Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward
Sir: Information which has reached her Majesty’s government leaves no room for doubt that an extensive conspiracy on the part of the so-called Fenian Brotherhood is being openly carried on in the United States, having for its object to promote rebellion in Ireland, and to forward from the United States assistance! to the rebels in money, men, and arms.
[Page 97]The accounts given in the public papers of what passed in public meetings held in the United States for these avowed objects, coupled with allusions to the means by which they are to be carried out, must surely have attracted the attention of the government of the United States, and her Majesty’s government might reasonably have expected that while the government of the United States so loudly protest against the proceedings of confederate agents in this country, which are conducted with the utmost secrecy, and while it imputes blame to the British government for not having put a stop to practices of which they had no previous knowledge, and for not exerting powers of repression beyond the law, the United States government should at least have shown their disapprobation of such hostile declarations against the peace and security of the Queen’s dominions.
On the contrary, it is notorious that an officer of the army of the Potomac, Colonel J. H. Gleason, formerly of the Irish brigade, was recently allowed to absent himself from his military duties for a period of twenty days, by the Secretary of War, in order that he might have time to attend one of the meetings of the Fenian Brotherhood, appointed to be held at Chicago. And still more recently at New Orleans, Attorney General Lynch attended a local Fenian meeting on the 28th of January, and took an active part in its proceedings.
Whatever may be thought of these public meetings, as an unmistakable sign on the part of those who attend them of hostility to Great Britain, it might perhaps be difficult under the Constitution of the United States to prevent or to interfere with such meetings. But the attendance of persons in the military or civil employment of the general government of the United States, or of the government of any particular State of the Union, would seem to show that the government itself participates in these feelings of hostility to Great Britain.
It becomes, therefore, my duty to say that her Majesty’s government trust that the attendance of military and civil officers in the employment of the United States government, and of the State governments, at the meetings of the Fenian Brotherhood, will be disapproved by the government of the United States, and will in future not be permitted.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant.
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.