The Dock and the Scaffold: The Manchester Tragedy and the Cruise of the JacknellSullivan, T. D. (Timothy Daniel)
History
The Dock and the Scaffold: The Manchester Tragedy and the Cruise of the Jacknell
Sullivan, T. D. (Timothy Daniel)
Erin's Hope (Brigantine); Fenians; Ireland -- Biography; Ireland -- Politics and government -- 19th century
Any references we shall here make to that particular subject, that is,
to the alleged voyage of a Fenian cruiser conveying men and arms from
New York to Ireland, shall be derived entirely from the statements
made in open court on that occasion, with an extract or two from a
document otherwise published. We shall add nothing to them, neither
shall we vouch for the authenticity of all or any of them, for, at
the time of our writing, "the Crown," as the government lawyers call
themselves, are not yet done with some of the cases arising out of
this alleged expedition. But, taking the narrative as we find it
in the newspaper reports of the trials of Colonel John Warren and
Augustine E. Costello, and in the lecture delivered in America, under
the auspices of the Fenian Brotherhood, by Colonel S.R. Tresilian,
John Savage, Esq., C.E.F.B. in the chair, reported in the _Irish
People_, New York, and in other journals, we summarise briefly, as
follows, its chief particulars.
It appears, then, that at the time to which we have referred, when the
necessity of transmitting a quantity of arms, and sending a number of
military leaders to Ireland for the sustainment of the insurrectionary
movement had impressed itself on the minds of the Fenian leaders
in America, they resolved on an attempt to supply, to some extent,
those requirements. Two ways were open to them of setting about this
difficult and hazardous undertaking. One was to avail of the ordinary
mail steamers and trading ships between the two countries, send the
men across as ordinary passengers, and ship the arms as goods of
different kinds. Much had been done in that way during the previous
three or four years, but it was plainly too slow and uncertain a
process to adopt on the present occasion. The other course was to
procure a vessel for this special purpose, freight her with the men
and arms, place her under the command of a skilful and experienced
captain, and trust to his skill and luck for landing the entire in
safety somewhere on the west coast of Ireland.
This was the course adopted. How it was carried out, the
Attorney-General, with whatever degree of authority may attach to his
words in such a case, has thus described:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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