Page:History of the Fenian raid on Fort Erie with an account of the Battle of Ridgeway.djvu/17

 time becomes very active: men who have left peaceful pursuits, and have become accustomed to the bustle of camps and the excitements of a soldier's life, return to their usual avocations with reluctance, and abandon their military duties with regret. Such men will generally be willing at any moment to re-engage in war, and will be always ready, upon a fair pretext, to join any cause which is likely to give them an opportunity of indulging their fondness for a soldier's life.

The leaders of the Fenian Brotherhood, fully appreciating this feeling, sought to turn it to their own advantage as well as to the benefit of the cause for which they were working. It was at once promulgated that the Fenian organization purposed attempting the deliverance of Ireland from the control of the British Government as soon as the United States authorities had succeeded in subduing the Confederate States of America. And it was also stated, in consideration of large numbers of Irishmen, with the consent of the Fenian body, enlisting in the armies of the Union in defence of the Union, and in support of its constitution, that the United States Government would, on the conclusion of its war, assist the Fenians in their designs against the British Empire.

Although there can be no doubt that the United States Government could not have authorized any such compact on its behalf, still it is much to be regretted that recruiting agents, lured by the large bounties offered, driven by the difficulty of getting recruits, and compelled by the urgent necessity of the case, often held out as an inducement to Irishmen to enlist the hope of assistance on their behalf when their own war was over. A more cruel and heartless expedient could scarcely be devised, or one more degrading to those engaged in it. If they never intended to help them, they were guilty of getting the life's blood of brave men to fight the battles of the Union on false pretences; and if the help was intended to be given, it was a conspiracy against a friendly nation—a conspiracy without cause, and one likely to embroil a peaceful country in a bloody and unprovoked war.