic name, that would separate it in this
aspect from all the Irish revolutionary bodies that had preceded it,
and place it _en rapport_ with the great past of the nation which was
the grand receptacle of its traditions and source of its pride. Here,
then, we leave this part of the subject, without presuming that we
have thrown much more light upon the matter than has already been
recognized by those who have at all looked into it; for it must, we
think, be obvious to most Irish nationalists, that the energies and
sentiments of their patriotic countrymen, could never have been
grouped so successfully under any of the appelations just named, as
they have been under that of "Fenians"--given, as we have already
perceived, to the great national army of Ireland during the days of
her early glory and power, and which alone represented the nation as a
whole.

It is not our province to dwell here upon the infancy of the
Brotherhood on either side of the Atlantic, or to enter into the
various difficulties and unpleasant circumstances to which it has been
subjected by alleged want of true patriotism and economy on the part
of some of its founders. Sufficient to say, that through all such
alleged obstructions it has struggled into the greatest and most
powerful organization that has ever existed in any age of the world,
and is, to-day, the mightiest and most invincible floating power that
has ever influenced the destinies of any people. Its friends are
numbered by millions and its members by hundreds upon hundreds of
thousand. To its ranks belong soldiers, statesmen and orators, men of
large pecuniary means and cultivated minds; cool heads and strong
arms, and many guiding spirits who need but little light save that
which shines within them. In addition, the sympathies of America and
of every generous nation on the face of the earth, are with it; so
that it has triumphed in advance, in a measure; for, backed by such
influences, and actuated, as it is, by impulses so pure and holy, not
a solitary doubt can obtain in relation to its ultimate success. True,
that there are those who are thoughtless or traitorous enough to
designate it as antagonistic to religion, and subversive, of the
established order of things; but these, for the most part, are persons
who reason through their pockets or their prejudices, and who are
devoid of any thorough recognition of those great principles which are
applicable to nations as well as to individuals and which are based
upon the just doctrine, that resistence to tyrants is obedience to
God--persons who are so methodical and patient under the sufferings of
_others_, that they would pause to measure the precise length of rope
that, was necessary to reach a drowning man. In the day of Ireland's
triumph, such people, will cone to confusion; as will those who have
withheld from her, in the period of her sore travail, the pecuniary
aid; which they could have well afforded out of their ample means,
with a view to relieving their kinsmen and suffering fellow countrymen
from the grasp of a tyrant the most inexorable that ever drew breath.

Were the Fenian organization confined entirely to Ireland, and did no
active outside sympathy obtain for that unfortunate country the day of
her redemption might be postponed to an indefinite period. So
completely are all the resources and defences of the land in the hands
of the English, that it would be difficult for the natives to make any
lengthened or effective stand against the usurper. England has her,
navy and her army to operate against any rising of the inhabitants, at
a moment's warning; while every office in the kingdom, of the
slightest importance or trust, is in the hands of her minions. Again,
among some of the recreant sons of the soil, she has, alas too ample
scope for the use of her accursed gold; and thus it is; that to cope
singled handed with her against such fearful odds, would involve
oceans of blood, both on the field and on the scaffold. When, however,
we come to dwell on the fact, that outside and beyond her control or
reach, another body of Irish, which has been aptly termed a nation
within a nation--when it comes to be understood, we say, that on the
shores of free America a mighty and invincible Brotherhood has been
built up, actuated by every sentiment of hostility which fires the
breast of the most implacable of her enemies to-day, and that has for
its aim and end an object in common with the people of Ireland at her
own doors, then we begin to perceive how harrassed and powerless she
must be. Neither her famine, fire nor sword, can avail her here.
Secure beneath the ample folds of the glorious stars and stripes of
the great Republic of America, and fired with the love of free
institutions, and taught in the great principles of freedom by the
liberty loving American people, this mighty band of exiles, in
connection with their children born beneath the folds of the American
flag, are steadily preparing to join fierce issue with her and test,
upon the open field, the prowess she has so often set forth as
superior to that of any other nation. This is what now disables and
paralyses her. Ireland is, for the time being, beneath her heel; but
what of the warlike hosts that loom in the western horizon and may
soon rush down on her like a wolf on the fold, and wedge her in
between two hostile walls? This is the great strength, of Ireland at
the present moment. Her energies are not walled in by the ocean or a
British fleet She is alive and active in other lands, and so powerful
outside her own borders, that there is no such thing as circumscribing
her influence or operations in so far as they relate to her struggles
for independence. It is, then, from America that she is to obtain her
most effective aid; and such being the case, it behooves the Irish
nationalists on American soil to be true and steady to the great
purpose in which they are now so ardently engaged; for so far, fortune
has smiled upon them. The American people sympathize with them and
feel that while they are aiding them to regain the long lost freedom
of their country, they are bringing to the dust the very self-same
enemy that sought, by stealth and the most cowardly means, to
overthrow their own Commonwealth, and leave the Union a hopeless ruin
before the world. It is this which now hangs a millstone about the
neck of the British government, and which must ultimately develope
itself in active sympathy with any people who have for their object
the humiliation of the skull and cross-bones of St. George, on this
side of the Atlantic at least.

And so the ball rolls; hourly accumulating force and magnitude, and
destined, at no distant day, to sweep in upon Ireland and hurl the
invader from her shores. No power on earth can stay its onward course.
The freedom of Ireland is the creed of millions. The young lisp it;
strong men repeat it in every clime; and the old of both hemispheres
murmur it in their prayers. In short, it has taken a hold of the Irish
heart wherever a true pulse warms it to-day, and has so incorporated
itself with the hopes and aspirations of the Irish of all lands, that
fate itself must yield to its power and universality. Within the last
few years it has become part and parcel of the education of the Irish
people wherever they are found; whether beneath the burning zone, in
temperate latitudes or at the frozen poles; so that its ultimate
success is beyond any possible contingency; from the fact that there
never was a sentiment so widely spread and so religiously cultivated
and cherished, that failed to accomplish all that it would attain.

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