perusing the correspondence which had taken place between Her Majesty's Minister at Washington and the Government of the United States. They accordingly submitted, through Your Excellency, an application for copies of such correspondence, and their request having been acceded to, they have recently received from Your Excellency a copy of a despatch from Sir Edward Thornton, dated the 13th inst., enclosing a list of correspondence and copies of such letters as had not previously been transmitted to Your Exceliency or your predecessor. The Committee of the Privy Council have now the honor to submit a statement such as they think is called for by the Earl of Kimberley, and they venture to assert that if such an organization as that of the Fenian Brotherhood were tolerated in any European State, its avowed object being the invasion of a neighbouring State then at peace with that in which the organization existed, and if the result were the invasion of the neighboring and friendly State, there would be a demand for adequate reparation from the Government which had proved itself unable to restrain its subjects from such acts of aggression.

The Committee of the Privy Council feel that they would not do full justice to the claims of the Canadian people to Imperial sympathy, and support with reference to the wrongs inflicted upon them were they to fail to remind Her Majesty's Government that the Fenian movement against Canada was avowedly set on foot with the view of revenging the alleged wrongs sustained by Ireland from Great Britain. It has never been pretended that the Fenian brotherhood had any cause of complaint against Canada, but, on the contrary, it has been openly avowed that the objects of the attack on Canada was to aid the cause of the Irish malcontents. The question at issue appears to the Committee of the Privy Council to be, whether a civilized Government is to be held responsible for the acts of a large body of its subjects or citizens committed under the circumstances stated in the accompanying memorandum. The Committee of the Privy Council beg to refer on this occasion to the letter addressed to the Right Hon. Earl Granville, on the 28th December, 1868, by the Hon. Sir George E. Cartier, Bart., and the Hon. William McDougall on the subject of the Fenian raid of 1866, and to the reply thereto, dated 8th January, 1869, which Sir Frederic Rogers was directed by Earl Granville to make thereto.

In the month of November, 1863, a congress of persons styling themselves the Fenian Brotherhood, and consisting chiefly of natural born and naturalized citizens of the United States of America, was convened at Chicago, in the State of Illinois. Since that time there has been a regularly organized body, styling itself the Fenian Brotherhood. Its Head Quarters have been in the City of New York. It has had a President, Senate, and House of Delegates, and has occupied buildings on which the Fenian flag has been openly displayed. The Fenian Government has collected a revenue, and has issued bonds and notes; it has had a regularly organized army with prescribed uniforms, and officers regularly commissioned, and sworn. There has been no secrecy about this organization, and no attempt to conceal its object, one of the principal of whieh has been the conquest of Canada, against the people of which, it is not pretended it has had any cause of complaint. The drilling of the Fenian troops has been carried on in the most open manner, sometimes in the open air, and at other times in halls procured for the purpose.

In the month of August, 1865, the Canadian Government received confidential information that a Fenian expedition against Canada was being organized in the Western States, and from that time forward preparations for an invasion by a large force were active and increasing, and contributions were levied from American citizens to a very large amount. As an instance of the publicity of the proceedings, reference may be made

to a meeting held on 27th September, 1865, in Mozart Hall, in Cincinnatti, at which Judge Woodruff presided. On that occasion one of the speakers said, according to a report in the Cincinnatti Daily Engineer of 28th September, 1865, "250,000 men with "bristling bayonets will be seen battling for the cause of Irish freedom before the snow "of next December."

The same paper reported that after the speaking "it was announced that committees "would be appointed in the various wards who would visit our citizens during the coming "week for the purpose of raising funds for the purchase of rifles to be used by an Irish army." The same proceedings which took place in Cincinnatti were adopted in many other cities and towns of the United States during the Autumn of 1865 and Winter of 1865-66.

As early as the 14th March, 1865, Her Majesty's Minister at Washington called the attention of the Government of the United States to the fact of the existence of an extensive conspiracy on the part of the so-called Fenian Brotherwood, and pointed out that officers in the service of the United States had taken part in the proceedings of that body. There can be no doubt whatever that the Government of the United States were fully cognizant of the preparations made for the invasion of Canada, which culminated in the Raid of June, 1866. The loss of life and property consequent on that outrage constitute one of the claims for reparation. Although the Government of the United States had been warned of the danger to be apprehended from the Fenians, it took no active measures until Canada had been actually invaded, when it is admitted it displayed considerable activity.

The leader of the invading force was convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment together with other ringleaders, and large quantities of arms were seized by the government of the United States. Unfortunately a very short time elapsed before the Fenian leaders were unconditionally released from prison, and the arms which had been seized restored to them. A Fenian Congress was held in September, 1866, little more than Chicago Evening three months after the raid in Canada, and on that occasion it was Journal, 2nd publicly announced that the Fenians would not be content until Canada Sept., 1866.

was invaded again.

