active interest in organizations that had for their object
the liberation of Ireland from British domination. One of these
organizations was the Clan-na-Gael. This was probably the most closely
oath-bound of all the Irish Societies of this country or abroad. Its
strength, moreover, was phenomenal. Although, owing to the secrecy which
surrounded its annual conventions, no public reports of its total
membership had ever appeared of record, it was generally believed and
understood that it ran into many scores of thousands, and penetrated
into almost, if not quite, every section of the North American
continent. In age it dated back to 1869, its cardinal object being to
establish in Ireland an Irish republic, to bring about fraternal
feelings among Irishmen in the United States, and generally assist in
the elevation of the Irish race. It affiliated with the old
revolutionary organizations in Ireland, and moved on lines so nearly
masonic in their secrecy, that in many parts of the country the clergy
of the Catholic church either discouraged or altogether forbade the
members of their flocks from becoming identified with it. Despite this
fact, however, the order, almost from its inception, grew in strength,
in wealth, and in influence. There was nothing in the obligation which
would-be members were compelled to take, before being entrusted with the
pass-words and other secret work that conflicted with their duties as
citizens of the United States, except that the occasion might arise when
it would be necessary for them to violate the neutrality laws. Every
man, however, that joined the Clan-na-Gael, or, as it was more generally
known to the outside world, the "United Brotherhood," knew that, as an
Irishman or a man of Irish descent, his sworn duty was loyalty to
Ireland, and that, were he called upon to take up arms in aid of any
movement for the independence of Erin's Isle, it would be his duty to
comply without question or demur. The membership of the organization was
divided into districts, which again were subdivided into local lodges or
"Camps." Each district had its general officer, to whose authority each
local camp was subject, and the district officers in turn made up an
Executive Board. This body possessed absolute and complete control of
the organization in every particular.

THE "TRIANGLE" IN POWER.

It was not until 1881, when it had passed its first decade of existence,
that the United Brotherhood first came p