The Fenian Rising

Yesterday marked the 144th anniversary of the Fenian Rising.

On this day failed risings took place in Cork, Limerick and Dublin. In Dublin, The police sergeant at Crumlin reported that, “the Dublin road is crowded with young men, all taking the direction of Tallaght”. At Tallaght, the RIC attacked the Fenian group, and drove them off after a firefight.

The rising failed as a result of lack of arms and planning, but also because of the British authorities' effective use of informers. Most of the Fenian leadership had been arrested before the rebellion took place.

The fenians did manage to proclaim a Provisional Republican government, nearly fifty years before Pearse and his comrades.

"The soil of Ireland, at present in possession of an oligarchy, belongs to us, the Irish people and to us it must be restored. We declare also in favour of absolute liberty of conscience and the separation of Church and State. We intend no war against the people of England; our war is against the aristocratic locusts, whether English or Irish, who have eaten the verdure of our fields."