From that time forth numerous meetings were held, as well as balls, pic-nics, and other demonstrations, all avowedly with the object of raising funds for the invasion of Canada. At some of these meetings there were imposing military displays of masses of men in Fenian uniforms, officered, armed, and equipped. Gentlemen of high position in the United States attended these meetings, as will appear in the following instance :

In Chicago, in August, 1866, a pic-nic was held, and it was announced in placards and hand bills that General Logan, Governor Oglesby, and Speaker Colfax, would attend as speakers, and that the Fenian soldiers would parade in the grounds. In the course of a speech delivered on the occasion by Mr. Colfax, Speaker of the House of Representatives, he said, as reported: "I confess I was humiliated that our army was sent "there to act as police officers on the Canadian line. I was humiliated when our army "was sent to do the dirty work of spies and detectives against the Fenians."

On the 28th May, 1868, it was stated in the announcement of a "Grand Civil and Military Pic-nic, to take place in New York, that the 4th Regiment Irish Revolutionary Army will parade, and be reviewed by General O'Neill." Drilling was openly carried on in Buffalo, on the Terrace, and in Chicago, on Wabash Avenue.

In November, 1868, a Fenian Congress was held at Philadelphia, at which three Regiments of the Irish Republican Army, numbering fully 2,000, were paraded in line, commanded by Col. William Clingen. There were likewise present, General O'Neill, President of the Fenian Brotherhood, and the following, Staff-General Smolenski, Chief of Staff; Col. John W. Byron, Adjutant General; Col. J. J. Donnelly, Engineers; Major J. O. Leary, of Ordnance; and others.

In 1867, General Barry, of the United States' Army, commanding on the frontier, his head quarters being at Buffalo, had a number of his men tried and convicted of a breach of military discipline by leaving their quarters and joining a Fenian military

display. In a very short period after their sentence, and when their term of imprisonment had scarcely begun, a pardon was granted to the soldiers from headquarters, at Washington, and soon after General Barry was removed from his command. It has been positively asserted by Fenians themselves that they had received assurances from very high quarters that if a demand should be made on the State authorities for troops to aid the regular troops, they need not fear that this would be speedily given. In April, 1870, arrangements had been made for an invasion which were well known to the authorities of the United States, but no steps whatever was taken to prevent it. Fortunately, the Canadian Government ascertained that a raid was in contemplation, and called out a large force at considerable expense, which deterred the leaders for a time. So soon as the Canadian volunteers had been disbanded, the preparations for invasion were renewed, and the raid of May, 1870, took place at a time when it was supposed that Canada was completely off her guard. Great stress is laid on the fact of General O'Neill's arrest by the United States' Marshal, but it must be borne in mind that no attempt was made by the Marshal to prevent the invasion, and that it was after the complete defeat and dispersion of the Fenians, by the Canadian volunteers, that General O'Neill was arrested, as he had been in 1866, to be again tried, convicted, and again pardoned unconditionally.

Both in 1866 and in 1870 the action of the Government of the United States was delayed until it was of no practical value. The object of the Fenians on both occasions was to fortify themselves in an encampment on Canadian soil, after which they expected to receive ample supplies of munitions of war, men, and money from the United States. They were permitted to deposit arms at various depôts on the frontier, and to enter Canadian territory without hindrance, and it was only after their defeat that proceedings were taken against them. In March, 1868, Mr. Thornton, Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, by direction of Lord Stanley, called the attention of the Government of the United States to the Fenian organization for the invasion of Canada, assuring them that Her Majesty's Government did not allow themselves to doubt their willingness to defeat by every legal means in their power any attempt to organize in the United States, and to carry into execution any hostile enterprise against Her Majesty's Dominions in North America. In July, 1869, in consequence of a strong representation from the Governor General of Canada, Mr. Thornton visited Mr. Fish and urged upon him that the Government of the United States should cause the Fenians to be vigilantly watched. It may be admitted that the United States' Government must find considerable difficulty in restraining this formidable band of conspirators, styling themselves the Fenian Brotherhood, and possessing a great amount of political influence in all parts of the United States. It may also be possible that the laws of the United States are inadequate to enable the Government to suppress such organizations as the Fenian Brotherhood. It will hardly be contended, however, by the Government of the United States, that the inadequacy of the laws can be urged as a valid reason for refusing redress for injuries inflicted on a neighbouring and friendly State. In the discrepancies between Great Britain and the United States, with reference to the questions in controversy relating to violations of neutrality during the late civil war, it was always contended by the latter that if the law was not sufficiently stringent it should be made so, and that the violations of neutrality could not be defended on the ground of the insufficiency of the law.

