rising in 1865 caused a serious division among the
adherents of the cause in both America and Ireland, and the Fenian
Brotherhood was split into two hostile camps thereby. It was considered
that Stephens' policy of carrying on the rebellious operations in
Ireland was an impossible and suicidal one to the success of the
cause. Many Irish-Americans were languishing behind the bars of British
prisons, with an uncertain fate awaiting them when they were arraigned
for trial, and their comrades in the United States bitterly blamed
Stephens and O'Mahony for the fiasco. Consequently the majority in
America revolted, and seceded from the Stephens faction, claiming that
he had woefully misrepresented the state of affairs that existed in
Ireland, both as regarded preparations for a successful issue, and also
the enthusiasm that was said to sufficiently dominate the people there
to induce them to take up arms when the American contingent arrived.

Col. Wm. R. Roberts, of New York, was the leader of the American
secessionists, who declared their belief that "No direct invasion or
armed insurrection in Ireland would ever be successful in establishing
an Irish Republic upon Irish soil, and placing her once more in her
proper place as a nation among the nations of the earth." The forces of
Col. Roberts gathered strength daily, and soon usurped control of
the Fenian forces in America, much to the chagrin of Stephens and his
followers.

Gen. O'Mahony, who Head Centre Stephens had placed in supreme charge of
the affairs of the Fenian Brotherhood in America, was charged by Colonel
Roberts and his colleagues with having dipped too deep into the treasury
and by extravagance and other questionable methods dissipated the funds
of the Brotherhood. This widened the breach, and Roberts became the
popular idol with the majority of the American Fenians. Yet O'Mahony
held on to office with a ragged remnant of his old retainers to support
him, until finally Roberts triumphed and became the star around which
all of the other Fenian "planets" revolved.

CHAPTER II.

THE FENIAN CONVENTION AT CINCINNATI--THE BIRTH OF THE IRISH
REPUBLIC--"ON TO CANADA!"--GEN. SWEENY'S PROGRAMME.

The seceders from the Stephens faction met in Convention in Cincinnati,
Ohio, in September, 1865, a very large number of delegates being present
from all of the States in the Union. After the usual preliminary oratory
and the adoption of several resolutions, the deleg