288 FENIAN BROTHERHOOD. 



Simultaneously with the movement from 

 Buffalo, Fenians were reported to be concen- 

 trating at St. Albans and Malone, Vt., for the 

 purpose of invading Canada, from that quar- 

 ter. The Canadian volunteers promptly rallied 

 to repel the expected attack. Steamboats 

 were ordered to be used as gunboats on Lake 

 St. Peter. A Fenian advance in strong force 

 was falsely reported on the 4th of June, and 

 Captain Carter, in command of the troops at 

 St. Arm and, fell back to St. Alexander. On 

 the 5th General Meade reached Ogdensburg, 

 and commenced active operations to prevent 

 hostilities. A large number of United States 

 regulars had been ordered up to support him. 

 The Attorney-General of the United States 

 gave orders, by direction of the President, for 

 the arrest of the principal Fenians engaged in 

 the movement. The President also issued a 

 proclamation for the preservation of neu- 

 trality. 



On the 7th, the Fenians, reported to be from 

 one thousand to one thousand two hundred 

 strong, crossed the boundary and advanced to 

 St. Armand, which had been evacuated by the 

 Canadians. 



On the same day, General Sweeney and his 

 staff were arrested at St. Albans, Roberts at 

 New York, and several officers at Buffalo. 

 General Spear, being in command of the inva- 

 ding force, escaped. Tho Fenians levied on the 

 Canadians for their supplies, but had no occa- 

 sion to fight. On the 9th, Canadian troops ad- 

 vanced from St. Alexander to St. Armand, and 

 the Fenians retired, fifteen of their number 

 being taken prisoners. General Meade's prompt 

 exertions prevented further trouble. He ar- 

 rested and turned back two car-loads of Fe- 

 nians on their way to the scene of action, ac- 

 cepted the paroles of the officers, and provided 

 transportation, for all who required it, to 

 their homes. Mr. Roberts having refused to 

 give parole, or bail, was detained for several 

 days in the New York county jail, and was 

 then released. 



In August, it was expected that another and 

 more serious invasion would take place on the 

 occasion of the Fenian picnic at Clinton Grove, 

 near Buffalo, on the 21st. Over 3000 Fenians, 

 mostly from Buffalo and the immediate vicinity, 

 appeared in the procession, many of them or- 

 ganized as companies and armed. At the 

 Grove about 12,000 persons were assembled. 

 After feasting, dancing, and other amusements, 

 the spectacle of a sham fight took place between 

 the "Queen's Own," and the "10th Royals," 

 personated by Fenian companies, and a force 

 of Fenians proper. The battle of Limestone 

 Ridge was fought over again with great effect, 

 minus the killed and wounded. After the mimic 

 conflict, General O'Neil and others made speech- 

 es, and thus terminated the day, without harm 

 to the integrity of the British provinces. 



"A Fenian Congress," called by President 

 Roberts, convened at Troy on the 4th of Sep- 

 tember. There was a large attendance, Mr. 



FINANCES, UNITED STATES. 



Roberts was reflected President, and the fol- 

 lowing officers were also chosen : Senators, P. J. 

 Meehan, New York ; William Fleming, Troy ; 



F. B. Gallagher, Buffalo ; A. L. Morrison, Mis- 

 souri; James Gibbons, Philadelphia; J. C. 

 O'Brien, Rochester; "William McQuirck, New 

 Haven, Conn.; John Carlton, New Jersey; 

 Thomas Redmond, Indiana. President of the 

 Senate, P. J. Meehan. Speaker of the House, 

 J. W. Fitzgerald, Cincinnati, Ohio ; Clerk, G. 



G. Carroll, Geneva, N. Y. General Sweeney 

 resigned, and President Roberts appointed Col- 

 onel Michael Bailey, of Buffalo, Chief Military 

 Organizer, and Colonel O'Neil, Inspector-Gen- 

 eral of the FenianArmy. Resolutions of thanks 

 to General Banks and to Congress were adopt- 

 ed, and several improvements introduced in the 

 plan of organization. 



The case of R. B. Lynch, a reported Fenian, 

 who had been captured, tried, convicted, and 

 sentenced to death in Canada, excited much 

 sympathy throughout the United States. The 

 Common Council of New York memorialized 

 the President of the United States in his behalf 

 and that of the the other Fenian prisoners. The 

 Tammany Hall Democracy took similar steps, 

 and appointed a committee to confer with the 

 President. 



Secretary Seward soon after addressed a com- 

 munication to the British minister at Washing- 

 ton advising the exercise of clemency toward 

 the prisoners, and the matter was at last settled 

 to the relief of all concerned, by a dispatch 

 from the British Colonial Office to the Governor- 

 General of Canada, commuting the sentence of 

 those prisoners who had been sentenced to 

 death. For the disposition of the other pris- 

 oners taken to Toronto and Sweetsburg for 

 trial, see BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. 



The United States Fenians accomplished 

 nothing more of importance during the year 

 1866. Meetings were held in the interest of the 

 contending factions, and appeals and addresses 

 issued. Mr. Stephens still expressed his belief 

 that the revolution in Ireland would be trium- 

 phant before the end of the year ; but his faith 

 was not shared by any considerable portion of 

 the Irish population, and they gradually ceased 

 to contribute to the accomplishment of an end 

 which seemed to them so remote. 



FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

 At the commencement of the annual session of 

 Congress in December, 1865, the Secretary of 

 the Treasury (Mr. McCulloch) presented in his 

 report a statement of the current receipts and 

 expenditures of the Government for the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1866. This statement 

 contained the actual receipts and expenditures 

 for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending 

 September 30, 1865 ; and estimates for the re- 

 maining three quarters. In these estimates 

 the opinion was expressed that the expendi- 

 tures would exceed the receipts by $112,194,- 

 947. This conclusion was formed by the 

 Secretary under the impression that the meas- 

 ures of taxation would yield a limited revenue 