Political reasons must of course have less weight. It may be very unfortunate for the United States' Government that so large a portion of the citizens of that country are either members of an illegal association, banded together to make war on a country with which its Government is on friendly alliance, or are sympathisers with those who are actually members of the conspiracy. This may and ought to be taken into consideration in estimating the extent of the responsibility of the United States, but it cannot be held as invalidating the just claims for compensation for the grievous injuries sustained by Canada from citizens of the United States, for whose conduct the Government of that country is clearly responsible. The issue is a simple one, and it is believed that if it were presented for adjudication to any civilized government in the world, the decision would be that Canada is entitled to compensation for the losses sustained by Her

Majesty's subjects, and the expenses incurred by the Government, owing to the invasions both in 1866 and 1870, by armed forces, organized upon and issuing from the territory of the United States.

The Governor General to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. (Copy-No. 28.)

OTTAWA,

January 26th, 1871.

MY LORD),-I would beg to refer to the 3rd paragraph of your despatch, No. 198, of July 27th, 1870, in which Your Lordship stated that "Mr. Campbell had pressed strongly upon you that a representation should be made to the United States Government with reference to the late Fenian Invasion into Canada, which had awakened such just feelings of indignation in the Dominion, and that Mr. Campbell urged the claims of Canada for reparation for the losses which she had sustained by that invasion."

Your Lordship further observed that "Her Majesty's Government had carefully considered what steps it would be advisable to take in the matter, and they were of opinion, that in the first instance my Ministers should draw up a full and authentic Statement of the facts, and of the claims which they founded upon them," this Statement you directed me "to transmit to Her Majesty's Government, in order that it might be laid by them before the Government of the United States."

2. In accordance with these instructions, I duly brought the subject under the consideration of my responsible advisers, and I have the honor to forward herewith, the copy of a Report of the Privy Council of the Dominion, drawn up for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, and appended to it a Memorandum, prepared as your lordship directed, for presentation to the Government of the United States.

7th March, 1871.

MY LORD, I have the honor to inform your lordship that copies of your Despatch, No. 28, of the 26th January last, and its enclosures respecting the claims of Canada arising out of the Fenian raids on the Dominion have been communicated by Lord Granville to Her Majesty's High Commissioners at Washington.

Governor General

The Right Honorable

I have, &c.,
(Signed,)

KIMBERLEY.

Lord Lisgar, G.C.B., &c.

(Copy-Canada-No. 445.)

The Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Governor General.

DOWNING STREET,
20th June, 1871.

MY LORD,—In accordance with the strong wish expressed by the Dominion Government, that a representation should be made to the United States with reference to the losses inflicted on Canada by the Fenian raids, Her Majesty's Government instructed

the British High Commissioners to bring the claims arising out of those raids before the Joint High Commission.

Your Lordship will observe from the Protocols of Conferences, copies of which were transmitted to you in my Despatch, No. 444, of the 17th inst., that the American Commissioners declined to entertain the proposal made by the British Commissioners to include these claims in the treaty.

Har Majesty's Government were well aware of the serious difficulties in the way of settling this question, and they could not, therefore, feel surprised at this result. At the same time it was with much regret that they acquiesced in the omission of these claims from the general settlement of outstanding questions between Great Britain and the United States.

But it seemed to them evident that the British Commissioners were right in thinking that there was no reasonable probability that by further pressing the point an agreement would be come to upon it with the American Commissioners, and when the choice lay between the settlement of all the other differences between the two countries on terms which Her Majesty's Government believed to be honorable to both, and beneficial alike to Canada and the rest of the empire, and the frustration of all hope of bringing the negotiations to a satisfactory issue, they could not hesitate as to the course which it was their duty to take.

Copy of a Report of a Committee of the Honorable, the Privy Council, approved by His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the 6th November, 1871.

The Committee of Council beg respectfully to draw your Excellency's attention to the fact that John O'Neill, who has been recently arrested by the United States authorities whilst leading a marauding expedition of so called Fenians, into an invasion of the Province of Manitoba, is the same man, who, in 1866, led a similar expedition into the Province of Ontario, near Fort Erie, and a second one in two divisions into the Province of Quebec in 1870.

These plundering and murdering expeditions were promptly repulsed, but not without the loss of valuable lives, and great injury to the country. Both in 1866 and 1870, after the Fenians had been driven back from the frontier by the Canadian Militia, arrests were made amongst them by the authorities of the United States, in which country their organization, arming and drilling, had been openly carried on. The present prisoner O'Neill and some of the others who are now in custody with him, were on each occasion amongst those who were arrested. In 1866 they were discharged without having been prosecuted to conviction, and in 1870, having been tried and sentenced, O'Neill and the others were pardoned and discharged from custody after a very short imprisonment. He and some of the others have now for the third time been arrested on this occasion promptly and before any lives were lost.

The Committee in recalling those circumstances to your Excellency's attention, submit that communication should be had with Her Majesty's Government on the subject with a view to such representation being made to the Government of the United States of the continued crimes of O'Neill, as well as of the other prisoners, as will insure their being prosecuted to conviction, and the infliction of a punishment commensurate with their repeated offences.

Certified.

WM. H. LEE,

Clerk Privy Council.