The Fenians: Irish Rebellion in the North Atlantic World, 1858–1876

Chapter 4. Fenian Renaissance

4 Fenian Renaissance Although impaired by limited manpower and internal conflict, the transatlantic Fenian movement briefly challenged British suzerainty over Ireland after the culmination of the American Civil War. Contrary to widespread expectations, Fenianism became popular within the global Irish community, because it psychologically transitioned expatriates from a violent to a peaceful social environment. Few IRB and Brotherhood supporters were truly devoted militants during this brief interlude, even though they belonged to an organization that endorsed a violent struggle for Irish independence. Expatriates in the United States continued to assimilate, while Irish families residing throughout the British Isles pragmatically limited their contact with the IRB at a time when Stephens was purchasing footman ’s pikes because he could not afford to buy rifles. Yet members of the Fenian Sisterhood and a Dublin-based Ladies Committee demonstrated that committed male and female republicans would willingly donate time and money to the nationalist cause if a credible revolution appeared imminent. Delaying an IRBorchestrated insurrection exacerbated Irish political apathy and expedited ongoing expatriate assimilation into an American society that was becoming increasingly receptive to Catholic immigrants and their descendents. In mid-1865, a steep decline in public drunkenness reportedly encouraged British bureaucrats to expand an official investigation of the IRB that had begun the previous August.1 In the common parlance of the era,undercover Dublin Metropolitan Police detectives “decked” Fenian leaders and recruited spies from the handful of people who were employed as part-time Irish People printers.Obtaining compromising information was easy; little effort was made to keep conversations Fenian Renaissance 76 confidential inside the Parliament Street IRB headquarters. Nationalist operatives from all parts of Dublin would often banter with Irish People editors and writers for hours without knowing that one or more informants were in their midst.2 With suspicions of a seditious transatlantic movement mounting, Irish customs inspectors—who had typically spent their workdays arresting tobacco smugglers—started detaining Americans who had revolvers and military drill books in their possession. Extant British government documents suggest that many Fenians inadvertently disclosed their subversive activities at the same time that IRB leaders were under investigation for committing treason. In filed reports, suspicious foreigners with distinctive “Yankee swaggers” were noted for their ample supply of money and their propensity to buy drinks for potential recruits. Over the next three years, expatriate visitors from the United States often drew attention to themselves, in fact, because of their preference for double-breasted coats, broad-brimmed felt hats, and square-toed boots.3 American citizens with no discernable employment piqued the interest of vigilant British detectives when they booked accommodations in luxury hotels.4 The most personal indication of the influence of expatriate Fenians in Ireland, however, was the increasing tendency of pronationalist Irish men to grow mustaches in the same New World style as Civil War veterans who were recruiting new IRB members in their respective communities.5 British authorities were well prepared for a potential revolt in Ireland,having planted several resourceful informants throughout the United States while monitoring IRB activity in major Irish cities. Expatriates who valued money more than patriotism easily compromised the Fenian movement from 1865 onward. Some security was assured by printing the names and descriptions of Irishmen who had betrayed the IRB in The Phoenix. O’Mahony refused, however, to heed the advice of colleagues who insisted that he dismiss a deceitful assistant named Red Jim McDermott.6 Other spies variously provided accurate information and fantastic rumors. Satisfied in knowing almost every significant decision and action rendered by the Fenian leadership in New York City, British diplomatic officials routinely declined solicitations from disloyal Fenians who offered to become turncoats. Heightened British interest in the IRB coincided with the emergence of a licit Irish nationalist movement that initially threatened to draw supporters away from James Stephens. Several influential Irishmen, including Cardinal Cullen, endorsed the so-called National Association because they had long insisted that all Irish constitutional reforms be secured through nonviolent means. As always, Stephens believed that reform petitions and legislative initiatives were doomed to failure, so he strived to maintain IRB preeminence within the Irish republican community. Stephens started disrupting National Association meetings shortly Fenian Renaissance 77 before John Blake Dillon was elected as one of three MPs who represented the organization in the British Parliament. Stephens’s activities were particularly directed at John Martin. In public meetings, whenever Martin and other Association leaders predicted...